I've been a player of Armada for about a year and a half, and have never played a Store Champs before. I have 2 lists I made and need help with which to use, or how to make them more competitive I've had success before with Ackbar (tried and true), but I thought about testing the waters with a Raddus list. Any C&C is most appreciated! Thank you in advance

LIST 1

(Raddus) In Your Face

Commander - Raddus

Objectives - Advanced Gunnery, Hyperspace Assault, and Superior Positions

CR90A (44) (Flagship)

-Admiral Raddus (26)

-TRC (7)

-RBD (5)

-Jaina's Light (2)

TOTAL - 84

CR90A (44)

-TRC (7)

TOTAL - 51

Hammerhead Scout (41)

-DTT (5)

TOTAL - 46

GR75 Medium (18)

-Comms Net (2)

-Bright Hope (2)

TOTAL - 22

MC75 Armored (104)

-Intel Officer (7)

-ECM (7)

-External Racks (3)

-Leading Shots (4)

-X17s (6)

TOTAL - 131

A-Wings x2 (22)

Z-95s x2 (14)

YT-2400 x1 (16)

HWK-290 x1 (12)

GRAND TOTAL - 398

LIST 2

Whales on the Horizon!

Commander - Ackbar

Objectives - Opening Salvo, Planetary Ion Cannon, and Superior Positions

MC75 Armored (104)

-Walex Blissex (5)

-ECM (7)

-External Racks (3)

-Leading Shots (4)

TOTAL - 123

MC80 Command (106) (Flagship)

-Admiral Ackbar (38)

-Intel Officer (7)

-Medical Team (1)

-ECM (7)

-X17s (6)

TOTAL - 165

GR75 Medium (18)

-Leia Organa (3)

-Comms Net (2)

-Bright Hope (2)

TOTAL - 25

Z-95s x2 (14)

A-Wing x1 (11)

Tycho Celchu (16)

YT-2400 x1 (16)

X-Wings x2 (26)

GRAND TOTAL - 396

18 hours ago, ScruffyLookinNerfHerder said:

LIST 1

Objectives - Advanced Gunnery, Hyperspace Assault, and Superior Positions

You can't put advanced Gunnery on the Raddus ship as only a ship on the board can receive the objective token and be the objective ship. Otherwise you could just keep the ship in hyperspace all game and refuse to let your opponent have an opportunity to score the objective. Superior Positions with less than 134pts in squads is also suicide. Sloane would nuke your squads in 2 turns and then spend 3 farming 120 points a turn off the rear arc of your MC80. If I can save you the frustration of an opponent purposely skipping ship shots on your large ship so it can farm superior positions tokens and ramp up their tournament score at your expense I want to do that. Cause that is going to be your tournament if you take superior positions with those squads. If you want the deployment advantage you get with Sup Pos, look to Solar Corona.

18 hours ago, ScruffyLookinNerfHerder said:

CR90A (44) (Flagship)

-Admiral Raddus (26)

-TRC (7)

-RBD (5)

-Jaina's Light (2)

TOTAL - 84

CR90A (44)

-TRC (7)

TOTAL - 51

Hammerhead Scout (41)

-DTT (5)

TOTAL - 46

GR75 Medium (18)

-Comms Net (2)

-Bright Hope (2)

TOTAL - 22

MC75 Armored (104)

-Intel Officer (7)

-ECM (7)

-External Racks (3)

-Leading Shots (4)

-X17s (6)

TOTAL - 131

A-Wings x2 (22)

Z-95s x2 (14)

YT-2400 x1 (16)

HWK-290 x1 (12)

GRAND TOTAL - 398

In my opinion your flagship is too fat. Trim the blast doors for some bid. I would sub out the scout hammerhead for a torpedo with Garels honor and external racks. The scout damage just isn't worth it, and Garels is a good secondary threat. Your dropship MC75 is fine, but the armored works almost as well on the approach as it does being dropped out of hyperspace. When I played raddus I went with a MC75 Ordnance with Expanded Launchers, Assault Concussion Missles, Ordnance Experts and then ECM and Intel Officer. This ship can pour out a lot of damage quickly and dropping it out of hyperspace skips it's ineffective ranges. If you want to drop at mid range, potentially consider a Liberty.

