Revised Commander's Guide - Nebulon-B Frigate

Did you know I don't usually use Nebulon-B Frigates?  That's right, I haven't put one into one of my tournament lists in... quite a long time.  I'm not sure why.  Was I scared off by how quickly Demolisher eats one if it gets up close in the old Wave 1 days, when Assault Concussion Missile was the rule of the day, and not Assault Proton Torpedoes?  Do I just not like something as popular as Yavaris?

No matter the reason, the Nebulon-B is a good ship that has stayed around and found its footing after the Wave 1 days, squadrons "being weak", and Demolisher dominance.

Also, did you know the Nebulon-B article on this site is by far the most popular Commander's Guide of all time?  It's a tricky ship to get right, and realistically there's only so many things you can do with it that aren't overshadowed by other, better ships.

Look!  It's 2 more Nebulon-B's than you'll ever use!

500 Point Tournament Fleet

At our local game shop, we really enjoyed the 500-point fleet building in the Corellian Conflict.  So, when it was time to run an event with the new 2017 Spring Tournament Kit we decided to run it at 500 points.

I've seen some in the Armada community advocating bumping the standard tournament size up to 500 points.  I've not been convinced we need to do that overall, but it seems fun for a one-off event.  Read more to take a look at the fleet I will be taking.

Strategy Discussion Mailbag: Escort Ship Tactics - Rebel (Part 2)

We have just talked about using Imperial small ships in an Escort to cover and protect your larger ships.  Today we are going to go and look at how the Rebels approach the role of Escort ships.

The answer is... not intuitively.  Where the Empire has ships designed to cover their biggest glaring weak points, the Rebels emphatically do not.  That isn't to say there aren't ships that can fulfill these roles, but they aren't as easily identifiable as a properly kitted out Raider or Gladiator.  Let's look at what the Rebels have available.

Nebulon B's are an option.

After Action Report - Wave 2 Tournament - Round 1 vs Zanos

With Wave 2 out on Vassal, the best way to do things was to hold a new tournament.  Somehow, not learning my lesson, I found myself organizing the thing.  First round of the new Wave 2 Tournament had me matching up against a strong 3 ship Imperial fleet.  I've never played Zanos before, nor do I remember seeing him play, so he should be a new experience to play.

Wave 2 Support Teams - Projection Experts Appreciation Station

Well, this is excitement.  Wave 2 brings us from 3 Support Teams total, to a whopping 4.  And the ships that can take a Support Team from 3, to a whipping... 4.  It's time to talk about the only new Support Team - Projection Experts!

How Does Wave 2 Change Wave 1 Ships? Part 1 - Rebels

There is little doubt that with Wave 2 on the horizon, nearly doubling the amount of ships, upgrades and squadrons - to give no mention of the increase in total points to 400 - will substantially shake up the game and what we will be seeing on the 6x3 surface in front of us.  But what about the wave 1 ships we've come to know and love?  How does Wave 2 affect them?

And that's what we will be discussing.  Today we will be focusing on the Rebel ships of wave 1; the Assault Frigate Mk II, Nebulon B Frigate, and the CR90 Corvette, with the Imperial ships to come soon.

Turbolaser Upgrades - Wave 1

Wave 1 gave us a relatively large number of Turbolaser upgrades, and a lot of ships to use them with.  In fact, the only two ships that couldn't run a Turbolaser upgrade were either variant of the Gladiator and the CR90B.  Meanwhile, the Victory Class Star Destroyer, Assault Frigate MkII, Nebulon B Frigate, and CR90A Corvette all could take the upgrades.

So lets take a look at what each one does, and see which ships, and which other upgrades, works best with each one.

This article is part of the Upgrades series.

After Action Report - Massing at Sullust

Hello everyone!  I had the chance to officiate for, and run in the Massing at Sullust event today at my local game store, Drawbridge Games.  First off, a big shout out to the store owner, Enrico, for letting a group of Armada enthusiasts basically take over his store for essentially the entire day.  We had 6 total attendees, which is actually a fairly large turnout for the area - we are still growing by word of mouth.  Drawbridge did manage to grab the only Massing at Sullust event for the area - Morgantown had one the previous day that I don't believe anyone that came to this one made it to, and Dublin, OH had the next closest one.  We had room for 10 players, and 5 had pre-registered, so an all-around good number.

