Last week another player from Cochise Squadron and I got out of our comfort zones and ran fleets from the opposing factions. As a primarily Rebel player, I wanted to try out this Thrawn 2-ship that everyone has been talking about (and was prevalent at Worlds) and my opponent wanted to ditch his Vader Cymoons and try out Commander Sato.
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Name: Thrawn 2-Ship
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Grand Admiral Thrawn
Assault: Station Assault
Defense: Fighter Ambush
Navigation: Superior Positions
Imperial II (120)
• Grand Admiral Thrawn (32)
• Governor Pryce (7)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Boosted Comms (4)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (4)
• Quad Battery Turrets (5)
• Avenger (5)
= 191 Points
Quasar Fire I (54)
• Captain Brunson (5)
• Boosted Comms (4)
• Squall (3)
= 66 Points
Squadrons:
• Maarek Stele (21)
• Colonel Jendon (20)
• Dengar (20)
• Captain Jonus (16)
• 2 x TIE Defender Squadron (32)
• Tempest Squadron (13)
• TIE Bomber Squadron (9)
= 131 Points
Total Points: 388
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Name: Sato's Neb-B HH Gunline
Faction: Rebel
Commander: Commander Sato
Assault: Opening Salvo
Defense: Contested Outpost
Navigation: Solar Corona
Nebulon-B Support Refit (51)
• Commander Sato (32)
• Salvation (7)
= 90 Points
Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Assault Concussion Missiles (7)
= 50 Points
Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Assault Concussion Missiles (7)
= 50 Points
Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Assault Concussion Missiles (7)
= 50 Points
Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Assault Concussion Missiles (7)
= 50 Points
GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Ahsoka Tano (2)
• Comms Net (2)
= 22 Points
Squadrons:
• Hera Syndulla (28)
• Han Solo (26)
• Shara Bey (17)
• Tycho Celchu (16)
= 87 Points
Total Points: 399
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With the initiative, I chose to be first player and selected his Solar Corona. I deployed in the center at speed 1 while he deployed mostly in the corner (at speed 3) to take advantage of the objective. I made a minor error in deployment, in that there were no obstacles nearby, so Brunson was useless for a few turns. I set Pryce to Round 3, hoping to slow crawl then jump in for the last/first, and set all my Thrawn dials to Squadron commands.
Round 1 (pictures show the state of the board at the end of the round): I moved cautiously ahead and set up my squadrons in a screen to pounce at the start of the next Round. He divided his fleet, moving the bulk of his ships towards the flank of the Quasar and two Hammerheads and his squadrons in the opposite direction (he told me later in our after-action review that he did this to force the ISD to pick a group to go after, as well as to outlast the Pryce round last/first).
Round 2: Squadrons activated by the Quasar (Thrawn dial 1), while staying just out of range of his squadrons, pouch on the nearest Hammerhead, bringing it to one hull remaining. After it activates with just some returning flak, it is destroyed by two of the ISDs activated TIE Defenders. While his squadrons dove into the fray to try to kill Jendon and to start getting Sato's ability to trigger, a leap to speed three with my ISD put three of his four remaining combat ships well in range to start the Pryce round.
Round 3: My Quasar activated first (Thrawn dial 2), throwing Jonus and Dengar towards the Hammerheads in preparation for the Pryce last/first, with everything else going towards killing Hera (sorry, Space Mom). Even with Brunson, the combined might of two Hammerheads (ACMs hurt... a lot) and the Nebulon-B's side arc had just enough damage to destroy the Quasar. The remaining Hammerhead fired off its D-Caps to start damaging the ISD shields, but it would not get to activate in black range for the rest of the game. Tempest Squadron dies from attacks by Shara and Tycho, allowing them to start focusing on Jendon again. Dengar also flew in to allow the other squadrons to move away and go after the remaining ships.
Round 4: Activating the ISD, my final remaining ship, and its four squadrons (Thrawn dial 3), it one-shot my opponent's Neb-B flagship and starting putting damage onto the remaining Hammerhead. My squadrons started putting damage onto Tycho, as they were simply too afraid to attack Shara. The ISD is in position to end it in the next round.
Round 5: While I did not take picture of the final board state, the squadrons (with the help of Dengar) were able to overwhelm and destroy the last Hammerhead and the ISD (with the help of Jonus) destroyed the GR75. Another squadron and Dengar hopped away from Shara and Tycho, leaving the final score at 400-79 (10-1). It was a fun game, but it was my opponent's first foray into being a Rebel traitor, so he would have done much better if he had some more practice with this list. Unfortunately, he played very cautiously with Han the whole game, so I believe he only got one shot off before it ended, which was a pity.
Thoughts: While the Thrawn 2-ship is definitely powerful, it was easy to see in the game how the Pryce last/first can be mitigated. If I had not destroyed one of his Hammerheads, I would have definitely had to make a tough decision on which group I would have to go after. I can also see this list having a lot of trouble with another heavy squadron fleet, especially if Dengar is killed. Like I said, I had fun, but I personally prefer more activations. So this week, it's back to a Rebel MSU (and my opponent has already told me he is going back to triangles for our next game).