Commander: Commander Sato

Assault Objective:
Defense Objective:
Navigation Objective:

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)
- Admonition ( 8 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 86 total ship cost

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)
- Foresight ( 8 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 86 total ship cost

[ flagship ] CR90 Corvette B (39 points)
- Commander Sato ( 32 points)
- Liberator ( 2 points)
- Take Evasive Action! ( 6 points)
= 79 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- Bright Hope ( 2 points)
- Adar Tallon ( 10 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
- Bomber Command Center ( 8 points)
= 42 total ship cost

1 VCX-100 Freighter ( 15 points) (bump adar range with luke)
1 Luke Skywalker ( 20 points) (adar double on luke, on death switch to dutch, then tycho)
1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)
1 Han Solo ( 26 points)
1 Rogue Squadron ( 14 points)
1 Dutch Vander ( 16 points)
= 107 total squadron cost

Any thoughts appreciated

2 hours ago, EbonHawk said:

Commander: Commander Sato

Assault Objective:
Defense Objective:
Navigation Objective:

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)
- Admonition ( 8 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 86 total ship cost

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)
- Foresight ( 8 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 86 total ship cost

[ flagship ] CR90 Corvette B (39 points)
- Commander Sato ( 32 points)
- Liberator ( 2 points)
- Take Evasive Action! ( 6 points)
= 79 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- Bright Hope ( 2 points)
- Adar Tallon ( 10 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
- Bomber Command Center ( 8 points)
= 42 total ship cost

1 VCX-100 Freighter ( 15 points) (bump adar range with luke)
1 Luke Skywalker ( 20 points) (adar double on luke, on death switch to dutch, then tycho)
1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)
1 Han Solo ( 26 points)
1 Rogue Squadron ( 14 points)
1 Dutch Vander ( 16 points)
= 107 total squadron cost

Any thoughts appreciated

Looks pretty good; only three things I’d consider: one, black dice like bids. Having initiative (or at least, a bid for the option) is pretty important to me when I’m running MC30s. To that end, I would cut one squadron... probably Rogue Squadron. Alternatively, you could cut Liberator, Take Evasive Action, and Bomber Command Center (your list only really has a couple of decent bombers anyway; having first player with those MC30s is probably more important than rerolls on just three bombers, even with Tallon).

Second, don’t get too attached to who you’re planning to use Tallon on. Be flexible; sometimes you’ll want to reactivate Luke, but sometimes it will be Rogue, or a different squad entirely. A lot will depend on game state, positioning, and need.

Finally, with APTs on both MC30s and Luke already in the list, it’s possible you’d do better with Dodonna than Sato. He’s also 12 fewer points, which buys you most (maybe all) of a decent bid. He’s also easier to use; if your opponent gets the jump on your squadrons, Sato may spend a good portion of the game doing nothing, while Dodonna might still help you (but that’s always a risk when running Sato).

8 hours ago, Cpt ObVus said:

Looks pretty good; only three things I’d consider: one, black dice like bids. Having initiative (or at least, a bid for the option) is pretty important to me when I’m running MC30s. To that end, I would cut one squadron... probably Rogue Squadron. Alternatively, you could cut Liberator, Take Evasive Action, and Bomber Command Center (your list only really has a couple of decent bombers anyway; having first player with those MC30s is probably more important than rerolls on just three bombers, even with Tallon).

I did have a big originally, but with Onagers now especially I'm happy going second to see where people will move into range for long range sniping, with squads chasing down anything that escapes the net. TEE I'm testing atm but it is very good with MC 30's allowing you to do 1-1-1-1 at speed 4. or 0-1-1-2 etc. Bomber Command is a must slot with Luke, double do with Adar. List wise I've got enough to take a 7-4+ with good piloting as first or second, luke can take that to a 10-1 alone, but he can whiff so much and with escort he just can't whiff. Luke + Adar + BCC is 38 points, so roughly a Hammerhead, but in 1 turn it can kill a raider, or a glad/kitten with a structural damage, or combined with Han Solo he can chase down that escaping ship on 1-2 hull... But when he rolls blanks you need BCC to at least try for a hit, as even 4 base hits is a dead raider in two turns.

