Hey guys! I've got a small X-Wing tournament at the end of October and I was wondering what you guys think of this list. I'd appreciate constructive criticism...why things wouldn't work or perhaps some alterations you'd do.

• Quickdraw - TIE/sf [36]
  Intensity, FCS, LWF, Special Ops Training, Primed Thrusters
  
  The dancer of the squad...her manoeuvres and the double arc are great. She can Barrel Roll (even while stressed) to get in better position and get either a Focus or Evade (depending on the situation) from Intensity. Her shots give her Target Locks so I find her super action efficient.
  
• Cutlass Squadron Pilot - TIE Punisher [29]
  Extra Munitions, 2x Proximity Mines, Minefield Mapper
  
  I know there's a huge discussion if Extra Munitions and Minefield Mapper work in tandem...let's not let this thread boil down to that. I'm hoping to use this guy to herd enemies where I want them to. While I have 99pts for an Initiative Bid, I'm considering trading one Proximity Mine for a Cluster Mine.
  
• Lieutenant Kestral - TIE Aggressor [34]
  Deadeye, Homing Missile, Synced Turret, LWF
  
  Deadeye means that the Homing Missile and Synced Turret both work with Focus rather than Target Locks. This way, if I have the Focus token I can fire the Homing Missiles AND use Kestral's ability. Ideally, I'd have a Target Lock too...just in case my dice cack up on me with the Homing Missile. I did consider giving her Guidance Chips instead of LWF (and give the Punisher Unguided Rockets), but I opted to make her a tiny bit more survivable. Then again...I AM spending 5pts on the Missile...perhaps I SHOULD take the Chips...

What do you guys think?

3 hours ago, Glyph said:

Hey guys! I've got a small X-Wing tournament at the end of October and I was wondering what you guys think of this list. I'd appreciate constructive criticism...why things wouldn't work or perhaps some alterations you'd do.

• Quickdraw - TIE/sf [36]
  Intensity, FCS, LWF, Special Ops Training, Primed Thrusters
  
  The dancer of the squad...her manoeuvres and the double arc are great. She can Barrel Roll (even while stressed) to get in better position and get either a Focus or Evade (depending on the situation) from Intensity. Her shots give her Target Locks so I find her super action efficient.
  
• Cutlass Squadron Pilot - TIE Punisher [29]
  Extra Munitions, 2x Proximity Mines, Minefield Mapper
  
  I know there's a huge discussion if Extra Munitions and Minefield Mapper work in tandem...let's not let this thread boil down to that. I'm hoping to use this guy to herd enemies where I want them to. While I have 99pts for an Initiative Bid, I'm considering trading one Proximity Mine for a Cluster Mine.
  
• Lieutenant Kestral - TIE Aggressor [34]
  Deadeye, Homing Missile, Synced Turret, LWF
  
  Deadeye means that the Homing Missile and Synced Turret both work with Focus rather than Target Locks. This way, if I have the Focus token I can fire the Homing Missiles AND use Kestral's ability. Ideally, I'd have a Target Lock too...just in case my dice cack up on me with the Homing Missile. I did consider giving her Guidance Chips instead of LWF (and give the Punisher Unguided Rockets), but I opted to make her a tiny bit more survivable. Then again...I AM spending 5pts on the Missile...perhaps I SHOULD take the Chips...

What do you guys think?

What about Cruise Missiles on Kestral to equip Unguided Rockets on Punisher?

Deadeye Kestal is absolutely the way to go, and Homing missile in my experience with her (maybe a dozen games or so) is the best way for her to push through damage on a tough target. You are spot on with thinking that you'd want to have the target lock before you fire it unless you fit in a way to get double tokens on her. Intensity on QD I'm very on the fence about, but that comes down to my personal playstyle. I'm typically flying aggressively and am spending a focus token most rounds, so I'd likely only see one extra barrel roll in the first 3 or 4 rounds of shooting. If you are flying a more fly-by style, break contact and re-engage, I think it's a fantastic EPT for any TIE/sf. So far, so good.

The punisher I'm a little suspect of. I like the tactical application of dropping mines early to force your enemy to come at you in a certain direction, or block their primary attack lanes. But otherwise it's a slow, chunky flyer that doesn't bring a lot of extra power to the table and it's not hard to outfly them on just about any ace. I think your best set up with a squad like this is to make some kind of pocket near the middle of the map that your punisher and aggressor can sit in and take long range shots with a combination of asteroids and mines to dissuade other ships from coming too close. Unfortunately, synced turret doesn't reach to R3 and primary attacks from a punisher at R3 are unlikely to push damage through, so your current set up doesn't really support that playstyle.

