High Five, Imperials!

(40) "Howlrunner" [TIE/ln Fighter]
Points: 40

(32) "Mauler" Mithel [TIE/ln Fighter]
Points: 32

(32) "Scourge" Skutu [TIE/ln Fighter]
Points: 32

(42) "Duchess" [TIE/sk Striker]
Points: 42

(46) Maarek Stele [TIE Advanced x1]
(2) Fire-Control System
Points: 48

Total points: 194

There happen to be 5 hyperspace legal initiative 5 pilots--and they come in under 200! 6 pt bid to beat out other init 5s.

My thought is to fly the Ties and x1 in 2x2 formation and use Duchess for flanking.

Thoughts?

It's a good looking squad. My biggest recommendation is to be as cagey as possible with Duchess as she's probably your best closer on account of being the only non-jousting ship

Looks elegant.

My comments:

You've got a handful of points to spend. Whilst Initiative 5 is pretty hotly contested, I'm not sure you have enough repositioning ability on your ships to be desperate to control initiative (like you might be with, say, Supernatural Reflexes Kylo Ren).

Howlrunner, Mauler and Scourge are a nice trio of mini-aces. Because Howlrunner benefits herself, you don't really need to have everyone stuffed inside her range 1 'bubble' to justify her existence - her and Mauler by themselves are enough to be at least slightly threatening.

I would agree with flanking with Duchess. Without shield or hull upgrade, she's pretty fragile so needs to avoid going up the centre if at all possible.

Maarek Stele and Scourge are interesting:

• Maarek is flying a TIE/x1 advanced. That means he needs - desperately needs - to target lock, which enables Advanced Targeting Computer. Doing so means he already has a reroll via Fire Control System (or just by spending the lock itself if you roll that badly), which means that Howlrunner's pilot ability is almost redundant in his case. As a result, he can also flank (a bit), which would be a good idea since on the initial engagement turn he needs to lock rather than focus, leaving him unpleasantly vulnerable (although admittedly he has two shield tokens over Howlrunner for not many more points so he's unlikely to be target #1)
• I would definitely not try too hard to fly Scourge in Howlrunner's bubble. Scourge wants to bullseye people. That's not as hard as some people think, but lining up a bullseye on a target whilst also tying yourself to a range 1 bubble at the firing end makes it a very awkward piloting challenge. My personal recommendation is giving him Crack Shot; Predator is nice but the thing is that even an elite TIE fighter is still going to get blown to dust bunnies if someone looks at him funny, so assuming you're only going to get one bullseye shot and treating anything else as a bonus seems like a good idea. With Crack Shot, if you can line up a bullseye - even if you have to roll out of Howlrunner's 'bubble' to do it - it's still worthwhile:
  • 2 dice with focus and 1 reroll is slightly better than 3 unmodified dice, but not better enough that an automatic extra 'hit' by cancelling an evade with Crack Shot isn't better still.
  • If you break formation without barrel rolling and line up a bullseye, 3 dice with focus and crack shot is massively better than 2 dice with focus and reroll
  • If you somehow pull off a bullseye whilst still in formation, Howlrunner and Crack Shot stack effectively, whilst Predator wouldn't (because subsequent rerolls add much less effectiveness than the first).

If I had to pick upgrades, I'd put Elusive on Duchess - Strikers S-Loop and Koiogran a lot, and it's the cheapest way to up her toughness - Crack Shot on Scourge (for the reasons mentioned) and then maybe Ruthless or Marksmanship on Maarek Stele - Ruthless' effect is way better and more powerful, but I'm concerned you lack any cheap punching bags. Mauler Mithel should be aiming for range 1, though, and since everyone's I5, you can chop and change firing order to ensure you end your shooting with Maarek's high-powered critical rather than wasting it on shields...and for that matter even if you choose to cause a friendly kill with Ruthless, the unfortunate collateral damage wingman will still get to shoot due to the simultaneous attacks rule.

Dale Cromwell flew this list with Crackshots on everything to top 4 at the warboar regional last weekend. It's a solid, if unforgiving list to fly from the looks of it.

I like the idea of Howlie and Mauler jousting and the other three being a little more independent. However, to enable that, I would STRONGLY recommend Predator on both Scourge and Duchess - Scourge wants bullseye anyway, and Duchess is good at getting it.

I like it.

With only five ships I'd stay away from Ruthless. You don't have much in rhe way of disposable health. Since you don't really need to fly them in formation, you might think about flying them more independently.

I'd probably just put Crack Shot on everyone.

9 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

...the unfortunate collateral damage wingman...

😂😂

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! I'll take another look at the various recommendations. I'm glad to hear something similar has done well--and that I came up with this offline!

Landed on this:

High Five, Imperials!

(40) "Howlrunner" [TIE/ln Fighter]
(1) Crack Shot
Points: 41

(32) "Mauler" Mithel [TIE/ln Fighter]
(1) Crack Shot
Points: 33

(32) "Scourge" Skutu [TIE/ln Fighter]
(1) Crack Shot
Points: 33

(42) "Duchess" [TIE/sk Striker]
(2) Predator
Points: 44

(46) Maarek Stele [TIE Advanced x1]
(2) Fire-Control System
(1) Crack Shot
Points: 49

Total points: 200

Went 0/2 tonight-the first one was a bad loss, and rightfully so. The second was very close, but still a loss. We played to time, but I think I probably would have ended up losing anyway if we went to total victory. Both times I went first, and I found myself really wishing to go second, especially since a good chunk of my list uses bullseye. One local guy recommended dropping FCS from Maarek, and said high local bids top out at 3--so 2 will beat most out. Do you think it's worth it?

Or possibly replace predator with crackshot?

I love seeing Marek Steel in lists. He's a nasty little pain in the neck.

I know it's the theme to try to keep all the pilots at I 5, but consider dropping one of your TIE/ln down to an I 4 like Gideon so you can get some more points to work with.

Personally, I like Marek with Marksmanship+FCS and Duchess with Lone Wolf if I can fit it.

High Fives

(46) Maarek Stele [TIE Advanced x1]
(2) Fire-Control System
(1) Marksmanship
Points: 49

(40) "Howlrunner" [TIE/ln Fighter]
(1) Crack Shot
Points: 41

(32) "Mauler" Mithel [TIE/ln Fighter]
(1) Crack Shot
Points: 33

(30) Gideon Hask [TIE/ln Fighter]
Points: 30

(42) "Duchess" [TIE/sk Striker]
(5) Lone Wolf
Points: 47

Total points: 200

I would cut the bid. 5x i5's shouldn't need it - you get pipped by 6's and have 4's and lower beat + the list isn't super jinky in terms of repositioning (except Duchess). I agree with Magnel to put Elusive on Duchess. For the rest, I'd experiment with marksmanship/ruthless/crack shot to see what fits best where.

I wouldn't be too worried about the bid with this list.