Hyperspace Season – Grand Army of the Republic List Building

I’ve looked at the Rebel Alliance, the Galactic Empire, and now it’s time to visit the Republic.  I was initially dismayed by the removal of Delta-7B from the rotation, alongside Mace Windu (my favourite Jedi).  However, I set myself a goal of finding at least one list I could enjoy.

List One:

The first list is something that seems to be poor on paper, but has some surprises to it that are interesting.

https://raithos.github.io/?f=Galactic%20Republic&d=v8ZhZ200Z312XW5W200WY342XWWW89WWY340X210WWWWWY340X210WWWWW&sn=Plo%20Koon%20Wolffe%20Pack&obs=

Plo Koon Wolffe Pack

What was, initially an unfinished list, because I couldn’t decide whether I wanted anything else on the Arc-170s, ended up performing fairly well.

The idea is to have the three Arc-170s flying in a loose formation with Wolffe central and the two Squad Seven Veterans flanking him, and Plo Koon out on the farther edge to either draw ships away from the Arcs, or flank in and catch an unwary opponent out. Dedicated helps keep Wolffe alive if he blanks out while the Veteran Tail Gunner, if it triggers, gives you maximum use from Wolffe.

In a strange twist, I used this list last night in a game against an extended Resistance list of 2 T-70s and a Fireball. Suffice to say, by the time the game ended at time, I’d given up one Squad Seven Veteran and half on the other, for half on both T-70s. An out and out draw, which my opponent was confident, had we more time, I would have won. Poe doesn’t like 3 stress tokens. Granted, I self-bumped once or twice, but, I pulled off some great blocks, triggered Veteran Tail Gunner, and avoided damage on Plo and Wolffe (aside from a single shield). More practice with it, and practice moving those medium bases in formation is required, and I might be able to bring opponents down faster, and easier. Side note – the Fireball is incredibly funny, being able to get across the board in a single turn for a fairly devastating opening salvo, watch out for it in extended.

List Two:

The next list is something I have wanted to try, but have been unsure about two attack dice ships. That said, TIE/ln fighter and Separatist Alliance Droids seem to usually do well, so maybe it’s time to try it.

https://raithos.github.io/?f=Galactic%20Republic&d=v8ZhZ200Z278XW5W200WY332X126W113WWY330X113WWY330X113WW&sn=Padm%C3%A9%20Obi-Wan&obs=

Padmé Obi-Wan

The idea here is a similar one to Plo Koon and the Wolffe Pack. Keep the Naboo Royal N-1 Starfighters together, and send Obi-Wan out to bait or flank as required. The Handmaidens either draw fire or mitigate damage targeted to Padmé while pouring fire onto her targets too.

I’ve only simulated this list on Fly Casual against a few random lists, notably the 5 T-65 X-Wings and a TIE-x1 swarm, and it came off better during each engagement than I could have hoped, even after ending up at Range 1 of opposing ships after blocks didn’t quite work out. The Decoyed Condition on Padmé and Obi-Wan is actually quite strong.

Don’t discount the effectiveness of two attack dice ships. It may not always go your way, but, I feel it certainly merits further investigation.

List Three:

This final list requires me to purchase 3 more ships to be able to field it. It’s an attempt to deal with the swarms that are appearing.

https://raithos.github.io/?f=Galactic%20Republic&d=v8ZhZ200Z362XW138WWW254WWY361XWWW5W317WY361XWWW5W317WY361XWWW5W69WY361XWWW5W69W&sn=R2-D2%20Red%20Squadron&obs=

R2-D2 Red Squadron

The idea here is to have the four Red Squadron Bombers alternating their deployment so you have two pairs and R2-D2 slightly away from the formations, the Red Squadron bombers should have one Ion Bomb and one Proton Bomb in each group, to allow you staggered device deployment in order to maximise the catch with both bomb types.

I have a feeling this could be quite difficult to pull off correctly, and you’d have to correctly anticipate the locations of the opposing ships, while making sure yours can avoid the worst of your devices. That said, it doesn’t drastically matter if you allow your BTL-B4 Y-Wings to eat an Ion or Proton Bomb to catch the opponent because you have shields (and they don’t hopefully).

I suspect this is the weakest of my suggested lists, which is a shame as it would be nice to see more Bombs or Mines being deployed. Perhaps there is a case to replace the Proton Bombs with Cluster Mines or Conner Nets, just without the splash damage.

Well, there are my offerings for the Republic. I might try my hand at the Scum and Villainy for Hyperspace next, as I usually help my daughter write her lists, but, she rarely plays Hyperspace because her favourite ships aren’t in the format for now.

Have you had any luck with the Republic in Hyperspace? Got a list you’d like to share? Leave a comment and start the discussion.

Hyperspace Season – Galactic Empire List Building

It’s time to take a look at three options for the Galactic Empire during this Hyperspace Season.

List One:

The first list takes a staple pilot for the Empire and adds some different equipment, seeing as the usual equipment is no longer Hyperspace Legal.

https://raithos.github.io/?f=Galactic%20Empire&d=v8ZhZ200Z173X199W113WWY395XWW69WY229XY229XY229XY229X&sn=Vader%2C%20Vagabond%2C%204%20TIE&obs=

Vader, “Vagabond”, TIEs.

