My friends and I just started playing X-Wing about two weeks ago. After playing with the starter set a few times we decided to go all in and we all started picking up expansions. I'm focusing on Rebels while my two friends are going Imperial.

That said, I've played six 100 point matches and have been completely obliterated 4/6 games. The remaining two it went got down to ship on ship. I'm not sure if it is the dice or Imperials are just better (I played the two TIE fighters when we did core set battles and won some of those) point for point or if Rebels aren't new player friendly or really what is going on.

I'm able to fly in formations and manuever around obstacles easily. I'm not running into my own ships or asteroids at least. Once in a while an enemy ship mucks something up. I've tried focus fire. I've played most games against a TIE swarm with 6 TIE-FIghters (3 Academy/3 Obsidian) and two Intercepters with PTL.

*edit (because pressing "enter before you're done is fun)*

Here's what I own for Rebels:

• Core Set
• 2 B-Wing
• 2 E-Wing
• 2 Z-95
• 1 HWK

I've tried a number of different lists/combos and everytime I cannot deal enough damage. I'm honestly thinking it is just the dice saying "No, you're not allowed to have fun with this game".

Any thoughts/advice?

-Disclaimer-
I'm not new to wargaming, just X-Wing Miniatures.

THANKS!

...rebels arnt new player friendly HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Ahhh *wipes away tear* good one.

Truth is rebels are more newb friendly because of their shields its much trickier to learn how to use imperials because they rely on arc dodging (not being in front of you) to survive.

What ships have you been using we'll try to help you out.

hahaha yeah I've seen posts from Imp players claiming that they can't beat rebels, but I'm having the exact opposite experience.

The first few games I was using an E-Wing, B-Wing, X-Wing. Played with some named characters (Etahn / Ten Numb / Red Squadron Pilot) with various upgrades. Lately I've been trying to play numbers and have been running an X-Wing (usually Biggs), B-Wing (Dagger), and two Z-95s (either Blount or Airen and a Tala Squadron) with an Assault missile and ion pulse missile.

I've really just been trying to figure out what works well with each other and while I've had some minor success with the Etahn/Ten Numb and Biggs/Dagger Squadron/Airen Cracken/ Tala Squadron, I've still failed to put out enough damage to take anything down.

I also know I need to stay out of RNG 1 of the TIEs as that's where they like to be, but even at RNG 2/3, their focus fire can still take out or put a nice chunk of damage.

"A TIE swarm with 6 TIE-FIghters (3 Academy/3 Obsidian) and two Intercepters with PTL"

That's 123 points. I'm guessing that's a typo in your post, drop one of the PTL Interceptors and he's at 99.

The TIE swarm is one of the top 3 competitive squads in the game right now, and it's been at the top since wave 1. While the rebels are generally easier for new players to learn and do well with, facing a TIE swarm is alway going to be tough.

Biggs might help you out. As long as he's at range 1 of your other ships, he forces your opponent to target him instead. The trick is keeping him at range 3 of most of your opponent's ships (granting him the defense bonus), and out of range of a few others. This keeps eneny ships from focusing fire on one ship.

Another thing that helps is trying to get a target lock and a focus token, used together in one attack gennerally ensures maximum damage. Garvin, Dutch, Lando, & Cracken can help with this, but you can always target lock on one turn, save it, then focus on the next.

Other than that, fly unpredictably and remember that a tie swarm is weakest when stresses from k-turning.

Ethan you need numbers in order to make use of his pilot ability 3 ships isn't the right set up.

Ten numb is expensive and not widely considered to be a good choice.

I'm an imperial player but something like this would not be too bad:

Ethan 32

Push the Limit 3

advance sensors 3

R2 astromech 1

B-wing blue squadron 22

X-wing Biggs 26

R2 astromech 1

Z-95 bandit 12

11 attack dice, biggs is there just to take the hits the first few turns as Ethan needs protecting, alternatively you could take 3 headhunters if you have them .

But i'm sure a real rebel player could give you a better list.

Oh, and tie swarms hate assault missiles, and assteroids in the middle of the map.

