So a few weeks ago I got a wild hair and decided to take an 86 point dual phantom list to a store championship. I thought it would be a fun experiment to see how it does...

The build:

Whisper (PS9, 44 points)

Recon Specialist - some thought there were better choices, but my theory was you need plenty of focus to defend against swarms and there are so many that you can't arc dodge them all.

Sensor Jammer - with 2 hull and 2 shields, every turn of the dice helps, especially since you can't reroll it.

Veteran Instincts - decloaked = death.

Advanced Cloaking Device - this doesn't really seem optional now does it.

Echo (PS 8, 42 points, same theory as above)

Recon Specialist

Sensor Jammer

Veteran Instincts

Advanced Cloaking Device

I clearly had room to fit in a Tie Fighter, but on the odd chance that someone else brought a low point dual phantom list, I needed to get initiative. And frankly, this was an experiment so why not max (or min) it out.

The results:

Match 1 - Han Solo in the Falcon with Veteran Instincts (PS 11) and Jan Ors in a Hawk also with Veteran Instincts (PS 10). Are you kidding me? Kryptonite right off the bat. Lost in round 2 or 3. Doesn't matter. The experiment wasn't looking so hot at this point.

Match 2 - Wedge with a Flechette Torpedo and two Blue Squad b-wings with Fire Control System. Knocked Wedge down right away with Whisper to his hull points, but he got a shot on Echo to stress him before Echo finished him off. Main threat gone, but the b-wings then finished off a decloaked, stressed Echo. Lots of great flying but cold dice 5+ rounds later (it was a long battle), the two b-wings had one hull each. Time was called for the last round and I needed to finish at least one more off for a win. Pulled off a great k-turn with Whisper so that only one b-wing was in range, fired first, missed (seriously missed a two green dice, via range 3, b-wing when rolling 4 reds!) and then was promptly destroyed. So it goes. Died trying.

Match 3 - Two Interceptors and three Tie Fighters, all lower PS than mine. Pulled off some great flying here. I may have rolled my defense dice a few times, but arc dodged amazingly. All enemy ships destroyed and lost none. Looking a bit better, but only two rounds left before they decide the top 8 and I'm mid-pack.

Match 4 - Dash (PS7) with Outrider and Heavy Laser Cannon, with two Rookie X-Wings. Managed to stay in the rear arc of Dash within range 1 for 3 rounds straight. Was really proud of that flying and finished him off. Whisper and Echo then finished off the X-Wings a few rounds later. OK, things are looking up.

Match 5 - Rear Admiral Chiraneau (PS8) with two Tie Interceptors (P4 or 3, can't remember). The good news was that Chiraneau fired after after Echo, meaning I'd be cloaked as long as I got a shot off. The bad news, I used sensor jammer on Echo against Chiraneau when at range 2 - you can't reroll it, but you sure can flip that red focus to a critical. Dumb mistake and so long Echo - direct hit when flying with two hull. I managed to finish off the two interceptors on rounds when I didn't have a shot at the decimator, which I was trying to keep at range 3. But in the final rounds it came down to the wire with the decimator. He had two hull and I had two hull on Whisper. I shot and got one hit with 4 reds (come on!), he shot and got a critical through my 4 greens and a focus. Critical induced a stress, leaving me with one hull. Needed to get distance and lose that stress, so I decloaked forward on the next round, moved a green 4 forward, and recloaked since he wasn't in arc. Should be safe at range 3 with 5 green dice right? Nope. End of game, but a fun one.

So in the end I finished in the middle of the pack, but I did learn quite a bit about phantoms and their weaknesses against any pilot skill ship. It was a fun experiment, but I won't run it again. :-)

I was also impressed by how may players were unfamiliar with Phantoms. So, my advice to beat Phantoms after having been beaten a few times:

1. Induce stress - this limits cloaking actions and greatly reduces movement options after decloaking.

2. Turret weapons with full range 1-3 ability - you have to stay within range to attack, so this always places an attacking phantom at risk of bad dice even if they are cloaked.

3. Higher pilot skill - you will catch them decloaked and 2 green dice are very weak defense.

4. Block the decloak - it is much easier to guess a decloak direction than the move after it.

5. Maneuver your firing arc to mirror where the phantom currently is, but at about range 1 behind it's current position - this may require a k-turn, but Whisper almost always moves forward somewhat and Echo can only slide back a little. Thus, the phantoms are locked into mostly forward movement relative to their current facing. If you are between range 1-2 behind them and facing their rear, then there are reasonable odds that you'll have them in arc after they move. That's a little hard to describe, but hopefully made sense. Put a ship behind them on the mat and run some experiments with the phantom's movement and you'll see what I mean.

