So I took my Bareback Scarlet Cowgirl (because I have Backstabber without any upgrades) to the Store Championship in Iowa City today. There were 10 people, so it was just 3 rounds and that was it. (The squad I ran is 12 posts up from this one.)

First round I faced off against a 4 bomber list. When we get into combat range, he one-shots my AP and puts some damage on my shuttle with proton torps. Next round or 2 he took out my shuttle, but at the expense of Jonus and one of his gammas being at 1 hull left. The Seismic hit 3 of his 4, which put the killing blow on Jonus. Backstabber was insane awesome for me, rolling 3 dice nearly every time. I had him down to 1 bomber vs Kath at 6 hull and Backstabber. Then the game hinged on one turn. I mistakenly did a 1 bank with Kath, landing her edge of the base on the edge of a roid, rolled a crit, Direct HIt. Then he fired his last Torpedo at me, 3 hits and a crit. I got 1 evade. Crit was Minor Explosion, rolled a hit and she was gone. Six hull gone in one turn. I should have gone 2 fwd instead, then rolled to get rid of the TL and get a better position. Game came down to Backstabber at 2 hull vs his Bomber at 3 hull. Last turn I had a range 1 out of arc shot, with focus. I rolled 2 hits, and he evaded one, so it was a modified win for him. 0-1

Next round I played against a Wedge/Biggs/Dutch squad. Again I lose a TIE first round due to a Wedge Proton Torp hitting Backstabber with 2 hits and 2 crits (BARELY had Range 3 shot at him, but did and it cost me.) The OGP was awesome for me this game, as I blocked him and prevented him from taking actions while Kath and the AP pounded on him. Took Biggs ad Wedge out without much damage, then eventually finished off Dutch without losing another ship. 1-1

Then I faced a Three Amigos list of Soontir, Turr, and Vader. OGP did an Adv Boost, then got right in his way to block all 3 of his ships. Exchanged Range 1 fire, and hit Turr, removing his Stealth. Then Next round he focused on BS and killed him again in one round without him firing. Then Kath put a crit on Turr due to Merc, Direct Hit. Turr was out. Next round the AP blocks Fel. Kath TL'd Fel, she puts a hit and a crit on him. Crit=Direct Hit. 2 crits get through, 2 Interceptors out. So then it's Vader vs the rest of my squad. vader is a bear to take down endgame. He finished off Kath eventually, and the OGP ended up finishing him off with a F/TL shot. 2-1

So I finished 5th of 10. Not too bad for having never flown the squad before. And if I hadn't made the one mistake in game 1 losing Kath, I might have done even better. So, I think I like the list. I may fly it in a few weeks for our Store Championship.

Be sure to post winning list and game info.

So I took my Bareback Scarlet Cowgirl (because I have Backstabber without any upgrades) to the Store Championship in Iowa City today. There were 10 people, so it was just 3 rounds and that was it. (The squad I ran is 12 posts up from this one.)

First round I faced off against a 4 bomber list. When we get into combat range, he one-shots my AP and puts some damage on my shuttle with proton torps. Next round or 2 he took out my shuttle, but at the expense of Jonus and one of his gammas being at 1 hull left. The Seismic hit 3 of his 4, which put the killing blow on Jonus. Backstabber was insane awesome for me, rolling 3 dice nearly every time. I had him down to 1 bomber vs Kath at 6 hull and Backstabber. Then the game hinged on one turn. I mistakenly did a 1 bank with Kath, landing her edge of the base on the edge of a roid, rolled a crit, Direct HIt. Then he fired his last Torpedo at me, 3 hits and a crit. I got 1 evade. Crit was Minor Explosion, rolled a hit and she was gone. Six hull gone in one turn. I should have gone 2 fwd instead, then rolled to get rid of the TL and get a better position. Game came down to Backstabber at 2 hull vs his Bomber at 3 hull. Last turn I had a range 1 out of arc shot, with focus. I rolled 2 hits, and he evaded one, so it was a modified win for him. 0-1

Next round I played against a Wedge/Biggs/Dutch squad. Again I lose a TIE first round due to a Wedge Proton Torp hitting Backstabber with 2 hits and 2 crits (BARELY had Range 3 shot at him, but did and it cost me.) The OGP was awesome for me this game, as I blocked him and prevented him from taking actions while Kath and the AP pounded on him. Took Biggs ad Wedge out without much damage, then eventually finished off Dutch without losing another ship. 1-1

