Østersund Regionals AAR: A Raddus Story, part 2 (the battles)

Anyone play this back in the day?

The Østersund Regionals was a 3 round affair. I had a Store Championship bye, but using it was never an option. Why would I NOT play a game of Armada when I had the chance? Perhaps it's because I get to play IRL so rarely, but I can't imagine ever using a bye in any tournament.

The calm before the storm

My 1st round opponent was Emil from Gothenburg in southern Sweden. He was at Nordics too, but we didn't play. He placed 7th there, so this was no rookie player. He told me he had run variations of his Madine Liberty list for over a year... so unlike me he had actually played his list before! :-D

Viking with glasses!

Name: Emil
Faction: Rebel
Commander: General Madine

Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Planetary Ion Cannon
Navigation: Dangerous Territory

MC80 Battle Cruiser (103)
• General Madine (30)
• Bail Organa (7)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Leading Shots (4)
• Spinal Armament (9)
• Mon Karren (8)
= 176 Points

MC30c Torpedo Frigate (63)
• Lando Carissian (4)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Advanced Projectors (6)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• H9 Turbolasers (8)
• Admonition (8)
= 98 Points

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

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

Squadrons:
• Jan Ors (19)
• Biggs Darklighter (19)
• 3 x X-wing Squadron (39)
= 77 Points

Total Points: 396

Emil chose to make me 1st player and I picked his Dangerous Territory. He had no Strategic to counter my VCXs, and his X-wings are fairly slow, so I figured I'd grab a couple of tokens and drag them off the rocks. I might lose the VCXs, but if I played it right I might come out ahead in points. I think that was the extent of my plan.

Setup, as seen from Emil's side

Apart from some squadrons shooting at each other and some long-range shots, nothing much happened until my MC75 dropped in r3. If you look at the image below you can see Admo has wormed it's way around the far side and just out of my Liberty's front arc. You can also see a very lucky Bright Hope (right in front of my Liberty) that survived a MC30 front arc shot, limping away with 1 hull.

I totally misplaced my MC75. Or rather, I couldn't place it as far "down" as I'd like. So instead of double-arcing his Liberty AND forcing it to either stay put or land in a bad place, I was able to shoot it, then see it do the Madine two-step into my rear (I really wished I had Profundity with a HH inside - such a great blocker). Then his Bail kicked in top of round 4 and his crippled Lib sped off into the sunset.

In the end the Liberty got away with 1 hull after some rather cold dice on my part (or at least it felt that way). His Admo got my Quantum Storm, I got both his flotillas after a mix of ramming and gunnery. I lost both VCXs, but killed all his squadrons, except Jan. Two tokens each. 6-5 to me, 33 MoV. Not exactly an amazing start, but given how uncertain my play was and my opponent's skill level, I was actually kind of happy.

My 2nd round opponent was Krister, who IIRC was the first person I played against when I went to Sweden for a tourney back in 2016 or something. We were playing wave 2, I can remember that much! Anyway, we've met several times again later, but this was the first battle between us for a while. Krister is a local. For once he got to play WITHOUT having worked the night shift before - so he was in a very good mood :-D

He was running his Leia Hammerhead swarm, which I think he'd been working on since wave 6 was released. Since last time he's ditched the STM! Pelta and now has a mix of torpedoes and scouts, plus some dice fixing tech and anti-squad.

It looks pretty good on paper - although I'm a little skeptical of Leia. Krister really knew how to fly it  maneuvering confidently to focus down targets without bumping his own ships. Apparently there were some cascading bumps in his 1st round game, which gave him a lower MoV. I didn't see any of that in my game!

Name: Krister
Faction: Rebel
Commander: Leia Organa

Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Planetary Ion Cannon
Navigation: Intel Sweep

Hammerhead Scout Corvette (41)
• Leia Organa (38)
• Lando Carissian (4)
• Dual Turbolaser Turrets (5)
• Task Force Antilles (3)
= 91 Points

Hammerhead Scout Corvette (41)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Task Force Antilles (3)
= 51 Points

Hammerhead Scout Corvette (41)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Task Force Antilles (3)
= 51 Points

Hammerhead Scout Corvette (41)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Task Force Antilles (3)
= 51 Points

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• External Racks (3)
• Task Force Antilles (3)
= 46 Points

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• External Racks (3)
• Task Force Antilles (3)
= 46 Points

GR-75 Combat Retrofits (24)
• General Draven (3)
• Repair Crews (4)
• Bright Hope (2)
= 33 Points

Squadrons:
• 2 x VCX-100 Freighter (30)
= 30 Points

Total Points: 399

We rolled for it since we were both at 399. He got the choice and after some thinking opted for 1st player. He ended up picking my Ion Cannon. We discussed ti after, and it probably would have been better with either 2nd player - or just Most Wanted.

Bright Hope down in the corner, Quantum Storm on the far flank, Liberty slow rolling in the center with all the Ion Tokens. His HHs swarming to meet my flagship.

MC75 dropped round 3, double arcing Leia and another HH, plus black range on his transport and 1 more HH. A target rich environment. He somehow did not manage to kill Bright Hope between 1 scout and 1 torpedo HH. It limped away with 1 hull (again).

Then my MC75 went bonkers, 1 shotting Leia, despite Lando and TFA, then blowing up another slightly injured HH with the 2nd shot. I think it was 17 damage on 2 shots. That tipped the balance in my favor - up until then it was a close game, afterwards it was not.

Round 4 my Bail kicked in, and between Ion Tokens and Gunnery Teams I blew away most of his stuff. The MC75 finished the rest, and all but 1 Hammerhead died. At game end my Liberty was a 2 hull... if just 1 of those HHs had lived in round 3, the end score would have been close indeed! 

Instead it was a 10-1, 332 MoV to me. Hugely unfair actually, but such is the game sometimes. I spoke to him later, and he got a second win, so barring his loss vs me he would have had a good score overall. He was pleased with the Leia HH swarm's performance, and I have to agree it's a pretty good list if flown right. The downside seems to be that even when it wins, it tends to bleed a good deal of points, so wins aren't that solid.

