The arc dodging is against swarms too - there's nothing quite like sneering at a Blackcrack swarm which never gets a shot off as you circle around and pick it to pieces. I TOLD him that K-Turns were the answer, but did he listen to me? Nooooo..

Anyway, I've been pondering and testing a few builds against the triple U-boat force and surprisingly, a very traditional Decimator list works... pretty well.

59 Rear Admiral Chiraneau: Predator, Rebel Captive, Mara Jade, Engine Upgrade

40 Whisper: Veteran Instincts, FCS, Intelligence Agent, ATC

Turn 0, try to lure your opponent into a joust by setting up several clear 'lanes' with asteroids flanking them so they don't have a clear formation. Yes, you're gonna be jousting with RAC - set up aiming at one on the flank, with Whisper on the same side of the board away from the JMs. Go forward 3 with RAC first turn; you want them aiming their ordnance at him but you don't want them getting easy Range 3 shots - and you don't want him outpacing Whisper.

You have to concentrate on arc-dodging with Whisper hard while RAC sucks down torpedo shots, as Whisper can probably avoid the damage from one torpedo with Evade+Focus but a second WILL hurt, but if you focus fire, you can down one U-boat before it gets its second shot.

The other two will be stressed thanks to MJ and RC (Rebel Captive is IMPORTANT here if they're using Overclocked R4 it will prevent them from getting a Focus), meaning they'll need to clear the stress with highly predictable moves lest they get no firing opportunities, and RAC should live to get a third round of firing off.

It requires good piloting and judgement, but if you can offer them RAC as a better torp target than Whisper, Whisper can clean up two 2-dice PWTs without much problem. Intelligence Agent is there to prevent annoying blocks over more offensive options - yes, Gunner's better, but SURVIVING is more important than dealing peak damage.

Or as we say in Battletech, "Information is ammunition."

59 Rear Admiral Chiraneau: Predator, Rebel Captive, Mara Jade, Engine Upgrade

I went 2-2 against U-Boats on Saturday with my fat Decimator + Ace list. If you're going fat Decimator, you want Ysanne Isard, who gives you crazy value vs. their primary attack in the late game when it's you and 1 or 2 other toilets (you know, if you live to the late game).

My second pilot was Vader, who'd served me well in the meta before these U-Boats came in. My other piece of advice would be to make sure your secondary pilot is packing Autothrusters.

Whisper+Focus+Evade is nigh-invulnerable against 2-dice PWTs, though - hell, even the Proton Torps he'll only take like .8 damage on a single shot. He also has the strength to push through a LOT of damage, and is less vulnerable to blocking than Fel because of the decloak + Intelligence Agent - and Fel being limited to his greens for action economy.

I could definitely use Fel instead, if I owned Imp Aces + TIE/in; however, I don't. And what would the extra 5 points go to? Gunner on Chiraneau, stupid question.

I love Isard, but in a meta where the Deci can go from 16 health to 4-6 health in a single round, she doesn't seem that great of value. I'd rather have Rebel Captive to prevent a second easy shot, with Mara Jade to hose up multiple ships' next turn as well.

Flew:

patrol leader Decimator with Darth Vader

Omega leader with comms relay and juke

Inquisitor with title, autothrusters and PTL

Against HLC Dash, Bwing and an a wing with various.

The Inquisitor was a beast against Dash, but I forgot that you can re-target lock a ship you already have target locked so kept target locking a different ship to get the evade token, a good lesson learnt for next time. I think I would have won comfortably had I focused target locks on Dash. As it was I lost with him only having Dash on 1 Hull.

I may try trading up to Oicunn for the Deci and Zeta for the Tie though.

Also flew against a Scum Moldy Crow, hounds Tooth and headhunter and battered it through really lucky Dice rather than skill as well which was fun.

Still not sure I prefer this list to a tank Kenkirk Decimator and vader in the Tie advanced though...

Wonderful games and builds today.

