So I have been watching the forums for awhile and have noticed that the favorite faction is the Empire. With the Star Destroyers I don't blame anyone. But what is the Rebel's future for faction power? Let's look.

So one of the biggest issues I have seen so far with the Imperial Ships is its movement. They are slow hard to turn tanks. Solid but are bad at chasing other ships and getting to objectives. Now the Rebels have movement in spades right now and even when the Assualt Frigate comes out that too will be more maneuverable than a VSD. It also will be a good Squadron Support piece which I think will be a strong part of the Rebel's strength.

So my thoughts are the Empire is going to have to overcome its movement issue and I am not sure its strong firepower will overcome it quick enough. So has the Power of the Empire been overstated? Are the Rebels going to be toe to toe with the Empire even putting the Empire on it's back foot in some Objective Scenarios?

Thoughts?

The Rebels have no future, the Empire will destroy them wherever they hide.

Cosplay aside, I think this will just be the nature of this game for now. The universe as a whole is actually pretty balanced for gameplay The Empire will throw out enough laser fire to ignight a small sun, and the Rebs will have to rely on manuverabilty to not get shot up. I'm thinking that playing as the Empire right now means, not doing much manuverng. They can't chase down the Rebs so, they have to try to just maintain a postion of strength.Steamroll forth and blast away The Imperials may even want to bait a Reb or two off an objectve by offerng a weaker flank as a target.

As the game stands now I am also thinking the Empire needs to go as fighter heavy as possible and really rely on those Ties to do a lot of heavy lifting to clear the skys. The Reb fighters are their strength, they need to be dealt with swiftly. The GSD will help turn things around for the Imperials when it comes to maneuvering. The GSD should counter the Neb B. I'm anxious to see what a lighter Imperial shp can do. I see the manuver difficulty of the Empire disappearing with Wave 2 and that little Raider. The Raider will match the CR90 and be able to directly challenge the Rebs for objectives. That or hold them off until big bad bro arrives.

Wave 2 will flip things a bit.

ISDs are supposed to be pretty fast, they could keep up with the Falcon. And the raider can keep up with a CR90

Meanwhile Mon Cal cruisers are turtles, and the mon cal frigate brings black broadsides to bear

Agreed about Wave 2 blurring the line a bit

otherwise, it seems to be fighters. As of the core set, the X-wing seems far more integral to the rebel strategy than the ties are to the imps apparently. The Ties' goal in life seems to be solely to stop the X-wings from completing there's (and to die horribly shortly thereafter)

it's funny that the X-wings are so **** solid after X-wing miniatures, but I ain't complaining

I think the rebel strategy will inevitably be dictated by their fleet construction. Future waves will see the rebels in a position to challenge the Imperial Navy head on, while the Imperials can play a much more flexible force of lighter nimbler ships. I think balance will be the key, as in many other games.

I think the rebel strategy will inevitably be dictated by their fleet construction. Future waves will see the rebels in a position to challenge the Imperial Navy head on, while the Imperials can play a much more flexible force of lighter nimbler ships. I think balance will be the key, as in many other games.

I agree. Balance will be the key so I am finding a 2 ISD build less and less effective in Objective Scenarios where a lot of them depend on moving quickly to the objectives to score VP's. They will crush anyone willing to Joust them but the Rebels will more likely try to flank them and go for objectives instead of taking the ISD's on, or at least only picking on one at a time.

The SD's don't have the reaction speed to counter a flank charge or to reposition to support a second SD. Even the Assault frigate has a speed of 3 with the Yaw closer to a GSD but its broadside attacks are on par with a VSD.

Honestly I prefer the rebel side because of the amount of strategy required.

However, I think if I were imperial I would run 2 VSDs and every named Imperial Pilot+a Tie Bomber. I think that might be a Rebel's worst nightmare(would be interesting against Imperials too)

I think the rebel strategy will inevitably be dictated by their fleet construction. Future waves will see the rebels in a position to challenge the Imperial Navy head on, while the Imperials can play a much more flexible force of lighter nimbler ships. I think balance will be the key, as in many other games.

I agree. Balance will be the key so I am finding a 2 ISD build less and less effective in Objective Scenarios where a lot of them depend on moving quickly to the objectives to score VP's. They will crush anyone willing to Joust them but the Rebels will more likely try to flank them and go for objectives instead of taking the ISD's on, or at least only picking on one at a time.

The SD's don't have the reaction speed to counter a flank charge or to reposition to support a second SD. Even the Assault frigate has a speed of 3 with the Yaw closer to a GSD but its broadside attacks are on par with a VSD.

VSDs with a judicious use of Tie Bombers might do the trick. Even more so with major rhymer

What point total are you running to utilize two VSDs currently?

