Can someone please give me a brief overview of each of the X-Wing miniature units released to date? Specifically, the following info:

* How strong the unit is relatively (a 1-5 star system with brief explanation would be good)

If I can get on my high horse for just a moment, I have a peeve with scalar valves for multidimensional things. You really can't rate any of these ships on a scale of one to five because they all have more than one aspect you need to consider.

Were the game (or indeed life) so simple as to be able to accurately rate complicated things on a scale, it would be spectacularly boring.

If your getting on a high horse don't. There's nothing wrong with wanting a rough rating. It fits the ships pretty well in the sense, "how much is this worth its points."

It is fully understandable to want to know how the community sees something.

I agree, it's not getting down to rocket science. True there is lots of things to consider with each ship however a general (and by general I mean very rough) rating is more than satisfactory to help someone looking for info on this subject. This way he the OP gets a quick overview of what people like to use and overall how they feel about individual ships and then compare the results.

There are different ways to rate ships as well. Some ships are really fun to fly / yet not so potent. Depends if you are playing a friendly game or trying to win a tourny.

some things go without saying but:

x wings and tie fighters are really great. not surprising since that is what the starter set comes with! =)

Can someone please give me a brief overview of each of the X-Wing miniature units released to date? Specifically, the following info:

* How strong the unit is relatively (a 1-5 star system with brief explanation would be good)

If I can get on my high horse for just a moment, I have a peeve with scalar valves for multidimensional things. You really can't rate any of these ships on a scale of one to five because they all have more than one aspect you need to consider.

Were the game (or indeed life) so simple as to be able to accurately rate complicated things on a scale, it would be spectacularly boring.

If your getting on a high horse don't. There's nothing wrong with wanting a rough rating. It fits the ships pretty well in the sense, "how much is this worth its points."

It is fully understandable to want to know how the community sees something.

There is something wrong with it because it's necessarily inaccurate or ambiguous. It's the same reason why you can't realistically rate movies, games, employees, or foods as a whole on a scale despite the fact that we love to. It has no meaning unless you redefine the value to be a single piece of information, as you subtly did. If the scale is to represent "how the community sees something" then that's fine. If it's to represent the superiority of one ship to another, it simply can't in any meaningful way. You can't sum multiple dimensions down to a scalar.

Anyhow, my comment wasn't meant to be an indictment or call out the OP or anything. I just want people to think about things from more angles rather than categorizing things from best to worst. Doing the latter often makes certain ships or cards or tactics fall off the radar until someone later more accurately analyzes them and is able to use them to good effect.

Can someone please give me a brief overview of each of the X-Wing miniature units released to date? Specifically, the following info:

* How strong the unit is relatively (a 1-5 star system with brief explanation would be good)

If I can get on my high horse for just a moment, I have a peeve with scalar valves for multidimensional things. You really can't rate any of these ships on a scale of one to five because they all have more than one aspect you need to consider.

Were the game (or indeed life) so simple as to be able to accurately rate complicated things on a scale, it would be spectacularly boring.

If your getting on a high horse don't. There's nothing wrong with wanting a rough rating. It fits the ships pretty well in the sense, "how much is this worth its points."

It is fully understandable to want to know how the community sees something.

There is something wrong with it because it's necessarily inaccurate or ambiguous. It's the same reason why you can't realistically rate movies, games, employees, or foods as a whole on a scale despite the fact that we love to. It has no meaning unless you redefine the value to be a single piece of information, as you subtly did. If the scale is to represent "how the community sees something" then that's fine. If it's to represent the superiority of one ship to another, it simply can't in any meaningful way. You can't sum multiple dimensions down to a scalar.

Anyhow, my comment wasn't meant to be an indictment or call out the OP or anything. I just want people to think about things from more angles rather than categorizing things from best to worst. Doing the latter often makes certain ships or cards or tactics fall off the radar until someone later more accurately analyzes them and is able to use them to good effect.

