Hey everyone. My friend is thinking about going to a tournament with me in a few days. I haven't ever really played anyone better than me, or played against the Three Boogeymen of the Meta. Any common knowledge tips that would save me time while play testing?

This is a casual tournament though, so I will likely see perhaps once or twice some meta lists, but my list should be good enough to deal with rogue lists too.

Are there any real instances that arise from movement where it is applicable to focus the escorts at the beginning of a game against Fat Han?

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This is the list I'm thinking about taking:

First options seems like a solid list. Don't forget to use the extra action from Cracken to barrel roll (or possibly boost). Even though you move after, you might need both barrel roll and boost to get the Phantom in arc.

You might also consider leaving the bandits on their own in the front and pairing Corran and Airen slightly behind.

A phantom will pick you apart unless you fan out and cover with firing arcs. However, your PS is low so that you'll be firing on one once its ACD kicks in so it becomes 2 vs 4 in a dice off. Corran may be able to out maneuver it and may be able to get a decent shot on it, but you'll likely get those conditions only once.

Deployment will be your only workaround to keep a phantom list in check. Clump asteroids near a corner and slow roll your squad around in it. Let the phantom come to you in the corner. Phantoms love open space so they can maneuver. Park near an edge with obstacles and they'll be predictable on their approach.

Your list is swarmy enough to take on a falcon, I just worry about a Fat Han list (turtled Han with 3 Talas) will damage enough of your squad so that, after dealing with the Tala escorts, you won't have enough ships left to take on Han and do damage that sticks.

Focus down the Talas and hope the dice are with you so you have enough dice left over for Han.

Hmm. I'm thinking that my biggest practice should be against the Phantom first. At least, it seems statistically, just from rolling R2 dice that I do have something like a 50% with 10% error against the Falcon, just on dice. I think focusing it down faster with the other Zs and maybe even totally ignoring his Zs will do the trick.

How would you deploy this squad against Phantom, Fat Han, and any other problem lists you expect?

Thanks for the asteroid tip against the Phantom, Sergovan. That was information I really needed.

He actually shoots twice, he has two PS10 pilots, and Corran only needs one shot to kill a Phantom (double-tap with FCS...). He's got plenty of answers for a Phantom, he just needs to fly it properly.

And he doesn't need to kill Tala's to defeat Han. Going after Han might be the best answer, Z vs. Z is almost like TIE vs TIE, you're unlikely to do much damage unless you're range 1. On a good double-tap of Corran, you have the potential of 8 damage (and he has 2 actions because of Airen, coupled with FCS, so it's really likely it will do a lot). He just has to kill Han before he loses Corran, then he's clear (both for modified wins and for full wipes).

I would swap Corran out for Etahn in the second list...

Whats the endgame and opening deployment of your list? These are fairly important things to look at when your building your list. Corran lists focus on getting him to the end game, so that his double tap can be used to just wipe a ship easily. Your first list lacks any way to get Corran into the endgame save your droid, that gives you the actions youd already have anyway. Cracken is the same ps, but your now tying corran to a range 1 band of her to use her ability with him, which means corran became alot more predictable, and in a much better position to be focus fired.

Assume a joust situation (not the greatest example, but they happen fairly often) if Corran is tied to cracken, the opponet can maintain his formation, weather corrans first shot and crackens, and just shoot 3-4 ships at corran before he can double tap in the first place.

In the style lists your using, i think you would be better served with etahn for overall efficiency, as he will cut a few points back, allowing r2d2 in list one, and more upgrades in list 2. he will also buff a large portion of the list, and provide better synergy.

As far as phantoms go, i would get your 2 forward, and practice moving whisper around different asteroid set ups. You absolutely cannot give him nice square fields which i see so often. (its seriously aggravating both for the idea they decided an asteroid field is a grid, and how ineffective the asteroids are then) If you can place the first asteroid i would use the big one to cut out a small section of the board that you want to focus on, say the middle. The phantom player is probably going to put one in one of your corners (so youll fly past them and he won't have to deal with it), so you reply with putting another near it. Then you slow game (2 hard, 1 forward, 1 forward) and wait for him near that corner. In short, you want to create a crowded board for the phantom, and then laugh as his 4 point upgrade says he can't shoot because he didn't think about it.

For Fat Hans, your going to have enough firepower, and its mostly going to be how well you fly the bandits. If you can keep his large base within the arcs of the majority of your ships, you can have a fairly easy win, but if the e wing dies early or you can't contain his boosts, your going to start having problems.

And for swarms, It is entirely up to how the opponet targets your list. If he goes for corran first, and makes that the priority, you can have some serious problems, if he trys the bandits first and you can get a solid corran endgame (him vs 2-3 ties) then your golden.

The whisper 5 tie list is incredibly intimidating. I'm really starting to think my list isnt the better of the two.

I'll try the asteroid placement. And I made a mental note to not bother keeping Corran tied to airen.

I really have no idea how to approach the start game deployment and end game. Can someone enlighten me on how you'd do it?

I like the first list better as with Cracken you are getting a PS10 Corran and still getting your two actions. However Corran is a clear target here so you need to make him as survivable as possible. As such, I'd swap the R7-T1 for R2-D2. Only issue would be getting that last point.

Corran Horn (35)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Fire-Control System (2)

R7-T1 (3)

Hull Upgrade (3)

Airen Cracken (19)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

IMO this is the stronger of the two lists, but I have two real issues:

(1) What is Cracken accomplishing? That is, what action will Corran typically want or need, and will it be worth yoking the E-wing dial to the Headhunter dial?

