Mon Mothma Fleet - Amity Calamity
There's a good chance that I get tired of saying her whole name, shorten it to Mothra, and just start posting pictures of Mothra instead...
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.
Amity Calamity (35/397/400)=======================
Starhawk-class Mk.I (140 + 39: 179)· Mon Mothma (27)· Leading Shots (6)· Amity (6)
MC30c Torpedo Frigate (63 + 16: 79)· Ordnance Experts (4)· External Racks (4)· Foresight (8)
CR90 Corvette A (44 + 9: 53)· Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)· Jaina's Light (2)
CR90 Corvette A (44 + 7: 51)· Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
Lieutenant Blount (14)3 x Z-95 Headhunter Squadron (3 x 7)
Station AssaultContested OutpostDoomed Station
I've mentioned in previous blog posts I've written for It's A Trap that I haven't wrapped my head around the Starhawk. I also didn't play it much before the pandemic started, so I was mostly building around theory. But the couple of times I did play with the Starhawk, I wasn't terribly impressed. Mind you, I think the ship can be extremely effective! I also think it's cool as hell! But I just never had a build that I really enjoyed playing. The one I liked was a Russian nesting doll situation with Raddus, wherein my Starhawk dropped an MC80, who in turn dropped 3 B-Wings and Jan. It was fun, but not effective.
I had sort of moved on from flying a fleet featuring a Starhawk because I wasn't hitting on anything that interested me. Besides, competitively, I was playing with Tarkin and the Imperials, and I knew Clone Wars was on its way. That's not to say that I don't enjoy playing as Rebels. But currently, they're the faction in which I have least interest. I actually got into the game on the side of the Rebels because they were my chosen faction! But, things change. Anyway, I digress. This fleet!
CANNONBALL! DIRECTLY INTO YOUR STAR DESTROYERS!!!
Yeah, I'm not expecting to go far with it, but I'd like to try it out. Why a Starhawk and Mon Mothma? The Amity title gives my Starhawk an Evade token, and I love Amity's ability to deal additional damage to anyone who wants to ram it. I looked at the various Rebel commanders and I just didn't have anyone shouting out to be included. I wanted to see just how much Mon Mothma adds to Amity. Once that was decided, I knew I needed several other ships in order for my choice of commander to make sense. In the past, the problem I most frequently ran into with a Starhawk was the fact that I nearly always filled every upgrade slot. So by the time I was done tricking out my Starhawk, that was half my list. So obviously, in order to get more ships who can take advantage of Mon Mothma, my Starhawk needs to run cheap. The other ships will have Evade tokens, which means the safest place for Mon Mothma to hide is probably on the Starhawk. I obviously have to put the Amity title on there, and the now, I've got a 173 point ship. Okay. 227 points left. Not brilliant, but plenty with which to work. I'll revisit the Starhawk later once I've spent my points on other ships. If I've got points leftover, I can spend them on the 'Hawk. I'm sure at least that I'd like to add some dice fixing, but we'll see what I've got leftover when I'm done building the rest of my fleet.
I can spam CR90s for the rest of the fleet, but I'm worried that won't be quite enough firepower to take down my opponents or discourage my opponent from just coming down like a hammer on Amity. So I decide to start by adding an MC30 Torpedo Frigate. As long as I'm running Mon Mothma, it's clear that I've gotta slap the Foresight title on this frigate. Now, when I resolve the Evade effect, I can cancel two dice at long or medium range, or reroll 3 dice at close range.
"Can you dig it?"
"I can dig it."
"Woo!"
Of course, I've spent a ton of points so far, so I can't trick out the MC30 too much, but I figure it can run escort alongside Amity. It'll peel off and do damage as needed, but I don't want it picking a fight all by its lonesome. So I'm putting on a couple of standard upgrades that are focused on landing as much damage as possible: Ordnance Experts and External Racks. It's nothing sexy, but it should land a couple of hard punches. No room for another MC30, and no real need for it, either. So now it's time to bring in the CR90s. I can afford two sporting Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (TRC), so I do. Nothing else I want on those ships right now, though I'll probably circle back around to make one of them Jaina's Light (because the title is sooooooo good for only 2 points).
