I am preparing for my first tournament tomorrow, during which I solely aim to learn and have fun. And though I have no expectation of winning, I would still like to seek some advice on a list to run.

First of all, I'm not sure I know how to fly my Imperial ships effectively yet, so I thought I might run Rebels this time. I considered having Chewbacca with a B-Wing and an X-Wing, but I kind of want to get more familiar with flying small ships first. And it sounds like there could be a lot of Falcons out there anyway. Instead, here's what I initially put together with my limited resources:

Ten Numb (31)

-Marksmanship (3)

-Fire-Control System (2)

Biggs Darklighter (25)

-R2-D2 (4)

-Shield Upgrade (4)

Kyle Katarn (21)

-Moldy Crow (3)

-Blaster Turret (4)

-Recon Specialist (3)

100 pts.

I suppose the idea behind choosing Kyle was to supply focus to increase the durability of the squad, but I'm not sure how well that would actually play out.

On the other, Imperial hand, I have had some fun practicing with "Echo", and a likely squad would include her, Vessery and two Academy Pilots, but I'm really not sure how to make the best use of the TIEs. Also, trying to plan out the Phantom's possible movements can often take a bit too much time for me.

Would anyone care to offer me some friendly advice?

After some consideration, I thought maybe I should replace R2-D2 with R2-F2 (3) and the Blaster Turret with an Ion Cannon Turret (5). Is that probably a better idea, given what I have here?

I'd never add R2-F2 to anything. He eats up your action which is better spent generating your double focus tokens to add to the store with Moldy Crow. With Blaster Turret, you're going to need a lot more tokens than you'd think.

Kyle needs to pass a token, spend 1 to shoot, to improve his shot, to defend one or two shots, meaning that's probably about 4 spent foci per turn, and he's only generating 2.

Ten Numb with marksmanship feels odd here. Kyle can pass out a focus but he already has his shot "focused" from marksmanship. It is certainly good to give the extra focus to Biggs though.

I think these kind of lists can work, and I really want Moldy Crow to work. Biggs is important to hold the list together, but be careful about it because when one ship goes, a lot of the overall synergy is gone too.

After some consideration, I thought maybe I should replace R2-D2 with R2-F2 (3) and the Blaster Turret with an Ion Cannon Turret (5). Is that probably a better idea, given what I have here?

It might be a better idea.

One should remember that Biggs may not live long enough for R2-D2 to do him any good even with the Shield Upgrade. I'll say I'm not really a big fan of R2-F2 either but if Kyle passed Biggs a Focus token there is a change that the extra agility will pay more than just taking Focus in the first place.

Normally, I may not be against Kyle outfitted as such but here you're almost certainly passing a Focus to Biggs every turn you can that he'll never see again. Maybe Kyle can get a few tokens saved up before the fighting starts but that blaster turret will eat them up so the Ion Turret may not be a bad replacement.

Now looking at your collection it will be hard to put together a rebel squadron that doesn't use the Falcon as the only three ships you have are the three listed. Here is something you might want to consider:

Luke (28) + DtF (1) + R2D2 (4) 33 points

Jan Ors (25) + Nien Nunb (1) + Ion Cannon Turret (5) 31 points

Ten (31) + Marksmanship (3) 34 points

While leaves you 2 points. Considered Determination on Jan or replacing Marksmanship for 3 more points.

Everyone is PS 8 which is great as it makes moving easier and also lets you shoot before many potential targets. Luke is largely serving the same purpose that Biggs did except he's naturally harder to hit if shot and and doesn't need to be targetting making it easier to pick [crits] which can hit his shield to regenerate with R2Ds. Ten is basically the same Ten you had before but without the FCS. Jan is control and boosting for the two big guns.

Beginners tend to find having a falcon helps a lot. I think you could run this stronger list. Practice moving the big ship by yourself and hopefully get a practice game or two in before.

Chewbacca (42)

Predator (3)

C-3PO (3)

Gunner (5)

Blue Squadron Pilot (22)

Rookie Pilot (21)

R2-D2 (4)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

I would really really recommend dropping the b for an x and give mf title to chewie

Ten Numb is going to have a big fat easy to hit target in him. I never run more then one really expensive ship in a list because you will not be able to get enough support if you run two like you have with Katarn in there. If you lose one early it's probably over right then. I don't think I have ever lost to a three small ship list. I run one big expensive ship like wedge or ten and three cheapies or 4 moderate to cheap ships like Dutch or Garven. Those lists have a lot of hits and do some good damage since you get 4 shots over three.

