Thank you for the article. Very informative.

Still learning more about this game, I'm having such a blast with it.

Cheers!

And you just wrote the article and sent it to FFG?

OGP = Oafish Ghastly Porcine

I was contacted to do it by FFG. I have another coming at some point.

Well whatever you have done to be contacted by FFG ... ^^

I hope to see more articles written by you on FFG news page.

And I hope you get payed for that.

Ive always seen the utility of the shuttle, its especially good for running interference. I came in 2nd at the Store Championship in Pittsburgh with this list. It was pretty potent!
Omicron (Shuttle)
Omicron (Shuttle)
Academy Pilot (TIE)
Academy Pilot (TIE)
Backstabber (TIE)
Howlrunner (TIE)

Thanks for that article.... I'm still not quite sure about the shuttle... but more convinced than before...

Fun read, but I can't believe you left out the best upgrade... Anti-pursuit lasers, and the best feature of the ship ... all-stop.

My favorite fleet of all time was 2 shuttles with APLs, and 4 Academy TIEs. One was Korr and the other was Omicron Pilot with Vader, I believe. In one game, I parked the Omicron in front of my opponent's ships and positioned Korr to where they couldn't clear without crossing over the base. Korr did green maneuvers around the board to clear stress tokens and finished up targets that Vader softened up the round before. Another game I played against 2 falcons. I moved first, so it was easy enough to clog up the manuevering. Chewie's YT-1300 fell pretty fast, and then Korr just circled with the Academy Pilots to soften Han's ship up enough before Vader went in for the kill.

Anyone that thinks its a bad ship probably hasn't played it, or hasn't played it correctly. It is hard to pull off the fancy tricks, I'll admit.

Well-written article, Kelvan! ;D

Enjoyed it and looking forward to your upcoming article!

I'll be flying the Tank along with a Royal Guard+Ptl+Stealth+Targeting Soontir Fel and double Stealthed Royal Guard Lorrir in my next game after Aces arrive. Thank you for the article!

Edit: Hmm, I could fly the Buzzsaw instead... same point value. Options!

Great article! It makes me want to buy a Lambda Shuttle instead of the Firespray I planned on getting.

I'll be flying the Tank along with a Royal Guard+Ptl+Stealth+Targeting Soontir Fel and double S tealthed Royal Guard Lorrir in my next game after Aces arrive. Thank you for the article!

Edit: Hmm, I could fly the Buzzsaw instead... same point value. Options!

Royal Guard TIE

Imperial Aces Expansion Pack

You may equip up to 2 different Modification upgrades (instead of 1).

Try again. Unless you mean two Royal Guards. Then ignore me.

I ran a four shuttle squad today with engine upgrades versus a Jonus bomber squad. I won despite flying clunky and taking every piece of ordinance the bombers had to stick me with. And, it was SO MUCH FUN!

I used to laugh at the thing, but now its time to take the shuttle out for a spin methinks. Maybe I was wrong about it being as manoeuvrable as a refrigerator.

Good article

I used to laugh at the thing, but now its time to take the shuttle out for a spin methinks. Maybe I was wrong about it being as manoeuvrable as a refrigerator.

Your not wrong, it is hard to maneuver, but it's worth the learning curve to get there. Advanced sensors + Engine upgrade completely change how to fly it. As Kelvan pointed out it's got one of the best load out options, if not the best, in the game. It's such a versatile ship.

The problem with the Lamd dah is that is maneuvers are to predictable. In a streatch X-Wing is like a game of chess. You try to predict your opponents moves. Lamdas are just to easy to out fly them. I was pumped when I first seen all the information for the Lamda. As a fan of the Firespary I was looking forward to adding another big ship to my Empire fleet. 21 points on a ship with 10 health. Amazing! then I played 4 of them against 3 interceptors. Being the firs ttime my opponent had played against a Lamda he took them head on. Big mistake. I took out 2 of his 3 ships like nothing. One of the Lamdas was beat up with a few hull left and another lost a few shields. The interceptor that was still standing was Soontir Fel. Once my oppoenent flew behind my shuttles he started to pick them off one by one. Having 4 ships I only got his interceptor in arc one last time. He easily suvived my one last shot at him. And then continued to finish off my ships. My high hopes for the ship were quickly crushed.

I would say the Lame dah next to the Advance Tie are the most wrothless ships in the collection. And 3rd on the list I'd place Tie Bombers.

