I am been testing with AND against Fat Han with the goal of coming up with a imperial list that can beat it AND doesnt lose to phantom lists.

here is what i tested with yesterday...

Han Solo, Gunner, C3-PO, Engine Upgrade, Title, Determination

3x Tala Squadron Pilot

What makes the list hard to beat?

its a solid list. with 3pO its an uphill battle. Determination was insurance against a crit that cripples Hans offense. The rerolls from han and gunner are crazy good. imo boost on Han is very important as it lets you play the firespray tactic of hitting on the run and u can often limit the number of attacks they can stick you with to 1-2, in the end game Boosting is game breaking. Those support ships chip in damage and double as blockers, letting han bomb away from all angles with that nasty 360 gun. Han can happily choose evade every turn and rely on 3pO to evade as well. thats 2 less damage every turn.

Going for Han right away?

So how do you play against a list like this. I have heard the best tactic is to throw everything at Han right away. Thats a difficult prospect unless you have heavily shielded ships or a tie-swarm of 6 ships or more.

Would this tactic work?

I was thinking about changing tactics and avoiding han as much as possible and targeting the support ships. has anyone tried this? in a limited time match u just might be able to keep at long range of the falcon (most of the time) and use the asteroid field to keep your distance.

be interested in tactics people use.

Can Fat Han be consistently beaten by a list that DOES'NT use a phantom???

Are we allowed to use wave 5 lists?

58 point Triple Action Dash for the win, fill in the last 42 with scrubs to block. 2x prototypes and 1 bandit.

So a couple of points for my two cents worth...

First, it is a good list! Tried and tested, we have seen several lists like this or similar to this. I am running one just like it in the TCO (Team Covenant Open) right now. So it has all the tools it needs to do well at the competitive level.

However, what I am finding with this list is that is does have it's vulnerabilities.

First, your support ships aren't that scary. Sure they are cheap, and can be used to block, shoot before 1s and 2s, yes, to all of that. But if you were to find yourself in a spot where Han has been gunned down, they are all you have, and it isn't much. 6 Attack dice total on very manageable ships doesn't worry anyone. And any player worth his salt in a tournament will throw everything including the kitchen sink, his shoes, and his grandma at Han to burn it down fast. TIE Swarm and HLC spam (Defenders, B-Wings, etc) are all nightmares for Falcons. And while the 3P0 + MF combo is good, they only work once per round, and after awhile that 1 evade die starts to hurt, a lot.

Second, your offence is your defense in this build. You are building to out last your opponent. So this sounds great at first, my Falcon will be sure tough to bring down and I'll just wear them down for the win. And this sounds good, until you try to kill another Falcon, for example, or a few B-Wings. Then you realize you have a total of 9 attack dice on average, and when matched up to lists bringing 12-15 dice to the table, well... it does not go well for you. So the Falcon shoots at a B-Wing and blows off a shield or two..big whoop. Then that same B-Wing and his two HLC totting buddies lay into Han and bring him down to hull in one round of shooting, most likely your suffering from some crits at that point too. My point being, you need to fly that Falcon to minimize the amount of fire you are taking. Otherwise, your support is not going to be able to help all that much. Han is the linchpin to your squad, take out the linchpin, take out the squad.

So, it is a very good list, however at the top end of the competitive events, you will not surprise anyone, those guys will have seen your list, practiced against your list, and beat your list before. So learn to fly it well, maximize Han, keep him safe, and try to make the Zs do their job, which is to draw fire away from the Falcon.

I hope that all helps!

I saw that list and was thinking "I need Whisper FCS" lol.

Blue Bwing FCS seem to work pretty well, if you could find a way to deal with the Z95s. Biggs seem to work, and then you chuck Roark in for anti-phantoms. You WILL still get your ass handed over to you if you were to fight 2x ACD phantoms though, but 1 ACD phantom should still be manageable

Are we allowed to use wave 5 lists?

58 point Triple Action Dash for the win, fill in the last 42 with scrubs to block. 2x prototypes and 1 bandit.

No.

