'Cuz R2-D6 is 3 times better than R2-D2 and R2-D2 is the baddest mofo in the SW universe?

Just think of it as his KFC-induced heart attack. He'll likely survive to feast again. The skill is fine, there are ways to mitigate the damage or just use it once or twice you really need it. Beyond that, PS7 with elite slot for a reasonable price in a solid ship. SOLD.

This is what happens when you give shipping containers stealth devices. No one can find the **** things. The Phantoms and their cloaks will probably just appear in stores one day without any warning, put four red dice into your tuckus, and then vanish into the inky blackness of space from whence they came.

I play against a buddy with a similar build, though he'll often have a missile on the A-Wings just to keep you from ignoring them. Regardless, focus on Han first, then deal with the vastly reduced threat of the A-Wings.

Impressive work. Kudos.

From the title, I thought you were going to run the 4 shuttle list, lol. Saw that a couple weeks ago. It was funny at first but turned out pretty much like you'd expect.

I find this all impossible to believe. According to these forums, you cannot win without at least 4 ships in your squad, much less NAMED PILOTS. Congrats on making that crazy ass list work. 63 point Falcon... lol.

I don't think that it's as one-sided (quantity over quality) as some people suggest. Just this week, I saw a guy do extremely well (3-1) with a 2-ship build (Solo and Tycho) who only lost his one game because some guy rolled something like 85% hits against him. Overall, FFG has done a great job with balancing and I don't think this is a huge issue, and frankly one that will get improved when the Rebs finally get access to a cheap fighter so they can slip in a pair of bodies to balance out a couple aces. Overall, if I were to nitpick, I would say that PS is probably SLIGHTLY overpriced, some pilots are nerfed by lack of an EPS upgrade (and substandard innate ability) versus their generics, and the game's mechanics when it comes to overlap and ability denial favor mass ships over elite forces. But the issues are small and the last thing I really want to see is only named pilots and no reason to take grunts. Here, there's clearly advantages to both and if there's an edge, it's small. Fewer pilots means more pressure on flying mistake-free and more vulnerability to dice, so the biggest mistake I make (and see others make) when trying to fly elite 2/3 ship builds is being way too aggressive or risky, when I should be trying to wait for my opponent to mess up and then punish them for it. The game's only, what, less than 2 years old, and has a small enough base of ships that the meta gets thoroughly rebooted with each expansion. Whatever problem is perceived is being addressed through things like Imperial Aces which is clearly and intentionally trying to beef up high PS interceptors to make them more of a factor.

The rule should be that the Imperials can shoot their own, the Rebels cannot. Fire away, Jonus.

This has been my go-to Interceptor list since Aces got leaked. Kir Kanos Royal Guard + PTL Saber + Opportunist Saber + Opportunist Opportunist SHINES when you have a couple higher PS pilots to soften up targets to make them cough up the Evade/Focus early in the turn for the finishers later. It also really makes people squirm when considering other actions, knowing there may just be a pair of Interceptors with 4 or 5 attack dice and a Focus apiece on their ass. Kanos is just a nice pilot for 24 points. If he doesn't need his Evade, he turns it into a guaranteed hit, while the PTL Royal is usually in good shape for a focused shot. It's usually enough to leave at least one target open for the Opportunists to hopefully finish off.

I have been playing Interceptors since they came out. The lack of lists, I feel, has more to do with finding a sweet spot that can accommodate all comers. The choice usually boils down to one the decision to either run naked/barely upgraded interceptors to get some numbers, or go all-in on elite. PTL is not mandatory, but it's an outstanding catch-all, particularly when taking advantage of an opening or, just as important, limiting damage when a mistake or miscalculation is made. Let's face it: Interceptor lists live and die by maneuver and usually a handful of critical defense dice. With more turret weapons comes a negating of advantage (or slimming an already thin margin for error) and the preponderance of HLCs on B-Wings likewise nips the range 3 bonus making maneuver all the more critical. It's a tough skill set to survive, so I think, generally, it's easier to go in on things like the Firespray or swarm that are, IMO, more forgiving because of their abiility to ENDURE fire rather than avoid it. The biggest things I look forward to from aces are the Royal Guard (cheap PS6), the title upgrade, and cheap hull upgrade. A 4th hull adds 33% more life for something like 1/6th more cost (give or take), and adds that critical 4th hull that makes it really challenging to be one-shot, even on a catastrophic dice roll. I think 4 interceptor lists, with some mix of elite pilot, Royal Guard, and low level Interceptors, tricked out with Stealth and Hull, will be extremely solid in good hands. To me, Interceptors are all about the "dance," as it were, where you scalpel off bits of the enemy and when it gets down to 2-on-1 or even 1-on-1, they are extremely difficult to beat.