The theory here is that the TIE/ln Fighters form a screen for both “Vagabond” and Darth Vader, with Vader piling damage where it will be most useful, “Vagabond” dropping devices with almost perfect knowledge through the Ailerons manoeuvre, and the TIE/ln Fighters working on blocking or funnelling opposing ships.

List Two:

This next list trials a second of the Empire’s new pilots, this time in the VT-49 Decimator.

https://raithos.github.io/?f=Galactic%20Empire&d=v8ZhZ200Z396XWW27WWW76WWWY211X128WWWY229XY229XY229X&sn=Kee%20Duchess&obs=

Kee, Duchess.

This seems like an interesting list, giving Duchess the opportunity to trigger Ruthless of any of the Academy Pilots, while Morna Kee sets up an engagement Reinforced to the fore, with either a Lock or a Focus in order to reduce incoming fire and increase survivability. This happens with a rear-facing Reinforce which is flipped before the engagement, and potentially flipped back again if am enemy takes a hard flip to follow.

List Three:

While the average TIE/ln swarm boasts 8 ships, usually at Initiative 1, one interesting thing to find has been an interesting mixed squadron.

https://raithos.github.io/?f=Galactic%20Empire&d=v8ZhZ200Z227X128WY227X128WY227X128WY227X128WY227X128WY227X128WY229XY229X&sn=Ruthless%20Squadron&obs=

Ruthless Squadron

While the initial damage output of a list like this one would be rather immense, it’s worth remembering to spread the damage from Ruthless out to avoid giving your opponent free points, and to use it in a situation where maximum damage gets you more points than you give away.

With that in mind, sending the Academy Pilots out faster than the Black Squadron Aces seems like a great plan, to not only block actions for opposing ships, but to give a decent chance of getting Ruthless off for minimum points and maximum effect.

It’s taken longer than I would have liked to come up with these three lists, but, I think they should stand up to some trial in the future.

What Imperial Hyperspace lists have you seen that could have some hidden gems included? Is there a Hyperspace idea that could stand up better now that the format has been narrowed? As always, feel free to get in touch or leave a comment.

Tabletop.to – A Tutorial

As the community continues to search for decent Organised Play software that reduces the amount of time Tournament Organisers need to spend on administrating their events, one website offers a great solution that allows players to pre-register and upload their lists, and input their results, which are only saved once their opponent agrees the score.

Today, I’ll show you how to use this website, if you have never used it before, feel free to experiment yourself with the example event I have created in order to familiarise yourself with it.

Registration:

The initial step is to register on the site itself, which is really easy, and allows you to use either a screen name or your real name. Just head to www.tabletop.to and click the Sign Up tab.

Event Registration:

When a store advertises an event that uses Tabletop.to they will usually include an event link on their post on Social Media for you to register for their event, it will usually appear like so:

https://tabletop.to/example-event-01

This then gives you the option to sign up for the event like so:

Signing up for a Tabletop.to event

Submitting Lists:

Once you have signed up, you can submit a list you are happy with. (Note – most events will hide either the lists , the ladder, or both until the the event starts or ends. For this example, I have left both visible to you for reference.)

Preparing to add a list

Once you are ready, you will have clicked the button, and will see the following screen:

How many squad-builders can this handle?

As you can see, Tabletop.to can handle a great variety of list building tools, and even allows you to preselect your obstacles. We have an Image, like a screen shot, Text/HTML, if you threw a list together using something like Notepad, XWS Import, if you are using a web-based builder or an older squad building app, the FFG Official Squadbuilder (does anybody use that still?), Launch Bay Next for Mobile users, and YASB 2.0 URL submission. So, if you are registering from your mobile device or a computer of any sort, you can still submit your list quickly and easily.

As I’m writing on a laptop, I’ll show a YASB 2.0 example, but the process is just as simple for all.

So, we have our List, and we’ve clicked the YASB 2.0 URL tab, and we have the following:

List is ready to populate

Obstacles have been chosen

(Note, the Software has yet to be updated to include the Never Tell Me The Odds gas clouds as of yet, but YASB2.0 does include these).

Once you have submitted, you can return to the event.

Progression:

Ready to attend

Once you have submitted your list, you are ready to attend your event. It’s important to note that, as you become familiar with Tabletop.to, the process of pre-registering for events that use it becomes ever faster, as you don’t need to register for the site every time, and you can show your team affiliation at every event through your profile (which I’ll let you explore on your own).

While Tabletop.to may allow you to submit results from the table as you finish, some Tournament Organisers will prefer to submit the results themselves, so it is worth getting in touch before hand so they can make their wishes known.

Miscellaneous:

Here, you will see an example of a completed event, so you can have an explore of what Tabletop.to has to offer.

Tournament Organisers can export list details to List Fortress if they desire to, can make events part of a series, and could potentially run a league.

While there are plenty of event management sites and software packages around, personally, I prefer Tabletop.to, as it is very user friendly, and can allow first-time users to both run events and/or participate really easily.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask, I’ll do my best, although the FAQ pages on Tabletop.to might be more useful.