Yularen Fleet - Hot Shots

Yularen Fleet - Hot Shots

I don't know if Yularen was modeled after Walt Disney or not, but that is a helluva resemblance...

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.

 

Hot Shots (133/398/400)

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Acclamator I-class (66 + 36: 102)

· Admiral Yularen (24)

· Flag Bridge (0)

· Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

· All Fighters, Follow Me! (5)

Acclamator I-class (66 + 11: 77)

· Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

· Implacable (4)

Armed Cruiser (37 + 6: 43)

· Projection Experts (6)

Armed Cruiser (37 + 6: 43)

· Projection Experts (6)

Kit Fisto (26)

Odd Ball (23)

Anakin Skywalker [yrep] (19)

Delta-7 Aethersprite Squadron (17)

4 x V-19 Torrent Squadron (4 x 12)

Rift Assault

Hyperspace Assault

Solar Corona

I'm a wee bit early with this fleet list, as the next wave of Armada ships and upgrades doesn't drop for another couple of weeks (assuming, of course, no delays). But since Admiral Yularen is the only card here not in wave 1 of Clone Wars, I figured, why not? For those of you who haven't yet seen the card, Atomic Mass Games spoiled it a couple of weeks ago, so it's already in the Fleets Designer app.

Once Luminara Unduli was spoiled as a commander, I knew she would be my go-to Republic commander. There are, of course, other good ones. But man, I'm so excited to mess around with her and see what kind of annoying shenanigans I can bring to the table. But the more I look at Admiral Yularen, the more my curiosity grows. There are a lot of upgrades in the next wave that we have not yet seen, so who knows how they interact with Yularen and the abilities he grants to ships. But I really want to know how people plan to exploit him! He's the cheapest Republic commander so far at 24 points, and given that I'm often wishing I had at least a couple more points when I'm building a Republic fleet, his lower cost is very welcome.

His abilities are centered on supporting squadrons, but those abilities actually buff ships and their capabilities rather than buffing squadrons directly the way that Plo Koon (as a commander) does. So the balance of ship and upgrade choices becomes that much more vital to your success. My first thought upon seeing this card was figuring out how to abuse his first ability which allows you to activate an additional squadron when using a Squadrons token. Can I get my Consulars to each command 2-3 squadrons? The short answer is yes, but that I cannot sustain that from turn to turn. I get slightly diminishing returns as I start involving bigger ships with higher squadron values simply because my alpha strike will be outstanding, but I'm already commanding 5 squadrons. With the sixth be worth the 24 points I spent on my commander? No, I need to find ways to leverage all of Yularen for him to be worthwhile.

At this point, I find myself looking at his second ability: enabling ships to heal squadrons. That's pretty cool. We all know how clutch it can be to land a squadron on the station to repair hull again and again. What if I can do that when there's no station on the board? Or when I don't really want my squadrons to have to pull back just so they can spend a turn healing? Of course, the Consulars aren't much good for this because an Engineering token will only yield 1 Engineering point, which isn't enough to trigger Yularen's healing ability. Okay, so, gonna need a couple of bigger ships, then. And also, why am I healing? Who is worth healing? It's likely going to be my aces, and my bombers are probably more important than my fighters, right?

That lands me at what you see above as a sort of first draft, experimental fleet. I started with my squadron game because I wanted to make sure I had a squadron game worth healing. If I fly against squadronless, then my V-19s and some of my aces would be worthless. So, as I mentioned, I'll need bombers. Anakin is a no-brainer. He's astonishingly good, and just absolutely brutal. I think he'll be a staple in nearly every Republic fleet featuring any sort of bomber presence. "Odd Ball," on the other hand, won't see as much love. I really like him a lot! But he's really slow, and you need to have a plan to trigger his reroll ability. I like ARCs, but it will sometimes be tough to get them to the table, owing to their cost and their speed. At the moment, there aren't a lot of ways for Republic fleets to speed up their ARCs, so, that's a consideration. I made the decision to have an Acclamator take the Flag Bridge upgrade so that it can field All Fighters, Follow Me! It's true that I'll only get it for one turn, but if I play well, that will be all I need. Obviously, then, I'll need a lot of practice with this fleet to get it right. So now I've got two very nasty bombers who I'm happy to heal with Yularen. Healing them only works if they don't die. Once they're dead, I can't resurrect them. So I tack on the Implacable title (easily my favorite title, even though it's definitely not the best one) in order to eat some fire coming in at my squadrons. My range on Implacable is limited, so I'll have to plan accordingly.

I'm not terribly worried about Anakin because he can ignore engagement. However, he needs to not get jumped. Better give him and "Odd Ball" some more protection from this. So I'm bringing some V-19s (because I love these things). But if my opponent is going to lock me down, I want to force them to work for it. Sooooo...

...this guy, then. I know he's real expensive at 26 points. I know people aren't that impressed by him because he doesn't buff friends or debuff enemies, the way the other Jedi piloting Aethersprites do. But I'm mostly taking him for Intel. Yes, Intel has been nerfed in a big way (a change for which I'm extremely grateful, as Intel was ridiculous before), but I've really come to appreciate Grit while flying Hondo in my Tarkin fleet. Forcing someone to commit multiple squadrons to lock me down can be a game-changer because it creates a tar pit that my opponent may not have wanted to see while coming up with a game plan. But if they aren't willing to get their hands dirty, then Grit will allow Anakin and "Odd Ball" to just fly away. Kit also has Adept 2, Counter 2, and is happy to take fire so he can use his special ability as needed to burn Braces. I've built around Kit several times and have some ideas that I like, but nothing I love. This is an idea about which I'm excited, even though I know it'll need work once I get it to the table.

There's not much more to my fleet, honestly. I've got Projection Experts on both of my Consulars because my Acclamators will be taking a lot of fire, I need them to command my squadrons, and Implacable means I will likely sacrifice some shields to protect my squadrons. Also, I may not have Engineering commands to spare, as I'll be splitting up those points between healing my squadrons and healing my ships. I've got Linked Turbolaser Towers (LTT) on each of my Acclamators because two bombers alone can do a lot of damage, but not enough to win me a game. That means I need my ships to contribute. Red dice are fickle, and thus, dice fixing. Why the lone generic Aethersprite? Honestly? I can't answer that now. I had a reason when I built the fleet in the first place, but simply can't remember the reason. Which means it'll probably be the first thing I change. But, so it goes!

Here's hoping the next wave of Armada ships and upgrades comes out on time in a couple of weeks!