I have Team Covenant ones and Applied Perspective ones. Overall I like the Applied Perspective ones better. They have more options for color & finish and the divided ones are really, really nice. Not to mention that Applied Perspective makes the short range template which is very, very handy.

Or a ship that k-turned, collided with something, moved over an asteroid, is stressed and ioned, etc. There are many ways to deny actions. TL is always good. You can't re-roll a blank with a focus. Not to mention going for a TL + Focus stack. Here's a good example. Say you're attacking with a 3 attack ship at range one. You roll 3 hits and a focus. If you know you're going to get fired on in return, you'd probably save that focus for defense. But, the person you fired at has Sensor Jammer. You're now at two hits and two focuses. You now have to decide whether to turn both of those to hits and be more vulnerable to return fire or to go for 4 hits. And you have to make that choice BEFORE your opponent rolls defense.

I'm guessing...Col. Mustard in the Conservatory with the Candlestick. ...wait...wrong game?

Sensor Jammer is amazing. If your attacker has no tokens, you saved yourself a hit. If your attacker has a TL and no focus, you saved yourself a hit. If your attacker DOES have a focus, you have forced them to spend it. And all that happens with EVERY ATTACK against you. It's a terribly underrated card, but it dramatically extends the life of the ship it is on.

I find arguing about the price of a luxury item amusing. "That Bentley is too expensive! They should make them cheaper...etc". Games are luxury items. Just on a much, much smaller scale than cars. If you're in a situation where you legitimately cannot afford the starter - as in you won't eat, pay rent, etc - I would argue that you have far more pressing concerns than what a game costs. Even if it was $50, you probably shouldn't be buying it if you were in that situation. For what it comes with it's a very fair price, especially considering the amount of fun you can get just out of one base set.

Crits are cancelled last, so would you not need enough evade results to cancel every standard hit before the crits apply? IE Autoblaster rolls hit hit crit, you would need three evades to cancel the critical. Not really advocating Autoblaster as its autoterrible, but that is at least my understanding and that of many players I know. With the autoblaster, the defender can cancel crits before hits. I was reading the rule book and found something interesting though: When spending an evade token, it counts as adding a die result (rulebook pg12, step 5 Modify Defense Dice: "During this step, players may resolve abilities and spend tokens that allow them to modify defense dice. This includes ADDING die results..." and "If the defender has an evade token, he may return it to the action token supply to add one additional evade result to his defense roll.") If the evade counts as a "roll" then it wouldn't be able to cancel hits, correct? That would make autoblaster a lot better than what people think and would make it worth 5 points in my opinion. I'm gonna dig through the FAQ on this one... EDIT: Yargh! Defeated by the FAQ. Evade tokens do cancel hit results. 'Tis a shame, 'cause otherwise I might have considered using it.

But what if you are...skilled at rolling dice!

For another point against Autoblaster on a Defender: You REALLY don't want the Defender at range 1 of anything unless it's out of arc. The defender is durable, sure. But taking range 1 hits can take it out of the game fast. It's a lot of points to lose in 1 ship. But, if you maybe had another ship with an ION cannon that could help line up shots for the Defender...that could work really nice.

I'm curious too if FFG had to make a new licensing agreement. If so, they may have even had to pay more than their last one due to the success of X-Wing, Disney owning Star Wars now...etc... That cost would most likely be offset by a slight increase to their planned MSRP which could account for the $100 price tag. Regardless, I'm buying one of those bad boys when they come out.

I don't really agree with the negative point cost associated with red maneuvers. With that, ships get penalized MORE for having a red maneuver than not having that maneuver at all. Maybe if you change the reds to a +1 and turn the other maneuvers to a +2 or +3? Also, I'm guessing you're not counting banks?

I think the last one had about...15? There were 11 in the one before that.

I disagree with your disagreement. In one of the top 8 games at Nationals I rolled 0 Evades on 10 Evade dice, with focus, whereas he rolled 11 hits on 11 Attack dice, with a focus for 4 of those dice and no tokens/modifiers for the last 7. It was extreme, and sure, it doesn't happen often but it DID cost me the game. There's a million other factors at work there though. For example, I lost a game once where I literally rolled only two evades the whole game. The rest of it was either blanks or focuses. My first 10 green dice were all blanks. Lost my most expensive ship in the first round of shooting. The game still ended up being VERY close though. But, I don't count the dice as losing me the game. It was my positioning. I had that ship too exposed and my opponent was able to get more shots on it than I should have allowed. If I had positioned that ship better, rolls wouldn't have made a difference. Even if he did take about 4 hits, he could have survived to break off combat and give the rest of my team time to set up a flank. I've had other games where I've had hilariously bad luck and won. Most games ebb and flow between good and bad luck. It's all about mitigating risk. There's just so many other factors involved you can't just blame the dice.

I disagree that the game is won or lost on dice luck. You can roll incredibly poorly and still win or roll really well and lose. It's more about throwing more red dice than your opponent is and throwing less green dice than your opponent. Or in other words, getting more shots on your opponent than what they are getting on you. Actions also play a HUGE part in mitigating bad luck. So blocking opponents without getting blocked yourself. Really when it comes down to it, good piloting is way more valuable than relying on lucky dice.

You don't HAVE to play with asteroids ... but it would make the game really, REALLY boring.

