Welcome to NOVA Squadron Radio! This week we joined by NOVA Squadron’s own Ira Mayers to discuss the Imperial side of Wave 2. In the flight deck we discuss what we have been flying lately, in the news we talked about the Star Viper spoiler, and in Tactical Readouts, we talked to Reese Robbins from Frontline gaming to discuss their new product, the FAT Mat! Then, we broke down every ship and card from the Imperial side of Wave 2!

NOVA Squadron Radio is:
Ed Horne – Host
Kris Soehnlin – Co-Host and NOVA Squadron founding member
Ronald Brannan – Co-Host and NOVA Squadron founding member
Chad Brown – Co-Host/Editor
Sean Dorcy – Co-host

Bob Randall – Co-host
Ira Mayers – Guest Host

Here are the show notes from Episode 12:

[0:00 – 1:16] Show Opening

[1:16 – 16:42] The Flightdeck: What we have been flying lately and local tournament talk

[16:42 – 56:15] The News:
Wave 5 has been released: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=5227

Lethal Ambitions: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=5222

[56:15 – 1:02:00] Tactical Readouts: Interview Reese Robbins from Frontline Gaming!

[1:02:00 – 2:03:54] Main Topic 1: Wave 2 Review: The Imperials!

[2:54:54 – 2:06:35] Show Closing

Musical Credits go out to the band ‘Insane Ride’ and their songs ‘Sound of Rock and Roll’ and ‘Wrong or Right’ found on the Free Music Archive at http://freemusicarchive.org/

Thanks for listening, and talk to you again in two weeks!

Here is the direct link: http://novasquadronradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/NOVA_Squadron_Radio_Episode_13_final.mp3

www.novasquadronradio.com

Great episode as usual fellas, but to be totally honest, I wanted to hack off my ears and bury them in the backyard every time you guys said Xizor.

It's she-zor, not zee-zor.

My only critique. Again, excellent show.

I had it correct, the rest of them messed it up...lol. If I wasn't sick at the time of recording I would have corrected them..

But yes, thank you, I will send the Imperial Officer to correct the rest of the staff...lol

~Ed

That's true Ed, you were the first to say it a few times and said it correctly, then the Prince Zeezor volcano erupted.

It was a pleasant surprise to hear Reece on the show. I wonder how many X-wing players they'll get for the 2014 LVO. I'm thinking of attending the 2015 one and while if I pulled the trigger on making the long journey, I'm in Eastern Canada, I'd wanna play 40k, if the X-wing support and attendance was there it would be tempting.

I was almost going to TO that event, Reese asked me to find him a TO which I volunteered for. I even had approval from the wife to attend. HOWEVER, she gave me a choice, NOVA and Worlds or the LVO... so I chose NOVA and Worlds. So when I apologized to Reese it was for more then just not being able to attend.

Evil Eddie you are not allowed to be sick...

On the bodyguard ept i have this kinda idea I'm trying to work out with Kaa'to z-95 or Palob hwk-290 bosting an agility 3 ship like Xizor or maybe ig-88. There may also be a mid range Scyk pilot that we havnt heard about yet that may be a good candidate as well.

The mid-range Scyk is really a good idea actually, and would be perfect for that role. Good thinking!

@Joe Boss Red Seven, I wish that were true, I am surprised I sounded as good as I did. You should have heard the material that ended up on the cutting room floor. I sounded like a frog!

The mid-range Scyk is really a good idea actually, and would be perfect for that role. Good thinking!

@Joe Boss Red Seven, I wish that were true, I am surprised I sounded as good as I did. You should have heard the material that ended up on the cutting room floor. I sounded like a frog!

Froggie was cool in The Little Rascals!

Might not play as good in an audio only production...

It's all my fault, I pronounced it wrong! I blame it on my ear infection. I must not have been able to hear what I was saying.

MJ... you make my head hurt... sometimes.

If Bobba's ability came into play in the movies he could have banked the other way and avoided Han hitting him in the back and knocking him into the sarlac pit.

MJ... you make my head hurt... sometimes.

Mission Accomplished!

Regarding Bodyguard, it seems like the obvious thing to do is run it on a low-PS Firespray with an EPT (does the Scum generic get one?) with Recon Spec. It gets to keep one focus for itself while buffing an ally with the other.

Cool I was referenced on the podcast!

Scum have access to this guy, who has an EPT slot. So I can sort of see that, maybe. But for Points for Body Guard and 3 for Recon, that makes him 40 points! I think that is a few too many points to spend on that combo.

The mid-range Scyk is really a good idea actually, and would be perfect for that role. Good thinking!

@Joe Boss Red Seven, I wish that were true, I am surprised I sounded as good as I did. You should have heard the material that ended up on the cutting room floor. I sounded like a frog!

I didn't think you sound like me at all

I was debating if you were to read that how you'd take it...lol!

It was more like Mr. Bull-Froggies that night!

Potential use for Bodyguard is on Palob:

Palob + Bodyguard + ICT (or BT) + Rec. Spec. = 30 (or 29 points).

