It's a considerable risk to build a tournament squad that matches up well against swarms and not much else.

But you're not really doing that. Say you have a typical XXBB list, dropping one X-wing to a Z-95 with an auto-splash assault missile isn't really crippling your list. It's still a 4-dice initial attack, it's still a PS 6 ship once the missile is gone, and if the ability works like we think it's still a good tool for taking off stealth devices. You're making minor tradeoffs to improve your chances against a list that is popular in most metagames, not taking a one-dimensional anti-swarm list.

He will be useful against more than just TIE swarms. Rebel swarms will get more popular after wave 4 and Rebel Aces. 5 ship rebel swarms already do very well, with 12 point Z-95s and 15 point A-wings we will be seeing a LOT more of them, and probably some 6 ship rebel builds too. Splash hurts TIEs more than Z-95's/B-wings, but it should still be useful against most lists, except possibly HSF and high PS Interceptor builds.

Squad Leader does not help his buddy during the same round.

But it does make him useful late in the game once you've fired the missile. You're paying 24 points for an auto-hit splash shot (or 22 for auto-ion) on the intial pass, and then a PS 6 Z-95 that hands out free actions to your other ships. Imagine him replacing an X-wing in an XXBB list and giving your B-wings reactive moves after all non-unique pilots have moved, or just stacking focus + target lock on a critical shot.

Lt. Blount + Assault Missiles (22)
Lando Calrissian + PTL + Assault Missiles...(52)

Leaves 26 points left in your list, It's kinda like HSF, without the higher P.S bid - and double assault missiles, one of which will hit, the other is highly modified...

You could also use a PTL + Deadeye Jake farrel with an assault missile for a flanking TL + F assault missile shot... lots of options for the second missile.

I just don't see the value adding up.. Yeah, sure the first combat round is worth it. Then what? I have the luxury of flying around 2/2 ship?

The z95, IMO, is completely useless once the missile is gone. First time it defends it will probably die. And with 2 atk without a rebel howlrunner, isn't going to be threatening anyone. I don't spend 22 pts on a ship for 1 combat round.

This ship is beyond lackluster to me. It just seems like things have to go perfectly for him to worth it.

Sorry, but I don't see this scaring many swarm players.

What am I missing here? Someone please fill me in.

The Z-95 is weak but I wouldn't call it worthless. It's not going to shrug off a lot of fire but it does have one health point more than the typical TIE. And not all die results are automatically going to be successful.

After Blount fires a TIE swarm has two choices: they can go for the easy revenge kill and knock Blount out of the sky, or they can focus on the most likely more dangerous targets which do not have one-shot missiles, like a YT-1300 or wedge.

The dial might be pretty decent with maneuvers, so after firing off the missile Blount could ankle-bite the enemy for the rest of the game or draw fire from the rest of your other ships. If he dies in that first combat round well, he should have done his job by then and tagged whatever ship(s) you're gunning for with whatever effects you wanted to accomplish.

22 points is a lot of points to throw away, but how do you guys feel about Biggs? Biggs' very nature makes him kind of expendable too since he's a fire magnet. At least there's less logical incentive to shoot at Blount once he's had his moment.

Just paints a large target on the LT... kill him first...

Blount has PS6. A TIE swarm is unlikely to take him out before he shoots.

Give Blount Veteran Instincts and he will be an PS 8 then he shoots as he is now a pilot skill same as Howlrunner. He might die but he gets to leave damage before he dies

hmm even after blount fires his missile he is still useful. even against non swarm lists.. say for instance interceptors with stealth devices. His primary attack can strip SD without even having to hit..

Yeah, I see this combo become a go-to filler for Rebel lists. The missile will be great for teams that fly formation and his primary strips SDs. That's a nice 22 points right there.

Blount is the obvious choice for Assault missiles. He is high enough PS to get the TL, and he can shoot at which ever ship is the best target for the TL. In fact if I was going to a high-swarm-meta tournament. I would probably even give him deadeye so I can shoot him at whoever I want.

But even after he has fired his missile he is a great ship to send after Soontir Fell or Howelrunner and their presistant stealth devices.

If you are afraid of Phantoms give Blunt a Ion Pulse Missile. Auto hit means auto 1 point of damage not to mention the ion effect.

