'Cause frankly I think they're all garbage. I'm at the point where I'm seriously considering keeping the Salvation off the board and then having it Hyperspace Assault behind Imperial lines at some point.

Depends on your list, really.

If I'm running B-wing heavy, then it's contested outpost. Deploy a ship (just a small one) to get points for the first few turns from the outpost. Then deploy B-wings on/around the outpost and dare the enemy to get close. Majority of your ships flank to one side or another, concentrating firepower to support the B's. If enemy squadrons, you'll have to keep the B's closer or hide them in obstacles to prevent engagement.

If you have a CR90 and a couple of bigger ships, then Firing Lanes is an option. Rebel Red dice really improve the victory token count turn after turn. And if you outnumber the enemy, consider giving the CR90 its own fire lane token off to the side. If the enemy devotes one of his ships to take on the CR90, it runs away to help take out the other ship with the rest of your fleet. If they ignore it, then it's just earned at least 90 points for you over 6 turns, at no risk to itself. You have to be careful that your other ships can move and properly handle the rest of the enemy fleet.

If you have Paragon, Hyperspace Assault is a no-brainer. Jump Paragon in for exactly placed double arc, double black dice goodness.

You've got lots of options....

Pretty much what Maturin said.

Hyperspace assault for me is Paragon only. Using Yavaris is just too risky for me.

Only yellow that see little rebel use is Fleet Ambush. I've tried it, but not gotten it to work, not reliably anyway (too many potential lists that this could backfire against).

'Cause frankly I think they're all garbage. I'm at the point where I'm seriously considering keeping the Salvation off the board and then having it Hyperspace Assault behind Imperial lines at some point.

As an Imp, it took me several games to really think through. As a goal, assume you're first player and choose Objectives to punish your opponent in all three situations, Your oppponent should be playing YOUR game, not the other way araound. Choose objectives to play your game, and not the other way around,

You asume that you will be forced to play Hyperspace Asssault on 1st turn. You don't seem to place much stock in the fact that this will happen starting on turn 2, the earliest turn you could potentially hit an enemy at Long Range. Your ships and squadrons will start closer to your opponent.and potentially influence you activation. Ships and squadrons will dominate if you careully consider each action.

my go to for rebels is fleet ambush, splits their fleet with wide open flanking options also means i waste one less turn getting into firing range with my slower elements so more time to deal lethal damage

For Rebels it's usually Hyperspace (typically to get good shots with Salvation or to show up with Yavaris and some bombers, though occasionally to try and get the jump on someone with Dodonna's Pride). Occasionally Fire Lanes when I'm looking to run a lot of broadside shots so can steer the fight that way.

Contested Outpost encourages you to slow down too much, and a Rebel fleet is normally better off on the move. I don't go near Fleet Ambush, just can't see a way to get any real benefit out of it.

Hyperspace assault all the way!

hyperspace assault! Virtually averytime. That will only compound once wave two hits

I always pick objectives that let me score more points. That's why Hyperspace Assault and Fleet Ambush are out.

Contested OUtpost is a winner if I have B-Wings, otherwise Fire Lanes works great with Rebel broadsides lists.

It depends on my fleet:

• With my AF-heavy fleet, I vastly prefer Fire Lanes, because I find it's very easy to control this early on and it forces your opponent to play from behind, essentially. They can't slow play you for a draw when you rack up tokens for the first three turns non-stop.
• With my experimental squadron fleet (still very much a testing work in progress), it's Hyperspace Assault, because I run Yavaris in that and, to quote Pam from Archer, holy %!@#snacks does that thing tear people up if you get to sneak attack them, which makes people paranoid, which is what you want.
• With my CR90 swarm, it's usually Fire Lanes, but if not, it's Fleet Ambush, because that allows me to drop 6 CR90s on 1-2 targets in turn 1-2, which usually means it's 5 CR90s against the back half of someone's fleet for the rest of the game. A savvy opponent will deploy far away and run away on turn 1, which is the right move vs. the swarm in this setup.

Fleet Ambush and Fire Lanes are my personal favs.

I like Hyperspace Assault because it's fun to drop in. Just don't get too anxious to hop in.

It depends on my fleet:

• With my AF-heavy fleet, I vastly prefer Fire Lanes, because I find it's very easy to control this early on and it forces your opponent to play from behind, essentially. They can't slow play you for a draw when you rack up tokens for the first three turns non-stop.
• With my experimental squadron fleet (still very much a testing work in progress), it's Hyperspace Assault, because I run Yavaris in that and, to quote Pam from Archer, holy %!@#snacks does that thing tear people up if you get to sneak attack them, which makes people paranoid, which is what you want.
• With my CR90 swarm, it's usually Fire Lanes, but if not, it's Fleet Ambush, because that allows me to drop 6 CR90s on 1-2 targets in turn 1-2, which usually means it's 5 CR90s against the back half of someone's fleet for the rest of the game. A savvy opponent will deploy far away and run away on turn 1, which is the right move vs. the swarm in this setup.

