I've found one of the real tricks to flying this list is with the shuttle, if you don't want to move but have a ship in front of you, take a 1 fwd instead of a stop maneuver. You still generally stay where you are, and you have the added benefit of not being stressed. That allows you to use AdvS on this turn and the next. It also opens up your dial for the next round if you aren't stressed. Add in the boost action, and you have a LOT more options available next round for what you want to do. But if you do a stop maneuver, you still stay where you are, but now you are stressed, so not only are your maneuver options limited, so are you actions.

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

Weaken or Improve may not be the best descriptive terms here... Changes to this list, and there are many possibilities here, shift it's capabilities and function, many of which are situational.

For instance: Rebel captive versus Recon specialist; each can be better or worse, in different scenarios. Or like you cite, Merc copilot.. it has the downside of making you consider a range 3 target over a ship that may be higher priority and easier to hit.

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

Weaken or Improve may not be the best descriptive terms here... Changes to this list, and there are many possibilities here, shift it's capabilities and function, many of which are situational.

For instance: Rebel captive versus Recon specialist; each can be better or worse, in different scenarios. Or like you cite, Merc copilot.. it has the downside of making you consider a range 3 target over a ship that may be higher priority and easier to hit.

thats a fair point - weakening or improving a list is player specific really - You need to ask... What do u want ur list to do? if im shifting the function of a list its taking something away from what it was doing or designed to do previously. If i want it to perform a specific role then that is where my focus needs to be so that this role is maximized.

in my example (rebel captive vesus merc copilot) - u would be increasing ur odds of dealing a crit and keeping the ability to deal stress to enemy ships but also narrowing ur potential targets that u fire at. Is that an improvement? Perhaps if u fly the squad differently but then this is moving away form the built-in versatility the squad has imo.

Further to this, intel agent maximizes the list blocking options and can even help Kath maximize barrel rolling by giving u more info about where enemy ships will be, although ships with boost and/or barrel roll are still very unpredictable - even if u know what their movement is going to be.

I like the bareback version. RC Vs. RecSp is still really up in the air. I think I'm leaning more and more to RecSp myself.

I like the bareback version. RC Vs. RecSp is still really up in the air. I think I'm leaning more and more to RecSp myself.

yeah thats an interesting debate actually - it comes down to player style and what u want ur squad to do and probably what matchups u expect to play against as well. im more in the Rebel Captive camp myself.

Kath Scarlet (PS 7) - Push The Limit, Rebel Captive

RGP Interceptor (PS 6) - Push The Limit, Stealth Device

OGP Shuttle (PS 2) - Adv. Sensors, Engine Upgrade

100 Points

The idea for this list is to have a more capable flanker than two academy pilots who also hit harder and who could also survive better in a end game scenario. Also allowing both Kath and the RGP to be defensive by being able to focus and evade with PTL when needed.

Any thoughts about this? I'm thinking of running it in a local tournament.

I like the bareback version. RC Vs. RecSp is still really up in the air. I think I'm leaning more and more to RecSp myself.

yeah thats an interesting debate actually - it comes down to player style and what u want ur squad to do and probably what matchups u expect to play against as well. im more in the Rebel Captive camp myself.

Ahem.

http://teamcovenant.com/hothie/2014/03/27/the-recon-specialist-debates/

I like the bareback version. RC Vs. RecSp is still really up in the air. I think I'm leaning more and more to RecSp myself.

yeah thats an interesting debate actually - it comes down to player style and what u want ur squad to do and probably what matchups u expect to play against as well. im more in the Rebel Captive camp myself.

