Recusant - What we know/thoughts & possible builds

Recusant Destroyers

Well, I jumped the gun a bit on my Separtist Hot Takes article but now we have more details so my goal is to spend a day breaking down what we know about each ship and maybe some builds and uses for these ships and how they might mesh into the general fleet order for each faction.  I'm starting with the Recusant because it looks interesting and it's my blog. You want to start with another ship, go write your own blog.  But the other ships will be up soon.

Below is all the information we have so far.  Pretty much everything you need to actually run and play with both of these ships, except for the squadron value of the Recusant Light Destroyer.  Otherwise, we simply don't have titles or any of the other interesting options that the new cards will present these large clone blasting spindles.

General Overview

So Atomic Mass Games on their first Star Wars Stream on 3 Feb revealed the full ship card for the Recusant Support Destroyer and that fills in almost all the gaps from the preview image we got from the Asmodee Preorder page.  First off, the Recusant is a large base ship and comes with the trademarks of most large base ships.  

Survivability

It has 4 defense tokens like all large bases (except the Liberty) prior to it and there are no redundant tokens, so accuracies can make this ships hurt.  However, they are all really useful tokens.  It has an Evade, Brace, Redirect, and Salvo. Three are the best tokens in the game to keep ships alive (especially since 1.5) and Salvo can let you hurt other ships while they hurt you.  For both variants, Salvo is only 2 dice and only 1 is red so you won't always get the biggest bang for your buck with a Salvo token but it can still hurt your opponent.

The ship also has 8 hull which is the same as a Victory Star Destroyer or Rebel MC80s.  This compared with it's distribution of shields (3 Front/3 Side/2 Rear) mean's that it's not as tanky as the MC80 and no where close to an Imperial Star Destroyer. BUT they are also at least 20 points cheaper than an ISD so you have to buy that discount somewhere.  

What these values generally means to me is that you should keep this ship lean on upgrades as otherwise it will bleed points to the enemy as they appear to lack the staying power of the Galactic Civil War larges. Treat this ship the way it was costed, as a Medium that happens to live on a large base.

Next, we come to the Navigation chart. It's speed 3 so can zip around the battle and can disengage and jump over enemy ships when it needs to get out of the front arc of an ISD.  Speed 1 and 2 are not unagile, and with with a Nav Dial or the Take Evasive Action Fleet Command have a double click somewehere.  But speed 3 has a native double click in the middle which will offer some interesting possibilities combined with it's unique arc layout.

Example of speed 3 but still a double arc

Which brings us to another common feature, the arc layout.  It has a wide (like 160 degrees) front arc so you can be broadside to someone and STILL have a double arc.  That is crazy and presents some interesting options throughout a game.  I'm sure this will take a while to get used to but will be lots of fun. That being said it also means damage is almost always going to be able to target the front arc, so that redirect is going to get a burned out quickly.

Long Range broadside double arc

Command & Engineering

Another trademark of large ships, Command 3.  This ship won't be as responsive as your Command 2 Munificent Frigates BUT it can hold 3 command tokens which the Separatists have several officers that can take advantage of that.

And finally we have a low (for a large ship) engineering value of 3.  This will let you Regen a shield and move one too or get rid of a single damage card.  With a recusant you probbaly aren't going to be repairing your way out of problems. Your choices are run or die with as many clones as you can.

Support Destroyer

What do we get with a Recusant Support Destroyer? We get a lot for only 90 points.  But let's break it down.

Squadron Value of 3.  Combined with TWO Offensive Retorift slots means that this ship is true to it's name and can make a cheap carrier that can stay out of the battle but still contribute capital ship grade firepower.

A Red Flak dice means that it can throw it's squadrons into the fray and still provide some flak support barring any ships are in range.  It also opens up some interesting build/fleet options.

And rainbow of Battery armament.  Though the sprinkling of blue dice benefits the longer range most likely desired by the most common builds. 3 Red, 2 Blue, 1 Black in the front means an accuracy isn't out of the question and 3 Red and 1 Blue out the side is the same as the Rebel Assault Frigate which has been a staple carrier for a long time. 10 dice total for it's double arc and 6 at long range again means the Recusant can contribute while circling the battlefield, especially with that wide front arc.

