Imperial Aces Guide & Squad Builds

The Imperial Aces are in Town!

The Imperial Aces Expansion Pack was released worldwide last week. In a rare display of efficiency, our Malaysian distributor actually managed to deliver it pretty quick rather than weeks later. If not mistaken, Sparta was the first to get their hands on these babies and given how long we’ve hold our collective breaths during the wait, all 5-6 sets flew off the shelf on day one. So kudos to the good people in Sparta for being responsive to players' needs and to my sparring partner Justin who bought one for me. Not sure if other shops are stocked but my guess is that’s all the stock there is in the first batch, so the rest of you guys are in for a looooooong wait. 

My box of Imperial Aces. Yet to unbox it :P

I’m sure most of you would have read about what’s in the Expansion. If you didn't you can check out the Card Browser function from this site. I’m not going to go through the contents one-by-one. You guys can check it out yourselves. I’m more interested in discussing strategies and squad builds.

Everyone is excited about Carnor Jax. There’s good reasons to it. His card ability works like a reverse area-of-effect Dark Curse. Clearly Jax would be devastating against a Swarm and most small Imperial ships but by no means that’s the only thing he is good against. His ability could still limit the option a Rebel player by forcing them to take a target lock even if a focus is more desirable. His ability works on anyone and everyone and I think we’re likely to see a huge shift in meta with Jax inspired Imperial builds being fielded in competitive plays and Rebel players adjusting builds and play styles to counter him.

With such offensive capabilities, Jax would naturally be on top of your opponent’s hit list. What’s the best way to protect him? You have an array of tools to achieve that. Push the Limit (PTL) to Interceptors is like honey to milk – it synergise well. At PS8 he would like have seen the ending positions of most ships and can barrel roll + boost his way either to stay out of arc (like most Interceptors do), or move into range 1 and activate his ability. In a pinch, he could turtle behind a focus +  evade action shell to minimise damage. If you have extra points to spare, you could throw in a Stealth Device to give him an extra green dice. Hull or Shield upgrade works well too. Season according to your own taste.

Mini Swarm + Jax

Squad Points: 98

Carnor Jax + PTL

Howlrunner + Stealth Device

Academy Pilots (AP) x 4

One of the drawbacks of a typical 7-ship Swarm is that it takes a lot of focus and energy to maximise its potential simply because there is so many ships that you need to keep track. More so during competitive plays where you're expected to play 3-4 games in a row without breaks. So, this 6-ship build should be a piece of cake to manage for those who are used to flying the standard Swarm, like me.

You can have Howlrunner and the APs setup the usually Swarm formation and Jax fly separately. Ideally your opponent tries to take on the Swarm and Jax could boost/ barrel roll into range 1 combat while staying out of firing arc. Or perhaps you opponent choose to take out Jax first? Again you could boost/ barrel roll out of arc, if possible and failing which you could still hide behind a focus + evade action shell. Meanwhile, your Swarm attacks from behind.

There’s 2 squad points left and you could add in whatever upgrade that fancies you. You could throw in a Royal Guard upgrade + Targeting Computer on Jax. Or Swarm Tactics on Howlrunner to have an AP shoot first. For those who wants to have initiative, you can leave the squad at 98 points or put Determination or Adrenaline Rush on Howlrunner for a total squad points of 99.

Three Amigoes Reloaded

Squad Points: 100

Soontir Fell + PTL + Stealth Device + Royal Guard + Targeting Computer

Carnor Jax + PTL + Stealth Device + Royal Guard + Targeting Computer

Turr Phennir + PTL + Stealth

The original Three Amigoes (Vader + Fel + Phennir) could be re-engineered to a 3 interceptor squad list. Play it like you would with the original i.e. staying out of firing arc with boost/ barrel roll, because this list is squishy with only 9 hit points and one bad roll could ruin your day. Targeting Computer can be swapped out as I suspect you will not find the opportunity to use it often. Overall, not a list for rookies and even some seasoned players avoid it because it can be very unforgiving when you make a mistake.

