Some of you have read my adventures with Corran and fat friends. As much as I've enjoyed the gameplay with that list, I've become distracted by Horton.

Horton in the meta has always been a black sheep, despite the fact that he has one of the best Pilot Abilities in the game. Sitting down the other day to a squad building session had me thinking about his potential with certain pairings and how he would fair in a Phantom dominated meta.

Old and reliable, Salm offers a plethora of strengths that not many other aces can match. His ship of choice has high HP, a turret slot, and an astromech. Necessary qualities, especially when trapped in a Ywing.

The thing that has held Horton back for so long is that he lacks a native EPT, a terrifying oversight on the part of FFG. But, lo and behold, riding on his white horse is R2-D6. Now, here me out. Yes, paying one more point for an EPT at first glance is horrifying for our point strapped lists. However, being able to put Veteran Instincts on Horton suddenly changes his application in the current meta.

With Veteran Instincts, Horton leaps to the front of the pack with a PS of 10 and an insane Pilot Ability. The question remains: what do we add to his venerable ship? To me, the answer is simple, but comes in two parts: one, he is the best candidate for blaster turret and two, he is the best candidate to start the stress train on that slippery Phantom.

Flechette Torpedoes are a must on this guy. Not only can he deliver the payload with decent accuracy, they will set the Phantom up for follow on shots from lower pilot skills. I tried this today with great success.

His innate ability allows him to apply blaster turret with some accuracy...to a point. At range one, he may need some help in this area. Which...brings me to my next point, his squadron.

Horton is begging for more actions than target lock. Flying to the rescue is the sidelined HWK pilot, Kyle Katarn. What Katarn does is open a plethora of possibilities for old Salmy. By throwing a focus on an already focused Horton, that blaster turret becomes exceptionally accurate at all ranges. Or, conversely, Horton can target lock at range one and receive the focus from Kyle to engage with rerolls all the same. This pairing gets even better by adding an ion turret and Veteran Instincts to Kyle.

Suddenly, Hortons initial punch recieves the two to its one. The stressed target may be on the receiving end of an ion salvo that will leave it stumbling for the next two turns.

These two pieces form the keystone to a list that I think has some competitive legs against the current meta. First, it deals handily with Phantoms because of the PS edge, stress and turrets. Secondly, it can also dish out enough damage and stress to manage the larger, beefier ships.

Not sold are you? That's ok, because neither was I, until I thought more about it.

Today I tried the list out with Dutch accompanying these two with another torpedo and turret to spare. It worked great against a three ship Phantom list featuring Soontir and Echo. But, I was still perplexed by its capability against those high hitpoint targets. What I realized was that Dutch was really overkill since his ability would help in some regards, but wasn't necessary to win the day. Add to that the fact that I don't need his PS of 6 to hit an already stressed Phantom and in enters the wet behind the ears Gold Squadron pilot.

Free from the points that Dutch costs, I can invest a Flechette Torpedo and R3A2 into the guts of this bad machine. I know what you're thinking, "But, Red Winter, what can you do with only two attack?!" I thought the same, but then I considered just how much stress this list can deal out in turns. Then I thought about how the Decimator as well as the Phantom HATES stress.

The more a Decimator...or Falcon is stressed...the better. On the Decimator this prevents a plethora of options common to that chassis strategy. I'll sacrifice the utility of a turret for the ability to double stress VIP targets. The angst over the Ywings dial comes from it's difficulty to fly, but with careful maneuvering, much of that is covered. Besides, Goldie is going to have the support of two turreted ships!

What this setup adds to my list is the ability to take a simple Bandit to round it all out. The benefits are obvious: more HP and more red dice.

The next test is to see how it will really run against beefier lists. I predict success with the stalwart accuracy of Horton leading the way. I am really intrigued by the list because of its unorthodoxy. These ships aren't seen at the top tables.

