Christmas Tree ISD is an expression I have not heard in a while, but it referred to and ISD with all the goodies decked out all the upgrades a ship could want. With the season upon us I thought It would be a bit fun a fitting to talk about my 3 favorite Christmas Tree ISDs.
Let’s start out with the most generic, or the one that I find least interesting personally this is our Christmas tree Cymoon:
Christmas Tree Cymoon
ISD Cymoon 1 Refit (112) • Minister Tua (2) • Intensify Firepower! (6) • Gunnery Team (7) • Proximity Mines (4) • Spinal Armament (9) • Linked Turbolaser Towers (7) • Avenger (5) • Electronic Countermeasures (7) = 159 Points
So with LTT and IF we are able to take whatever commander we want to as in most cases that will be enough modification to keep us consistent in the off chance it won’t slap vaider officer on a flotilla to kill Tua. Oh and Tua+ECM gives us the ability to tank big shots as well. We have Gunnery teams to get max value from IF and LTT, and spinal for more dice, and Avenger on a ship with lots of dice is always nice. Lastly we have proximity mines definitely one of the more optional upgrades, but you can deploy them to protect one of your flanks, as I have found players will just avoid them as best they can, this will free up your fleet to protect the other so they are not split into you side unthreatened, it actually works pretty well. This is definitely my favorite plug and play cymoon, as it really does not care about what commander you take making it much easier to put this guy in a list.
Seventh Fleet Mitigation
Imperial II (120) • Expert Shield Tech (5) • Gunnery Team (7) • Reserve Hangar Deck (3) • Early Warning System (7) • SW-7 Ion Batteries (5) • Linked Turbolaser Towers (7) • Seventh Fleet Star Destroyer (5) = 159 Points
This was born of my weird distaste for ECMs, it combines Seventh Fleet with expert shield tech, to help mitigate 2 damage plus the die loss form EWS means I will Likely be negating 3 damage from big shots, and that is generally about as much as ECM saves you each round, though ECM can help more against huge attacks, or really lucky rolls, but if a huge attack does not have an accuracy this is better. Sure I give up the ability to redirect to adjacent hull zones if I use Expert Shield Tech, but a few engineering tokens can make it so I still use all my shields effectively. I like the LTT and SW-7 combo I mean if I completely blank out on my reds, pretty rare in my option LTT will likely help me get at least one damage out of them and then my blues are all damage meaning 5 damage and that is just one damage below the ISD II's average, so not terrible, but if you roll okay I feel this combo can turn that roll into a great roll more than leading shots can, but I guess I should math that out sometime. Reserve hangar Deck is just a really nice card to have with a tie fighter screen, it’s really hard not to take as an Imperial.
The Chimera
Imperial I (110) • Minister Tua (2) • Ordnance Experts (4) • Expanded Hangar Bay (5) • Reserve Hangar Deck (3) • High-Capacity Ion Turbines (8) • H9 Turbolasers (8) • Chimaera (4) • Intensify Firepower! (6) • Electronic Countermeasures (7) = 157 Points
The Chimaera in new lore at least was an ISD I and well here it is as an ISD I. I have always had a special place in my heart for ISD I’s. I always liked that they could punch just a little bit harder than the II. It has been a while admittedly since I have brought an ISD I to the table, mostly due to the Kuat. However I got this guy to the table and had a blast with him. The ISD I is really the only ship I have been able to justify using High-Capacity Ion Turbines, it just works so well with the H-9s as it guarantees an accuracy out the side, I have Ordnance Experts and IF for my dice fixing that is enough, Tua+ECM makes it able to tank big shots, and again Darth Vader tua if I really need too. Expanded hanger bay with a token lets me push 6 fighters so with a 48 point investment in ties I got a pretty strong screen of fighters, add in Reserve Hangar Deck and you will give a lot of squadron groups some trouble. When I played with this guy it was fun to see how many small ships would slip into my sides just to get whaled on for way more than they thought it’s pretty easy to kill a flotilla with your side, and if you set up the double arc you can generally with 5 dice out the side 8 out the front get a ship to discard a brace token. It’s a really fun ship build and helps me justify putting an ISD I back on the table.
Well those are some of my favorite Christmas Tree ISDs, what are some of your favorite? I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday, and until next time, see you need week!
Comments