Squadron "4444" (100/100)
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I realise that harpoons are far more popular, and effective, on gunboats than HLC ... but fool that I am, I like my HLC and am trying to make them work. I've flown Ace + two gunboats, now experimenting with two crack FO's replacing the Ace. The intention is that the FO's block and get in the face of the enemy, maybe taking some heat off the gunboats, and its four ships. Four crackshots on the opening salvo can be devastating, assuming something survives the incoming harpoons

Alpha-class Star Wing: Rho Squadron Veteran (21 + 11)
+ Crackshot (1)
+ HLC (7)
+ Linked battery (2)
+ XG-1 title (1)
+ LRS (0)

Alpha-class Star Wing: Rho Squadron Veteran (21 + 11)
+ Crackshot (1)
+ HLC (7)
+ Linked battery (2)
+ XG-1 title (1)
+ LRS (0)

Tie-FO: Omega Squadron Pilot (17 + 1)
+ Crackshot (1)

Tie-FO: Omega Squadron Pilot (17 + 1)
+ Crackshot (1)

I would like to suggest Karsabi with X-1 title, Wired, HLC, LRS. PS 5 gives you a shot before the PS4 Rho gunboats and you're at least tied with Biggs or Lowhhrick. The ability to fire HLC after a SLAM, with *some* mods, is pretty nice. And no reloading. 33 points.

You would be much better off with a high PS ship as your 3rd mate for the 2 gunboats. They don't really need help melting stuff off the board that is flying straight at you. Where they struggle is against turrets or higher PS ships with lots of re-positioning options. So if you don't take something to deal with that kind of stuff, you are going to have very poor chances of winning.

As you have it now, those First Order TIE's are only going to help you in the 'easy' matchups and hurt you in the 'hard' matchups (which is the exact opposite of what you want your support ships to do).

I recommend either a ship with autothrusters (resilient against turrets) or something that is just really high Pilot Skill and does decent damage. Unfortunately, Imperials have Quickdraw. He's so strong, that there really isn't very many options that can compete with his combo of high firepower + high PS. He solves a lot of 'bad match-ups' for Imperials. If the designers understood the importance of 'balanced' game design, then maybe Imperials would have some greater breadth of choice.

So my recommendation is to either take Quickdraw, or some other ship that you like with a high Pilot Skill and the ability to either fight against turrets well or just able to dish out lots of damage...

I flew almost this precise squad yesterday, against a Rebel list of Nien Numb + assorted other stressbots, but I used two Alpha Squadron TIE Interceptors instead.

Worked perfectly (lost a TIE interceptor in the first engagement but the rest survived) but I really wished the second TIE would have had autothrusters. Hard to fit though, points wise.