So, I've been playing for less than 2 weeks at this point, but I thought I'd jump in and try my first escalation tournament. I'm fairly limited by the amount of ships I have at the moment, as well as general knowledge and skill, but this is what I was thinking;

60 points:

Chewbacca - 42pts

Gold Squad Pilot - 18pts

90 points:

Chewbacca - 42pts

- Draw their fire- 1pt

Gold Squad Pilot - 18pts

Wedge Antilles - 29pts

120 points:

Chewbacca - 42pts

- Draw their fire- 1pt

- Engine upgrade - 4pts

- Luke Skywalker - 7pts

- Millennium Falcon - 1pts

Gold Squad Pilot - 18pts

- Ion Cannon Turret - 5pts

Wedge Antilles - 29pts

- Predator - 3pts

- Proton Torpedoes - 4pts

- R2-D2 - 4pts

150 points:

Chewbacca - 42pts

- Draw their fire- 1pt

- Engine upgrade - 4pts

- Luke Skywalker - 7pts

- Millennium Falcon - 1pts

Gold Squad Pilot - 18pts

- Ion Cannon Turret - 5pts

Wedge Antilles - 29pts

- Predator - 3pts

- Proton Torpedoes - 4pts

- R2-D2 - 4pts

I also have another X-wing, a Y-wing and 2 B-wings I could use, but any tips or help would be much appreciated!

Cheers everyone!

I got stomped recently by a player running Horton Luke Wedge and Corran, all loaded for bear with upgrades. The high pilot skill goes a long way in escalation as most folks run more numbers/lower PS. Just something to think about.

I have two pieces of advice: How I critique, and 2nd tier Escalation planning.

Three categories things can fit in when I'm critiquing an Escalation fleet:

1. What is key to my success? That which drives my victory conditions?
2. What is a counterbuild? That which improves my match-ups to lists that would normally destroy me?
3. What is filler? That which is included simply because I had the points to spare?

...Yes, the grammar above is questionable, but it's a repeated pattern, and therefore allowable. Hush.

Anyway, I see some aspects of each in your list, but would love to see you analyze it yourself along those lines.

On the 2nd tier Escalation planning, I mean the following:

• The earlier you include a ship/upgrade, the more rounds you get to use it.
• Some upgrades/pilots/ships are more valuable in later rounds than they are in early rounds.
• It is occasionally important to have a large Initiative Bid in one round to purchase more points in the following round.

I then balance these three truths against the examined 150 point list to determine the progression of 60-90-120-150.

I'll happily help you with this one AFTER you get back to me as to what you think in your list goes in which of the critique-categories.

Also, 3rd piece of advice, take this to the Squad Building sub-forum, where freaks like me hang out

Lead with your full collection, not just the rebel models you own ;-)

Cheers for the replies chaps!

That's definitely an interesting way of looking at it; never really thought of that. In terms of how my list applies to your criteria;

1. I guess my main key to sucess would be Wedge backed up nicely by Chewie pulling crits away from him and maybe even getting some nice shots through himself with Luke.

2. Counter builds would probably be anything swarmy, so I thought a y-wing or 2 with an ion cannon would help to limit their movement. Also thought the locks from Dutch would help nicely with this and combos quite well with the R5-K6.

3. In terms of filler, I guess the proton torpedos aren't essential and maybe dutch could be swapped out for something else; not entirely sure though :S

Also got my hands on some headhunters today, so might add one in earlier and chuck some more points into Chewie. Cheers again

Naked Gold Squadron is just wasted points. I would look for a way to run literally anything else. (OK, a naked HWK would be worse)

I would start with a Z-95 and your falcon and either toss on an EPT, Title, or just upgrade to Han.

Heads up: He took my advice and took this to the sub-forums.
Here's a link to the continued conversation.