Hi,

poor piloting, misfortune with dice... I've lost at least 2 matches with this imperial list:

I can't pilot.

Probably trying to get at range 1 against those rebels is a stupid thing to do...

While Squints aren't what they used to be (or what they should be), you have all the advantages against that rebel list.

I'd chalk it up to:

I can't pilot

and say practice practice practice, the barrel/boost options are pure gold combined with the superb movement dial of the Interceptors.

Actually,

I'd remove Winged Gundark, and change Backstabber into Dark Curse (or drop him altogether) as you already have a flanker in Carnor.

How about something like this:

Carnor Jax — TIE Interceptor 26
Push the Limit 3

"Howlrunner" — TIE Fighter 18

"Dark Curse" — TIE Fighter 16

Academy Pilot — TIE Fighter 12

Academy Pilot — TIE Fighter 12

Academy Pilot — TIE Fighter 12

-99pts

You can give Howlrunner Determination, or stay at 99 for the initiative bid.

While Squints aren't what they used to be (or what they should be), you have all the advantages against that rebel list.

I'd chalk it up to:

I can't pilot

and say practice practice practice, the barrel/boost options are pure gold combined with the superb movement dial of the Interceptors.

Yep, I think so... How do I practice? Play some mock solo battles? Crash course in asteroids? Videos or Web sites on maneuvering? Any link to share? I can't get a grasp on barrel/boosts and use them in an effective way, in particular when combined with PTL (should be gold, in my hands it's useless). Sometimes I manage to barrel roll out of the way, but rarely I can get out of the way and preserve my aim.

Carnor Jax — TIE Interceptor 26

Push the Limit 3

"Howlrunner" — TIE Fighter 18

"Dark Curse" — TIE Fighter 16

Academy Pilot — TIE Fighter 12

Academy Pilot — TIE Fighter 12

Academy Pilot — TIE Fighter 12

Thanks, I see the good in having 1 more TIE. I'll try it. My gut feeling was to keep Carnor just behind the Academy but in the middle of the "TIE ball". You suggest to use him as a "flanker" instead, do you mean keeping him outside of the swam and try to get him on the back of the enemy? Isn't him too glassy to have him fly alone?

Practice in friendly games against various lists, or solo with asteroids and 3-4 enemy ships on auto-pilot, controlled by you (just select manoeuvres that would be somewhat meaningful to the situation).

I always flank with Soontir/Carnor/Turr.

In your case, the way I see it,

If your opponent turns to face Carnor, he has the Mini-swarm + Howlrunner on his six. Of not, he has a high PS, action denying monster with 3/4 attacks and 2 actions on his six.

Also, a thing that helped me was to learn the difference between Boost/Barrel Roll and Barrel Roll/Boost.

Those squints are excellent "dancers".

FYI, I've practiced a bit with boosts and rolls with PTL, changed my squad to 2xInterceptors with PTL, 3 Academy TIEs and Nightbeast and won 2. :-)

Aside from bad maneuvering, I've underestimated the impact of mixing PS values. Now I appreciate the Academy pilots as blockers (with evade) a lot more.

While Squints aren't what they used to be (or what they should be), you have all the advantages against that rebel list.

I'd chalk it up to:

I can't pilot

and say practice practice practice, the barrel/boost options are pure gold combined with the superb movement dial of the Interceptors.

Yep, I think so... How do I practice? Play some mock solo battles? Crash course in asteroids? Videos or Web sites on maneuvering? Any link to share? I can't get a grasp on barrel/boosts and use them in an effective way, in particular when combined with PTL (should be gold, in my hands it's useless). Sometimes I manage to barrel roll out of the way, but rarely I can get out of the way and preserve my aim.

When I get new ships, I like to throw some asteroids on the table and practice flying around them in a good zig-zag pattern. I try and see how few moves I can do it in, and start over if I hit something.

I jumped right into a game and tried flying echo after only flying regular TIE fighters. It was a steep learning curve, but squints, TIE's and phantoms can outright fly circles around rebel ships when flown right. I guess Echo gets to cheat a little bit (2 bank barrel roll FTW), but it rocks so I don't really care.

I'm probably going to go home and practice with my 2 phantoms (haven't ever flown the regular versions) to get some practice. Good suggestion!

Best way to practice with squints is to play a few games where you aren't trying to win rather have a series of goals to be met each round. Goal one is trying to stay out of as many firing arcs each turn as possible. This may mean that you don't always get shots but then you aren't getting shot either. Goal two is not to score as many hits as possible but rather quality, a lucky range 3 shot is great but a contestant quality range 1 with supporting actions is better. You can also solo practice maneuvering by placing asteroids on board and doing a weaving in and out course and have specific targets to shoot at in as few moves as possible but give the target a firing arc to avoid.

I've yet to find some online site/youtube video showing maneuvers. Lots of sites discussing how nice is a card or the other, but no "imperial academy" with lesson 0: how to turn on the engines, lesson 1: basic maneuvers, etc. Some real case examples on how the pro use boost + PTL would be nice.