With 16 points I was suddenly close to the top of the list, 4th place or something. After Cryodex had spoken I was at table 2 for the final round, opposite another old acquaintance, Micke V from Uppsala (which is just north of Stockholm). He has the dubious honor of the being the first person to ever beat me in a tourney. And we haven't met since, so I was keen on some revenge ;-)

Behind us, on table 1 two more Raddus lists were duking it out in an almost perfect mirror match. both with Profundity and nested Hammerhead, TRC90 Jaina as the flagship, CR90B with Reinforced Bast Doors and Engine Techs, two flotillas, and a smattering of squads. One run by Micke A, who also beat me once before (and recently took home a Regionals in Copenhagen) and the other by Andreas, both from Uppsala.

So yeah, going into the 3rd and final round, there were 3 people from Uppsala on the top two tables, and 3 out of 4 lists had Raddus :-D

Name: Micke V
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Admiral Ozzel

Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Capture the VIP
Navigation: Solar Corona

Gladiator I (56)
• Captain Brunson (5)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Demolisher (10)
= 88 Points

Raider I (44)
• Admiral Ozzel (20)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• External Racks (3)
= 71 Points

Raider I (44)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• External Racks (3)
= 51 Points

Raider I (44)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Flechette Torpedoes (3)
= 51 Points

Raider I (44)
• Darth Vader (3)
• External Racks (3)
= 50 Points

Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Hondo Ohnaka (2)
= 25 Points

Squadrons:
• Colonel Jendon (20)
• Maarek Stele (21)
= 41 Points

Total Points: 377

Micke had a massive 23 pt bid and opted for 1st, picking my Intel Sweep (and thereby pretty much giving me a 75 pt head start). I set up with my flotillas to the right, ready to harvest tokens with VCX aid, with A-wings ready to intercept Maarekdon. My Liberty I brazenly deployed to the far left at speed 1. Sure I'd get flanked by Demo - but then Demo would get an MC75 to the face...

Like many players Micke seemed a little bit uncertain about how to deal with Raddus, bunching up too many raiders in the center, seemingly unwilling to spread out or commit to attack runs.Or maybe he just had a very cunning plan? Both his travelling companions were running Raddus, so maybe he had a counter-play ready?

Round 2 my Liberty jumped from speed 1 to speed 3+ET, forking a mass of raiders (3 in the front arc at close-medium). And also getting away from Demolisher. Round 3 the MC75 dropped to double-arc block Demo.

The Vader Raider (right between my two big ships) activated first, opting to strip my MC75 of External Racks (my BC had the crit that limits it to 1 shot vs ships per round), did some decent damage to my BC and jumped to safety behind it.

BC then activated, repaired the crit, blew away 1 raider, shot up a second raider and ram-killed it, before finally threatening Ozzel's raider. Demo shot at MC75, did a sad 3 damage after brace and Damage Control Officer, failed to jump over, and was blown out of the sky right after. I must add, however, that stripping ER was actually pretty smart, bc between that and Brunson Demo ALMOST lived, and might still have if my dice hadn't been pretty good.

Round 4 my Bail kicked in, nearly got Ozzel, but he slipped away. After that little happened, except I took down his flotilla and 2 squadrons. His final 2 raiders got away. In the end another 10-1, 331 to nil. 

Very surprising, as I know Micke is a good player. And I know how deadly raiders and Demo can be. Plus I was concerned about my ability to pin down and destroy a significant portion of his fleet - I really didn't want the raiders running around all over the place where I could not catch them!

That result was WAY better than I'd hoped for, and sufficient to put me in the top spot with 26. As predicted the Raddus mirror match was a close one, a 6-5 for Micke A. That allowed Mats from Umeå (really far north in Sweden) at table 3 to claim the 2nd place after a solid 9-2.

Fun fact: I've been in 3 tourneys with Mats - Store, Regionals, and Nordics - and we've never battled, and he's come in 2nd behind me every time. Maybe next time Mats!

That's me, receiving my loot!

Østersund Regionals AAR: A Raddus Story, part 1 (listbuilding)

I went to regionals in Østersund yesterday and had a really great time! Thanks to Rolf Hilleberg and Escapade Gaming and Gear for yet another great Armada (and other SW games) event! The hotel deal was sweet and the venue top notch. I would definitely go there again.

A total of 15 people showed up for Armada, with people driving in from Norway and remote locations in Sweden (I think some might have flown in actually). That's a VERY GOOD number for the frozen wastes of Hoth, in the mountain wastes of the 6th Marker. Going home we just missed a landslide of ice, frozen earth and rocks, so yeah, it's pretty much Hoth :-D

Like I discussed in a previous post a couple of weeks ago, I had no idea what I would bring to regionals. I just could not come up with a fleet idea that was appealing. And to me appealing means A) it's fun to play and B) it's effective enough to be competitive.

I've run Sloane quite enough thank you, and while Vader is my fav admiral, I'm sick and tired of flotillas at this point. So I rejected Sloane, even some very different w7 Sloane builds. I also dismissed a w7 version of my Vader World Cup fleet.

That pretty much ruled out Imperials. But could I still play rebels? I hand't touched them competitively since Ackbar in wave 2! Well, why not. I had wanted toplay more Rebel for a while, and this seemed like an opportunity to shed my Empire addiction.

I considered 3 commanders: Ackbar, Sato and Raddus.

An Ackbar MC75+2xTRC30s fleet, with Mon Cal Exodus seemed a viable option. But it felt wrong to kind of pick up Rebels where I left off: at Ackbar. So I dismissed this fleet.

Next was Sato. Sato MC75 and Wide-Area Barrage on an Ordnance Cruiser. As usual fitting in enough ships AND squadrons proved very difficult indeed. Using Sato at 400 is still not an easy thing to do. I ended up with a corner case build with an MC75, Salvation, Yavaris, and a host of VCXs and Rogues. It was a fun list that I'll discuss in a later post. But ultimately it wasn't tournament viable. Too bad, since it can throw an INSANE amount of black dice from a variety of sources.

Which left me with Raddus. But what kind of Raddus? JJ proved that the Profundity Hammerhead trick is quite powerful, especially in a 1st player build. But also that Raddus and a couple of VCXs could play a very effective 2nd player game on objectives.

I didn't want to just copy what JJ did, so I looked around for other options. And my piercing blue eyes saw... Bail. Bail Organa, which has the potential to let to play head games with your opponent as 2nd player. I had tried him a little bit on Vassal before, 2 or 3 games (which I think I lost), and he had grown on me for each playtest.