8 hours ago, Cpt ObVus said:

Second, don’t get too attached to who you’re planning to use Tallon on. Be flexible; sometimes you’ll want to reactivate Luke, but sometimes it will be Rogue, or a different squad entirely. A lot will depend on game state, positioning, and need.

I use Luke as area denial, basically you can fly into my chosen flank but you may not fly away after.. with BC and Relay Luke can get some serious threat range, the only time I wouldn't do Luke is if he wasn't able to get a shot off at a ship, or get one after the adar move in squad phase. Then I would look at either dutch for double activations or extra dmg/bomber, then rouges/tycho.

8 hours ago, Cpt ObVus said:

Finally, with APTs on both MC30s and Luke already in the list, it’s possible you’d do better with Dodonna than Sato. He’s also 12 fewer points, which buys you most (maybe all) of a decent bid. He’s also easier to use; if your opponent gets the jump on your squadrons, Sato may spend a good portion of the game doing nothing, while Dodonna might still help you (but that’s always a risk when running Sato).

Yes, Dodonna would be a nice fit and have similar lists with him in, but dodonna can't throw 6 black dice from a MC30 side arc with Apts xD Long range Apts is also great for burning tokens off on the way in, with mass evades onus is staying at long range, especially Onagers who I can cancel many dice from, and fly away from their ignition arc while also dealing APTs. Or take out their quaser which is sat miles behind their squads, then my rouges can clean up.

Haven't run sato before really so going on a spree of trying them all

I like Luke too, but you’re really all-in for one squadron here.

I think the time to go with BCC and all that is when you have like, Luke, Gold, Nym, and three B-Wings; otherwise, you’re just not getting your money’s worth. Would you pay 28 points for a Luke Skywalker Squadron card that had his ability, plus, “while attacking a ship, you may reroll one die?” ‘Cause I wouldn’t. Luke’s still a double-Brace Escort who throws 4 blue against squads, has Bomber, and throws his shield-penetrating black die. He’s great for 20, no need to make him cost 28 for a reroll you’re gonna use 2-3 times per game. You do you, though. List looks solid!

On 3/2/2020 at 6:17 PM, Cpt ObVus said:

I like Luke too, but you’re really all-in for one squadron here.

I think the time to go with BCC and all that is when you have like, Luke, Gold, Nym, and three B-Wings; otherwise, you’re just not getting your money’s worth. Would you pay 28 points for a Luke Skywalker Squadron card that had his ability, plus, “while attacking a ship, you may reroll one die?” ‘Cause I wouldn’t. Luke’s still a double-Brace Escort who throws 4 blue against squads, has Bomber, and throws his shield-penetrating black die. He’s great for 20, no need to make him cost 28 for a reroll you’re gonna use 2-3 times per game. You do you, though. List looks solid!

Points: 397/400

Commander: Commander Sato

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)
- Foresight ( 8 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Reinforced Blast Doors ( 5 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 91 total ship cost

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)
- Admonition ( 8 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Reinforced Blast Doors ( 5 points)
- Spinal Armament ( 9 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 100 total ship cost

[ flagship ] CR90 Corvette B (39 points)
- Commander Sato ( 32 points)
= 71 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- Bright Hope ( 2 points)
- Adar Tallon ( 10 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
- Bomber Command Center ( 8 points)
= 42 total ship cost

1 Han Solo ( 26 points)
1 Luke Skywalker ( 20 points)
1 Dutch Vander ( 16 points)
1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)
1 VCX-100 Freighter ( 15 points)
= 93 total squadron cost

Hello ! Reminds me of another conversation we had on this forum

2 things:

1 - Your corvette is clearly a Lifeboat. Maybe put Sato on a MC30, turn the corvette to a GR-75 and use the extra point for squadrons?

2 - Bomber Command & Boosted Coms works ok together, but they marry poorly with relay. Beware of that.

3 - (Spanish inquisition style) Maybe consider Biggs. With BCC, his red anti ship gets a bit better, and he'll improve Luke survivability. Add in Wedges for good measure of anti squadron / bombing, and you have 3 X-wings escorts, with Luke properly covered.

Interesting. Sato is tough, both in timing and in the fact that he can be frustrated at range by evades. Still, he is the white whale of Rebel commanders, and someone may figure him out someday.

Anyway, here’s my take on your list.

