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.