My son has taken rather keenly to the Republic, hurrah!

Our only options so far are the Delta and 2 ARCs, but it's been enough to get him list building and trialling at home again. Which is fantastic for me, his interest in X Wing had lessened enough that our regular store tourneys were enough to sate it. Now he has this new list, he's very keen to get it ticking, so I get more list trialling of my own.

His main wish atm is to get VTG working on the ARCs. I think there's a bit of potential there, although very dependent on flying them just so ...

A very little fine tuning has come up with this, which we'll test at home this week, on our 3rd run with it. The 1st 2 were sweeping victories for him with roughly 20pt of unused upgrades.... Since he just went gung ho with Ani and wrecked all my stuff with him, while the ARCs contributed relatively little.

(60) Anakin Skywalker [Delta-7 Aethersprite] (10) Calibrated Laser Targeting (15) Battle Meditation Points: 85

(42) 104th Battalion Pilot [ARC-170 Starfighter] (8) Perceptive Copilot (4) Veteran Tail Gunner (3) R3 Astromech Points: 57

(42) 104th Battalion Pilot [ARC-170 Starfighter] (8) Perceptive Copilot (4) Veteran Tail Gunner (3) R3 Astromech Points: 57

Total points: 199

Game plan feels a little obvious and counterable. ARCs clearly station as centrally as possible, offset their angles and focus. Anakin hangs off and Coords the flurry of locks at I6. Or a surprising I6 barrel roll for a VTG trigger. Once the enemy is sufficiently softened, Anakin tidies up.

However, I quite fancy getting the 7th Gunner working. I feel like there's some strong unpredictability and more reliability with the following list. So I may trial this on my casual night.

(60) Anakin Skywalker [Delta-7 Aethersprite] (10) Calibrated Laser Targeting (15) Battle Meditation Points: 85

(47) Squad Seven Veteran [ARC-170 Starfighter] (9) Seventh Fleet Gunner Points: 56

(47) Squad Seven Veteran [ARC-170 Starfighter] (9) Seventh Fleet Gunner Points: 56

Total points: 197

Can work with Anakin coording the lock/roll ofc. But equally, the Battle Med can work as a bluff, Anakin will be expected to play safe. The ARCs can obviously sit off and chuck a couple 4 dice focus/lock attacks while he does that. But they can also distract, block/bail and donate the 7th Gunner dice to a surprise engage from Anakin, hopefully sitting R1 with bullseye for 5 dice. A risky move but it's all about setting up the blind, as always.

I've gone with the I3s for debatable reasons. There are a lot of I2 generics we can Init kill. There are an increasing number of I3s that can do the same to us. Fear of the block is real, but with Bat Med in there, there are possible mitigations.

Another alternative is dropping to I2 and equipping R4-P to the ARCs. Opening up the 3 hard and 4 fwd to coord shenanigans.

I imagine the force power on Anakin is the most debatable inclusion, a target of the highest priority giving up his force and action. But I feel like it's worth a test, a couple turns of safety and a double coord can swing things massively.

Edit. Other Jedi are clearly options too, Ahsoka and Plo can also fill a good support roll for the Clones. Anakin is our focus atm though.

Maybe this is just me, but I don't like battle meditation on Ani at all. Too many points to put into an Ace to provide support to lower-level ships. The lower-level ships should be the ones supporting the Ace (ie palp crew/Ashoka/Sinker and Jag). You're better off with the Delta title on him along with a droid and forcing your opponent to choose to chase him down or go through your Arcs first.

From my experience, if you want to play exact these 3 ships, you might try this one:

Anakin Skywalker (60)
R3 Astromech (3)
Delta-7B (18)

"Jag" (49)
Seventh Fleet Gunner (9)

"Wolffe" (51)
Seventh Fleet Gunner (9)
Total: 199

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0

I dig the concept, but I would roll like this:

Anakin (CLT, Brilliant Evasion)

Jag (Palp, R4-P)

Wolffe (R4-P17)

Palp serves multiple functions: he can coordinate someone who needs it, provide Jag with a mod, and/or gives the opponent an unpleasant choice: "do I shoot Jag and get stressed or shoot someone else and give Jag a lock?"

