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Since this is such a new game I am finding a lack of good tactics discussions on the interwebz. BGG has a decent forum but at this point it is only three pages: http://boardgamegeek.com/forum/1058869/star-wars-x-wing-miniatures-game/strategy.

I checked out the Dakka thread but that seems to be focused on what is coming out and when.

So, behold the Dakka X-Wing Tactics thread!


I've played almost 20 battles now, and due to a friend racking up some wins at a Kessel Run event have had the opportunity to play with the TIE Interceptor and A-wing as well. I am taking my lumps and learning every game.

I am finding that the interceptors (A-wings and TIE interceptors) require some serious maneuvering skills to get the most out of them. The A-wing especially feels fragile, even though it has an extra hit over the TIE/in. I learned the hard way that the better tactic for them is to use their speed to fly around enemy formations and hit it in the flank, or wait for them to break up, then pick off stragglers. I also use them as bait to try to get the enemy to go where I want them too or split their fleet - if you stay at range, evade 3 makes them hard to damage. Their attack 2 means they don't have a huge amount of firepower and for that reason I have been giving them missiles for a better alpha stike, but unless it's Tycho I find the Deadeye upgrade to be almost essential (and so Green squadron over Prototypes), as having to move first means they aren't able to Target Lock ships who will not be in range until they move - being able to use a Focus for that is great. But mainly I have been leaving them in the box for 100 point battles.

I haven't played as many battles with the Imperials, and so have used the TIE/in even less. One of my friends, however, is very good with them. He generally takes Sabre Squadron with Push the Limit, and the range of options this gives them is huge. One tactic he uses to great effect is to Push the Limit to take both Focus and Evade, which combined with the standard 3 defense of a TIE makes them hard to stick damage on. The only real weakness of this tactic is that you know he is going to do a green manuevre if he wants to shake the stress, but often this is minor compared with being able to have Focus and Evade every turn, boost and barrel roll in/out of firing arcs, barrel roll to acquire a target and focus, etc. But the real power of the TIE/in, imo, is the 3 attack. They can put out damage at any range, and when they are in close, having 4 dice is deadly!

I don't have a whole lot of use for the basic TIE. Alot of people are loving them, however, and I have faced the 'TIE swarm' (7-8 ties in 100 points) a few times. This is powerful, and I agree with the interwebz that it is a very hard to build to defeat with a 3 ship 'elite pilot' rebel build, and even four ships can have trouble downing a couple before they lose one, because you pretty much have to down 2-3 before you lose your first ship or it will be a tough challenge to pull off a win. Playing Imperials, I prefer to use the named TIEs, and I find that Backstabber and Mauler Mithal have excellent abilities (ie. the only ones outside of Wedge's that gives them an extra dice when attacking, although Wedge's is one less die for the defender, which is even better I guess). Another friend of mine has been trying out the 'Swarm Tactics tactic', bringing 6 ships with Howlrunner. This does put out way more damage than basic TIEs by themselves, but keeping in formation is a challenge and the basic fact is that they are still TIEs and X-wings are still tough! An X-wing can one-shot a TIE; TIE's cannot one-shot an X-wing, so you still have to try to outmanuevre the rebels.

It's hard not to love the X-wing. 2 shields and 3 hull, combined with the attack 3 makes them able to dish it out and take it at the same time. The main weakness is the evade 2, which means they are vulnerable if an enemy ship manages to get close, especially the TIE/in, or anything with 4 attack. Proton torpedoes gives them a way to keep up that high damage output even at range, but it is expensive (more on that later), and a droid can help them stay alive longer, but imo they are darn good ships as-is. There is a reason they are the most expensive!