Ten Numb and HLC work against each other since HLC negates crits. I'd stick with the first build. Frankly, your first list is OK by me. Numb isn't superpowered (only the elite skill) and you have three other ships to block/deal damage. Look at this way: if they are focusing on Numb, the others should have free reign to deal damage. You may consider dumping the A for another X if you want the extra point of offense, but I'm growing increasingly respectful of A's, particularly late game when it's almost impossible to pin them down one on one. As far as Biggs goes, he sucks up fire. That's why he exists. I don't get that the OP is wanting to shift this to a Biggs list in that Ten Numb is not so souped up as to need the bodyguard. Were that the case, I'd push for Ten, Wedge, and Biggs as a three piece ensemble set to annoy.

You want a long game? Some friends and I played a 500 pt game Saturday. Took over 4 hours and was pretty amazing to see unfold. Something like 40 ships combined. Not something I'd recommend often, but good for a nightcap game after some round-robin 1-on-1 play.

The problem is that most ships have so few hull that wasting this action at Range 1 (rather than focus-firing, for example) just don't add up enough to justify the cost. Basically, the ideal scenario is to either flip something to a Direct Hit and kill it, or cripple it with the right crit, when really, you will probably just want to pump it with focused fire. My only thought is maybe have it on a Shuttle for when a ship is on your 6 and you are hoping to zap him with crits, but honestly, planning for that dire situation doesn't seem like the winning recipe.

Honestly, I LOVE Interceptors and will be looking long and hard at 4x Royal Guard w/ PTL. I'd consider downgrading to 3 Interceptors if I could manage Stealth device and Hull upgrade, but I break into the cold sweats at the fragility of a 3 Interceptor list. Then, I played Dark Eldar in 40K for years, so it's not like I haven't watched my army go POOF before.

I use a two-drawer version of the OP's box and it's been great. It should accommodate the next wave plus aces for me, and I have 6 TIEs, 5 Interceptors (including Aces), 4 X's, 3 Bs, and two of everything else. I made custom foam liners for the drawers to keep ships snug and use a smaller drawer for the counters. Big base ships fit in the top. I doubt I will have to transport any of the massive ships very often, so I'll probably just foam-line a box for those occasions.

I haven't had much luck with Kath outside of the Rebel Captive combo. I tend to run her with Marksmanship and Captive just to try to max out the chances of double-stressing (or inflicting a crit, either way). The issue with that, though, is people tend to shy away from targetting her and focusing on your other stuff. If that's some frail TIE's, they tend to not stand up to it. I am hoping that with the defensive abilities being gained from Aces/Wave 4, I can create some more no-win scenarios where either you shoot at Kath and take stress, or have to throw shots at TIE's with 4-5 green dice on average.

All Biggs buys you is time while your other killers need to take care of business, at least to the point that WHEN Biggs goes, you don't really need him anymore. So, partnering him with another support character, IMO, is just too defensive and you probably end up wasting too much time and effort staying alive when killing the enemy first does that job for you. The last Biggs list I ran was Biggs + R2D2, dual B-Wings with HLC/FCS and I had a good time with it.

Swarms usually have a lynchpin (Howlrunner, Vader, etc.), so I have found my success to be finding some combo that curtails the lynchpin. Last night, Doom Shuttle choke-slammed Howlrunner and HLC/Recon Specialist Krassis zapped out Swarm Tactics Mauler, so cleaning out the Academies and bomber was a lot easier at that point. Hell, Krassis never took another hit after that point. I think too many people focus on splash damage against the swarm, when a sniper to cut out their force multipliers has been more effective to me, even if it means sacrificing one of your heavy hitters to do it.

The initiative aspect is one of the great things about this game. It's subtle, unlike a lot of UGO-IGO games where having first turn can be a huge advantage. Here, most of the pros and cons are double-sided and the right list and right player can use both. When most of the action occurs off the table, in the minds of the players playing and resultant maneuver/strategy, with dice being reduced in importance, that is when the gaming is the best.

Missiles and bombs, in general, seem overpriced, so I don't use a ton myself. I've seen others, particularly with Jonus, load up a single bomber in support of other, scarier ships to spread the love around.