Anakin is very functional and very effectively agile, as much as you can ever rely on green dice.

Wolffe is just a powerhouse.

45 minutes ago, Greebwahn said:

I dig the concept, but I would roll like this:

Anakin (CLT, Brilliant Evasion)

Jag (Palp, R4-P)

Wolffe (R4-P17)

Palp serves multiple functions: he can coordinate someone who needs it, provide Jag with a mod, and/or gives the opponent an unpleasant choice: "do I shoot Jag and get stressed or shoot someone else and give Jag a lock?"

Anakin is very functional and very effectively agile, as much as you can ever rely on green dice.

Wolffe is just a powerhouse.

With Palp on him, Jag is more points, still a huge ship and PS3 Agi1 and thus easy to chose as a focus target .

Brilliant evasion is so heavy overcosted, as well as the R4 droids you would use. CLT is also overcosted for PS6. There are different approaches to such a list, but i dont like your choices at all.

If you want to run with the lower pilot skills with 7th fleet, I would recommend taking R2 astro if you can fit it. 7th Gunner is not only good in pairs, but you have to take a disarm anyways: why not spend the round regenerating a shield as well? I haven't had much experience with it (two games) but it seems to be at least decent if you have the points.

Best,

Yeah, exactly, he stresses the chap to shoot him, and draws fire from the 2 actually capable ships, or else becomes capable himself.

For 6 points, saving you god knows how many force charges through a game, Brilliant Evasion is well worth it. The odds are not poor that it'll proc many times on 3 greens, and I want Anakin to live, dammit.

The R4-P is something of a whatever choice, but P17 is a powerhouse clincher, especially on a beefcake that needs mods to make him worth it.

CLT is a WAY better choice on I5/6s than 7B - they can very reliably get the bullseye, and offers slightly better odds than 7B would, and for WAY less points. It synergizes perfectly with Anakin too

It's so easy to get bullseye shots off at i6 given Ani's maneuverability. I really do wonder if the people who are so down on it have even tried it yet or faced it yet. As for Force uses on Ani, it's really either Brilliant Evasion or Predictive Shot. You could go SupNat but that's a heavy investment and could potentially use all three charges in one turn (SupNat, ability, extra reposition) so I'm not sure it's even that good of an idea.

Predictive Shot is what I lean towards because it helps cover your ground when you don't line up that bullseye.

44 minutes ago, Greebwahn said:

Yeah, exactly, he stresses the chap to shoot him, and draws fire from the 2 actually capable ships, or else becomes capable himself.

For 6 points, saving you god knows how many force charges through a game, Brilliant Evasion is well worth it. The odds are not poor that it'll proc many times on 3 greens, and I want Anakin to live, dammit.

The R4-P is something of a whatever choice, but P17 is a powerhouse clincher, especially on a beefcake that needs mods to make him worth it.

CLT is a WAY better choice on I5/6s than 7B - they can very reliably get the bullseye, and offers slightly better odds than 7B would, and for WAY less points. It synergizes perfectly with Anakin too

J ag is allready the Biggs of the list, cheap and still drawing fire. Dont need to give your opponent more points for same primary targtarge

As for 7B or CLT + BE, i would always, always go for 7B on Anakin.

The question is not if you can line up your bullseye. The question is how much opportunity cost are you willing to pay for it?

A bad position for next round? Shooting through a rock? Use force to roll / boost? Getting shot back?

Answer: You dont want to face your opponents ships directly with a ~80 points ace. You want to dodge their arcs sneaking in shots whenever they turn to you without getting shot back. When they dont turn to you, you want to get maximum offensiv modifiers. For 7B, you will have TL + Force, or with R3 a lot of times TL + Focus + Force. For CLT, since your plastyle is more force hungry, its just Focus a lot of times.

