Like the topic says, not too long into Armada, so I didn't pick up quite that many expansions. For the Empire, besides the Fighter I expansion this list pretty much contains it. Any thoughts on Ships, squads and/or objectives?

397/400

• Cymoon 1 Refit (112)
  • *Grand Admiral Thrawn (32)
  • *Strategic Advisor (4)
  • *Intensify Firepower! (6)
  • Gunnery Team (7)
  • XI-7 Turbolasers (6)
• Victory II-Class Star Destroyer (85)
  • Boosted Comms (4)
  • Leading Shots (4)
• Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56)
  • Engine Techs (8)
  • Assault Concussion Missiles (7)
  • *Demolisher (10)
• Squadrons:
  • *Howlrunner (16)
  • 5 x TIE FIGHTER Squadron (40)
• Objectives:
  • Advanced Gunnery
  • Hyperspace Assault
  • Minefields

I do not have the full and coherent understanding of the objectives yet, but I planned the Fleet to work like this:

Cymon staying a bit back, trying to soften up enemy Ships on long range. VicII going ahead, helping the TIEs to spread and bind enemy fighters, while also herding ships either into the Cymoons Arc or out of their effective battleposition. At last, the Gladiator to swoop in on open flanks, or terminate stragglers. Also with the Glad I'm trying to scare him off from being second. The fighters are only to bind enemy Bombers and delay them. Boosted Comms are installed for the case the TIEs groups get lucky, kill a squad and need to quickly engage and attack at another position. Would Set 1 Thrawn Dial on Squad command for that case and otherwise only stack those if an opportunity presents itself

For the Objectives: Advanced Gunnery to give the Vic2 the frontarc double tab, Hyperspace assault to jump the Gladiator into a slower enemy's flank ( even if they activate first, with Demolisher the Glad should be able to get his load off and maybe ram with Engine Techs or just use them to stay on target) And Minefields to further herd / funnel the enemy into my arcs. (Have to mention here, the pal I'm playing with has only the Wave 1 Rebel ships + Home One, so no strategic or relay for him either.) Guess none of those would be really good for him as first, but the other option would potentially be risking the Gladiator's tripple tab

Does that thinking make any sense? Would really appreciate some detailed comments

This is a really good looking fleet for a newer player! Couple of pointers-

If you want the VSD to be a carrier (IE you aren't putting quad battery turrets and disposable capacitors on it) you should look to the VSD-1. It will save you some points, and VSD's guns are notoriously underpowered without a lot of upgrade boosting.

Ordnance experts is pretty much non-optional on Demo. It brings up the damage so dramatically you really cant make a case for leaving home without it. And with Intensify Firepower, if you roll hits you can use it to aggressively reroll for hit/crits and patch up if you get a blank.

I would make those 2 little changes, (VSD-1 and OE on Demo) and then look at the extra 8 points you have and see if anything else needs to be shorn up. Some other really good upgrades would be things like adding the second turbolaser slot of the cymoon (dual turbo's, quad turbo's, or XX9 all are good cheap options for your fleet), or if you are losing the Demolisher a lot, adding Brunson to it gives it a fair bit more tankiness. Needa on a VSD-1 also is kind of a cheap dark horse upgrade to keep it safer at long range and to mentally suggest that players try and get in closer where it can be more effective.

Alternatively, keep the 8pts straight to bid, because an 11 pt bid will get you your choice of first or second probably a little better than 50% at a tournament.

2 hours ago, BrobaFett said:

And with Intensify Firepower, if you roll hits you can use it to aggressively reroll for hit/crits and patch up if you get a blank.

Even though I totally agree Ordnance Experts is an auto-include, it only applies to black dice, and Intensify Firepower! only applies to a red die. Am I misunderstanding something?

Edit: Yes I am - the IF! card. My bad.

Thank you for your thoughts!

I can probably proxy the OE (they only weren't in because i don't have em myself).

There are actually more points open. Changing from VSD-2 to VSD-1 also makes Leading Shots obsolete, so it frees up 16 points. Putting in OE on Demo leaves me with 12 more, to a total bid of 15. My Problem with Brunson is Minefields. Since I'm not long into the game and havent played more than 2 dozend games in total, I don't yet feel confident to be able to stay in range to an obstacle while not being in range to a mine. (And as far as I see it, Minefield might be the "best" objective for the enemy, but pls tell me if I'm wrong here). Needa would be nice, but would also have to proxy him.

On a sidenote: probably wouldn't take this list to a tournament without adding a Lambda for strategic, since if the opponent has got even one strategic squad that i can't reach in time, that might really screw me with my own objectives. Also: I haven't played much but I'm watching as many games as I can and read the reps and build comments, so if I'm over theorizing something please let me know as well.

So to the point:

The probable changes are leaving me with this:

387/400

• Cymoon 1 Refit (112)
  • *Grand Admiral Thrawn (32)
  • *Strategic Advisor (4)
  • *Intensify Firepower! (6)
  • Gunnery Team (7)
  • XI-7 Turbolasers (6)
  • POTENTIAL UPGRADE
• Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (73)
  • *Captain Needa(2)
  • Boosted Comms (4)
  • POTENTIAL UPGRADE
• Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56)
  • Ordnance Experts (4)
  • Engine Techs (8)
  • Assault Concussion Missiles (7)
  • *Demolisher (10)
• Squadrons:
  • *Howlrunner (16)
  • 5 x TIE FIGHTER Squadron (40)
  • POTENTIAL SHUTTLE IN EXCHANGE FOR TIE
• Objectives:
  • Advanced Gunnery
  • Hyperspace Assault
  • Minefields

So we got 13 points left for a bid. I could add the second Turbolaser-Slot on the Cymoon. I know, its expensive, but what are your thoughts on something like Spinal Armament? Don't have that yet either so would probably go cheap and go with the XX-9s. Same goes for TRCs but would that be an Option for the VSD?

My last thought here was, again only once i've got the expansion, to ditch a TIE for a Shuttle to be on the safe side with strategic and also increase the VSDs squadron range.

@R4Pi3R What expansions do you have?

@TallGiraffe

ATM I have:

• Core Game
• VSD exp.
• Glad exp.
• AF-MK2 exp.
• CR90 exp.
• Neb-B exp.
• Rebel Fighters I exp.
• Imperial Fighters I exp.
• Chimaera exp.

Actually I wanted to go Wave 1-7. The problem is, I started with a german edition and want to stick by that, but the imperial wave 2 ships are completely sold out. So, desperately wanting an ISD i decided to go for the Chimaera first.