So Ardaedhel mentioned a fun synergy between Gilded Aegis and Grievous, and it seems worthwhile to abuse it to its limit.
R1 command phase: GA redirect discard, 3 shields side to front.
PR Hardcell activates, squadron dial, repair tokens for both 'cells and Aegis. Throw a Vulture off the board, Aegis gets the redirect back and RHDs the vulture back as well.
Aegis activates, repair dial + steals 2 shields from the naked 'cell, restoring side shields.
Naked 'cell activates, repair dial + token to heal.
R1 end of ship phase, GA tosses the redirect again, 3 shields side to opposite side.
R1 squadron phase, vulture off the board, GA gets a redirect back, Providence RHD.
R2 command phase, GA tosses the redirect again, 3 shields side to rear OR 2 shields rear to side.
PR Hardcell activates, squadron dial, repair tokens for the naked 'cell and Aegis. Throw a Vulture off the board, Aegis gets the redirect back.
GA heals to 6/6/5/2 OR 6/6/3/5.
MW and Asteroid Tactics are pretty straightforward, Corona helps GA live more and keeps the fleet near the edge for Vulture shenanigans. Support Destroyer would allow both BTs and RHD at the cost of Racks, which is tempting. (I'd love to fit Veteran Gunners; maybe double Comms Net is the answer.) Edit: dropped Hondo for VGs instead.
Thoughts?
Name: General Cheesiest
398/400 Faction: Separatist
Commander: General Grievous
Assault: Most Wanted Defense: Asteroid Tactics Navigation: Solar Corona
Providence Carrier (105) • Thermal Shields (5) • Intensify Firepower! (6) • Reserve Hangar Deck (3) • External Racks (4) • Point Defense Ion Cannons (4) = 127 Points
Recusant Light Destroyer (85) • General Grievous (20) • Wat Tambor (5) • Veteran Gunners (5) • Reserve Hangar Deck (3) • External Racks (4) • XI7 Turbolasers (6) • Gilded Aegis (5) = 133 Points
Hardcell Transport (47) • Parts Resupply (3) = 50 Points
Hardcell Transport (47) • Comms Net (2) = 49 Points
Squadrons: • 5 x Vulture Droid Fighter Squadron (40) = 40 Points
Total Points: 399
There is a big thinking error in this build. For you to benefit from the "move shields and then restore them on the originating side"-exploit you would need to be able to restore 3 shields on the side between the end of the Ship Phase in Round 1 and the end of the Command Phase in Round 2. Otherwise you just sit there with 6/6/0/2 at the start of round 2 and Gilded Aegis does nothing more than what a Repair Command could already do. Shields to Maximum! and Projections Experts dont work in that time window, the only card that does so far is Redundant Shields and the Recusant cant take those. I thought about this build for quite a while and it constantly gives me headaches. It is a strong exploit even just with the gained benefit of basically gaining +6 shields at the cost of 2 squadron HP and 2 Reserver Hangar Decks but the aforementioned 6/6/5/2 or 6/6/3/5 shield values are not possible to achieve in just 2 rounds. You would need another full round including Aegis activating and repairing for that. So you are basically wasting half of the game charging up your shields. If you deploy at the edge of the map at speed 1 and let your TRC-Hardcells do the fighting (and dying!) for rounds 2 and 3 this MIGHT be a viable strategy (since dead ships also means triggering Grievous ability) but im not sure if it is worth it most time to turtle 3 rounds. 2 i can see but 3 is pushing it.
Anyway, its a really fun exploit and here's a fleet i came up with, combining a Grievous Fleet recently posted by Truthiness on cannotgetyourshipout.blogspot with the Aegis exploit mentioned in this thread:
Name: Grumpy Grievous
Faction: Separatist
Commander: General Grievous
Assault: Advanced Gunnery
Defense: Asteroid Tactics
Navigation: Infested Fields
Recusant Support Destroyer (90)
• General Grievous (20)
• Wat Tambor (5)
• Flight Controllers (6)
• Expanded Hangar Bay (5)
• Reserve Hangar Deck (3)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Gilded Aegis (5)
= 141 Points
Hardcell Battle Refit (52)
• Reserve Hangar Deck (3)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
= 62 Points
Hardcell Battle Refit (52)
• Reserve Hangar Deck (3)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
= 62 Points
Hardcell Transport (47)
• Tikkes (2)
• Fighter Coordination Team (3)
• Comms Net (2)
• Beast of Burden (6)
= 60 Points
Squadrons:
• 5 x Vulture Droid Fighter Squadron (40)
• 3 x Hyena Droid Bomber Squadron (33)
= 73 Points
Total Points: 398
Yeah, that's the trick. That distance requirement may not always be achievable. It could work for long range ships that want to hold back. TRC Hardcells?
I assume you would fly your squadron so that part of it is off the board, then measure to ensure you are distance 1-5 from the ship requiring a token before removing the squadron from play as destroyed? 😉
Infested Fields or Volatile Deposits may be better blue objectives for Grievous, since they make it easier for your Vultures to die.
I like the updated version more. The original one lacked the punch to pull this one trough. Guess you'll have to be lucky with the long range shots to whittle the target down or get the shots from ex-rax in 1 turn or 2 consecutive ones.
But again on PR... why on Aegis? With the 2 shields from the 'cell you already get 7 points, so 3 shields back. Token for extra longevity in a later turn?
With double Commsnet you wouldn't get the tokens in the right places round 1, as one of the cells needs dial+token to repair the stripped shields and thus can't commsnet. Means providence would have to squad command to throw the vulture off board turn 1. Dunno if that's worth the command.
Am I reading this wrong or are you in that strategy handing out 6 tokens with PR? I figure you don't acutally need the token on the PR-cell, as PR will be empty after that second turn, won't it?