Hello everyone!

In my local community, this is the strongest list at the moment.

Problem is: The Bombers get their target locks very early in the game (beyond range 3, due to Colonel Jendon) and they usually have Lock plus Focus in the first round of combat.

You will most likely lose a ship in the first engagement.

Colonel Jendon (46)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (28)
Proton Torpedoes (9)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (28)
Proton Torpedoes (9)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (28)
Proton Torpedoes (9)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (28)
Proton Torpedoes (9)

Total: 194

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0

What do you think? is this really very strong? How would you beat that?

Cpt. Kagi

Fly the ship they're locked on away, go kill the ones that can't get locks on you due to their low PS, repeat.

IOW, don't joust it. If you're jousting it, you're playing its game.

7 minutes ago, Deffly said:

Cpt. Kagi

That is a pretty good answer for an imperial player, however I don’t think Op uses Imperial.

For Rebels magva in the u-wing helps in defense, otherwise try to kill off at least 1 bomber before they shoot.

For Scum the answer is really only try to kill them before they shoot, and bump if you can.

14 minutes ago, thespaceinvader said:

Fly the ship they're locked on away, go kill the ones that can't get locks on you due to their low PS, repeat.

IOW, don't joust it. If you're jousting it, you're playing its game.

So much this.

They telegraph their target, don't give it to them. Send them on a merry chase and flank with the other part of your list.

Mix up your range control and target selection on your opponent.

Proton torps need 3 things to fire:

A Target Lock

Range 2-3

In arc

Remove one of these conditions and they can't fire them. If you can rush boost in then you can engage at range 1. If you have turrets you can aim to fly past and shoot from behind and then circle out of arc.

Jam also works.

Dash with Outrider lols at your locks and can easily kill a bomber before it shoots.

If you’re flying Scum, you can use ships like Palob and 4-LOM to Jam and steal tokens. Boba can also flank this list, boost to hurt their range, and fly past them and shoot out of the back arc.

With this many bombers, they may really spread out to catch you in the net, but that makes their chances of focus firing less.

With Rebels? I think minimize the alpha strike and pick them apart with superior movement and your own torps. Wedge is a bane against 1-2 dice greens. Or just go Dash/Roark and shed the locks. Someone spamming you with under-costed proton torp bombers is probably deserving of the Dash surprise if they haven’t prepared for it.

Resistance ships with Ferrosphere Paint... make them have to take a stress with those long-range target locks!

12 minutes ago, DexterOnone said:

Resistance ships with Ferrosphere Paint... make them have to take a stress with those long-range target locks!

Mostly irrelevant, they get the locks on turn 1, then do a green on turn 2.

A more general answer, in support of some of the previous ones, change your deployment and approach. Don't fly in a block, even if that's what your squad is "supposed" to do. If you do you will be very predictable on the initial and absolutely lose one ship just going in. Now if your flying like a four ship rebel squad, if you start with say one ship just inside the range two Mark on each side, and your other two roughly evenly spaced between, you can call a fairly wide net of flankers and as you converge in the middle in later turns you'll still get any teamwork bonuses in the scrum. At this point one of two things will happen, they will split their fire and maybe miss a kill, or stuck to killing the one ship they wanted to anyway but with your squad now having jammed up and likely doing more damage for a few turns at close range. If you have a high maneuvering ship like Ten Numb+AdvSen in the end game you should go a long way to closing the gap.

5 hours ago, Schu81 said:

What  do you think? is th  is really very strong? How would you beat that? 

Lets ignore list building for a moment.

What 1st engagements do you think make that list vulnerable? What ranges and angles are best to attack from? What are the bombers weaknesses in terms of dial, initiative, and actions?

Can you post a quick Paint image of how your opponent sets up and typically approaches 1st combat?

5 hours ago, Deffly said:

Cpt. Kagi

This ^

51 minutes ago, thespaceinvader said:

Mostly irrelevant, they get the locks on turn 1, then do a green on turn 2.

