Greetings, everyone!

I am a new player with a small (but growing!) collection, and I made the acquaintance of Obiwonka through this forum. We made arrangements to meet up on a Tuesday night at a local gaming shop and over the course of the past month it has become a standing appointment. Each week, we alternate playing Rebels and Imperials. I get to try out all of the new ships that I am buying, and Obiwonka gets to fly whatever sounds like fun, even if it might not make the cut in a more competitive environment. The only thing we know about each other's list is the faction we are flying. We usually get 1 or two games followed by a bit of a tactical breakdown of the lists/combos, what worked and what didn't, ways to improve my flying, etc. I'm having a blast, and I thought it might be kind of cool to create a joint thread on the forum where we could post our perspectives and get input and tips from others, as well.

Tonight, I received an absolute drubbing! I had just picked up Imperial Veterans last week, so I wanted to test drive some bombers/defenders and here is the list I came up with:

Guard Dog (100 points)

• Tomax Bren -- Crack Shot, Assault Missiles, Proton Torpedoes, Extra Munitions, Twin Ion Engine Mk. II
• "Deathfire" -- Concussion Missiles, Conner Net, Extra Munitions, Twin Ion Engine Mk. II
• Countess Ryad -- Juke, TIE /x7, Twin Ion Engine Mk. II

The idea was to really maximize the ordnance output as much as possible and let Ryad protect the two bombers and strafe anyone that tried to take them down.

Obiwonka showed up with the perfect list to counter me. He brought the Millennium Falcon and Jake in the A-wing, both loaded down with upgrades. I'll let him give you the rundown on his list, but it was beastly. I just couldn't get him in arc to get off my ordnance. Because of my lower PS and his ability to arc dodge, he was always just outside of range/arc, or he'd be too close for me to fire the ordnance. In both games, I knocked a few shields off, but then my bombers would go down and it was just a matter of time before the turret chipped away at the Countess, or she ate Proton Rockets.

In our after-game breakdown, he showed me that I probably overloaded the bombers with ordnance, and that if I made a little room I could have brought an Academy Pilot to serve as a blocker, although I didn't have much luck guessing where his ships were going to end up. I didn't realize just how maneuverable those big ships are, and it felt like Jake could re-position anywhere he wanted. Haha.

Anyway, it was a good time, even if I did get my backside handed to me. I had apologize to Obiwonka after the game, because it's hard to be anything but fatalistic when it feels as though there is nothing you can do to your opponent. Each week I feel like I learn a little more about the game, my collection grows, and I get a little bit closer to being a respectable opponent (I hope!).

I'm going to put my collection in my signature, so you guys can know what I have available when giving recommendations. Tonight's purchase was a TIE Punisher which I immediately cracked open so I could use the TIE Engine Mk. II cards.

Next week, I'm back to flying Rebels, and Obiwonka said he's going to introduce me to the Scum faction. It'll be my first game against them, so I have no idea what is coming my way, besides what little I've read on the internet. I'm sure it will be nasty, whatever it is!

Hi Piscopas. Glad to see you're enjoying the game! I've also been playing with the new Vets and am having fun trying out different builds. I agree with the over loaded bomber comment.

I've run a similar list to the bombers but I didn't have the Mk.II mods on the bombers, I had guidance chips on Tomax and long range scanners on Deathfire (the guidance chips came from the Inquisitor expansion - which is worth purchasing as the Inquisitor is a great ship). This helps get damage through when you are able to get them in your sights. I think you can risk having less ordnance on Tomax because of his crack shot ability.

If you ran something like this then you have 14pts left for a Wampa, or a Academy Pilot and 2 pts for different torps/rockets:

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic%20Empire&d=v4!s!190:140,126,-1,13,-1,-1:-1:25:;192:126,58,-1,-1,138:-1:24:;163:18,-1:27:17:&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron

Alternatively if you want to stick with a Defender in the list then this could work:

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic%20Empire&d=v4!s!190:140,126,136,-1,-1,-1:-1:25:;192:126,58,-1,-1,28:-1:24:;70:27,-1,-1:33:-1:;10::-1:-1:&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron

The "guessing where his ships will end up" will just come with time and experience.

Look forward to seeing more of your battles. =)

I'm having a blast, and I thought it might be kind of cool to create a joint thread on the forum where we could post our perspectives and get input and tips from others, as well.

