Resistance Starter Box

[draco84oz]

So, I finally got my Resistance Fleet starter box today - real fast delivery from TT, so hats off to them. Unfortunately, when I opened the box, two things immediately jumped out.

First off, there was no fast play stats to work with - the other races all had a quick reference stats sheet that you could use to put together a three battlegroup fleet for quick play, based on the ships shown on the box cover. All of them were around the 535pt mark (except the Shaltari, but they had Voidgates to deal with), and consisted of a "Gun" Heavy Cruiser, "Standard" Cruiser, "Carrier" Cruiser, 2 "Gun" Frigates, and 2 Strike Carriers - of course there were variations in each, but I think that's a fairly straight forward description of them.

Now, there are two example fleets on the Resistance box - one Scrapfleet, and one Kabal. And unfortunately, I can't really see a correlation between the two fleets...

OK, well, can I put together a "quick start" fleet of my own following a similar layout to the other quick starts, as well as putting together a fleet that demonstrates some of the features of the Resistance?

One of the things that got me interested in the Resistance fleet was the original Centurion Grand Cruiser that Hawk featured a while ago. Its layout spoke to me saying "What if there was a smaller human faction, older ships, allowing me to use EAA equipment" - then I read about the Kalium Kabal.
So, lets base the fleet on that layout - Ablative armour, hybrid gun batteries, mass driver turret. And maybe throw in a couple of vent cannons - because...Kalium.

Strike Carriers are pretty easy - Hybrid gun turrets were my first thought, but, will they really get any use? In most cases, the Carriers would be running silent in a vanguard group, hoping to get early drops in, so, no real use there. If they were part of an invasion Line group, maybe? But what about Sensor Domes for them? The resistance really needs Detector, and you need quite a few Strike Carriers, so, why not give them a second use in that respect? Calligulae-Class Strike Carriers, 36 pts each.

Next, Frigates. These are easy - Hybrid Turret. Although Heavy Frigates with a Hybrid and a Vent Turret is...thematic. Lets do both and see which I can fit in. Pugio-Class Frigate, 28 pts each. Gladius-Class Heavy Frigate, 40 pts each.

The "standard" cruiser. Ablative Armour is the first item on the list, and then the Hybrid broadsides - two sets of them. With one system remaining, it has to be a turret, but is it either a Mass Driver, or a Vent? Well, this is a Kalium fleet, so it only makes sense to include one Vent item. It won't be able to fine mainly, but its mostly flavour. I know the box shows missile banks, but I do agree with achilles625 that CAW for a resistance fleet is really limited. Legionnaire-Class Cruiser, 100 pts

The Fleet Carrier - based on the other Fleet carriers, Fighters and Bombers only, add ablative armour, and at least one Hybrid broadside. Last item is another turret, probably again the vent turret, since its better at range than a mass driver. Castra-Class Fleet Carrier, 105 pts.

Now the big one, the Heavy Cruiser. A gunship, so Ablative Armour, two sets of Hybrid Broadsides, and then two turrets...I am seriously tempted to just go with two Mass Drivers just to match the Centurion...oh what the heck. Make it a little different to the other ships, even though those turrets will only be able to shoot on Weapons Free. I did consider using Artillery turrets instead, to take advantage of Low Power, but only one can fire with that rule. Additionally, the mass driver fits into the design ethos of ships like the Phalanx and Elysium. Opito-Class Heavy Cruiser, 132 pts

Actually, looking back on it, the Opito is 3 pts cheaper than a Centurion, and the only difference is 4 HP, 1 armour, and 1 PD. Does that make it better or worse?

So, final cost of the flotilla:

Opito - 132 pts
Castra - 105 pts
Legionnaire - 100 pts
2 Gladius - 80 pts
2 Calligulae - 72 pts
TOTAL = 489 pts

Well, that blows it! Not even 500 pts? And to be honest, I don't even know how to get it up higher. Compared to the other fleet boxes, the Heavy Cruiser is really cheap (The cheapest CA in the other starter sets is the Obsidian at 155 pts), but the rest is fairly similar - once I put the Gladius in...

Anyway, this is just me doing some late-night theorycrafting, and I figured it would be fun to type my full thought process out. And it was. Still, any thoughts on how to improve the flotilla? Not to make it too hyper-competitive, but keep it definitely Kalium.

Oh, and the second issue with the box was that there was only one Frigate sprue, with four separate frigate bodies and four separate noses. Fine if you're building a scrapfleet, but for a more milliary fleet, like the one I'm planning on putting together, it means that I'm going to have to get multiple sprues to put together all the Strike Carriers I need...

