Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27029853-20170703223814/@comment-454133-20180322044743

Today I dusted off my old Jan-Nera-Biggs list and replaced the now nerfed Biggs with Lowhhrick. I want something casual enough for CAC, but effective and interesting. Right now it's a close decision between this and my Phantoms+Decimator fleet.

Nera with Deadeye + Proton Torpedoes + Extra Munitions + Guidance Chips + FCS (35)

Lowhhrick with Selflessness + Intelligence Agent + Breach Specialist (31)

Jan Ors with Squad Leader + TLT + Intelligence Agent (34)

My first couple of games I tried the Advanced Proton Torpedo version, and while it's really funny and fun, it's just too flimsy. Dropping Expertise down to Deadeye and APTs down to PTs freed up points I wanted for Intelligence Agent and FCS. I lost my first APT game, barely lost the 2nd one -- it was really close and we had a lot of fun. My opponent went home when I switched fleets though -- had to get back to family -- so this was against a new opponent and fleet and it's not a direct comparison.

Regardless, once I'd switched to this version, things went a lot better. Both of Nera's Jan-Boosted torp rolls were 4 hits+crits (only had one un-fixable blank per shot). My opponent's Poe had Black One to strip the locks, so I wasn't hitting quite as well as I'd like, but I did pretty well anyway. The first was useless against Poe's Autothrusters and obstructed rolls, but the second one ruined Blue Ace's life (with Lowhhrick finishing him off). I killed Blue Ace pretty early thanks to the torp nuke. Jess died soon after, a bit earlier than expected due to a lucky roll on my part. At this point I had a partially damaged Jan (1 or 2 damage cards), a shieldless Lowhhrick, and a 3-shield Nera against his mostly healthy Poe. The defense dice had been kind to me, but also Lowhhrick was actually doing a good job.

Lowhhrick is no Biggs. Saying it right now, he just isn't nearly as effective at protecting the B-Wing and HWK from being melted by focus-fire. If your opponent brings out Harpoons it's over. However, if the brutality isn't too high (e.g. in a casual CAC-style match), he can do a decent job of keeping them on the table. Selflessness actually absorbed a pretty violent hit on Jan, and he shed another 2 or 3 damage from her with his pilot ability.

Suffice it to say, Poe was in trouble. Despite a lot of arc dodging, Lone Wolf, and Autothrusters, he'd taken some hits, including 2 damage from Jan's overpowered range one primary weapon (after he'd exhausted his focus on a previous round). But right at the end he managed to put a ton of lethal damage into a vulnerable one-hull Jan, scoring 34 points before dying.

Overall a fantastic game, and I was reminded of how much I like and missed Nera+Jan. I'm glad Lowhhrick does a decent enough job.

I'm still uncertain of what I want to bring to CAC, but I'm pleased I still enjoy variations on this fleet; it's nice to have options. I should probably try a Swarm Leader Kath fleet at some point soon, since I remember that being a lot of fun too.