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http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4795

They talk specifically about their desire to get rid of swarm by various means in there too, which, to my knowledge, is the first time they so openly admitted it.

So nice that a company is paying attention to the meta like this...

Hmm... it's still fairly fragile regardless of its potential agility of 5 (i.e. when it's cloaked and at range 3). Any amount of concentrated fire will strip off those 2 shields and 2 hull in no time.

True, but on the other hand, the cost is lower than I thought, and the attack value is pretty nutty... you can force your opponent to deal with you at much lower point costs than say Soontir etc... I wouldn't want to let one of those buggers get close!

Interesting upgrade bars too

Yes, it's probably X-wing's "Glass Hammer" and the relatively low points cost reflects that. I think it's one players will have to learn how to use.

I am digging this. I just pre-ordered one to play around with. If they work out well then i am definitely buying one or two more if i like them. The same goes with the TIE Defenders.

That manouevering spread is also insane... you can put the ship almost anywhere after decloaking... Definitely liking these. I think 2 each of phantom, defender and e-wing with 4 head-hunters seems a good mix to cover most possible standard lists.

I agree, although I probably won't be buying more than 1 TIE Phantom(they were REALLY rare in fluff, and I like to stick to that as much as I can), 2 TIE Defenders and 2 E-wings....

...although I'll probably buy at least 4 Z-95s.

I have about 5 times more ships than any sane person needs because I have become addicted to making sure I have multiples of all upgrades available... sad really. I have a problem lol... 15 bucks is below my 'worry about it' radar and it is beating the heck out of me over and over because of it lol!

Trying to reign in my X Wing spending. I currently own...

3 X Wings
2 Y Wings
1 A Wing
1 B Wing
1 Millenium Falcon

5 Tie Fighters
1 Tie Advanced
2 Tie Interceptors
1 Tie Bomber
1 Slave I

I plan to get another Tie Bomber, the Imperial Shuttle and the Rebel Aces Pack i.e. at least two of each fighter (except for the Tie Advanced) and 1 each of the big ships. After that, I'm stopping... honest

...I may pick up a Phantom or Defender for a bit of fun.

10 tie
10 tie interceptors (4 from imperial aces)
4 bombers
4 advanced
3 slave
2 shuttle

6 x-wing
5 a-wing (7 when rebel aces comes out)
6 y-wing
4 b-wing (6 when rebel aces comes out)
2 hwk
3 falcon

Then 2 transports and 1 corellian corvette (plus a second DIY corvette)

Ya... pointless lol

Lol, you be crazy I only have time for a single 100 point game every week or so (i.e. the odd evening here or there), so just sticking with what I can realistically field in that sort of total. Wouldn't mind having a crack at an all Tie Interceptor list though. Fortunately (from the perspective of my bank balance), they're quite hard to find in the UK at present.

Yup... utterly pointless.... but honestly I enjoyed the process of collecting them, doing the custom tokens, painting every single ship... really more a hobby and collecting thing for me, though I do enjoy the game, with 2 kids under 3 it is pretty damned tough to get together with anyone who isn't a parent. And even tougher to get in a game lol.

Still, they do look nice and satisfying all together, and I still have this not gonna happen dream that one day we will put every single ship on the table and make a day of it.... lol, even if I would probably get bored after a few hours

So, really, 2 phantoms and defenders is really considerable restaint on my part all things considered...

JEEZ, Im here with only 3 TIE/LN, 1 TIE Advance, 1 TIE Bomber.
Im definitly picking up 2 phantoms and 1 defender.

Watch your language, I am going to give you a pass this time but that kind of talk is supposed to get you an official warning. If you can't say it in a grade 9 class in front of the teacher, don't say it at Dakka!

What you were looking for was: 'I really like Echo!' lol

MT11

Whisper is really cool, and the easy version of the phantom, Echo will be the one that you hate. You either hate it when you can't play him right, or you hate him when you play someone who uses him right.

I love the modifications, but this is the ship that could really hull upgrade, but advance cloak or the stygium particle accelerator are just so good too.

