Sato MC75 & Admonition vs Raddus Liberty & Admonition

For this game, I brought a Sato list with an MC75 and Admonition with Intel Officers and ACMs (plus the usual assortment). In support, I had a Comms Net flotilla, Shara/Tycho, Han, Ketsu, and a pair of VCXs. Adding the VCXs allowed me to take some token-focused objectives. On the other side, Andy brought a Raddus list with a tricked out Admonition, TRC90, Slicer Storm, and Shara/Tycho. The primary threat was the LMC80 with Spinals/H9s in hyperspace. He chose my Sensor Net. I deployed in the right corner facing inward. Here is the deployment:

In the first round, I grabbed some tokens and spread my remaining squadrons out for flexibility. I puttered along at speed 1 to facilitate the token grabbing game. Here is the opening on round 2:

In the second round, I grabbed more tokens. I also pushed Admonition out ahead to put pressure on Andy’s Admonition. Here is the opening of round 3 (Right before Raddus placed the Lib in front of the 30, just outside of long range):

In the third round, I put some damage into the CR90 and Admonition while Andy hit my own Admonition and positioned his MC30 to threaten my 75 in the following turn. Here is the opening of round 4:

In the fourth round, Andy activated his MC30 first, killed the flotilla, and made me exhaust my ECM to brace a heavy shot to the rear. This let me activate my own MC30 and deal a bit of damage to the LMC before dodging the front arc. My 75 activated next and I put some damage into Admo (out the rear with External Racks) and the CR90. The Liberty did some work against the 75 and dropped it to 2 hull. My squadrons finished off the CR90. Here is the opening of round 5:

In the fifth round, the Liberty finished my 75 without issue and I put some squadron damage into the Liberty, but Andy was repairing with Raymus so I was able to make little headway. I was able to finish off Tycho while he killed a VCX. Here is the opening of round 6:

In the final round, I picked up one more token. Andy managed to gain a 40 MOV victory when we tallied it all up. It was much closer than I thought it would be.

Some thoughts on my fleet design: I’ve been considering how to make a low activation count, Rogue-Heavy rebel build work. I would love to go with 7 YT2400s, but I’m not going to buy 5 more expansions just for that. I also wanted to play around with Sato as he is one of the few Rebel commanders (Besides Rieekan and Dodonna) that synergize with squadron play. With a low activation fleet that isn’t utilizing Pryce and a huge bid, the squadrons need to do the heavy lifting and the ships need to be able to take a beating and keep going. Intel Officers are good, but I need to preserve my ships so Lando on Admo is the better choice and either Bail or DCO on the 75 would improve survivability. I also need some heavy bombers in the squadron wing. A pair of Scurrgs with Hera would help immensely here, though I would certainly struggle against other squadron-heavy fleets without some mitigating factor.

On objectives and deployment, I regret including Sensor Net. It pushed me into a very predictable deployment formation and low speed, which allowed Andy to maximize his positioning for the ideal Liberty deployment. Salvage Run may have been an improvement. Alternatively, pointing my fleet away from the center would have helped to prevent the Liberty drop directly in front of my fleet.

In the fourth round, I should have preserved my ECM/Brace for the inevitable shot from the Liberty and instead redirected Admonition’s shot. That was a mistake on my part that may have allowed my 75 another turn on the board. Throughout the game, I really failed to focus my fleet on a single enemy. I did damage to all three of Andy’s combat ships and only managed to barely bring down the CR90.

On the other side, Andy did a nice job on his Raddus drop and he did well to bring Admonition in aggressively against the MC75 in order to encourage me to use the Brace/ECM. Taking two big shots in a single round is rough. Solid performance on Andy’s part.