Thrawn Gladiator fleet

[General6Kracker 4]

- 3 Gladiators w/ 5 Tie Bombers & Captain Jonus + 1 Raider II w/ Saber Squadron (400 pts) I've played this a couple times and it has wrecked fleets but also going against large ships expect to lose a 1 or 2 Gladiators.

- The Raider is interchangeable, you can use whatever support ship you desire which can also give you some extra upgrades for the Gladiators but I tried this and I liked it.

- Gladiator II-class Star Destroyer [98pts]

Flagship

Ordnance Experts [4pts], •Grand Admiral Thrawn† [32pts]

- Gladiator II-class Star Destroyer [81pts]

Assault Proton Torpedoes [5pts], Ordnance Experts [4pts], •Demolisher [10pts]

- Gladiator II-class Star Destroyer [78pts]

Assault Proton Torpedoes [5pts], Intel Officer [7pts], Ordnance Experts [4pts]

- Raider II-class Corvette [70pts]

Disposable Capacitors [3pts], NK-7 Ion Cannons [10pts], Veteran Gunners [5pts], •Impetuous [4pts]

- TIE Bomber, Captain Jonus [61pts]

- Saber Squadron [12pts]

So, I fly the three Gladiators in an Echelon formation (a staggered diagonal line) with the intent to focus fire enemy fleets to nothing left. Starting in one of the setup corners line them up close next to each other facing the enemy side. All going speed 3 make the exact same turn and you will then start a lead and a tail ship. I place Demolisher in the middle and Thrawn should always be the tail ship. If the enemy sets up straight across from you, stagger your speeds 1.2.3 or 3.2.1 then match them up again turn 2 with a navigate command. Once you have your formation you'll probably be really close together so widen it up, have the outer ships do a movement step outward, you don't want to hit yourself. The lead Gladiator is basically a sacrifice to keep Demolisher and  Thrawn alive longer, however it should still dish out good damage. Your support ship can go directly behind the lead ship to optimize it's use or Branch out as needed. Turn 3 you should be set up and already engaged depending on how close you started out, Your dials should all be concentrate fire here on our and Thrawn will give you Squadron commands the rest of the game. Each Gladiator now gets an extra dice to hit with and two separate bomber attacks for that extra damage. No if the enemy is heavy Squadron built, do your best to get the damage in or use your bombers to protect the Gladiators, but Captain Jonus is needed to give your ships accuracies so just get him close.

Let me know if you fly your fleets in Formation! 

   G.

R.    G.

            G.

[Sharego 128]

I think is very original, and I have no idea how to flight or improve it. The raider II what is the role for it? It survive? I hope to see some report soon.

[Barney 102]

How about getting valen rudor in there some how, maybe replace saber and something small. That way if you need to hold up squads you can negate the heavy on the bombers. 

[General6Kracker 4]

7 hours ago, Sharego said:

I think is very original, and I have no idea how to flight or improve it. The raider II what is the role for it? It survive? I hope to see some report soon.

I like using Raider IIs for getting rid of defense tokens, if you can get rid of an enemies only brace or redirect mid game they are done for. But as I said you can replace the with any ship that you'd rather have for support, Gozanti with bomber command and Fighters or a Raider I anti Squadron build or possibly an Arquitens.

[General6Kracker 4]

1 hour ago, Barney said:

How about getting valen rudor in there some how, maybe replace saber and something small. That way if you need to hold up squads you can negate the heavy on the bombers. 

Yeah you could swap things around and build this however you need it to be built, if you know for sure that someone is going to bring full squads then adjust accordingly. But I built the list this way for maximizing the Gladiators damage. If they bring a full 134 pts of Squadrons then they will probably have fewer ships and as long as the Gladiators get close enough you won't have to worry about the Squadrons if you can kill their ships First.

[TallGiraffe 3,326]

10 hours ago, General6Kracker said:

Yeah you could swap things around and build this however you need it to be built, if you know for sure that someone is going to bring full squads then adjust accordingly. But I built the list this way for maximizing the Gladiators damage. If they bring a full 134 pts of Squadrons then they will probably have fewer ships and as long as the Gladiators get close enough you won't have to worry about the Squadrons if you can kill their ships First.

What about dropping the Glads to glad 1s?

[General6Kracker 4]

19 hours ago, TallGiraffe said:

What about dropping the Glads to glad 1s?

Then your side arcs would never get accuracies to stop brace so that's just taking damage away from your attacks

[Tokra 2,127]

This list will have no chance against a heavy squadron list. Every good list will just go in and cause havoc to the bombers. And you might not even able to kill a single of them.
And if you want to use this squadrons, you should think about changing the Saber against a Jumpmaster. To get your Bomber out for another attack on the ships. Especially Jonus. The anti squadron fight is already lost. In this case you can make the most out of the anti ship combat.

A second problem is the setup. Only 4 ships (to less for a double tab game as first or second player) and 400 points (no ini bid). You will get outplayed by half of the lists this way. And 4 small ships can die really fast.
 

 

About the last question: Yes, i was flying MSU list really often in formations (especially before relay to keep them into range of the squadrons).
I was flying this formation:

  ᐄ  ᐄ  ᐄ  ᐄ
  ᐄ  ᐄ  ᐄ  ᐄ

With the distance 2 (not distance 2 but THE distance 2, without the 1) between them. This way you can do 90° turns without ramming yourself. Was really fun to set them up. And you have to fly really carefully.
With this setup you could split them and fly in different directions or keep them together in all ways. Just the obstacles were a problem. When they were to close, you  have to give up the formations way to early.

[General6Kracker 4]

As I said you can swap the Raider as needed, if you feel like Squadrons will be a problem then take this Raider instead, also the Gladiators throw two blue dice for anti Squadron as well so if you are not in close range of a ship then just keep shooting flak.

Raider I-class Corvette [58pts]

Flechette Torpedoes [3pts], Ordnance Experts [4pts], •Agent Kallus [3pts], •Instigator [4pts]

I originally had Saber Squadron in the list because I had this Raider, I should have changed it to a TIE Advanced when I switched them. 

And I get that people think having 5 or 6 ships is great and all but that's not how I like to play and I do just fine. I see too many builds with 2-3 flotillas just so you can try to make activations okay out in your favor, that's a smart way to play but I just think it's stupid wasting all those points. I put this Fleet at 400 points because for the most part it doesn't really matter who goes first or second, anyone can win if you fly right. And i have great objectives picked if I go second and not many people would want a bunch of Gladiators getting first shot on their ships.

[Tokra 2,127]

7 hours ago, General6Kracker said:

I see too many builds with 2-3 flotillas just so you can try to make activations okay out in your favor, that's a smart way to play but I just think it's stupid wasting all those points.

But you do know why these player are doing it? The tactic behind it? These fleet, with 6-7 ships, will kill one of your gladiator each turn. And there is nothing you can do against it.
These 2-6 flotillas are not a waste of points. They are important for the concept of the fleet.
And trust me, this concept is deadly. 

Nothing against the list. But i just don't find a list with 4 small ships strong enough anymore.
This list will get outplayed by: Ackbars MC80, Liberty Swarm, Heavy Squadron and maybe the BTA ISD. So basically by 60%-80% (my guess) of all the tournament lists .