My own personal favorite is the Y-wing - just because! It is obvious that they can take alot of damage, having 3 shield and 5 hull, but in a way that is a bit of an illusion because of the evade 1. If TIE/ins get in close they can make short work of it, and they are also vulnerable to massed fire from a bunch of attack 2 ships. Their attack 2 means that upgrading their weapon is almost necessary, and for alot of people the Ion Cannon is mandatory. The Ion Cannon can definitely be a big asset in the fleet. Being able to shoot 360 ameliorates the fact the Y is so clumsy, as you don't have to manuevre for targets as much. Causing Ion damage is also great, as you know exactly where a ship hit with it will be next turn. This makes it easy to bring in something for the kill, or just ignore it in favour of something more threatening. I've yet to see someone Ion a ship and thus cause it to hit an asteroid or go off the board, and I think that is a gimmick that will happen once in a blue moon. Being able to take a double rack of proton torpedoes is very appealing, however that is expensive and the one-shot aspect is not as reliable. However, in larger battles where I can take two Y's I've been experimenting with Horton armed with two racks of torpedoes. This makes for an optimized torpedo boat, as Horton rerolls blanks at range 2-3 (the range of the torps). I give Dutch the Ion Cannon.

Another ship that I feel requires a weapons upgrade is the TIE Advanced. On paper, this ship is pretty awesome -same as an X-wing but with attack and evade reversed. In the field though, the attack 2 means that it is not that scary. Hard to kill - evade 3 and two shields, plus barrel roll and evade for actions sees to that - but not that scary. Loading it up with missiles at least gives it a bit of an alpha-strike, and it has all the manueverablilty of a TIE to get it into position to fire them. I like the ship, and the idea of TIEs with shields, but I am finding it hard to include in a 100 pt list.

As far as pilots go, I am still debating in my head how much Pilot Skill really matters. I think I need more practice and experience to say for sure, but I have decided that it is not necessary to bring the big dogs out in a 100 pt battle. The Rebels especially can survive an enemy alpha strike. However, there is no debating the fact that higher Pilot Skill means you can shoot down your enemy before they get to shoot back! Has anyone decided one way or the other?

As for pilot abilities, in my mind they are not critical, and alot of them are pretty ho-hum, in that there will be many battles where they don't even come into play. There are three - Backstabber, Mauler, and Wedge - that directly change the amount of die rolled and for me they are probably the best abilities; especially Wedge, who unlike the other two does not need to be in any special position to use his. Howlrunner also allows those around her to reroll an attack die, so her ability is sort of in the same (murdog imagined) category. Vader with two actions is undeniably awesome - you are going to use those every turn. I've noticed alot of talk about Biggs and seen alot of lists that include him. I can see the value in keeping the fire off a more important unit, but it goes against my nature to choose a pilot whose ability makes him die faster than he might otherwise! Anti-fluffy. To each his own. I have been experimenting heavily with Garvin and Dutch, as their abilities (giving out, respectively, Focus and Target Lock to friendly ships) seem to me to be exactly what the Rebels need, which is a way to ensure damage sticks on those pesky TIE's. Having Target Lock/Focus with 4 attack dice (X-wing at close range) is deadly! Also, their middle-range Pilot Skill means they are shooting ahead of all the nooby TIES. My problem with Garvin is that I can't seem to roll an eyeball when he has Focus! Dutch's ability is much easier to use, as I always give the Y-wing an escort anyways. In summary, I don't think the abilities are critical to building a list, although some good synergy can definitely be found.

Upgrades are the same thing to me - there can be good synergy with certain ships and strategies, but they are not critical to success. I already talked about Push the Limit, and I feel it is one of the best options. The flexibility they give interceptors is awesome, and I'm also finding the X-wing pilots can make good use of them as well; I mentioned above how good having both Target Lock and Focus is, and also some of the droids require an action to use, so you can still do something else if you have PtL. Vader obviously is a good candidate for it - 3 actions booya! Vader is also a good candidate for Squad Leader what with his two actions. I mentioned how Deadeye can help a ship with low Pilot Skill get missiles off. I've seen Elusiveness on every TIE in a squadron, and am not sure it was really worth it as it is dependant on luck. Swarm Tactics is pretty powerful, and I've seen alot of crying and whining about how you can chain it across a whole fleet (as long as they all have it and are in range). The other ones I haven't tried much, although I mentioned how I'm finding Deadeye to be great on ships with missiles and low pilot skill.