Then I faced a Three Amigos list of Soontir, Turr, and Vader. OGP did an Adv Boost, then got right in his way to block all 3 of his ships. Exchanged Range 1 fire, and hit Turr, removing his Stealth. Then Next round he focused on BS and killed him again in one round without him firing. Then Kath put a crit on Turr due to Merc, Direct Hit. Turr was out. Next round the AP blocks Fel. Kath TL'd Fel, she puts a hit and a crit on him. Crit=Direct Hit. 2 crits get through, 2 Interceptors out. So then it's Vader vs the rest of my squad. vader is a bear to take down endgame. He finished off Kath eventually, and the OGP ended up finishing him off with a F/TL shot. 2-1

So I finished 5th of 10. Not too bad for having never flown the squad before. And if I hadn't made the one mistake in game 1 losing Kath, I might have done even better. So, I think I like the list. I may fly it in a few weeks for our Store Championship.

great effort. Well done Hothie. I know u have flown double bounty hunters a lot and this list would have had some crossover of tactics from other squads u have flown i bet. i think u have discovered that scarlet cowgirl and similar squads like ur list are actually competitive AND fun to fly. 4 ship squads like this one, are precision weapons. U r taking 4 throwing knives to a gunfight. its good at what it does and versatile enough to handle pretty much anything. the tradeoff is u only have 4 ships and two of them have 3hull/zero shields. certainly a high skill level required to get the most out of the list, which i think is what drew me to it in the first place - squads like these (Scarlet Cowgirl and Bareback SC) seem to punch above their weight and can catch unprepared opponents off guard.

sounds like the addition of merc copilot and backstabber both earned their spots eh? thanks for the report.

Honestly, I did like Backstabber in the one game I got to use him. The merc was good. But the star was having AdvS on the shuttle. Being able to advance boost, or focus/tl before colliding or red maneuver is just amazing. And I'm really liking the 1 bank boost before a 3 bank maneuver. That one takes lots of people by surprise. I think I like the squad as I made it, so ill work on practicingv it some more.

Two more games under my belt today, one at LGS and one on vassal, and I'm really liking the Bareback Scarlet Cowgirl variant. Only lost one ship both games, one against a Firespray wHLC/Jonus/Doomshuttle and the other vs BBBAA. I think this variant really fits my play style, and love the damage that I get out of Backstabber. Advanced Sensors on the shuttle is a godsend, and the Merc is more than pulling his weight with a direct hit on an Awing. Advanced Boosting is just so useful for repositioning the shuttle and getting it into blocking areas.

I played against Hothie in that first match in Iowa City. I ran 4 bombers. He's not lying about backstabber. The problem is that you've got this shuttle with 3 attack and Scarlet with three attack just staring you down, so you unload on them first. Nobody cares about backstabber because it's too hard to put effort into killing him early. So he just sits back there and plinks away for major damage. Backstabber is an underrated piece of this build.

I got CRAZY lucky on that Kath shot with him on the asteroid though. That's the only reason I got the win.

After hemming and hawing between a Blaster Turrets list and a Shuttle & BH list, earlier this week I finally settled on the Imperial side and my newly painted Hood Milk Truck.

I've been drawing up a number of lists, and Hothie's is also strong in the options. I really like that it has 3 attack ships plus an Academy blocker. Now I'm hemming and hawing between stealing his list or going with one of a few options with dual HLC and either Krassis, Yorr, & Stabbie, or Krassis, Omicron, & Jonus, but no Academy blocker in either due to the cost of HLCs..

I'm thinking the addition of backstabber makes just about any list better at this point. He's just so good at A) Drawing early hate or B) earning that hate though the pain and destruction he causes if you don't target priority him.

I'm thinking the addition of backstabber makes just about any list better at this point. He's just so good at A) Drawing early hate or B) earning that hate though the pain and destruction he causes if you don't target priority him.

Backstabber > Dark Curse 95% of the time.

Yeah. I like DC when I'm dealing with targeting priority in list building and with how much focus farming is going around he might be good but right now

BS>NightBeast>DC

NightBeast with Evade and focus is just about as hard to take down as DC and is much more offensive.

Rakky... you get me... you just... get me...

Red, I personally shy away from HLC's for a few reasons:

1) I just don't think in terms of K-turning firesprays. I've learned to fly them straight and use the rear arcs and take actions over k-turning them and getting stressed. I'd rather take the 3 dice modified rear arc shot over the 4 dice unmodified. Krassis is really the only ship i would run HLC on, and even then he's predictable about how he flies because of it. i use the rear arcs as much if not more than the front arcs, but that's just me.

2) Is one extra die on 2-3 attacks throughout the game worth 7 points? Especially since you can't crit with it? I would rather have 3 dice shots and save the points for another ship. I guess, especially if you're running 2 of them, I would rather have the AP for the cost. But again, that's just me.

