Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27029853-20170129150901/@comment-31354887-20170607212840

I decided to take a pretty un-used pilot for a spin at my store's tournament this week because I've always found their pilot ability to be pretty cool but it's been often downplayed as not being overly useful.

Han Solo (HOR) + Expertise + Kanan Jarrus + C-3PO + Smuggling Compartment + Feedback Array + Hull Upgrade + Millennium Falcon (HOR)

Miranda Doni + Twin Laser Turret + Lando Calrissian + Long Range Scanners

I've always been intriuged by Han's ability to drop out of hyperspace just on the nose of the enemy but everyone discredits it as a not good pilot ability because it technically has no effect beyond the setup phase. I wondered how much it could be used to psyche my opponent out though, if I threw them off at the start of the game that could effect them enough to make a lasting difference.

I gave him expertise and Kanan with the sloop title so he could focus solely on taking target locks. I don't play scum so my illicit deck is pretty limited but I thought feedback array might be a good button to push if I was close to a high agility ace with only one or two hull left, the hull upgrade was there to let me use it more liberally if desired and C-3PO to bolster the fatness.

Miranda of course has to come out of hyperspace at the normal spot, tried and true with her TLT I gave her Lando just because I like his ability and he rarely lets me down (a K-wing with 2 evade tokens is a pretty hilarious sight to behold)

My first opponent was Major Stridan carrying General Hux and some other upgrades with a bare bones Colonel Vessery and a Delta Squadron Pilot. My opponent was immediately thrown off, with no turret ships and no idea where Han was going to appear they had to cover their rears so he played Stridan sideways into one corner and his two Defenders facing to the left rather than forward next to the shuttle I think he expected me to come from the side but instead I dropped Han in the middle of the field in front of the shuttle and Miranda back at my side behind Han. I had also placed 2 asteroids into both corners of his field, the result of the first round as the defenders having to waste a move K-turning to face Han and Stridan ran himself into a rock leaving Han to unleash 4 dice with a target lock on him at range 1. Striden got chewed up in the first round but afterwards it became a bump train of my trying to keep Han behind Stridan while guessing wrong on which way stridan going, Han lost a lot of his target locks and attacks against Stridan and wasn't as effective against the defenders which continued to just joust back and forth on either side of Han. Stridan fell to a death by a thousand cuts as Mirdana hovered on the edge of the battle and chewed away at him. By the time Stridan was gone Han was on his last leg, I used Feedback Array to self destruct and chip down the Delta Squadron. Miranda had made it to the end without being shot once, she chipped away the last of the Delta pilot but by that time the match had reached it's limits, Miranda and Vessery both lived to fight another day but with all my points sunk into Han my opponent got the win.

My second battle pitted me against a Lothal Rebel with a Autoblaster Turret + Fire Control System and a few other upgrades alongside Dash Rendar in the Outrider with a Heavy Laser Cannon and some other minor upgrades.

They came in close but I dropped Han on the far side from the VCX-100 to keep him out of the autoblaster's range and moved him in to get into the Outrider's donut hole, Han and Dash ended up trading their attacks for each other's shields and by that time my opponent decided he Dash wasn't going to win a brawl with Han and sped off. Miranda picked on the helplessly big VCX by staying behing it and just on the edge of the fight, Dash's potshots at her wound up being mostly useless as Lando was quite generous with the evade tokens and she didn't have to worry about giving up one of her TLT dice to regen while picking on a ship with no agility. Han eventually chased down Dash but by than time Han was with only half his hull, with Dash gone the VCX was easy pickings and I came out with a solid win.

My last opponent was a motly mix of fragile rebels that synergized quite well with each other. Jess Pava with Swarm Leader (and accompany astromech to allow her the elite), Captain Rex and some upgrades, Biggs Darklighter doing what Biggs does, and Roark Garnet with Jan Ors to give more evades out so Jess could warm more effectively, and a TLT. I made the intial joust with Han, forcing them to turn away from Miranda's approach and bumping Jess to deny her a swarm atack. It was still incredibly effective, Roark allowed Rex to fire first, putting supression onto my ship which was forced to shoot at Biggs. My bump paid off though, Han came out worse for wear but Roark and Rex were forced to break away while Biggs and Jess K-turned, I got lucky and melted Rex in one hit after he was forced out of Bigg's protective bubble. With no more suppressing fire I prioritized Biggs second and chewed him down but not before Jess got in a swarm attack which worked in my favor, even after Jess's re-roll most her dice came up blank. Han and Miranda continued to move slow and kept out of her Arc as she tried to joust, the entire fight took place in my opponent's placement area and rocks kept her trapped. She eventually got melted and Roark didn't have enough health or damage to do much against Han once he got into the HWK's donut hole. 2 wins out of 3 and I couldn't be happier. I came in 2nd overall.