Not long after Snap Shot was spoiled, a couple bright individuals noticed the synergy it had with Major Rhymer. Snap Shot is a secondary weapon with a range of 1, and Rhymer expands the range of secondary weapons by one band. Make Rhymer a TIE Shuttle to get a couple crew slots, throw a Tactician on there, and you get a ship that puts out a Range 2 arc where someone finishes a move, and then gets fired upon, and stressed, before they can get actions. Because they're stuck in that position, Rhymer will also get to fire on them during the combat phase, adding another pitiful attack and another stress.

This is a fun little interaction, especially considering just how bad Rhymer has been over the course of this game, but weighing in at 30 points means I've only rarely even heard of people trying him out. I certainly never have.

However, I was recently reading David Sutcliffe's blog entry (http://stayontheleader.blogspot.com/2017/02/turn-to-point-oh-five-well-cover-for.html?m=1) discussing his TIE Fighter/A-wing swarm, using Operations Specialist on Sabine in Sabine's Masterpiece with Snap Shot to generate extra Focus tokens for the rest of his squad. This was combined with Ahsoka in another TIE Fighter, and 3 A-wings, all with Snap Shot to generate a ton of actions for everyone using Ahsoka.

Imperials can't do the same sort of thing, but I started thinking about Operations Specialist on various Imperial platforms and happenend to think of that Rhymer build again. Add in OpSpec, and he starts generating Focus tokens for friends on top of just locking out enemy actions. 33 points is not a joke, though, so he's got to pull some weight.

So I'm going to try it out, and I'm doing some brainstorming about what kinds of lists might work alongside Rhymer, but I am uncertain. So in an inversion of Gozer, I will let you choose the form of my destruction.

Option 1: Doubling down on this whole Snap Shot Thing.

The above discussed Rhymer, plus 2 of these guys:

Omega Squadron Specialist, Snap Shot, FCS, Sensor Cluster, Lightweight Frame = 33 points

The idea here is that all these Snap Shots generate Focus (and establish Target Locks) tokens or occasionally damage stuff. The Sensor Clusters and Frame give them something to do with extra Focus tokens, putting up a wall of greens that makes the SFs pretty tough. If Rhymer can catch some stuff in arc at Range 2, it shouldn't be able to escape, and the SFs operating up close can put a serious hurt on stuff.

Option 2: Optimistically using Rhymer as a long range Carnor Jax.

There was a solid B list thrown around when the FO was first spoiled where 3 Juke/Comm Relay Omega Squadron Pilots backed up Carnor Jax, who made the most of their Juke by freezing Focus tokens. You can so the same thing with Rhymer, but you get a point, so you can upgrade one Juke to Swarm Leader for a modestly hard-hitting 23 point ship.

Option 3: Regular old Imperial Aces

33 points for Rhymer leaves enough points for one of the Empire's solid pocket aces alongside a full size ace. I'm not sure if there are any aces that really get extra work out of both extra Focus tokens and a stressed out targets in any extra special way.

So I'm very interested to hear anyone's thoughts on this idea. I keep not having enough time to try it out, but I'm looking forward to it.

Rexlar's not likely to say no to extra Focus tokens... and targets with unmodified green dice are more likely to take damage from his shot.

Like hitting them with an ion shot that always stresses. Cool, only thing is expensive and still since it has high PS you can't exactly keep them in arc when you move without getting blocked.

Now tactician is a good choice but what to pair it with. Mara Jade might be as close to an Imperial Stress hog as you can get but lacking the gun capability. Hot Shot Co-pilot might also be a thing. Modification is a little more trickier as there isn't much to pair with snap shot.

I've toyed around with Rhymer a few times, and this is the list I've used him in:

Rexler Brath - TIE Defender (37)

Expertise: 4

TIE/x7: -2

Total: 39

Major Rhymer - TIE Bomber (26)

Snap Shot: 2

TIE Shuttle: 0

Tactician: 2

Lightweight Frame: 2

Total: 32

Omega Leader - TIE/fo Fighter (21)

Juke: 2

Comm Relay: 3

Stealth Device: 3

Total: 29

I like the idea of running him with the TIE/sf Fighters.

I've tried the whole Snap Shot Omega Specialist thing with Kylo Ren pilot sporting Operations Specialist. In one game it was nice, but not stellar -- it seemed like I missed all the shots that didn't matter (enemy facing away so I only needed one focus token for offense) and hit all the ones where I wanted to miss with Snap Shot (when the enemy came charging straight into me, so I preferred to have a focus for offense, and one for defense). The other game was against Dash/Miranda, and Snap Shot never activated, so there's that.

But Rhymer is a bit less expensive, allowing for both Lightweight Frame and Sensor Cluster, so I'm liking the look of that.

Not sure snap shot is worth it.

