Ok so I'm a fairly new player, but from what I've seen the rebels seem to have a pretty solid squadron option in Jan Ors and some X-Wings. Jan allows any rebel bombers to bypass fighter screens with her intel ability, and paired with some generic X-Wings (who can use her brace tokens with impunity) she'll last a LONG time against fighter groups brought in to route her.

Here are my thoughts on a counter...

The Instigator Imperial Raider

The FFG FAQ states that Instigator's ability is unaffected by the 'Intel' keyword, therefore flying the Instigator within range 1 of any Jan Ors squadron ball may potentially stall or stop a bombing run completely. In addition to this the Raider I has an anti squadron battery of 2 black dice and can ignore Jan's X-Wing escorts. Jan will still have her braces (assuming she hasn't already exhausted one or both defending her escorts), but roll two raiders up onto the Jan ball and my thoughts are it might not last long. On top of that any brace tokens Jan discards defending herself can't be used to help out her escorts anymore.

I understand that you may be investing a lot of points into this counter (if you're using 2 raiders or the Instigator with an anti fighter force), and that investing this many points to just counter Jan might seem like a bit of a waste, but consider this alternative option:

Just bringing the Instigator by itself might be enough to stall the enemies bombers for 2-3 turns, and to me stopping 2-3 turns of bombing is worth the 48 points you'll be spending

What do you guys think?

If you hate Intel, then wait until you see Dengar.

As for Jan and her brace ability with X-Wing Escorts, yes, that is the new hotness. The immediate Imperial response that comes in my mind is IG-88. He can come in, throw dice at Jan and there's not a god **** thing she can do about it but Brace herself, since he ignores her Counter, any Escorts around, and is gunning for her head.

I would probably just do Dengar, Howl, Interceptors + IG-88. That should be all kinds of fun, and its very well-rounded too.

If you hate Intel, then wait until you see Dengar.

As for Jan and her brace ability with X-Wing Escorts, yes, that is the new hotness. The immediate Imperial response that comes in my mind is IG-88. He can come in, throw dice at Jan and there's not a god **** thing she can do about it but Brace herself, since he ignores her Counter, any Escorts around, and is gunning for her head.

I would probably just do Dengar, Howl, Interceptors + IG-88. That should be all kinds of fun, and its very well-rounded too.

Good Point!

My only worry with IG-88 would be having him go down to fire from Jan's escort. X-Wings fire a lot of dice and IG-88 only has that one scatter... Maybe bring a few Tie Advanced with him to keep him flying. Although I can see where, even if he went down, his attacks could take one of Jan's tokens with him. I'll have to try this one out!

If you hate Intel, then wait until you see Dengar.

As for Jan and her brace ability with X-Wing Escorts, yes, that is the new hotness. The immediate Imperial response that comes in my mind is IG-88. He can come in, throw dice at Jan and there's not a god **** thing she can do about it but Brace herself, since he ignores her Counter, any Escorts around, and is gunning for her head.

I would probably just do Dengar, Howl, Interceptors + IG-88. That should be all kinds of fun, and its very well-rounded too.

Good Point!

My only worry with IG-88 would be having him go down to fire from Jan's escort. X-Wings fire a lot of dice and IG-88 only has that one scatter... Although I can see where, even if he went down, his attacks could take one of Jan's tokens with him. I'll have to try this one out!

Get your own escorts. Tie Advanced's are pretty great. Throw in a Soontir Fel and they're taking 1 damage for each attempt at the advanceds. Throw in a Dengar and you'll be throwing back counters and they wont even wanna go for your squadrons. Your IG-88 will be free to annihilate Jan or any other priority target squadrons.

The idea is that you're diving in the fight with the Howl + Ints first, forcing Jan to Brace them or possibly lose X-Wings. You out-range her greatly and both the Ints and IG-88 moves at speed-5. Go in, do damage, force her Brace tokens, then get in there with IG-88 and stomp on her neck. Dengar flies in as an afterthought since he doesn't really need to do anything but give the Interceptors psuedo-Counter-4 with re-roll with Howl's nearby bonus.

Get your own escorts. Tie Advanced's are pretty great. Throw in a Soontir Fel and they're taking 1 damage for each attempt at the advanceds. Throw in a Dengar and you'll be throwing back counters and they wont even wanna go for your squadrons. Your IG-88 will be free to annihilate Jan or any other priority target squadrons.

Thats one potent fighter wing! It sounds like it would be a great counter for a Jan ball, but I do wonder if it would be worth the points spent. Fel + IG-88 + Dengar + a couple Tie Advanced and Tie Interceptors is somewhere in the ballpark of 90 -100 points. I might just rather take the Instigator for 48 you know?

Instigator is great, but it's also on a Raider platform that can be destroyed by anti-ship fire (which is pretty much everything). You have more threat range with the Interceptors and Howl, which is why I think they're better in this particular scenario. At this point, you should treat those Ints as a ranged attack with HP, if that makes any sense.