[Thunderboy]

Anyway, this is just me doing some late-night theorycrafting, and I figured it would be fun to type my full thought process out. And it was. Still, any thoughts on how to improve the flotilla? Not to make it too hyper-competitive, but keep it definitely Kalium.

Oh, and the second issue with the box was that there was only one Frigate sprue, with four separate frigate bodies and four separate noses. Fine if you're building a scrapfleet, but for a more milliary fleet, like the one I'm planning on putting together, it means that I'm going to have to get multiple sprues to put together all the Strike Carriers I need...

I really like reading your thought process. Only improvement would be to find a carrier slot to up your PD when needed.
As to the sprues, the horror of chooses Maybe find a mate you can swap with? Or yes buy an extra sprue of frigates. TTC wont mind

Good luck

[draco84oz]

I really like reading your thought process. Only improvement would be to find a carrier slot to up your PD when needed.
As to the sprues, the horror of chooses Maybe find a mate you can swap with? Or yes buy an extra sprue of frigates. TTC wont mind

Good luck

Where would I get the extra sprue from? They're not selling them separately on the TT Combat store.

Ugh - One of the observations that has been made about the resistance is that the fleet is rather Cruiser-heavy, so I guess a second box will help in that respect in that respect...

[Thunderboy]

MIght be in the pipe line, all other factions have frigate and cruiser sprue boxes.
emailing TTC won't hurt either.

[draco84oz]

Been thinking of a few other builds I could put together, to round out a Resistance fleet. C+S would be appreciated

One thing I have to note is that I tend to prefer units with a defined role in the battleplan, rather than all-rounders that can do everything - such units tend to be weak at everything, and will be boned by any specific dedicated unit it comes up against. And before you point out Space Marine Tactical Squads as breaking that rule, Tactical Marines have the resiliance to stand up to most threats, although even they will fall to a dedicated unit like Howling Banshees, Genestealers, Crisis Suits etc.

Velites-Class Light Cruiser - 82 pts
Hybrid Gun Broadside
Artillery Turret
Ablative Armour

Leves-Class Light Cruiser - 80 pts
2 x Missile Broadside
Scanner Array
(A CAW attempt, but, really, will it ever be useful?)

Cornicen-Class Escort Carrier (Light Cruiser) - 90 pts
Fighters + Bombers Broadside
Vent Cannon Turret
Ablative Armour

Immunes-Class Blockade Runner (Light Cruiser) - 85 pts
Bulk Lander Broadside
Artillery Turret
Drive Refit
(This is an attempt to match a PHR blockade runner in purpose, perhaps to allow the Resistance a forward drop on turn 2, if put into a Pathfinder group with strike carriers)

Scutum-Class Troopship (Cruiser) - 107 pts
2 x Bulk Lander Broadside
Bombardment Mortar
Ablative Armour
(The Ganymede was the inspiration for this ship, rather than the San Fransisco)

Signifier-Class Fleet Carrier (Heavy Cruiser) - 142 pts
2 x Fighter + Bomber Broadside
2 x Artillery Turret
Ablative Armour

[Thunderboy]

Leves-Class Light Cruiser - 80 pts
2 x Missile Broadside
Scanner Array
(A CAW attempt, but, really, will it ever be useful?

I like this idea, might be best in groups of 2+ as to be able to swamp PD.

Others seem good thought out. What would the list be?

[Councillor]

Cornicen-Class Escort Carrier (Light Cruiser) - 90 pts
Fighters + Bombers Broadside
Vent Cannon Turret
Ablative Armour

I like this one. Part of me screams about having 2x Launch slots for maximum efficiency, but I think the ability to do something during the regular turn phase is a reasonable exchange. If you have one hard point left on a support ship like this, the vent cannon is a great choice.

[draco84oz]

Well, my first box is complete.

On the left, top to bottom: Light Carrier, Cruiser, Troopship
On the right: Heavy Frigate, Light Frigate, Strike Carrier

...

I'm gonna hate putting the rest of the fleet together with so few components per sprue. And, no, I still have no idea what to do about a 1500pt list

Also, on the starter box, I can get a better Heavy Cruiser by just buying an actual Centurion for 5 more points than the Opito, so I'll just use that instead. It was the model that inspired this whole thing, after all.

The only Heavy Cruiser I'll probably end up building will be the Fleet Carrier.

[Thunderboy]

I do really like this lay out. Centurion is a cool model so I totally get that.

[NiciusMax]

I think Resistance heavy cruisers are pretty weak compaired to the Grand cruiser/battlecruiser options. I'd rather have a Centurion then any gun based heavy cruiser to be honest.

The only Heavy cruiser that is viable I think is a Launch based heavy, a Resistance version of the Bellerophon. Especially since Resistance needs the launch to make up for their poor point defence