I'm a little concerned over the cheap point cost of the Acclamators. I expected the ACC-II to me more expensive than a VSD-I mainly due to the speed 3 but also two black battery dice are changed to blue and the extra flak and the defense slot all for 2 points cheaper. OK it looses a hull but gains a shield to partly make up. ACC-I will make an excellent medium carrier with Flight controllers , Ex Hangar and either Boosted Comms or Hyperspace rings. ACC-II is a good general combat ship with E-Rax and ECM/RBD/Reactive Gunnery. Nevoota Bee looks like an excellent addition to the ACC-I carrier loadout. Intel is changing to grit so fighting your way out of combat will be the norm and swarm on 3-4 squadrons will be very helpful. Once you Sweep away enemy combat air patrols Nevoota gives rerolls against ships which on bombers can be further combined with BCC. Hyperspace Rings look good, giving the infiltrate rule (sort of) from Star Wars Legion to several squadrons. I got very excited about B-Wings but then I saw he Republic emblem on the card. This could be a great way of getting slow fighters up field and in position for fast moving carriers with Boosted Comms or Flight Commander to catch up with. Makes Independence look even more outdated. Scout can backfire during deployment/turn one and it is easily possible to overstretch yourselves but scouting slower fighters onto an obstacle near enemy ships (or where you think enemy ships will be placed) seems fun. AXE squadron. Not one of the strongest of aces but the point cost is reasonable. Evade defence token is nice to see and Flak has been getting stronger in recent waves. The limited Gallant haven type ability could be decisive occasionally but remember AXE is the one with escort (and only one brace). Swivel mount batteries would have been great in a Screed fleet for flinging in long range ACMs but CW-era only stops this. It is only placing or moving the focus token that causes the exhaust so if you are happy using GTs out the front arc it an add 2 black dice a turn at any range for several turns. Captain Zak. He is ok to add a pseudo CF dial twice - before you need to seek out another CF token. If the Republic get a broadside focused ship (Republic Arquitens?) he could be an auto include. Implacable. A nice game effect. It happens just before the target takes the damage so this means after brace effects so you could be saving the target the equivalent of 4 damage. It could keep a friendly ship alive until the game ends or even until the ship gets to activate this turn and shoot & repair. Using it on squadrons will be more rare but if its near the game end and Implacable is safe from destruction this game then why not save yourself 20 points by keeping an ace from expiring.

As task force 200 point lists these are ok but in RITR there are some stricter fleet building rules. No unique upgrades and only 2 unique squadrons. imperial take DTT or TRC on the Arquitens. VSD could go with GTs or DCaps. Drop Howlrunner for 2 TIE-B or a TIE-D and think of cienna rather than Fel unless you include dome escort keyword squadrons. Rebel list is good. Be nice to get TRCs on the CR-90 but it's a shame to split the decent fighter combo so you can just add the TRC as soon as you can in the campaign.

I haven't seen the rumor about Gunnery Teams. If true hopefully it isn't too drastic. Currently an SSD could fire at three targets from the front arc using GTs. If the GT card was limited to attacking twice out of the same arc (at different targets) it wouldn't harm ISDs at all, SSDs would still be fine and would still take GTs most of the time.

Obscured: Remove one die from your attack. Jamming Barrier: Remove half the dice (rounded down) from your attack. Which order do you apply these penalties to your attack pool. If you have an even number of dice it makes a difference. For example a VSD-II shooting 6 dice at an obscured target through the jamming barrier. Is it 6 dice halved to 3 then obscured down to 2 dice, or is it 6 dice obscured to 5 then halved to 3 dice? Is it that these two effects happen at the same time so it is the choice of the activating player in which case who would choose the order in a Salvo attack with 2 dice?

