Cavalry Tactics with Dodonna

[Beerasaurus 26]

So I had a wacky idea of adapting classic dragoon cavalry tactics with Hammerheads and MC30s. The Hammerheads go straight up the gut while the 30s either envelop or flank to toss a ton of that tasty, tasty black-dice goodness. 

That said, I'm brand new to Rebels and this could be a terrible idea.

Thoughts?

 

Name: Dodonna's Dragoons
Faction: Rebel
Commander: General Dodonna

Assault: Targeting Beacons
Defense: Fleet Ambush
Navigation: Dangerous Territory

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57)
• General Dodonna (20)
• Hondo Ohnaka (2)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Salvation (7)
= 93 Points

MC30c Scout Frigate (69)
• Skilled First Officer (1)
• Fire-Control Team (2)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
= 91 Points

MC30c Scout Frigate (69)
• Skilled First Officer (1)
• Fire-Control Team (2)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
= 91 Points

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36)
• Fire-Control Team (2)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Garel's Honor (4)
= 47 Points

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36)
• Fire-Control Team (2)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
= 43 Points

Squadrons:
• 3 x A-wing Squadron (33)
= 33 Points

Total Points: 398

 

 

[Mad Cat 2,113]

Fire control team + APTs + Standard crit don't stack as per the FAQ. ACMs would but you are better off just taking Ordnance experts on the MC30s.

ECM on MC30s which have 2 pairs of identical tokens is a waste. Take Admonition on one of them and either Foresight or Major Derlin on the other.

[The Jabbawookie 4,766]

What he said.

If your opponent is blocking defense tokens, he's actually helping you. Say, for example, he gets four accuracies and locks down everything. He's sacrificing four dice, which is at least four damage. Had he dealt damage with those four dice your tokens would have stopped four damage anyway (3 redirected + 1 evaded), but instead you get to keep your shields and still have fresh tokens. If he just locks down your redirects, you're only taking one more damage than you would have taken otherwise (if either would have been a double hit, then you're actually still better off.) You can respond by evading, then using Admonition to discard the same evade you just spent. Admo is to squids what Demo is to glads: the title’s more or less an auto-include.

Edited March 12, 2018 by The Jabbawookie

[Beerasaurus 26]

Great feedback, guys. Thanks! 

I had totally missed the APT/Fire Control combo in the FAQ, and was definitely coming at the MC30 defense the wrong way.

Revised list:

Name: Dodonna's Dragoons
Faction: Rebel
Commander: General Dodonna

Assault: Targeting Beacons
Defense: Fleet Ambush
Navigation: Dangerous Territory

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57)
• General Dodonna (20)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Salvation (7)
= 91 Points

MC30c Scout Frigate (69)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Foresight (8)
= 93 Points

MC30c Scout Frigate (69)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Admonition (8)
= 93 Points

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36)
• Fire-Control Team (2)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Garel's Honor (4)
= 47 Points

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36)
• Fire-Control Team (2)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
= 43 Points

Squadrons:
• 3 x A-wing Squadron (33)
= 33 Points

Total Points: 400

[The Jabbawookie 4,766]

Looks good! You might want to take the FCT off the Hammerheads, though.

[MandalorianMoose 1,781]

10 hours ago, The Jabbawookie said:

squids

Shrimps

[MandalorianMoose 1,781]

I would drop Fire Control Team and APT on the hammerheads for ExRax and ordinance experts.

Also, it might be worth swapping TRC for QBT on salvation- it keeps your evade fresh for defense and adds a blue which is more reliable and has a higher chance of proccing a crit

[Beerasaurus 26]

Done and Done. I had meant to take FCT off the Hammerheads (due to the errata), but apparently missed it.

Though I'm leaving TRC on Salvation strictly because of the bump it gives Salvation.

 

[Beerasaurus 26]

Name: Dodonna's Dragoons
Faction: Rebel
Commander: General Dodonna

Assault: Targeting Beacons
Defense: Fleet Ambush
Navigation: Dangerous Territory

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57)
• General Dodonna (20)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Salvation (7)
= 91 Points

MC30c Scout Frigate (69)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Foresight (8)
= 93 Points

MC30c Scout Frigate (69)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Admonition (8)
= 93 Points

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• External Racks (3)
• Garel's Honor (4)
= 47 Points

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• External Racks (3)
= 43 Points

Squadrons:
• 3 x A-wing Squadron (33)
= 33 Points

Total Points: 400

[Mad Cat 2,113]

Looking deadly.