(392/400)
Rebels - Author: RogueCommander

Commander: Commander Sato

[flagship] MC30c Scout Frigate (69)
- Commander Sato (32)
- Admonition (8)
- Reinforced Blast Doors (5)
- Lando Calrissian (4)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
- Ordnance Experts (4)
= 127 total points

MC30c Scout Frigate (69)
- Foresight (8)
- Reinforced Blast Doors (5)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
- Ordnance Experts (4)
= 91 total points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
- Boosted Comms (4)
- Adar Tallon (10)
= 32 total points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
- Bomber Command Center (8)
- Boosted Comms (4)
= 30 total points

Squadrons (112/134):
1x Luke Skywalker X-Wing Squadron (20)
1x Wedge Antilles X-Wing Squadron (19)
1x Biggs Darklighter X-Wing Squadron (19)
1x HWK-290 (12)
1x Tycho Celchu A-Wing Squadron (16)
1x Millennium Falcon - Han Solo (26)

this is my latest version of the build, acting on play experience and advice

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 397/400

Commander: Commander Sato

Assault Objective: Opening Salvo
Defense Objective: Asteroid Tactics
Navigation Objective: Infested Fields

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)
- Foresight ( 8 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Reinforced Blast Doors ( 5 points)
- Spinal Armament ( 9 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 100 total ship cost

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)
- Admonition ( 8 points)
- Lando Calrissian (off) ( 4 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Reinforced Blast Doors ( 5 points)
- Spinal Armament ( 9 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 104 total ship cost

[ flagship ] CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
- Commander Sato ( 32 points)
- Jainas Light ( 2 points)
- General Draven ( 3 points) (really optional, just meta)
- Reinforced Blast Doors ( 5 points)
= 86 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
= 18 total ship cost

1 Han Solo ( 26 points)
1 Shara Bey ( 17 points)
1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)
1 Rogue Squadron ( 14 points)
1 YT-2400 ( 16 points)
= 89 total squadron cost

2 hours ago, EbonHawk said:

this is my latest version of the build, acting on play experience and advice

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 397/400

Commander: Commander Sato

Assault Objective: Opening Salvo
Defense Objective: Asteroid Tactics
Navigation Objective: Infested Fields

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)
- Foresight ( 8 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Reinforced Blast Doors ( 5 points)
- Spinal Armament ( 9 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 100 total ship cost

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)
- Admonition ( 8 points)
- Lando Calrissian (off) ( 4 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Reinforced Blast Doors ( 5 points)
- Spinal Armament ( 9 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 104 total ship cost

[ flagship ] CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
- Commander Sato ( 32 points)
- Jainas Light ( 2 points)
- General Draven ( 3 points) (really optional, just meta)
- Reinforced Blast Doors ( 5 points)
= 86 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
= 18 total ship cost

1 Han Solo ( 26 points)
1 Shara Bey ( 17 points)
1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)
1 Rogue Squadron ( 14 points)
1 YT-2400 ( 16 points)
= 89 total squadron cost

I bet this does waaay better if you cut one of those 14-16 point squads and get a sizable bid for first with those black dice. Alternatively, lose the Reinforced Blast Doors. On 4 hull ships, there’s a very narrow window when these things can help; on one side of that window, you’re healthy, on the other, you’re dead. RBDs like ships with a bit more room to take damage. At least, that’s my experience with them. I think you’re better off with Advanced Projectors on Admonition, and not filling the slot on Foresight, or *maybe* trying Early Warning Systems. And just don’t over-upgrade your CR90. The Defensive Retrofit slot is usually a waste on that ship.

13 hours ago, Cpt ObVus said:

I bet this does waaay better if you cut one of those 14-16 point squads and get a sizable bid for first with those black dice. Alternatively, lose the Reinforced Blast Doors. On 4 hull ships, there’s a very narrow window when these things can help; on one side of that window, you’re healthy, on the other, you’re dead. RBDs like ships with a bit more room to take damage. At least, that’s my experience with them. I think you’re better off with Advanced Projectors on Admonition, and not filling the slot on Foresight, or *maybe* trying Early Warning Systems. And just don’t over-upgrade your CR90. The Defensive Retrofit slot is usually a waste on that ship.

