X-Wing: Some more observations

Let's do this.

After a good amount of X-Wing games under my belt, I'm feeling pretty good about my game overall.  Having piloted both Imperial and Rebel ships, I still think Imperial is my favorite.  Don't get me wrong, I love how some Rebel ships play off each other and start the synergy train.  One of my favorite lists to pilot is the Holy Trinity or Three Amigos; Wedge, Luke and Biggs.  That list just has a lot of flavor on top of the fun, which is always nice when throwing down on some games.

Tonight, I played 2 games vs. some friends of mine, and I really think my Soontir Fel is cursed.  He has a nasty habit of just dying from pretty unseen circumstances and it's probably my fault in the first place.  The best thing to do with Interceptors is to do your damage and get out, but no, after some miscalculation on my part, Fel makes a hard right turn into a clusterfuck of guys and loses out on his action.  I'll tell you one thing:  This is what gets Fel killed the most.  Any Interceptor without action is as good as dead.  Unless you roll like a god (which I did NOT), the chances of you getting focused down is pretty high.  Anyways, in the first game ;Fel takes 2 damage from Concussion Missiles and then manages to clip a asteroid and explode.  In the second game, my opponent rolls 3 hits from long range, I roll 5 evade from range 3 + Stealth Device and roll straight blanks.  I don't know what kind of nonsense is that, but the last two games have been pretty bad for Fel.

Despite the bad rolls, I still think Fel is my favorite pilot in the game.  His ability to remain combat effective after boosting and barrel rolling due to Push the Limit is amazing.  I just love how much flexibility he has with the ability to stay super defensive with Evade + 2x Focus, or maneuver into a position where he can deal damage without return fire.  For this reason, I kept him and changed the rest of my list.

Here's what I'm currently packing for Imperials:

A lot of elite pilots up in hurr.

100 points

Soontir Fel + PTL + Stealth Device
Howlrunner
Mauler Mithel + Veteran Instincts
Backstabber
Winged Gundark

I'm really liking this mini-Howl list with 4 named Ties led by Soontir Fel.  If I need all the damage that I can get, I fly the ships as close together as possible so everyone gets the benefit from Howlrunner.  Otherwise, Fel goes on a flanking mission and attacks whatever he can get once he hard turns in.  With his superior agility and PTL for extra focus, he can change direction and charge into the fray ASAP.

In the first game I played tonight, my friend Chad was caught off-guard with the damage potential coming in from these elite pilots.  Being a 100 point list, he had the Initiative and this game me a better chance at out-maneuvering him.  Since I had higher Pilot Skill on most of my guys, I was able to secure some fast kills, downing both an A-Wing and B-Wing in good time while tragically losing one of my ships due to all blank evades.  I swear something is wrong with my greens!  In the second game I played vs. Norm, in the opening volley from his Luke and Wedge, 6 hits translated into 5 blanks on evade for me, losing both Gundark and Backstabber in before they even got to fire.  I think it's time I look into new dice... or something.

Anyway, the list is pretty simple.  Fly tight and focus big ships like the Falcon with everyone, or pounce forward with the group of 4 ties flying in good formation while flanking with Fel.  This gives me a total of 15 hull points to play with instead of 9, 11 attack dice with Howlrunner re-roll at ranges 2-3, and 16 at range 1, with two pilots shooting at PS9.  At least I know with this, I have a much better chance at killing Falcon lists because of the increased firepower.