Hi everybody. I picked up the first of my stuff for the game a couple of weeks ago, and have been enjoying the input you've had here as far as the newbies are concerned, so I thought I'd run a couple of ideas by you, before heading into my first game. Working on a couple of different ideas for builds, I'm at something of a loss. Keep in mind that these aren't designed to go to any tournaments; they're meant to get me into the game with my buddies. Here goes.

Build 1 (99 points):

Garven + APTs + R2-D2

Dutch + Ion Cannon + R5-K6

Kyle + Deadeye + Recon Specialist + Moldy Crow

Build 2 (100 points):

Tycho + Concussion Missiles + PtL

Prototype Pilot + Concussion Missiles

Rookie Pilot + R5 mech

Red Squadron Pilot + R2 mech

What am I thinking? I know that build 1 goes against the grain of the general consensus I've seen here regarding 3-ship builds, but from a mechanical standpoint, first and foremost, my thought is to just learn to fly in formation and concentrate fire on single targets. The plan is to keep the Y and the HWK in formation, maneuvering through asteroids while the X-wing sweeps around and tries to get shots outside of the firing arcs. Bottom line, the tactical inspiration for this build is to slow down the TIE swarms by using the asteroids in combination with the ion cannons, then getting the X into position outside of the firing arc of the enemy to take it out. All the while, figuring out how to use the focus/TL tokens to my advantage to roll as many attack dice as I can.

In build 2, I'm still thinking of using asteroids to my advantage, but it's more of a deception-type scheme here, figuring out how to maneuver two vastly different types of ships in different formations, but still trying to focus fire on individual targets to avoid giving the other guy a single clear target. Force them to split their forces a little bit. I've gotten the idea that XXAA builds aren't all that common, but just some of the early ideas going through my head.

Either way, it should be an interesting first game. Thanks for any feedback in advance.

I've run something similar to 1 with some success. One of the selling points, especially to a newbie, is that since they are all PL6, you're less likely to bone yourself by running into the backs of your own ships, and the free flow of focus tokens is nice, too. It's a little weak on the offense, but it's strikes are very effective, typically having TL+F.

Build 1 (99 points):

Garven + APTs + R2-D2

Dutch + Ion Cannon + R5-K6

Kyle + Deadeye + Recon Specialist + Moldy Crow

Does Kyle have an ion or a blaster turret? It isn't listed here. You will be in trouble with this build if the enemy just dog-piles on Garven. If he goes down, and Kyle is running with an ion, that's a LOT of ion shots you will have to make in order to kill anything.

Build 1 (99 points):

Garven + APTs + R2-D2

Dutch + Ion Cannon + R5-K6

Kyle + Deadeye + Recon Specialist + Moldy Crow

Does Kyle have an ion or a blaster turret? It isn't listed here. You will be in trouble with this build if the enemy just dog-piles on Garven. If he goes down, and Kyle is running with an ion, that's a LOT of ion shots you will have to make in order to kill anything.

Sorry, meant to put that Kyle has ion. Get both Kyle and Dutch blasting away with the ion. Thanks for the clarification point.

Having RecSpec and the Crow title on Kyle without a blaster turret may be overkill. That's a LOT of focuses and you're not going to be using them nearly as fast. And Deadeye is useless on Kyle, what's the logic in including that? I'd probably put Blaster on Kyle since otherwise with just the two Ions and an X-wing you're going to be severely lacking in damage dealing.

Well for your first build I think you should fit in a Blaster Turret.The hwk doesn't have much for Shields and hull and only one attack dice.

Second 3 ship build can work but there is just one problem., If you lose a ship early on your at a real disadvantage, especially if your outnumbered.

Especially ones that require synergy between then. It's like a chain link and one you lose one piece it falls apart.

However though if I may suggest something which I found really fun and works extremely well

Biggs

R2-F2

Stealth upgrade

Kyle Katarn

Recon Specialist

Blaster Turret

Moldy Crow title

Opportunist

Garven Dreis

Shield upgrade

R2-D2

I found this to be a lot of fun

Biggs can be very hard to kill.

At range 3 through asteroid he has 6 Def dice.

Having the Droid on him gives him 1 extra agility for the round, but that requires his action, but you also have kyle,and garven to pass him focus tokens, and Kyle had a Blaster Turret and with opportunist you may be able to get 4 attack dice

What I did was start off slow, and pass focus tokens from garven to Kyle at first to build up his tokens. By the time we were attacking one another I had 11 focus tokens on kyle lol.

It was a fun game, but sucked my opponent had 3 ships with ions

Having RecSpec and the Crow title on Kyle without a blaster turret may be overkill. That's a LOT of focuses and you're not going to be using them nearly as fast. And Deadeye is useless on Kyle, what's the logic in including that? I'd probably put Blaster on Kyle since otherwise with just the two Ions and an X-wing you're going to be severely lacking in damage dealing.

The lack of damage was my concern as well. Just not enough firepower if Garven goes down.

So, I guess this is just an inexperience thing, but is the Y with the ion even worth the bother? I like the Garven + Biggs idea with the Crow, but having yet to play, I wasn't sure how useful it would be to take the TIEs out of their movement routine, and making them easier to cherrypick. The blaster turret is something I'll likely incorporate, but I wanted to keep the HWK paired with the Y because their maneuver dials are more similar than the HWK is to the X.

And thanks again for the help. It's appreciated.

So, I guess this is just an inexperience thing, but is the Y with the ion even worth the bother? I like the Garven + Biggs idea with the Crow, but having yet to play, I wasn't sure how useful it would be to take the TIEs out of their movement routine, and making them easier to cherrypick. The blaster turret is something I'll likely incorporate, but I wanted to keep the HWK paired with the Y because their maneuver dials are more similar than the HWK is to the X.

The Y with a turret is definitely worth it, it is one of my favorite ships, actually. Ions are great for board control, and turrets are great against Imperials because they are so darn shifty and are always dodging arcs--especially when PTL interceptors hit the table!

Ion turrets have awesome upside, but the negative is that they cap out at one damage per round, so you need to have something heavy hitting to back it up. If Kyle picked up a blaster, that would do the trick, or alternately, you could drop the Y and replace it with a beat stick like a B-wing or another X and let Kyle get off the ion shots to set them up. Another option if you really want ions is to drop Kyle, put in two ions on cheap Ys or Rebel operatives, and then back them up with two 3-dice ships for even more board control with reliable damage.

With the prevalance of B-Wings in the game at the moment, an ion cannon can be worth its weight in gold (no pun intended). Keeping a Dagger or Blue out of the fight while you focus on the rest of his buddies is great.