Flew:

Oicunn with Predator

Inquisitor with title, PTL & Autothrusters

Zeta Leader with Predator

(thanks CBMarkham)

First against a Y wing with autoblaster

Scum firespray

2 generic headhunter

Fairly easy win, mostly because my opponent got unlucky with debris/crits.

Second against a tooled up Ghost and an A wing. I got a bit lucky at the start with my opponent moving further forward than I expected in round 2 so I was sat in its blind spot, but under focused fire it went down quick.

I flew the Inquisitor really well I feel keeping it at range three most of the time. Zeta Leader hits like an absolute truck as well, with predator against the Ghost it was amazing.

I still don't really understand the Ghosts attacking steps, my opponent explained but I still didn't fully understand.

He shot me out of the front arc, then again using the Turret on the docked Phantom and then again with the Ghosts secondary weapon whilst the Phantom was docked. It seemed a bit OP but I suppose it does have big blind spots...

I still don't really understand the Ghosts attacking steps, my opponent explained but I still didn't fully understand.

He shot me out of the front arc, then again using the Turret on the docked Phantom and then again with the Ghosts secondary weapon whilst the Phantom was docked. It seemed a bit OP but I suppose it does have big blind spots...

Your opponent was wrong. Cheating in fact (although unintentionally from the sound of it).

Its actually quite simple. The Ghost gets 1 attack just like any other ship. In addition, at the end of the combat phase, if the Phantom is docked, the Ghost gets one more attack with its turret (if there is an eligible target----and remember its ONE attack only, so twin laser turret, for example, can only shoot once if used at this time).

And that's it.

While docked, the Phantom is OUT OF PLAY. It does not get to contribute to the game in any way UNTIL you undock it. So it does not get any attacks while on the Ghost (the fact that the Ghost gets its bonus turret attack represents the docked phantom)

Yeah... 3 attacks is incorrect, and even worse that it came from a turret on the shuttle (also incorrect).

I still don't really understand the Ghosts attacking steps, my opponent explained but I still didn't fully understand.

He shot me out of the front arc, then again using the Turret on the docked Phantom and then again with the Ghosts secondary weapon whilst the Phantom was docked. It seemed a bit OP but I suppose it does have big blind spots...

Your opponent was wrong. Cheating in fact (although unintentionally from the sound of it).

Its actually quite simple. The Ghost gets 1 attack just like any other ship. In addition, at the end of the combat phase, if the Phantom is docked, the Ghost gets one more attack with its turret (if there is an eligible target----and remember its ONE attack only, so twin laser turret, for example, can only shoot once if used at this time).

And that's it.

While docked, the Phantom is OUT OF PLAY. It does not get to contribute to the game in any way UNTIL you undock it. So it does not get any attacks while on the Ghost (the fact that the Ghost gets its bonus turret attack represents the docked phantom)

Worth clarifying here that the attack that happens at the end of the combat phase comes from a turret upgrade equipped on the VCX-100, not the Attack Shuttle. As above, the shuttle doesn't contribute until it's undocked.

Right, that makes more sense, I think. As I said I felt a but rude and silly and he definitely believed he was playing correctly! I may have slightly misremembered the attacks used but it was certainly 3. It didn't matter too much as none of my ships git blown up anyway,but good to know for next time.

Just to make sure I fully understand:

When the shuttle is docked, the player can shoot out of the front OR back with 4 dice.

Then at the end of the round if the shuttle is still docked he can attack with the GHOSTS turret?

Right, that makes more sense, I think. As I said I felt a but rude and silly and he definitely believed he was playing correctly! I may have slightly misremembered the attacks used but it was certainly 3. It didn't matter too much as none of my ships git blown up anyway,but good to know for next time.

Just to make sure I fully understand:

When the shuttle is docked, the player can shoot out of the front OR back with 4 dice.

Then at the end of the round if the shuttle is still docked he can attack with the GHOSTS turret?

