Sato Fleet - Sato's Hammer & Anvil

 Sato Fleet - Sato's Hammer & Anvil

Let's start with the list itself, shall we? Quick note: If you're familiar with the most excellent Armada Fleets Designer app, then you'll be familiar with the format of the fleet list. If not, then you should know that the numbers in the parentheses next to the fleet name are as follows - number of points invested in squadrons/total number of fleet points/maximum number of fleet points.

Sato's Hammer and Anvil (97/396/400)

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Modified Pelta-class Command Ship (60 + 41: 101)

· Commander Sato (27)

· Adar Tallon (10)

· Proximity Mines (4)

Nebulon-B Support Refit (51 + 14: 65)

· Raymus Antilles (7)

· Salvation (7)

Hammerhead Scout Corvette (41 + 5: 46)

· Proximity Mines (4)

· Task Force Organa (1)

Hammerhead Scout Corvette (41 + 5: 46)

· Proximity Mines (4)

· Task Force Organa (1)

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36 + 5: 41)

· Proximity Mines (4)

· Task Force Organa (1)

Han Solo (26)

Mart Mattin (22)

Tycho Celchu (16)

3 x A-wing Squadron (3 x 11)

Opening Salvo

Planetary Ion Cannon

Volatile Deposits

This is, I think, a kind of traditional Sato list overall. It features an MSU fleet that seeks to turn its red dice into black dice, has some dice fixing (Task Force Organa, or TFO, and Raymus Antilles is on Salvation to Concentrate Fire and also snag a token for a reroll), and has squadrons that have every intention of shadowing enemy ships so that Sato triggers. The objectives also sort of scream Sato. Opening Salvo means I've got 10 additional dice of any color from my first attacks (spread out across all five ships, of course), Planetary Ion Cannon is yet another instance of small packets of damage hitting my opponent, and Volatile Deposits? Well, Volatile Deposits isn't a must-include in any Sato fleet, to be sure. But given that I plan on chucking black dice at long range courtesy of Sato's ability, this feels like a decent objective to try. Especially because my opponent cannot also trigger these crits at long range against me unless they are also flying Sato.

In fact, I'd argue that Volatile Deposits is rarely seen in Sato fleets because oftentimes, players who are using Sato plan on leveraging his ability to trigger black crit effects at long range. I've built those fleets before and they're fun! But I don't love them. I end up investing a lot of points into making sure my black crit abilities actually trigger, and that takes points away from my squadron ball or from other upgrades to my ships. It can force some hard choices. In this build, I'm changing my dice to black dice so I can just try and hurl as much straight-up damage as possible at my opponent. I'm not counting on crits other than as additional damage or to trigger Volatile Deposits or Salvation (which is, of course, just more straight-up damage).

I think the oddest things about my build are the inclusion of proximity mines. I've only gotten to fly this fleet once and don't remember the outcome. But I have almost zero experience with proximity mines and would like to gain more. I think they're a really cool inclusion, but I so rarely see them hit the table. I thought it might be fun to try and leverage them in numbers. I figure, with good placement, they'll do one of three things:

1) They will discourage opponents from using certain choice vectors to approach me. The fewer options they have, the more predictable their play.

2) My opponent will waste valuable shots clearing those mines from their path. If I place the mines well, they'll have to choose between shooting my mines or my ships or my Squadrons. Any firepower not directed at my ships and squadrons makes me happy.

3) My mines will do some damage!

In order to really leverage them, I figured I need to have enough of them to leverage. I've got 5 at setup (two from my Pelta, one from each of my Hammerheads), then Mart Mattin can maybe give me a couple more after I have more information. It's really just for Mart that I've included Adar. This is probably where I've over-invested in an idea. But I never see Mart, and as far as squadrons go, he's not bad! So why not give him a shot? Plus, he's Sato's nephew, plus plus his squadron's name works for the name of the fleet. He's clearly meant to be included in this list.

There's really not much more to detail, I don't think! The ships all have minimal upgrades that are simply intended to land more damage with each shot. Sato requires I paint my targets, so I've got a bunch of A-Wings with max speed, Tycho can ignore engagement and thus paint any target he wants, Han goes first so I can paint a target at the top of a round, and he and Mart both have Grit (thus helping THEM paint whichever target I want to paint).

I mostly don't play Rebels anymore because my competitive fleet is Imperial, and in casual games, I REALLY want to see my Republic stuff hit the table. But this is one fleet idea on which I've not yet given up!