Vassal game tonight. I brought my squad that I mentioned above, this one:

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v4!s!53:71,-1,-1,183:-1:4:;68:22,-1:34:17:;68:22,-1:34:17:&sn=New Squadron&obs=

He brought a cheeky 2 Rho boats with Harpoons and Dormitz squad that is set up for a round 1 double harpoon shot.

Fortunately for me, I brought Kagi. That foiled his plan a little bit. He did manage to get 1 harpoon off against a delta first round, but I evaded it because he coordinated focus to the wrong one. My ions missed that round, but I was able to lock him down over the next 2 rounds. He did get 1 harpoon off that hit for 1 on my defender next round, but I had Rho 1 ioned and stressed, and kept him that way for the next 2 rounds. I got Dormitz down to 2 hull left with 1 ion token, and I had his other Rho pointed right at the board edge and ioned, so he conceded. I did like Kagi, for sure. I didn't use the APL because he flew away from me, but I was able to get Systems officer to proc for a little added oomph onto the defender's attacks. I doubt that engine would have been as good this game, since it would have meant that Kagi just got in the way. As it was, Kagi stayed back lobbing shots and disrupting the TL games, so he was effective.

I liked it for my first run with this squad.

Three games last night versus 3 very different squads. I ran:
Captain Kagi with Enhanced Scopes, Tractor Beam, Tactician, Countermeasures
X2 Delta with Ion Cannon and TIE D title

The first game was against Paul Olsen running a PS10 Nym and Boba squad. The ions did theier job. Nym got 1 trajectoery bomb off, but didn't drop a bomb the rest of the game. I had a bad line with one of my Deltas, and managed to fly it off of the board. He killed the other one, but not before Nym was dead and Boba was down to 1 hull left. Kagi finished of Boba for the win.

Next game was against Kyle running a Palp/QD/PS7 Silencer (the rock dude). I went fast early, and he managed to dodge Kagi's arc. This was a big mistake by me because Kagi never did get a single shot off all game long. Bad shuttle flying on my part. First combat round, though, i had his silencer pointing straight at a rock and I rolled 2 blanks on my ion shot with focus. If I would have hit that shot, it might have turned the game around for me. As it was, my 2 Deltas did all of the damage, killing the Silencer and the palp shuttle, but I couldn't finish off QD, so I lost that one.

Then third game was against Dave running QD and 2 Deadeye rhos. He stayed away from my shuttle. First combat round he did get 2 harpoons off on my Delta, but it only took it down the shields. I managed to ion both of his rhos. I blocked them next round, but QD did a sloop, range 1 target lock on the harpooned defender. He rolls an uncancelled crit, takes a shield, then gets the QD second shot to finish off that Delta. That was a mean little combo. I did finish off one of his rhos, but he managed to kill off the second Delta eventually with some good flying. So it was down to Kagi vs QD and Rho. Kagi did manage to kill QD, but the rho was behind the shuttle, so there was no way for me to get around and get another shot off, so we called it. I might have won on points if it was timed, but they were friendly games, so no big.

The ions really shined in the first game, and having Kagi as a TL/harpoon deterrent was big. Second game the ions didn't hit very well for me, which along with my bad shuttle flying, didn't help matters. And the third game could have gone either way. The critical turn was the QD killing the delta early. I like having Kagi out there, and I think it can be a solid list, but Kagi is no endgame ship.

So, I think I'm going to switch it up after Christmas to this:

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v4!s!269:214,-1,-1:56:16:U.109,U.-1;70:214,22,-1:34:17:;208:214,36,-1,254:42:31:&sn=Unnamed Squadron&obs=coreasteroid5

I still get an Ion cannon with Vessery, who has a better chance of hitting with it because I can get the FCS TL from QD against higher PS targets. And I have the Rho for the stress control. I haven't flown a gunboat on the table yet, so we'll see how this list plays out. Alternately I could do Adapt on all 3, but I'm intrigued about the rolling of extra dice, especially with Vess and QD.

Vassal game today. I flew my new squad:

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v4!s!269:170,-1,-1:56:16:U.109,U.-1;70:214,22,-1:34:-1:;208:27,36,-1,254:42:31:&sn=Unnamed Squadron&obs=coreasteroid5

He flew a RAClo and Silencer build. He set up in completely opposite corners, so I went fast towards his silencer. He ran away and brought RAC in. He managed to put a damaged cockpit on vessery. Lots of shooting back and forth for a few rounds while I gave up on the silencer and focused on RAC. the silencer came into the fight in round 4. He put some damage on the RSV while I double ioned RAC. Next round he finished off the RSV while Vess finished off RAC. Then it was QD and Vess vs his silencer. QD put the damage on big time, and we called it with his silencer pointing at the board edge and at 1 hull left. QD was untouched while Vess was at 2 hull left.

QD and Vess are a good combo. I chatted with Theorist afterwards, and he made an ever meaner variant that I am dying to try out next...

Vassal game today. I ran this list:

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v4!s!208:27,36,-1,204:42:31:;70:100,22,-1:34:17:;49:-1,-1,-1,-1,-1:35:17:u.61,u.95&sn=New Squadron&obs=

I still feel I need ion control, so that means Vessery gets the nod. Ruthlessness is just brutal on him, especially given that FCS Quickdraw shoots first. I figure Vess will draw the early alpha strike, so I wanted to include the Fleet Officer to help keep them both alive longer, and the Tactician on the bomber adds a little bit of control even if he doesn't hit. It's a brutal list, for sure.

