I just thought I'd share this, as it hadn't occurred to me before it was used against me in a game.

I'm still new to the game, so I'm sure that many of you have either done this to your opponent or had it done to you.

What happened was I was in a game with 2 friends playing a 300 pt game (yeah it took forever). I was playing Rebels, and the two of them split the Imperial forces between them. I figure I'm a pretty good judge as to how my friend will maneuver, but this was the first time I had played with a third person thrown into the mix.

Anyways - I had maneuvered myself into what was essentially a parking lot in space - a lot of bumping (not on my part), and surrounded by probably 4 to 5 enemy ships (I should have taken a picture it was so comical). The third person in our group (who I hadn't played with before and is newer to the game than myself or my friend) decided to lob an assault missile into the fray.

He put the hurt on my ship (wiped it off the board more like), but in the course of doing so, he sacrificed one of his Ties at range 1, and damaged 2 others, as well as the burly albino space alpaca that was hanging in the area. I quite honestly had never thought to sacrifice my own ships this way, but he was laughing his butt off. It was really a game changer for us.

Anyone else run into this?

I've never played that big a game, but there are always those "do I have enough space to drop that bomb? Is that interceptor clear for my Assault Missile?" moments. In my experience, it generally pays off to go for it.

An interesting use one of my friends found for Assault Missiles when playing against mixed squads is to hold it back until two ships with very different defensive characteristics are within Range 1 of each other. In this case, a fresh (but tokenless) Firespray-31 and Soontir Fel with Focus, Focus, Evade, but only 1 Hull remaining. He didn't care how much he damaged the Firespray, the whole point was to trigger the blast onto a nearby high-evasion but low-health ship.

Ever since I've pondered a Green Squadron A-Wing with Deadeye and Assault Missile, to cherrypick the one enemy ship that didn't Evade and splash damage to the others.

I've never played that big a game, but there are always those "do I have enough space to drop that bomb? Is that interceptor clear for my Assault Missile?" moments. In my experience, it generally pays off to go for it.

An interesting use one of my friends found for Assault Missiles when playing against mixed squads is to hold it back until two ships with very different defensive characteristics are within Range 1 of each other. In this case, a fresh (but tokenless) Firespray-31 and Soontir Fel with Focus, Focus, Evade, but only 1 Hull remaining. He didn't care how much he damaged the Firespray, the whole point was to trigger the blast onto a nearby high-evasion but low-health ship.

Ever since I've pondered a Green Squadron A-Wing with Deadeye and Assault Missile, to cherrypick the one enemy ship that didn't Evade and splash damage to the others.

That's actually the best way to soften up a turtled up Howlrunner I find. just hit two or thee ties next to her then potshot with primaries to clear any health she's got left.

So I am not clear on the "usefulness" of this use. Wouldn't it just be better to have the cheaper concision missile?

If you want a new use for Assault missiles. Shoot them at Shuttles (Or even Fire sprays, or TIE Bombers) They are pretty likely to hit (4 attack dice isn't anything to laugh at ever) and then you get the blast effect off for sure. Of course it only works if they are flying in formation.

So I am not clear on the "usefulness" of this use. Wouldn't it just be better to have the cheaper concision missile?

If you want a new use for Assault missiles. Shoot them at Shuttles (Or even Fire sprays, or TIE Bombers) They are pretty likely to hit (4 attack dice isn't anything to laugh at ever) and then you get the blast effect off for sure. Of course it only works if they are flying in formation.

I think the splash damage of the assault missile was the point he was trying to make.

Pinning in hard to hit targets, even if it means catching some of your own ships in the blast, and then nailing an easier to hit target with an assault missile, knowing that even a turtled up ship is going to get hit in the blast if it's at range 1, softening it up.

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up - the idea that's you take the splash damage without any sort of evade makes these things deadly if fired into a swarm - even at the cost of a couple of your own ships..

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up - the idea that's you take the splash damage without any sort of evade makes these things deadly if fired into a swarm - even at the cost of a couple of your own ships..

Okay I don't see how this is a new use. Or are you saying that splash damage is so cool that it is worth taking a bit of a hit on our own ships.

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up - the idea that's you take the splash damage without any sort of evade makes these things deadly if fired into a swarm - even at the cost of a couple of your own ships..

Okay I don't see how this is a new use. Or are you saying that splash damage is so cool that it is worth taking a bit of a hit on our own ships.

Oh, I didn't say it was a new use. I'm new to the game with only 5 games under my belt so far, but this was new to me. It took me by surprise that someone would choose to fire an assault missile knowing that he'd damage his own ships in the process.

On a counter-note to that, in one of my tournament games last year, my opponent brought Vader and the two named Bomber pilots, who were loaded with ordnance. I knew he was setting me up for an assault missile barrage, so I used my lower PS to rush forward and block him with Blue squadron B-Wings. I tangled up Vader and Jonus or Rhymer, taking away any good shooting options and in too close for missiles.

It forced him to fire off his only missile shot (to get it off before I mauled him next turn) into the crowd, catching Vader and his other Bomber both in the blast radius. I don't think he considered it a particularly good trade, but knowing it was coming I was able to trap him in a situation where he had to risk hitting his own ships to get off a shot on mine.

I find if I have a couple of them people are more afraid to fly in formation,the psychology of them shouldn't b underestimated.

yes i had this happen when we had a 4 player game. I fired them from darth vader at the rebels but unfortunatly my mates tie fighters were near by. i killed the rebel ship and took the last hit off one of the ties as darth shouted"you have failed me for the last time".

"Or really, in a way, I have failed YOU for the last time. But that's - that's probably moot at this point, right? I did just destroy you with a missile, just now. And the Force, of course. But mostly, mostly the missile. ... ... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"