Got a 2nd E-Wing the other day, and I'm trying to put together a reasonable squad with two of them it in.

I don't think Generics would quite do it (if they could take Autothrusters like TIE Silencers, perhaps even triple generic E-Wing would be solid, but they can't). Thus, it begins with Corran Horn.

1. A fairly classic PTL/R2-D2/FCS/Engine Upgrade build would take 48 points, and probably can't really afford Etahn A'baht except in a 2-ship list, and I really don't want to try to 2-ship E-Wings. So we'd probably be looking at a Knave with a support ship
   1. Fenn Rau is generally going to be top of my list. Flight Assist Astromech (I know other droids work on him, but I like this one most) + Adaptability seems like a good start. I could either double PS 8, so Fenn could serve kinda like Advanced Sensors on Corran, or bump to PS 10 if I felt it would be strong to coordinate at that PS. So that's 21 points to start.
   2. A Knave with Flight Assist Astromech would be 28 points, perhaps just with Collision Detector in the System slot. This brings the total list to 97 points. My thoughts on the other three points:
      1. C-3PO on Fenn. Make him a good deal tankier.
      2. Advanced Sensors on the Knave. Take an action, move, then perhaps still FAA. That's pretty neat.
      3. Upgrading Knave to Blackmoon with R2-D6 and Draw Their Fire could work, but really highlights the fact that this really should just be Lowhhrick. If I'm flying double E-Wing, I want it to actually feel like it's supposed to be an E-Wing.
      4. Inspiring Recruit on Fenn, and FCS on Knave. Action efficiency, and some protection against stress control.
      5. Kanan Jarrus on Fenn Rau. This is pretty spicy. Both Corran and Fenn take stress, and don't have great greens. Opening up the white hard turns on either ship would be great.
2. A lighter, VI Corran might work. VI, R2-D2, FCS is 42 points.
   1. Naked Etahn A'baht leaves 26 points to work with, which should be enough for some kind of Fenn or Ezra.
      1. Ezra is 20 points with R3-A2 and Hera. Add Snap Shot to him for the frequent 22-point build, put Predator/FAA/ColDet on Etahn would be decent. That's reasonable action economy, but doesn't particularly take advantage of the stress. Ezra is also super annoying to fly against (way more than Fenn, IMHO), so I probably don't want to fly him in a silly casual list.
      2. I could keep pretty much the same Fenn Rau from above. Adaptability/FAA/Inspiring Recruit is the same 22 points, and would also fit a Predator/FAA Etahn. That's kinda starting to appeal to me. Fenn's coordinate keeps up Corran's action economy. Corran and Fenn might strip a few shields, and Etahn is likely ignored early on, so he can easily focus+predator+pilot ability to push through a crit. And Corran's double-tap sending through a crit via Etahn.
         1. I guess a 25 point Fenn with Adapt/FAA/Hotshot Copilot would work along side a Etahn A'baht with just FAA/Trick Shot/ColDet. I think that might be better. A 3-red dice shot against a 2-or-3 green dice defender is better off with them not having a focus, than it is with the attacker gaining a single Predator reroll and the defender having a focus. Granted, by the time Etahn attacks, an attacker might have spent that focus on their own anyhow.
3. I guess there's a 3rd option. Juke/Sensor Jammer on both Etahn Abaht and a Blackmoon with R2-D6. That'd fit something like an Ezra or cheap Fenn, depending on what droid Etahn gets. I don't really like it, since Fenn is the obvious first target, and I don't think a pair of Juke 3-dice attackers would be enough early game pressure to do the damage to survive once Fenn is gone. Ezra might work better.
   1. For completeness: Etahn A'baht (Juke, Sensor Jammer, R2-D2 - 42); Blackmoon (Juke, Sensor Jammer, R2-D6 - 36); Ezra Bridger (Snap Shot, R3-A2, Hera Syndulla - 22). That might not suck. I might pack it for the "PS 6 and Under" tournament at the FLGS on Saturday.

So the big choice: VI Corran + Etahn, or PTL Corran + Knave. Etahn seems more interesting for an "end of 1E" fun list, but PTL I think is probably better. Lesser choice: how to kit out. I think HSCP on Fenn, and the cheapest Etahn.

If you're using Flight Assist Astromech and/or your own native action to reposition, you don't actually need Fenn's PS9+ co-ordinate, because getting a green token at any point in the activation phase works just as well.

As a result, if looking to save points, consider AP-5 with inspiring recruit as a natural pairing with a PTL ace - giving them an extra action each turn and sucking the PTL stress off them, letting an E-wing use it's full dial, not just the green bits.

