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

In terms of anything else I could use after pooling my gf's stuff together too, I also have;

1 x X-wing

2 x B-wings

2 x Z-95 Headhunter

1 x Phantom

1 x Defender

2 x Fighter (Core set)

Any tips or help would be much appreciated!

Cheers everyone!

Stated in orig thread. Don't ever run a naked gold squadron if you can avoid it. Make that ship a Z-95 or maybe just load Chewie up with some gear and save the rest of the points for later. Chewie can hold his own alright against 60 points of a lot of lists.

As you said in the other thread, you view Wedge and Chewbacca are your path to victory, while you're using the Y-Wings for control.

You also admit to having some obvious filler (like the Proton Torpedoes).

I am not certain your listed win-condition is unfair enough.

I am not certain your listed counter-play elements will be effective against what you expect them to be.

Also, a well-tuned list should not have any filler, so lets get rid of that.

That being said, there is some potential.

Chewbacca + DTF + Engine Upgrades + MF Title + ....Gunner.

The difference between Luke and Gunner is infinitesimal, but Gunner costs 2 points less, and is therefore more efficient. Still, he's on relatively few ships, so if you can't pick him up, then Luke's a good option.

Gold Squadron Pilot + Ion Cannon Turret

Gold Squadron Pilot + Ion Cannon Turret

Yes, I demoted Dutch. We may re-examine this later.

This I believe is actually your Core. 3 tanky ships that don't have to aim; with good control options to boot. This ought to shut down the Heavy Flanker lists (like Phantoms, Baron Fel, et cetera), while being fairly easy to fly for a beginner.

What is this weak against?

Swarm

You fall to extremely high damage-over-time, and the multiple ships weaken the effectiveness of your Ionizations.

Alpha-Strike

They have an increasingly likely chance of being able to destroy Chewbacca in exchange for their missiles on the first round of combat, and then you're left with the ashes of your fleet vs their swarm.

Tank-lists

You're missing some top-tier upgrades for your archetype, so will be at a natural disadvantage vs fleets that include them.

How do we improve our match-ups there?

Biggs Darklighter.

He shuts down the Alpha-Strike lists by himself, by forcing them to remove a target other than Chewbacca on the first round of combat, giving you the opportunity to beat them back.

Assault Missiles

These shut down Swarms if you have them en-masse. When facing a large number of opponents, this swiftly becomes the highest damaging upgrade available to you.

More Ship

This increases your damage-over-time vs the Tanks, while also strengthening your match-up against the highly-mobile ships as well.

Sadly, you can't add all of these in the numbers you'd like, so leave off the Assault Missiles for now.

My take on your final 150 point fleet:

Chewbacca

+ Draw Their FIre

+ Luke Skywalker

+ Engine Upgrades

+ Millennium Falcon title

Gold Squadron Pilot

+ Ion Cannon Turret

Gold Squadron Pilot

+ Ion Cannon Turret

Biggs Darklighter

+ 0

Bandit Squadron Pilot

+ 0

Bandit Squadron Pilot

+ 0

150 points on the nose

If you can get your hands on a Gunner, I'd replace Luke with it, and pick up a Tactician on Chewie as well.

Stress + Ion = bad times for your target.

Now for the rollout:

Chewbacca is definitely starting in Round 1, paired with either a Y or a Z.

• The former lets you get the second Y out in Round 2, and give both an Ion Cannon Turret, which is strong.
• The latter affords you 6 points of Chewie upgrade in Round 1, and curves into an ICT Y-wing and a completed Chewbacca in Round 2.

So, which is stronger?

Opt 1(60) Chewie + Y

Opt 2(60) Chewie + 6 points + Z

Opt 1(90) Chewie + 2 points + ICT-Y + ICT-Y

Opt 2(90) Chewie + 13 points + ICT-Y + Z

Notably, both 60 rounds can fit into the latter 90 round, so you can decide on your own.

However, it's also good to look at what remains to build, and how that will curve into the 120 round.

Opt 1(90) leaves us with 32 points to fill with the following costs: 1, 1, 4, 7, 12, 12, 25

Opt 2(90) leaves us with 43 points to fill with the following costs: 18/23, 25

Opt 1(90) clearly leaves us with more room to fill our fleet, notably for Luke Skywalker + Biggs Darklighter, or Luke + DTF/MF Title + 2x Bandit Squadron Pilots.

