Hello dear fellow dark side users,

I have a big problem. I keep losing against rebels. Even worse, against a buddy of mine who is very new to tabletops in general.

The thing that gives me the biggest problem is horton in his y-wing with the nasty r2d2 unit. Last to games that bloody thing kept surviving for ever. I think I'm srsly missing something.

Please build me a list to crush him.

*veryevillaugh*

my collection is as follows: (we agreed on only using the upgrades we have as cards)

2 Basic Sets (included in the numbers below)

5 Tie
1 Tie Adv.
1 firespray
2 Interceptor
2 Phantoms

3 X-wing
2 Y-wing
2 A-wing
1 HWK
1 YT 1300

FYI: He has a strong preference for said horton with ion cannon, luke, wedge and the YT 1300 with either han or regular smuggler.

As unfair as this seems, he's one of my best friends. I need to destroy him every once in a while...for reasons.

FYI: He has a strong preference for said horton with ion cannon, luke, wedge and the YT 1300 with either han or regular smuggler.

That... is some very expensive taste.

Are you sure you're counting the points for the fleets correctly?

Oldies but goldies, especially against 3-ship Rebel builds:

Krassis Trelix (36)
Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

"Howlrunner" (18)
Hull Upgrade (3)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Start with the mini-swarm and firespray separated, converge on the enemy. If you're really afraid of Horton you can shoot him from afar with HLC. Combined with some shots from Ties, he should be taken out in a turn most of the time, even on range 3.

edit: Royals' version protects Krassis more and the mini-swarm, choosing one or the other is a matter of taste .

"Howlrunner" (18)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Krassis Trelix (36)
Heavy Laser Cannon (7)
Recon Specialist (3)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Something like this wouldn't be too bad. I'd try to pick up two more TIE Fighters and run a full on swarm.

EDIT: Touche, Chilligan

FYI: He has a strong preference for said horton with ion cannon, luke, wedge and the YT 1300 with either han or regular smuggler.

That... is some very expensive taste.

Are you sure you're counting the points for the fleets correctly?

I'm pretty sure that he's just enumerating possibilities. That list can barely fit in 150pts, once you had Han.

Hmmmmm......there are a lot of directions you can go. How does he fly?

More importantly, how do you like to fly? With the Empire and what you have, there are a lot of different ways you can take things. I think finding an overall strategy of how to attack is important with the Empire. If you just have your ships in a formation and fly at his formation, it doesn't usually end well for the Empire...unless you are running 8 Academy Pilots or so. The first pass is the worst for Empire as the Rebel firepower tends to ripe us apart. I've found that going with two main groups and alternating speed is a good way to try to get a flanking force rushed in while your other force holds off. The list that I won most games with, including tournaments up to Wave 3 was something like:

Darth Vader w/ Concussion Missile

Backstabber

Dark Curse

3 x Academy Pilots

My internet is jinky at the moment and I'm having issues with list builders. It might be a point over, but I can't recall.

Basically have Vader and Backstabber as one flanker group and Dark Curse leading the others. Try to get Dark Curse in the front and the only one in range.....or the only one at Range 2. Rebels forget about him and always TL him. It's great. Try to hit the same target when you come in on the flank. You will probably lose an Academy early, but that always happens. Just try to stay out of their firing arc and blast away.

Another option is to go with Krassis w/ Heavy Laser Cannon and a bunch of Academy. Use them to swarm or block up movement lanes as you fire with Krassis.

Some strategies to go for are to concentrate your fire on whatever you can take out quickest....or has the biggest impact. If you want to take out the Y-wing, just fire at it with everything. Many shots will help take it down quickly. I wouldn't fire at the Falcon first. Just take out the support. Otherwise you will be hurting. If he goes without the Falcon, then fire on Wedge. He's pure evil.

There's a lot of strategies and I'm sure people have posted better ones than this in the time I've taken to type it. I tend to think, though, that Empire players should learn how to fly a good number of Tie Fighters and be successful. I had a great time playing with the Named Six Tie Fighter Pilots. Well, get rid of Howlrunner as she just gets blasted too early.

Just give up. The Rebels cannot be beaten.

On a more serious note, Arc Dodgers.

Get those Interceptors on the table, load 'em with PTL and wash the fur fly.

FYI: He has a strong preference for said horton with ion cannon, luke, wedge and the YT 1300 with either han or regular smuggler.

That... is some very expensive taste.

Are you sure you're counting the points for the fleets correctly?

I'm pretty sure that he's just enumerating possibilities. That list can barely fit in 150pts, once you had Han.

exactly.

I tried that list, but the dice were not on my side.

Do I understand that correctly that those 4 tie fighter will fly in RNG 1 square formation or do you keep them seperatly?

FYI: He has a strong preference for said horton with ion cannon, luke, wedge and the YT 1300 with either han or regular smuggler.

That... is some very expensive taste.

Are you sure you're counting the points for the fleets correctly?

I'm pretty sure that he's just enumerating possibilities. That list can barely fit in 150pts, once you had Han.

exactly.

I tried that list, but the dice were not on my side.

Do I understand that correctly that those 4 tie fighter will fly in RNG 1 square formation or do you keep them seperatly?

Either square formation or pinwheel

Don't be afraid to break out of formation. The strength of the Tie Fighter is it's manueverability. If you have 4 stuck in moving all together, then you lose a lot. Have them move together starting off, but then break apart. you can swarm the enemy that way and get a lot of range 1 shots in. It's also great to clog movement lanes. Move to wherever you think your main target is going to go and have enough other ships there to take advantage of it.

A lot has been said about lists, what ships he brings and what ships you bring etc. but this game is more about flying.

you need to ask yourself how are the engagements going?

How often do your ships not have shots on his ships?

How often can your ships avoid being shot at from his?

If you are facing ships with 360 firing arcs, are all your ships able to attack together, or do they attack spread out one by one.

After that in importance is-

How often are your ships getting their actions?

Are you picking the right actions? Ask yourself would it have been better if you just focused? (focus is always good)

After that you can get into more subtle maneuvers-

encourage your opponent to shoot at the wrong guy. Who do they shoot at Academy at range 2 or Howelrunner at range 3?

The best advice I could give to any Imperial player is to throw down a ton of asteroids on their kitchen table and then try to fly big ships, or TIE swarms in formation through those asteroids.