I have used Cracken with some success but I admit he could do with a slight improvement. "Enemy squadrons may not reroll dice when attacking Speed 3+ small & medium ships" would be a nice addition or just a 4 point cut. Anyway here is my current list for him. 398/400, Surprise Attack, Asteroid Tactics, Infested Fields. CR90-A, TRC, Jiana's Light, Cracken. 79 CR90-A, TRC. 51 CR90-A, TRC. 51 CR90-A, TRC. 51 GR75-T, BCC, Bright Hope, Boosted Comms. 32 Lando, Ketsu, Shara, Dutch, Gold Squadron, Rogue Squadron, 2 Lancers. 134 The CR90s dance at long range and try to get into get into the quiet firing arcs of the enemy such as flank/rear of most Imperials. Once here Chracken's obscured effects and our evades can keep us alive while we throw in double red hits from the TRCs. Let the Rogues do the work. Strong enemy squadron forces could be tricky but Surprise attack can hand out Squadron Raids an the yellow & blue objectives benefit from space slugs taking chunks out of enemy squadrons.

Ahh the Vader-Raider. Might as well add external racks to give the enemy a moderately nasty punch just after you lightsaber his key upgrade. If you zoom off in the movement phase you could get away without Versio but she gives you a choice to maybe ram and stay and fight for another round then give a raid token.

Here is a Starhawk-II list for you 400/400, Most Wanted, Asteroid Tactics, Dangerous Territory Starhawk-II, Agate, Unity, GTs, LTTs, LS, SADviser, SFO. 203 CR90, TRC. 51 CR90, TRC. 51 GR75, Comms Net. 20 2xYT-2400, Rogue Squadron, Shara, Gold Squadron. 75 5 Activations Should stop the flagship having to move too soon in a turn. The Starhawk can take a lot of damage with duplicate redirects and duplicate braces. Against 134 Bomber type lists consider Agate giving an extra Salvo instead. Unity's flak can be devastating with 2 or 3 rerolls and a moderate fighter build to hurry the squadron destruction long. Shara's vicious counter (3) will also tip the balance earlier.

If this is true it means 134 point bomber fleets will need a decent escorting force of TIE-Interceptors or A-Wings to fling forwards into the enemy to tie up enemy moderate squadron forces and keep them well away from your bombers while they go for ships. It also means that token fighter screens such as 4 TIE-F are reasonably certain to effect the enemy bomber forces for one turn at least and no longer can Jan Oors just dive in and let all the B-wings ignore the TIEs and bomb ships. <<Blows the dust off Admiral Chiraneau card>> Of course there is still a way to get the ability to move away from any number of squadrons - if a little slower.

I needa take more care when copy & pasting. I will of course apologise personally to Lord Vader. I'm sure he's very understanding.

I agree MSU is good for 8-16 player 3 round tournaments. Two wins is usually enough to float to the top tables where a third win can take the event. Three 6-5 wins probably isn't enough but getting a few 7-4 or 8-3 wins will be useful. In a three round event with say 24 players though you will need some big wins. MSU can get them but as you will probably take losses as you play is can get tricky. Anyway here are two of my favorite Imperial MSU fleets. 395/400 Most Wanted, Planetary Ion Cannon, Solar Corona Arquitens CL, Jerjerrod, Needa, TRC, RBDs 91 Arquitens CL, TRC 61 Arquitens CL, TRC 61 GSD-I, Demolisher, ACMs, OE, Brunson 82 Gozanti, Comms Net 25 Gozanti 23 Cienna, Valen, 2 TIE-Int 52 Six ships. If you want a better bid then tone the fighters down to 4 Interceptors and consider a Reserve Hangar on a flotilla. The three Arquitens fly in formation with interlocking TRC fire softening up targets for Demolisher to polish off. 395/400 Opening Salvo, Hyperspace Assault, Solar Corona Raider-II, Screed, HIE, D-Caps, Montferrat, Corvus 91 Raider-II, HIE, D-Caps, Titus 62 GSD-I, Demolisher, ACMs, OE, Brunson 82 Raider-I, ACM, OE 55 Raider-I, ACM, OE 55 Gozanti, Comms Net 25 Gozanti 23 For a better bid put Flechette on one raider to turn off some fighters for a turn, or switch some ACMs for APTs (though I do like the way ACMs synergize with the softening up HIEs do to a target).

