I cant wait to lay some sick blocks when 2.0 drops and starve my oponents of actions. I've been pondering who my go to blockers will be. Will it be the beast I1 Sunny Bounder? Will it be the classic I1 tie fighter? Not likely.

I can't get away from I3 Arvel Crynyd. At a mere 39 points with intimidation, he can dial in a 5 straight, take a targetlock action and link to a boost. Hopefully landing him right where Soontir plans to go. He is then able to shoot soontir with a modded range 1 shot while soontir only gets 2 green dice and can not shoot back. Thats just good fun.

But why stop at 1 blocker? How about 2? So who else in the rebel squad is an efficient blocker? How about I3 sabine in the tie fighter for 28 points. She can do a pre maneuver boost->5 straight->barrell roll with no stress! Good luck seeing that block coming Dash Rendar!

Is 2 blockers too many? What if your opponent brings all low initiative ships? Well now your blockers become arch dodgers! Also one of the coolest new features of Arvel is that he can now boost into other ships. So he is happy to face low Initiative or high initiative ships.

The only thing that worries me is supernatural reflexes vador who is pretty much unblockable. Which is why ill also bring a bid and 60 point afterburner I6 Wedge to deal with the dark lord.

Rebel Blockade (In Progress):

Sabine(28)

Arvel(36), intimidation(3)

Wedge(52), afterburners(8)

Thats 127 points leaving 73 to add another ship and put an upgrade or two on wedge and keep a 2-4 point bid for opposing I6s. So what would you add? Or do you disagree with everything in this list? Personally i feel like all three of these pilots are priced very competetively and will be if nothing else, very fun to fly.

Blocking is back, don't know if dedicated blockers are back

Currently been more than happy to repurpose an errant scimitar, black sun ace, and/or cartel executioner as a temporary roadblock. The results have been generally satisfying (dice gonna dice), and it's an AMAZING relief to not just be like

"I blocked your dude!...oh full mods and still shoots wherever with his turret...k"

**** first edition

But all the ships I've used for blocking were there because they kill things dead. Blocking was but a means to an end.

Still, can't stress how amazing it feels to have actual payoff and consequence to blocking and being blocked. Can't even look at 1st Ed anymore

Just recently, had a string of bad luck leading to a triple stress Kestal flinging herself over a rock with a 3 turn. Bad luck continued with a ****** crit, but it wasn't the direct hit that would've killed her. Plomp! Damaged Whisper flies into her. Jonus' rockets do the rest

I'm fascinated by the concept of a filler Alpha Squadron Interceptor. Boost/Barrel Roll at Init 1 for a mere 34 points is pretty potent, slipping into good places for blocks, and 3 red dice are no joke. I mean, why would I ever take Wampa for 30 when I can take an Alpha for 34? (when I don't have 4 points to spare, but still...)

5 hours ago, ficklegreendice said:

Blocking is back, don't know if dedicated blockers are back

Intimidation Oicunn springs to mind. He's one big block of metal to avoid, and if you run into him you still get a 4-dice shot to the face.

8 hours ago, TBot said:

But why stop at 1 blocker? How about 2? So who else in the rebel squad is an efficient blocker? How about I3 sabine in the tie fighter for 28 points. She can do a pre maneuver boost->5 straight->barrell roll with no stress! Good luck seeing that block coming Dash Rendar!

Is 2 blockers too many? What if your opponent brings all low initiative ships? Well now your blockers become arch dodgers! Also one of the coolest new features of Arvel is that he can now boost into other ships. So he is happy to face low Initiative or high initiative ships.

I'd say it depends. If you want to include ships as dedicated blockers, then I'd say more than one ship is good, because advanced sensors is still a thing and supernatural reflexes or afterburners make ships very squirrelly.

I don't think I'd throw in many ships purely to block - as @ficklegreendice says, your ships are there to kill stuff, not to get in the way - but swarms and mini-swarms of academy pilots or alpha squadron pilots make for effective blockers. A pair of academy pilots are a nice, affordable bolt-on to a squad, and - depending on the squad's composition, fill a multitude of sins - fly them in front of a bomber or punisher to prevent someone getting within range 1 of the heavy (and hence getting inside minimum torpedo range). Provide blockers to get in the way of an enemy's obvious escape move - even if they don't get a shot themselves.

And - if a squad is suitably equipped - disposable blockers have got even more nasty with the benefit of ruthlessness and admiral sloane

Blocking didn't back because it never fade away in a first place.

9 hours ago, TBot said:

I cant wait to lay some sick blocks when 2.0 drops and starve my oponents of actions. I've been pondering who my go to blockers will be. Will it be the beast I1 Sunny Bounder? Will it be the classic I1 tie fighter? Not likely.

I can't get away from I3 Arvel Crynyd. At a mere 39 points with intimidation, he can dial in a 5 straight, take a targetlock action and link to a boost. Hopefully landing him right where Soontir plans to go. He is then able to shoot soontir with a modded range 1 shot while soontir only gets 2 green dice and can not shoot back. Thats just good fun.

