Anyone found a use for this guy? It was a bit of a dud for me in 1.0, and I still can't figure out where it fits, exactly.

I haven't yet tried too hard, but I want to. I have seen Vet Gunner used well on other ships.

Slap an ICT on there for a 36 point ship. One or two of them with a bunch of other generics and you'll give a lot of lists some fits. Ion and pounce with the others. They can kite out and away from your ships and come back in easily.

Aggressors are priced out. Bombers are cheaper ordnance, and the named aces need lots of stuff added to them to make them work and then your better off taking a different ship entirely. Maybe when more gunners come out, there will be a place for them.

Sienar Specialist (30)
Dorsal Turret (4)
Veteran Turret Gunner (8)

Total: 42

Not too bad for a double tapper.

or

Lieutenant Kestal (36)
Marksmanship (1)
Barrage Rockets (6)
Fifth Brother (12)

Total: 55

But once you are at 50pts, you really should be looking at Phantoms, Soontir, etc.

Kestal is a really cool anti-token ship with barrage, ICT, and if there is room a way to mod her attack while keeping the focus (like ruthlessness or nearby Jonus). FGD sold me very much on her!

theyre surprisingly effective with just Trickshot + ICT.

At 39pts, its easy to slip one or two in a list and they just skirt around rocks with a side-arc

So I think the “concept” of the tie aggressor combined with the model makes it one of my favorite ships for imperials....except that it’s kinda hard to actually make it good.

My my favorite thing so far in 2.0 is Kestal (should’ve been renamed to Kestral), who I acually think is specifically better than the 1.0 counterpart as an anti-ace.

Kestal with ICT and 5th brother frees up the pilot ability while allowing some dice modification, ept to taste. Really good at locking down an ace. Surprisingly good. And versatile

will it get you a win against 5 tie bombers?.... ;/

technically her ability didnt change one bit but since she now counters evade tokens shes even stronger.

The build I've been ceaslessly advocating is

Kestal + Ion cannon turret + barrage rockets + ruthless, at an exceptionally reasonable 49 points

All you have to do is run her with Jonus, giving you another I 4 barrage Rocket platform with pronounced anti-ace capabilities. Her ability is really strong in second Ed because it shuts down evades, the flipping FORCE, and all the new defensive reroll tech (elusive, del, serissu, boba, scum lando etc)

Better yet, bombers make for fantastic ruthless targets, given six health and how they're just kinda crap in the late game so you should feel no shame burning them for the sake of the empire . You can easily run her as a fifth "bomber"

Another good buddy is the Palp reaper, because Palp and how it's a blazing fast ruthless target. In fact, you can get Kestal + Jonus + Rhymer + reaper Palp into a list with plenty of room to spare

34 minutes ago, Gibbilo said:

will it get you a win against 5 tie bombers?.... ;/

Kestal will get you wins WITH tie bombers

I haven't seen anything I'd like to put on any of them but I imagine we'll get some new turrets sometime in the next few waves, so maybe something'll pop up then?

After trying the y-wing with an ion turret, I am anxious to try the tie aggressor with one.

Ion turrets are really good in second edition.

14 hours ago, ficklegreendice said:

The build I've been ceaslessly advocating is

Kestal + Ion cannon turret + barrage rockets + ruthless, at an exceptionally reasonable 49 points

All you have to do is run her with Jonus, giving you another I 4 barrage Rocket platform with pronounced anti-ace capabilities. Her ability is really strong in second Ed because it shuts down evades, the flipping FORCE, and all the new defensive reroll tech (elusive, del, serissu, boba, scum lando etc)

Better yet, bombers make for fantastic ruthless targets, given six health and how they're just kinda crap in the late game so you should feel no shame burning them for the sake of the empire . You can easily run her as a fifth "bomber"

Another good buddy is the Palp reaper, because Palp and how it's a blazing fast ruthless target. In fact, you can get Kestal + Jonus + Rhymer + reaper Palp into a list with plenty of room to spare

Kestal will get you wins WITH tie bombers

?