Also, blank out one time with CLT and you are history.

As for the R4s or Seventh Fleet gunner, its pretty simple to me.

You play 3 ships, of which 2 are giant targets that will take return fire a lot.

Swarm will be a problem. You want to have a good alpha so you can kill at least one ship before it gets a shot.

2 SFG in combination with the two Arcs abilities really helps here.

That's the thing with Anakin. I6, even with 1 force, with this dial, on 3ag, is properly good! He doesn't need anything at all added to do work.

I have had many good times with 3ag.

He's still squishy, in either config, so you're not going to drive him into the teeth of Rebel beef. You're gonna use him to pick on isolated targets, keep him sniping, diving in to Init kill, breaking away to safety.

So he's a good place to store points.

So Bat Med. Those turns he's not actively being a badass, particularly in the 1st few turns, he'll still very much help the Clones kick heads in.

People are maybe looking at his cost in isolation. The squad is out of 200, you just need to keep more of yours than you take of theirs. I can't think of a safer place to put most of mine than in Anakin .

We've started to find very different ways to actually use the squad, beyond what we'd automatically think, just going through permutations. It really isn't just 2 jousters plus ace.

I2s and R4-P are certainly going into my latest. I6 roll after a 4 straight/3 hard and focus, with 2 ARCs, is a funny thing.

24 minutes ago, Cuz05 said:

I 6 roll after a 4 straight/3 hard and focus, with 2 ARCs, is a funny thing.

Yes. Funny. But most of times, target lock and stay in a good ace position is simply better imho.

Beeing flexible is what i prefer.

1 minute ago, Rangor said:

Yes. Funny. But most of times, target lock and stay in a good ace position is simply better imho.

Beeing flexible is what i prefer.

Flexible, yes. Me too. I don't disagree with any of this.

It doesnt prevent stay in ace place and lock. It complements it, as it can also be 2 more advantageous locks for the price of that lesser one. Options is where the Jedi strength lies.

And I like some of my options to be potentially surprising.

I haven't put this on the table yet, but have a slightly different take on Anakin that I want to try. 7B to hit harder, Fined-Tuned Controls + his ability + R4-P17 + Afterburners gives you insane action economy and flexibility regardless of the situation. For the ARCs, combo the 7th Fleet Gunner and R2 as suggested.

Anakin Skywalker (60)
R4-P17 (5)
Delta-7B (18)
Afterburners (6)

Ship total: 89 Half Points: 45 Threshold: 3

104th Battalion Pilot (42)
Seventh Fleet Gunner (9)
R2 Astromech (4)

Ship total: 55 Half Points: 28 Threshold: 5

104th Battalion Pilot (42)
Seventh Fleet Gunner (9)
R2 Astromech (4)

Ship total: 55 Half Points: 28 Threshold: 5


Total: 199

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0: https://raithos.github.io/?f=Galactic Republic&d=v6!s=200!273:,214,201,105:;341:,,227,2,:;341:,,227,2,:&sn=Anakin 2BP&obs=

2 hours ago, Mistborn_Jedi said:

I haven't put this on the table yet, but have a slightly different take on Anakin that I want to try. 7B to hit harder, Fined-Tuned Controls + his ability + R4-P17 + Afterburners gives you insane action economy and flexibility regardless of the situation. For the ARCs, combo the 7th Fleet Gunner and R2 as suggested.

Everything here seems to be doing a solid job. I think it really gets the essentials nailed down.

Without Afterburners, that's a good bid for me too. Although I'm always tempted to fill it with something.

One thing I really like about the I2s with 7FG, is the fantastic anvil they become for Anakins hammer, if you get the set up right with a good block. A gunner charged CLT Anakin has one of the best R1 5 dice attacks I've used.

A few simple games at home today showed a tendency for the Battle Med + 7FG thing to travel into difficult spots. Though it seems capable of hitting extremely hard. It will take some really solid play to make it come together well. It would work much more easily with a V-19 slipped in.