I've run Proton Torpedoes and Missiles a bunch of times. They are really hit-or-miss (pun intended). It is awesome to one-shot a TIE at range 3, but if you flub that roll then it's four points wasted. My favorite has been Homing Missiles - the enemy being unable to use an Evade against them is nice (especially against the Imperials) but just a bonus compared with the fact that you don't automatically use up your Target Lock when you fire them, and therefore can use it to reroll the dice of the attack! That one point makes them much more reliable. Concussion Missiles are obviously better than Proton Torpedoes, although almost the same, and a non-issue as ships that can take them can't take torpedoes and vice-versa. I have yet to get off a salvo of the range 1-2 Cluster Missiles, and so stopped taking them. I was putting them on A-wings as I thought their speed and manueverablility would help them get into position to let loose, but this is easier said than done. Also, ships don't need as much help to get damage up close. Generally, I'm starting to think that if you are going to take missiles/torps, take them everywhere you can, cause some are going to fail. Maybe this is faulty thinking.

The droids are the same - nice to have, can really help, but not critical and often do nothing. The ones that don't require an action are the easiest to use, because, umm, they don't require an action. I'm finding the basic R2 to be excellent on the Y-wing, what with it's tons of red and limited green on its dial. R2D2 can be worth the points, but its the most expensive choice. R2F2 is also pretty sweet, actually really sweet but requires an action. It can make Luke really hard to kill if you are into to doing that. Of the R5 droids, I've tried the repair one (can't remember the name don't have the cards in front of me, sorry) on a Y-wing but it requires an action and I've always chosen a sure Target Lock over maybe repairing (although one time I should have tried for sure as I lost the Y-wing and it didn't hit anyways). I've also tried the target lock one (R5K6 i think) on Garvin, although when I remembered to use it I didn't get the rolls. Because of all this, I'm generally leaving the droids at home unless I'm in a big game or running a three-ship 'elite' Rebel build.

I'm still fairly noobish at the manuevering aspect of the game, but I can say that the movement templates, combined with choosing your moves on the dial at the same time as your opponent, is what makes this such an exiting and fresh gaming experience. People who don't generally play games, and/or who have no desire to play Math-wing or anaylze combos and compositions can do well at this game as long as they can outsmart their opponent on the dials. It doesn't matter what you brought if you can't get your enemy in your sights! So far, I have generally been keeping my Rebels together (unless its against TIE swarm, then I split up to try to get them to split up). I try to draw the Imperials into asteroids, where my fewer ship can navigate them easier than the swarm, and get as many guns pointed at one ship as possible, with the hopes of downing one every turn I shoot. With the Imperials, I've been splitting my ships into pairs and attempting to come at the enemy from different directions at the same time. I try to stay at range when in the enemy's sights, and get in close when not. This is why I find splitting up can help. It also saves me from keeping large amounts of ships together while not colliding, which you have to do if you are trying Swarm Tactics. The link to BGG I provided above has a few Manuevre threads there that I found helpful.

Just waiting for Boba and Han now!

TL/DR:
-Great game.
-Interceptors require high skill to get the most from them.
-Upgrades and abilities are not critical.
-Manuevres are critical.


Here's the Rebel list I've been experimenting with for the last few battles. Haven't decided on an Imperial one as of yet - need more battles with them. Please post your lists, of either faction!

Garvin
Dutch (Ion Cannon)
Red Squadron
Red Squadron

I basically keep the squadron together, protecting the Y-wing from TIE's getting too close to it. Garvin and Dutch means there is a whole lot of Target Lock and Focus going on, which helps get damage through. Four ships makes facing the TIE swarm less daunting, and all four are tough. Three X-wings put out alot of firepower, and the Ion Cannon is useful, especially against those fast interceptors. With it I can disable a threat for a turn so that it can be ignored, or so that the X-wings can get in close to it to finish it off.

The version of your Rebel list that I've seen/ played against is

Wedge with Determination (or not if you want to stay under 100 for initiative)
Dutch with Ion Cannon
Rookie
Rookie

I've only been on the receiving end of Rebel lists, but I don't think the pilot skill boost from Red Squadron is worth the points, unless you're facing a lot of skill 3-4 ships, which is unlikely.
Garvin would be an awesome Imperial pilot, but I think the extra focus is a little bit wasted as X-wings and Y-wings have limited actions anyway, particularly if you are taking Dutch. I could only see it being handy to hand out defensive focus to higher skilled pilots that have already shot that turn. Given the choice between Garvin and Wedge at least.

