Rieekan Nebulons vs Raddus MC75

On my side of the table, I brought Rieekan on an MC30 with Admo, Lando, OE, APT, and H9; a Nebulon with Salvation, SFO, QBT, and the new Auxiliary Shield Teams; another Nebulon with Vanguard, C&S, SFO, QBT, and AST; a pair of Comms Net flotillas; and Hera, Dutch, Wedge, and Dash for a squadron component.

On the other side, Andy brought a Raddus list with an MC75 Profundity w/ an MS-1 CR90 in waiting; a pair of ET-TRC90s, one of which had Raddus and Lando on board; Quantum Storm with Slicers; and Shara & Tycho for the squads. I chose second player and he picked my Contested Outpost. Here is the setup:

In the first round, I slow-rolled it toward the station. I had to bump Vanguard (on right) up to speed 2 in order to ensure that I claim the station. I should have used a GR75 for that. I forgot to grab a post drop picture, but the MC75 drops on the far right with the CR90b double-arcing Vanguard. Here is the pre-drop opening of round 2:

In the second round, Andy managed to neutralize Vanguard after it moved into the front arc of the MC75. He had to ram it to finish it off. Salvation and Vanguard did some mean damage to the MC75 on the approach, though the MS-1s exhausted C&S. Also, lots of double-ram damage against my flotillas. Tycho went down to my squadrons. Here is the opening of round 3:

In the third round, Andy was able to finish off my GR75s, I killed Quantum Storm after he sliced Salvation, and Shara went down, despite her potent counter-fire. Here is the opening of round 4:

In the fourth round, Andy activated the MC75 first and failed to finish off Salvation. He was able to move out of close range from Admonition however. I lined my rather hurting squadrons up for some bombing on the MC75. Here is the opening of round 5:

In the fifth round, I lost Salvation and my rogue bombers finished off the MC75. Andy turned his CR90B inward to loop around and try to claim the station on round 6. My rogue bombers managed to punish this maneuver and finish off it off as well in the final moments of the game. Thanks to my Contested Outpost points and the last CR90 kill, I was able to salvage the game and take the Pyrrhic victory.

I made a number of key mistakes. I should have used a GR75 to claim the station on the first turn rather than increasing my speed on Vanguard. The speed increase negated my QBTs and put me out of position. It also would have been wise to activate Salvation before Vanguard on turn 2. I wanted to keep Salvation at long range, but I allowed Andy to use his black dice and to ram Vanguard. Had I kept it for last, it most certainly would have survived into the third round.

On the bright side, I kept Admonition and the squadron ball in reserve. The squadron ball did fantastic work in the end game. Also, Salvation punched well above its weight. It managed a seven damage hit at long range, and a six damage hit after being sliced a second time. Andy was not expecting firepower of that magnitude from a Nebulon. The Auxiliary Shield Techs were nice, and for three points each, well worth it, especially with Vanguard and it’s redirect.

On the other side, Andy did work with his engine techs. I pulled Reinforced Blast Doors from Admonition last minute. That was a mistake as I was very concerned about a quad ram from a first-lasting CR90 against Admo. The drop was blunt and predictable, but did the job. Had he run a pair of generic A-Wings along with Shara and Tycho, my squadrons would have been completely neutralized and I wouldn’t have had finishers to knock out the MC75. He also would have taken the victory if he hadn’t looped inward with the CR90b, which had significant shield damage.

Overall, a tense, close game. Good stuff.