Far simpler to go a different, more direct route with the 3, which I think is the basis of a lot of the other builds here. I'm really enjoying the number of options available.

I do tend to overcomplicate things by attempting to hit harder than I need to. It's great when it comes together though

Will try a couple different builds tomorrow with friends.

Edit. Such as...

(60) Anakin Skywalker [Delta-7 Aethersprite] (10) Calibrated Laser Targeting (5) R4-P17 (6) Brilliant Evasion Points: 81

(42) 104th Battalion Pilot [ARC-170 Starfighter] (9) Seventh Fleet Gunner (2) Synchronized Console (4) R2 Astromech Points: 57

(42) 104th Battalion Pilot [ARC-170 Starfighter] (9) Seventh Fleet Gunner (2) Synchronized Console (4) R2 Astromech Points: 57

Total points: 195

I'm interested to observe Brilliant Evasion in action on 3ag. I'm dubious. But then, everyone knows you roll all eyes all the time when you have no focus. Probably best 6pts ever.

1 hour ago, Cuz05 said:

One thing I really like about the I2s with 7FG, is the fantastic anvil they become for Anakins hammer, if you get the set up right with a good  block. A gunner charged CLT Anakin has one of the best R1 5 dice attacks I've used.

I was working under the assumption that Seventh Fleet Gunner's "maximum of 4" statement capped the total number of attack die at four including all other modifiers for range etc. I would be more than happy to be wrong though.

Just now, Pa Weasley said:

I was working under the assumption that Seventh Fleet Gunner's "maximum of 4" statement capped the total number of attack die at four including all other modifiers for range etc. I would be more than happy to be wrong though.

The trigger for the gunner occurs as Anakin pools his dice, which is 3 at R1. Anakin adds one from gunner. Rolls the 4, adds a focus result for CLT.

I think this is why it takes the mod slot, no synchronised console to push it up over the curve.

Cool, that makes sense.

Took 2 versions last night and got some interesting things out of it.

1st was...

(60) Anakin Skywalker [Delta-7 Aethersprite] (10) Calibrated Laser Targeting (5) R4-P17 (6) Brilliant Evasion Points: 81

(42) 104th Battalion Pilot [ARC-170 Starfighter] (9) Seventh Fleet Gunner (4) R2 Astromech (2) Synchronized Console Points: 57

(42) 104th Battalion Pilot [ARC-170 Starfighter] (9) Seventh Fleet Gunner (4) R2 Astromech (2) Synchronized Console Points: 57

Total points: 195

Lando, NorraY and Wedge. Kinda botched the game. Left an ARC hanging a little, attempted a Roll and block, failed by 1mm and got toasted on the next turn. That meant I couldn't use the 2nd 7FG charge or pass the lock I intended him to grab after. So that swung things. As did forgetting Norra had Probombs....

Note, an opportune R2 charge stopped the probomb crit on the injured ARC and made it's death next turn a less certain prospect. In addition, had the bomb gone into a direct hit, Lando would have taken a less optimal shot on Anakin. R2 is a solid addition.

List seemed decent though it needs a really strong approach. Ultimately, it felt like the ARCs were never going to hit hard enough, early enough, to make use of their tools before leaving the table, but much of that was in bad choices on my part.

Anakin was terrific, R4-P17 is ridiculous on him. Consumed Wedge. Brilliant Evasion, included just to try it out, was 6pt in the bin. Doubt I'll use it again. Especially on CLT Anakin, where you don't roll greens more than once or twice, if you can help it.

2nd game, I tried this against 5 Crack Optics RZ-2s....

(60) Anakin Skywalker [Delta-7 Aethersprite] (10) Calibrated Laser Targeting (15) Battle Meditation Points: 85

(42) 104th Battalion Pilot [ARC-170 Starfighter] (9) Seventh Fleet Gunner (4) R4-P Astromech Points: 55

(42) 104th Battalion Pilot [ARC-170 Starfighter] (9) Seventh Fleet Gunner (4) R4-P Astromech Points: 55

Total points: 195

Missed R4-P17 so much .