Before making any suggestions for changes to your build, can you tell us how you expect to fly and what role particularly you want the punisher and aggressor playing? It'll be easier to tailor this build to suit you knowing your style and maybe what you expect to fly against.

8 hours ago, Jimbawa said:

Can you tell us how you expect to fly and what role particularly you want the punisher and aggressor playing? It'll be easier to tailor this build to suit you knowing your style and maybe what you expect to fly against.

The Punisher is a 29pt tax to get a minefield out and try and herd the enemy. But, at the end of the day it still has 6HP and 3Sh...so it'll be tough to get rid of. Sure it won't be doing a ton of damage, but it'll be sitting in the back plinking away.

The SF is a dancer. I always play it in alternating turns as an arc-dodger and a disengage-reengager. I move in to joust, get a shot it, get my TL, get shot at in return and lose a shield or two, shoot again with a TL...then next turn I Sloop and Barrel Roll to possibly get in arc for a second shot. The following turn I disengage to realign for another joust.

Kestral will be on mop up duty an engage on the turns Quickdraw disengages to keep the pressure on. She'll get a Target Lock during this period to be able to come back next turn and do a big whammy with her Homing Missile and pilot skill. I see her focusing on ships that play a lot with Evade tokens (like TIE Defenders).

Regarding my style...well I like to be a cunning player. I play lists that are more skill-intensive than those that play themselves. I was one of the few people that loathed playing Palp-Defenders. I'm a bit of a gambler in that if I have an option between playing safe but getting a guaranteed kill but the opponent would heavily damage me or arc-dodging with only a 50% chance of getting a kill but be out of arc myself...well I take the latter. I enjoy improving my skills, trying new things, and showing off haha

My local meta is tiny (I live in a tiny country) with a maximum of 10 players taking part in every tournament, with 3 or 4 that play if they're available or need to meet a certain threshold of participants. I can say that the community is divided exactly in half with Imperials and Rebels with ONE Scum player. Of those players, the Scum takes the current top scum list and puts his own spin on it (reducing it's punch), all the rebel players just play whatever's on the top tables in major tournaments with a few trying new things every now and again. Most of the Imperials play Defenders still because they lack imagination whereas myself and 2 others are always trying to find the next big Imperial list (needless to say...we're failing).

I apologise for the long post, but I wanted to give everyone a clear a picture as possible.

I think I'd call that a defensive and reactive style of flying, which is good for arc dodgers, but not great for flying meatballs. It might be contrary to your norm, but using your punisher as an aggressive blocker and trying to block off attack lanes and set up shots for your other ships could go a long way in keeping him not only useful, but relatively safe. I'd also highly recommend adding on long range scanners. Keeps your actions during the early turns relevant, and doesn't really hurt you as much when you're planning to bump as often as possible. Most people don't want to fly a target locked ship right at the guy who has the lock, but if you can block other paths with asteroids, mines or positioning QD to take advantage of any poor placements, you can try to mind game them into feeling like they only have bad options. If you can get 3 or 4 blocks or the same amount of damage (not including mines) out of the punisher before losing him, he's done his job.

Kestal on clean up is definitely cementing her using deadeye and synced turret; you'll just have to make sure you keep her facing the right direction as much as possible to get those free rerolls. Focusing on evasive ships is also a foregone conclusion, I would only warn against over pursuing. Get your shots in as they pass, target lock if you can, then let them turn and come back. Theoretically, if they just ran from QD and passed Kestal, Kestal is probably the first one they'll re-engage on. If she's caught out and your other ships aren't around to help, she goes down to focused fire pretty quick. Use that punisher to draw some shots and block those quick re-engage paths and prolong Kestal's life.

As for your match-ups with your locals, you shouldn't have too much trouble with defenders, as they'll mostly be trying to do straight jousts and 4k's to re-engage. Disrupt one with the punisher or mines, focus another between QD and Kestal and you'll take them out in short order while only being under fire by hopefully 1 defender at a time after the initial pass. A lot of rebel lists have some good dancers or token stackers, and I think that is where you'll expect to have most of your troubles. That's where you'll want to probably split your fleet. Your ace against theirs, and the rest of theirs vs the rest of yours. In something like flying against Rey and Poe, you'd want to focus Poe with QD and try to dance him away from the rest of your fleet, and using your punisher and Kestal to block as many moves and actions as possible from the falcon. You're outgunned here in a straight up fight, but get in a few blocks to deny them dice mods and you should have a good chance at racing them. It really becomes a game of chicken for the Aces. The first one to break off and rejoin the other ships gets shot in the back, and usually dies in the process. You've got the edge there with your rear arc, but you're also more likely to need it.