My brother and I are going to be flying as partners in a local doubles tournament. Rules are the same as normal x-wing, but the point limit is 300, with any one player limited to 160 points. Friendly effects work on both partner's ships. Limited pilots only. We activate and fly our own ships, and cannot take over a friendly ship if all of our ships are destroyed.

My brother enjoys tie swarms, so he'll be flying a mini-swarm and I'm flying a couple Strikers and a support Reaper.

My list:

Major Vermeil - Darth Vader, Director Krennic (68)

Pure Sabaac - Crack Shot (45)

Countdown (44)

Total = 157

My brother's list:

Maarek Steele - Swarm Tactics, Fire Control System (51)

Wampa (30)

Seyn Marana - Marksmanship (31)

Del Meeko - Crack Shot (31)

Total = 143

Combined total = 300

So, the general idea is for my brother to start out as a block, Maarek using Swarm Tactics on Wampa to ensure the extra attack die. Seyn Marana is going to just try to sneak damage through, and Del is there for a general defensive buff after the first engagement once things start getting damaged (hopefully we can land some damage on the first engagement). I think I want to put Optimized Prototype on Countdown, making both Strikers threats that can't be ignored. Major Vermeil will be used to hand out coordinates when needed, and to strip tokens/cause damage with Vader. Ideally I'd have Hull Upgrade on Countdown, and possibly Stealth Device on Pure Sabaac, but I really like the way Vermeil and Vader work together.

We are pretty set on bringing these pilots, so mainly looking for advice on initial set up, and if my thoughts on putting Optimized Prototype on Countdown is sound and maybe weaknesses we should be aware of to try to mitigate them.

As an alternative to using Vader, I'm also considering this for my portion of the list:

Captain Feroph - Composure, Director Krennic (52) (Composure added to make sure jam/coordinate attempts don't flop)

Countdown - Hull Upgrade (49)

Pure Sabaac - Stealth Device (50)

Cutting out Vader and switching to Feroph leave 5 points. Use it as a bid? Add Homing/Ion/Cluster Missiles to Maarek? Or I can drop Composure, and add on Cienna Ree for some extra slippery Strikers?

I really like the way Vader and Vermeil interact, but I'm wondering if it's worth dropping Vader in favour of hopefully a little more staying power with defensive abilities? Any advice appreciated

Didn't do so hot in the event, but I still really like both strikers and the reaper. Opted to go the more defensive route and take Feroph with Cienna and Krennic.

Countdown is incredible. First opponent had Fenn and got a range one focused attack. Landed 4 hits and a critical. Countdown just took a stress and lost 1 hull. That was pretty incredible. I also know some people hate stealth device on 2 die defense ships but I think that's where they shine. Turns a two die defense ship into a 3 for at least the first engagement and its not prohibitively points costly on a two defense die ship. Stealth on Pure Sabaac was great and made her much harder to pin down. Meant she was rolling 4 die attacks for at least 4 rounds longer than she would have over the course of 3 games so I call that a win.

Gotta say reapers really rarely get to use their action either because they are stressed or because they bumped. Cienna and Krennic were not what I had hoped for. I would have been better off taking Sloane, Death Troopers, Palpatine or even the Grand Inquisition to regain actions when bumping in the scrum. Either way, it was a good learning experience. Strikers are scary good at ending up in unpredictable places but they definitely need other ships supporting their attacks or they get picked off.