1st imperial list

By Faeren, in X-Wing Squad Lists

Hey guys I'm brand new here to both the game and the forums.

Here's my 100 points list, going to be playing my first game tomorrow with this list :)

Academy Pilot — TIE Fighter 12

"Howlrunner" — TIE Fighter 21 total

Hull Upgrade

"Dark Curse" — TIE Fighter 16

Kir Kanos — TIE Interceptor 24

Tetran Cowall — TIE Interceptor 27 total

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II

Targeting Computer

Royal Guard TIE

Ship Total: 27

Any thoughts are welcome and encouraged!

Cheers

Faeren

Played the game today, didn't go too well got completely annihilated, doesn't help that I boosted just into range of 2 of his ships unintentionally meaning I lost kir kanos in the first combat round=\ but ah well live and learn lol.

Edited by Faeren

If you're a fan of the two Interceptor Tie Swarm

Something like this

Comes out to be two alphas with AT x20 each

Howlrunner with PTL, for survivability (evade and BR)

2 academy Pilots for blocking/swarm damage

and a nightbeast who is a glorified soft PTL and overall okay (since the changed) Tie fighter.

rounds out to be exactly 100

Played the game today, didn't go too well got completely annihilated, doesn't help that I boosted just into range of 2 of his ships unintentionally meaning I lost kir kanos in the first combat round=\ but ah well live and learn lol.

Hey there, welcome to X-wing and the forums!!

Sorry we didn't get to respond to your post in time, but it looks like you have the right attitude to appreciate and become successful at this game :D

By the look of things, you at least own the Core Set, TIE Fighter expansion, Imperial Aces, and Punisher.

Here's your list but tweaked a bit. You don't have to proxy any upgrade cards other than an additional Hull Upgrade (with that said, proxying a few upgrade cards here and there is okay outside of tourneys).

Sabre Squadron Pilot

Push the Limit

Hull Upgrade

Sabre Squadron Pilot

Push the Limit

Hull Upgrade

Howlrunner

Hull Upgrade

Determination

Academy Pilot

Academy Pilot

Durability is important when you're first learning. You're going to make mistakes, so having forgiving ships is important. Secondly, having ships on the board longer allows you to get a proper feel for them before they get blown off.

TIE Interceptors are great ships because of their dial which is loaded with green maneuvers. The best way to take advantage of that is to give them Push the Limit (Imp Aces comes with 2!). Boost & Barrel Roll only when doing so will dodge firing arcs, otherwise Focus & Evade every turn and you'll see how durable they can be. Unfortunately, Kir Kanos' lack of a Pilot Talent slot really limits his potential in this regard.

Howlrunner + Hull Upgrade is a great setup. If you want, you can give her Swarm Tactics to take advantage of her high PS when flying multiple Academy TIEs with her. When you have an Academy TIE on its last legs, getting those shots in before you die can quickly earn back your 2 points and more. Determination is a cheap protective measure against ~25% of the crits in the deck when points are tight.

Let us know if you have any questions!

Edited by zerotc

So it looks to me like you can field 3 TIE Fighters and 2 TIE Interceptors and a TIE Punisher. So I'm thinking:

"Howlrunner" (18)
Swarm Tactics (2)
Shield Upgrade (4)
Academy Pilot (12)
Academy Pilot (12)
Kir Kanos (24)
Shield Upgrade (4)
Lieutenant Lorrir (23)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)
Total: 100
First off, no idea if that is going to print correctly; first time trying this. Secondly, this gives you a more survivable "Howlrunner" as an even better team booster, a more survivable Kanos, and I personally think Lorrir's ability is awesom, and the TIE Mk II gives you more options for removing stress.

The trick with TIE Fighters is to either take 2 of them for blocking purposes (and expect them all to die), take a swarm of them (and expect a fair number of them to die), or mini-swarm with a flanking heavy hitter (and expect most of them to die).

Give this a try:

Royal Guard Pilot with Autothrusters and Predator x2

Howlrunner with Determination and Stealth Device

Academy Pilots x2

You can swap out Predator for Royal Gaurd Title and Stealth Device on each of the Ints.

Howlrunner and TIEs in middle with the Interceptors in the corners. This way if your opponent goes after an Interceptor, you hard 1 and get out of dodge and lead them to the mini-swarm. Hopefully through some rocks. You want them to concentrate on the TIEs while the Interceptors do the work.

Played the game today, didn't go too well got completely annihilated, doesn't help that I boosted just into range of 2 of his ships unintentionally meaning I lost kir kanos in the first combat round=\ but ah well live and learn lol.

