3 x Rookie

3 x Bandit

It's straightforward and simple. Maximize guns on target. Let the Zs take the heat for the Xs.

But...would it be better if I switched up to Cracken, and turned the Rooks to Blues, and...and...and...

Seriously, I just got to stop tinkering.

No more tweaking you say

1x Rookie

2x Chardaan Protoype Pilot

4x Bandit

Same amount of Red Dice on the table but 2 More HP, A's are faster flankers while still having strong center board presence.

Not bad for Rebels with 7 Ships on the board.

...or you know, just 8 Bandits

You got it

Slap it down and play. Sometimes, the simplest answers are the best and less is more etc.

Personally, I don't like going in without some high PS dudes running around with re-rolls + focus (or stress in Farlander's case) because I have no faith in my dice, but I've seen low PS rebels do some crazy work.

Cracken + Swarm is really good and imo worth dropping a rookie for, but he really complicates things in terms of gameplay (you're going to want to fly formation around him, protect him, not take red manuevers on him or squaddies, etc.) I'd start out simple before moving to include him.

Same amount of Red Dice on the table but 2 More HP, A's are faster flankers while still having strong center board presence.

Just have to say, it's not the same.

While the sum is the same in both cases, you're going to be up against a set number of green dice and having 3 reds in a roll makes it easier to take on higher numbers of green whereas more shots rolling 2 gives your opponent a better chance to cancel out more damage. Meanwhile, chucking more dice per points tends to work out better against low agility targets.

Not that the list is any better or worse, just that it and the OP's are both completely different.

Definitely got room for r3-a2 if you drop one. Then you may as well make the other two B's. The you can bump Z's to tala...

No more tweaking you say

1x Rookie

2x Chardaan Protoype Pilot

4x Bandit

Same amount of Red Dice on the table but 2 More HP, A's are faster flankers while still having strong center board presence.

Not bad for Rebels with 7 Ships on the board.

...or you know, just 8 Bandits

I never liked this, yes it is the same amount of dice, but it also gives the opponent that many more chances to evade damage with dice. Dice as they are might betray the defender but it could also cost you the game because you can't overpower the amount of damage they can dodge.

2 x Rookie + R2

2 x Bandit

Etahn

2 x Proto + Chardaan

2 x Blue

1 x Roark + Blaster + Recon

As much as I find myself K-turning with this squad, I like the R2s. Protos would make great blockers and are more resilient than the Zs. Etahn would make for nice crit fishing, and a pretty tough ship. Roark would make it easier to handle Phantoms, and my low PS.

WHAT TO DO?!

The tournament is in about 5 hours, so I'm running out of time to decide on something.

Etahn is really good. Wouldn't be a bad choice ... unless you run into a Fat Chewie. Then your entire squad's gimmick (crits everywhere!) is rendered moot. What do you think this tournament's meta is going to be?

Seriously, I just got to stop tinkering.

Do what I do. Give the name a list, then take the core, tweak it and give it a different name. When you think you've tried all the options that make sense you may have 10+ lists, but then you can play each one and see how well it works out.

I like the original list myself!

15 -21 RED DICE! Holy Crap that is a lot of red dice!

27 Hull/Shields isn't half bad either!

and 12 Evade Dice...

Overall, a fairly nasty build when you get right down to it!

I like it!

The only problem with Z-95's is they can't get lucky with 2's across their stats. Last time I ran 3 in a tourney, they failed to do anything meaningful (despite rolling hit crit or crit crit several times).

I would take 4 X's + 1 Z, then ram the Z down their throats while the x's fly with more care and thoughtfulness.

Before wave 4, I ran 4 x's + HWK and flew similarly. It was surprisingly effective.

The only problem with Z-95's is they can't get lucky with 2's across their stats. Last time I ran 3 in a tourney, they failed to do anything meaningful (despite rolling hit crit or crit crit several times).

I would take 4 X's + 1 Z, then ram the Z down their throats while the x's fly with more care and thoughtfulness.

Before wave 4, I ran 4 x's + HWK and flew similarly. It was surprisingly effective.

I don't know, I've found Zs are remarkably easy to get lucky with (a product of rolling so many dice per turn). They go through low agility targets surprisingly quickly

The only caveat is that 2 red dice generally don't do much against 3+ greens because of repeated defense rolling (then again, green dice being what they are, you can eventually overwhelm such ships).

Back the Zs up with a couple anti-agility characters (Predator Wedge has so far been a favorite, and apparently mini-swarm + Han is the next big thing) and they'll do a hilarious amount of work.

No more tweaking you say

1x Rookie

2x Chardaan Protoype Pilot

4x Bandit

Same amount of Red Dice on the table but 2 More HP, A's are faster flankers while still having strong center board presence.

Not bad for Rebels with 7 Ships on the board.

...or you know, just 8 Bandits

Very different, you only have 1 "3 attack" ship.

I had played the XXXZZZ a lot. It is quite good, having so many 3 attack dice on a swarmy list makes it have an amazing firepower, just not in par with a howlrunner list jousting, but your ships don't rely on formation. I have to say, that against Tie swarms, in my experience, it is favored. Against Fat Han is a decent list, good thing you don't care that much about gunner. And against phantoms, you need to deal well with the escorts, something that the list can do, but gunning down the phantom will be difficult (not impossible, specially since X's with target lock + focus can reliabily get some damage through most of the time).

My advice, go with the XXXZZZ, fly it in this formation whenever you want to joust.

XXX

ZZZ

That way you can do the K-turn with the X, which are your damage dealers, and luckily they have a long K-turn to "disengage" withouth getting cockblocked and focused down early.

@Cody for 12 points, they are always cost effective for me. If they die early, they drawed more attention than deserved for their cost (since they have one of the most efficient hit point/agility/point ratios), if not, they will deny action, or just be decent ships at range 1. They are hardly amazing if you forget that they cost 12 points each.

Stop tweaking???? For a minute I thought I read stop twerking!

Incidently performing an Advanced Sensor Boost or Barrel Roll is now referred to as "twi'leking".

The only problem with Z-95's is they can't get lucky with 2's across their stats. Last time I ran 3 in a tourney, they failed to do anything meaningful (despite rolling hit crit or crit crit several times).

I would take 4 X's + 1 Z, then ram the Z down their throats while the x's fly with more care and thoughtfulness.

Before wave 4, I ran 4 x's + HWK and flew similarly. It was surprisingly effective.

I don't know, I've found Zs are remarkably easy to get lucky with (a product of rolling so many dice per turn). They go through low agility targets surprisingly quickly