It's upgrade bar has an officer, Weapons Team, the before mentioned two offensive retorfits, and a turbolaser.  I can easily see filling each and every one of these to make something that costs mose than an ISD but squishes like a Victory Star Destroyer.  So you're more than welcome to try it, but I think I'll be steering away from that tactic and just giving ships what they need to do thier primary job.

Possible Builds

Pure Carrier

        Recusant Support Destroyer (90)

                 Expanded Hanger Bay (5), Boosted Comms (4), Flight Controllers (6) = 105

        This comes out to 105 points (the same as any naked Providence variant) but can throw 4 (5 with a token) squadrons at long range and give them their AI dice as well as an extra blue dice.  5 dice Tri-fighters and 4 dice vultures are Interceptors/TIE fighters with Howlrunner, and either will mulch squadrons quickly. This will probbaly be the priemere Flight Controller Carrier for the Separatists.  Granted with AI on most of their dogfighting squadrons, they might not really need it.  It's primary job is to push squadrons and whatever happens with the anti-ship attacks happens.

Grievous Ruthless Carrier

        Recusant Support Destroyer (90)

                 Expanded Hanger Bay (5), Reserve Hanger Decks (3), Ruthless Strategists (4) = 102

    

        102 points gets this interesting ship that when paired with General Grievous, the admiral, allows you to fling 4 fighters towards an enemy fighter ball and then flak that same figher ball.  If a Swarm fighter needs to die to kill a Jedi with the help of Ruthless Strategists, so be it, AND the Recusant or a scatter ace gets a defense token back!  And then said sacrificed squadron comes back with the Reserrve Hanger Deck. Pair with other Reserve Hanger decks for maximum fun.Might not be the most competitive but this will be a blast and theres no way I'm not trying it.  

Christmas Tree Support Ship

     Recusant Support Destroyer (90)

                 Expanded Hanger Bay (5), Boosted Comms (4), Flight Controllers (6), Linked Turbolser                         Towers (7), Shu Mai (4), *Unknown Title* (4+??) = 120+

        You too can have a ship the same cost as an ISD II that has dice consistency and the ability to throw 4 squadrons but if it gets caught by an ISD is going to have a terrible time.  You could do it but I'd save the 15+ points and buy some squads to actually push.

Boarders Away

     Recusant Support Destroyer (90)

                Boarding Troopers (3), Hondo Onaka (2)/Rune Hako (4) = 95 (97) points

    Cheap and simple.  95 (or 97) points will exhaust or discard three tokens and Hondo (or Rune) will ensure you have your squadron token when you need it for the boarding troopers.  Keep it cheap to get the drop on your primary target with activations, scoot into range 3 at the end of a turn with a double arc and top fo the next round POFF no more tokens for them.  Then you can dart away and finish pounding away at them from long range.  Add Shu Mai for 4 points to fix your dice and time her rounds with your Boarding Trooper turn, still keeping it below 100 points.  Expanded Hanger Bays for 5 more points lets you exhaust 4 tokens but the cost is starting to climb for your 'cheap' Boarding Trooper gimmick. 

Recusant Light Destroyer

The Light Destroyer comes in at a measly 85 points for a large ship. That is the same cost as a VSD II, but I feel like your survivability/damage potential is much higher without sinking the same pile of points into a VSD to get it to that level.  Let's look at the differences fromt he support destroyer though..

A single blue flak probably isn't killing many squads and we don't know what the Squadron Value is.  I would guess it's a 2 because that is the lowest squadron value we have on any large ship currently but maybe this is the outlier and it's 1.  Either way this is not a boarding trooper/squadron pusher ship.  This is the Droid Gunship.

The dice battery loses it's rainbow and goes for red and black only, splitting the blue 1 each way in the front arc and swapping the blue for a black in the side.  4 red and 2 black in the front followed by 3 red and 1 black in the side.  The light Destroyer loses a little bit of medium range firepower and accuracy generation but trades it for a larger damage potential.  

