I'm incredibly new to the game (one game under my belt so far) but am about to purchase $150-$200 more content by month's end. Right now I have the Rebel halves of two core sets (2 Corvettes, 2 Nebulons, 8 X-Wings) and one Assault Frigate. Quite a few people are buying into Armada in the area, but right now we're all new and I'll only regularly be playing with one person who has Imperials (the other two halves of that core set, plus Imp Squadrons 1 and an Interdictor), another Imp player, and a Republic player.

Anway, the first game was a blast and I have a number of ideas for squadrons with what I'll be purchasing. One of the things I was wondering, though, is... are long range builds a thing? If I'm not mistaken, the only dice you can normally roll at long range are blue, correct? With that in mind, I was looking at a fleet that would skirt around the battlefield, trying to circle his ships and take as many blue pot-shots as I could before my opponent really closed in. One thing to note is that I can already tell this is going to be a squadron-heavy group of players, so I thought it'd be fun to take only ships but quite a bit of anti-ship tech.

Let me know if this is even semi-viable!

MC80 - 182 (Admiral Ackbar, Toryn Farr, Auxiliary Shields Team, Quad Laser Turrets, Reinforced Blast Doors, Leading Shots, Quad Battery Turrets, Home One)

CR90 Corvette B - 60 (Early Warning System, High-Capacity Ion Turbines, Dodonna's Pride)

CR90 Corvette B - 56 (Early Warning System, High-Capacity Ion Turbines, Jaina's Light)

Assault Frigate Mk2 A - 97 (Lando Calrissian, Early Warning System, Quad Battery Turrets)

You need red dice for long range not blue. Disposable capacitors is an upgrade to let blue dice fire above medium range but for one turn only and not on large ships.

Ackbar seems your man (Fish) for this.

MC80C or MC80A are a good flagship. Engine techs to keep your move distance up but your speed down and this helps with your QBTs. RBDs or EWS or both on the Assault version. ECMs are still good but you will need a repair token or two to refresh them (Hondo on a little ship).

Take 2 CR90As with TRCs. Jiana's light is good but keep them cheap. EWS is expensive and your side hull zones are small and enemies can easily hit your nose or rear even if you are broad siding them.

AF2 take the B version as it is cheap and who needs extra front dice when Ackbar is in charge. If you can squeeze in some A-Wings or Z95s as a token fighter force to give you one turns of bomber annoyance this ship can do a squadron command to fling them in. Gunnery teams gets you 5 red dice at 2 targets a turn, 6 with enhanced armament but LTTs are probably better.

Drop Aux shields as it can't take the flagship shields above 4 and they start at 4. Toryn can go too as this is now a red dice fleet. Home one is good in 800 point games but 2 of your other ships can do without accuracies with the TRCs so spend the points elsewhere. Counter (1) isn't going to get you any bomber kills even if you do take 30-50 points of squadrons.

Missions: Advanced Gunnery, contested Outpost and minefields are good. With the latter place a big blob of mines and rocks in the middle of the table and see which way the enemy want to go around it to get to you. Then turn the other way and drag him through the pain while you fling red dice at him and keep the range open. Advanced gunnery Ackbar assisted MC80s tear ships to pieces but still keep the range open to avoid the double points if you loose it. Contested outpost is ok but don't get too tied to the base just for 20 points. Fire lanes is good but risky if the enemy have 2 Strategic squadrons like Lambda shuttles. Planetary Ion cannon is good by putting three tokens in a small triangle then using them like the mines in the minefield scenario.

*facepalm* I can't beleive I mixed up red and blue. Thank you for the feedback! I think all of it makes sense... going to try to rebuild this and see where it gets me!

Long range rebel builds are certainly viable. As mentioned, keeping your small ships cheap is the way to go. TRCs as mentioned are Turbolaser Reroute C ircuits, and is probably the only upgrade you'd want to add to your CR90A (a very strong upgrade on them). Other then Jania's Light that is, which is a must on one CR90A.

The difficulty will be flying to maintain that medium to long range distance. In any case just experiment with upgrades, and see what works and what does not. And most of all, enjoy the process of this experimentation.

Thank you! Ordering some things tomrorow so in a week or two I'm curious to see how this works!

