I believe that the Headhunter dial has several turn manuvers on it. There is no way to avoid a 45 degree cone at range 3 if your opponent wants to throw some shots your way. Besides, nothing stops Blount from capitalizing on his ability through deploying at an angle in the corner. There is really no way to avoid his range 3 shot other than killing him first, but 'just kill it before it does anything' is obviously a desperate argument.

Blount is PS6. Most ships that people toss stealth on have 6+. If Blount can shoot at the stealth ships, odds are good the stealth ships will be able to shoot at Blount, as he doesn't have nearly as much ability to stay out of firing arcs as the stealth ships tend to have. And most of them will shoot first too. At 4 THP and 2 agility, Blount is not going to survive that kind of focus fire long enough to shoot much.

I know it won't actually work like this... but could you imagine if the Seismic Charge and Proton Bomb would work with Munitions Failsafe? would be epic.

I can't see why it wouldn't.

You're never actually making an attack with Seismic Charge, so I wouldn't allow it.

edit: Ninja'd

It wouldn't work, it says on the bomb reference card that bombs don't count as secondary weapons, which munitions failsafe requires

But that would be sick

So stealth is fine as long as it is on a PS7+ ship? I really don't think that that is good enough.

Again, staying out of a range 3 firing arc when ship deployment zones are across the table is simply not possible, specifically without making otherwise awful moves (i.e. skirting up the very far edge of the board while the enemy is on the other edge). Don't take my word for it - go test it out. Have a frient with Soontir Fel try to keep your Blount from stripping his Stealth Device. I regularly use HLCs and I have never missed a single range 3 volley at the start of the game. The arcs are simply too wide at that range.

I don't like it. It functions as a counter to a specific upgrade card. It is no better than a skill stating that, 'A ship targetted by this attack loses its Heavy Laser Cannon.' It doesn't matter how much that skill costs or how likely it is to happen - stripping away upgrades with a hard counter is questionable.

Securing a range 3 shot without your opponent flying over your head is not something that I have actually ever seen someone have a problem with.

You must not have seen very many good interceptor players. Seriously, set up a Z-95 and an interceptor directly across from each other and do the maneuvers. The Z-95 isn't fast enough to force a range-3 shot on the first turn if the interceptor player doesn't want it to happen, then on the following turn a 5-straight followed by a boost is almost range 3 (and a boost + barrel roll is longer than range 3). Add in the minimum 1-straight maneuver the Z-95 has to take and the interceptor can go from outside range 3 to behind the Z-95 in a single turn. Obviously it's much harder to avoid shots from an entire squadron, but we just care about a single ship, not all of his friends.

And of course worst-case scenario is that the interceptor(s) can't get behind Blount, but can easily go straight from outside range 3 to a range 1 exchange where a Z-95 is going to need a lot of luck to survive fire from multiple higher-PS interceptors. And a dead Z-95 can't strip any stealth devices.

I believe that the Headhunter dial has several turn manuvers on it. There is no way to avoid a 45 degree cone at range 3 if your opponent wants to throw some shots your way.

Again, you must not have seen any good interceptor pilots if you think that all you need is a turn maneuver on your dial to guarantee that you'll get shots.

So stealth is fine as long as it is on a PS7+ ship? I really don't think that that is good enough.

But that's exactly how it works most of the time: stealth devices go on elite ships like Fel or Tycho, not random academy pilots. And even if it counters low-PS stealth devices you're still paying a substantial number of points to do it, more than the cost of the stealth device Blount kills unless you think that a generic PS 6 Z-95 would be a viable choice for 17 points.

I regularly use HLCs and I have never missed a single range 3 volley at the start of the game. The arcs are simply too wide at that range.

Now repeat this experiment with a rule that you have to name a specific opposing ship before any ships are deployed, and if you don't get to shoot at that ship you're not allowed to shoot at all. I think you're having trouble separating "I get to shoot at something at range 3" from "I get to shoot at this specific ship, which is doing its absolute best to avoid getting shot at, at range 3".

The problem is that you don't get to pick your opponent's moves. That strategy is obvious and kill be countered.

Besides, is throttling your ships and sacrificing your actions to jump into rnage 1 of the entire enemy force really a viable strategy? Also questionable.

So stealth is fine as long as it is on a PS7+ ship? I really don't think that that is good enough.