That leaves us with the following roll-outs!

(60)

Chewbacca

+ 0

Gold Squadron Pilot

+ 0

(90)

Chewbacca

+ 0

Gold Squadron Pilot

+ Ion Cannon Turret

Gold Squadron Pilot

+ Ion Cannon Turret

(120-A)

Chewbacca

+ Luke Skywalker

Gold Squadron Pilot

+ Ion Cannon Turret

Gold Squadron Pilot

+ Ion Cannon Turret

Biggs Darklighter

+ 0

(150-A)

Chewbacca

+ Luke Skywalker

+ Engine Upgrades

+ Draw Their Fire

+ Millennium Falcon Title

Gold Squadron Pilot

+ Ion Cannon Turret

Gold Squadron Pilot

+ Ion Cannon Turret

Biggs Darklighter

+ 0

Bandit Squadron Pilot

+ 0

Bandit Squadron Pilot

+ 0

Or

(120-B)

Chewbacca

+ Luke Skywalker

+ Millennium Falcon Title

Gold Squadron Pilot

+ Ion Cannon Turret

Gold Squadron Pilot

+ Ion Cannon Turret

Bandit Squadron Pilot

+ 0

Bandit Squadron Pilot

+ 0

(150-B)

Chewbacca

+ Luke Skywalker

+ Millennium Falcon Title

+ Draw Their Fire

+ Engine Upgrades

Gold Squadron Pilot

+ Ion Cannon Turret

Gold Squadron Pilot

+ Ion Cannon Turret

Bandit Squadron Pilot

+ 0

Bandit Squadron Pilot

+ 0

Biggs Darklighter

+ 0

Depending on what you feel you need more in Round 3: Protection or Firepower.

Awesome, thank you very much for the feedback! There's definitely a lot more to consider than I first thought :S

The 120/150 lists definitely feel a LOT stronger with the bandits and Biggs; my only thought though, is possibly trying to get Luke with Chewie earlier if possible; the sooner you get him in there, the more value he will have I guess, as well as more upgrades (although you could say that about more ships too)

Do you think getting Luke/more upgrades into the 90pts list and swapping the y-wing for a bandit a good idea, even though it might make squeezing Biggs in later a tad difficult? I've never really used ion cannon turrets with the y-wings before, so I don't know how much protection they'll be able to offer Chewie with movement denial. Once again cheers for the help; much appreciated!

If you went with Opt 2(90), you could get Luke in as early as that.
Your 120 would be a tad more difficult to work, but I'd recommend:

+ Gold Squadron Pilot

+ Ion Cannon Turret

+ Bandit Squadron Pilot

+ 0

+ MF Title (Chewbacca. This can fit in the 60 point round if you start with a Z, or the 90 if you start with a Y).

HOWEVER: This requires floating 5 points of upgrade in the 90 point match.

That's not a terrible thing, per-say.

However, I would urge you to look at them, and consider "Which of these two will perform better against which fleets?" and "Which of those fleets will I be likely to fly against?"

Ok, so here's my take on the final loadout. I really feel that Luke would be great starting from 90pts onwards, but you're right in saying it does make the 120pts a tad difficult; meant I had to leave Biggs out till 150pts. I don't think I'll be coming across any aces lists though, so hopefully it'll be ok;

ESCALATION LIST 1 - 60PTS

Chewbacca (42)

Gold Squadron Pilot (18)

60 points

ESCALATION LIST 2 - 90PTS

Chewbacca (50)
YT-1300 (42), Luke Skywalker (7), Millennium Falcon (1)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

Gold Squadron Pilot (23)
Y-Wing (18), Ion Cannon Turret (5)

85 points

ESCALATION LIST 3 - 120PTS

Chewbacca (50)

YT-1300 (42), Luke Skywalker (7), Millennium Falcon (1)

Gold Squadron Pilot (23) x 2
Y-Wing (18), Ion Cannon Turret (5)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12) x 2

120 points

ESCALATION LIST 4 - 150PTS

Chewbacca (55)
YT-1300 (42), Draw Their Fire (1), Luke Skywalker (7), Millennium Falcon (1), Engine Upgrade (4)

Gold Squadron Pilot (23) x 2
Y-Wing (18), Ion Cannon Turret (5)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12) x 2

Biggs Darklighter (25)

150 points

Thoughts?

Looks good, mate.

Practice with it before your tournament, and you're good to go