Separatist squadron groups

Much like the article John published earlier for the Republic, it's time to cover some Separatist squadron groups as examples of your options for different squad builds. 

Gotta love how droid squadrons have those angry eyes on everything.

So going with our earlier definitions, I'll provide some example groups for Small Fighter Coverage (SFC), Medium Fighter Coverage (MFC), and Large Fighter Coverage (LFC).

Small Fighter Coverage (30-70 points)
Separatists are a lot like Imperials in that at the SFC level they're primarily only interested in shooting enemy squadrons due to the fact that they lack multi-role squadrons. That said, Tri-Fighters are closer to multi-role than TIE Interceptors are due to the anti-ship black die, so they can sub in to do a little extra lifting there when necessary. Tri-Fighter focused squadron groups definitely tend to clock in at the pricier end, though, so they may not be what you're looking for if you want to keep your SFC group cheap.

Group A: Deluxe fighter focus
• DIS-T81 (17)
• Phlac-Arphocc Prototypes (19)
• 4 x Vulture Droid Fighter Squadron (32)
= 68 Points

Pretty straightforward: both Tri-Fighter aces help accentuate your anti-squad firepower but also bring scatter tokens and a black die for going after ships. This is still strongly focused on going after squadrons, though, and it's deluxe - it's near the 70 point ceiling for SFC. That said, you get 6 squadrons with 2 aces while keeping the investment manageable.

Group B: Tri hard
• 6 x Droid Tri-fighter Squadron (66)
= 66 Points

If you want to bring it down to four squadrons, you can go with DIS-T81 and Phlac-Arphocc Prototypes plus 2 Tri-Fighters for 58 points, but this group has the benefit of 3 deployments and 6 black dice if you're up against ships. Make sure to include some Reserve Hangar Decks.

Group C: Cheap as (micro)chips
• 4 x Vulture Droid Fighter Squadron (32)
= 32 Points

This is basically my "might as well 4 TIE Fighters" Imperial option for pretty much the same reason: it's cheap, it's 2 deployments, and with Vultures punching above their weight against squads you can cause some trouble with well-timed squadron commands and canny squad use. Some. They won't last long against concentrated attacks, so don't expect miracles. If you can shoot down a crucial bomber or two or tie up an offensive for one turn, they did their job. Just be careful with them.

Medium Fighter Coverage (75-100 points)
At the MFC level, Separatists can either go harder on Tri-Fighters as a kind of A-Wing/Interceptor Hybrid with Reserve Hangar Deck support to keep them healthy or can include a small number of Hyena Bombers in addition to an anti-squadron core. The goal is still to focus on anti-squadron but at this investment level you need anti-ship assets here or else you're overpaying on a "what if squadrons?" plan.

Group D: Tri harder, Grievous
• DIS-T81 (17)
• Phlac-Arphocc Prototypes (19)
• 3 x Droid Tri-fighter Squadron (33)
• General Grievous (22)
= 91 Points 

It's all the Tri-Fighters you can squeeze in plus Grievous. Grievous adds some extra anti-squad muscle but he also makes commanding this group much easier with his Relay 2. So long as he's buried deep among the other Tri-Fighters he is very difficult to get rid of and can bully squadrons without readied defense tokens.

Group E: So many droids
• DBS-404 (17)
• Baktoid Prototype (16)
• 5 x Vulture Droid Fighter Squadron (40)
• General Grievous (22)
= 95 Points

Grievous shows his face again because wherever there are enough droids to chump block for him, he comes-a-callin'. What this build has is eight squadrons at below 100 points. With 5 Vulture droids and Grievous himself focusing on anti-squadron duties and the 2 ace Hyenas going after ships, you can get some work done but you need a lot of squadron command power to keep this running long-term.

Group F: Hyenas tri harder
• DBS-404 (17)
• Baktoid Prototype (16)
• Phlac-Arphocc Prototypes (19)
• DIS-T81 (17)
• 2 x Droid Tri-fighter Squadron (22)
= 91 Points

This is a variant of Group E but with less total squads and all ace slots filled. With all the Hyena bomber and Tri-Fighter aces with two extra Tri-Fighters added in, it's a more manageable six squadrons. The anti-squad firepower is worse than group E but the Tri-Fighters bring better anti-ship firepower. No Grievous in this build.

If you think this is the last time you'll see this gif on this blog, you're going to be disappointed.

Group G: More Hyenas more fun
• DBS-404 (17)
• Baktoid Prototype (16)
• 2 x Hyena Droid Bomber Squadron (22)
• DFS-311 (18)
• 3 x Vulture Droid Fighter Squadron (24)
= 97 Points 

This build is more of a "small LFC" than a "large MFC" and it focuses a lot on 4 total Hyena Bombers. The Vultures and DFS-311 are primarily there to use DFS's Intel to free up the Hyenas to go after ships. Bomber Command Center is non-optional for this as well as anything with more than 2 Hyenas.

Large Fighter Coverage (100-134 points)
By the time you're this deep in the weeds, Hyena Bombers become non-optional. When commanded, their damage output against ships is great but they need strong friends to keep enemy fighters off them.

Group H: Hyena drag racing
• DBS-404 (17)
• Baktoid Prototype (16)
• 2 x Hyena Droid Bomber Squadron (22)
• DFS-311 (18)
• General Grievous (22)
• 2 x Belbullab-22 Starfighter Squadron (30)
• Vulture Droid Fighter Squadron (8)
= 133 Points

We've got the same Hyena group from Group G and we've kept DFS-311 for Intel. Beyond that, General Grievous and 2 Belbullab-22 Starfighters have replaced 2 of the Vulture Droids, bringing us up 9 squadrons. The Belbullabs and Grievous collectively have Relay 4 and escort the Hyenas about, abusing Screen to keep punching at enemy squads that try to tie up the bombers. With DFS-311, you're trying to bring engagement on your Hyenas down to one enemy squadron so they can leave to keep pursuing ships when possible.

Group I: Tri hardest, little Hyenas
• DBS-404 (17)
• Baktoid Prototype (16)
• 2 x Hyena Droid Bomber Squadron (22)
• DIS-T81 (17)
• DFS-311 (18)
• 4 x Droid Tri-fighter Squadron (44)
= 134 Points

If Group H has a bit more fancy tech, Group I is more of a sledgehammer. With ten squadrons, you may want to invest in Hyperwave Signal Boosts to boss all these robots around, but the approach is pretty straightforward: murder your way through squadrons with 5 Tri-Fighters and 1 Vulture and get to bombing with your four Hyenas. DFS-311 is a big presence in my Hyena-focused groups due to Intel, and the goal remains "punch squadrons off your Hyenas until they get to leave." You can replace Tri-fighters with Hyenas (as they're each 11 points) but I get uncomfortable if it gets past 5 bombers and 5 fighters, so I wouldn't swap more than one if you feel it's wise.