I really love Ackbar, and I think he is my most used commander. I'm confident that I found a few good things with him. I'll share my two personal favorite ship builds when he is in the driver's seat. This AFMKII build is extremely good at dealing damage. 6 dice (7 if you are confident enough to sneak in a CF!) with reroll on all of them, with Intel Officer is pretty mean if you ask me. (I usually use this as a flag ship.)

Assault Frigate Mk2 B (72)
• Intel Officer (7)
• Caitken and Shollan (6)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Slaved Turrets (6)
= 98 Points

The other thing i found pretty fun is MC30cs. Title and Expert Shield Tech make them surprisingly though at long range, you can usually evade some stuff and the reduce the total by one results most of the time 1-2 damage. TRC for long range dice control, and ExRacks if something wanders up close, but in my experience you should try to avoid this, at close range MC30s life expectancy drops significantly.

MC30c Scout Frigate (69)
• Expert Shield Tech (5)
• External Racks (4)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Foresight (8) / Admonition (6)
= 93 Points / 91 Points

You could argue that Gunnery Team is missing, but with the GT change it is not an auto-include. To be honest i wasn't very keen on it even before the changes. The reason it is that its very expensive, and these ships are already somewhat costly. The other reasons: TRC is exhaust, no dice control with the AFMKII at 5-6 dice, or only one reroll with LTT is usually not enough. My latest build, and the one I found the best so far, includes 1 AFMKII and 2 MC30s, plus a GR-75, and Lando, Shara, Tycho. Surprisingly effect, I must say. MC30s deal about 4-5 damage consistently, and given we are in long range, I usually queue up a few CFs, which makes them sing. While the AFMKIIs damage is around 6-7 sometimes you luck into 10+, with Intel Officer and follow up MC30s this is devastating.

2 minutes ago, sasska said:

The other thing i found pretty fun is MC30cs. Title and Expert Shield Tech make them surprisingly though at long range, you can usually evade some stuff and the reduce the total by one results most of the time 1-2 damage. TRC for long range dice control, and ExRacks if something wanders up close, but in my experience you should try to avoid this, at close range MC30s life expectancy drops significantly.

MC30s that do not want to close are about as effective as overpriced TRC90s.

You WANT the MC30 to be close, at the right time. Not building for that is wasteful.

2 minutes ago, Green Knight said:

MC30s that do not want to close are about as effective as overpriced TRC90s.

You WANT the MC30 to be close, at the right time. Not building for that is wasteful.

Maybe you are right. I tried TRC90s as well, and mc30s seemed better, even if I didn't use their black dice. I have these reasons: bigger side arc, 1 more red die which really counts when you are obstructed, better survivability, and if you end up close you have a back up plan which is going to hurt them badly. I ran them with four activations in the era of SAdv, Bail and Pryce, so i couldnt really play around close range shots. Maybe this has been changed with 1.5, I haven't yet tried, i was busy with amassing peltas

7 minutes ago, sasska said:

Maybe you are right. I tried TRC90s as well, and mc30s seemed better, even if I didn't use their black dice. I have these reasons: bigger side arc, 1 more red die which really counts when you are obstructed, better survivability, and if you end up close you have a back up plan which is going to hurt them badly. I ran them with four activations in the era of SAdv, Bail and Pryce, so i couldnt really play around close range shots. Maybe this has been changed with 1.5, I haven't yet tried, i was busy with amassing peltas

But a TRC30 does a few points of damage at long range even with Ackbar.

At close range they do TONS of damage.

11 minutes ago, Green Knight said:

But a TRC30 does a few points of damage at long range even with Ackbar.

At close range they do TONS of damage.

I know a side arc shot with Ackbar at close range is 9 dice, but still, over time, if one can manage to focus fire on a single ship with all 3 ships, they do cripple big ships pretty fast. Especially if you manage to get first shot with the AFMKII. And when they can't evade they soak up damage like a sponge, and die in no time. And with no OE black dice can still make fun of you. But again, I haven't tested them since evade changes, maybe they are now better. Remember, as a 4 activation list i was out activated by almost all fleets. I tried to sail them close, but until 1.5 I needed to be very careful with that. I don't know if I am the only one, but my MC30s explode pretty quickly if I sail them into close range and let them eat a shot.

I know it seems a waste, but tried many ways overtime, and found this setup is the most suitable for me.

