Marksmanship is a nice option - make those centre line lances really sting.

I think - for a Bughouse swarm - that leaves you with three choices of second talent:

- marksmanship adds auto-criticals to the centre line gun. That's a nice-to-have but as you say will totally brutalize a tough large-base ship.

- intimidation feels like the best option as it works in various situations: if someone blocks you with a low initiative generic, you get easy kills on them, and it makes a dense swarm of bugs a nightmare for a high-agility, token dependant ace.

- treacherous doubles down on making your ship's tougher. A treacherous charge is basically a free evade, which is awesome, provided you're obscured by another ship. You can use your own ships (giving you further options to make it hard to finish targets off - tractor one ship in front of another and the ship at the back gets full agility, deflection AND treacherous, so is nigh on untouchable) but it's really, really good when facing swarms - when facing 5+ ship's they invariably come in in multiple ranks - treacherous means either the back rank is neutered or they'll have to spread out, which also gives you an advantage.

hmm.. Marksmanship wouldn't help me against rebel beef because I can't get past their shields.

Just noted.. I can make this list now:

General Grievous (Bulbasaur-22)

-Daredevil

-angled deflectors

- soulless one

Ship total: 55 pts

4x PAA (Nantex)

-Gravitic Deflection

-Marksmanship

Ship total 36 pts. each

I don't get to play x-wing anymore though

I would probably fly 6 of them with this loadout

Petranaki Arena Ace (30)
Intimidation (3)
Marksmanship (1)

Petranaki Arena Ace (30)
Intimidation (3)
Marksmanship (1)

Petranaki Arena Ace (30)
Crack Shot (2)
Marksmanship (1)

Petranaki Arena Ace (30)
Crack Shot (2)
Marksmanship (1)

Petranaki Arena Ace (30)
Crack Shot (2)
Marksmanship (1)

Petranaki Arena Ace (30)
Crack Shot (2)
Marksmanship (1)
Total: 200

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0

I really want to try this list but have no idea how to setup. Maybe 2x2x2 or 3x3.

What do you think about the list and setup?

12 hours ago, Black_Rabbit_Inle said:

hmm.. Marksmanship wouldn't help me against rebel beef because I can't get past their shields.

Just noted.. I can make this list now:

General Grievous (Bulbasaur-22)

-Daredevil

-angled deflectors

- soulless one

Ship total: 55 pts

4x PAA (Nantex)

-Gravitic Deflection

-Marksmanship

Ship total 36 pts. each

I don't get to play x-wing anymore though

This, but with outmaneuver instead of angled/daredevil. I'm in.

I created this list (thanks to @dsul413 and @Black_Rabbit_Inle )

Petranaki Arena Ace (30)
Gravitic Deflection (5)
Marksmanship (1)

Petranaki Arena Ace (30)
Gravitic Deflection (5)
Marksmanship (1)

Petranaki Arena Ace (30)
Gravitic Deflection (5)
Marksmanship (1)

Petranaki Arena Ace (30)
Gravitic Deflection (5)
Marksmanship (1)

General Grievous (44)
Crack Shot (2)
Impervium Plating (4)
Soulless One (6)
Total: 200

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0

Played this list twice.

Had the second game against 3xIGs and only lost a single Nantex. My opponent was suprised how good this list is.

I decided to use the list in my top4 league game against Kettch (most of you might know him). He played his Han, Wedge, Jake list. I lost but it was really close. He admitted that if my dice wouldn't have failed so badly I porbably would have won the game.

The list felt amazing. 4xGravitic Deflections and these Nantex become little Boba's. The knife fighting + blocking ability is awesome while time on target is very high.

You will definetely surprise you opponent with this list. I am going to write more detailed battle reports with pictures soon.

Interesting list. I'm prepping for hyperspace and was thinking this could work in that format perhaps better than in Ext. You'd have to replace crack shot and impervium plating on Grevious though, but give him either outmanouver or marksmanship and hull upgrade, and you might be good. What's your take on that approach?

