So I have gotten away from playing my successful Rebel builds and started focusing on using some of the Imperials that I regularly neglect to use. My first stop was with our friend Maarek Stele.

Why?

Mainly because I wanted to use something that I thought was underpowered or over costed. I kinda felt like my tournament preparation practice would be better served as a pitched battle that increased the difficulty on my side of the table. Also, with the release of the Decimator getting everyone all amped up about silly turrets, I decided that some pilots are worth a renewed look as we move forward in the meta.

I got four great games in the day I set my Rebels aside and I whipped up a list with a roster of Wave 1 ships, upgrades, and EPTs as well as a single wave 4 EPT. Three for four, vs. XXZZ, Decimator + Mini Swarm, 58 Dash + 45 Corran, with the Loss vs. a Decimator that focused him down first.

I used:

99 points

Maarek Stele (27) Predator (3) Cluster Missiles (4) = (34)

Mauler Mithel (17) Determination (1) = (18)

Backstabber (16)

Dark Curse (16)

Night Beast (15)

Friends, smashing cluster missile attacks against targets that have zero evade dice is what you have been waiting for. With all of the bemoaning the TIE Advanced, the 1bank and barrel roll combo is exactly what you want to use to stay in range one. The Dial is not bad (flys like an X-wing, if it had barrel roll.)

Obviously this isn't meta shaking, but it is a casual list vs. four very competitive lists. So here is my challenge to you all:

Try it out.

Post your results below if you do try it out and if you feel like you might have learned something from flying it, win or loss, share with the group!

Boom boom. Mareek.

Never never ever ever seen Mareck Steele mentioned on this forum as part of a list, for this I applaud you.

did i fly against you this week? i cant remember, but i seem to recall getting smashed by your cluster missiles

yes, i did! he used steele's ability on my bomber to knock out some ordnance.

i appreciate the emergence of the named tie swarm. its a breath of fresh air.

I flew against John and his version of #stressbot, I think I gave your Decimator a good Drubbing. The 58 Dash + 45 Corran was Rich. I lost to JJAyers and his Decimator. IIRC.

yeah he cleaned house. so much i ditched the bomber.

I can understand wanting predator, but man, maarek with cluster missiles, I would really want marksmanship.

If bringing along Maarek, I'd think you'd want something that could reliably 'crit'.

Like maybe take Maarek with E.I. and 'Marksmanship' - take your barrel roll to reposition, and that triggers E.I. which you can use to activate Marksmanship. *Bam* - practically free crit.

And to double down on the 'Advanced' luvin'...maybe something like...

Maarek Stele (37)
TIE Advanced (27), Cluster Missiles (4), Marksmanship (3), Experimental Interface (3)

Darth Vader (39)
TIE Advanced (29), Proton Rockets (3), Predator (3), Engine Upgrade (4)

Academy Pilot (12) x 2

...not sure it'd be very competitive. The Advanced fighters are going to be arc-dodging like crazy to survive, meaning the enemy will pretty quickly pick apart the Academy pilots. I dunno, maybe strike them from the list and add Jonus to help ensure the Advanced missiles land their shots? (And, I dunno, give him flechette torpedoes or a seismic charge or something for the fun of it...)

Trying to google who that was and found this:

With Marek Steele you want something that gives you crits. Unfortunately there is not a whole lot for imperials that give critical hits other than marksmanship and mercenary co-pilot and only one of those upgrades Marek Steel can take.

The Maarek Stele of X-wing miniatures is the destroyer of hopes and dreams related to running Maarek Stele

I tried Cluster Missiles out with predator instead of EI+Marksmanship simply because I wanted as few points on him as possible. I don't doubt that Marksmanship and EI would be a great combo, I guess while I was list building, I looked at it as too many points at the time.

The best situation for Maarek Stele: Your opponent is running Greedo.
He actively destroys them in that case.

I tried Cluster Missiles out with predator instead of EI+Marksmanship simply because I wanted as few points on him as possible. I don't doubt that Marksmanship and EI would be a great combo, I guess while I was list building, I looked at it as too many points at the time.

It is a lot of points, yes, but the thing is - without it - you are paying a ton of points for him that you get no value from.

I mean, sure, crits do happen in games, but they are vanishingly rare. And if you are playing against Rebels or Scum or half the Empire, you have hope for those rare crits to happen in the half of the game where their shields are finally down.

So you've got to have something that generates crits for him, or his ability (which you are definitely paying for) is effectively useless.

That was the reason I took the cluster missiles. The first attack can drop shields and the second attack can put hits on the hull. Activating his ability, while nice, was not the main idea I had during squad building.

The best situation for Maarek Stele: Your opponent is running Greedo.

He actively destroys them in that case.

Actually the best hope for Maarek Stele is that Etahn A'baht crosses over to the dark side.

The best situation for Maarek Stele: Your opponent is running Greedo.

He actively destroys them in that case.

Actually the best hope for Maarek Stele is that Etahn A'baht crosses over to the dark side.

Sadly, not a force-user, as otherwise that would be a terrific plan, for Kath would also rather appreciate the assist.

A shame, as I bet he'd rather like flying a TIE Defender...

I like to run Maarek Stele in this:

Darth Vader

-Outmaneuvre

-Engine Upgrade

-Proton Rockets

Maarek Stele

-Push the Limits

-Engine Upgrade

-Proton Rockets

Tempest Squadron Pilot (I think? The lower skill Advanced)

-Proton Rockets

You run the tempest up their nose and hope they focus it while Vader and Stele set up for an epic 1-2 combo.