• Corran Horn
  • Expertise
  • Fire Control System
  • Flight Assist Astromech
• Etahn A'Baht
  • Expertise
  • Fire Control System
  • Flechette Torpedoes
  • Flight Assist Astromech
  • Guidance Chips
• AP-5
  • Inspiring Recruit
  • Flight Assist Astromech

7 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

If you're using Flight Assist Astromech and/or your own native action to reposition, you don't actually need Fenn's PS9+ co-ordinate, because getting a green token at any point in the activation phase works just as well.

As a result, if looking to save points, consider AP-5 with inspiring recruit as a natural pairing with a PTL ace - giving them an extra action each turn and sucking the PTL stress off them, letting an E-wing use it's full dial, not just the green bits.

• Corran Horn
  • Expertise
  • Fire Control System
  • Flight Assist Astromech
• Etahn A'Baht
  • Expertise
  • Fire Control System
  • Flechette Torpedoes
  • Flight Assist Astromech
  • Guidance Chips
• AP-5
  • Inspiring Recruit
  • Flight Assist Astromech

LOVE this. Though I would ditch the torps - maybe a bid or PRS on AP.

11 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

If you're using Flight Assist Astromech and/or your own native action to reposition, you don't actually need Fenn's PS9+ co-ordinate, because getting a green token at any point in the activation phase works just as well.

As a result, if looking to save points, consider AP-5 with inspiring recruit as a natural pairing with a PTL ace - giving them an extra action each turn and sucking the PTL stress off them, letting an E-wing use it's full dial, not just the green bits.

Looks good. I'm nervous to give up Regen on a ship as pricey as Corran, but it looks cool.

I think a 34 point Blackmoon pilot with FCS and M9G8 is not bad, and probably better than Etahn. It can fire with rerolls and still have its opponent reroll one die. Pairing it with 3 agility and the occasional evade token makes it pretty resilient, especially vs list with low ship count.

You can play it with VI Corran and still have enough points for a TLT Y or 2 Z-95... or any support you like.

I have loved the combo of M9-G8 with Fenn Rau. I was running Fenn/Poe (standard builds) plus a Weapons Engineer/M9 Braylen Stramm for a while. Went 11 (10 + bye) wins, 3 losses. It was like a slightly less dirtbag Lothal/Fenn, since M9-G8 is kinda like a Sensor Jammer sorta almost, and Poe can get really hard to kill if your opponent's dice are weak, but you've got ships which actually need to use firing arcs. However, you get countered fairly hard by Expertise, which folks take to counter the Fenn/Lothal stuff. Given that the PS 11 coordinate never really meant that much (Braylen can't reposition, Poe is PS 11 himself), perhaps a stress Ezra would have been better than a Fenn Rau.

No way I take it with a Y-Wing or some Z-95s, however. I think M9-G8 needs either stress or Fenn Rau in most cases in order to be worthwhile; you need to deny focus conversions in order for the defensive aspect of the card to be meaningful in my experience. If your opponent can just convert the focus, you have a 6/8 chance of the droid doing nothing, presuming you don't happen to care about crits. Denying the focus doubles the effectiveness. Adding Weapons Engineer doubles it again...

I guess it's like a Draw Their Fire/Blackmoon. It does the same thing as a different semi-support ship, but it doesn't do it as well. I think if I'm going M9-G8, I'm almost surely taking an ARC or Sheathipede in order to get double Weapons Engineer TLs, and if I want Draw Their Fire, I'm taking Lowhhrick. My preference for a double E-Wing list would be to take Etahn Abaht, since adds a kind of support (crit generation) which other support ships don't do. Maybe it's not as good, but it's not a weaker version of something else: Etahn isn't like anyone else.

On 6/15/2018 at 6:09 AM, Magnus Grendel said:

As a result, if looking to save points, consider AP-5 with inspiring recruit as a natural pairing with a PTL ace - giving them an extra action each turn and sucking the PTL stress off them, letting an E-wing use it's full dial, not just the green bits.

So I'm thinking about:

• AP-5 (either FAA or R2 Astromech... I think maybe R2... I think I'd care less about absolute top speed, and more about stress-clearing options) [17]
• Etahn Abaht (Trick Shot, FAA, FCS) [35]
• Corran Horn (PTL, R2-D2, FCS, Engine U) [48]

There's some redundancy with Corran often preferring green moves anyhow. However, going Focus/Evade off the coordinate into a green move means it'll be hard for someone to block Corran out of defensive tokens. I think this looks fairly fun, and the E-Wing list I'll pack for casual.