Since a lot of us have free time on our hands given the current global situation, would any of you folks kindly help me create/stat up/point allocate Grand Admiral Thrawn’s task force that assaulted the Sluis Van shipyards at the climax of Heir to The Empire .

Flag Officer

Grand Admiral Thrawn

Command Officers

Captain Pallaeon (Chief of Staff)

Captain Harbid

Captain Brandei

Fleet composition:

1 Imperial II Class ( Chimaera , Flagship)

4 Imperial I Class ( Death’s Head, Judicator [some later sources claim this ship to be the Inexorable ] , Stormhawk, and Nemesis , Main Batte Line)

12 Strike Class Medium Cruisers (Close Support)

22 Carrack Class Light Cruisers (Picket Line)

30 TIE Squadrons (at least 6 Squadrons were TIE Interceptors, at least 1 Scimitar Class TIE Bomber Squadron)

3 TIE Squadrons Cloaked inside Bulk Freighter Nartissteu (40 TIEs but round down)

I realize the Captains of the Line will be a little tricky to approximate.

Has there been a consensus to what is the Armada approximation of the Strike and Carrack Class Cruisers?

Please feel free to throw in input.

And apropos of nothing, image of miskatonesque’s Fleet

Carrack is pretty clearly the Raider - the small-ish corvette the Empire uses for convoy escort and, well, raiding missions.

The Strike Cruiser is more problematic. As a 'modular cruiser', it's hallmark was flexibility of role. But nothing really fits in the Empire's lineup for that. According to the WEG RPG (where the craft originated from), "the Order of Battle considered two Strike-class cruisers the equivalent of one Victory-class Star Destroyer."

Soooo...I dunno, maybe an Arquitens?

I've associated the Raider II with the Carrack, since both are ion-focused platforms. Although smaller than Carracks, the Raider IIs should be fine as a substitute. Equip them with Heavy Ion Emplacements for an even closer firepower approximation. As for Strike Cruisers, it's a bit harder since they're modular warships. I'd probably use Arquitens cruisers, or modify the stats of a Gladiator II by swapping black dice for blue, and changing ordnance to turbolaser. Probably a 6 points increase... I have some custom title cards that I created for those ISDs for a campaign I plan to do sometime. I've also created an ability for Captain Brandei. I'll share them if you decide to use custom material for this project.

Captain Brandei: Friendly Squadrons you activate may perform an additional speed-1 maneuver, even if they have moved this turn. (Maybe 7 or 8 points? I haven't tested this one yet, so your guess is as good as mine.)

Death's Head: Double Crit: Deal one faceup damage card to the defender. (7 points)

Judicator: When you resolve a squadron command dial, treat it as if you have a matching token. (3 points)

-Brandei seemed to have a grasp on fighter swarm tactics, so I figured he plus his ship would make for a great alternative to the usual ISD carrier setup.

Stormhawk: When a friendly ship is defending at close to medium range of you, treat the attack as obstructed. (7 points)

Nemesis: While defending against a squadron at close range, you have Counter 2. (8 points)

For Pellaeon, I'd probably use Yularen as a substitute. His ability seems to match with Pellaeon, at least during the Thrawn Trilogy.

I hope this helps a bit! If you want, I can send you the documents related to the campaign I developed.

This is excellent gents!!

I do feel that a Carrack has a heavier punch than a Raider but close enough for this situation (?).

13 minutes ago, RyonOlson said:

For Pellaeon, I'd probably use Yularen as a substitute. His ability seems to match with Pellaeon, at least during the Thrawn Trilogy.

@RyonOlson right ! I was thinking this as well. And great stuff up top!

35 minutes ago, xanderf said:

Carrack is pretty clearly the Raider - the small-ish corvette the Empire uses for convoy escort and, well, raiding missions.

The Strike Cruiser is more problematic. As a 'modular cruiser', it's hallmark was flexibility of role. But nothing really fits in the Empire's lineup for that. According to the WEG RPG (where the craft originated from), "the Order of Battle considered two Strike-class cruisers the equivalent of one Victory-class Star Destroyer."

Soooo...I dunno, maybe an Arquitens?

What about the gladiator over the kittens? I'm no expert on triangles.

39 minutes ago, Noosh said:

What about the gladiator over the kittens? I'm no expert on triangles.

Well the trick is the RPG reference to the OOB - I kinda feel like a double-Gladiator is more capable than a Victory-class, while a double-kittens is... equivalent .

But it's a near-run thing - the Empire is in a strange spot with those two ships having a similar cost and capability set, really just wildly different in engagement range but not role. If the Glad-II had an offensive retrofit slot and/or turbolaser slot replacing the ordnance slot...I think cost aside that would swing things in its favor for sheer role versatility.

(Of course if you take the OOB reference and assume cost in this game of a ship is literally its value, then even the Raider is over-capable compared to the Strike Cruiser, as two Raiders costs more than a Victory while two Strike Cruisers were only considered 'equivalent'....and, of course, a Gozanti flotilla VASTLY overpowering a Carrack cruiser....)

The Carrack is closer to the Arquitens then the raider with both ships being powerful for their size long range escort and patrol craft. For the strike cruiser a gladiator 2 is close enough in role and size

The Carrack and Strike cruisers fill a niche that the Raider, Arquitens, and Gladiator do not. In my opinion the Strike cruiser would be roughly a blue/red die version of the Gladiator, less hull but with a lot of upgrade slots to represent the modular nature of the ship? The Carrack is definitely stronger hulled than the Raider, probably would have double brace tokens. The Carrack is Canon without an official image but maybe FFG will use it in a future expansion, at least I hope that they will.

Love the Eclipse class, although i think it’s supposed to be shorter than the Executor class.

The New Republic Fleet looks pretty doable too. This would make an amazing 1200-point Sector Fleet Battle...

Sorry, that's Legends. Can't have any of that.

I haven't read the books in a while, but i thought for sure he had Lancer-class frigates at that battle as well.