Dreams come true! The Sienar Jaemus Engineer dropped from 51 down to 48 points. We can finally play 4 Silencers.

I have absolutely no idea if this list will be any good (and how long I will be writing batreps). Therefore I started this thread inviting you to discuss and write down your battle reports as well because I know this list will see lots of play (at least for a couple of weeks; then we should know if it's meta breaking or not )

So let me introduce to you "The Knights Of Ren":

Sienar-Jaemus Engineer "Ushar" (48)

Sienar-Jaemus Engineer "Vicrul" (48)

Sienar-Jaemus Engineer "Trudgen" (48)

Sienar-Jaemus Engineer "Ap'lek (48)
Total: 192

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0

Now what to do with 8 points?

1) Run an 8 point bid

No joke. It helps against I1 Drone Swarms and any other I1 pilot. It also saves you points.

2) Advanced Optics on 1-2 Silencers

Seems like the best option, imo. I can live without a bid because flying these 4 ships means you'll move first 95% of the time anyhow.

3) Ordnance. Lots of options there but I really don't like it because you're moving first anyhow and want your focus most of the time.

4) Throw "Avenger" in. Could be good as well. But he's not at I1 and most likely becomes the primary target because of his ability and his pricepoint at 56 points.

I already played my first match with this list yesterday. I just threw them on the table without any upgrades.

Played against a fully loaded Tavson, Vonreg and a FO Provocateur

Setup: Wasn't really sure where to put them. (More to that topic later). I chose Gas Clouds as usually when flying double repositioning ships.

You don't want to joust Tavson and never shoot him until the endgame so I turned everyone away here.

No surprises. I want an engagement where the large rock in the middle will help me a bit.

Two rounds later. Vonreg ended up in a bad spot because Tavson had to bank to get a shot. Ushar survived with 1hp remaining. 3 Knights killed Vonreg in return. Trudgen stripped the first shields off of red.

Options: Tavson had Pattern Analyzer so he will stop. (Sometimes updates will tell you, what your opponent will do). Ushar has to get out of trouble. The only save position is a 3 turn to the left with a barrel roll to the right. He won't get shot there and ends up behind Tavson. The Tie/ba will probably 5k. So yellow and teal can 1 turn right and barrel roll. This sould give me two range 1-2 shots. Black will do a 3 Tallon roll to the right if the Tie/ba tries to run away. Couldn't see any other moves there...

It worked! Ushar fits perfect and is now behind Tavson while Trudgen and Ap'lek got their range 1 shots making the kill. Trudgen lost one shield. Game.

My opponent continued playing but there is no need showing these pictures because Tavson can't do anything against these ships once one of them is behind him.

Conclusion:

- I probably put Optics on two of them. I think I get more out of it then having an eight point bid.
- It's probably the wrong idea setting up all 4 ships together. Splitting them up 2x2 is probably better. Because they're super fast they can regroup if intended. And more importantly 2 can flank that way
- 24 hp behind 3 green dice is pretty good but you have to accept the fact that these guys will get initiative killed a lot

I vote Optics.

Vs 3 IG 2000s

With the points update you can put 3 IGs with title + Autoblasters on the table - awesome! I was really happy facing these three bots because I knew that this one will be tough.

This time I put Advanced Optics on 2 Silencers.

Setup

I tried a new setup this time and really liked it. Because I have to setup first, facing towards the middle of the board gives me the most options to react to my opponents setup. It also allows me to flank with half of my squad.

Yellow (Ap'lek) and teal (Trudgen) went 2 forward and rolled to the left while red (Ushar) and black (Vicrul) banked to the left. I was surprised seeing the IGs going 4 forward+boost.

I forgot taking a picture of the upcoming round.

I already split up my forces because I wasn't expecting the Brobots will move so fast. Teal lost a shield. All my attacks missed green .

Options: I'm actually in a good spot here. The obstacles are blocking essential maneuvers for the IGs. I thought yellow and red will do some kind of 180 ° maneuver. Green might as well but can get blocked or has to bank to the right. Trudgen will get the **** out of there so 5 straight it is. Ap'lek (yellow) will 2 turn to the right and boost. He might get a shot there if the IGs rotating and is in a decent spot for a block the upcoming round. Ushar (red) will 2 turn as well. Vicrul (black) could go 5 forward trying to block yellow and red but could end up in a bad spot that way. The problem is IG-Ds ability. It gives these bots so much flexibility when performing a turn around maneuver. So I dialed in a 3 straight followed by a barrel roll left. This move could block green whil yellow and red won't get a shot if they move straight.

Not segnors sloop this time. All IGs had to boost. This gave them an evade but I was still able to do damage. Vicrul lost his first shield.

Options: This is a crucial turn because I have 2 options: Engaging by turning my Silencers to the right or disengaging by turning them away. My opponent has a tough choice to make as well. Turning red and yellow right or fly some kind of segnors loop. This is like poker.... I wasn't sure what he will do but came to the conclusion that it'll be more likely that he will k-turn/sloop his ships to avoid the block and get into a better position for the upcoming round. Therefore I disengaged with everyone. The benefit of this move is that my Silencers can regroup.

