Thursday, December 14, 2017

What Is Biggs Playing Now? Moffy J, Bossky Bossk and the Kittens

Here's a casual list I've been tolling around with.  Not quite an original idea, I stole the general feel of the idea for the build from the 1st round opponent I played in the Ohio Regional, then modified it heavily.  Here it is, an Imperial broadside list with bomber support:





The List:


Total:  400 / 400  (Ships = 271 / Squadrons = 128)
Deployments:  8
Activations: 4

Close-Range Intel Scan
Fire Lanes
Superior Positions

Raider I-Class Corvette (70)
- Moff Jerjerrod
- Ordnance Expert

Arquitens-Class Light Cruiser (67)
- Hand of Justice
- Captain Needa
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuit

Arquitens-Class Light Cruiser (61)
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuit

Quasar Fire II-Class Cruiser-Carrier (73)
- Agent Kallus
- Ruthless Strategist
- Quad Laser Turrets

3x TIE Bomber Squadron (27)
Lambda Class Shuttle (15)
Captain Jonus (16)
Colonel Jendon (20)
Bossk (23)
Morna Kee (27)


The Strategy

The strategy is to stay at long range, rain Red dice modified by Turbolaser Reroute Circuit (TRC) on the target, and throw TIE Bombers at the target as well.  Death by a thousand cuts.  And speaking of a thousand cuts, the Squadron game is supported by the Quasar Fire II reaching out and touching things at long range with Red dice flak boosted by Agent Kallus and Ruthless Strategiests.  TIE Bombers are a cheap source of hull, in addition to being the most cost efficient bombers in the game (Gold Squadron not counting, because it is unique).

The core of the anti-ship weaponry are the two Arquitens, which provide reliable long range firepower with TRC.  One is 61 points and designed to be the one in more danger, while Needa's Hand of Justice proavides a supporting role for the first, refreshing the spent Evade token once it fires and uses TRC.  Needa supports his own ship, giving it two Evade tokens so that it can fire TRCs with impunity.  Each side arc shot will average about 4 damage, 5 with a Concentrate Fire command, which they can do without worry thanks to Moff Jerjerrod giving them the ability to do hard turns without Navigate commands.

The Raider exists mostly as a lifeboat style flagship for Moff Jerjerrod, but it is still a combat ship if needed.  It's best placement is at a flank going Speed 4 - hoping that anything that can shoot it won't be able to seal the deal before it zooms away.

The Quasar Fire II-Class is set up to push TIE Bombers and reach out and touch enemy squadrons.  Red anti-squadron dice gives flak out to long range, while Agent Kallus gives those shots consistency against unique squadrons.  Ruthless Strategists is the key, however, as a 5 hull, 9 cost TIE Bomber is just a big pile of automatic damage to anything getting shot at from down town.

On to the fighters.  With only 4 real activations from the Quasar, we really can't afford not to take Rogues, so Morna Kee and Bossk get tapped to join the party.  Everyone should by now be aware of how much of a beast Morna can be, and Bossk is kinda a smaller Morna and with a special ability that combines very well with Ruthless Strategists, giving the list a way to deal with Scatter aces.  For anti-ship, 3 TIE Bombers and Captain Jonus add 4 Black Bomber dice, which is pretty good all by itself.  Jonus also gives accuracy results to ships shooting at his target, which can be crucial for dropping transports for this list.  Meanwhile, a Lambda-Class shuttle and Colonel Jendon relay commands to the TIE Bombers, and Jendon either adds more damage to anti-ship shooting, or gives Morna / Bossk an extra shot.  Both the Lambdas are ironically better at anti-squadron than the TIE Bombers, so can be used in that role as a pinch, and both have the hull to eat Ruthless Strategist attacks.  So, for task forces:

Anti-Squadron Rogues (2)
 - Morna Kee
 - Bossk
Anti-Ship Bombing (4)
 - TIE Bomber (x3)
 - Captain Jonus
Relay and Anti-Squadron Support (2)
 - Lambda-Class Shuttle
 - Colonel Jendon


Matchups:


I feel like this is going to do really well against Boarding Team / Avenger ISD + Support with minimal fighter coverage.  Playing keep-away from the big front arc with broadside ships is good, and my fighters should be able to contribute early and often to anti-ship attacks.

Sloane Generics and Sloane Aces likewise are dealt with by this list - Ruthless Strategists can put a savage hurt on the 3 hull ships Sloane wants to use, and all the squadrons have a lot of hull to chew through.

Similarly, Speed 4 bombers and the long range guns of the Arquitens should be able to keep Madine maneuver lists at bay.

Rieekan Aces or other Rebel Aces lists can be kited and not engaged until they push themselves forward out of the Gallant Haven bubble, or I can play for objectives.  Again, lots of hull means that my squadrons can go toe to toe with the Aces for longer than an Alpha based list.

My worst matchup is probably an Ackbar broadside list, as the Rebels just do the whole "broadside" thing better than the Imperials.  If I am outgunned at long range, I lose the best advantage I have.  For this matchup I'd probably need to concentrate on leveraging my squadrons to either farm their squadrons or hit the bigger Ackbar ships from a distance where they can't retaliate.

3 comments:

  1. I am surprised you did not take Most Wanted as your Red objective. I know you can Jonus for accuracy but you are probably going to want those for the actual attacks. Most Wanted is always solid, and boosts your Arquittens to 4 dice native and the Quasar starts to not suck with 3 Reds at long range, giving you more stand off fire power. Also, MW is just a solid mission in a word where there are a lot of BTAvengers running around.

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  2. Don't you get in trouble if someone with sfc to mfc just alpha strike your lambda and then pass by your fighter with front shouters?

    Get us some feedback on how this is going.

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  3. I think Mauler would be a good add to this list. Ruthless Strategist is effective but with only one ship doing it, will take a long time to add up. Mauler can effectively double your auto-damamage output every turn. What are your missions? playing with a Lamda you may be able to do some good work with objectives. I really think the Raider is a waste. I would swap for a Flotilla or 2, allowing you to take more non-rogues. As good as those rogues you have are, they are expensive. non-rogue typically gets you more bang for your buck over all, for example, you could turn that 50ish points you spent on them into 4 more bombers and a BCC. Bossk is a cool tool to have to kill aces when you are running Ruthless Strat. maybe just drop Morna for 2 Tie bombers and a BCC for one of your flotillas.

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