What is the normal/standard HSF build?

Han, MF Title and....

And what is a good counter to it?

The most common build Ive seens is:

Han, Marksmanship, Chewie, Gunner

Rookie

Rookie

From there, there are several variants. Most people will drop Chewie first, then maybe Gunner or marksmanship. Other upgrades Ive seen are Elusiveness/Nien, some kind of Missle, Push the Limit.

I personally I like the Y version better.

Han Marksmanship Gunner

Gold Squadron Ion Turret

Gold Squadron Ion Turret

So what's the counter to that sort of setup? I've tried playing it, and it's pretty deadly.

Two YTs. Pretty much counters everything.

I'm in the Han and Y's camp, although Chewie and B-Wings is looking awfully tasty..... but that is off topic. I also like Han, Marksmanship, Gold Squadron with Turret and a Red Squadron X-Wing for the added firepower.

There isn't a hard counter. I think the lists which do the best against it are TIE swarms, Firespray builds with either a small swarm or additional Firesprays, and pretty much any Rebel list (although I'd recommend those based around X Wings and/or other YTs primarily). You basically need to either be able to focus down Han quickly or mitigate his damage while killing his wingmen, then focus him down.

TIE swarms work because of the former - they just focus him down before he can do significant amounts of damage. If you still have 4+ TIEs versus the wingmen, generally you have a significant advantage. The others work because they can take some hits from him and then deal with him, although even there I would recommend killing Han first. You don't really want it to be past turn 4 with Han still having shields.

I think the Ys make better wingmen for him because they control the opposing ships so they can't focus him down so easily, but are more susceptible to the latter lists that just try to absorb the damage he does because the wingmen don't greatly contribute to the damage output of the list.

I expect the B-Wing and TIE Bomber will likely cause these lists to diminish in popularity and increase the use of the TIE Interceptor. Both will likely be very strong against the YT-1300 because they are relatively hard to kill and can get some high-powered weaponry to deal with the bigger ships. This will open up more ability to play Interceptors, since their maneuverability will matter a lot against those ships.

The worst thing to try against him are low-ship Imperial lists without a Firespray. Taking 4 interceptors may sound like a good idea, but if Han gets any help from his wingmen, it will setup the 2 wingmen vs 1 small ship situations too easily. No amount of maneuverability or agility will really keep Han from killing things without shields for very long, if at all.

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/88741-b-wings-are-going-to-be-required-to-be-a-2-peg-ship/?p=845589

I guess I haven't played enough. That's the first turn. Do you limit yourself to green maneuvers?

That's only 33 points so what do you think are the best things to pair with it?

• 4 more TIE/Ln (for a total of 5) if they all had stealth
• 5 more TIE/Ln (for a total of 6) and a couple with stealth.
• Or Soontir Fel (PTL & Stealth); Turr Phennir (Marksmanship & Stealth); and 3 more TIE/Ln

Or...

Fel may very well work against Chewie, as long as you don't blank any evade rolls.

He won't work against Han, which is who we're talking about. Eventually – and really we're not talking about more than a few turns – he will get hit, and then either immediately or shortly thereafter, he will die.

I have flown Soontir Fel lists against Han several times. Never won. Never even come close. In fact I would say that it's clear the Falcon in general, and Han Solo in particular, is the single worst opponent you can face as Soontir Fel.


Signed,
A Soontir Fel Fan Club Member and Avid Pilot

I like Vader with Homing Missiles, personally. He once stripped 4 shields off a Falcon from range 3 on the second turn of a game. That's still a long ways from being finished off, but on the second turn... fuggedaboudit.

Vader is a great counter to HSF. His two actions give him staying power. Fel with a lot of upgrades is risky. I've one shot or put a crit on him in the first round more than once. A swarm chain works well so will a good tie swarm flown well. Rebel lists with out a big ship will struggle unless they fly Biggs and he holds up.

I like a nice pair of bounty hunters for Han zapping, preferably with Heavy Laser Cannon and Gunner. I have even run Fett and Kath with Veteran Instincts for move last shoot first action.