The Raddus fleet is good. It's a solid all comers list, and it's win or loss will depend on how well you can drop the MC75 for it to get multiple successive turns of fire. You will struggle with double ISD, MSU fleets like Gladiators and raiders or MC30's and hammerheads, and heavy bomber fleets like Motti/Thrawn/Rieekan/Dodonna/Garm bombers.

18 hours ago, ScruffyLookinNerfHerder said:

LIST 2

Whales on the Horizon!

Commander - Ackbar

Objectives - Opening Salvo, Planetary Ion Cannon, and Superior Positions

Opening Salvo with 2 large ships is potentially the worst upgrade pick possible. Someone can steal 150 points from you with 1 damage card to each large ship and then run away. What's more likely though is that an MSU would just kill both your large ships with that objective. Seriously, Sato hammerheads could potentially table you turn 2 with that objective. Superior Positions shows up again, and has the same issue as above. PIC is ok. I usually have a hard time (in competitive play) not taking Contested Outpost because it allows you to select the engagement area and force them to come into your guns, which is exactly what Ackbar wants, while you are also scoring points to lessen losses and increase MOV on wins. Ackbar MC80's are also the games premier advanced gunnery ship.

Second - MC75/MC80 Ackbar is very very strong. It's one of the archetypes I struggle to play against and beat. But you are trying to cover it's weaknesses (adding squads, exracks, med teams, etc) instead of amplifying it's strengths. You are better to just lean heavily into Ackbar and trust your ability to destroy things quickly. When I see it played effectively, it usually looks something like this. 5 activations with strategic advisor, 2 super dangerous and hard to kill ships, and a couple of A's just to get in the way but letting you focus on the ship game. Just keep them sitting behind your ships till your enemy jumps in, and then send them up to tie things up and soak a few hits while your ships engage the carriers.

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 398/400

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

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

[ flagship ] MC80 Assault Cruiser (114 points)
- Admiral Ackbar ( 38 points)
- Home One ( 7 points)
- Strategic Adviser ( 4 points)
- Engine Techs ( 8 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- Early Warning System ( 7 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
= 195 total ship cost

MC75 Armored Cruiser (104 points)
- Aspiration ( 3 points)
- Lando Calrissian ( 4 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 138 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- Leia Organa ( 3 points)
- Comms Net ( 2 points)
= 23 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- Comms Net ( 2 points)
= 20 total ship cost

2 A-Wing Squadrons ( 22 points)
= 22 total squadron cost

Overall I personally think this is the stronger option. I know @MandalorianMoose has played this fleet with a lot of success and might be able to see if I am on the right track as far as my suggestions

Basically, ditto everything Broba said.

I'm also a huge fan of having a "low key token farm" setup in my Ackbar lists for tournaments - because you want to give your opponent as many chances to make mistakes as possible, so why not throw 1st/2nd player and objective choices into the mix.

Here's 2 Ackbar lists I've run a fair amount.

List 1 just took a store champ on Saturday:

Assault: Advanced Gunnery
Defense: Fire Lanes
Navigation: Sensor Net

MC80 Assault Cruiser (114)
• Admiral Ackbar (38)
• Strategic Adviser (4)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Early Warning System (7)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (4)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
• Defiance (5)
= 193 Points

CR90 Corvette A (44)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Jaina's Light (2)
= 53 Points

CR90 Corvette A (44)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
= 51 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Slicer Tools (7)
• Bright Hope (2)
= 27 Points

Squadrons:
• 2 x VCX-100 Freighter (30)
• Shara Bey (17)
• Tycho Celchu (16)
= 63 Points

Total Points: 387

List 2 I've been playing for ages, and typically does quite well, but I've never taken it to a SC