6. Just keep shooting - don't give up, bad rolls are bound to happen and you'll get one through.

I prefer to have a lambda with them and with Yorr flying in the middle there is a good chance that he will be within range 2 to soak up stress so the Phantoms can keep cloaking.

I prefer to have a lambda with them and with Yorr flying in the middle there is a good chance that he will be within range 2 to soak up stress so the Phantoms can keep cloaking.

“Whisper” [Fire-Control System, Veteran Instincts, Advanced Cloaking Device] (39)

“Echo” [Fire-Control System, Veteran Instincts, Advanced Cloaking Device] (37)

Captain Yorr (24)

Good strategy, I like it. Thanks for sharing!

It is fun to fly. If I fly only 2 ships, 1 has to be able to take 10(shield+hull) hits. The lambda is a great support ship and meat shield.

I don't know...I hear you say you just play it for fun but...

the player you beat is going to have a real negative experience...losing against a 86 point list really sucks.

...and you just created another player that thinks Phantoms are broken.

Well, I hope you reconsider. I lost 3 and won 2 in a tournament of 40+ players, almost all of whom I'd never met before. After the first match they could have revoked my pilot's license I was beaten so badly! I've never gone down so quickly with any list.

Plus, the two I beat were down toward the bottom of the ranks (no offense intended, I was at the bottom of the rankings too after 2 initial losses), and those opponents admittedly had never played phantoms before. I even let one of them look at my dial beforehand since he was unfamiliar with them, and we discussed strategy post-game quite a bit in a friendly manner. So I think we both had a learning experience. Sure, nobody likes losing, but there is rarely a tie in x-wing.

My conclusion was that phantoms aren't as unbeatable as reported after running my experiment. Plus, I found that I didn't enjoy flying them as much as I thought I would. So I'm back to other ships now that I enjoy more. However, I do feel much more prepared to face phantoms down in the future on the other side of the mat, and thought I'd share some strategies with others to help them win.

Checkout this write up of a very similar list.

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1313784/tournament-report-small-ship-rumble-santa-fe-31115

I fly this same list, I'd heard about the two Phantom list and figured I'd take it to the Store Championship which was the tournament I'd flown since Worlds. I did it because I wanted to see how it flew and I don't play much, so it was more a test of my current skill against a broad field of lists. Here's what I learned:

• Don't stay up really late the night before, because after 4 rounds I was pretty tired I started making decloaking mistakes by the end I hadn't made all day and never have before (flew both Phantoms onto rocks casually on the same turn, not even forced to).
• Recon Spec only came into play sparingly, but when it did it was nice to have focus when being focus fired. I removed tokens from my ships at clean up phase more than combat which might have had more to do with hot/cold (mostly cold) dice.
• Sensor Jammer, I picked it because 75 minute rounds would mean I'd have to face a lot of shots and I thought it would save me. It was usable twice in 4 rounds, otherwise it was a waste. It is true that Rear Admiral makes it pretty worthless.
• I rolled a lot of dice, a lot of times, with focus, and rarely got the effect I wanted. Blame it on the dice, but I felt I either needed FCS or Gunner a lot in the rounds I played. Too many times Focus tokens were never used.

Positive notes:

• It's fun and complex to fly, there are just so many options.
• When your flying clicks with your dice, it feels good.
• I didn't feel like an a** after the rounds finished, but there was definitely some apprehension across the table when we started. Even when I flew well, the other player had chances, and saw that it wasn't an invincible list (well, maybe it would be in another's hands). Positive, because I thought I'd get more flak and was pleasantly surprised.

I think I might keep Rec Spec and go FCS next time I try it; with FCS, Gunner might be superfluous many times.

The dual Phantom list that I usually fly is this:

Whisper (VI, Gunner, FCS, ACD)

Echo (VI, Recon Specialist, FCS, ACD)

Dark Curse

100 points

Can be squishy, but a very fun build.

The dual Phantom list that I usually fly is this:

Whisper (VI, Gunner, FCS, ACD)

Echo (VI, Recon Specialist, FCS, ACD)

Dark Curse

100 points

Can be squishy, but a very fun build.

I like this build too.

The dual Phantom list that I usually fly is this:

Whisper (VI, Gunner, FCS, ACD)

Echo (VI, Recon Specialist, FCS, ACD)

Dark Curse

100 points

Can be squishy, but a very fun build.

I like this build too.

Agreed, I've played this too and it is a good list. Dark curse will either be ignored and effective at whittling down opponents, or a great frustrating distraction. Echo is a little more risk though because you don't always have initiative and have to remain cloaked more often.

I tried dual phantoms a few weeks ago at one of our local tournaments. I found that it either did downright amazing or absolutely horrible depending on the match ups. No happy middle ground with this list.

Had ACD, VI, FCS, and Gunner on both Echo and Whisper.