Again, staying out of a range 3 firing arc when ship deployment zones are across the table is simply not possible, specifically without making otherwise awful moves (i.e. skirting up the very far edge of the board while the enemy is on the other edge). Don't take my word for it - go test it out. Have a frient with Soontir Fel try to keep your Blount from stripping his Stealth Device. I regularly use HLCs and I have never missed a single range 3 volley at the start of the game. The arcs are simply too wide at that range.

I don't like it. It functions as a counter to a specific upgrade card. It is no better than a skill stating that, 'A ship targetted by this attack loses its Heavy Laser Cannon.' It doesn't matter how much that skill costs or how likely it is to happen - stripping away upgrades with a hard counter is questionable.

If you field cheap, low-PS fighters you tend to have a greater number. In which case losing one stealth device to Blount doesn't immediately destroy your squadron's fighting capacity and you'll just tear him to pieces before he gets of another shot.

Which is the real kicker here that you seem to ignore: Blount is only one pilot. Your opponent can't mass-field Blount. He gets one shot per turn. In a fighter with not so great defence. If you properly prioritize his destruction and avoid clustering your fighters, Blount is going to take out one stealth device, tops. That still leaves you with several other fighters Blount hasn't even touched.

The problem is that you don't get to pick your opponent's moves. That strategy is obvious and kill be countered.

Ok, so now we're playing a game of move vs. counter-move instead of this ridiculous "OMG THE SKY IS FALLING" scenario where putting Blount on the table (or even making Blount exist at all) immediately turns all stealth devices into blank cards. I really don't see how this is all that different from, say, a homing missile that can roll four hits and automatically kill your stealth device.

And, while people will be passing Blounts around frequently with the relase of wave 4, sometime after that, when the excitement is over and people go back to list building, Blount and stealth are but two of many myriad ways to spend 100 points. If you don't know what your opponent is bringing chances are not high that you'll often see one of each hit the table on opposite sides

I'm no where near an expert Interceptor pilot, having only started testing the elite. But even I can see how easily it will be to stay out of the arc of one SPECIFIC ship.

It's really not that easy. Firing arcs are BIG.

The board is right around 23 bases wide. If Blount starts to the rear and your Int to the front, then they start 20 bases apart. The Interceptor's 5 and Blount's 1 leave them at 12 apart. The Interceptor can then close 8 with a boost, to 4, and Blount's 1 ahead leaves you trading shots.

And that's assuming there's nothing in the way. If the Rebel player is smart enough to screen him with, well, anything, then that's just not going to work.

Set up off to the side... Cool. I'll go slow, then turn towards.

This is, honestly, silly. Is Wedge useless because he has to shoot at people to work? Hardly - and he still needs halfway decent shots. Blount, R3-A2, and Flechette Torpedo are all nasty because they don't need good shots - they just need shots. That opens the envelope mighty big. Flying interceptors so that they avoided good shots was hard - avoiding ANY shots? That's a much uglier proposition, which isn't nearly as easy as people are trying to make it.

Is Wedge useless because he has to shoot at people to work? Hardly - and he still needs halfway decent shots. Blount, R3-A2, and Flechette Torpedo are all nasty because they don't need good shots - they just need shots.

Except Blount doesn't "just need shots". You need a shot on a single specific ship, not just any random ship that happens to be there to be killed. If you try to avoid Wedge with one ship I'm usually perfectly happy to just kill one of your other ships. If the stealth ship I need to counter avoids Blount then throwing a couple red dice at an academy pilot isn't helping me very much. Likewise, I don't care as much about avoiding shots from the rest of your list. If avoiding Blount takes me into a rookie pilot's sights then I'm probably happy with that tradeoff, even if I'm not avoiding damage entirely.

I don't think Blount is good enough to make him an auto-buy. Some list will include him, no doubt, but at 17 pts, I think that's a lot of point just to remove the probable stealth device on the Interceptors that he might encounter during the tournament. At first yes, and probably equiped with an Assault missile so he can deal with the Tie Swarm, but once the magic of the first night wears off, they will replace him with a younger model and never call back....

It's really not that easy. Firing arcs are BIG.

The Interceptor's 5

Who uses 5-straight on a squint? Only time I 5-straight with one is when I'm running.