I've only played about a dozen games but have been enjoying it a lot. My buddy won an A-wing and an Interceptor which he generously gave to me, so we've had a taste of wave 2.
Last two games he finally tried some four ship Rebel builds against my elite Imperial list and absolutely ate my lunch in both games.
I think I'm trying to get too fancy with my maneuvering. Particularly using Soontir Fel with Push the Limit, I'm over maneuvering and missing out on focus firing opportunities. I'm looking forward to getting more Interceptors though, as Darth is losing his shine.a little bit. Marksmanship and Cluster missiles can be brutal, but then he isn't hitting any harder than an Academy Pilot after that.

Reviews of the Firespray's performance have not been stellar, particularly compared to the Falcon, but I'm looking forward to picking one up regardless.

Thanks for the response PT. Maybe the wall of text that was my first post is turning people off, maybe there just aren't that many people on Dakka playing Xwing.

I know what you mean about Red being not much better than Rookie, but I have a regular opponent who loves to bring a TIE swarm, usually 4 Academy and 4 Black Squadron, and so the increased pilot skill really does come in handy, as they fire at the same time as Black and before Academy. I guess Rookies would still fire before Academy.

The nice thing about having Garvin and Dutch is that Dutch can give Target Lock to Garvin, who always takes Focus, and then Garvin can give Focus to Dutch or one of the other pilots. That way, unless Garvin fails to roll an eyeball, there are at least two ships with both Target Lock and Focus each turn. Pretty nice. I hear what you are saying though, and I think I'll give that list a try.

Your point about over-manuevering echos what I was saying about the interceptors requiring high skill to get the most out of. With so many options available each turn you really have to know what you're doing.

I'm looking forward to the new ships as well. The fact that they are on bigger bases means that they will move faster (farther) each round. I've heard the same about the Firespray but who doesn't love the look of Slave One? The co-pilot rules should make for many more combos. All I know is Chewie will be out every time the Falcon is in my fleet, just because! Rrrraaaaawwrrrrrr!

murdog wrote:
Thanks for the response PT. Maybe the wall of text that was my first post is turning people off, maybe there just aren't that many people on Dakka playing Xwing.

I know what you mean about Red being not much better than Rookie, but I have a regular opponent who loves to bring a TIE swarm, usually 4 Academy and 4 Black Squadron, and so the increased pilot skill really does come in handy, as they fire at the same time as Black and before Academy. I guess Rookies would still fire before Academy.

The nice thing about having Garvin and Dutch is that Dutch can give Target Lock to Garvin, who always takes Focus, and then Garvin can give Focus to Dutch or one of the other pilots. That way, unless Garvin fails to roll an eyeball, there are at least two ships with both Target Lock and Focus each turn. Pretty nice. I hear what you are saying though, and I think I'll give that list a try.

Your point about over-manuevering echos what I was saying about the interceptors requiring high skill to get the most out of. With so many options available each turn you really have to know what you're doing.

I'm looking forward to the new ships as well. The fact that they are on bigger bases means that they will move faster (farther) each round. I've heard the same about the Firespray but who doesn't love the look of Slave One? The co-pilot rules should make for many more combos. All I know is Chewie will be out every time the Falcon is in my fleet, just because! Rrrraaaaawwrrrrrr!

I think plenty of people are playing the game, most people just have other places to discuss games that are in the Misc. Games forum. This place is padded a little by transferred Kickstarter threads, but is pretty dead by and large.

I've only taken one Black Squadron to hand off Squad Leader to a TIE Advanced, so if you're seeing a lot of PS 4 I can see that changing your outlook on Red Squadron.

Wedge is just murder, so I have a hard time seeing past him to other named Rebel options. This is as an Imperial player though.

Definitely looking forward to the Firespray. I think Bobafet might be better than he looks. His flexibility could make up for the LOF limits on the Firepray's secondary weapons.

The wave 2 list of doom on the FFG forums at the moment appears to be Han Solo (Chewbacca, Gunner, Marksmanship) and 2 Rookie XWings, which looks vaguely terrifying.
The 360 LOF on the Falcon is just scary anyway.

