I'm just going to ask - how do you see this list performing against the lists that won Spokane, Plano, Bloomfield and Kuala Lampur? That would be the measuring stick I'd apply to your list. If you can beat a competent Phantom player, and trash the Falcon, you *should* be fine. If you lose to either of those on a regular basis, you'll have to hope for good match ups.

Right now, anyone that finds the answer to this question should next tackle the possibility of turning lead into gold

I'm just going to ask - how do you see this list performing against the lists that won Spokane, Plano, Bloomfield and Kuala Lampur? That would be the measuring stick I'd apply to your list. If you can beat a competent Phantom player, and trash the Falcon, you *should* be fine. If you lose to either of those on a regular basis, you'll have to hope for good match ups.

Right now, anyone that finds the answer to this question should next tackle the possibility of turning lead into gold

That's actually possible through transmutation...

The most important thing is feeling comfortable with the list you choose. So just choose one, and play it over and over against the widest array of different match ups. That will also help you to cut corners in that list and improve.

I think you have too much ordnance in that list.

There are a few certainties on this board: the tie advanced is awful, and you have too much ordnance in this list.

I'm just going to ask - how do you see this list performing against the lists that won Spokane, Plano, Bloomfield and Kuala Lampur? That would be the measuring stick I'd apply to your list. If you can beat a competent Phantom player, and trash the Falcon, you *should* be fine. If you lose to either of those on a regular basis, you'll have to hope for good match ups.

Right now, anyone that finds the answer to this question should next tackle the possibility of turning lead into gold

Screw that, after that whole straw into gold debacle a few years back I'm not even going to try on this one.

The most important thing is feeling comfortable with the list you choose. So just choose one, and play it over and over against the widest array of different match ups. That will also help you to cut corners in that list and improve.

I think you have too much ordnance in that list.

There are a few certainties on this board: the tie advanced is awful, and you have too much ordnance in this list.

Apparently you never read Ben Franklin's letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy:

"In this world, nothing is said to be certain except Death, Taxes, and that the TIE Advanced sucks."

The most important thing is feeling comfortable with the list you choose. So just choose one, and play it over and over against the widest array of different match ups. That will also help you to cut corners in that list and improve.

I think you have too much ordnance in that list.

There are a few certainties on this board: the tie advanced is awful, and you have too much ordnance in this list.

Apparently you never read Ben Franklin's letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy:

"In this world, nothing is said to be certain except Death, Taxes, and that the TIE Advanced sucks."

He also included in tiny letters on a corner "PS: expose sucks too."

I'm a huge fan of 3 ship rebel builds using named pilots! The key things you want to keep in mind is good pilot synergy, expert maneuvering, and never let them shoot you with out you being able to shoot back!

Synergy is the rebels bread and butter. My go to list is Kyle Dutch and Garven have plenty of TL/Focus shenanigans. I can see what you're going for with the synergy of getting off the missile shots with Airen being able to give a focus or TL to Luke or Etahn. After your torpedoes are gone some of the synergy goes away.

You also need to make sure you can fly these 3 ships like a pro. Landing on an asteroid can and will be detrimental to you. You need to get every action off as possible. With my build as long as I can bank some focus on kyle then I can be ok if I don't get some actions off and Airen will do the same for your build. If you need practice with flying these ships there are many good guides on these forums to help and you can always throw some asteroids out and practice flying around them. Speaking of Airen he is a great pilot with an amazing ability. Problem is that good players will notice and take him out first due to lack of durability. An idea for you would be to add some shield and/or hull upgrades in the list to help improve some durability especially to Airen.

Last make sure at no point the enemy can get shots on you while you can't shoot them. With 3 ships you can't afford not taking shots at the enemy. Granted this is tougher with the phantoms and falcons but with experience and a good mind for predicting the opponents movements you should be able to help remedy this. Now if I was your opponent I would assume you are going to be flying all 3 of these ships within range 1 of each other. I would separate my ships and send one towards you to take while the others come up the flanks. Be ready for that!

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Can't tell if serious or trolling. I tried to post the appropiate fry meme but it wouldn't let me use that image extension.

The most important thing is feeling comfortable with the list you choose. So just choose one, and play it over and over against the widest array of different match ups. That will also help you to cut corners in that list and improve.

