Last night I had my first chance to fly a TIE/sf, and of course I had to try out a Baffled Quickdraw.

My approach was to give him PTL and an extra shield, for a potential four rounds of Activation Phase attacks.

From there, I decided I would try to make all my ships at PS9, no matter how foolish the resulting list would be (think of Topher Grace saying "all reds" and laughing like a lunatic in Ocean's Eleven ... that's how I say "all nines" in my head).

Thus a fairly typical ATC Vader, and to fill out the list, a criminally under-built Inquisitor with Adaptability to 9. (Finding a third ship to reach PS9 with the available remaining points is quite a challenge for the Empire.)

The list appeared as so:

I got to play three games last night against an opponent who was locked in on his forthcoming Regionals list, which consisted of a Crackshot Tomax with ordnance, Crackshot Howlrunner, and three Crackshot Blacks. Overall my "All Nines" list went 2-1 against his, and I had the advantage of previous experience observing his deployment and formation flying habits from a couple of games last week.

What really astonished me is the power of having ships able to move and select their actions AFTER another ship had already made its Activation Phase attack.

Quickdraw could move first, hopefully getting a safe flank position on the enemy, then PTL TL+F (or BR if needed), Baffle off the stress and a shield, then as a result of losing the shield perform a 3 or 4 dice fully modified attack. If he got lucky and cleared a ship off the board (I don't actually think this ever succeeded, but the theory here is what I'm focusing on), then the other two ships activating after him could adjust their position (both had Boost and BR) and/or TL selection based on the outcome of the pre-combat shot.

This was a revelation in tactics to me, that honestly I did not grasp until probably the middle of the first game. Although, I'm not sure in the instance of Quickdraw whether there's any other potential build that gives this flexibility (after all, it only works if QD's wingmates are equal or higher PS than his, which is fixed at 9 in this configuration).

But it raises interesting possibilities for future capabilities in the game, and maybe other existing pilots that could take advantage of action flexibility during activation based on pre-combat attacks.

Cracken with Snap Shot granting an action to a PS10 Poe before Poe has activated, for instance.

Any other examples?

I've always run Quickdraw with lower PS ships. Being able to respond to her activation phase shot with your other ships is pretty interesting. You could theoretically use Quickdraw to clear a blocker that would have blocked Fel from getting his actions.

If you did find yourself terribly concerned about the Inquistor's loadout, dropping Quickdraw's shield upgrade would give you the points for Autothrusters and a 2 point bid. Not a bad thing to have at PS9.

Those same 30 points (Inquistor + 4 for Shield Upgrade) could get you Backdraft, VI, and FCS (30 points). If you wanted to stick with the 26, you could do Zeta Leader (20), Comm Relay (3), VI (1) = 24. That would leave 2 points leftover for a bid. Compared to the Inquisitor, it's a bit tougher thanks to Comm Relay and hits harder at close range, but doesn't cut through Autothrusters like the Inquisitor does. It all comes down to what you need the ship to do, I suppose.

Those are some great ideas I didn't see before. Thanks!

I've always run Quickdraw with lower PS ships. Being able to respond to her activation phase shot with your other ships is pretty interesting. You could theoretically use Quickdraw to clear a blocker that would have blocked Fel from getting his actions.

Clearing a blocker, yes.

I was much more enamored of the realization that I could adjust target priority with my other 9's after seeing the outcome of QD's pre-combat attack. For example, Vader wants to get his TL in on a suitable target for ATC to proc more than once. Since QD reduced enemy ship A's health to 1 (for example), Vader can use that information to put his TL on a healthier enemy ship for more effective later use.

Of course, there's always the insane sequences of dice rolls that bring reality crashing down ... last night, in the very first round of combat, I had QD attacking x2, Inquisitor and Vader each attacking with TL, all focus firing at the same Crack BSP. Wouldn't you know it, that BSP sustained all four attacks with nary a scratch on his hull!

ive tried the PTL + Baffles QD, regular build "dengar fear" QD, and a damage mitigating QD ala Jammers and Elusiveness to control the amount of damage she takes once she gets hit.

Oddly enough, the PTL + Baffles was the one i hated the most. It removes the "dengar fear" so if you didnt vaporize the guy you are facing, youre going to lose the rest of your shields. 3 games, i got it off maybe 5 times between the 3.

Regular build was just what i normally have on BD: Outmaneuver + FCS + Mk2. Use her normally and just keep her in a dangerous spot where people are not exactly liking the idea of giving her a free shot. I had the most luck with this as she can do a lot of damage even without her ability, but unlike BD her aux arc sucks.

Elusive build was just a wild shot, which somewhat worked. Consistently prevented 2-3hits, but boy did my offense suffer lol. Took her forever to die but i felt like she did even less damage than a Tie/fo does.

im just not a fan of her i guess. Every time i bring her shes either a decent contributor or the weakest link. BD on the other hand regularly crushes my foes.

I tried Rage + Quickdraw in my last tournament and it was a lot of fun. She took a decent bit of damage in the first game and got blown away by APT in the second, but both games I managed to get off 4 attacks with rerolls for all of them in one round. I even managed to kill 2 ships and damage 2 others in the first game with those attacks.

I doubt she would be terribly effective in strong competitive play, but she can be a lot of fun.

I tried Rage + Quickdraw in my last tournament and it was a lot of fun. She took a decent bit of damage in the first game and got blown away by APT in the second, but both games I managed to get off 4 attacks with rerolls for all of them in one round. I even managed to kill 2 ships and damage 2 others in the first game with those attacks.

I doubt she would be terribly effective in strong competitive play, but she can be a lot of fun.

I hadn't considered Rage yet. I was wondering if I could make Howlrunner fit next to QD and keep them in formation to get rerolls on all QD's shots ... but wow, Rage might be the ticket there. I presume you were Baffling off one of the stresses to get the Activation phase attacks?

Yep, I've also considered using it with Pattern Analyzer and Twin Ion Engine, so any 1-3 straight or bank maneuver would clear the second stress from Rage as well.

ive tried the PTL + Baffles QD, regular build "dengar fear" QD, and a damage mitigating QD ala Jammers and Elusiveness to control the amount of damage she takes once she gets hit.

Oddly enough, the PTL + Baffles was the one i hated the most. It removes the "dengar fear" so if you didnt vaporize the guy you are facing, youre going to lose the rest of your shields. 3 games, i got it off maybe 5 times between the 3.

I usually only self damage in a limited range of scenarios:

1.) Quickdraw is on a flank.

2.) I'm pretty sure Quickdraw isn't the preferred target.

3.) I want to make sure I can kill something before it fires.

4.) I want to put fire into a ship that will change its state before I fire in the combat phase (add tokens, move, etc).

If Quickdraw is looking like the primary target, I won't activate Baffles. Depending on my attack roll, I'll try to save at least one of my tokens. This makes any revenge shot worth more and either shunts fire to my tougher ships or gives me the double attack turn for "free".

How would Quickdraw work with Opportunist and Baffles?

How would Quickdraw work with Opportunist and Baffles?

You would only be able to attack in the activation phase if you did a red maneuver. Most likely your opponent would have tokens because most ships are below PS9, so opportunist wouldn't trigger in the activation phase unless you're shooting at a higher PS ship.

How would Quickdraw work with Opportunist and Baffles?

I would imagine you baffle off the stress, perform your bonus attack(s), then perform your standard attack per the combat phase. I don't know if the extra attack die counts on the first or second shot though. Nesting the triggers seems like the Opportunist die comes on the second attack opportunity. In any case, I would think its effect is limited to one extra die total, despite the fact QD could be rolling up to four separate attacks.

Seems like a good FAQ.