Hello all,

So, I have always loved anything saber squadron related from my days of the CCG and comics (181!)

Putting them on the table though, as the empire's only source of snipe, has been a bit of a challenge that has been making even a veteran squadron pusher like me scratch my head.

They're great on offense, and the reversal of the activation dichotomy to shoot -> move is certainly useful, as is their 5 speed. I can usually keep them away from other squadrons.

Where I find the difficulty lies is when they go up against E-wings, who are appearing with quite a lot of regularity.

So I guess my main question is, what sort of tricks are people pulling to keep this fragile little badass alive?

My best successes so far is to tarpit their fighters with Advanceds and snipe down intel with saber and AA, and combo that with flechette torpedoes on a raider to suppress them.

Just wondering if anyone else has found any better ways.

Rieekan.

Oh wait, wrong faction.

Kill stuff quick?

Kill stuff quick?

Its wierd isnt it. Unlike rebels, imps have the tools to scapel kill individual squads (intel) and yet this doesnt fit with the dictonomy. Kill stuff fast.

Kill stuff fast is for sure the name of the game.

However, the rebel squadrons on the whole have I think, on average, probably a whole 1 health advantage over imperial squadrons.

Normally, this isn't a problem, what with the new additions of decimator and defender, and old favorites like the IG2000 and Firesprays, but Saber Squadron is unique on the imperial side for what it can do, but is just as fragile as the generic tie fighter.

It's a puzzle to be sure.

Probably the best way I have found for either side is to get a squadron with Escort into engagement range of the one with Snipe. The fun thing would be then that could also put you in position to counter-Snipe that squadron.

Most of the geniques have me scratching my head

Kill stuff quick?

Its wierd isnt it. Unlike rebels, imps have the tools to scapel kill individual squads (intel) and yet this doesnt fit with the dictonomy. Kill stuff fast.

We got IG-88 who, technically, is a tin-guy. Who else comes to mind? With the rebels HP advantage, four blues is not exactly a scalpel, more like everybodys swiss knife. Gnawing through Jan or her escorts takes ages.

Kill stuff quick?

Its wierd isnt it. Unlike rebels, imps have the tools to scapel kill individual squads (intel) and yet this doesnt fit with the dictonomy. Kill stuff fast.

We got IG-88 who, technically, is a tin-guy. Who else comes to mind? With the rebels HP advantage, four blues is not exactly a scalpel, more like everybodys swiss knife. Gnawing through Jan or her escorts takes ages.

Ig, Mauler, Jendon.

Starting to get glaring that the Empire only has one escort eh? And that this is the Empire's only source of Snipe?

I think the trick with the Empire is to be on the offensive and try to take as many targets out before they have a chance to respond. So rather than trying to keep Sabers alive, try to use Sabers to punch out targets in a first activation before they get targeted and destroyed.

One idea is to stick it next to Jendon, maybe with another ace (like Vader?). That way Jendon can trigger either ace squadron depending on the situation.

I think in Theory Flight Controllers can boost Snipe. So if you have Flight Controllers with Howlrunner, that's -6- Snipe dice fired at a target of your choice. With Swarm, you can re-roll as well. Then Jendon can make Sabers follow up with a 5 dice attack that is re-rolled as well. This is something the Rebels can't do, since E-Wings don't have Swarm and there's no Howlrunner.

"kill things quick" is awfully hard to do against rebels sometimes, what with their generally higher health, Jan, and Biggs.

And if your opponent has Rieekan, then you don't even have the option of killing things quickly at all.

It'll be interesting to see the way the squadron game will go this wave.

Hopefully in wave 6 the new tie design from Rogue One will have Snipe (2) or (3) as a generic rule so that Sabre Squadron isn't our one source of sniping.

I think if you run IG88 alongside Sabre with its Snipe (4,5 or 6) then it should achieve its desired assassination in one turn. Mauler can also help and will be a primary target for the enemy (as will Dengar) taking a little heat off Sabre. Once Jan is dead Sabre has done its job and at that point I would probably rather have a standard Tie-Int so any further shots are a bonus.

IG-88 is expected to do 2 damage. Brace down to 1. Snipe 4 should be expected to do 2 damage, Brace down to 1. Throw Mithel in there, and Jan still has 1 HP. And if they have Rieekan she'll live the turn out, anyway.

And that's all provided that she's not adequately covered by Escort.

IG-88 is expected to do 2 damage. Brace down to 1. Snipe 4 should be expected to do 2 damage, Brace down to 1. Throw Mithel in there, and Jan still has 1 HP. And if they have Rieekan she'll live the turn out, anyway.

And that's all provided that she's not adequately covered by Escort.

Indeed. But if either of the first two attacks does 3 damage that gets braced down to 2, even if the other does only 1 damage Mauler can finish her off. The chances of getting 3 damage on either 4xblue attack are 52.7% and that isn't taking into account that one of them probably has a swarm reroll. Howlrunner and/or Flight controllers can really bump up the percentages here.

If beforehand your other squadrons can launch a few attacks against X-Wings and get Jan to spend a brace or two, brilliant. Then on your 2 attacks against Jan herself the later may be against her last red Brace and therefore an accuracy could help inflict 2-3 damage in one shot.

Personally, I think they buffed the squadron game this wave to drive up sales in wave 6 and 7. Are we taking bets which faction will get a dedicated squadron killing ship first? Personally, I think it will be Empire with the real Lancer....the Lancer Frigate.

Personally, I think they buffed the squadron game this wave to drive up sales in wave 6 and 7. Are we taking bets which faction will get a dedicated squadron killing ship first? Personally, I think it will be Empire with the real Lancer....the Lancer Frigate.

With a red anti squadron dice?

That should thin them out a bit. "Oh Kallus. Do you have a moment?"

Personally, I think they buffed the squadron game this wave to drive up sales in wave 6 and 7. Are we taking bets which faction will get a dedicated squadron killing ship first? Personally, I think it will be Empire with the real Lancer....the Lancer Frigate.

With a red anti squadron dice?

That should thin them out a bit. "Oh Kallus. Do you have a moment?"

With A red anti squadron dice? Nay nay NAY I say to you sir. Sixteen red dice on each side arc. Because it's meant to shred squadrons, der....

Personally, I think they buffed the squadron game this wave to drive up sales in wave 6 and 7. Are we taking bets which faction will get a dedicated squadron killing ship first? Personally, I think it will be Empire with the real Lancer....the Lancer Frigate.

With a red anti squadron dice?

That should thin them out a bit. "Oh Kallus. Do you have a moment?"

With A red anti squadron dice? Nay nay NAY I say to you sir. Sixteen red dice on each side arc. Because it's meant to shred squadrons, der....

Honestly the only unique squadron that doesnt have defense tokens i think is awesome is the Ywing Gold Squadron. For 2 measly points, 2blue on ships and no heavy.

Lot of the other ones like Green Squadrong Awings i dont really care for even if i could bring multiples of them.