So, I've been quite vocal about my negative view of the VSD (not agile enough, not punchy enough, not as tough as we make it to be). Yet, some people pointed that they still made descent combat carrier, as they were always ment to be since game launch.

Ok. So combat AND carrier. Wanted to try to do that. And, because I'm a nerd with love for Star Wars' fluff, I'd like to have my swarm of Tie to go along. This is the result:

Blue Man's Group
Author: Coranhann

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 399/400

Commander: Grand Admiral Thrawn

Assault Objective: Blockade Run
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
Navigation Objective: Dangerous Territory

[ flagship ] Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (73 points)
- Grand Admiral Thrawn ( 32 points)
- Minister Tua ( 2 points)
- Reinforced Blast Doors ( 5 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 115 total ship cost

Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (73 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 76 total ship cost

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)
- Demolisher ( 10 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Engine Techs ( 8 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 81 total ship cost

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

1 "Howlrunner" ( 16 points)
8 TIE Fighter Squadrons ( 64 points)
1 Lambda-class Shuttle ( 15 points)
1 Black Squadron ( 9 points)
= 104 total squadron cost

Fleet created with Armada Warlords

General idea is:

1 - Slow roll fast fleet that need to engage me. Go "fast" (speed 2) on fleet that play red dices. Demo navigates around the side of the field for targets of opportunities.

2 - Use tie swarm to win the squadron game and ping ships afterward.

3 - Thrawn will probably be set to "Squad/Squad/Navigate", or more simply triple Squad command.

I'm concerned about 2 things:

A - VSD are still too slow to jump on anyone. They might punch one Cymoon in the teeth, but a MC80 will evade them easily. I'm not worried about Raddus bomb, if I remember to play my tie in a way preventing it to drop in black dice range.

B - Even if I manage to win the squadron game, I can lose 120 pts by the end of the game with two or three lucky flakk sessions from my opponent.

If you want to navigate, use Jerry. If you use TIE Swarm, use Sloane. You're fleet is very specific, and can benefit more from the specialized Admirals.

Also, i don't see the point of the Lambda. Ditch it for Mithel for +5 points. You'll have 3+3+2 squads to command, so you could upgrade some TIEs to aces.

Both cheaper, giving you 8/9 points to spend. Either upgrade RBD to ECM, or put on 2 DTT.

Logic for the Lambda:

I don't have Boosted Coms, and I want one big ball of fighters, benefiting from Howlrunner. So I can set up everything in a ball and activate a good bunch of them through the lambda. Plus I can also do funky stuff on objective tokens... situational but still there.

Problem with going specific is just that: Going specific. If I have sloane, the ship in my list don't make sense. If I go Jerry, the squadron in my list don't make sense.

Thrawn allow me to do 2 things at the same time. High quality activations. Good, I have 2 high quality medium, and one small that will enjoy having 2 Tie covering him, and Thrawn allow it to activate them, while it keeps navigating around.

Unless you are REALLY good at navigating, VSD are a trap. They are good carriers, but they get outshined by more specialized ship (Quasar), while they redeeming quality (being okay brawlers) is impaired by their lack of mobility. So again, I need them to navigate AND activate squadron.

I might take Valen Rudor and save some point for an upgrade, as I have an odd number of squadron, and Valen hits like a truck.

But going Jerry or Sloane ... I would be running a completely different fleet in both case. Maybe not with JerJerrod. Need to think about it.

Agree with @Rimsen‘s recommendation, but you’re also right about a more specialized admiral clashing with the ships. A flak-oriented bomber wing could solve both problems. (IE you can play fortress-style to hold carrier fleets at bay or freely bomb less squad-committed fleets.) Then you can also have a very maneuverable source of antiship damage to complement your not-so-maneuverable carriers. If you’re bringing a Lambda and a significant squad investment, bring Intel and Fire Lanes. It’s a large part of what you’re paying 15 points for and can win games.

Can you develop on the "Flak oriented bomber wing" concept, please ? Do you mean as in Ruthless Strategist?

About the objectives... you're are right, but I'm afraid of double VCX lists. When you have one strategic that is central to your squadron activation, it gets hard to properly place it. But I'll think about it. But at least upgrading some TIE to Bomber won't be that expensive.

Ruthless Strategists are a hard sell over Ordnance Experts, but there’s definitely a good case to be made for them. The VSD-1 is one of the only ships I’d put Ordnance Pods on. And Kallus is great to slap on somewhere.

Faction: Imperial
Commander: Moff Jerjerrod

Assault: Advanced Gunnery
Defense: Contested Outpost
Navigation: Dangerous Territory

Gladiator I (56)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• External Racks (3)
• Demolisher (10)
= 73 Points

Victory I (73)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• H9 Turbolasers (8)
• External Racks (3)
• Warlord (8)
= 96 Points

Victory I (73)
• Moff Jerjerrod (23)
• Hondo Ohnaka (2)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Dual Turbolaser Turrets (5)
• External Racks (3)
= 110 Points

Squadrons:
• Boba Fett (26)
• Colonel Jendon (20)
• Maarek Stele (21)
• Gamma Squadron (10)
• Whisper (20)
• Captain Jonus (16)
= 113 Points

Total Points: 392

I think this is interesting.