So I just flew this, and it performed very well. Talonbane and Fenn were consistently throwing 5 dice at range 1, and I did a good job of keeping Dengar’s nose pointed at his attackers; 2/3 enemy ships were finished off by his retaliation attacks.

Most everything in the list came up big for me at one time or another (or is just a fundamentally strong card that didn’t happen to be used this game, like Dengar’s Contraband Cybernetics), so I think there’s very little dead weight, but I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions to optimize it a bit?

Also, how come nobody talks about Talonbane Cobra much? He’s bonkers!

Dengar/Talonbane/Fenn Rau

(50) Talonbane Cobra [Kihraxz Fighter]
(2) Contraband Cybernetics
(6) Afterburners
(3) Fearless
Points: 61

(68) Fenn Rau [Fang Fighter]
(3) Fearless
Points: 71

(53) Dengar [JumpMaster 5000]
(0) Jamming Beam
(1) Greedo
(2) Contraband Cybernetics
(2) Electronic Baffle
(5) Punishing One
Points: 63

Total points: 195

Not tried this but have had a go at something similar with Fenn/Talonbane/Han. I think the general complaint about Talonbane is that like all aces he can die pretty quick, and he lacks some tools to help him survive. He's only two agility, he can't boost natively, no linked actions, no options for double re-positioning etc. For sure, get him in the right spot and he'll do great work.

I like the idea of Electronic Baffle on Dengar, and Greedo as well. I guess you're happy if they're going after him first.

There was a popular Talonbane list going around a while back. Him, Old Terroch, and Ketsu Onyo. All Init 5s, Ketsu is a total bully just tractoring folks all over. Old T and TBC add a lot of Init 5 firepower. The list was quite strong against the 4 Init 4 Phantom lists.

I've also had fun with Kihraxz aces (TBC, Viktor Hel, Graz), either loaded with upgrades (I'm still kind of sore that Kihraxz lost their 3rd Mod slot, and I can't run with Hull/Shield/Burners for 8 health ships), or also with Serissu. That was kind of sweet. TBS, Serissu, and Viktor would group up and joust, being Init 5 with mad defensive skills, particularly at Range 3, and huge attacks at Range 1. Graz would try to crash in the side, get his ability going. It was fun, but not going to shake up the metagame.

Biggest downside to Talonbane, probably, is price. He kind of ensures you're in a 3-4 ship list, while cheaper generics could maybe let you fly 5, and these days having an extra ship is usually best.

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As to the list above... I might go Tractor Beam over Jamming Beam, and I'm not sure if I want Fearless or Predator on TBC, but that's minor. Not saying it's the best Scum list, but seems like a reasonable way to put the ships together, nothing glaringly problematic.

1 hour ago, theBitterFig said:

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As to the list above... I might go Tractor Beam over Jamming Beam, and I'm not sure if I want Fearless or Predator on TBC, but that's minor. Not saying it's the best Scum list, but seems like a reasonable way to put the ships together, nothing glaringly problematic.

Nice. Yeah, I considered Tractor Beam over J-Beam. The only reason I didn’t include Tractor was for a bid, and the only reason I included J-Beam is it’s free. I’ve kind of been over and over about it in my head, and I think the only time I would truly be tempted to J-Beam someone would be if I were hoping to break a lock that was about to get one of my guys severely torpedoed. But Tractor Beams, I have zero practice with, and it seems like the sort of thing that could backfire on you. Of course, that Tractor token at i6 seems pretty dope, especially given the offense Talonbane and Fen can spit out.

Actually, wow, Dengar tractor, five dice from Fenn, five dice from Cobra, sorry your B-Wing died with zero defense dice? Maybe I should get that in there. What would I cut? Or do I just sacrifice some bid?

3 minutes ago, Cpt ObVus said:

Actually, wow, Dengar tractor, five dice from Fenn, five dice from Cobra, sorry your B-Wing died with zero defense dice? Maybe I should get that in there. What would I cut? Or do I just sacrifice some bid?

Fearless from Talonbane is what I'd drop without knowing what range of bids and initiatives your opponents use.

6 hours ago, Cpt ObVus said:

Nice. Yeah, I considered Tractor Beam over J-Beam. The only reason I didn’t include Tractor was for a bid, and the only reason I included J-Beam is it’s free. I’ve kind of been over and over about it in my head, and I think the only time I would truly be tempted to J-Beam someone would be if I were hoping to break a lock that was about to get one of my guys severely torpedoed. But Tractor Beams, I have zero practice with, and it seems like the sort of thing that could backfire on you. Of course, that Tractor token at i6 seems pretty dope, especially given the offense Talonbane and Fen can spit out.

Actually, wow, Dengar tractor, five dice from Fenn, five dice from Cobra, sorry your B-Wing died with zero defense dice? Maybe I should get that in there. What would I cut? Or do I just sacrifice some bid?

Fearless to Predator or Crack Shot on TBC is an option. Mostly, I'd just give up some on bid. There's probably not a huge difference between 2 and 5 points. Another thing which maybe could be cut is Electronic Baffle depending on how that works, but I'd keep it for now, see how it feels.

There's a lot of upgrades that get rejected perhaps too early by too many players, and maybe there's more life to them than it looks. Electronic Baffle might be a hidden gem on a Jumpmaster. Or maybe it's just bad. *shrug* Either way, it's good to experiment.

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While we're on Tractor Beam, one really potent thing it can do: move someone who has bumped into Fenn or TBC off of them. More for when you block an ace, than a generic blocks you, but giving someone a barrel roll away from range 0 (no shots) into range 1 (where you get hit for 5) might sometimes be good. Probably best to look for those times when you've got more dice mods than them, when they don't have a great shot, and so forth. If it's just a 1 HP opponent, given Punishing One, there's a decent chance Dengar can just take them off the board.

Use your judgement, but it's a powerful thing you can do.