Obvious problem with Bat Med was Anakin spending much of the game on 1 or 2 force. But the Alpha it insured was real.

2 4 dice focus/lock shots on Greer, after a sneaky I6 roll the turn before that split the RZ-2s through the rocks. Just rolled all hits and eyes on the 1st attack and she died, so actually a waste

Bumped both ARCs into the I1 RZs next turn and gave them both a focus for 2x 3 die attacks on 2ag L'ulo. Rolled 4 blanks, 1 eye, 1 hit. So another waste....

But still!!

Then they disengaged to recharge 7th, while Anakin kinda got a little lucky with the manoeuvres and cleaned up, finishing the game on full health. R4-P17 would have made things less dicey for him, with his slightly depleted force pool.

R4-P was super useful on the disengage and has a lot of potential with the coord. But with R4-P17 added, the list goes to 200 and that makes me a little uncomfortable....

I also noted that R4-P17 would have enabled 2 focus/lock attacks on L'ulo, as we boxed him before disengaging. But he blew up anyway, so no loss.

I would much rather dice be consistently average when I'm testing things out

So, next try will be this.

(60) Anakin Skywalker [Delta-7 Aethersprite] (10) Calibrated Laser Targeting (15) Battle Meditation (5) R4-P17 Points: 90

(42) 104th Battalion Pilot [ARC-170 Starfighter] (9) Seventh Fleet Gunner (2) Synchronized Console Points: 53

(42) 104th Battalion Pilot [ARC-170 Starfighter] (9) Seventh Fleet Gunner (2) Synchronized Console Points: 53

Total points: 196

I have some faith in it now. I doubt it's quite consistently powerful enough to be regarded as particularly competitive. The ARCs explode fast, so too much rides on Anakin and getting a strong alpha in. But if 1 ARC can survive much of the mid game to support him, he's certainly extremely capable of ensuring a win against a lot of things.

Finding ways for my son to beat my Imperials has brought us another version that sits more in line with others suggested here.... Thanks again for the ideas, it's been fun trying different things.

(60) Anakin Skywalker [Delta-7 Aethersprite] (5) R4-P17 (18) Delta-7B (2) Synchronized Console Points: 85

(51) "Wolffe" [ARC-170 Starfighter] (2) Synchronized Console (4) R4-P Astromech Points: 57

(49) "Jag" [ARC-170 Starfighter] (2) Synchronized Console (3) R3 Astromech Points: 54

Total points: 196

Having a bit of a lull in proper games atm , but will possibly take this and the bat med version to my next casual night.

The ARC incineration problem remains, they burn fast. Hitting hard is essential.

Bat Med provides a powerful alpha strike and potential ongoing spike damage threat. Without it, the I2 ARCs are too low Init, and predictable, to both lay on the hurt and avoid taking too much in return.

Wolffe and Jag remedy this to a degree, allowing more independence and some target priority shenanigans. Being able to Init kill certain things is a major buff, when looking at the lower Init, higher ship counts that give the list trouble.

7B on Anakin makes up for the drop off in alpha potential and helps with the damage race a good deal. But he's no less squishy than CLT. R2 instead of R4-P17 exchanges the ability to stay on target for a better chance at fortressing his points. Seems a more competitive choice, run and regen, win on points on cue, but it's much less fun.

The lock passing is really neat though, 7B allowing Sync on Anakin to start the chain, is it's major benefit here. It's this bit of interaction, that has set it apart from other alternatives we've been trying.

With every iteration, smart flying with the ARCs has been crucial. Simply jousting with them puts them behind on points very quickly and makes it extremely hard to leverage Anakins potential. They mostly just blow up.

It's tricky. Wolffe is required to take some early flak and proc Jag's multiple locks. He needs to be very carefully hung out for this to actually work in the lists favour. R4-P is massively helpful for putting him in places where he can avoid ongoing damage and make use of his ability on consecutive turns, with the requisite mods.