At this point, I go back to my Starhawk. I've got 11 points to spend. It's not a lot, but it gives me a couple of options. But ultimately, if my Starhawk isn't doing enough reliable damage, nothing else matters: I need every shot to count if I'm going to kill off enemy ships. So I add Leading Shots onto the ship, as that's the upgrade that can allow me to affect the most dice. Linked Turbolaser Towers is great, but it's one point more expensive than Leading Shots, and it only affects 1 die. Ordnance Experts only affects 2 black dice, which is fine for black dice since that's all I've got! But it does nothing for my red dice. So, Leading Shots it is. That leaves me with 5 points left to spend. It's not enough for me to do anything more that I really want to do, so I tack on Jaina's Light to one of the TRC90s and call it a day.**
**Kinda funny, but I wanted to leave this blog post as I originally wrote it because I genuinely forgot until I was writing the last couple of sentences about objectives to wrap up this post that I actually do have squadrons in this list! I was writing that I didn't have a plan to deal with enemy squadrons, went to scroll up to look at ship flak so I could talk a bit about it, then noticed that I did include squadrons! Yes, I absolutely forgot about the Z-95s. Let's talk about them now!
Blount and his plucky little Z-95s are in there to be a speed bump. Let's be honest: they're not really stopping any dedicated fighters from getting through. However, the ability to use Evade defense tokens against squadrons in 1.5 can be huge. There are no guarantees, but the forced rerolls will help against the bombers. The Z-95s are squishy and slow enough that they won't get the jump on anyone. I plan on relying on my Evade tokens to weather an opponent's alpha strike, then sending in my Zs to eat up a turn and do some damage to enemy squadrons. Usually, spreading damage around is a good way to die without taking anything with you, but in this case, it's something I'd consider! Depending on what I'm facing down, I'm either going to focus all my Z-95 fire on the single biggest threat if I'm looking at a single clear threat with higher hull, or I'm going to spread the love a little bit if I'm hitting on double damage red dice and think I'm landing enough damage that my flak can finish off the squadrons. My reasoning behind this is pretty simple: I figure I'll get in one good round of Z-95s with a reroll from Swarm and a reroll from Blount. If I'm facing down a lot of squadrons, then killing 1 of 8 probably isn't going to save my ships (unless the one squadron is Maarek or Morna, and the remaining 8 are Jendon and a slew of TIE Fighters/Interceptors...pretty unlikely, yeah?). But if I can spread around enough damage amongst a bunch of Y-Wings or Hyena Bombers, then my flak can threaten to mop them up in future rounds. Again, it's really a question of circumstance. But either way, I need to be able to weather the alpha strike and keep my Z-95s in reserve so they don't get tied up and mowed down without doing their job.
They may not know what happens next, but you need to know your Z-95s ain't coming back...
I consider objectives and decide I want objectives that will score me points so that my opponent has no choice but to come and get me. Station Assault, Contested Outpost, and Doomed Station all fulfill that particular need for my objectives. They all force my opponent to do something or risk handing me 80 to 120 points, so I can force them to confront my Starhawk, and then I can leverage my other 3 ships as I see fit. Does this mean I choose second player? More often than not, probably. But I won't know until I actually get this nonsense to the table!
And hey! I made it this whole time without posting a single Mothra picture!
CANNONBALL! DIRECTLY INTO YOUR STAR DESTROYERS!!!
"Can you dig it?"
"I can dig it."
"Woo!"
"I can dig it."
"Woo!"
Of course, I've spent a ton of points so far, so I can't trick out the MC30 too much, but I figure it can run escort alongside Amity. It'll peel off and do damage as needed, but I don't want it picking a fight all by its lonesome. So I'm putting on a couple of standard upgrades that are focused on landing as much damage as possible: Ordnance Experts and External Racks. It's nothing sexy, but it should land a couple of hard punches. No room for another MC30, and no real need for it, either. So now it's time to bring in the CR90s. I can afford two sporting Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (TRC), so I do. Nothing else I want on those ships right now, though I'll probably circle back around to make one of them Jaina's Light (because the title is sooooooo good for only 2 points).