By playing something that can put serious hurt in one turn to Han (like XXXZZZ, or Tie swarms, i prefer the 8 swarm tho). To be honest, i can't really talk about tactics if i don't know what you are playing, but i can talk about how i had dealt with it with what i had played.

For example XXXZZZ

First you need to understand what is his approach to the match up. He wants to kill as many ships as possible before you get to shoot at Han. For that, he needs to be playing reactive to what you do, because he can't risk to get pinned down, since one bad turn at the beginning, and Han can get very close to dead and his support are not that scary.

He needs to gain time, and chip ships away. For that he will play around asteroids and use his escorts to chase you and bump potential K-turns that would allow you to focus fire the Falcon. While Z's don't make the biggest damage possible, Zetas + Han can actually kill a X each turn especially if they manage to get at range 1. If that happens, and you lose 2 Xs before you engage Han, you are in trouble. And if you haven't even killed the support ships yet, you just lost the game.

That's why focusing Han doesn't work most of the time if you don't have a list that can reliabily get Han into its firing arcs, because Han with EU is really slippery, atleast for a few turns, until you really get into its vector and start shooting at it with enough ships at the same time to make a difference.

So what i do is kill its support most of the time, but by placing myself into positions where if gets close with the Falcon, he is at risk of getting into my firing arcs, so the falcon player has to delay his falcon to really outmaneuver my swarm until he can start shooting, and in the meantime, i can rush the support. Of course, you have to mix it up, or your opponent will acknowledge you are just going for their support ships. Z's fall really fast to swarm's firepower.

I've been messing around with:

Black Squadron pilot: Outmaneuver, Hull Upgrade (x3)

Whisper: VI, ACD, Intelligence Agent

98

Basically, BS chase/block Han, denying Threepio, and whittling down the shields hull. Meanwhile, Whisper should be able to handle the typical Fat Solo wingmen, with maybe the only trouble coming from another PS10+ pilot (like Corran).

Whisper is played very defensively, evading until Han gets critical. Intelligence Agent helps me avoid Han and/or battle a high PS wingman.

I haven't played it enough, specifically to know how fares against other lists, but given that Outmaneuver is generally useful, I think it could hold its own, especially against other low agility ships.

Using Wedge is a pretty good counter I think, since you are dropping Falcon's agility to 0, denying 3P0 to work. Add a B-wing with Heavy Laser Cannon and Sensor Jammer to increase durability, and Tarn Mison with R7-T1 with shield upgrade to have a very durable X-wing and free target locks; and there you have lots of firepower and durability that should be able to counter it.

Without a phantom it is tough, not for it's juking but because 4 native attack dice is pretty good. Against a fat falcon you gotta have guns. So something like

Fel + PtL -30

Jax + PtL -29

Avenger x2 -40

Not the most unique of lists, but flown correctly will get the job done vs. fat falcons and phantoms. At 99 points you can get in on the initiative bid, and Fel moving last means if you don't stink at flying you'll get a shot every turn. Four green dice vs 3 or 4 red is not a big deal at all so don't sweat cloaked phantoms. Also the PS3 saves those avengers from predators.

Now, against fat falcons, you MUST keep range 3 because you will be shot down otherwise. Turtle with your named squints and fire away with the mooks (as most players tend to ignore the avenger's for shots at the other two). If you get a chance to block with an avenger, wait till the falcon has less than 5 hp, because you need to be firing ALL YOUR GUNS until the beast is crippled. IGNORE everything else but the fat falcon until it is dead. If you do not you will lose. END. OF. STORY. However, 16 dice at a falcon is nothing to be ashamed of. Even after range three and the falcon title and 3PO you will probably still get 7-10 hits to land in the first round. Then watch the smirk melt off the falcon player's face.

Finally, let me reiterate, this is a difficult list to fly correctly. You need to know - intimately - your dials and your opponents dials. You need to be able to switch tactics on the fly if you lose a boat too soon. You need to know how to saber dance. Remember, that red dice mean squat when they don't get a shot. So arc dodge the z's and turtle to soak that han/gunner/luke shot. Pray the dice don't decide to desert you.