3) I'm not convinced that HLC on a shuttle is a good idea. You will likely get 1 good shot with it, possibly another that won't be modified, and then get destroyed while turning around afterwards. For me, it's not worth the points you spent on it. For those same 7 points, I put Advanced Sensors and Engine on a shuttle and make it a very unpredictable dogfighter. If you don't destroy it in the first exchanges, it will come back to shoot again much sooner than you expect it to.

Feel free to use whatever list you like. Bareback Scarlet Cowgirl over the original Scarlet Cowgirl works for me for the reasons I listed on the previous page. I've found that I lose a ship early, either the AP or Backstabber, but I have enough firepower that i can overcome an early ship loss and still come back for the win. Every time I've played it on the tabletop, I lost a ship before it ever fired, and yet I've only lost once in 5 games due to one mistake I made in a game that I was ahead the entire time to that point. It fits me, I think, because it's kind of dual firesprays with 2 ties extra, so it works for my style.

So today, I went undefeated and unvictorious.... The store's Event Manager wasn't able to make it in, so I wound up stepping in as TO as well as chief judge. With 18 players, it was best for me to not play to so I could keep everything running smoothly (plus not cause byes). I'll do a tourney write-up later when a brain-cell or two returns. Right now, I'm enjoying a nice martiini and trying to prevent their return <,^

But here's the list I didn't fly. Kath ditched Greedo and his bomb somewhere on Dantooine, and picked up Capt. Yorr to take over from what's-his-name flying the milk truck!

Kath +EH

Yorr +EngUp +AdvSen

Stabbie

Academy

99 points

I like Yorr's improved PS4, and the ability to soak up Kath's stress when she barrel-races her pony Firespray.

I have a choice of 2 other store championships to go to next Saturday, so I hope to take her out for a real spin on the rodeo circuit!

I was even wearing my 'Cowgirl Up' tee shirt, cowgirl boots, and riding jeans with the 'Hardcore Cowgirl' belt-buckle today

: 3

It's all in the costuming. When I ran Mindflayers and umber hulks in ddm I always wore my "by reading this you have given me brief control of your mind" tee.

IM going with this variant this weekend at a local tournament (12 players)

Kath+ Expert Handling (40)
Omicron + FCS + Gunner+ engine upgrade (32)
Backstabber (16)
Academy Pilot (12)

• Stripping back the upgrades from Kath frees up points to upgrade one Academy Pilot to Backstabber (thanks for the idea Hothie), adding more firepower and giving u a serious flanking threat.
• I still prefer the Buzzsaw Shuttle to others in the squad as it provides consistent damage - even at long range it usually hits for 2 damage every time.
• Runnin at least one Merc Copilot in this list was a what i wanted to do but with backstabber and the buzzsaw together there just aren't the points so it was an either-or decisions and i think a hard hitting ship like backstabber will impact more on the game than a long range crit or two - my thinking is this 'how often will i get to use it in a game anyway?'

thoughts?

After 6 straight wins, went 1-2 at the lgs with it yesterday. So I may tweak it a little.

The merc copilot does get used, but I think rebel captive will be better for Kath. And I've found initiative us huge with this squad, so I am dropping the merc and seismic for a rebel captive and 99.

Kath with eh and captive

OGP with AdvS and engine

Backstabber

AP

I'm also finding the about turns 5-8 I'm not getting nearly the shots that I want to get, so I'm going to have to develop a different way of flying it.

After 6 straight wins, went 1-2 at the lgs with it yesterday. So I may tweak it a little.

The merc copilot does get used, but I think rebel captive will be better for Kath. And I've found initiative us huge with this squad, so I am dropping the merc and seismic for a rebel captive and 99.

Kath with eh and captive

OGP with AdvS and engine

Backstabber

AP

I'm also finding the about turns 5-8 I'm not getting nearly the shots that I want to get, so I'm going to have to develop a different way of flying it.

Hothie - could be ur opponents are learning how to fly against this eh? so u feel initiative is needed for movement (getting ur ships into position first?) or firing first? or placement? or all of the above? rebel captive is not as good against imperials (unless they have big ships imo). im doing some testing this friday. the tourney is sunday. will let u know how i go.

I use a similar list to those on this board. I am taking it to a store championship next weekend, so my final playtesting will be between three variants that are essentially the same list with minor tweaks:

List A:

Kath, gunner, EU, PTL, seismic

Academy TIE x 4

[100]

List B:

Kath, recon, EU, PTL

Obsidian TIE x 4

[100]

List C:

Kath, gunner, EU, PTL

Obsidian TIE x 2

Academy TIE x 2

[100]

The whole point of these as I have been playtesting them is to get Kath to the endgame. I find she gets targeted extremely early and aggressively, allowing the TIEs to do the bulk of the damage. If I can get Kath into the final 1-on-1 type scenario with 4-5 Hull, she is pretty impossible to take down with Focus/Evade and Gunner every turn.