Name: The Triple potato is back!
Faction: Rebel
Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Asteroid Tactics
Navigation: Infested Fields

Assault Frigate Mk2 B (72)
• Admiral Ackbar (38)
• Lando Calrissian (4)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
• Intensify Firepower! (6)
= 141 Points

Assault Frigate Mk2 B (72)
• Skilled First Officer (1)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
= 87 Points

Assault Frigate Mk2 B (72)
• Skilled First Officer (1)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
= 87 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Toryn Farr (7)
• Comms Net (2)
• Bright Hope (2)
= 29 Points

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

Squadrons:
• Shara Bey (17)
• Tycho Celchu (16)
= 33 Points

Total Points: 400

Note: I find the lack of Ahsoka disturbing.

4 hours ago, Green Knight said:

Name: The Triple potato is back!
Faction: Rebel
Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Asteroid Tactics
Navigation: Infested Fields

Assault Frigate Mk2 B (72)
• Admiral Ackbar (38)
• Lando Calrissian (4)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
• Intensify Firepower! (6)
= 141 Points

Assault Frigate Mk2 B (72)
• Skilled First Officer (1)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
= 87 Points

Assault Frigate Mk2 B (72)
• Skilled First Officer (1)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
= 87 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Toryn Farr (7)
• Comms Net (2)
• Bright Hope (2)
= 29 Points

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

Squadrons:
• Shara Bey (17)
• Tycho Celchu (16)
= 33 Points

Total Points: 400

Note: I find the lack of Ahsoka disturbing.

Green Knight - as a new player with only one game under my belt, I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around the A wings, but I see a ton of people use them. Are they so good that you'd want to sacrifice a few upgrades for them? They seem survivable and I like the counter ability, but can they take enemy squadrons out quickly enough to make a difference? I'm definitely going to be in a squadron-heavy meta, so anything I can do to negate the effectiveness of those TIEs would be helpful!

1 hour ago, Aladdynsane said:

Green Knight - as a new player with only one game under my belt, I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around the A wings, but I see a ton of people use them. Are they so good that you'd want to sacrifice a few upgrades for them? They seem survivable and I like the counter ability, but can they take enemy squadrons out quickly enough to make a difference? I'm definitely going to be in a squadron-heavy meta, so anything I can do to negate the effectiveness of those TIEs would be helpful!

The 2 awing aces are there to keep enemy squads at bay for just long enough.

Although correctly timed, attacking, counter and flak can kill squad, which is the reason Toryn Farr is there.

Your ackbar broadside do the killing of enemy ships.

Triple potato was a thing many waves ago. Very retro gaming.

I know the MC80 is usually the 'default' Ackbar ship (it does come with him after all), but I think the MC75 is also worth considering as a flagship. 10 points cheaper than the Assault Cruiser, 1 more hull, 3 red/2 blue in the sides makes it near-identical to the MC80, +1 speed and 2 yaw at speed 1 make it more maneuverable, it can take Gunnery Teams, and its heavier front arc and ordnance slot for External Racks give it a close-range threat if your opponent tries to park a Raider in front of it (and a stronger double arc if you're in a situation where that helps more than Ackbar). Downsides: Less total shields, crappy defense token suite, one Defensive Retrofit, no Support Teams, less Squadron value than Command Cruiser.

2 hours ago, Green Knight said:

The 2 awing aces are there to keep enemy squads at bay for just long enough.

Although correctly timed, attacking, counter and flak can kill squad, which is the reason Toryn Farr is there.

Your ackbar broadside do the killing of enemy ships.

Triple potato was a thing many waves ago. Very retro gaming.

Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Just tie up their squadrons a turn or two, maybe take a few out with them... give Ackbar the chance to take a larger ship down.

Just now, Aladdynsane said:

Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Just tie up their squadrons a turn or two, maybe take a few out with them... give Ackbar the chance to take a larger ship down.

You must not spend your A-wings too early. Always protect them with overlapping flak in the vicinity of Toryn, and use obstacles to keep Shara free to move. Also, don't expect too much of them: against a skill squad player with 130+ pts of squads, they won't delay him that much. But they are still the best at what they do, for only 33 pts.

