Fun stuff, but could be risky now that BBBBZ is becoming more popular.

Fun stuff, but could be risky now that BBBBZ is becoming more popular.

Yeah that's the list I'm most worried about. I've got a plan for it but it'll come down to out-flying my opponent. Not really a hard counter for that list.

I played E'Tahn (bare), Jan Ors (with blaster turret and Kyle Katarn crew), and Wedge (with Engine Boost and Predator). Idea was to spread them out and fly Wedge near the edge of the board like a flanker, have Jan take a stress so Wedge fires more dice and do whatever you have to do to keep E'Tahn pointed at Wedges and Jan's intended targets. Wedge was one shotting TIEs with ease, nearly one shotted a TIE Bomber; a Direct Hit crit would have done it, and all together they burned through a Decimator in two turns and embarrassed a Doom Shuttle in one turn; using Vader would have destroyed the shuttle. PTL interceptors gave me some serious fits though.

I got killed at my first (and only so far) SC of the year against a 4 ship build with Etahn as the focus. He was fully upgrade with R2-D2, FCS, Shield Upgrade, and something else I think. I went all in on him but couldn't get past R2-D2 and he kept evading and regening. Finally I gave up and just started killing as many of his other ship as I could before I died.

So howbout:

Etahn + FCS, R2 Astromech, Push the Limit, Hull Upgrade

3 bandit squadrons

Rookie with R3-A2

Etahn focuses and evades every turn and slow rolls his way out from his corner. The opposite corner has the block-o-ships with the stress rookie behind the bandits.

Or this?

Etahn A'baht (32)
Lone Wolf (2)
Fire-Control System (2)
R7 Astromech (2)

Prototype Pilot (17)
Chardaan Refit (-2)

Prototype Pilot (17)
Chardaan Refit (-2)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)
Cluster Missiles (4)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)
Cluster Missiles (4)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

I have wanted to run a 2 E build for a while and have had some luck with

Corran Horn (35)
Veteran Instincts (1)
R2-D2 (4)
Hull Upgrade (3)

Etahn A'baht (32)

Biggs Darklighter (25)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

I prefer Hull Upgrade on the Es over Shield upgrade. It is only 1 point more for the SU but it also helps reduce the threat of a Direct Hit. I have had a lot of luck against TIE swarms and Decis. Have not yet faced a YT with it.

Biggs is here only to keep Corran and Etahn alive long enough to take out an enemy ship or 3.

I tried a few different variations to the list last night. All stress mechanics to threaten the phantom and found I was having a hard time doing that and Etahn was dying way too quickly. So for this Saturday's store championship, I'm gonna retreat back to the original list, as that's what I'm most experienced with. Against phantoms, I'll just have to fly my ass off and hope for the best!

Took the original list to the store championship at Card Kingdom in Seattle and took 2nd place!

First I played 2 Bs, an X, a Y, and a bandit. I managed to keep the X-wing as far from my B-wing as possible and pinned my opponent's squad in a tight asteroid field in the center. His initial approach wasn't great and I was able to pile on some damage before he could return fire. I killed X,B,Z and lost my B and a Z. 55-34.

Next I played a standard 58 point Dash and Farlander w/ HLC and some stuff. I started by trying to pin Dash down and get ahead of him to block. But he got ahead and I knew I couldn't give chase. So I turned hard to the right and chewed up Farlander who was racing up the center of the board to join the fight. After he was down, I just had to keep Etahn and 2 Zs alive to win. That's exactly what happened. 42-34 (phew, that was close!) Modified Win

Next I played 2 Bs with Ions and 2 with tacticians. This list scared the hell out of me. Crits don't matter to Bs. I made a tight asteroid cluster and raced straight through it at top speed. My opponent was chugging up one flank but had to divide his formation around some asteroids to avoid getting flanked. Etahn pushed the limit on a turn and took an ion shot from range 3. For the next 3 turns he got ioned for one damage, and shot at by one other B for one damage. He took so long to die that I was able to start really piling on the damage against all those distracted B-wings. I lost a B-wing, Etahn, and a bandit. I killed everything. 100-76 Win

Game 4 was against an Echo, Chiraneau list. Decimators I like, phantoms I do not. I forced the decimators into a joust and piled on the crits. He broke free but had pilot skill 0, turns were red, his pilot ability and EPT were discarded, his console was on fire etc. Meanwhile I tried to pin down Echo but couldn't pull it off and she killed off everything but the B-wing who was still chasing Chiraneau. The B-wing finished him off and flipped around to face Echo. I figured the game was over because Echo could've just avoided me an played for time. Kudos to my opponent for coming at me though. Unfortunately for him, he over-thought what the B-wing would do, and got a little over zealous. She ended up in range 1 of the B with no way to barrel roll out of danger, Nor did she have a shot. The B-wing rolled 3 hits, no evades, and Echo popped (she'd lost a shield earlier). 100-78. That B-wing is getting promoted!

