I am looking at building a competitive list that uses one shuttle. Here are some sample squads.

Squad #1 100pts

Omicron Group Pilot + Fire Control System + Gunner + Engine Upgrade (32)

Howlrunner + Swarm Tactics (20)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Squad#2 99pts

Captain Yorr + Fire Control System + Gunner + Engine Upgrade (35)

Howlrunner + Push the Limit + Stealth Device (24)

Backstabber (16)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Squad#3 100pts

Omicron Group Pilot + Darth Vader Crew (24)

Howlrunner + Push the Limit + Stealth Device (24)

Backstabber (16)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Squad#4 100pts

Omicron Group Pilot + Darth Vader Crew (24)

Howlrunner + Push the Limit + Stealth Device (24)

Obsidian Squadron Pilot (13)

Obsidian Squadron Pilot (13)

Obsidian Squadron Pilot (13)

Obsidian Squadron Pilot (13)

• Vader crew versus Gunner?
• Capt. Yorr versus Omicron?
• Academy support versus Obsidians?
• Any thoughts on which squad is best?
• Constructive feedback is welcome!

I like squad 2, although I might be tempted to drop PtL from Howl and add Rebel Captive to the Great White Space Whale.

I am also working on this double shuttle squad:

(99pts)

Captain Yorr + Fire Control System/ Gunner/Engine Upgrade (35)

Omicron Group Pilot + Darth Vader (Crew) (24)

Howlrunner + Stealth Device/Push the Limit (24)

Backstabber (16)

Im pretty sure this version would have trouble vs a tie-swarm and possible A-Wings but id still like to test it out. Its got decent firepower - between vader crew and gunner it should pack a punch in the first few exchanges. If you were facing this squad what would you take out first?

I like squad 2, although I might be tempted to drop PtL from Howl and add Rebel Captive to the Great White Space Whale.

thats probably a good call and worth testing out. My theory with PTL on Howlrunner was to get 2 actions and then pass the stress to Yorr But i can see that Yorr would definitely be a prime target and therefore making them pay wit stress for targeting him would allow my support fighters to have an advantage.

It will also reduce the impact of losing Howl, who most people will go for first. Then getting stressed for attacking the whale will be a real pain.

I like the idea of Yorr here as you can K-Turn the Ties to come back and defend the whale more easily with this set up.

I'd definitely go with squad 1. I'm actually upset I didn't come up with that myself, looks scary. Only 1 less ship than a 7 Tie swarm, with only 1 less attack die, but the shuttle built like that will likely hit harder than 2 ties would anyway. The shuttle is also GUARANTEED not to die in 1 hit, unlike those fragile Ties! Bring him with the swarm, or at an angle, whatever there is room for with the asteroids, I'm sold!

And in my opinion, protecting Howl with upgrades isn't always necessary. Sometimes it is more beneficial to just have her as the range 2/3 target as your academies sit in range 1/2. I mean, what's worse than having a Tie 1 shot at range 1?

One I've been tinkering on is:

Omicron Group Pilot (21)
Fire-Control System (2)
Gunner (5)
Rebel Captive (3)
Engine Upgrade (4)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)

"Dark Curse" (16)

"Backstabber" (16)

Total: 99

I'm not fully happy with it. The Bombers aren't bad in dogfights themselves. 6 hull is a lot to chew through. Dark Curse is incredibly annoying to kill. And Rebel Captive makes shooting the shuttle a bad option when you've got TIEs clawing at you. That leaves Backstabber as the highest priority target. So use him to tempt the enemy into turning his back on your main force to engage Backstabber and then show them the error of their ways. If they ignore him, they are still likely to target your beefy Bombers because they can use focus tokens and don't get a stress token, all the while ignoring the true threats. It's a mean, vicious list that I'm tempted to try.

great ideas here guys. its cool to see people r thinking about similar stuff but putting their own twist on a shuttle squad.

im still torn about rebel captive - i have yet to test it. obviously it belongs on a shuttle u dont want them to shoot at at all - or a shuttle that you do want them to shoot and pay for it. I know that last statement seems at odds with itself BUT whether u use rebel captive or not totally depends on what u want ur shuttle to do and when in the game (start, middle, end) you really want it to be most effective).

im starting to think that as players get more experience playing against shuttle squads they might just leave it alone till the end focus everything on ur support ships because they know that a shuttle on its own can more easily be chased down and out manouvred. If im playing against a shuttle squad with support fighters i think my tactic would be to stay away from the shuttle - and out of its firing arc and engage the fighters first.

I'd definitely go with squad 1. I'm actually upset I didn't come up with that myself, looks scary. Only 1 less ship than a 7 Tie swarm, with only 1 less attack die, but the shuttle built like that will likely hit harder than 2 ties would anyway. The shuttle is also GUARANTEED not to die in 1 hit, unlike those fragile Ties! Bring him with the swarm, or at an angle, whatever there is room for with the asteroids, I'm sold!

And in my opinion, protecting Howl with upgrades isn't always necessary. Sometimes it is more beneficial to just have her as the range 2/3 target as your academies sit in range 1/2. I mean, what's worse than having a Tie 1 shot at range 1?

Howlrunner will be the enemies prime target (or should be). this will take some heat off ur shuttle initially which should help ur cause until u lose howlrunner. i think u need to plan for this happening - can 3-4 academy pilots and a shuttle/gunner/FCS/boost mop up whats left of the enemy? depends on what damage u inflicted in the early exchanges. its the same with beating a standrd tie-swarm i guess - chop off its head (howlrunner) and it loses its bite.

I have played and liked #3 but drop one of the upgrades from howlrunner and upgrade an academy to Nightbeast. Extra PS and sometimes the "extra" action are enough to strip the shields and let Vader really do some hurt. Howlrunner + shuttle+ Vader is a ton of funk for 42pt investment.

I lost to a squad very similar to build 4.

It was Omicron plus vader, 3 (3) skill TIEs, and 3 (1) skill TIEs. I was using 2 B wings with HLC and 2 rookie pilot X-Wings. I MIGHT have won, but we ran out of time and he had more points still alive.....

I was surprised he didn't use howlrunner. and instead opted for 7 ships.

I lost to a squad very similar to build 4.

It was Omicron plus vader, 3 (3) skill TIEs, and 3 (1) skill TIEs. I was using 2 B wings with HLC and 2 rookie pilot X-Wings. I MIGHT have won, but we ran out of time and he had more points still alive.....

I was surprised he didn't use howlrunner. and instead opted for 7 ships.

thats interesting info. not having howlrunner seems like u r running a sub-optimal squad but the tradeoff is u get an extra ship (even if its cheap one) and u r not worried about any of ur cheap ships going down. those howlrunner rerolls r amazing but having her in ur squad may limit ur flexibility a little in terms of selecting formations. At worlds a top16 squad ran 8x Academy Pilot