With the Protectorate Starfighter dropping next week, has anyone had a chance to play with them either on Vassal or with their GenCon acquisitions?

I'm hoping folks have some decent squad ideas as I really want to try the ones I'm getting and have them be viable. The 4x Concord Dawn Aces with Fearlessness and the title could be fun, but I have doubts, namely about how quickly it'll get blown up, and I just know it'll flounder against aces.

The other idea I had was Manaroo with a pair of Fangs (Vampire Manaroo? Sabertooth Manaroo?), prolly Fenn and Old Teroch. Not sure what to kit them with though, I'm thinking VI on Teroch, so him and Fenn shoot at 9, kill what they're shooting at before it can shoot back, hopefully with the shots amped by actions passed from Manny.

Any other thoughts? What have you had success with?

played against them several times

prognosis is a resounding "meh"

feels like they just need more dice modifiers, because they're just not very impressive with any pilot. Even poor Rau on phantom level dice doesn't inspire much fear when he's flinging blanks everywhere

so my theory is Rau (ptl, thruster title is fine) and Terry (VI thruster title) with Manaroo (unhinged, k4, feedback array and whatever else; make sure you actually get her in the fight to block because this list ain't dengaroo) might be quite okay. you got two PS 9s and a feedback array blocker (not to mention Terry's "**** your tokens" ability) v aces, terry for some utility v scouts and just good ol Rau with enough mods to make him matter hopefully

the title is a surprising lifesaver, though you should never endeavor to use it (but it lets you take "risks", let firing full mod Rau into a low health enemy only to come out with ten blanks and then thanking the force you spent a single point on that free evade result)

I've played a little bit with them on Vassal. The title is weird, sometimes it won't do much, but it can be crazy good because it works against every attack. It's obviously great on Fenn Rau because he becomes harder to hit at Range 1 than Range 2. I've only really played Soontir Fel against myself, and never competitively, but for how I play, I much prefer Fenn Rau to Fel. His damage output is massive, but his defense is substantially less (one Focus for defense is all he gets). I think Fenn needs to be paired with some pretty aggressive stuff on the other side, because he can't handle a whole squad going after him without a lot of luck.

Overall, I tend to play very aggressively, and I'm pretty good at blocking, so I like the Zealous Recruit as a blocker and a gun. The 4 hp is actually a decent chunk. It means even at close range it's not likely to die in one shot. I'm not sure about title on these guys. I've got a feeling the usefulness of the title gets very lists dependent.

I don't have any direct experience with Fearless. Considering how few times I triggered the title in my games, however, I'm inclined to say it's probably not worth it on most of the Fangs with an EPT. I could be wrong though, my experience is pretty limited.

I'm actually thinking Mindlink might be really good on a group of the mid-PS ships. You can go all offense and do TL/Mindink Focus to get Focus/TL shots with two, or you can get double Focuses. Of course Boost/Barrel Roll/red move while still getting Focus is very good. Mindlink seems especially strong on these because they can't double-up to get Focus/Evade even if they had PTL, so two Focus is as close to a token stack as they can get. They key is you'd have to attack spread out. You can't put yourself in a position where you'd need to do mass K-turn/T-rolls. One per turn is fine, more is very bad.

An Ace with Mindlink is 24 points. That would leave a point for a title, or you could drop the 4th to something else cheaper. A blocker like a Zealous Recruit or Kaato Leachos with Mindlink, Cluster/Concussion Missiles, and Chips both are around 20 points, which would free up points for Autothrusters on everybody in place of the title, or some torpedoes, or any number of things I haven't thought of. Cad Solus seems like a decent addition to a squad like this, but not really necessary.

I don't have any direct experience with Fearless. Considering how few times I triggered the title in my games, however, I'm inclined to say it's probably not worth it on most of the Fangs with an EPT. I could be wrong though, my experience is pretty limited.

my direct experience with fearlessness:

it's pretty worthless

crackshot is far superior and triggers about as often per game or more

I don't have any direct experience with Fearless. Considering how few times I triggered the title in my games, however, I'm inclined to say it's probably not worth it on most of the Fangs with an EPT. I could be wrong though, my experience is pretty limited.

my direct experience with fearlessness:

it's pretty worthless

crackshot is far superior and triggers about as often per game or more

That was my gut reaction. You get it off about once a game, but Crack Shot you get to use from anywhere.

I'm also not a huge fan of Fearlessness, although I can see it being useful.

Here's a list Sozin put together for the Scum & Villainy Invitational VASSAL tourney that I think is actually pretty good:

Fenn w/ PTL, title & thrusters = 34

Teroch w/ PTL, title & thrusters = 32

Manaroo w/ fearlessness, recon spec & slicer tools = 32

98

Although I kinda like the idea of running Kad Solus in there instead of Manaroo. With predator, title + autothrusters, he's only 30 points. 96 points is a pretty hefty initiative bid, but sticking flechette torps on Fenn is not a bad idea to give him the edge against other PS 9 aces...

Cad is 26, right? Predator, title, AT = 32 points.

Cad is 26, right? Predator, title, AT = 32 points.

We're both wrong. According to my squad builder, he's 25 points, so with all those upgrades, would be 31.

That's what I get for not taking 6 seconds to google it.

I've always enjoyed Talonbane and as soon as I saw Fenn I wanted to try pairing them up. My plan is Talon, Fenn, Old Teroch

Talonbane- Pred, Engine Upgrade, Slicer Tools

Fenn- Pred, title, Autothrusters

Old Teroch - VI, title Autothrusters

Alternately

Talonbane- Pred, Vector Thrusters, Slicer Tools

Fenn - Pred, Title, Autothrusters

Old Teroch - Pred, title, Autothrusters

I haven't actually had a chance to play the ships yet, so my build will probably see some change. I'm also just on a slicer tool kick right now.

The first build has them all at 9, second build grants them all some rerolling. I made these before discovering Fearlessness (I'd been avoiding spoilers until the ships were almost here so that I didn't get too excited) so I might try working that in.

FEARLESS SCUM

99 points

PILOTS

Talonbane Cobra (36)
Kihraxz Fighter (28), Fearlessness (1), Ion Pulse Missiles (3), Cloaking Device (2), Stygium Particle Accelerator (2)

N’Dru Suhlak (25)
Z-95 Headhunter (17), Cluster Missiles (4), Glitterstim (2), Lone Wolf (2), Guidance Chips (0)

Fenn Rau (38)
Protectorate Starfighter (28), Fearlessness (1), Advanced Proton Torpedoes (6), Concord Dawn Protector (1), Autothrusters (2)

This is my initial fun list I was thinking about as I like the idea of Fenn and Talonbane. Probably not particularly competitive unless I can really confuse the opponent with the cloaking device, probably will end up swapping it out for VT. Kihraxz really needs a title