Honestly I prefer the rebel side because of the amount of strategy required.

However, I think if I were imperial I would run 2 VSDs and every named Imperial Pilot+a Tie Bomber. I think that might be a Rebel's worst nightmare(would be interesting against Imperials too)

Yea, Tie Bombers worry me. That's why I am bringing A-Wings. And if the A-Wings don't kill them I can stall them till the X-Wings or B-Wings arrive.

What point total are you running to utilize two VSDs currently?

Haven't gotten there yet but 300 will be the point level. It will be interesting when the new Fighters are here. They might change the game more than the GSD and Assault Frigate.

We have tackled a few 300 pt games. The various fighters will make a difference for sure. Currently I find the Imperials need as many fighters as they can bring, along with the ability to command them in numbers. Expanded hangers and Victory Is are a great start.

too early to tell.

I think once the Imps get Glads and Raiders you'll see a shift in fleet lists. They'll be fast enough to chase after certain objectives.

My guess is that if we do see more imperials it will only be until wave 2. Mon Cals will bring out the traitors so that us loyal sons and daughters can run them down as they rear their heads.

Remember that the Rebels currently have the X-wing, which is a much better fighter than the TIE Fighter 1v1, or even 2v1 probably. The Imperial Fighter corp will have to use a combined arms approach, utilizing all 4 tie models in conjunction. All their named pilots except for Vader support this approach. (Vader doesn't care, he just punches people in the face) Until we get the Imp fighter packs, i think the Imperials will seem a little meh, especially in light of the greater rebel maneuverability. Corvettes will get a lot less sassy about getting into rear arcs when 2-3 bombers are waiting in the backfield to stuff some black dice down their throats. Right now Imperials have nothing to keep them honest.

Just wait for Wave 1.

Honestly currently the Imperials have a the better ability to support thier Squadrons with the VSDs higher Squadron Stat and possible +1 Upgrade to it. That and the low number of Squadrons currently possible means that the Imperials can if not win the Squadron battle, delay and destroy enough of the X-wings to prevent them from getting many, if any, shots on the VSD.

And without shots from the X-wings, realistically the Rebel ships don't have much of an ability to take down the VSD. Once one of them goes down the single Corvette or Neb B can't deal enough damage to outpace constant Engineering commands.

Without the absurd Squadron force modifiers present in Wave 1 the Rebels are a wee bit stuck into avoiding the VSD and trying to hang on to onto wins via objective points. But if one ship goes down, the game is done unless the VSD is already on it's way out as well.

I prefer the rebels because I like their ship selection a lot more. The Raider is cool but everything that has been announced or is out for the Empire is cruiser class or larger. I prefer more corvettes and frigates and after wave two hits the rebels will have 3 to the Empire's 1, right now its 2 to 0 (The Assault Frigate mark II is actually a mislabeled heavy cruiser class according to the in setting classification system.)

Once the Lancer frigates make their appearance in a future wave, I think the Imperials will have a good counter for rebel fighters other than fielding bucket loads of Ties.

I think you'll see an emphasis on multiple units from the Imperials after Wave 1. A Screed list with 2 Glads and a Victory all with concussive Missles still seems like a really strong list, just due to the fact you can set up enough fire lanes and can do a lot of crippling damage even when the Rebel's aren't necessarily in the best firing arc.

Oh that and you get amazing anti-fighter abilities from the two Glads.

But it will be interesting to see how it interacts well with objectives. It's certaintly going to be possible to win objective games through aggresive denial (As in you say, sure you can try and take this objective, but you'll have to take a round of turbo-lasers and concussive missles to do so).

Rebels will have more change in wave 1 than Imperials, because they'll have conventional ships of line and with fighter support can probably fight the Imperials.

After the excitement of blowing each other up fades, the Rebellion's future, clearer will it become. Consistent objective play will provide answers we currently lack.

Once the AF 2 coma out, the low speed of the Vic will be an enormous handicap. With enhanced armaments, the AF2 outguns the vic at long range in the critical side arcs. This means they can circle the Vic while hammering it with 4 red dice.

Seriously, the AF2 is an awesome counter to the lumbering behemoths of the imps.

I'd not get too excited on that, a Vic can tank 4 red dice all game without much drama. It comes down to objective then - sure you can fly the AF2 about, but if the Vic is parked on the objective, it's winning the game.

If the Victory ever gets there lol.

I'd not get too excited on that, a Vic can tank 4 red dice all game without much drama. It comes down to objective then - sure you can fly the AF2 about, but if the Vic is parked on the objective, it's winning the game.

The GSD's will be needed to play the objective game and then you won't be able to just rely on firepower.