I can't wait to try out the combinations this ship will be able to pull off.

so far I want to use echo with veteran instincts, recon specialist, and hull upgrade. can tank a few hits, and deals out a lot of damage. could be hard to play it right, but it will be a lot of fun. It's really expensive, but I wouldn't want to see it across the table from me.

Sorry, but I'm going to have to be the dissenting voice and say that I HATE this ship. With so many movement possibilities it's going to be almost impossible to anticipate where a high-PS phantom is going to end its activation step, and that means "conventional" squadrons are screwed. And the counter is more YT-1300s, which is the last thing the game needs right now.

 Peregrine wrote:
Sorry, but I'm going to have to be the dissenting voice and say that I HATE this ship. With so many movement possibilities it's going to be almost impossible to anticipate where a high-PS phantom is going to end its activation step, and that means "conventional" squadrons are screwed. And the counter is more YT-1300s, which is the last thing the game needs right now.

And that's the sobering truth. All these super maneuverable ships, cool abilities and awesome potential playstyles all come back to that damn turret.

Or a Y-wing... or a HWK in the backfield... Or spreading your ships out to ensure overlapping fields of fire... I mean ya you're not wrong, but it's not the sole way around it at the same time no?

 Peregrine wrote:
Sorry, but I'm going to have to be the dissenting voice and say that I HATE this ship. With so many movement possibilities it's going to be almost impossible to anticipate where a high-PS phantom is going to end its activation step, and that means "conventional" squadrons are screwed. And the counter is more YT-1300s, which is the last thing the game needs right now.

To be fair, Soontir Fel already brutalizes "conventional" squadrons. I don't really see the Phantom being that much worse.

Teamwork. You can box the phantom in at range 2, and you can even shoot it while cloaked, heck, there's nothing preventing you from target locking it and more while cloaked. All it takes is one bad roll and the Phantom is toast.

Han solo is the bane of the phantom. He will shoot first, or worst case scenario for han, he has to fight for initiative with whisper. He has the turret and a rerolls up the wazoo. for a ship with two shield and two hull, it will be almost guaranteed suicide to drop the cloak.

Chewie will also be a problem, chewie with gunner is a common ship on the rebel side. luckily for the phantom, it can at least shoot before chewie.

I don't really see a good way to counter the falcon with the phantom, but I also haven't played them against each other yet. Hopefully i can think of something.

On the other hand, the phantom seems to love fighting against b-wings, which will be nice.

mr.etan wrote:
Han solo is the bane of the phantom. He will shoot first.

...unless it's the special editions

 Flashman wrote:

mr.etan wrote:
Han solo is the bane of the phantom. He will shoot first.

...unless it's the special editions

The what now?

 Platuan4th wrote:

 Flashman wrote:

mr.etan wrote:
Han solo is the bane of the phantom. He will shoot first.

...unless it's the special editions

The what now?

You know... in the special edition of Star Wars, Greedo shoots first, so that Han Solo doesn't look like a bad guy. Too subtle perhaps

I think he was preferring simply to forget the special editions exist

 MajorTom11 wrote:
I think he was preferring simply to forget the special editions exist

This guy gets it.

Release date is precariously close to my birthday. I may have just accidentally ordered two of these as an accidental birthday present to me from me.

 Farseer Faenyin wrote:
they were REALLY rare in fluff, and I like to stick to that as much as I can

That's a bit of an understatement. AFAIK, they only show up in Rebel Assault II. And by the end of the game every last one of them, along with the production facilities, plans, and project head, is gone.

This is a very clever cloak mechanic! I like it. The ships should be tremendously difficult to pilot- anticipating their flight path out of a cloak will be tough. But once you're over the curve, they'll be devilishly hard to hit once they're in range.

As cool as the Phantom is, I find myself much more excited by the Defender and the Headhunter from this expansion. While they both add what each faction was lacking, they also feel like they are a good addition to the faction they go with. The E-Wing and the Phantom are more "meh" to me.