Out of everything that you have and against a TIE swarm:

Etahn (E)

2 Blue Squadrons

2 Bandit Squadrons

TIEs don't like crits. At all.

As general points against a swarm:

• Be wary of your engagement location. Try to force a disadvantageous position on your opponent is key
• Try to force your opponent to go into asteroids (position asteroids into center in the beginning)
• Try to engage at range 3 or range 2, never range 1. If they get that extra die, TIE fighters become even more deadly.
• Don't let him block you from getting your actions.

@Radarman5; Yes that is a typo. I meant 2 Obsidian/2 Academy. And you are correct, I do not have the X-Wing expansion set yet (hopefully it will be available again soon), but Biggs comes in the core set. I've been trying to utilize the target locks, but even with the re-roll and a focus (I've locking at RNG 3 and focusing the following round), I've only done maybe 1 or 2 points of damage. And that is a big 'maybe'. I've had similiar bad luck with the Assault missiles, i.e. they haven't hit. The dice gods hate me unless I'm two drinks in.

@Hobojebus; That looks similar to a list I tried. It didn't work that well Could just be my dice luck though....

@Chilligan; I will try that out. I'm assuming those are bare bones (no upgrades) on anything? As I am reading and typing this up it is becoming clear that my manuevering may need to be a bit better. I am going to need practice judging the distances better as I have been victim to quite a few Intercepter RNG 1 attacks. On the other hand though, we've been playing with both sets of asteroids (from 2 core sets), and my buddy tends to do more damage to himself hitting those than I do to him.

Question though, what is the best position for engagement vs the swarms? What is the worst position? Pretty sure I've been in the worst positions....

I mixed up Biggs and Garvin in the expansion pack. It's been a while since I bought into x-wing.

Keep in mind I fly imperial 99% of the time, but I don't fly tie swarms. Try to delay combat by slowing your approach, in order to pull the ties through the asteroids, if your friend isn't using tight formations around Howlrunner this might help as much, but it's still useful. Setting up a triangle of asteroids mid field might help. Also, don't try jousting a swarm (flying directly at them), thats almost always a bad idea. Learn the Tie's dial and your friends tendencies in order to predict his moves.

TIEs don't like crits. At all.

You think? My experience has been that basic ties are so bloody fragile they die before most crits have any significant effect (assuming you get a crit that HAS an effect on a naked tie. The number of times I've forced an academy pilot to discard a secondary weapon, or ignore his special ability, or made his PS 0...)

When it comes to Assault Missiles you do have Blount who will ALWAYS hit.

Now is this the squadron that is giving you trouble?

Royal Guard Pilot + PtL (x2), Obsidian (x2), Academy (x2)

If this is the case I can see why you may be having problems as the two Interceptors are pretty potent and you'd also have that mini-swarm to deal with. Here is a thought:

Cracken

Blount + Ion Pulse (+ VI ?)

Biggs

Etahn + FCS (?) + Flechette

The idea here would be to drop a missile/torp on each Interceptor and then pounce on them. Blount will always hit and if that Interceptor had used PtL it will not get ionized to go with it's stress and damage card; you know where it will be next round so take it out! Similarly, the stress from the Flechette torpedo can not be avoided so if you can put TWO stress tokens on the other Interceptor you can really handicap that ship. While doing this you want to make sure Biggs is being a hard target in back and drawing the fire from those Interceptors. The hope would be to take out both Interceptors while only losing one ship.

I'm not sure which is better. Giving Etahn FCS which makes him more expensive or giving Blount VI to make sure he shoots before the Royal Guard although that leaves me with a point I could use for something else like Determination or perhaps Munitions Failsafe on Etahn if I don't just keep it for initiative.

Does your opponent have howlrunner? Is he flying in close formation or us he spread out a bit more?

Most of the time when a player is complaining about dice luck not being with him and/or not being able to win, it's because he isn't doing enough to mitigate his luck. TIE swarms mitigate luck by the sheer number of dice rolled- the more you roll the more your results will average out and you'll get enough good rolls to get some damage through. Add Howlrunner to the mix and it gets that much better.

