The Core of the list is this
“Duchess” (42)

Maarek Stele (46)
Marksmanship (1)
Fire-Control System (2)

Major Vermeil (49)

Academy Pilot (23)

Academy Pilot (23)
Total: 186

This leaves 14 points for upgrades. Those could be:
- Predator (2) on “Duchess” as she is supposed to be the flanker here
- Proton Bombs (5) on “Duchess” for the extra threat
- Tactical Officer (2) on Vermeil for stress-less Co-ordinates
- Death Troopers (6) on Vermeil for a little bit of stress control
- Afterburners (6) on Maarek Stele as with 10 3-5 speed maneuvers seems totally worth it
- make the Academy Pilots to Black Squadron Aces w/Crack Shots for 4pts each
- bid for the 2 Initiative 5 pilots

So any ideas/suggestions?

I had a couple games with this....

Duchess.

Maarek, FCS

Seyn, Marksmanship.

Gideon.

Vizier.

...as the core. Couple more points here and there, went through numerous ideas and sims.

Very potent, but squishy enough, and synergy dependant enough, to be a real headache to put together on the table. Won one, resoundingly. Lost one similarly due to obviously poor turn zero choices and dodgy corrections.

I just don't get enough table time, with our different squads, to put much into quite so puzzling a thing.

Duchess felt great but didn't seem to serve a thorough enough purpose in the squad.

Marksmanship Seyn is amazing though. Get her in there. Obviously makes Gideon angry but she's great on her own. Shes not synergy dependent.

I also have a soft spot for Wampa.

Vizier can give either of them evades or Maarek focus-roll-blue move-lock, almost every turn, wherever it's needed. Then sloop, which is priceless for blocking at I2. After which, 1 speed fwd, you jam if you need to avoid stress for next turn.

Fancied Sabacc or Countdown to draw the heat that Duchess doesn't want and give more room to Maarek.

Vermeil is a nasty piece of work ofc, but goes fast and in a squad like the above, firepower isn't lacking. He'll be a good fire magnet though, which will help Duchess. I think she has to have Predator, or you lose loads of offence if Maarek or Vermeil go quickly.

Black Cracks seem pretty good in the Vermeil build.

Maarek is so fierce, worth investing in Afterburners to keep him that way longer. I kinda like him as a fairly cheap beat-stick. FCS and almost any of the 1pt EPTs and he's good enough.

Small upgrades can make a big difference in here and I think Tac Officer is expendable on Vermeil, just max his shots.

No idea on Death Troopers. They've done well elsewhere. Personally, Vermeil is always gonna die fast and 6pt for an element of control is just not my preference.

Proton Bombs strike me as very dangerous for everyone concerned. Stand well back!

I want to come back to these 5 ships in combo at some point, like it a lot. Good luck with it.

Duchess really deserves Predator. Thats the only one I feel very strongly about tbh

So after Predator and Afterburners there are 6pts left. Maybe toss a Talent on Vermeil like Elusive (3) for extra survivability or Intimidation (3) to make the others punch harder and call it a day? There are 3pts left to upgrade the Academies to Obsidians. Dunno if it's worth it though as there a lot of 5 Initiative Pilots and having "Duchess" and Maarek go after them would really help i think.

“Duchess” (42)
Predator (2)

Maarek Stele (46)
Marksmanship (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Afterburners (6)

Major Vermeil (49)
Intimidation (3)

Academy Pilot (23)

Academy Pilot (23)
Total: 197

I dig that right there

After a few games i think I will staple Tactical Officer on the TIE Reaper. It really helps so much with stress control. You really want to Co-ordinate a Focus (w/ or w/out the roll) to Maarek in the first engagement without the stress to be able to Ailerons > S-Loop in the next turn. So the list looks like this now:

“Duchess” (42)
Predator (2)

Maarek Stele (46)
Marksmanship (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Afterburners (6)

Major Vermeil (49)
Trick Shot (2)
Tactical Officer (2)

Academy Pilot (23)

Academy Pilot (23)
Total: 198

14pts you say?