He ran a Braylen and Chopper squad designed to stress me (R3A2/gunner on Braylen, and tactician/tlt on the ghost). I started early on Braylen. First round of Combat yielded some stress and target locks, but no damage. Then second round I managed to stress and ion Braylen, doing 2 damage to the Ghost from Ruthlessness. Next round I killed Braylen before he shot, put some more damage on the Ghost, but in exchange he took QD down to 1 hull left without getting shot back (my arc was on Braylen, who died, not the ghost.) A few rounds of the bomber and QD turning around while Vess and the ghost traded shots. He ejected the shuttle a little early, and it cost him some of his tlt shots. he finished off QD, then next round Vess finished off the Ghost, doing 2 Ruthless damage to the shuttle as well. The shuttle did 1 damage to Vess (1 hull left), then the bomber finished off the shuttle for the win.

Fleet Officer was huge this game, giving me focus while my aces were stressed. Ruthlessness was game changing, doing 3 of the 4 damage to the shuttle as well as 2 more on Chopper. Even without QD's ability happening, I still managed to pull this one off. MKII was huge as well, on both the bomber and Vess, because that Rebel list was passing out so much stress.The squad worked really well together. I can't wait to try this out on the table.

Edit: Oh dear. Or this version:

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v4!s!208:100,36,-1,-1:42:31:;70:100,22,-1:34:17:;49:-1,-1,-1,-1,-1:35:17:u.61,u.95&sn=Ruthless Aggression&obs=

Edit #2: played a vassal game with this version against a Dash Jan build.

I went slowly at first because I knew if I chose a line that Dash would just run away. He eventually brought Dash into the asteroids, so I turned into him. He got Vessery down to 2 hull left and I stripped Dash's shields and managed to give him a second stress with tactician. But then next round I was able to block him in with my bomber. I got a range 1 with vess on him and rolled HHCC, he pulled a DH and Dash was amazingly gone. Then it was just a matter of chasing Jan down, and the game ended 2 turns later.

He did a really good job of not triggering Ruthlessness . Its a build like this that should give me trouble, and if I hadn't blocked Dash, it would have. Dash gets away and I'm left dealing with a tanky Jan.

Three games on the table last night. I ran

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v4!s!208:100,36,-1,-1:42:31:;70:100,22,-1:34:17:;49:-1,-1,-1,-1,-1:35:17:u.61,u.95&sn=Ruthless Aggression&obs=

The first game was against Dave running a PS10 Boba Nym squad. He set up on my right side, and I set up mostly in the middle. I ran my bomber up the middle, Vess on my right side and QD flanking the left side. First combat he trajectory an ion bomb at my bomber, who was stressed from Fleet Officer. My Vess didn't have a shot, so QD took some pounding. My bomber was on a debris, so ended up getting triple stressed. Qd died fairly quickly, PS killed by Boba. Then I was able to ion Nym onto a debris. next round I close the distance to get R1 on Nym and kill Nym and splash Boba. Over the next few rounds, I either shot at Boba without getting shot back or I blocked Boba so that he couldn't shoot me (shields were down and I had a Damaged Cockpit on Vess, so I didn't really want to trade shots with him.) Eventually the bomber cleared all of his stress and got back into the fight. I got Vess and the bomber behind Boba and chased him down. Bomber was rolling like a champ, hit/crit on most of his unmodified attacks. Vess got the kill for the win. 100-36.

Then next game was also against Dave, this time running a VI Quickdraw and 2 Harpoon Deadeye Rhos. I really played this one badly. First combat round I managed to take all of his QD's shields down and splash one of his Rhos to take its shields down, too. But this was at the cost of my own QD. QD ate 2 harpoons and died. Then next round I went slowly with my bomber, he went slowly with his Rhos. Vess did a bank and ended up without a shot, then he double harpooned my bomber off the board in one round. Soooo, now it was my Vess against his squad. Next round he moved and reloaded his harpoons instead of SLAMming. This was a mistake because Vess 4K meant he was in range of my shots. I ion the hurt Rho, splash QD, then next round his QD shot at me, which I evaded. I stayed on the hurt Rho, hitting it with the ion and the primary, splashing QD both times, which killed both his Rho and QD with Ruthlessness damage. Then it was a fight between his remaining Rho, who was still turning around and my full health Vessery. I managed to ion him, get behind him, and it was game over, as I just stayed behind him and pummeled him for the 100-58 win.

Then the next game was against Jeff running another VI QD and 2 hlc Crack Rhos. The initial engagement, I was able to 5 straight with Vessery to get to Range 1 of one of his Rhos, so no hlc shot from that one. We traded a lot of shots, and he took my shields down on Vessery. He forgot to spend his Crack shots, although if he would have, vess still would have had 1 hull left. I managed to Ion one of his Rhos and splash 2 damage into his QD. Then next round I did a 2 turn with my QD in order to have his Rhos in both primary and secondary arcs. Vess did a 4k to be safely behind his Rhos, and with double focus, his QD didn't want to take the Range 3 through debris 3v5 shot, so he shot at the bomber instead. My vess then hit his ioned Rho, splash his QD, he then put 2 more damage on the bomber with his QD shot. Then with my Vess primary shot, I splashed my own QD, (who hadn't taken any damage yet), triggering my own double attack again and splashing another damage onto his QD. Then next round his QD finishes off my bomber (who missed his only attack of the game), and I set up another splash of my own QD triggering the double attack again, and I managed to hit his Rho, splashing his QD. Now all 3 of his ships have 1 hull left. Then next round I 4k Vess right in front of his rho, who still has Crack Shot and a TL/focus on Vess. His QD collides with Vess, and my QD sloops over a rock, losing my last shield, triggering the extra attack, which misses. Combat round QD finishes off the Rho pointing at Vess, then splashes his QD, killing them both, and Vess finishes off the other Rho for the 100-22 win. In that game, I never did attack his QD, instead killing her solely through splash damage.