I think you have too much ordnance in that list.

There are a few certainties on this board: the tie advanced is awful, and you have too much ordnance in this list.

Are you asking for advice or just confirmation ?

Having had Cracken as the solo z in a 4x ship build, he was killed in every one of my 7 games last Saturday at madness. I would seriously think twice about bringing 1x z to do heavy lifting. They are too squishy to be relied upon in such low numbers. If i were you i'd figure on flying the yt. It will serve you much better than a 3x ship rebel build with 8 atk dice.

Ya, people need to remember that a 4 ship build with a z-95 is not that far removed from old 3 ship builds. A 3 ship build with a z-95 sounds like a waste of a saturday.

I'm not actually sure what to expect out of my local meta. I joined this game about a month before wave 4 hit, so I've never actually fought the same style list twice.

I play in the same league. During Store Champ season, before Wave 4 or Imperial Aces, popular lists included a lot of Firesprays, B-wings, and Falcons. TIE Swarm and its variants were present (what I played) but not as common as they used to be. I'd expect a lot of the same, with the addition of Phantoms and MORE Falcons.

I actually did well in the league that @nikk whyte plays in tonight with a 3 Rookie/3 Bandit list, and a 2 Rookie/2 Bandit list with Etahn. Thinking I'm leaning towards the swarm without Etahn, but maybe a B-wing in place of an X. As it stands its 99 points. Thoughts?

Welp, my fighter list got squashed by a shuttle/phantom/ties list. So I re-matched him with Chewie, Kyle Katarn and a gold squadron, turrets for everyone.

I one shotted the phantom and a tie, I ioned the shuttle off the board.

Guess I'm play testing that list one more time.

I actually did well in the league that @nikk whyte plays in tonight with a 3 Rookie/3 Bandit list, and a 2 Rookie/2 Bandit list with Etahn. Thinking I'm leaning towards the swarm without Etahn, but maybe a B-wing in place of an X. As it stands its 99 points. Thoughts?

Not much reason for initiative when everything is on PS2, so BXXZZZ at 100 points is probably the strongest naked Rebel swarm right now. XXXZZZ does have one small advantage, though, in terms of relatively uniform dials; a B-wing with no upgrades maneuvers like a truck, and there's a cost there in terms of lost cohesion with its wingmen.

As for whether to play a 6-swarm or run Etahn + 4... I don't know. I like Etahn a lot, but the question is literally whether (e.g.) Etahn + R3-A2 is a more effective addition than Blue Squadron + Bandit Squadron. I think Etahn comes out ahead against Han + escorts, a TIE swarm, or a Bomber list--but I haven't had a lot of table time with Etahn, so I wouldn't want to try to guess how much he puts you ahead even in those specific matchups.

Etahn got schooled last night against a shuttle/gunner and two TIEs. I got the shuttle, but there was a phantom I ignored, thinking the shuttle was a bigger threat.

Just a quick suggestion:

If you like proton torpedoes, why not try Corran (instead of Etahn) with a proton and fire control system? Maybe throw in Marksmanship as well. You get a free target lock/focus for your second shot that way, and your target is likely tokenless as well.

I was trying to spread the upgrades around, not make one target the obvious "leader"

While it sort of worked, and I flew in a very strong, right formation, I let the phantom behind me. That game was over in 30 minutes.

I actually did well in the league that @nikk whyte plays in tonight with a 3 Rookie/3 Bandit list, and a 2 Rookie/2 Bandit list with Etahn. Thinking I'm leaning towards the swarm without Etahn, but maybe a B-wing in place of an X. As it stands its 99 points. Thoughts?

Not much reason for initiative when everything is on PS2, so BXXZZZ at 100 points is probably the strongest naked Rebel swarm right now. XXXZZZ does have one small advantage, though, in terms of relatively uniform dials; a B-wing with no upgrades maneuvers like a truck, and there's a cost there in terms of lost cohesion with its wingmen.

As for whether to play a 6-swarm or run Etahn + 4... I don't know. I like Etahn a lot, but the question is literally whether (e.g.) Etahn + R3-A2 is a more effective addition than Blue Squadron + Bandit Squadron. I think Etahn comes out ahead against Han + escorts, a TIE swarm, or a Bomber list--but I haven't had a lot of table time with Etahn, so I wouldn't want to try to guess how much he puts you ahead even in those specific matchups.

