Laz is the one who turned me onto the bare YT-1300 for getting through to the scatter imperial aces. Couple them with Jan, other HWKs and RS and /Yavaris or AF double blue dice gunnery teams and you can get at those protected aces behind 3-4 tie advanced shields.

Hello, my name is Matt, and I use YT1300s.

(Hello Matt)

It's been just under 30 minutes since I last used a YT1300 in a game.

I started using YT1300s a few months ago, there was just something about the.solidity of 7 hull points that made me feel safe, and the way that they had counter and escort made me feel invulnerable - like nothing could touch me. I knew they were slowing me down, I knew they were affecting my fleet's performance, but I just couldn't give them up.

Since then, I took them to a small tournament, and there was something about someone asking me 'How did you get two Han Solos in your list?' that made me feel special, like I was doing something different and new. I managed to come first in the tournament, and that was just a taster -- I then took them to another and won that, and the next think you know, I had included a brace of them in my Galactic Civil War list, and was playing them on vassal.

My last 4 games against regulars on this forum have been won without a single lost ship or even squadron - there's just too much for most people to get through - and the YT1300s may arrive late but then they last too long and draw too much fire from more fragile fighters. They are not responsible for the wins, but they definitely contributed to making it more difficult for opponents to score points.

And I'm not giving them up.

YT1300s. Guaranteed Terribad

Matt. You need to admit you have an YT-problem before we can help you :-)

It's too late for me, GK. Save yourself while you can!

To the original poster, here are some thoughts regarding using YT-1300s successfully.



YT1300s

• Strengths: 7HP, Escort (which makes 7HP an even bigger strength) and Counter 1 (which makes Escort an even bigger strength).
• Weaknesses: 1 Blue anti ship dice. Speed 2 is appalling. Lack of Rogue.

Fleets they work with:

• Fleets that require the enemy to close with you; the speed is less of an issue if the enemy are doing most of the travelling. They go well with AFBs and MC80s that don't need/want to close the distance fast.
• As long as you have long-ranged firepower is long-ranged, even if it is weak (eg Garm AFBs), the enemy will usually want to come to you as quickly as possible.
• If your fleet has strong reds (eg Akbar Gunnery AFBs), the enemy will need to charge at you as quickly as possible.
  • Either way, your awful speed is less of an issue if the enemy are moving towards your Welcoming Committee.

Fleets they don't work well with:

• Fleets that will be moving at high speed, eg MC30 orientated fleets
• Fleets that engage the enemy directly (head on) eg Nebulons (exception of slow rolling Yavaris, but then frankly Aces make much better use of Double Taps that these chunky tugboats).
  • This is not a squadron that can be successfully added to every type of fleet; the choice of ships dictates whether YT1300s are a good idea or not.

Pair with:

• Jan Ors - She needs escorts, and her 7 hull escorts love Brace as they counter attack. The slower speed of the Y1300 is an issue but they work really well together.
• Torryn Farr - I've had a chance to try this out as the Galactic Civil War allows the spoiled Wave 3 cards, and suffice it to say escorts with counter absolutely love rerolls.
• Bwings - They fit right in! Higher hull escorts are welcome, and speed 2 just fits right in.

Do not pair will with

• Awings (high speed, has its own counter)
• Xwings (escorts rarely mix well together!)

Good against:

• Rhymer balls, Fireballs, any bombers, and any squadrons once Intel is removed. Insert into an enemy swarm and watch as they spend the game trying to take these out (esp if Jan is around).
• Soontir Fel and Mauler Mithel. Oh, you caused an automatic damage? That's adorable.

Bad against:

• Squadronless fleets - although they're still likely to contribute a few shots, and can survive far better than Tie fighters etc. With Toyrn rerolls they cause about as much damage to ships as Awings/YT2400s.
• Fast ship fleets - Speed 3 is impossible for them to keep up with, and Speed 4 is unimaginable.
• Raiders. They can't stay out of black dice range if attacking them, so Raiders with ordnance experts can do massive damage to them (3 or 4 in a turn if they are in double arcs). Worst case scenario: Impetuous Raider with OE and Concentrate Fire can take out a 7 hull squadron in a single turn if the target crosses 2 arcs. That's about as extreme an example as is possible, but may serve to warn that even this squadron isn't invulnerable.

Tips for use:

1. You must not land on your YT1300s and push them backwards! They are so slow that just making up the width of a ship can cost them a whole turn.
2. You need to be able to plan where you want the engagement to be, and deploy and move in that direction. You MUST know where you want the battle to be fought, and have a plan to make it so.
3. You must not land on your YT1300s and push them backwards! Seriously.
4. Every time they are activated and are able to move, they should end their move as far forward in the direction of their carrier as possible. They need to always prioritize keeping up.
5. Get the enemy to land on your YT1300s and push them Forwards!
6. If you can (because the YT1300 isn't yet engaged, or because the enemy are Heavy), move the YT1300 when it is activated so it engages enemy squadrons near your own wounded fighters. I've had several squadrons drop to 1 or 2 hp many times, just as the heavy cavalry arrives, and then the likely outcome of the battle changes dramatically.
7. Don't overdo it. There is a law of diminishing returns for escorts, and I rarely find the need for more than 2 of any kind.
8. Getting value from speed 2 squadrons really does take some getting used to. Give it a few tries before you throw in the towel and spend the points on Han Solo

I hope that's a help. Good luck!

Ive fought against these things and once you are engaged with them its a pretty miserable and thankless task to dig yourself out.

Sure in a perfect world you will intel or whatever, but to be in a position where you can do anything effective means these things will probably reach you.

They are a bit like Angry Bees: you do not fully appreciate them until they've stung you in the face.

I have to say, Matt knows what he is talking about. He used those YT-1300's to great effect against DtO. I actually lost that game by a tiny margin. . . Made me sad.

Thankfully I killed a ship or two

Ship escorts. Small number preventing easy pot shotting of ships by declaring patches of space as theirs. No point killing them as they take a while to die.

You need a way of killing intel to go with them.

Which we currently don't have other than killing the intel squadron.

K, I'll say what your all thinking.

Cluster Bombs.

(Another thread derailed)