Here is Game 2 of our Task Force tournament prep for the day. Here are the lists:

Name: Task Force Cataclysm
Faction: Imperial

Assault: Station Assault
Defense: Contested Outpost
Navigation: Solar Corona

Onager Star Destroyer (110)
• Wulff Yularen (7)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Veteran Gunners (5)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
• Superheavy Composite Beam Turbolasers (7)
• Cataclysm (5)
= 147 Points

Gozanti Cruisers (23)
= 23 Points

Squadrons:
• Ciena Ree (17)
• Valen Rudor (13)
= 30 Points

Total Points: 200

My goal with this list was to get the Onager on the table for my community to see and purchase (already has brought some players back to buy and play it), to see how it works, and to hopefully destroy something at extreme range.

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Name: Task Force Phantom
Faction: Imperial

Assault: Surprise Attack
Defense: Fighter Ambush
Navigation: Superior Positions

Quasar Fire I (54)
• Taskmaster Grint (5)
• Flight Controllers (6)
• Expanded Hangar Bay (5)
• Boosted Comms (4)
= 74 Points

Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Boosted Comms (4)
= 27 Points

Squadrons:
• 7 x TIE Phantom Squadron (98)
= 98 Points

Total Points: 199

After last week's Firespray swarm, my opponent want to try a swarm himself, but went with Phantoms. Not a bad strategy, but it just meant that all I cared about was destroying his Quasar.

My opponent had initiative and chose to be second player. I chose his Superior Positions. I didn't mind deploying everything first, as I was planning to deploy in the corner anyways and I did not think that he would be able to get any victory points from the objective before I destroyed his flagship.

Deployment: I deployed in the right corner, with my squadrons protecting the Onager's rear hull. He deployed everything directly in front of the Onager's superweapon...

Round 1: I creep ahead at speed 1, getting a Concentrate Fire token for Cataclysm and a Navigate token for my Gozanti. My squads move up ahead of Cataclysm. He barrels forward at speed 3, putting all his squadrons in close-medium range of the flak from my Onager. Important note: I do not place my targeting token for the Onager, as I place to use the Cataclysm title to do it at the top of the next round.

Round 2: I forget to place my targeting token at the start the ship phase (Cataclysm)… so no superweapon... I could not have been lined up my perfect to just annihilate the Quasar, but I forget to do the one thing the Onager needs to do to fire. Instead of doing that (the smartest thing), I did a less smart thing (still smart though) and activated my Gozanti, flinging Ciena and Valen up to lock down all his Phantoms for the round, even destroying one. While he uses most of his squadrons to bring Ciena down, they pay dearly for it due to her counter. Without my superweapon being charged, Cataclysm just drops its front arc into the Quasar, leaving it with minimal shields and two damage cards. Using Gunnery Teams, I flak most of his squadrons, destroying another one. I absolutely do not forget to put down my targeting token, but do so at Ignition (Close).

Round 3: The Quasar is now outside of Cataclysm's special firing arc, so I must attack the Gozanti. No accuracy, so he just scatters my eight or so damage roll. Just not my day for superweapons. I still am able to attack the Quasar with my regular front arc using Gunnery Teams, which destroys it. 200-17 win (still not sure how this would score in a Task Force tournament).

Thoughts: Two things. First, do not forget to deploy your targeting token at the end of the round (or at the start of the ship phase if you have the Cataclysm title); your Onager's superweapon is kind of useless without it). Second, not a great idea to deploy directly in front of the Onager's superweapon, unless you have a plan to mitigate the damage or get out of the way. If I have been more on my game, this match should have been over during the first activation of Round 2. Hope you enjoyed the BATREP.

Slight correction, it's the end of the Onager's activation, not end of round, for placing the ignition token. (without Cata, of course)

13 minutes ago, Formynder4 said:

Slight correction, it's the end of the Onager's activation, not end of round, for placing the ignition token. (without Cata, of course)

Thank you for the correction. That’s why I generally don’t read through the rules only once, but really wanted to get it on the table.

This is why you don't play Quasar/Gozanti for task force.

If you must play Quasar (and it is a decent enough ship) have a raider or arquitens to back it up just in case the worst happens and your carrier gets shot down. My money goes on arquitens command cruiser because it has better long range dice (you don't want to get close) & can command squads better than the raider.

Lesson 2 is: 7 squads is probably too many, & Phantoms ain't gonna cut it.

My take from this: Stick at 4 squads, maybe 5 (just what the quasar can command). Use defenders preferably (although bombers will do in a pinch). Basically make sure whatever fighters you pick can a) take a few hits & b) strike effectively at capital ships. Unique squads are good value - use them.

I know it seems like I'm doing more critique on the opposing list than yours - that's because yours doesn't really need any changes...
I'm not a huge fan of the Xi7's in this configuration: I'd rather go with something that gives you additional dice modification, but that's a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things.

Good report, and a very effective "what not to do".
Which to be fair is exactly why we do testing games, & is exactly what this game was.

Thanks for the feedback, @namdoolb! My friend's list definitely wasn't optimal, but I applaud him on getting away from his "safety list." He usually just runs Cymoons and Gozantis, so the fact that he is venturing out and trying new things is pretty amazing (he has run three different triangles in our past three games!).