I'm actually wondering about Vader. He'll hit fighters with his crits, which'll help but I imagine he'll go down quick without the scatter token. I wonder if putting the generic advanced with a bunch of Howlrunner Ties would work, since they could then do four dice-attacks and the advanced has to die first. I'd try the interceptors, but the escort keyword would make them less than ideal for that.

the problem with tie advances is that they lack swarm

Howlrunner can enable fighters and interceptors (dat 5 dice), but not advanced (or bombers)

I can see use for a single Advanced as a guard for Howlrunner, even with scatter I've seen her drop fast, only needs the odd accuracy result to have her worried with only 3 HP. As she's such a force multiplier to the surrounding Interceptors/Fighters you want her alive as long as possible.

with regards to escorting bombers, my favorite idea has been to use soontir fel

I love his ability and it would basically give at least some of the bombers near him counter, plus he has speed 5 so he can keep up with corrupter bombers

with regards to escorting bombers, my favorite idea has been to use soontir fel

I love his ability and it would basically give at least some of the bombers near him counter, plus he has speed 5 so he can keep up with corrupter bombers

You don't need to shoot at the bombers, you just need to enage them in combat.

Soontir fel combo is with Tie advanced, since your opponent's squadrons are FORCED not to shoot at him.

with regards to escorting bombers, my favorite idea has been to use soontir fel

I love his ability and it would basically give at least some of the bombers near him counter, plus he has speed 5 so he can keep up with corrupter bombers

I've strongly considered an interceptor escort for bombers. They're too dangerous to ignore, so the opponent has to decide if he wants to blast the bombers and take it in the teeth from the interceptors, or the interceptors and still get counterattacked while leaving the bombers intact and a threat to his ships.

Personally, I think the smart money would be on killing those interceptors asap, and cleaning up the bombers after.

with regards to escorting bombers, my favorite idea has been to use soontir fel

I love his ability and it would basically give at least some of the bombers near him counter, plus he has speed 5 so he can keep up with corrupter bombers

You don't need to shoot at the bombers, you just need to enage them in combat.

Soontir fel combo is with Tie advanced, since your opponent's squadrons are FORCED not to shoot at him.

Yarp

I can see use for a single Advanced as a guard for Howlrunner, even with scatter I've seen her drop fast, only needs the odd accuracy result to have her worried with only 3 HP. As she's such a force multiplier to the surrounding Interceptors/Fighters you want her alive as long as possible.

Hell, I'd give her two if I can afford it. She's just too valuable to waste.

with regards to escorting bombers, my favorite idea has been to use soontir fel

I love his ability and it would basically give at least some of the bombers near him counter, plus he has speed 5 so he can keep up with corrupter bombers

You don't need to shoot at the bombers, you just need to enage them in combat.

Soontir fel combo is with Tie advanced, since your opponent's squadrons are FORCED not to shoot at him.

But you see I don't care if they shoot at him, between his counter attack and the scatter token it is very unappealing to shoot at him and often futile

With only 3 hull, you should be scared. Scatter is easilly removed by precision results, and blue dice have 1/4 of those.

Meaning you won't get a lot mileage of his special rule (why not bring 2 interceptors instead, for example), and your bombers will be engaged anyways.

Can fighters use accuracy? I thought only their hit results counted unless special rules exist?

Yup, accuracy are used by both ships and squadrons by default.

(Apparently it was different in the gencon demo last year, hence some confusion on it)

I am reasonably sure that when refering to a numbered range band the game means you use the range ruler for squadrons and not the ship firing ruler. So its not that impressive. Rhymer seems best when used with ships that arent bombers.

I am reasonably sure that when refering to a numbered range band the game means you use the range ruler for squadrons and not the ship firing ruler. So its not that impressive. Rhymer seems best when used with ships that arent bombers.

Eh, I'm going to disagree there. This game is all about maximizing your limited number of turns and activations to knock out the enemy's capital ships the quickest. If you're able to knock out a capital ship in the first few rounds and remove some squadron commands from the board, you can mitigate your opponent's fighter use. Given the cheaper point value of most of the imperial squadrons, if you fight a war of fighter attrition, those points won't add up that much, and without squadron commands, unless the enemy squadrons are really spaced out well, those squadrons will be chasing after your capital ships the rest of the game.

Don't quote me on this, but I've seen some unspoiled cards in the Wave 1 expansion that could alter the range on the squadron dial activation.

Bombers will be very important, and even at distance 2, they're still able to engage capital ships and potentially negate certain fighter screen formations. Time will tell once the meta is allowed to develop.

Your opponent can still screen his capital ships with squadrons, so even with range 2, you would need to be engaged with his squadrons before shooting at the capitals.

Not saying that the upgrades aren't nice, but the one turn rush is not something should happen if your opponent brings enough squadrons.

Keep in mind that you engage only when you stop moving. A Corrupter activated Rhymer-backed Bomber squad can threaten a capital from the front, keeping your screen at distance 1 from your own capital then move PAST the fighter screen squadrons and land behind your capital, outside of engagement range.

Your opponent can still screen his capital ships with squadrons, so even with range 2, you would need to be engaged with his squadrons before shooting at the capitals.

Not saying that the upgrades aren't nice, but the one turn rush is not something should happen if your opponent brings enough squadrons.

Keep in mind that you engage only when you stop moving. A Corrupter activated Rhymer-backed Bomber squad can threaten a capital from the front, keeping your screen at distance 1 from your own capital then move PAST the fighter screen squadrons and land behind your capital, outside of engagement range.

You can have them further than range 1. I thought squadron commands can be issued up to blue die range, so about range 3.

I am reasonably sure that when refering to a numbered range band the game means you use the range ruler for squadrons and not the ship firing ruler. So its not that impressive. Rhymer seems best when used with ships that arent bombers.

Normally this is true, there is the Distance side of the ruler and then the range side (distance 1-5, and short medium long range) normally squads shoot at DISTANCE 1 but rhymer sales the May shoot at MEDIUM RANGE (using the other side of the ruler)

Your opponent can still screen his capital ships with squadrons, so even with range 2, you would need to be engaged with his squadrons before shooting at the capitals.

Not saying that the upgrades aren't nice, but the one turn rush is not something should happen if your opponent brings enough squadrons.

Keep in mind that you engage only when you stop moving. A Corrupter activated Rhymer-backed Bomber squad can threaten a capital from the front, keeping your screen at distance 1 from your own capital then move PAST the fighter screen squadrons and land behind your capital, outside of engagement range.

You can have them further than range 1. I thought squadron commands can be issued up to blue die range, so about range 3.

You then run into the same problem, as the Bombers can fly over you and land outside of your engage zone and drop their black dice.

The only upside for the defender is that if Rhymer is making his bros shoot out to medium, Evade tokens come back into play, forcing rerolls.