okay, let me preface this by saying I'm new... as in painfully new to this game... and I bought way too much stuff and got way over my head as everything looked so damned cool!

So now I'm trying to figure out a list to practice the hell out of before a local tourney in August... and to be honest I can't really decide what's a good balance to give me options, firepower and survivability...

so here's what I've come up with so far... and I play Imperials cuz bad guys are awesome

Option 1: Cool interceptors and a big bad bounty hunter

Soontir Fel - push the limit

Turr Phennir - push the limit

Bounty Hunter - Heavy laser cannon

Option 2: Vader Missiles - like regular missiles but more darkside

Darth Vader - concussion missiles

Captain Jonus - concussion missiles, munitions failsafe

Bounty hunter - Heavy laser cannon

Option 3: Vader's acrobats!

Darth Vader - daredevil, engine upgrade

Soontir Fel - push the limit, stealth device

Turr Phennir - push the limit, stealth device

Option 4: doo doo doo doo... doo doo.. doo doo -can't touch this!

Dark curse - stealth device

Krassis Trelix - Heavy laser cannon, mercenary co-pilot, stealth device

Soontir Fel - push the limit, stealth device

.......................

okay so there's some themes obviously in that I like interceptors, the firespray and not getting hit because blowing up sucks. I want to keep movement options open, but I guess none of that agility matters much when Han shows up in a falcon does it?

I'm just not really sure where to go with a reliable list that gives me options and the ability to take on all comers.

I have for imperials:

5 tie fighters

bomber

advanced

firespray

2 interceptors

any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I don't have a lot of experience but maybe enough to help.

I think each choice needs tweaking. #2 is the possibly the best with no changes. 3 ship lists need more durability than the others give.

With what you have, maybe you should try

Krassis with a cannon (ion or heavy laser)

Howlrunner + stealth device

3x academy pilots

Soontir fel and push the limit and a fire spray are great together. Not sure on what would be the best for a 3rd ship if you didnt want any ties.

a stealth device on a fire spray is not worth it. You will likely get hit on the first shot.

Don't use expose. Math shows it isn't worth it, and you're better off using focus for your action. Definitely a bad idea to put it on an Interceptor because they're so fragile already, and their 3 dice is the only thing that keeps them alive. If you have 2 PtL cards, use the, both. I like list one, if you swap expose for PtL. List 4 is also pretty darn good. I'm a big fan of Krassis + HLC. Works very, very well.

Fly all four of your options and figure out what you prefer best.

Expose is a gambler's card. Sometimes, due to variance, it will work wonders. The rest of the time, it will probably suck.

I wouldn't worry so much about your list, and I would focus on maneuvering. So many people get caught up in list building, but they hit every astroid no matter what build they use. My advice is learn how to fly well before making a laundry list of ship builds. Stick with one list, learn how to fly it well, learn its weaknesses, and improve on the build over time.

I think your option 1 is really good (though, questionable vs han. at least you have the HLC BH). I would just change the expose to a hull upgrade

One of the reasons I was going with fewer ships rather than a bunch of ties is I don't think I'm good enough yet at manouvering to do a lot of ships without them bumping into one another... part of the reason why out of the lists I posted, I have the least confidence with the third one given it really relies on manouvering out of arcs to even have a chance of working.

Thanks as well for the advice about expose, and all the advice above.

my thinking around using the firespray with stealth device and HLC (stolen from someone else's idea of course!) is it has four evade dice at range three and can still fire to full effect, figured Krassis gives the reliability to hit, so with a focus that makes for some pretty good chance to evade with such a big ship so long as I can keep him in the backfield.

Just keep it simple. Pick one premier pilot with a couple upgrades and fill it out with "basic" unnamed pilots. Bounty Hunters are very forgiving. Interceptors are not, so I wouldn't fly more than one until you get the hang of it.

If you are playing in a tournament, are this new, and want to play Imperial I'll just give you this advice without elaboration - Make your "premier" named pilot somebody with Pilot Skill 9 (or even higher if you can bear to put Veteran Instincts on him). Your Soontir Fel with Push the Limit is a nice option, but a hull upgrade will make him a bit more forgiving.

One of the reasons I was going with fewer ships rather than a bunch of ties is I don't think I'm good enough yet at manouvering to do a lot of ships without them bumping into one another... part of the reason why out of the lists I posted, I have the least confidence with the third one given it really relies on manouvering out of arcs to even have a chance of working.

Thanks as well for the advice about expose, and all the advice above.

my thinking around using the firespray with stealth device and HLC (stolen from someone else's idea of course!) is it has four evade dice at range three and can still fire to full effect, figured Krassis gives the reliability to hit, so with a focus that makes for some pretty good chance to evade with such a big ship so long as I can keep him in the backfield.

so with soontir/Krassis combo what would you recommend to support it?

