I very rarely fly a list without squadrons, but my squadron complement has varied from a full 134 point complement to 4 tie fighters. Smaller squadron groups have always struggled compared to larger groups, and it makes since more bodies more weapons vs less bodies less weapons, but I do firmly believe a small squadron group can work wonders. So here are a few things that have helped me get value out of a small squadorn group.
Intel Splitting
So Intel has been a thorn in small squadron groups since its release. I believe it was necessary to make squadrons a bit more viable as the problem before that is that all you had to do was take tyco and you could effectively shut down a whole squadron group. However this took the issue in the opposite direction of making it extremely difficult for a small squadron group to do much of anything against a squadron group.
Splitting the Intel is a strategy that can only be used if your opponent has only 1 source of Intel, this is usually the case. Your opponent has squadrons grouped together. In order to pull this off the squadrons splitting the intel must be beyond distance 3 of each other, hope that helps illustrate the reach of intel for you. Here is an example of splitting the intel.
Now this example is great at illustrating the principle of the intel split, but it is also a bad example of using this small squadron group. The purpose of a small fighter group is to prevent and reduce as much damage as possible against friendly ships. If you don't remember anything else remember that, so why does this not accomplish that purpose? Well the 3 tie fighters are little to know threat to our ships, however MMJ are a huge threat to ships MMJ is like an ISD-II if all its dice where blue, MMJ chuck 8 blue dice a turn at a single ship its scary. So even though this split the intel this group failed to in the small squadron groups purpose of preventing and reduce as much damage as possible against friendly ships.
Intel Blocking
So how does this group accomplish that well with very precise measurements it is possible to split the intel while being inside distance 1-3, but requires you to be very precise and you will usually need more than just two fighters as it will require you to block any legal placement of the intel ship that would grab all your fighters in the intel bubble. In this example we have given Shara and Tyco a few friends to help them out.
So yeah this requires very precise measurements and a bit of skill, but it can be done. Personally I feel that Intel needs to be changed to give friendly ships grit,but thats me and it may never happen. So unless it does the very complicated and time consuming intel blocking is the best way to tie down threats on the same "side" of a squadron ball.
take more bodies over less
We have all seen the Shara+Tyco or Valen+Cienna, I personally think these groups particularly in a intel world are pretty bad. They generally at most give you a one turn speed bump and this is not really that great remember the small squadron screen purpose to prevent and reduce as much damage as possible against friendly ships. If you have more bodies its more stuff the other player has to deal with, and it's easier to intel block. I try to take at least 4 squadrons in almost all m lists, with more squadrons in your small squadorn screen you are also capable of dealing more damage.
Killing squadrons prevents damage to your ships
I know it's not a novel idea, but I am continually surprised by the many players I see that through squadrons in during the squadron phase, to screen a ship then do nothing else with them. I would say killing a squadron, particularly a high treat squadron is always better than buying one more turn. Let's go back to the A-wings but they are going to chuck dice an Morna not worry about blocking the intel, after the A-wings attack and Morna gets her counters off we are left with this:
After the Empire goes and A-wings through some counter attacks around we have this.
The A-wings go and Tycho takes out black and shara takes out Morna.
This is not an unlikely scenario I rolled dice in the vassal module, tried to spend defense tokens judiciously and this is what I got. The rebel player has taken out 36 points of fighters in exchange for 22 points for a net gain of 14 points. In addition to that the rebel player has in effect halved the amount of damage the fighterball can do. MMJ roll 8 dice with MMJ, but with just Stele and Jendon it's only 4 still respectable but we have in essence halved the total damage our ships will take form this squadron wing.
Squadrons are Worth Points so Flak Them
Flack is one of the most underutilized tools in Armada. people are always worried about giving up a shot against a ship. part of this comes from I believe wanting to table your opponent, and if you kill all there ships all their squadrons die. This is ture, but like in the example above sometimes killing one or two squadrons can substantially reduce damage you take and in turn keeping your stuff on the table.
Sometimes that one point of damage is all the difference in the squadorn fight, your flotillas are the best ships in this extra damage here extra damage there roll. I my opinion flotillas should always be headed toward the squadron fight not only to command squadrons but to lay down some flak. Don't underestimate what a small group of squadrons can do with strong flak support.
Well that is a few tips on small squadron screens. How do you use small squadron screens what are some tips you have? and if you don't remember anything else remember the purpose of a small squadron screen is to prevent and reduce as much damage as possible against friendly ships. Not necessarily to buy you more time. Well until next time have a great week!
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