I agree that Wedge has the greatest damage potential, but I'm concerned that including him in a 100 pt list compromises the other parts of it, except for a three ship build of course. It is alot of points for a ship that is no more survivable than a rookie. I am going to try it out tho - i will report back!

Does Wedge work well with Y-Wings? Seems like they'd fog each other's potential target priority.

 Manchu wrote:
Does Wedge work well with Y-Wings? Seems like they'd fog each other's potential target priority.

Not totally sure what you mean. Unless you've loaded up Horton with missiles you're not expecting your Y-wings to be taking out anything from full health to dead unless they get incredibly lucky. Most likely your Ys should be screwing your opponent up with Ion shots while Wedge chews his way through the high priority targets. Keeping Wedge alive so that you have punch is the trick.

And it is a trick, considering how much more dangerous he is than any other xwing. Thats why you see biggs with him alot. As for working well with ywings, i'm finding xwings in general work well with y's. Like pt says, the y supports the x's with the ion. Whatever is ioned is removed as a threat for next turn, allowing focus on other targets, or it is a sitting duck for the x to close and finish.

What I meant was, a high powered killer like Wedge is an obvious laser magnet. Do Y-Wings help draw some of that heat off him? Or is that job done better by other X-Wings?

I think a competent imperial will ignore the y wing in favour of hitting wedge if at all possible. He is just the scariest thing the rebs have bar none. It depends on the specific circumstances of course, but all things being equal, i don't think anything will draw fire away from him, other than biggs with his special rule. Without that, superior manuevering and good die rolls is the best way to get his points worth imo.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
This is the list my buddy is gonna try out:

Luke (R2F2, Push the Limit)
Rookie
Rookie
Rookie

He wants to see how hard Luke is to kill with R2F2, and four x-wings is pretty solid.

murdog wrote:
I think a competent imperial will ignore the y wing in favour of hitting wedge if at all possible. He is just the scariest thing the rebs have bar none. It depends on the specific circumstances of course, but all things being equal, i don't think anything will draw fire away from him, other than biggs with his special rule. Without that, superior manuevering and good die rolls is the best way to get his points worth imo.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
This is the list my buddy is gonna try out:

Luke (R2F2, Push the Limit)
Rookie
Rookie
Rookie

He wants to see how hard Luke is to kill with R2F2, and four x-wings is pretty solid.

I can tell you right now Luke can be like walking through hell to kill. He has to be solidly focused down.

Ya so the thought is to use F2 to give him th extra evade dice, which will boost the value of his special. Push the limit is so that he can still throw down a focus or lock while using the droid, or target lock/focus for max offense.

This makes him fairly expensive, though. I remain skeptical of the value in a 100 pt list.

If you can fly three more X-Wings with him, it seems you haven't got much to lose.

Interesting take on the Falcon and Slave I:

I played a few games yesterday at my local game store (Which I will make another topic in organized play about) and I played imperials both times, while I wanted to play the Rebels, so did my brother and my friend, and I threw together new imperial teams (Slave 1, interceptor, and a fighter, next game Slave with 2 interceptors). I lost both games, which is to be expected since the strategies I were making for wave 2 had to do with Rebel side.

However a question that came to me and my X-wing crew was, is the Falcon overpowered? Or is it just what Rebels needed to keep up with imperial swarm?

With such a high attack power, and a 360 degree firing arc, one could argue the fact that the millennium falcon is overpowered. Adding Marksmanship to your millennium falcon and using it as your action is just incredible. TIE Fighters and TIE interceptors have high agility yes, but their lack of shields, and low hull makes them easy to kill in 1 shot with the falcon. If they don't roll a single evade, and didn't use focus or free evade action, they are pretty much doomed by the falcons high powered shots.

However it seems to make up for it's exemplary firing power, in it's lack of agility. While the YT-1300 only has 1 agility, it still has 5 shields, and 8 Hull, making it a massive tank. It is easy to go past enemies, or let them fly past you, and shoot them down anywhere in a 360 angle from your ship to destroy them fast.

While the ship still costs nearly half (if a unique pilot) of a players points to use, they can still get 2-3 other ships depending on the upgrades and pilots they use, making a rebel have almost a mini-swarm, with a huge tank to take the fire.