Can someone please give me a brief overview of each of the X-Wing miniature units released to date? Specifically, the following info:

* How strong the unit is relatively (a 1-5 star system with brief explanation would be good)

If I can get on my high horse for just a moment, I have a peeve with scalar valves for multidimensional things. You really can't rate any of these ships on a scale of one to five because they all have more than one aspect you need to consider.

Were the game (or indeed life) so simple as to be able to accurately rate complicated things on a scale, it would be spectacularly boring.

If your getting on a high horse don't. There's nothing wrong with wanting a rough rating. It fits the ships pretty well in the sense, "how much is this worth its points."

It is fully understandable to want to know how the community sees something.

There is something wrong with it because it's necessarily inaccurate or ambiguous. It's the same reason why you can't realistically rate movies, games, employees, or foods as a whole on a scale despite the fact that we love to. It has no meaning unless you redefine the value to be a single piece of information, as you subtly did. If the scale is to represent "how the community sees something" then that's fine. If it's to represent the superiority of one ship to another, it simply can't in any meaningful way. You can't sum multiple dimensions down to a scalar.

Anyhow, my comment wasn't meant to be an indictment or call out the OP or anything. I just want people to think about things from more angles rather than categorizing things from best to worst. Doing the latter often makes certain ships or cards or tactics fall off the radar until someone later more accurately analyzes them and is able to use them to good effect.

By star rating system, I mean a relative system that evaluates a ship based on its relative strength in actual gameplay.

e.g. A ship that is beautiful and very fun to play, but which is too slow or too many points to do much in a game should get 1-2 stars. A ship that is plain with no spectacular stats, but which is often used in builds should get 4-5 stars. Of course, if a ship is both fun to play and useful in games, then even better.

Any thoughts on the ratings of the Rebel ships?

Also, someone mentioned that it would be helpful if someone could explain what is meant by technical terms like "Biggs walks the dogs" or "Han Shoots First," and I agree with that. Would appreciate such explanation (riplikash's post was a good start).

Thank you very much.

By star rating system, I mean a relative system that evaluates a ship based on its relative strength in actual gameplay.

e.g. A ship that is beautiful and very fun to play, but which is too slow or too many points to do much in a game should get 1-2 stars. A ship that is plain with no spectacular stats, but which is often used in builds should get 4-5 stars. Of course, if a ship is both fun to play and useful in games, then even better.

Any thoughts on the ratings of the Rebel ships?

Also, someone mentioned that it would be helpful if someone could explain what is meant by technical terms like "Biggs walks the dogs" or "Han Shoots First," and I agree with that. Would appreciate such explanation (riplikash's post was a good start).

Thank you very much.

X-Wing. 3.5-4 Stars. This is a good ship. It takes a couple hits, dishes out the hurt, and has some good upgrade potential. All of its iterations are useful. Biggs is a central ship for his ability to protect major hitters and stay back a range band while still protecting his friends.

Y-Wing. 3-3.5 Stars.

Solid, dependable, needs an Ion turret to work. Dutch is 4-4.5 stars for an amazing ability.

A-Wing

Right now, 2.5-3 stars. The firepower is too low. Come the Chaardan though, it becomes 4-4.5 stars. Good durability, and great filler. Has a ton of combo potential.

YT-1300

1 Star. I hate it. it's big and annoying.

Combatwise. 4 Stars.

It's expensive, tough, and its turret is a beast. It wouldbe 5 stars but it murders your lists firepower by dragging you down to a 3 ship list. Still, Chewbacca might be the best ship in the game.

B-Wing 4.5-5 Stars. Cheap, powerful, durable, and has some of the best upgrade options in the game. The current named pilots are probably 3-4 stars because they cost too much, but Blues and Daggers are absolutley amazig.

Hwk-290

3-4 Stars.

The ship is amazing. The dial is considered meh, but with a turret you don't need it. The Hawk is strategy dependant, with a trio of amazing support pilots. However, much like the shuttle, this ships potetial lies in the users knowledge of it, and their ability to manage resources. It is my favorite rebel ship with Kyle being my favorite pilot. Roark will see an upswing in use against the Phantom.

Z-95

5 Stars

Cheap, dependable, with amazing pilot abilities.