I'm having a blast too. I think this thread was a really good idea. For anyone reading, my hope is to post my list a few days ahead of our meetings so Piscopas can try his hand at list-building by trying to figure out what he has that might be good against what I'm bringing. Community input is welcome, as this exercise is at least half about welcoming a new player and helping him improve.

Tonight, I received an absolute drubbing! I had just picked up Imperial Veterans last week, so I wanted to test drive some bombers/defenders and here is the list I came up with:

Guard Dog (100 points)

• Tomax Bren -- Crack Shot, Assault Missiles, Proton Torpedoes, Extra Munitions, Twin Ion Engine Mk. II
• "Deathfire" -- Concussion Missiles, Conner Net, Extra Munitions, Twin Ion Engine Mk. II
• Countess Ryad -- Juke, TIE /x7, Twin Ion Engine Mk. II

The idea was to really maximize the ordnance output as much as possible and let Ryad protect the two bombers and strafe anyone that tried to take them down.

Obiwonka showed up with the perfect list to counter me. He brought the Millennium Falcon and Jake in the A-wing, both loaded down with upgrades. I'll let him give you the rundown on his list, but it was beastly.

To be fair, this was the strongest list I had brought so far, as Han/Jake saw a bit of competitive play not too long ago, but I needed something to fly with my shiny new Iron Man A-Wing. I did, however, max the list out at 100 points (instead of Predator on Han, Determination and Assault Missiles). As Piscopas noted, our two games were pretty one-sided. I only lost 2 shields on Han in the first one and took 6 total damage the second (one self-inflicted Assault Missile damage to Jake at R1 of Ryad). Aside from the list, dice certainly were my ally as well. Almost every single shot with Han, either on Han's re-roll or Luke's follow-up shot I rolled 3 natural hits (I don't think I ever used Luke to turn an eyeball). There was also a moment in the first game where I must've been channeling Paul Heaver, Han's 4-straight narrowly blasting past his 3 ships and a Conner Net.

Anyway, it was a good time, even if I did get my backside handed to me. I had apologize to Obiwonka after the game, because it's hard to be anything but fatalistic when it feels as though there is nothing you can do to your opponent. Each week I feel like I learn a little more about the game, my collection grows, and I get a little bit closer to being a respectable opponent (I hope!).

No apology necessary. Bad games happen to everyone, and I know I've been a much worse opponent to others. The sooner you beat me, though, the sooner I'll be forced to improve as well!

Next week, I'm back to flying Rebels, and Obiwonka said he's going to introduce me to the Scum faction. It'll be my first game against them, so I have no idea what is coming my way, besides what little I've read on the internet. I'm sure it will be nasty, whatever it is!

Scum it is! I've got lots of ideas. Still no "Dengaroo", I promise.

[snip]

Thanks for the recommendations. I had actually gone back and forth about putting Long Range Scanners on the Bombers, but I figured he would just get close to me and then I wouldn't be able to get the target lock. I also considered picking up the TAP for the guidance chips, but went with the Punisher for the Mk. II Engines instead. It appears I chose poorly. Haha. I do like the idea of shaving some points to have a blocker. If I could have kept him in place long enough to get a shot off, I think I could have done some real damage.

Time to shift gears now, and start thinking about a good Rebel list for next week. I've got an idea rattling around in my head for a list, but I'm still mulling over some of the upgrades I want to use...

Edit:

I just saw that Obiwonka said he's going to start giving me a peek at his lists, so I'll probably wait until I see what he's got before I finalize anything. But perhaps you guys can give me some feedback on the list I was brainstorming this morning. Here it is:

The Resistance v.0.1 (100)

• T70 -- Ello Asty with Juke, R2-D2, Comm Relay, Integrated Astromech
• T70 -- Red Squadron Veteran with Crack Shot, R2 Astromech, Integrated Astromech
• A-wing -- Tycho Celchu with Push the Limit, Proton Rockets, A-wing Test Pilot, Guidance Chips, Wired

The idea is to have ships that are relatively high PS with good maneuverability and a decent first punch. I really like the idea of Tallon Rolls, so between Ello's ability and the R2 Astromech, I should be able to emphasize those. I would just need to pick up the Rebel Aces set to run this (and could drop the Guidance Chips if an opponent didn't want me to proxy).

