I am not exactly new but not exactly experienced. I have spent most of my time figuring out how to play the imperial ships I have: ties, interceptors and a defender. I know I have barely scratched the surface of imperial tactics, but I have a problem.

Sometimes my opponent wants to play imperials. I have 2x Core set X-Wings and a YT-1300. I get waxed every time. Not a "wow that was a close game!" kind of waxed...., more like a "well that didn't take long..." kind of waxed.

My plan is to expand both factions (although my Imperial collection is significantly larger) so I intend to acquire more Rebels.

My questions are these:

1) How do Rebels play? Imperials seem to be numbers or maneuver oriented, but Rebels seem like a different beast.

2) Do you have suggestions on where to go next with the Rebel collection?

I'm not sure why you are having so much trouble. Basically, Rebels are much tougher, but slower and less maneuverable. This means you need to be better at judging where the enemy is going, and where you move will put you. TIE's are hard to score hits against, so you need to maximize your firing opportunities. Also, try to focus on one ship until it is destroyed, rather than splitting fire. Use edges/objects to your advantage. Minimize the TIES movement choices, and place your ships so that no matter where the enemy goes, someone will get a chance to fire at him.

Honestly, 2 x-wings and a YT-1300 should not be doing that badly against 4 TIES.

Rebels are synergy based. unfortunately, this means you need expansions - both rebel and imperial - to gain the cards and pilots needed to really make the rebels pop.

a b wing, an hwk, an x wing expansion and the upgrade cards from both the firespray and the lambda will pay huge dividends.

in the mean time - with the cards you have, id fly hang solo with gunner, Luke in an x wing with r2d2 and a shield upgrade and then spend your remaining points on whatever upgrades you can - ignore ordnance.

good luck!

My mistake. my opponents are using their own collections. so I'm coming up agains bombers, firesprays with heavy laser cannons, phantoms and such. The ties i've come across go down pretty easy. It's a simple matter of just throwing dice at them. Everything else seems to be just flying circles around me (except for the bombers, I just got missiled to death by it while I was trying to kill a firespray). I thought the YT would allow me to not stress about the flying circus, but throwing 3 dice at only one ship at a time just doesn't seem to be enough to either a) put enough hits on a tough ship to kill it or b) knock out large amounts of ships before they whittle me away.

Are their ways I should be outfitting these X-Wings and YT's to make them more effective? Should I be more offensively minded or defensive?

I thought the YT would allow me to not stress about the flying circus

Quite the opposite: the irony of the YT is that it has to dodge fire.

I seem to have good luck using B-wings,named X-wing pilots and as of late the E-wing is growing on me.

Please put Pictures, greettings.

My mistake. my opponents are using their own collections. so I'm coming up agains bombers, firesprays with heavy laser cannons, phantoms and such. The ties i've come across go down pretty easy. It's a simple matter of just throwing dice at them. Everything else seems to be just flying circles around me (except for the bombers, I just got missiled to death by it while I was trying to kill a firespray). I thought the YT would allow me to not stress about the flying circus, but throwing 3 dice at only one ship at a time just doesn't seem to be enough to either a) put enough hits on a tough ship to kill it or b) knock out large amounts of ships before they whittle me away.

Are their ways I should be outfitting these X-Wings and YT's to make them more effective? Should I be more offensively minded or defensive?

The YT is strong, but it's also expensive. You're paying at least 42 points for a ship with only 3 red dice, so you need to do everything you can to ensure it deals damage every round. Cards like Gunner or Crew Member Luke, which allow you to attack again if your first attack missed, are both very valuable. EPTs like Predator or Push the Limit are also useful to maximize your hit chance.

Otherwise, you need support. The current trend has been to include things like Z95s. 36 points of Bandits provides three firing arcs of 2 red dice each, plus six hull and six shields backed by two green dice.

The rebel scum are terrible. Clearly the only thing they are good for is target practice!

The rebel scum are terrible. Clearly the only thing they are good for is target practice!

My thought exactly!

Are there any good tactics articles out there I can read that are rebel focused? I see a lot for imperial but the rebels seem to play it closer to their chests.

I do appreciate the starting points you guys are tossing at me.

While it's not as thematic both sides can play Imperial, and if you are a fan of the old EU there are NUMEROUS Imperial vs Imperial fights.

Warlord Zinsj vs Imperial Remnant

All of the "lesser warlords"(Haarsk, Teradoc, Krennel, etc) fighting among themselves

Grand Admiral Zaarin vs Empire (Defenders were even used in this campaign)

Also various Pirate factions have used TIEs and even Interceptors (Zinsj hired a bunch to try to steal an SSD) they are the most common ship in the galaxy in terms of numbers produced so it makes sense that quite a few were stolen. Heck even the REBELS use TIEs a lot post Endor, granted they modified those with shields but still.

Back to the original topic, Chewbacca+Falcon Title+Luke+Predator is a fairly common set up that is fairly effective. You can pair that with 2 Red Squadron pilots (or a rookie and Biggs, or 2 Rookies and give an Engine upgrade to Chewbacca) Evade every turn with Chewbacca(Unless you have the Engine Upgrade, then you if you can make it out of an Arc do that instead of Evading) since Predator is a miniTarget Lock and Luke gives a miniFocus on your second attack.