Correct. The Ghost, with a docked Phantom, can perfrom a primary weapon attack out of its primary or special arc. Then at the end of combat, it can perform 1 attack with a turret upgrade card equipped to the Ghost.

Without the Phantom docked, the Ghost can only perform a secondary attack with a torpedo upgrade out of its special firing arc.

Great fun tonight flying against a lot of Scum which I've not really done a lot of.

Flying the list I've mentioned before

(Oicunn and Zeta Leader with Predator, Inquisitor with PTL, title and Autothrusters).

First round against 2 ion Turret Y wings a firespray and something else. I won fairly easily.

Second round against a new opponent with a Mist Hunter, hounds tooth and something else I don't recall. It was a great tense match that I won with Zeta Leader having 1 Hull left. It was great fun.

I played the same person second time around who tweaked his list to a headhunter with rage and hot shot, boost with a mangler, gonk, feedback array and some other stuff and the Mist Hunter again.

I only just lost this match as I made a bad maneuvering decision at the end where if I'd done a hard turn instead of a straight he wouldn't have been able to shoot me and he would've flown off the table the next round. This was also really fun, though both rounds I flew the Inquisitor terribly and my autothrusters didn't kick in once as I was being rubbish at staying at range 3. I also forgot many times to use predator rerolls.

My one question is about the Mangler and Bossk though. My understanding was that you can't modify Dice more than once, so can he shoot me with the mangler, change a hit to a critical then use Bossk to change that critical to two hits?

Because Bossk's ability takes place AFTER the Compare Results step, he was indeed using Bossk correctly.

Be glad he didn't have Greedo on there too to make sure the first damage is always dealt face up.

Oh no, he had Greedo too! Also Boba Fett in one if the other ships. Thanks for the clarification, wanted to make sure we were playing correctly

It was terrifying and awesome.

Edit: If he rolls a hit, hit, critical, and I roll 3 evades, is he still able to change the critical to two hits?

In not sure where the change occurs is all.

Edit2: Having reread Bossks card, his ability happens after an attack hits only, so that's something we did wrong as he was changing a critical to 2 hits before I was rolling defence dice.

Oh no, he had Greedo too! Also Boba Fett in one if the other ships. Thanks for the clarification, wanted to make sure we were playing correctly

It was terrifying and awesome.

Edit: If he rolls a hit, hit, critical, and I roll 3 evades, is he still able to change the critical to two hits?

In not sure where the change occurs is all.

Edit2: Having reread Bossks card, his ability happens after an attack hits only, so that's something we did wrong as he was changing a critical to 2 hits before I was rolling defence dice.

Yeah, his ability only kicks in if there's a crit left after evades have cancelled red dice results.

Bossk is indeed powerful, but tends to die quick (relatively speaking). Thankfully, scum don't have the equivalent of Biggs!

Cheers for confirmation. I definitely played poorly with regards to focusing on his ships and flying the Inquisitor terribly. He barely used Gonk either as I was always on him.

I need to have a think about my tactics next time i play scum, particularly as I've not really played them before today.

I might swith the Decimator back to a generic and change Zeta to Omega Leader with Comms and Juke. Though I do love how hard Zeta hits for 23 points (with Predator)

So I'm going to be brave and finally try flying my Phantom properly for the first time (only tines previously I was playing with the old rules)

I want to fly with the Decimator but the Decimator list I've done is just a silly fun one, I don't think it'd do that well in a competitive environment. Grateful for thoughts on the Whisper list however, I'm not really sure of how best to kit it out (I don't have Kallus)

Decimator - 60

Rear Admiral chirenaeu

Expose

Experimental Interface

Ysanne Issard

Weapons Engineer

Whisper - 40

Veteran Instincts

Fire Control System

Advanced cloaking device

Intelligence agent

So I'm going to be brave and finally try flying my Phantom properly for the first time (only tines previously I was playing with the old rules)

