Hello Xwingers!

My very first post, from someone who's only been playing for a month, and I thought I'd get your opinion on a few ideas I've been having since starting this wonderful game...

Firstly, I'm a huge fan of interceptors, and ideally love to run more than one. They are a bit pricey though, and so I've recently been trying out running two royal guards with autothrusters and PTL. Plus, royal guard ties look real shiny, and I've ordered this kit from Mel's at shapeways to make them even sweeter. I kind of want to leanr them, fly them, and make them my signature, if you know what I mean?

So, how to use these little beauties?

well, they leave a 46 point gap for the remaining ship, and after trying out a few options, I now see that this is a really sweet number for pimping out a nice imperial centre piece! I'd be very keen to hear your feedback on the following three lists, all flying with the best guards imperial credits can buy...

1) Red All Over

Royal Guard Pilot (27) x 2 TIE Interceptor (22), Push the Limit (3), Royal Guard TIE (0), Autothrusters (2)

Kath Scarlet (46) Firespray-31 (38), “Mangler” Cannon (4), Veteran Instincts (1), Rebel Captive (3)

- This list encourages the enemy to take shots at the guards, which in turn means a lot of turtling, while Kath mangles away. Plus, painted and modded, it would look sweeeet on the table! (not that I'm superficial or anything)

2) 666

Royal Guard Pilot (27) x 2 TIE Interceptor (22), Push the Limit (3), Royal Guard TIE (0), Autothrusters (2)

Captain Oicunn (46) VT-49 Decimator (42), Veteran Instincts (1), Darth Vader (3)

- All three ships have 6 PS, making for some easy maneuvering, and nobody brings the pringles to the party like a 16hp vader in a souped up bumper car!

3) The Royal Hunt

Royal Guard Pilot (29) x 2 TIE Interceptor (22), Push the Limit (3), Royal Guard TIE (0), Autothrusters (2), Targeting Computer (2)

Colonel Vessery (42) TIE Defender (35), Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

- The guards get a very useful offensive upgrade, and the Colonel get to fry some rebel chicken. Tasty.

Any feed back would be appreciated - I'm particularly interested in whether you think they synergise well, as I'm having a hard time getting my lists to 'click' in the same way as my rebel(scum) opponent seems to be able to!

Thanks a bundle!

Wow, this post was in moderation for 24 hours! Must be because Kath's Colour Coordinated Corp is totally OP!

might i suggest

RGP with SD and AT with PTL 30 each x2

and

Echo rebel captive, FCS, ACD, and VI 40

I'm a big fan of Royal Guards and have been flying them for over a year. Autothrusters have definitely helped them out (like all interceptors). They bring some decent firepower, and combined with push the limit, they can be hard to kill (and aren't terribly expensive, relatively speaking).

They are a great support ship, but if you are looking to field 2 of them, your options do become a bit limited (not terrible though).

First, I'll comment on your list ideas:

1) Kath is a good choice and your upgrades are well thought out. This should be an effective list. Its unfortunate that you can't squeeze engine onto kath, but it is what it is.

2) Oicunn really really wants engine upgrade. In fact, I'd drop Vader and VI for it, personally (VI isn't very good on Oicunn anyway----he likes having a low PS to make it easier to bump into things). He also wants rebel captive and its a shame to miss out on his EPT, so personally, I don't think he works that well with the royal guards given the conflict in points. You can certainly try this combo, but IMHO, I don't think it will work as well...

3) I like the idea of flying a Defender alongside the royals. However, I don't think Vess is the right choice. Having to take TL diminishes the survivability of your royal guards and you can't really afford to compromise their actions just to boost Vess's offense. I would go with Brath instead. Lone Wolf + HLC just fits in 100 pts. However, to make this list work, you will have to fly Brath on the flank and keep the royals far from him (inevitably Lone Wolf will get shut off for a couple turns, but it is what it is).

Panic's list above is pretty good. I find Whisper works better because Echo is a super star against other arc-dodgers and jousters, but is weak against turrets and the Royal Guards don't really help a ton against turrets, so it leaves an exploitable weakness in the list (that is, you can't stop your opponent from killing Echo before the turret is dead).

'buzzsaw' Whisper: VI, FCS, gunner & ACD = 44 pts

2 Royals w/ PtL & autothrusters = 27 x 2

98 pts (the initiative bid is handy to have, too)

Ultimately, though, I don't think Whisper is the best soulmate for a pair of royal guards because they really want to have stealth device to keep them going as long as possible. For that reason, I am really looking forward to when the Raider comes out. This will allow what I think is a really cool list (both in terms of fluff and effectiveness):

Vader w/ Lone wolf, x1 title, ATC, engine upgrade & proton rockets = 39

2 royal guards w/ PtL, RG title, autothrusters & stealth device = 30 x 2

99 pts

Can't get more badass than Vader and who better to fly as wingmates than two royal guards? Not only that, but they compliment each other really well. Turrets will be hard pressed to take any of your ships down, you can run circles around low PS jousters and you can deal with other elite arc-dodgers by blocking with one royal guard so they can't avoid Vader's crit from the ATC. Lone Wolf can be switched to predator on Vader easily enough (if you find it is not activating enough due to proximity with the royals).

I like it! Haven't tried echo yet, but I've been playing a lot of sigma with stygium, intel agent and fcs. It would be a pretty glassy list, without a firespray or defender, but I might give it a go tomorrow...

What about the dreaded PWT? Is echo a pain to play? Thanks for your suggestion!