I agree sooo much with Cpt ObVus on the Reinforced Blast Doors: It must be used at the begining of the Ship Phase. So it assume your MC30 didn't got destroyed in the turn they started receiving damages. Possibly, but not guaranteed. I never fail to use them on 10+ hp ships. I sometime get deleted before having the chance to use them on smaller ships.

Instead, consider an Expert Shield Tech on the Foresight. The title will make you goble down your shield in no time. What to do with these 2 redirect afterward? Remove 1 damage from attacks is a great idea! Same point cost as RBD, possibly more opportunity to use him.

21 minutes ago, Coranhann said:

I agree sooo much with Cpt ObVus on the Reinforced Blast Doors: It must be used at the begining of the Ship Phase. So it assume your MC30 didn't got destroyed in the turn they started receiving damages. Possibly, but not guaranteed. I never fail to use them on 10+ hp ships. I sometime get deleted before having the chance to use them on smaller ships.

14 hours ago, Cpt ObVus said:

On 4 hull ships, there’s a very narrow window when these things can help; on one side of that window, you’re healthy, on the other, you’re dead. RBDs like ships with a bit more room to take damage.

I would disagree with you both on RBD, if you time them well enough. Especially once you're in blue/black range the ability to be able to allow up to 3 dmg past your shields is big, which you can then strip start of next turn. If you can play the ships right you can usually always get your moneys worth, and don't overlook just removing 1/2 dmg either! Even just 1 combined with an eng command for shields can be enough to survive that turn, for 5 points. I find too many people try and get the full 3 cards use out of them.

Some shoots will kill you regardless of RBD and that's just luck of the dice in many cases, but providing you're not just flying into double arcs of unactivated ships you can get money worth, and allows a ram of 2 as well while you have full shields, block a ship in place, tank shot on shields, and remove dmg start of turn.

Also my meta is heavy activations so sometimes you need to tank off a few dmg. You really don't want Sato to die so if you can keep Jania's alive you want to, and the 30s shooting at long range aren't facing enough dice coming back so long as they're flown correctly to not get to use their RBDs, again as said even for just 1/2 dmg.

26 minutes ago, Coranhann said:

Instead, consider an Expert Shield Tech on the Foresight. The title will make you goble down your shield in no time. What to do with these 2 redirect afterward? Remove 1 damage from attacks is a great idea! Same point cost as RBD, possibly more opportunity to use him.

I like the idea of EST on Foresight, defo worth a try imo will fiddle round. Really adds to survivability, also been toying with Intel officers of both Admo/Fore just to nail home that dmg.

14 hours ago, Cpt ObVus said:

I bet this does waaay better if you cut one of those 14-16 point squads and get a sizable bid for first with those black dice

I'm not wedded to a bid, I don't mind going first or last with this list as it can do well as both. I wouldn't drop a squad as it's already light for Sato facing heavy squads, I would drop a GR but is needed as usually face 5/6 activations with Crovus. So far though I've faced mass modi kittens, onagers, dual ISDs, and rogue bombers, dealt with them all so far.

1 hour ago, Coranhann said:

...Instead, consider an Expert Shield Tech on the Foresight. The title will make you goble down your shield in no time. What to do with these 2 redirect afterward? Remove 1 damage from attacks is a great idea! Same point cost as RBD, possibly more opportunity to use him.

Oh yeah, I like the Expert Shield Tech idea. Although, I’m also a big believer in cutting upgrades aggressively, especially when you can get better initiative bids with close ranged attack ships.

Don’t feel like you need to fill every upgrade slot on every ship. Sometimes going for a bid will let you force the opponent into playing your objectives, or force him into situations where you might get first attacks (or even better, last/firsts!), and that might just be waaaay better than making one or two of your ships marginally more survivable.

Move your commander onto Salvation it's really the only non-ordnance slot ship besides maybe Vanguard that is worth including in a Sato list

On 3/10/2020 at 1:55 PM, Nomemories said:

Move your commander onto Salvation it's really the only non-ordnance slot ship besides maybe Vanguard that is worth including in a Sato list

A) He doesn’t have the points room for Salvation or Vanguard. Though he might if he trimmed RBDs from all of these ships. BUT

B) He’d then be violating the First Rule of Armada fleet building: NEVER put your commander on a Nebulon-B Frigate.