I would put the APTs back on the Hammerheads. Racks are more efficient but with Dodonna as your commander and a CF dial and OE to get rerolls you want as many face up cards as you can get. To pay for it downgrade admonition to an MC30T. You shouldn't be shooting at long range too often with MC30s unless you use Ackbar. You could do the same to Foresight if you need more points, Lando on Foresight for example. 

Watch out for Fleet Ambush. 2 ISDs with Gunnery teams and 2 Gozantis could mean you get thumped on turn one and loose 2-3 ships. Hyperspace assault can be fun bringing in Admonition between two ships double arcing them both to kill whichever the enemy doesn't move away.

[MandalorianMoose 1,781]

^ what he said. For some reason I spaced and thought it was a Sato Fleet, and that you were going for 2 Black with rr and TRC for the leftover red (assuming cf). In which case the shields would already be down by the time the hammerheads hit. 

Admonition is indeed better as a torpedo variant with H9’s- it excels at popping flotillas or other small bases, and if the enemy large didn’t bring ECM they are in trouble

Edited March 13, 2018 by MandalorianMoose

[Matt Antilles 331]

I would disagree with the recommendation to switch to a Torp Fridate. TRC Scout Frigates are brutal and way more effective than Torps. Although H9 Torps are brutal against flotillae.

But, play them both ways and see which you like better. 

[LeatherPants 80]

I think the list looks good, though here are the changes I would consider:

1)  Replace the 3 A-Wings with Shara and Tycho for the same points.  Your fleet definitely isn't squadron friendly, and those 2 will be both easier to command in a single turn, as well as more survivable and flexible (scatter tokens, and Tycho's ability to move when engaged).

2)  Replace Targeting Beacons with Precision Strike.  You should get a lot more mileage out of that, due to the number of face up cards you'll likely be dishing out.  You have adequate dice control with your upgrades to not really benefit much from Targeting Beacons.

3)  Replace Fleet Ambush with Hyperspace Assault.  As has been mentioned before, Fleet Ambush too often turns into a "who's ambushing who?" scenario, since it's likely your opponent will only select this objective if he has something in his fleet that is eager to get to grips quickly.  With the overall maneuverability and speed of your fleet, plus a healthy dosage of evade tokens across your ships, you really want to have better control of the range of your engagements and some more time to get your ships into position for tag team killing.  That is where Hyperspace Assault comes in.  You have enough deployments to deal with a set aside ship, and bringing the cavalry in a bit later in a position compromising for your opponent can really help you put the clamps on.  Consider Salvation and your squadrons for this task:  your opponent will likely steer clear of the hyperspace tokens, and that's well and good for Salvation, who will want to be pouring double crits into the opponent from range. 

[Beerasaurus 26]

So this list was a catastrophic failure.

Granted, it was up against an ISD/Kuat fleet designed to destroy it, but the two hammerheads just can't take enough damage to act as a tip of the spear. 

It's back to the drawing board to replace them with something more survivable.

[CommanderDave 421]

What about Ackbar instead of Dodonna? Downgrade the hammerheads to flotillas. Ackbar with the TRC Scouts are pretty fun in my experience and it still fits somewhat with your original intent. 

[LeatherPants 80]

On 3/30/2018 at 3:40 AM, Beerasaurus said:

So this list was a catastrophic failure.

Granted, it was up against an ISD/Kuat fleet designed to destroy it, but the two hammerheads just can't take enough damage to act as a tip of the spear. 

It's back to the drawing board to replace them with something more survivable.

Sorry to hear your game went poorly, though I still think your list isn't bad.  Your collection may not support it, but I think you may feel a little better towards HH's with 3-4 of them, and using their non-unique titles.  When I first got the HH expansion, I struggled mightily to get any useful mileage out of using 2, usually one with no-title and Garels honor on the other.  Very unhappy with that, I felt better off using CR90's instead.  Then after reading a bit more on others experiences with HH's, I decided to get a second box of them and use them more as I think FFG intended, and started to feel quite a bit better about their usefulness in general.

Basically, I'm saying that I feel that HH's are best used either with just one (Garels Honor), or with 3-4 (TF Organa or Antilles).  2 in a fleet just doesn't seem to work particularly well in my experience.