But why stop at 1 blocker? How about 2? So who else in the rebel squad is an efficient blocker? How about I3 sabine in the tie fighter for 28 points. She can do a pre maneuver boost->5 straight->barrell roll with no stress! Good luck seeing that block coming Dash Rendar!

Is 2 blockers too many? What if your opponent brings all low initiative ships? Well now your blockers become arch dodgers! Also one of the coolest new features of Arvel is that he can now boost into other ships. So he is happy to face low Initiative or high initiative ships.

The only thing that worries me is supernatural reflexes vador who is pretty much unblockable. Which is why ill also bring a bid and 60 point afterburner I6 Wedge to deal with the dark lord.

Rebel Blockade (In Progress):

Sabine(28)

Arvel(36), intimidation(3)

Wedge(52), afterburners(8)

Thats 127 points leaving 73 to add another ship and put an upgrade or two on wedge and keep a 2-4 point bid for opposing I6s. So what would you add? Or do you disagree with everything in this list? Personally i feel like all three of these pilots are priced very competetively and will be if nothing else, very fun to fly.

If you can get Outmanoeuvre on Wedge..do it. With Arvel doing his job, can be a -3 Agi swing.

13 hours ago, TBot said:

I can  't get away from I3 Arvel Crynyd. At a mere 39 points with intimidation, he can dial in a 5 straight, take a targetlock action and link to a boost. Hopefully landing him right where Soontir plans to go. He is then able to shoot soontir with a modded range 1 shot while soontir only gets 2 green d  ice and can not shoot back. Thats just good fu  n. 

It may be way harder than you think.

Arvel's strength is not into blocking ace but into hunting low and mid init. It is the boost part of his ability that make him such an amazing and cheap arc dodger. Pure blocking will need luck or mistake of your opponent, and is a bit risky for example if he finish at range 1 of a stronger chassis.

Just my opinion.

My favorite blockers for 2.0 so far:

Intimidation Arvel

generic reaper

DEATHRAIN

academy TIE <—-this one will be very common

13 hours ago, TBot said:

I can't get away from I3 Arvel Crynyd. At a mere 39 points with intimidation, he can dial in a 5 straight, take a targetlock action and link to a boost. Hopefully landing him right where Soontir plans to go. He is then able to shoot soontir with a modded range 1 shot while soontir only gets 2 green dice and can not shoot back. Thats just good fun.  

I keep going back to this Arvel build as it looks amazing, and ridiculously fun. He can either set up as a Blocker for Higher PS, or a Hunter of equal or lower PS and the best part is that if he does block or bump, most ships cannot shoot back. (maybe only another Arvel or Oicunn)

3 minutes ago, joshthesheep said:

I keep going back to this Arvel build as it looks amazing, and ridiculously fun. He can either set up as a Blocker for Higher PS, or a Hunter of equal or lower PS and the best part is that if he does block or bump, most ships cannot shoot back. (maybe only another Arvel or Oicunn)

Or a ship with Zeb crew.

Just now, Bad Idea Comics said:

Or a ship with Zeb crew.

True

Another ship which can shoot while bumped: Major Rhymer with Cluster Missiles, Proton Rockets, or Advanced Proton Torpedoes. His ability can change a Range 1 to a Range 0, and shoot while touching. It's a really nice rule update. There's no rule against shooting someone you're touching, but Range 0 is out-of-range for almost all weapons in the game.

5 minutes ago, theBitterFig said:

Another ship which can shoot while bumped: Major Rhymer with Cluster Missiles, Proton Rockets, or Advanced Proton Torpedoes. His ability can change a Range 1 to a Range 0, and shoot while touching. It's a really nice rule update. There's no rule against shooting someone you're touching, but Range 0 is out-of-range for almost all weapons in the game.

Hah! That's right and a silly oversight on my part, considering I have several builds with Rhymer/Clusters (Rhymerballs?). I've been buildinghim with Intimidation and flying him ahead of the rest of a bomber group. That only works vs a heavy target (Falcon, Outrider, etc).

5 hours ago, Embir82 said:

Blocking didn't back because it never fade away in a first place.

Sadly, yes it did. Thanks to 1.0 and its ****load of passive modifiers and/or bonus actions even when bumping.

4 hours ago, Giledhil said:

Sadly, yes it did. Thanks to 1.0 and its ****load of passive modifiers and/or bonus actions even when bumping.

Then you probably played in some alternative version of X-Wing - because from what I remember during every tournament I participated this year blocking was still very important part of the game.

1 minute ago, Embir82 said:

Then you probably played in some alternative version of X-Wing - because from what I remember during every tournament I participated this year blocking was still very important part of the game.

Say that to an Expertise K4 Dengar.

1 minute ago, Giledhil said:

Say that to an Expertise K4 Dengar.

In Polish cutthroat meta Dengar doesn't exists - Fenn with R3A2 killed it.

Guys, guys, init. 1 squints can focus or evade into a boost or roll for tokened, repositioned blocks!

44 minutes ago, Nyxen said:

Guys, guys, init. 1 squints can focus or evade into a boost or roll for tokened, repositioned blocks!