I don't think Romodi will benefit the GSDs that often and you have three of them so it's really just the 2 Arquitens that may get extra red dice. As you say that won't happen every shot. I would go for Demolisher + 4 long range small ships such as Arquitens or D-CAP Raider-IIs. MSU should keep the ships cheap so trim a few upgrades. Aux shield teams are ok but will you have the time to plot repairs early when usually people bank a nav token? Dropping an AST saves you 3 points but also can switch to the cheaper Arquitens Light Cruiser saving even more. ECM is expensive and not really effective on Arquitens as they have duplicate redirects and Needa gives duplicate evades too. RBDs are better - try not redirecting on occasion to allow hull damage to get through so you can discard it early, you still have fresh redirects and adjacent shields to use if you get extra incoming damage before the turn break. Something like... 400/400 Arquitens CL: Romodi, Needa, TRC, RBDs 88 Arquitens CL: TRC, RBDs SFO, 67 Arquitens CL: TRC, RBDs SFO, 67 Raider-II: HIE, D-Caps, Vet Gunners, Titus, 67 GSD-I: Demolisher, ACM, OE, Brunson, Aux Shield Team 85 Gozanti, Comms Net, Vader 26 Drop an RBD and switch TRC to DTT on one or both vanilla Arquitens if you want a bid. If you do this consider upgrading the flotilla to the red dice version who can get a decent 3 red with an obscured ConFire shot. SFOs are good on Arquitens who can alternate between CF and Nav commands for example using the SFO to switch easily (once). SFOs can also be choked by officer Vader to get you a reroll. Both Titus & Needa have already done their game effects before turn one begins so they can be choked for free, you can even discard Brunson if Demolisher really needs another reroll to get the ACM crit.

Change the H9s for Gunnery Teams and put Titus/SFO on the other VSD and Demolisher then put officer Vader on the flotilla to get each of your main ships a reroll to deal with bad dice or to fish for accuracies by rerolling all blues and any blank reds. You have Screed and HIEs rip shields very effectively so eat into the fighters a little to get ACMs on Demolisher. Or drop D-Caps or Repair crews to Comms net on the Gozanti. Howlrunner doesn't benefit Black Squadron as it hasn't got swarm and she should really have 4+ other swarms in a list. Valen, Cienna and a TIE-F or TIE-Int will last longer and a single VSD can throw them all in.

I was thinking of buying a second ISF box to do a maximum infiltration list. 8 Units, 797 points Commander - Darth Vader, Sabre Throw, Force Push, Force Reflexes 215 Commander - Iden Versio, Seeker Droid, TL-50 Repeater, Target Scopes, Offensive Push 138 Special Forces - Inferno Squad, Hask, Meeko 110 Special Forces - Imperial Special Forces, T-21, Offensive Push 101 Special Forces - Imperial Special Forces, T-21, Offensive Push 101 Core - Stormtroopers 44 Core - Stormtroopers 44 Core - Stormtroopers 44 Commands - 1. Pulse Scan & Implacable. 2. Concussive Blast & Fear and Dead Men. 3. Darkness Descends & Tactical Strike. 4. Standing Orders Iden Versio deploys as an operative to gain infiltrate. Darth Vader uses the command Darkness Descends during deployment & turn one to infiltrate along with all the other units wearing black ceramics. Meanwhile the stormtroopers deploy normally, grab some cover and look after homefield objectives. Could this work? Is 8 units too few? With all the infiltrate I was thinking that lots of units to delay may not be needed as much as usual as everything starts so close. I could drop Sabre throw and most of Versio's kit to squeeze in another unit of stormtroopers to get to 9 activations. Alternatively drop fewer upgrades to get 1-2 Shore troopers and a mortar in place of the compulsory core units.