I'm not sure where to post this so it's going on the main page.

My friends and I have started playing X-wing and we love it.

Just one problem. Out of the 3 games we have played, the Rebels have one every time.

Han Solo in the Falcon is a huge problem and the Slave died in a ball of angry flame.

The TIE fighters perish and though the TIE Defender did a good job of jumping out of the way, Han still picked him off.

Could someone please help us as to how to give the Imperials a fighting chance?

Many thanks in advance.

The falcon is tough to deal with while learning the game. It requires concentrated fire to take down and suffers from action denial. Neither of those tactics arenewby friendly. Lastly, running a slave and Defender together is likely a bad plan. Try a couple games without the rebles having the falcon so everyone gets used to more standard dogfighting tactics. Work from there.

Four ties (one of whom has to be Howlrunner) and a Firespray was one of my first tournament lists. With more targets for the Falcon the damage'll be spread around and you'll get more shots against it. It's hard if Biggs is there, but kill it first!

Three games is hardly much to go on. What other rebels do you have beside the Falcon?

firespray with cluster missile can damage Falcon really bad. Use the firespray at range 3 agaisnt falcon, using always evade token.

A swarm of tie fighters will eat a falcon alive especially if you have Howlrunner.

When starting I thought the same thing. Rebels are unbeatable. But now I notice that most people actually want to play empire more than rebels. They both have different strong points. Rebels have synergy and use named pilots more, Imperials have numbers and maneuverability on their side. That last part is difficult against a falcon, with it's 360 firing ability, but as stated above, the yt1300 does have it weak points. Mainly it's low agility makes it more vulnerable. Since you do have a defender, try putting a heavy laser canon on it. It has enough defense to get in enough shots on the falcon and you can keep hitting it with 4 dice on range 2/3 to do some real damage.

Fantastic responses, guys.

Thanks for all the advise. We'll work on it.

We have, Rebels 4 X-wings, falcon, 2 B-wings, 1 headhunter

Imperials, 7 TIE fighters, Firespray, 1 Defender (soon 1 more), 1 Phantom (soon 1 more)

It was same for my group. We didn't know who wanted to play what, so just traded models and rebels were undefeated the first 2 weeks. After that it started to really even out. I think at the really early/low skill levels of the game, rebels have a serious advantage on the imperials, but that swings the other way for a bit and then evens out once you get to the intermediate and advanced players.

The general learning curve works like this;

Nobody knows how to really maneuver=rebels crush heads

People discover maneuvering and weird tactics to use for this; imperials start to really use their better dials and start crushing heads.

After that, everyone knows how to fly their ships well enough that it doesn't matter what faction you play.

When nobody can maneuver well, the Falcon gives you an extreme advantage because you can get away with less optimal moves.

Just for the time being, try not using the Falcon. LEarn to fly better. Then the counter is the 7 ties. Or good flying.

When nobody can maneuver well, the Falcon gives you an extreme advantage because you can get away with less optimal moves.

Just for the time being, try not using the Falcon. LEarn to fly better. Then the counter is the 7 ties. Or good flying.

Without commenting on whether the falcon is an overpowered ship or not for general play, I would never bring one out against someone who had less than 15-20 games under their belt. Fat Han+escorts would tear through beginners with no losses game after game.

firespray with cluster missile can damage Falcon really bad. Use the firespray at range 3 agaisnt falcon, using always evade token.

Keeping at range 3 isn't a bad option, but if you put a Heavy Laser Cannon on the Firespray, it will be rolling a four dice attack each time it fires, and at range 3, the Rebels won't get an additional defence die for being attacked from Range 3 because it's not a primary. The Falcon is only an Agility 1 ship - maximise that weakness. My favourite is Krassis with a HLC. Can't go wrong with a one die reroll every time you shoot the HLC.

Good shooting!

And it almost goes without saying (because no one has, yet)...

...you MUST play with asteroids!

One of the biggest disadvantages of 'large' base ships is retaining their action economy (and, well, damage) when trying to navigate an asteroid field. For well-skilled players, it's not hard (but does take planning and DEFINITELY impacts a battle plan), but the contrasting situation of flying in open space...

Yeah, turrets clear house, then. Nothing for the attackers to hide behind, no movement challenges for the 'large' bases that the 'small' based ships don't have, etc.

Asteroids are absolutely required for game balance.

It has already been said, but take howlrunner plus all the ties you can. Have them all shoot at the falcon. It should go down with 2 round of sustained fire.

One of the earliest games I ever played (which was only a handful of them ago) I managed to take down an entire opposing team of Falcon, B-wing and X-wing using only a Firespray with a single hull point remaining. It can be done.

From the ships you have, a TIE swarm will rip through Han but you have to avoid crashing all the time, which is hard when you start. For ships you don't currently have... TIE bombers with cluster missiles (it's not a good all round option, but Falcons hate cluster missiles).

A TIE swarm, as noted is the go-to solution, once you've mastered the maneuvring bit which can be tricky (there's guides on movement here, read them).

For fun you could try

Boba Fett, Veteran Instincts, Shield Upgrade, Gunner, which would likely shoot before your opponent's Han and it will shoot before:

Rexler Brath, Outmaneuver, Heavy Laser Cannon

Rexler shouldn't find it too hard to stay out of the Falcon's arc so the Falcon won't roll for evades and will only have them if it takes them through an action. 4 dice with no range bonuses on defense and no evade rolls should bring the hurt, especially if Boba has softened up the target.

Go after it hard.

As Theoden said in that other Return movie: Bring it down!

Cluster Missiles and as many ships as you can fit in a list, so maybe go for something like:

Krassis Trelix (36)

Cluster Missiles (4)

Proximity Mines (3)

Howlrunner (18)

Stealth Device (3)

Academy Pilot x3 (12 each for 36)

You can drop the proxy mines if you find something you like better for the points, and dropping Krassis down to a regular Bounty Hunter is an option. I figure that newer players usually love named pilots, and if your goal is to run over the Falcon and mop up what's left, getting massive value for those Cluster Missiles would be great (between Krassis and Howlrunner, you can reroll two dice on each shot). You could also switch proxy mines out for a Recon Specialist, which would let you have a focus token for both missile attacks, but that doesn't seem great. This list isn't my finest work but it should be able to shred the Falcon well enough and still hold up against the remainder. Remember to target lock in one round and then focus before firing the missiles, otherwise the Dice Gods will curse you to roll only eye symbols.

You really need to just practice your movement as an imp player, early on having shields gives rebels a big advantage then you realise your ships can fly circles around theirs and things become alot more equal.

Also however said defenders and firesprays don't play well together I beg to differ I've run a two defender firespray recon list several times with great success and have yet to lose a ship.

Ah, for the good ol' days, when we first started the game, when shooting TIEs was like shooting fish in a barrel.

Then we started getting to grips with the Imperial idiosyncrasies - and their dials - and suddenly the Rebels found out they weren't going to have everything their own way after all.

Nowadays, as a mostly Rebel player, I find myself begging for wins.

Keep telling you geko firespray and a few defenders will change your life, and we have the phantom you know you wanna join us.

Also, really important to play with asteroids. they punish large ships more than small ships.

Keep playing the game, rebels, and specially Falcons, are easier to use at the beginning.

Also, really important to play with asteroids. they punish large ships more than small ships.

And with this in mind, read the following:

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4709

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4761

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4862

Thanks for all of this excellent information. We are going to meet up on Tuesday for another crack and we will play with asteroids and the Falcon is going back in the box for time being.