Horton (R2D6, VI, Blaster Turret, Flechette Torpedo)

Gold (R3A2, Flechette Torpedo)

Kyle (Recon Spec, VI, Moldy Crow, Ion Turret)

Bandit

Edit: Even as I've sat here and typed this out, the thought has occured to me that Kyle isn't even necessary to make it work. Instead, if I switch him out in favor of Dutch, that I have room for Vrill. Consider the following:

Horton (R2D6, VI, Blaster Turret, Flechette Torpedo)

Dutch (Ion Turret, R3A2)

Vrill (Tactitian)

Let me know what you think. I'm always interested in hearing your theories.

Horton is the best solo Ionizer the Rebels have. ICT at R1-2, Ion Torpedo R2-3. The only other Pilots that come close are Blount (one shot only) and Ten Numb (with Ion + Marksmanship or Etahn).

A well timed and placed R2 Ion Torpedo will ruin any formation's day.

I like it. i like the unorthodox thinking with the blaster. do some damage or strip tokens before the little guys hit. im concerned that your build is TOO dependent upon horton. once he gets focused down theres still control but not a lot of punch. Plus the movements of the y-wings will be predictable since one will be stressed due to stressbot and the other needs to always focus.

im wondering if something like the following will achieve wha tyoure looking for but give more options

horton+VImech+blaster

red squad pilot + stressbot+flachette torp

Blue squad+FCS+ion cannon

prototype+refit

You, sir, have encompassed almost all of my favorite ships. I love y-wings. I don't know why, because generally they're thought of as slow, lumbering ion caddies - which they are - and I believe do so very well. (goldy - ion, r2 mech is my fav build for simple ioning) Now, you add in my new love of eadin vrill and my mind just about exploded. Having Dutch there to give horton the ability to get a free target lock is just gravy. I worry about this list running up against a counter stressbot list (rebel captive, mara jade, tactician B's all come to mind) and then horton can't focus without kyle and you're sunk. I like cubby09's point about horton being the linchpin. Once someone figures it out and focuses him down (5 hull hate crits - hello vader) you're up a creek without you're fearless leader.

I like cubby's list, but I'd swap the red to a rookie and the blue for roark rocking an ion turret. My 2 cents.

Here's an alternative list:

Jan Ors — HWK-290 25
Veteran Instincts 1
Ion Cannon Turret 5
Kyle Katarn 3

Horton Salm — Y-Wing 25
Blaster Turret 4
R3-A2 2

Eaden Vrill — YT-2400 32
Ion Pulse Missiles 3

While Dutch is one of my favorite characters I think you'll find Jan as stronger utility with the extra Attack over Free TL. Jan bumps Horton's blaster to 4A Turreted, and Brill to 3-4A Turreted.

Horton is the best solo Ionizer the Rebels have. ICT at R1-2, Ion Torpedo R2-3. The only other Pilots that come close are Blount (one shot only) and Ten Numb (with Ion + Marksmanship or Etahn).

A well timed and placed R2 Ion Torpedo will ruin any formation's day.

Horton is good but expensive. You can easily overload his Y-wing on the points. He is the best with torpedoes. However doubling up on torpedoes gets expensive. The best double is double flechette torpedoes.

As for the Ion cannon turret there is a little bit of point sink. Horton ability is range 2-3 and ion turret is range 1-2. To get the most you need to be at range 2 if you have no torpedoes. Still I do see a lot of tacticians around so maybe it is not that bad of an issue.

[...]

As for the Ion cannon turret there is a little bit of point sink. Horton ability is range 2-3 and ion turret is range 1-2. To get the most you need to be at range 2 if you have no torpedoes. Still I do see a lot of tacticians around so maybe it is not that bad of an issue.

ICT is currently a little bit of a points sink with Horton's ability being R2-3. But it is pre-planning for the release of S&V, his ability double-dips at R2 with the BTL-A4 Title. Also Y-Wings specialize in Ion-Locking, Large or Small based once the Y's have outflanked and locked their target it's impossible for a single ship to return fire unless Turreted or supported.

Yes it's workable with B-Wings also, but they net less damage than the upcoming BTL-A4's.