But what to put him on? The AF2 is a joke, so not that one. And I wanted a fast, agile ship with Gunnery Teams that could really set up some murderous forks in conjunction with Bail and the MC75. Yeah, of course there would be an MC75 coming out of Raddus-space... why else would you take Admiral Blue-Face!? ;-)

So I ended up with the much-maligned MC80 Battle Cruiser. Not sure why this isn't a more widely used ship. Yes, it has some serious drawbacks, but it has such massive offensive options and can go pseudo-speed 4 with Engine Techs. That makes it very unpredictable, which pairs so well with Raddus and Bail. For me it also helps that it is a LOT like an ISD (I know my ISDs) in employment, only a bit more fragile.

So all this theory-crafting led to this, my regionals-winning Raddus list:

Name: Raddus Bail BC+OC

Faction: Rebel
Commander: Admiral Raddus

Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Planetary Ion Cannon
Navigation: Intel Sweep

MC80 Battle Cruiser (103)
• Admiral Raddus (26)
• Bail Organa (7)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Leading Shots (4)
• Quad Battery Turrets (5)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
= 166 Points

MC75 Ordnance Cruiser (100)
• Damage Control Officer (5)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• External Racks (3)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Aspiration (3)
= 127 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Comms Net (2)
• Bright Hope (2)
= 22 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Hondo Ohnaka (2)
• Quantum Storm (1)
= 21 Points

Squadrons:
• Shara Bey (17)
• Tycho Celchu (16)
• 2 x VCX-100 Freighter (30)
= 63 Points

Total Points: 399

I wasn't 100% sure about some of the upgrades:

Quad Battery Turrets are very nice with Engine Techs, if you can keep you speed down. You can get long range Leading Shot rerolls, overall more accuracy, a boost to the side arcs too. Spinals was the alternative, but I always do those so I picked Quads just to try them out.

Damage Control Officer or Lando? I think maybe Lando is the better option, even on a 2-contain ship, but I figured I might run into some Heavy Ions or something, and wanted to give DCO a shot (it's a card I keep coming back to, wanting it to be good, but it usually lets me down).

Aspiration? Or not? Being able to boost shields with Aspiration can be a good defensive boost - but it can also backfire if you do it wrong. But in the end I did pick it, partly because I had the points, and partly because you don't HAVE to use Aspiration. Or you can use it, and only weaken one hull zone, so it's pretty flexible.

I did consider 2 Exodus Fleet cards, but even if I dropped Aspiration and the DCO, I only had 9 points, but needed 10. And I didn't want to take out any of my other stuff.

So that was my list. Based on a little bit of playtesting of Bail and Raddus in other configurations, of games played AGAINST Raddus, and a desire to try something new.

As it turned out, I wasn't the only one to want to try Raddus...he was THE most popular admiral. But the other two Raddus fleets did Profundity + Hammerhead, so it was cool to have a different list.

Rebels: 9
Raddus 3
Ackbar 2
Dodonna 1
Riekan 1
Madine 1
Leia 1

Empire: 6
Motti 2
Ozzel 1
Sloane 1
Thrawn 1
Jerjerrod 1

Stay turned for the battle reports!

Monster Truck Mania!, part 3 (r1 batte report)

Who comes up with these monsters!?

My first ever 800 vs 800 battle is over!

@Green Knight vs @Bantha ends with a 531 to 291 win for me (7-4 MoV 240). This should place me in the upper middle of the field for round 2 of Swiss pairing.

Man was it a challenging and chaotic affair. We both were at 800, looks like most folks wanted to cram the max amount of stuff into their lists, which is very thematic. So we rolled for it, and I got the choice, so I picked 1st player.

His objectives included Station Assault (no surprise since he's got 2 Dictors and all 3 of his ISD have Gunnery Teams), Solar Corona (again not very surprising), and finally Fleet Ambush. That was more of a surprise, since that objective is considered one of the worst objectives (maybe THE worst) for 2nd player.

BUT in this case you have 800 points of heavy ships that can't easily be killed facing you, so the amount of sneakiness you can pull as 1st player is limited. Plus Bantha has two Grav Wells in there, and thus can force everything in the ambush zone to start at speed 0.

Station Assault was the obvious choice: I would get to use my deployment advantage (5 ships + 6 squadron drops vs 5 ships + 3 squadron drops) to put my combat ships where they needed to be (on a flank, concentrating their firepower while maximizing defense). My squadrons would have time to clear his squads and start picking on exposed ships, without too much flak in return. Killing one station to even the points is easy. Killing two is entirely doable. And as 1st play I could use my grav shift to better effect than he could.

Solar Corona is not good for me: the setup disadvantage vs 3 ISDs + 2 Dictors is massive, especially vs 2 grav wells and 1 grav shift. Plus it eats accs, and those ECM-less Cymoons are vulnerable to accs, so I didn't want to give away that advantage.

But instead I selected his FLEET AMBUSH! I figured deploying my squadrons forward, and being able to use Tarkin --> Entrapment Formation! would offset my disadvantages. I would have full speed control and my Quasars could relay from the back.

And indeed all of that is true. However, I was thinking at 400 points, with a tried and tested fleet. At 800 points, with an untried fleets, and lots of stuff I don't normal use? My brain began melting even as we set up, and it got worse when the game began. I don't think I've ever played that slow... or at least I haven't in a VERY long time.

We both managed NOT to get logfiles (I often turn of the PC, without ending the logfile, so it doesn't get recorded), so this setup is approximate, and taken from my memory. I have real screen captures from start of round 5 (we had to save and resume) and from the final board state.

No matter how I do this, my ships will glide into range and get shot up. So I do the only sensible thing, I activate the Quasars first. This will expose my squads to flak, but I can take some of that. So Gar Saxon dies outright, while Vader+Maarek+Jendon+Defender go to work on Motti: I'm hoping to kill the flagship in a pincer, so the sooner I can get started, the better.

After the Quasars I just let my Sovereign and Dictor sit at speed 0, while Chimaera actually drops to speed 0 too! Anything to delay engagement, as my mind desperately tries to plan a few rounds ahead: and fails!

Setup complete, after all grav effects

Round 2 is mostly maneuvering and some squadron action. On round 3 and 4 a LOT happens. Bantha is too canny to let me focus down Motti, so my initial shots on the flagship are wasted as Motti just blasts through my fleet and escapes to the other side. My own flagship dies to a combination of canny play - and very hot dice on Bantha's part (and Intensify Firepower! is awesome at 800 points - I alrready knew it was good, but this is much better). I do get to use my DCO to counter MS-1 crits that would have exhausted my ECM, which is cool :-D

My own dice are overall rotten. Defensers roll mostly accs. My reds are mostly blank, even with rerolls. Plus Bantha has good control of his ships, giving away no freebie medium range shots. I really struggle for a while. Dice can be... frustrating... have I use up my good karma in the World Cup?