Totally - you've chosen a pretty unforgiving list, but I commend you as a big fan of Interceptors myself. I'm still learning with them as well, but it quickly became apparent that it's often about living to fight another day (er, round). In this context, that means not being afraid to bug out and maneuver for a more favorable position. Interceptors, especially with Push the Limits, are among the most maneuverable ships in the game, so use that! Boost and barrel roll out of arc, out of range, etc. even if it costs you a shot. Interceptors are flankers, not jousters, meaning you never want to be going head-to-head. Above posts have talked about using your TIEs to block, which in turn allows you to get behind your target with the Interceptor. If you're getting shot at by anything that doesn't have a turret, you're doing it wrong.

Interceptors REALLY want Autothrusters, if you have them. I feel that TIE Mk. II is mostly a waste on them, because you already have a really good dial to work with.

Stick with it, and practice, practice, practice! Even flying against yourself is worth the while to learn how to stay out of arc. If you keep with it, though, they get to be really fun - it's very rewarding to juke and dodge the whole game until you have the perfect shot and come away with a win and an undamaged, 3hp ship!

Edited by FuturistiKen

So it looks to me like you can field 3 TIE Fighters and 2 TIE Interceptors and a TIE Punisher. So I'm thinking:

"Howlrunner" (18)
Swarm Tactics (2)
Shield Upgrade (4)
Academy Pilot (12)
Academy Pilot (12)
Kir Kanos (24)
Shield Upgrade (4)
Lieutenant Lorrir (23)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)
Total: 100
First off, no idea if that is going to print correctly; first time trying this. Secondly, this gives you a more survivable "Howlrunner" as an even better team booster, a more survivable Kanos, and I personally think Lorrir's ability is awesom, and the TIE Mk II gives you more options for removing stress.

This is a noble attempt to make somewhat crappy pilots work.

Unfortunately, both Lorrir and Kir Kanos have sub-par abilities :(

A good way to get value out of them is Fleet Officer (which I realize the OP doesn't have, but thought I'd mention it anyway).

If you are a new player, I don't think interceptors are the best ship to start with because they really punish you for mistakes and when your ship dies really fast, its sometimes hard to know what exactly your mistake was...

Some like 'trials by fire' however, so YMMV.

I do think the TIE fighter is an excellent ship to learn with, except there are some tactics you can employ with them that you may not realize. For example, flying them aggressively and using them as blockers. A swarm of TIE fighters really thrive in range 1 because generally speaking, you have more ships than your opponent, and the more ships you have, the more bonus red dice you get (relative to your opponent) for being in range 1. This doesn't apply obviously, if your opponent has as many or more ships...

Interceptors are the opposite however. The ONLY time they want to be in range one of something is if they are BEHIND it. If an enemy can shoot your interceptor at range 1, it will die (and that is a mistake on the interceptor player's part).

If you want to use an interceptor, I would suggest flying one as a flanker. That means having it deploy far away from the rest of your squad and ideally, far away from your opponent's squad. Then you can move it quickly towards the enemy and more easily get behind the opponent where the interceptor thrives. If the opponent turns his ships towards your interceptor, you are better off turning your interceptor away and flying out of combat range until you can make another approach. Meanwhile, punish your opponent with your other ships getting into close range to maximize their firepower.

Example list (using the ships I can tell you definitely own):

Howlrunner = 18

2 Academy TIE/ln = 12 x 2

Cutlass sqdn w/ extra munitions & plasma torps = 26

Carnor Jax w/ push the limit & Hull upgrade = 32

The 3 TIE fighters and Punisher all deploy close together either in the middle of the table or a corner. Don't pick a corner unless you are absolutely confident that you can joust your opponent if they also pick the same corner (typically if they have fewer ships than you, although there may be exceptions). Jax then deploys in the corner where there are no enemy ships opposite him.

Hope that helps a bit!

Edited by blade_mercurial

Wow that was a lot of feedback, so thank you everyone! In all honesty I'm not sure what I like, I pretty much just brought one of everything and am going to ply around with it all.

Today I played with vader with engine upgrade (I think, it's the one that gives me boost)

Howl runner and 4 academy pilots. Drew the game today but that was due to time constraints, I believe I would've just clinched the victory in the next turn or 2

Next game I'm looking to use the defender, phantom and punisher to get a feel for them if anyone has any tips?

Once again thanks for all the advice, will definitely be trying out a couple of the lists you guys made in the next week or so :)

When it comes to using the Phantom, "Whisper", Veteran Instincts, and Advanced Cloaking Device are definitely the way to go. I'm going to play around with replacing "Whisper" with "Echo", but the above combination always works for me. Decloak, moving you somewhere unexpected, fire first, then get your four agility dice back. I like filling the other spots with Fire-Control System and Tactician, but the modification and elite talent slots are key here.