I had some success during some recent sessions where my opponents fielded phantoms.

My list:

Boba Fett 39

Veteran Instincts 1

Navigator 3

Engine Upgrade 4

Prox Mine 3

Kath Scarlet 38

VI 1

Nav 3

EU 4

Prox mine 3

Let the phantoms move, adjust your dials and boost into arc then open fire before they can decloak. A 2 agility phantom isn't hard to take down. In fact I was able to avoid it's arc quite often.

How do they fare against things that aren't Phantoms? Seems like a TIE swarm or Zwarm would murder them.

I haven't tested vs swarms yet. I felt that the meta was sliding toward higher PS builds with fewer ships.

I haven't tested vs swarms yet. I felt that the meta was sliding toward higher PS builds with fewer ships.

Sliding yes. But it'll backslide pretty quick as people have already started to work out how to handle Phantoms. One high PS navigator ship on a squad is good. Two is too much. Navigator also doesn't do much on Kath. She'd be better off with Rebel captive to screw with Phantom fire.

Boba Fett + Proton Bombs + Veteran Instincts + Navigator + Engine Upgrade (52)

Kath Scarlet + Proton Bombs + Marksmanship + Tactician (48)

I've really been enjoying Proton Bombs lately in my testing. And on a high pilot skill moving last you know when you'll get the right effect and mass damage. Two of them will make it hard for a swarm to joust with you. Kath with marksmanship and tactician give you a really good chance to stress that target and could result in two.

Boba Fett w/ Navigator is by far the best counter to the Whisper and Echo threat.

Boba Fett + Proton Bombs + Veteran Instincts + Navigator + Engine Upgrade (52)

Kath Scarlet + Proton Bombs + Marksmanship + Tactician (48)

I've really been enjoying Proton Bombs lately in my testing. And on a high pilot skill moving last you know when you'll get the right effect and mass damage. Two of them will make it hard for a swarm to joust with you. Kath with marksmanship and tactician give you a really good chance to stress that target and could result in two.

Boba Fett w/ Navigator is by far the best counter to the Whisper and Echo threat.

Corran Horn + Fire Control System was pretty good at dealing with Echo.
I still had a hard time fighting the elusive bastard though.

Fought four battles and lost three. I hate Echo...

Corran Horn + Fire Control System was pretty good at dealing with Echo.

I still had a hard time fighting the elusive bastard though.

Fought four battles and lost three. I hate Echo...

I love Echo, definitely my favorite ship in the game once you learn how to maneuver him right. He is near-godlike with sensor jammers and Veteran Instincts.

I used to worry about the Phantoms. In my first game against one, I got beat like a drum. After playing a few more games against one and playing a few games as one, I learned that there are a LOT of counters to Phantoms. And it's not just, "get a turret" or "use high PS."

• Asteroids work great. Good luck decloaking in the middle of an asteroid field.
• Plain old TIEs. This is what I've been doing a lot. I've been using them to screen various sections of the board, while keeping a heavy hitter the back. At that point the Phantom HAS to collide with one of them, losing an action and giving a chance for your other ship to hit it.
• Stress & Ions. A shuttle with tactician, ion cannon and gunner is nasty.

These are just a few examples and these are all things that are effective against non Phantom builds also.

Anyway, this is just a little bit of what I learned about how to stop worrying and love blowing up the Phantom.

I used to worry about the Phantoms. In my first game against one, I got beat like a drum. After playing a few more games against one and playing a few games as one, I learned that there are a LOT of counters to Phantoms. And it's not just, "get a turret" or "use high PS."

• Asteroids work great. Good luck decloaking in the middle of an asteroid field.
• Plain old TIEs. This is what I've been doing a lot. I've been using them to screen various sections of the board, while keeping a heavy hitter the back. At that point the Phantom HAS to collide with one of them, losing an action and giving a chance for your other ship to hit it.
• Stress & Ions. A shuttle with tactician, ion cannon and gunner is nasty.

These are just a few examples and these are all things that are effective against non Phantom builds also.

Anyway, this is just a little bit of what I learned about how to stop worrying and love blowing up the Phantom.