Good news is that with Motti clearly going to escape, I go for his centrally located Dictor instead, and it dies to a double arc from Sovereign before it's blown up. At this point my dice are a little warmer, with bombers scoring some hits and crits and my rerolls coming up ok.

I use my 1st player advantage and bombers to drill down his IF! Cymoon (top right). Without ECM these babies are fragile at medium or closer. And definitely no match for a double-arcing ISD-2 with squadron support.

My own Dictor tanks a lot of shots with Brunson and repairs. Brunson + Interdictor title is REALLY good. Even with my brace accuracied, she brings damage down to manageable levels. Twice a round!

 Start of round 5

Pic above shows start of round 5 when we picked up in our 2nd session. I activate my Dictor first, putting 7 dice into the side of the last Cymoon, expecting to really weaken it. Again the dice are horrible. 3 accs and 1 damge from 1 red and 3 blue. Next shot is average. 

Motti shoots up my Quasar next. It just survives, but dies to a ram. This activation order lets my Chimaera do some critical repair (I've completely forgotten about the title - and the Fleet Command at this point) and move to a better position. So when Bantha finally shoots with his Cymoon, he must go through several shields, making a kill VERY unlikely. I wonder if he had just let the Quasar go, he might have had a better chance of downing the ISD. 

I'm finally able to wear down the Cymoon with squads. Two rounds of shooting is more than the shield-less ISD can handle. But it is very close, as the Dictor failed to do the expected damage in round 5. Had the Cymoon NOT died - or had my own Chimaera gotten blown up - the score would have been very different.

I hope to be better prepared next game, now that I've tried 800 pts and my fleet. I'll try to do stuff like remember my own cards, and maybe I will actually be able to plan forward, beyond the immediate action.

Thank's to Bantha for being a very good and courteous opponent!

Admiral Darth Veggie (blog)

Darth Veggie revealed!

A little shout-out for my fellow blogger, Darth Veggie. Most of his posts are in German, but you can find the odd English article in there. So either know/learn German - or use the translate function in Google!

Link to his blog

Vassal Corellian Conflict: Campaign blog, part 8 (round 3 battle)

Battle was joined between Vader and Sato over Tralus... and I lost. What!? I don't lose... or actually I do. Less often than before, but I still lose on a regular basis, especially when trying out new stuff, so nothing new there. 

But in this case I felt it was an awkward matchup for me before the game, second player and out-activated, plus weaker squadrons --> lots of black Sato dice incoming. Then I became fairly certain of victory from the start bc Veggie seemed a little timid and unfocused. But that feeling evaporated in round 3 when the tables firmly turned due to an insane string of dice rolls on his part, and generally meh dice him my part.

But ok, these things happen. It's not fun when it happens oc, but it's part of the game. Last game I had it was Torka that couldn't hit anything.

My own losses included my ISD and my Gozanti, and at the very end also Demolisher. I think I could have gone to hyper with it if I had wanted to, but then Salvation would have escaped. And vengeance had to be served, so I guess I traded my Demo for his Salvation. Not a good trade mind you, but one I can afford. Plus it felt good. 

Also lost all my squadrons. They are mostly a delaying force, but in this game they proved impossible to effectively control. Plus the dice. Ending with only 1 enemy YT-2400 downed... that's below expectations. The only silver lining is I got my Raider-2 to veteran status, so now all my ships are vets, except the Gozanti (I'll have a try at that next battle).

I think I counted 140 refit if I want to repair everything. That means I have to take 6 points from the bank. It's not ideal, but I don't have to grow, and out income will be good next round as well.

Veggie got off lightly. I murdered all 3 Hammerheads, and Salvation, but these guys are CHEAP. 36/2=18 for a HH! And A Support Neb is just 51/2=26. And 8 for the YT. I think that's 88 total. So even with Rebels having lower income, Veggie can repair everything AND put money in the bank. Plus his MC75 became a veteran!

Let's have a quick look at the game, from setup until finish:

Veggie picked my DT, and we set up as shown. He had the last two deployments, so was always going to be able to put MC75+Neb in a good spot. That said, given the placement of his HHs and squads, their final position was more or less given. 

Rather than put Demo in ca central location, I COULD have place it over to the side, as shown by the red arrow. I left room so it would fit to the left of the ISD. I figured, however, that under normal circumstances, and with the starting speeds, my raiders and Demo would sweep in and roll up the flank, while the ISD kept Veggie's fleet pinned. I was even willing to trade my ISD for the rest of his fleet.

A bit of overconfidence right there - already I have forgotten about 2nd player and out-activated. I'm looking for a real fight now, not the fencing of the previous two games. This will turn out badly later on, when "normal circumstances" don't happen.

Alternative setup

Round 1 is good for me. My cauldron plan is developing, and Veggies doesn't seem to know what he wants to do. Indeed, I feel so confident that I keep my Raider-1 out of the fight: it will spend the game picking up tokens and commanding squadrons, to minimal effect. The original plan was to turn hard left (red arrow) and join the fight after picking up the token - now I decide to use it mostly as activation padding. 

But really, the R-1 should be in the spot of the Gozanti. The Gozani could have harvested tokens and relayed to squads all game. Really bad on my part. The end result is my squads lack the flak support they sorely need. Another mistake. At the very least I should have sped up to speed 3 on r1 (the other red arrow) and speed 4 on r2 and circled wide, instead the Raider does more or less nothing all game!

Round 2

Start of r3 I'm, still VERY confident of a crushing victory. One HH is dead, my Raider-2 is a veteran, I've put the hurt on both remaining Hammerheads, I've got heavy hitters in Veggie's flank, and I've masterfully parked the ISD to prevent a double arc by the MC75. And the forsting? Salvation is obstructed! Doesn't get any better, right?

But there are some problems hidden here. To get that block, I had to close to black range. And the MC75 got a truly MASSIVE External Rack volley on the ISD. And damage from a few other shots and squads is mounting. Speaking of squads... with the ISD busy shooting at ships, lacking good squadron command platforms, and the Raider-1 badly placed, my squadrons just die to little effect. Against Sato that is not good.

