I'm being torn between two schools of thought right now. One is using a low PS Phantom with Intelligence Agent, or a high PS Phantom with Navigator (and VI to keep the PS as high as possible). To that end, I drew up two possible squads.

For Squad A, I'd make use of IA at the start of the Activation, and use the AS and decloak accordingly to flank out whoever I found most useful. This would, of course, require that I had more or less picked the right moves for everyone to make use of Decoy or Swarm during the Combat phase to allow the Phantom to pick up the higher PS. The cloak would come right after the attack to try to keep it safe. This squad would benefit from staying closely packed for the R1 & R1-2 abilities to maximize.

Squad B has, obviously, a very high PS Whisper along with Navigator and still with AS to make any adjustments for the decloak/BR before firing, and then cloaking again immediately. In this line up, Whisper would be free to roam and pick off targets of opportunity, while Howl and her boys would be running as the mini swarm.

Which one would each of you pick? Or modify? I'm curious here to see what other options I've missed.

Thoughts? Opinions? Flames?

Squad A - 100 points

Howlrunner (20)
TIE Fighter (18), Decoy (2)

Mauler Mithel (19)
TIE Fighter (17), Decoy (2)

Sigma Squadron Pilot (33)
TIE Phantom (25), Intelligence Agent (1), Advanced Sensors (3), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Carnor Jax (28)
TIE Interceptor (26), Swarm Tactics (2)

Squad B - 100 points

"Whisper" (43)
TIE Phantom (32), Navigator (3), Advanced Sensors (3), Veteran Instincts (1), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Howlrunner (19)
TIE Fighter (18), Determination (1)

Black Squadron Pilot (14)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

I tried the adv sensors phantom yesterday. Adds a nice extra layer of fun but gets really expensive for such a low power ship.

I did a lot of pre dial cloaking and decloaking for maneuver shenanigans with an evade (used Stygian instead of AC).

Honestly, I wouldn't put Howlrunner in your A Squad. I know she's the go-to, but with that list she's really not going to gain you much... she won't keep up with either the Sigma or Jax, leaving her and Mauler flying their own little mini-formation. Backstabber with a Stealth would be a stronger choice, IMHO. Forget the synergy, forget the formations, fly each ship to its own strengths and make them pick which they're going to deal with. Keep the one point that saves you for an initiative bid - The broad PS bids may be 4 these days, but Obsidians are still common and will, IMHO, become more so to avoid helping Predators. Tarn is also about to hit in a big way, and he's a 3 as well. Your Sigma having the first shot may be a very big deal.

Between the two squads initially presented I'd definitely be going for the second. In the second you have Whisper running around while Howlrunner actually has a flight of ships to support. The change I may make in the second is dropping Determination and making all of the generic TIE Fighters into Obsidians.

With the first one I also believe Howlrunner is mostly a waste of points. I'd also point out that for the six points you spend to shuffle around your PS 8,8,7,3 via Decoy and Swarm Tactics you could just upgrade the Sigma to Echo w/ VI who also gets to go at PS 8. If you make that change I'd almost consider squad 1 and while you still may not be making the most of Howlrunner's ability you're mostly playing here for her high PS.

Perhap as appealing a change for squad 1 is to upgrade Sigma to Echo+VI as mentioned, add PtL to Jax, and then trade the two TIE Fighters for the PS6 pair of Backstabber and Dark Curse (or even BSP +VI if you want points for other things). If you keep the Intelligence Agent you are back at 100 points although I'd consider dropping that for an initiative bid. This gives you three "threats" counting the Fighter pair as a unit with similar costs.

You have a BSP in the second list, why would you put Determination on Howl instead of Draw their Fire on the BSP? I'd take out either Navigator or Advanced Sensors on the Phantom and put Swarm Tactics on Howl instead.