You could just drop the Gravitic and Slap Crack to all and Predator to half. I think that runs you at about 6 Separatist A-Wings that don't have as good turrets and are significantly squishier, but hit you incredibly hard in the bullseye, can get blocked but still shoot the blocker, and can pull funny tricks through gas clouds. It looks utterly terrifying. It's gotta be good because SpaceOwls was flying it yesterday, and he is perhaps the most statistically and positionally analytical X-Wing blogger out there:

On 8/10/2020 at 6:39 PM, Hoarder of Garlic Bread said:

You could just drop the Gravitic and Slap Crack to all and Predator to half. I think that runs you at about 6 Separatist A-Wings that don't have as good turrets and are significantly squishier, but hit you incredibly hard in the bullseye, can get blocked but still shoot the blocker, and can pull funny tricks through gas clouds. It looks utterly terrifying. It's gotta be good because SpaceOwls was flying it yesterday, and he is perhaps the most statistically and positionally analytical X-Wing blogger out there:

2

Bohan Li

3

1067

0.44

Petranaki Arena Ace + Crack Shot + Predator Petranaki Arena Ace + Crack Shot Petranaki Arena Ace + Crack Shot Petranaki Arena Ace + Crack Shot + Predator Petranaki Arena Ace + Crack Shot + Predator Petranaki Arena Ace + Crack Shot

Had the same idea and gave it a try against Scum Han + Shuttle, Dengar and Nom Lumb.

Took just 2 pictures (no editing this time)

No one wants to joust this list. The high initiative combined with the bullseye menace is terrifying. I kept them together because you can create beautiful killboxes with the mobile firing arc.

A few rounds later Dengar landed in 3 bullseyes and got killed. I traded one and a half Nantex for him. The lack of Gravitic Deflection felt huge. These bugs die so fast without those rerolls. You have to be really careful about using the tractor mechanic.

Han's nearly dead and Nom Lumb lost all of his shields. I lost a second Nantex. Han and Nom Lumb weren't able to do anything anymore so I won 200-99.

I like this list a lot. The flexibility it brings to the table is huge:

- 6 ships at I4
- 3 defense dice
- an amazing dial
- high time on target because of the mobile arc
- high damage output because of the bullseye arc and the awesome knife fighting abilities
- strong blockers
- impossible getting blocked if you don't want to

Not sure what list is better: 6 Nantex or 4+Grievous? I have to play them more often!

All in all I'm really happy that the Nantex is feeling good again even without Ensnare.

1 hour ago, Ryuneke said:

All in all I'm really happy that the Nantex is feeling good again even without Ensnare

Same, even though I very rarely play CIS (and don't even touch droids). Ensnare is like Supernat: powerful and fun on 1 or 2 pilots and a fancy NPE, but the chassis is far more viable without it than with.

Had a game yesterday and took some pictures. I played

3x I4 with Crack Shot
3x I4 with Crack Shot + Predator

against 4 Silencers (2 of them had Adv. Optics)

Setup: I put them on the opposite site facing the enemy ships. The back row got predator so I kept them in the back because they're more expensive. All Nantex will go straight here.

The Silencers turned away. Will go 2 straight again to see what the Silencers will do.

The first engagement will be there probably. That's good because the rock in the middle will give me some protection. So I decided to turn in and split them up 3x3

The hardest part when flying Nantex is the first round of the engagement. You usually don't do much damage but if you're in a bad spot you could lose one of your ships. So it's really important that you keep your Nantex save when the shooting begins. So use the obstacles to your advantage. The fun starts after the pew pews .

The Silencers will turn and/or bank the upcoming round so I need to slow roll again.

I split them up because I want 2 different approach angles with as many bullseye shots as I can get.

I was really lucky doing 3 damage to brown. Pink suffered a loose stabilizer so he has to go straight which is ok. Red, yellow and green will 2 bank to the right to create a wide range of bullseye arcs. Blue and black will one bank to the right as well and "barrel roll" left if possible. Pink 5 forwards. The Silencers got lots of options here. Lets see what happens.