A friend of mine plays the HSF list with Han, Luke, Chewie in YT with biggs and a prototype a-wing. Unless he needs initiative, he picks up MF for the evade. at 9 han fires and if he misses Luke gets the chance to shine with the free focus to hit,

Fel may very well work against Chewie, as long as you don't blank any evade rolls.

He won't work against Han, which is who we're talking about. Eventually – and really we're not talking about more than a few turns – he will get hit, and then either immediately or shortly thereafter, he will die.

I have flown Soontir Fel lists against Han several times. Never won. Never even come close. In fact I would say that it's clear the Falcon in general, and Han Solo in particular, is the single worst opponent you can face as Soontir Fel.

Signed,

A Soontir Fel Fan Club Member and Avid Pilot

Fel is great but Even if he can avoid damage for a few turns, eventually he does get hit and then its over. You need to have damage output and you can't afford to stay away from Han eternally. And at range 1 with marksmanship and gunner, Han will have his 3 hits and a crit at some point. Then you need to evade incredibly well even with evade and focus and stealth. Without stealth, well he is toast like any other Tie.

A friend of mine plays the HSF list with Han, Luke, Chewie in YT with biggs and a prototype a-wing. Unless he needs initiative, he picks up MF for the evade. at 9 han fires and if he misses Luke gets the chance to shine with the free focus to hit,

Marksmanship + Gunner = 8 points

Luke = 7 points

For me thats not a tough choice even if i need to drop Chewbacca.

Biggs is a nice addition to such a list though. No more focusing Han immediately...

I think he doesn't take marksman so if he has mf he can take an evade to increase survivability. however, early in the game with biggs giving cover marksman would be pretty awesome.

Take marksman over MF card any day. That one evade is not as good as the extra hits you will get. Han+Marksman+Gunner = Filth :-)

Fel, even with 2 focus and an evade, is not likely to avoid being hit by Han at range 1 or 2, and has a significant chance of being hit even at 3. Using marksmanship and Han's rerolls, Han is very likely to hit with all 3 on his first shot. Fel will need to use tokens to avoid damage, then gunner activates and Han does it again. Unless he is very fortunate, the second hit has an excellent chance of getting through the remaining defense.

Assuming Fel manages to avoid Han's second shot, he is now tokenless against any follow ups from Han's wingmen. The odds of Fel getting through a turn of focused fire like this is not great.

I like to run this against HSF. It usually gets initiative and will move last and shoot first. Usually take "focus" as the action.

The proximity mine is good against the big ship. (may squeak in a proton bomb in wave 3)

Total Squad Points: 99

Pilot: Boba Fett
Firespray-31 (39)
Upgrades:

• Veteran Instincts (1)
• Gunner (5)
• Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

Pilot: Kath Scarlet
Firespray-31 (38)
Upgrades:

• Veteran Instincts (1)
• Gunner (5)
• Proximity Mines (3)

My favorite HSF build is:

Han Solo w/ swarm tactics, gunner, millenium falcon: 54 points

Biggs Darklighter: 25 points

Rookie Pilot: 21 points

TOTAL: 100 points

Biggs and the falcon upgrade help Han survive longer. In my play experience, Han's ability + gunner does plenty well in hitting stuff and I don't miss marksmanship. Taking this build to a tournament next week- we'll see how it goes!

Here's the one I used most recently.

I just faced a HSF build yesterday. There was no escape for the Princess this time...

TIW swarm of noobs

It was a great cinematic battle though. My opponenet did get off a good assault missile shot that damaged four ships but in the end only one academy TIE was lost.

I ran a Han Shot first build this weekend:

Han w/ MF upgrade, elusiveness, Gunner, Nien Nunb, cluster Missles

Green Squadron Pilot w/ Deadeye, Cluster Missles

Prototype Pilot

Went 2-1, taking out a two Firespray team and X-Wing team of Luke and Wedge. Lost to a Tie swarm because I kept trying to shoot at Soontir Fel with PTL who was impossible to hit with two focus and a evade token on him every time. Had I taken out the Academy Pilots first I would have done much better.