Looks good. I approve of a pure First Order list.

All told, the list is a nice one. The Epsilons are nice, tidy little fighters, and Hux can essentially hand one a mini-autoblaster as required - not to mention that the Upsilon's 4-dice, Fire Control System-equipped main gun is hardly something you can ignore. Omega Ace is nice to drop a whomp on someone with shields down - and with General Hux and the Systems Officer, you've got all your tokens coming in for free - meaning Omega Ace will have an evade token to protect himself with (because he's going to be a hella high priority if your opponent realises whats coming!).

Stridan is a good call for a token fountain. Again, even if you're down to just the TIE fighters because the shuttle's going the wrong way and omega ace is dust, Hux can focus them both, fanatical devotion one, provide that guy with a target lock, and the fighter itself can evade - so it's still a pretty tough target and gets about a 70% chance of landing an unblockable damage, giving it a nice trick against elusive aces.

I would put a Comm Relay on Omega Ace instead of one of the Epsilons. That way he's a bit more durable. Your opponent will likely try and remove him as quickly as possible.

Putting a Comm Relay on Omega Ace means you are taking away one attack dice from his Swarm Leader Ability.

Putting a Comm Relay on Omega Ace means you are taking away one attack dice from his Swarm Leader Ability.

This is true, and it's exactly why I didn't do it. However, Jo Jo does have a point that I did consider. Problem is... I wouldn't know where to free up points. It's a surprisingly tight list in terms of requirements to function. Downgrading Striden or FCS both don't free up enough points individually (2 each) and severely reduce the damage, utility, and consistency of the list.

Maybe it's fine as is? Anyways, thanks for your input guys!

I would put a Comm Relay on Omega Ace instead of one of the Epsilons. That way he's a bit more durable. Your opponent will likely try and remove him as quickly as possible.

It doesn't really make him much tougher, though. Remember that if you get a focus and target lock from Stridan, you can still evade each turn, so all it's costing you is a defensive focus token. If Omega Ace is being focused on, his evade token wouldn't persist past the first round of shooting anyway.

I think it's a good list as it stands. The question is: assuming Omega Ace gets chainsawed by someone else at PS8+ and never gets to shoot, does the list fall apart? Answer - no. Stridan is unwieldy but not that unmanouvrable, and the TIE fighters remain dangerous even with "just" 2-dice attacks, because one of them will have a target lock and fanatical devotion.

I got to try the "Omega Ace" Swarm Leader trick tonight. It was pretty awesome. It's not the kind of thing I can use every round, because once the fighters start flipping around the evade tokens disappear. Here was my squad:

Omega Ace (Swarm Leader, Comm Relay)
2x Epsilon Sq. Pilot (Comm Relay)
2x Epsilon Sq. Pilot (Targeting Synchronizer)
98 points

I got one shot boosted by one evade at range 2 of Fenn Rau. Rolled [blank, blank, focus] and spent Epsilon's TL and Omega Ace's focus token to make it [crit, crit, crit]. Landed a Weapons Failure and a Direct Hit, so almost took out that scum.

I feel like Swarm Leader encourages you to fly in a block at the foe and just joust. That is the best way to ensure overlapping arcs on the same target. That's just not how I like to fly any more. I spread out my ships, and then we dance around a bit on my edge of the board, find a path through the rocks, then spring the trap. That first round we can usually get a good attack line, but "Omega Ace" fires first, and his crits just land on shields (in this case, 4 crits on a YV-666 at range 3 that luckily managed to roll 2 evades!). What do you guys think? Is Swarm Leader just not right for a free-flowing swarm, or can it be made to fit to my flying style? Is it worth holding Omega Ace back for the first engagement to melt some shields away?

I think the best way to do this is probably a /fo swarm rather than Stridan. Epsilon Ace with Targetting Synchroniser, Omega Ace with Swarm Leader, and a whole mess of /fos with Crack Shot and the odd Targetting Synchroniser if you can fit it in.

