Following on from this topic, I have been running:

Zertik, Saber, Mauler, Jendon with Maatek for taste as a squadron wing.

It is glorious. There is no single unit which can survive their targetting. Does your opponent have a intel or relay unit that is fustrating you? Not anymore.

Maarek is just there to get the most out of Jendon. If your enemy does not have squads, only saber is wasted points. That squadron cant go near ships.

Snipe works.

Snipe is not being used in my zone beyond me and Saber.

I love it even when it is a pain when is engaged as you imagine. I don't have too much success against intel as we are playing CC and the enemy fleet with intel is bringing Jan Ors, Biggs, some x-wing, Ten Numb and Galant Haven. My Howl, Ciena, Rudor, Saber and IG with FC couldnt assault the stronghold with success yet.

On the other hand I have too much fun with Saber, Ciena and Rudor against Sarah and friends. No counter no party.

27 minutes ago, Ginkapo said:

Following on from this topic, I have been running:

Zertik, Saber, Mauler, Jendon with Maatek for taste as a squadron wing.

It is glorious. There is no single unit which can survive their targetting. Does your opponent have a intel or relay unit that is fustrating you? Not anymore.

Maarek is just there to get the most out of Jendon. If your enemy does not have squads, only saber is wasted points. That squadron cant go near ships.

Snipe works.

Snipe works, but I would argue that it's more because the Imperial platform makes it easier to work.

Saber squadron is just an insanely good squad. 12pts for 4 blue dice at Distance 7, with a re-roll if they're already engaged (which they will be if you've set it up right). Plus Jendon allowing you to double-tap. It's insanely good value for points, especially because Jendon is a great pick in general (as in you don't take him just for Saber).

Taking Saber isn't a huge risk, 'Oh my opponent doesn't have squads? Heavens I'm out 12 points'.

Look what you need to spend to set up comparable attacks with E-Wings. 15 points a pop, you need three of them base to throw the dice that Saber does off a Jendon double tap (or two and a bit if you have flight controllers). Using Yavaris with them is hard especially if you're trying to use Snipe, or unless you fork out for relay.

The critical mass you need to have for E-Wings just comes at too heavy a price I think. Plus as @Irokenics said, if the meta has moved away from Intel having massed Snipe just isn't that great.

So in a nutshell: Does Snipe work and is it good? Yes, but at the moment only really through Saber and that's because of how cheap it is and how good the supporting cast for the Imperials is at the moment.

Meta moving away from intel isnt a big thing. A lot have a keysquad in the ball, snipe works against that.

Snipe is really the counter to escort.

I have an Ewing build. Havent tried it yet so cant comment.

I use snipe (E wings) all the time and I love it

mainly because where I am everyone brings counter squadrons and runs them in groups, so if my main counter target has avoided snipe, I snipe another squadron instead

my main tactic is usually to send the A wing forces in first, then park the Ewings at distance 2 to provide support. The Awings utilise counter a lot and the E wings snipe for 2-3 rounds, effectively stopping squadron balls from targeting my ships

What I see about snipe is that, as @Ginkapo said, it is not just for intel.

The improved range help out to hit vip targets: intel, Mithel, Soontir or whatever you need to kill and your opponent is trying to cover with escorts.

Of course escorts still work fine if you put them ahead enough but snipe is conditioning the squadron play and e-wings and saber are speed enough to jump and take the target from behind. It makes really interesting squadron play and I am sad it is not used enough cause I think it makes the game funnier but it is just mu opinion.

In the other hand you get an interesting positioning advantage after engagement as when the e-wing kill its opponent it can shoot without moving (Yavaris, or lack of squadron commands) and kill other enemies fighting in another engagement area.

Yes, it could be easily countered if you engage all them in a big ball and make their snipe useless so you would be paying for nothing but it means he gives you your whole battery and if you know he will play this way you can look for some advantage as Galant Haven, Ten Numb, etc.

Actually is a good multipurpose squadrons that can go through enemy screens (a-wings and interceptors) and bomb ships.

Anyone run 3 E-wings + Corran Horn with Gallant Haven yet?

Seems to me that this is a natural combo

6 minutes ago, D503 said:

Anyone run 3 E-wings + Corran Horn with Gallant Haven yet?