Game 5 was against Chewie, Jake Farrell, and 2 bandits. Chewie jousted way ahead of his bandits and I let Jake flank me. I went all in on Chewie and did a ton of damage, no crits though Chewie had one hull left for the longest time. I was down to just Etahn vs Chewie, Jake, and a bandit. Etahn killed off Chewie and then did his unkilleable thing. When time was called, I killed 62 points, and lost 58. Another modified win.

Made the cut to top 8!

Game 1 was against a TIE swarm with a couple seismic bombers and backstabber. He approached in a loose formation with the bombers nearest me. I went full speed at the bombers. I hoped to get Etahn out of arcs with a 5 forward but misjudged the distance and ended up giving 5 ships shots on him. He went down to one hull on the first engagement. In response? A single irrelevant crit on a bomber. Not a good first engagement, but Etahn was able to bank away from danger and regen a shield and turtle up. The bombers tried to bomb the edge of my formation, which they did, but Backstabber got blocked and slid right into range of both seismics. A bandit finished him off. Etahn kept doing green maneuvers and turtling, heading into the corner, with two academies in pursuit. My formation was chasing them and the bombers and another academy had to take a few turns to reposition and come after my formation. Etahn went up to full shields, K-turned dragged those 2 ties right into all my arcs. The bombers and other TIEs caught up and dropped my ships. Everyone but Etahn, who finished off one bomber. At time I had Etahn left, so 42 points. My opponent had a bomber and 2 academies left. Sooo...42 points. So it came down to initiative. My opponent had won the toss at the beginning of the tournament but elected to give me initiative. Another skin of my teeth victory. Wow.

On to the semifinals. I played Wedge, Roark, Tarn, and a bandit. Wedge had swarm tactics so there were a lot of chaining PS shenanigans. He slow-rolled to build up his focus tokens on moldy Roark so I went top speed to force the engagement. He had initiative so I knew his bandit was gonna try to jam up my formation on the first engagement. So I leap frogged the bandit after he moved and instead jammed him up. All 5 of my ships had arcs on Wedge and the bandits were all range 1. Wedge died fast and poorly. Roark proved incredibly resilient though over the next few turns but I eventually got him and the bandit and lost everyone but Etahn. Tarn is a pain to kill but not as painful as Etahn. We jousted over and over until Tarn finally got finished off. 100-58

Finals!!!

I played against the same Echo/Chiraneau list I'd beat earlier and the game started the same, a forced joust on Chiraneau. Only this time my opponent boosted him into the corner. He vadered my B-wing to death but died in return. Even if I hadn't shot Chiraneau down, he had exactly one maneuver that wouldn't put him off the board and Etahn was going to block it and give him the ol' ring out. I had drawn Echo into the corner and was blocking her decloaks and piling dice on. Dropped her shields and put a minor explosion on her. He rolled a....CRIT?! Dammit. Gotta be a hit to do double damage. After that, the green dice loved him despite multiple range 1 focus/TLed shots. I slowly ran out of Zs and I couldn't block him any more. If this were a timed game I would've had it as long as Etahn didnt die. But after an hour and 45 minutes of cat and mouse, Etahn finally croaked. I had a bandit left bit didn't want to drag it out any longer. The store was closing in 15 minutes and I had $50 store credit to burn!

I had a really, really fun time and have come to really enjoy this list. Etahn is an absolute nightmare to kill and puts opponents in bad situations. Their first instinct is to kill him early when they've got weight of fire, but that leaves the rest of my squad unmolested. Usually people switched tact halfway through the battle and killed off some or all of my other ships. But then it's Etahn in the end game who is all but impossible to kill with only a ship or two.

There were two kinds of people I met that day. Ones who were confused/happy that I didn't take the "shoot twice guy", and ones who had a secret love affair with Etahn and were thrilled to see him making it.

Hopefully I was able to prove that there IS more than one E-wing pilot, haha!