This picture shows how powerful this list can be. I got lots of bullseye shots and turret attacks and can decide who to kill first. I spent all my tokens offensively to push as much damage through as possible. Brown got killed, red took 3 damage and green lost all shields. Pink survived and red took 2 damage.

I don't want to go through all the options here because it will take forever. Red is interesting. I dialed in a 1 turn to the left onto the gas cloud. Most of your opponent won't think of that move because you'll usually don't place a ship on an obstacle. But with the Nantex ship ability you can tractor yourself afterwards and rotate your arc. Amazing!

So red ended up on the cloud and tractored itself forward + rotating the arc. All the Nantex are in excellent spots to do lots of damage. Unfortunately my dice were horrible and I didn't do a single damage.

All the Nantex will turn but yellow and green will 5k. I though the Silencers will 4k or Tallon Roll as well.

I messed up a bit predicting my opponents move because all the Silencers turned to the right. Yellows 5k bumped by a millimeter . I had still some good shots though but the dice gods won't listen again. I did 1 damage to yellow and my red Nantex exploded.

Yellow is in a bad spot. Stressed and strained and the arc turned to the wrong direction. The other Nantex are in good spots, though.

Black bumped but doesn't care because of the ship ability. I had four range 1 shots on red and did 1 damage . Of course I lost pink. This game started to feel really strange. Since the 3rd round of engagement I wasn't doing any meaningful damage even with lots of modified range 1 shots. This felt bad because I had corntrol over the game right from the start...

Fortunately the Silencers are still in bad postions and the Nantex can do their thing.

Yellow bumped into red and tractored itself to the left for a bullseye shot. This time the dice didn't fail. Blue suffered a nasty crit the last round and wasn't able to turn the arc to the right.

The last round. Nothing meaningful happened. Win 150-82

Conclusion:

- The possible damage output of this list is insane. Not just because the strong bullseye but because of the high time on target. You get so many range 1 shots, it's insane!
- the list doesn't suffer from not having Gravitic Deflection imo
- losing one Nantex doesn't feel as bad as losing a Striker in a Swarm or an A-Wing in a 5A squad
- the list really can control the battlefield. I have to see how it will do against large bases, aces and bombs.

Today I played another game with 6 Nantex against Guri/Ketsu/Serissu

I know that Ketsu can do lots of damage at range 1 but I can tractor the Nantex before Ketsu has the opportunity to do so. Guri is always a big threat but I wanted to kill Ketsu first.

The obstacle placement is beneficial for the Nantex. Lots of space to maneuver on the left side of the board. Ketsu and Serissu don't have much options.

Two rounds later. I split my forces a bit to create a wider net and to setup two blocks with pink and black. Green, yellow and red will bank in.

Guri wasn't part of the fight which was huge. Ketsu and Serissu bumped and weren't able to kill a Nantex. 6 Nantex shot into Ketsu, 3 of them had a bullseye shot. My dice were on fire and Ketsu died (11% chance btw so I was really lucky). Nevertheless this round showed the jousting potential of this list.

All guns on Guri while yellow tries to block Serissus 5k with a turn + roll to the right. I played Guri a ton so I know what she can do and what not. Creating two different firing solutions is key against her.

Guri 3 banked and rolled behind the rock to dodge some arcs. Serissus 5k got blocked - awesome! Guri missed and lost a shield.

Now I know what Guri has to do. She has to barrel roll before executing the maneuver. These options can get blocked by sending black 2 forward and blue 3 forward with a tractor to the left. This means Guri has to fly over the rock. The other Nantex will move close to the obstacle to block Guri on the rock. The only move that will not land on a rock is the 4 straight.

It worked. Guri landed on the rock and died. My opponent conceded. Win 200-16

Conclusion: WOW! That was brutal.

- This game is a good example of how good this list can joust stuff.
- I was a really lucky because all of my ships survived the first round of engagement and Ketsu died so fast. But still...the versatility of this list is insane.

