So, I was thinking of trying out this squadron - it would rely on primary attack only, but it could almost guarantee that 3 out of 4 of the ships would be firing every turn with a focus token and a target lock.

(Yet Another) X-Wing Miniatures Builder

Keyan with Adv. Sensors would Target Lock prior to maneuver, pull a red, then use the stress as focus.

On manuever, you have Dutch give Garven a TL, then you fire with Garven first handing off his Focus to Dutch.

That leaves only Airen without both a TL and a Focus every turn, but he can be used to harass and block.

Suggestions?

Not a lot of room to change things up there...

From a tactics stand point if Airen is in a viable position before he moves have Dutch give him the TL instead of Garven, then he can use his ability to allow Garven to take a TL action. Not going to happen too often but something to be aware of just in case.

From a list building stand point... I dunno. I've never figured out how to get 4 ships both a TL and Focus in one turn consistantly so I can't really give you any ideas that would be better in that regard. Still I am concerned that half of you're ships only have 2 attack dice. Tarn Mison is always good if you can work him in, he can often get TL + Focus without any assistance. If nothing else I'd probably switch out Farlander for him so you could at least give Dutch a turret. If you gave Airen Squad Leader, you could get a TL and 2 Focus on Dutch allowing you to take a blaster turret for more potential damage over an Ion turret.

That's about all I can say without be a forum troll and saying "hurr durr... try this completely different list that meets none of your criteria!"

Edit: removed random spacing anomaly.

Hrm.

I like the concept but I'll echo some of the concerns above. I feel like the consistency of the shots will be fairly offset by the low dice. On the other hand, I'm blanking on ways to improve that. My one suggestion would be that I feel like Airen is superfluous in this list a bit. I'd mebbe try a A-Wing Greenie with Chaardan and then... uh... an Blaster Turret for Dutch? I'm not generally a fan, but he'll be able to fix the shot a bit with the lock, and can guard against flankers somewhat.

Hrm.

I like the concept but I'll echo some of the concerns above. I feel like the consistency of the shots will be fairly offset by the low dice. On the other hand, I'm blanking on ways to improve that. My one suggestion would be that I feel like Airen is superfluous in this list a bit. I'd mebbe try a A-Wing Greenie with Chaardan and then... uh... an Autoblaster Turret for Dutch? I'm not generally a fan, but he'll be able to fix the shot a bit with the lock, and can guard against flankers somewhat.

I think (and hope) you mean the Blaster turret, we don't know (for certain) what the Autoblaster turret will do or how much it'll cost.

I would say drop garvin for a rook, and put ion turret on dutch.

keyan does his thing by himself. craken focus, dutch lock, and rook focus(and gets lock from dutch).

cracken focus shot, and gives dutch free action to focus.

dutch fires focus lock

rook fires focus lock.

the only shot that does not have both is cracken, but he has your only 2 dice shot...

Hrm.

I like the concept but I'll echo some of the concerns above. I feel like the consistency of the shots will be fairly offset by the low dice. On the other hand, I'm blanking on ways to improve that. My one suggestion would be that I feel like Airen is superfluous in this list a bit. I'd mebbe try a A-Wing Greenie with Chaardan and then... uh... an Autoblaster Turret for Dutch? I'm not generally a fan, but he'll be able to fix the shot a bit with the lock, and can guard against flankers somewhat.

I think (and hope) you mean the Blaster turret, we don't know (for certain) what the Autoblaster turret will do or how much it'll cost.

Yes, yes I did. >.> <.<

Seriously though, thanks for the correction, I'll edit m' post.

Drop Airen for sure. Put in a prototype A or a green with vi.

Thanks for the feedback!

An interesting list, but it seems underpowered. Keyan matched with an HLC might be a better choice, and gives you some tactical options at range 2-3. Lack of a turret means that you probably will be relying on Keyan using his ability on K-turns, which also means that he will probably be a prime target.

The idea behind it was to maximize each die. Most builds spending a lot of points focus on large die pools that in the end are mitigated by poor rolls and result in 2~3 successes. With each ship firing with both lock and focus, the idea is that even with a smaller pool, you are almost guaranteed the same 2~3 successes per ship - something that with more ships overall means more turns firing (from more total HP) and more potential fire arcs.

By having Airen who gives either Garven or Dutch a second action, you prevent your opponent destroying your synergy in later rounds as the opponent must either;

Kill Garven or Dutch and therefore have Airen step in

or

Kill Airen allowing longer for Dutch and Garven to benefit from the synergy.

Have you had a chance to get it on the table yet? My rebel experience is minimal, so my theorycrafting-fu is weak here.

I like it conceptually for sure. My normal X-Wing nights are canceled for the next few weeks, which makes trying it personally tricky. I hadn't pondered that Airen maintains the list regardless of losing a pilot, that is neat...