It's really not that easy. Firing arcs are BIG.

The Interceptor's 5

Who uses 5-straight on a squint? Only time I 5-straight with one is when I'm running.

Well then you are missing out on a lot.

Unless I missed it, I can't believe no one has stated the obvious about Blount.

Everyone keeps talking about how their high PS ships will kill him before he does his damage. First of all unless you have multiple ships firing that's not a given. But regardless, the easiest solution (besides bringing Biggs which I did see mentioned somewhere) is to give him VI.

VI only makes him 1 point more expensive, but now he's PS8. PS7 ships have no advantage now, and PS8 are equal so he will get his shot off even if he dies. All he has to worry about are PS9 of which there are few.

Unless I missed it, I can't believe no one has stated the obvious about Blount.

Everyone keeps talking about how their high PS ships will kill him before he does his damage. First of all unless you have multiple ships firing that's not a given. But regardless, the easiest solution (besides bringing Biggs which I did see mentioned somewhere) is to give him VI.

VI only makes him 1 point more expensive, but now he's PS8. PS7 ships have no advantage now, and PS8 are equal so he will get his shot off even if he dies. All he has to worry about are PS9 of which there are few.

That means he gets one stealth device before he gets torn to shreds by focus fire. The loss of one stealth device hits the the interceptor player, sure, sure, but in no way does it render stealth useless. And that's the real point people are making: Blount is a stealth-counter, but he doesn't make stealth useless. The damage he can do can be minimized.

Yeah, because we all know that all rebel players are little, innocent girls, that are always fooled by the clever imperials.

Believe me, If I want to shoot with my Blount that Soontir of you, I WILL shoot him, no matter what you do.

Yeah, because we all know that all rebel players are little, innocent girls, that are always fooled by the clever imperials.

Believe me, If I want to shoot with my Blount that Soontir of you, I WILL shoot him, no matter what you do.

Then you get my Soontir's stealth down. Kudo's to you. But I'm still going to make sure that Soontir is the only one of my fighters you'll get with Blount.

Again, nobody is denying Blount is a good stealth counter. He is. But he doesn't single-handedly make stealth unplayable.

People have been talking about Airen Cracken+Cluster Missiles, and with some thought I came up with a cool synergy:

Cracken takes Push the Limit. He can Target Lock and Focus in the activation phase. He gets to focus the first shot from Cluster Missiles. Then, he gives Dutch a free action, so Dutch acquires a Target lock and also gives one back to Cracken. Cracken gets to modify both shots from his Cluster Missile. Then they just buddy up and share actions all day like best buds.

It's really not that easy. Firing arcs are BIG.

The Interceptor's 5

Who uses 5-straight on a squint? Only time I 5-straight with one is when I'm running.

Well then you are missing out on a lot.

Well, I guess I shouldn't say that's the only time I use it. I often use it to cut across the board as well. I personally find that a 3-speed maneuver is often as much as I need to do with BR/Boosting. 5-straights at an opponent put me in too many arcs at the same time.

Yeah, because we all know that all rebel players are little, innocent girls, that are always fooled by the clever imperials.

Believe me, If I want to shoot with my Blount that Soontir of you, I WILL shoot him, no matter what you do.

Then you get my Soontir's stealth down. Kudo's to you. But I'm still going to make sure that Soontir is the only one of my fighters you'll get with Blount.

Again, nobody is denying Blount is a good stealth counter. He is. But he doesn't single-handedly make stealth unplayable.

The problem with focusing on a Z95, is you are now ignoring the 3 dice X-wings and B-wings that are now shooting you at range 1.

Focusing on Blount forces poor target priority. This also assumes Biggs isn't in play.

Wingman is going to be great for ships like the shuttle. Bad dial? No problem, just ZERO maneuver in a good spot having a friendly take your stress.

Allows the shuttle to effectively stay in the corner all match.

ooh,

could you park 2 shuttles next to eachother and wingmen eachothers stress away? And take advanced sensors so you still take actions?

not like it'll get used much, but you ould make a lil wall like that and go

'This is where they die! Give them nothing!! THIS IS SPARTA!!!'

ooh,

could you t

I could, but I'm not a big fan of t. All the brewing and the cream and sugar nonsense... I drink Coke when I need a caffeine fix.