Regarding Gravitic Deflection does the attack arc cover range 0-3?

If somehow an enemy ship bumps my tractored Hive Guard would that 'bumped' Guard 'count' when the enemy fires at another Hive Guard at range 1-3 of the attacking enemy ship?

Assuming that the Hive Guard at range 1-3 has the Gravitic Deflection talent attached.

I've looked through the rules reference but it wasn't that obvious to me.

5 hours ago, Slade said:

Regarding Gravitic Deflection does the attack arc cover range 0-3?

If somehow an enemy ship bumps my tractored Hive Guard would that 'bumped' Guard 'count' when the enemy fires at another Hive Guard at range 1-3 of the attacking enemy ship?

Assuming that the Hive Guard at range 1-3 has the Gravitic Deflection talent attached.

I've looked through the rules reference but it wasn't that obvious to me.

Correct, GD would be active, as the card does not specify an active range. It is such a good card!

3 hours ago, Kleeg005 said:

Correct, GD would be active, as the card does not specify an active range. It is such a good card!

Yes the card is good but I think another ship is better than spamming it. IMO 6 Nantex without Gravitic are stronger than 5 with Gravitic.

After more practice games I played a TTS tournament flying 6 Nantex.

Petranaki Arena Ace + Crack Shot + Predator /
Petranaki Arena Ace + Crack Shot + Predator /
Petranaki Arena Ace + Crack Shot + Predator /
Petranaki Arena Ace + Crack Shot /
Petranaki Arena Ace + Crack Shot /
Petranaki Arena Ace + Crack Shot /

We only played 3 rounds.

1st round against 3 IG's

I have a 2 point bid so I gave him the initiative. So I basically had 6 "aces" flying around who don't care about getting blocked. There wasn't much my opponent could have done in this match. I played really aggressive and was able to kill IG-B in the first round of the engagement with 4 bullseye arcs lined up. 6 Crack Shots are soooooo good and terrifying. Win 200-81

2nd round against Serissu, Sunny, and 5 Mining Ties with Crack Shot

I really like this list. We jousted each other because I was pretty sure to kill some ships before they can shoot. Serissu did no damage and 3 Nantex killed her in return. The other 3 Nantex killed a Tie. The was pretty much game. I lost 2 Nantex because of Crack Shot but my opponent had no chance to win this game after the first engagement. Win 200 - 81

3rd round against Poe, Rey, Greer

This list a really high damage output. I wanted to kill Rey so I gave Poe and Greer my flank. Lost 2 Nantex in the first two rounds but Rey had only 3 hp left and died one round later. The bump party started and Poe wasn't able to get away. Greer killed one more Nantex and halfed another one but wasn't able to win the game all by herself. Win 159-132

I won the tournament and was really happy about it.

Conclusion:

- This list is insane. It's one of the strongest list I played since the 2.0 release. Just some thoughts why this archetype performs so well:

1) The most important thing is the surprise effect. Your opponents probably haven't seen the Nantex without Ensnare and not 6 of them. They have no idea what they can do.

2) The high initiative will win games for you.

3) tractor+rotate+focus gives you so many range 1 shots and such good blocking potential

4) You have 6 ships with 3 agility

5) Creating killboxes isn't that difficult if you have the bullseye arc and the side arc available

6) The list still performs very well if you lose 2 Nantex

7) You have a 2 point bid

8) You can force your opponent making tough decision: Tractor full Hp Nantex and don't tractor a damaged Nantex. Your opponent could end up shooting the healthy one because it's tractored.

1 hour ago, Ryuneke said:

Conclusion:

- This list is insane. It's one of the strongest list I played since the 2.0 release. Just some thoughts why this archetype performs so well:

1) The most important thing is the surprise effect. Your opponents probably haven't seen the Nantex without Ensnare and not 6 of them. They have no idea what they can do.

2) The high initiative will win games for you.