This however, is my secreeeet weapon. I use this to wallop scrub who think they're good. =) It has the most impact cuz its Major Rhymer, who belches death.

The chassis is below, basically support + Rhymer + ace to distract. I picked QD cuz she also belches death, and that alpha is hard to ignore. Its an easy movement thing to. Have QD slightly in front and diagonal to Rhymer, to set up a serious 1-2 punch.

"Quickdraw" (29)
Rage (1)
Electronic Baffle (1)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Special Ops Training (0)

Major Rhymer (26)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Advanced Proton Torpedoes (6)
Extra Munitions (2)
Long-Range Scanners (0)

Omicron Group Pilot (21)
Emperor Palpatine (8)

Total: 97

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Another option is to take the UPSILON for COORDINATE! =)

"Quickdraw" (29)
Rage (1)
Electronic Baffle (1)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Special Ops Training (0)

Major Rhymer (26)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Advanced Proton Torpedoes (6)
Extra Munitions (2)
Long-Range Scanners (0)

Starkiller Base Pilot (30)
Collision Detector (0)
Kylo Ren's Shuttle (2)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Here, coordinate is meant to give Rhymer a strong chance to get TL and F, and the shuttle itself can act as a tank distraction. This is usually played as a from-corner flank. Deploying Rhymer and QD slightly more towards center.

If you pull off QD R1, Rhymer R2 and Upsilon at R1, you're throwing: QD 8dice TL(F), Rhymer 5dice TLF, Upsilon 5dice (maybe no F).

13dice TL F + 5 more possibly F. 18!!!!!! Modified dice in an alpha stroke, at PS9.

Cowboy Rhymer

Major Rhymer (26)
Snap Shot (2)
Tactician (2)
Operations Specialist (3)
Lightweight Frame (2)
TIE Shuttle (0)

Omicron Group Pilot (21)
Fire-Control System (2)
Gunner (5)
Engine Upgrade (4)

Omicron Group Pilot (21)
Fire-Control System (2)
Gunner (5)
Engine Upgrade (4)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

If you're generating extra focus tokens, you may be able to take a VI Inquisitor. He will be cheap and already has decent action economy with the TIE v1 title. That leaves you almost 40 points for another ace!

While I have not used it in an empire build. I have used Nien Nunb with Snap Shot and R3A2

1 hour ago, librarian101 said:

While I have not used it in an empire build. I have used Nien Nunb with Snap Shot and R3A2

and...?

Great to see you pick up that guy! I would either go with OL and a big Defender or two average Defenders for company. Great lategame ships capitalize on priority targets like this.

8 hours ago, DR4CO said:

Rexlar's not likely to say no to extra Focus tokens... and targets with unmodified green dice are more likely to take damage from his shot.

Yeah, Rex is my go-to guy, so I was trying to explore other options before coming around back to him.

5 hours ago, Gersun said:

If you're generating extra focus tokens, you may be able to take a VI Inquisitor. He will be cheap and already has decent action economy with the TIE v1 title. That leaves you almost 40 points for another ace!

That's an interesting idea. The range of OpSpec leaves some room for the Inquisitor to move, still.

1 hour ago, Admiral Deathrain said:

Great to see you pick up that guy! I would either go with OL and a big Defender or two average Defenders for company. Great lategame ships capitalize on priority targets like this.

With a 33 point Rhymer and a 26 point OL, I'd have 41 points to play with. That could be a solid 40 point x7 Rexler Brath, but it might be a lot more fun to go with a 41 point Predator/Ion Cannon/TIE/D Maarek Stele. If he's getting extra Focus tokens, he'll be a little tougher than the standard D. That max offense route might make it worth dropping from OL to Pure Sabacc with Adaptability and Lightweight Frame for 24 points. That gives you some PS flexibility and takes some heat off Maarek.

i ran this to a local tourny in Lincoln NE on the 18th. I had issues with a solid fatness list (ghost/falcon/zebTIE) because my green dice COMPLETELY blanked out (we both tracked it, i did not evade a single thing next to evade tokens) but i scared the piss out of a LOT of people.

Imperial Snappy Specialists

Rhymer 26 (36)
Snapshot (2)
Hull Upgrade (3)
Shuttle (0)
OpSpec (3)
Tactician (2)

Black Squad Pilot x4 14 (16)
Snapshot (2)

Total: 100

In four games i faced Fenn twice and utterly shut the fink down. He had absolutely no approach i couldnt prepare for with the anti-action stress unless he boosted into range2 from range3, which is generally really dumb with Fenn as he HATES range2.
Shredded a UPS in another game in 2 rounds of firing
Generated focus like a mofo, basically passing a focus token around between my TIEs as an attack missed was hilarious.

