I am leaning more and more to the fact that he does not. Han with Determination, to prevent him losing his ability, is very, very effective.

Adding either Expert Handling with Nien Numb or just adding Chewbacca really shines him up, but neither of these options is needed.

One list I am seriously looking at is;

Han, Determination, Chewbacca

2 x Dagger Squadron Pilot

That's 99 points.

You could lose Chewie and have FCS on both B-Wings, but I'm not sold on that route.

Anyone else really seeing Gunner on Han as overkill?

Ya know, I recently introduced X-Wing to a friend of mine and after a quick intro game he wanted to play a full 100 point game. I set him up with the Han Shoots First list since he wanted to fly the falcon and throughout the entire game I don't think he once activated the gunner card.

I've never flown Han myself, but after that game I think I agree with you, despite the insurance gunner gives you.

Gunner is a very situational and often meta based upgrade. If you find yourself fighting agility 3 ships regularly, then it is worth its weight in points. If you are regularly fighting B-Wing heavy forces, then it is wasted points as you'll rarely get to use it.

So if the TIE swarm is popular, or you're seeing a lot of Interceptors (and any of the Wave 4 ships excluding the Z-95 when they drop), and having issues with breaking them, then keep it in. If not, use the points elsewhere.

Gunner is far more valuable in games with high Agility. When you're up against 2 or 1 agility ships, it's not that good.
It's great against Swarm, and will be the Phantom's 2nd-worst enemy (behind the Proton Bomb's 1 shot kill)

Its only really needed if you're using Marksmanship imho, as Marksmanship works on all rolls during a turn.

The problem with skipping the gunner is that you can only get away with it if you're list tailoring against a specific opponent. Gunner might seem like wasted points against a b-wing list, but against a TIE swarm gunner is absolutely necessary to make sure that your 50+ point ship is contributing damage every turn. The only time it's a sensible choice to take that risk is if you know that you're only facing low-agility ships. Otherwise, if you're preparing for an unknown opponent, gunner is pretty much mandatory.

You really think you're gonna need 4 tries on that 1 attack?

Gunner is only usefull against people who haven't read the FAQ, else they'll take a single point of damage and screw you out of your 5pt upgrade.

It's a noob hammer at best.

I am finding that the Han re-roll with a focus is getting damage through consistently vs all builds. That 5 points for Gunner is very useful elsewhere. I think 4 pts for Chewie is looking more and more like a better investment.

Also, Han isn't flying alone and setting him up with the 2 Daggers, makes for even more consistent damage.

Other wing mates are also obviously very viable.

Just my experience.

This is the thing about gunner on Han. In casual play it's not worth it. In tournament play where you do not know what you will be up against each round it is a solid investment. With highly agile fighters like the Phantom and E-wing in the near future the combo of Han+Gunner+marksmanship is extremely worth the investment. Even noobs realize that "I can take one hit and the gunner doesn't shoot." HOWEVER when that one hit is a crit and your opponent is in a highly expensive fighter like a squint with no shields and a direct hit or blinded pilot could cripple him, well they might think twice. Gunner also saves Han from blinded pilot.

Is it necessary? No but I've flown that Han load out against different Han builds and my ability to stack crits and reroll all day long has won me many games.

See, you raise an interesting point now though, as if I was to put gunner on Han, am I actually better of to put Gunner and VI on Lando as we still have PS9, still can shoot again if we miss and can use Lando's awesome ability as with Gunner, I feel Han's ability is far less useful than Lando's is?

Both of their abilities are solid. Lando needs a gunner. You invest so much into a YT that you need to be doing damage if not killing something every turn.

Totally agree on Lando needing a Gunner, but is Lando/VI/Gunner a better investment than Han/Gunner?

I'd say that, that depends entirely on the rest of your list as well as the ships you are going up against.

Does Han need a Gunner? No.

Can Han use a Gunner? Quite often the answer will be YES but it really depends on what you are facing. It's all about consistency. As for needing "4 attacks" to hit something there are times you will. Also remember there are plenty of times an opponent will not want to take a hit and/or expends resources avoiding a hit which would not be available for the Gunner's attack.

Of all the ships who can have a gunner, Han is easily the one who needs it the least. It doesn't hurt to have one, but it it's as helpful as with other ships.

I never thought about it before, but the Lando + Gunner and Range one homie combo is getting my gears turning...interesting.

I rather have PTL + MF title + Nien Numb than Gunner on Han. Its the same points too. Focus + Evade almost every turn. Chewy + MF title is great too if you want to be a lot more tanky.

The thing is Han get's more out of a gunner that other pilots. If you roll not great Let say one hit, you can pick up the dice and re-roll everything without worrying that you will get worse, since if you do end up missing you get another attack from the gunner. Also Han's ability is almost doubled if you have a gunner, since it works on every attack (a gunner might let you do two)

But the really great thing about gunner for Han is that he is pretty much guaranteed a hit without spending his action on attack. What Han really needs in the Millennium Falcon title upgrade, and he needs to evade every turn there is even a chance he is going to get shot at.

Every turn you get shot at and take the evade action is basically giving you +1 shield. Han has a lot of hits, but with his high point cost and low agility he is going to be everybody's first target. He needs that extra defense.

If you wanted to leave off the gunner (to save points) and rely on Han's natural ability to help, that is fine, but don't give him something like Marksmanship instead, he needs his action on defense.

Evade

Evade

Evade

Luuuuuuuuke...

I really like Gunner because if you take a Falcon you are basically ensuring you can only take 3 ships in your list. With so few attacks, you CANNOT afford any of them to whiff. You need all three ships to deal damage every turn.

I can't wait til Rebel Aces so then I can drop Gunners and FCS on my B-wings. 3 Buzzsaw Bs that never miss, sounds awesome.

More often then not Han is shooting at a target with a Focus Token. If Han hits and I need to focus to prevent 1 damage I always let it through keeping the Focus to shoot with. Gunner is very good but easy to counter, and at 5 points expensive.

Is gunner on Han a bad thing? No. Could I put those five points to better use? I think so.

Han without Gunner (but with Determination and ML Title) is already sitting at 48 points. But 52 points leaves you room for two well equipped escorts.

A personal favorite of mine is Dagger w/ Adv. Sensors and Rookie w/ R2-D2.

There is always 2x Rookie w/ Torps and an R2

or

2x Green w/ Deadeye and Assault Missiles

or

Dutch w/ Ion and Blue w/ FCS

Those extra 5 points (by not taking gunner) really open up your wingman possibilities.