At this point, I go back to my Starhawk. I've got 11 points to spend. It's not a lot, but it gives me a couple of options. But ultimately, if my Starhawk isn't doing enough reliable damage, nothing else matters: I need every shot to count if I'm going to kill off enemy ships. So I add Leading Shots onto the ship, as that's the upgrade that can allow me to affect the most dice. Linked Turbolaser Towers is great, but it's one point more expensive than Leading Shots, and it only affects 1 die. Ordnance Experts only affects 2 black dice, which is fine for black dice since that's all I've got! But it does nothing for my red dice. So, Leading Shots it is. That leaves me with 5 points left to spend. It's not enough for me to do anything more that I really want to do, so I tack on Jaina's Light to one of the TRC90s and call it a day.**
**Kinda funny, but I wanted to leave this blog post as I originally wrote it because I genuinely forgot until I was writing the last couple of sentences about objectives to wrap up this post that I actually do have squadrons in this list! I was writing that I didn't have a plan to deal with enemy squadrons, went to scroll up to look at ship flak so I could talk a bit about it, then noticed that I did include squadrons! Yes, I absolutely forgot about the Z-95s. Let's talk about them now!
Blount and his plucky little Z-95s are in there to be a speed bump. Let's be honest: they're not really stopping any dedicated fighters from getting through. However, the ability to use Evade defense tokens against squadrons in 1.5 can be huge. There are no guarantees, but the forced rerolls will help against the bombers. The Z-95s are squishy and slow enough that they won't get the jump on anyone. I plan on relying on my Evade tokens to weather an opponent's alpha strike, then sending in my Zs to eat up a turn and do some damage to enemy squadrons. Usually, spreading damage around is a good way to die without taking anything with you, but in this case, it's something I'd consider! Depending on what I'm facing down, I'm either going to focus all my Z-95 fire on the single biggest threat if I'm looking at a single clear threat with higher hull, or I'm going to spread the love a little bit if I'm hitting on double damage red dice and think I'm landing enough damage that my flak can finish off the squadrons. My reasoning behind this is pretty simple: I figure I'll get in one good round of Z-95s with a reroll from Swarm and a reroll from Blount. If I'm facing down a lot of squadrons, then killing 1 of 8 probably isn't going to save my ships (unless the one squadron is Maarek or Morna, and the remaining 8 are Jendon and a slew of TIE Fighters/Interceptors...pretty unlikely, yeah?). But if I can spread around enough damage amongst a bunch of Y-Wings or Hyena Bombers, then my flak can threaten to mop them up in future rounds. Again, it's really a question of circumstance. But either way, I need to be able to weather the alpha strike and keep my Z-95s in reserve so they don't get tied up and mowed down without doing their job.
They may not know what happens next, but you need to know your Z-95s ain't coming back...
I consider objectives and decide I want objectives that will score me points so that my opponent has no choice but to come and get me. Station Assault, Contested Outpost, and Doomed Station all fulfill that particular need for my objectives. They all force my opponent to do something or risk handing me 80 to 120 points, so I can force them to confront my Starhawk, and then I can leverage my other 3 ships as I see fit. Does this mean I choose second player? More often than not, probably. But I won't know until I actually get this nonsense to the table!
And hey! I made it this whole time without posting a single Mothra picture!
I tried out Mon Mothma and Amity a few weeks back against a Double ISD list. Unfortunately, I don't think I got much use out of Amity or the Starhawk's evade token. The TRC-90s definitely lasted longer due to Mon Mothma, but the ISDs avoided engaging the Starhawk and went for the CR-90s instead. I suppose the real culprit was my deployment and initial maneuvers. I shouldn't have turned the CR-90s to skirt the right flank, but should have drifted them toward the center and the Starhawk. I ran a variation of the list last night with Madine and the Mk. 2 with Unity with better success.
ReplyDeleteHey Jacob! I appreciate the insight!! Yeah, I anticipate that if my opponent can avoid my Starhawk and go straight for my support ships, that'll be their strategy. My thought was to treat my support ships much like my Z-95s: keep them back so my opponent HAS to go through it to score any points at all. If my ships are out of range of my Starhawk, then I'm toast (unless they've already fired their guns and are now running away to avoid becoming debris!).
DeleteI'm glad you found success with Madine and the Starhawk! That feels like a strong choice that makes the boat a LOT hard to avoid!