Kestal, Bomber, palp

(36) Lieutenant Kestal
(6) Barrage Rockets
(6) Ion Cannon Turret
Points 48

(36) Captain Jonus
(6) Barrage Rockets
Points 42

(34) Major Rhymer
(6) Barrage Rockets
Points 40

(45) "Vizier"
(13) Emperor Palpatine
Points 58

Total points: 188

What to do with the spare points? Kestal is still pretty fragile... Is Rhymer worth taking over a punisher?

Is astéroïde gambit a waste of point ?

Hmm. Coordinate a focus then barrel roll/linked to a white evade? Interesting...

1 hour ago, Goseki1 said:

?

Kestal, Bomber, palp

(36) Lieutenant Kestal
(6) Barrage Rockets
(6) Ion Cannon Turret
Points 48

(36) Captain Jonus
(6) Barrage Rockets
Points 42

(34) Major Rhymer
(6) Barrage Rockets
Points 40

(45) "Vizier"
(13) Emperor Palpatine
Points 58

Total points: 188

What to do with the spare points? Kestal is still pretty fragile... Is Rhymer worth taking over a punisher?

you don't take rhymer without Advanced Proton Torpedoes

you also forgot ruthless Kestal

195 now. Can put elusive on Jonus

Why is 5th Brother good? Just for the Force point?

8 minutes ago, heychadwick said:

Why is 5th Brother good? Just for the Force point?

I think he's especially good on kestal because it gives you more flexibility with using Kestal's ability but also much more easily modifying your attack dice.

Really increased your ability to land that ion token and shut down an ace.

19 minutes ago, ficklegreendice said:

you don't take rhymer without Advanced Proton Torpedoes

you also forgot ruthless Kestal

195 now. Can put elusive on Jonus

Also I can't wait to try this version of the build now!

Anyone try Double Tap? His ability is Vet Gunner for free.

Ok.....I just wrote a list. Jones gets Saturation Salvo to try to cause as much damage as he can before he dies. Everyone is going to gun for him.

Test

(36) Lieutenant Kestal
(6) Barrage Rockets
(6) Ion Cannon Turret
(12) Fifth Brother
(2) Debris Gambit
Points 62

(36) Captain Jonus
(6) Barrage Rockets
(6) Saturation Salvo
Points 48

(30) Gamma Squadron Ace
(5) Cluster Missiles
(9) Proton Torpedoes
Points 44

(30) Gamma Squadron Ace
(5) Cluster Missiles
(9) Proton Torpedoes
Points 44

Total points: 198

So far I have had the best luck with a generic and ion cannon turret.

53 minutes ago, ficklegreendice said:

you don't take rhymer without Advanced Proton Torpedoes

you also forgot ruthless Kestal

195 now. Can put elusive on Jonus

You are a silly man and I love your lists. Will almost certaonly give this a go.

Danke!

The list is called "The Chain of Command" btw

2 hours ago, player2422845 said:

Is astéroïde gambit a waste of point ?

If you're using turrets, Debris Gambit is the better choice.

Without turrets, there's an argument for it... but TIE Bombers exist if you aren't using a turret.

1 hour ago, ficklegreendice said:

Danke!

The list is called "The Chain of Command" btw

I was thinking actually. Although hard to setup, should we consider Juke on Kestal? You can barrel roll then evade and Juke an evade to an eye then spend focus to bin it? It is a lot of points and effort to put into a 50ish point ship with 5 health and 1 green.

She's almost certainly going to be the first target, but I guess you setup your other ships to aim at anything that tries to get to her? I'm intrigued, I just wish LWF still existed

if you juke on kestal, you don't get her ability

I've found just tucking her towards the table edge, in the corner of the formation, does enough to keep her alive (especially if you have a reaper to use as a roadblock). Otherwise, she's only 49 points and that's hardly breaking the bank, especially when there's a jonus around providing another priority target

It's actually kinda funny that everyone in that list is not someone your opponent wants to keep on the table, as even Rhymer is derping around with a 5-die attack in his back pocket

I was thinking you'd coordinate the focus, but yeah, that's a lot of setup.... There's definitely a lot of stuff that your opponent wants to see dead.