Alright, so I've played 3 games so far against my buddy in preperation for our 100pt tournament coming up and I cant seem to put a dent into his list no matter how I configure my Imperial squad. This is what he is running for the tourney:

Wedge Antilles

• R2-D2
• Marksmanship
• Proton Torpedo

Dutch Vander

• Ion Cannons
• R2-F2
• Proton Torpedo

Biggs Darklighter

He runs them in tight formation and tends to wreck everything.

What do you think is a good list to go up against his list with some form of functioning synergy?

WeaponsFree said:

Ok im gonna give u 3 options here without knowing his actual imperial list (i suspect it is a swarm of 6+ ships) id either go with:

A) 4 x-wings (3 rookies + wedge/R2D2) or

B) take a cheap Y-Wing/ion cannon + 2 rookie pilots + wedge. marksmanship is not that good, id run with swarm tactics on wedge.

C) run an all-star sqaud with wedge + luke + horton

Oh that list is his rebel list that keeps massacring every imperial list I throw at him. Im trying to find an imperial list that has some synergy. I have access to 2 Tie Advanced and 5 Tie Fighters (Since Wave 2 isn't out yet)

Swarm Chain with Howlrunner rerolls should be fine as he is not boosting Biggs Agility.

Try this Imperial list.

Vader w/ Concussion Missile and Swarm Tactics

Tempest Squad Pilot (this should be the lowest skilled pilot) w/ Concussion Missile

Black Squad Pilot w/ Squad Leader

2x Academy Pilots

Run Vader, Tempest, and Black in one pack and the Academy in a second pack a little ways away. Use Swarm Tactics to give Tempest skill 9 and Squad Leader to give the Tempest a second action. As such the first time you are at range to get a target lock with Tempest you can get two actions with Vader and Tempest, target lock and focus, to get the most out of the missiles. Both missiles used at once should kill Biggs out right. This requires a little understanding of range controling while you move to be most successful. The two Academy Pilots will move fast up the board then as they would come to the sides of the allience player and make a hard turn to flank his groups. By the time these pilots get to shoot they can put some hurt on Wedge, or Biggs if he is a better target. After the missiles are spent, you need to use evade tokens to increase survivability.

Options 2.

Dutch and 3 Y-wing, The droid that allows you to get a target lock back played on Dutch and 4 Ion Turrets. Keep near your board edge and when he gets close enough to attack you ion cannon him off the board. You may not get all, but you may get a few. Or, keeping tight to astorieds and you may be able to run them into astorieds for bonus damage. Low ship count armies are easy to manipulate and devistate with ion cannons.

Try this Imperial list.

Vader w/ Concussion Missile and Swarm Tactics

Tempest Squad Pilot (this should be the lowest skilled pilot) w/ Concussion Missile

Black Squad Pilot w/ Squad Leader

2x Academy Pilots

Run Vader, Tempest, and Black in one pack and the Academy in a second pack a little ways away. Use Swarm Tactics to give Tempest skill 9 and Squad Leader to give the Tempest a second action. As such the first time you are at range to get a target lock with Tempest you can get two actions with Vader and Tempest, target lock and focus, to get the most out of the missiles. Both missiles used at once should kill Biggs out right. This requires a little understanding of range controling while you move to be most successful. The two Academy Pilots will move fast up the board then as they would come to the sides of the allience player and make a hard turn to flank his groups. By the time these pilots get to shoot they can put some hurt on Wedge, or Biggs if he is a better target. After the missiles are spent, you need to use evade tokens to increase survivability.

Option 2.

Dutch and 3 Y-wing, The droid that allows you to get a target lock back played on Dutch and 4 Ion Turrets. Keep near your board edge and when he gets close enough to attack you ion cannon him off the board. You may not get all, but you may get a few. Or, keeping tight to astorieds and you may be able to run them into astorieds for bonus damage. Low ship count armies are easy to manipulate and devistate with ion cannons.

WeaponsFree said:

WeaponsFree said:

oh my bad. soory thought u were running rebels.

howlrunner is still gr8 as suggested by R5. im guessing u want to run vader?

vader/missiles/swarm (35)

howlrunner/swarm (20)

2x Academy Pilot (24)

Black Squadron Pilot/Determination (15)

Dark Curse or Backstabber (16)

100pts.

you could also go with all name pilots: howlrunner (18pts), dark curse (16pts), backstabber (16pts), night beast (15pts), winged gundark (15pts)

but without any of the new and dangerous wave3 upgardes and with only 5 tie-fighter models ur probably better off using Vader imo.

CPTMcMurphy said:

He said he was having trouble because he was always getting massacred, these lists especially option 2, are just going to add to his misery.

Practice with this seeing as you only have 5 TIEs:

Vader Swarm Tactics

Howlrunner Swarm Tactics

Obisdian

Academy Pilot x 3

or this if you can get more TIEs

Howlrunner Swarm Tactics

Mauler Swarm Tactics

Academy x 5

if u get one more tie you could also go with 6 name tie pilots

howlrunner (18)

mauler mithel (18)

dark curse (16)

night beast (15)

backstabber (16)

wonged gundark (15)

98pts + swarm tactics on one of ur top guys.

The R5Don4 Star II said:

For some reason I faced this squad a lot at the Kessel Run tournies. It must be a good one.

I'd try it out, and see if it works for you.

Some have had success with it, but it takes practice and skill to play well. You can't expect it play itself. 8 Tie fighters now that plays itself.

I'm high off an Imperial victory with 5 Academy Ties and I even rolled turrrribly. Get good at flying in formation and concentrate fire on one target at a time. Boom Boom Boom! Granted, it was a 60 point game…so I may not know what I'm talking about.

WeaponsFree said:

I don't mean for this to come off as semantic, but why are you losing? That list isn't bad, but honestly, a 6 ship TIE swarm with Howlrunner and Vader (either/ both with Swarm Tactics), with another named pilot or two thrown in for fun should just flat out overwhelm this list. Which leads me back to the first question- what's the problem here? Are you manuevering badly? Colliding with stuff and losing your actions? Flying strictly in straight lines? Letting him fly in straight lines?

The toughest thing about trying to fly an area-of-effect type list is having an opponent that actually makes you manuever in something besides straight lines and easy turns.

Same goes for you too- if you're clumping up a bunch just to get a Howlrunner re-roll and it's making you susceptible to BIggs, then stop doing that. Spread out a bit.

And lastly, the question I always ask folks who seem new (because Lord knows it applied to me when I was a new player)- are you playing the rules right? The thing that kinda jumps out at me is Vander having R2-F2. That droid ability is an Action. Your opponent can't use the R2-F2 ability and Target Lock (and more importantly pass on a TL) in the same round. Most folks pair a guy like Vander up with a droid who has a non-Action type ability solely for that reason. Nothing you said really leads me to believe he's playing it wrong, but a free R2-F2 and still being able to TL would do a lot to explain why you're having so much trouble with this list.

Just focus fire on something- anything. That whole list is fairly interdependent. If you can eliminate just one of those ships, the other two become less powerful/ versatile/ whatever. I know Wedge is probably chasing your stuff off the table every turn, but next game, focus on getting at least one of his ships off the board- either Vander or Biggs. I mean, have every available gun firing on that dude every time- don't spread your shots.

Thanks for the info guys Im going to give these lists a try and see what I can put together.