Targeting Beacons. One of the least picked objectives. Since its release, a whooping 10 of 256 fleets ran Targeting Beacons, and of those 10 people, 1 player made Top 4. Pretty bleak for the best red objective. Here is what the card does:
Setup: After placing obstacles, the players alternate placing a total of 4 objective tokens in the setup area, starting with the second player.
Special Rule: While one of the second player's ships is attacking a ship that is at distance 1-2 of an objective token, the attacker may reroll up to 2 attack dice in the attack pool.
So what makes Targeting Beacons so great? Well, to start, you get free rerolls on all of your ships when attacking a target at range 1-2 of the beacon. It also stacks! More free rerolls. Best of all, it is the only red objective that does not give your opponent any points.
So what’s the downside? Your opponent gets to place 2 of the 4 tokens, which means you really only get 2 tokens to work with. Granting no points also hurts you since all the points you earn must be from the enemy fleet in order to win.
How to Use Targeting Beacons
Targeting Beacons is an objective that needs a lot of love and care to make it work. It’s not like Advanced Gunnery where you beat your opponent with your ISD or MC80, and it’s not as effective as Most Wanted where you get free points and dice. You need to build your list around it, instead of dropping it in.
If you plan on using Targeting Beacons, I suggest bringing Strategic along. This will allow you to move your tokens as you move your fleet, as well as “painting your target” by dropping the token next to an enemy ship. Then you open fire and burn your opponent's fleet down. In case you are curious, Strategic allows your tokens to reach beyond range 5. Since Strategic moves tokens AT range 1, it means you need just a sliver of the token at range 1. Moving a token directly across the squad is a bit longer than range 3. And since the token works at range 1-2, you can reach farther than your opponent will expect. Here is an example:
From here on out, I’m going to assume you will be using Strategic in conjunction with this objective. Otherwise, you would be better off using Most Wanted.
Deployment and Placing the Tokens
Tokens are placed after obstacles are placed, but before deployment. You can assume your opponent will place them in a corner where you will get no benefit. So that give you 2 tokens to play with. You should place them on your side of the map so you can control them. If your opponent were to bring Strategic, they could move the tokens to your detriment.
With the tokens on the board, you can manipulate them with your Strategic squads. FCT is great as well, allowing you to move 2 tokens, or 1 token twice. This allows you to threaten your opponent, or crush them if they rush in blindly.
Fleet Builds
Since Targeting Beacons came out with Wave 5, I immediately paired them together. Sato changes 2 dice and the beacons reroll 2 dice. Coincidence?
I ran a Sato fleet with 2 naked CR90s and 2 AF with OE and Paragon. It’s a goofy looking list, but being able to concentrate fire blacks and throw 3 at long range with rerolls is very fun. And honestly, I think that is the best way to use Targeting Beacons. Crazy, mad scientist lists.
Sato: Great choice to take with Targeting Beacons because you can roll the dice you change like I already mentioned. Sato also needs squads to be at range 1, so moving your Strategic squads works in your benefit. You should protect your VCXs with other squads, which allows you to use Relay if you desire. The list literally builds itself.
Ackbar: I have not tried this, but I think if you are bored of using Advanced Gunnery, Targeting Beacons would be a good substitute. Ackbar adds 2 dice, beacons reroll 2 dice. See a trend yet? And as I showed in the picture above, you can run the VCX close to your ships but still reach beyond long range to paint your target.
Dodonna: I really enjoy running Dodonna bombers since dealing multiple face ups crits once Norra breaks the shields. He can also work well with Targeting Beacons by allowing you to roll into a crit. You can take a VCX and relay through it with your BCC. Even better, taking Beacons over Precisions Strike denies your opponent any chance to score VPs.
Sloane: I think there is a way to make Targeting Beacons to work with Sloane. 1 Lambda is able to Relay a Gozanti so Tie/F can strip tokens from a ship. This would improve Vics and their red dice because any damage they roll would be more likely to be pushed onto the hull.
Konstantine: After the Quasar Fire drops, I think Konstantine will work well with Targeting Beacons. He needs another medium ship, and his ability to slow down ships would allow you to get more value from the beacon. With a QF in the list, it let’s you take a large alpha strike force which would be able to protect your Lambda.
Conclusion
Targeting Beacons is an off-meta objective and your list should be built around Strategic for the best results. Taking Fire Lanes and Intel Sweep might be enough to sway your opponent picking Targeting Beacons. Not to mention the massive benefit in playing your opponent’s objectives if they involve tokens.
Try it out. Branch outside your comfort zone and make a list that needs 4 or 5 pieces to combo together to work. Something like an MC80 with Overload Pulse and Sato changing 2 reds to blues and Targeting Beacons to reroll AND RLB carrying Norra+B-Wings to punch the ship that now has exhausted defense tokens. (I played against something similar to this build and it almost killed an ISD I during the alpha strike).
Targeting Beacons is a “fun” objective. It’s the the one that will force your opponent to pick your yellow or blue, but rather let you guys have a blast when you play.