So, not easy, but Han or Chewie shouldn't be easy.

Can Fat Han be consistently beaten by a list that DOES'NT use a phantom???

Fat Han consistently beats lists that do. You need hit points to fight Han.

The reason you're told to go for him first is because he's a huge chunk of enemy points and you need your whole list of focused fire to punch through his shielding. If you leave him for last, you risk only having a few ships to fight the Falcon and losing your advantage over it: it pays for the turret with a lack of firepower and (relative to your entire list) health.

Without a phantom it is tough, not for it's juking but because 4 native attack dice is pretty good. Against a fat falcon you gotta have guns. So something like

Fel + PtL -30

Jax + PtL -29

Avenger x2 -40

Not the most unique of lists, but flown correctly will get the job done vs. fat falcons and phantoms. At 99 points you can get in on the initiative bid, and Fel moving last means if you don't stink at flying you'll get a shot every turn. Four green dice vs 3 or 4 red is not a big deal at all so don't sweat cloaked phantoms. Also the PS3 saves those avengers from predators.

Now, against fat falcons, you MUST keep range 3 because you will be shot down otherwise. Turtle with your named squints and fire away with the mooks (as most players tend to ignore the avenger's for shots at the other two). If you get a chance to block with an avenger, wait till the falcon has less than 5 hp, because you need to be firing ALL YOUR GUNS until the beast is crippled. IGNORE everything else but the fat falcon until it is dead. If you do not you will lose. END. OF. STORY. However, 12 dice at a falcon is nothing to be ashamed of. Even after range three and the falcon title and 3PO you will probably still get 6-8 hits to land in the first round. Then watch the smirk melt off the falcon player's face.

Finally, let me reiterate, this is a difficult list to fly correctly. You need to know - intimately - your dials and your opponents dials. You need to be able to switch tactics on the fly if you lose a boat too soon. You need to know how to saber dance. Remember, that red dice mean squat when they don't get a shot. So arc dodge the z's and turtle to soak that han/gunner/luke shot. Pray the dice don't decide to desert you.

So, not easy, but Han or Chewie shouldn't be easy.

no go. Han has choice of initiative, so he can easily go last and jump out of your firing arcs with engine upgrade. Not to mention Han can very easily double-attack, so his attacks would definitely go through even soontir's focus focus evade, unless you are very lucky with your dice rolls. Talas can also be used to block off your green maneuvers if you are not careful, and the moment any of your ships do not have any tokens, they are in serious serious trouble.

If you want stuff with the extra strong alpha strke, maybe try:

