" Sienar System's basic TIE fighter—a commodity which, after hydrogen and stupidity, was the most plentiful in the galaxy… " -Corran Horn

Welcome to card of the day!
Today's card is the Tie-Fighter pilot Backstabber, with the ability:
- When attacking from outside the defender's firing arc, roll 1 additional attack die.

What do you think of him? Is he weak or strong in this meta? What squads would you use him in? Any neat interactions to note? What strategies should you use in a game? Any rules questions you have? How does he compare with the other Tie-Fighter aces? Anything at all you want to say about the Black Squadron pilot of Black 3, this is the place!

Founder member of the three die snap shooters society.

Just now, thespaceinvader said:

Founder member of the three die snap shooters society.

If only he had an EPT to equip Snap Shot

Who am I thinking of then O_o

You are thinking of Mithel and Scourge.

Back on topic: I love Backstabber as a flanker in casual low-tier games. He is one of the more aggressive named ties and one of the og flankers/arc dodgers.

it was always a toss up between him and Darkcurse I always liked Backstabber more because he is more aggressive. when ever I need a filler at 16 points he is my go to guy.

I love the midrange TIE Fighter pilots like Backstabber but I never know where to put them in a squad.

Of course he's weak in this meta. He gets one-shot by basically anything sneezed his way

He is one of the OGs of the 4 dice attack TIE squad though. Still trying to execute the Mauler/Backstabber/Scourge all getting 4 dice in 1 round

the problem is that for 2 points more, you'd get an alpha squadron pilot who gets a 3rd die permenantly, a better dial, boost, and the option to take autothrusters. Yes, he gets PS6 but that's not an amazingly good level.

Mithel is better because, as noted, he can get a 3 die snap shot as well.

Backstabber can fit into that range of cheap TIE variants that can go in a Kylo/Vader or QuickDraw/cheap ship squad. You could get Countdown instead for 4 more points, a gunboat with harpoon for 6 more points, or a TIE/fo like Epsilon Ace for 1 more point. You can get a stripped down Omega Leader with a score to settle for 21 points, or 23 with advanced optics and it’s probably worth it to find the extra 5 or 7 points. At the same price you could also just grab Dark Curse and frustrate anyone relying on tokens for offense in exchange for slightly reduced offensive potential.

He does have tons of competition but nice in a higher PS swarm of TIEs with Youngster as it's a way to give him at least the Action EPTs. But really want to flank with him

With the advent of Advanced Optics and continued pressence of ps 11, the FO has surprisingly surpassed the base TIE in usefulness

Actually a little surprised we don't see more Omega L with all these super turrets derping about, but I guess you can't beat turrets without thrusters. Capital game design

Anyway, Backstabber doesn't have much going for him due to lack of upgrade slots. I think you'd actually get more use out of a black squadron crackshot than him, given the insignificant ps difference and the burst damage going well with the 0% odds of survival

For 1 more point I'd actuallytake a ps 1 striker. It's always got 3 dice and great manueverability to be used as an annoying blocker. It also lasts about as long

One of my early favorites. One of the best budget flankers in waves 1-3.

Like all TIE Fighters, he's pretty much sidelined by the meta now, but still fun in casual or epic.

We are playing an imperial HOTAC right now, and someone took this as one of their EPTS. Turns out four reliable dice is pretty good.

I am not ashamed to admit in my early days of this game I lost many a Biggs to backstabber. He’s a great imperial filler ship that like the rest of the imperial tie /ln lineup currently doesn’t fit the meta due to being outclassed by TIE F/Os and TIE strikers and will die very easily to bombs/TLT.

Backstabber is quite good in Epic games or Cinematic that includes on map reinforcements. As leader of a small squad that deploys turn 3+ behind the enemy, quite good.

As with early waves "not Tier" Pilots, EPT slot gives new life to this "no shields, all guts..." Ace.

Backstabber is great for few points. Stick him in the side and let him flank. Doesn't need upgrades. Keep him simple. Keep him cheap. Tie Fighters have good dials. It's a nice pick.