Seems to me that this is a natural combo

Hmm, not yet, might try that tomorrow ??

In our current home games I've been trying out saber and I've nothing but praise for the unit I've been able to use it to snip a hawk to lock down a fighter ball with a single escort. It lets you prob a bomber ball from so many different ways because of the speed and range. You can poke stuff with counter with no fear of being shot back. Hiding at range two means you can only get shot by rogues or squadron activated by ships not those coming alive in the squadron round so it's all plus plus.... and at this moment in time I'm not sure why any imp player would not leave home without saber.

After a full CC campaign I have a bit more to say about Ewings and Snipe. The ball I was running by the end:

13/13/13/E/E/HWK/VCX/Shara/Hera.

The few conclusions I drew:

-Ewings are not worth their cost if you do not Alpha Strike OR have a good Escort screen to eat shots. If your opponent moves to range 1, you paid for expensive Xwings.

-Like Rogue, Ewings' Snipe trades efficiency for flexibility.

-Speed 4 and Snipe messes with people. The threat is not huge but the huge threat radius messes with people. Even compared to just facing interceptors with a similar threat range. A purely psych effect.

-They are bipolar on need for squad activations. You need to activate them to get them just outside of range 1 of the brawl and really can just leave them from there on out. Snipe gives them the range to pick off the wounded or the priority targets.

-Placement is critical like all squads. The sweet spot I found is just over range one from the posts of the Ewings to the posts of your escorts in front of them. It is hard for anything short of interceptors/As to jump over the escorts and hit the Ewings. Once engaged, kill the intel so enemy squads can't make that jump from closer.

I will be on an Imperial list streak for a while, but when back to Rebels, my next test will be trying a Jan/Biggs/Norra + Es +Xs ball to try and embrace that Snipe completely.

Not the best counter to snipe but I found if you have a few interceptor squadrons, have them engage any snip squadrons quickly. For me that would be Ciena Ree and Soontir Fel.

I'd like to try them as an escort for a Liberty (titled) battle cruiser - two blacks anti squad plus 6 sniping blues to give it a little more bite when them bombers come a' calling. Plus an extra couple of bomber reds to augment anti ship (and some flight controller shenanigans if the slot isn't used up).

Gink,

That squadron makeup is exactly the one I have been using as well! Jendon to choose between double tapping Maarek or Saber is gravy. I typically add (2) defenders to the mix for extra lock down coverage though they are icing, not the cake.

IMO as rebel player: Is a cute and interesting resource to make games different. But has too many "if's". If you dont have the alpha, its useless, so if you dont have the initiative, its useless. At the very moment you get engaged the trait is gone for good so you will probably make use of it 1 single turn in the whole game if you are lucky.

In the end, I like it for fun, but it is super overpriced and i dont think it will ever be competitive. Such a shame because I love E-wings.

Anyone run 3 E-wings + Corran Horn with Gallant Haven yet?

Seems to me that this is a natural combo

Thats super easy to counter, really cant see the combo there more than Gallant Haven + any squadron. If you get engaged you become expensive Xwings and Gallant Haven moves away.

1 minute ago, xerpo said:

IMO as rebel player: Is a cute and interesting resource to make games different. But has too many "if's". If you dont have the alpha, its useless, so if you dont have the initiative, its useless. At the very moment you get engaged the trait is gone for good so you will probably make use of it 1 single turn in the whole game if you are lucky.

In the end, I like it for fun, but it is super overpriced and i dont think it will ever be competitive. Such a shame because I love E-wings.

Or you just set him on a rock. Jendon to double tap guarentees at least 2 uses, which is often enough to remove or cripple a high value target. Maarek ties down, deals 2 damage, saber double taps from safety, deals 2 damage with each shot. If they tie up Saber, Jendon double taps Maarek to free him up, resume sniping. Rinse and repeat. It's a bully combo.

I assume rebels can get similar mileage out of Yavaris/Adar but E-Wings just don't seem worth the investment over an in-your-face-and-synergytastic-xwing.