Royal Guard Pilot (RGP) is my 2^nd favourite card in the Expansion. At PS 6 it shoots first ahead of all generic pilots and some named pilots. It cost 22 pts to field RGP, only 4 pts more vs Alpha (PS 1) and 1 pt more vs Saber (PS 4), making it a cheap way to gain an advantage in PS. More importantly, it can carry Elite Pilot Talent (EPT), allowing you to play PTL (I know PTL gets mentioned a lot but its really good on Interceptors).

Royal Guard Squadron

Squad Points: 100

RGP + PTL x 4

The original 4 interceptor list called "Saber Rattlers" (Phennir + 3 Sabres all with PTL) just got a major boost in Pilot Skill. At PS 6 there’s not a lot of pilots out there that you need to guess their final position, making it easier for you to boost/ barrel roll out of arc, while keeping enemy ships in your sight. Play style wise you probably don’t want to group them in a formation and keep getting in each others’ way. Best is to fly them individually or at most in twos. In the event that the enemy have you boxed in, do the usual focus + evade to mitigate damage.

It used to be financially expensive to play Saber Rattlers because you need to buy 4 interceptors and another 4 A-Wings just to get 4 PTLs (only available in the A-Wing Expansion Pack). Not anymore, since each box of Imperial Ace Expansion Pack comes with 2 PTLs, so that would cut down your cash outlay by half. One more reason to play this build, eh?

Vader's (Royal) Escort

Squad Points: 99

Omicron Group Pilot + Vader Crew + Intelligence Agent

RGP + PTL x2

AP x2

This modification of the existing Suicide Shuttle built just popped in my head while writing this post. The RGP complements well with the Suicide Shuttle because the hard-hitting interceptors get to shoot first and strip shields off rebel ships before Vader crushes them with his dark-side Force powers. APs gives the list more body and helps take heat off the RGPs. You could easily swap those APs for one more RGP if you want. 

I added Intelligence Agent in there mostly as a filler but it could be useful in predicting the movement of high PS enemy ships. Maybe a Saboteur or Anti Pursuit Laser would work better? I don’t know. Still needs testing.

Other Named Pilots

I'm less excited about other pilots. Sure, their abilities are good, but its not great. I'm looking for Great (that's a capital G). Lieutenant Lorrir's crazy barrel roll could pull off surprising moves while Kir Kanos's evade token is equivalent to a super focus (His evade increases attack/ defense by a factor of 1 vs a normal focus which increases attack/ defense by a factor of 0.75, assuming 3 dice rolls), but the lack of EPT puts me off. I like my interceptors with PTL. Period.

Don't even get me started on Tetran Cowell. An interceptor, as a rule of thumb, should never K-turn and risk being shot down without actions. You could easy do a hard turn and boost and would be facing 270 degree. After that, use PTL for evade token if you think you're going to get shot at. In my book, that's good enough.

Perhaps you can find better use for these guys. But for me, these folks goes straight into the 'Casual Play/ Fun Build' category. 

Counter Strategies

The meta is likely to shift with competitive builds fielding a lot more interceptors and you will want to have tools in place to deal with them effectively. For Rebels, Falcon + Gunner works well, since they can’t avoid your arc and a well placed shot would kill them outright. If the meta turns out to be very heavy in Jax, you could throw in Marksmanship to counter his ability and to dish out crits on these squishy interceptors.

B-Wings with Adv Sensors would be a match for PTL Interceptors at close combat but less effective against Jax since you can’t take focus. Lure them to fight near an asteroid and use advance sensors + barrel roll to dance around the rock. Even if RGP shoots first, it would be foolish for them to burn the focus on attack because when you shoot back with 4 dice, there’s a non-zero chance that your B-Wing can 1-shot the RGP.

For Imperials, Suicide Shuttle can be devastating if you have firing arc, dealing critical damage regardless whether you hit anything with your primary weapon. Buzzsaw shuttle (Shuttle + Gunner) could punch through action shells, but again if you have firing arc. Same goes for Bounty Hunter + Gunner but this build is a huge point sink.

Ironically, you could play Jax against... Jax. Nobody gets action and the better player (or dice rolls win) :P. Jokes aside, RGP has plenty of reasons to be afraid of Jax because they rely heavily on actions to stay alive.

Lacking the options above, your best bet is to force a bump and Interceptors without actions are sitting ducks. You need to get into your opponent’s head and figure out where his ships are likely to go, but get there first. I’m not going to say it’s easy but it can be done.