With rebels you generally have to take a different approach. Using Target Lock and Focus together is a good start. Look for cards that give you extra actions- so that you can do both the same turn. Also, look for upgrades that help out your rolls without actions, like Predator or Outmaneuver.

I like the Etahn lists, but if your opponent is regularly bringing a swarm, assault missile Z-Wings (Blount?) with a Garven tossing them focus could be a good start (I would recommend Dutch with an ion cannon instead, but doesn't look like you have a Y-wing).

See my reluctance with expensive z-95s is once you've fired that missile your left with a high PS 2 attack ship, no one fears howlrunner on her own either.

His friends have gone straight for the strong builds it's no wonder he's having a rough time.

Know what would be effective phantom with ruthlessness plus bomber with assault missiles and maybe a few ties.

Blue Garnet Dagger to the rescue!

Roark

Dagger

Blue

Rookie

Leaves 15pts for a lot of combos. I like ion+ chewie or blaster + recon on Roark and upgrading to dagger squad with adv sens and blue with FCS. If you have access to Tarn and a R7 I'd do that. Or:

Roark+blaster+recon

Garven

Dagger+HLC

Tala+ cluster

Shoots at 12,6,4,4 with 17dice alpha strike and some action sharing. Sub out blaster and recon for ion for more control and you can go with an assault missile if swarms are your bane. Garven can be Biggs instead too. Loads of options but that's a solid 4

Core. You can even drop the missile, HLC and downgrade to 2 bandits. Options options options.

TIEs don't like crits. At all.

You think? My experience has been that basic ties are so bloody fragile they die before most crits have any significant effect (assuming you get a crit that HAS an effect on a naked tie. The number of times I've forced an academy pilot to discard a secondary weapon, or ignore his special ability, or made his PS 0...)

I find that overkill on the TIE is because it's tough to one shot but very common to deal one or two damage and requires multiple ships, with the overkill because a token was stripped in the previous attack.

I didn't work out the exact math, but I think Abaht roughly increases your chance of killing at TIE by a bit over 20% where hits scored = remaining hull -1 because he gives you an autocrit with anything that goes through. Not to mention, a lot of them do things like take away actions, limit maneuvers, or create a chance for damage. Those latter results are typically worth a 1-3 points when taken as a pilot ability or upgrade card that affects opponents.

In all, I've played with Abaht and his crits are very damaging and helpful against TIEs, but will be even more useful against those interceptors.

I'd probably suggest a list like this, which is one I've had a variety of success with.

Something fun to do, go here,

http://xwing-builder.co.uk/build

Enter the stuff you have and select random list, see what comes up.

Look sometimes you fly as list and just roll bad, don't give up and keep trying.

Lots of great ideas I will have to try out.

@StevenO; Yep, that is the list he's running. I ran something similar to your suggestion but had a Dagger with Ion and AS and assault missiles on cracken. Didn't have Blount, just a Tala with Ion. I will definitely try your suggested build next time I play and let you know how it worked.

@Forgottenlore; He does have all the named TIEs. I've ran against that list once so far and it tore me up pretty good. Though he misplayed Howl, so the re-roll didn't come into play very often. Backstabber on the other hand....

@Herowannabe; As an experienced tabletop gamer I would mostly agree with you. However in this case, the dice mitigation was there for key plays. I had a focus and a target lock on one of the interceptors with the other interceptor and two other TIEs all at range one of the target. I was shooting at range 3 with an Assault missile. Rolled. 3 blanks, 1 hit. His defense roll, 2/3 evades and I think 1 focus. I was able to Ion him with the B-Wing after, but had that assault missile hit, the game would have gone a little better, maybe even put me in ahead. But the dice completely failed me. I won't say I always have my focus/target locks in place when I should, but at least in the last 2 - 3 games I've rolled more blanks on attack and defense than I'd like to admit.

@AlexW; Yeah I don't have a Y-Wing. I've picked up everything I can minus the big ships that has been in stock at my LGS. Since I'm not playing competitively in tournaments or anything like that, I can't justify paying more than retail for any expansion online. I do plan on picking up a couple of Y-Wing expansions though when they are available again.

