RIP Supernatural Vader. Thoughts and prayers.

My old, very successful list:

Vader w/ Supernatural & FCS

Black Squadron Ace w/ Crackshot (x4)

Since the points update this has changed to too many points; so he needed a little rework.

My new Vader list is as follows:

Vader w/ FCS, Hate, Afterburners - 76pts.

Howlrunner w/ Crackshot - 41pts.

Black Squadron Ace w/ Crackshot (x3) - 27pts each.

This comes in at 198 points.

Personally I think it's a good looking list and I'm excited to try it. Frees Vader's force charges up and will increase his recharge (if damaged), plus it bolsters the BSA Ties with the offensive reroll.

I am always open to critique and ideas. So, thoughts?

Thanks

Looks good to me.

I’m going to try something very similar. Giving Rudor a run out instead of one of the Aces.

Afterburners?

1 minute ago, svelok said:

Afterburners?

Yeah I considered it. The wording confuses me on the card though, can I perform a boost regardless of it not being in my action bar? It doesn't look to add a boost action. Two boosts at key moments could be useful though, brings the list up to 198 so will probably be flying first against anyone else flying I6 with a bid. Get to shoot first though...

11 minutes ago, Blast Tundra said:

Yeah I considered it. The wording confuses me on the card though, can I perform a boost regardless of it not being in my action bar? It doesn't look to add a boost action.

Yep

If an upgrade instructs you to "perform a [whatever] action", it doesn't matter if it's on your bar or not.

My one concern with adding "Howlrunner" - to benefit from her ability you need to be in a range 1 bubble, but to benefit from crack shot you also need to have 'skewered' your target with a bullseye arc. It's going to be very awkward to achieve both at once.

I'd be tempted, instead of spending 14 points to upgrade one Black Squadron Ace to "Howlrunner", to spend 6 points to make two of them "Mauler" Mithel or "Scourge" Skutu, and then the remaining 8 to turn two of them into Inferno Squadron pilots - any combination of Del Meeko, Gideon Hask and Seyn Marana (swap Crack Shot for Marksmanship here) would work, but since Vader and Mithel shoot first, I'd go with Gideon and Del - one nice benefit of Del Meeko compared to the more expensive Iden Versio is that his ability, in addition to not being one-use, isn't limited to "TIE fighters" - meaning it works on Vader, too. If you don't have supernatural reflexes, Vader can expect to be shot at a lot more, and hence a reroll on a green die is a good substitute for the evade action he doesn't have, especially with Hate to keep his force charge topped up.

1 hour ago, Magnus Grendel said:

If an upgrade instructs you to "perform a [whatever] action", it doesn't matter if it's on your bar or not.

My one concern with adding "Howlrunner" - to benefit from her ability you need to be in a range 1 bubble, but to benefit from crack shot you also need to have 'skewered' your target with a bullseye arc. It's going to be very awkward to achieve both at once.

I'd be tempted, instead of spending 14 points to upgrade one Black Squadron Ace to "Howlrunner", to spend 6 points to make two of them "Mauler" Mithel or "Scourge" Skutu, and then the remaining 8 to turn two of them into Inferno Squadron pilots - any combination of Del Meeko, Gideon Hask and Seyn Marana (swap Crack Shot for Marksmanship here) would work, but since Vader and Mithel shoot first, I'd go with Gideon and Del - one nice benefit of Del Meeko compared to the more expensive Iden Versio is that his ability, in addition to not being one-use, isn't limited to "TIE fighters" - meaning it works on Vader, too. If you don't have supernatural reflexes, Vader can expect to be shot at a lot more, and hence a reroll on a green die is a good substitute for the evade action he doesn't have, especially with Hate to keep his force charge topped up.

I have the Inferno Squadron as another swarm list and love them. You raise a good point though, points can be spent more wisely:

Vader - 76pts
Hate
FCS
Afterburners

Mauler Mithel - 32pts

Scourge Skutu - 34pts
Predator

Del Meeko - 30pts

Valen Rudor - 28pts

200pts total.

