Can someone explain tournament initiative please as I am a little confused. For example if I build a squad containing soontir fel (PS9) and make it 99pts so as to get initiative. For my squad to be effective I want Soontir to move last. In theory having initiative means moving first and shooting first if the opponent has another pilot skill 9 ship??? Can I therefore choose to give initiative to the opposing player? Therefore being able to move my PS9 ship last but shooting second?

Help most appreciated

Assuming they have a 100 point list or you win the coin flip against a 99 point list, yes.

You can always choose to give up the initiative, so you can see where everyone else moves and then move. But remember you will fire second in those cases.

It depends on your build. Swarms tend to love init, because they can block very well. Each build is different and initiative will effect each in it's own way.

Firing second isn't a huge deal, though, given the simultaneous fire rule.

Unless I've missed something that occurs at high level play because of this, anyway.

To clarify, the player who spent less points or wins the coin toss gets to choose who gets initiative.

Firing second isn't a huge deal, though, given the simultaneous fire rule.

Unless I've missed something that occurs at high level play because of this, anyway.

The only reason why this is bad if the first firer gets a crit that affects your ship. Blinded Pilot sucks!

Thanks guys for confirming

Firing second isn't a huge deal, though, given the simultaneous fire rule.

Unless I've missed something that occurs at high level play because of this, anyway.

The only reason why this is bad if the first firer gets a crit that affects your ship. Blinded Pilot sucks!

Also more likely to spend a focus on defense instead of attack when firing second with tied PS.

Initiative is easily remembered as move first shoot first.

I've always rolled one attack dice where the opponent calls hit or miss since hits and crits are half a red dice.

To clarify, the player who spent less points or wins the coin toss gets to choose who gets initiative.

I'm pointing this out since the OP is a new player.

Technically, this is a tournament rule. A lot of groups let the player who gets initiative give it up if he wants to, but you should be aware that you won't find this in the rulebook or FAQ.