One combination I’ve been meaning to try out is a disruptive Ibtisam with Luke drawing fire:

Ibtisam (B-Wing) (28)

-Elusiveness (2)

-Sensor Jammer (4)

-B-Wing/E2 (1)

-Jan Ors (2)

(37)

Luke Skywalker (X-Wing) (28)

-Draw Their Fire (1)

-R2-D2 (4)

(33)

Ideally, Ibtisam will be a pain to hit, and since Luke has a mini-focus for defense at all times, I figure he can focus each round to get Jan’s evade for extra protection. So, the idea is that whichever one of them is targeted, they’ll be more difficult to hit, and Luke can regenerate a bit if he takes a hit or draws the other ship’s critical.

Like I said, I’d like to give these two a try soon, but in the meantime I’d be interested to hear some feedback at first blush. Is it likely to work out very well, or will these expensive fighters burn pretty quickly?

One obvious problem I see is that there aren’t many points left over for ships to supplement this duo. Am I likely to be better off with two Refit Prototype Pilots or two Bandits with Proton Rockets, maybe to draw some attention away from the two heavier hitters early on? Or perhaps two Talas instead, one of which has some sort of missile? One tricked out flanker also sounds fun, but I’d feel pretty uneasy with only three small ships. What do you think?

I suspect it'd be an uphill battle to get the PS2 Bandits into range 1 for those PR.

If you're shooting for a tournament type of more competative thing, I'd say go with two Chardaan A-Wings, just to give a lot of variety and great flanking. If you're looking at a more "for fun" setting, I'd say add a tricked out Tycho with Proton Rockets or something. I think these two will be both hard hitters and tanky soakers, and having something to really contrast in movement would be really fun. The Z-95s just don't offer much of a difference in capabilities.

Given the choice between 2 Z-95s or 2 A-Wings, I'd go for the A-Wings. The Protypes will give you two good blockers and a total of 4 ships that can all be annoying to kill.

28 points will get you Jake Farrel with PTL, Outmanuever, and the Refit for a fast attacker that is a contrast to your other ships. 30 points gets you Tycho with the same upgrades. You won't get as many actions with Tycho but he never needs to bother with green moves and since he ties your highest pilot skill you can always have him take one for the team when Rebel Captive is around.

One advantage of having a higher pilot skill ship instead of the two cheaper ones is that if you can attack someone that would be shooting at Ibitsam before they attack, you have a better chance of making them attack without a focus token which really makes the Sensor Jammer effective.

Thanks a lot for all of your input so far!

I suspect it'd be an uphill battle to get the PS2 Bandits into range 1 for those PR.

I suspect you're right. It probably wouldn't work quite the way I'd like it to.

If you're shooting for a tournament type of more competative thing, I'd say go with two Chardaan A-Wings, just to give a lot of variety and great flanking. If you're looking at a more "for fun" setting, I'd say add a tricked out Tycho with Proton Rockets or something. I think these two will be both hard hitters and tanky soakers, and having something to really contrast in movement would be really fun. The Z-95s just don't offer much of a difference in capabilities.

You make a good point. I was leaning toward the Refit A-Wings but hadn't also considered how much variety they would add that Z-95s couldn't. Why in particular would you say that a tricked out Tycho or Jake would not be as viable for a competitive setting as two Prototypes? Is it that there aren't as many targets for your opponent, or is it the lack of firepower? Or both? Just trying to get a better feel for what to watch out for in my lists.

Given the choice between 2 Z-95s or 2 A-Wings, I'd go for the A-Wings. The Protypes will give you two good blockers and a total of 4 ships that can all be annoying to kill.

28 points will get you Jake Farrel with PTL, Outmanuever, and the Refit for a fast attacker that is a contrast to your other ships. 30 points gets you Tycho with the same upgrades. You won't get as many actions with Tycho but he never needs to bother with green moves and since he ties your highest pilot skill you can always have him take one for the team when Rebel Captive is around.

One advantage of having a higher pilot skill ship instead of the two cheaper ones is that if you can attack someone that would be shooting at Ibitsam before they attack, you have a better chance of making them attack without a focus token which really makes the Sensor Jammer effective.

Awesome. I do love me some A-Wings. Do you think the advantages of a tricked out Tycho or Jake outweigh those of having two low PS, less capable A-Wings?

Edited for wording.

You make a good point. I was leaning toward the Refit A-Wings but hadn't also considered how much variety they would add that Z-95s couldn't. Why in particular would you say that a tricked out Tycho or Jake would not be as viable for a competitive setting as two Prototypes? Is it that there aren't as many targets for your opponent, or is it the lack of firepower? Or both? Just trying to get a better feel for what to watch out for in my lists.

I generally tend to think that the higher skill pilots are justified in their cost - they give more choice in maneuvering, and the firing first is pretty great, on top of their awesome abilities. However, the simple fact of having more guns in a four ship build than a three ship build is hard to argue with, especially if you're facing a lot of numbers. If you're facing mostly 3-5 ship builds, I think a 3-ship build is very competative, especially if you're taking Tycho or Jake. If you're facing 6+ ships, it's rough.

With your initial list, I would add a Shield Upgrade to Luke. Then, either...

Tycho (Push the Limit, Chardaan Refit)

or

Blue Squadron Pilot (Fire-Control System, Ion Cannon)

to bring it to 100 points.

I generally tend to think that the higher skill pilots are justified in their cost - they give more choice in maneuvering, and the firing first is pretty great, on top of their awesome abilities. However, the simple fact of having more guns in a four ship build than a three ship build is hard to argue with, especially if you're facing a lot of numbers. If you're facing mostly 3-5 ship builds, I think a 3-ship build is very competative, especially if you're taking Tycho or Jake. If you're facing 6+ ships, it's rough.

