So, somehow, this started out as my 'Two TIE Strikers' squad. You may have noticed it no longer features any TIE Strikers.

• 1st Gen - Duchess (Pred, Ailerons, LWF), Sabacc (Pred, Ailerons, LWF), OGP (Palp, Collision Detector), Backstabber

This list was a blast to fly, swooping about the place with my twin Strikers. Unfortunately I rapidly realised it had a pretty major problem - I had four ships that all wanted to flank and none that were happy taking fire. Unless my opponent placed his ships facing upwards off the table he wasn't going to expose all four flanks at once.

• 2nd Gen - Nu Sqd (HLC, Linked Batteries, XG-1, LRS), Sabacc (Pred, Ailerons, LWF), OGP (Palp, Collision Detector), Backstabber

Swapping 28pts of Duchess for 28pts of Gunboat helped the list out a lot. I immediately found that running the Gunboat and Shuttle side-by-side at PS2 gave me some good control over how slow the shuttle needs to move (it can sit on my baseline until turn 4) and I had a tougher central force to hold enemy attention while Sabacc went hunting a flank. The balance was a lot better, and with Sabacc and the HLC I could hurl a lot of red dice at things, but after a few games I realised I was constantly racing to win the game before I was reduced to a Backstabber/Palp endgame.

• 3rd Gen - as above. Inquisitor (PTL, v1, Autothrusters), Nu Sqd (HLC, Linked Batteries, XG-1, LRS), OGP (Palp, Collision Detector), Academy Pilot

I threw this onto the table expecting it to fail and I had Kylo/QD queued up to play in the next game. I've still never played it, because this has kept on winning for me and I love flying the mix of ships in her. You can short form this into 'it's Howard Aces but with Nu/Academy in place of QD' and what I expected to find was these two guys wouldn't match up QD, and I think they certainly do, or can if you fly them well. The HLC Nu is just a sledgehammer that flattens anything it sees, and in a squad with so many other pressing threats the Academy Pilot consistently slips through the cracks to do more than his 12 pts worth.

More than that, though, the mix of ship types and tactical flexibility in the squad is great fun. The Gunboat and Shuttle run together and can slow roll or sprint off if needed. I constantly try to create an 'L'-shaped engagement with Gunboat and Shuttle on one side and the Inquisitor and TIE on the other side, and it works either way depending on how the opponent tries to engage. You can slow-roll the shuttle really well and give the Inquisitor and TIE time to flank, or if the opponent makes a beeline for the Inquisitor you 1-turn/barrel him and the TIE on your baseline to buy time for the Gunboat to SLAM up and around, and the shuttle to move into position as well.

I'm pretty sure the correct target priority against this squad is: Gunboat > Shuttle > Inquisitor > TIE. I'm equally sure none of my opponents have ever correctly decoded that and lost games chasing the Shuttle or Inquisitor first, leaving the Gunboat to run wild.

Better than Howard Aces? I make no such claim. In the ballpark and a lot better than you'd expect? Yeah, almost certainly.


Also: Academy Pilot is Harry Potter, the Palpshuttle is obviously Dumbledore, the Inquisitor is Snape and the big hammer HLC Nu is Hagrid. FYI.

Interesting list. Does Palp let you turn one of your results into a crit with the HLC, or do you have to turn that to a hit (as per the printed rules on the card)? I think you can choose your order.

Either way, gunboats can book it when they need to, so they are way faster than people expect. Also, you can't underestimate the damage output of ANYTHING if Palp is in the list. That little TIE has probably pushed a few crits through.

1 hour ago, BDrafty said:

Interesting list. Does Palp let you turn one of your results into a crit with the HLC, or do you have to turn that to a hit (as per the printed rules on the card)? I think you can choose your order.

HLC rules only say that when you roll the dice, you turn Crits to hits. This happens only the moment you roll the dice, not after abilities or rerolls or anything else. Crits generated other than by the initial first rolling of the dice can stay.

It's versatile, hits hard, and has a bit of many functions. Thats a winning combo in my books anyday