One thing that I think I have noticed as well, is the Slave 1 can not keep up with the millennium falcon. While it may cost less, it also has less shield and hull, and has the same amount of firing power, while only giving it one additional agility point. Yes the Slave can be upgraded a lot, however doing this will cause it to cost just as much as the falcon and take up WAY to much space on an imperial players team. Adding the slave 1 to an imperial players team is only good in an imperial mirror match, and while facing a rebel player will be ultimately useless. The millennium falcons 360 degree firing arc, destroys the auxilary arc of the of slave 1. While being able to shoot either direction is absolutely great, it almost feels like it's just a good option if it's the last ship you have left, and you're trying to run away. Based on the turrets on the millennium falcon, I believe it too should have had an auxilary arc, rather than a 360 degree arc.

When facing a player with a millennium falcon, it almost feels having a high level swarm (Darth vader + swarm tactic TIE fighters) seems required. The cost of interceptors are way to high for any swarm capabilities (costing 21 for a pilot upgradable interceptor, while it is only 14 for a TIE)

Maybe I am playing wrong, and I am doing more games potentially tomorrow, tuesday, and maybe saturday as well, and I will be back to share more thoughts on the subject.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=254&efcid=6&efidt=793010

I'm a huge fan of the imperial swarm myself. If you maneuver well you have a really good chance of winning just by shear numbers, though luck does come into play. I haven't had the chance to play with any wave 2 ships yet (coming in the mail) so I can't speak for the interceptors/firespray/falcon.

Everyone was expecting Wave 2 to be the death knell of the swarm, but I think it might end up being a strong counter to the YT-1300.

The whole wave is really going to reward good maneuvering. The big ships have to avoid collisions, Interceptors can't just get out of LOF against the YT-1300, they need to get out of range 1-2 and get asteroids between themselves and it.

Looking forward to getting more Interceptors and at least one Firespray....and A wings and a Falcon, who am I kidding.

With regards to the above quote from Manchu about the falcon, I played doubles last night, 150pts per side, 75pts per player. We were rebels, our list was:

Me:
Han Solo-Millenium Falcon, Chewie, Nien Nunb
Gold Squadron Y-wing
Team mate:
Wedge - R2D2
Arvel Cynyrd - Deadeye, concussion missiles(can't remeber his name, the one who can effectifley ram people)
Normal A-wing (skill 3 one)

At first I though I didnt have much, but we decided to fly the y-wing up front, falcon around the sides and run the a-wings and wedge behind the y-wing. The imperials went for the y-wing as it was the closest and easiest kill, freeing up wedge and the a-wings to gang up and pick thier targets, The Falcon was sheer awsomeness in the fact that it just flew around the perimeter of the furball using it's 360° arc to shoot at the like of howlrunner and backstabber. Our first turn consisted of the entire Rebel squad unloading on Vader to take him out early, which we succeded in doing. I'm not sure if the Falcon is overpowered or not, it's gonna take a few more games to figure out yet, but it was definatley the reason we won last night. Being able to fly pretty much anywhere and pick off key targets and not have to worry about backlash is pretty cool. Of course the trick is getting him into that position in the first place, thank you sacrificial y-wing

Just finished an evening of X-wing, I was trying out the firespray, discovered an awesome combo, however its quite the point sink:
Kath scarlet
Heavy laser cannon
Marksman
Mercenary co-pilot
Stealth device
Proximity mine.

Tempted to drop the co-pilot and the mine as not once was I at range 3 for his affect and the Marksman upgrade did it's job well. Using 4 attack dice, the laser cannon turns your crits to normal hits, but then Marksman turns your eye rolls to a crit and the rest regular hits. Combined with a few tie fighters we nuked the falcon in two turns! Don't have to put focus on the firespray as Marksman sorts that out for you, leaving you free to evade or target lock. Combined with the stealth device the firespray survived the game unscathed! Didn't use the proximity mine as the game became a furball in the middle and with a y-wing lurking around with an ion cannon I didn't want to risk my own ships.

You know that Marksmanship is an action right? Didn't seem clear from your phrasing.