I was lucky.

Options: Green should be my next target because it isn't in a good spot because of the cloud in front of it. So every Silencer will turn or Tallon Roll.

Green landed on the cloud and took a strain token. Trudgen rolled 3 hits and green blanked. Yellow lost two and Ap'lek lost his first shield.

Options: It's time to go all in on green because yellow and red aren't in the best spots to really to lots of damage. Ap'lek (yellow) has only one good option; 3 straight and boost to the right. This will block yellow if it turns left. Trudgen (teal) will two bank to block the banking move. Vicrul (black) could turn to the left. But I dialed in a 2 bank to the left and a boost to the right instead to land between the clouds. I did this because the green IG will probably dial in a segnors loop. With IG-D's ability he will have 3 options where he can land. Placing Vicrul between the clouds makes sure I will have a good shot on green if he will do the strange 3 turn 180°.

Green banked and got blocked. All my dice showed hits while green had lots of eyeballs but no tokens. Ushar lost one shield.

At this stage all my Silencers have lost one shield which is awesome.

Options: Again, the IGs aren't in a good spot. I will disengaging or hiding behind clouds again. Trudgen will 4k. Not much else to do. With one IG off the board is shouldn't get too greedy.

This time Trudgen blanked and suffered a panicked pilot.

Options: Trudgen will just go straight and try to block something. Vicrul can turn to get in a good position for a shot while Ushar (red) has to wait one more round to get back into the fight - sad. Ap'lek (yellow) has to turn left. This gets him into a flanking position and he won't be in the way. The IGs don't have much options, either.

Trudgen wasn't able to block red and got annihilated. Because the yellow IG landed on the cloud and received a strain token, Vicrul unleashed into the droid. The IG dropped down to half and suffered a hull breach.

Options: Ap'lek will turn in. I wasn't sure what to do with Ushar (red). K-turn or 1 turn to the right. The turn is risky because the red IG will probably k-turn or segnors loop which means that it will end up in a really good position to shoot Ushar. The k-turn is also risky if the IG will turn right. I dialed in the turn to the left because this will grant me a focus. Vicrul will k-turn because he will end up behind everyone.

Yes! Red bumped. Unfortunaltey I did 0 damage out of 9 dice.

Options: Ushar (red) can turn left and try to block red again, if the block fails I still get a shot. Vicrul (black) will try the same. Ap'lek will bump into Vicrul because if yellow gets blocked again he might have a range 1 shot.

It worked out as planned. Unfortunately Ap'lek rolled 0 hits...

Options: I have the same decision to make as before. I can try to block again with a slow maneuver or k-turn my ships. This time I decided to k-turn because I was sure my opponent will do the same.

My opponent k-turned which means yellow got blocked and red landed right in front of Ushar.

Options: Lets continue the blocking party. A 4 straight from Ushar with a barrel roll should block most moves the IG has being in this position. Vicrul will fly over yellow and Ap'lek will turn in. Not much options this time.

Last round and red got blocked again. Vicrul and Ap'lek brought him down to half. Win 133-48

Conclusion:

- It was an awesome match and showed the strenghts of the Silencers. They're very agile, tanky and excellent blockers. What makes them so strong is the ability to disengage very quick.
- The match also showed the problem of the IGs. If they get blocked they die and they don't like a tight obstacle field.
- I was happy with the setup and will keep it
- Advanced Optics were good and is probably the way to go
- After two games I can't say if this list is good. Have to play more games with it. But I'm sure about one thing: It's a ton of fun

For setup, I'm kinda thinking slightly spread out in a line full forwards. You've got one heck of an ability to close the gap (5 straight + bank boost = a little more than 8/11), so if an opponent deploys awkwardly, you can pounce round 1.

However, with the speed of these, they can probably deploy in a bunch of ways.

Played against Imp. Aces yesterday and got wrecked. He played Soontir, Rexler, Sabacc. Besides the fact that I had a -12.5 dice statistic the game changing moment was this:

Sorry for the bad qualitiy. All pictures were somehow broken.

Black tried blocking Rexlers 4k but the barrerl roll didn't fit. If I would have blocked Rexler he would have taken damage and remained in a bad spot.

In this match I really struggled getting well modded shots. I often had only one or two arcs on target and had to spent my focus for defense before I was able to shoot. So it was nearly impossible to push damage thorugh, especially on Rexler. I was able to half Sabacc and Rexler but lost all 4 Silencers in the end. Lose 200 - 74

Conclusion:

- Playing against Aces is tough because you only have 4 ships
- If your blocks fail you'll have a hard time winning. This list is focussed on blocking, so you have to practice it a lot
- You want to point multiple guns on target to do damage. Because Silencers are only single modded loosing the focus feels really bad because then your offensive output really sucks without mods.
- This is by far not an easy list to fly but I think you can win every matchup with it if you fly it well