Thanks. I was thinking about bringing this list to a Store Championship but have no idea what I'm likely to go up against. Actually, I wonder if it'll end up being a lot of turreted two-ship builds. I'm leaning toward putting Jake or Tycho in, but I'll probably end up practicing with the Prototypes a bit beforehand as well, just to see how that would work.

With your initial list, I would add a Shield Upgrade to Luke. Then, either...

Tycho (Push the Limit, Chardaan Refit)

or

Blue Squadron Pilot (Fire-Control System, Ion Cannon)

to bring it to 100 points.

Ah, I was wondering whether a Shield Upgrade might be a good idea for Luke. Unfortunately, PtL Tycho is one point too many, so it'd probably have to be something like VI + Outmaneuver Jake in that case.

Back in W3, I tried doing something similar to this, my friends started referring to it as Ninja Ibby. It was really annoying, but lacked the punch to really make it competitive. IIRC, it was:

Luke

Ibby w/ SJ, Elusiveness, SD

Proto

Proto

But now there are more options, and 4 more points to play around with, so I would try something like this:

Luke w/ R5P9, LW

Ibby w/ SJ, PTL

Proto w/ CR

Proto w/ CR

Total: 98 pts

With the two remaining points, you could put R2D2 on Luke, or Flechettes on either of them, or come W6, Flechette Cannon on Ibby, or Autothrusters on one of the As. Actually, Nien on Ibby might not be a bad use of those 2 points, so she can bug out if need be.

The strategy behind playing it is that Luke gets to reroll blanks, and turn focuses into evades (well, one at least), and then spends his focus token to regen a shield (or does a green via R2D2). On offense, he has the LW reroll as well. The Prototypes are there to block, and to take opportunist R1 shots, but blocking is more important as it prevents focus tokens, which then keeps Ibby alive longer because it reduces damage each turn. And then Ibby has her reroll, so she's effectively a 2 agility 8 health ship, and with SJ, the opponents are more like a 2 attack ship (worse actually).

The original list just didn't quite work well enough, but there's quite a bit more to play with these days... It's worth revisiting now.

I generally tend to think that the higher skill pilots are justified in their cost - they give more choice in maneuvering, and the firing first is pretty great, on top of their awesome abilities. However, the simple fact of having more guns in a four ship build than a three ship build is hard to argue with, especially if you're facing a lot of numbers. If you're facing mostly 3-5 ship builds, I think a 3-ship build is very competative, especially if you're taking Tycho or Jake. If you're facing 6+ ships, it's rough.

Thanks. I was thinking about bringing this list to a Store Championship but have no idea what I'm likely to go up against. Actually, I wonder if it'll end up being a lot of turreted two-ship builds. I'm leaning toward putting Jake or Tycho in, but I'll probably end up practicing with the Prototypes a bit beforehand as well, just to see how that would work.

With your initial list, I would add a Shield Upgrade to Luke. Then, either...

Tycho (Push the Limit, Chardaan Refit)

or

Blue Squadron Pilot (Fire-Control System, Ion Cannon)

to bring it to 100 points.

Ah, I was wondering whether a Shield Upgrade might be a good idea for Luke. Unfortunately, PtL Tycho is one point too many, so it'd probably have to be something like VI + Outmaneuver Jake in that case.

Oops, sorry about that! Yes, VI+Outmaneuver Jake would be a good flanker for sure.

But now there are more options, and 4 more points to play around with, so I would try something like this:

Luke w/ R5P9, LW

Ibby w/ SJ, PTL

Proto w/ CR

Proto w/ CR

Total: 98 pts

Seems pretty sweet. Though it looks like it'd play a bit differently than what I've been trying to put together. Out of curiosity, how well does Luke work as a flanker, anyway? And without an Engine Upgrade. I've wondered how he'd work in that role in other lists I've tinkered with but haven't given it a try.

Also, there have been so many times when I've wished that I had a Rebel Transport and a YT-2400, because both seem to have so many cards that would add a lot of interesting elements to a squadron. Lone Wolf in particular is something I'd like to try out.

Oops, sorry about that! Yes, VI+Outmaneuver Jake would be a good flanker for sure.

No problem! What are your thoughts on Outmaneuver vs. PtL on Jake, by the way? Particularly in this list. On the one hand, it'd be nice for him to have some extra mobility/actions when necessary, but on the other, his attacks might be a bit more effective if he can drop his target's agility a bit. Also, if he does need to take the first shot at a Rebel Captive, I wouldn't want him to be stuck with two stress...

No problem! What are your thoughts on Outmaneuver vs. PtL on Jake, by the way? Particularly in this list. On the one hand, it'd be nice for him to have some extra mobility/actions when necessary, but on the other, his attacks might be a bit more effective if he can drop his target's agility a bit. Also, if he does need to take the first shot at a Rebel Captive, I wouldn't want him to be stuck with two stress...

Jake gets some action economy from his ability, as long as you want to focus and then boost or barrel-roll it's more or less like having PTL on other pilots without the stress downside. I think you're cool picking any two of VI, PTL, or Outmaneuver depending on the role that you want Jake to fill.

Jake gets some action economy from his ability, as long as you want to focus and then boost or barrel-roll it's more or less like having PTL on other pilots without the stress downside. I think you're cool picking any two of VI, PTL, or Outmaneuver depending on the role that you want Jake to fill.

Thanks! That's sort of what I figured as well. I'll have to practice a bit and see how well I can get Outmaneuver to work for me. I'm still a bit iffy about flying a list with just three small ships, but maybe Luke and Ibtisam will be sturdy enough to make it work out alright.