So Im starting Rebels and want to know in addition to the starter what would be the better capital ship if to choose one because I'm on kinda a budget. I like either the nebulon B or the assault frigate with a expansion of rebel fighters. I just want the best combination to take on imperial players. And be able to give imperial players fits.

Get the assault frigate. It will give rebels a ship that can stand in there with the VSD

Does the assault frigate provide any devastating synergy or combos for fighters?

Has a title that when squadrons are close, they take one less damage.

I don't know exactly which other upgrades came with it though.

Tallon as an Officer upgrade works well with fighters, as does the Expanded Hangers. Both available with the Space Guppy. The Neb B adds the Yavaris title, which also works well with fighters.

The AF Mk2 is probably the better choice, if you can get past its looks. I'm not a fan.

I don't mind looks. I'm looking more for quality and what can pose a bigger threat towards imperial fleets.

I hear good things of both AFII and the Neb B. Mostly been hearing the Neb B salvation and X17 laser combo.

Both sound fun. I leaning towards something that's better at taking down imperial fighters. And I hear that AF II is fairly good at that with a compliment of fighters

If it is fighters you are concerned with than go with the assault frigate. The rebels have a really hard time matching the imperials ability to command fighters without it. Yavaris is good but expanded hanger bay gives the VSD 4 squadron points vs a Neb B's 2. Also pick up a fighter pack if you haven't done that yet. The new fighters open up a lot more strategies than one additional capital ship.

Assault frigate.

The Nebulon B and Corvette just cannot stand up to the front firing arc of a Victory class Star Destroyer.

Regardless of if you have multiples of them, you will still have a ship dying in 1 turn if it gets in the Victories sights. (The Nebulon only has a single shield on the sides and massive arcs so its almost always hitable on the side!)

The rebels NEED the assault frigate to draw the attention/fire whilst the smaller ships support with abilities (frigate) or run around the back (corvette).

Yikes! Yea I don't need Neb B's dying in droves. Ok Assault frigate it is. Yes I do plan on getting a fighter expansion.

Once wave 2 comes out and we have ISD's and Mon Cal cruisers and frigates the game may change up, but I think its safe to say that for the meantime (at 300 points) the Victory class will feature in most Imperial lists as either an anchor or worse, a bunch of them, and that means either needing an Assualt Frigate/s to go toe to toe, or accepting that you will be spending most of the games running away from it and trying to win on fighter points and objectives.

As someone else said, a fighter expansion would probably also be a good early buy, A wings look to be very valuable for rebels

Assault Frigates are the Rebels best Gun Boat and their best Carrier.

Yes, I have been eying the A-wings and Y-Wings as I do plan on getting a pack of the fighters expansion. I know my opponent will be using ISD and already has dual gladiators. And does love his TIE advance and Interceptors for his primary fighters.

Thus why I'm trying to gear up to hunt bear while being on a budget. So starter AF II and a pack of rebel fighters should get me in the fight and do decent I hope.

I don't put nearly as much stock into needing the afmkii as that

if you park it in a victory's front arc, it's still going down. The major difference, apart from its tankiness, is that the AFmkii's emphasis on side arcs makes it far easier to effectively circle around a victory and get into superior engagements.

with B-wings and the salvation out, though, you really don't need much more advantage against vics though

for learning how to play the game, though, the AFmkii can't be beat. It's a chuncky **** with a fat load of shields and a very forgiving distribution of both defense and offense. The neb is unforgiving, since an exposed side generally means its gonna die.

Plus, the AFmkii helps you learn squadrons by giving you a guaranteed superiority through Gallant Haven. Not kidding, as long as your squadrons fight under the cover of Haven, they will win every slug fest (yes, even against howl + FC 6 blue dice + swarm interceptors)

You should try getting both ships eventually, though. A fattie and a skinny actually go very well together and make some devastating squadron centric builds. Then again, you can just use the Neb you already have and proxy the cards that come in the expansion

Ha! Now I see why the double fatty is a popular build. I think I'll get an Assault frigate and learn the game with that as mentioned above. It sounds like the better choice for a beginner like me. Man I can't wait till the wave 2 ships come out, fleets are going to start looking really epic then.

If you can get only one, get the assault frigate. It is a fun ship to fly, and as mentioned previously, it is more flexible than the spear (neb b) or the fly (CR90).

Get this before the fighter expansions.

There are lots of ways to effectively build lists with an Assault Frigate, Neb B, and a Corvette.

Then I will pick up the AF mkII. I need to ready my fleet to take on an imperial heavy area. Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm sure I'll have more questions as I delve deeper into the game like one burning in my mind now. Who is the better squad to fly with the AF mkII. I'm hearing good things with B-Wings and A-Wings. But then again I read other posts and it sounds like personal preference

Then I will pick up the AF mkII. I need to ready my fleet to take on an imperial heavy area. Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm sure I'll have more questions as I delve deeper into the game like one burning in my mind now. Who is the better squad to fly with the AF mkII. I'm hearing good things with B-Wings and A-Wings. But then again I read other posts and it sounds like personal preference

A lot of it comes down to play style. Bwings are the Tiger tanks (absolutely devastating gun, but very slow and expensive) , while Ywings are the T-34 (cheap and durable, and does adequate job)

Awings seem to be the most play style independent ship, as it has a serviceable anti squadron attack, counter, 4 hit points, AND a black die battery armament. Even without bomber it will deal 1 damage 75% of the time.

I just run paragon and gallant haven with 6 x-wings because **** it, they worked well enough during the core set

there is a rather silly fattie + neb list I want to try with 4 a-wings and 4 b-wings (the squadrons are exactly 100 points)

Ok, in case I do get bold and get a Neb B expansion, since it doesn't have the best of shields on its sides how are people playing it? Are you doing the long range game with them? They don't sound like they would be good at medium to close range combat. So would you send fighters off to soften targets then try to land what hits you can to take out enemy targets with the Neb B?

so far, the neb B seems suited to playing a support role

while the Gallant Fattie is a great rock or anchor, the Neb B is exceedingly vulnerable from the sides (though it can take a few shots on the chin with 3 shields and two braces)

putting the Gallant Fattie between and the enemy seems to work well. Either the Neb covers squadrons with its batteries/provides more support via squadron commands, or it becomes a skinny space rifle with raymus, x17, and salvation which can deal upwards of VSD levels of damage from much further away. While a VSD's brace and redirects may force combined skinny and fattie fire to only scratch the hull, it leaves a big glowing weak point to shove squadrons into.

I like the space rifle option for the Neb B. I can see it used as having a psychological affect on an opponents choice of how he plays his fleet.

I bought two Assault Dolphins. I do not regret the decision.

I just run paragon and gallant haven with 6 x-wings because **** it, they worked well enough during the core set

there is a rather silly fattie + neb list I want to try with 4 a-wings and 4 b-wings (the squadrons are exactly 100 points)

By silly do you mean awesome? (End of post caveat: I have only used it once but it worked really well)

Treat the nebulon b as a spear. But yu would probably do better with a CR90 to get mon Mothma.