I do like using him with his brothers on the Gozanti. Mithel, Backstabber, Howlrunner, and either Dark Curse, Night Beast, or Wampa. Then throw in some TLT Aggressors, generic Lambdas, and HLC Gunboats...

Great epic squad right there.

Early on, he was a popular card. Back in the day when mid-range TIEs were relevant, I personally preferred Dark Curse, but plenty of TIE Swarms utilized both PS6 TIE Fighters.

Nowadays, I'd say he's no good because just about everything in the game can PS-kill him with a single attack, and squads which cannot wipe him early can easily mitigate his buffed attack--Attack 3 with only a Focus for modification ain't what it used to be. There are also more 180 arcs, rear arcs, and mobile arcs in the game which make triggering his bonus die harder.

But, all of that being said, Epsilon Ace just won a big tournament, so maybe a filler TIE is more viable than we'd think. Of course, Epsilon Ace has the advantage of not being PS-killed out of the gate, I suppose.

On 4/1/2018 at 8:09 AM, ficklegreendice said:

Of course he's weak in this meta. He gets one-shot by basically anything sneezed his way

And he's weak for Epic, since he also gets one-shot very early on.

Even if he is one shot early on, that's still something if you have a list with numbers. My point is that you can't really ignore a ship like this. If you do, then you have 3 attack dice with a focus waiting for you. He is good if you are using him as a forced distraction.

Sometimes-3 dice with a focus doesn't really count for much nowadays especially with all these super turrets bring far more manueverable and able to out joust poor TIEs relatively easily

I'm only way you'd see the fighters being competitively relevant again is if they were ALL backstabber

And if Backstabber was Backstabbier

Omg FFG pleez fix TIES they are lame and stoopid, they used to be sooooo kewl now they do nothing but sucks.

Now now I want to put together a squad with rage youngster, backstabber , some crack TIEs and a GUNBOAT, because GUNBOAT.

18 hours ago, AllWingsStandyingBy said:

Early on, he was a popular card. Back in the day when mid-range TIEs were relevant, I personally preferred Dark Curse, but plenty of TIE Swarms utilized both PS6 TIE Fighters.

Nowadays, I'd say he's no good because just about everything in the game can PS-kill him with a single attack, and squads which cannot wipe him early can easily mitigate his buffed attack--Attack 3 with only a Focus for modification ain't what it used to be. There are also more 180 arcs, rear arcs, and mobile arcs in the game which make triggering his bonus die harder.

But, all of that being said, Epsilon Ace just won a big tournament, so maybe a filler TIE is more viable than we'd think. Of course, Epsilon Ace has the advantage of not being PS-killed out of the gate, I suppose.

Be hesitant comparing a TIE/fo with a basic TIE fighter - especially with the 'extra token' of advanced optics netting you a bonus evade token, a TIE/fo has defences equivalent to a TIE advanced or E-wing (agility 3 + 5 hits including evade and shield tokens).

TIE/fo do hit like a wet lettuce* without crack shot or their various pilot ablities, but pound for pound they're bloody tough.

The existence of auxiliary and mobile arcs is a fair point; in any event you can expect to face a lancer or auzituck at least once, and both are pretty much tailor-made to tank backstabber's attacks for days; being hard to hurt anyway as well as taking away his third attack die.

I have to admit I always preferred backstabber over dark curse, simply because whilst he was (and is) a bugger to kill, you can't force people to target him in favour of anyone else. Backstabber drew fire due to being a bigger threat than his cost justified.

On ‎02‎/‎04‎/‎2018 at 4:23 AM, Do I need a Username said:

We are playing an imperial HOTAC right now, and someone took this as one of their EPTS. Turns out four reliable dice is pretty good.

He's a great choice for Defenders of the Empire. A lot of the pilot abilities in Defenders are scary as heck and even more so when combined because there are so many 'bonus attack die' TIE fighter pilots.

* If you can get to range 1 and use focus/target lock, then fair enough, but that's harder than it sounds.