I have tried having double Interceptors (Sabre+PTL) or three Alphas, but the TIEs have been better. Blocking keeps ships away from Kath and four focused TIEs can still deal plenty of damage early and that's with my tendency to completely whiff on defense from time to time. Let's just say my TIEs rarely have damage and are usually just removed with a single shot. I either save all or none.

I've played probably 12-15 games with some variants on this and have won at least 70-75%, so I feel pretty good. I toyed with Ion Cannon, Expert Handling, double Firespray, and a few other things, but this is generally the set-up I enjoy and which seems to take on all comers the best. Most of my playgroup really likes named pilots, so generally I have gotten good at blocking and setting up low PS TIEs in that environment. That being said, the Obsidians have been coming into play just to beat out the occasional rookies, Blues, and other swarms, so I think the mixed option may be best. The seismic charge is fun, but rarely hits more than 1 ship.

Anyway, I have been reading this thread with great gusto as I do my final week of prep.

I have enjoyed this thread a lot and now would like to share/ get advice for my list for my tourney on Saturday.

So far I have:

Kath with expert handling

OGP with advanced sensors

Soonter Fel with push the limit and stealth device

Leaves me with 3 points and don't know which one to choose between for the OGP with rebel captive or darth vader?

Edit: forgot to ask if people have tried/ had much luck with maybe going with push the limit instead of expert handling on kath?

I have enjoyed this thread a lot and now would like to share/ get advice for my list for my tourney on Saturday.

So far I have:

Kath with expert handling

OGP with advanced sensors

Soonter Fel with push the limit and stealth device

Leaves me with 3 points and don't know which one to choose between for the OGP with rebel captive or darth vader?

Edit: forgot to ask if people have tried/ had much luck with maybe going with push the limit instead of expert handling on kath?

3 pts eh? hmmm. thats a rebel captive on Kath

other options - drop the adv sensors and replace with Vader crew which still leaves u 2 pts, maybe merc copilot? his could go on either big ship.

what about downgrading soontir fell to turr phennir which would free up more points to upgrade ur shuttle with engine upgrade?

I have to say that "bareback cowgirl" with stabber is probably the best thing for this list so far. I think the debate about recon vs. captive pretty much goes away in the near furture... Already not that good vs. imperials and rebels are get stress shedding, shifting, and a Bwing that will shoot at Kath with a Rebel captive at every opportunity.

Kath+ EH + recon

Omicron+ advsen+ EU

Backstabber

Academy

99pts

I think this is the best so far.

I like vet instincts a little better on kath, because my lgs doesn't use too much TL. Will try barbeback at 98pts next time I fly. Having initiative with ps9 kath is nice.

After 6 straight wins, went 1-2 at the lgs with it yesterday. So I may tweak it a little.

The merc copilot does get used, but I think rebel captive will be better for Kath. And I've found initiative us huge with this squad, so I am dropping the merc and seismic for a rebel captive and 99.

Kath with eh and captive

OGP with AdvS and engine

Backstabber

AP

I'm also finding the about turns 5-8 I'm not getting nearly the shots that I want to get, so I'm going to have to develop a different way of flying it.

i tried ur variant today Hothie and i really liked it. that loadout on he shuttle makes it very versatile - u have options to change vector quickly and unpredictably as well as block with it. the list has lots of versatility and is skill intensive to play and lots of fun

Thanks TBB. I found that when I had init, I could block really well with both the shuttle and the AP. Without init, though, its a whole different story, which is why I went for 99. Granted, having AdvS on the shuttle, which I use a LOT, means if I don't have init I'm not as bad off, but still.

its hard to improve the list further - any tweeks weakens it in some way really.

i wonder id rebel captive on kath could become merc copilot and the extra point u free up can become intelligence agent on omicron.

why make these changes?

kaths ability can trigger and deal stress if they evade ur crit (u have to fire from long range tho which will limit ur targets a little but finding one long range target shouldnt be difficult so id expect u to get 3-4 uses from merc copilot at least throughout a game)

intell agent is very useful for positioning blockers, letting me choose to boost with shuttle or barrel with academy - and sometimes i can boost or barrel into/out of firing arcs.

why is rebel captive perhaps the better upgrade?

RC creates a 'im not sure i want to shoot that ship' dilemma for ur opponent and is always active (at all ranges). if they shoot u it hurts them, if they dont shoot you it hurts them (by helping you). Kath is definitely the ship u want later game - that expert handling can be a game changer. RC increases yr chances of keeping Kath in the endgame against opponents who avoid attacking her. (problem is clever opponents will just target her nomatter what)