Hello all, I am prepping for my first tournament and wanted to run a YT + 2 X-Wings list due to what ships I currently own (2 cores, Falcon, A-wing, Bomber). However the Falcon is usually run with Gunner rather than Luke Skywalker (crew), and Gunner only comes in the Slave 1 expansion.

It seems that Gunner nearly completely outclasses Luke Skywalker (crew), with Luke's ability only saving you from having to focus each turn. Gunner is 2 points cheaper, which is a huge, since the extra points enable a better escort pilot or additional upgrades for the Falcon. Ultimately I've convinced myself that while Luke is a better addition to the Falcon than nothing, Gunner is nearly always the better choice of crew.

Luke is the way to go when Marksmanship is a natural fit, but you'd like to equip another EPT.

Well Luke has a slightly less powerful marksmanship for free when he fires. Marksmanship is 3 points and an action each round. It's not a sure thing in either direction but offensively Luke is better and more efficient.

The idea behind Gunner in general is to make it so your first attack strips their focus/evade token leaving them vunerable to the second attack. You are correct in most people would use gunner over Luke but with what you have available Luke is a solid option.

Luke could potentially save you a focus token if you roll hit hit focus, no need to waist that focus if you only have 1 dice roll to focus.

Since you will be spending extra points in Luke you could go for lando VI instead of Han, the two points is a wash.

1 Prototype with Concussion Missiles (focus first) action deny at PS1, move in with lando on a green maneuver give the A-wing a target lock action to target someone range 2-3 away. As long as you only roll 1 blank you have 4 hits at that point.

Shoot at either the action denied person with Lando or the target of the A-wing stripping the focus/evade token to make the missiles more effective.

You have 23 Points available so you can add a Rookie pilot with R2 astromec (making Post K-turn maneuvers easier) and be at 99 points for initiative.

Here is the final squad build

Lando

Determination(so you don't loose your PS or Pilot abilites)

Luke Skywalker Crew

Chewbacca Crew (stacks with determination so you can toss Pilot Crits aside leaving you alive longer)

A-wing with Concussion Missiles

Rookie X-wing with R2 Astromec

I always put a gunner on Han,

but then again I dont use Marksmanship on him iether, I tend to just Evade almost every turn...

I have a weird thought that with getting to roll the dice 4 times if needed each turn I can get in a solid hit once in a while and that I like to use his action to try and mitigate atleast SOME dammage he is sure to catch with only one Evade...

But then again, I do think kinda weird things

Luke is like a gunner with more than half a focus token.

Probability for 0, 1, 2 or 3 hit/crit results with 3 attack dice:
            0        1        2        3 
3       0.125    0.375    0.375    0.125
3+Luke  0.016    0.203    0.469    0.313
3+Focus 0.016    0.141    0.422    0.422

Is the difference worth 2 points? Probably not. But 6 points might be too cheap.

Well Luke has a slightly less powerful marksmanship for free when he fires. Marksmanship is 3 points and an action each round. It's not a sure thing in either direction but offensively Luke is better and more efficient.

Luke is strictly better than the Gunner. As Vonpenguin says, Luke is worth most of an action on your second attack (because flipping one focus symbol to a hit is nearly as good as flipping all of them). The problem is that Luke is more expensive, on a ship that often struggles to trim points.

But there's nothing wrong with running Luke, and in fact one of my tourney builds early in Wave 2 was Han+Luke+Chewie+Falcon, with two Rookies for escort.

Luke is like a gunner with more than half a focus token.

Probability for 0, 1, 2 or 3 hit/crit results with 3 attack dice:
            0        1        2        3 
3       0.125    0.375    0.375    0.125
3+Luke  0.016    0.203    0.469    0.313
3+Focus 0.016    0.141    0.422    0.422

Is the difference worth 2 points? Probably not. But 6 points might be too cheap.

Which is fantastic for the Falcon, as it is easy to lose your action to a blocker.

If the ability to change one die inflicts an extra point of damage, the two points are well spent. A single point of damage during the entire game and Luke is worth it. Will he inflict that extra damage compared to gunner?

If the ability to change one die inflicts an extra point of damage, the two points are well spent. A single point of damage during the entire game and Luke is worth it. Will he inflict that extra damage compared to gunner?

Against some forces yes. Against a bunch of Bwings and YTs, No. It depends what you're up against. That, and that extra 2 points could mean significantly more than one point of damage in the right place... Luke is usually not immensley more effective than Gunner, from what I've seen.

I run Luke...Why?

Coz he's Luke Skywalker and when I put him in the Falcon I can quote "Don't get cocky Kid" everytime he kills a ship!!!

Seriously though I find him a good cost and tends to pay for himself.

Thanks all. I really like that chart, dvor, that's nifty. Good point, Stone37, Luke is a big help versus action deniers.

I bet playing Luke rather than Gunner allows the Falcon to evade a bit more often, to survive a little longer (or save that Focus for defense). I look forward to trying it out.

Anyone seen Luke on a HWK yet? Just for perversity's sake I kinda want to try this now: http://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Rebel%20Alliance&d=v2!46:37,31:-1:-1:;7:0,-1,-1,-1:-1:-1:;3:-1,-1:-1:-1:;3:-1,-1:-1:-1:

Anyone seen Luke on a HWK yet?

I am building a squad and have 7 points left. Advance proton torps maybe?

<<peanut gallery>>

No way throw luke gunner on there!!

(squad goes on to win worlds 5x's in a row)