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Yes, that is, if he survives to make all of his attacks.

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
Yes, that is, if he survives to make all of his attacks.

And that's the big "if". He's a PS 7 ship with only one defensive token. That is not a good place to be right now.

And yet I'm entirely not convinced "Snap Crackle Pop" will be a viable list. I still feel that 2 red dice are not enough when you have only 4 ships.

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
And yet I'm entirely not convinced "Snap Crackle Pop" will be a viable list. I still feel that 2 red dice are not enough when you have only 4 ships.

Five, you mean. It's a standard 5-ship crack swarm (that had some tournament success), just with snap shot instead of autothrusters and adaptability.

Wooptidoo. 2 more dice.

 Graphite wrote:
It occurs to me that The King Of Garbage, Turr Phennir, could do some very strange things with snapshot. 3 actions a turn? (Boost, Barrel and one other)

I spat out my drink reading this. Thanks for that

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
Wooptidoo. 2 more dice.

Two more dice, and another copy each of crack shot and snap shot. Remember, the 5x a-wing crack swarm has had some tournament success, so it's established that mass crack shot makes up for the lack of dice. The only question is whether it's worth giving up adaptability and autothrusters (great against u-boats) in favor of snap shot (better against aces).

Again, local meta takes the last word, and against the Palp-Aces I face more often and the lack of U-boat, you would think, but...

Also, aggressive Decimators have become popular again, and they usually get rid of of an a-wing swarm rather quickly. Chiraneau with Expose and Vader crew will bin one ship a turn.

I'm sorry to bump this thread up, but something appeared in the Yet another X-Wing Squad Builder... the Trick Shot EPT.

Was this spoiled at all? Is it really in the Heroes of the Resistance pack? As this single-handedly rehabilitated some ships? Has it made some more potent vessels even more potent? It's a slim margin, but red die > green die, right?

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
Was this spoiled at all? Is it really in the Heroes of the Resistance pack? As this single-handedly rehabilitated some ships? Has it made some more potent vessels even more potent? It's a slim margin, but red die > green die, right?

It was one of the last unspoiled cards from HOTR, and it actually showed up a few days ago. Unfortunately it's trash, I can't think of many situations where you'd want to spend your EPT slot on getting a very small improvement in firepower in a very narrow range of situations. Hot shot copilot is the powerful card that was finally spoiled recently, if you want something interesting to look at.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
Was this spoiled at all? Is it really in the Heroes of the Resistance pack? As this single-handedly rehabilitated some ships? Has it made some more potent vessels even more potent? It's a slim margin, but red die > green die, right?

It was one of the last unspoiled cards from HOTR, and it actually showed up a few days ago. Unfortunately it's trash, I can't think of many situations where you'd want to spend your EPT slot on getting a very small improvement in firepower in a very narrow range of situations. Hot shot copilot is the powerful card that was finally spoiled recently, if you want something interesting to look at.

Agreed. Its main problem is that Crack shot costs just one point more. Net damage of Crack shot is probably better. It's a good upgrade if you somehow end up with no points, but it's a 0-point upgrade. That's basically all that it's good for.

Hotshot copilot, on the other hand... That looks like fun.

Well, I was looking at a Manaroo build last night, and since I see her as kiting around the periphery, most of her shots could be made to be obstructed.

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
Well, I was looking at a Manaroo build last night, and since I see her as kiting around the periphery, most of her shots could be made to be obstructed.

Manaroo really wants PTL + EU for staying out of the fight. I suppose if you're taking a cheap Manaroo it's better than nothing, but you should be starting from a point of "I don't want to spend much on upgrades here" rather than "I am going to plan to use this". Trick shot is ok if the alternative is leaving the slot empty (or taking adaptability, which is effectively the same as leaving it empty) but you'd better be getting some good stuff elsewhere in your list with the points you save by going cheap on Manaroo.

I was going super cheap on Manaroo. I was at a loss for points.She essentially supports Fenn Rau or Talonbane Cobra, depending on who'se attacking.

I like the Howlrunner/Black Tie swarm with Snap shot. The increased amount of shots should be impressive.

Especially if someone is running ships with low agility.

I'm not sure Snap Shot is a great idea on Howlrunner. 1)It's range 1 only, and she is usually at the back of the formation. 2)She moves after almost everyone else, so unless your opponent has inserted himself/herself catastrophically in between your ships, then they'll do most of their movements safely out of your small danger zone. And then you'll move, most probably past them.

It's not so much for Howlrunner herself, more the Black Squadron guys in the front row.

Is it worth having one less Tie from the standard Patti-swarm or 2 less than the classic swarm?

I think trying to get those shots to go off will play merry hell with formation flying, or will put you at a greater risk of pulling yourself completely out of position. OTOH, if those attacks are unmodifiable, then flying within range 1 of Howlrunner is only necessary on half your shots.

I don't think you'd need to try that hard to get the snap shots off - fly like you normally would to set up shots. Over the course of the game, you should get plenty of snap shots. With 6 ties flying around, your opponent is not going to be able to avoid range 1 on all of them. When I play against ace lists, I always get range 1 shots - especially if you get that shot before they can barrel roll or boost.

Howlrunner is still a viable use for 4 points - getting a re-roll on 5 ties isn't worth 4 points? You could switch out Howlrunner for scourge or mauler, but I think Howlrunner would have a bigger impact.

Would this list be better than the 7 tie crack shot list? I don't know, it would depend on what your opponent was running.

I only hesitate to put this list on the table (at least in a tourney) because I don't know about buying that many other Snap Shot cards online (not going to buy a second and third HoTR box).

They fetch a pretty penny, don't they?

 Graphite wrote:
It occurs to me that The King Of Garbage, Turr Phennir, could do some very strange things with snapshot. 3 actions a turn? (Boost, Barrel and one other)

The problem is Snap Shot blocks his EPT, so he'd be stuck on PS7. I haven't tried Snap Shot yet, but I imagine having an enemy ship finish its manoeuvre in your arc at R1 is not something that is going happen every turn. Then during the combat phase he'd be very vulnerable to PS8+ ships, that shoot before him.

I think snap shot is probably better on ships that don't rely on a particular EPT, and can therefore benefit from an occasional extra shot. Mauler Mithel has quite good synergy with Snap Shot, perhaps some of the Tie Advance Pilots could make use of it too, with Advanced Targeting, but I think Phennir is too dependant on VI.

So...

I'm picking up my box tomorrow. I'm curious if we'll see twin YT-1300 lists pop up that use the new pilots. I find the Resistance Sympathizer appealing because it has the same statline as the named characters, but I feel the lack of an EPT hurts it a bit.

Any suggestion? Aside from the Rey/Finn/Kannan/new title combo?

I tried the Rey-of-sunshine build of the Falcon. I added Glitterstim for the lulz, and they really do help.

I paired her with Miranda and a bunch of bombs. She rarely made her points back, let alone do more than that. This list needs a bit more support.

Rey can pack a punch, espcially on that first pass when you pop Glitterstims, but beware of control lists. Stress will shut you down fast.