I would say that as a new player running Firespray's can be very helpful since they are easier to get your shot of with. I would avoid a stealth device on a firespray and instead run recon specialist if you can get one. Two focuses on a firespray's makes it very tough and damaging. My favorite is Krassis with rec spec and HLC. Soontir can be very good but you need to know how to keep him out of harms way. If you are going to invest that much in a fragile ship ten you need to know how to fly him well. I would say your safest bet is firespray and a mini swarm.

Krassis- hlc

Jonus- concussion missles, munitions failsafe

Dark curse

Black squadern pilot

With what you have I messed around to see what is like to fly and came up with this list.

I use to Like stealth device but find some games it gets no use if you roll real bad.

This comes to 100 pts.

Your highest ps is a 6 and lowest is a 4

Krassis focus

Jonus target locks.

Hopefully fires off his payload.

Allows Krassis to reroll and basically with jonus and Krassis ability no need to Target lock so just focus with Krassis

Then dark curse to be annoying and you have a tie that shoots on a 4 so hopefully he fires before something else

I may try this as it looks like fun

One of the reasons I was going with fewer ships rather than a bunch of ties is I don't think I'm good enough yet at manouvering to do a lot of ships without them bumping into one another... part of the reason why out of the lists I posted, I have the least confidence with the third one given it really relies on manouvering out of arcs to even have a chance of working.

Practice your manouvering. Seriously. Hard core. Sit at your dining room table, or any convenient surface, and practice it until you can do it with your eyes closed, Jedi like. If you're playing Empire, you need to be able to move larger groups of ships effectively. Honest.

I will echo what others have said, practice maneuvering and get games in with the basic ships you like and work from there. Just for fun here are a few Krassis based lists I've always enjoyed playing.

List 1: 100 points

Krassis Trelix - Recon Specialist, Heavy Laser Cannon

Soontir Fel - Push the Limit

Saber Squad - Push the Limit

List 2: 98 points (you can bump an academy up to obsidian if you like, but I like the initiative bid).

Krassis Trelix - Recon Specialist, Heavy Laser Cannon

Backstabber

3x Academy Tie

so with soontir/Krassis combo what would you recommend to support it?

I don't know that there is an awesome option with those two. It is hard to put that many points into two guys skirting the edge and still have enough left over for a "main force". If I had to put together the closest list I could, it would likely look something like this:

Soontir + PtL

Krassis + HLC + Recon Specialist

2 Academy Pilots

Soontir can skirt the edge and the Krassis can work somewhat more close in with the Academies, with Recon Spec boosting his defense and offense, with no risk of losing it like Stealth Device. You can take advantage of his range specialty in the opening and as opportunity permits.

Honestly if it were my squad though, I'd probably go with just a Bounty Hunter and come in at 97 points for initiative.

so with soontir/Krassis combo what would you recommend to support it?

I don't know that there is an awesome option with those two. It is hard to put that many points into two guys skirting the edge and still have enough left over for a "main force". If I had to put together the closest list I could, it would likely look something like this:

Soontir + PtL

Krassis + HLC + Recon Specialist

2 Academy Pilots

Soontir can skirt the edge and the Krassis can work somewhat more close in with the Academies, with Recon Spec boosting his defense and offense, with no risk of losing it like Stealth Device. You can take advantage of his range specialty in the opening and as opportunity permits.

Honestly if it were my squad though, I'd probably go with just a Bounty Hunter and come in at 97 points for initiative.

This would be a fairly solid build. Or alternatively if you drop Krassis back down to a naked Bounty Hunter, you can get in another TIE with a point spare for initiative.

Thanks everyone for all the great advice, it's extremely helpful and appreciated.

I've been able to rule out list three completely (don't have the experience to run that kind of list until as you've said I've practiced my manouvering more)

I unfortunately do not have the recon specialist card (no Hawk/phantom) so cannot go that route

So what I'm going to test/practice is this (along with some tests of the other lists in original post modified as recommended of course)

Krassis - HLC, stealth (will drop stealth if does nothing or switch to recon specialist if I can acquire the card)

Soontir - PTL

2 academy pilots

and I bought way too much stuff and got way over my head as everything looked so damned cool!

You've gotten a ton of good advice here already. But I wanted to comment on this...

I can say for sure, that you are far from alone in this condition. So I will once more post this comic.

Thanks everyone for all the great advice, it's extremely helpful and appreciated.

I've been able to rule out list three completely (don't have the experience to run that kind of list until as you've said I've practiced my manouvering more)

I unfortunately do not have the recon specialist card (no Hawk/phantom) so cannot go that route

So what I'm going to test/practice is this (along with some tests of the other lists in original post modified as recommended of course)

Krassis - HLC, stealth (will drop stealth if does nothing or switch to recon specialist if I can acquire the card)

Soontir - PTL

2 academy pilots

My regular advice, try it all and you decide, it's the only way that you get a style, greettings