I'd never add R2-F2 to anything. He eats up your action which is better spent generating your double focus tokens to add to the store with Moldy Crow. With Blaster Turret, you're going to need a lot more tokens than you'd think.

Kyle needs to pass a token, spend 1 to shoot, to improve his shot, to defend one or two shots, meaning that's probably about 4 spent foci per turn, and he's only generating 2.

Ten Numb with marksmanship feels odd here. Kyle can pass out a focus but he already has his shot "focused" from marksmanship. It is certainly good to give the extra focus to Biggs though.

I think these kind of lists can work, and I really want Moldy Crow to work. Biggs is important to hold the list together, but be careful about it because when one ship goes, a lot of the overall synergy is gone too.

Thanks a lot for your input. With R2-F2 I was thinking that if I were to pass a focus to Biggs each turn, then I could use the astromech's action to give him an additional defense die for the entire round, instead of using the action to generate another focus. But I don't know. Maybe it doesn't actually work out as well as I thought it might. Perhaps it'd be better to have that second focus token for certain? Given that dice of any kind generally aren't my friends.

But yeah, perusing Vinius' HWK thread caused me to consider the problems with Blaster Turret in this particular set-up, so the Ion Turret seems the better choice.

As for Ten and Marksmanship, I was thinking that the upgrade would allow me to simply give Kyle's focus token to Biggs most of the time for defense while giving Ten at least one critical, which cannot be canceled by defense dice, assuming he rolls any focus symbols. But maybe it's not worth the action?

Thanks again!

Fly what you like and what you are comfortable with. You'll perform better and have more fun if you're not learning on the fly.

Beginners tend to find having a falcon helps a lot. I think you could run this stronger list. Practice moving the big ship by yourself and hopefully get a practice game or two in before.

Chewbacca (42)

Predator (3)

C-3PO (3)

Gunner (5)

Blue Squadron Pilot (22)

Rookie Pilot (21)

R2-D2 (4)

Total: 100

I would really really recommend dropping the b for an x and give mf title to chewie

Several points to that.

1. The Falcon was specifically ruled out. If that wasn't the case I would DEFINITELY recommend running it along with the X-Wing and B-Wing.

2. It also sounds like the OP was specifically working within collection limitations. Predator is alright (and I even considered putting it in) but there is not Firespray to get the Gunner although crewman Luke can work. C-3PO may be out of the question as acquiring that card will retail for almost the entire value of the rest of the listed collection.

IF a Falcon build is desired I might suggest the following:

Chewie + Luke + Predator + Falcon Title / Red / Dagger

Could save a couple points on the snub fighters to drop from PS 4 to PS 2 but that is a little Predator insurance.

Now to be really honest you might be able to do better with Imperial build although it may be harder to learn how to fly. You have the makings for a deadly Whisper or Echo, could use the Defender as a boom-n-zoom fighter and have a pair of TIE Fighters to help with running interference. Something like:

Whisper + VI + ACD + FCS

Col. Vessery (who ideally gets to take advantage of the TL that Whisper gets if his target isn't finished off)

Academy Pilot (x2)

2 points remaining.

After some consideration, I thought maybe I should replace R2-D2 with R2-F2 (3) and the Blaster Turret with an Ion Cannon Turret (5). Is that probably a better idea, given what I have here?

It might be a better idea.

One should remember that Biggs may not live long enough for R2-D2 to do him any good even with the Shield Upgrade. I'll say I'm not really a big fan of R2-F2 either but if Kyle passed Biggs a Focus token there is a change that the extra agility will pay more than just taking Focus in the first place.

Normally, I may not be against Kyle outfitted as such but here you're almost certainly passing a Focus to Biggs every turn you can that he'll never see again. Maybe Kyle can get a few tokens saved up before the fighting starts but that blaster turret will eat them up so the Ion Turret may not be a bad replacement.

Now looking at your collection it will be hard to put together a rebel squadron that doesn't use the Falcon as the only three ships you have are the three listed. Here is something you might want to consider:

Luke (28) + DtF (1) + R2D2 (4) 33 points

Jan Ors (25) + Nien Nunb (1) + Ion Cannon Turret (5) 31 points

Ten (31) + Marksmanship (3) 34 points

While leaves you 2 points. Considered Determination on Jan or replacing Marksmanship for 3 more points.

