I played this squad today:

S.A.S Patrol - Slave-Academy-Shuttle [99pts]

Bounty Hunter + HLC + Recon Specialist (43)

Omicron Group Pilot + FCS + Gunner + Engine Upgrade (32)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

versus

Semi-Epic Chewie [100pts]

Chewbacca + Falcon Title + Gunner + Expert Handling (50)

Blue Squadron Pilot + Adv. Sensors (25)

Rookie Pilot + R2D2 (25)

A quick comment about players and ship choices... rebels were controlled by two newish players (one had played before and took control of Chewie, the other was new to X-Wing but was a tabletop gamer and sw fan who changed the original Epic Chewie squad of two B-Wings to an X-Wing+R2D2.

SETUP

- asteroids were placed in a fairly tight cluster in the centre of the play area.

- from my point of view I placed my shuttle in bottom left corner and BH in far right angling back into the asteroid ring.

- Chewie was placed top right, B and X were central will all rebel ships angled slightling towards the centre of the play area.

FIRST EXCHANGE

- My BH takes a hit from Chewie, then BH lines up a HLC shot on the B-Wing and rolls 3hits and a focus, my recon specialist kicks in and makes it 4 hits!

- The shuttle and both tie fighters hit the wounded B-Wing hard and take it down, it returns fire but misses. Whew.

MIDDLE GAME

- https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152176805410491&set=np.240334890.740726577&type=1&theater&notif_t=photo_tag

- Chewie gives chase on my BH, he lands on an asteroid but still has the BH cornered - that 360 firing arc is impossible to get away from!

- My shuttle tries to boost out of the asteroid field and circle around to the rear of Chewie but a bad mistake puts it on a rock - both of us miss our actions and my Shuttle takes a damage.

- My BH dispatches the X-Wing and arcs back to face Chewie.

- My BH wanted to K=Turn and come back behind Chewie but there isnt enough board in the corner so he sharp turns to the middle instead.

END GAME

- Its looking like a one sided victory for the rebels imperials. All imperial ships link up and give chase as chewie speeds back to the rebel edge of the board.

- Its now 4 imperials against Chewie!

- Chewie lays down some nice rear cover fire as the tie-fighters speed to cut off his escape. He destroys one academy and heavily damages the other.

- An untimely overlap of the Shuttle into the BH prevents the shuttle from opening up all thrusters and boosting.

- Chewie takes a few more damage from a long range shot from the BH and the remaining tie-fighter and he is on 4 hull when he escapes over the rebel edge of the map. VICTORY to the Empire!

Final thoughts...

• My imperial squad performed well, l liked having a mix of ship types but I can see how my low Pilot Skill scores could be an issue versus certain squads. I traded a higher PS Slave1 Pilot (Krassis or Bobba Fett) for that HLC.
  
• This game showed that Slave1 and Shuttle can actually complement each other rather well.
  
• Interestingly u really appreciate how good the Slave 1's movement dial is after flying the shuttle.
  
• Recon Specialist combined with HLC is pretty devastating. Its a 10pt investment but it packs a big punch, with HLC plus recon specialist's extra focus is great as the BH can focus on offense to power up the potential damage from rolling 4 attack die AND keep a focus for defense. Nice!
  
• My two Academy Pilots did quite a bit of damage and there were times during this game when they could switch roles from sniper to blocker which really helped this squad operate optimally.
  

Sounds like you had fun.

As I've mentioned a number of times, I've been using Fett + Navigator + Expert Handling in this list. I'm still tinkering on the Firespray setup though.

Thank you very much for the Battle Report. I really should write up more myself.

END GAME

- Its looking like a one sided victory for the rebels . All imperial ships link up and give chase as chewie speeds back to the rebel edge of the board.

Thanks for posting the report.

For the rebels? It seems the Empire is the one flexing its nasty dark-side muscles.

Thanks for posting the report.

Against this list, fleeing your last ship off the board and destroying a TIE Fighter is considered a Rebel Victory.

For the rebels? It seems the Empire is the one flexing its nasty dark-side muscles.

