just a few ramblings that are probably stating the obvious..

proton torpedoes. very expensive, not useful unless target has evades/shields stripped. I think the best use of this weapon is on lower skilled rebel pilots at range 2. use higher skilled pilots to shoot and remove evade tokens. Lower skilled pilot finishes off with protons. Just don't see the use of putting it on high initiative pilot when it will have to shoot first.

ION cannon. Not that great for 5pts in small games, probably better when you have a couple more ships to take advantage of the dead fish in the water (ION only useful if you can kill the enemy ship next turn IMHO)

TIEs at short range en masse are deadly….makes Howlrunner a great choice.

Plan, plan, plan. I can't tell you how often I was running into my own ships due to poor planning of maneuvers!! I need practice, lol.

This is in addition to the usual barrel roll bonuses and vader in general.

My first game I won with one hull point left. My wife had a higher pilot skill because Luke had received the Blind Pilot critical damage card. She had one point left and so did I and we were positioned at range 1, but she got three blanks and her extra roll was a hit but I had rolled one evade. I had a stress token because I did a 180 to get into firing position, and I rolled 3 Focus. Since we were both range 1, I got the bonus roll which was a hit. Barely won, and we both had a great time. Though, she sometimes got confused with which direction her ship was facing and picked the opposite direction from what she wanted to go.

Proton Torps: I think this is a great observation. A great kill shot weapon, but you need to soften up the target first. Also a very good weapon to use at range band 3 since the target doesn't get the defense bonus against secondary weapons.

Ion Cannons: I disagree strenuously with this one. Ion Cannons are not kill weapons, they are for crowd control and disruption. My son consistently fried my TIE's greatly hindering my ability to do the thing you mention below. Plus against unshielded TIE's, the damage adds up and forces you to take Evade actions when you'd rather be doing something more offensive. Also, paired with target locks, no TIE in range is safe even with an evade action.

TIEs: TIEs in range band 1 are murderers. I would suggest Mauler and Backstabber as being excellent ships to pair up with Howlrunner. At range 1 and from outside the target's arc, that's 4 attack dice with the option to reroll one for them both. Add in focus and that's how Imperials kill things.

Planning: This is probably the most difficult part of the game to sort out, but even if you get your own maneuvers figured out, a bad guess on what you're opponent is going to do has the same effect.

-DavicusPrime

missed the no extra defense die at range for secondary weapons, thanks for that. So, good at range 2 and 3 then.

I'll have to use ION more to see it how it works out. Just seems really expensive for 5pts.