Howlrunner Determination

Sigma Stygium

Sigma Stygium

Sigma Stygium

you basically have 3 Krassis HLCs for the initial punch, then afterwards 1 sigma stygium could easily handle all 3 talas, so your endgame is pretty good. Someone over at BGG also proven that 4sigmas can kill off ACD phantoms due to the 4 atk dice and lots of redundancy within the list itself, so I think this howl3sig version could work out fine. hopefully.

~~~~~~

Howlrunner Decoy

Alpha

Alpha

Alpha

Turr VI

my favourite wave3 list. Turr VI can help you fend off phantoms, whether you have initiative or not. fly Howl and the alphas as you would normal TIEfighters, and remember to decoy the alpha that is most in danger of dying, so he could get off his shot before he becomes 1 with the force. If needed, Turr can join in the block to make use of howlrunner's ability. Everybody having 3 atk also means that when Han turtles up with C3P0 evade, you still have a reasonable chance of squeezing in 1 hit 1 hit 1 hit, as opposed to giving up straightaway if you were using 2atk TIEs

im really looking for an imperial list that can foot it with Fat Han

>>>im toying with this list, although its still untested...

• Howlrunner
• Backstabber
• Delta Squadron Pilot
• Academy Pilot
• Academy Pilot
• Academy Pilot

wonder how it would go against Fat Han?

>>> for a more durable option something like this?

• Backstabber
• Delta Squadron Pilot
• Delta Squadron Pilot
• Doom Shuttle

iv found defenders play a lot like B-Wings. good shields. 3 attack dice. decent dial for in close dog-fighting.

I have been having some success with

Boba Fett w/ VI and rebel captive

Howl Runner w/ stealth device (or hull upgrade depending on your preference)

Three Academy Pilots

At PS 10 and Boba's pilot skill he can more easily keep phantoms or boosting falcons in arc. Additionally stress hurts both Fat Han and phantoms quite a bit. The mini swarm is just all round good and hopefully does not take too much explanation on how to use it.

I have to say Defenders fair very poorly against falcons, because they get really really dicey, and can die extremely quickly. think about it this way, if you were given 36 points you could get 3 academys, 2 alphas or 1 delta. Your attack dice goes from 3x2 to 2x3 to 1x3, and your hp goes from 3x3=9bf to 2x3=6bf to 6. (bf = buffer, eg. if your TIE with 1 hp left takes a string of 3, 2 dmg is buffered because the TIE is already dead, and doesnt flow over to the other TIE)

Without a phantom it is tough, not for it's juking but because 4 native attack dice is pretty good. Against a fat falcon you gotta have guns. So something like

Fel + PtL -30

Jax + PtL -29

Avenger x2 -40

Not the most unique of lists, but flown correctly will get the job done vs. fat falcons and phantoms. At 99 points you can get in on the initiative bid, and Fel moving last means if you don't stink at flying you'll get a shot every turn. Four green dice vs 3 or 4 red is not a big deal at all so don't sweat cloaked phantoms. Also the PS3 saves those avengers from predators.

Now, against fat falcons, you MUST keep range 3 because you will be shot down otherwise. Turtle with your named squints and fire away with the mooks (as most players tend to ignore the avenger's for shots at the other two). If you get a chance to block with an avenger, wait till the falcon has less than 5 hp, because you need to be firing ALL YOUR GUNS until the beast is crippled. IGNORE everything else but the fat falcon until it is dead. If you do not you will lose. END. OF. STORY. However, 12 dice at a falcon is nothing to be ashamed of. Even after range three and the falcon title and 3PO you will probably still get 6-8 hits to land in the first round. Then watch the smirk melt off the falcon player's face.

Finally, let me reiterate, this is a difficult list to fly correctly. You need to know - intimately - your dials and your opponents dials. You need to be able to switch tactics on the fly if you lose a boat too soon. You need to know how to saber dance. Remember, that red dice mean squat when they don't get a shot. So arc dodge the z's and turtle to soak that han/gunner/luke shot. Pray the dice don't decide to desert you.

So, not easy, but Han or Chewie shouldn't be easy.

no go. Han has choice of initiative, so he can easily go last and jump out of your firing arcs with engine upgrade. Not to mention Han can very easily double-attack, so his attacks would definitely go through even soontir's focus focus evade, unless you are very lucky with your dice rolls. Talas can also be used to block off your green maneuvers if you are not careful, and the moment any of your ships do not have any tokens, they are in serious serious trouble.

If you want stuff with the extra strong alpha strke, maybe try:

Howlrunner Determination

Sigma Stygium

Sigma Stygium

Sigma Stygium

you basically have 3 Krassis HLCs for the initial punch, then afterwards 1 sigma stygium could easily handle all 3 talas, so your endgame is pretty good. Someone over at BGG also proven that 4sigmas can kill off ACD phantoms due to the 4 atk dice and lots of redundancy within the list itself, so I think this howl3sig version could work out fine. hopefully.

~~~~~~

Howlrunner Decoy

Alpha

Alpha

Alpha

Turr VI

my favourite wave3 list. Turr VI can help you fend off phantoms, whether you have initiative or not. fly Howl and the alphas as you would normal TIEfighters, and remember to decoy the alpha that is most in danger of dying, so he could get off his shot before he becomes 1 with the force. If needed, Turr can join in the block to make use of howlrunner's ability. Everybody having 3 atk also means that when Han turtles up with C3P0 evade, you still have a reasonable chance of squeezing in 1 hit 1 hit 1 hit, as opposed to giving up straightaway if you were using 2atk TIEs

No, Han doesn't have choice he gets to flip for it. Also a savvy player can manipulate the shot to take 1 or 2 damage rather than a second salvo from luke/gunner. If you get blocked by Tala's then your flying is suspect. Sounds like you haven't quite sussed out how to really defend against a fat falcon.