On 1/26/2017 at 11:32 PM, Parakitor said:

I got to try the "Omega Ace" Swarm Leader trick tonight. It was pretty awesome. It's not the kind of thing I can use every round, because once the fighters start flipping around the evade tokens disappear. Here was my squad:

Omega Ace (Swarm Leader, Hull Upgrade, Pattern Analyzer)
2x Epsilon Sq. Pilot (Comm Relay)
2x Epsilon Sq. Pilot (Targeting Synchronizer)
100 points

I tried my squad again, with Hull+Pattern Analyzer instead of Comm Relay on Omega Ace (saw that suggestion around here, and I really liked it). I had a fantastic approach, but I eyeballed range incorrectly on the opening pass, and Omega Ace was just in range 2 of Palob. He stole the focus token, and I was so flustered that I forgot to use Swarm Leader anyway. If I knew for sure Omega Ace could have used the Target Lock to reroll dice, even without the ability, I would have used Swarm Leader for sure. We brought Palob down to 1 hull, and lost a Targeting Synchronizer Epsilon, and Omega Ace down to 2 hull. Not a great trade. We never got Palob, and only got 16 points for half-way killing Manaroo. My opponent flew excellent, and got Palob to do some work.

I really want clarification on Targeting Synchronizer. If it's the more liberal interpretation allowing friendlies to spend locks on regular attack rolls, I'll be trying this gimmicky, no-good squad again. Otherwise, no go.

P.S. Palob sucks. And he's great. I kind of have a love-hate relationship with him.

A friend and I have been workin on this list.

Major Stridan (32)
Collision Detector (0)
General Hux (5)
Pattern Analyzer (2)

"Omega Ace" (20)
Swarm Tactics (2)
Pattern Analyzer (2)

Omega Squadron Pilot (17)
Crack Shot (1)

Omega Squadron Pilot (17)
Crack Shot (1)

Total: 99

26 minutes ago, Mazin1 said:

A friend and I have been workin on this list.

Major Stridan (32)
Collision Detector (0)
General Hux (5)
Pattern Analyzer (2)

"Omega Ace" (20)
Swarm Tactics (2)
Pattern Analyzer (2)

Omega Squadron Pilot (17)
Crack Shot (1)

Omega Squadron Pilot (17)
Crack Shot (1)

Total: 99

But you have no way to "turn on" Omega Ace other than Coordinate and that is counter-productive with Hux.

On 1/27/2017 at 2:32 AM, Parakitor said:

Omega Ace (Swarm Leader, Comm Relay)
2x Epsilon Sq. Pilot (Comm Relay)
2x Epsilon Sq. Pilot (Targeting Synchronizer)
98 points

I have a simple question regarding Target Synchronizer

after reading the Target Synchronizer on Yet Another site.

"When a friendly ship at Range 1-2 is attacking a ship you have locked, the friendly ship

treats the " Attack (target lock): header as " Attack: ." If a game effect instructs that

ship to spend a target lock, it may spend your target lock instead."

how does that affect Omega Ace's ability? the ability specifically states "attack (target lock)" header

I know I am new to this, but that is pretty specific in its wording, or is it just going over my head?

1 minute ago, vonstryker said:

I have a simple question regarding Target Synchronizer

after reading the Target Synchronizer on Yet Another site.

"When a friendly ship at Range 1-2 is attacking a ship you have locked, the friendly ship

treats the " Attack (target lock): header as " Attack: ." If a game effect instructs that

ship to spend a target lock, it may spend your target lock instead."

how does that affect Omega Ace's ability? the ability specifically states "attack (target lock)" header

I know I am new to this, but that is pretty specific in its wording, or is it just going over my head?

The first phrase calling out "Attack (Target Lock)" is independent of the following phrase. So ordnance with that header can be used when a friendly ship with Targeting Synchronizer has a target lock, but also any game effect that instructs that friendly ship (the one attacking at range 1-2) to spend a lock, it may spend your target lock instead. It's that second phrase, distinct from the first, that allows Omega Ace's ability to proc with Targeting Synchronizer.

21 minutes ago, Parakitor said:

The first phrase calling out "Attack (Target Lock)" is independent of the following phrase. So ordnance with that header can be used when a friendly ship with Targeting Synchronizer has a target lock, but also any game effect that instructs that friendly ship (the one attacking at range 1-2) to spend a lock, it may spend your target lock instead. It's that second phrase, distinct from the first, that allows Omega Ace's ability to proc with Targeting Synchronizer.

thank you for the very fast answer

Also targeting synchroniser can be used simply to reroll dice.

I've flown a list very similar to the OP four times in a store tournament and four more times with Kylo Ren instead of Major Striden.

I went 4-4 and it's very fun to fly if you can pull the Omega Ace Swarm Leader trick off; very powerful. However, what was commen in all of my losses was that I lost Omega Ace in the very first round of combat. Sometimes, he never even fired a shot off.