And the only thing that makes anyone play a Lamda or a Advance Tie is Vader. I've yet to see a Lamda and Advance Tie in the same build.

The Lamda can be a support ship. That's about it. Much like the Hawk having more then one is often a waste.

When I see a Lamda in play I often ignore it. I don't see it as a threat. If its my only shot I'll shoot at it. But if its at range 1 and something is at range 3. I'll shoot at the range 3 in most cases.

I challenge Ricky White to take me on and beat me with one of his Lame dah builds. I would let him choose from any of my 10 most frequently played builds. I will record and post the results on my youtube channel. We can play on vassel or FFG Game center the day of or after regionals. Yes Ricky Im calling you out.

- See more at: http://teamcovenant.com/r2eq/2014/03/14/ffg-talks-about-the-lambda/#sthash.4VcmUPwM.dpuf

I'll be flying the Tank along with a Royal Guard+Ptl+Stealth+Targeting Soontir Fel and double S tealthed Royal Guard Lorrir in my next game after Aces arrive. Thank you for the article!

Edit: Hmm, I could fly the Buzzsaw instead... same point value. Options!

Royal Guard TIE

Imperial Aces Expansion Pack

You may equip up to 2 different Modification upgrades (instead of 1).

Try again. Unless you mean two Royal Guards. Then ignore me.

Hmm, you are correct according to the card preview. I was trusting what http://xwing-builder.co.uk/build allowed too much. I'll come up with a different 2nd upgrade for Mr. Lorrir. ... Shield Upgrade! Block that crit!

I would say the Lame dah next to the Advance Tie are the most wrothless ships in the collection. And 3rd on the list I'd place Tie Bombers.

Well, if the Gammas had an EPT, the bombers would perform much better...

I agree that there are many popular lists that give bomber list a hard time ... especially Biggs

With an EPT the Gammas could equip deadeye to at least get gid of their ordnance before they die ... at least most of them.

Very nice and passionated writing, but I'm still not that convinced...

Aso, I noticed this while reading:

Normally, the furthest a shuttle can turn in a round is ninety degrees, but the “Dogfighter” can perform a boost and a hard “2” turn to maneuver as much as 135 degrees. This is the closest the shuttle comes to performing a barrel roll .

I understand you meant to say 'Koiogran Turn' instead of 'Barrel roll'.... ?

I should point out a few things about the poll:

• I know my poll design wasn't perfect (I received many PMs about that), and I will alter the format when Wave 4 comes out.
• However, there was also a certain method to my madness, as a power-ranking is inherantly NOT fair to support ships because folks will rank them below things that are killy.
• That being said, tournament results back up the data
• But are those results a chicken and egg relationship? (Did folks vote for ships they knew were winning?)

Link to my BGG poll mentioned in the article:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1071465/ranking-the-ships-of-the-current-meta/page/1

My own comments on the shuttle, specifically. It is a fun ship and can be used to employ tricks that opponents might not expect, but I don't think it will come into it's own (like most support options) until points levels for games are higher. I see Jendon (ST-321) escorting Bombers as a nifty combo. I've tried it at 100 points and have vaped a YT in one round, but it is a high-risk build. I look forward to blowing up Rebel Transports in bigger games.

The Doom Shuttle build Ricky mentions in his article is something I've faced in a tournament. It really freaked some folks out, but great care must be taken putting together the rest of the squadron. It is definitely a challenging build but very rewarding on a few levels.

I have 5-1 record with my Lambda and 3 Bombers list (2-1 in tournament play). Even without engine upgrade, Advanced Sensors will allow you to keep the field of play in your arc by alternating full stop/ram your own bomber. It'll take you 5 or more turns to even clear the first third of the map, depending on how much sideways movement you use to start the game!

I've been playing the shuttle a lot lately, but I have yet to find a configuration where I would really want to take it over a firespray. I tried the FCS+gunner version last week, which is the one I had the highest expectations from, but found myself playing against a B-wing squadron where it would often score just a single hit on the first shot and then not get a chance to use the target lock on gunner.

The two times I found it most useful were just omicron+vader or omicron+advanced sensors + engine upgrade, as they kept the point cost lower and it was easier to get performance equal to its cost. Dumping points into more expensive shuttle builds has never seemed worth it.

I'm sure I'm not playing it to its full potential but if it's this much work just to get basic functionality out of it I don't really see the point. It does make a fantastic scenario piece though.