Just found out I've get 2 stores running the Kessel Run next weekend so I'm trying to put a squad together using my limited number of ships, 2 TIE Advanced and 3 TIE Fighters.

My main idea is this:

Vader with Concussion Missles.

Stele with Marksmanship and Concussion Missles.

Howlrunner Squad Leader.

Obsidian Squadron Pilot.

My hope is to take out a ship right at the start by having Vader take a focus token anf get a Target Lock for the Missles. With Howlrunner backing him up I have a really good chance of ending up with 4 hits for my opponent to try to evade.

Stele (with the help of the free action from Howlrunner's Sqaud Leader) will use Marksmanship and get a Target Lock for his Missles. Also a pretty good chance of that resulting in 4 hits incoming for the opponent to evade with a good chancef one of those hits will be a crit where I get to choose the worst of three damage effects for the them to be hit with.

Howlrunner and the other TIE take pot shots at whatever is available.

After the missles are gone Vader/Stele should still have a pretty good chance of getting some hits in since they can reroll every miss by spending the target lock and then still reroll one more die with Howlrunner's ability. With all the focus rolls being changed to hits they're each looking at 3 rolls on one attack die and 2 rolls on the rest to try and avoid the 1 in 4 Miss roll.

i'm not really confident in the Obsidian TIE, but I'm not sure if its worth dropping Vader's Missles to either bump it up to Mauler or bump it up to one of the 15 point TIE's and use the other 2 points for an upgrade for Vader.

I'm pretty sure that Howlrunner's ability only applies to attacks made by primary weapons, not secondary weapons like concussion missiles.

I'd also be cautious about having only 4 ships in an imperial squad, and only two of those with shields.

I didn't even notice that about Howlrunner's ability. Even without it though for the missles I'm still rolling 4 attack dice with all the focus roles and 1 complete miss being changed to hits. Still pretty good odds on ending up with 4 hits out of it. And once the missles are gone I'm done to the primary weapon and i can make use of it then.

I didn't really like the idea of only 4 ships either, but even if I use 3 Academy Pilots for the three TIEs I'd be down to only 8 unused points to use on waepons/upgrades for Vader and Stele and no matter what i do with those 8 points I'd have to abandon my whole idea of having both of them maximize thier number of hits by being able to get a Target Lock and take a focus token (or use Marksmenship if i spend 3 of my 8 points to give it to Stele) to ensure the highest percentage of thier rolls are hits as I can.

Grape Starburst said:

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the side bar on page 12 of the rulebook states that "a die that has already been rerolled cannot be rerolled again during this attack." So "Howlrunner"+ Target Lock doesn't get you anything extra for your TIE Advanced.

Seems like maybe "Howlrunner" isn't the pilot your looking for in this squad. If you drop her down to an academy pilot could you make some wiggle room for another ship in their? Then again, "Howlrunner" really helps to get some hits to stick when all you have are 2 attack dice. Just a matter of preference, I suspect.

Parakitor said:

So 2 issues with Howlrunner's ability then. I wasn't really up on the ability since the reason I used Howlrunner in the first place was for Squad Leader since he's the only Imp Pilot besides Vader with a high enough Pilot Skill to use Sqaud Leader on Stele.

Also consider that you may face a Rebel list with 4 ships, with your two TIEs and two TIE Advanced. That's a very bad situation to be in.

Vorpal Sword said:

not necessarily, if he could unload 2 concussion missiles + focus on a single ship at round 1-2, he would be in a very big advantage, especially if he managed to take out someone important like Wedge, Dutch or maybe even Biggs

I use a 5 ship imperial lineup with 2 concussion missiles too, and I've found this tactic to be highly effective, especially against 3 shp rebel builds, or 4 ship rebel builds with only 1 key ship (usually Wedge)

Duraham said:

Whether the squad works pretty much hinges on whether Vader's Target Lock/focus and Stele's Target Lock/Marksmanship can get enough damage through to take out a second ship fast enough.

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Back up idea if I can get another TIE Fighter in time.

My 2 TIE Advanced would be Vader and the 23 Point TIE Advanced. Those two would stay together. That leaves 48 points for 4 Academy Pilot TIE Fighters. I'd be up to 6 ships now, but no weapons or upgrades.

Realized it as I posted and would have edited if i could, but since I only used the 23 point Advance over the 21 point because of the higher pilot skill I'm probably better off sticking with the 21 pointer and giving Vader Swarm Tactics and using that on the 21 Point Advanced instead.