Also a big shout-out to my Co-Officiant Chris - he had been a huge help getting the whole thing off the group, brainstorming with me and Enrico on logistics for the event (how to turn 3 tables, only two of which were big enough for Armada) into room enough for 10 players.

Because we had less than 8 participants, we decided to follow FFG's suggested round change that they had in the rule insert for the kit - 2 rounds and a cut to the top 2.

Support Team Upgrades - Wave 1

Wave 1 gave us 3 Support Team Upgrades to use with our ships - and 3 ships that could use them.  The CR90, GSD, and NebB all can take the Support Team upgrade, and all make use of it in different ways.

This article is part of the Upgrades series.

Building A Fleet - Ship Roles and WWII

Lately, I've been playing a lot of World of Warships, and thinking of how similar this game is to the concept, if not execution of World War II - the "Golden Age" of naval combat tactics.  World War II was the last gasp of big gun ships before missiles made them obsolete, and the beginning of air superiority as the dominant feature of a modern day navy.

In this sense, Wave 1 can correspond to the beginning of the war, or perhaps the period between The Great War (WWI) and World War II.  You also begin to see the strategies in design begin to diverge between the major players of the time.  In this article, we will be looking at the various ships of Wave 1, as well as the spoiled ships of Wave 2 to see how each fit into the greater strategy of the game.

Ship Types of World War II

The Corvette - The smallest rated ship, the corvette's main role in the WWII era was convoy escort or as a minesweeper.  Probably the closest real world approximation to a CR90 Corvette, or a Raider Class Corvette would be the British Tribal Class Destroyer - a destroyer equipped with a heavier gun battery vs the torpedoes favored on other Destroyer type craft.

The Destroyer - Originally conceived to protect battleships from even smaller ships making torpedo runs, the Torpedo Boat Destroyer (shortened to Destroyer) eventually evolved into the role of making the Torpedo attacks itself, as well as convoy guarding and anti-sub duties.  Armed primarily with Torpedoes, and light armament, the closest equivalents to these would be the GSD and MC30.

The Cruiser - Larger than a destroyer, but smaller than a battleship, during WWII these ships were classified as cruisers and had multiple mission roles, and covered a huge spread of ship sizes and armaments.  For the sake of arguement here, we are going to look at two "sizes" of cruisers, and three roles.

The Light Cruiser - Lightly armored and fast, the light cruiser excelled either as the leader of a destroyer squadron or as an anti-aircraft platform that required protection from other ships.  The Nebulon B Frigate fills this role fairly well.

The Heavy Cruiser - A heavily armored and large cruiser, not sporting the heavy armament of a Battleship, would fall into this role.  The AFII would probably be the best example of this in the game right now.  The role of the Heavy Cruiser was one of high speed, heavy armor, but relatively light armament compared to a Battleship.

The Battleship - The biggest ships on the seas, the Battleship is nevertheless split between "Pre-Dreadnought" and Dreadnought eras.

The Pre-Dreadnought - Slow and unwieldy compared to modern ships, with less armor, speed and guns.  The Victory Class Star Destroyer perfectly encapsulates this concept, having been used extensively in the previous war, but being outclassed by the newer, bigger ISD.

Dreadnought Era Battleships - The biggest things on the ocean.  Heavy emphasis on armor and guns mean that the ships could deliver a pounding and take one as well.  Both the MC80 and Imperial Class Star Destroyer fit into this category.

The Carrier - Here there isn't a really good analog.  Most of the ships are capable of being a carrier, but in WWII and modern navies, the Carrier ship is a dedicated platform for bringing fighter and bomber squadrons to the battle.  If a carrier is directly engaged, it has little defenses aside from slight AA.  For purposes of this exercise, we are going to ignore carriers and assume "offscreen" sources for carriers.

Here are some raw numbers that might be interesting.

Total Numbers for Each Faction:

Rebels:

FS: 1

DD: 1

CL: 1

CH: 1

B: 0

BB: 1

Imperials:

FS: 1

DD: 1

CL: 0

CH: 0

B: 1

BB: 1

Approximate Cost Before Upgrades:

FS:  45

DD: 60

CL: 60

CH: 80

B: 85

BB: 125

CV: 10 pts / Squadron

Commander's Guide - Nebulon B Frigate

This article is part of the Commander's Guide series.

