Hello friendly forum,

once again I'm asking for your help regarding a tournament, this will be my second. I just got told that I'll be filling in tomorrow at our X-Wing tournament, and with the little time I have left (still need to get some Zzzzs) I had the choice of either more or less randomly throwing together a list that'll likely be subpar and possibly unfun, or ask for your insights and help once again.

Last time you helped me secure a 4th place in my first tournament, tabling two opponents on the way with Palapaces (Ryad and Whisper). This time I'll have to play my own ships though, and I've only played once since the tourney.

At my disposal I have:

Empire: Omega Leader blister (TIE FO?), Phantom, Ryad box, TIE Striker

Scum: Fenn Rau blister, Jumpmaster, Shadowcaster, Mist Hunter, Star Viper

With that I'm leaning either towards Ryad + Whisper + Omega Leader or the Striker, or Fenn Rau + Shadowcaster.

Ryad, Whisper and the Shadowcaster I've flown before, and all were a lot of fun.

What do you think - can you help me please? There are no restrictions on upgrades this time.

PS: The tournament is in 9 hrs :/

If it were me with what you have available I think I would try this.

BlackCadian (98)

"Omega Leader" (26) - TIE/FO Fighter
Juke (2), Comm Relay (3)

Tomax Bren (33) - TIE Bomber
Crack Shot (1), Proximity Mines (3), Plasma Torpedoes (3), Lightweight Frame (2)

"Whisper" (39) - TIE Phantom
Veteran Instincts (1), Fire Control System (2), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

OL is great 1v1 and Tomax hopefully gets some good damage out of the ordinance and whisper is hopefully your ace killer. Personally I don't like Ryad without PTL, but a PS6 defender or low end defender maybe good instead of Tomax

Jswindy is on point here. Play with the imperial list, it's something you are familiar with. And with what you have st your disposal, I would say the list above is pretty solid. The defender at 33 points is better than Tomax if you are better at flying the defender. Best of luck.

4 hours ago, JSwindy said:

If it were me with what you have available I think I would try this.

BlackCadian (98)

"Omega Leader" (26) - TIE/FO Fighter
Juke (2), Comm Relay (3)

Tomax Bren (33) - TIE Bomber
Crack Shot (1), Proximity Mines (3), Plasma Torpedoes (3), Lightweight Frame (2)

"Whisper" (39) - TIE Phantom
Veteran Instincts (1), Fire Control System (2), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

OL is great 1v1 and Tomax hopefully gets some good damage out of the ordinance and whisper is hopefully your ace killer. Personally I don't like Ryad without PTL, but a PS6 defender or low end defender maybe good instead of Tomax

Thank you so much! I think the Phantom and OL I can handle - is there anything I should know about ordnance / the bomber? I've never flown it before. It'll probably be a obvious first target, so hang back with it?

17 minutes ago, Fozzyman said:

Jswindy is on point here. Play with the imperial list, it's something you are familiar with. And with what you have st your disposal, I would say the list above is pretty solid. The defender at 33 points is better than Tomax if you are better at flying the defender. Best of luck.

Thank you!! I'll let you know how it goes! What would you stick on the defender? X7 and ? I've never played with ordnance before but really like the idea of it - is there anything I need to pay attention to?

PS: what about extra munitions on Bren? Or is it better to have a bid for initiative? And then I should always take the initiative, or not?

PPS: Can proximity mines get triggered by my own ships?

If they have a ps9, you want initiative. If they have PS8 and no 9, give them initiative. All other PS don't matter except rock placement.

Your ships can trigger mines. But generally you try to drop mines right on the enemy so it detonated right away to avoid your friendlies hitting it.

My reasoning to use Tomax was PS and his crack shot ability. I doubt he survives long enough to get more than the 2 ordinance off, but yes if you have an EM its a good add, but I doo like a bid for whisper!!!! The Defender instead would probably be easier to fly, but Tomax muddies the water for target priority for your opponent and gives you a solid first engagement blast, LRS might help to give the plasmas more teeth with a mod but LWF is great to help him absorb more shots and if you fit EM on there he will draw a lot more heat letting Whisper and OL survive longer. Looking at the points may be a good idea to use EM and LRS to keep the original bid, but that will likely make him a first target and will give up some serious MOV if he doestn get at least 2 ordinance hits before he goes down. All this adds up to the defender being a safer play, but how much fun is it to pop a torp with crackshot and then fly in and pop a bomb

Alright, I realize that this is a little late, but I still wanted to share my experience in using this list - or rather playing AGAINST it!

Because in the end I didn't get to play after all - we had 3 late entries to the tournament. But I did get to play some X-Wing, although against 2 players from our club that didn't have their own ships with them and only were familiar with Empire, so I had to fly my Scum (and build a list on the fly).

Game 1 I played Fenn Rau (fearlessness, title), not Ventress but the other pilot (gyro, title, cargo chute) and Manaroo (stock, pre-FAQ). I won, but only because my opponent had no idea how to use the synergy of the Empire list. My own list was pretty crappy, and I struggle to get Fenn Rau into range one let alone get the firing arcs aligned.

Game 2 I modified my list a little, dropping fearlessness for something else, might have been calculation. This time my opponent was a pretty decent Rebel player with a weakness for K-Wings. Which really hurt as he actually knew how to use the mine and blew up Fenn Rau easily. It went downhill fast after that and I lost pretty handily. He also knew how to use Whisper so... yeah.

In the end I've realized that Scum is just not the faction for me. I struggle to build lists, I dislike the idea of mindlink (and not only that I'd have to buy TWO Shadowcasters for it), and I like flying hard hitting agile aces. I like the dirty tricks Scum has but I find them really difficult to pull off. Maybe I need more practice but my patience is wearing thin, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as I do enjoy flying Whisper, Ryad and so on.

Either way, thanks again for the help on short notice, this board is ace!

Do No t get too frustrated yet!!! You haven't been playing long enough to get frustrated enough to stop playing an entire faction! Either way, glad to here you got some games in and learned what potential you have with your collection. Right now, Scum has some really wicked combinations, even without Attani. The JumpMaster is probably one of the best ships for the points in the game. If you like the feel of aces (arc dogers) and or defenders and you are going to commit to Imps for the time being, here are my suggestions:

1) Learn to fly Whisper and or Echo well, they are murderous.

2) Invest in the Defender blister pack, will add Vessery to your Pilots and give you the option to fly something like this:

"Deathfire" (28) - TIE Bomber - Homing Missiles (5), Cluster Mines (4), Extra Munitions (2), Long-Range Scanners (0)

Colonel Vessery (36) - TIE Defender - Trick Shot (0), Tractor Beam (1), TIE/D (0)

Countess Ryad (36) - TIE Defender - Push The Limit (3), TIE/x7 (-2), Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

3) They are squishy but to practice arc dodging Invest in Imp aces and the Interceptor Blister

- Fel (still one of the strongest aces late game, IMHO)

- Aces comes with PTL, which you will find a necessity for most ace lists. Will make Fenn more playable for you.

4) I also suggest, if you don't have, to get a core set, either is OK. This adds inexpensive Ties that you can throw in as blockers. This technique is huge. Running Aces with lil cannon fodder blockers out front can really make things easier for your damage dealers.

GOOD LUCK and Fly Casual!!! Learn to enjoy the beatdowns when they come and learn something from them everytime!