Would appreciate some tips on how to fly this thing. Last game I tried a slow-ish approach, keeping my front shield facing the opponent but the broad, weak side shields are impossible to protect forever.

That's exactly how I have seen them played. Just play them like a VSD. Speed one, snipe ppl from far away. Put salvation on it and it actually outshoots a vsd at long range.

I have read someone's batrep where they started it across the board from where the expected action is. The intention is for it to engage in the second half of the game, killing wounded ships while preventing it from being the focus of enemy attention. I have yet to try this myself but it sounds good....you just have to be able to handle the enemy ships while effectively down a ship.

I've recently come to really appreciate the Nebulon-B, for the points it costs, it is very customizable. As you mentioned, it is fragile and won't stand direct enemy fire for long but with the right upgrades and tactics you can make them go from cannon fodder to a menacing threat for opponents.

My favorite Nebulon build is with slaved turrets and salvation. I roll 4 red out the front and crits count as double whammies. That's a 37.5% chance of a double hit per roll. Ouch. Downside: you can only attack once per turn.

Another common build I'll try is with Yavaris and Adar Tallon. Double attack with squads that don't move on commands and don't activate one. Could be useful to swing three times with luke in one turn.

Finally, I often take one with redemption. That is usually my support one and will play defensively or make sure its obstructed.

Now like I said the key is to make sure that they stay alive to do maximum damage. You will probably lose most if not all of your Nebulons, that's just a fact you need to deal with. Just remember since they will die, you have to choose which ones with which upgrades to field. However, you can make it an engagement that isn't worth the losses for your opponent.

I like to start with my Salvation in the front and hammer in with those four reds from as far away and as slow as I can. I often take the Engineering team for that extra repair point. That way, when it gets gritty for him I can have a repair token waiting and then cash the repair dial on top of it for a whopping 8 repair points. (If I have Redemption in range, and if so the dial would be worth 5 alone!) This also gives me more opportunities to make a critical ram that wont destroy my ship outright. With that kind of repair value you can almost guarantee another volley or two.

If you wanted to use just one as the "mop up" guy, well, theyre suited for that too. Defiantly, take one with heavy guns and know that it's can go toe to toe with anyone in the sniping game.They are good customized but not bad naked as an extra 51-57 point gun. Two naked Nebulons side by side rolling slow are 6 reds out the front for at least a few volleys. I played a 400 point game recently against a triple vic with a glad build using only corvettes, Nebs and squads. I won by the skin of my teeth but you can make it work. It was something like this:

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (75 pts)

Slaved Turrets

Salvation

Engineering Team

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (72 pts)

Adar Tallon

Yavaris

Nebulon-B Support Refit (64 pts)

Redemption

Engineering Team

Corvette B (49 pts)

Leading Shots

Dodonna's Pride

Corvette B (65 pts)

Dodonna

Tantive IV

Leia Organa

Luke (20 pts)

Farlander (20 pts)

2x Y-wing (20 pts)

X-wing (13 pts)

398 of 400pts

Objs:

Superior positions

Hyperspace assault

Precision Strike

But like I said they're very customizable and are even ok naked for a "cheapish" gun that's dope at long range.

2 uses:

1. Yavaris B-wing close support ship.

2. Long-range sniper.

No. 1 doesn't work for me. It's too passive, too dependent on what the opponent brings/does (personal experience, nothing more).

No. 2 work when I use it to finish damaged ships in mid-late game. It does NOT work out when I try to 'joust' with it.

That said. the Neb is (currently) my least fav ship.

I like to start with my Salvation in the front and hammer in with those four reds from as far away and as slow as I can. I often take the Engineering team for that extra repair point. That way, when it gets gritty for him I can have a repair token waiting and then cash the repair dial on top of it for a whopping 8 repair points. (If I have Redemption in range, and if so the dial would be worth 5 alone!) This also gives me more opportunities to make a critical ram that wont destroy my ship outright.

Good points and analysis. One minor correction is that your setup only yields 7 engineering points, not 8. 5 for the command dial, as you say, but the token only yields 2. Base engineering value remains 3, even with engineering team. It's still a lot - though is also a lot of points!

Personally I find the support with Salvation is quite effective as a finisher. Place it last and do what you need to so it gets into range no sooner than turn 3. That or my other favorite is put it on speed 3 and flank the snot out of the opponent. Turn 2 or 3 turn into the fight and slow down.