Thanks for posting the report.

Against this list, fleeing your last ship off the board and destroying a TIE Fighter is considered a Rebel Victory.

Oh.... I knew that not.

Sounds like you had fun.

As I've mentioned a number of times, I've been using Fett + Navigator + Expert Handling in this list. I'm still tinkering on the Firespray setup though.

Thank you very much for the Battle Report. I really should write up more myself.

SableG - thanks for ur input into the squad - those academies were great adding many options to the squad and as u mentioned - tend to get left alone early which lets them flank or block and get in early shots because they appear a lesser threat

Im still trying to inject some more points of PS somewhere but the list is very tight already, downgrading the upgrades on the shuttle to Vader gives the list 8 more points which would allow those Academies to be upgraded to something else like Backstabber + Dark Curse and they might become the early target instead of my tanked up large ships so that might not help.

Maybe going with Krassis and HLC?

Upgrade Omicron to Capt Yorr with Buzzsaw combo?

Iv come to the realization that I need to think about what STAGE of the game i want to focus on. high PS like Bobba Fett would be amazing late game whereas that HLC seems to be signaling an early game tactic of a bombing away from range with the shuttle taking most of the heat early b4 boosting away and regrouping with the tie-fighters harrying the enemy - keeping that HLC at med-long range is hard to do but if u get off 1-2 successful attacks with it, say 3-4hits its great. still tinkering but enjoying the process.

You could fly the Bounty Hunter naked, that gives you 10 more points for minimal loss in performance. Then you could upgrade the Ties to Backstabber and Mauler for a 100 pt squad.

Hrm... if you want PS, I've got an idea. Variant of something I've been working on:

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

Kath Scarlet (38)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Rebel Captive (3)

Obsidian Squadron Pilot (13)

Obsidian Squadron Pilot (13)

Total: 100

So, Obsidian Squad pilots will go before any PS2 rebels, which accounts for a large number of lists you will face. That's big for 1 point each. Then you have Kath at PS9, with Rebel Captive. She'll be dealing a huge amount of stress to your enemy, from cancelled crits to being shot at. It leaves your doomcow as your lowest PS, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, since it can move first and generally muck up your enemy's flight paths.

I do like Sable's list.

I do like Sable's list.

Thank you. I've been tinkering on this list for the past few weeks, ever since I started using it in league nights. I think this might just be a tournament list, but right now I'm working the kinks out. I've been tearing it down and rebuilding it to see what I can do with it. Right now, I'm largely trying to determine how to best kit out the Firespray.

I think with the points you have, it is kitted out to max effect. Anything else would require you to alter the other ships.

You could drop the Captive and make both Ties academy again and up the Shuttle to Jendon. With FCS on him you could pass a lock a turn and always still have the FCS/Gunner combo working. You don't even need to lock as an action most of the time as you can pass the lock you get after Gunner has fired if the target lives, if not, you can TL next turn with the action and pass it off. It might just give you the attacking edge on Kath or the Academies.

Hrm... if you want PS, I've got an idea. Variant of something I've been working on:

Omicron Group Pilot (21)

Fire-Control System (2)

Gunner (5)

Engine Upgrade (4)

Kath Scarlet (38)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Rebel Captive (3)

Obsidian Squadron Pilot (13)

Obsidian Squadron Pilot (13)

Total: 100

So, Obsidian Squad pilots will go before any PS2 rebels, which accounts for a large number of lists you will face. That's big for 1 point each. Then you have Kath at PS9, with Rebel Captive. She'll be dealing a huge amount of stress to your enemy, from cancelled crits to being shot at. It leaves your doomcow as your lowest PS, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, since it can move first and generally muck up your enemy's flight paths.

SableG - i like this list too. ive been thinking about rebel captive - it seems passive at first but its been waiting for the right list to shine. im tempted to play recon specialist over it but i can see how stressing enemy ships makes life a bit easier for every other ship in ur list. it seems very close to an optimal build, as u say its getting the upgrades u want on the slave1 thats the missing pice to the puzzle.