Has anybody tried the Season of Giving variant from the Squad Builder and what imperial or FO lists did you fly? I noticed that there seem to be no pilots with Ini > 4 and lots of upgrade cards are missing, e.g. there are no sensor slot upgrade cards available, so no FCS etc.

2 hours ago, Laniakean_Guy said:

Has anybody tried the Season of Giving variant from the Squad Builder and what imperial or FO lists did you fly? I noticed that there seem to be no pilots with Ini > 4 and lots of upgrade cards are missing, e.g. there are no sensor slot upgrade cards available, so no FCS etc.

I noticed it myself. Essentially giving every pilot the Squad Leader talent is rather nice.

Thoughts:

1. I was considering Epsilon Squadron - "Muse" really benefits since she can shake off the stress easily, and 6 Epsilon Squadron Cadets, who can dogpile actions onto whoever needs them, whilst the TIE/fo's ability to Focus/Evade/Lock means it can actually use a stack of free actions effectively.
2. Alternatively, Valen Rudor (Ruthless/Shield Upgrade) and 6 Black Squadron Aces (Ruthless) is nice - Rudor is great with Squad Leader as it lets him respond to whoever's being shot by reactively giving them an Evade action. Getting Squad Leader free is great as it means he can (a) take a shield upgrade instead and (b) his talent slot is still free letting him take Ruthless too.
3. Without (a) systems upgrades or (b) Vader, the TIE/x1 can go die in a fire.
4. 5 Saber Squadron TIE Interceptors might be interesting. If the format caps out at Initiative 4, they're essentially mini-soontir-fel, and with 5 of them it's easy for one or two to be in a safe spot at any given moment, handing a free evade or reposition (or both!) to whoever needs it. Plus, they can shake off stress pretty easily. 3 First Order Test Pilots or 4 T-70 Black Squadron Aces might work for the same reason.

Yes, I also thought that Muse might be nice there. And maybe the best lists really are swarm lists.

I just noticed that there ARE Ini 5 pilots allowed, at least one - Howrunner. Might be worth checking if there are other Ini 5 pilots...

Edit: the following Ini 5-pilots are available:

Rebels

Jan Ors (5)
Lando Calrissian (5)
Airen Cracken (5)

Empire

Howlrunner (5)
Rear Admiral Chiraneau (5)

Scum

Serissu (5)
Captain Nym (5)

Resistance

none!

First Order

none!