It would be considerably more difficult to place Instigator exactly where you want it to be, when you want it to be there than it would be to bring a fighter based answer. I can also testify to the efficacy of IG88 v Jan when done properly.

Instigator is great, but it's also on a Raider platform that can be destroyed by anti-ship fire (which is pretty much everything). You have more threat range with the Interceptors and Howl, which is why I think they're better in this particular scenario. At this point, you should treat those Ints as a ranged attack with HP, if that makes any sense.

^^This... Should have thought more about this... I guess the raider's survivability does come into question

It would be considerably more difficult to place Instigator exactly where you want it to be, when you want it to be there than it would be to bring a fighter based answer. I can also testify to the efficacy of IG88 v Jan when done properly.

AND its maneuvering haha.

I'm curious as to what you guys do to deal with the bomber aspect of the Jan ball. Do you just move in quick, remove Jan, and then turn your attention to the bombers next round?

If you can reach Jan, kill Jan. Escort only works within distance 1, so there's a chance you might be able to get around her escorts as well. Impossible to tell, but in the Wave 2 meta of squadrons + Intel interaction, there's a TON of positioning involved.

Jan + Xs + Gallant Haven could potentially be a very powerful, if tricky to pull off, combination. Makes me want to try it, but I don't know if I have the skill.

Also, don't discount Jan's synergy with named squadrons. Yes, there will be a redundancy of brace tokens, but Jan's handouts cannot be shut down with accuracies, which could be highly valuable.

Combine with GH for maximum (if pricey) fun.

can confirm gallant haven + brace token is still just as impossible to kill as wave 1, ran a combo of yt1300, jan and 3 bwings and just drifted into a ship and bombed it ignoring all enemies around me think i lost 3 hits on the yt1300 and that was all

Chasing any squadrons with ANY ship tied down to a navigation course is going to be very, very difficult. I think dealing with enemy squadrons is currently:

1. Bring your own Jan/Dengar and bomb the tar out of enemy ships.

2. Bring an Anti-squadron force to wipe out a bombing group (Dengar/Soontir/TIE advanced/HowlRunner or other flavors)

3. Reminisce about Wave 1 and say "Squadrons? I don't need any stinking' squadrons."

Many games I've played and seen lately have bombers basically ignoring one another and unleashing hell on ships.

Option two is interesting because Rebel anti-squadron forces still possess bombing abilities and are more well-rounded. Imperial anti-squadron forces help each other a lot and do SO much damage to a bombing group.

I love the idea of option three but have not seen it AT ALL during wave 2 in "serious" matches.

its only 2 braces per turn, just pile on 10 ties and if she burns the braces the next turn she has none. Its easy to use numbers on rebel fighters. or attack them as they move and have to be away from her. (if she stays back attack the forward group if she moves up attack the back group.

Hey Guys,

I am a fairly new play myself. But I've been toying with a Jan Ball list myself, and wanted people's thoughts on this fighter list.

Luke + Wedge + Dutch + Nym + Jan + X Wing Squad x3

My Commander would be Dodonna

Chasing any squadrons with ANY ship tied down to a navigation course is going to be very, very difficult. I think dealing with enemy squadrons is currently:

...

Absolutely true, I think the role for the Raider may be to escort a heavier ship providing AA support and creating a no-fly zone. I haven't tested this.

The immediate Imperial response that comes in my mind is IG-88.

Its more than that. For Jan to be effective in an attacking force, she must be the last squadron to move to avoid the bombers she is escorting being tied up. Both IG-88 and the aggressors have rogue allowing them to wait until this moment then tear her to shreads.

If Jan is in a defensive force, then just go attack elsewhere, its not worth it. Those braces will outlast you

I think Intensify Forward Firepower has a pretty good discussion on this in their podcast with one of their members (sorry I can't remember his name) going against the grain there and pointing out that there are probably better ways to deal with Jan rather than trying building a list around killing her. Doing that might mean putting a significant number of points into a fighter group with a single purpose. You're then left with a good chunk of points that may not be as valuable against other lists. That would be my worry anyway.

I tried taking out Jan and an X-wing/B-wing group with fourteen TIEs recently, supported by anti-squadron fire from a couple ISD IIs. I ultimately won the fighter battle, but couldn't kill Jan fast enough to prevent the B-wings from basically gutting one of the ISDs while my Intel-heavied TIEs watched helplessly (Independence and Yavaris were involved, of course). I'd like to think the Raider supporting fire would have helped (and maybe a couple of interceptors instead of generic TIEs), or maybe some auto-damage from Soontir/Mithel/etc, so I'm thinking of trying that route next time. I'm holding out hope Instigator might be a counter, if supported with squadron escorts, but the jury's still out on that one.