E-Wing

3 Stars.

I think its overcosted versus an X-Wing or B-Wing. That said, Etahn is 4.5 stars, with one of the best support abilities in the game, and given its upgrade options it may be like the Shuttle, in need of a skilled experienced hand.

By star rating system, I mean a relative system that evaluates a ship based on its relative strength in actual gameplay.

Eva's point was simply that bare bones rating systems like that can't accommodate all the variables, he was just a little burks with it though. Like the example above of the lambda. A new player (or even an experienced player who doesn't check online strategy articles) is going to try the shuttle and determine it gets 1/2 a star, while a very skilled imperial player may well give it 5 stars. How do we then rank it for the benefit of a new player?

That's all he was really saying.

By star rating system, I mean a relative system that evaluates a ship based on its relative strength in actual gameplay.

Eva's point was simply that bare bones rating systems like that can't accommodate all the variables, he was just a little burks with it though. Like the example above of the lambda. A new player (or even an experienced player who doesn't check online strategy articles) is going to try the shuttle and determine it gets 1/2 a star, while a very skilled imperial player may well give it 5 stars. How do we then rank it for the benefit of a new player?

That's all he was really saying.

Time for my break down on the Rebel ships. This is going to be much harder than my Imperial ships, since Rebel ships are as a rule more upgradeable and are more likely to be generalists or to be able to fill multiple roles depending ou how they are outfitted.

X-wing: Is a great all around ship. Good fire power and okay agility combined with shields make this ship a favorite for a lot of Rebel players. With torpedo and droid upgrades it can be outfitted in a variety of ways.

Best Quality: Hard to say, but I think I would go with its firepower

Worst Quality: this was hard, it doesn't really have many weakness, but I finally settled on its lack of actions it can take, with no barrel roll or evade actions it can feel a little clumsy. (but this is really a small thing)

Y-wing: For most players this is the Rebels stand by Ion Turret carrior. But it doesn't have to be. It is easier to hit, than an X-wing it can also take more damage. But over all I think it goes down (to TIE fire at least) faster than an X-wing. It also has a weaker dial than an X-wing. It might seem inferior to an X-wing, but they are also cheaper. I have seen quite a few Y-wings fly unupgraded as a great boost to a rebel squad. They can also be upgraded with droids and torpedos (actually 2 torpedos, but I have never been glad when I put 2 on).

A-wing: three agility dice, boost action and the best dial in the game. A-wings are great dogfighters. Unlike Intercepters they have shields and even though they only have 2 hull, they are one of the hardest ships in the game to kill. They do tend to be a little weaker on attack (especially when compared to other rebel ships). But they are cheap, and with the Charaadan refit coming out soon they are going to get even cheaper. I love these guy's I find their great handling and defensive abilities more than make up for their attack capabilites.

Best Quality: Great Agility manuverability

Worst Quality: Firepower

YT-1300: This is almost two different ships since, unlike every other ship, the generic Outer Rim Smuggler has different stats from the Named YT-1300. So I will Discuss them separately.

Outer Rim Smuggler: This is a seldom used and under ratted ship in the rebel arsonal. It doesn't have as many hits as other large ships and it only has 2 attack dice but it does have a 360 firing arc. Being able to shoot at range 3 and doing an extra attack dice at range 1 is something you don't get from a Y-wing equiped with an Ion Turret. Their big base (an the possible addition of Anti-Pursuit-Lasers) makes them IMO the best blockers in the game. They also have the best dial of any large ship.

Best Quality: 360 firing arc and are often overlooked by opponants.

Worst Quality: Weaker Firepower.

Chewbacca/Lando/Han: These three pilots get a super YT-1300. You might as well call it the Falcon. (I alway put the title upgrade on). They have awesome firepower and 360 firing arc. Two crew upgrades are nice. Before the Z-95 came out there was basically only two ways to fly these. 1 Faclon + 2 other fighter (Han Shoost First) or 2 YT-1300, usually Chewy and Lando (Sometimes called the Fortess Build), Either way you take the most expesive rebel ship and put more upgrades on it. For me I prefer Gunner and Title:Falcon. Named YT-1300 have a ton of hits, but with only 1 agility they can evaporate quickly. I find the best way to counter this is with the Falcon Title and take an Evade Action almost every turn. There are lots of other builds. Having a 360 degree firing arc means that they can be pretty easy to fly. YT-1300 are a good ship for starting players.