There it is. Tear it up! I look forward to hearing the feedback.

My first question is: how are you planning on getting the Evade token on Ello for Comm Relay and Juke?

Haha! I'm so dense sometimes. You look at enough ships and they all start to run together...

• T70 -- Ello Asty with Predator, R2-D2, Autothrusters
• T70 -- Red Squadron Veteran with Crack Shot, R2 Astromech, Integrated Astromech
• A-wing -- Tycho Celchu with Push the Limit, Proton Rockets, A-wing Test Pilot, Guidance Chips, Wired

I have lots of new toys (Wave IX!) but I'm not going to unleash them on you just yet. Here's what I'm thinking for Tuesday:

Manaroo (27)

+ Proton Torpedoes (4)

+ Dengar (3)

+ Pistol-P8 (3)

+ Extra Munitions (2)

+ Attanni Mindlink (1)

+ Guidance Chimps (0)

2x Tansarii Point Veteran (17)

+ "Heavy Scyk" Interceptor (2)

+ Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

+ Hull Upgrade (3)

+ Attanni Mindlink (1)

Congratulations, Piscopas! He was able to defeat my Mindlink list in the second game, making our running total of games 8-1 in my favor.

I look forward to our next meeting, when I'm back on Rebels.

Thanks, Obiwonka!

I had already typed up my recap from the games last night, but someone walked in my office, and I accidentally hit the back button and deleted the whole thing. Oops!

Here's what I ended up flying:

• Miranda Doni with Twin Laser Turret, Extra Munitions, Flechette Torpedoes, Bombardier, Conner Net, Proton Bombs, Advanced SLAM (51)
• Corran Horn with Push the Limit, R2-D2, Fire Control System, Flechette Torpedoes, Hull Upgrade (49)

I had to pick up E-wing and StarViper expansions to run the list. I don't think the StarViper expansion will see much play for a long time, but some of the upgrade cards really looked like they would be useful for Rebs OR Imps. My thinking was to use the Flechette to Stress everyone with the Mindlink upgrade, get an alpha strike on at least one of the Scyks, and pick durable/regenerating ships to withstand the return Heavy Laser Cannon fire.

Game 1 -- Loss

Obiwonka deployed his Scyks on the left and Manaroo on the right. I deployed across from Manaroo with Corran on the outside. We ended up meeting on the center-right side of the asteroid field. I slow-rolled at first to see if he would try any fancy re-deployments (I'm still very unfamiliar with how all the different ships fly) and waited for the right time to strike. Once I got to what I thought was the right range, I rushed Miranda forward with the intent of SLAM-ing behind his ships and dropping a bomb on them, but I misjudged my distance. Ended up sitting right in the crosshairs of all three ships and got hammered. Miranda disappeared in one poof of glory! Haha. Corran did the best he could with his torpedoes and double-tapping, and was able to survive a few turns longer due to a traffic jam in the asteroids, but ended up with one of the Scyks on his tail and went down to Heavy Laser Cannon fire.

Post-game, Obiwonka showed me how I could have used the SLAM with Miranda differently and ended up either bumping and taking less fire, or peeling away and dropping a Conner Net in front of Manaroo. Diagnosis: Deceased due to fatally flawed flying.

Game 2 -- Win

Tried the same matchup. He deployed the same way, except this time I set up across from the Scyks. This time, I was able to focus fire on one of the Scyks and he went down. Corran ate the return fire, but was able to hang on. In the following turns, Miranda turreted the other Scyk to death, while Corran went kamikaze against Manaroo. He got a good range 1 shot in and damaged her, but flamed out on the return fire before he could double tap. This left an almost full-strength Miranda against a damaged Manaroo. I was able to swing around an asteroid and drop a Conner Net on her while she started chewing through my shields. On the next turn, I landed on an asteroid, so she was able to escape a follow-up Proton Bomb. Fortunately, Miranda was able to turret her to death while I still had a couple of hull points remaining.

My first victory at last! I still need to get better at piloting, but I felt like I had built a decent list, even if I was nervous about putting all my eggs in two baskets, so to speak. The first game really showed the danger of that, because when Miranda went down, that was it.

I am really enjoying this series of games since every week I'm flying or facing something new and I feel like I'm constantly having to adjust how I build my list and fly it.

