I played in a store kit toady with the following list:

Some dice will be rolled

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 399/400

Commander: Darth Vader

Assault Objective: Most Wanted
Defense Objective: Hyperspace Assault
Navigation Objective: Solar Corona

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
- Darth Vader ( 36 points)
- Devastator ( 10 points)
- Strategic Adviser ( 4 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Quad Laser Turrets ( 5 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
= 199 total ship cost

Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (73 points)
- Warlord ( 8 points)
- Agent Kallus ( 3 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Quad Laser Turrets ( 5 points)
- H9 Turbolasers ( 8 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 106 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
= 23 total ship cost

1 IG-88 ( 21 points)
1 Morna Kee ( 27 points)
1 Bossk ( 23 points)
= 71 total squadron cost

After placing third overall (but beating the second place player in a head-to-head) I had several observations:

1. That Victory is surprisingly Nasty. I had it eliminate an opponent's bomber wing with relative ease, and in every game it did a large amount of damage, but, It also always died. Overall, I would say it earned its points back by scaring people into attacking it rather than the ISD, but it still seems a bit weak.

2. Quad Laser Turrets on the ISD never triggered (Contrary to the VSD) and while I am unsure if it scared people into not attacking the ISD, it seemed to just be that the VSD was a juicier target. Swapping it for Hardened Bulkheads seems to be my next iteration.

3. Devastator likewise did very little - adding about 4 blue dice over the course of the day, and while it MAY have been crucial to getting a kill at one point, I might just swap it to relentless for a generically good effect (I have no way of reliably triggering Avenger, and don't have tokens enough for Sovereign which is the same reason I am avoiding Chimera for now, but this is my main point of internal debate).

4. Strategic advisor is Definitely worth it for this, as it lets me avoid telegraphing the ISD's position too bad - and to some extent benefits the VSD.

5. Likewise with the Aces, for most games they managed to delay or deter my opponent from attacking my ships.

6. Leading shots isn't too helpful, but can't think of a better option - in most cases the default critical is enough.

7. I need a better red objective, but I can't really think of one - Is close-range intel scan possibly an answer?

Congratulations!

1. Nice.
2. Hardened Bulkheads could be quite good on the ISD, for sure.
3. Relentless is nice, but I think Devastator is better with Vader, especially with my suggestions for (6) below.
4. Yeah, Strategic Advisor is pretty great for low-activation fleets like this. If you had the points, Governor Pryce could be even better.
5. I think you might do well to swap these squadrons out a little bit, but if you feel they are working for you, great!
6. I think Devastator would love to have Heavy Ion Emplacements on it. Otherwise, SW-7 wouldn't be too bad.
7. Most Wanted is probably the best red objective there is for your fleet. You should be designating your Gozanti as your Most Wanted ship. It is only giving your opponent another 23 points. You will almost certainly be making that up with whatever ship of theirs you designate as Most Wanted.

Well done on your tournament placement!

Allow me to offer something for you: I was one of the early proponents of Devastator, and after the recent Chimera expansion release we're seeing some very cool builds using the title. For running on an ISD2, I'd say your best bets are SW7 Ion Cannons and X17 Turbolasers, with Intel Officer to ensure that your opponent can only ever brace your opening 1-2 shots. It also lets you combine with Vader to discard a token immediately (you can Intel Officer your own token and spend it to discard for Vader's ability, then gaina blue die for the Devastator effect).

Here is an article and brief video tutorial explaining some of my tactics with Devastator.

@thecactusman17, to post a link within the forums, go to the post you want to link to, then click on the time stamp of the post, then copy/paste that URL.

Okay, After reading your replies, I have a couple more questions:

1. How would suggest I reformat my Squadrons? I have all-rouges so I don't have to worry about commanding them, but that might be a bad idea.

2. Should I be bringing my gozanti into the fight? right now, I am running it around the board as activation insurance, but again, that might be a mistake.

3. With the ability to have Vader re-rolls is SW-7 worth it over Ion cannon batteries and the control/extra shield removal?

4. Is Strategic advisor or Intel Officer more important? right now, I have plenty of accuracies, but ECM is a thing. On the other hand, I am at 400 right now, and I don't know what to cut for the intel officer?

Thanks for the advice!

21 minutes ago, Do I need a Username said:

Okay, After reading your replies, I have a couple more questions:

1. How would suggest I reformat my Squadrons? I have all-rouges so I don't have to worry about commanding them, but that might be a bad idea.

2. Should I be bringing my gozanti into the fight? right now, I am running it around the board as activation insurance, but again, that might be a mistake.

3. With the ability to have Vader re-rolls is SW-7 worth it over Ion cannon batteries and the control/extra shield removal?

4. Is Strategic advisor or Intel Officer more important? right now, I have plenty of accuracies, but ECM is a thing. On the other hand, I am at 400 right now, and I don't know what to cut for the intel officer?

Thanks for the advice!

1: You have some really expensive squadrons and as you noted, they are all Rogues. Generally, your better option is to activate squadrons with ships so they can charge in with initiative. Your better bet might be 4 cheaper squadrons, perhaps including a Lambda Shuttle if you don't want to be forced to babysit them next to a carrier. With Devastator, your primary objective vs squadrons should be to stop enemy squads for 1-2 turns at most and trade a cheap fighter screen for unmolested ship actions. Right now you have 71 points in only 3 squads, that's enough to run a Lambda shuttle and 7 (Count 'em!) TIE Fighters which will cause havoc with squadron balls. It also lets you deploy up to 4 pairs of squads instead of ships, giving you deployment advantage.

