So I am happily (finally) going to be ordering the Imperial Aces expansion, maybe two, and I'm interested in trying a build of 4 royal guard pilots, each with Push the Limit. I've heard it's been growing in popularity, but I haven't seen any threads about it.

From those who have flown it, what strategies do you use? What are it's strengths/weaknesses? Joust or Flank? Is it tournament worthy? etc.

For those who have flown against it, How did you beat it? How did it beat you? what strengths/weaknesses did you see?

Mostly I'm just curious, and when I get mine I will probably (unintentionally) ignore everything in this thread and go learn it all myself the hard way anyway.

Good rule of thumb for interceptors is never joust. One bad green roll and you're done for. Guy I play with who is good at flying them told me that to get better he would only fly interceptors and only shoot if he was out of his targets arc. If he was in the targets arc he wouldn't take the shot. This way it forced him to get good at arc dodging and learning how to maneuver them.

With 4 glass cannons, they take alot of skill. I have found it is sometimes better to deny yourself a shot for a round then it is to let your opponant shoot. What I mean by this is if you can both shoot each other, you are often better boosting and barrel rolling with PtL to deny both of you a shot and then wait for the right time to get them in the flank/rear.

Anything with turrets, and to a lesser extent read firing arcs, will tear the list a new one fairly consistantly.

Anything with turrets, and to a lesser extent read firing arcs, will tear the list a new one fairly consistantly.

Turrets can, yes, but rear firing arcs? Not as dangerous since the Firespray is relatively big, its not too hard to get your interceptor on its side where it is 'blind'.

Biggest threats to interceptors:

Han Solo w/ Gunner & Marksmanship

Any of the other named YT's with Gunner & whatever

Turrets (ion or blaster)

Heavy Laser Cannons & anything else that throws 4+ attack dice

Anything with higher Pilot Skill that throws at least 3 attack dice & possesses barrel roll or boost (or both)

Everything else should be relatively easy to beat with 4 royal guards.

Honestly, the best way to get good with Royal Guards is practice. You absolutely have to know the exact distance of each manoeuvre template and should always be thinking two moves in advance. To give yourself best possibly odds of victory against tough matchups, you need to use asteroids to your advantage (example: make their k-turns go through asteroids) and break up their formation flying as early as possible.

Also, I think to use royal guards effectively you do have to be patient and perhaps even cautious, but you have to also know how to set up opportunities to deal some damage and minimize return fire...easier said than done of course, but very satisfying when you pull it off.