Next week, back to the Imperials for me...I can't wait to see what Obiwonka throws at me next!

I was playing around with my Squad Builder program and thought of a cool loadout for Maarek Stele. I wonder what you, oh wise FFG forumeers, think of it:

• Maarek Stele with Calculation, TIE/D, Guidance Chips, Tractor Beam, Advanced Homing Missiles (40)

The idea is to really get the most out of his pilot ability and make those Kabooms hurt. You could also swap out the Adv. HM for Proton Rockets.

So, what do you think? Poke holes in my plan.

Go for Push The Limit + Mark II Ion Engines + X7 Countess! That girl is delicious to fly...

Everyone will tell you that Mareek ability is very situational. Unless you're decided to fly him, the Countess or Vessery are THE choices when flying Defenders.

Vessery will make you to build the squad around his powerful ability, but everybody says the guy is a beast (2 TL modified attacks with /D)

If you play Rexler or Mareek, is for the PS and to use the EPT for something like Predator, Outmaneuver, Juke, or Crackshot...

And i will get rid of the missiles... Too many points on an already expensive ship.

If you want ordinance, a cheap Gamma Vet is a good option.

I would also lose the ordinance from the defender. As mentioned about Mereek and also Rex are very situational to use their ability. Don't build around their ability, just use it when the situation arises.

I tried to build something to work with Rex ability by flying a support shuttle with Fleet Officer, but it never worked out and was difficult to keep the bomber in range.

Mereek could work with a Palpshuttle, but I don't think you have the Palp card?

One thing that did work really well in my game with Rex, was Ruthlessness. The damage output was amazing, and it was the only thing that kept me in the game after I lost my doom shuttle before getting a single shot off.

Not sure how competitive they would be, but the following builds look fun to fly to me:

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic%20Empire&d=v4!s!71:100,144,-1:34:-1:;56:-1,-1,132,-1:-1:-1:;163:18,-1:27:17:&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic%20Empire&d=v4!s!71:100,144,-1:34:17:;56:-1,-1,45,-1:-1:-1:;163:18,53:27:15:&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron

Thanks for the input guys. I was just playing around with the builder and trying to find a good combo to work with his ability. I'm not even sure if that's what I'm flying this time around. You are correct that I don't have Palpatine or even a shuttle at this point!

OK, so playing Rebels again this week, for fun I think I'm going to try a fully loaded "one ship build":

Kanan Jarrus (38) or Hera Syndulla (40)

+ Sabine Wren (2)

+ Twin Laser Turret (6)

+ Sensor Jammer (4)

+ Shield Upgrade (4) or Engine Upgrade (4)

+ Recon Specialist (3) or "Chopper" (0)

+ Thermal Detonators (3) or Conner Net (4)

+ Extra Munitions (2)

+ Seismic Torpedo (2)

+ Ghost (0)

Ezra Bridger (20)

+ Twin Laser Turret (6)

+ Chewbacca (4)

+ Push the Limit (3)

+ Stealth Device (3)

+ Phantom (0)

I just read this thread:

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/230073-i-80-the-road-to-omaha/

And hothie had great success using Mareek, but as i told you, it was for PS8 (adaptability) with VI Vessery, and Tomax Bren.

His ability is more useful on big ships with more than 3 hull, i guess.

Though if you read the report, Mareek's ability doesnt trigger, very often, but when it does...

Greetings, everyone.

So real life and a vacation means that Obiwonka and I had to put our Nemesis series on hold last night, and we won't be able to play next week either. That gives me some extra time to tweak my list that I built to kill Obi's kitted-out Ghost squad. Here's what I was going to bring last night, and I welcome any feedback:

Ghostface Killahs (100)

• Carnor Jax (34) -- Push the Limit, Royal Guard TIE, Autothrusters, Stealth Device
• "Omega Leader" (29) -- Juke, Comme Relay, Hull Upgrade
• "Deathrain" (37) -- Fire Control System, Extra Munitions, Plasma Torpedoes, Conner Net, Guidance Chips

My idea is let Deathrain try to knock down some shields on the way in and the Net the Ghost to hold it in place and focus fire, while Jax tries to get inside range 1 to negate his abilities/shenanigans. Omega Leader is there to assist whittling down the Ghost and hopefully still be around at the end of the game to deal with the Phantom. I realize he has a bunch of bombs in his loadout, but if I can get the net going, it should be easier to avoid them.

