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I've played a few games now. My list was mostly the same for each, made a couple small changes to see what worked better for me.

It was:
2X Academy TIE Fighters
Darth Vader w/ Cluster Missiles, and Marksmanship
Echo w/ Tactician, FCS, and Advanced Cloak

This team lost, but I did manage to avoid almost every rock and ship during the game, only running into a couple of things. My rolls weren't exactly great, and my opponent had hot dice, rolling 3 evades on 3 dice several times. I did manage to kill one of his ships, damage another, and strip all shields off of a third. He had 2 named TIE fighters, a Named Interceptor, and a generic Phantom. I don't know the upgrades or which characters they were. I never was in the right range band to use the Tactician.

The second game was:
2X Academy TIE fighters
Darth Vader w/ Concussion Missile and Marksmanship
Echo w/ Advanced Cloak, FCS, and Marksmanship

This team won, but I managed to spend the first 2 turns running Vader into my own ships, did lots of collisions throughout this game. My rolls were pretty good, not great, but not as bad as the previous game. I went against a Named TIE Defender, and the Lambda Shuttle. He was around 96 points, but still don't know the characters or upgrades. Vader did the most damage, the Academy TIE fighters did very little, but one did get the killing blow on the Defender. Marksmanship works great on the TIE Phantom. The turn I managed to fire my Missile, in conjunction with the Marksmanship, did a huge amount of damage to the Lambda Shuttle, 1 damage and 1 Crit(the one that counts as 2 damage) after removing the last shield. I lost Vader, and one TIE fighter, a couple damage on the 1 TIE remaining, and no shields left on the phantom. It was a close game, and I thought I was going to lose early on. That Defender has a really maneuverable dial.

I want to switch out the TIE Fighters with something, was leaning towards Interceptors, but am also considering the Punisher, or Defender. My opponents suggested that I go with another Phantom, or the Interceptors. My play style is strike and fade, spending as much time evading, and lining up the next shot as I do actually fighting.

Marksmanship is terrible. I appreciate you're new and may not have many cards to choose from, but it's simply a focus action that gives you an extra crit at the expense of no defensive use at al,, which at 3pts makes it amongst the most expensive EPTs in the game to this day. It's improved its utility latterly in some very specific cases, but still remains really over costed.

It took me some time to work this out, so learn from my experience!

Cluster missiles is actually one of the few moderately useful times for marksmanship (I still don't think it's great), and vader can do a second action for something defensive.

Essentially, you should only really consider marksmanship if:

a) You have a special ability triggering off critical hits (Kath Scarlett, Ten Numb, Wampa, Maarek Stele)
b) You can make multiple attacks per turn (Cluster Missiles, Gunner, Dengar)

My opponents suggested that I go with another Phantom, or the Interceptors. My play style is strike and fade, spending as much time evading, and lining up the next shot as I do actually fighting.

Given that description, I'd agree that a second Phantom or a named TIE interceptor will probably suit you well.

First of all, going to echo what has been said about marksmanship. It's a garbage upgrade that you will rarely, if ever, want to take. Most of the time it's a focus action that can't be used on defense, and in the rare circumstances where you manage to use it the benefit is nowhere near enough to justify giving up 3 points and your EPT slot. Forget that the card even exists and you probably won't regret it.

Vader needs the title card and advanced targeting computer from the raider expansion. These cards are FFG's acknowledgement that the TIE advanced as originally printed is a garbage ship and are a massive power level increase. The TIE advanced is simply not competitive without those cards and should not be taken if you can't get them. Once you do get them put an engine upgrade on Vader (a significant maneuverability boost that lets him boost and barrel roll in the same turn to get out of arc) and veteran instincts (bringing him up to PS 11 so he gets to move after even high-PS aces).

Echo needs a recon specialist and veteran instincts. Re-cloaking at PS 8 is worth more than any other EPT, and you should never even consider anything but VI. The recon specialist is important for keeping your expensive ship alive long enough to justify its cost. You get a focus for offense and still have at least one available for defense, making those green dice a lot better at stopping damage.

The TIE fighters are fine as-is. 24 points for a pair of blockers and meatshields is a decent investment in an aces list since they can pin down a target and set up your important ships to get an easy kill. Ignore your opponent's suggestions to get another phantom or an interceptor, the 24 points you spent on the pair of academy pilots is not enough to buy a decent interceptor or phantom.

locarno24 wrote:
b) You can make multiple attacks per turn (Cluster Missiles, Gunner, Dengar)

Except predator is vastly superior. It provides essentially the same damage increase but doesn't cost you an action to use it.

And of course Vader has advanced targeting computer which makes cluster missiles irrelevant. ATC only applies to your primary weapon shots and an ATC-boosted primary shot is almost always a better idea than a cluster missile shot. It's just too many points to spend on a marginal upgrade.

Now have 9 games in. Don't get to play much, and a tournament I planned to go to was cancelled.

4 of those games were at a Store Championship, which I thought was just a regular tournament. I have a bit more stuff now, and my list was:

Echo with VI, Recon Specialist, and Advanced Cloak
Turr Phennir with Stealth
Bounty Hunter empty

I got owned. Lost every round, but at least managed to kill a ship in each game but the last where I only killed half of a large ship. When I learned it was a Store Championship, I knew I wouldn't do well, but still had a lot of fun.

Echo was great in my first game, short range volley on an incredibly regenerating shield X-wing, and nuked it. My opponent had two regenerating X-wings, and a third X-wing that I don't remember what it had. 5 Red dice with 2 crits, one of which was a Direct hit, no more X-wing. Best shot of the night for me!

Nothing remarkable in each of the remaining games, some were closer than others, getting damage on a lot of ships but failing to get the kills because my opponents knew how to fly better than me.

Overall, I had a lot of fun, but in retrospect, I should have spent a bit of time learning how to use a large ship before bringing it to a tournament. I should have went with my first choice and brought Mauler Mithel and Night Beast instead of the Bounty Hunter. Probably would have gotten more kills, but still been beaten every game.

I should have spent a bit of time learning how to use a large ship before bringing it to a tournament. I should have went with my first choice and brought Mauler Mithel and Night Beast instead of the Bounty Hunter. Probably would have gotten more kills, but still been beaten every game.

Agreed. There is no substitute for experience in using a squad - especially when flying a large base. Learning to move your squad around the board is critical, and a player who knows what they're doing can take "that list off the internet" to the cleaners again and again*.

Overall, I had a lot of fun

Then all is well.

Echo was great in my first game, short range volley on an incredibly regenerating shield X-wing, and nuked it. My opponent had two regenerating X-wings, and a third X-wing that I don't remember what it had. 5 Red dice with 2 crits, one of which was a Direct hit, no more X-wing. Best shot of the night for me!

Nice!

This is where a TIE phantom shines - if you can use your decloak move to dart in and 'assassinate' a light or medium fighter before it can act. Killing an X-wing is about the uttermost limit of their ability, but it's going to happen every so often. They do benefit from an "anvil" in the form of a few TIE fighters or TIE bombers that can go up the centre and accept a head-to-head joust.


* Hell, last weekend there was a list of 4 HWK 260s which made it to a store championship final unbeaten....

I've really bean thinking of doing Bobafett and Echo. Just sounds fun, but the lack of hull/shields on Phantoms is a liability, and think numbers would be better.