Dodonna Yavaris vs Cracken MSU

In preparation for a tournament that Andy was going to attend, I brought out the German Champion’s Yavaris Aces list. This list consisted of an MC80C with FCT, SAd, and ECM, Yavaris with Flight Commander and Dodonna, GR75 with Adar and Boosted Comms, and Bright Hope with Toryn Farr. The fighters were Luke, Dutch, Gold, Ten, Dagger, Corran, and a pair of VCXs. The objectives were Precision Strike, Fire Lanes, and Sensor Net. It’s a tough, flexible list with five activations that can comfortably go first or second. I had never played it before and wanted to familiarize myself with the list.

On the other side, Andy brought a five activation Cracken list with a pair of MC30s (OEs, ExRacks, XI7s, Lando on one, Foresight on the other), a pair of Engine Tech TRC90s, a Quantum Storm Slicer Tool flotilla, Shara/Tycho, and a pair of A-Wings. He had the bid and chose my Sensor Net. Here is the board state at setup:

First round, I snatched up a pair of tokens with help from my VCXs. I bunched my squadrons up, hoping to draw the A Wings out and eliminate them with Ten Numb. Here is the close of round 1:

In round two, Andy did indeed send three of his A Wings over. I failed to procure a critical with Ten Numb when I activated him with Adar. I then activated Bright Hope, which was way too far forward. Andy used his MC30 and CR90 to triple ram the flotilla, which dramatically reduced my squadron efficacy. I was able to eliminate his three A Wings, but had few squadrons in position for bombing. I had last activation with the MC80, but was so focused on he squadron and token play that I forgot to shoot the MC30 at close range. Here is the close of round 2:

Round three opened with with MC30 hitting my MC80, which burned its brace. The Slicer flotilla was able to slice Yavaris, which hurt. I was able to eliminate the remaining A Wing without issue and proceeded to bomb the CR90, but couldn’t get enough bombers into the fight with Dagger in particular stuck on the station. I used my MC80 to bring the CR90 down to a single hull remaining, but had to move it up into a nasty close range double arc position next to the other MC30 with no brace remaining. I also forgot to use FCT this turn, which left my squadrons in less-than-optimal positions. On the other hand, I was grabbing up tokens like popcorn. The unactivated MC30 was indeed able to finish off my MC80, but I was able to eliminate his CR90 with Cracken aboard thanks to Corran Horn in the squadron phase. Here is the close of round 3:

In round four and five, I attempted to escape with Yavaris, but Andy was able to run it down and eliminate it with blue dice from an MC30. What would have been a very bad defeat was softened considerably by all the points I scored from Sensor Net. I ended up with a solid 180 points from the objective.

In deployment, I made the mistake of placing my fleet in the center. It would have been better to deploy  to the side to reduce flanking potential. Bright Hope was also isolated from the rest of the fleet, leading to it being singled out for early destruction. This could have been mitigated by me dropping to speed 1 on the first turn instead of steaming forward for two rounds at speed 2.

The placement of the squadrons is extraordinarily important, especially the B Wings due to their low speed. Even the speed three squadrons felt a little slow, emphasizing to me the importance of planning and positioning. The Sensor Net objective added an extra layer of complexity that had to be taken into account. By turn three, I was already making mistakes due to mental fatigue. Practicing the list would mitigate this, but it has a lot of moving parts to account for.

Overall, Andy did a nice job lining up both of his heavy hitters to drop my MC80 in one round of fire. His A Wings were effective at distracting my squadron ball for a turn, and his slicers prevented the key Yavaris turn. On my side, if I were to run this list in a serious way, I would need to practice a good deal with squadron placement and movement.