G'Day armchair Admirals and couch Captains,

During a friendly speed-campaign played during the Anzac Cup weekend in Canberra last month, we were discussing how the VSD could make a comeback into competitive post-Wave VII lists. One of the suggestions was beefing up the VSD with a biiig nose punch strung together with one or two strong finishers. I had a think and came up with the following, of which I am currently running a variant of in a Campaign. With all three focussed in on a couple of MC's... it was brutal. So, out to you brains-trust - thoughts...?

Name: DemoVenger & the TRCVSD

Author: DrJonesJnr
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Darth Vader

Assault: Advanced Gunnery
Defense: Contested Outpost
Navigation: Solar Corona

Total Points: 394

ISD Cymoon 1 Refit (112)
• Darth Vader (36)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Spinal Armament (9)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
• Avenger (5)
= 175 Points

Victory II (85)
• Captain Needa (2)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Overload Pulse (8)
= 105 Points

Gladiator I (56)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Demolisher (10)
= 75 Points

Squadrons:
• Ciena Ree (17)
• Valen Rudor (13)
• Black Squadron (9)
= 39 Points

That Victory is a rather juicy target, especially if you give up one of the Redirects for Evade. And why would you do that? You already have Vader for rerolls, and Overload Pulse only works with blue crits, while TRC only works with red dice, so it can't even trigger the critical effect.

D-Caps is amazing for sure but I can't justify the Needa/TRC shenanigan while you have Vader, and especially not if you have to give up Gunnery Teams for it.

V2 with Gunnery Team, Dcaps and QBT is 5 points less and can hit 2 targets like a ton of bricks. And you still have extra points for Intel Officer, Leading Shots, HIEs or SW7.

13 minutes ago, Norell said:

That Victory is a rather juicy target, especially if you give up one of the Redirects for Evade. And why would you do that? You already have Vader for rerolls, and Overload Pulse only works with blue crits, while TRC only works with red dice, so it can't even trigger the critical effect.

D-Caps is amazing for sure but I can't justify the Needa/TRC shenanigan while you have Vader, and especially not if you have to give up Gunnery Teams for it.

V2 with Gunnery Team, Dcaps and QBT is 5 points less and can hit 2 targets like a ton of bricks. And you still have extra points for Intel Officer, Leading Shots, HIEs or SW7.

Good point... Thanks!

hmm...How about I replace Vader with Screed to get that blue crit for OP (or HIEs)? It would ensure I exhaust those Defence Tokens (or strip shields) ready for the ISD to finish it off. That would leave me at 391(392)pts for a decent bid or Tua/ECM on the ISD or other toys.

Then again, I'm not over attached to the whole Needa/TRC thing either, and I see the ruthless logic too. So, the suggested V2 w. GT/Dcaps/QBT/OP(or HIE) would punch pretty hard into two targets, ready for the ISD to come in and, if co-ord well, maybe even finish off the same two in the one round! Cost being with Vader 398 and Screed 388 (or 395 with IntelO on V2).

Man... Now I want to try run Screed with 3x V2 w. GT/Dcaps/QBT/OP(or HIE) - it'd punch hard at 2 targets if lined up right, but it'll be slooooow... Reminds me of Deadpool: "HA! You're about to be killed by a Zamboni!!"?

3x V2s only work with Jerry otherwise they are outmaneuvered by anything. This fleet really needs Vader because of the Cymoon or another way to reroll those reds.

Very true. Even then, you'd keep tripping over each other without more speed. At least with 3x ISD you can stagger their speeds to bring all front arcs to bear in a sweeping manoeuvre.

I would like to see some newer upgrades that would also allow the VSD more manoeuvrabilty without being stuck with Moffy JJ all the time. Maybe a VSD refit with a Team upgrade slot. Ah well, will roll in with the updated list using your suggested V2 build - see how it goes.