I really want to see a Starhawk leading a fleet that really feels like a major force without breaking 400pts. Visually, seeing a Starhawk that is not accompanied by only squadrons or flotilla's + squadrons, interests me.

I was also curious on the viability of Neb-B escort frigates as flak ships to hunt squadrons and if they would allow me to forgo squadrons entirely , in concept I imagine keeping their tiny front arc at a ship target and use their painfully over-sized side arcs as a anti-squadron zone for the rest of the fleet, in a way the 2 nebs are my squadron force and their price compares to a full squadron complement.

The above thoughts resulted in 2 concepts that feel lacking...

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57)
• Auxiliary Shields Team (3)
• Heavy Fire Zone (4)
= 64 Points

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57)
• Auxiliary Shields Team (3)
• Heavy Fire Zone (4)
= 64 Points

Starhawk Battleship Mark I (140)
• Navigation Officer (6)
• Leading Shots (4)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
• Unity (10)
= 166 Points

Assault Frigate Mk2 B (72)
• Kyrsta Agate (20)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
• Paragon (5)
= 103 Points

with this Agate would grant the AFII a salvo token to abuse Paragon.

an alternative I see swaps the Starhawk and AFII for the following

Starhawk Battleship Mark II (150)
• Kyrsta Agate (20)
• Navigation Officer (6)
• Skilled First Officer (1)
• Leading Shots (4)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
= 187 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Leia Organa (3)
• Slicer Tools (7)
• Bright Hope (2)
= 30 Points

CR90 Corvette A (44)
• Lando Calrissian (4)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
= 55 Points

Both lists leave no bid, the first setup has more damage in ships other than the Hawk, while the 2nd setup has a more potent Hawk, more activations, and some utility like the Leia officer, slicer tools, and a fast objective taker in the cr-90.

My final question is.

Can 2 flak neb-b's protect a fleet against 100 points of squadrons?

Is there a better option for a Starhawk fleet that uses a minimalist squadron force or none at all?

Is the Starhawk simply too expensive to field a fleet that has multiple combat ships?

I am open to all ideas, in fact I once tried a Starhawk with 2 AFII's against a Vader fleet with 4 victory's that resulted in a very close game.

2 Neb flak wagons goes a long way to protecting you from squadrons but the other ships would need to chip in, and without gunnery teams on the big ship this is difficult to do more than once a game when you have nothing better to shoot at.

Just flak is fine against a Sloane list using generic TIEs it Phantoms but will struggle with Aces or 5-6 hull bomber fleets like B,X,Y wings.

An enemy bomber fleet facing only flak can use some tricks to delay his losses and so keep hitting you hard for longer.

• Use cover from obstacles as fighters advance.
• Use cover from his ships and your ships to obscure from flak. He rolls up your fleet from one side forcing only one ship to get unobscured flak while the bombers attack it hiding from much of your anti squadron fire.
• Kill one or two of your ships taking a 6-5 or 7-4 then running for it before loosing 4-5 squadrons on the same turn as their hull runs out.
• Fight near the base. E.g. Turn 2 squadron command to move then bomb your ships taking flak damage. Turn 3 squadron command to bomb then move onto the base to repair and cut flak in half. Turn 4&5 repeat as above. Hint put the base in a far corner and stay away from it especially when against Phantoms.

Going fighter less is fine as long as long as you can burst through and kill ships quickly. But a starhawk is slow and it's a decent chunk of your firepower. Particularly if the enemy is second player it can be avoided as the enemy stiff arm you with bombers and keep their distance, they will also have out deployed you with 3-5 deployments worth of fighters and maybe a flotilla is all you see on the board before your last ship is placed.

If your fleet had say 4 A-Wings this would help a lot. Your squads pick their timing and pin some bombers gaining you some damage on your initial strike and some time as the enemy deal with them and some more damage from counter(2) as they die. Add this damage to your flak shots and enemy squadrons start to be removed earlier rather than the first Y-Wing expiring after you have lost your third ship. Your heavy fire zone may suffer but you don't have to commit the A-Wings straight away - letting enemy bombers hit your ships could get you a double shot with each before the enemy start to deal with the AWings which is 24 blue dice on top of a turn or two of flak and some counter to come.

I see you points, does this seem better? less ship firepower but it fits in those squadrons and gives me a solid objective runner.

Name: Starhawk Armada
Faction: Rebel
Commander: Kyrsta Agate

Assault:
Defense:
Navigation:

Starhawk Battleship Mark I (140)
• Kyrsta Agate (20)
• Skilled First Officer (1)
• Navigation Officer (6)
• Leading Shots (4)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
= 177 Points

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57)
• Auxiliary Shields Team (3)
• Heavy Fire Zone (4)
= 64 Points

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57)
• Auxiliary Shields Team (3)
• Heavy Fire Zone (4)
= 64 Points

CR90 Corvette A (44)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
= 51 Points

Squadrons:
• 4 x A-wing Squadron (44)
= 44 Points

Total Points: 400

So i have come up with something in a slightly different direction. Strategy would be have the frigates rotate between engineering command and firepower command so i can use skilled first officer to engineer when I need the shields most. Salvo would swap with redirect or evade.

Name: Salvo?
Faction: Rebel
Commander: Kyrsta Agate

Assault:
Defense:
Navigation:

Starhawk Battleship Mark II (150)
• Kyrsta Agate (20)
• Walex Blissex (5)
• Navigation Officer (6)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
= 188 Points

Assault Frigate Mk2 A (81)
• Skilled First Officer (1)
• Local Fire Control (4)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
= 93 Points

Assault Frigate Mk2 A (81)
• Skilled First Officer (1)
• Local Fire Control (4)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
= 93 Points

Squadrons:
• Han Solo (26)
= 26 Points

Total Points: 400

Since you are looking at only 3 or 4 activations, here's a look at a list...

Assault Frigate Mk2 B (72)
• Local Fire Control (4)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
= 90 Points

Starhawk Battleship Mark II (150)
• Kyrsta Agate (20)
• Walex Blissex (5)
• Expert Shield Tech (5)
• Local Fire Control (4)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
• Unity (10)
= 201 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Leia Organa (3)
• Comms Net (2)
= 23 Points

Squadrons:
• Lando Calrissian (23)
• Shara Bey (17)
• Dash Rendar (24)
• Ketsu Onyo (22)
= 86 Points

Total Points: 400