I'm attending a 150pt (5 Epic pt) Epic Tournament on Wednesday. TFA Core set is Included and we'll be using the newest Epic rules, including half point for half dead large and huge ships. I was hoping for some critique of my list. I'm not expecting to win, as this is my first tournament, but I hope to have a good showing and a good time.
I wanted to build something that would take people by surprise, and was also fun to fly. I wanted enough dice to take out at least one ship per round. I settled on PS5 and up as my sweet spot, since it would fire before Huge Ships (unless Roark) and the 6x TLT Y-Wing list I'm all but certain will make an appearance. I kept a 1pt initiative bid just in case.
Juno Eclipse (28)
Advanced Targeting Computer (1)
TIE/x1 (0)Colonel Vessery (35)
Wired (1)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)Shadow Squadron Pilot (27)
Fire-Control System (2)
Intelligence Agent (1)
Advanced Cloaking Device (4)Shadow Squadron Pilot (27)
Fire-Control System (2)
Intelligence Agent (1)
Advanced Cloaking Device (4)"Night Beast" (15)Total: 149
I tried the list out against my roommate on using standard dogfight rules. He flew Mangler Moralo Evol, Mangler Mandalorian Merc, and TLT Kavil. My list won, but I felt that I needed a bit more bulk to make up for unlucky green dice. I liked the FCS Phantoms to trigger Vessery, and they had consistent damage themselves, but I felt like they could have easily popped. I adjusted it to look more like this:
Juno Eclipse (28)
Advanced Targeting Computer (1)
TIE/x1 (0)Shadow Squadron Pilot (27)
Fire-Control System (2)
Intelligence Agent (1)
Advanced Cloaking Device (4)Colonel Vessery (35)
Wired (1)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)"Zeta Ace" (18)"Night Beast" (15)"Dark Curse" (16)Total: 149
The second match, my roommate flew 4x Syndicate Thug with TLT Unhinged and Flechette Torps and Kavil with the same plus Predator. This was one of the lists I was most afraid of, but I ended up performing spectacularly against it, only losing Dark Curse. Another issue became apparent during his match. The PS5 Phantom fires after Vessery, and therefore can't provide him a Target Lock consistently. I decided that I needed to upgrade the Shadow to Echo.
Maarek Stele (27)
Advanced Targeting Computer (1)
TIE/x1 (0)"Echo" (30)
Lone Wolf (2)
Fire-Control System (2)
Intelligence Agent (1)
Advanced Cloaking Device (4)Colonel Vessery (35)
Wired (1)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)"Zeta Ace" (18)"Night Beast" (15)Academy Pilot (12)Total: 149
I had to downgrade Dark Curse to an Academy in order to have enough points for Echo. I also dropped down to Maarek to give Echo Lone Wolf for a bit more survivability. This time my roommate flew a 10 Z Swarm with Blount and Cracken. I was only able to take 2 Z's off the board before he wiped me out. Echo was my last ship, but I couldn't dodge enough arcs to survive, even with permanent Lone Wolf. My flying was pretty awful. I let Vessery get blocked in the middle and he got wiped out early. Maarek kept getting blocked and never got to really make use of his ATC. The real dud of the match was Zeta Ace, who didn't do anything before getting focused down. I have to say, though, that Wired more than paid for itself, making Vessery absorb 2 rounds of focus fire from at least 5 Z's. After Vessery fell, Everything else seemed to fall apart, leading me to think that this list may be too reliant on him, but based on a follow up conversation with my roommate, we decided that my flying was to blame for my loss more than my list, and we might have time for a retry. His feedback also brought me to the following changes.
"Echo" (30)
Lone Wolf (2)
Fire-Control System (2)
Intelligence Agent (1)
Advanced Cloaking Device (4)Colonel Vessery (35)
Wired (1)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)Darth Vader (29)
Predator (3)
Advanced Targeting Computer (1)
Engine Upgrade (4)
TIE/x1 (0)Academy Pilot (12)Academy Pilot (12)Academy Pilot (12)Total: 149
Any observations or advice are welcome. I'd like to keep the Defender and Phantom in the list in some form, but otherwise am open to any changes.