Ahem.

http://teamcovenant.com/hothie/2014/03/27/the-recon-specialist-debates/

nice one Hothie. A timely article. For me the fact the Rebel Captive is always active is important - its never dead and yes it will mess with your opponent making them hesitant to take on ur firespray. On Kath Scarlet it is especially good because she has the ability to dish stress on attack, although in reality this rarely happens its the threat of her doing it that really messes with ur opponent

RC is more useful vesus rebels though, whereas Rec Spec. is equally useful against both.

im running with the Bareback Cowgirl squad at a 10-12 player tourney today. i love its versatility but u need to fly a near flawless game to win with it (as u know). will post up sum results later on. think its 3 rnds then top4 playoff.

Nice.

What can we do with Flight Instructor and PTL on Kath?

I really don't know where you can find an extra point (Night Beast vs. Backstabber or FCS vs. Advanced sensors).

Makes a really really hard to take down Kath with Focus/TL and Evade and rerolls on defense with FI. NB doesn't punch as hard as Backstabber but is even harder to take down.

I went 3-1. 12 players. good enough for 2nd plc overall. top squad was Han hoots first. one other shuttle variant there which had intercepters and Lt Lorr?

good result for bareback cowgirl. Backstabber was a beast most games and expert handling on kath was murder on the enemy wil post up a more complete report soon.

Nice.

What can we do with Flight Instructor and PTL on Kath?

I really don't know where you can find an extra point (Night Beast vs. Backstabber or FCS vs. Advanced sensors).

Makes a really really hard to take down Kath with Focus/TL and Evade and rerolls on defense with FI. NB doesn't punch as hard as Backstabber but is even harder to take down.

I gave FI and PTL a trial on Kath the other day, it sure has potential. Can't fit it in with the shuttle...but if we swap out the Shuttle for something a little more risky...

I'm thinking of giving these 2 variants a try, as I am a big fan of a single Gamma mixed into a list of high priority targets.

Kath + EH + Gunner(my favorite)/Rebcaptive/FI

Backstabber

AP

Gamma + Homing + Homing/cluster (depends on Kath's loadout)

Or

Kath + PTL + FI

Backstabber

AP

Gamma + Homing + Cluster

It won't be quite as reliable as the Shuttle, I don't think. However, the Gamma COULD be an interesting Flanker or something of the sort. I haven't quite decided whether I should pair him with another ship during setup, or fly him solo...I just know this list would prefer something durable to replace the shuttle...

Just some thoughts on how this list could be expanded upon!

top squad was Han hoots first.

Ha ha!!! What does that list look like?

two top falcon lists were...

han + Luke(gunner) + Nein Numb + marksmanship + titile

2x rookie pilot

han + gunner + expert handling + engine upgrade + title

2x rookie pilot

the added mobility on that falcon with expert handling and boost was amazing.

i lost my only game to Lando + BB

there was also a Chewie + AA squad there.

4 out of 12 squads used falcons, two of these made the top4.

my squad:

Kath Scarlet + Rebel Captive + Expert Handling

Omicron Group Pilot + Advanced Sensors + Engine Upgrade

Backstabber

Academy Pilot

my opponents squads were:

round 1 = tie swarm (howlrunner/swarm tactics, soontire fell/PTL, 4x academy pilot)

quite a close game. most shots were fired in a furball inside the asteroid field. my shuttle soaked up a lot of damage this game and did some key blocking of soontir to let me get a few decent shots at him without him turtling up with focus+evade my big ships had too many shields for him to handle and once soontir was destroyed, howlrunner followed soon after. I lose my academy but keep everything else. 1-0

round 2 = BBBY (dutch+ion, 3x Blue Squadron Pilots)

i lent this squad to the player (geoff?) who had little game experience. i chipped away at his B's for 5 turns, tying to get max use out of backstabber who is awesome - i kept the ties at long distance until i saw an opportunity to double and triple team a single B. My squad relies on patient target selection and not taking on 3 attack ships head on. Again I lose just my academy this game. 2-0.