Hello again, Commander!  Previously we discussed the CR90 Corvette and the Gladiator Class Star Destroyer, and today we will be wrapping up our discussion on the smaller ships from Wave 1 with the Nebulon B Frigate (NebB).  As before, we will be going over the stat lines for the ship, differences between the two variants, upgrades that the ship can equip, and roles that the ship can fill within your list.  So without further ado...

Nebulon B at it's preferred distance from a Gladiator.

Overall Statistics

The Nebulon B Frigate comes standard with a Command of 2, giving them the eqivalent responsiveness of a Gladiator Class.  They also come with an Engineering value of 3, giving them the chance to remove damage with a dial, or a shield with a token.

Both models also come with 5 hull, again equivalent to a GSD.  Shields are a bit different, with 3 shields fore, 2 aft, and only 1 on either side.  Also of note is that the ship doesn't have a redirect, instead having 2 Brace tokens and 1 Evade token for defense.

The weaponry on the ship is mostly Red, with 3 Red on the fore, 1 Red / 1 Blue on the sides, and 2 Red in the Aft.  

The other big thing to note, and isn't apparent on the card itself, is how large the side arcs are for the ship - they are each twice the angle of the fore arc.  Between the weaponry favoring the Fore, and shields heavily favoring the Fore, this ship requires careful maneuvering to avoid getting slammed by the bigger guns of the Imperials.

With that in mind, the ship has a maximum speed of 3, with it's turning speed directly related to how fast it is moving.  At speed 1, it has a yaw of 1, at speed 2 a yaw of 1 at both 2 and 1, and at speed 3 a yaw of 2 at 3, and 1 at 2.  Because of its need for careful maneuvering, and low yaw values, especially at the low speeds you want during an approach, consider maneuver commands to keep your options open.

Speaking of maneuvering, the Nebulon B all come with a Support Team upgrade, in addition to Commanders, Titles, Officers, and Turbolasers.

Nebulon B Support Refit

The cheaper of the two options at 51 points, the Support Refit (NebB-S) comes with a Squadron value of 1, making it ineffective with a role as a carrier.  It also comes with 1 Blue anti-squadron armament.

The role for this ship offensively is a pure sniper.  With the 3 Red / 3 Shield front, and an evade token, the ship wants to engage from it's front arc at long range, avoiding close range confrontation at all possible.

Nebulon B Escort Frigate

The more expensive option at 6 points more (57 total), the Escort Frigate (NebB-E) variant has a Squadron value of 2, giving it a better role as a potential carrier build, as well as 2 Blue for anti-squadron armament.

With the large side arcs, the ship makes an excellent anti-fighter support platform, for assisting your squadrons in taking down enemy fighters and bombers.  And with the right upgrades can be an effective Escort Carrier build.

Upgrades

The ship comes with 3 options for titles.  The Redemption (8 points) is the first - giving your ships within Range 5 a bonus engineering point whenever it resolves an engineering command.  This is a fairly substantial defensive buff - for example with a 3 Engineering value the bonus point would give you 4 points (2 shields restored) for a dial, or 3 points (damage card discarded) for a token.  With Corvettes and their 2 engineering, you'd have 3 points on a dial, or 2 points on a token.  Assault Frigates go to 5 (damage card discarded and a shield restored!) for a dial and 3 for a token.  Combine with Engineering Teams on your ships for even more ridiculous repairs.  Just note that it doesn't improve both your dial and your token if you spend both on one engineering command.

The Salvation (7 points) takes the sniper aspect of the NebB's front arc, and dials it up.  Now all critical results on the red die (2 / 8 faces) count as double hits.  This bumps up the expected damage return for the red dice from .75 / die to 1.00 / die - a 33% increase in your expected damage from the front arc.

The Yavaris (5 points) improves the NebB-E's role as an escort carrier, by giving squadrons activated by the ship the chance to double attack if they don't move.  This can turn the tide in anti-squadron combat or let you get a double B-Wing strike on an unguarded ship.

For Commanders, Dodonna is kind of the baseline - crit fishing isn't exactly what a NebB is doing, though it is welcome when it does happen.  Mon Mothma gives your NebB more defensive options if a Gladiator gets in close, and a Gladiator will really, really want to get in close.  Brace can only do so much against a Screed Gladiator.  Bel Iblis is more useful here than a Corvette, as you have 2 tokens that you can bank instead of just one.