Hoping to use the Firespray for the first time this weekend, looking forward to it.

Yeah, sorry, it was past my bed time last night when I wrote that up! There was no point using focus as marksmanship is better, but if the situation called for it I would use evade and stealth device combo instead to keep the damage off the firespray and still rely on the awesome 4 dice attack of the heavy laser cannon. I know the stealth bonus goes away if your hit, but the firesprays ability to evade makes it worth while I think.

Edited for spelling and grammar

Glad to see the thread goin strong. Changed the title to include BatReps. I've had a few battles since my last post. Got to try the Firespray - with it and against. Hard knocks, hard knocks.

First of all I was floating some fuzziness above, with regards to this:

murdog wrote:
This is the list my buddy is gonna try out:

Luke (R2F2, Push the Limit)
Rookie
Rookie
Rookie

He wants to see how hard Luke is to kill with R2F2, and four x-wings is pretty solid.

Manchu wrote:If you can fly three more X-Wings with him, it seems you haven't got much to lose.

That list has two points left, so you could make one rookie a red, or change up Luke's upgrades so he has torps.

What my friend was really talking about was this:

Luke Skywalker (R2F2)
Red Squadron
Red Squadron
Red Squadron

Luke leading Red Squadron for 100 points on the nose. Pretty decent. Luke is like the Anti-Wedge here - he is the X-wing you don't want to shoot at! Although you do, because of that Pilot Skill...


Now, I took some serious lumps learning about the Firespray. I brought my [Garvin, Dutch (Ion), Red, Red] list. (We didn't have the YT-1300 - got to the store and they were falcon out of them!) My buddy brought out the pilot that gets to reroll a dice with secondaries, with the Heavy Laser Cannon, Seismic Charges, a Mercenary Copilot and Gunner I think - not sure, I'm still a little fuzzy on the upgrades for it and I don't have the cards. With it he had two TIE/in (Sabre Squadron) with Push the Limit. These two guys are such a mainstay of his imperial lists that we just started calling them Scott's Sabre Friends. I'm pretty sure he had Stealth Device on them too, for the first time - he was calling them Super Sabres. He is excellent with them, both at using Push the Limit to Focus+Evade to make them very durable, and at maneuvering to get targets into that 3 attack firing arc, or get out of mine.

Anyways right off the bat I took the bait and went at the Firespray, ignoring the Sabres flanking wide. After I took the bait, the firespray turned around, and I stupidly continued to chase it. Why I thought taking shots at range against a 10 damage target that is shooting back at me while I chase it was a good idea, I do not know. Suffice to say our damage outputs were about the same, however taking a couple of shields off the firespray was nothing compared to it stripping the shields off a Red, leaving it for the Sabres to finish off as they completed their flank of my formation. When the firespray did a K-turn and unleashed the first barrage of HLC while the sabres came from behind to focus down the ywing, it was the beginning of the end. A couple more turns of the interceptors outmanuevering the xwings to get shots while i didn't, as well as a seismic charge dealing 3 damage( right after I was going off about how easy they should be to avoid), and the game was done.

Then we switched it up - he brought Tycho, Wedge, and Luke with various upgrades. I couldn't resist bringing out Boba for my first firespray fight, and I made it Slave One. I fluffed it out with Veteran Instincts, Proximity Mine(?), Proton Torpedoes and Homing Missiles. Kinda cool that Slave can take torps and missiles, so I ignored my skepticism of missiles/torps in 100 pt. battles and loaded it up. With only two, and especially on the same ship, it is pretty much a point sink i'm thinkin. Anyways, see my sig. My friend is such a beardy grognard (especially about this game for some reason - he just transforms into a crusty cheesehound) that when he saw my list he gave Wedge Veteran Instincts so that he would still shoot before Boba. I guess I shoulda cheesed him out and changed it to deadeye or something. Lol it's just a game people!