Another retro-Ackbar:

Name: Another Retro Ackbar
Faction: Rebel
Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault: Advanced Gunnery
Defense: Asteroid Tactics
Navigation: Infested Fields

MC80 Command Cruiser (106)
• Admiral Ackbar (38)
• Lando Calrissian (4)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (6)
• Quad Battery Turrets (5)
• Defiance (5)
= 179 Points

Assault Frigate Mk2 B (72)
• Skilled First Officer (1)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
= 87 Points

CR90 Corvette A (44)
• Ezra Bridger (3)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Jaina's Light (2)
= 56 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Ahsoka Tano (2)
• Comms Net (2)
= 22 Points

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

Squadrons:
• Shara Bey (17)
• Tycho Celchu (16)
= 33 Points

Total Points: 400

Some would say use Home One, and that's fine. Just kick out Ezra and you're fine. Walex is another option in this build, as is Expert Shield Techs (drop the SFO to free 1 pt - you have Leia, so it's not 100% needed).

7 minutes ago, Green Knight said:

Another retro-Ackbar:

Name: Another Retro Ackbar
Faction: Rebel
Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault: Advanced Gunnery
Defense: Asteroid Tactics
Navigation: Infested Fields

MC80 Command Cruiser (106)
• Admiral Ackbar (38)
• Lando Calrissian (4)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (6)
• Quad Battery Turrets (5)
• Defiance (5)
= 179 Points

Assault Frigate Mk2 B (72)
• Skilled First Officer (1)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
= 87 Points

CR90 Corvette A (44)
• Ezra Bridger (3)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Jaina's Light (2)
= 56 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Ahsoka Tano (2)
• Comms Net (2)
= 22 Points

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

Squadrons:
• Shara Bey (17)
• Tycho Celchu (16)
= 33 Points

Total Points: 400

Some would say use Home One, and that's fine. Just kick out Ezra and you're fine. Walex is another option in this build, as is Expert Shield Techs (drop the SFO to free 1 pt - you have Leia, so it's not 100% needed).

I like this! The only problem I have with the list isn't the list itself, but the fact that I'm having trouble finding the GR-75's at a reasonable price. I feel like those cheap activations would open up so many lists for me that I can't otherwise build.

8 minutes ago, Aladdynsane said:

I like this! The only problem I have with the list isn't the list itself, but the fact that I'm having trouble finding the GR-75's at a reasonable price. I feel like those cheap activations would open up so many lists for me that I can't otherwise build.

You could run more squads, or a 2nd TRC90, as the lack of activations don't hurt as much.

However, you'd miss out on Comms nets, Leia and Ahsoka. Lemme think... ok, this one doesn't sing to me, but it's not horrible:

Name: Yet Another Ackbar List
Faction: Rebel
Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault: Advanced Gunnery
Defense: Asteroid Tactics
Navigation: Infested Fields

MC80 Command Cruiser (106)
• Admiral Ackbar (38)
• Ahsoka Tano (2)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (6)
• Quad Battery Turrets (5)
• Defiance (5)
= 177 Points

Assault Frigate Mk2 B (72)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
= 86 Points

CR90 Corvette A (44)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Jaina's Light (2)
= 53 Points

CR90 Corvette A (44)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
= 51 Points

Squadrons:
• Shara Bey (17)
• Tycho Celchu (16)
= 33 Points

Total Points: 400

* Don't blame me if you run into Dooku or otherwise have trouble fixing dials and tokens.

Edit: I actually like it quite a lot. Ahsoka is your only crutch, and she's BAE. This is how we flew back in the day. A more civilized time.

Tantive IV with Raymus or Leia makes for a decent Comms Net substitute, if you can find the points for it.

33 minutes ago, Flyinpenguin117 said:

Tantive IV with Raymus or Leia makes for a decent Comms Net substitute, if you can find the points for it.

Tried that. Doable if you downgrade a corvette. But then you have less firepower.

But probably worth it - you need to have tokens for both for ET and refreshing ECM. Hard wo comms net.

20 hours ago, PhoenixOfCopper said:

Alot of your units have the suppression key word however 7 activations is going to be hard to out activate armies with 10+ acts which was the meta pre new rrg.

Dooku is a good control unit but not as suppressive as a trained in your jedi arts G.G. turn.