Assault: Advanced Gunnery
Defense: Fire Lanes
Navigation: Sensor Net

MC80 Assault Cruiser (114)
• Admiral Ackbar (38)
• Intel Officer (7)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Early Warning System (7)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (4)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
• Defiance (5)
= 196 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Comms Net (2)
• Bright Hope (2)
= 22 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Comms Net (2)
= 20 Points

Assault Frigate Mk2 B (72)
• Intel Officer (7)
• Caitken and Shollan (6)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
= 98 Points

Squadrons:
• 2 x VCX-100 Freighter (30)
• Shara Bey (17)
• Tycho Celchu (16)
= 63 Points

Similar things you'll notice: Tooled out Defiance w. Engine Techs. This is the big kahuna. And Engine Techs are 100% mandatory. Nav a lot. like... at least 3 turns every game. A nav-ing MC80 w. ET can go ||, |, | or |, ||, | - which lets you outmaneuver any ISD that isn't flown by someone named "Jerjerrod", and keeps you on-par unless he's navigating just as much. Fear Positioning is what will keep the rebel systems opponents ships in line, fear positioning of this battle station ship.

2x VCXs let you "win" Firelanes and Sensor Net, unless your opponent has a lot of squadrons and greatly reduces their ability to kill your ships by spending time herding freighters - which tycho/shara further frustrate.

The "Bouncer(s)" (Assault frigate/CR90s) are there to pester people, burn off defense tokens, finish off those ISDs that always seem to survive with 1 or 2 hull, or just ram stuff to sabotage your opponents movement plan.

The "Backup Dancer(s)" (GR75s) hand out tokens (Navigate! Navigate!) and push squadrons occasionally when you need to (1st turn in Sensor net to snag an early 30pts, often on turn 2/3 to trip-up your opponents fighter-jump)

So I actually like to drop the 80 to an assfrig and jainas for another activation, this is what I’ve been running lately

Calamari Salad (399/400)
Rebels

Commander: Admiral Ackbar

[flagship] MC75 Armored Cruiser (104)
- Admiral Ackbar (38)
- Aspiration (3)
- Electronic Counter Measures (7)
- Leading Shots (4)
- Strategic Adviser (4)
- External Racks (3)
- Quad Battery Turrets (5)
- Gunnery Team (7)
= 175 total points

Assault Frigate Mark II B (72)
- Electronic Counter Measures (7)
- Intel Officer (7)
- Slaved Turrets (6)
- Caitken and Shollan (6)
= 98 total points

CR90 Corvette A (44)
- Jaina's Light (2)
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
= 53 total points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
- Comms Net (2)
= 20 total points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
- Comms Net (2)
= 20 total points

Squadrons (33/134):
1x Tycho Celchu A-Wing Squadron (16)
1x Shara Bey A-wing Squadron (17)

no xi7, but between 3 big hitters shields are gone QUICK, especially with IO on the brace

I agree with everything Broba said. I won with this list at our recent story championships. Small showing, but we have some pretty good players who've done well at Regionals and Worlds. 5 activations, gunnery teams on the 75 help you handle MSU, and both it and the 80 hit like a truck. Leia is insurance against Cham/Slicer tools, and you can maneuver into position then use her for a well-timed confire token+dial.

I used to run it with either Tycho/Shara or T/S with 2 A-wings, but eventually decided I prefer to drop them altogether and go for the table against bomber lists. It can table Sloane (particularly Sloane Avenger/Quasar/Goz) without too much difficulty. It struggles with Rebel B-wing lists, against which you need to toilet bowl hard and keep them at a distance.

Name: Store Champs List
Faction: Rebel
Commander: Admiral Ackbar

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

MC80 Assault Cruiser (114)
• Admiral Ackbar (38)
• Strategic Adviser (4)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (4)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
• Defiance (5)
= 186 Points

MC75 Armored Cruiser (104)
• Intel Officer (7)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• External Racks (3)
• Leading Shots (4)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
= 138 Points

CR90 Corvette A (44)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Jaina's Light (2)
= 53 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Leia Organa (3)
• Comms Net (2)
= 23 Points

Squadrons:
= 0 Points

Total Points: 400