Ultimately it can be sacrificed if you're at least trading for another ship. Don't be afraid to do your thing and get out. Sometimes it happens.

I have found adding XI7's to a Neb-B with Salvation to be a good combo as well.

^{I have found adding XI7's to a Neb-B with Salvation to be a good combo as well.}

^{Pair that up with intel officer and you could carve a hole for further damage pretty easily, that, or make um eat a crucial defense token early.}

I like to start with my Salvation in the front and hammer in with those four reds from as far away and as slow as I can. I often take the Engineering team for that extra repair point. That way, when it gets gritty for him I can have a repair token waiting and then cash the repair dial on top of it for a whopping 8 repair points. (If I have Redemption in range, and if so the dial would be worth 5 alone!) This also gives me more opportunities to make a critical ram that wont destroy my ship outright.

^{Good points and analysis. One minor correction is that your setup only yields 7 engineering points, not 8. 5 for the command dial, as you say, but the token only yields 2. Base engineering value remains 3, even with engineering team. It's still a lot - though is also a lot of points!}

^{Would you not get another engineering point off of the token from the effect of redemption. I'm pretty sure with redemption double dipping with dial and tokens is permitted. Could be wrong.}

^{Edit: You're right it's 7.}

I have read someone's batrep where they started it across the board from where the expected action is. The intention is for it to engage in the second half of the game, killing wounded ships while preventing it from being the focus of enemy attention. I have yet to try this myself but it sounds good....you just have to be able to handle the enemy ships while effectively down a ship.

I used this approach with them at 3 different Massing at Sullust events and never lost a game. It works really well. I wrote a post about the tactic on my blog.

The way I run mine is pairing it up with a bomber-heavy build where I have an Assault Carrier do the majority of the fighting. I run a Yavaris with Engine Techs, usually making it my flag ship. I do this chiefly because I often have the Assault shielding it from the majority of incoming damage (or I just have it going too fast at too long of a range for the enemy ships to do much about it ). The strategy is to keep it in medium range of my bombers, allowing them that lovely double-attack. Since it's seldom the prime target, I'm able to keep from worrying about losing it and my commander while my Assault and bombers do most of the damage. I've found the setup works pretty well against Victories, even ones with a substantial fighter escort. Gladiator setups... meh (tbh, only ever faced one with this and I made some sorry errors early on that ended very badly >_<). Not much experience against other Rebel setups though. :/

Lots of great comments, thank you.

I have one follow-up question for you guys. On average, by what round are you exchanging fire?

Lots of great comments, thank you.

I have one follow-up question for you guys. On average, by what round are you exchanging fire?

Round 2.

Rounds 3-4 are the main ones.

Still trying to figure this out myself. I lean towards speed 3, this is the speed at which the brick starts to glide gracefully, as such it seems that timely maneuver commands are a must. From there you hook in behind your target and stay on its six.

The reality is that hard to do.

Lots of great comments, thank you.

I have one follow-up question for you guys. On average, by what round are you exchanging fire?

You can get shots in as early as round 2 if your opponent advances aggressively. Place your neb with speed 3, bank a nav token, turn 2, use a navigate dial in combination with your token and take yourself down to speed one...stack concentrate fire and snipe away with salvation for a possible 8 dmg.

I used a 3 neb 1 cr90 for awhile. Used yavaris paired to a wedge and dutch combo to punch way above they're weight class. I liked nav team on mine to improve turning, but raymus to push to three squadrons a turn is extremely good. I played my list to get 7-3s as tabling was never an option, just trade a neb for an asf or victory and race away.

I run a double-double NebB and CR90 list, so I can't afford to trade a NebB for another ship too often, because I don't have that FUGLY but powerful Space Guppy to do the heavy lifting. What that means, is I don't particularly like the speed one NebB crawl myself, because it usually means that ship will get caught and blown up usually after a couple rounds of long range fire with something like a VSD.

My preference is sailing her at speed 2 and banking a Nav token for a jump to speed three to hopefully carry her beyond a broadside exchange at close range with those ugly old Star Destroyers. This tactic is true whether I'm running the Escort Yavaris with B-wing variant, which allows her killer B's to keep up, or the Support Salvation variant that will focus on sniping using whatever Turbolasers upgrade floats your boat (I prefer the X17 for now, but I do want to try out the newer ones when Wave 2 finally docks).