In these games, my opponent didn't have to stay together, but the Ruthlessness damage was huge when I was able to get him close enough. Fleet Officer was definitely big. I'm surprised at just how well the Vessery and QD combo works, and Vess is a beast, for sure. None of these match-ups were necessarily favorable to me, but I still managed to pull them off. Man, I do love this squad.

I'm the Jeff @hothie faced in the third game. I lost that game with my first two actions. I used Rho LRSs to TL Vess when I should have locked QD and wiped his shields so he couldn't have splashed with ruthlessness and gotten easy double taps. The other problem is how tanky double focus Vess is, I just couldn't get him off the board and kept eating damage. This list is vicious and even going after QD first you'll still eat a lot of slash and double taps. Well done @hothie.

Vassal rematch tonight against the Dash Jan build. I went fast this time to try and get to Jan before she built up a lot of focus tokens. He flew along his board edge with Dash, and went for the TL early rather than a defensive focus. First combat round I took all of the shields off of Dash, and next round I put the second ion token on him. He did manage to get Vess down to 1 hull left, but didn't kill him, and Vess finished Dash off next round. We called it after that. Can't really glean too much from this game as my dice were way above average on reds and greens.

And then another vassal game against a Dash Poe. He had Rey on Dash, so I wanted to engage quickly to keep him from building up a lot of focus. I went after dash early, but I should have committed to Poe, i think. As it was, he danced all around my squad, not giving me any good shots at all. he pummeled the bomber down to 1 hull left, and I pulled a Blinded when I had Poe at range 2, so I couldn't stress him with tactician. When I finally did get 4 shots onto Dash (QD 2 shots and Vess 2 shots), it yielded 0 damage because he rolled all of the evades he needed each shot. As it was I didn't damage either of his ships the entire game, and we called it when he had killed QD and the bomber, and had 4 HP left on Vess. He flew his squad well, minimizing shots on both of his ships, and it worked.

Strategies:
1. Place debris on my side at Range 2 from the edge. Go fast past it and leave the asteroids for the middle, where Dash has to BR off of them to attack.
2. Stay together to try to bring his forces together to try and negate LW.
3. Be more unpredictable. Bad flying by me and good flying by him left me with very few shots.

I might change out the tactician for an Intel Agent and primed thrusters on QD. The Dash matchup is a tough one for me. Intel agent might help to be able to predict where he is going to be.

Vassal game tonight vs a Kylo and 2 Gamma vets with Deadeye and Harpoon missiles. I changed my bomber out for Omega Leader with Juke. (I dropped MKII off of Vess, too, for the points.)

I went fast to try and close distance early. Second round OL was range 1 of 1 of his bombers and I TL'd the other one to keep it from shooting the harpoon at OL. QD's shot missed his bomber, but I grabbed the fcs tl. Kylo then took OL down to 1 hull left. OL and Vess shot, taking the gamma down 1 and splashing the other. Then the Gamma killed OL, while the other one harpooned QD. QD shot back, doing 1 damage to each bomber. then the next round QD and Vess combined to kill both bombers before they could shoot, with Vess using Ruthlessness on QD to get the kill shot on the second bomber and splashing Kylo. Lots of cat and mouse flying later, but Kylo wasn't able to damage either one of my ships. QD finally got the kill shot on Kylo after a Vess block for the 100-23 win. Man this squad is brutal. I think I like OL as better bait early game, and if my opponent doesn't take the bait, a better endgame ship than the bomber.

Another vassal game vs Remi this time, running a Fenn/Thweek/Kimogila list. I ran a version that Theorist suggested:

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v4!s!70:100,22,-1:34:3:;208:100,36,-1,203:42:31:;49:-1,-1,231,-1,-1:-1:24:&sn=New Squadron&obs=

With Engine on Vess, i brought him too quickly into the fight. Round 2 Vess was at Range 3 while neither of my other 2 ships were. This was a mistake because his Kimogila pooned Vess for all 3 shields. He did well to stay out of Ruthlessness splash range, too. Next round vess dies and QD gets taken down to 1 hull left by Fenn range 1. It was over the next round because he killed QD, so I only had my bomber left.

I think in this match-up I really missed the Fleet officer bomber, and I was too aggressive with Vess. So, I'll go back to what I had been flying before and see if I can keep that version doing well.

Vassal game against the mighty dom cairo running a triple x7 list. I swapped out the bomber for a Nu with Harpoon.

early on I know he's going fast for me, so I slow rolled, which may have been a mistake because it allowed him to set up his flankers and get around my ruthlessness range. I barrel rolled Qd early into range of his Ryad without giving me a shot. He took 2 shields off of QD, so that was a big mistake. Next round he kills QD with only minor damage to his Delta in return. Some dancing later, I got his Delta down to 2 hull, Ryad down to 3 hull, and took 1s off of his Vess, but my QD was dead, Vess was at 1, and Nu was shieldless, so we called it. I really missed the Fleet Officer in this matchup, so I think that's what I go with from now on. It's just too valuable for keeping Vess and QD alive longer.

