Budget Aces (3x Rebels)

By Tsiegtiez, in X-Wing Squad Lists

I've been tinkering with a few Rebel lists lately, and would really like some input on this one I've thrown together. I usually play Imperial, and have been mostly messing about with Scum since February, but I rarely ever fly Rebel. My biggest problem was always that I wanted to use the cool or powerful unique pilots, and could never quite fit them all together in the same list. I'm hoping I've overcome that!

Corran Horn (35)

— Accuracy Corrector (3)

— Lone Wolf (2)

Keyan Farlander (29)

— Stay On Target (2)

— Advanced Sensors (3)

Jake Farrell (24)

— Chardaan Refit (-2)

— A-Wing Test Pilot (0)

— Calculation (1)

— Adrenaline Rush (1)

— Autothrusters (2)

Comes out to 100 points total. Each pilot is my favourite of their respective craft, and I wanted to see if I could fit them all together in a list with upgrades that still played to their strengths. Keyan was the easiest one, since just SoT and AS make him one of the most manoeuverable and unpredictable ships in the game. He still hits hard, he can get his Stress-focus every turn, and he can pick any 2-speed manoeuvre if you always issue him the 2-K. More often than not I have found myself Barrel Rolling to position Keyan appropriately, but sometimes against a generic pilot all you need is the move, and so Keyan can take a Target Lock for better damage control.

Corran was a tough one to budget for, but I've been happy with the result. Accuracy Corrector has been incredibly useful, but not in the way I thought. I was anticipating a degree of damage consistency, and it certainly offers that, but what it has really done for Corran was ramp up his survivability. He has his full dial open every turn, and I've found I tend to Barrel Roll out of arc, or Evade in case I have any return fire, almost every single turn. If I'm not getting shot back, Focus has been the way to go, but between the guaranteed two hits per attack, plus Lone Wolf on every dice roll, he's incredibly hard to hit and absolutely annoying when defensing against. I'm having a hard time coming up with something that's as versatile for the same forty points.

And, lastly we have Jake. Jake is my favourite A-Wing for his built-in PtL, but the biggest trick he offers is the native access to Barrel Roll (which is kind of the signature action of this squad, haha). I only had 26 points left after Corran and Keyan, and mostly took Jake because of his pilot skill, but I've been pleasantly surprised with how irritating it is to try and pin down an A-Wing with access to the full dial and Barrel Roll. Autothrusters are a no-brainer for me on an A-Wing, and I've been pleased with the irritation factor of Calculation (since Jake has a Focus every turn anyway). Adrenaline Rush is sort of an insurance policy, in case a K-Turn is every actually the best decision, but Jake is so mobile that he can usually work out a turn/bank plus Boost/Barrel Roll combo that puts him somewhere useful. He's a little vulnerable to bumping, but the full dial plus AR make him less predictable than a normal PtL A-Wing.

Now, the biggest issue I've had so far has been overall damage output turn-to-turn. Corran does well, but if he's sharing targets with the others then he probably isn't getting Lone Wolf. Keyan hits like any other B-Wing, and is not usually an issue. Jake, on the other hand, still has the classic A-Wing problem, and there aren't enough points for a Proton Rocket. Ive been looking at replacement options, and while I love Jake's manoeuvrability, he just never quite manages to punch through defense tokens. I'm sincerely considering replacing him with a pair of Tala Headhunters, which each offer the same health and red dice as Jake himself, but have no post-manoeuvre movement. I feel they would help immensely against large ships, and Keyan and Corran would manage to work against very agile ships. Baron Fel scares everyone in this list, and I feel having two Zs to block him might help as well.

Thoughts, criticisms, and input are sincerely appreciated!

While not exact, I did propose this similar list a day or two ago.

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/150614-corran-and-the-aces-need-help/

Ah, thank you, I hadn't seen that. I like some of the options you're looking at! I've often had FCS and R2-D2 on Corran, but I feel so constrained by the green on his dial. I was looking for some way to still modify his attack and defense without relying too heavily on actions, what do you think about the Corrector and Lone Wolf?

I like the idea of Keyan with just Advanced Sensors, that seems cheap and reasonably potent (1-Turn, 2-K, 3-Bank, and 4-Straight all give him the stress he wants anyway). Have you tried him with Stay on Target? Do you like how he handles?

I tried this list and must admit I've gotten too used to PTL on Keyan and have to rethink so that all my moves are red moves. The barrel roll first, then move red offers some interesting combinations though.

To me, FCS is essential on Corran cause it will give you a stronger second shot. Normally I use an unmodified first shot to nail away any focuses or evades a ship might have, get a target lock from FCS, then spend my target lock and saved focus on the second shot.

Going with Lone Wolf AND Corrector seems wrong. Why have something that rerolls one blank, only to have the 2 hit fallback?

I'm a big fan of the Sensor roll with Keyan, especially if you follow with a 1- or 2-Turn like a Phantom.

FCS is a great boon on Corran, and if I was strapping a few other upgrades on him it has always been my go-to Sensor! He can really hound a large ship or a VIP that way too, since he will likely want the same target turn-to-turn. Push the Limit with an Engine Upgrade and R2-D2 alongside the FCS is brutal, and also 48 points. I'm not comfortable with that many points in a single small ship, which is part of why I run Corran so infrequently (and why I wanted to see what I could do with him on a limited budget!).

The Corrector and Lone Wolf don't interact much, you are correct. I wasn't sure how they were going to work at first, but after a few games I can say I'm a big fan. The LW reroll on attack is occasionally useful, and LW works best if you Focus anyway. The Corrector on the other hand doesn't care what action you took, what range you're at, or who is in-arc this turn. I was surprised to find this combo had only okay attack output but huge defense. Using Barrel Roll or Evade almost every turn, in combination with LW, made Corran a nightmare to shoot at. And to top it off, his damage was guaranteed as two hits per shot; sometimes I would roll three to start, sometimes I'd roll nothing, and AC was always an option. It was very liberating. Especially when I found myself exchanging fire at Range 3; I'd move Corran, see that I was probably exchanging fire with an opposing ship, and take a Focus. My attack was first, and came up blank eye eye. There was no quandary about Corran's defense roll with or without the Focus, because I just flipped them with the AC. The Corrector really shines in the suboptimal situations that happen every game; you bump, you have to K-Turn, you barely Barrel Rolled out of someone's arc, that sort of thing.

Definitely give it a shot if you can!

I know you like using the named pilots, but when I make a rebel list I typically take one named pilot (or two, depends) and then build the rest of the squad around that. Although I do like the list you have here for casual play, I'm not too much into running a list like this at a tourney. I play imperial mostly and I understand that giving up that barrel roll can be difficult. I have never played rebel at a tournament, but if I did, I think I would use all non unique pilots.