7B Anakin is much more able to draw a little fire, generate a key lock and perhaps save an ARC, but it's only a fair bet if R2 is in there.

Unconvinced the archetype has the tools to be truly competitive (certainly without R2 fortressing), in anything but the best hands, turn 0 is huge. But it's enjoyable and certainly no slouch when the plan comes together.

I love where this is going, and the brief recaps and impressions are great, thanks @Cuz05 . Quite by coincidence I tried out something similar last night and saw these this afternoon.

I'm coming from the other direction with spike damage provided by Proton torpedoes on the ARCs and Ani almost naked:

Anakin Skywalker (60)
Synchronized Console (2)
Ship total: 62 Half Points: 31 Threshold: 2

104th Battalion Pilot (42)
Proton Torpedoes (12)
Seventh Fleet Gunner (9)
R2 Astromech (4)
Synchronized Console (2)
Ship total: 69 Half Points: 35 Threshold: 5

104th Battalion Pilot (42)
Proton Torpedoes (12)
Seventh Fleet Gunner (9)
R2 Astromech (4)
Synchronized Console (2)
Ship total: 69 Half Points: 35 Threshold: 5

Total: 200

Only two games, Using the Gunners to pump Ani's attack and Synch to launch torpedoes gave me 2x 4-die focused and 1x focus+lock attacks for the opening in both games to eliminate a ship both games which was great against triple-Ace rebels, less great against FO swarm. Looking at streamlining my list after the games I was considering dropping the torpedoes to get one of the configs.

This Thursday was League night, and the list building challenge was "Kind of a Big Deal," one ship 110+ points. One gent brought 115(?) points Ani - 7B/Supernatural/stuff - and 2x naked 104th. He played against 2x YT-2400's - one Dash and one of the i1 guys. The ARC's died, sure, but hurt the non-Dash YT pretty badly on the way out. And then Ani proceeded to clean up a full health Dash. Oh, it was a CLOSE game, and went 2+ hours, but it sure was a lot of fun to watch. Supernatural Ani is...strong. If we hadn't had the 110+ points restriction, I think CLT would have been stronger.

Anakin is a genuine monster. SNR is really too many eggs in one basket but I'm kinda thinking he's not far off being worth it.

Whizzed through a basic game earlier against Vader, Whisper and Echo. ARCs couldnt handle it and just died. But Anakin (7B, moving last) killed everyone anyway.

11 hours ago, nitrobenz said:

I love where this is going, and the brief recaps and impressions are great, thanks @Cuz05 . Quite by coincidence I tried out something similar last night and saw these this afternoon.

I'm coming from the other direction with spike damage provided by Proton torpedoes on the ARCs and Ani almost naked:

Thanks!

I was pondering the cost effectiveness of 7FG vs ProTorps. Had not occurred to me to run both!

20 hours ago, Cuz05 said:

I was pondering the cost effectiveness of 7FG vs ProTorps. Had not occurred to me to run both!

It was fun, but the list lives and dies as a team since configuration-free Anakin isn't a great closer. And with almost no bid I had to rely on blocking enemy 6s instead of outmaneuvering them.

Taking a lot of the above into consideration, I'm wondering something like this:

ARC-170 Starfighter - 104th Battalion Pilot - 67
104th Battalion Pilot - (42)
•Chancellor Palpatine (14)
Synchronized Console (2)
Seventh Fleet Gunner (9)

ARC-170 Starfighter - •“Wolffe” - 60
•“Wolffe” - CC-3636 (51)
Expert Handling (4)
Synchronized Console (2)
•Clone Commander Cody (3)

Delta-7 Aethersprite - •Anakin Skywalker - 70
•Anakin Skywalker - Hero of the Republic (60)
Calibrated Laser Targeting (10)

Total: 197/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

In the rounds where the generic isn't in the fight, they can provide some support by coordinating or using SFG. Wolffe's expert handling could help line up shots from either firing arc. Ani just does his thing.