I was planning on ordering 3 Zs, but i threw together this list on a builder:

Dutch Vander w/ Flechette Torp & R3-A2

Airen Cracken w/ Cluster Missiles & Swarm Tactics

2x Bandit Squadron w/ Concussion Missiles

Bandit Squadron w/ Ion Pulse Missiles & Munitions Failsafe

Idea is that Bandits can move and Focus if they're out of range to target lock. Dutch can pass one a TL during Activation and maybe another during combat with his droid. Airen can fire Cluster missiles, get two attacks, and thus let two more Zs TL or focus. Also bumps one chosen Bandit to fire at 8. Hoping for a strong alpha strike followed by 2-dice attacks made more reliable with lots of TL + Focus.

Is this worth buying an additional Z? Anyone else have any good 4 Z ideas? I'm interested in Epic but causally enough to not but minis specifically for it, other than huge ships.

i am planning on picking up 2-3 z95's. I'm avoiding buying anymore than that out of the gate in case they release an aces pack with it in the future.

Cracken w/ Clusters and Squad leader

Blount with Assault

2x Tala w/ Assault

Either another Tala, a Bandit w/ clusters, or a Green with the Chardaan Refit.

Cracken Squad leaders one Tala, passes the lock after firing to the 2nd. Blount and both Talas salvo missiles. Next round Cracken fires the clusters and passes off more actions. Green to flank?

I'm getting 12 of them for an epic game with a squadron of them and a couple Y-wings. Old school rebels

as far as 100 pts games go, I've been thinking about trying this against a tie swarm

Cracken+ homing missiles+ swarm tactics

Blount+assault+ swarm tactics

3X Bandit+ cluster+ munitions failsafe on two of them

I figure I can alpha strike away their numbers advantage and with each of them missing health from blount they should be easy enough to clean up.

I think three is a completely reasonable order for Z-95s, although of course there will be lists with four and five and six. But as oddeye noted, now that FFG has established the precedent for repaints/Aces, I'm planning to preorder the number I think I'll typically fly* rather than maxing out 100 point lists.

(*Two Defenders, two Phantoms, two E-wings, and three Headhunters.)

I have a list for 6, so i'm getting 6. If they release the Z-95's as a Aces pack down the road, then I'll end up with 7 or 8... That doesn't bother me.

But if you only think you're likely to use 3 then that's all I'd order.

Guess I'm also asking if my list sounds good at all. If so, I'll grab the 4th. Maybe I'll try it out on Vassal. Haven't played on there before, though.

I think the list sounds good.

That is IMO the beauty of the Z. They're like jello.. there's always room for a Z. At 12 points 1 is fairly easy to fit in a list. But there's also room for 3-4 of them with other stuff, either missiles on them or just other ships.

The real question should be if anyone is going to 8?

Ultimately I want to have a full flight group of 4, at least at least before considering more. I'd like to use the Z-95s in missions involving third-party forces, like pirates and the Ripoblus/Dimok forces. Now all we need is the R-41 to recreate some of the anti-piracy missions of the empire!

This could be fun as well:

3 Bandits with Assault Missiles

Cracken with Squad Leader

Dutch with Ion Cannon

Comes to 100 points on the nose, and allows a salvo of up to three Assault Missiles with focuses and target locks on the first pass.

Just checked my auto sig looks like I am getting 7 of them so let's see here,

List A

7- Bandit Pilot (12)

1- A-wing, chard refit (15)

List B

6- Bandits pilots (12)

1- ORS (27)

List C

6- bandits pilots with ion (15)

4 is a good start. 8 is better.

4 is a good start. 8 is better.

Agreement

One other thought you now have 1 ion pulse missile per z95. I believe these missiles are worth the cost of the ship. I believe they will be the star of wave 4 if not the underdog. With the ion stripping engery from a capt ship I would just take 12 z95s and wreck one more then anything else. It comes out to 180 points which leaves 120 for other wonderful things.

I'm betting that the Z-95 will be the most used ship from Wave 4. All the rest are nice, but they're so expensive that you pretty much have to build a list around them.

I'm betting that the Z-95 will be the most used ship from Wave 4. All the rest are nice, but they're so expensive that you pretty much have to build a list around them.

I want to say echo is going to proby be first or tied with a z95. I know the z is not a swarm ship but that's not going to stop people from running it as one. I am really excited to have 6 and an ORS or 4 with Han. They will open up some crazy ideas but Echo is going to be maddness to try to figure out in the hands of a skilled player. Just think you might pay 40 points for echo but if you ever see her for shots, it's going to be a win each time.

I'm starting by ordering 5 Z-95s. That seems to be the sweet spot for as many as I would run (Cracken, 4 generics and a lead E/B/X Wing)

I'd like to think that two is almost a must but the need for more starts going down above that. Three is still a good number which many people will occasionally use. My people may try using four in squads as well. After that I see the number of viable 100 point uses diminishing.