A Way Too Early Grievous List
Hey y'all! I have not been able to play Armada in far too long. I've only managed to sneak in two Armada matches since Clone Wars dropped several months ago, both with Republic fleets. As I think I mentioned previously, I'm confident that Republic will be my Clone Wars faction of choice. However, that's not out of dislike for the Separatists! To that end, I've recently been feeling the pull of Armada once more (after spending much more time lately either playing board games or writing about them on my own board gaming blog), and so I've been messing with the fleet builder again in anticipation of playing sooner rather than later.
Ah yes. Here we go...
I was never particularly excited about Dooku or Kraken as commanders. I think they're good commanders and can be very effective, but neither of them really speak to my interests at present. But Grievous? Oh man. For whatever reason, he seems to me a challenge that I'd very much like to mess with.
Grievous (126/399/400)
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Providence-class Carrier (105 + 33: 138)
· General Grievous (20)
· T-series Tactical Droid (4)
· Hyperwave Signal Boost (3)
· Advanced Projectors (6)
Comms Frigate (70 + 7: 77)
· Shu Mai (4)
· Fighter Coordination Team (3)
Transport (47 + 11: 58)
· Bomber Command Center (8)
· Fighter Coordination Team (3)
DBS-404 (17)
DIS-T81 (17)
Belbullab-22 Starfighter Squadron (15)
4 x Tri-Fighter Squadron (4 x 11)
3 x Hyena-class Droid Bomber Squadron (3 x 11)
I know it's too early, as we barely know any of the upgrades coming in the next wave. And I'm sure the list will change when I see what cool new upgrades we'll be getting. But I felt decent enough about this idea that I thought it was worth putting together. After all, since I'll be pushing squadrons, I can't imagine I'll prefer the other Providence chassis, given that this one is specifically the carrier flavor of the ship.
As I've previously written, I tend to lean too hard into ideas. This is a dangerous one into which I could lean, given that if my ships and squadrons are dying, I might very well be losing! But basically, my thought is to spam a bunch of generic squadrons that are enough of a threat that they do damage if ignored, and refresh my defense tokens if they are destroyed. I'll have to fly fairly tight to ensure I can best leverage Grievous' ability. This is not a fleet that wants to split up. My squadron contingent is built around my previous aim for the fleet. The Tri-Fighters and DIS-T81 are a threat to squadrons, but with their black anti-ship die, they actually could do a little damage to ships if I run into a squadronless opponent. The lone Belbullab is there to support the Tri-Fighters, as it is a little beefier, can hide amongst my other 9 squadrons with Screen, and be a good anti-fighter force. The Hyenas and DBS-404 are obviously my threat to ships, given that I've only got 3 ships to throw dice (one of which is a Hardcell that is simply not built to do damage).
What's the plan?
I mean, this isn't my ENTIRE plan, but it's sort of the plan's linchpin, if I'm being honest...
Well, I'm starting from a very simple place. I almost always do with a list until I figure out anything deeper. And this is obviously all theory. But my thought is to try and use Hyperwave Signal Boost (HSB) in a meaningful way. It's tough, because to clarify, this upgrade does not allow you to activate squadrons during the squadron phase as though they had been commanded with a Squadron command. What the upgrade does is simply allow you to activate a number of squadrons up to your squadron value (in the case of my fleet, it's 4, as the upgrade is on my Providence). Those squadrons can either move or attack, just like always. If they DO attack, they get the benefit of AI. This means that if you have to move your squadrons into attack position using HSB, then you've likely wasted that upgrade, its slot, and its 3 points. So those squadrons need to be in a position to attack. But, of course, Separatist squadrons are, for the most part, fairly squishy, so throwing them into the mix on the previous turn and then waiting for the squadron phase before finally activating them instead of simply commanding the squadrons is not only risky, but also does not necessarily make a lot of sense. Why do it? In my case, I'm doing it because I don't want my other ships (the Munificent and the Hardcell) having to dial up squadron dials. I'm going to mess with Con Fires and Navigates for each of them (Con Fire especially for the Muny, given that I've put Shu Mai on there).
The Providence will issue whatever squadron command is most needed in the ship phase; my guess is that I'll be hard-pressed to see fleets that don't field squadrons, and so the Providence will most likely use its Squadron dials on the Tri-Fighter contingent of my squadron game. Then, I'm counting on my other two ships and their Fighter Coordination Teams (FCTs) to gently nudge the remaining squadrons into advantageous positions. It's after other squadrons have committed to positions that my own squadrons can then activate, shooting at what they want with the advantage of AI per HSB.
This feels like a lot of writing I'm doing, all to say that my plan basically amounts to "bombers"...
I know it's possibly a terrible idea to build around, but I really want to try and figure out a way to utilize this upgrade in a meaningful way. Sort of the same reason I built around Tarkin when he was still 38 points. (I still haven't gotten to play with my new 28 point Tarkin, and that makes me sad!) What does Grievous have to do with all of this? Let's be honest: I'm going to lose a lot of squadrons. The hope is that each lost squadron keeps my aces or my ships alive that much longer. Will it work? I've no idea. But I'm willing to give it a try, because this is a Separatist commander I'm excited about!
-IratePooka
