This weekend I played a few matches against 'urban cannibal' and we decided for a bit of fun to restrict our ship choices to those available at certain points in the star wars timeline (well the most likely ships if not the pilots)

In our first game i flew three xwings with vectored thrusters each (to me it makes a massive difference to the T65), an assortment of astromechs and most importantly wedge with R5P9 and 'lone wolf'

Simons choice was a tie swarm with howlrunner, wampa, some academys and *slightly* out of time frame the Tie Adv prototype as he wanted to try out the inquisitior.

Picking forces for this game was pretty easy but i lost two xwings quickly but the sheer power of a lone wolf wedge on his own with regen was revealed when he then went on to shred the entire imperial force on his own. TBH vectored thrusters saved wedge about four times as he was able to move himself out of arc or into arc for a kill shot.

(this is just before wedges wingmen got shredded)

Despite it being a tense game with wedge surviving with one hit and one shield we thought we'd try out the 'later' timeline and have a dedicated 'first order vs resistance' game... and this is where i noticed some massive difference in squad selection and even how the game plays.

Simon took First Order only ships and took BackDraft, Zeta Specialist, Zeta Ace (he proved to be a massive PITA) and Epsilon ace with a variety of upgrades i cant remember other than special forces training for the two FO/SF. As i was facing off against four ties rather than the usual five to eight i thought it would be easy.. how wrong can you be.

I took resistance and found it almost impossible to select a list i was happy with as everyone is so expensive. I went with PS8 Poe, Snap wexley and jess whatshername. R2D2 on one of them , BB8 on the other and some vectored thrusters and i think poe had predator.

I basically got massacred twice.

I've since learnt that shielded ties are a pig, the FO play so much harder than regular imperials and while the resistance are a bit tankier and quicker too they are so expensive its hard to recover from losing a ship.

My biggest mistake I think was not giving Poe PTL as a talent because you really need that focus glued to him and doing that stops you taking more opportunity moves.

My main observation was that due to the increased cost of 'new era' ships you cant really customise two much if you stick to the timeline. I would suggest that if you play 'first order vs resistance' purist game you up the standard match value to 120 or even 150 to make it more interesting.

TL:DR... Vectored Thrusters make Xwings cool for me.. 100 points with first order or resistance is a nightmare to pick a list.

The optimum Poe build, for the points IMO is PS8, R5-P9, VI, Autothrusters and Pattern Analyser.

Lots of people prefer PS9 with PTL, but I remain unconvinced it's worth the points - but if you're looking for a themed list, I'm sure you can find them.

The optimum Poe build, for the points IMO is PS8, R5-P9, VI, Autothrusters and Pattern Analyser.

Lots of people prefer PS9 with PTL, but I remain unconvinced it's worth the points - but if you're looking for a themed list, I'm sure you can find them.

Tallon Roll arc dodge range 1 TL+F double stress to PS kill someone will make you a believer. Also, when this happens Kenny Loggins goes back in time 30 years and starts personally serenading you with 'Highway to the Danger Zone'. Poor Corran drew a Direct Hit.

And then the next turn Poe explodes in a horrendous fireball.

If you run PS9 with PTL, at leat put him with BB-8.

I thought R5P9 is quite synchronised with Poe...

You focus most the time which gives you his integral focus bonus and then if its still there at the end of the combat you use it to regen his shields.

I was thinking PTL gives you that option to get the hell out of dodge if a move puts him in the firing line with a boost or a barrel roll *or* if he has the drop on someone to TL them.

I was finding it hard to use the manouvrabilty of the T70 (mainly the boost and vectored thrust) and not leave him exposed with no focus token in place.

Eh

So, as always, fly what you like but the t70 isnt really what you should be flying if you want to leverage vts

It is woefully inefficient and basically needs integrated or thrusters to not suck

T70 mobility also isnt your traditional arc dodger mobiliyu, bit rather something like

Stay on target nien nub with paytern analyzer and targeting astromech

You dodge with your dial (esp t-roll) and boost (esp after troll) mainly, OR you just run yourself into the opponent's face and avoid getting shot that way

They arent arcdodgers in your traditional sense

Alternatively, you just try to brute forcr your opponent with regeneration. Both poe and red ace can do this well, even both in the same list (3rd t70 could be pava)

Ptl poe isnt bad if you have pattern analyzer and r2d2.

I think you miss my point, im not saying T70s or T65s are arc dodgers. Thats evident, i was saying vectored thrusters have made a difference in the way they play massively for me.

The point of the post was that in a standard 100 point death match, if you're using only FO and Resistance choices , well 100 points is incredibly limiting as the base costs of the ships is so high and that for a more interesting casual game I think you'd be wise to up to at least 120 a side.

have played "Movie canon" a few times (only episode IV-VII, so no ARC either). If you chose VII then you can use most of the stuff from IV-VI. I have 1 friend that will play only movie canon ..... "there is no EU so all that other stuff is just made up"

I had another 'themed' game with another buddy Mark last night.

He chose a 'Mandalorian' list of a mandalorian merc in a firesrpay with three recruit fang fighters.

I took an 'early rebellion' list with two ARC170s and two bandit squadron. The Arcs were tricked out with tail gunners, vect trhrusters, and alliance overhauls... and they were phenonimal. I think against higher PS fangs they wouldnt not have doen so well but in fairness I had some phenominal hit rolls and Mark had some really bad ones.