This squad is quite different from my usual lists. I'm used to playing Rebel swarm and rarely use expensive pilots & upgrades. I'd like to learn to fly better and not rely on turrets, so I thought this would be fun.

Squad Name: What A'baht Heavy B's

2x Blue Squadron: HLC, FCS

Etahn A'baht: 6 points of upgrades

I love Adv Sensors on B's, but with HLC, I thought that FCS would be crippling. Thoughts?

There are so many good combos to throw on Etahn. Here are a few I was considering:

A) VI, R7, FCS - Fire before many targets then make return fire reroll.

B) Predator, Adv Sensors - both are just great cards

C) R2, PtL, FCS - lots of actions. Could lose FCS to give B's Adv Sensors

D) R2A2 & upgrade B's to Daggers

E) R7T1, Adv Sensors, PtL - would need to drop FCS's on B's, but this make him extremely maneuverable

As you can see, I'm all over the place here.

Personally I love hlcs but I would maybe drop them and add an awing instead to keep it at a 4 ship list. The Blues will go down quick with 1 evade. But if you want to stick with just 2 blues and etahn then as far as upgrades I would choose either options C or E . Ptl on ewings is great because of their dial and amount of diff actions they can do. However I would highly recommend adding another ship in there somehow someway.

If I'm running an E-Wing, I want to give it R2-D2. Amazing synergy there.
On the final 2 points, I'd consider the following:

FCS-Adv S conversion on your B-Wings
FCS on Etahn
Decoy on Etahn (as he wants to be farther from the Bs than Swarm Tactics would allow, and swapping with the HLC Blues would kill their shields first)

Once Wave V hits, I don't like these options as much as I do Lone Wolf or Stay On Target on Etahn.

I have run all kinds of stuff like that.

After 15-20 games trying it out I ended up with:

Etahn predator sensor jammer r2d2

2 blue

1 tala

The HLC Blue's just tend to get hammered by any list with more than 3 ships. Dropping the HLC gives you another ps4 ship to make their targeting priority more complicated. Usually bring Etahn in at about 45 degrees from the other 3 so that a turn towards him will plant them right in front of 8 dice. And their target is nigh-impossible to bring down. I usually just let their flanker try to shoot Etahn unless it's a phantom.

I have tried a lot but I just can't make double HLC/E lists perform.

I was just listening to the latest Nova Squadron Radio podcast and heard them all agree that HLC and FCS is bad. FCS is best when you are expecting to miss. If you are missing with 4 dice HLC, then that's bad.

Then again, do what you want!

Thanks for the replies.

How A'baht this:

Tahn A' DDT

Etahn A'baht: R2D2, PtL

Dagger:

Dagger

Tala

Horn's B's (Hornsby's Cider)

Corran: R2D2, Elusiveness

Blue: E2, Jan Ors

Blue

Bandit

Lately I've been liking B's with FCS, E2, WepEng, Ion. Ion has a control element and because of WepEng I've 2 targets I can potentially F+TL to ensure Ion or Regular shots. Might want to give that a go. Unfortunately with Etahn you cannot upgrade both Ions to HCLs.

I was just listening to the latest Nova Squadron Radio podcast and heard them all agree that HLC and FCS is bad. FCS is best when you are expecting to miss. If you are missing with 4 dice HLC, then that's bad.

Then again, do what you want!

I think your thinking of a HLC + FCS + Gunner combo. Usually you aren't going to miss completely with 4 attack dice and Gunner will be likely a waste. But just running FCS has nothing to do with missing or expecting to miss your attack. All it does is help you next turn with your action economy. It allows you to either TL + Focus next turn (which is deadly with HLC) or allow you to do a non-offensive action. It also helps if you do a red maneuver or if you get blocked. Now you do have to keep your target you have a lock on in your arc, but not too hard with a b-wing.

I might be overkill to have FCS on both B-wings. Usually after 11 attack dice, most ships are dead. I might just run FCS on the E-wing and one B-wing.

let me add for your consideration

F) Advanced Sensors, PTL, R2 astromech.

Advanced sensors + 2 actions + any 1/2 maneuver means you have your dial open for the next turn as no stress is gained. This is the obvious use but when it really shines is when using Advanced sensors to BR to a better position by either taking your action and bumping an opponent ship who moved first or by opening arcs without barely moving forward (BR + 2 turn, BR + 1 bank).