Which means you know exactly what moves they're capable of making, and make **** sure you're not in a position where they can get a torpedo off...

13 minutes ago, DexterOnone said:

Which means you know exactly what moves they're capable of making, and make **** sure you're not in a position where they can get a torpedo off...

They will most likely be doing a 1 straight anyway...

There is a sure fire way to beat every list imaginable using any faction possible and it's SUPER easy.

First, make a tournament legal list of two ships. Any two ships will do, but I recommend your cheapest generics for that faction. No upgrades or anything extra. This gives you guaranteed bid to move first. Place obstacles, set your ships, set the dials. Got this far? Good.

Now, right before the activation phase, make eye contact with your opponent. Let them know that while this two ship generic list may LOOK like a joke, you are going to absolutely DESTROY them. While still making eye contact, grip the edge of the table firmly with your fingers underneath and thumbs on top. DO NOT BREAK EYE CONTACT!! Now, thrust your arms upwards! FLIP THAT TABLE WITH A PRIMAL WAR CRY!!! This is your opening! Everyone will be in shock for a few more seconds, so move fast! What you do next is up to you... but here are some ideas: grab your chair and slam it into their temple! Step on their throat! Let them know you are a champion and they have no chance of defeating you! This isn't a mere game, this is WAR! Beat them! DESTROY THEIR WILL TO CONTINUE ON!

Thanks for your help everyone!

Of course I try not to joust directly into 4 Proton Torpedoes. Keeping the locked-on ship out of range seems logical and maybe even obvious.

But it's not that simple, if you have only got a 2 or 3 ship list. Meanwhile the enemy has got 5 ships on the table.

Actually, once I played the Falcon against him and I had 4 Target Locks on my YT-1300 for almost the whole match. I managed to avoid the shots with manoeuvring, boosting and predicting his movements.

That worked quite well, but at some point during a 75 minutes match, you will get shot at and might still lose the match. Killing just one or two bombers is not enough, if you lose half points of a fat falcon yourself

6 minutes ago, Schu81 said:

Thanks for your help everyone!

Of course I try not to joust directly into 4 Proton Torpedoes. Keeping the locked-on ship out of range seems logical and maybe even obvious.

But it's not that simple, if you have only got a 2 or 3 ship list. Meanwhile the enemy has got 5 ships on the table.

Actually, once I played the Falcon against him and I had 4 Target Locks on my YT-1300 for almost the whole match. I managed to avoid the shots with manoeuvring, boosting and predicting his movements.

That worked quite well, but at some point during a 75 minutes match, you will get shot at and might still lose the match. Killing just one or two bombers is not enough, if you lose half points of a fat falcon yourself

It's an uphill battle for some lists, for sure. That's the nature of the game and making meta calls.

Not to mention, it sounds like you're doing it right as best you can given the circumstances.

10 minutes ago, Schu81 said:

Thanks for your help everyone!

Of course I try not to joust directly into 4 Proton Torpedoes. Keeping the locked-on ship out of range seems logical and maybe even obvious.

But it's not that simple, if you have only got a 2 or 3 ship list. Meanwhile the enemy has got 5 ships on the table.

Actually, once I played the Falcon against him and I had 4 Target Locks on my YT-1300 for almost the whole match. I managed to avoid the shots with manoeuvring, boosting and predicting his movements.

That worked quite well, but at some point during a 75 minutes match, you will get shot at and might still lose the match. Killing just one or two bombers is not enough, if you lose half points of a fat falcon yourself

Is the rest of your list Super Luke?

Like folks said, just don't joust with those bombers. However, I feel the list is has one too many bombers. I think this is a more formidable list.