I want to fly with the Decimator but the Decimator list I've done is just a silly fun one, I don't think it'd do that well in a competitive environment. Grateful for thoughts on the Whisper list however, I'm not really sure of how best to kit it out (I don't have Kallus)

Decimator - 60

Rear Admiral chirenaeu

Expose

Experimental Interface

Ysanne Issard

Weapons Engineer

Whisper - 40

Veteran Instincts

Fire Control System

Advanced cloaking device

Intelligence agent

I'd pull Weapons Engineer and drop in Rebel Captive. Ironically, having a "Rebel Captive" really puts the hurt on a ton of popular Imperial Aces. I don't know why, but for some reason Whisper and Soontir hate shooting at Rebel Captives. Go figure.

Heh, thanks for the suggestion. If I can get to a printer by Wednesday I'll print a rebel captive to try out. I guess that is much more useful if the Decimator is left to fight one v one in the end game.

Wanting to have a bit of fun with my Decimator build by adding PTL and Connor Nets. Because why not; just wanting to try new silly things whilst I wait for Imperial Veterans. Also wanted to give the Inquisitor some bite at range one for when people inevitably go for him.

Decimator - 60

Rear Admiral chirenaeu

Expose

Experimental Interface

Ysanne Issard

"Rebel Captive" (edit)

I'd pull Weapons Engineer and drop in Rebel Captive. Ironically, having a "Rebel Captive" really puts the hurt on a ton of popular Imperial Aces. I don't know why, but for some reason Whisper and Soontir hate shooting at Rebel Captives. Go figure.

Haha, I don't know either; they should get a free focus token instead.

Interesting build with the modification of Rebel Captive.....so he doesn't have Agente Kallus; if he did, how would you modify the list? Also, never having used Experimental Interface, how would that work in a typical round?

What can we do woth 9 wave and decimator? Any new?

Last lists : Vancouver, BC, CA 2016-07-16 Attendance: 71

1st Dengar + Lone Wolf + Countermeasures + Inertial Dampeners + Extra Munitions + Plasma Torpedoes + Zuckuss + Overclocked R4 + Punishing One;
Manaroo + Engine Upgrade + Push The Limit + Feedback Array + K4 Security Droid + Unhinged Astromech;

2nd Rear Admiral Chiraneau + Engine Upgrade + Rebel Captive + Emperor Palpatine + Adaptability;
Whisper + Veteran Instincts + Fire‑Control System + Advanced Cloaking Device;

T4 Captain Oicunn + Engine Upgrade + Rebel Captive + Predator + Emperor Palpatine;
Whisper + Veteran Instincts + Intelligence Agent + Fire‑Control System + Advanced Cloaking Device;

That RAC list looks nasty, though I am terrible at using Whisper.

The Oicunn lost is very nice too.

What can we do woth 9 wave and decimator? Any new?

Nothing. There is not even one upgrade that could be used with Decimator... OK, maybe the seismic charges. With Oicunn and title, it may somehow work, but only in casual play.

I'm not a fan of Rebel Captive in the current meta. It doesn't do anything against Dengaroo, which I think is why we're seeing Decimators pop up again (maybe, I don't know).

Ysanne Isard is my pick, assuming the extra point can be slotted in.

Additionally, Whisper concerns me if Dengaroo gets initiative, but maybe I'm just being paranoid about a single list in a meta that still prefers Imperials (at least, in my area).

I like the idea of an Oicunn w/ PTL, Ysanne, and EU combo (bump during move, Ysanne's evade in Combat Round, PTL to boost and potentially arc dodge no matter what PS you're against). But I also think RAC is a monster and is where I generally find myself going.

Just bought my first decimator and had some initial thoughts on a phantom pairing:

Chiraneau

Predator

Engine Upgrade

Vader - with the decimator being beefy, I really like the idea of giving crits to ships that lost all their shields

Palp

Echo

Veteran Instincts

Collision Detector

Advanced Cloaking Device

Intelligence Agent

The question is.... is a PS8 Phantom still good against some of the aces out there?

Thoughts?