At the same time Veggie starts to roll HOT, I go cold. The first ISD shot to the MC75 was hopeless, even after rerolls (and being a friendly campaign, I don't do Intel Officer).

Round 3

Fast forward and Salvation unleashes HELL on the ISD top of r3. Even obstructed it rolls and obscene amount of HIT/CRITs. The ISD gets off a good couple of shots too, but it will die with its goal unaccomplished: the MC75 will get away. My Raiders fleet the scene, Demo kills Salvation just because, and gets shot up by squads in return.

End game.

So yeah, dice played a major part in my demise, and both me and Veggie flet sorry for me for a bit, but dice are not the whole story. I did what I could to make those dice rolls really MATTER. I put the ISD in harms way, expecting only average damage. I kept the Raider out of the fight, when it should have supported squadrons. Had I been more careful and focused my fire more, that MC75 should have died anyway, shifting the game entirely the other way. Plus I feel that while Veggie started rather poorly, he did his very best to claw himself out of the hole he had dug - and succeeded. So he's definitely due some credit for that.

In the end it was a good game overall. It was too slow though. This took four hours. That's waaay too long. I may have been a little frustrated with the dice for a bit, but the slowness nearly killed me. My best tip for faster play is to take your time when it matters, I do that myself, but don't fret over every little thing. A two hour game can be as well played - and much more exiting - than a 4 hour marathon.

Some lessons were learned. And I think I need to tweak the list some, or rethink my command dials a bit. Those squadrons need to be commanded a little more to be effective. And the Raider really needs to support them better.

Vassal logfile.

Anyway... Vader will be back!

Monster Truck Mania!, part 2 (the Enemy)

Bantha poodoo!

I just heard back from my r1 opponent, @Bantha. We're doing this madness Wednesday. Maybe we can do it in one sitting, maybe not. He claims inexperience with Vassal, so maybe two sitting is more realistic. I'll make sure to record it and post a batrep.

Anyway, there is the list I'm up against: 800 points exactly of Motti ISDs, one ISD-2 with SAdv and two Cymoons, backed by a couple of Dictors. That's a LOT of hull to check through, 14 on each ISD and 11 on each Dictor. Taking out the Motti ISD is probably going to be impractical, so the only way is to go through all that hull. 

The Cymoons lack ECM fortunately. Already I miss Jonus - this was exactly the reason he was in the squadron setup in the first place. Told you I was going to miss him :-D They also miss reroll tech, except IF!, so let's hope he's not like me when it comes to throwing red dice!

His Dictors have G7-Xs, two between them, so he'll be able to make me start at speed 0. That's pretty much irrelevant vs my Tarkin list. Tarkin can just hand out Nav tokens, and every ship can be at speed 3 (2 for the Chimaera) immediately. His Grav Shift can mess with my objectives though - it's going to be tug of war :-)

He's got 143 points of rogues in there. I can't wait to see how they compare with my Quasar-commanded squadrons. He should be able to do some damage, but between my brace escorts and ability to Flight Controller all 12 of my squads I think I have the edge.

We're tied for the bid... exactly ZERO points between the both of us. With these fleets and equal activation I'm good with being both 1st and 2nd player. I mean 1st is always nice, but I would like to play my objectives and have the last activations. So I think I'm good either way!

Author: Bantha
Faction: Empire
Commander: Admiral Motti
Points: 800/800

Objectives: Redacted

SHIP: Imperial II-class Star Destroyer 120
Admiral Motti 24
Strategic Adviser 4
Gunnery Team 7
Electronic Countermeasures 7
Leading Shots 4
XI7 Turbolasers 6
Total Points: 172

SHIP: Imperial Star Destroyer Cymoon 1 Refit 112
Intel Officer 7
Gunnery Team 7
Spinal Armament 9
XI7 Turbolasers 6
Total Points: 141

SHIP: Imperial Star Destroyer Cymoon 1 Refit 112
Wulff Yularen 7
Gunnery Team 7
Intensify Firepower! 6
Spinal Armament 9
XI7 Turbolasers 6
Total Points: 147

SHIP: Interdictor Suppression Refit 90
Hondo Ohnaka 2
Disposable Capacitors 3
G7-X Grav Well Projector 2
Grav Shift Reroute 2
MS-1 Ion Cannons 2
Total Points: 101

SHIP: Interdictor Suppression Refit 90
Disposable Capacitors 3
G7-X Grav Well Projector 2
MS-1 Ion Cannons 2
Total Points: 97

SHIP: Gar Saxon Mandalorian Gauntlet Fighter 23
SHIP: Morna Kee VT-49 Decimator 27
SHIP: Boba Fett Slave 1 26
SHIP: IG-88 IG-2000 21
SHIP: Bossk Hound's Tooth 23
SHIP: VT-49 Decimator 22 Total Points: 23
Total Points: 143

Vassal Corellian Conflict: Campaign blog, part 7 (round 3)

Rebel attack at Tralus imminent. Lord Vader responding...

So this is my friendly list for r3. I've picked up some extra upgrades (STM!, Quads, and Devastator), fleshing out the ISD. Demo gets Brunson. Some extra squads. Still not great, and I have control issues, but not as horrible as before.

Rebels screamed in horror when they saw the title: Devastator. But if you look closely, this is (at least in my eyes) VERY different from my WC list. I've limited myself to 5 activations, while rebels are now at 6 and 6 and 5 (Ackbar). And I'm locked in eternal 2nd player mode... so... yeah. I still think that list is about as friendly as I can get without deliberately trying to make the list bad. 

Name: VCC New Vader r3

Faction: Imperial
Commander: Darth Vader

Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Contested Outpost
Navigation: Dangerous Territory

ISD Cymoon 1 Refit (112)
• Darth Vader (36)
• Minister Tua (2)
• Shields to Maximum! (6)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Quad Battery Turrets (5)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
• Devastator (10)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
= 191 Points

Gladiator II (62)
• Captain Brunson (5)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Demolisher (10)
= 94 Points

Raider II (48)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Heavy Ion Emplacements (9)
= 60 Points

Raider I (44)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• External Racks (3)
= 51 Points

Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Comms Net (2)
= 25 Points

Squadrons:
• Lambda Shuttle (15)
• Captain Jonus (16)
• Valen Rudor (13)
• Zertik Strom (15)
• Saber Squadron (12)
• TIE Fighter Squadron (8)
= 79 Points

Total Points: 500

Arrayed against me is Sato, and a LOT of WAB. Tralus is just a standard planet, so we're running my usual objectives. I'm guessing Dangerous Territory again. Although I will offer to swap in Blockade Run and Ion Cannons if Veggie thinks that will be more fun.