TIE/sa Bomber - •Captain Jonus - 48
•Captain Jonus - Disciplined Instructor (36)
Crack Shot (1)
Proton Torpedoes (9)
Munitions Failsafe (2)

Lambda -class T-4a Shuttle - •Colonel Jendon - 60
•Colonel Jendon - Darth Vader’s Shuttle Pilot (46)
•Darth Vader (14)

TIE/sa Bomber - •Tomax Bren - 46
•Tomax Bren - Brash Maverick (34)
Crack Shot (1)
Proton Torpedoes (9)
Munitions Failsafe (2)

TIE/sa Bomber - •Major Rhymer - 43
•Major Rhymer - Scimitar Leader (34)
Crack Shot (1)
Adv. Proton Torpedoes (6)
Munitions Failsafe (2)

Total: 197/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

9 minutes ago, Boom Owl said:

Is the rest of your list Super Luke?

No actually, I have played the following list (trying to rebuild a very cool list from 1.0 which doesn't work as perfectly nowadays anymore)

Han Shoots First

Han Solo (92)
Trick Shot (1)
Luke Skywalker (30)
Chewbacca (5)
R2-D2 (8)
Engine Upgrade (9)

Jake Farrell (40)
Predator (2)
Proton Rockets (7)

Total: 194

My second list played against the Bombers was this one:

Battle of Yavin

Wedge Antilles (52)
Proton Torpedoes (9)
R5 Astromech (5)
Servomotor S-foils (0)

Luke Skywalker (62)
Supernatural Reflexes (12)
R2 Astromech (6)
Servomotor S-foils (0)

“Dutch” Vander (42)
Ion Cannon Turret (6)
Ion Torpedoes (6)

Total: 200

What do you think? Which one would be stronger against the Bombers?

Got any other good ideas for me (Rebel faction) ?

17 minutes ago, Schu81 said:

What do you think? Which one would be stronger against the Bombers?

Got any other good ideas for me (Rebel faction) ?

So that first list is ice skating up hill a bit. It sounds like you have the "on the table tactics" in mind....engage at R1, look for partial engagements for good trades, set up awkward combat rounds that force k turns or blind spot turns around rocks, keep the locked thing out of more than 1 arc, etc. Dropping Luke Gunner will complicate how the YT1300 attempts to stay out of arc. But its ok. The key is that you need to Trade Han for something that sets Luke Up. Ideally Han dies the same turn the 2nd Bomber Dies.

As far as list advice...trying to keep the spirit of what your doing the same here.

As far as pure Trench Run variants give this a look. Im a huge fan of A-Wings as well so can swap Braylen out for Procket Jake and a afterburners or something else on Luke. This should Kill 2 Bombers very quickly. Keep Luke alive and you can close out 1 v 3 pretty reliably. Wedge isnt necessary (more just there for theme) and can be biggs or a u-wing instead with two copies of selfless mixed in.

Or this. This is probably better.

TIE/sa Bomber - •Major Rhymer - 44
•Major Rhymer - Scimitar Leader (34)
Crack Shot (1)
Proton Torpedoes (9)

TIE/sa Bomber - •Tomax Bren - 44
•Tomax Bren - Brash Maverick (34)
Crack Shot (1)
Proton Torpedoes (9)

Lambda -class T-4a Shuttle - •Colonel Jendon - 66
•Colonel Jendon - Darth Vader’s Shuttle Pilot (46)
•Darth Vader (14)
• ST-321 (6)

TIE/sa Bomber - •Captain Jonus - 46
•Captain Jonus - Disciplined Instructor (36)
Crack Shot (1)
Proton Torpedoes (9)

Total: 200/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

@thespaceinvader and @Sergovan have the best advice - beyond 'building to beat a list'.

With Jendon, TIE Bombers can pre-lock, but then telegraph their target - meaning either (1) they split up their locks and can't concentrate fire or (2) they all lock up one guy who can avoid joining the initial attack.

Equally, if you can play range games (something like TIE/v1 or interceptors, or anyone with boost/focus) you can lurk outside of range 3, hit the gas and scream in for range 1 where the torpedoes are useless.