Sato MC75 vs Vader Dual ISDs

Never having messed around with Sato, I decided to give him try. I brought an MC75 Ordnance Cruiser with Bail, ExRacks, APTs, ECM, and Ordnance Experts as my flagships. I supported it with a Toryn Farr Combat Refit, and a pair of Hammerheads with DCaps, OEs and APTs. My fighter cover consisted of Shara/Tycho, a pair of VCXs, Dash, and Han Solo. On the other side of the table was Vader on a Cymoon, an ISD2, and a supporting flotilla with Bossk and Zertik Strom. He had a 1 point bid and took first, which suited me. He chose Opening Salvo. Here is the setup:

With some solid navigating, the ISDs were able to turn to face my incoming line of ships. My squadrons jumped into position as spotters to kick the battle off. Here is the close of round 1:

In the second round, I positioned my MC75 for the Bail Organa strike on the following round. My hammerheads were looking rather vulnerable here at the close of round 2:

In the third round, I hit hard with Bail, but both shots were braced and redirected and the ISD did not go down. My flotilla was dropped along with one of the hammerheads. The last hammerhead also took some pretty serious damage. My squadrons were pitching in and were able to clear out the opposing squadron support without much trouble. Here is the close of round 3:

In round 4, the damaged ISD was able to activate first and pop my hammerhead as well as put some pretty significant damage onto my MC75 before dropping to another double arc (rear and side). Here is the close of round 4:

Thanks to a navigate command, my flagship was able to stay on the board. The Gozanti finally lost its scatter token after avoiding a ton of damage from both the hammerheads earlier and the 75 later. It was even strategically rammed twice by an ISD. Here is the close of round 5:

In the final round, Han Solo was able to activate first and put through the final damage on the Gozanti. This allowed me to activate my MC75 after the Cymoon. Here we are at the close of the game with two hull left on the MC75 (so close):

This one felt like a marvelously close game. I was able to knock out the non-flagship ISD and run for it. I would have squeaked by with a 6-5 I believe had I not gotten a turn 6 volley that triggered APTs and gave me half points on the ISD thanks to Opening Salvo. Still, it was close and a turn 7 would have meant my tabling.

My obstacle placement was a non-factor as the ISDs deployed well away from that cluster. I really wanted to use Bail and turn three is by far the best for predicting locations with my limited expertise, so I placed my fleet right across from the ISDs (in lieu of navigating the rocks) and hoped that their starting angle would prevent them coordinating effectively. I was wrong on that count and my hammerheads ended up being knocked out without delivering any meaningful damage. I feel like Admonition on its own would have been far more effective. The squadrons were pretty solid, but I think that more rogues would have been handy. My flotilla pushed a couple squadrons, but then they were left on their own.

Lessons Learned:

- Hammerheads have a decent chance of surviving a single long range shot from an ISD, but not more.

- Against a pair of ISDs, asteroids really need to be used to break up the formation and prevent coordination.