Got beat by way of being outmaneuvered. I'm just not good enough with movement and action choices to justify 24 point interceptors. They did take out Tycho in one pass though. They are really awesome ships and I think I'm going to experiment with alpha and avenger squadrons a little. I wasn't great with the firespray either, colliding with a sabre at one point, and at another, coming up short on a K turn by a couple mm meant that instead of being right behind an x wing I was on an asteroid in front of it. Also too many turns with no targets given it can shoot front and back! Only ever got the homing missiles off, but they make a good choice for for Slave with missiles/torps I think. You don't need to use your target lock to fire them, so you can leave it on the target so that you can use it to fire your torps next time (unless you are just within range 1 next time, like I was lol). One thing is for sure - Wedge is not nice to the Firespray. All of a sudden you have only one evade die! If he gets close its 4 attack vs. 1 evade! Also, the big base makes it easier to get it into your fire arc when you want to shoot at it. Basically I'd say it came down to him having me in his sights more than me having him in mine.

Well, I'll post a more complete tactical analysis of the Firespray and the YT-1300 and their pilots and upgrades once I've had some more battles with them. Till then - happy battles!

"Falcon" out of them, ha.

That is a great question, about why you chased the Firespray in game one. You must have been mesmerized.

You're pretty hard on yourself for the first flight with and against them but it sounds like you know exactly what to work on.

Murdog, looks like you were posting for gaming in Calgary a few years back, if you're still in the city then Imaginary Wars in the south west had at least five Falcons in stock this afternoon (Friday) and it looked like they had more to inventory.

What has struck me most is how much a simple addition like boost has made to how damn fast and maneuverable the a-wing and interceptor are. Turr Phennir plus push the limit is the ultimate in manuver fun.

K tx PT. to be honest, I am basking in he glory of having unmarried tradesmen for friends. I was going to buy a ship or even just a pack of dice to contribute, but now between four of them they have dropped about seven hundy down! Shipments have been coming in and soon there will be a 500 pt battle, with like 3 firesprays/falcons, 20+ Ties, etc. Redonculous!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Yes I noticed that too, that Turr has the most potential for movement of any ship with a standard base.

Yeah, I'm considering picking up my third starter set. It's so easy to spend money on this game.

Think I'll try out the Firespray and Turr tonight, hopefully we can fit 2 games in.

Got two games in with the Firespray on Saturday.
Game 1:
Imperial (Me)
Krassis w/ Heavy Laser Cannon and Stealth
Alpha Squadron Interceptors x3

Rebel
Outer Rim Smuggler
Y-wing w/ Ion Cannon
Red Squadron XWing x2
+some droids

Krassis was a beast while my interceptors happily collided with every damn thing on the mat. Stealth lasted two rounds of shooting, which, I think might have still been worth it.
The HLC was the first star of the show, while the Y-wing Ion Cannon was manned by Sniper McGee apparently and reliably got three hits a turn.
Win for me, the Rebel list wasn't too hot though and I definitely need to get a hang of highly maneuverable ships, especially PS1 ones.

Game 2:
200pt Imperial VS 2x100pt Rebel

Imperial (Me)
Boba Fett w/ Heavy Laser Cannon and Seismic Charge
Alpha Squadron Interceptor x2
Fel's Wrath
Backstabber
Mauler Mithel w/ Veteran Instincts
Howlrunner
Winged Gundark
Tempest Squadron Tie Advanced w/ Homing Missiles

Rebel List 1
Same as Game 1

Rebel List 2
Han Solo w/ Falcon, Chewbacca + Luke
Rookie X Wings x2

Weird game. I was maybe a bit of an ass and threw my whole force down one flank, mowing through everything but the Smuggler from list 1 before list 2 really got in to the game.
Solo blew away Backstabber in one shot, but was then shot up pretty badly with lots of 4 dice attacks.
I got the win but ended up with Boba, Howlrunner with one health and the Tempest Squadron Advanced finishing off the Smuggler, which shows you how quickly TIEs can evaporate.

Take aways:
I'd probably take Kath Scarlet with Veteran Instincts over Boba, unfortunately. I like having his pilot skill on the Firespray but I never used his ability, or wished that I had used it. I think it would be more valuable if you play against a lot of ship blocking TIEs, but I'm not there at the moment.
Krassis is solid, but I didn't play him against higher PS murderes so it's hard to say.

The Outer Rim Smuggler is pretty poor. I guess that's obvious from the stat-line, but you're really better off with a Y wing with Ion Cannon for four less points from what I saw.