Thanks a lot for the great critique Blade. I haven't bought the dec yet, and being honest, I might have been looking for a good excuse to buy that bad boy

Brath sounds great, but looking at it, i think Kath might be the one, as she offers some stress support to the guards.

I can't wait for the raider to drop, and in fact your list might be the first I play on August 25!

If you want to run the Decimator Ive found two lists work well

Chrineau with Whisper

and

Chrineau with Fel

I guess I'm a hipster, as I can't bring myself to field chirpy fel, fat han or corran/dash! It just feels less fun and anxiety-inducing without dem arcs, and I have a vague sense of guilt too

Or try:

Howlrunner with Determination

Academy

Academy

and still have 3 points for a bid. Add Steal device to Howlrunner, or when Raider/Wave 7 arrive, add the Mk II TIE engine to all 3 of them

I've only had limited success with a howl 3 swarm - she seems to get burned to the ground as soon as she shows her cute lil face in most games I've played it, leaving you with two flimsy blockers for a 42 spend... Also the target priority seems pretty clear in that list - burn howlrunner, take down the guards, and then bother with the ties.

Ideally I want a list that has my opponent chewing their lip trying to figure out their priorities. Something with a nice high ps to scare elites, preferably with a downside to targetting them, you know what I mean?

Thanks for the input though, it's appreciated.

I've only had limited success with a howl 3 swarm - she seems to get burned to the ground as soon as she shows her cute lil face in most games I've played it, leaving you with two flimsy blockers for a 42 spend... Also the target priority seems pretty clear in that list - burn howlrunner, take down the guards, and then bother with the ties.

Ideally I want a list that has my opponent chewing their lip trying to figure out their priorities. Something with a nice high ps to scare elites, preferably with a downside to targetting them, you know what I mean?

Thanks for the input though, it's appreciated.

That's true, but you can use it to your advantage (although its somewhat situational because it won't work against every list you face). If you have 3 TIES + 2 royal guards in a loose formation with the academies out front and howlrunner in the back (royals to the side but range 1 to howlie), its not an easy choice for your opponent. Royals are obviously not worth shooting at because of autothrusters. But those academies are gonna block him up and steal actions next turn and are at range 2 (Howlie is range 3 at best with evade or defensive focus---because you didn't spend it on her measly attack, right?). Shoot at howlie and possibly get no damage through (risky) or take the 'easier' shot on the academies.

Next turn its even rougher because you move aggressively forward with everything except perhaps howlie (but you want to keep the royals at least range 1 from her). Ideally, howlie is range 2 from enemy with evade and the royals are range 1 with focus + evade and the enemy has no actions because your academies blocked their movement. Shoot range 1 at those royals (who are pointing 4 dice with focus and a single re-roll) so you gain an extra red die, or take the less powerful shot at howlie (whose also buffing those royals). Its a bit of a tough choice and ultimately you don't care what your opponent does (provided he doesn't kill one of your royals before getting his shot).

As I said though, you don't want to try this kind of thing against every opponent----predator + gunner at range 1 is absolutely not something your royals want to square off against, for example...

Ah I see, thanks! Yeah, the makes a lot of sense, and blockers will certainly be a big big help with the 6ps royal issue.

The plan seems really sound for the opening engagement, but i feel a little less confident about what i do to secure the end game, especially against someone like corran or fel. I guess the key then trying to get at least two arcs on them each round of firing, to try and strip tokens... But still, i feel that a hlc defender or a double stressing kath in that situation would be much more worrying for my opponent ...

Krassis Trelix — Firespray-31 36
Heavy Laser Cannon 7
Rebel Captive/Recon Specialist 3

Ship Total: 46

Ah I see, thanks! Yeah, the makes a lot of sense, and blockers will certainly be a big big help with the 6ps royal issue.

The plan seems really sound for the opening engagement, but i feel a little less confident about what i do to secure the end game, especially against someone like corran or fel. I guess the key then trying to get at least two arcs on them each round of firing, to try and strip tokens... But still, i feel that a hlc defender or a double stressing kath in that situation would be much more worrying for my opponent ...

Double stress is a great way to go. But if your list lacks that option, blocking is the way to go. Fel has died to blocking more times than anything else across however many games he has been used in throughout x-wing's 'lifespan'. It takes practice to learn how to predict your opponent's moves (so you can get the block), but its a very useful skill to have (it also helps you fly interceptors better because you know to watch out for opponents trying to block you). Blocked Fel (and corran too) has no actions, and typically your remaining ships will be in range 1 (so even lowly TIE fighters are throwing 3 dice with focus). As long as you have 3+ shots, Those 4 unmodified green dice (assuming Fel has stealth device) will fail and even if Fel doesn't die outright then, the stealth device will be down and he will have one or two hull left (possibly a crit if you're lucky) and he will be running away after that licking...

I actually really like the original 666, and disagree with some of the criticisms that were lobbed at it, except for maybe the comment about VI. I think that Vader makes Oicunn the ship to target first, which is great because the weakness of those listed Interceptors was that they're a little fragile without adding Stealth Device.

Now if you wanted to, you could add in a stealth device to each interceptor, making them 30 a pop and raising your total to 60 points, then drop in a Doomshuttle, which is still difficult to ignore if piloted well, for another 24 points, leaving you with exactly 16 points for our man Backstabber, who happens to also be PS6 and gives way too much value for his points if ignored. Once he's flanking, he's like a cheap little Interceptor himself.

There you have 100 points, three ships at PS6, all of whom would normally be priority targets, thus giving your opponent no clear first priority. Also, your PTL Interceptors with 4 green dice are a bit less squishy.

Hope this helps.