Finally, its upgrade bar is very similar only swapping a single upgrade, an ordinance instead of an Offensive Retrofit; resulting in Officer, Weapons Team, Offensive Retrofit, Ordinance, and Turbloaser. This again poses some drastically different and fun builds from the Support Destroyer.

Cheap Gunship

    

    Recusant Light Destroyer (85)

            Shu Mai (4) or Ordinance Experts (4), Linked Turbolaser Towers (7), External Racks (4) = 100

    For 100 points you get a maneuverable large base, with a dice rerolls of your choice and the ability to hit hard with a double arc on the a meaningful turn.  Shu Mai for lots of rerolls on 2 turns, or Ord Experts just to fix black dice and count on LTT and the odds for your red dice.  This is probably the most easy plug and play way to build this ship.  It works with any admiral (though it super synergizes with no one in particular yet) and I beleive will consistently perform for you as a hunter killer used to close and destroy enemy ships.

Swivels have meaning for the droids

    Recusant Light Destroyer (85)

            Intel Offcier (7), Ordinance Experts (4), Swivel-Mount Batteries (8), Assault Concussion                        Missiles (5) = 109

    109 points on a gunship that can do black crits at long range isn't bad, especially with some consistency and token suppresion.  Feel free to add Shu Mai, Wat Tambor, another officer or a different Crit for small points flucuations.  Where the Cheap Gunship wants to close, I imagine this ship slow-rolling using it's wide front arc to shoot whoever it needs to at long range with 4 Red and 2 Black with a Con Fire, both of which are rerollable.  When it rolls well this will hit hard, but you are slightly at the whim of your dice.  While this build might be fun, I do think you lose out on one of the most important abilities of the Recusant, the ability to double arc ships when by all means you shouldn't be.  Expect this one in fleets with Kraken for dice fixing after fishing for crits.  

Launch the Special droids

 Recusant Light Destroyer (85)

           * Unique Boarding Team (*?*), Linked Turbolaser Towers (7), External Racks (4), Hondo/Rune Hako (2/4) = 98/100+?

    The Light Destroyer still has the ability to take a boarding team and one of those cards certainly looks like a Super Battle Droid boarding and breaching something.  I would be surpirsed if we didn't get a unique or Separtist only boarding team much like Shriv or Darth Vader that doesn't really care what your squadron or engineering value is.  It simply needs the slots available and then it does something terrible to the enemy.  Then you follow up with a brutal double arc and scoot out of dodge to let the rest of your fleet take advantage of the weakened enemy.  This would probbaly work best in a Kraken fleet (not sure on other admirals yet) as this ships wants to get close anyway and Kraken will let him fix his dice (assuming another friend is close enough to the enemy). Also, Hondo doesn't have to ride the ship either if you want to use that seat for another officer (like Shu Mai for rerolls).

Droid Gunline

    Recusant Light Destroyer (85)

            Gunnery Team (7), Linked Turbolaser Towers (7) = 99

Cheap gunline large ship.  Slap 3 of these down and trundle at speed 1 spamming Con Fire commands and get 5 reds with a reroll at lots of targets.  Again not the best plan, but one of these paired with Spinals &  IF! somewhere in your fleet or LTT, is the same long range firepower as ISDs and MC80 broadsides.  A longer range variant from the cheap gunship if you don;t enjoy closing to see the black of the clone visors.  

Conclusion

There you have it or at least my initial ideas.  Most of the details about the Recusant and some possible builds to start tinkering with or seeing how they fit into a fleet.  I am 100% sure the Recusant will have a roll in  any fleet and for only 100 points (after upgrades) you can get a mean ship that can either dominate the squadron game or be the hammer to your anvil with brutal close range attacks.  Just don't expect it to live for a very long time without some dedicated back up or if the enemy boxes it in.  Circle and stay out of range or blast in and out fast.  I look forward to flying at least 1 Recusant in my Separatist fleet and can easily see good fleets with 2 in them.  

I'm sure there will be titles as well that give each variant the ability to specialize or cover a weakness as well.

Next up should be the Pelta, as these two are the ones we know the most about and the ones that are the easiest to wrap my head around some builds/possibilities. Thanks for reading!