So I'm on a 7 game losing streak against a friend of mine. Three of those losses can probably be chalked up to me taking all Scyk lists (I love those little guys but they don't like to win me many games) but the other four losses have been more serious lists and I'm starting to get frustrated. His lists are pretty much the same thing every time, all large ships that he keeps in close formation. He will race across the board the first two turns, blow up one of my ships with focused fire, and then I spend the rest of the game trying to chip away at him from a deficit. Last game I was up against an Aggressor, YT-666, and a Jumpmaster. I'm really struggling with my small ships to have the staying power to deal with a cumulative 29 shield and hull. Any strategy or list advice on how to sink these big ship lists would be very much appreciated.

A lot depends on which ships you have to fly and if you focus fire and keep your own squad in formation.

One thing you can consider is running higher Pilot skills that have mobility and are hard to hit.

Soontir Fel and 2 aces should be able to run circles around those guys and strike selectively.

3-Defender list should be dangerous to them as well - hits hard and is hard to hit.

3 big ships like that likely have only a few modifications, so their tricks are limited.

If he's aggressively coming at you, you can use low level blockers - like Academy Ties out front to stop his actions.

Ordinance is another option. Kwings with Advanced Slam and Bombs are all the rage now.

Lt. Blount with an Assault missle on the YV-666 also might make things interesting.

Asteroid placement is important to make them separate in formation and allow you to stay out of their arcs.

Set up as far away as possible and force him to split up going through the asteroids (you should take those rather than debris so he doesn't just fly over them). Focus down one and he loses a big part of his list's firepower. "Turtle up" with multiple defense tokens (if possible) if you see a ship being targeted.

Thanks for the good advice Parable and USCGrad!

Set up as far away as possible and force him to split up going through the asteroids (you should take those rather than debris so he doesn't just fly over them). Focus down one and he loses a big part of his list's firepower. "Turtle up" with multiple defense tokens (if possible) if you see a ship being targeted.

That brings me to an unanswered question about asteroids and debris. Does each player choose any three obstacles he wants to use and he will then get to place those three per the obstacle placement rules? Maybe obstacles have been FAQed but the rule book is seems pretty fuzzy on which obstacles are used and who can place them.

3-Defender list should be dangerous to them as well - hits hard and is hard to hit.

Asteroid placement is important to make them separate in formation and allow you to stay out of their arcs.

Can you suggest a good 3 Defender build for me? Can you give me an example of how you would place your obstacles given what I've been dealing with?

Thanks for the good advice Parable and USCGrad!

Set up as far away as possible and force him to split up going through the asteroids (you should take those rather than debris so he doesn't just fly over them). Focus down one and he loses a big part of his list's firepower. "Turtle up" with multiple defense tokens (if possible) if you see a ship being targeted.

That brings me to an unanswered question about asteroids and debris. Does each player choose any three obstacles he wants to use and he will then get to place those three per the obstacle placement rules? Maybe obstacles have been FAQed but the rule book is seems pretty fuzzy on which obstacles are used and who can place them.

3-Defender list should be dangerous to them as well - hits hard and is hard to hit.

Asteroid placement is important to make them separate in formation and allow you to stay out of their arcs.

Can you suggest a good 3 Defender build for me? Can you give me an example of how you would place your obstacles given what I've been dealing with?

Just to address your first question about asteroids, each player brings three obstacles (asteroids or debris or both) so there's a total of six obstacles. The player who has initiative will get to place the first one, then the opposing player and so on. You can pick whichever obstacle you like, so you can pick and place one of your opponent's obstacles (and vice-versa).

On the Triple D query, although I'm not really used to going for three defenders, you might want to give a go for 3 Crackshot Glaives, ie, Glaive Squadron Pilot with Crackshot and TIE x/7 title x 3.

Can you suggest a good 3 Defender build for me?

Try the following:

36 Ryad (34), PTL (3), /x7 (-2), Mk2 Engines (1)

35 Vessery (35), /x7 (-2), Juke (2)

28 Delta Squadron Pilot (30), /x7 (-2)

99 Total

You now have 3 ships with solid 3s across the board that get a free Evade token when moving at Speed 3 or above. You can spend the last point on Mk2 Engines for Vessery or leave it for an initiative bid. Ryad and the Delta can both act as TL painters for Vessery and the Delta makes a great durable blocker.