Asteroids are huge against phantom. Clutter the field. I fins anything with higher PS and barrel roll or engine upgrades works well. Ten Numb and or Wedge with engine upgrades on the rebel side. Cracken is also sneaky good with those types of ships.

You can also force them off the board while they are cloaked. They cant decloak onto another ship so if you kept at the right distance they wont be going anywhere.

I used to worry about the Phantoms. In my first game against one, I got beat like a drum. After playing a few more games against one and playing a few games as one, I learned that there are a LOT of counters to Phantoms. And it's not just, "get a turret" or "use high PS."

• Asteroids work great. Good luck decloaking in the middle of an asteroid field.
• Plain old TIEs. This is what I've been doing a lot. I've been using them to screen various sections of the board, while keeping a heavy hitter the back. At that point the Phantom HAS to collide with one of them, losing an action and giving a chance for your other ship to hit it.
• Stress & Ions. A shuttle with tactician, ion cannon and gunner is nasty.

These are just a few examples and these are all things that are effective against non Phantom builds also.

Anyway, this is just a little bit of what I learned about how to stop worrying and love blowing up the Phantom.

Asteroids are huge against phantom. Clutter the field. I fins anything with higher PS and barrel roll or engine upgrades works well. Ten Numb and or Wedge with engine upgrades on the rebel side. Cracken is also sneaky good with those types of ships.

Phantoms are slightly harder to kill than high PS interceptors. If you forget for a moment that they have that "cloak" thing, fly against them as if they were Fel.

You can also force them off the board while they are cloaked. They cant decloak onto another ship so if you kept at the right distance they wont be going anywhere.

That's much harder to do because they are never "required" to decloak. They can just change direction and trust the 4 green dice.

You can also force them off the board while they are cloaked. They cant decloak onto another ship so if you kept at the right distance they wont be going anywhere.

That's much harder to do because they are never "required" to decloak. They can just change direction and trust the 4 green dice.

Has anyone tried a simple Y-wing with an ion turret to protect their formation? Is it not enough dice, too tough to get the phantom in range?

Like every single ship in the game, the Phantom has counters. It's much more about the player than the ship. Phantoms can beat any list, and can be beaten by any list. Yes, they are weaker against some builds than others -- again, just like B-Wings, X-Wings, Falcons, TIE swarms, etc. But applying your strengths against your opponent's weaknesses is what usually wins games -- not whether you're flying the "right" ship against an opponent.

Zwarm

I like this. Hope it catches on, as I've yet to see it used elsewhere.

OT: I bet those proxy mines weren't very useful

Personally, I had a fun time shooting it with a Gold Ion, accompanied by Hobbie with R3A2. Stress and ions? Forget about your cloaking and maneuverability.

I ran the following at the last regionals.

Biggs

Dagger + Advanced Sensors

Dagger + Advanced Sensors

HWK + Ion Cannon

The HWK Ionized Whisper twice and my Bs let me down. Both were RB1 with TLs on an ionized Whisper that could not decloak as it did not reveal a dial, but I could not roll more than 1 hit and 2 hits on both my attacks which were easily dodged. The more I think about it, Ion weapons murder the Phantoms.

The more I think about it, this is a very strong anti-phantom list that can probably handle some swarmage too:

Roark + Ion Cannon

Red Squadron Pilot + R2D6 + Swarm Tactics

Red Squadron Pilot + R3A2

Biggs

The idea is to pop 2 Xwings to PS12, where they get the jump on a decloaked Whisper. And then you can drop a stress on it, so that it cant recloak. If its still alive, you ionize it.

This will make your opponent fly Whisper very conservatively, trying to hide out of arcs and such, which means he shouldnt be attacking you as much. So through the threat of Roark you effectively shut down a 40 point ship. It will need some testing but I think it has some potential.

Last game vs my lady. She was playing Rebels. I misjudged with Echo and de-cloaked/moved 1mm inside Wedge's arc of fire. Phantom went BOOM in one turn. Later she proceeded to trash Defender and Backstabber. That's my first experience with Tie Phantom.