Took an assault frigate, two cr90s, a neb,all with enhanced armaments, and some x wings, vs a kitted out Victory 2 (hanger bays, Chiraneau, the blue crit exhausts tokens) a kitted out Gladiator 2 (demolisher title, gunnery team, extra black dice in the front) Rhymer ball and some interceptors... And yikes. Enemy got the victory and glad right onto my assault frigate... I rolled only one hit in a pair of volleys, and he responded with rolls of something like ten hits and twelve hits (all doubles on his black side). Frigate evaporated, followed quickly by the neb. I feel like imperial ships just make a mockery of my Rebel fleet!.

Is that imperial list decent? Or did I unluckily lose to a meh list?

Oh, and we ran no fleet commanders, fyi. Still early in the learning process, so trying to reduce the number of variables a bit.

enhanced arms neb is more than a little silly

Hm, yeah, I may not have had that on the neb... Only on the others. I think I typed it in the wrong spot there:)

Yeah...i'd say both lists are a little under par, but yours is probably more so. Quite a few "wasted" (not really wasted, but definitely not optimal) points on the Enhanced Armaments on the neb and CR90's.

I also feel like you probably didnt position too optimally, if he managed to get a slow as hell VSD into short range of your Neb that easily.

I honestly wouldnt worry about it too much though. As you say, you're still in the early learning phases. Getting slapped like that is an important part of any game....you now have a better idea of where NOT to be in the future. Your list has 2 major advantages that i suspect you didnt use fully....better agility, and large edge in number of activations.

Use those a bit more and keep at it....you'll soon find he gets very frustrated at not being able to pin down your ships in short range. Target the Gladiator first as he WILL get hits on you regardless, and he will die pretty fast.

Corvettes take artistry and practice to get right and be useful/live. Neb B's hard counter is the Gladiator, which can one shot it without thinking much about how hard it was, especially with Assault Concussion Missiles. The "Rhymer Ball" style list, typically with a Glad and Vic is a normal combo/list that you'll see in the world. It's tough to help you without lots of other details though. If you're having a hard time, try using a Double Frigate list, until to get your bearings. Frigates are easier to use, IMO.

It's okay! We've all made lists that we thought were awesome, only to be tabled. Just head back to the drawing board and contemplate what you want your fleet to be great at. Flanking the enemy? Broadsiding the enemy? Gunning for objectives? Carrying a boatload of squadrons?

It also sounds like the force with him and not with you (luck of the dice) and we all have a game every now and then that boils down to every time he rolled he got double hits and every time I rolled I got an accuracy...if I was lucky

Well. . . Let's look at it.

The Nebulon-B is a great ship but it's main focus is on that forward firing arc. This means it can work well with the CR90 who can run interference.

Now the Assault Frigate dislikes shooting from the forward arc so did u sues it's broadsides.

At this point you have 2 ships who don't want to follow the same strategy for bringing it's strongest arcs to play. This means that either the Nebulon-B has to follow the Assault Frigate or the Assault Frigate has to follow the Nebulon-B.

Here is why, when you split your forces, your opponent gets to concentrate all of his Firepower onto one ship. It is like Dungeons & Dragons in that regard. Always focus your attacks!

I am also betting you were going really fast eh?

relax. you did make some mistakes, but it seems like its your first few games.

If for sure you think he's going to bring lots of squadrons, take out some A-wings. They also have black dice for attack ships. Try them instead of Xs!

Also, Enahnced arm on Nebs is kind of silly, they dont have arms.

I find the Rebs have a much steeper learning curve than the Imperials.
That Imperial fleet can pretty much just drive straight at you [the list you posted] and you will be crushed. Rebels require a plan and some solid manauvering to counteract the Imperial close range firepower advantage.
Avoid any scenario that requires you to stay in one place and keep your ships together in support of each other and at speed. Things will change in Wave 2...but not by a whole lot IMO.
Rebs are going to stay as "The Boxer" and Imperials are going to stay as "The Puncher".

Again...just my opinion.

Enhanced Armament is a bait card, imho.

It's 10 points for, on average, 3-4 red die rolls over the course of a game. One or two of those fall from either an evade or a brace.

With all of those EAs, you could bring another vette, or at the very least some additional upgrades to maximize the effectiveness of your ships and fighters.

Remember, cards are 'balanced' not only in price but function/specialization. EA is VERY general purpose so it's very expensive for what you get. There are cheaper cards that are as/more effective in certain situations. Your goal as a good admiral is to make those situations happen.

Try to avoid a 'general purpose' fleet. Be very precise and Shape the situation to your advantage.

The thing I find with Reb ships is you need to think a lot about flying them, do everything you can to stay out of the emp's front ark and close range, use big fast loops, and even if you have to run away from them and miss an attack (its better then letting them in close),and stay out at med and long range if they close fire and move and turn away, try to get on their tail with a over loaded pulse and 2 or 3 other ships to pound them when they have almost no defiance just my out look as the ships stand now.

One thing you have to plan for in strategy is the scenario where everything you do fails and everything the enemy does works. If you can mitigate such scenario round by round with your strategy, then you're all set !

For example : The Neb B can tank the front arc of a VSD 1 and won't be one shotted, even if the opponent rolls double hits on all facings. Same for the VSD 2. It will have trouble tanking more than one shot.

The Assault Frigate has got better tanking capabilities than the VSD, but less damage per points. due to having less dice on a double arc shot on the same target than a Victory.

So, you have several options with it :

1) You run it as a rear flanker due to very good speed and decent maneuvrability to pump broadsides into rear arcs. Both versions are decent, and you'll enjoy Advanced Projectors as well as Sensor Team on that loadout (just to ensure that your shots will stay in the side arc).

2) You run it as a front assault ship, angling to get both the front and a side on a ship. ECM is almost mandatory there.

3) You use it as a broadside kiter. Advanced Projectors + Gunnery Team for the win there.

The trick with the AFMK2 is like unlike the VSD that doubles its firepower as soon as it gets to close ot medium range, the AFMK2s firepower only marginally increases when you get into medium range. So you're better off not being too quick unless it's in the hopes of getting rear arcs shots with it.

Even with EA, at medium range and with a Concentrate Fire command, you're looking at only 6 dice, 2/3 which will be red dice with a higher chance of doing nothing compared to a VSD's 7 dice with CF with 4/7 being either blues or blacks.

Honesty the worst list you can build and play is how you learn. I use a lot of "in theory this will work" but when I put it on the table I find upgrades/tactics work and some don't. As long as you don't make the same mistakes twice building or tactically you are going to be alright.

Keep building keep testing, tweeking and fine tuning. You'll only get better!