Played a little (5 times-ish) and mostly lost. Then... kind of went on a buying/ebaying spree. With what I have now, what's my best, most consistent way to win?

Rebel:

A-Wing (4x. Bought these ala carte, so I have the Rebel Aces pilots, but not the upgrades. Other random A cards include one title, couple of Chardaan, four deadeye and homing missiles... early ideas )

B-Wing

X-Wing (core)

T-70 X-Wing (new core)

K-Wing

Imperial:

TIE Fighter (2x Core)

TIE/fo Fighter (2x new core)

TIE Punisher

Scum:

Y-Wing (Most Wanted)

Z-95 (2x) (Most Wanted)

Houndstooth

To be effective with the Imperial ships you have, you NEED the TIE expansion for Howlrunner. 2 Attack Dice sucks against all but the lowest (0-1) Agility ships unless you have a way of modifying them to almost guarantee 2 hits.

You don't have enough TIEs for a proper swarm. You could go with a Punisher and mini-swarm but I'm not sure how well that would work.

To be effective with the Imperial ships you have, you NEED the TIE expansion for Howlrunner. 2 Attack Dice sucks against all but the lowest (0-1) Agility ships unless you have a way of modifying them to almost guarantee 2 hits.

You don't have enough TIEs for a proper swarm. You could go with a Punisher and mini-swarm but I'm not sure how well that would work.

I see an 11th hour purchase in my future... Did I mention we're playing tomorrow night?

When you're just starting out, it's usually okay to proxy (or borrow) a few upgrade cards if your opponent is fine with it. All you really need are the ships and dials.

Without proxying much (marked in red), you have enough to run a very solid Scum list that is durable, easy to learn, and consistent in terms of damage.

Moralo Eval

Heavy Laser Cannon

K4 Security Droid

Outlaw Tech

Tactician

Hired Gun

Twin Laser Turret

R4 Agromech

BTL-A4 Y-wing

Binayre Pirate

Binayre Pirate

This list is very good for beginners because it's meant to be flown slow and teaches you the nuances of formation flying (Z95s with Y-wing) and bumping (Moralo bumps into your formation to slow itself down).

Moralo is the heavy hitter that also keeps arc-dodgers in check. Its weakness is its backside which can be protected if you fly slow by alternating between the 0 red maneuver (Outlaw Tech!) and green 1 maneuvers (K4 Security Droid!). Don't be afraid to bump into your own Z95s and Y-wing to slow down - that's what the K4 droid is for - but the goal is to Target Lock and Focus with the HLC when possible for maximum damage.

The two Z95s and Y-wing are a good introduction to formation flying since they have 1 straights and 1 banks (something TIE fighters lack). They will serve as a very durable anchor that will deal a ton of damage if ignored. Treat them like a slow grinder that is efficient at trading blows in a war of attrition.

When you're just starting out, it's usually okay to proxy (or borrow) a few upgrade cards if your opponent is fine with it. All you really need are the ships and dials.

Without proxying much (marked in red), you have enough to run a very solid Scum list that is durable, easy to learn, and consistent in terms of damage.

Moralo Eval

Heavy Laser Cannon

K4 Security Droid

Outlaw Tech

Tactician

Hired Gun

Twin Laser Turret

R4 Agromech

BTL-A4 Y-wing

Binayre Pirate

Binayre Pirate

This list is very good for beginners because it's meant to be flown slow and teaches you the nuances of formation flying (Z95s with Y-wing) and bumping (Moralo bumps into your formation to slow itself down).

Moralo is the heavy hitter that also keeps arc-dodgers in check. Its weakness is its backside which can be protected if you fly slow by alternating between the 0 red maneuver (Outlaw Tech!) and green 1 maneuvers (K4 Security Droid!). Don't be afraid to bump into your own Z95s and Y-wing to slow down - that's what the K4 droid is for - but the goal is to Target Lock and Focus on an HLC when possible for maximum damage.

The two Z95s and Y-wing are a good introduction to formation flying since they have 1 straights and 1 banks (something TIE fighters lack). They will serve as a very durable anchor that will deal a ton of damage if ignored. Treat them like a slow grinder that is efficient at trading blows in a war of attrition.

I like this idea, and I appreciate your explanation of how/why you'd fly it, even more. As you can see from the four As, I've played around more with lists of fast fliers than anything, so this seems like a nice change of pace list.

After I got the Scum, I posted a different version of the Y-666, Y-Wing, Z-95 (x2) group, but I got feedback that Y needed Agromech. So this reaffirms that notion. Oh, and the Houndstooth expansion comes with HLC, so I'm good and legal there, too.

Have you considered a half-brick inna sock?

I ran a wierd list a few days ago for fun just to show people what Poe can do that has almost all you have except for the Rebel Z-95, auto thrusters & 3p0.

Poe Dameron (T-70)

BB-8

Push the limit

Auto thrusters

Miranda Doni (K-wing)

Twin laser Turret

C3p0

Conner Net

Airen Cracken (Z-95)

blank

you can pull the autothrusters out to add extra munitions to Miranda a 2 for 2 trade

and without 3P0 you can add a blue squadron pilot instead of taking Cracken which should be a fun little list with the ability to lay shots down range.

Have you considered a half-brick inna sock?

Usually not until I've had a few strong drinks.

I like this idea, and I appreciate your explanation of how/why you'd fly it, even more. As you can see from the four As, I've played around more with lists of fast fliers than anything, so this seems like a nice change of pace list.

After I got the Scum, I posted a different version of the Y-666, Y-Wing, Z-95 (x2) group, but I got feedback that Y needed Agromech. So this reaffirms that notion. Oh, and the Houndstooth expansion comes with HLC, so I'm good and legal there, too.

Ah that's right - was wondering where I got my 5th HLC from...

I forgot to mention the value of Tactician on your YV-666. Along with the Firespray, YVs get double the amount of Tactician area coverage relative to any other ship since auxillary arcs (not 360 arcs) count as your firing arc.

Since you have experience with A-wings, you probably know that tapping a ship with 1 stress isn't that big of a deal. However, it is a big deal when you're facing Push the Limit ships like Dash Rendar, Soontir Fel, and IG-88s which are susceptible to the dreaded double-stress.

You can get a lot of mileage out of those 2 points. With that said, definitely experiment with some other combinations. Greedo on Moralo is a blast! But I usually try and fit in a Hound's Tooth title when I do that.

With the ships you listed, I would go with something like this to win consistently:

Poe + R2-D2 + Wired + Weapons Guidance

Biggs

Miranda Doni + Twin Laser Turret

----98 points

2 points to flavor. Essentially you have two very durable ships that could fly in formation with Biggs to focus fire until he drops and then you could break out, divide, and conquer. With Doni, remember that you can have 4 dice primary attacks at range one if spending a shield, so if you TL once in range and then focus, you have a heavily modified attack near the beginning of the game.

Lots of good ideas here - my vote would go to zerotc's list - it looks like a lot of fun! Be warned though, focus fire can reduce a houndstooth to space debris quicker than you'd think, so play him smart...

Secomd place would be a poe list ,as the guy's a bit of a legend!

Unfortunately i dont think you have enough imperials to field a good list yet. Tie phantom would be top of my list if i was looking for a centre-piece ship that's ready to go straight out of the box - it comes with all the cards you'll need for a good build, and is a horrible ship to get shot at by! You could field whisper (ace phantom), a punisher jacked up with mines and accuracy correcter, and a few ties/ omega ace with ptl?t

Have you considered a half-brick inna sock?

Can you swing a sack of doorknobs?