The tank is a great unit for most CIS lists. And a suppressive, barrage can be devastating to a courage 1 unit, to just limit actions on 2 units.

The droidika can lay down suppression tokens but 1 unit alone can be deleted quickly.

With all of this in mind I made a list for you to look at and work with. I would see what works for you and if possible try to get more activations. Snipers can also be a good source of suppression so dont Wright them out yet.

761/800

General Grievous (170 + 36 = 206)
--Aggressive Tactics (15), Esteemed Leader (5), Tenacity (4), DT-57 Annihilator (12)

B1 Battle Droids (36 + 10 = 46)
--HQ Uplink (10)

B1 Battle Droids (36 + 0 = 36)

B1 Battle Droids (36 + 0 = 36)

Droidekas (80 + 0 = 80)

Droidekas (80 + 0 = 80)

Droidekas (80 + 0 = 80)

AAT Trade Federation Battle Tank (170 + 27 = 197)
--Lok Durd (9), Armor-Piercing Shells (10), High-Energy Shells (8)

22 hours ago, Green Knight said:

You could run more squads, or a 2nd TRC90, as the lack of activations don't hurt as much.

However, you'd miss out on Comms nets, Leia and Ahsoka. Lemme think... ok, this one doesn't sing to me, but it's not horrible:

Name: Yet Another Ackbar List
Faction: Rebel
Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault: Advanced Gunnery
Defense: Asteroid Tactics
Navigation: Infested Fields

MC80 Command Cruiser (106)
• Admiral Ackbar (38)
• Ahsoka Tano (2)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (6)
• Quad Battery Turrets (5)
• Defiance (5)
= 177 Points

Assault Frigate Mk2 B (72)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
= 86 Points

CR90 Corvette A (44)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Jaina's Light (2)
= 53 Points

CR90 Corvette A (44)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
= 51 Points

Squadrons:
• Shara Bey (17)
• Tycho Celchu (16)
= 33 Points

Total Points: 400

* Don't blame me if you run into Dooku or otherwise have trouble fixing dials and tokens.

Edit: I actually like it quite a lot. Ahsoka is your only crutch, and she's BAE. This is how we flew back in the day. A more civilized time.

I've been looking hard at this one and I think it's the next thing I'll run. The only things I don't have are the Home One and Reb Squadrons expansions, and they're in the mail, so I should be good to go. Thank you for your advice and I'll have to let you know how it goes!

19 minutes ago, Aladdynsane said:

I've been looking hard at this one and I think it's the next thing I'll run. The only things I don't have are the Home One and Reb Squadrons expansions, and they're in the mail, so I should be good to go. Thank you for your advice and I'll have to let you know how it goes!

Good luck!

On 12/15/2020 at 8:08 PM, Green Knight said:

But a TRC30 does a few points of damage at long range even with Ackbar.

At close range they do TONS of damage.

I agree with this... absolutely devastating up close. I ran the Torpedo Frigate, got it up close to an Imperial Onager tearit a new one. Reduced it to 1 hull before going down. The key is getting it there to the key target knowing it will 100% die, but it's going to make a mess before it goes.

On 12/15/2020 at 5:27 AM, sasska said:

I know a side arc shot with Ackbar at close range is 9 dice, but still, over time, if one can manage to focus fire on a single ship with all 3 ships, they do cripple big ships pretty fast. Especially if you manage to get first shot with the AFMKII. And when they can't evade they soak up damage like a sponge, and die in no time. And with no OE black dice can still make fun of you. But again, I haven't tested them since evade changes, maybe they are now better. Remember, as a 4 activation list i was out activated by almost all fleets. I tried to sail them close, but until 1.5 I needed to be very careful with that. I don't know if I am the only one, but my MC30s explode pretty quickly if I sail them into close range and let them eat a shot.

I know it seems a waste, but tried many ways overtime, and found this setup is the most suitable for me.

Use the 1.5 Evade rules. They can always Evade, even up close. But even in 1.0, I typically found that their maneuverability is such that most opponents can’t kill them before they slip away. And why would you ever run an MC30 WITHOUT Ordnance Experts?? Even now that OE’s only affect two dice, the card is fantastic on that ship, but before the recent errata, it was absolutely, if quietly, broken.

I really think you aren’t seeing the raw power the MC30 represents. The ship is a beast.