Well Blount+Assault Missile is great for combating swarms flying in formation, but the predicament facing Imperial players is that ~60 of their squad points will be tied up in two ships, and at least one of these (Phantom) will almost certainly be out of formation. Cracken is the way to go with that list.

I agree that Blount + Assault is certainly not the best way to go in this particular match. However, I think there's still a case to be made for Blount over Craken. And that case is Ion Pulse Missiles. Now, it doesn't matter if you roll all blanks and your opponent rolls all evades, you still do a damage and give 2 ion tokens. Further, since Ion Pulse Missiles don't require the use of your TL and you don't care if you hit, you get to keep it for next round where you can follow up with a focus and a range 1 shot. Not bad.

As for Craken, you MUST put cluster missiles on him. Then he gets two attacks during a turn and is able to hand out two actions that round. That's not a bad thing at all.

My main complaint with putting cluster missiles on Blount is that you're paying 4 points to basically hand 2 actions away one time. Knowing that you're facing a Defender and a Phantom, the best case scenario would be against 2 unfocused dice, where you'd be looking at 1.76 damage. The more likely scenario is that they're spent against the Defender, yielding 1.34 damage. For 2 points, you could equip him with SL instead, and continuously give out 2 actions (one at R1-2 even!) and then only do .51 / .35 damage.

So it comes down to being +2 points, +1.12 dmg (averaged from 2+3agi non focused) +1 one time use action during combat @ R1, -1 repeatable action at PS8 @ R2, <PS7 eligible for the second action

I personally think SL will end up being better simply because you're unlikely to have multiple actions/ships you want to hand actions to that are PS8+... furthermore, it makes him a more "dangerous" target for your opponent ... It's unlikely that they'll kill him before he gets his cluster missiles off, and then he's just a free action and a 2 dice attack... but with SL, he's 2 free actions and a 2 dice attack... so he might draw their hate earlier in the game, leaving someone better around to close the game out.

*shrug... we're talking about ships that aren't even released yet that no one has actually flown... along with ignoring the tactician and decoy upgrade cards that will be available at that time that we have no clue what they do... Heck Decoy might be something like Biggs' ability, which completely changes everything.

I think its a hard build for the Empire, as I love both the Phantom and the Defender, but they both want to fly in different squadrons. The Defender wants to fly with 2 generic Bounty Hunters, and the Phantom wants to fly with a mini-swarm.

I was thinking of bringing the following:

Brath + Predator + HLC

Echo + Outmaneuver + Advanced Cloaking

Backstabber

Against the HSF + Blount with Ion Missile, the idea is to kill Blount before he can deliver the missile. That will save Echo. Once you know Echo is safe, he can maul Han every round with Predator. Same with Brath. He brings the mini TL in Predator form and then can spend that focus to flip crits from the HLC. Its very harsh. And Backstabber is there because he will be ignored as they focus on the new shiny expensive stuff. He will do what he does best and wrack up damage.

Rebels should have the advantage here, mostly because they only have 39 points tied up in required ships, vs 55 points on the Imperial side. Here are three lists that I have been thinking about. They are all boring because they spend as little as possible on the new ships, so I certainly don't get any points for style.

Rebel Swarm (100 points)

1x PS1 E-wing (27)

1x PS2 Z-95 (12)

2x PS2 B-wing (44)

1x PS1 A-wing (17)

OR

1x PS1 E-wing (27)

1x PS2 Z-95 (12)

1x PS2 B-wing (22)

1x PS2 X-wing (21)

1x PS2 Y-wing (18)

Commentary: I wouldn't actually run a rebel swarm with E-wings, but since you have to use the E-wing this is the best you can do.

Han (really) shoots first (100 points)

Han Solo + Veteran Instincts + C3P0 + Luke + Engine Upgrade (61)

1x PS1 E-wing (27)

1x PS2 Z-95 (12)

Commentary: This is an obvious PS11 bid to hard counter the temptation to run a 37+ point PS9 Whisper with Advanced Cloaking Device. Engine upgrade at PS11 will let you zip around to avoid Phantom arcs, and the action economy on this Falcon is extremely efficient for not having PtL. Luke almost negates the need to focus, and Han's ability helps mitigate terrible rolls. C3P0 does not require an action and guarantees 1 evade per round. If you keep Han alive until the end game he will be very hard to kill.

What I really want to try come wave 4 is a variant that has 2 guaranteed evades per round:

Han Solo + Push the Limit + C3P0 + Luke + Engine Upgrade + Millennium Falcon (64)

3x PS2 Z-95 (36)

5 TIE Swarm (100 points)

1x PS1 Defender (30)

2x PS1 TIE Fighter (24)

How does C-3PO guarantee an evade? You still have to guess that you are either going to roll 1 evade or 0. I would go with 0 most of the time, but you'll probably roll an evade...

I want to run this:

Han + PTL + MF = 50

Blount + Wingman = 17

Blackmoon + R3-A2 = 31

= 100.

Not true HSF but run Blount along side the Falcon and pull stress from him before each combat phase. Han can PTL pretty much every turn and focus/evade. Send Blackmoon out to flank and chase down the Phantom if need be. Hopefully the E-Wing has a good dial for shedding stress.

Not sure what the heck I am going to do with Imps.

How does C-3PO guarantee an evade? You still have to guess that you are either going to roll 1 evade or 0. I would go with 0 most of the time, but you'll probably roll an evade...

... in either case you are guaranteed at least one evade.

Brain fart. You are right. I guess it will be up to your store weather you can use C-3 at Imdaar.

My Imperial list will most likely be this for the final, if I'm so lucky:

Vessery + VI = 36

Shadow + FCS + SPA + Merc. Co-pilot = 33

OGP + ST-321 + EU + WE = 31

Total: 100

TL's everywhere for Vessery to brain down some hate.

I'm thinking:

37: Etahn A'baht w/ VI, advanced sensors, R2 astromech

21: Blount w/ VI, Ion pulse missiles

21: Rookie

21: Rookie

Use Blount to IPM the phantom early, then swoop everyone in for massive crit overload on the next turn. Etahn is built for maneuverability so he can fudge his firing arc as well as possible, as often as possible, and VI to keep him reactionary.

I like this thread, lots of speculation! although can't help thinking that if you end up top 4, 1st chooses a ship, then 2nd and so on. then you build a squad with the shop you now have in it don't you? I could have sworn that was how I read it at least!

so likelihood of getting the ship you want is diminished a bit depending on who else is top 4. Just a thought! :-)