What do you say?...Can my squad handle the Ghost/Phantom combo?

I think DeathRain is going to have a hard time with those TLTs. And if he's the one carrying the ordnance, he's going to be focused for sure.

I would take a Tomax Bren with Long Range Scanners, Plasma Torps, and CrackShot instead... The +1AGI is going to count a little more against TLTs.

Personal preference; I would swap omega leader's hull upgrade out for a stealth device (if you have a spare one). Against a 1 ship build like this where you will always have OL locked on the correct target the stealth device should pull more weight than the hull upgrade by making OL *almost* un-hittable.

And to echo the post above me: That bomber will last not very long inside R3 of the ghost. As much as I like the bomber as a vehicle, this one is a little heavily laden for its life expectancy, and is also probably not a great fit against the ghost.

I'm not as practised with imperials as I am with rebels, but a defender or maybe an advanced prototype (with the inquisitor) might be a better platform to attack the ghost.

Thanks for your recommendations. So if I tweaked the list as follows, you guys think I might have a better chance?

Ghostface Killahs, v.2 (100)

• "Omega Leader" (29) -- Juke, Comm Relay, Stealth Device
• Tomax Bren (34) -- Crack Shot, Conner Net, Extra Munitions, Plasma Torpedoes, Long-Range Scanners
• Rexler Brath (37) -- Juke, TIE/x7

I went with Brath because that makes them all PS8 and if I can get his ability that would be awesome on such a sturdy ship.

Thanks for your recommendations. So if I tweaked the list as follows, you guys think I might have a better chance?

Ghostface Killahs, v.2 (100)

• "Omega Leader" (29) -- Juke, Comm Relay, Stealth Device
• Tomax Bren (34) -- Crack Shot, Conner Net, Extra Munitions, Plasma Torpedoes, Long-Range Scanners
• Rexler Brath (37) -- Juke, TIE/x7

I went with Brath because that makes them all PS8 and if I can get his ability that would be awesome on such a sturdy ship.

This I like more, but bear in mind that the ghost is a zero agility ship, so Juke isn't going to get much use against it (no evade results to convert).

I'm not 100% sure what to replace it with, but depending on which ghost he brings, expert handling might be a better choice: Brath already has the barrel roll action, so it won't generate stress, and can shake off target locks from the fire control system (if he plays the ghost with that equipped).

There may be other better choices that I haven't thought of, but what I do know is that juke, while generally great here isn't going to do much to the ghost.

^This about the Juke.

VI Vessery is also PS8 and synergizes well with OL.

I had considered Vessery, since Omega Leader would have the Target Lock on as much as possible, but I thought Juke might help dealing with the Attack Shuttle if/when he launches.

Expert Handling is an interesting idea.

I've also thought about swapping out Crack Shot for Adrenaline Rush on Tomax.

I would always run crack shot on Tomax. If he does survive to end game then he still has good damage output. And it is great to force your opponent to spend those tokens so other attacks are more effective. Expert handling is ok to lose a target lock, but if I were playing against it I would just take a focus token instead of target lock. If you want to improve manoeuvrability then Adrenaline Rush would help, but I much prefer damage output with Crack Shot

The Shuttle is only AGI 2, even Crackshot Tomax can put damage on it, if he's not outmaneuvered...

Crazy work schedules, vacation, and a death in the family meant the super-Ghost showdown had to be pushed back a couple of weeks, but we are FINALLY going to be able to duke it out tomorrow. In the meantime, I've re-jiggered the list I think I want to fly. I'd appreciate your thoughts:

Ghostface Killahs v.3 (100)

• Tomax Bren with Crack Shot, Extra Munitions, Proton Torpedoes, Guidance Chips
• Maarek Stele with Advanced Homing Missiles, Flechette Cannon, TIE/D, Guidance Chips
• The Inquisitor with Crack Shot, TIE/v1, Autothrusters

I know the typical idea against TLTs is to get inside R1 so they can't get the shot, but I've got three ships that can be nasty from Range 3, and it keeps his ugly Range 1 bombs/Sabine out of the fight. I wish I could squeeze Push the Limit on the Inquisitor, but I just don't have the points.