4x Blue T70s with R2 Astromechs
After playing with Quad Phantoms, I found that I liked trying to find good generics. When I realised that I could get Four T70s with Regen, I knew I had to give it a go. Very Survivable with moderate firepower.
It worked reasonably well, I think I only lost them all once and I definitely won more than I lost. It could grind out wins, but it also loses well (i.e keeps its points). Has a few troubles with aces.
Gave it up when Y-Ions and Republic Beef became a thing and made me sad. Not brilliant, and occasionally boring, but I liked it. The list's simplicity helped me, as I tend to overthink things. It generally has only got a few "good" manoeuvres a turn, so it helped me speed up my game.
5x Planetary Sentinel Strikers with Afterburners
Next up was Strikers when Afterburners dropped points and Y-Ions had disappeared from my local area.
These guys are Seriously Good Fun. You can set up Killboxes from having a spread formation on the other side of the board, catch flankers off guard whilst pretending to joust the rest of their forces..... Going to Ludicrous Spreed can catch so many people off guard when it is just Duchess.... but a whole squadron of them going to Ludicrous Speed was simply Hilarious.
However, they met their match when Droids first dropped properly in my area.... too many arcs to get around whilst still being hit in return at low initiative.
I did increase them to Black Scouts with Predator, then later 4 Blacks and Duchess with Crack, and both are more effective.... but 5 Afterburner Sentinels is still my favourite in terms of Fun.
Going to get back in to Strikers now that tournament season is largely over, and it is time to bring out the jank.
Quad Crack Assassin Vipers
The Viper Mk.2 pack was one of the few things that kept me going towards the end of First Edition, the curved Barrel Roll is just that Fun.
So, after a disastrous Hyperspace trial with Reapers and Ruthless Strikers and then later the next week watching a few games from VTTV Live and watching the Crack Vipers in action, I knew I had to give it a go. I bounced between Predator and Crack Shot for a few games before being convinced on Crack by my fellow squadron members. I managed to get my first ever cut... only 2 weeks after that disastrous Hyperspace trial. I tried a few other different things in testing for System Open (see below). I was asked to give the Vipers another go when members of my squadron were testing their lists for an upcoming team tournament that had open lists (of which, one was Predator Assassins)... and promptly wiped the floor three games in a row with them. They convinced me to take it to our System Open... and I got a bit lucky and accidentally got a World's invite out of it.
Still love it, that curved Barrel Roll is still fantastic, and it will be my fall-back list in a competitive environment until they cost 51+ points a pop.
If in doubt, Quad Vipers.
Rex and Juking Phantoms
After the initial run with Vipers, and believing that people were sleeping on Defenders, I started testing Defenders with Jendon & Krennic. Generic Onyx with Jendon/Krennic was surprisingly effective, albeit a bit one dimensional. Palp Defenders, as above by BitterFig, was similar with less potential to be blocked/more potential to block at the cost of Initiative shots. Then tried Rexler, Jendon/Krennic + 1 for a while, with variations of Maarek and Grand Inquisitor given a test (this was around the time of Jendon Inquisitors starting to rise to prominence). I felt it was reasonably good, and I enjoyed the coordinate and Krennic shenanigans, but I felt like I was falling short with Rex's partner (Maarek, if not the early target, doesn't have enough going for him at the end, and I still haven't worked out the Grand Inquisitor). So I tested two Juking Phantoms as Rex's partners, and it felt a bit better. I had it in my box, and even gave it a go in the pod event before Day One of our System Open, but it was just nudged out by the Vipers.
Boba, Serissu + 1
This started as a test for Serissu with Marksman Autoblasters and to put Boba on the table with the aim to take it to a Hyperspace Trial.
Initial iteration was Boba with Slave One, Serissu (as above) and Fenn Rau. I tried a few variations... Crack Shot on both Boba/Fenn, Predator on Fenn, before going Crack Shot only on Fenn. It's pretty simple: Boba rushes hopefully at the same time as Fenn, Serissu gives a bonus to Fenn if the opponent targets him at a distance, see which of my big two are left standing after the initial engagement. Turns out that Serissu also provides a credible threat when Fenn and Boba outspeed her and the opponent turns and chases and, if targeted early, means that Boba and Fenn get at least two engagements.
It performed reasonably well, being one win out of cut (and I know which game I could have improved upon to get that win). However, I found that it was occasionally a little difficult to keep/get Fenn and Boba on the same target after the first turn.... I also had a Grand Champs coming up.
I started tinkering with it to see if I could get Cybernetics and Stealth on Boba, so I dropped Fenn for Talonbane with Crack Shot, Cybernetics and Afterburners. The idea is that Serissu can realistically keep Talonbane alive as with Fenn (at R3, they have the same defense) and/or give Boba more defensive re-rolls to keep Stealth for longer, and otherwise fly fairly similar but with the bonuses of Talonbane being able to Afterburn/Barrel Roll or Afterburn/Action whist still being unstressed AND being able to have both Boba and Talonbane K-Turn/jump a debris and still have an action (potentially both Boost back in to Range One, Talonbane with an additional action) to really keep pressure on.
I am not sure if that is the best version of the list (still undecided on Stealth on Boba, but when it works it is Great... could be used as Afterburners on Serissu), but it certainly is interesting and my preferred version.
Unfortunately, wasn't able to attend the Grand Champs due to Life Issues.... so it has left me wondering.