MISSILES!!!!!

Serioulsy though large ships don't have many ways to mitigate the burst damage from a barrage. Pair it with a good ace (i like using Omega Leader) and you should be fine.

Plasma torpedoes are a cheap and effective way of rapidly stripping shields from a big ship.

What are you taking for your Scyks?

Lots of 2-dice attacks should - in theory - be well suited to taking down the low agility YV-666 but will struggle with the bigger ships.

Agree on using rocks to split him up. Big ships do not like close-packed obstacles.

Let me introduce you to your new best friend:

http://xwing-miniatures.wikia.com/wiki/Tala_Squadron_Pilot?file=Tala-squadron-pilot.png

The fact that he's using multiple big ships means that he's likely going to be using a lot of low PS generics. In the list you describe above, I cant be sire, but if I we're optimizing that build, I'd probably either spend my points on IG-88 B with a HLC and autothrusters, or I'm going for a cheap IG-88 - maybe C with FCS, Autothrusters and crackshot, and a Party bus YV. In either case, you're facing a PS3 contracted scout and a PS2 Trandoshan slaver. You need to out PS him and alpha strike at least one of his ships off the board. The Tala missile swarm let's you do that.

You can outfit them with guidance chips and Concussion missiles, or homing missiles if you're expecting trouble from IGs with evade tokens. You can do a reasonably reliable 2-3 damage per Tala onto a YV before it shoots, and be sure you'll be close enough to get that target lock. Five of them is the maximum you can get, and probably not the most effective use, but they can slot into other lists and give you a really solid chance of alpha striking a third of your opponents list right off the board before it even shoots.

Consider, for example, something like this:

Gray Squadron Pilot (20)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

Proton Torpedoes (4)

Extra Munitions (2)

Gray Squadron Pilot (20)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

Proton Torpedoes (4)

R3-A2 (2)

BTL-A4 Y-Wing (0)

Tala Squadron Pilot (13)

Homing Missiles (5)

Guidance Chips (0)

Tala Squadron Pilot (13)

Homing Missiles (5)

Guidance Chips (0)

Total: 100

That's a PS4 alpha strike list with a pair of TLTs for cleaning up in the late game and decent stress control from the hog. Kill a YV with the alpha strike, then go after the IG - if you can catch it with the stress hog you've probably won the game right there, as without actions you'll wear through its 8 hp relatively quickly. And don't forget: This gives you 24 hitpoints of your own to chew through, and if you do get your alpha to work, he's probably going to be trying to do that with just two of his ships.

There are variants, of course, lots of ways to tweak the basic concept. 3 homing missile Talas with guidance chips leave 46 points over. That's enough for a decent Miranda or Corran, a very fat Poe or Norra, two souped up crackshot A Wings, lots of good, hard to kill ships that can capitalize on your alpha strike and last long enough into the late game that you'll eventually find yourself fighting against just one leftover large ship that you should be able to kill.

This trick may only work once: after a few PS kills, you might start seeing party Bossks, Dengaroo, etc to remove the PS weakness. But that one time it works will be sweeeeet.

Thanks for the good advice all! I'm feeling more confident for my next game.

What are you taking for your Scyks?

Lots of 2-dice attacks should - in theory - be well suited to taking down the low agility YV-666 but will struggle with the bigger ships.

I was doing 5 Scyks with Serissu and lots of mangler cannons. This was before the +1 Hull update though and I kept getting terrible agility rolls. My last list gave him more of a challange with 3x Tansariis with Mangler and Mindlink and 1x Palob with Ion Cannon, Mindlink, and Outlaw Tech. That was with the updated +1 Hull and that little FAQ boost helped but not quite enough.

Can you suggest a good 3 Defender build for me?

Try the following:

36 Ryad (34), PTL (3), /x7 (-2), Mk2 Engines (1)
35 Vessery (35), /x7 (-2), Juke (2)
28 Delta Squadron Pilot (30), /x7 (-2)

99 Total

You now have 3 ships with solid 3s across the board that get a free Evade token when moving at Speed 3 or above. You can spend the last point on Mk2 Engines for Vessery or leave it for an initiative bid. Ryad and the Delta can both act as TL painters for Vessery and the Delta makes a great durable blocker.

This looks like a mean list. Looks like I am going to have to pick up the Imp Vets pack.