So, after months and months of frustration trying to predict the meta and come up with new "power lists", I've become somewhat burnt out with all the META-ACE-WING (still working on my Joe Boss impression). This has led me to creating fun thematic lists and flying the same iconic pilots that I got into the game for, as it is getting quite boring flying great pilots I know nothing about (Fenn, Teroch, Ryad, Vessery ect.). It is also becoming more and more depressing to see neither of these guys on the tables nowadays, so I thought I'd dust them off to see if any new upgrades could help them out a bit. Here is what I came up with:

Han (original): Expertise, HotCop, Gunner, Engine (63)

Luke: Lone Wolf, R2-D2, Vectored Thrusters (36)

Total: 99

I actually like this Han quite a bit, as he can boost out of arcs while still getting rerolls and Expertise for mods, pretty much ensuring he always gets at least 2 hits. If he misses, he strips tokens and shoots again. I've flown this Luke build quite a bit back in the day as well (engine instead of VT) and it was actually quite solid in the days before ******* Poe had to come along and put a bullet in his head. He always has LW and his ability for defense, which is nice because he will be using that roll a ton when he is running to regen. All he really loses vs Poe is thrusters and slightly less manuverability, but Luke's ability doesnt get shut down by token stealers or stress and he is cheaper, so there is that I guess. This will never be anywhere near competitive, but what would you guys do to make it better while still keeping it thematic? Thanks!

Honestly, I think you're wrong about it not being competitive.

Drop VT for IA, put the original Falcon title on Han, you've got something pretty solid.

The trick will be getting turn zero right and practicing your manoeuvring so Han can consistently rip focus tokens off two ships that could target Luke, whilst still being out of range 2 of him so he gets Lone Wolf. Then Luke gets surprisingly hard to kill.

And Han should be fairly reliably able to miss his first shot with a TL, his ability, and expertise being optional.

2 minutes ago, thespaceinvader said:

Honestly, I think you're wrong about it not being competitive.

Drop VT for IA, put the original Falcon title on Han, you've got something pretty solid.

VT on Luke is actually quite solid in this build to make sure LW is always on and to make Luke faster/more elusive when he is using R2. Otherwise he is quite slow and predictable. The title on the Falcon is something I have been considering though. I'm just not sure if I'd rather have that or the bid.

Yeah swapping out VT isn't guaranteed better, it's a really good mod.

And on second thought, I probably wouldn't bring the title. You want to be getting TLs much if not all of the time so you can get that crucial first miss and strip tokens.

9 minutes ago, thespaceinvader said:

Yeah swapping out VT isn't guaranteed better, it's a really good mod.

And on second thought, I probably wouldn't bring the title. You want to be getting TLs much if not all of the time so you can get that crucial first miss and strip tokens.

The only time I've tested this build was against standard crack + stim bots and while I still narrowly lost with Han vs IGC on 3-4 health, being able to have Luke dodge them both with barrel rolls kept him alive far longer than I could have wished for. The only problem is Luke hits like a wet noodle if he doesn't focus.

That's always been the trouble with Luke. He would be so much better if his ability was attack as well.

The only issue with expertise is the way stress is making a comeback. I've looked at a HSCP build for Han and prefer predator just to he can reroll one dice if he only gets one hit on the first attack to really make sure he misses and take a focus action so gets predator and focus on the second attack.

And Luke is still pretty solid, have plenty of time for him but just prefer Jake as a Han wingman.

We played through the original Core set missions recently, including 100-point lists for each scenario. Here was my idea for the one where Luke's disabled in the asteroid field:

Han Solo (OG) (46)
+ Chewbacca (4)
+ Engine Upgrade (4)
+ Expertise (4)
+ C-3PO (3)
+ Millennium Falcon (OG) (1)

Luke Skywalker (28)
+ R2-D2 (4)
+ Lone Wolf (2)
+ Seismic Torpedo (2)
+ Vectored Thrusters (2)

I actually played with New Han because I hadn't flown him yet. It was silly, but would've been better with OG Han since he's already got Engine Upgrade. Seismic was there to bust Luke out of the asteroid ring. We played a regular 100-point game with it and I won with Han on 1 or 2 Hull plus CHewbacca (stupidly forgot I had him when I took 2 crits). Anyway, I doubt it'd beat the top meta lists, but it certainly is good! And thematic! And fun!

Minor thread necromancy. I made this list yesterday, but I don't like starting new threads if there's already a good one on the same subject.

Luke(n) for a Han(d) (99)

Luke Skywalker (38) - X-Wing
Lone Wolf (2), R2-D2 (4), Flechette Torpedoes (2), Vectored Thrusters (2)

Han Solo (61) - YT-1300
Veteran Instincts (1), Hotshot Co-pilot (4), Gunner (5), Millennium Falcon (1), Engine Upgrade (4)

I picked VI for Han because of the sudden resurgence of the PS race in my local group. Mindlink and Expertise are also prevalent, so I'm a big fan of Flechette Torp on Luke.

Update: I flew my Luke/Han list (posted above, minus Flechette Torpedoes) to 2nd place in a local tournament. My loss was to Corran/Miranda, despite doing enough damage to destroy both of them.