So I've played a total of three games now, but love messing around with the list builder. After flying a variation of the HSF list with B-wings, I learned some things. I'd like to get some feedback on this list before I attempt to play it.

Ibtisam in the B-wing with Heavy Laser Cannon + Marksmanship + Hull Upgrade = 41 points.

Han in the Falcon with Expose + Gunner + Chewbacca = 59 points.

I figured with Ibby being able to re-roll 1 dice if stressed with the HLC at 4 dice might be nice.

Just worried it's not enough attack dice and if I lose one ship the other won't be far behind.

So. Crazy?

MN-

The concept isn't as suicidal as it might seem because big ships are effectively two ships on one base, so what you really have is a three-ship list. But your upgrades are pretty bad, marksmanship is wasted on the b-wing while expose is just plain bad. Trade expose for marksmanship on Han, and use the point you free up to put PTL + engine upgrade or FCS on Ibtisam.

First off, Expose is a terrible card. It gives you less of a damage increase than Marksmanship.

Secondly, Marksmanship on anything that doesn't get 2 attacks per turn is a terrible card.

Thirdly, 3 points is too much to bring an 8 hp ship with 1 agility up to a 9 hp ship with 1 ability.

That being said:

Just worried it's not enough attack dice and if I lose one ship the other won't be far behind.

Exactly the problem. A 41 point Ibtisam still dies as easily as a 22 point Blue Squadron Pilot. For that matter, she's only 3 points shy of costing as much as 2 of them, and deals far less than twice their combined damage.

Similarly, even if Han hits every shot he fires, he can still only damage one ship per turn.
Even with Chewbacca on board, he'll die to a Tie Swarm in 2-4 turns.

You have suffered from a classic case of "Over-Upgrading".

By the way, if you lower Expose to the preferable Marksmanship on Han, and split Ibtisam's then 42 points between two ships, you could afford 2 [naked] Rookie Pilots.

That's the original Han Shoots First fleet, by the way, and is friendly to beginners in the tournament scene.

As a rule of thumb...

Plastic > Cardboard.

Or in other words, more ships generally is a better idea then fewer ships with lots of upgrades.

Or you could throw the Falcon Title on Han for the Evade.. Especially when going up against a Wedge build that drops your agility by one, this can be a Godsend.

I'm still not sold on Marksmanship on Han as it is. If Han rolls crappy, Gunner should hopefully make up for that error on his own. Or Swap Gunner for Luke for the same effect as Gunner, but the added advantage of being able to change a focus to a hit..

It would be a different ballgame if Marksmanship was always active, but the fact that you need to declare it as an action always bothered me..

Fair enough. I'm just trying to build off of what didn't work for me with a HSF with B-wing list from last night.

So why is expose so bad? A 5 die attack roll at range one seems pretty nice, especially when you have five shields and 8 hull. What am I missing?

Also, can someone explain the "as many as possible" line on Han's Pilot card. It reads like " re-roll anything that isn't a hit or crit." But apparently, it was explained to me as "re-roll everything." It seems like it's worded strangely or I just don't have any experience with a situation in which that wording does make sense.

You cannot reroll a die more than once per attack. So if you had some other effect that rerolled a single die you would not be able to use Han's ability to reroll that die again, thus you would reroll all but that 1 die when using his ability..

Try this:

Ibtisam + Push the Limit + Advanced Sensors + Heavy Laser Cannon + Engine Upgrade - 45pts

Han + Expert Handling + C3PO + Engine Upgrade - 55pts

This is my favorite squad right now, and is definately super fun to fly. I've only lost once with it in about 6 games on Vassal. That one loss was because of terrible flying, I didn't even get to fire off a shot with Ibti. It takes a bit of skill to fly it properly as you need to avoid arcs at all cost with the low agility and hp. Han moves last, so with EH or Engine he will be very hard to catch in arc in close range combat. If you manage to take the enemy down to 3 ships vs just Han you should have a very good chance to win...but you need to stay close to your enemy, don't run.

Ideally you want to get just outside range 3 in the first round. Then try to shoot past them, or get within range 1 and use EH or Engine to get out of arc in the first combat round. Han can cover half the board with a Forward 4 and Boost 1. It's better for you if they concentrate on Han so that Ibti can stay at range 3 and hit them with HLC shots.

So why is expose so bad? A 5 die attack roll at range one seems pretty nice, especially when you have five shields and 8 hull. What am I missing?

It's bad because it takes an action that you could have used for focus. A four-dice attack with focus gives you an average of 3 hits, while a 5-dice attack with no focus gives you 2.5 hits. And a basic focus action doesn't cost 4 points, reduce your agility, and use up your EPT slot.

Also, can someone explain the "as many as possible" line on Han's Pilot card. It reads like " re-roll anything that isn't a hit or crit." But apparently, it was explained to me as "re-roll everything." It seems like it's worded strangely or I just don't have any experience with a situation in which that wording does make sense.

It means just what it says, you re-roll everything. It isn't a target lock that lets you choose which dice to roll. Assuming there are no dice that can not be re-rolled (whether because they've already been re-rolled or because there's a rule saying you can't re-roll it) you pick up all of the dice you rolled, regardless of what symbol they landed on, and roll them again. Essentially what it does is let you decide that you haven't rolled well enough and try again, at the risk of rolling even worse than you did the first time.