Everyone is PS 8 which is great as it makes moving easier and also lets you shoot before many potential targets. Luke is largely serving the same purpose that Biggs did except he's naturally harder to hit if shot and and doesn't need to be targetting making it easier to pick [crits] which can hit his shield to regenerate with R2Ds. Ten is basically the same Ten you had before but without the FCS. Jan is control and boosting for the two big guns.

That's pretty much what I was thinking when considering R2-F2 instead. Just wasn't sure how it'd work in practice.

Thanks for the suggested squad, too. I guess I kind of developed tunnel vision thinking about Biggs taking the pressure off the other two, but yours seems like it could be a good, effective alternative. Jan would certainly help make my offense more effective.

My 2 cents is take chewie with draw their fire, 3po, gunner, MF tile. Biggs naked, and blue sq.

Biggs protects chewie who sucks up some crits from Biggs. Blue shoots stuff

What I meant about Biggs is that it is hard to make him "untouchable". Even Interceptors have 3 agi with focus and they can get shot. Maybe it works better than I think, you'll have to try it out for yourself.

Beginners tend to find having a falcon helps a lot. I think you could run this stronger list. Practice moving the big ship by yourself and hopefully get a practice game or two in before.

Chewbacca (42)

Predator (3)

C-3PO (3)

Gunner (5)

Blue Squadron Pilot (22)

Rookie Pilot (21)

R2-D2 (4)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

I would really really recommend dropping the b for an x and give mf title to chewie

Thanks for the suggestion. Flying a Falcon is still under consideration, but the potential squad I had come up with was closer to what StevenO listed. I'm afraid I don't have access to C-3PO or Gunner. Thank you, though!

Should be able to luke instead of guner.

Fly what you like and what you are comfortable with. You'll perform better and have more fun if you're not learning on the fly.

I'll echo Rakky on this one. If you're new to this, then it's a good idea to keep it really simple. I wouldn't go for anything that really requires too much synergy or complicated sequential maneuvers to keep effective. If there's too much to keep track of before you've really internalized a build's mechanics, then your brain is going to probably be too distracted to be effective on all the levels of tactics and strategy that you need to keep in mind.

Beginners tend to find having a falcon helps a lot. I think you could run this stronger list. Practice moving the big ship by yourself and hopefully get a practice game or two in before.

Chewbacca (42)

Predator (3)

C-3PO (3)

Gunner (5)

Blue Squadron Pilot (22)

Rookie Pilot (21)

R2-D2 (4)

Total: 100

I would really really recommend dropping the b for an x and give mf title to chewie

Several points to that.

1. The Falcon was specifically ruled out. If that wasn't the case I would DEFINITELY recommend running it along with the X-Wing and B-Wing.

2. It also sounds like the OP was specifically working within collection limitations. Predator is alright (and I even considered putting it in) but there is not Firespray to get the Gunner although crewman Luke can work. C-3PO may be out of the question as acquiring that card will retail for almost the entire value of the rest of the listed collection.

IF a Falcon build is desired I might suggest the following:

Chewie + Luke + Predator + Falcon Title / Red / Dagger

Could save a couple points on the snub fighters to drop from PS 4 to PS 2 but that is a little Predator insurance.

Now to be really honest you might be able to do better with Imperial build although it may be harder to learn how to fly. You have the makings for a deadly Whisper or Echo, could use the Defender as a boom-n-zoom fighter and have a pair of TIE Fighters to help with running interference. Something like:

Whisper + VI + ACD + FCS

Col. Vessery (who ideally gets to take advantage of the TL that Whisper gets if his target isn't finished off)

Academy Pilot (x2)

2 points remaining.

The Falcon isn't entirely out of the question, and actually, the squad I had considered was pretty much what you have there, except with Rookie and Blue. But the predator insurance with Red and Dagger is a good point.

And actually, the Imperial squad I've been practicing with is exactly what you listed, except it had "Echo" with a Recon Specialist. Though now I've been thinking a Weapons Engineer might be a better choice, so Vessery could have two locked targets to choose from, assuming it works that way with FCS. I think the main thing I'm unsure about with this squad is set-up and approach. I was thinking that the Rebel squads I had planned would at least be a little more straightforward in that regard, but clearly this is where more experience on my part would help with this decision-making. This Imperial squad does seem fun and interesting, though...

Again, thanks a lot for your input.

Myth, you sound comfortable enough to make your own decisions. Best of luck. And I hope you made the best one!

Chewie with 3P0. It makes everyone happy apparently these days.