Inquisitor crew, coordinate Lambda with Alpha Squadron Interceptors

Have fun

21 hours ago, TBot said:

I cant wait to lay some sick blocks when 2.0 drops and starve my oponents of actions. I've been pondering who my go to blockers will be. Will it be the beast I1 Sunny Bounder? Will it be the classic I1 tie fighter? Not likely.

I can't get away from I3 Arvel Crynyd. At a mere 39 points with intimidation, he can dial in a 5 straight, take a targetlock action and link to a boost. Hopefully landing him right where Soontir plans to go. He is then able to shoot soontir with a modded range 1 shot while soontir only gets 2 green dice and can not shoot back. Thats just good fun.

But why stop at 1 blocker? How about 2? So who else in the rebel squad is an efficient blocker? How about I3 sabine in the tie fighter for 28 points. She can do a pre maneuver boost->5 straight->barrell roll with no stress! Good luck seeing that block coming Dash Rendar!

Is 2 blockers too many? What if your opponent brings all low initiative ships? Well now your blockers become arch dodgers! Also one of the coolest new features of Arvel is that he can now boost into other ships. So he is happy to face low Initiative or high initiative ships.

The only thing that worries me is supernatural reflexes vador who is pretty much unblockable. Which is why ill also bring a bid and 60 point afterburner I6 Wedge to deal with the dark lord.

Rebel Blockade (In Progress):

Sabine(28)

Arvel(36), intimidation(3)

Wedge(52), afterburners(8)

Thats 127 points leaving 73 to add another ship and put an upgrade or two on wedge and keep a 2-4 point bid for opposing I6s. So what would you add? Or do you disagree with everything in this list? Personally i feel like all three of these pilots are priced very competetively and will be if nothing else, very fun to fly.

The only point that is unrealistic about this is someone using Soontir Fel

I played shuttle + 4 Alphas in 1.0 a LOT a couple years back (right around the time the TFA core came out). Alpha Sq. Pilots are FANTASTIC blockers. Sure, you can boost + barrel roll in 2.0 to end up in some really unexpected places, but even having the option of EITHER boosting or barrel rolling is huge. In my old list, I needed Fleet Officer on the shuttle so that any interceptor that repositioned could still get a focus token, but with Autothrusters, they can get the focus on their own. The only thing I'm not wild about is that the stress prevents them from using their sweet new speed-3 Segnor's Loop maneuver, but I'm sure there will be moments on the battlefield where it's tactically advantageous to skip out on linking actions to open up a turn around maneuver the following round.

EDIT: My 1.0 squad ate Palp Aces for breakfast, so I am optimistic about a swarm of Alphas in 2.0, considering the level of modifications available to other craft. It might be weak to other squads with more than 3 ships.

Intimidation Norra with Zeb

2 hours ago, Embir82 said:

In Polish cutthroat meta Dengar doesn't exists - Fenn with R3A2 killed it.

Expertise/K4 Dengar existed for a very long time, and was mostly immune to blocks before he was nerfed (then countered hard by R3A2 Fenn). I bet he was even used in cutthroat Polish meta for a while.

Oh god, ******* Dengaroo

Remember that ****? That's the poster child for how much blocking used to matter

On August 21, 2018 at 6:07 PM, TBot said:

I cant wait to lay some sick blocks when 2.0 drops and starve my oponents of actions. I've been pondering who my go to blockers will be. Will it be the beast I1 Sunny Bounder? Will it be the classic I1 tie fighter? Not likely.

I can't get away from I3 Arvel Crynyd. At a mere 39 points with intimidation, he can dial in a 5 straight, take a targetlock action and link to a boost. Hopefully landing him right where Soontir plans to go. He is then able to shoot soontir with a modded range 1 shot while soontir only gets 2 green dice and can not shoot back. Thats just good fun.

But why stop at 1 blocker? How about 2? So who else in the rebel squad is an efficient blocker? How about I3 sabine in the tie fighter for 28 points. She can do a pre maneuver boost->5 straight->barrell roll with no stress! Good luck seeing that block coming Dash Rendar!

Is 2 blockers too many? What if your opponent brings all low initiative ships? Well now your blockers become arch dodgers! Also one of the coolest new features of Arvel is that he can now boost into other ships. So he is happy to face low Initiative or high initiative ships.

The only thing that worries me is supernatural reflexes vador who is pretty much unblockable. Which is why ill also bring a bid and 60 point afterburner I6 Wedge to deal with the dark lord.

Rebel Blockade (In Progress):

Sabine(28)

Arvel(36), intimidation(3)

Wedge(52), afterburners(8)

Thats 127 points leaving 73 to add another ship and put an upgrade or two on wedge and keep a 2-4 point bid for opposing I6s. So what would you add? Or do you disagree with everything in this list? Personally i feel like all three of these pilots are priced very competetively and will be if nothing else, very fun to fly.

Not gonna lie that squad sound like it needs a Moldy Crow Jan Ors with Informant Crew. Helps to see where someone is moving, and adds a die to Wedge or Arvel when you land a sweet shot