Personally, I'd say drop down to around 40 points of squads with a Lambda shuttle, then use your gozantis to activate squads through that shuttle. You'll also get a nice bid that can be used to keep Devastator hitting first each round.

2: As a guy who runs 4 Gozantis in my tourney no-squad lists, this is a bit of a conundrum. Optimally, every activation should be contributing to either supporting your fleet or degrading your opponent's fleet. I only scatter off once my flotillas are no longer capable of contributing towards that goal. Empty activations are almost never worth their investment.

3: I personally prefer Intel Officer, but this is more subject to your local meta. If you see lots of ECMs everywhere, you probably want Intel Officer. If you are constantly outbid and out-activated, you probably want SAd.

4: Unasked for, but drop Quad Laser Turrets off your ships. Warlord might get a lucky break if your opponent decides to bomb it but theyll only be taking one point at a time and could instead just focus down your 3 squads for almost as many points.

One thing to consider about Devestator before dropping it is that it can also be act as “defensive” upgrade of sorts. It may have been another reason your opponents went heavily after the VSD especially if they didn’t think they had the firepower to reliably kill your ISD anyway.

Here's a version of your list that is designed to maximize some of your existing strengths. I'm assuming that if you have an upgrade, you have the full release of that upgrade, plus the core set. Am I correct in thinking you have access to the Chimera Expansion, given that you've added Stategic Advisor as a potential upgrade? If so, you might want to consider swapping your ISD2 for a Cymoon, which works brilliantly with Darth Vader and can use the Intensify Firepower command each turn. It will also save you several points.

Imperial-2 Star Destroyer

• Darth Vader
• Intel Officer
• Gunnery Team
• Electronic Countermeasures
• SW-7 Ion Batteries
• X17 Turbolasers
• Devastator

Victory-2 Star Destroyer

• Gunnery Team
• Disposable Capacitors
• SW-7 Ion Batteries (alternatively Ion Cannon Batteries)
• H9 Turbolasers
• Warlord

Gozanti-Class Cruisers

• Comms Net

Squadrons

• Lambda Shuttle
• Howlrunner
• TIE Fighter
• TIE Fighter

Most Wanted, Planetary Ion Cannons, Solar Corona

386/400

I'd play this list by taking first player and slow-rolling forward towards an enemy objective, with the ISD just in front of the VSD. The VSD will be your cleanup hitter, swatting down enemy ships that successfully get into Devastator's flanks. Your Gozanti stays behind and gives critical tokens out to the two larger ships, and the VSD or Gozanti spams squadron commands to keep your squadrons holding up the enemy fighter wing. If you can manage it, the VSD getting shots on opposing squadrons will also do automatic damage thanks to the H9s. This list would be well suited to a an objective that requires you to approach a specific point on the map or that forces your opponent to approach from a specific direction. to engage. You might even want to take second player and use the Lambda to guard yourself with the Ion Cannon tokens while grinding forwards into your opponent's ships.

2 hours ago, thecactusman17 said:

1: You have some really expensive squadrons and as you noted, they are all Rogues. Generally, your better option is to activate squadrons with ships so they can charge in with initiative. Your better bet might be 4 cheaper squadrons, perhaps including a Lambda Shuttle if you don't want to be forced to babysit them next to a carrier. With Devastator, your primary objective vs squadrons should be to stop enemy squads for 1-2 turns at most and trade a cheap fighter screen for unmolested ship actions. Right now you have 71 points in only 3 squads, that's enough to run a Lambda shuttle and 7 (Count 'em!) TIE Fighters which will cause havoc with squadron balls. It also lets you deploy up to 4 pairs of squads instead of ships, giving you deployment advantage.

Personally, I'd say drop down to around 40 points of squads with a Lambda shuttle, then use your gozantis to activate squads through that shuttle. You'll also get a nice bid that can be used to keep Devastator hitting first each round.

2: As a guy who runs 4 Gozantis in my tourney no-squad lists, this is a bit of a conundrum. Optimally, every activation should be contributing to either supporting your fleet or degrading your opponent's fleet. I only scatter off once my flotillas are no longer capable of contributing towards that goal. Empty activations are almost never worth their investment.

3: I personally prefer Intel Officer, but this is more subject to your local meta. If you see lots of ECMs everywhere, you probably want Intel Officer. If you are constantly outbid and out-activated, you probably want SAd.

4: Unasked for, but drop Quad Laser Turrets off your ships. Warlord might get a lucky break if your opponent decides to bomb it but theyll only be taking one point at a time and could instead just focus down your 3 squads for almost as many points.

Alright, I've gone and modified my squads such that they are now: Jendon, Saber (Intel in my meta is super common, hence IG before), 2x Tie/adv for escort. ECMs weren't a problem at the tournament (Only one person had them, and it didn't change anything), but SA is critical for my activations. As for the QLTs, I already had them off the ISD, replacing it with hardened Bulkheads (didn't make that clear enough, sorry) but the VSD still has it because I typically run it on Devastator's squad-les flank. Using the extra points, I upgraded the VDS-1 to a VSD-2, added SW-7s (But I may just leave this spot blank, and get a bid or use Ion Cannon Batteries, as you recommend), and replaced OE with Gunnery Teams. For more context on my local meta, the bids were 4 points, 13, and 3 points in my opponents fleets, and because I don't really want to go too high, I'm upgrading to go the 400 and just be fine with what they give me. Your advice with Gozantis was helpful, I'll have to try and do that in my practice games.