The idea behind it was to maximize each die. Most builds spending a lot of points focus on large die pools that in the end are mitigated by poor rolls and result in 2~3 successes. With each ship firing with both lock and focus, the idea is that even with a smaller pool, you are almost guaranteed the same 2~3 successes per ship - something that with more ships overall means more turns firing (from more total HP) and more potential fire arcs.

By having Airen who gives either Garven or Dutch a second action, you prevent your opponent destroying your synergy in later rounds as the opponent must either;

Kill Garven or Dutch and therefore have Airen step in

or

Kill Airen allowing longer for Dutch and Garven to benefit from the synergy.

Sure, I totally see where you're coming from, but I think that there are some assumptions that may not necessarily be accurate given the current roster of ships.

* Airen requires that you wait until combat to use his special ability. If he's not close, or he dies quickly which isn't too hard for a Z-95, you've lost that link.

* Garven is low on your PS pole, and his ability also has to wait until combat.

* Dutch is low on your PS pole, but his ability happens before combat, which is better.

None of your ships have great defense dice, although if you are facing higher PS ships, having focus tokens will help. The closer you get to a low PS/low defense/low maneuverability opponent, the better this list will do.

I really think Keyan needs Opportunist, PTL, or even Daredevil to get the most out of his ability. You want to be stressed going into combat every turn. By just relying on the dial to do that is not good insurance. There are going to be times where you can't do a red maneuver. Also, he needs something that is a higer priority target to insure that he last at least into the 2nd round of shooting.

I admit, I hadn't really thought of the middle tier PS problem. I'm used to fighting swarms of Academy Pilots so I've let my typical opponent's affect the build. I see now how it might lose efficiency against a Fat Han or Phantom.

As for the Keyan stress issue, I see your point - relying on the dial makes him predictable and that is a problem.

Have you had a chance to get it on the table yet? My rebel experience is minimal, so my theorycrafting-fu is weak here.

I'm hoping to play it this weekend! I'll post it's performance once I get a few games in.

I have used garvin and dutch together a lot and they synergize well. I'd find a way to put a turret on that y-wing though. I second the notion on Tarn mison as well if you have him, He is cheap and gets the lock for free. He is also not locked into formation as much as Dutch and Garvin are. If you can fit farlander, fine, but if not, I'd think about a blue or dagger with FCS. now you have a target lock generated by Tarn every turn, The dagger after every shot, Dutch making 2 per turn, and Garvin cranking out that extra focus by passing it after using it. so assuming all your ships get their actions, everyone gets a TL, and takes focus as their action, (except dutch of course). You also are not forced to fly the brick, as tarn and the dagger are a little more free to manuever. EDIT: Just ran the numbers and you will be over costed by one point trying to cram in the FCS. Solution: drop the ion turret to a blaster turret, but honestly I cannot say that I like it. Dutch must have a focus to even fire the blaster, but he needs to TL for his action every turn, so he's gotta have the focus from Garvin. Once garvin is gone or out of formation or gets blocked, that blaster turret is dead weight. you could think about a replacement for garvin. I think a focus passing hawk is too expensive inn a 100 point list, but really nice in a 125. You could run dutch without a turret, but that seems like a huge missed opportunity as well, and it's not hard to outmanuver a Y-wing.

you could sub cracken in for garvin, though you lose some punch. When ou compare tarn and garvin, garvin feels a little expensive to me. I think FCS is your friend here, as it's going to generate locks for free most of the time. you could run Bs and Es

alternatively, 2 blues with FCS, Tarn Mison and Kyle with ion and recon (no title) gets you three auto locking ships and a focus generator with and ion turret. Moldy crow is nice, but not essential

I admit, I hadn't really thought of the middle tier PS problem. I'm used to fighting swarms of Academy Pilots so I've let my typical opponent's affect the build. I see now how it might lose efficiency against a Fat Han or Phantom.

As for the Keyan stress issue, I see your point - relying on the dial makes him predictable and that is a problem.

I approached my analysis from the point of view of "How would I fight this list if I were flying against it?"

I've been flying this list lately:

Col. Vessery + VI + HLC

Echo + VI + ACD

Gamma Squadron Pilot + 2x Flechette Torpedoes

The Gamma is my bait/spoiler. Because my Defender and Phantom are both PS 8 with VI, I'll have move last and fire first with the PS 8 pilots. I also have a significant advantage in maneuverability, and that's before Echo's special ability and cloaking. The lack of a turret means that Dutch is really vulnerable, and based on your setup, I'd probably choose him or Airen as my first target. Echo will focus on taking range 1 shots at the sides and rear, while Vessery will go for the range 3 shots with his HLC. Keyan's special ability helps your defense some, because you can do the short K-turn/focus fire every turn, which kind of turns him into a less maneuverable Defender.