With the following Imperial list prepared and tested a few times I went to a tournament in Eindhoven:

-Howlrunner+swarm Tactics

-Black Squadron Pilot+Draw their fire

-Alpha Squadron Interceptor x2

-Academy Pilot

-Backstabber

Swarm of 5 with firepower of 6 due to 2 ints plus stabbie in a flank trying to make the opponents lives miserable.

At the event it turned out that Imperials were MUCH more popular (12 out of 16 IIRC) so 3 of us including me turned traitor. I did not care all that much. Just wanted to play.

I created the following list on the spot:

-Biggs. (poor Guy)

-2x Daggers with Fire Control Systems

-Tarn mison

100 on the dot.

First round vs a swarm-tactics chained bunch of ties.

something like;

Howlrunner+ST (plus stealth device I think)

BSP+STx4

Academy pilot

I scattered the meteors in such a way that they were forming a sort of a belt in the centre.

He deployed on my left in typical swarm formation while I deployed on my right flank; 2 B's behind each other, Tarn outer right with Biggs behind him.

After a turn moving straight ahead (both him and me) we turned towards each other and as hoped the meteors were a huge pain for him and a minor nuisance for me. First contact only 1 B and a tie could shoot each other with forgettable results. (I forgot anyhow)

The crunch was the turn after when everything moved in range. Tarn nicely blocked a PS4 BSP while avoiding the AP with horrible results for the swarm. The cherry on top was Howlrunner landing on an asteroid. Biggs snuggly at range 3 for me and the exchange of fire was very, very bad for him; losing a BSP and howlrunner. After that it was mopping up, albeit in a careful manner but eventually I only lost Biggs vs his full squadron.

Second round:

Chewbacca plus gunner and some other upgrades, a rookie X-wing and a blue.

Once again I deployed on my right and my opponent slightly left of the centre from my pov.

He then turned both his small ships away from me while Chewie flew forward.

The next turn I sped as fast as I could towards his small ships and had him outflanked. In the turns after I was wedged between the YT but at an increasing distance since he would not K-turn and was hindered by floating rocks while I could bring all guns to his X and B. After they were gone I turned around and not even the mighty Chewbacca could repel fire-power of such magnitude. Did not lose a single ship.

Third round:

Another Chebacca, this time with gunner, C3PO and 2x Blue+FCS.

Followed the by-now practised setup and once again it worked like a charm.

I think the fact that my PS overall was just that bith higher than both his B's gave me a significant advantage. enough to clear them for the loss of Biggs. In the chase after Chewie I lost another B but still a clean win.

Finals:

Getting the E-Wing and a Z-95 to build a squad with and no clue how-to.

I just knew he would try to 'pimp' the Phantom and the Defender so I went with:

Corran Horn with Vet instincts and R2D2. The Z95 with Ion Pulse missiles and...

Chewbacca with C3PO.

Note that I *really* did not like having to shoehorn both these ships into a build.

He put down Echo and Vessery (both with Vet instincts!) plus 2 academies in 99 pts to try and gain initiative.

Alas Lady Luck decided that this was not to be my day.

First the Ion pulse missile failed miserably and the Z-95 died soon after for zero result. Then I tricked his Phantom into bumping Chewie just when he K-turned and I got to shoot at him with 4 dice from my E-wing and the Z-95 (who died the turn after) Stripped his shields which was really bad dice rolling (4+2 dice with focus vs stressed and actionless 2 green dice) But the special ability of Corran (shooting another round) still managed to do the trick.

Albeit that the E-wing now was without shields and had a crit that any bump/collision would result in another hit. (rolling 4 blank greens vs his 3 hits and a crit. rrright)

The dice kept being kind to him overall. I managed to strip the shields of the Defender but 2 times in a row I got to 4 dice (range 1), albeit without focus and he evaded like a boss. While the E-wing regenerated his shields Chewie went down. He had at that point 2 hurt academies and a shieldless Defender when my E-wing returned to the fight and killed a Tie.

Time was called and I had 40 pts left on the board vs his 50 (? could be 51?), not enough for full win but a modified win it was. For him that was.

I wuz robbed.

But got a Tie defender (really did not like the E-wing. Not for the points cost) for my efforts and had a splendid day.

Final thoughts;

Playing rebels is easy mode. Really. 2B plus 2X? Sheesh. Tough as old leather boots.

The E-wing is a really, really nice ship. But it NEEDS the engine upgrade IMO. R2D2 makes it a crazy end game fighter but the point-cost makes baby Jesus cry.

[edits; some small typo's]