Vassal game today vs a Corran/Ezra/RO list. I am going back to what I think is my optimal build for Ruthless Aggression:

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v4!s!208:100,36,-1,203:42:31:;70:100,22,-1:34:17:;49:-1,-1,-1,-1,-1:35:17:u.95,u.40&sn=Ruthless Aggression&obs=

He tried to split up his forces with his setup, but when we came together he was within range 1 of each other. The brutality of this squad was on display. I barrel rolled QD to have Range 1 front and rear arc shots. I had a big 3 hit vs 0 evade (with focus) roll on Corran, and splashed him to death after that while killing Ezra. We called it shortly thereafter.

Then I had another vassal game against a Thweek and 3 kimogilas list. he kept his Kimogilas together while flanking with Thweek. I pounded on one of his kimogilas and managed to kill it before it could get a shot off, all the while splashing another one down to 4 hull left. Next round I was able to get some more damage in on his kimogilas. then the next round I think is when I had a lucky range 1 shot with the bomber on thweek and took thweek down to 2 hull left with a console fire. i think the next round I finished off his kimogilas. A quick K-turn and sloop later and I was able to finish off Thweek with QD, but died from simult fire.

Thweek, and Starvipers in general are tough to pin down. You have to try and get shots on them when you can. It was an interesting game. (where I had something like 12 natural hit/crits in a row. Although in my defense I had focus and tl for most of them anyway.)

And last game of the year, another vassal game vs a Poe Lothal squad.

He boosted his Poe right next to lothal first combat round. So I pounded on the lothal and splashed 3 damage onto Poe. He destroyed the bomber before it ever fired, though in response. The next round I flipped behind the lothal, and I should have slooped right with QD, but instead I slooped left. I tried to barrel roll with Thrusters behind the lothal, but it didn't fit, which meant that i didn't have a shot with QD on the lothal, so the lothal put 5 damage into vess instead of dying that round. Next round the shuttle deploys, I finish off the lothal with vess, and QD doesn't damage Poe. So now Poe is back to full shields, and the AP5 makes a rear arc shot on vess and vess rolls 3 eyes (spent it on Poe's shot.) So vess died. Now QD is at 1 shield vs full Poe and AP5. Next round I sloop and get a range 2 shot on Poe, which he evaded. Next round he coordinates a boost for Poe, then did a 4K and flew a full Poe off of the board. Quickdraw puts 4 damage into the AP5, and 2 rounds later it's over with QD not losing another shield. there were a couple of big turns that game, adn a few things I do differently, but otherwise the squad was working well. Gotta try and keep the friendly splash damage down.

Happy new Year!!

New day, new year. More vassal games:

First against a jess/Nien/Ello list. he played this one really well, drawing me into the asteroids and gunning Nien early so I ended up splashing my bomber instead of him. this game was very swingy on dice, and he flew really well, blocking me at key times. It ended up with Jess and Ello at 1 hull each with droids gone vs Vess at 2 hull. Jess was in front of Vess, so I had to do a 3 bank and barrel roll to get away from Jess blocking me, and then Ello finished off Vess for the loss. i think his strategy of sacrificing one ship, running it into the fray early so that I splash myself is a good strategy against my list. the bomber died early because I went too slowly and didn't have any good shots except for Nien, which is exactly what he wanted to have happen.

So the next game vs a Lowie/Fenn/Poe list I went a little quicker in the third turn in order to make sure I got the good shots with my other ships, which i did. I beat Lowie down, all the while splashing Fenn. Next round I block lowie with the bomber so that Fenn had to coordinate a reinforce to lowie. I took lowie down to 1 and splashed Fenn to death, effectively getting the two-for-one. He killed the bomber. next round I finished off Lowie, and I got the first of 2 straight ion hits onto Poe with Vess. Poe going white 1 doesn't regen, and he is very easy to trap, so Vess stayed behind him for the win. This is a brutal list. It's not unbeatable, but it makes people fly differently than they want to.

On New Year's Day I played 4 games on the table. I played Ruthless Aggression, as seen previously:

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v4!s!70:100,22,-1:34:17:;208:100,36,-1,203:42:31:;49:-1,-1,-1,-1,-1:35:17:u.95,u.40&sn=New Squadron&obs=

The first game was against Wade flying Blackout, Backdraft, and Omega Leader squad. He brought Blackout in on the flank. I went after Backdraft first, knowing that OL isn't much of an offensive threat. I was able to pound on Backdraft, splashing some onto Blackout in the second round of combat. I killed Backdraft, then finished off Blackout, so it was OL vs my squad, so we called it after 2 or maybe 3 rounds of combat.

We reset, only this time he brought his tourney squad of 3 Lok Revenants with TLT, LRS, and Crack Shot. This is a bad match-up for me because he doesn't have to stay together, so he can effectively negate Ruthlessness. First round of combat he puts 5 damage onto Vess with his tlts. I did manage to kill one of them, but the other 2 were able to clean up QD and the bomber, so I lost that one.

Next game was against 2 wookiees and Miranda. I was able to Ion Miranda so that she couldn't drop any bombs. Next round I managed to finish her with Quickdraw, only letting her have 1 shot for the game. Then I was able to get behind the wookiees and ion them and splash them for the win. Although both Quickdraw and the bomber had 1 hull left.

Then the last game was against Caleb running a PS10 Nym Miranda list that he has been practicing with. Nym tossed out a bomb first round but didn't detonate it. Then next round Nym tossed out another one, but with barrel rolling I was able to completely miss the first bomb and only took the second bomb on Vessery. I was able to focus down Miranda in I think 2-3 turns, leaving me with just Nym, who had dropped all of his bombs, so he only had the tlt left. We jockeyed for a while, but I was able to finish him off for the win.

