Strikers!

By Smudger13, in X-Wing

So serious season is over for me so my favourite ship comes out to play.

My question is whether named Striker squads need a dedicated support ship (lambda, TIE Shuttle) alongside them?

I would prefer a fourth ship like Omega Leader, a TLT aggressor etc but fear they suffer from poor action economy.

Any thoughts gratefully appreciated!

Major stridan with hux and system officer?

TIE Reapers?

Yeah that seems solid. I simply prefer having something more interesting in that fourth spot and was curious as to whether it’s simply not a good idea in people’s experience to fly them without action economy support.

For example, Deathfire with a missile and a bomb would round out the list nicely and be a real nuisance

Just now, Celestial Lizards said:

TIE Reapers?

Absolutely! Soon as they are out. Two tournaments before then though...

Nothing wrong with sensor strident bearing systems and hux/fleet

Or perhaps even a lowly TIE shuttle with fleet and Vader

16 minutes ago, ficklegreendice said:

Or perhaps even a lowly TIE shuttle with fleet and Vader

Except it dies to anything,

1 minute ago, Commander Kaine said:

Except it dies to anything,

even to itself

that's kind of the point, though

Something with Swarm Leader and lots of Imperial Trainees. Silly fun.

3x named + OL

3x named + Palp

2x named + 1 generic + Inqy

2x striker + Kylo

I dare you not to have fun playing any of those lists!

Edited by Boom Owl
6 minutes ago, Boom Owl said:

3x named + OL

3x named + Palp

2x named + 1 generic + Inqy

2x striker + Kylo

I dare you not to have fun playing any of those lists!

I like the 25 point filler with predator

1 hour ago, Boom Owl said:

3x named + OL

3x named + Palp

2x named + 1 generic + Inqy

2x striker + Kylo

I dare you not to have fun playing any of those lists!

Love all these suggestions! Enough there to keep me busy for weeks!

Krennic will soon boost at last one striker on the table.

or the reaper he's on...never know

between LW, lwf, extra crew (kallus) and Major what'shisface's ability, it could be some prime jank

Should also mention Countdown is 75% meta ready.

I think a Reaper with Gen. Hux and 3 Strikers might be fun. Something like this:

Omicron Group Pilot (21) Reaper
General Hux (5)

Black Squadron Scout (20)
Crack Shot (1)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Adaptive Ailerons (0)

Black Squadron Scout (20)
Crack Shot (1)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Adaptive Ailerons (0)

Black Squadron Scout (20)
Crack Shot (1)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Adaptive Ailerons (0)

Total: 95

Points to play with here and who knows what the Reaper will actually cost. Dial depending, EI + Hux might be a good combo so you can jam and Hux in the same turn.

Edited by Jo Jo
1 hour ago, Boom Owl said:

Should also mention Countdown is 75% meta ready.

Countdown is self sufficient and THE best striker pilot... full stop

Thanks for the suggestions all. Just played a game with all three named, and Deathfire. Was great fun. The Striker really is such a fun ship to fly.

deathfire was the MVP though, Conner netting aces!

I’ve played a few striker lists, my original was stridan w/ fleet and systems officer, two trainees w/ LWF and Sabacc /w LWF and your choice of 1 point EPT.

The most recent I’ve been running is 3 trainees with LWF, countdown with twin ion engines and a tie shuttle with fleet & systems officers and twin ion which I managed 4-2 at a regionals with :) have to say the extra actions from the support ships keep them alive when you can focus/evade a harpoon missile, plus handing out target locks is fun when you can pull it off!

9 hours ago, Smudger13 said:

So serious season is over for me so my favourite ship comes out to play.

My question is whether named Striker squads need a dedicated support ship (lambda, TIE Shuttle) alongside them?

I would prefer a fourth ship like Omega Leader, a TLT aggressor etc but fear they suffer from poor action economy.

Any thoughts gratefully appreciated!

Need? No. Like? Probably.

If you're taking the striker all-stars, then yes, a support ship is no bad move. It's basically triple pocket aces, rather than double 'proper' aces, and historically 2 aces plus support always outperformed 3 unsupported aces.