Anyway, I'm out-activated and 2nd player, and that's always a challenge. He's got some good squads in there, so I'm not really feeling a win in the squad fight. But at least he'll need to close if he wants to use Sato's ability. Downside is he's taken a million WAB. Not very friendly at all. And why does he have THREE VCXs? Lol!

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 500/500  

Commander: Commander Sato

Assault Objective: Custom Objective
Defense Objective: Custom Objective
Navigation Objective: Custom Objective

[ flagship ] MC75 Ordnance Cruiser (100 points)
-  Commander Sato  ( 32  points)
-  Aspiration  ( 3  points)
-  Damage Control Officer  ( 5  points)
-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points)
-  Quad Laser Turrets  ( 5  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
-  Wide-Area Barrage  ( 2  points)
-  External Racks  ( 3  points)
= 161 total ship cost

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
-  Task Force Organa  ( 1  points)
-  Wide-Area Barrage  ( 2  points)
= 39 total ship cost

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
-  Task Force Organa  ( 1  points)
-  Wide-Area Barrage  ( 2  points)
= 39 total ship cost

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 points)
-  Task Force Organa  ( 1  points)
-  Wide-Area Barrage  ( 2  points)
= 39 total ship cost

Nebulon-B Support Refit (51 points)
-  Salvation  ( 7  points)
= 58 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
-  Expanded Hangar Bay  ( 5  points)
= 23 total ship cost

1 Han Solo ( 26 points)
1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)
3 VCX-100 Freighters ( 45 points)
1 Ketsu Onyo ( 22 points)
2 YT-2400s ( 32 points)
= 141 total squadron cost

Card view link

Fleet created with Armada Warlords

Battle will take place tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. Stay turned of a batrep, or log into Vassal and follow us live.

Monster Truck Mania!, part 1 (the rules & the list)

@GiledPallaeon over at the FFG forums is running a custom tourney with an exiting, 800 point, no small ships allowed format! Other than that it's a standard, 3 round Swiss format tourney. I'm taking Tarkin, 2 ISDs (Sovereign and Chimaera both), 1 Interdoctor and two flotilla spam Quasars, plus about 200 points of squads (see below for the list).

He's actually divided the tourney into two - one North America, one Euro, like I did last year with some of my Vassal tournaments. It basically keeps scheduling hassle to a minimum and ensures that all the games get played. I think it's 12 NA players and 10 Euro players. My first opponent i @Bantha - no idea yet what he's running, but I'll give you a batrep.

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LADIES AND GENTLEMEN (AND ASSORTED SMALL CHILDREN),

I PRESENT TO YOU

MONSTER TRUCK MANIA!

In an effort to wind down as we come out of yet another successful and stressful Vassal World Cup, I present our next Vassal tournament, MONSTER TRUCK MANIA, with one singular objective: HAVE FUN! Players are hereby encouraged to bear this in mind as we go through this tournament, and to seek to maximize fun, for both themselves and their opponents at every opportunity. This entire tournament is structured around controlled ridiculousness, so HAVE FUN!

Format

Tier: Relaxed. This is the definition of a casual event. Play nice, play fair, play to have as much fun as possible. First time Vassal players are welcome, but are strongly encouraged to practice on Vassal before your tournament games in order to help things go smoothly.

Structure: Custom. That's actually a lie, we're using the Basic Structure outlined in the Tournament Regulations document with one major change to the actual Swiss setup. Stealing from the success of the Autumn Tournament, there will in fact be two tournaments using the same rules running in parallel, one of Europe and one of everyone else. As of right now, plans are for three rounds of Swiss.

Rules

FOR THE PURPOSES OF MONSTER TRUCK MANIA, THE FOLLOWING RULES ERRATA ARE IN EFFECT AT ALL TIMES.

1. In keeping with maximum ridiculousness, fleet points cap is raised to eight hundred (800) points.

2. In keeping with making sure Rule 1 doesn't spiral out of control, squadron points allowance is lowered to twenty five percent (25%). For those too lazy to cut 800 in quarters (I am too, don't worry), that means there are two hundred (200) points maximum allowed for squadrons.

3. Commanders may only be equipped to Large base ships.

4. Fleets MAY NOT contain any Small base ships.

5. All Margins of Victory points requirements are doubled.

This means: 6-5 is MoV<119, 7-4 120->279, 8-3 280->439, 9-2 440->599, and 10-1 600+.

6. The following objectives are errata'd in the following ways:

Station Assault: Victory token value increased to 80 points.

Capture the VIP: Victory token value increased to 100 points.

Contested Outpost: Victory token value increased to 40 points.

Dangerous Territory: Victory token value increased to 30 points.

Intel Sweep: Final score bonus increased to 150 points.

All other rules for fleet-building (one of each objective, no doubling up on unique upgrades etc. etc.) REMAIN IN EFFECT PER FFG TOURNAMENT REGULATIONS AND THE RULES REFERENCE GUIDE. Anyone playing in the tournament may submit as many fleet lists as they desire. However, only their final submission will be considered as their legal list. Please don't blow up the form.

I have included in the signup form an option to offer to be a judge for games you are not playing. Please, we've gotten through three World Cups and I have no idea how many other tournaments without issue, please please please don't make this the tournament that starts that trend. Remember Rule No. 1 of Star Wars Miniature Gaming: Fly Casual.

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Here is my list, objectives and all. I'm at 800 exactly, and expect to be playing these, and anyway there are no surprises. Plus all those objectives have their points doubled, and all of them work well with Grav Shift, so there.

I started out with Thrawn actually, but then I found it hard to use the Fleet Commands since Gozanti are banned. So I had the bright idea: let's bring our TARKIN BABY. Haven't played him since like wave 1 or 2. Don't really like him, but in this format he seems solid. Plus NEW TOYS, in both Sovereign and Chimaera. Beyond that little thought went into the list. It's just for fun. I even shoehorned Ion Cannon Batteries into it to use all 800 points (this is the first time with 800 for me, so LEAVE NO POINT BEHIND). 