THOUGHTS:

Overall I was happy with the squad, but I am learning that there are good counters to the list, not only in list building but also in play style. Squads that don't have to stay together are an uphill battle for me, especially Dash Poe. And some people just run one of their ships right into mine so that I end up splashing myself. I do love the list, but I think I have to give up on it for tourneys. Instead, I've been thinking more about reverting back to my PS10 Rexler with Tractor Beam. I know he is a pain to play against, and with all of the PS9 pilots seeing lots of play time (Kylo), I feel like I need to have a good PS10 to keep an advantage.
But I also hate giving up on the Ion cannon. I really think Ion Cannon is necessary for control, especially against Nym and/or Miranda. I could keep Vessery, but if I'm not planning on giving him some free TLs, Maarek becomes a better endgame ship at PS9 for the same cost as PS8 vess.
But then I also run into the problem that I have 2 TIE/Ds on the table. So I keep the Fleet Officer bomber for support, effectively giving them 2 focus tokens instead of the focus and evade that the x7s get. The TIE Ds cost more, but I also get the control and higher damage output than I get with x7s. And really, I've been running TIE Ds for the past few months, and I'm not convinced that they are demonstrably worse, especially if you can give them the double focus.

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v4!s!71:27,144,-1:34:-1:;193:27,22,-1:34:17:;49:-1,-1,-1,-1,-1:35:17:u.95,u.40&sn=New Squadron&obs=

So I think I'm going to run this for a while and see if I can do as well with this as I did with Ruthless Aggression.

First vassal game with my Rexler/Maarek against a Norra/Wullf/AP5 squad. Round 3 we started combat, as he went slow to build up focus on Rey. I focused on Norra, ioning her and taking her down to 3 hull. He put some shots on rexler. Next round I figured he would block the 4K, but he didn't. Rexler gets behind Norra with a tractor then a range 1 primary 4v0 to finish her off. He focused down the bomber and killed it. AP5 was handing out stress galore, and I spent most of the rest of the game stressed. I did manage to finish off AP5 a few rounds later, then it was down to Wullf vs my 2 defenders. Rexler barrel rolled into his rear arc since he had reinforced the front, and Maarek was in front arc. I took him down to 2 hull left with an ion token when we called it. Both my defenders were at 2 hull, but Rexler was behind him. It was an interesting control game, for sure. The Tractor came up big, and the ions were hitting nearly every time. And this was with the bomber only being able to use Fleet Officer during the first combat round due to AP5 stress. Aaaaand I now realize that I forgot to use Intel Agent, oh well.

Another Vassal game against a Kylo/Tomax/OL squad. He split his forces up early, which allowed me to go after Kylo. One big turn was he had to spend his title to reroll his dice early otherwise I would have ioned him with maarek. As it was, I had kylo down to 2 hull, tomax tractored onto a rock, and he had only damaged the bomber for 2 when he had to leave. Kylo was near the board edge, stressed, and facing the edge, so I had this one well in hand.

15 hours ago, hothie said:

Aaaaand I now realize that I forgot to use Intel Agent, oh well.

It's good to know even Worlds winners do this.

2 vassal games vs a tough and well-built QD and 2 Crack rho squad.

First game he banks toward the board edge second turn, I ion a rho with Maarek so it's off the table next round. He conceded and we reset.

Second game he did the same thing, but I played the ranges so that we didn't have shots until 3rd round. Rexler Tractor one of his Rhos into Range 1, so it can't fire its harpoon missile. then Maarek ion the other one, so it can't get away next round. He fired at Rexler with his QD, gaining the fcs tl, so his ioned rho can fire it's harpoon at Rexler using targeting synch. rexler had 1 shield left. 4 hits. I roll 2 blanks and eye, which I had to spend on offense (he had Crack shot anyway), so Rexler dies. then next round I kturn maarek behind his squad. the ioned rho uses his tractor beam on the bomber, who is now off the board next turn. So now it's Maarek vs his squad. He ended up slamming one of his rhos off the board, but this game was decided long before then. I rolled 36 red dice and got a total of 8 natural hit/crits, 18 focus, 10 blanks. The green dice weren't much better, as blanks were above expected, while eyes and evades were both below expected for the game. I mean, he played it really well for sure, no doubt about that. but there wasn't much I could do aside from maybe targeting QD first and eating both harpoons from the Crack Rhos.

Hey yesterday i tried the ps1ß rexler tractor, whisper countdown against nym norra ap5 and got completely wrecked. how do you approach this nasty tlt trajectory bomblet nym without getthing whisper obliterated? She is so weak against tlts with higher ps.

The second game i tried rexler maarek bomber and i´m a little disapointed by the ection efficiency. Although i managed to pull out the win it was very close at the end with only maarek left against nym. the ion cannon however got me the win.

1 hour ago, Taiowaa said:

Hey yesterday i tried the ps1ß rexler tractor, whisper countdown against nym norra ap5 and got completely wrecked. how do you approach this nasty tlt trajectory bomblet nym without getthing whisper obliterated? She is so weak against tlts with higher ps.

The second game i tried rexler maarek bomber and i´m a little disapointed by the ection efficiency. Although i managed to pull out the win it was very close at the end with only maarek left against nym. the ion cannon however got me the win.

I think you would have to try and decloak to the side and try to flank with Whisper in this matchup. I assume AP5 was a stressbot, so Whisper definitely wants to try and stay out of his arc as well.

Disappointed by the action efficiency as compared to...what? The Fleet Officer should be giving the other 2 focus tokens, so that they will both have double focus during the combat round. Compare that to x7 Defenders which would presumably have similar focus and evade tokens, but you lose the control element, which you said is what won you the game. If you swap Maarek out for Vessery at the same cost, you said Maarek was your endgame ship. Vessery is more efficient when you have other ships passing him a target lock (my Quickdraw earlier), but endgame Maarek is way better IMO.

