I'm playing in a local tourney next week and I'd like some help.

I'll preface by saying that I'm not your typical Rebel player. When I started playing six weeks ago, I decided to emphasize the older ships (Y-Wings & Headhunters) and build more of a pirate list. The reveal of the Scum & Villainy faction legitimizes my play style. I hoped that they would make a neutral pirate faction and looks like I got my wish.

Anyway, here are the lists I'm trying to pick between.

'Bigg Blue Jans'

[30] Jan Ors: Veteran Instincts, Blaster Turret

[29] Blue Squadron Pilot: Heavy Laser Cannon

[29] Biggs: R2-D2

[12] Bandit Squadron

[100]

*Could trade out R2-D2 for R2-F2 but I like having actions.

'Jan Bidding 8'

[32] Jan Ors: Decoy, Ion Cannon

[31] Blue Squadron Pilot: Heavy Laser Cannon, FCS

[12] Bandit Squadron

[12] Bandit Squadron

[12] Bandit Squadron

[99]

'Garnet Hoard'

[24] Roark Garnet: Ion Cannon

[23] Y-Wing: Ion Cannon

[29] Blue Squadron Pilot: Heavy Laser Cannon

[12] Bandit Squadron

[100]

My typical lists happen to be good against phantoms. I have only fought Imperial players, so I know there will be a steep learning curve when I meet my first fat falcon.

I a mixture of HLC with HWK support can provide an answer to many of the squads out there. Ions and Turrets are nice elements in any list. All the lists have healthy hit points.

With HWKs being fragile ships, I think it is important to have the heavy blue to give the opponent a tough choice. I would rather avoid Biggs but he is an obvious asset when protecting HWK or low agility Bs.

Please help me decide.

Your second and third lists are substantially stronger, and I particularly like the second one. If you're interested in flying the first list, I'd tweak as follows:

Or for max firepower:

Thanks for the great advice. I'll digest and play test.

Roark is a great tool to add to a standard 4 Rebel build. I did well using him as an anti-phantom machine, coupled with either an HLC or R3-A2... And his Ion is a great utility as well. My suggestion is to always use Roark when discussing HWKs. FYI, it also means you don't have to worry about predator since you treat your Pilot Skill as 12 instead of 1 or 2.

Yeah Roark is top notch! I have a hard time not running him when I run HWK's.

In your first list, I would not run blaster turret without Recon Specialist.

Roark is awesome if you end up needing the pilot skill to out bid a phantom or Han. And if it isn't particularly useful against your opponent's list, he is only three extra points.

I'm somewhat stuck on the idea of Jans' ability with an HLC though. And if she takes Decoy, then she acts like a mini-Roark as well.