(2) FCS and R7-T1 (or really any action that provides a target lock) overlap substantially.

So here's what I'd do:

Strip out the Hull Upgrade and change Cracken to Blount + Deadeye + Ion Pulse Missile. (This is an expensive combo, but a nasty one against Phantoms and offers some control against Falcon builds as well.) Use the remaining points to swap Corran's FCS for Advanced Sensors--it makes his pilot ability weaker, but adds a lot of maneuverability.

List now looks like this:

Corran Horn (35)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Advanced Sensors (3)

R7-T1 (3)

Lieutenant Blount (17)

Deadeye (1)

Ion Pulse Missiles (3)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Alternately, for a more extensive re-tooling of the list, drop Cracken all the way down to a Bandit, swap R7-T1 for an Engine Upgrade, and add R2-D2. You have 6 points left over to play around with, which is an inconvenient number but has some possibilities. You can add a couple of Ion Pulse Missiles or an Assault Missile, you can add an APT to Corran, or you can swap your four Headhunters for three A-wings.

(That list might look like this.)

Also I'm really tired of waiting for this non-existent Q3 restock. I'm going to have to borrow my friend's Firespray cards (VI x 2 and Gunner) and 1 Z.

Seriously. Why. Production is no excuse. Hire a more competent production team. Hire Tim Cook, heck, buy another factory and another boat.

They've already gotten two additional factories working, if rumor is correct. They are expanding their production capacity--but the number of players continues to grow too quickly for them to keep up with demand.

That last option from Vorpal would be my pick as well. That build of Corran is a real menace to just about anything, including Falcons and phantoms. I've been working on a Corran/3A list that is similar.

List one looks good list two would work better with eatin a boat.

I like the Blount + deadeye idea, it's good.

But then I would switch Advanced Sensors + R7-T1 for a FCS + R2-D2. Sure, you might be a bit predictable, but your ability is still strong and regeneration helps your lategame. Might be just personal preference.

And if you really want that Hull upgrade back, drop 2 bandits for a blue (but that breaks the 4Z coolness of the list)

Are there any real instances that arise from movement where it is applicable to focus the escorts at the beginning of a game against Fat Han?

Just lost a game last saturday because I did not use dark vador on OGP to strip a shield off Han in the first exchange then took him to1 hull in the last turn...

First as a disclaimer : if you are likely to pass the C3P0/evade barrier with your shots, then you should probably aim for Han.

I can imagine a couple of scenarios where you would want to focus the escorts instead of Han:

1) Han is good in the endgame (low number of ships on each side), if you can deny that (for exemple by letting it come to you and "fleeing" in the first few turns) and/or you know that you can destroy his escorts faster than he can kill the equivalent amount of your ships and then keep this advantage to the time limit then you should concentrate on the escorts for a "safe" win (usually only a modified win but it could be enough).

See this report for exemple : http://rule37-ica.blogspot.fr/2014/07/x-wing-french-national-championship_25.html

2) The escorts are relative glass canons (X-Wings/B-Wings come to mind compared to Z-95/A-Wings) and due to positionning, only a part of your list can target Han and you think that switching a couple of guns to the escorts will help destroy a ship this turn.

3) If there is no way for you to destroy han in the time left, you can try to stay in the game by killing the escorts (see point 1).

Corran Horn (35)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Fire-Control System (2)

R7-T1 (3)

Hull Upgrade (3)

Airen Cracken (19)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

IMO this is the stronger of the two lists, but I have two real issues:

(1) What is Cracken accomplishing? That is, what action will Corran typically want or need, and will it be worth yoking the E-wing dial to the Headhunter dial?

(2) FCS and R7-T1 (or really any action that provides a target lock) overlap substantially.

So here's what I'd do:

Strip out the Hull Upgrade and change Cracken to Blount + Deadeye + Ion Pulse Missile. (This is an expensive combo, but a nasty one against Phantoms and offers some control against Falcon builds as well.) Use the remaining points to swap Corran's FCS for Advanced Sensors--it makes his pilot ability weaker, but adds a lot of maneuverability.

List now looks like this:

Corran Horn (35)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Advanced Sensors (3)

R7-T1 (3)

Lieutenant Blount (17)

Deadeye (1)

Ion Pulse Missiles (3)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Alternately, for a more extensive re-tooling of the list, drop Cracken all the way down to a Bandit, swap R7-T1 for an Engine Upgrade, and add R2-D2. You have 6 points left over to play around with, which is an inconvenient number but has some possibilities. You can add a couple of Ion Pulse Missiles or an Assault Missile, you can add an APT to Corran, or you can swap your four Headhunters for three A-wings.

(That list might look like this.)

Also I'm really tired of waiting for this non-existent Q3 restock. I'm going to have to borrow my friend's Firespray cards (VI x 2 and Gunner) and 1 Z.

Seriously. Why. Production is no excuse. Hire a more competent production team. Hire Tim Cook, heck, buy another factory and another boat.

They've already gotten two additional factories working, if rumor is correct. They are expanding their production capacity--but the number of players continues to grow too quickly for them to keep up with demand.

How often do you really see Blount getting the shot off on the Phantom? If I saw that as the Phantom player, I'd work extensively to avoid being hit by that.

R2D2 + FCS + VI seems like a fine choice for Corran too.

I tend to see that my Corran can die pretty fast though. Really not as tanky as I'd like so sometimes I feel like Hull is more safety. AS we get later into the game, its harder to kill Corran.