Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi everyone,

After doing lots and lots of losing, managed a win -- used two TIE Phantoms -- one with Echo, one with Whisper -- and both with the Advanced Cloaking Device.

Was wondering if anyone has ever tried three Phantoms with any success? We used Howlrunner in this one.

Here's our write-up from the battle. http://battlegaming1.blogspot.com/2015/04/x-wing-managed-to-win-battle-with-two.html

Thanks

 BattleGamer wrote:
Was wondering if anyone has ever tried three Phantoms with any success?

It can be done, but IMO it's not a very good list. You have two basic options:

1) Whisper + Echo + generic. You barely have enough points for IV + ACD on Whisper and Echo and you won't be able to put ACD on the generic. This means that your ships aren't going to be reaching their full potential, and it's almost certainly going to be weaker than Whisper and Echo with proper upgrades and a cheaper third ship.

2) Whisper or Echo + 2x generic. Now you have points for a proper Whisper/Echo setup, but you run into the problem that the generics aren't all that good. They're glass cannons that often die just as fast as a z-95 that costs half as much because you can't recloak until PS 3. If you're perfect with your maneuvers and the dice are in your favor it can win, but it's a "house of cards" list that can get wiped off the table very quickly if things don't go perfectly in your favor.

Here's our write-up from the battle. http://battlegaming1.blogspot.com/2015/04/x-wing-managed-to-win-battle-with-two.html

Two things that stand out:

1) Don't use Howlrunner with phantoms. Howlrunner is great when you're in formation, but the greatest strength of the ACD phantom is its unpredictable maneuvering options. By tying everything to a range-1 bubble around a TIE fighter you're throwing away that maneuverability and making it too easy to get shots on your phantoms. Alternatively, you can maneuver away and fly the phantoms the way they want to be flown, but then you're throwing away the points you invested into Howlrunner's special ability.

2) I wouldn't draw too many conclusions from this win. You don't post many details about your opponent's list, but it looks like a fairly weak one. TBH I'm kind of surprised that it took so long to win, the scyk is a really fragile ship and should be easy prey for a phantom and its 4-5 attack dice. Your opponent must have been getting some really good dice luck if you were having trouble killing them.

Thanks for the suggestions. We'll try some other pilots instead of Howlrunner.

To be honest the biggest issue we had chasing down that last ship was that Howlrunner kept attacking - missing - and then giving him an extra evade token to use against the Phantoms.

Other factor is that 'yeah we won - but that doesn't mean we're any good either' -- better statement is that it was still maybe almost the first (or so) battle for our opponent -- because he has schooled us *many* times in 40K