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.

Just had an enjoyable evening wrestling with an Imperial Shutlle and 2 Tie Phantoms.

Never played against Phantoms before and my X-Wing Luke with R2-D2, 2 A-Wings & Z-95 got tabled in the first game (tip - you need lots of red dice against Phantoms - the output from A-Wings and Z-95s isn't going to cut it).

I then adjusted my list. Kept Luke and bought in a B-Wing and another X Wing. Flicking through the Mods, I decided to add Shield Upgrades to both Luke and the B-Wing. I lost Luke early on to bad dice rolls, but I eventually won the game with my B-Wing down to his last hull point. Ergo, without that extra shield, I would have lost again.

Game 3, I dropped the bonus X-Wing and bought in an A-Wing with PTL. I came close to losing Luke again (that bonus shield kept him alive) and then flew very conservatively until R2 had got him back up to 3 shields.This proved something of a distraction for my opponent and the B-Wing was able to get the final shots in with a HLC (another favourite upgrade).

Looking back at those two games, it was the shield upgrades that won it for me and I conclude they are very much worth the 4 points.

EDIT - Top opponent btw. Been going to a gaming club recently and it's never ceases to amaze how you can have a chilled out game with a total stranger.

Just FYI, you don't need to annihilate Phantoms with red dice to deal with them, assault missiles at adjacent targets, blocking, control items (stress inflictors,) feedback arrays and bombs are all potentially useful.

Yeah, I'm not that clever yet

I did fluke a block with my A-Wing in the last game which a) stopped him destroying it and b) stopped him re-cloaking via the Advanced Cloaking Device.

I just played a game using the new F/O ties with shield upgrades on them, and I was surprised by how adding one shield their survivability increased drastically. They provided great cover for my Punisher.

Well, put a shield on them and they essentially become an old-style TIE advanced - which was always one of the toughest ships going.

Shield Upgrades are good - especially on anyone who can play games with shields. R2-D2 is an especially good example - if you're getting back shields, you might as well increase the cap you can regenerate back to.

Red Ace, from the new core set, is another good one.

I kind of like using Shield Upgrades on Interceptors. Hell once I even had some fun with the Royal Guard Title to give both +1 Shield and +1 Hull. It's a big investment at 7 points, but not too crazy a risk if you keep the ship under 30 points total, though I find the Shield Upgrade is sometimes better replaced with Autothrusters for half the price.