I don't think you'll be expected to paint them...as each ship in the squadron looks smaller than a d8.

Ah, but it does get fired on. Usually, the only ship in arc to most of your opponents will be the shuttle and the TIEs. If they move all their forces towards Vessery, Vessery pulls them towards the shuttle. Also, don't underestimate the firepower of a TL + focused shuttle and two TIEs. EDIT: For example if your opponent had the option of shooting at Vessery with 1 ship, while Vessery was at range 3 with a focus or shooting at the shuttle with all of their ships at range 1, which do you think they'd take? As another aside, I also used to think that sensor jammer wasn't worth it until I took it for fun one day. I've been a believer ever since.

My submission was going to be similar. I don't know about sensor jammer on the shuttle. I am really really torn about EU or backstabber for those 4pts. Also not sold on ST-321... 3 points for one round of TL's vs. many of the other upgrade options (especially Crew slots) is huge. Sensor Jammer really, really helps the shuttle stay alive. If the attacker doesn't have a focus, you just saved yourself a hit. If they have a target lock and no focus, you saved yourself a hit again. That happens with EVERY attack against the shuttle. If the attacker does have a focus, you may have just forced them to spend that focus, which they now don't have on defense. And ST-321 isn't for the extra round of TL's, it's for setting up shots for Vessery. It gives Vessery more freedom of movement and target acquisition. Vessery can operate in areas away from the shuttle, shooting at targets that the shuttle isn't able to target lock. If I had to drop 1, it would probably be the weapons engineer. Though I think it's better with both. If you only have ST-321, you can target a ship that will be in range to the shuttle on it's first round of shooting. If Vessery doesn't kill it, the shuttle can hopefully kill it with its target lock. Next round, rinse/repeat. EU does help the shuttle turn, but then the shuttle isn't target-locking or focusing. And even then, I much prefer EU paired with Advanced sensors on the shuttle.

My current list: Colonel Vessery w/ Outmaneuver & HLC OGP w/ Sensor Jammer, Weapons Engineer & ST-321 Academy Pilot x2 For general setups, I have the shuttle hug one side of the board with the two TIEs on one of his flanks. Vessery usually sets up in the middle, angled to get him a straight shot through the asteroids to meet the enemy at the flank the same time the rest of my ships do. If my opponent goes after Vessery, they get hit by the shuttle and two TIEs. The TIEs try to block and take range 1 shots. Vessery tries to stay at range 2-3 as much as possible. The combination of Weapons Engineer & ST-321 let's the shuttle get a high-priority target and another target. Vessery will go after one, while the shuttle goes after the other. Also if the shuttle ever has to run, he can keep setting up targets for Vessery. The Sensor Jammer helps keep the shuttle alive for a long, long time. VS falcon Depending on the escorts, generally ignore them until the Falcon is down. It's pretty common for Vessery to land 4 hits against the Falcon with every shot when firing out of arc. Vessery always tries to hold onto his focus for return fire. The TIEs keep setting up opportunities to block the falcon, denying actions and getting range 1 shots when appropriate. The shuttle will try to slow roll as much as possible to keep firing on the Falcon. When the Falcon is dead, mop-up the escorts. VS Phantom Keeping the Defender as far away as possible is key. Defender at range 3 of the Phantom has the best chance of keeping it in arc. The shuttle landing a target lock on it makes it so Vessery really doesn't care if he's shooting a Phantom with ACD. The TIEs are mostly used to support the shuttle depending on what the Phantom and what the other ships are doing. With this list, I LOVE it when people try to chase down the shuttle. Vessery just pounds them. If you lose the shuttle Vessery does lose a lot of power, but at that point the enemy should have taken so many hits that it doesn't particularly matter. If someone tries to chase Vessery, I'll either run him towards the shuttle or fly past them and come around next turn depending on what he's up against.

With Oicunn and the Dauntless you are REALLY punished if you miss the ram. The Demicator will be very sad to have multiple ships at range 1 of it. Using it properly will take more skill than you think...

Or something else entirely? Really all you need is a focus token. You generally want a cannon on a Defender; either an Ion or an HLC. At range 3 that denies your opponent an additional evade. However, you still get your evade at range 3. A defender at range 3 with a focus is really, really hard to kill. On top of that, a defender is a flanking machine.

I used it a lot when I first starting flying Defenders, but after using them for a while found I didn't need it. There are always actions that you would much rather use on a Defender instead of boost.

How do you make Carnor survive vs a Falcon? Usually 4 red dice with predator/gunner/marksman/whateverImissed means almost certain death. Enlighten me. for science. I think you try to only take 1 hit a round. So if a Falcon has a bad first roll, take the one hit. The Falcon will hopefully get focused down before Carnor eats it, but yeah, range 1 on a Falcon is a bad matchup for an Interceptor.

I'm excited, though I'll be getting there closer to 7 than 6:30.

I still don't understand his complaints about how it will make double falcon lists the most powerful lists in the game. He does realize they can only shoot twice a round, right? Then when one falcon blows up, you're down to only firing once. Honestly I wish more people would fly Double Falcons. It would make my TIE swarm the happiest kids on the block.

The fact that the Bomber and Interceptor are related is probably what caused the Advanced to be born with "deficiencies."