round 3 = Kyle + XXX (Dreis, kyle, 2x rookies)

his focus passing synergy is a good one but i manage to take out both his rookies pretty early. Backstabber gets parked on a rock trying to hard2 into a flanking position and gets blasted soon after (my first mistake all tournament). dutch gets two ion shots on Kath but she is in a safe position heading into the centre of the board. my barrel rolling firespray does some nice work this game and i eventually take down all his ships just losing backstabber. 3-0.

round 4 = Lando + 2x B-Wings/FCS

this guy wanted to use adv sensors on his B-Wings but didnt get them for this tournament. this was the hardest game for my squad. the falcon negates all of my squads mobility and turns my ties into fish in a barrel i manage to chip away at his B-Wings, eating through 10 shields takes some doing! i eventually take down both B-Wings but he is left with a largely undamaged lando and i have two heavily damages large ships (both on about 3 hull). he takes out my wounded shuttle (probably should have boosted out of trouble in this game and run for the far reaches of the board but decided to make a sporting fight of it). When time is called i have only kath scarlet left and he has Lando. I suffer a narrow defeat in this one. Final score 3-1.

i was really happy how my squad performed. Thanx to Hothie for helping me tweek a bit more from a list i thought was maxed out (it wasnt). I am looking to make some new additions of upgrades and/or ships to this squad with the new expansions. i think its a fun list and really competitive.

Roll Call:

Kath Scarlet (the anchor of this squad, expert handling on a firespray is crazy good)

Omicron Group Pilot (adv sensors really paid for themselves, keeping your action on a ship with this many red movement options is extremely useful, Omicrons ability to block high and mid PS ships is very underrated, taking boost before u move can really surprise people, so can taking ur action then bumping into a ship to stay in firing arc without stalling - Hotihie u put me onto this one )

Backstabber (MVP, always a huge threat - esp when u dont fly onto an asteroid)

Academy Pilot (blocker supremo who can get in some unexpected damage)

I did fly this list yesterday in the Battleground Store Championship and got hammered 1-3. It was a fun squad to fly, but my dice were running middling to icy cold throughout the day which didn't help.

Kath +EH

Yorr +EngUp +AdvSen

Stabbie

Academy

99 points

Match win the first round against a 3 ship Rebel build. Killed Tycho on the alpha strike when my squad caught him with the others out of range. I recovered from a bad flying turn mid-game. Wedge and a Rookie survived but were beat up. Didn't lose any ships.

2nd round lost all ships to the tournament winner with Garven , Dagger +AdvSen, 2x Red. I lost my Academy first, and sorely missed the ability to block Yorr's path for him. But in the next turn I was able to leapfrog Kath in front of Yorr to give static blocking on the following turn. The Shuttle was out of action for most of the game, running wide trying to fix a pair of criticals, Damaged Sensor Array (ouch!), and Weapons Malfunction. Kath & Stabbie did a valiant job taking on his 4 ships. Kath's ability kept kept Garven stressed a couple of times which helped, and the the big bases kept the Dagger from K-turning a couple of times. My attack dice were running middling in this game, at the end his ships were all beat up but all flying. Yorr was my last ship flying, and after failing 4 repair actions, just kicked her into a hard 2 maneuver to at least have a chance of killing one Rebel in a blaze of glory. but that was not to be, but I went down fighting. I was glad I had Yorr for the PS4, but Rebel Captive really would have messed up Garven in this particular list since he was the highest PS Rebel.

3rd round vs Wedge, Roark, Blue, and Red. Took out the Blue first with Stabbie on his tail and the rest of the squad closing in. Lost Stabbie right after that as the rest of his squad finally came to bear on the fight, but not a bad trade. But again in the mid-game flying, I had to spread my attacks around, damaging all his ships, but no more kills. Only Yorr survived. In this match, Rebel Captive would have been more useful than Yorr's PS4.

