After opening the Chocolate League with a roaring 10-1, I suddenly found myself at the top of the bracket, staring down the big bois.
Could Krushya “Liberty” Agate keep the streak going? Or would my Rebels get chewed apart by buzz droids and corporate bureaucracy?
Let’s find out.
The Fleets
Bjørn Blom Sørgjerd (Green Knight) – Krushya “Liberty” Agate (400)
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MC80 Star Cruiser (Liberty): Kyrsta Agate, Intel Officer, Caitken & Shollan, Engine Techs, Ion Cannon Batteries, XI7s, XX-9s
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Assault Frigate Mk II B (Gallant Haven): Ahsoka Tano, Flight Controllers, ECM
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GR-75 (Bright Hope): Toryn Farr
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GR-75: Hondo Ohnaka, Comms Net
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Squadrons (98): Fenn Rau, Jan Ors, Shara Bey, Tycho Celchu, 2× A-Wings
Zac Cerwinske (Zacmanc) – “Two Ships is Plenty, Right?” (398)
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Providence-class Carrier (Invincible): Tikkes, Thermal Shields, EWS, Expanded Hangar Bay, External Racks, Leading Shots, DBY-827s
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Munificent Command Frigate (flag): General Grievous, San Hill, Flight Controllers, Boosted Comms, Thermal Shields, Linked Turbolaser Towers, Bomber Command Center
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Squadrons (133): 7 Vultures + 7 Hyena Bombers
Pre-Battle Thoughts
This was not an easy matchup.
The Providence (Invincible) with Thermals + EWS isn’t truly unkillable—but it’s the kind of ship that eats entire fleets’ attention for breakfast. It would take my entire fleet two or three rounds to kill it, while Hyenas and Vultures pick the rest of my fleet apart. Not a great option.
The Munificent was the carrier and flagship, hiding behind Invincible and flinging commands through Boosted Comms.
Between San Hill and Flight Controllers, Zac could push twelve of fourteen droids per round if he wanted. Yikes.
The bombers throw double reds with Bomber Command Center rerolls.
The fighters bring AI + Swarm. With Flight Controllers that's 3 blue + 1 black or 2 blue + 2 black, with a reroll... TIE Defenders wish they could do this. Love it.
So, the plan:
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Play defensively,
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Survive the alpha,
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Grind down the droids, starting with the fragile Vultures,
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Keep the Hyenas tied up,
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Don’t get baited into chasing ships I can’t realistically kill.
Trade the Potato for squadrons and objective points.
Deployment and Opening Moves
Zac had the bid and went first (no surprise), choosing my Intel Sweep—the least bad of three evils, I suppose, but IMO it's quite an underrated objective.
Once again, my Assault Frigate took objective duty, though in this game, maybe Hondo would be the better choice. But I felt he would be too vulnerable to Hyena attack, so I went with the Potato.
Liberty lurked in the back, covering my flank.
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| Start r2 |
By Round 2, I faced a decision: keep slow-rolling Liberty into the Separatist guns or pull away.
I chose to disengage, and though it complicated positioning, it may have saved the ship. If Liberty had pressed forward, it would have faced double-arcs from both enemy ships and a full Hyena wave—certain death. Then it would be my flagship dead at the end of the game, not Gallant Haven, and that would have given a lot more points to Zac. I honestly can't tell if it was a huge misplay or a good choice.
The Swarm Descends
The squadron battle erupted in Round 3.
Zac led with a vicious strike—two Vulture activations, both perfect, deleting Tycho before he could do anything worthwhile.
He wisely avoided Shara, not wanting to feed her counter dice, and turned instead on Fenn Rau, but between Jan Ors and Gallant Haven, the stoic Mandalorian shrugged it off.
It was a brutal start, but once my flak, Flight Controllers, Toryn Farr, and counter synergy spun up, the tide began to turn.
Fenn and Jan held the line, while my A-wings darted around and tied down the remaining Hyenas.
The Potato that Wouldn’t Die
While the squadrons fought, my Gallant Haven gathered Intel Sweep tokens, commanding squadrons and flakking all the while.
Zac’s bombers finally broke through after Fenn was overlapped by Gallant Haven herself—creating a small but costly gap in my fighter screen.
That allowed a handful of Hyenas to dive in and bomb. But he could only put 3 of 7 Hyenas on target for various reasons, range, engagement, etc., so the ship weathered the storm.
Then came the moment of terror: Invincible opened fire at close range.
All the doubles. Then he rerolled a double evade discard into another pair of doubles. The dice were on absolute fire.
But ECM kept me alive on one hull. Even with a Structural Damage.
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| Potato in trouble |
Somehow, Gallant Haven hung around, surviving another impressive volley from the Munificent by discarding its last defense tokens. I died the turn after, but not before collecting all three Intel tokens, in addition to pushing squad commands and shooting droids out of the sky. Definite MVP.
There was even a comic moment when Bright Hope had no choice but to block the Providence, eating a front arc but—thanks to no accuracy—surviving with a shrug. Classic flotilla nonsense.
Endgame
By Turn 6, every single Vulture and Hyena was scrap metal.
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| End state |
My losses: Gallant Haven, Tycho, and one A-wing.
I never fired a meaningful shot at his ships, but that wasn’t the mission this time.
Final tally:
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133 pts for destroyed squadrons
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+ 75 pts for Intel Sweep
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Lost Gallant Haven + Tycho + A-wing (93 pts)
Result: 7-4 Win
Post-Battle Reflections
This one felt earned.
I played cautiously—maybe too cautiously at times—but the fleet did exactly what it was designed to: weather the alpha, counter-punch, and keep the rest of the fleet intact.
A few notes:
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The squadron group finally shone. Fenn Rau + Jan Ors + Gallant Haven is a tough trio to crack, and speed 5 A-wings with FC and Counter feels really nice, especially with Toryn nearby.
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Losing Tycho early hurt, but the rest of the A-wings made up for it.
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The Liberty never fired in anger (other than a round of flak and ineffectually commanding SHare a couple of times), and in hindsight my round 2 course change feels like a misplay, yet I cannot shake the feeling that if it had NOT disengaged, Liberty, not Gallent Haven, would have died, and the score would be very different at the end of the game.
Props to Zac for fielding such a creative, thematic CIS list. The Grievous + San Hill combo is spicy, and the new ARC Munificent is a fantastic carrier option with the BCC.
Two rounds to go, and Liberty remains flying.
Onward!
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