Haven't played with a Striker yet, but just to be clear... the wording of his ability also nullifies most negative "status effects" from attacks, right? For instance, when using his ability he doesn't take ion or tractor beam tokens, or any effect that is triggered by hitting with an attack, because he is the source of his damage, not the original attack?

Yes, all dice results are cancelled so the attack doesn't hit, no effects that require a hit to off, etc. It's similar to Wampa's ability to cancel all dice results and simply deal a facedown damage card to the target.

Ok, that's what I thought. It came up in a game this week, and I ruled in favor of the Striker player. Good to know I made the right call.

Haven't played with a Striker yet, but just to be clear... the wording of his ability also nullifies most negative "status effects" from attacks, right? For instance, when using his ability he doesn't take ion or tractor beam tokens, or any effect that is triggered by hitting with an attack, because he is the source of his damage, not the original attack?

Yes, all dice results are cancelled so the attack doesn't hit, no effects that require a hit to off, etc. It's similar to Wampa's ability to cancel all dice results and simply deal a facedown damage card to the target.

Because it didn't hit, it would trigger cards like Gunner though.

Haven't played with a Striker yet, but just to be clear... the wording of his ability also nullifies most negative "status effects" from attacks, right? For instance, when using his ability he doesn't take ion or tractor beam tokens, or any effect that is triggered by hitting with an attack, because he is the source of his damage, not the original attack?

Yes, all dice results are cancelled so the attack doesn't hit, no effects that require a hit to off, etc. It's similar to Wampa's ability to cancel all dice results and simply deal a facedown damage card to the target.

Because it didn't hit, it would trigger cards like Gunner though.

Right, and there's also the weird case of Lieutenant Blount, whose ability reads "When attacking, the defender is hit by your attack, even if he does not suffer any damage." So if he's attacking Countdown with a weapon that has a triggered on hit effect, like Assault Missiles, I think the attack would still count as a hit because of Blount's ability, even though the dice were cancelled and no damage was inflicted from the attack.

Pure Sabac with Snapshot is the one you should write home about.

Countdown isn't even the best drummer in the beatles

Also confused why so many people are referring to "Duchess" as a he, seeing as "duchess" basically means a female with a political rank equivalent to that of a duke. It's probably safe to assume the art of the female pilot on the adaptive ailerons card is meant to be "Duchess," in fact.

Because Archer

Which, by the way, I would say its safe to assume that the character in the Adaptive Ailerons picture is not "Duchess", and the character is in fact an Archer reference.

Because Sterling Archer's codename is Duchess, and why would you not love that? Cue the Kenny Loggins!

100% Correct

Duchess is a he, for sure.

If you have the title on countdown and get the stress from his ability, then you may get a couple rounds where he essentially has the same ability as duchess in negating the ailerons to do his own "arc dodging" and the next round zipping around. Countdown is versatile as being in multiple roles if needed, whether you're weathering attacks for the rest of the team or just flying about as you like.

If you have the title on countdown and get the stress from his ability, then you may get a couple rounds where he essentially has the same ability as duchess in negating the ailerons to do his own "arc dodging" and the next round zipping around. Countdown is versatile as being in multiple roles if needed, whether you're weathering attacks for the rest of the team or just flying about as you like.

That's nothing like having Duchess's ability. What makes Duchess's ability good is that he has increased options and is harder for his opponent to predict. His PS is also high enough that he can use his ability and Adaptive Ailerons to react. Countdown, or any other Striker, becomes more predicable and less able to react when they are stressed.

So I picked up a TIE Striker today and I played a Pure Sabacc/Ryad/Vessery x7 list just to try out the Swarm Leader ridiculousness with him. He got one six dice shot off and then died fast, focused down in a hurry to remove the biggest threat from the board.

And this is why Pure Sabacc shouldn't be Swarm Leader. It creates too much of an obvious first target. Stacking as many dice as you can isn't always the best strategy.

Instead, I really want to see if I can put together a good list that has Swarm Leader on some other ship, and Pure Sabacc as a secondary threat.

Indeed. In a striker squad I'd probably prefer to take Duchess with Swarm Leader and Pure Sabbac with something else - that way your opponent has two 'Big Guns' to worry about.

...for four attacks, he is.

Countdown is generally ignored unless your opponent has a way of attacking him twice. I.e. doubletap abilities, gunner, luke, or 2 ships. Once he has one of those around hes vaporized really quick.

Sabaac is the main striker im using. For dirt cheap you get an elusive 4die platform.

I tried ps 10 duchess. His arch dodging shenanigans are no match for a falcon. I tried to avoid the falcon and let my beefier ships deal with it. But u just cant avoid a turret all game when they are gunning for you.

I ran Duchess against Rey and Poe yesterday. The rest of my list was Echo and Deathrain, so Duchess with VI and title kind of fell away. At 24 points, it can be a decent ship in tight, shooting 4 reds at range one. The key to keeping her alive against turrets is to not get shot, period. So, you need something more intimidating in the list to keep the heat off her.

Turrets are the death of strikers (except TLT if you vaporize them quickly).

Duchess is a she. I'm going with art on AA cards too. Besides, we need more female pilots.

Duchess is a she.

20:50 - Alex talks about blocking the AA move.

22:35 - Frank confirms that "Duchess" is he.

Ya beat me to it...

Bah... What does he know...

FFG refers to Duchess as being female in the preview article https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/12/5/a-swift-and-vigilant-defense/.

Case closed!

FFG refers to Duchess as being female in the preview article https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/12/5/a-swift-and-vigilant-defense/.

Case closed!

Bah, what do they know. Duchess will always be a man....a man by the name of Sterling Archer....

Nah, he's garbage.

The only one that might be worth flying is Duchess. I still don't think she's very good, though.

Nah, he's garbage.

The only one that might be worth flying is Duchess. I still don't think she's very good, though.

Not so much. ALl three of them in a list together is nice targetting priority confusion, add palp or OL or a Bomber Buddy or any of a few other good options to spice the whole mess up.

Duchess is the standout my a long chalk, but the others are no slouch.

Not really that hard, you can ignore Countdown to endgame and want Sabacc's dice off the table first.

Not really that hard, you can ignore Countdown to endgame and want Sabacc's dice off the table first.

Congratulations you voluntarily shot at Biggs.

E: the real difficulty with them is that they get owned hard by turrets in general and TLTs in particular. Which is a shame because from experience last night, they are an absolute blast to play.

Ha!

Oh it's another 'Imperial Biggs' is it? What BS.

Ha!

Oh it's another 'Imperial Biggs' is it? What BS.

Yup, pretty much. Now I can run a list with four biggses. No matter which one you shoot first, it's the wrong choice...