Game Trader magazine has an article about the upcoming Wave 4 ships. In the article it mentions a Z95 pilot by the name of Lieutenant Blount. This pilot is considered hitting the defender regardless if the defender cancels all the hit results. The article mentions Assault Missiles with Lt Blount as one way his ability will punish Tie Swarms. Now at this point we have not seen the wording on the card but, could fear of this guy floating around stomp out Stealth Device? After all he has to do is miss and he takes the 3pt modification away.

Again, Fel, Turr, Vader, Carnor, and Tetran thinks it's cute that a pilot with PS 6, in a ship with 2 Agi and 4 HP, is going to attack them before they A) get out of his firing arc or B) kill him.

Those guys forget about Tycho Celchu with VI + Swarm Tactics...

At which point, they still get out of his arc.

And that's a lot of points, at least 49, for 2 ships that attack with only 2 dice.

49pts is pretty hefty for 2 ships.. it was just the first thing that came to mind to get a higher PS since all the talk about R-Aces.

Roark Garnet is only 19pts for a PS boost to 12. A PS currently is only matched by other ships benefiting from Roark's ability.

Much better. But they still can outmaneuver him during activation phase. It sounds like a good ability, but much more designed against the dreaded swarm than an elite pilot. If I go elite and see that combo going agaisnt me, you can bet that if he hit us before we destroy him, we won't be in a tight formation. So it does seems like a lot of point just to get a sure hit with a missile. And we don,t know the exact words, it might be that you can still resolve the secondary effect of your weapon, so giving 1 damage to all ship on range 1 or a ion token with a ion missile. But is it consider a hit so it can remove a stealth device, I'm not sure.

Won't argue the point on him being out maneuvered. But whether or not he is able to fire whatever missile he has equipped is dependant on the squadron make up he's flying with.

That said if he had an Ion Missile he's setup to Lockdown a Large base or Higher PS unit.

Assault is definitely tailored to damage a Tight Formation Swarm or Biggs' buddies.

Vs an Elite High PS, High Maneuverability squadron he will have troubles. But if you fly to defensively to avoid him you might not notice his buddy that will hit. He's denying you R2-3 in front of him until he fires his payload or you manage to destroy him.

I almost want to compare him to Howlrunner since it's focus and take him out ASAP or they stuff around him might smash your face in... keyword: Might.

So it does seems like a lot of point just to get a sure hit with a missile.

But it's not just the auto-hit, you still have a ship once you've fired the missile. Compared to a basic Z-95 you're paying 10 points for:

* An auto-splash assault missile that is still a 4-dice attack even when you're out of formation.

* PS 6.

* Possibly an EPT for a cheap squad leader/swarm tactics ship.

* The movement disruption of forcing your opponent's whole list to play around a 22-point ship.

TBH, if you think that an assault missile is a good deal in general then putting it on Blount is a pretty obvious choice.