Hey X-Wing players,

I've been brewing over two different lists that favor my playing style for my X-Wing tourney this weekend. I like to keep things in a formation, seeing that I can take advantage of the Rebel meat shield, Biggs Darklighter. I'm looking for some critiquing not only on my list, but also the strategy that surrounds the list itself. If you have any experiences with using any of these pilots, please share! Here's my Top 2 lists for my tournament:

List 1:

Airen Cracken-19

-Wingman-2

Garven Dreis-26

Biggs Darklighter-25

-R2F2-3

Tarn Mison-23

-R7 Astromech-2

List 2:

Airen Cracken-19

-Wingman-2

Garven Dreis-26

Biggs Darklighter-25

-R2F2-3

Hobbie Klivian-25

The difference between these lists is Tarn and Hobbie. What I was looking to do with the 2nd list was to provide ships that can get rid of their stress tokens during the combat phase (primarily taking stress away from Biggs and allowing Cracken to give him the R2F2 action) and allow Hobbie to be unpredictable. However, with the first list, I'm less about stress and more about survivability. Tarn would be the most annoying pilot on the field, seeing that he has the ability to target lock anyone who attacks him and choose to have the opponent reroll successful rolls once per round.

To me, I personally like the combos, surriveablity, and firepower in both these lists. But I feel like I'm missing something or I'm suffering from an undecisive mind. What's your thoughts, folks? Like I said, I'm looking for anyway to be critiqued and to better improve my list(s). NOTE: I have all the Rebel ships except for: Y-Wing, Rebel Aces, and YT-2400 expansion packs.

Thanks!

I like Wingman Cracken but my question for both of these lists is "who is that 28 point Biggs really protecting?" Biggs really will need his action plus one from Cracken and/or the token from Garvin to be a little more effective that he is naked but he's still a 3 attack ships which I'd want to kill just about as much as any of the rest of the ships in these squads. I'll say the second is probably better because I probably wouldn't want to shoot at Tarn/R7 all that much anyway.

I'll say the second is probably better because I probably wouldn't want to shoot at Tarn/R7 all that much anyway.

This is exactly why Tarn is great. He's a psychological threat, if not so much a physical one. He is a relatively weak X-wing (compared to other X-wing pilots like Wedge) that is likely to soak a lot of damage, so players don't want to spend crucial early game attacks against him. However, the later in the game you wait, the stronger he becomes, just like a Threepio Falcon. A wise player will prioritize and focus him off the field early or immediately after the list's heavy hitter. Trying to 1v1 Tarn/R7 late in the game can be quite an uphill battle, especially if he is wise with his forced rerolls, because there is always the chance the rerolled attack is worse than the original one. He is, in my opinion, the best rebel ship to have late game, even against arc dodgers. I like him better than Falcons or Phantoms in the late game. So, the preventative measure is clear him early, or as soon as possible.

These are some really good points here. Once I found out that the E-Wing Expansion pack's R7 Astromech went well with Tarn, there was no doubt that he would be a formidable foe in my squad building. Who would've thought that this 2 point upgrade would enhance such a great ability!? To comment on my strategy with Biggs, my idea is that I hold Biggs in the back of my square formation (with ships in range 1) and have a 4 agility meat shield early in the game. Even if I would K-turn all of my ships, Wingman Cracken would, at the beginning of the combat, take the stress from Biggs and give him the +1 to agility after he attacks. He would be the only one taking actions (which is good since everyone will be targeting him and will save the rest of the squad by giving them time to make a green maneuver). Although, I don't know how much faith I have in Biggs evading with Agility 3. I mean, it does sound promising in the beginning, but let's face it, tie fighters have agility 3 and look at how often they go down in flames.

For list #1, is there any remodeling that you guys would have done differently? Are any of the combos (such as Cracken and Dreis) out of proportion for what the squad is really trying to accomplish? Keep Biggs or toss him for someone else?

And also. What's your thoughts about Hobbie? In my opinion, I think he's a under ranked pilot that has a lot of potential in a squad. Has anyone had any good experiences with him?