It was insanely fun. There was a Dengar/Fenn player there that i never faced that actually wanted to face it to see how badly the matchup was lol. Dengar is a bit of an issue but thats where numbers come in. A minimalist Dengar in one game was giving me issues until i decided to just do the bumpcity strat against him and abuse my barrelroll. Retaliations against snapshots are not that effective lol

Hull Upgrade was because i felt that was the best use of 3 points and it actually saved his butt several times. That range2 action denial is insane on its own, stacking focus generation on top is ridiculous.

Yeah that won't be a million miles different to my A-Wings squad, which have similar shenanigans. I just think the A-Wings are a bit better at it, with better dials and Boost making a big difference in where you put those arcs.

I tend to bring the three biggest debris tokens and then just fly over them like they're not there - I've got awesome greens and I'm getting a focus anyway. I just need to get the Snap Shot arc into the perfect place and if that means I sit on debris then I sit on debris.

Oh yeah i agree. I was running a pair of Greenwings with PTL/VT/Snap/Char/Title long before that Rhymer list. Those 2 Awings got more snapshots off than the 4 TIEs combined most of the time, and their double action boost/barrelroll let them get in position way easy.

The Imperial list was mostly my attempt at literally maxing out on Snapshots. I couldnt get more than 4 snapshots in a Rebel list unless i went barebone snapshots, Rhymer gave me a 5th and a 5th with a bite at that. Fenn would be an absolute nightmare without that range2 shutdown strat.

Yeah, I'm happy with the barebones. 3 A-Wings, 2 TIE Fighters, 5 Snap Shots, 3 Crack Shots, 1 Operations Specialist and a whole load of fancy flying!

9 hours ago, Gersun said:

If you're generating extra focus tokens, you may be able to take a VI Inquisitor. He will be cheap and already has decent action economy with the TIE v1 title. That leaves you almost 40 points for another ace!

You might also try a Juke'ing Inquisitor for a point more, since you're depriving the opponent of focus tokens. The only problem will be Parattani, as they will probably still have focus even after Rhymer shenanigans.

I have been looking at Tactical Rhymer for a little while as a counter to Paratanni. There are not many other ways to give stress to an opponent for the Empire (other than flechette cannon TieD and nobody uses that!)

I need to try him out with ops specialist, thanks for the post!

I'm definitely going to try a few test runs agaisnt Parattanni. I'm pretty curious to see if the activation phase stress (on top of the much more common combat phase stress) can throw a wrench in the gears enough to be interesting.

i probably would have faced the paratanni build in the final round if my 3rd game didnt belly up on defense dice. I shredded the ghost almost as fast as the UPS in the first round, but every single time it or the falcon shot a TIE died so kinda hard to kill high hp ships when you cant evade anything.

It was on table1, i was on table2 for the 3rd round.

it would have been amusing having Rhymer around Manaroo. She moves, is at range2, snap stress for EVERYBODY no actions. Hope nobody was doing a red move that turn!

5 minutes ago, Vineheart01 said:

i probably would have faced the paratanni build in the final round if my 3rd game didnt belly up on defense dice. I shredded the ghost almost as fast as the UPS in the first round, but every single time it or the falcon shot a TIE died so kinda hard to kill high hp ships when you cant evade anything.

It was on table1, i was on table2 for the 3rd round.

it would have been amusing having Rhymer around Manaroo. She moves, is at range2, snap stress for EVERYBODY no actions. Hope nobody was doing a red move that turn!

Tactical Rhymer is less useful against pilots who more before him- it's petty easy to choose a maneuver that doesnt trigger him

34 minutes ago, Biophysical said:

I'm definitely going to try a few test runs agaisnt Parattanni. I'm pretty curious to see if the activation phase stress (on top of the much more common combat phase stress) can throw a wrench in the gears enough to be interesting.

Based on my games with Snap, R3-A2, Nein Numb catching someone with it and double stressing them is brutally effective against everything... except Paratanni, it just doesn't care. Manaroo is off putting around on the other side of the board and Fenn/Asajj still have all the focus they need to burn down your stress dealer while not taking too much damage in return.

11 hours ago, wurms said:

and...?

Poe 9 with PTL, R2D2, Primed thrusters, Black 1, and either Vectored thrusters or autothrusters

Ahsoka with VI, Rey, Sabines Masterpiece, captured Tie, black Market, have subbed recon specialist, but had to take off Blacked Market

12 hours ago, wurms said:

and...?

And it's really freakin' solid. Any ace that lands in Range 1 is just dead. (Well...any ace outside of Defenders or Mindlink. So basically Corran. Who's half dread anyway thanks to Kylo).

>:(

if you're going the stress control route, I think Snap Shot Nien is a must-have. Being able to double stress someone while still retaining a good degree of mobility and offensive output is hugely important; he does what the stress hog just can't do (like K-turning).

That said...stress don't do much anymore.