He can generate up to 3 focuses a turn and can spend one to buff a ship in need. However, he gets kind of pricey and makes himself a more of a likely target. I can see him paired with 2 IG-2000s though. Of course the IG-2000s would not have any room for upgrades.

Maybe with Serrisu to buff him and a couple of cheap Zs or Sycks as well.

The EPT does not make sense when paired with Xisor (she-zor ) though. You kind of want your opponent to shoot Xisor so you can spread the damage around. If my opponent was just sitting there spending focuses for buff Xisor, I would just shoot the support ship. Doesn't make sense to make Xisor a less juicy target.

Hmm so I ended up off topic but was thinking about Daredevil on Arvel, and how as usual it'd be sweet for one more EPT for either VI or Intimidation on him as well. Then got to thinking Stay on Target is probably better on him than Daredevil anyway but because of his middling PS he's going to have trouble having his ability trigger against Hans, Dashes and Chiraneaus anyway.

So if he's only able to try and guess where they are and block them he probably won't be facing the right way a lot of the time. In that case only Intimidation matters anyway, so might as well throw it on a cheap, manueverable ship like a Black.

Lead me to want to try two lists: a new 8 ship TIE swarm featuring a Black + Intimidation; Academy x 7.

Or, alternatively, if you're a Howl fan: Howlrunner + VI; Black + Intimidation x 2; Academy x 4.

Goal is to intimidate a big ship with a puny TIE and then blow it up while its defenses are down (both from losing an action and from Intimidation).

Hell, if you really want to try and make sure it triggers you could run four Blacks with it and 3 Academies, just a minefield of blockers.

So MJ, when I was listening to the cast you said that you don't think the ability to boost or barrel roll on low ps ships is of that much value because you won't be able to arc dodge. I agree with that statement, but I think you missed the other value that boost and barrel roll brings. The PS 1 ship is a extremely effective blocker. I think you may want to consider adjusting your math to reduce there effectiveness of the boost and Barrel roll on PS 3 to 6. Ships in that PS range aren't very good blockers, and they aren't very good at arc dodging either.

I think there is a lot of potential in a daredevil-like ability. It is just awkwardly-implemented on this particular card.

Scum have access to this guy, who has an EPT slot. So I can sort of see that, maybe. But for Points for Body Guard and 3 for Recon, that makes him 40 points! I think that is a few too many points to spend on that combo.

Yeah more expensive but at least your range one band will be slightly larger.

So MJ, when I was listening to the cast you said that you don't think the ability to boost or barrel roll on low ps ships is of that much value because you won't be able to arc dodge. I agree with that statement, but I think you missed the other value that boost and barrel roll brings. The PS 1 ship is a extremely effective blocker. I think you may want to consider adjusting your math to reduce there effectiveness of the boost and Barrel roll on PS 3 to 6. Ships in that PS range aren't very good blockers, and they aren't very good at arc dodging either.

It's a difficult problem to model and you can argue it either way. The fundamental problem with the PS bid is that it is completely meaningless in a particular matchup if you are +10PS or +1PS over the other guy. higher is higher. So from a high-level meta standpoint, I'm going to stick with my formula for cost*(1 + (PS+EPT)/24), because that seems to be working really really well to match with reality. The Delta Squadron Pilot at PS1 is arguably worth MORE in absolute terms than the PS3, but that is probably the only case where they are outright reversed.

I am currently valuing the boost action something around double at PS9 than at PS1 (it's documented in my Mathwing thread), but in the case of the Alpha Squadron Pilot I don't think it matters either way in regards to blocking. If you use Boost to block with a PS1 squint, it's now probably at range 1 of some other ship, and you have no tokens. The perils of being a glass cannon: say goodbye to 18 points. With blockers, they need to be disposable cost effective units, and the more the merrier to cover more ground.

So MJ, when I was listening to the cast you said that you don't think the ability to boost or barrel roll on low ps ships is of that much value because you won't be able to arc dodge. I agree with that statement, but I think you missed the other value that boost and barrel roll brings. The PS 1 ship is a extremely effective blocker. I think you may want to consider adjusting your math to reduce there effectiveness of the boost and Barrel roll on PS 3 to 6. Ships in that PS range aren't very good blockers, and they aren't very good at arc dodging either.

It's a difficult problem to model and you can argue it either way. The fundamental problem with the PS bid is that it is completely meaningless in a particular matchup if you are +10PS or +1PS over the other guy. higher is higher. So from a high-level meta standpoint, I'm going to stick with my formula for cost*(1 + (PS+EPT)/24), because that seems to be working really really well to match with reality. The Delta Squadron Pilot at PS1 is arguably worth MORE in absolute terms than the PS3, but that is probably the only case where they are outright reversed.

I am currently valuing the boost action something around double at PS9 than at PS1 (it's documented in my Mathwing thread), but in the case of the Alpha Squadron Pilot I don't think it matters either way in regards to blocking. If you use Boost to block with a PS1 squint, it's now probably at range 1 of some other ship, and you have no tokens. The perils of being a glass cannon: say goodbye to 18 points. With blockers, they need to be disposable cost effective units, and the more the merrier to cover more ground.

Counterpoint. A Wings.