And just for the record, I took a top four finish at a regional with a bunch of fat falcon lists. As it happens, being good with a fat falcon list also educates you to how quickly one can die.

So hey, feel free to disagree. I know what I've seen on the table.

unless u r running BBBB, or XXBB or something else with similar firepower, Fat Han is a nightmare to take down. It seems the trick is to concentrate firepower on him early but you need that firepower in your lists first so obviously your squad choice is going to help or hinder your ability to tackle FH.

i do like firespray named pilot plus mini swarm but id say at best this is 50-50 versus FH lists.

Gunner on a firespray seems to also be a good foil for C3-PO as theyr going stop the first attack but let the next one thru.

Two local tournaments ago I flew against three different iterations of that Han list.

I beat it with the following:

Rexler Brath + Predator

Howlrunner + Elussiveness + Hull Upgrade

Academy

Academy

Academy

The list is deceptive. First off, everyone is afraid of Brath and wants to kill him first. This lets Howlrunner stay for a hella long time. This is a mistake. Brath is hard to kill (6 wounds of which 3 are immune to crits, focus and 3 agility is tough). Every round that Howlrunner survives is like having a free Predator ept on each of those Academies.

Secondly, I lead fire with Howlrunner. The purpose of this is to try and entice my opponent to use C3P0 to eat the damage. It came up a few times and each time its a difficult choice.

1) Do I use C3P0 on Howlrunner's attack and risk eating hit/crits from Rexler?

2) Do I eat the hit from Howlrunner and hopefully stop hits/crits from Rexler?

In my second game, my opponent chose poorly and stopped damage from Howlrunner and then ate 3 crits from Rexler.

Third, you need to learn how not to chase the Falcon. PS11 and Engine Upgrade is harsh. You have to kind of guess where he will show up. Part of it is knowing the dial and the distances of the turns. If you cant block, aim to get in a position where you will be in arc. This is where the practice comes in, and why there is a lot of whining about Fat Han.

Any list that throws a lot of attack dice will all be good against Fat Falcon lists... this includes:

Classic TIE Swarms (Howl + 6 TIE Fighters of your choice)
Rebel Swarm lists like the XXXZZZ (Others fit the build too) lists
HLC Featured lists like B-Wings or Defenders (Stacking crits with Rex is just funny)
Any list that features Wedge or Outmaneuver to shut down 3P0
List that feature Proton Rockets like the 5 A-Wings throwing a brutal Alpha Strike (and for those counting, that 25 potential attack dice in one round of shooting!)

This is an interesting exercise and if one wanted to, you could design all sorts of lists to blow away a Fat Han, HOWEVER, will that list survive in a competitive event and come out on top for the win. There is the question. Build a list to beat the Fat Han and it loses to Phantom builds for example.

Back in the days of HSF, I would agree - go for the escorts first. The thought process back then was that the opponent has 3 3 attack ships. 2 that are easy to kill (potentially in R1 before it even shoots) and 1 that's hard to kill. But they all pretty much do the same damage, so you might as well kill the two rookies first, reducing the overall fire power by 66% in about the time that your fire power gets reduced ~50%.

But now, Han essentially negates the first attack against him (well, first 2 damage, but same thing), so instead of shooting with 4 3 dice attacks, you're basically shooting with 3 3 dice attacks. So if you kill the escorts first, and you're down to two ships, you're essentially down to 1 ship getting damage in on Han, and once you're down to 1 ship, you basically can't touch him (100% true if it's a <PS8 2 attack ship). Furthermore, the escorts have become more durable. For 42 points, you used to get 10 health @ 2 agility. Now, for 36 points, you get 12 health @ 2 agility. Therefore, it takes longer to chew through the escorts than it did before. So, Fat Han is outright more defensive and harder to kill than ever before.