Can you talk more about how you do Fleet Ambush with mass CRs?

Just my personal opinion, but hyperspace assault is a trap card against imperials. A savvy albiet crazy admiral will counter deploy at speed 0 and not let you flank without sacrificing a huge amount of fleet availability or power. Even just a simple refused flank with demolisher waiting can keep yavaris or salvation from popping out where you want him.

Fire lanes or contested outpost are much better as they force your opponent into where you want them to be rather than just flanking or they get to be closer too you

It depends on my fleet:

• With my AF-heavy fleet, I vastly prefer Fire Lanes, because I find it's very easy to control this early on and it forces your opponent to play from behind, essentially. They can't slow play you for a draw when you rack up tokens for the first three turns non-stop.
• With my experimental squadron fleet (still very much a testing work in progress), it's Hyperspace Assault, because I run Yavaris in that and, to quote Pam from Archer, holy %!@#snacks does that thing tear people up if you get to sneak attack them, which makes people paranoid, which is what you want.
• With my CR90 swarm, it's usually Fire Lanes, but if not, it's Fleet Ambush, because that allows me to drop 6 CR90s on 1-2 targets in turn 1-2, which usually means it's 5 CR90s against the back half of someone's fleet for the rest of the game. A savvy opponent will deploy far away and run away on turn 1, which is the right move vs. the swarm in this setup.

Can you talk more about how you do Fleet Ambush with mass CRs?

So Fleet Ambush:

• Both sides have to deploy ships first.
• The other guy is first player.

If, somehow, he is running only two ships, assume he is going to activate the ambush ship first to get it the hell out of dodge. This is fine; you are forcing his hand and should plan for that.

WIth anything else, he has at least two ships in the ambush zone. Sometimes people are crazy and come at you (or go sideways), the very savvy ones point backwards and run.

Your setup should probably be your first CR90 or two in the exact middle of the board, at speed 4, so regardless of where he deploys you can pounce quickly. However, you will have some certainty about where his ships are shortly after this, as you can't stall with squadrons in Fleet Ambush, so once you know, the remaining CR90s should be placed such that (if he is pointed forward) they are in range once he moves, or if he is sideways, you cut him off after turn one and have the entirety of your ships firing at a single ship. I will sometimes overload all 4-5 CR90s in a psuedo x-wing tie swarm on one side if someone telegraphs a move.

The goal is that, by the end of turn two, you have slaughtered anything you were ambushing. This means concentrate fire, making sure all your CR90s have clear shots in turn 2, and being willing to go all-in to deliver the death blow. You want, with 2 turns played, for you to have all of your ships (or have lost just one) in return for taking a big chunk out of them due to firepower asymmetry. The goal is that even lists like the Gencon Special that will want to bring the other ships up quickly to grind won't arrive in time.

It takes a bit of practice, but essentially nothing is fast enough to dodge that many CR90s at high speed unless the opponent knows what is coming and deploys to move away from your side of the board immediately. That's where one ship and/or people who literally deploy with their rear facing you are actually the ones with the better initial read on the situation. In that case, you have to use the forced flight to your advantage, if you can...

Reinholt, I played a random game against myself and drew Ambush as the Imperial 1st player last night. I deployed sideways in hopes to catch some Rebel ships making their circle. I never thought of running away from the opponents side (But if I placed the faster ships there I could have done it).

Regardless, everyone decided to engage and ultimately one Neb B came out of the carnage. That was 300+ worth of ships on both sides that blew up.

The blue one.

More seriously, I tend to run Hyperspace Assault with Yavaris and 3 B's/2 B's + Luke. It's not terribly original, but it virtually never gets picked. When it does, I delay the hyperspace until round 3 or occasionally 4, to make sure that Neb is going to be behind anything that can destroy it. Most B's do their dirty work in rounds 3-5 anyway, so having them off the board isn't a significant loss.

I've also tried Fire Lanes a couple of times, but my brother and I had to actually sit down and playtest it to do so (since its never been picked by my opponent).

Not sold on Hyperspace Assault.

Taking away 1 ship + 3 expensive fighters means you're playing 200 pts vs 300 pts, and the opponent is going first AND having (potentially) more ships than you. You better do it right or it's a death sentence.

'Cause frankly I think they're all garbage. I'm at the point where I'm seriously considering keeping the Salvation off the board and then having it Hyperspace Assault behind Imperial lines at some point.

Funny.. I have done that a couple of times before.. the trick is not to jump in too early.. sometimes waiting to jump behind their lines at turn 4 is okay.

Not sold on Hyperspace Assault.

Taking away 1 ship + 3 expensive fighters means you're playing 200 pts vs 300 pts, and the opponent is going first AND having (potentially) more ships than you. You better do it right or it's a death sentence.

I agree it's often a poor choice.

The only time I have seen it work is with B-wings, where realistically the biggest problem is people flying away from them anyways. This serves as insurance against that, but if you aren't taking Yavaris with B's and/or Luke, I don't know that this objective is a good decision vs. Fire Lanes for most rebel lists.