Neb-Bs are just horribly fragile. Sure, Aux Shield Teams gave them a tiny bit of help, but they’re just not built to last. And (now) Onagers just chew them apart. If you put a Nebulon-B in your list, you need to know that it’s probably going to die. Don’t gift-wrap your 30+ point commander inside of it!

First up, I like that you're giving Sato a try. I myself am experimenting with a Sato list and am finally hitting upon something that could work, though it's quite different to what you've got here.

Are you intending to take this list to tournaments? If so then something to consider...

In order to get a 10-1 you'll mostly need to table your opponent and lose less than 101 points worth of your own stuff.

This means that, assuming you lose nothing else (looking at you Rogue squadron), you can afford to lose any ship except Admonition and will still be able to get full points. Dropping a single upgrade from admo will put it into the expendable category as well. But of course that comes at the expense of making it more likely for you to lose it in the first place.

Just a thought for you to weigh up.

On 3/12/2020 at 9:17 AM, Cpt ObVus said:

A) He doesn’t have the points room for Salvation or Vanguard. Though he might if he trimmed RBDs from all of these ships. BUT

B) He’d then be violating the First Rule of Armada fleet building: NEVER put your commander on a Nebulon-B Frigate.

Neb-Bs are just horribly fragile. Sure, Aux Shield Teams gave them a tiny bit of help, but they’re just not built to last. And (now) Onagers just chew them apart. If you put a Nebulon-B in your list, you need to know that it’s probably going to die. Don’t gift-wrap your 30+ point commander inside of it!

I switched up the RBD's off your advice just to give it a test, while personal meta BD's help a lot, you're right could be nice for tourneys.

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 398/400

Commander: Commander Sato

Assault Objective: Opening Salvo
Defense Objective: Asteroid Tactics
Navigation Objective: Doomed Station

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)
- Foresight ( 8 points)
- Expert Shield Tech ( 5 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Spinal Armament ( 9 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 100 total ship cost

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)
- Admonition ( 8 points)
- Lando Calrissian (off) ( 4 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Spinal Armament ( 9 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 99 total ship cost

[ flagship ] CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
- Commander Sato ( 32 points)
- Jainas Light ( 2 points)
- Intel Officer ( 7 points)
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)
= 92 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
= 18 total ship cost

1 Rogue Squadron ( 14 points)
1 YT-2400 ( 16 points)
1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)
1 Han Solo ( 26 points)
1 Shara Bey ( 17 points)
= 89 total squadron cost

On 3/12/2020 at 8:02 PM, Flengin said:

First up, I like that you're giving Sato a try. I myself am experimenting with a Sato list and am finally hitting upon something that could work, though it's quite different to what you've got here.

Are you intending to take this list to tournaments? If so then something to consider...

In order to get a 10-1 you'll mostly need to table your opponent and lose less than 101 points worth of your own stuff.

This means that, assuming you lose nothing else (looking at you Rogue squadron), you can afford to lose any ship except Admonition and will still be able to get full points. Dropping a single upgrade from admo will put it into the expendable category as well. But of course that comes at the expense of making it more likely for you to lose it in the first place.

Just a thought for you to weigh up.

Good food for thought!

As for sato experiments I've been thinking of a sato 3 ship also:

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 390/400

Commander: Commander Sato

Assault Objective: Opening Salvo
Defense Objective: Asteroid Tactics
Navigation Objective: Solar Corona

[ flagship ] MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)
- Commander Sato ( 32 points)
- Foresight ( 8 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Spinal Armament ( 9 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 127 total ship cost

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)
- Admonition ( 8 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Spinal Armament ( 9 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 95 total ship cost

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Spinal Armament ( 9 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 87 total ship cost

1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)
1 Shara Bey ( 17 points)
1 Han Solo ( 26 points)
1 Ketsu Onyo ( 22 points)
= 81 total squadron cost

I almost always recommend against Spinal Armament on MC30s. Here... maybe it works? But my inclination is to suggest Enhanced Armament instead.

Also: your inclination to include Han & Tycho in a Sato list is good, but you’re gonna need more squads than this. If these guys get jumped on by a 120+ point squad list, they’re just hosed, which shuts down Sato, which kills your entire concept.

1 hour ago, Cpt ObVus said:

Also: your inclination to include Han & Tycho in a Sato list is good, but you’re gonna need more squads than this. If these guys get jumped on by a 120+ point squad list, they’re just hosed, which shuts down Sato, which kills your entire concept.