In this Nym/Miranda meta, I just think ion cannons are a must, which is why I've been flying Defenders with D title and Ion in all of my squads. That's what I'm married to right now. I played a game last night vs a Quickdraw/Vessery/Deadeye Rho squad. We engaged in the rocks, with first combat round I damaged his Vessery and he damaged Maarek. Next round Vessery clipped a rock and collided, so no free evade token. I finished off Vessery that round at the cost of a few shields off of Rexler. Next round Intel Agent let me know where QD was going, so I blocked QD with Maarek, then Rexler 4k allowed me to Tractor QD onto a rock, and Rexler and Maarek killed a full QD in one round, so we called it after 3 combat rounds.

The squad works pretty well, I think. I've had the damage output questioned, but killing Vessery and Quickdraw in 3 combat rounds says a lot, I think.

Played a vassal game against a Kylo and 2 hlc Nus squad. I ran my rexler and maarek squad. He was primarily doing a hit and fade with his ships, so I wasn't able to focus down any of them, but I also wasn't getting shot at much either. After a long time of flying, I was able to get his 3 ships together in a corner facing away from me, while I had shots on all 3 of his. He was looking at a tractor and ion off the board, so we called it there. I'm not used to flying against a hit-and-fade style, so it was a little frustrating for me, but educational.

I had a chat with Reinhart about my squad, and he suggested Scrambler Missiles with Guidance Chips on Rexler. He said that would help vs the alpha harpoon lists.

In order to do that, though, I would have to make space for them. What that means is dropping MKII and VI off of Maarek. Here are my thoughts on that:

1. Dropping Maarek from a PS9 to a PS8 (with Adaptability) could be crucial, as there are so many PS9 pilots out there. I hate to give up Maarek's ability, as well as a possible ion shot, at PS9. I still am shooting with Miranda, though, and ahead of Dash, so I still have that, but I'll have to keep track of how often this matters. I know in many match-ups it won't, though. But there are just so many PS9 pilots that get played a lot that it will matter against.
2. Dropping MKII off of Maarek is a little tough, but it's an easier pill to swallow. There are a lot of stress lists out there, and having straights be the only way to relieve stress is more limiting.
3. If I use the Scrambler Missiles on Rexler, that means I'm taking a target lock early rather than focusing, and it also means I'm giving up the PS10 tractor beam (and subsequent primary shot) for that turn, too, which can be big. This is another cost to having the missiles that I have to be cognizant about, because the return fire can be crucial if I don't have the extra focus token.
4. Another thought is having the missiles be on Maarek instead. That way I can get the PS10 tractor off to possibly help set up the PS8 Scrambler Missiles. But again, having the missiles at PS8 means there will be lots of pilots that would have fired before I get a chance to use them. Not ideal, but still a possibility.

So I tried out this list:

Rexler with VI, Tractor Beam, TIE D title, Scramler Missiles, Guidance Chips
Maarek with Adaptability, Ion cannon and TIE D title
Scimitar with Fleet Officer, Intel Agent, TIE MKII, and TIE shuttle title.

against a Dutch and 3 rookies squad.

The FAA has really been a boon to the X-wings, and he used it considerably and very well. We set up to joust, and I had Maarek flanking a little. He turned one of his X-wings in. Picture included. So I figured I had the Scrambler Missile, I might as well see how using it goes. I was able to hit his Rookie Pilot in the middle, which made his entire squad ditch their focus tokens. Holy crap did that work! Then Maarek was able to ion the Rookie facing the board edge. He managed to save that ship with a key block the next round and a 2 hard the round after that, but that ship was out of the fight for a long time. Meanwhile I was able to focus down 1 rookie, then Dutch in exchange for Maarek. I chased his other Rookies around, trading one for the scimitar, so it came down to endgame with 1 Rookie vs Rexler. The Tractor Beam came up big tossing him onto the rocks and then pounding on him with the primary.

In this game the Scrambler came up big when I used it. Fleet Officer and Intel Agent I used all game long, and the FO was the star of the game.
My hit/crits were just below average, but my focuses on offense were way above average. With the Fleet Officer focus tokens, I was able to convert many of them to hits, which was huge. I really like this squad and how it can handle other squads. I don't feel like I auto-win against any squads, but I don't feel like I auto-lose either.

Reflections: The Scrambler was big, for sure. Losing PS9 for PS8 on Maarek didn't matter in this game. Losing MKII off of Maarek didn't mater this game, and actually saved me some points if we were counting MoV because Rexler lived. The control was critical, with both the tractor beam and the ions hitting nearly every time vs agi 2 and 1 ships. The bomber rolled some critical double evades early, which kept him alive way longer than he should have been. Overall I like the way it handled.

On 1/13/2018 at 4:52 PM, hothie said:

Dropping Maarek from a PS9 to a PS8 (with Adaptability) could be crucial, as there are so many PS9 pilots out there.

There really aren't that many http://meta-wing.com/pilots? (Kylo being the only one in the top 20 that is really a 9 -- the rest of the 9s are likely using VI or Adapt and then you have Fenn and Dengar in the top 20-30). Because Nym is out there at PS 10 (as well as just trying to get the best alpha), the other 9s in the list are trying to get to 11 including Poe, Quickdraw, Vader. There is plenty of reasons to have PS8, though, and it could be a place you want a bid. Of course, I could say that and then you play 5 PS 9 games and all of them have a bid.