The most reliable approach seems to be targeting him first. If you're throwing 4 3 attacks (which obviously several lists don't, but it's a decent/common enough of an archetype to start from), the opening salvo (at R2) will result in 2.25 hits x4 = 9 hits rolled. He will evade 2 damage from C3PO+MF, and likely roll a 3rd evade on the other 3 attacks, so you'll put through 6 damage, 1 into the hull! The next turn, you're likely to only be shooting with 3, but potentially they're R1 shots, so 3 x4 attack = 9 dice again, 2.625 is evaded, putting 6 through, leaving him at 1 hull. The next turn you just need 1-2 guys to shoot at him and he'll die as you lose your second 3 attack ship. But now it's 2 3 attack ships vs. 3 2 attack ships - you should come out on top of that with relative ease.

Sadly, it never goes according to plan if the YT player knows what he's doing. Let's just take a look at the outcome if he can get out of a single ship's arc each turn.

3 3 attack at R2 the first turn now yields 6.75, 2.625 is avoided, netting 4 damage. The following turn, 2 4 attack yields 6 hits, 2.375 is avoided, letting 4 damage through. He now has 5 hull left. The following turn, you get 2 3 attack in, rolling 4.5 hits, and he negats 2.375 of it, leaving you with 2 damage, and him at 3 hull. By this time, you've lost a second ship, and now if he can continue to arc dodge a single ship, the one remaining ship is only putting through a single damage 42% of the time.

So, as you can see, the effect of having just a single ship not shooting at Han is devastating. But if he's boosting out of arc, he's not taking an Evade token, so I suppose it's not a total loss. And if you're action denying (to prevent the boost), you're also preventing the Evade... Fat Han might have a decent counter in the ORS... Easy to block him with it, and not too bad of an issue when it's not shooting him since it's only 2 dice.

Against the list you specifically listed I'd throw 3 x BH at it. They are tough to kill, have great firepower and can block effectively.

Swarms will have the list for dinner and I am really interested in 4 highly agile A-Wings chewing on Han.

All three of the lists I suggest could also do well against other lists, which is key in the tourney scene.

I flew against Paul Heaver this weekend with him flying a variant of your list and I flew Whisper, Fel and Turr with upgrades.

The list simply cannot compete with Han and friends. I killed his friends, but Han just chews up a ship every 1.5 turns. Throwing 12-16 dice a turn from Han and Gunner ability almost gives you a certain 3 or 4 hits and highly Agile Ints and Phantoms simply aren't built to deal with that.

If he is boosting out of arcs, and gets shot by 3 ships instead of 6 (just as an example), he is still better than taking the evade action, so that point is moot.

About the logic of focusing first Han, that entirely depends on your list, you forget that the only difference with a HSF is not only how tanky it is, but that it has Engine Upgrade. Also, 3 Z's have slightly less damage potential against 2 agility ships than 2 X, and the same at range 1, but are harder to deal with and offer more ships to bump you and lessen the overal efficiency of your list.

Taking down 2 Xs was easier than taking down 3 Z's, that's true, but only slightly, but if your list can't get han on its firing arc in a reliably fashion for the first few turns (you should tell me what list can withouth 360 or moving after it), you can't afford having the Z's killing you, specially if you don't have high agility ships.

Whenever you say the reliably way is to throw down dice at him first, it really tells that you haven't played against it much. If you are playing against people who allow you to joust a fat han, you shouldn't have any troubles with it.

And, haven't we discussed it enough to really say that Wedge isn't a counter to a Fat Han ? The moment you shoot it with a second ship, C3PO will trigger.

...but if your list can't get han on its firing arc in a reliably fashion for the first few turns (you should tell me what list can withouth 360 or moving after it), you can't afford having the Z's killing you, specially if you don't have high agility ships.

