I'll Have You Know (Vader All-Ship Fleet)

Pun intended

You get it? The title of the blog... "I Have You Now", famous Darth Vader quote... is remarkably similar to "I'll Have You Know". My mastery of the English language is absolute, my wit without limit. If that didn't impress you, nothing will.

Today I want to take a look at an all-ship list, with some elements of wave 7 in it. This is my list in the Vassal World Cup 2018. At the time when we handed in our lists not all the wave 7 cards had been spoiled, so couldn't be used. So no Early Warning. No Strategic Advisor. Etc.

All ship you say? Isn't that INSANE in the current meta!? Well of course it is. There are just so many really powerful squad builds out there, including (but not limited to) Yavaris 2+3/4 and ISD+4/5. The former burns you down in moments with three double bomber taps, the latter is a death of a thousand cuts through relay (Maarek fucking Jendon).

After having played too much Sloane, and knowing my ISD+4 Sloane Aces would have the ability to reach the finals, I tossed that out the window and sat down to contemplate the power of the Dark Side:

Enter the Vader Devastator Cymoon, the Demolisher Cruise Missile, activation spam through flotilla abuse, and the op-ness of the last/first using ships with a high damage spike. The entire lists revolves around delaying activation of the ISD, then going last/first starting round 2 or 3, depending on board state. 

It's not complex per se, but you're balancing on a knife's edge. You must NOT give the opponent the opportunity to do more damage to the ISD than strictly necessary. And when you do pounce you must do so with great ferocity - and preferably hot red dice.

VWC 2018 - Darth Vader, in association with Devastator Productions, Demolisher Studios and Four Mighty Gozanti, proudly presents: "I HAVE YOU NOW"  

Author: Green Knight

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 383/400  

Commander: Darth Vader

Assault Objective: Most Wanted
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
Navigation Objective: Solar Corona

[ flagship ] Imperial Star Destroyer Cymoon 1 Refit (112 points)
-  Darth Vader  ( 36  points)
-  Devastator  ( 10  points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points)
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points)
-  Spinal Armament  ( 9  points)
-  X17 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)
-  Intensify Firepower  ( 6  points)
= 193 total ship cost

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)
-  Demolisher  ( 10  points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points)
-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points)
-  Engine Techs  ( 8  points)
-  Assault Proton Torpedoes  ( 5  points)
= 90 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
-  Comms Net  ( 2  points)
= 25 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
-  Comms Net  ( 2  points)
= 25 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
-  Repair Crews  ( 4  points)
= 27 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
= 23 total ship cost

Card view link

Fleet created with Armada Warlords

My POD matchups included 1 Rebel MSU (very hadsome win), 1 Yavaris Bee-wing swarm (tabling), and 1 Sloane list (very close to tabling). All 3 succumbed to the overwhelming power of re-rollable red dice and XI7, plus the usual Demolisher shenanigans.

MSU can't get a good angle of approach on the ISD, then pop easy from XI7

In the 1st elimination round I, with some lucky red dice, took down another Sloane list (rikash), losing the ISD in the process, but tabling my opponent. In the quarter final (karneck) yet another Sloane list and another tabling (again some pretty nice dice). 

Who needs Vader when you get this natural roll? 1-shot VSD from 1st elimination game

I expect very stiff opposition in the semi-final. Either ISD+4 Sloane aces (Tokra) or ET BC w/flotilla spam and some squadrons (Aresius). Aresius already has 6 activations, and Tokra the ability to eliminate one of mine to restore parity, meaning last/first won't work. I don't actually have a good solution against either list. I'll do my best, and maybe get lucky, but this is most likely the end of the line. And if by some miracle I get to the finals like last year, I'll most likely have to fight Roquax' horrible Yavarus 2+4 or JJs Juggernaut's Raddus Profundity bomb.

BUT, no matter how things end, I'm immensely pleased. I've kind of proven that an all-ship list can deal with most (not all) squad-heavy lists. That pleases me a lot.

What doesn't please me at all is flotillas: they power this list in a most abusive fashion, and while there is a certain elegance to the list, it's also super-abusive. Which is typical for almost all lists at the moment. Spam flotillas, use relay, prosper. IMO while it doesn't completely invalidate other list types, it makes list building options for competitive play VERY limited. And the risk/gain factor of both flotillas in general, and relay in particular, is not currently wholesome.

NERF FLOTILLAS. NERF RELAY.