New Imperial Admiral

[Trickstick]

So I am thinking of starting up a Bastion fleet, I was wondering if this list is a good idea or not:

Apocalypse,
2x Dictator,
2x Lunar,
3x Sword,
3x Sword,

Fleet Admiral,
Reroll,
Veteran Captain.

1500 pts. My plan is to get right up in the opponent's face. The veteran will go in the dictator squadron to help keep the ordnance flying.

[Vaaish]

Could work. That veteran captain is excessively expensive for +1 to LD. You'd have better results swapping it our for NC on both your lunars and putting the admiral on the dictators.

[afterimagedan]

I support the NC swap, actually. For a fleet that has more of a unified function, having just one NC on your Apocalypse may not be the best. I think 3 would be better. If you go that route, the plan to get right up in your opponents face may be a bad idea. Take it slower and get a few shots of the NC off.

[Trickstick]

Well you also get a reroll with the veteran, but only on his squadron. However, I just reread the battlefleet Cadia rules, I completely missed the "roll two leadership dice and pick the lowest" rule. So I think I will give it a miss.

I see what you are saying about NCs, it would boost my ranged threat a great deal. However, I am concerned that with only two torpedo equipped ships I would not have an effective line breaking fleet. Especially as the torpedoes would be on the carriers, which I was thinking would be the second wave

I really can't decide which capital ship to take though. The Apocalypse looks awesome and doesn't care about blast markers or abeam when it fires. The Retribution can turn when under fire and has torps. As for the Emperor, it has more firepower than the Retribution, gets the +1 Ld and is an awesome carrier, freeing up the cruiser slots for more line breaker ships. Decisions, decisions...

[Vaaish]

You won't be breaking lines with 4 torpedo markers anymore than you would with two. While it does effectively half your total torpedoes, you are still looking at only a few markers. The dictator shines most when you can synergy strike with both AC and torpedoes at the same time which makes an opponent choose which to target and clearing any cap for the torpedoes.

To break lines these days you are going to need far more than that. Perhaps a retribution, two dictators, the lunars, and cobras or two dauntless would give you a pretty sizable spread.

[Trickstick]

Ok, so I have changed it around a bit.

Apocalypse,
2x Dictator,
2x Lunar w/ Nova,
3x Sword,
3x Cobra,

Fleet Admiral,
Reroll.

The Cobras can worry the enemy with some long range topedoes while the fleet closes, firing nova cannons to do some damage or disrupt the enemy. At close range to dictators will unload, along with the apocalypse's lances. I took the cobras so that I could squeeze a reroll in there. I played an intro game today and failed my first order in a turn, not fun.

[fracas]

looks good

[Vaaish]

Not bad. With the smaller squadrons, the escorts should be on cleanup and ordnance interception duties. You can snipe larger enemy markers with the s2 torpedoes and the s12 batteries should be sufficient to harass enemy ships or take out more heavily damaged ones.