Blunt has soooo many cool possibilities. He is more than just a swarm swatter.

First off, Blount + Assault forces the Swarm to fly differently. And that is fantastic.

Q: Will Blount + Assault destroy more of the enemy fleet than he costs?
A: Depends on how you weight the HP.
Personally, I count the last hit on a ship to be equal with the entire rest of the ship's stats.
As very few Blount players will want to hold onto their Assaults past the first pass, the splash damage is going to be dealing primarily with the non-destructive side of things.

With an Academy Pilot, the math is simple with this weight. They cost 12 points. 6 of that is the last HP, and the other 6 is divided among the remaining 2 HP. The splash damage will be hitting the 3 point HPs.

Against an 8 TIE Swarm, you'll be dealing a maximum of 7 Splash damage, for 21 points of value just from that shot.
In this scenario, dealing just 1 damage from the original missile means that Blount would have made a profit.
Following from that logic, against an 8 TIE Swarm, any additional damage that Blount deals after the Splash Damage will make up for ships not in the Range when he fired.

Moreover, 8 TIE Swarms are often 7 Academies and a 16 Pointer. Incidental damage against these are worth 4 points, and the killing blow an additional 8.

Now, for a 6 + Howlrunner Swarm, things get more complicated.

Forcing the Swarm off of Howlrunner buys you at least one round of negating her ability. Even just the threat of this is phenomenal.

If Howlrunner uses a Stealth Device, you're in better luck than you anticipated: Attacking her is worth 3 points that way, irrespective of any damage you would deal.

Moreover, Howlrunner being such a force-multiplier means that she's worth substantially more than her 18 points in the fleet.

From here, it really depends on how the breakdown goes : there's 10 points left over for upgrades and/or pilot skill bids in this archetype.

Blount w/ Assault Missiles

Tala Squad x6.

Hurt/kill the HVU (High Value Unit) with the missile and the escorts take some damage.

You then are flying the Rebel equivalent of the Swarm. Same tactics the Imps use...but your already ahead in overall damage.

Or 4 Tala and 4 Bandits.

Variations on the Z-Swarm (dibs on trademarking that term ).

Swarm tactics/Empire tactics will have to evolve. Blout will cause that more than any other ship. Z95s with missles will always be a threatening build.

With an Academy Pilot, the math is simple with this weight. They cost 12 points. 6 of that is the last HP, and the other 6 is divided among the remaining 2 HP. The splash damage will be hitting the 3 point HPs.

I have to disagree with this. No HP is worth more than any other HP because they all have to be removed. Blount removing 1 HP followed by a Falcon removing the other 2 HP is exactly the same as the Falcon removing 2 HP followed by Blount getting the kill.

If anything I would weight the splash damage HP higher than the other 2 HP since it very often changes the game entirely. Doing 2 HP worth of damage is fairly common, doing 3 HP in one shot is a lot rarer. So by taking everyone down to 2 HP Blount turns damaged ships into dead ships. And this greater chance of getting a kill instead of crippling a target allows you to fly differently, focusing on getting immediate kills instead of having to set up multiple turns of shooting to kill a single ship. This is especially relevant for lists like HSF, with a small number of high-quality shots. Now instead of doing 2 HP of damage and having to waste a full round of fire on a target next turn you just kill it and move on.

i was afriad of blount but every time i encountered him i shot him down before he could use his missiles his card effect or even attack properly just sayin blount vs a build of firespray alongside ties = dead blount vs the traditional tie swarm = dead ;P even with biggs helpin him surviving a bit longer

i was afriad of blount but every time i encountered him i shot him down before he could use his missiles his card effect or even attack properly just sayin blount vs a build of firespray alongside ties = dead blount vs the traditional tie swarm = dead ;P even with biggs helpin him surviving a bit longer

Stop playing against bad players then? If you're consistently killing Blount and Biggs in a single round of fire, at PS 9 (remember that Blount can take VI and still gets to fire if you kill him at PS 8), then you're playing against really bad opponents. In reality Blount is usually going to fire on the first turn of combat and you have very little chance of stopping him. And if he has a Biggs shield killing him requires a "win the lottery" level of dice luck.