I got quite a few games in with the Shadowcaster. The ship itself is very interesting and it's a ton of fun to fly. but let's be real a minute, it's a bit pricy. I tried a lot of itterations all checking in from 45 to 50ish points...

Asajj, PTL, Title, Gyro targeting with any of these crew : Latts Razzi / Ketsu Onyo / Tactician

Or Ketsu Onyo with engine Upgrade
Heck.. even Sabine wren with Rec Spec + 2x Glitterstim let me tell you she's a tough cookie to kill.

But what do you do once you spent half your squad points ? Because let's face it, the Shadowcaster is a support ship in most of its itterations. The rest of the squad needs to be balanced so it can kill.

I need inspiration.

I ran Ventress with two concord (protector) pilots. They both had PTL and Title. They can harrass and block while she puts damage through. I think 4 Z's with black market could be nice as well. Shuts down enemy PTL's. Might be able to fit manaroo. Party bus could fit in there as well.

I ran Ventress with two concord (protector) pilots. They both had PTL and Title. They can harrass and block while she puts damage through. I think 4 Z's with black market could be nice as well. Shuts down enemy PTL's. Might be able to fit manaroo. Party bus could fit in there as well.

I like the idea of a pair of protectorate fighters.

The problem I ran into was that i'd spend 34ish points on a good second ship like Fenn Rau or a Party Bus. My third ship would be very lackluster and would make it obvious for my opponent to pick who to focus fire,

Yeah. I just used a Z for bumping. First time out I used Fenn with Ventress and a lone Z. The Z just had BMST's. It worked pretty well.

Ketsu Onyo

Push the Limit

K4 Security Droid

Black Market Slicer Tools

Rigged Cargo Chute

Gyroscopic Targeting

Total = 48pts

Asajj Ventress

Push the Limit

K4 Security Droid

Black Market Slicer Tools

Rigged Cargo Chute

Gyroscopic Targeting

Shadow Caster

Total = 50pts

Probably not any good, but it'll basically have me zooming all over the place and isn't that what spaceships are all about...?

Here is THE Ventress build:

Push the Limit, K4 droid, blackmarket slicer tools & engine upgrade = 48

Engine is imperative for keeping her alive and is also great for diving into range to proc her ability. K4 droid is in fact money on her. You have enough greens on the dial that you will get good value out of it. I've also used Dengar instead, and that's good too, although surprisingly not as versatile. You can also throw the title on her, but only if you are running other ships that are equal or lower in Pilot Skill, but I don't find it a necessity.

I've used her alongside an IG88 and a pair of fang fighters (one Zealous Recruit and the other a push the limit Ace). Both lists are decent. I haven't decided which I like better, but I really love the fact that with Ventress' ace killing power, you don't need high Pilot Skill in your list to succeed.

I have used her with Lattz all the time. Pretty good with PTL Aces around and with her ability. It make her pretty tanky. But I have found you either have to use her defensively or offensively. Meaning shouldn't run BMST's along with Lattz.

I don't necessarily agree that they are support ships, with 3 red and 2 green dice they are a force to be reconned with.

I took this build 4-0 in a tournament recently, and the caster hit hard every game:

Ketso (99)

Ketsu Onyo (48) - Lancer-class Pursuit Craft

Fearlessness (1), Dengar (3), Black Market Slicer Tools (1), Shadow Caster (3), Gyroscopic Targeting (2)

Zuckuss (38) - G-1A Starfighter

Push The Limit (3), Fire Control System (2), Outlaw Tech (2), Glitterstim (2), Mist Hunter (0), Tractor Beam (1)

Binayre Pirate (13) - Z-95 Headhunter

Black Market Slicer Tools (1)

Hek, even the pirate killed ships. Just dont think of them as support and you'll be fine with the rest of tour list

I tried this list the other day,

(100)

Latts Razzi (53) - YV-666

K4 Security Droid (3), Weapons Engineer (3), Dengar (3), Rigged Cargo Chute (1), Hound's Tooth (6), Engine Upgrade (4)

Asajj Ventress (47) - Lancer-class Pursuit Craft

Veteran Instincts (1), Ketsu Onyo (1), Rigged Cargo Chute (1), Glitterstim (2), Shadow Caster (3), Gyroscopic Targeting (2)

Need to run it a few more times but it was pretty fun and both latte and asajj can both do a good amount of damage with tractor tokens from the shadowcaster title and latt's ability.

BTW rigged cargo chute can really mess with people

This is what my play group came up with after quite a few test games and tweaks. There’s a bunch of notes and comments below that gets a bit wordy, but if you’re interested its there:

Asajj Ventress (49)

Push the Limit (3)

K4 Security Droid (3)

Rigged Cargo Chute (1)

Shadowcaster (3)

Gyroscopic Targeting (2)

4-LOM (37)

Expert Handling (2)

Fire Control System (2)

Ketsu Onyo (1)

Black Market Slicer Tools (!)

Mist Hunter (0)

Experimental Interface (3)

Tractor Beam (1)

Black Sun Solider (14)

Black Market Slicer Tools (1)

Some notes:

I disagree with the Shadowcaster being an effective aggro ship. 3 attack 2 defense is legit, but if you’re going for that, you should be running Dengar with title instead:

Dengar (52)

Lone Wolf (2)

Recon Specialist (3)

R4 Agromech (2)

Punishing One (12)

That Dengar gets way better beats and is on plan with his double attack ability. We found the Shadowcaster to be entirely about status effects and their application, not about maxing damage. This is 100% a control/action denial ship, and if you build your squad to complement that you end up with a VERY effective list capable of bogging down a ship completely and making your reduced speed and maneuverability a non-issue. If you try to load up on extra attack dice, rerolls and modifications you will end up gimping yourself. Incidentally, FCS, PTL, and K4 are very efficient action economy cards at low cost which gives you all the dice modification you should need against a tokenless, stressed and lowered agility ship. Going deep on damage is fine, but I don’t think it’s the best way to build it.

