Has anyone tried this? I find the biggest challenge with the traditional Gold Squadron Stresshog is that it has a massive target painted on it from the first round because it's such a pain for your opponent, and its low PS means just about everything else will have a chance to shoot it before it shoots back. If your opponent has good rolls, and maybe uses Crackshot or whatever on you, it's very possible to focus one of these down before it gets to fire more than once or twice.

Horton, meanwhile, is PS8 - admittedly, not as good as PS9, so he'll struggle against Vader, Fel etc., but he will shoot before (or at least simultaneously with) Brobots, he'll shoot before enemy Gold Squadron TLTs (stresshog or not), before Green Squadron A Wings, before Omicron shuttles, before Jake Farrell without VI, simultaneously with Miranda, before Dash - there are lots of common pilots where his PS will matter. Moreover, given that you're going to be trying to shoot at Range 2-3 anyway with your TLT, his built in Predator will compensate in part for lack of actions.

On the flipside, of course, he's still 7 points more expensive, for a ship that's still got a big target painted on it, that's still going to get focussed down eventually - possibly almost as fast as his GSP equivalent.

So, has anyone tried Horton like this? How did you go?

I've flown him without the title, in a list with Poe and Dutch Vander (also with TLT). Worked great -- 3 of 3 wins.

Who flies Y-wing aces? This guy!

Dutch is probably my favourite pilot in the game, but probably the worst option in a stresshog configuration. But paired up with Horton... hmm.

My son is currently flying him without the title with Poe and a TLT'd Warden. I can't wait to be able to add Chopper on to the Warden for those situations when he is stressed and needs to "get out of Dodge". It has been performing well as long as it flies in a formation through the first combat pass.

Horton is exactly as much of a sitting duck as the goldie, only he costs 1 point less than a fully loaded TLT + Btl-a4 R3-a2...when he's naked

the r3-a2 goldie is the rebel doomshuttle, it screws itself over to severely neuter a far more important target. Except, instead of killing itself, it just takes itself out of the fight with all that stress.

For that reason, people run it as cheap as possible.

Named Ys are almost never worth it because of their lack of reposition. Kavil, on the other hand...

How do you fly kavil then? I've tried everything with him and can't decide. I really like the blaster turret agro for 30. But a t build is prolly better

Named Ys have the same problem as named Bs; they will be the first thing taken out. I remember when Keyan Farlander just came out and everybody was trying him out. You just knew you very likely had the game in the bag if you faced one because you would just go hard after him and get 30 something points off the table.

How do you fly kavil then? I've tried everything with him and can't decide. I really like the blaster turret agro for 30. But a t build is prolly better

VI, TLT, EU, unhinged.

horton hears a salm is great, especially with a tlt.

would leave the stressbot off, though.

just too big of a target.

anything with stressbot DIES. ASAP. double that when carrying a tlt.

no need to make it any more expensive than necessary.

also: takes away points from the ships that you -want- to live.

I really like fickle's "rebel doomshuttle" comparison. nails it exactly.

TLT's are a real threat and Horton shoots like a beast with his ability. It's like TLT was built with him in mind. The big problem I can see with him as a stresshog is that Y's have 2 moves to remove stress both straights so he will likely remain stressed for a long time. This might not be huge since he can still go beast mode with stress due to his perfect synergy with TLT. I have been trying Horton out some and I really like him now. I would forget the stress bot and throw engine on him to make his a big pain in the rear. If you want a stress bot I would use a gold squad since your opponent is going to try to kill him pretty quickly. I know I would.

I prefer Horton with R4-D6 and a TLT. His ability means he cares less about being stressed, and you can severely limit some squads' ability to kill him quickly.

If only Horton had an EPT, Wired would be nuts. But as it stands you sacrifice too many points here.

If only Horton had an EPT, Wired would be nuts. But as it stands you sacrifice too many points here.

Especially in Vassal play with tractor beams all over the place. If you come across tractor+3*TLT or just Spanish Thugs that's almost half your list down the drain in the first or second round of fire.

I've been using a Goldie as stresshog and then Horton with TLT and EU recently.

Everyone guns for Goldie first leaving Horton to swan around taking super accurate shots. If I muck up and put him into R1 then EU can get him out of it. I've won more games than I've lost with it.

I've been using a Goldie as stresshog and then Horton with TLT and EU recently.

Everyone guns for Goldie first leaving Horton to swan around taking super accurate shots. If I muck up and put him into R1 then EU can get him out of it. I've won more games than I've lost with it.

Exactly! The stress bot is so annoying that it leaves your big boys alone for a turn or two and that can be the difference maker. Horton is really really good now.

I've been using a Goldie as stresshog and then Horton with TLT and EU recently.

Everyone guns for Goldie first leaving Horton to swan around taking super accurate shots. If I muck up and put him into R1 then EU can get him out of it. I've won more games than I've lost with it.

Exactly! The stress bot is so annoying that it leaves your big boys alone for a turn or two and that can be the difference maker. Horton is really really good now.

Yep! Without fail every opponent has gone for the Goldie first in roughly 10 games.

I was using Lone Wolf Luke with R2-D2 along with the two Y's but now I'm using Poe.

I played a couple games of that Bounty mission in the Slave 1 pack last night and the best ship for me was the Goldie R2 Ion Turret Y. Super cheap, and the R2 is really handy on that dial.

He's no Salm, and he doesn't give stress but, he was really handy. Even when he got beat up, he managed to weather the storm. He had good support no doubt, but he easily out performed them in terms of impact on the game. Consistently putting 3 dice + focus on a large ship results in some pretty good things.

Again, not Salm, or stress, or TLT. But the merits of the other Y-Wing builds ought not be forgotten just because a Stresshog made it to the top! Consider this when looking at that Y-Wing next.

A local guy has been flying:

Horton w/ TLT

Dutch w/ TLT

Nera D w/ Proton Torps, EM, and Marksman

It's really effective. He keeps them close. Nera always does Marksman, but gets a TL from Dutch. Nera fires after Horton, so Horton usually forces his targets to use their tokens. Nera can fire at anyone and usually puts the hurt on someone with TL and Marksman. Horton always seems to get his 2 hits in. Dutch is good, as well.

It's been a tough list and hard to defeat. I got beat more times by it than vice-versa.

I've been using a Goldie as stresshog and then Horton with TLT and EU recently.

Everyone guns for Goldie first leaving Horton to swan around taking super accurate shots. If I muck up and put him into R1 then EU can get him out of it. I've won more games than I've lost with it.

Exactly! The stress bot is so annoying that it leaves your big boys alone for a turn or two and that can be the difference maker. Horton is really really good now.

Yep! Without fail every opponent has gone for the Goldie first in roughly 10 games.

I was using Lone Wolf Luke with R2-D2 along with the two Y's but now I'm using Poe.

I finally stopped being lazy and opened my TFA core so I could play a couple games with it this weekend with Poe. He is very good and his ability is awesome. One list was Heavers worlds list and one was something I have been wanting to try. Poe was a force in both games due in large part to TLT's being so annoying. I didn't really care for Heavers list so in the second game I ran one with Miranda+TLT+C3PO and Poe+R5P9+Predator and 2 z's. It worked great since Miranda was focused on and was able to soak up a ton of damage. Poe synergies perfectly with R5P9. I am going to I've that list a shot with Horton instead of Miranda because she didn't hit all that great and Horton does. That also saves me points for better ships instead of plain Z's.