There isn't really a need to vie for bid with this list and Predator suits Scourge perfectly.

3 minutes ago, Blast Tundra said:

Predator suits Scourge perfectly

Indeed. It still takes a bit of finesse to line up his bullseye, but given that he's the same price and toughness as a bog standard TIE interceptor, having Initiative 5 and what's essentially a fire control system baked in is some impressive value for money. I'd never dismiss Iden Versio or Howlrunner's abilities, but the fact that they're 8 points more than the other Initiative 5 pilots - whose abilities are not bad to start with - and in Iden's case drop an initiative as well , shows how much you're paying for them.

I don’t think I’ll ever fly a swarm or mini swarm without Howlrunner. Her ability is too good.

Just now, ChrisW4 said:

I don’t think I’ll ever fly a swarm or mini swarm without Howlrunner. Her ability is too good.

I agree that her ability is amazing, if you can keep her alive. Once she's gone they're just firing normally again. The swarm Magnus and I have written has a little handshaking but most ships are independent.

I'm interested in trying this one out....

Vader (78)
-FCS
-Afterburners
-Cluster Missiles

Gideon Hask (39)
-Predator
-Hull

Seyn Marana (38)
-Marksmanship
-Hull

Mauler (44)
-Outmaneuver
-Afterburners

Total: 199

Might drop the hull upgrades off the two TIEs and give vader Instinctive aim.

There's also the option to take both Iden and Howlrunner.

• Iden Versio (-) 40
• Howlrunner (-) 40
  • Crack Shot probably goes unused in a lot of games anyhow, so just cut it.
• Academy Pilot (-) 23
• Academy Pilot (-) 23
• Darth Vader (Hate, Afterburners) 74

So the TIE block is hard-hitting and tough, and Vader doesn't really need the action economy of FCS anyhow. Or you could take FCS instead of Hate. That'd be valid.

It probably isn't worth it to bring Vader up along side Howl, to use her as a sorta FCS.

On 1/30/2019 at 8:44 PM, theBitterFig said:

There's also the option to take both Iden and Howlrunner.

• Iden Versio (-) 40
• Howlrunner (-) 40
  • Crack Shot probably goes unused in a lot of games anyhow, so just cut it.
• Academy Pilot (-) 23
• Academy Pilot (-) 23
• Darth Vader (Hate, Afterburners) 74

So the TIE block is hard-hitting and tough, and Vader doesn't really need the action economy of FCS anyhow. Or you could take FCS instead of Hate. That'd be valid.

It probably isn't worth it to bring Vader up along side Howl, to use her as a sorta FCS.

I flew basically this sans afterburners. But I'm now sold of after burners. I'd go fcs afterburners for sure.

On 1/30/2019 at 8:44 PM, theBitterFig said:

There's also the option to take both Iden and Howlrunner.

• Iden Versio (-) 40
• Howlrunner (-) 40
  • Crack Shot probably goes unused in a lot of games anyhow, so just cut it.
• Academy Pilot (-) 23
• Academy Pilot (-) 23
• Darth Vader (Hate, Afterburners) 74

So the TIE block is hard-hitting and tough, and Vader doesn't really need the action economy of FCS anyhow. Or you could take FCS instead of Hate. That'd be valid.

It probably isn't worth it to bring Vader up along side Howl, to use her as a sorta FCS.

My effort is very similar to this.

Hyper space check

(65) Darth Vader
(2) Fire-Control System
(6) Afterburners
Points 73

(40) "Howlrunner"
Points 40

(40) Iden Versio
Points 40

(23) Academy Pilot
Points 23

(23) Academy Pilot
Points 23

Total points: 199

Played against Triple T70s and just rolled loads of paint against my brother rolling zero. Not sure how much this reflected the quality of the list.

I should spend the point on Crack shot.