Last week at a store tournament I ran this squad:

Wedge +R5-D8 +Expert Handling

2x Dagger Squadron Pilot +Fire Control System +Heavy Laser Cannon

It seemed like a solid three-ship squad with god pilot skill numbers. I figured it would be something I could fly pretty well.

Only problem was, last Thursday I got skunked. I went 0-3. My first two matches were close, with each of us having only one ship on the board when I lost. The third, against four or five unnamed ties and a Firespray was over in about four turns.

I won't bore you all with the details. But I thought it might be worthwhile to ask you all how you would fly such a squad. I'd also be willing for ideas to improve the list, but primarily I'm looking for strategy tips.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Well generally if you lose it's because of one or more of the following reasons.

1) Your squad faced a squad that is not an ideal matchup

2) Your opponent is more experienced/better than you

3) You had bad luck on your dice rolls and/or your opponent had good luck on his

Since 2 of your 3 games were very close, it was probably more of option 3 for them. You could play those same matchups 10 times and possibly go 5-5.

The third game is the one you should focus on since that seems like a blowout. It was probably a combination of all 3 things I'm guessing. 1 & 3 you can only control so much, but you can always keep playing and get better and more experienced

Three ships lists can be tough to play against a 5+ ship opponent. If you loose one of your ships early on, it's going to be a ruff game. Have you thought about expanding to a 4th ship? This gives you durability and more fire power.

For 100 points, you can easily place 2 X-wings and 2 B-wings into play.

Three ships lists can be tough to play against a 5+ ship opponent. If you loose one of your ships early on, it's going to be a ruff game. Have you thought about expanding to a 4th ship? This gives you durability and more fire power.

For 100 points, you can easily place 2 X-wings and 2 B-wings into play.

Watch the FFG Worlds Finals with Paul and Dallas.

That's a pretty awesome demonstration of the XXBB list.

I will admit to copying Paul's list in a lot of games played locally.

I am not a huge fan of 3 ship rebel lists, the problem is if you lose a ship early then you are in trouble.

what you have to do with this list is try to keep at range 3, you have a huge advantage at range 3 with the HLC.

Swaping out wedge for another dagger with a HLC and FCS will make it slightly less squishy.

Giving wedge Push the limit and a R2 unit for the extra greens will push up the damage.

The astro you have takes an action, expert handling takes an action (and gives stress) and even wedge is not doing good damage without an action. Do you find yourself being predictable after you use expert handling? Would an R2 unit help there?

Are you managing to use the barrel roll to get out of firing arcs? but still get a shot off?

Would engine upgrade and PTL acheive something similar?

Really the key is going to be using wedge as a flanker I think and getting lots of shots at range 3 with the HLC, but as I said not a huge fan of 3 ship rebels, if you lose a ship early you will lose.

Thanks for the responses, everybody.

Eyesavant seems to have given me a response closest to what I was looking for. The other replies were also helpful, though.

I'm leaning toward putting together a four-ship list, but I figure I'll try this list tonight, just for fun, as there's no tournament.

Garven Dreis +R2-D2 +Hull Upgrade

Dagger Squadron Pilot +Advanced Sensors* +HLC

Dagger Squadron Pilot +FCS +HLC

* I only have one Advanced Sensors card.

How about:

2 Daggers w/ FCS & HLC

Biggs w/ R2D2 & shield upgrade

99 pts

Biggs seems more useful to me than Garven for this type of list.

I don't have much experience with B-wings, but I've used Biggs a lot. Simple strategy, really: during asteroid placement, make sure one of your 'roids is somewhere between R2 & R3 of your table edge (for biggs to hide behind during the initial volley), and the other 2 'roids somewhere in your opponent's half where you think it will disrupt his formation. Deploy biggs in the middle with a B on either wing, all of them near your board edge, but make sure they aren't pointing straight at your opponents edge because you don't want biggs flying perfectly straight at the asteroid (makes it easier for him to avoid hitting it later). Try to engage @ R3 as much as possible with asteroids giving biggs cover as much as you can throughout the match. Biggs' preferred action will be focus of course and obviously, you want the B's in R1 of him as often as you can...

Whatever you decide though, good luck!

4 ship XB combos are going to be much stronger than 3 loaded up ships in both staying power and typically attack capability.

How about:

2 Daggers w/ FCS & HLC

Biggs w/ R2D2 & shield upgrade

99 pts

Biggs seems more useful to me than Garven for this type of list.

I don't have much experience with B-wings, but I've used Biggs a lot. Simple strategy, really: during asteroid placement, make sure one of your 'roids is somewhere between R2 & R3 of your table edge (for biggs to hide behind during the initial volley), and the other 2 'roids somewhere in your opponent's half where you think it will disrupt his formation. Deploy biggs in the middle with a B on either wing, all of them near your board edge, but make sure they aren't pointing straight at your opponents edge because you don't want biggs flying perfectly straight at the asteroid (makes it easier for him to avoid hitting it later). Try to engage @ R3 as much as possible with asteroids giving biggs cover as much as you can throughout the match. Biggs' preferred action will be focus of course and obviously, you want the B's in R1 of him as often as you can...

Whatever you decide though, good luck!

I agree with Blade, Biggs will serve you better at protecting the B's. If your going to reduce the number of ships your flying it best to control their attack as much as possible.