So, looking at the Rebel fleet, with an eye to representing the tactical options available to the Rebels and the game as a whole, have I managed to come through (remember, very new player, skimmed the new rules, not received 90% of my ships yet).
Rebel
GR-75 Transports (2=4) Support Plot Driver
The GR-75’s (2 flotillas to actually look like a thing), are support only ships, pretty useless in combat on their own, but good for squadron or larger ship support and excellent scenario drivers (Hoth anyone?).
Hammerhead Corvettes (2) Striker Brawler
A versatile mini MC-30, working best in unison (3 or more). Great forward, weak everywhere else.
CR-90 Corvette (2) Flanker Sniper
Good long range ship with the best movement in both fleets. The Raider will not be added, allowing this ship to keep it’s place.
MC-30 Frigate Striker Brawler
This one is toothy, but can be fragile for it’s size and cost. The game ender, it has several shapes to it’s deployment, all potent. Looking at it’s base stats it looks a little like a mini Home One, side strong, but the black dice make it more of a close fighting Home One.
Pelta Frigate Command/Carrier Brawler
The Pelta is the most command capable ship available to this fleet, but it is also a carrier or can be a simple brawler, much like a tougher, slower, less toothy MC. It is slow, leaning it more towards the carrier/command application and is especially good with Squadrons.
Nebulon-B (2) Sniper Escort
The Nebulon could be used as a flak escort or a long range sniper. Good front and rear, weak to the sides, it’s almost the polar opposite of the MC-30. Both good options to have.
Fighters Versatile Tough Wildcards
The main reason I got into Armada was to use massed fighter’s and small ships. The iconic Rebels define all of the roles available, with the wildcards of YT’s, HWK, Scurrg, Lancer and VCX. House rule is the single ship squadrons or Rogues are exempt from the squadron limit.
The roles the fleet offers are comprehensive and versatile, but not overly deep. Lean towards fighters and you lose larger ship options. Get too focussed on long range sniping and close brawling will pay, but get too melee minded and you may not get the chance to do it. This means the Rebel player has to be tactically versatile, the Imperial player acting as the counter player.
There are over 700pts above, plenty to roll out various versions of a 300-500pt Rebel task force.
IF I go into bigger ships, the Assault Frigate and Home One would be the logical and favoured choices, but that us honestly, really, truly….yeah really, where I do not intend to go…really.
Imperial
Imperial Class Star Destroyer Intimidator Fulcrum
This is the crux of it. Incredibly versatile, powerful and a focus magnet, the ISD is the Imperial fleet. Everything else pivots off this. It can be a command ship, carrier, brute, super escort or a little of all of these at once. When the new card upgrade pack comes, this one will have more options available to it than pretty much any other ship in the game. Can one ISD be as powerful as it needs to be in this meta? Hope so, but if the feet is built to (1) support/protect that ship and (2) throw up some nasties that the big distractor hid, then fine by me. That is the idea. This is my big bad Death Star 1 scenario device.
Gladiator Class Star Destroyer Brawler Escort
Equally at home close to a friend or even closer to an enemy, the Gladiator has weathered the changes to Armada and garnered a solid reputation. I like this a lot more than the VSD, because it knows what it is and does not try to look like a poor mini clone of it’s big sister.
Onager Class Star Destroyer Super Weapon Second Fulcrum
I can play this as a secondary Imperial style flag ship, a scenario driver, long range sniper or fleet balancer. The idea of the “super weapon that has to be taken out before “X” happens” is as pivotal to my Star Wars ideas as the ISD menace above. This is my Death Star 2 or fleet exodus scenario driver.
Victory Class Star Destroyer. Gunship Escort Filler
The often maligned, but work horse VSD is getting added against my better judgement. The ship is annoyingly small for it’s form factor, but for practical reasons I am getting a Core set, so it is a filler, that I intuit, will grow on me and does add scenario and build options. Often the things I look forward to least end up being the best return.
Assault Carriers (1 = 2) Sneaky Flanker Support
These little ships do three things. Firstly they make the ISD look genuinely massive*, secondly they make a good fighter enabler and thirdly they give you a quiet, almost invisible little platform for your nasty electronics tricks. I might even try a little wide flanking bomber group.
Fighters Tricky Swarmy Mean Wildcards
Several Mercs, some unique fighter types and lots of cheap ones. Fighters and their bigger brethren are sooo important to my small scale game plans. The Shuttle’s Relay, the Decimator and Merc’s Rogue, the Ace fighters will all add spice and variety to the otherwise predictable fleet. House rule is the single ship squadrons are exempt from the squadron limit.
Like the Rebels, there are over 500 points of ships, with less versatility of roles, but more focus.
The little Raider, apart from being very hard to find does not appeal (odd as it is my favourite X Wing huge ship and truly gorgeous in both formats). It is a ship that offers Rebel-like capabilities to the Imperial fleet, which is something I am trying to avoid (role blurring). Each ship/fleet should have it’s own role clean and clear. When I start to balance out the capabilities of both fleets, I know the rot has set in (X Wing anyone?).
I have also read it is one of the toughest ships to master and when mastered, offers similar benefits to other, easier to use ships. Too much trouble to bother with. The two Decimators will play the role of light escort/close assault boat well enough and the Gladiator is the close in king.
What, no Raider? Sorry busy feeling like a big fish, hunting down Scum.
Choosing to keep flavour and role definition in hand has helped me build two decent fleets easily enough. Going bigger with the Rebels generally duplicates the smaller ships and escalates the scale of the conflict, which negates the menace of the lone ISD*.
Going into small ships for the Empire dilutes the differences between the factions and, if you look at the battle scenes in the movies, contradicts what you expect to see (rows of SD’s with shuttles and fighters flitting between).
The roles of close in brawler, fleet support, fleet command, tech and ordnance options, super weapons, broadside or nose strong, fast, slow, manoeuvrable, ponderous, big, small and those all important wildcards and characters are all represented, they are just not available in equal quantities to both sides. This is how it should be. The reality is, I am not playing in a large community nor competitively, so most games will be introductory, followed by some deeper exploration.
Mission complete.
The Separatist and Republic fleets are still a work in progress, so those I will leave for a while.
*I am trying on some level to retain the feeling of the massive ISD towering over all of it’s tiny enemies. The VSD is too small for the Star Destroyer look (it should be 6x longer than the CR-90, but is barely twice as long, while the ISD is 3-4 times longer which looks ok even considering it is meant to be 10x longer). I am more ok with the Gladiator, because it looks different and the Onager which is also quite obscure and big enough, but I am not keen on dwarfing or matching the Imperials big gun. It just does not feel right. The fighters of course are abstracted.