For Officers, Leia really isn't as effective as when she was in a Corvette, though she could work in a support role with a NebB-S / Redemption always taking Engineering Commands.  Raymus Antilles works well on a Nebulon B going for either a sniper build (Extra dice / reroll) or escort carrier (3 squadrons to double attack!)  Adar Tallon can work, though you'll likely want him on a different ship than the Yavaris, so that the squadron he deactivates can move / shoot, then shoot / shoot.

For non-unique officers, Intel Agent works well, especially combined on a sniper style build with XI-7 Turbolasers - can't Redirect much damage, and now they are running out of Brace tokens.  Veteran Captain can help be an emergency engineering token / maneuver token as needed.  The Liaisons probably aren't terribly effective for this build - unless you are taking Iblis or Antilles, you won't have that many tokens, and with Command 2, you shouldn't be too surprised by what will happen in the round.

For Support Teams - Nav Team gives you a big buff to your yaw while you are doing Speed 1 turns, especially combined with Veteran Captain / Antilles / Iblis, or even banking a Maneuver command on Turn 1.  Engineering Team gives you the same boost above for the Redemption, but just for your ship (and stacks with a Redemption buff) - not enough to turn a NebB into a true tank, but enough to repair a few long distance pot shots each round.  Finally, Engine Tech is just not as useful on a NebB as it was on a GSD or CR90 - due to not having a 2 Yaw Speed 1 maneuver - you'd have better maneuver options at Speeds 1 and 2 with Nav Team for half the cost (8 points vs 4 points).

Finally, for Turbolasers, I've already gone over the XI-7 Turbolaser upgrade, and how well it matches with Intel Agent (and Salvation).  XX-9 Turbolasers also work well with Salvation - a better chance that you'll punch through with enough damage to deal 2 faceup cards.  H9 Turbolasers also can help with long range shots - changing a lone hit to an accuracy to protect a double hit from reroll or straight up removal by an evade.  Finally, Expanded Armaments (10 points) takes your biggest weakness (side arcs) and turn them into something resembling (but not quite) an asset. Although 2 Red / 1 Blue isn't an amazing arc, it does give you a little bit better attack if an enemy does outflank you.

Roles

So, with all this in mind, what is a Nebulon B good for?

Sniper - The Nebulon B wants to hang back, out of the brawl, and shoot things long range where it's defensive tokens can do the most good.  It can get even better at this role with the inclusion of the Salvation Title, Intel Officer, and XI-7 Turbolasers, and keep it's facing in the right direction better with Nav Team.

Flanker - What better way to keep your opponent in front of you than to be behind them?  Going hand in hand with the Sniper role, the Neb-B has the speed to reliably outflank VSDs, and at least put an effort at outflanking Assault Frigates.  That being said, against another flanker, the NebB isn't going to win a steight up engagement - best case scenario, it gets around the opponent intact.

Support - Again a role that works complimentary to the Sniper.  Redemption makes all your other ships, especially Assault Frigates, that much harder to kill.

Escort Carrier - Between a NebB-E, Yavaris, and Antilles, that is 6 fighter attacks from 3 ships per squadron command dialed in.  Plus anti-squadron support at 2 Blue dice.  With 3 B-Wings it is a potent anti-Gladiator deterrent.  With Wedge / Dutch it is an amazing anti-squadron shredder.  Without Antilles or Yavaris, it is still anti-squadron support and 2 activations, making it a possible B-Wing carrier or A-Wing interceptor platform.

Objective Ship? - A Salvation NebB might make a good recipient for Advanced Gunnery.  A Yavaris or Salvation would work well for Hyperspace Assault (Player 2 ONLY).  Redemption makes Player 1 on Dangerous Territory not hurt as much.  An excellent ship to hold back from a Fleet Ambush (Player 1).

All around, the Nebulon B Frigate can find a role that in can play in your Rebel list.  In a world filled with blunt instruments, it is the scalpel - the ship where careful positioning and proper support lead it to punching well above it's weight class, without being flashy about it.

Follow these links to excellent sources of additional information and discussion on the Nebulon B on the FFG forums.

Nebulon B - Rebel's Best Ship - by Killionaire
Making the Neb-B more Agile - by Kuthawolf

**Wave 2 Updates**

Post Script

What should we discuss next time?  Do we want to go to the Medium class ships next (the VSD and AFII?) or go over the squadrons?  See anything I missed, or got incorrect - or a role for the ship that I missed?  Comment and let me know!

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