3) tractor+rotate+focus gives you so many range 1 shots and such good blocking potential

4) You have 6 ships with 3 agility

5) Creating killboxes isn't that difficult if you have the bullseye arc and the side arc available

6) The list still performs very well if you lose 2 Nantex

7) You have a 2 point bid

😎 You can force your opponent making tough decision: Tractor full Hp Nantex and don't tractor a damaged Nantex. Your opponent could end up shooting the healthy one because it's tractored.

Thanks, I hate it.

Just looking at it, it seems terrible to fly against. 30 points for I4 highly maneuverable, unblockable 2 die turrets that can all take crack shots bringing the cost to 32 is just gross.

Have you played against stuff moving after you and/or force aces?

1 hour ago, gennataos said:

Have you played against stuff moving after you and/or force aces?

I played against Rey and Poe in round 3. I am not considering these aces but they moved after me and shot first. The high damage output cost me 2 Nantex early. Thanks to the blocking party I won.

But you’re right, Aces can be a tough matchup for this list. I played my triple silencer squad against 4 Nantex and Maul today. I will write a battle report about this match tomorrow and will post a link here.

Had this game tonight, but I wasn't the spamtex player

https://imgur.com/a/1EtPIpa

4 hours ago, Ryuneke said:

Conclusion:

- This list is insane. It's one of the strongest list I played since the 2.0 release. Just some thoughts why this archetype performs so well:

1) The most important thing is the surprise effect. Your opponents probably haven't seen the Nantex without Ensnare and not 6 of them. They have no idea what they can do.

2) The high initiative will win games for you.

3) tractor+rotate+focus gives you so many range 1 shots and such good blocking potential

4) You have 6 ships with 3 agility

5) Creating killboxes isn't that difficult if you have the bullseye arc and the side arc available

6) The list still performs very well if you lose 2 Nantex

7) You have a 2 point bid

😎 You can force your opponent making tough decision: Tractor full Hp Nantex and don't tractor a damaged Nantex. Your opponent could end up shooting the healthy one because it's tractored.

Love your write-ups! I must ask however how you would design a hyperspace legal version of a spamtex list? My impression is that crack shot and predator are big contributors to the jousting power of this list.

Or do you think that it looses to much power with the limited upgrades available in HS?

Gitting gud with two lists is beyond my skills so I often prefer to design a list that is HS legal and use it in both formats so that I can get as much experience with it as possible 😅

I posted a battle report playing against Nantex here flying aces.

9 hours ago, Turcopolier said:

Gitting gud with two lists is beyond my skills so I often prefer to design a list that is HS legal and use it in both formats so that I can get as much experience with it as possible 😅

In HS I would play 5x I3 nantex (naked) with an outmaneuver + title Grievous.

11 hours ago, GreenDragoon said:

Had this game tonight, but I wasn't the spamtex player

https://imgur.com/a/1EtPIpa

Turn 4 5K was a strange decision. Nantex player should avoid red maneuvers. Either he should do something else turn 3 or go straight turn 4. Also I don't know what happened turn 5, total mess

13 minutes ago, Boreas Mun said:

Turn 4 5K was a strange decision. Nantex player should avoid red maneuvers. Either he should do something else turn 3 or go straight turn 4. Also I don't know what happened turn 5, total mess

This and what I learned from playing swarms is to turn in as late as possible. The bank maneuver already committed the swarm what you want to avoid. So stay on the side and wait. A good example on how to do that is Paul Heavers game against Duncan Howard in the finals of ???.

Another example is the game I played yesterday flying the 3 silencers (linked it above). You can see an early bank maneuver form the nantex player there which was a mistake because he had lots of obstacles in the way early on.

Also there is new video(haven't seen yet) on youtube:

17 minutes ago, Ryuneke said:

Another example is the game I played yesterday flying the 3 silencers (linked it above). You can see an early bank maneuver form the nantex player there which was a mistake because he had lots of obstacles in the way early on.

I agree. I do not like Maul position turn 0 and splitting forces turn 2.