Hmm keeping with the horton theme what do you think about:

horton+VImech+blaster

Roark+ICT

Knave+stressbot+ flachette

tala

=99

not suceptible to predator due to roark. still has control. but has more manuverability and green dice

OR

horton+VIbot+BT+2Xflachettes

nera+Ion torp+flachette+FCS

Dutch+stressbot+ICT

Horton is the best solo Ionizer the Rebels have. ICT at R1-2, Ion Torpedo R2-3. The only other Pilots that come close are Blount (one shot only) and Ten Numb (with Ion + Marksmanship or Etahn).

A well timed and placed R2 Ion Torpedo will ruin any formation's day.

Horton is good but expensive. You can easily overload his Y-wing on the points. He is the best with torpedoes. However doubling up on torpedoes gets expensive. The best double is double flechette torpedoes.

As for the Ion cannon turret there is a little bit of point sink. Horton ability is range 2-3 and ion turret is range 1-2. To get the most you need to be at range 2 if you have no torpedoes. Still I do see a lot of tacticians around so maybe it is not that bad of an issue.

I don't get the idea of Flechette to deal with Phantoms. Why not just take a Proton Torpedo and deal with him that way? The Phantom only has 2 evade dice and you get 4 red dice, with 2 re-rolls. Oh, and one eyeball is a crit. Just pop him hard that way. He's only got 4 hits before boom time.

I don't get the idea of Flechette to deal with Phantoms. Why not just take a Proton Torpedo and deal with him that way? The Phantom only has 2 evade dice and you get 4 red dice, with 2 re-rolls. Oh, and one eyeball is a crit. Just pop him hard that way. He's only got 4 hits before boom time.

The Proton torp is going to be more useful against fatties as well.

I don't get the idea of Flechette to deal with Phantoms. Why not just take a Proton Torpedo and deal with him that way? The Phantom only has 2 evade dice and you get 4 red dice, with 2 re-rolls. Oh, and one eyeball is a crit. Just pop him hard that way. He's only got 4 hits before boom time.

The Proton torp is going to be more useful against fatties as well.

Take both? The strongest part about Flechettes is that it's effect always takes place except vs Large Bases, Y-Wings, and TIE Bombers.

Having x2 Flechettes depends on how the Meta is and if locking down a Phantom for 2 turns is enough time for your list to punch through a Cloaking Device.

A Proton Torpedo are more effective vs High Hull ships. But us that extra damage and points worth the higher cost? Double Proton would be great if you could squeeze in R3-A2 but that's a total 10pts additional without adding a Turret to the Y.

Horton

R2-D6

VI

Autoblaster Turret

Engine Upgrade

Dutch

R7-T1

Ion Cannon Turret

And coming in from the left flank, to mess with target prioritization:

Luke

Lone Wolf

R2-D2

Why would you put an autoblaster turret on Horton Salm....?

Why would you put an autoblaster turret on Horton Salm....?

So cloaked Phantoms still cannot run from your attack.

But there is room for a normal Blaster turret.

Horton then is picked more for his PS than his ability, true.

Why would you put an autoblaster turret on Horton Salm....?

So cloaked Phantoms still cannot run from your attack.

But there is room for a normal Blaster turret.

Horton then is picked more for his PS than his ability, true.

I think Flechettes are actually the stronger choice when you consider how strapped for points lists can get. It seems better to have two Flechettes on board for both dps and control than to only equip one Proton.

I'm still playing with this idea, but I am also still thinking about the best way to deliver consistent volumes of damage. Thursday I am going to test the following out as well as a four Xwing list:

Horton (blaster, R2D6, VI, Flechette Torp x2)

Dutch (Ion, Flechette Torp, R3A2)

Blount (VI, Ion Pulse)

Bandit

What keeps the list afloat is the ability to stress and ionize, big or small targets. Double stressing the Phantom on the first engage gives the squad a high likelyhood of destroying him on the next. Ion Pulse further compounds the Phantom's options and, if uneeded, can deliver a powerful blow against one of the large ships. Dutch is unlikely to get a Flechette in on a Phantom during the first pass, but saving that to deal with a decimator or other ship is going to pay off as well.

I may drop R3A2 and VI in favor of another Ion Pulse or Flechette.