Madine Assault Frigate vs Ackbar MC80

I won an Assault Frigate and wanted to give it a try in something other than an Ackbar list. I came up with a Cracken, Sato, and Madine list that were all very similar. An Assault Frigate with Paragon, ECM, TRC, Walex, and a Sensor Team; H9/APT Landmonition, Toryn Farr Bright Hope GR75; Quantum Storm Slicer Tool GR75; and a squadron ball of Shara/Tycho, 2x A-Wings, Dash, and Ketsu.

On the other side, Andy had an Ackbar Defiance MC80, Pelta with shield regen, TRC90, and a Repair Crew GR75. His squadrons were a pair of VCXs, a generic HWK, and a Z95. I had a five point bid and chose first. I picked his Fire Lanes thinking I could lock down those VCXs and use my Assault Frigate to win some tokens back in the mid-late game. Here is the setup:

In the first round, I moved up to block with Admo. I also prepared my squadrons to jump in. Here is the close of round 1:

In the second round, Admo moved into medium range and Defiance closed the gap and couldn’t avoid the double-arc. Here is the close of round 2:

In round three, Admo hit Defiance and Quantum Storm moved up to take its place as the blocker. My Assault Frigate was really in the fray, but I was able to tank the big shot from the 80 decently well. The 80 was hurting from Admo and Dash/Ketsu. Here is the close of round 3:

In the fourth round, the Assault Frigate was able to finish off the MC80 with a sweet (though obstructed) Paragon shot. Admo killed the flotilla and escaped. My Assault Frigate shot rather ineffectually at the Pelta. Here is the close of round 4:

In round five, my Assault Frigate was finished off and Andy managed to score some tokens. Dash/Ketsu were not able to kill the CR90. In round six, I tried to pick up tokens with Admo, but was obstructed and the Pelta moved into range to win them. In the end, Andy won by four points thanks to all his tokens. Great game, I love it when they’re so close.

I rather liked the Assault Frigate, but even with Walex, I avoided using the TRCs because I felt like I needed that evade. I used it much like I would the Interdictor or MC75, but it just isn’t able to take the same level of punishment as those two. On the other hand, it’s cheaper and let me fit a medium sized squadron ball, which I really wanted to try. Toryn Farr was very helpful with flak, but my squadrons were always out of range. Partly my poor choices, but I wanted to lock the VCXs down right away to prevent token movement. My generic A-Wings were something of a waste of points. I should have held them back and used them for bombing while Shara and Tycho did the locking down. Cracken or Sato would likely have been more useful in this matchup as admirals, though Madine did allow Quantum Storm to block in a highly effective manner. 

On the other side, Andy did well with the tokens and was able to concentrate fire on the Frigate. It was well played there. With Madine on my side, there was little he could do to prevent Admonition from blocking the MC80. Overall, good game.