Thanks for your thoughts. I did, admittedly, have a chance to choose the better for the list I was playing. The league doesn't require you to play the same list, so I intended to test both lists out. I played the 3X3Z swarm against a mixed TIE swarm with some interceptors, and the Etahn build against a double Firespray list. Both were victories, but I think the 6 ship swarm is the better choice. Lost 1 X and 1 Z. In the other list, I flanked with Etahn, so he lasted quite a while until after the first Firespray was destroyed, but then the one good hit he got on me blew me away. (Side note, I had taken a hit from an assault missile because I got a little too close to the rest of my squad and he used the opportunity, then he roll 2 hits and a crit from his rear arc. 3 Blanks on the greens, 2 shield gone and then a direct hit. First time he was even able to be targeted, vaporized. Frustrating.) Anyway, I definitely noticed a significant decrease in my damage output after he died, but I didn't lose another ship. After that I was working with the same 2X 2Z that I had at the end of the first match.

The I do love the B-wing, but the different dial has caused me problems in my practice off-table. Also thinking it will be a higher priority target, whereas the list is pretty symmetrical currently. Because of that I'm not sure it will last any longer than the X-wings because it'll be focused out first every match. I need another chance to test...

But again, thanks for your thoughts!

(Side note, I had taken a hit from an assault missile because I got a little too close to the rest of my squad and he used the opportunity, then he roll 2 hits and a crit from his rear arc. 3 Blanks on the greens, 2 shield gone and then a direct hit. First time he was even able to be targeted, vaporized. Frustrating.)

If I had a nickel for every match I've lost because my dice have it in for me... my best example is from GenCon last year, where my opponent was running XXXA and killed one of my Firesprays in the first round of combat. He didn't roll a single blank, and I didn't roll a single evade.

At least things ended quickly, though, so I had time to get the pouting and stomping out of my system before my last match.

This is my suggestion to your build to counter the phantom menace.

Ethan is great and all but just a nice juicey target for those phantoms. I say down grade some missals and upgrade your pilot.

E-Wing Pilot Corran Horn (35) w/ Vet Int 1, Fire Control System 2, Flechette Torp 2, R2-D2 4, Engine upgrade 4

X-Wing Pilot Luke Skywalker (28) w/ Vet Int 1, Flechette Torp 2, R2 Astro 1

Z-95 HH Pilot Airen Cracken (19) w/ Vet Int 1

I stayed close to what you already had because you must feel comfortable with these ships. Not only are they all higher pilot skill then Whisper now but the same pilot level. I went with engine upgrade on horn because it can prove to be very use full getting Whisper in arc and running away later when you want to get back your shields. I don't think this build would do well against a tie swarm. But with the phantom menace you may not see to many tie swarms.

Good luck at your tournament. And may the dice be with you.

This is my suggestion to your build to counter the phantom menace.

Ethan is great and all but just a nice juicey target for those phantoms. I say down grade some missals and upgrade your pilot.

E-Wing Pilot Corran Horn (35) w/ Vet Int 1, Fire Control System 2, Flechette Torp 2, R2-D2 4, Engine upgrade 4

X-Wing Pilot Luke Skywalker (28) w/ Vet Int 1, Flechette Torp 2, R2 Astro 1

Z-95 HH Pilot Airen Cracken (19) w/ Vet Int 1

I stayed close to what you already had because you must feel comfortable with these ships. Not only are they all higher pilot skill then Whisper now but the same pilot level. I went with engine upgrade on horn because it can prove to be very use full getting Whisper in arc and running away later when you want to get back your shields. I don't think this build would do well against a tie swarm. But with the phantom menace you may not see to many tie swarms.

Good luck at your tournament. And may the dice be with you.

I'm really liking this. Gonna use it tonight.

Just a quick suggestion:

If you like proton torpedoes, why not try Corran (instead of Etahn) with a proton and fire control system? Maybe throw in Marksmanship as well. You get a free target lock/focus for your second shot that way, and your target is likely tokenless as well.

As an example, here's a squad that uses the same ships as yours, but with some tweaks to pilots/upgrades:

Predator R5-P9 Luke is (quoted from elsewhere on the forums) the honey badger of X-wings, and is currently my favorite way to run him.