This is the ship the G1-A has been waiting for to shine. The combination of the two is absolutely brutal. You can place two persistent tractor tokens and two stress tokens in one round. Even if you don’t land the range 1 for 4-LOM (and you DEFINITELY shouldn’t be trying for it, especially early) then your target will be moving predictably and be tokenless with 0-1 agility. I say predictably because they will feel compelled to dial in a green even if your slicer tools don’t hit because double stress will be instant death. You only need the tractors to stick for one round to finish most ships off, and can move to the next target up a lot of material and actions. The main two ships are beefy enough to work through a round of concentrated fire and still be around to do their thing so don’t be afraid to engage.

4-LOM is substantially better than Zuckuss for several reasons. First, he maximizes on the stress synergy with Ventress’s pilot ability and allows you to get the most out of your slicing tools. Second, he matches Asajj’s pilot skill, opening up tons of activation/firing order options instead of fighting against Zuckuss’ pilot skill. You can make an argument for making Zuckuss’ ability being all upside with a tractor token, but the loss of versatility/synergy is a steep cost for +1 red dice. Believe me the PS disparity matters a lot.

A note on the lack of Slicer Tools on Ventress. She is much more survivable (a common complaint I have seen) when you focus/evade EVERY turn and she just never gets a chance to activate the tools as a result. The only time I deviate from the “turtle” is when an unexpected maneuver forces me to adjust mobile arc. It fits much better on the Z-95 which will often be close but not in arc. Also since all of your ships are middling/low PS, you will get to double slice an ace before they can skip away, or at worst have two shots at the same stress token.

Expert Handling. I know it is not commonly played, but it does a LOT in this build. It can be triggered off of Experimental Interface to allow you to deliberately stress for his pilot ability while also adjusting position to actually get to use it. Also, the shaken target lock puts you even further ahead on action economy if you get that benefit. You will often have to barrel roll anyway because of his bad dial, and why not get free value while also getting a virtual PTL?

Finally, 4-LOM can dump his stress onto a friendly ship that was already planning a green. When you are actually watching for it, it comes up more often than you would think.

Give it a spin and see what you think! I recommend leading with Ventress and the Headhunter while bringing up the G1-A a bit slower. When they engage, he will be well positioned to disrupt with a tractor beam and keep them in arc for Ketsu to trigger. After that, killing your selected target is a cinch.

4-LOM (37)

Expert Handling (2)

Fire Control System (2)

Ketsu Onyo (1)

Black Market Slicer Tools (!)

Mist Hunter (0)

Experimental Interface (3)

Tractor Beam (1)

Um, you are basically paying 6 points when you could get the same benefit (and have more flexibility) for just 4 points (PTL + mist hunter). You can't shake target locks, but you are not limited to making your 2nd action have to be barrel roll or nothing. Not to mention, the combo gets even better if you take advanced sensors instead of FCS.

I use Sabine with two glitterstims, Ketsu (crew), and the Shadowcaster title and modification!

I flew as support a bumpmaster and Palob with BMST and Tactician.

Didnt do so well, but I think it was really annoying to fly against!

This has been my list lately. It puts out damage and shuts them done in the process.

Pirate Z: BMST's

Ventress: PTL, Gyro, Tactican, title

4-Lom: PTL, Title, Beam, EU, BMST's, Katso, FCS

Ventress can and in fact does damage. I can either have 4-Lom shoot first with a Tractor Beam to help Ventress and the Z to do more. Then in turn put another Beam token on the ship. Which won't be removed. So now Z is shooting at a ship with -2 Agility. Or I can have Ventress shoot with TL and Focus to hit and put stress and a Beam token on ship for an FCS 4-Lom to come and finish off or at least damage and still keeping Beam token on. Hopefully with beam token pushing closer to 4-Lom to be in range 1 for a possible 3 stress and a Beam token on 1 ship. Next turn Z tries to BMST's the ship. It is just a brutal combo.

Ketsu (Veteran Instincts, K4 Security Droid, Engine Upgrade, Shadow Caster title)

Dengar (Predator, Recon Specialist, Punishing One title)

100 points

4-LOM (37)

Expert Handling (2)

Fire Control System (2)

Ketsu Onyo (1)

Black Market Slicer Tools (!)

Mist Hunter (0)

Experimental Interface (3)

Tractor Beam (1)

Um, you are basically paying 6 points when you could get the same benefit (and have more flexibility) for just 4 points (PTL + mist hunter). You can't shake target locks, but you are not limited to making your 2nd action have to be barrel roll or nothing. Not to mention, the combo gets even better if you take advanced sensors instead of FCS.

Disagree for several reasons. For the plan the ship is trying to execute, PTL is actually much less versatile.

1) With PTL, you are limited to actions on your BAR only (barrel roll, focus, evade, TL) as your second action. You cannot BMST as your second action. So if you're outside of range and have to barrel roll in, you lose your chance to slice.

2) Your second action doesn't have to be barrel roll or nothing, it can and should be BMST. With Expert Handling + Interface, you can barrel roll either as first or second action with extra upside, so the positioning options are the same as with PTL.

3) Once you add PTL + Sensors you aren't saving points, so the argument would be for dropping Handling + Interface to trade for PTL only. Without Sensors, this is a bad trade, and I don't even think its a good trade WITH sensors added. Losing the capacity to slice second is huge, and makes you fly suboptimally to obtain range for it when you could have just barrel rolled first.

Giving up free TL and TL removal, losing the option to slice second, and forcing yourself to fly awkwardly don't sound good to me.