I came up with this list for a friend of mine who has had a hard time against mini swarms and Defender TIEs.

Dutch Vander 23

-Ion Turret 5

-R5 K6 2

Lt Blount 17

-Assault Missles 5

Red Squadron 23

-R7 Astromech

Rookie Pilot 21

-R7 Astromech

Total is an even 100

Taking Rook and Red with R7? Why not Tarn Mison?

I do not have him unfortunately and neither does my friend. Tarn would be better since he is the same as the red right?

One less Ps but same price

I'm not sure about the R7s and really would try to find something other than R5K6. With the R7s you'll need to be picking the right things to TL but that may not do you any more good that just using Focus. When it comes to R5K6 I believe it is just to unreliable as it triggers less than half the time. That's six points of astromechs that I'd try to do something else with.

I'm not sure about the R7s and really would try to find something other than R5K6. With the R7s you'll need to be picking the right things to TL but that may not do you any more good that just using Focus. When it comes to R5K6 I believe it is just to unreliable as it triggers less than half the time. That's six points of astromechs that I'd try to do something else with.

Promote Red squadron to Garvin, and change Dutch's astro to R7-T1. There six points made

Dutch w/ ion

Blount w/ assault missiles

2 rookies w/ shield upgrades

I used R7's on Y-wings and had some reasonable success. It works better with Dutch's action economy though.

If you change Blount to Cracken, then Cracken can gift an action to Dutch to use R7-T1 to get another set of TL's. Though Dutch has to switch his first lock to a different target for it to trigger.

I used R7's on Y-wings and had some reasonable success. It works better with Dutch's action economy though.

If you change Blount to Cracken, then Cracken can gift an action to Dutch to use R7-T1 to get another set of TL's. Though Dutch has to switch his first lock to a different target for it to trigger.

I don't think you can target lock again.

Dutch w/ ion

Blount w/ assault missiles

2 rookies w/ shield upgrades

Dutch would be the one you should place the extra shields on, Blount being arguably as expendable as you listed him here. If you have Blount with a talent on top of what he does then he becomes far more useful, like Wingman.

You can lock again you just can't lock the same target again

I'm not sure about the R7s and really would try to find something other than R5K6. With the R7s you'll need to be picking the right things to TL but that may not do you any more good that just using Focus. When it comes to R5K6 I believe it is just to unreliable as it triggers less than half the time. That's six points of astromechs that I'd try to do something else with.

I'm not as worried about the target locks since I've been playing at most five ships against him. The other imperial player usually runs three ship lists as well.

I will have to check out garven. I think I have him.

I don't follow with how R7 T1 would be better. You basically target lock to boost then cracken passes a focus? I think I'd rather have the focus on one of the xwings.

One of my ideas was the use focus with Blount then pass him the target lock for the maximum effect off of the assault missle then use the R5 K6 to pass off a target lock to whomever lacked one, presumably an xwing.

Blount is chopped liver to me after after his boosted missle shot.

I don't follow with how R7 T1 would be better. You basically target lock to boost then cracken passes a focus? I think I'd rather have the focus on one of the xwings.

One of my ideas was the use focus with Blount then pass him the target lock for the maximum effect off of the assault missle then use the R5 K6 to pass off a target lock to whomever lacked one, presumably an xwing.

Blount is chopped liver to me after after his boosted missle shot.

I think the Dutch+R7T1 working with Cracken is supposed to work like this:

1. Dutch moves. Takes TL and give TL to some other ship (preferably Cracken?)

2. Cracken does whatever. Shooting starts and when Cracken shoots he give Dutch a Free Action.

3. Dutch used that free action to use the R7T1 Action which can let it TL (unless the target is already TLed) and Boost. This TL will let someone else TL as well.

While I like Cracken I'm not sure I'd recommend him for this squadron although I like what he can do for an "alpha strike" squadron.

I see the Dutch/Blount synergy allowing Blount to fire more accurately. As I was mentioning before the problem with R5-K6 is that it is an unreliable to get TL's back which is why I do not recommend it. While I can see Blount as "chopped liver" after he's fired his missile I'd suggest doing something about it to make that liver more useful. Don't forget that Blount has an Elite Pilot slot available and while you probably don't want to use it to improve Blount's offense or put an expensive upgrade there I can think of a LOT of things you could give him to improve the rest of the squadron:

Draw Their Fire: Blount isn't a prime target without any missiles so let him suck the [crits] that some of his allies might take.

Wingman: Help your neighbors get rid of any stress they may pick up.

Swarm Tactics: No help to Dutch but can let those lesser X-Wings fire before they otherwise would.

Squad Leader: Give those lesser X-Wings Blount's action.

I could be missing some options but that one or two points can give Blount more life after he's fired off his one missile.

After looking at it either dropping R5 K6 or demoting a red to a rookie you can toss squad leader onto bound which will make him more useful liver like you said. It also works out well in the fact that you can focus with the X wings first the follow up with target locks from Dutch and Blounts actions.

That does in a way make R5 K6 a little obsolete since you get to have your focus with both all the time and maintain a better target lock after the low pilot skill imperials move in and you have a better vision on who is going to need to reroll their attack dice