On 1/13/2018 at 4:52 PM, hothie said:

If I use the Scrambler Missiles on Rexler, that means I'm taking a target lock early rather than focusing, and it also means I'm giving up the PS10 tractor beam (and subsequent primary shot) for that turn, too, which can be big. This is another cost to having the missiles that I have to be cognizant about, because the return fire can be crucial if I don't have the extra focus token.
4. Another thought is having the missiles be on Maarek instead. That way I can get the PS10 tractor off to possibly help set up the PS8 Scrambler Missiles. But again, having the missiles at PS8 means there will be lots of pilots that would have fired before I get a chance to use them. Not ideal, but still a possibility.

It seems like making the best use of the scrambler is to put them at the higher PS in your list to a) prevent an alpha and b) make use of stripping defensive tokens.

Couple of vassal games over the weekend followed by some table games last night.

Over the weekend I flew:

Rexler with VI, TIE D, Tractor Beam, Scrambler Missiles, Guidance Chips
Maarek with Adapt, TIE D, Ion cannon
Scimitar with Fleet Officer, MKII, and Intel agent.

First game against a Boba and 3 dead Man's Switch Z95s. I split my fire early, leaving Rexler to go after Boba and Maarek to deal with the Zs. This was a mistake, as I should have just focused down the Zs and then dealt with boba afterwards. The Zs plinked away at me, and I was only able to kill one of them all game long. So my main mistake with this one was target priority. I also never did use the Scrambler Missiles, and Maarek being PS8 vs PS9 was important vs a PS8 Boba.

Second game was against a Nym/Fenn/Lowie squad. First combat round I was able to tractor Nym into ion range of Maarek, so I had a 3v0 ion shot to ion Nym and stop him from dropping bombs. Fenn used his ability, and I rolled eye, eye, blank. I just needed one hit there to start controlling Nym and focus him down, as it was I never rolled a single hit with my ion cannon _the entire game_, and he just picked me apart cleanly.

So I debated a while and changed the squad up to this:

Rexler with Adaptability, TIE D, Ion cannon
Maarek with VI, TIE D, Ion Cannon
Scimitar with Fleet Officer, and with the remaining 2 points I went with Systems officer

I flew this version against a Dash Poe on the table. He was running PtL Engine dash vs Lone Wolf CM Dash, and it was important. The first 5 rounds I never did get a single shot off. I made one mistake turning away from dash, as I thought turning into him would be the obvious thing to do. I should have just turned into him and gotten some shots off. As it was he damaged Maarek and the bomber before I could get shots off. I managed to ion Poe, and kept him ioned for most of the rest of the game. He never did regen a single shield with R2D2, but with Maarek having a Weapons Failure, I couldn't finish Poe off without rexler's help, so I had to bring Rexler in. One critical turn had me ion Poe rather than ioning Dash, which I should have done because Dash was close to the board edge, and an ion might have taken him off of the board, leaving only a shieldless Poe to deal with. But I didn't. I focused down and finished off Poe, but I was able to only get Dash down to half before he killed Rexler.

Then the second game was against a Nym Miranda list. He brought Miranda in fast, but second round decided not to SLAM and drop the cluster in front of Maarek. Instead Maarek got to range 1 of Miranda. I bloody first combat round saw him nuke Maarek off of the board at the cost of ions of both of his ships, all shields off of Miranda, and 2 damage off of Nym. next round Rexler ions and then hits Miranda for 3. I spend the focus token to flip all 3 face up, and he pulled a Direct, killing Miranda. So now it was Rexler and the bomber vs Nym. He did a Tallon Roll right in front of Rexler. Rexler ioned Nym and gave him a damaged Cockpit and Structural Damage, so next round Nym moved first, hit Rexler, and the bomber finished off Nym for the win.

I missed having the intel agent and the MKII on the bomber. I didn't use Systems Officer nearly as much as I would have used the Intel Agent, so I'm going back to that for a bit. The green 1 bank and 3 banks would have been nice, too. So, the list as of now is:

Rexler with Adapt, TIE D, Ion
Maarek, VI, TIE D, Ion
Scimitar with Fleet Officer, Intel Agent, MKII, TIE Shuttle title

I like having both defenders be PS9, and them both having ion cannons, especially for the Nymiranda match-up, which I expect to see. I like having Maarek shoot first with the Ion, then primary, then Rexler's ion, and by that time I hope to be firing Rexler's primary against a shieldless target so that Rexler's ability can kick in. Both Defenders have ion cannons, so losing one still leaves me with control elements. I like it. Gonna stick with that for a bit.

2 hours ago, AlexW said:

There really aren't that many http://meta-wing.com/pilots? (Kylo being the only one in the top 20 that is really a 9 -- the rest are likely using VI or Adapt and then you have Fenn and Dengar in the top 20-30). Because Nym is out there at PS 10 (as well as just trying to get the best alpha), the other 9s in the list are trying to get to 11 including Poe, Quickdraw, Vader. There is plenty of reasons to have PS8, though, and it could be a place you want a bid. Of course, I could say that and then you play 5 PS 9games and all of them have a PS.

I adjusted the list to make them both be PS9, and I think I like that a lot better than being PS10 and 8, especially now that I have moved them both to ion cannons. I discussed it above, but i think it gives me a lot more options of who to activate first both in the activation phase and the combat phase.

8 hours ago, hothie said:

I adjusted the list to make them both be PS9, and I think I like that a lot better than being PS10 and 8, especially now that I have moved them both to ion cannons. I discussed it above, but i think it gives me a lot more options of who to activate first both in the activation phase and the combat phase.

