OK so I am loving how Keyan and SOT are made for each other, but that just paints a really big target on his one green dice rolling head.

So how about this idea to improve his survivability.

Fly Keyan in the BW E2 mod with Kyle Katarn in the second seat - turning the stress that he spent in attack into a focus that he can use for defence.

Then stick Jan as a crewmember on a Rebel operative HWK and Keyan's focus converts to an evade.

But to take the heat right of Keyan in the all important early exchanges, have Biggs tooled up with a stealth device and R2D2 hanging around at the back.

To begin with he takes Jan's focus to evade conversions.

You'd be unlucky not to get very good value out of the SD rolling 3 green and holding an evade token

And with R2's recharges there once it goes, he's very likely going to soak up a whole lot of fire for a good few rounds, and maybe get in a hit on two before he buys the farm - leaving Keyan to wreak havoc unchallenged.

Once Biggs finally bites it, your (hopefully battered and smoking) opponent is forced to choose between going after the HWK to stop Jan from now giving an evade to Keyan or to take on the big man himself at what should be close to his full strength.

at least, that's how it plays out in my head - but I think it has a lot of potential.

What I really like is the core list comes in at 85 points - 78 if Biggs goes naked so there's lots of scope to try different loadouts - FCS ICT and HLC are pretty obvious choices but I'm sure they aren't the only ones - heck with between 15 and 22 points left on the table it could even be a 4 ship build!

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The Dogs B*ll*cks
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99 points

Pilots
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Keyan Farlander (44)
B-Wing (29), Fire-Control System (2), Heavy Laser Cannon (7), Stay on Target (2), B-Wing/E2 (1), Kyle Katarn (3)

Biggs Darklighter (32)
X-Wing (25), R2-D2 (4), Stealth Device (3)

Rebel Operative (23)
HWK-290 (16), Ion Cannon Turret (5), Jan Ors (2)

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View: http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/142697/the-dogs-bllcks
Tweak: http://xwing-builder.co.uk/build/142697

another thought would be to trade the rebel operative up to Roark Garnet - the mere thought of a PS12 Keyan with Stay on Target and toting a Heavy Laser Cannon would make the wearing of brown trousers mandatory for any opponent

If you're looking for defense, the 3 points you spend on Kyle (crew) would probably be better used on C-3P0

If you're looking for defense, the 3 points you spend on Kyle (crew) would probably be better used on C-3P0

only in later rounds after the HWK has been taken out - before that the Kyle/Jan combo offers the potential to have the guaranteed evade that he'd get from 3PO plus a dice roll on top.

not to mention that this leaves 3PO free to fill a crew slot elsewhere - like this:

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The Mutts Nuts

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98 points

Pilots

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Keyan Farlander (44)

B-Wing (29), Fire-Control System (2), Heavy Laser Cannon (7), Stay on Target (2), B-Wing/E2 (1), Kyle Katarn (3)

Dagger Squadron Pilot (31)

B-Wing (24), Advanced Sensors (3), B-Wing/E2 (1), C-3PO (3)

Rebel Operative (23)

HWK-290 (16), Ion Cannon Turret (5), Jan Ors (2)

Two thoughts. First, if you're not able to use SoT to stress Keyan, you're out of luck on his ability for the turn. Second, if you are using SoT to get a shot, there's a chance it's drawn you away from Biggs' protection. It's not bad, and Keyan's toting a big gun, but the combo(s) seems like it could be a little flimsy.

If you're looking for defense, the 3 points you spend on Kyle (crew) would probably be better used on C-3P0

I prefer Jan as the crew on Keyan, and PtL.

The wifey feels that Keyan with PTL is OP. I was running with:

Keyan Farlander (32 Points)

Push the Limit

Blue Squadron Pilot (25 Points)

B Wing/E2, Crew - Jan Ors

Rookie Pilot (21 PointS)

Rookie Pilot (22 Points)

R2 Droid

But this was with her trying to stay away from her swarm build, so who knows(?). He is crazy fun.

Or you could just except that he'll die first and build a squad that maximizes his damage potential while he's alive and can carry on without him.

If you spend all your effort on trying to keep a b-wing alive your doomed when it goes pop, and it will go pop.

What about Keyan vs. an Imp ship with Mara Jade? If he could get to range one and stay in arc, he'd have permanent focus.

Mara Jade triggers at the end of the combat phase after Keyan shoots, that's not a good thing for Keyan.

Or you could just except that he'll die first and build a squad that maximizes his damage potential while he's alive and can carry on without him.

If you spend all your effort on trying to keep a b-wing alive your doomed when it goes pop, and it will go pop.

This

I ran a three B-wing set a my last local tourny with Farlander and two blues. Farlander died in my last two games but cost my opponents a ship they could not recover from the loss, and I won all my games.

Two thoughts. First, if you're not able to use SoT to stress Keyan, you're out of luck on his ability for the turn. Second, if you are using SoT to get a shot, there's a chance it's drawn you away from Biggs' protection. It's not bad, and Keyan's toting a big gun, but the combo(s) seems like it could be a little flimsy.

Keyan's ability isn't limited to gaining stress from SOT - there's enough red on the B-wing's dial without it to allow you to stress most turns - swap out FCS for AS and you can be virtually guaranteed a clear spot to land a red maneuver that gives you a shot

I'd agree that you'd need to fly this right and it's a little more situational than using 3PO - but that's only to be expected considering it provides a superior defence boost and offers greater flexibility for the same cost in points (kinda).

For example in the case you mention where you might end up outside of Biggs protection - this is most likely going to leave Biggs in the clear - so he uses his focus to shoot and Keyan gets the evade instead - or if you are running a 2 B wing list like the Mutt's Nuts list I posted you can give your 3PO co-piloted B-wing 2 guaranteed evades a turn if it's under pressure.

Two thoughts. First, if you're not able to use SoT to stress Keyan, you're out of luck on his ability for the turn. Second, if you are using SoT to get a shot, there's a chance it's drawn you away from Biggs' protection. It's not bad, and Keyan's toting a big gun, but the combo(s) seems like it could be a little flimsy.

Our good old buddy Paul gave a solution to this. You ALWAYS set the 2-K as your maneuver, and then change it to what you need. May end up with a long range shot, but you'll always have a shot and will always be stressed.