4th round vs Biggs, GSP, 2x Blue +FCS. Again isolated the A-Wing quick with both Stabbie and Academy on its tail. But Stabbie's lasers just would not work! 3 shots with 4 dice each, no damage inflicted. I think I rolled 0, 2, and 1 hits. Fortunately the Academy had been constantly laying hits in on it, even through it's sparkle burst Focus & Evade tokens. After all that time, Biggs came around behind us and vaped Stabbie in one shot and then the Academy. But by then Yorr kicked around from the other part of the fight with a Boost and a hard 2 to come in with 4 dice and finish of the bleeping A-Wing. It went down with its Assault Missiles still on board. In the fight with the Blues, I'd been getting the better of that with flying, but not with dice, no one was dying. And in the final turn of the game Kath had a 4 dice shot on Biggs who only had 2 hull left. Biggs ended the game with 1 hull left. Destroyed 27 points, lost 28 points. Very glad to have Yorr's PS 4 in this match.

18 players, mostly Rebels this time. Lots of B-Wings this day too. Kath's magic power had no effect on B-Wings during any of the matches. They didn't have the Agility dice to cancel the crits, just the shields to soak them up. Her PS7 is great.

Got timely use out of Kath's EH each game and surprising a couple of opponents with that. AdvSens and EngUp on Yorr worked great, routinely actioning and then crashing or hard twoing into position, except for most of round 2 when the first critical hit disabled both upgrades for the rest of the match...

The weakness for me flying-wise was not being able to regroup easily to concentrate fire mid-game.

im working on a squad that uses these pilots...

Kath Scarlet

Gamma Squadron

Backstabber

Academy Pilot

my meta has lots of falcons so need a ship that can hurt it.

looking at a combination of mines and missiles to boost early dmg.

Kath is the finisher, but hopeful backstabber can go the distance as well.

im working on a squad that uses these pilots...

Kath Scarlet

Gamma Squadron

Backstabber

Academy Pilot

my meta has lots of falcons so need a ship that can hurt it.

looking at a combination of mines and missiles to boost early dmg.

Kath is the finisher, but hopeful backstabber can go the distance as well.

By golly, I've been inspired to create a name for this list Variation:

Scarlet Bombardier

4th round vs Biggs, GSP, 2x Blue +FCS. Again isolated the A-Wing quick with both Stabbie and Academy on its tail. But Stabbie's lasers just would not work! 3 shots with 4 dice each, no damage inflicted. I think I rolled 0, 2, and 1 hits. Fortunately the Academy had been constantly laying hits in on it, even through it's sparkle burst Focus & Evade tokens. After all that time, Biggs came around behind us and vaped Stabbie in one shot and then the Academy. But by then Yorr kicked around from the other part of the fight with a Boost and a hard 2 to come in with 4 dice and finish of the bleeping A-Wing. It went down with its Assault Missiles still on board. In the fight with the Blues, I'd been getting the better of that with flying, but not with dice, no one was dying. And in the final turn of the game Kath had a 4 dice shot on Biggs who only had 2 hull left. Biggs ended the game with 1 hull left. Destroyed 27 points, lost 28 points. Very glad to have Yorr's PS 4 in this match.

Sorry to have been your third loss, RedWilde. I was glad to escape at 2-2. I knew I would have some difficulty, especially because I didn't get a chance to practice with this squad. But this tournament was much more competitive than I thought it would be.

I have to say, it was interesting going into up against a Scarlet Cowgirl build after I had been flying it for about a month. Despite getting close a few times, I couldn't win a match to save my life. I still want to go back to it. I like Kath Scarlet and you can't beat barrelrolling a Firespray.

I think having run a similar list helped a bit, but that matchup was a close run thing. Given a couple of rounds I might have been able to finish off Kath. Then again, she may have been able to finish off me. It was that kind of day.

im working on a squad that uses these pilots...

Kath Scarlet

Gamma Squadron

Backstabber

Academy Pilot

my meta has lots of falcons so need a ship that can hurt it.

looking at a combination of mines and missiles to boost early dmg.

Kath is the finisher, but hopeful backstabber can go the distance as well.