I wouldn't recommend palpatine - because he's expensive and unlike soontir or vader, there's no one-roll-per-turn-to-win-the-game; you have more numbers but weaker individual rolls.

Intel officers, Fleet Officers, and so on are nice options, though.

One particularly nice option is Captain Yorr, Inspiring Recruit, Electronic Baffle. It's not expensive, leaves a crew slot free, and eats stress like he's pac-man. One of the biggest edges strikers have over most other ships is the ridiculous flexibility they have in stringing together ailerons and segnors or koiogans to find blind spots. However, they're also massively sensitive to stress - their white dial plus ailerons matches an advanced optics TIE silencer, but their green dial is that of a T-70 X-wing (i.e. god-awful by comparison). Being able to loop or turn and still get tokens and not drop your speed next turn can be game-winning. As an extra bonus, being able to instantly pull off a stress also makes countdown's ability much more effective, because it means he can survive two harpoon missiles in quick succession without difficulty.

Edited by Magnus Grendel
2 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

One particularly nice option is Captain Yorr, Inspiring Recruit, Electronic Baffle. It's not expensive, leaves a crew slot free, and eats stress like he's pac-man. One of the biggest edges strikers have over most other ships is the ridiculous flexibility they have in stringing together ailerons and segnors or koiogans to find blind spots. However, they're also massively sensitive to stress - their white dial plus ailerons matches an advanced optics TIE silencer, but their green dial is that of a T-70 X-wing (i.e. god-awful by comparison). Being able to loop or turn and still get tokens and not drop your speed next turn can be game-winning. As an extra bonus, being able to instantly pull off a stress also makes countdown's ability much more effective, because it means he can survive two harpoon missiles in quick succession without difficulty.

Really like this squad, Yorr is fantastic and with the amazing repositioning of Strikers, you can use the Shuttle as a weapon and not worry about being tailed (let them try, trap it is). ?

The one I've flown the most is 4 Imperial Trainees + Doom Shuttle. They're hardest matchup us super agile ships, like defenders, and Darth Vader crew does a number on them. Also, the shuttle is defensive in a way that covers for the TIE strikers' weakness, and just takes up a lot of space on the board to mature down your opponent's optimal maneuvers. Of course, you can accidentally do that to yourself if you're not careful.

I've also flown 4 Imperial Trainees + Tractor Beam Nu Sq. Pilot. The Nu can use Tractor Beam to set up a target by moving it into position, or simply lowering its agility. With Linked Batteries, the Tractor Beam is pretty accurate. Definitely fun to be had there. Again, the raw HP of the Starwing balances the strikers' reliance on green dice.

It wasn't until recently that I tried the named pilots. So much fun! I ran:

TIE Striker: · "Duchess" (23)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Adaptive ailerons (0)
TIE Striker: · "Pure Sabacc" (22)
Trick Shot (0)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Adaptive ailerons (0)
TIE Striker: Imperial Trainee (17)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Adaptive ailerons (0)
TIE Bomber: · Tomax Bren (24)
Cool Hand (1)
Lightweight Frame (2)
TIE Shuttle (0)
Fleet Officer (3)
Intelligence Agent (1)
-- TOTAL ------- 100p. --

It's super janky, but it was a hoot. My opponents said, "I don't think I like that build for Tomax. Isn't Crackshot just better?" I shot back, "Look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn't focus down Tomax first if I did that." They ceded the point. He's the most expensive ship in the squad, so a big target, but he definitely pulls his weight. Being able to take an evade with Cool Hand when he uses Fleet Officer is just fun; one of the tankiest TIE bombers I've flown! Also, Both Pure Sabacc and Imperial Trainee really appreciated Intelligence Agent.

Great list Parakitor.

I’m going with something similar today. Replacing the trainee with Countdown by switching LWF for Twin Ion engines.

Should be a ton of fun!

My list :

3x Black Squadron Scout with Crack Shot/Lightweight Frame/Adaptive Ailerons

Ship Total: 69 pts

Omicron Group Pilot with Advanced Sensors/General Hux/Inspiring Recruit.

Ship Total: 30 pts

Total : 99 pts

Edited by Arkanta974