B-wing: To Some people the B-wing is just every thing an X-wing is but more. It can have more fire power, more upgradeability, and it has a ton more shields. It does have a lower agility but the extra shields mean it usually is just as hard to kill as an X-wing. At first glance it seems to have an inferior dial to an X-wing, but when cuppled with Advanced Sensors that quickly. Add to that Engine Upgrades and it can become very manuverable. Since it has access to a barrel roll it might even be comparable to an A-wing. A B-wing is definatly a ship you need to figure out how you want to upgrade. Its Advanced systems slot almost never goes unfilled.

Best Quality: With the right upgrades can excell at almost any battlefield role

Worst Quality: pretty much needs to be upgraded, which can get expensive fast.

HWK-290: Some people love this ship, but I don't. Without hesitation I would say it is the ship I like the least out of all the X-wing miniture range. As such I haven't flown it as much as others and my advice is probably not as acurate as it is on other ships. IMO the HWK-290 is a cheaper turret carrior than the Y-wing. It can carry crew and so has possibilities to do a lot of other things, but most of the things I have seen it do, just didn't seem all that effective to me. I would point out that more than any other ship the HWK-290 relies on the abilities of its named pilots. Thay all have support abilites. And as a supprt ship it is pretty great. But if it isn't in your list as a work horse then you need to keep it cheap. I wouldn't recomend putting anything on it other than a Ion Turret, even if you are running a support ship. HWK has an abismal natural attack of only one attack die. So it really really needs a turret. That turret should be a ion turret. There are tricky builds that might make you think that a blaster turret might be worth it but its not. This is a dog fighting game. The winner is almost always the person who can get his into good firing position as much as possible while minimizing his opponent from doing the same. A weapon that in a bad situation you simply can't shoot is terrible. Also spending a focus on shooting means probably can't spend the focus on your attack itself. Once you add recon spec to the list you are now more points than an ion turret, so no its not a good idea.

Best Quality: cheap turret carrior

Worst Quality: terible dial, requires upgrades, terrible unupgraded firepower.

^ Wonderful analysis! Thanks!

By star rating system, I mean a relative system that evaluates a ship based on its relative strength in actual gameplay.

e.g. A ship that is beautiful and very fun to play, but which is too slow or too many points to do much in a game should get 1-2 stars. A ship that is plain with no spectacular stats, but which is often used in builds should get 4-5 stars. Of course, if a ship is both fun to play and useful in games, then even better.

Any thoughts on the ratings of the Rebel ships?

Also, someone mentioned that it would be helpful if someone could explain what is meant by technical terms like "Biggs walks the dogs" or "Han Shoots First," and I agree with that. Would appreciate such explanation (riplikash's post was a good start).

Thank you very much.

For Rebels I would say

X-Wing. 3.5-4 Stars. This is a good ship. It takes a couple hits, dishes out the hurt, and has some good upgrade potential. All of its iterations are useful. Biggs is a central ship for his ability to protect major hitters and stay back a range band while still protecting his friends.

Y-Wing. 3-3.5 Stars.

Solid, dependable, needs an Ion turret to work. Dutch is 4-4.5 stars for an amazing ability.

A-Wing

Right now, 2.5-3 stars. The firepower is too low. Come the Chaardan though, it becomes 4-4.5 stars. Good durability, and great filler. Has a ton of combo potential.

YT-1300

1 Star. I hate it. it's big and annoying.

Combatwise. 4 Stars.

It's expensive, tough, and its turret is a beast. It wouldbe 5 stars but it murders your lists firepower by dragging you down to a 3 ship list. Still, Chewbacca might be the best ship in the game.

