could this work?

You have Vader on one side and Whisper on the other picking targets. Fly the TAP with Whisper for blocking.

Vader 29

Lone Wolf 2

/x1 0

ATC 5

Engine 4

Whisper 32

VI 1

FCS 2

Gunner 5

ACD 4

Sienar Test Pilot 16

AT 2

/v1 1

Gunner isn't needed on Whisper. Take it off add recon specialist or agent Kallus or something else. I'd say move lone wolf for predator and have the TAP block for Vader. Better combination as Whispers erratic movements need to stay hidden and blocking for her gives away what your thinking to your opponent who if they see it will adjust to focus down on the phantom. Otherwise a solid list.

Since you have the Phantom you want to go first with initiative. Vader with Engine upgrade is good for arc dodging. Generally with arc dodgers you want to go second in order to react to the opponents movement. So, I would drop Lone Wolf with Veteran Instincts on Vader. It'll give you an extra point for initiative bid and allows Vader to get better positioning with higher PS.

I'm not too sure about the Phantom kitting with FCS and Gunner. It gives it a really big offense, but a big point sink. Not sure if you want to swap things around.

Thanks. I just have never really used Lone Wolf and wanted to give it a shot and figured Vader would be a decent candidate...

Thanks. I just have never really used Lone Wolf and wanted to give it a shot and figured Vader would be a decent candidate...

On teams without a Phantom, Lone Wolf on Vader is a solid choice. Phantoms just have such a unique way to shift the direction of a game, you need to try to leverage everything to either support them or protect them.

I'd say go with Kallus on Whisper is you have him. Solid choice and works really well against one of those pesky enenmy aces.

Thanks. I just have never really used Lone Wolf and wanted to give it a shot and figured Vader would be a decent candidate...

I'm going to strongly disagree with some of the advice given so far. Gunner + FCS on whisper is amazing. The reason its so powerful is because of the action economy it gives you. Here's the important part: you don't need to focus. Barrel roll if you have to (for better positioning like getting a shot or avoiding enemy shots); otherwise take evade. You only ever pick focus if no one can shoot at whisper (well, maybe a piddly 2 dice attack or two, but only if you have full shields and they don't have crack shot).

So the power of gunner means every turn you are basically sitting on an evade token + whisper's free focus (because with FCS + gunner, she never misses!). This makes whisper extremely hard to kill. Even more so than kallus or recon spec or even rebel captive (although rebel captive is really really strong against other phantoms and anyone using push the limit, like Fel and Dash).

I have won a tourney (small) with this build:

WAV

Whisper w/ VI, FCS, rebel captive & ACD = 42

Vader w/ lone wolf, x-1, ATC & engine = 36

Alpha pilot w/ autothrusters = 20

98

Seinar Test Pilot instead of Alpha works well too.

With the torpedo scout menace, I would totally change rebel captive for Gunner. Rebel captive is only sometimes useful against torpedo scouts, whereas Focus + Evade to tank through a torpedo shot (thanks to Gunner) will be more consistently valuable.

Agent kallus is not bad though as a cheaper option, but it only works against 1 ship. That may or may not be useful against torpedo scouts.

Some other criticisms I've read above that I feel should be debunked:

-Whisper and Vader work against each other for initiative choice. Not true. Because they conflict with initiative choice, you actually DON'T CARE about initiative. If your opponent has the choice, whatever. Either way they pick, it gives you an advantage (either for Whisper or Vader). If you get the choice, pick whichever seems to be the most advantageous for you in the given matchup. For example, if you are up against Soontir Fel or Han Solo or Dengar, try to give initiative away (If you get it, no worries, Vader becomes an excellent blocker and Whisper will be hard to kill).

-VI is better than Lone Wolf. VI is only an advantage against other PS 9 and 10 ships. Lone wolf will allow Vader to hit harder and be harder to kill (provided you fly it right). With whisper in the list as well, your firepower is formidable. You have a lot of block options, so high PS aces are more scared of you than the other way around. Gunner Whisper especially is very good at killing even a fully turtled Soontir Fel (or at the least, knocking off the stealth).

However, to get the most out of Lone Wolf, you do have to keep Vader away from your other two ships. Either start with Vader in the opposite side (but don't fly straight into the enemy's firing arcs...Suicide!), or you can also start with all three ships clumped together. In the early turns, Vader will go up the board edge before turning in, while your other two can turn into the middle immediately. Its best to practice different openings so you can play through the early parts of the game fast and with confidence.

If you go with VI on Vader, and Kallus on Whisper then you have 24pts left for your third ship. With no initiative bid that could be two ties for blocking, but if you want a bid then you could go Baron TAP build with title card and prockets, giving a 1pt bid:

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic%20Empire&d=v4!s!22:27,-1:23:3:U.124;79:27,36,142:-1:9:;165:-1,73:27:-1:&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron

FCS and Gunner on Whisper is gold, though Kallus/Captive aren't bad. Anyone who doesn't think Buzzsaw Whisper is fantastic hasn't actually run it, or run it correctly.

As for the initiative conflict, the poster above is wrong -- they do conflict and they don't offer perfect synergy. This has a small bonus of you never having a 100% bad matchup due to initiative, but it also has the drawback of you never having 100% perfect matchup due to initiative.

If initiative is important to my list, I build with ALWAYS getting what I need in mind, even if that means Soontir-level init bids.

As for the initiative conflict, the poster above is wrong -- they do conflict and they don't offer perfect synergy. This has a small bonus of you never having a 100% bad matchup due to initiative, but it also has the drawback of you never having 100% perfect matchup due to initiative.

If initiative is important to my list, I build with ALWAYS getting what I need in mind, even if that means Soontir-level init bids.

That's a matter of preference. Its not 'right' or 'wrong' to fly PS 9 with no initiative bid. If you don't feel comfortable doing it, that's fine. But don't make it sound like its a mistake to fly PS 9 with no initiative bid. As I said above, DON'T CARE about initiative with this list. Again, a matter of preference. If others DO CARE, then that's cool----they can change their list to get a bid. Either way, its not a question of 'bad' or 'sub-optimal'.

It really depends on the build for initiative bid. If you're playing arc dodgers and/or Phantom lists then you'll probably want to build a point or two less to help with initiative bid. Otherwise, if you lose the initiative bid it makes things difficult especially against similar builds. I've played against similar arc dodger list with the lost initiative and won. It depends on your flying and anticipation. However, overall it was more difficult flying having to go first because of lost of initiative.

With a Phantom more often than not you would want to go first for better defense since you're sinking in the majority of the points of your build on it. As for Veteran Instincts, I would definitely take that over Lone Wolf in the case instances you're facing high PS. I've played it both ways in tournaments and the times I didn't have Veteran Instincts I regretted. In the end, try out what you want and play with what you're comfortable with.