It depends on both players' approach strategies, but if you approach very slowly from a corner, it's actually very hard for the Falcon to outmaneuver you: it's forced to either fly at you or fly broadside to you. It can't feasibly get behind you because you're moving so slowly, and your blind side is guarded by the edge of the map. The Falcon's remaining play is to use boost to approach quickly and then gain an unanswered attack or two by overshooting your positions, but (a) if that appears likely you can throw off his tempo by stepping on the gas yourself, and (b) it often means leaving the escort behind.

I'm not suggesting that it's easy, or even that it's possible in every case, and once you're in the knife fight Han is in a much stronger position. But at least on the initial approach you actually have a lot of control over the Falcon's approach, and dealing substantial damage in that phase can make the rest of the game drastically easier.

Oh, i don't disagree with that, i said it before, the Fat Han player is forced into being cautious and playing reactively instead of just bumrushing to get your back. I take advantadge of that to take care of the Z's, because i know i wouldn't be able to kill in one turn, and he is likely to get out of sights for a few turns after that (probably make it lose it's shields only, and a bit more if i manage to get a few more shots after the initial clash) even if i managed to get ships into firing arc against the falcon, and if the Falcon player knows what he is doing, the moment you hard turn for the falcon, he would have his Z's on a wonderful position to flank, and turns later block the eventual K-turn while the falcon speeds away after the first engagement.

I think the swarm is still favored, but i am talking since the XXXZZZ perspective. I didn't have much troubles with the 8 Tie swarm, but i had to admit that i didn't play much with it against players i would consider good with a Fat Han build, but the amount of ships, hard turns, 5 straight speed and barrel roll can give you a much easier time getting the Falcon into your firing arc by bumping it.

I've also had some pretty good luck against Paul Heaver with using the rocks to protect my K turn, coupled with the strategy Vorpal gave above. I came in from the opposite corner than Paul, and he boosted forwards with his Han, leaving his escorts behind. The engagement took place in the SE corner of the map, I came across the southern border, and then banked left with most of my force, with a NE heading (My B maintained an E heading). He came down along the E border, and had Han boost right to clear my fighters the following turn. An asteroid was basically straight ahead of my force, at R3. The only way he could block my K turns would be if he parked his escorts on the rock, which is obviously not a smart thing to do. So while I K turned right in front of the rock (my B turned N and had a pretty broad arc of the southern border, I forget if he got a shot or not though, Han might have boosted out, or I might have BR'd to prevent the boost), his escorts were forced to go S around the rock, and Han shot by along the S border. But now my entire squad was still lined up to shoot him, and in chase position with the inside edge, so he couldn't boost out of range completely. I'd say that overall, he still had the upper hand and would win more often than not, but 3/4 of the way through the game, he got a darn lucky shot in from his Tala to take my E wing out of the game before it could finish Han off.

I would use this against falcons and phantoms:

-Keyan

-Oppertunist

-HLC

-Jan Ors

-Ion Cannon

-Numb

-Wes Johnson

____________________

The first combat turn or two will consist of Keyan pumping in 6 attack dice into the falcon after wes and Jan shoot first. 3po will mostly be used to try to block the ion turret shots, with Farlander being well behind wes and Jan to male his cone as big as possible, shooting the falcon at range 1-2.

If I only get one round of shooting in, that's an average of one damage from wes, one from Jan (+ion token), and 6 from keyans TL+Stress focused attack. Bam, 60 points of ham is down to 5 hull remaining. Most likely that will cause the player to go into defensive mode, throw the escorts in a screen to cover the falcons retreat into the asteroid field.

Usually they can get out of keyans range and he won't be able to catch up, so wes and Jan usually follow, with Jan bumping Wes to 4 attack, and they can usually kill han in 2 turns after that, although Wes is usually dead by then. 40 points of escorts tangle with Kenyan and usually Kenyan knocks out 1-2 but loses his shields and is saved by a returning damaged.

Sometimes I get really unlucky and its Jan vs Escorts, and I tend to lose those if my dice roll like crap and I can't ion anybody to keep them from shooting at me.