Hmm, seems I have done something odd here. I swear I had Captain Jonus in there, but not I have two Defenders... oh well, he probably got shafted during final editing. That probably means I'm going to miss him a LOT :-D

Name: Monster Truck aka. Leave No Point Behind
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Grand Moff Tarkin

Assault: Station Assault
Defense: Contested Outpost
Navigation: Dangerous Territory

Imperial II (120)
• Grand Moff Tarkin (38)
• Damage Control Officer (5)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (4)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
• Sovereign (4)
= 191 Points

Imperial II (120)
• Strategic Adviser (4)
• Gunnery Team (7)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Leading Shots (4)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
• Chimaera (4)
• Entrapment Formation! (5)
= 157 Points

Interdictor Suppression Refit (90)
• Captain Brunson (5)
• Projection Experts (6)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Grav Shift Reroute (2)
• Targeting Scrambler (5)
• Ion Cannon Batteries (5)
• Interdictor (3)
= 119 Points

Quasar Fire I (54)
• Flight Controllers (6)
• Expanded Hangar Bay (5)
• Squall (3)
= 68 Points

Quasar Fire I (54)
• Flight Controllers (6)
• Expanded Hangar Bay (5)
= 65 Points

Squadrons:
• Maarek Stele (21)
• 2 x TIE Defender Squadron (32)
• Colonel Jendon (20)
• 2 x Lambda Shuttle (30)
• Darth Vader (21)
• Zertik Strom (15)
• Tempest Squadron (13)
• Mauler Mithel (15)
• Valen Rudor (13)
• Dengar (20)
= 200 Points

Total Points: 800

Armada Warlords development update

Fear my front arc!

Work continues on Armada Warlords builder.

Bugs are hunted down and exterminated, new features are added, and the builder keeps getting better and better.

Just today we added a suite of filtering options for the user control panel. No more having to leaf through a lot of pages in search of your own fleets. Now you can just filter by faction, commander, or any text in the title!

Other changes include a standardized, intuitive way to sort ships, squadrons, and upgrades, across all pages and views. We've also added some new buttons in the Upgrade Database viewer, to quickly filter down to just the upgrades you want to look at.

Stay tuned for more!

http://armadawarlords.hivelabs.solutions/

Bully In the Playground (Dodonna MC80L build)

I'm a peaceful passenger liner... no turbolasers to see here...

Today I want to showcase a competitive Rebel list I call "the Bully in the Playground". This list builds around a pimped Liberty BC, and setting it up to take down enemy ships. All the other ships and upgrades or squads are there to protect/enhance the BC.

The Bully has been around for a while, primarily in the hands of excellent Italian player "Aresius". I do not see many copies out there, not because it's not effective (it is), but because it takes a lot of practice to get right. So if you just netlist this and think to do well without practice... good luck with that.

The first time I encountered this list was in Aresius' hands on vassal, right after wave 3/4 hit. I was still running wave 2 Ackbar. The Bully was less refined then, lacked relay and just had a swarm of A-wings, among other things, but the core elements were there: the pimped BC, Dodonna, the 5 flotillas, and the squadron swarm.

The game ended with Aresius last-firsting my assault frigate. Not much else actually happened. But right then I learned to appreciate/hate/fear/whatever this new list archetype. Since then the list has evolved many times, and Aresius has done really well with it, winning regionals and nationals, and placing high in Euros!

I present here a "basic" version, with a decent bid and mostly plain A-wings (I'll talk about some variations later on, and also showcase wave 7 evolution). With 6 ships for activations, the chance of getting a last-first activation with the BC is VERY good with a 15 pt bid. It won't always happen that you get first, but most of the time you should (but if you ask Aresius, he seldom got 1st when he needed it). 6 ships + 8 squadrons give 10 deployments, which is very good indeed. It makes sure the BC gets to place last, in a beneficial position, even against squad-heavy builds.

Objectives are good for when the list must go second. MW might not look ideal, but with the BC in a good position, it can either neuter an enemy ship (Admo/Demo) or kill it more easily for extra points. Advanced Gunnery is a trap: lose the BC and you lose BIG. Better to limit fallout to 1 flotilla.

Fire Lanes and Intel Sweep are excellent with the Strategic squadrons, forcing the opponent to close or lose. Intel Sweep is an almost automatic 75 points, after which the list can disengage and win by points. Sensor Net is an option, but makes the flotillas need to gather in one place, which is not desirable.

Five flotillas, two of them naked (for pushing squadrons), Bright Hope with Toryn Farr (blue rerolls, esp useful with the squadrons), Ahsoka + Comms Net and Leia + Comms Net. For maximum token/command flexibility. Since everything revolves around the BC, it needs all the support it can get.

Speaking of squadrons. 2xVCX for Relay and Strategic. Jan and some generic A-wings (they get really tough with her backing them up), Shar and Tycho. This is a squad force that won't immediately win the fighter battle against 134 pts of Yavaris or Sloane, but even then they should be enough to hold off enemy squadrons long enough. 

The BC build is not accidental, but the product of many rounds of testing. Dodonna is cheap, but his main use here is to pick the bad faceup damage cards (there will be very many). The combination of Hi-Cap Turbines (VERY rarely used), XI7 and XX-9 means max damage go through to hull, and become faceup. Veteran Gunners is insurance against bad rolls - go not say "Gunnery Teams are better", because in the build, it's not about killing many targets, but killing that ONE target (if you take GT, you must also swap in Leading Shots, and then you have a different build). Intel Officer is there to strip the brace from ECM ships. ET and plenty of Nav commands mean that A) the BC remains VERY fast and surprisingly agile, even without Madine, B) it can double ram if needed, and C) it can run-turn (pseudo-speed 4 while turning a large base ship) away from the action very quickly.

Typically situation:

• enemy ship glides into long range (or even worse, medium range)
• BC activates last, between the upgrades shown, the target is typically stripped of shields on one hull zone, and might even take hull damage faceup (Blast Doors don't help)
• BC moves in for a double arc, possibly ramming once (or even twice)
• BC activates first next round, double arcing the target - with Intel Officer the target can only brace once (if ECM) or not at all (normally accs will be produced)
• Target takes a good number of damage, usually 2 more faceup (Dodonna crits)
• Side arc shoots, doing more damage, again usually 2 faceup with Dodonna (and the brace is gone by now)
• BC moves and Engines Techs away to safety

There are VERY few ships that can live through this. Motti ISD with ECM, yes. But not much else. And this is if we do not consider squadron attacks on ships at all.