B-Wing 4.5-5 Stars. Cheap, powerful, durable, and has some of the best upgrade options in the game. The current named pilots are probably 3-4 stars because they cost too much, but Blues and Daggers are absolutley amazig.

Hwk-290

3-4 Stars.

The ship is amazing. The dial is considered meh, but with a turret you don't need it. The Hawk is strategy dependant, with a trio of amazing support pilots. However, much like the shuttle, this ships potetial lies in the users knowledge of it, and their ability to manage resources. It is my favorite rebel ship with Kyle being my favorite pilot. Roark will see an upswing in use against the Phantom.

Z-95

5 Stars

Cheap, dependable, with amazing pilot abilities.

E-Wing

3 Stars.

I think its overcosted versus an X-Wing or B-Wing. That said, Etahn is 4.5 stars, with one of the best support abilities in the game, and given its upgrade options it may be like the Shuttle, in need of a skilled experienced hand.

This right here is a prime example of why scalar values are bad. I could tear apart almost everything you've written simply based on the rating you've given the ships, and all it would do is cause confusion for the OP. Concrete numbers and subjective opinions do not mix well. I just hope nobody goes out and buys a HWK swarm based on your input.

Now, since you've given the Z-95 such a glowing review (five stars! not even the "best ship in the game" got that rating from you), I have to ask: what is your experience with wave four? How many games have you played with it, over how many hours?

Ok, now my report on the Rebel Ships of Wave 1–3:

X-wing: 4–4.5 stars; it is another well-balanced ship with few weaknesses and a decent (if average) dial. All the named pilots are amazing, so much so that they generally outweigh the generics in tournaments (the only small ship so far to do so).

This ship can have many uses: the generics, Hobbie, Tarn, and Luke are great front-line units; Wedge is an excellent sniper or flanker; and Biggs, Garven, and Wes support the rest of their squad. They are a jack-of-all-trades ship.

Common builds: Biggs by himself is a huge pain for any opponent to face, just keep him light on upgrades (and make those upgrades defensive) so you don't flush 1/3 of your squad down the toilet. Luke + R2-D2: it has to be done to really appreciate from more than a fluff perspective; He is an absolute menace endgame (even moreso when you tack on Marksmanship). Tarn + R7: a good combo to make him a tank. Wes + VI with backup sporting Opportunist: strip tokens, then lay in the hurt. Wedge + R7-T1 + EH is a build I want to try soon: the man can choose from four actions basically (or just pop on PtL so we can TL + F + Boost).

Y-wing: 2.5–3 Stars (unless you're Dutch, then 3.5–4): the first true tank put in the game, the Y-wing is a slow unwieldy beast with far too many Hull points and not enough shields. Give it a turret, though, and it sings like a bird. Just add 5 points to any Y-wing you want to field, because it will have an Ion Turret.

The Y-wing is a battlefield control ship, not relying on its primary attack often, but instead pinning things down with it's Ion Turret. It is also the cheapest candidate for the Flechette Torpedoes, one of the more useful ordinance pieces. Dutch puts the support side into overdrive, whereas Horton capitalizes on direct firepower at sniping/ordinance ranges (he has hands-down one of the best abilities in the game).

Common Builds: Gold + ICT: the basic control ship, slap on the stress droid or FLECHETTES for more control. Dutch + ICT + R7-T1: passes out TLs and can still boost out of firing arcs. Horton + PTx2: fully loaded, he rarely misses his mark.

A-wing: 3 Stars (post RA it will be around 4.5 Stars): The Rebel counter to the feared TIE Interceptor, the A-wing has more HP and a (very, very slightly) better dial than its counterpart. However, it pays for this with fewer attack dice and a less useful action bar.

The A-wing is a flanker, the small gnat that irritates your opponent to break his focus. Don't expect him to win the game for you, as 2 dice attacks are very weak, but if used to back up a solid jousting fleet it can be annoying in the early game (but not annoying enough to make it Public Enemy #1), and a strong contender as best late-game ship. A little too expensive for what it brings onto the table, though.

