Chronicling the thought process behind stealing a list and tweaking it to something else.

Taking a page from my first article, I always build a list around what I want to run. Rather than using my unconditional love for a ship to drive my decision making, I decided this time to use a list that stomped mine in a Vassal escalation tournament I ran a few months ago:

Starslinger’s Bad Joke:

– Soontir Fel + TC + PtL

– Colonel Vessery + HLC + VI

– Omicron Group Pilot + Vader

99 pts

What really fascinated me from this list was the sheer reliability of Vessery to get 4 hits. We all know that taking dice out of the game is necessary when trying to win multiple games in a row and Vessery does it so well with the right support. With this list as my template, I decided to apply some changes to better fit my playstyle/abilities.

Worse Joke:

– Soontir Fel + TC + PtL

– Colonel Vessery + HLC

– Omicron Group Pilot + Vader + FCS

100 pts

The main reason for the change is I cannot fly shuttles effectively. Ineffective bumping, loss of actions from red maneuvers, and just a general lack of finesse with the venerable space cow led me to want to be able to grab the crucial target locks in the event I couldn’t in my normal action phase. Despite winning once with this list, my difficulties with shuttles was too much of a liability. I needed to get rid of the shuttle.

Bad Pun:

– Soontir Fel + TC + PtL

– Colonel Vessery

– Bounty Hunter

100 pts

I wanted to get a Firepray on the list and I needed to shave a LOT of points to do it. This list flies completely differently from the two previous lists mainly due to the lack of an HLC on Vessery. You have to be much more aggressive with Vessery to get the desired damage output. This falls closer in line with my too aggressive playstyle and is a list I am likely to visit again.

However, something still felt uncomfortable with this list. While flying both the shuttle and bounty hunter variants, it became obvious that Soontir Fel could not support Vessery as effectively if the second spotter went down. Sometimes Fel needed his target lock for his own shot. Furthermore, Soontir Fel also requires a level of caution and patience that I do not posses. As much as it pained me to do so, I needed to drop Fel.

It was around this time that the changes to Proximity Mines came out as well as SableGryphon’s excellent articles on using Bombers. With a penchant for running unpopular ships, I was immediately inspired to use proximity mine bombers.

I had tried various Bomber lists before in casual games with ordinance and was constantly reminded about their weaknesses: loss of actions, need support, unreliability. Ordnance bombers were not for me.

However, the Tie Bomber does have a couple attributes that make it the perfect spotter for Vessery:

1) Lower PS. Even if the bomber needs its own TL, Vessery can capitalize on it first.

2) Sturdy. 6 HP and 2 defense dice means this thing can be tough to take down. It certainly can weather a lot of 2 dice attacks.

3) Fast dial. Bombers can’t turn, but they can move. In the event that a bomber is heavily crippled, it can run away quickly to keep spotting and support the main gun: Vessery.

I won’t go into too much detail about the usefulness of Proximity Mines because of the excellent article here. But suffice it to say, they rock. Adding them to my Vessery spotters pushed them into the “must include” territory for me.

Most casual games we play are only Rebel v Empire. Therefore, I could safely remove Fel for casual games for the purposes of testing out Proximity Mine Bombers. They did exactly what I wanted them to: spot for Vessery for a long time, and ruin a high PS ship’s day.

This past weekend, there was a small 6-man tournament. Considering that Wave V just released, it was not allowed. With the knowledge of World’s Wave IV meta and local meta, I generated this list out of the desire to run proximity mine bombers and HLC Vessery.

Last Comic Standing

-Colonel Vessery + HLC + VI

-Scimitar Squad + Proximity Mine

-Bounty Hunter + Rebel Captive + Seismic Charge

100 pts

This list was designed to handle the main squad archetypes merely adequately.

1) Vessery is the center piece. He is designed to take out high priority targets swiftly. He can theoretically put the hurt on a Fat Falcon, but I have yet to face one.

2) Scimitar Squad is the main spotter. He is designed to grab a TL at long range. Rush in to grab a Focus and hopefully weather a few range 1 attacks, then drop the mine the next turn, usually to finish off something that was attacked by the other two ships.

3) The Bounty Hunter with the Rebel Captive is my only help against the likes of Phantoms and Soontir Fel. It presents an interesting dilemma for your opponents: attack the Firespray early and stress your phantom. Or ignore him and leave him for the end game. His seismic charge is for PS 2 and lower swarms.

This list was very different from my typical Rebel Swarm. I didn’t have an asteroid plan. I didn’t have a planned opening. Everything was done on the fly and in response to my opponent’s squad.

I went 3-0 and won the acrylic proximity mine token…which I will be using….a lot.

While I have discussed most aspects and thought process for designing the list, I forgot to mention that I actually discussed some of these lists with Starslinger himself, as well as Antigrapist, and other players. This is by far the most helpful part of designing a list. Always bounce ideas off other players.

Which brings me to the following: What weaknesses of this squad do you see? Is this squad future proofed against a Dash centered meta? What tweaks would you make to fit your playstyle/local meta?

In conclusion, if you see a list you like, try flying it as is. Make a change and fly it again. Ask for advice and fly it again.

Making a list your own makes you want to fly it more. The more you fly a list, the better you’ll get with it.