@Hobojebus; My friends did go for strong builds, albeit, slightly unintentionally. Or at least the friend who's playing the swarms. He just really likes TIE fighters. I'm sure he'd run the same list even if it wasn't strong. On the other hand, my other friend likes to power game a bit and yeah..... I got to see what Echo could do on my 2nd 100 point game ever? Yeah.....


@Cubanboy; I will try that out. At this point being six losses in, I'll try just about anything hahahaha. My dice have been thoroughly punished though and another set ordered just in case.....

If you have a z pack you should have Blount.

Ion hwk and shooting first will go a long way.

First thing. Make sure your actions are GOOD. That means EVERY time you are in combat you MUST have DICE MODIFICATION. That means when you are in combat you must have a focus target lock or evade. If you don't you've committed the most basic mistake.

This also means that you should have MORE dice modification in general than your opponent. For instance if you k turn after your opponent you have a free shot at their back. You want to be facing his stressed attack with a focus. And consequently seeking to do your own k turns when you will not be attacked with a focus.

This also means: if you both k turn at the same turn you are playing equally badly. Try and k turn after him. Try to have a focus to his stress.

The first way to try and have this happen more often is to stop flying directly at your opponent. Take unusual opening moves to find a better position to enter. Try and use two divisions of units and let each division hard turn instead of k turning to attack the opponent from another angle.

For instance, place a shuttle in one corner. And the rest f your squad in the other corner. The shuttle will slow fly to get it's first flank on whoever attempts to attack your other group. Then it fires on opponents who k turn. Your rest of the squad simply flies past your shuttle to kill off anything that tried to get past your shuttle.

I haven't had a chance to play with the HWK yet, but I plan on using that Ion Turret quite a bit. I've used Blount, and the ion missile is also awesome. Problem so far is that I haven't been able to follow up with enough damage once the target has been hit with an ion weapon. Could be poor positioning on my part and being too close to enemy ships or it could be my fantastic dice rolling abilities. Probably a combination of both.

On the other hand though, we've been playing with both sets of asteroids (from 2 core sets), and my buddy tends to do more damage to himself hitting those than I do to him.

Wait...WHAT?

So you are putting TWELVE ASTEROIDS on the map??

Geeeez...honestly, that might be part of the problem. On a 3'x3' map, the game is well balanced for *6* asteroids. Not 0...not 12. In either extreme, you'll run into problems for the Rebels (either providing great arc-dodging possibilities for the barrel-rolling Imperials, or too much empty space for them to rely on pure 'jousting' firepower).

Try 6 asteroids, on the 3'x3' setup.

Also: remember to go somewhat light on the upgrades, until you are REALLY confident in your ability to get value from them. 9 times out of 10 (again, unless you've got a lot of familiarity with using them and a solid plan to get their value in points back from them), you'll be better off spending the points on ships vs upgrade cards.

As others have said, rebels are the more 'forgiving' list.

Like space marines in 40k they are durable and an average player can do well with them, a good play can excel.

Personally I think your z95s are too fragile and i'd field them in numbers and counter swarm.

X wings, Y wings and especially Bwings have the durability but I prefer Xs and Ys

I'd invest in some Y wings and use them to cruise the centre, use asteroids as cover and ionise the crap out of his TIes, use your xwings with their manouvreability to skirt the flanks and then anlge in to kill from the side.

Put R2D2 on one xwing to make it live longer, put an R2 if you can afford it on a y wing or two to give them more stress clearing options.

I like dutch and garvin as they synchronise well and while being 'effiencient' also feel 'lore wise' legitimate. Use those two to hand off focus and target locks to each other and other ships.

Concentrate on one enemy ship at a time while you can. Its better to have one TIE take three hits than have three TIEs take one each as next turn you're having two or three less red dice chucked at you. The only exception i'd make to this is that if you have a good target at range one and a chance of taking him out in one roll (say four die with an x wing and hes target locked and your're focused) than go for him even if it means letting two wounded ones survive a turn (you could only hit one of those anyway)