Common Builds: GSP + PtL: the pent ultimate Rebel flanker, cheap enough that it won't hurt too much when it goes down, yet hard enought to pin down that it is often ignored until its maneuverability can shine; pre wave 4 it was also used as a "cheap" Swarm counter by tacking on Assault Missiles. Tycho + PtL can do any maneuver any turn except for a K-turn, which you never need on an A-wing 7/8ths of the time.

YT-1300: 4–5 Stars: The flying hamburger. The harbinger of doom to Imperial maneuverability. The murderer of TIEs. The basic model is weaker than the named pilots, with only a 2-dice turret and 10 HP, but even then it is a really good deal for what it brings onto the table. The named pilots all have good abilities, all have 3-dice turrets, and all have a total of 14 HP. The ship also has a very solid dial.

The YT-1300 is your tank ship. It can take massive firepower, and with the right survivability upgrades can live Lon enough to dish it back out. It will go down eventually, but taking it out early means that the opponent has ignored its escort, which can then clean up the wounded stragglers.

Common Builds: ORS + APL + IA + Navigator: at 33 points, the so-called BlockORS is the best blocker in the game, hands-down. Han Solo + Gunner: the vital central ingredients to the popular Han Shoots First build. Any named YT + EH: Barrel-rolling big ships is HUGE. Lando + Nien Numb: more greens means more potential for free actions (pair him up with Dutch for epic synergy).

B-wing: 4.5–5 Stars: hands down one of the best ships in the Rebel arsenal. At first glance it doesn't look like much, but looks can be deceiving. Over time one comes to appreciate the actually quite strong dial, the inherent tanking ability of the ship, the strength of Barrel Rolling, and the powerful System Upgrade slot. All of this for only one point more than an X-wing stock.

The B-wing is the Rebel multi-tool: it can snipe at enemies, act as a battlefield tank, or get in close and knife fight. What role it is used for depends greatly on what upgrades it is given. The named pilots are rarely used.

Common Builds: Dagger + AdvS: a key part (1/2 in fact) of the famed World Championship list Biggs Walks the Dogs, the utility of getting an action before moving is amazing in experienced hands. Blue + FCS + HLC: the sniper variant; slow roll and after the first attack you are guaranteed to start hitting the target. Ibtisam + EU + AdvS + PtL is expensive, but everyone should try it for the extreme mobility it provides.

HWK-290: 1–4 Stars: This ship is extremely hard to rank. The Generic variant has basically no use (I would rather take the Y-wing as a turret platform, as it at least has a halfway decent primary weapon value). However, each of the named pilots have a use in a squad; one must merely create a squad where they can shine in their role without making it a glaring target for the enemy. It his is easier said than done oftentimes. Like the Lambda, it takes an experienced X-winger willing to experiment to really make this ship work.

The HWK is a support ship, buffing its allies in battle. It also can act as a battlefield control unit by tacking on an Ion Turret.

Common Builds: Roark + ICT: for only 24 points you get a pseudo-Y-wing with an awesome ability; shooting at PS 12 can make or break a game. Kyle + RecSpec + Crow + BT: this guy hands out Focus tokens like that white van by the school hands out candy; don't get too close, though, because this puppy packs a mean bite. Jan + ICT + (Nien/Chewie) either increase the stress shedding abilities or make the ship just not die, all the while buffing your primary damage dealer to hand out 4 dice at R3 to your opponent.

I rate the debate over the value of 1-5 rating systems at 1 star.

Thanks, Revanchist, for your analysis.

Just found this thread and found it to be a really useful summary, so wanted to say thanks for everyone's input, as i am usually a lurker rather than an active member of the forum.

Is there another thread or webpage that summarizes all of the typical and common named builds and squads? I keep coming across "Doomshuttle" or "Han Shoots First" or "Biggs Walks the Dogs" or "Buzzsaw" etc. etc. As a casual but frequent player, I have no idea what any of those mean.

Can someone help me out?

I am still a Rookie Pilot really and when browsing the forums sometimes struggle with all teh jargon and the acronyms so I have been putting this together for my blog over the last few days, if it's of any use to anyone.