Bully w6, A-wing edition 
Author: Green Knight (with special permission from Aresius!)

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 385/400  

Commander: General Dodonna

Assault Objective: Most Wanted
Defense Objective: Fire Lanes
Navigation Objective: Intel Sweep

[ flagship ] MC80 Battle Cruiser (103 points)
-  General Dodonna  ( 20  points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points)
-  Veteran Gunners  ( 5  points)
-  Engine Techs  ( 8  points)
-  X17 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)
-  XX-9 Turbolasers  ( 5  points)
-  High-Capacity Ion Turbines  ( 8  points)
= 162 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
-  Bright Hope  ( 2  points)
-  Toryn Farr  ( 7  points)
= 27 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
-  Ahsoka Tano  ( 2  points)
-  Comms Net  ( 2  points)
= 22 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
-  Leia Organa  ( 3  points)
-  Comms Net  ( 2  points)
= 23 total ship cost

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

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

3 A-Wing Squadrons ( 33 points)
1 Shara Bey ( 17 points)
1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)
1 Jan Ors ( 19 points)
2 VCX-100 Freighters ( 30 points)
= 115 total squadron cost

Card view link

Fleet created with Armada Warlords 

In later iterations the Bully has done away with the need for 1st player, but taking squadrons that better support 2nd player play.

For the Vassal WC 2018, Aresius brought the following squads, and replaced Most Wanted with Precision Strike. With 6 activations, the Dutch/Wedge combo is very effective. The X-wings can help Jan live longer. This is 5 pts more than the build above, so still a 10 pt bid. If it was me I would probably keep Tycho or Shara (both are good) instead of the plain A-wing, but this would reduce the bid to 5 or 4 respectively.

1 A-Wing Squadron ( 11 points)
1 Jan Ors ( 19 points)
2 VCX-100 Freighters ( 30 points)
1 Green Squadron ( 12 points)
1 Wedge Antilles ( 19 points)
1 "Dutch" Vander ( 16 points)
1 X-Wing Squadron ( 13 points)
= 120 total squadron cost

Re. Precision Strike: the bombers can do some PS tokens on their own, but the BC is truly horrifying: it can, in theory, flip up one card AND deal 2 more faceup (XX-9) in one attack, or 6 tokens in one activation! BUT there is always some fallout risk with PS. Even just Jednon-Maarek can harvs a LOT of tokens in a game, and those guys are everywhere.

If you strip the Leia/Comms Net flotilla, you save 5 points, so you can actually afford 134 points of squadrons, laving the list with a 1 pt bid.

1 Jan Ors ( 19 points)
2 VCX-100 Freighters ( 30 points)
1 Green Squadron ( 12 points)
1 Wedge Antilles ( 19 points)
1 "Dutch" Vander ( 16 points)
1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)
1 Corran Horn ( 22 points)
= 134 total squadron cost

So what about wave 7? In general, I think running just 1 combat ship became much more risky due to Raddus. But not everyone will run Raddus, and with practice the BC can win (probably small, or a limited loss) against Raddus too, as long as it doesn't allow itself to become boxed in. Another problem is the 2 Large ship lists out there (seems very popular ATM). Drilling down one without being caught by the other one will require skill and practice.

In terms of new toys Caitken and Shollan fit right into the list. You can even keep the rest of the list exactly the same. Or you could swap in some of the upgrades shown in the list below. I think Mon Karren maybe is overkill, but ok, it might help with that final point of damage or two that is the difference between a dead ship and a live ship.

This is the w7 version Aresius tried for the WC Fleet Patrol side event. It changes the configuration of the BC, to focus on using the front arc primarily, rather than double arc. It keeps the Intel Officer (without it ECM ISDs can't be killed according to Bail), so no Strategic Adviser or Bail, but adds a 6th flotilla for 7 activations.

Edit: it turns out Aresius has done some interesting playtesting, and Bail is indeed very good, potentially replacing Intel Officer. Going 2nd with 7 activations menas you're not just going last-first with Bail. Stay turned for the articles on Bail and Pryce!

Bully w7, A-wings 
Author: Green Knight

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 400/400  

Commander: General Dodonna

Assault Objective: Most Wanted
Defense Objective: Fire Lanes
Navigation Objective: Intel Sweep

[ flagship ] MC80 Battle Cruiser (103 points)
-  General Dodonna  ( 20  points)
-  Mon Karren  ( 8  points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points)
-  Caitken and Shollan  ( 6  points)
-  Engine Techs  ( 8  points)
-  Spinal Armament  ( 9  points)
-  X17 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)
-  SW 7 Ion Batteries  ( 5  points)
= 172 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
-  Bright Hope  ( 2  points)
-  Toryn Farr  ( 7  points)
= 27 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
-  Leia Organa  ( 3  points)
-  Comms Net  ( 2  points)
= 23 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
-  Ahsoka Tano  ( 2  points)
= 20 total ship cost

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

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

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

5 A-Wing Squadrons ( 55 points)
1 Jan Ors ( 19 points)
2 VCX-100 Freighters ( 30 points)
= 104 total squadron cost

Card view link

Fleet created with Armada Warlords

The list is very strong, but it has some weaknesses also:

First and foremost it is a 1+many flotillas kind of list (1+5/6 in this case). If the BC is taken down - or isn't in a position where it can do much good, it's hard to win.

This is, however, easier said than done. First of all the BC will often deploy last, in a very advantageous situation. Secondly it has much more speed and agility than any other Large base ship. It can close - and disengage in a way other large ships can't. Third it has plenty of squadrons. Not enough to win a full war against 134 pts of GHY or Sloane, but certainly enough to slow down those - and win against light-medium squadron builds. This means no freebie squadron attacks on the big boi. Plentiful squadrons and flotillas should also make screening against a Raddus drop easier (by screening I mean deny Raddus the opportunity to block in the BC).

Finally, whether or not it plays 1st or 2nd it will be dangerous. As 2nd player it get to play strong, points scoring objectives (and possibly use Bail). If it is 1st player, it's a huge last-first threat, that can also efficiently play a variety of enemy objectives.

The lack of Gunnery Teams + only one combat ship + in some versions limited bombing capacity in from the squadrons, means the lists doesn't like multiple threats. It hates Rieekan HH swarms, for example.