We are almost finished with 1.5 overview and that is a good thing as I think we will get some more info on new ships and other things from Atomic Mass Games in their stream coming up on February 3rd so stay tuned for that. We will look at imperial fighters this week and then next week my final thoughts on 1.5 and after that we will hopefully be looking at the future of armada at AMG so without further delay lets look at the Imperial fighters.
Lambda
so the generic is really pretty bad its 15 point price tag is mostly for relay and strategic, and if you are not using strategic you should just take the ace. Because of this I cant recommend taking them without building around strategic and when you do that you really need to take Moralo Eval as well, to help leverage out how bad of a squadron they are.
Colonel Jendon
I will be honest I am fairly sure they are going to be looking at reworking and repricing squadrons in the near future and I am sure that when they do Colonel Jendon is towards the top of the list. He is a pocket Yavaris so everything points to him getting some kind of rework, but until then he will be in pretty much every single imperial squadron list.
Tie Advanced
So I am not a huge fan of these guys, but I think they might have gained a little bit of stock in 1.5. Advances are basically a toughener a-wing that have given up counter 2 for escort and are a tad slower. I could see taking one or two to round out a fighter wing its black anti-ship keeps it flexible and the escort allows it to protect key aces and escort combos well with Dengar and Soontir Fel, instructor Goran is also nice so their might be something to work out with them in a new squadron game where squadrons can no longer just be ignored.
Tempest Squadron
If you are taking Tie Advanced this should almost always be your first adding bomber for one point just makes them that much more flexible, and unless you really need that one more point somewhere else take this guy.
Zertik Strom
One of the best Escort squadrons the empire has mostly because he is 15 points and has two braces his ability is okay, it combos well with Bossk to help him get his extra blue die early if you do take Bosk and Zertik Commander Woldar is a nice pic to let Bossk re-roll dice even an unneeded accuracy and red dice when attacking squadrons are not the most reliable in the world. He is a find pick for a cheap and sturdy escort however good use of Tel Trevura will almost always yield better results for just 2 points more however Zertik does have the black die against ships.
Darth Vader
Darth Vader is kind of like an always on General Grievous for the empire, and that sounds really good and it is however you compete with the other Darth Vader named cards like the officer and you also have escort meaning instead of hiding behind your minions like Grievous everyone has to attack you and at 21 points the empire has better aces at that price point or cheaper aces that are more effective so I think for the time being Darth Vader squadron is likely not going to hit the table, until some sort of reworks happen.
Tie Bomber
These guys are really under appreciated mostly because well Sloan exists. They are 9 points of pure ship killing goodness, and because they are so cheap they combo really well with Ruthless Strategists to punch through squadrons. They are best used to supplement a squadron ball with a little more ship killing power, but I have had some success using them in swarms with Ruthless Strategies.
Gamma Squadron
This is probably my favorite unique squadron without defense tokens just because how subtle the change is to it. It gains grit and loses heavy. The loss of heavy makes this guy supper annoying in the new 1.5 as he can tie up a non-grit squadron all by himself then when needed fly away to get that one extra damage you needed to kill a ship. Its a very subtle squadron, but when you use him well can really pay off in dividends.
Major Rhymer
One of the more interesting ways to think of Major Rhymer especially since the 1.5 change is that he gives your squadrons the snipe ability, but it can only be used against ships. This lets your fighters engaged the enemy squadrons while your bombers hang back a little bit just out of engagement to bomb ships. I think he is a bit more useful in the 1.5 squadron game to keep your bombers out of engagement so they can do what they do best.
Captain Jonus
I will be honest he is mechanically my favorite ace in the game. His ability to generate accuracies is so nice and he really is a great piece to have in a combined arms build. I think it really fun to use him in combination with a GSD II to make that red dice worth something out the side its just so fun. He makes your ships hit harder and gives your squadron wing more bombing power he is plain and simple a fun ace that is overlooked far to often, again mostly I feel because of Sloane.
Tie Defender
They are my favorite squadron thematically, however they are a bit expensive, I don't think they are terrible, but if you really are going to lean into them Commander Woldar and Instructor Goran make them a lot more reliable and deadly. However like I said they are rather expensive I think there best use is to use them as a “Swarm Node” basically send them to hit squadrons so your swarm squadrons get their swarm re-roll while adding a little bit of extra anti ship firepower to your squadron ball, I mean 2 Defenders and 4 TIEs is only 64 points and its a pretty well rounded group.
Maarek Stele
Basically if you want some more firepower in a squadron ball Maarek is your guy he will get the heavy lifting done. Pairing him with Jendon will give you a lot of power to leverage for only 9 more points then two defenders. He is just so good and so consistent that he will likely be someone who gets looked at for rework in the near future, but just like Jendon until that happens you should almost always take him.
