Dodonna Mon Karren vs Screed BT Avenger

For this match, I brought a very balanced Dodonna list. It had two heavy hitters, but also had a significant squadron element. On the MC80, I had Mon Karren, Strategic Advisor, Gunnery Teams, SW7s, Quad Batteries, and Engine Techs. The MC30 was a standard "Landmonition" with XI7s. In support, I had a pair of flotillas, one with Leia and Comms Net, and the other with Quantum Storm and Slicer Tools. My squadrons were Hera, Wedge, Rogue Squadron, Dutch, Gold Squadron, and Shara.

On the other side of the table was a Screed list designed to knock out a major threat. The Kuat ISD had Avenger, Pryce (Set for turn 3), Boarding Troopers, Leading Shots, APTs, and ECMs. The Demo had Brunson, ETs, OEs, and APTs. In support was a Raider with Kallus and Vader as well as a Comms Net Gozanti. The squadron cover consisted of Soontir, Zertik, and Valen. 

My opponent, Andy, had the bid and chose to go first. He picked my Planetary Ion Cannon objective and I did what I could to group the asteroids on the left side while placing the tokens on the right. Here is the setup:

In the first round, I jumped my Slicer flotilla forward to change the Demo dial to a squad command. Andy placed his fighters in front of the ISD to protect it from bombers. I was able to use Wedge and Shara to knock out Zertik in one round. Here is the end of round 1:

In the second round, the ISD activated first and was able to take out Quantum Storm before it could cause any further disruption. This put the ISD at close range of Admonition however. The Demo was unable to avoid a ram at speed two thanks to the Slicer Tools from the round before. The Raider jumped forward into close range of Admonition. I moved Admonition up to double-arc the ISD and I dropped speed on the Liberty. The Raider was destroyed between a front arc volley from Admonition and the rogue bombers in the squadron phase. Here is the close of round 2:

In turn three, Pryce on the ISD came into effect. Demo activated first and hit Admonition. Both Admonition and Mon Karren hit the ISD hard and brought it down before it could fire. Here is the close of round 3:

In round four, Demo hit Admonition again and my squadrons hit Demo in return. I brought Mon Karren around to give chase. Here is the close of round 4:

Demo was able to escape Mon Karren thanks to first player advantage. It was also able to escape my speed three bombers thanks to the Engine Techs. 

This one was a commanding victory, but we discussed afterward and it seemed that two key mistakes stood prominently as deciding factors. First, in turn one, I was able to slice away the Demo nav command. This caused Demo to ram the ISD in turn two and then to not be able to contribute to the fight against Admonition in front of the ISD. If Demo had a token available, it could have jumped to speed three and get into a better position. The second deciding factor was Governor Pryce. Had Pryce been set for turn 2 or had Andy taken a Strategic Advisor instead, that would have prevented me from hitting the ISD so hard on turn three with both of my combat ships. 

In building my list, I really wanted to put together a flexible squadron component comparable to the Imperial Rogues that I’ve run previously. Hera proved remarkably effective in passing out Rogue to Wedge and Shara on round 1 and to Dutch and Gold Squadron on the following rounds. This let me neutralize the opposition squadrons and to eliminate the Raider on turn two. Compared to Imperial Rogues, my squadrons tended to put out subpar damage against ships. This allowed the Demolisher to escape. Furthermore, compared to YT2400s, my squadrons lacked the ability to chase down targets with their modest speed.

Lessons Learned:

- Pryce can backfire terribly. Do not set beyond turn 2.

- Bank extra nav tokens to mitigate slicer tools.