My first thoughts on loadout againt Falcon lists are Rebel Captive, Homing Missile. Most Falcons will have either MF title, Expert Handling, PTL. Rebel Captive makes those EH Falcons a lot more predictable. Captive is also great against PTL, obviously. And Homing Missile will net you 1 additional damage over the MF title. I too have recently been plagued with a mass amount of Falcons (I blame imp aces), so the Gamma seems a natural choice to pump out some damage. Slap on 1 Seismic Charge and EH to Kath, maybe a Cluster Missile for range 1 Bomber shots, and we've got a pretty solid list, with the only downside probably being a little weaker to swarms.

By golly, I've been inspired to create a name for this list Variation:

Scarlet Bombardier

nice, yeah i think seismics r really good - could be my tactics versus falcon builds need refining as well. if i can hit the falcon hard early wout getting to many shots on my ships by the support ships i could force the falcon into early trouble

that 1 agility die on defense wont last long - its just risky taking him on at close range so u have to watch he doesnt rush you.

Rebel Captive and Cluster Missile seem like great anti YT tech. If you can make it to end game a YT Vs. a Kath with Captive and a bomb you have to like your odds.

What I would guess is BS will go down first. Low HP and packing a bunch of your firepower means he's probably the easiest target to take out.

When Ion Torp hits, load Kath up with that. Really Punish the YT.

@Ringo, it was a fun game — and having flown a list yourself always helps when facing it!

--Cat

Just wanted to add my kudos to this list and thread. I've been playing around with a Kath build myself that consists of Kath + EH + Merc paired with Howlrunner and three Academies. Unfortunately, I have yet to pick up the Albino Void Walrus, but I think that will definitely be the next purchase for me so that I can try out some of these other builds. I certainly think the Cowgirl variations posted here would have better staying power -- at least once I learn to fly the Walrus.

This is the thread that never dies. Just when i think ppl have forgotten about scarlet cowgirl and variants it pops back up

i still enjoy playing this squad.

its the first competitive list that i played which combined both a firespray and a shuttle.

flying 3 diff ship types in the same squad is nothing new, but flying 3 SUCH different ships is.

i gained a real appreciation for just how agile and fast the basic tie-fighters are by using them next to the shuttle - which has the worst dial in the game by a wide margin.

Kath Scarlet with expert handling is amazing - you find this out very quickly after paying the squad a few times and u see what she can do. being able to barel roll such a large ship is a massive movement advantage and u occasionally pull off incredible feats of "i barrel roll out of your arc and into mine".

imo both hyper-mobile omicron/adv. sensors/boost and buzzsaw loadout are both good fits for this squad and allow the shuttlebus to perform its role as support ship/flanking ship very well. without boost or adv.sensors ur shuttle loses much of its unpredictability and speed of turning/speed of straight outrunning things.

One of the strengths of this list is its versatility but also the ease at which it individual parts can be altered - letting u shift the abilities of the squad (ever so slightly) to match ur style of play. u need a lil more offense? put in backstabber for an academy pilot and play the hyper-mobile shuttle (28pts), looking for more consistent damage from ur shuttle? play the buzzsaw loadout on ur shuttle (32pts) and run with 2 academy pilots. Want to try something different with ur firespray? find room for engine upgrade on Kath Sacrlet or even trade out rebel captive for recon specialist on Kath or how about switching out expert handling for veteran instincts, marksmanship or Push the Limit? GO for it and see how it works for you

The big thing that I am looking forward to is Wingman beside Kath and the shuttle. I don't know if you can do it all here but I will want to try. Early results with wingman and a shuttle are very very good. Wingman and 2 shuttles- awesome.

To those with more experience with this list, how does it fair against a Tie swarm matchup? More like the 7 tie version.

I can think of a few strategies, but I am unsure of not running Gunner on the Firespray for the Swarm matchup. Maybe the Buzzsaw shuttle variation will give me what I need!