Agreed, low squads suit my meta more atm but if going to a store champs you're right I would defo need to add some more in, who would be your picks?

39 minutes ago, EbonHawk said:

Agreed, low squads suit my meta more atm but if going to a store champs you're right I would defo need to add some more in, who would be your picks?

Well, you gotta make a bit of room, obviously. I might try cutting back to Admonition, Foresight, and two GR75 Medium Transports. Then I’d take those points and try... hmm. You’ll have a little carrier-power with the flotillas, so maybe hardcore Rogue isn’t AS necessary. Han & Tycho for sure, Sato loves them. Jan’s Intel allows her to give an engaging enemy the slip, so she (and others) can mark targets freely. Corran’s good, ‘cause he’s faster than most Alliance squads. Luke can add some bombing punch while he’s marking targets. Wedge & Dutch are good boys, especially together. Kanan is fantastically disruptive. Dash is good, but reeeaaally expensive.

There’s a ton of good choices.

You could also go with cheaper, lower quality guys like YT-2400s & Rogue Squadron, but losing defense tokens is a tough pill for me to swallow.

@ebon hawk

Ok, here’s three offbeat Sato squad suggestions that I’ve used in the past.

1) An A-wing. This is particularly good for MC30’s traveling at high speed, and especially if they are away from the rest of you fleet, attempting to flank the enemy.

The purpose of this A-wing is to be an emergency reserve squad for when you need to trigger Sato but have no squads near the target.

Bank a Squad token early. Keep your A-wing close to the MC30 and on the other side of it to the enemy fleet to prevent it getting easily locked down by enemy squads. It should be able to keep up with the 30.

Then, on the turn that you need it, toss the token and send the A-wing in just before letting rip. Be careful not to send it in before you need it to trigger Sato.

The extra (non-bomber) black dice is nice too.

I guess you could also use Shara or Tycho in this role, but I don’t see the point as this squad will often avoid squad combat so you’re paying points for nothing. Green squadron is worth a look, but only if 1) you’ve got a point that you don’t know what to do with and 2) you don’t expect it to do any better attacking ships.

2) VCX-100. This one works well if you intend to have a slower moving ‘body’ of your fleet for your opponent to aim for and are up against forward facing firepower.

To use, simply plonk it down between the two fleets, close enough to you ships that you can support it properly, but far enough away so that it’ll trigger Sato the turn they come within range of your fleet. If it’s gaining obstruction from an obstacle, this is so much the better.

This creates a Sato activation bubble that your opponent will either have to deal with or enter. What makes it so appealing is that it’s an 8 hull squad for 15 points. If your opponent wants to reliably kill it in a turn, they’ll likely need to devote about 60-80 points worth of squads to do the job. Otherwise it’ll do its thing and there’s nothing much that can stop it (laughs at flak). It’ll happily ride the front of slow moving medium/large ships as well.

On top of that, it’ll give your opponent reason to wonder if you’ve taken strategic based Objectives. In which case they might just hand you first player (something that works well with MC30s) in fear of what might happen otherwise. This goes triple if you bring two and indeed, if you do bring two, there’s very good reason to take such Objectives.

The two weaknesses of the VCX is its relatively slow speed and its low anti-ship capability. There will be games where you will feel these weaknesses.

3) Shara Bey. Same role as the VCX but is faster, better at shooting ships, more expensive, doesn’t have strategic and scares enemy squadrons.

Final point.

I’ve been running an 8 squad build for Sato that has: Shara, A-wing, VCX-100, Gold, Rogue, Hera, 2 x YT2400.

The idea here is that the rogues help to win the squad fight but do so by attacking the edges of the opposing squad blob, taking down a squad or 2 each turn while only engaging whatever they’re trying to kill. Good in theory, but how do you get the enemy squads into range of your rogues?

This is where Shara and the VCX come in. By sitting them between the two fleets my opponent either has to send their own squads in to take them down or feel the wrath of Sato when their ships close with mine. If they engage Shara and the VCX, my rogues move in to counterattack and pick their squads to pieces. The VCX can often survive an initial squad rush and will then contribute its own anti squad attacks, while Shara…nobody really wants to squad rush Shara when there are a bunch rogues waiting to strike back.