Hmm, I have just 2 TIE fighters from the core set, so I shall have to give the squad a little twist.

Will let you know what happens

The best situation for Maarek Stele: Your opponent is running Greedo.

He actively destroys them in that case.

Actually the best hope for Maarek Stele is that Etahn A'baht crosses over to the dark side.

Sadly, not a force-user, as otherwise that would be a terrific plan, for Kath would also rather appreciate the assist.

A shame, as I bet he'd rather like flying a TIE Defender...

If only this list was legal.

Kath Scarlet

Marek Stele

Etahn A'baht

Or get Dodonna to return to the fold, stick him in a Decimator.

I played against Vader with Proton Rockets and Suad Leader this weekend.

It was so easy to block him so he could not even get his rockets off.

After 3 rounds of blocking his actions I decided to concentrate fire on him and finished him off.

I think Vader did 1 damage in this (tournament) match.

If at least his ability was that he cant lose his actions if he collides!!!

But no .... I am very sad to say this: Vader is a waste of 29 points.

The same goes for Maarek with Markmanship and Experimental Interface.

Even worse: He need to get rid of stress after a successful use.

I actually played Maarek with Predator and Clusters. So that at least he can't lose the reroll after bumping or k-turning.

But of course: the Cluster rolls were miserable and he failed to land a crit in the whole (200 points vs 200 points) match.

Just like expected.

If Maarek wins the Match because of his ability, this is just a very lucky and very unlikely event.

I am very sad to say this: Maarek is a waste of 27 points.

I hope for news from FFG about their CRISP plans to fix the Advanced ... SOON!

I attended a charity event over the weekend and my understanding that a charity event would be less try hard than normal I decided to bring along Maarek Stele for some advanced fun. I even wore my TIE Advanced T-shirt to fully represent the cause. Unfortunately for me, out of 14 players, only two (myself included) were not using 360 large ships or Phantoms. . .

So, my squad:

Maarek Stele with Marksmenship

Howlrunner

4 x Obsidian TIE Fighters

First game was against a PS8 Echo with Winged Gundark (a rare sight!), Dark Curse and two other TIES. I managed to pew pew my way to victory with the lose of only a single TIE, Maarek scoring the death blow on Echo to end the game. Unfortunately, Maarek's ability didn't go off once in the entire game. .

Second game I flew against a full Avenger Squadron, five interceptors. We agreed at the beginning to fly straight at each other on the right side of the board and let the dice Gods decide our fate. I know this plays right into the Avenger strength, having 15 attack die an all but hey, I was buzzing from having one a game at all so why not!

Sure enough we both bolted right at each other. I decided to take evade tokens over normal focus to try and weather the storm. Naturally the Avengers all focussed.

After all was said and done, I managed to destroy an Interceptor with little in return. Howlrunner really helping out with her expert guidance and putting the advantage on my side.

The game came down to time. The last turn saw Maarek, shieldless, injured (PS0), with 2 hull remaining and stressed from a desperate 4 K turn into the guns of two pursuing Interceptors. One on 2 hull, the other untouched, all in range 1. . . So the first interceptor opened up, wildly firing but not a single laser found it's mark. The second Interceptor, more cool headed then his wingman, sent two shots on target. . Maarek, sensing that victory and to show that even a wounded Ace is still an Ace, evaded both and returned fire with two crits and a hit, which all found their mark. Boom.

Victory for Stele.

Third game was against Soontir Fel, Whisper and Omnicron. It was a complete white wash. Maarek was killed by Fel and Whisper on the second turn. Howlrunner and a TIE died the next turn. Two more TIES died the turn after that and the last TIE held out to get the Shuttle to 2 remaining hull. . . but it wasn't enough.

Lost. 0 - 100

Forth game had the Imperials fly against Dash (outrider, etc) with a loaded Kayen. I wasn't going to win this game.

Despite outflying Keyan and presenting no targets for three turns in a row, mostly at range 1, there was no escape from the 360 turret. I managed to kill Keyan but once again it came down to Maarek having to flog down a mostly untouched Dash.

Unable to get inside range 1 due to Dash only doing 3 banks and boosting, Maarek fell to the turret.

Game five and the last of the day was against two YT-2400. Dash with HLC and Outrider and Leebo with Chewwie as Crew.

As I predicted, the 360 turrets were too much and despite Maarek's ability working for the first time the entire day it wasn't the crit we were looking for. Chewwie took the last hit for Leebo and kept him in the game on 1 remaining hull with Dash untouched.

0 - 100

So all in all I had a blast flying the Advanced and the looks of my opponents seeing an Advanced on the table at a tournament were priceless, even more so when they realised it wasn't Vader.

I am getting more and more annoyed at people's choice over large turreted ships purely out of Phantom fear. It removes such a fun aspect out of the game having 360 fire arc that it can make games boring. I pulled some fantastic barrel rolls into the most outrageous of places to dodge arcs and outfly my opponent, only to be rewarded with a "hue, hue, 360 kthxbye" four dice EVERY turn from his fat cousin, it becomes disheartening. Even more so when you KNOW, without a shadow of a Empire that he is only going to fly on the edge of the board.

However, despite that, I managed two wins and quite happy with myself.

Should never of put him in the advanced, he belongs in either an avenger or a defender.