The X-wings can be used to screen for the Falcon if the X-wing is closer to the opponent than the Falcon either A) your opponent shoots at them letting the Falcon live longer, or B) your X-wings just got "free" close range shots on your opponents ships and they hurt so they won't be ignored for long at close range

Go for the original Han shoots first build, with 2 x wings.

try and focus fire stuff.

really honestly, the build should be decent against everything except mass tie swarm. Interceptors will fry. Phantoms will fry.

shuttles and firesprays and defenders might give you a run for your money.

try these builds:

One thing I'll note is that you don't have an X-Wing expansion pack. That one has a few pilots (such as Wedge) that are not in the core set.

Mentally, when using Rebels, you want to build a squad that can buff other members of your squad.

As a rule, the Rebels are tankier than their Imperial equivalents, so you want to be thinking about longer games. Not time-wise, but turn-wise. Again: the rule of thumb is the more turns in a game, the better the Rebels odds. This, I'll note, depends on the Rebels whittling down the Imperial forces.

To that end: focus fire. If the Imperials are swarming, your ships ought to be shooting before at least a couple of them. A ship that is killed before it fires is an opponent who is facepalming. 2 X-Wing and Han ought to be able to take out a tie fighter per turn. Bombers are actually easier to hit.

Imperials want to get behind Rebels. Rebels, therefore, should try to prevent this. Fly through asteroid fields. Skim the edges of the board. Use ion weapons. Construct additional pylons.

Maybe not that last bit.

If you are having trouble getting ships in arc, take an engine upgrade or two. That Boost can do a lot against ships like Phantoms that are hard to predict.

Speaking of prediction: some ships _can_ end up anywhere, but they will only _want_ to end up in one or two different places. That's why Imperial!Fet is considered underpowered. Figure out where those places are and exploit that knowledge.

That's what you want to be thinking about while playing. With the understanding of how to think while playing, you should have an easier time building lists. But do get that X-Wing expansion pack!

God, what I wouldn't do for some additional pylons. In the mean time, I just ran out and grabbed an X-Wing expansion. I figure it's probably a little ridiculous to wonder why I am not making a fight of things when I don't own the basics needed to try. More to follow after I try a few things!

try these builds:

Corran Horn (35)

Marksmanship (3)

Advanced Sensors (3)

R2-D2 (4)

Wedge Antilles (29)

Outmaneuver (3)

Red Squadron Pilot (23)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Etahn A'baht (32)

R2-D2 (4)

Rookie Pilot (21)

Rookie Pilot (21)

Rookie Pilot (21)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Han Solo (46)

Chewbacca (4)

Luke Skywalker (7)

Millennium Falcon (1)

Rookie Pilot (21)

Rookie Pilot (21)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

--

"Whisper" (32)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Recon Specialist (3)

Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Bounty Hunter (33)

Ion Cannon (3)

Seismic Charges (2)

Tactician (2)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Kath Scarlet (38)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Ion Cannon (3)

Proximity Mines (3)

Tactician (2)

Slave I (0)

"Backstabber" (16)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Soontir Fel (27)

Push the Limit (3)

Hull Upgrade (3)

"Howlrunner" (18)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Soontir Fel (27)

Push the Limit (3)

Hull Upgrade (3)

Turr Phennir (25)

Push the Limit (3)

Hull Upgrade (3)

Kir Kanos (24)

Academy Pilot (12)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Theyre created with only upgrades that come with a required package of:

2 core

1x 1tie

Then just a selection of these choices:

firespray + phantom

interceptor + imp aces

Falcon only

E-wing only

Of your lists the HSF is the only one he mentioned having the ships to fly

Personal rant time not directed at you but as the forum as a whole.

Why the heck does every fricking time someone says I have X collection of ships do people spew out netlists that they don't have the models/cards to run? Its one thing to suggest that they expand their collections its another to just spam the same generic lists in every help topic that shows up. If you are going to post in a topic where someone is asking for help, actually take the time to read the problem and what resources the person asking for help has and actually come up with a solution for that specific problem. Perhaps the biggest thing wrong with this country is that people think you have a one-size-fits-all approach and that it can actually work.

Rant over once again not directed against just you its just every time someone asks for help people always suggest the same crap over and over again blatantly ignoring what the OPs actually have or if they are trying to have a list built a certain way and it isn't just on these forums other games have the same issues.

To be completely honest, although the lists are helpful to see, it is the "tactics/strategies/and how to think" that I find the most helpful. It really helped me when I was learning to fly Interceptors when someone said, "it's more important to not get hit than to get hits off." Now I work really hard to avoid arc with push the limit and take my shots when they present themselves. It's been wildly successful.

Now I'm trying to fly a different kind of animal that requires a different mindset and tactics. I do appreciate the time you folks are taking to assist me. It all helps.

I tend to fly Rebels a little more than Imperials, but I'm not sure I have many good tips. Rebels seem to be able to take slightly more punishment, so don't be afraid to spread them out a little more than you do with Imperials in order to get good shots (without getting shot). Higher pilot skill and pilot abilities help a little more.

And buying an A-Wing or B-Wing (or, shucks, Rebel Aces) might give you a lot more options to play with.

Try to check this site out, its brand new but have some really good articels

http://academy-pilot.com

2 nice things about rebels

1. they have shileds and don't get one shotted like ties and interceptors do

2. they have a lot more synergy between their pilots.

the downside is after flying imps flying rebels feels like your are flying tug boats