So I've never bought Palpatine. He's a bit strange for my tastes (plus, I don't have the cash...). However, he has an amazing support role in Imperial 100/6 play, which is very hard to accomplish with other builds at the same price. The Lambda and decimator are either too slow or too vulnerable to be effective support ships. However, the bomber's shown some promise to me:

Major Rhymer (33)

Rebel Captive

Tactician

Snap Shot

TIE Shuttle

2 x Glaive Squadron Pilot (33)

TIE/ Mk II

Adaptability

TIE/x7

Total: 99 pts.

This list is 3-1 at the moment (the loss was ridiculously close), and I'm loving the bomber. The ability to triple-stress a ship in one turn (snap hot, regular shot, Rebel Captive) is truly awesome. I went up against a Norra build that never took a single target lock due to four stress tokens. However, the bomber goes down very, very fast. I'm considering taking out Rebel captive for lightweight frame and Intelligence agent for some extra survival time.

I went with Glaives over Ryad + Glaive because Ryad is a tad boring to me, personally.

[edit] Actual battle report to be added in 8 hours. Its midnight and I'm tired...

So I've never bought Palpatine. He's a bit strange for my tastes (plus, I don't have the cash...). However, he has an amazing support role in Imperial 100/6 play, which is very hard to accomplish with other builds at the same price. The Lambda and decimator are either too slow or too vulnerable to be effective support ships. However, the bomber's shown some promise to me:

Major Rhymer (33)

Rebel Captive

Tactician

Snap Shot

TIE Shuttle

2 x Glaive Squadron Pilot (33)

TIE/ Mk II

Adaptability

TIE/x7

Total: 99 pts.

This list is 3-1 at the moment (the loss was ridiculously close), and I'm loving the bomber. The ability to triple-stress a ship in one turn (snap hot, regular shot, Rebel Captive) is truly awesome. I went up against a Norra build that never took a single target lock due to four stress tokens. However, the bomber goes down very, very fast. I'm considering taking out Rebel captive for lightweight frame and Intelligence agent for some extra survival time.

I went with Glaives over Ryad + Glaive because Ryad is a tad boring to me, personally.

[edit] Actual battle report to be added in 8 hours. Its midnight and I'm tired...

I'm flabbergasted as to why you would use Rhymer over Tomax. Has Snap Shot been worth the points for you?

To judge how good this is against Palapatine - Have you played the Palp list yourself or run against one with this list?

I understand that Major Rhymer/Snap Shot interface to get a range 2 shot from it.

Tomax with the same crew upgrades plus Lightweight Frame is 1 point more, but doesn't have the same range as Rhymer.

How often did the Tie MkII come into play? You could pull those off to get the Lightweight Frame on Rhymer.

Rhymer has the ability to use snap shot at range 2 due to his pilot ability, so while I agree that Tomax is generally superior, for snap shot stressing in the activation phase Rhymer is... let's just say it's less difficult to get a return on your investment.

My respects to Astech for doing well with something I've heard of but haven't tried out yet.

In regards to Tomax, I didn't want a 3 ace list, because they suffer badly against control lists. Additionally, Tomax is useless with Snap Shot ( I might as well take an A-wing). Finally I might as well take a third defender at that point - they're better anyway. Rhymer stresses ships before they perform actions, and I've used this to wreck Vader twice already. Basically anything with higher pilot skill (all PTL aces except Ryad) are going to get double-stressed if they try to attack the bomber.

I've yet to go against a Palp list ( I only started using the stress bomber on the weekend). Unless his escorts are two X7 defenders I'm confident though. Dengaroo's the matchup I'm really worried about - unless I can stress Manaroo...

Battles so Far:

1. First game was against a U-wing and two ARCs with shield regen. I made the mistake of going for the U-wing first, as its support power was outstanding. It turns out those things are tanks, and it took me a lttle too long to kill it. Howver, by the time I did Shara Bey had 4 stress, and Thane had two. The bomber died a turn before the U-wing. After that, it was two Defenders Vs two ARCs. Thane died, then an X7. In the end I just had slightly bad dice (triple blanks greens with focus and evade...) and lost to a 1 hull Shara.

2. Against Vader, the Dutchess and something else. Vader was wrecked on the first turn of combat - not only did he land on a rock, but he landed on a rock at range 2 of Rhymer, so no shot and bouble-stressed. He died during that turn due to some unlucky dice. The game took about 3 turns after that for me to hunt down the Dutchess and kill her, then my opponent conceded. We then did it again, with the same result. Its incredibly hard to hide from Rhymer's whole range 1-2 band during jousting turns, and the bomber has a great dial for range 2 combat.

3. Against the U-wings and ARCs again, this time with Norra. Norra didn't get a target lock the whole game (quadruple stress again), but the ARCs and U-wing killed Rhymer before both ARCs died, leaving a U-wing to face off against a 1 hull and full health defender with higher pilot skill and free evades. My opponent graciously conceded a few turns later, as the U-wing doesn't have the dial or pilot skill to combat against X7 defenders on its own...

4. Against Vader, SF TIE Generic (PS 3) and Ryad with an Ion Cannon. Combined fire meant that I lost my Rhymer on round 2, but Ryad fell a turn later (double stress beats green K-turns). Vader managed to get himself double-stressed as well (debris and Rhymer), and chose to flee. The Glaives pursued him for a few turns and killed an actionless vader. The SF fell the turn after that. What I enjoyed about this matchup was that I could consistently deal good damage with just focus + target lock, as I was targeting action-less enemies. I took only 2 target locks the whle game, and neither defender went into hull because I always had focus + evade for defense.

So far I believe Rhymer is a greater stresser than anything in the game so far, but time will tell...

Interesting list! I definitely like the lightweight frame on Rhymer.

I also think you have some points to play around with on the defenders. For example, you could drop one down a bit to a Delta and increase the value of the other. Just a thought.

I'm pretty new to x-wing. Just started playing a bit over the past month or so. (Mainly with my wife who is kind enough to humor me

Welcome to X-Wing! I'm also primarily Rebellion player, but Imperial Vets was too good to resist.

It's a very forgiving list - all your ships have 6 hull + shields, so its very hard to lose one in a single turn. Defenders give you the punch needed to get through anything that isn't a Palp-backed ace. However, the linchpin of the list is Rhymer, and he's a pain to fly. Getting a target that hasn't moved yet into range 2 is a tricky thing to do, especially with the Defender's dial. Additionally, you have to move him to the side of the battle, otherwise one's opponent crushes him in a turn. All this makes him much more fragile than a Palp-mobile, but double-stressing (once before actions are performed) is a fantastic utility piece in the game.