Tie Fighter
They are cheap that is all there is to say about them if you can't afford a Tie Interceptor this is what you should take I mean a group of six only costs 48 points that's a pretty sweet deal and can buy you a good chunk of time in the new 1.5 squadron game.
Black Squadron
Cheapest form of escort the empire has and this is one of the reasons Tie Advances struggle to hit the table. It losses swarm, but gains counter and in most cases it will take two shoots to kill meaning that is two shots a much more valuable target did not take, while potentially doing damage back. It a good escort road bump that your opponent has to get through.
Howlrunner
Extra dice for your mean old swarm squadrons is always good is pretty much a must in a Sloane list, in my opinion, not much else to say about her if you got swarm squadrons you should really consider taking her she is a flight controllers that does not take up the valuable weapon teams slot, or you could just double down.
Mauler Mithel
still a very good squadron he will likely say on the outskirts of a squadron fight now to pick off a few squadrons then move again. He can also be supported by Chiraneau to move more freely. He is still good, but is much easier to tie down or requires a very expensive officer in Chiraneau to get to trigger consistently.
Valen Rudor
I love how much other players hate this guy, and the fact that he has a smug look to go with it just seals the deal. At 13 points I think he is the cheapest ace with defense tokens in the game, and his ability to not be attacked while other squadrons are engaged with the attacker just makes him that much more annoying. I like him when paired with 2 Tie interceptors, Gamma and 2 RHD for only 51 points including the RHD you have a really annoying hard to get through screen with just a touch of flexibility to get that one bit of extra damage you need onto a ship with Gamma. If you need a screen Valen Is a great pick as he will eat up generics and will be really hard to kill as well you will get a lot of bang for your buck with him.
Tie Interceptors
for 3 points more you get an extra anti-squadron die and counter 2 so one extra point for each die and speed 5. They are by far the best anti-squadron tech the Empire has, and if that is what you need you need to take these guys if you really feel you need some extra points you could maybe justify dropping these guys to just tie fighters, but I would advise not to whenever possible.
Saber
The Empires only access to snipe, it's always been a good squadron because of that and snipe is now even better with the changes to 1.5s squadron game, ast it lets you stay out of engagement; so you are probably only going to see more of this guy.
Ciena Ree
She is one of the most difficult squadrons to kill in the game and works really well with Rudor, she is a great ace to have in a screen and will hold off bombers for ages. She will also get around a lot of the counter 1 that I feel like we are starting to see. So if you need a tough fighter for your screen she is your girl.
Soontir Fel
He has gotten better with 1.5 as squadrons cant just fly away and bomb a ship now they have to deal with you in some way. Escort is always nice to pair with him to force his ability to trigger, Dengar and Howlrunner ar also nice to pump up his counter to make him a much less appalling target to attack. I think that him with some tie advanced with Instructor Goran could be a really mean and flexible squadron screen.
TIE Phantoms
So Cloak is really nice in 1.5 getting out or engagement or re-positioning when everything gets bogged down is really nice. Its two red dice do average out to be about one damage per attack, but is a little more swingy in that average. A lot like Tie defenders they make for a good “Swarm Node” and do give you some flexibility when needed to attack ships they can break away with Cloak and go after the target you need them to. I have not explored them as much as I would have liked to in 1.5 before writing this up, but I think they have some potential.
Whisper
Whisper is a squadron that is very nice in that she can go in tie up squadrons and once she has had enough she can get out and hopefully heal on the station. She is however very hard to justify in most builds as Maarek Stele is just one point more.
VT-49 Decimator
I have never been a huge fan of these guys they were annoying in 1.0 at times, but having heavy as a keyword in 1.5 is so much worse than it was in the past. With more generics in the game the 3 black dice can do some work and 3 blue even without bomber is not terrible, however they are only speed 3 this really means they need to be attacking ships when the fighting starts and are not really capable of chasing down a target like a tie bomber or defender or even a phantom. I mean rogue is nice but 22 points is a bit steep for me even with the 8 hull they could do some work in 1.5 because of Intel basically every squadron was heavy in 1.5 that's not the case and it's too easy to keep these guys tied down on the critical turns they need to be getting their attacks off on ships, and even then they don't have that great of consistency compared to so many other Imperial options, so I would stay away.
Morna Kee
she loses heavy and becomes an almost always 3 damage at the very minimum two damage paired with Jendon Things can get out of hand really fast. There is a reason Morna Maarek and Jendon MMJ are so popular together they can throw 8 dice that is an ISD front arc worth of dice for 68 points with such a high rate of damage consistency that is crazy. The extra 5 points for the consistency Morna gets is Insane and that consistency a long with the loss of heavy making the counter 1 relevant is why she is worth taking and Generic decimators are not.
Well that is all of our Imperial squadrons. Next week we will talk about final thoughts on 1.5 and some disappointments as well, but until then have a great week!
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