Just started a few games with using snipe. To get the most out of them you do have to go in with 2-3 to kill off a squad. Keeping out of range of other squads but also when things settle down get bombing on those ships. I bring 2 but still think they are a bit expensive.

12 hours ago, BrobaFett said:

Gink,

That squadron makeup is exactly the one I have been using as well! Jendon to choose between double tapping Maarek or Saber is gravy. I typically add (2) defenders to the mix for extra lock down coverage though they are icing, not the cake.

I was using that combo for my CC campaign as well (minus Zertirk...my teammate snagged him). It was great...though I used Saber to kill Shara Bey most of the time. Not having to face her counter 3 is such a relief!

To be honest I tend to kill the standard bombers before I go after specialist targets ( Intel, ryhmer ET all) on the assumption that it's more effective to kill the United protected damage dealers than go after protected support.

the only time I don't do this is with Jan ors or Biggs balls as you need to kill these guys to make your damage output efficient.

Saying that snipe is generally good in that it effectively increases the intercept range of ships, protecting then from risk of Alpha strikes, allows them to stay within game of support/activating units while having a wider threat range and have more board coverage when firing without moving. This is why a group of Ewings can be very effective killers even before you thing about their ability to hit protected support units.....

I have been using Ewing snipe lately.

Ewingx2

Z95 x2

YT1300 x2

With Toryn and Flight Controllers absolutely wrecks everything. Add Ten Numb for flavour.

So my conclusion from lots of playtesting is that snipe IS extremelly potent at dismantelling enemy squadron wings, with or without Rieekan. It doesnt care for Rieekan zombie escorts, goes round them.

19 minutes ago, Ginkapo said:

I have been using Ewing snipe lately.

Ewingx2

Z95 x2

YT1300 x2

With Toryn and Flight Controllers absolutely wrecks everything. Add Ten Numb for flavour.

So my conclusion from lots of playtesting is that snipe IS extremelly potent at dismantelling enemy squadron wings, with or without Rieekan. It doesnt care for Rieekan zombie escorts, goes round them.

Despite I agree with you. The Galant Haven+Biggs+Ors don't care about snipe too much.

I tried Saber+Howl+FC and it is not enough. However as imperial I only have saber. Maybe several e-wings make the difference.

The only thing that came to my mind is Rhymer to force them move out from the umbrella. But I should check distances and ranged before.

1 minute ago, ovinomanc3r said:

Despite I agree with you. The Galant Haven+Biggs+Ors don't care about snipe too much.

I tried Saber+Howl+FC and it is not enough. However as imperial I only have saber. Maybe several e-wings make the difference.

The only thing that came to my mind is Rhymer to force them move out from the umbrella. But I should check distances and ranged before.

Kill Orrs and you dont care about a biggs ball very much either... or if you insist. Once Orrs is dead target the braceless.

Saber Mauler Jendon with imps. A single snipe does very little.

54 minutes ago, Ginkapo said:

Kill Orrs and you dont care about a biggs ball very much either... or if you insist. Once Orrs is dead target the braceless.

Saber Mauler Jendon with imps. A single snipe does very little.

Mauler is good for this. Sadly it is CC so no Mithel for me.

As partial solution I took IG and Morna. Now I wil try to camp around waiting missed squafrons (I killed Ten Numb this way the last time) and use Morna to hunt Yavaris or the transport forcing him to look for the battle somewhere but under Galant Haven.

At the end the tactic is ignore it and provoke him. I hope it works.

personally i can say Saber Squadron with Howlrunner gets kills easily. i can usualy fly one interceptor past the escorts and flank-but i suppose if my opponenets had LOTS of escorts, i'd have either jendon or ig 88, and result would still be the same. "one attack + one good snipe + mithel".

in a normal non-CC game with Jendon, saber squadron, howlrunner, mithel, i think the chances of one-shotting Intel are huge. snipe works . i used it in our previous campaign as a rebel , and in my victory vs brobafett who had more squadrons than me including jendon/maarek, , the 3 squadrons with snipe were crucial. 2 -wings & corran is 10 dice.

I have used saber squadron a couple of times but it never really worked I don't know if it was snipe being ineffective, me not having a good opportunity to snipe, or me just not using snipe properly. Will need more testing to determine.