Have you considered switching Fleet Officer for Operations Specialist? You'd have your bomber action "free" to try to block enemy ships with a BR and take advantage of the Intel Agent, and you'd save a point from MK2 engines as you wouldn't stress the shuttle that often... And if you blank a lot you'd get lots of focus tokens!

8 minutes ago, RoockieBoy said:

Have you considered switching Fleet Officer for Operations Specialist? You'd have your bomber action "free" to try to block enemy ships with a BR and take advantage of the Intel Agent, and you'd save a point from MK2 engines as you wouldn't stress the shuttle that often... And if you blank a lot you'd get lots of focus tokens!

The Fleet Officer is better for being able to survive high PS alpha lists, especially multiple harpoon missiles. It's not a bad thought, though.

Something I have been tempted to try in replace of one of my TIE/Ds:

Major Vynder (26)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Extra Munitions (2)
Ion Pulse Missiles (3)
Harpoon Missiles (4)
Advanced SLAM (2)
Os-1 Arsenal Loadout (2)

Total: 40

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

With Slam he is just as beefy (3 green dice, 7HP) as a defender. Can ion a large ship in one stroke. Both missiles dont spend the lock, so can just move and reload and fire, or move SLAM and fire. 2 sharp and slam 2 sharp lets him come back in to the fight similar to a 4kurn. PS9 with slam makes him hard to hit as Miranda. And being PS9, can stay on Mirandas *** all day long. Extra munitions for multiple shots in a row (enemy doesnt know if you are gonna slam away or not if you have a missile ready).

I've been a fan of Ion TIE/D's for a while, and am now thinking specifically about how to beat the common Nym/Miranda list. As a combination of my own list building and your iterations of Double D's with a cheapo wingman, what do you think of my version? http://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v4!c=97!71:27,22,-1:34:-1:;193:27,22,-1:34:-1:;189:-1:-1:-1:&sn=**** nym&obs=

My thinking is that Rexler at 10, Maarek at 9, and Epsilon at 12 with a 3 pt initiative bid will guarantee that I shoot first and move last against all but the most committed of Nym/Miranda players (I've seen some 5 pt initiative bids, yikes). In the worst case scenario, shooting order will be Epsilon>Nym>Rexler>Maarek>Miranda, which should still be fine because I can potentially strip all of Miranda's shields and prevent the 5 dice Harpoon attack. I was planning to rely on triple focus tokens on the first turn with 1 ion shot per ship and everything else dedicated to Miranda. The only variables to my mind are that I have no innate dice mods and Nym's proton bombs can land practically anywhere on the first turn.

6 hours ago, wurms said:

Something I have been tempted to try in replace of one of my TIE/Ds:

Major Vynder (26)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Extra Munitions (2)
Ion Pulse Missiles (3)
Harpoon Missiles (4)
Advanced SLAM (2)
Os-1 Arsenal Loadout (2)

Total: 40

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

With Slam he is just as beefy (3 green dice, 7HP) as a defender. Can ion a large ship in one stroke. Both missiles dont spend the lock, so can just move and reload and fire, or move SLAM and fire. 2 sharp and slam 2 sharp lets him come back in to the fight similar to a 4kurn. PS9 with slam makes him hard to hit as Miranda. And being PS9, can stay on Mirandas *** all day long. Extra munitions for multiple shots in a row (enemy doesnt know if you are gonna slam away or not if you have a missile ready).

You're spending 40 points on a gunboat, which I've found you really only get 1 good turn out of them before you spend multiple rounds trying to line up another shot. I like trying to use the gunboats effectively, but I haven't been impressed with them yet.

Speaking of which, I faced a RAClo with 2 Nus squad on vassal. First combat I double ioned RAC, then Rexler flipped 3 cards on him; Blinded, Direct, and Console Fire. His Nus nuked my bomber off the board in return. Next round Rexler chases RAC and puts another Console Fire and Weapons Failure on him. Rexler finished off RAC next round, and his Nus never did get another shot off. We called it when one of his Nus was down to 2 hull with an ion token and a nearly full Maarek behind him, and the other Nu and Rexler still had a few rounds to get back into the fight.

5 hours ago, MrRip said:

I've been a fan of Ion TIE/D's for a while, and am now thinking specifically about how to beat the common Nym/Miranda list. As a combination of my own list building and your iterations of Double D's with a cheapo wingman, what do you think of my version? http://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v4!c=97!71:27,22,-1:34:-1:;193:27,22,-1:34:-1:;189:-1:-1:-1:&sn=**** nym&obs=

My thinking is that Rexler at 10, Maarek at 9, and Epsilon at 12 with a 3 pt initiative bid will guarantee that I shoot first and move last against all but the most committed of Nym/Miranda players (I've seen some 5 pt initiative bids, yikes). In the worst case scenario, shooting order will be Epsilon>Nym>Rexler>Maarek>Miranda, which should still be fine because I can potentially strip all of Miranda's shields and prevent the 5 dice Harpoon attack. I was planning to rely on triple focus tokens on the first turn with 1 ion shot per ship and everything else dedicated to Miranda. The only variables to my mind are that I have no innate dice mods and Nym's proton bombs can land practically anywhere on the first turn.

The main reason I have the bomber as the 3rd ship is that fleet officer helps keep the other 2 alive longer. Without the extra focus, they get nuked quickly. With the double focus, though, most people target the bomber first, which means my cheapest and least offensive ship usually soaks up the alpha. Intel agent is great, too, for figuring out where my opponent will be and what actions I should take.