Death Troopers on Vermeil ends Resistance Aces. Nien can’t do his tricks and as soon as Poe or an A-Wing self-stresses he can just stay ahead of them and shepherd them out of the fight. Haven’t flown him with Vader yet but it seems worth it for the force alone, without even considering how potent Vader makes his offence.

I think your choice is between sinking all 14 points into Vader or going with Death Troopers, Predator on Duchess and Afterburners on Stele. I’d go for the latter, personally.

Well as a Second Edition player I don't have Vader (Crew) yet, but thankfully he is in Wave IV VT-49 Decimator Expansion. About the Deathtroopers, with the prevalence of Leia I don't know how worthy an investment they would be, haven't tried them to be honest though.

On 4/9/2019 at 4:37 PM, C3gorach said:

Well as a Second Edition player I don't have Vader (Crew) yet, but thankfully he is in Wave IV VT-49 Decimator Expansion. About the Deathtroopers, with the prevalence of Leia I don't know how worthy an investment they would be, haven't tried them to be honest though.

They are good versus Resistance and aces lists. Other lists is "meh". Rebel beef doesnt care. If you are range 1 for troopers to kick in, then you are range 1 of all 4 of their ships. Vermeil wont live long.

I flew vermeil in trials and removed Deathtroopers. Never really missed it.

Vader is useful in every single game against every single ship. Strip a token or deal a damage, while also able to provide mods on sloops.

Just a quick note, if you happen to want to drop the reaper down for points or something, Vizier just got a huge buff with the Rules Reference update, as his free Coordinate is now white. Just wanted to point that out in case you were not considering him because of the red. (Vermil probably works better anyways, for what you have in mind, but if you're planning on using the reaper to Coord/block, I think that's definitely the way to go: saves you some points too so you can toss burners or predator on anyways).

Vizier's Pilot Ability coordinate was always white, they just explicitly spelled it out now for those that didn't get it. Everyone already new this, just for some reason they had a hard time grasping this concept since its red on the action bar. Another way to think about it is this:

What color is Sabine Wren's Boost Action?

But for some reason, people felt they had to argue that the Pilot Ability granted coordinate was red.

Viziers free coord is awesome. He's the pilot I use most, these days. But he is definitely a support ship, no selfish actions make his gun pretty weak.

Medium base and a free dial give good options for putting him in very awkward places for the opposing squad though and even unmodified, his basic 3 reds are still a threat that they have to consider.

Crew obviously give more utility too, but I like him cheap.

Yeah I always played Viziers Ability as white. In the current list Vermeil is one of the hiters along with Duchess and Maarek. And with the Academy TIEs to block he can cause some serious damage...

For Vizier I would try something like this:

Maarek Stele (46)
Marksmanship (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Afterburners (6)

“Duchess” (42)
Predator (2)

“Vizier” (45)
Death Troopers (6)

“Pure Sabacc” (44)
Shield Upgrade (6)
Total: 200

This seems much more "squishy" to me though...

1 hour ago, C3gorach said:

Yeah I always played Viziers Ability as white. In the current list Vermeil is one of the hiters along with Duchess and Maarek. And with the Academy TIEs to block he can cause some serious damage...

For Vizier I would try something like this:

Maarek Stele (46)
Marksmanship (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Afterburners (6)

“Duchess” (42)
Predator (2)

“Vizier” (45)
Death Troopers (6)

“Pure Sabacc” (44)
Shield Upgrade (6)
Total: 200

This seems much more "squishy" to me though...

Absolutely. I like Vermeil a lot, it's a very different role. Vizier only draws fire if you plonk him right in the way, and then he's largely wasted, since he'll not trade well.

I like Vizier with Maarek, there's a lot they can do. But I feel like the rest of the list has to take attention and be semi sacrificial, since they don't bash heads in early. It would mean changing the balance.

I use Maarek as more of a distraction and then a closer. Which is not quite so fluid. Basically because I just really like flying Vizier and making them dance.

Been using Maarek, Vizier, Seyn, Gideon and...... Turr Phennir.... for a few games recently. It entertains me. But I think yours is better