Hey all! I was looking through the squads of rouges and villains. Love em. Who do you think got the better end of the deal? Imperials or Rebels?

Red is a nice colour.

But having zero play so far with my pack not sure I can really pick one over the other.

Villians did way better. Enough to make up for how well the rebels did with the original squadrons.

having never played them myself this is all just looking at them on paper. Neither side is bad at all but I think the imps at least got the easier to implement pieces. Also the rebs were shafted on the rogue keyword, which in my opinion made more sense on rebel ships but again never even seen them on the table

I think they're both very good for different reasons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7XVcqZodAM

Bahahaha oh man. I haven't spelled that so wrong since Vanilla WoW when I was an Assassination "rouge"

I tell ya, the "delight at people misspelling ROGUE as ROUGE" lollercoaster is gonna be running nonstop for the next few months.

I feel like the Imperials did better with the expansion pack overall, but we'll see if play actually backs that up. There were more spaces for the Imperial squadrons to fill due to the very specialized nature of TIE design philosophy.

Ships like Dengar and Howlrunner are incredible for their cost. Incredible. Though they depend on their being other squadrons for them to eviscerate. With the popularity of squadrons going up, both with the Worlds result and with R&V being released soon, I think we can expect to see an increase in Squadrons and a big increase in basic TIEs+Howl+Dengar+Rhymer, which collectively boost them to silly levels.

Boba and Slave-1 are also great as solid bombers.

Yeah I agree. Dengar is a massive boost, Boba is a threat to everything. Do most people plan on buying just one pack or multiple? is there room for boba and a few firesprays in lists?

(I would love that list)

Rogues are way better. The Firespray, Dengar, IG-2000. Clearly the Rogues are the best. Besides, the Villains are all terrorist scum.

having never played them myself this is all just looking at them on paper. Neither side is bad at all but I think the imps at least got the easier to implement pieces. Also the rebs were shafted on the rogue keyword, which in my opinion made more sense on rebel ships but again never even seen them on the table

The rebel squadrons are more likely to be teamwork kinda people. At least compared to the Imperial faction bounty hunters. Seems to make fluff sense to me.

define "better"

it's pretty meaningless without context

so far, the most promising pieces are (imo)

Rogues

Jan Ors for really upping the rebel squadron game, both against ships (intel) and enemy squadrons

the Silly H-6 Bomber, for getting B-wings @ 150% speed to threaten enemy Akbars

the YT-2400, for being a strictly superior Aggressor Assault Fighter; getting superior speed for getting rid of a dubiously useful Counter 1

Villians

Firespray, for being an independent bomber that has the threat range to operate without Rhymer

Dengar, for the same reason as Jan Ors

Rouge has some uses, but if you're asking about Armada then Villains win by default, since as far as I'm aware it lacks any form of Rouge (unless some of the rebel capital ships use Rouge to pretty themselves up before getting slaughtered by the forces of peace and order).

For me, Dengar wins the pack. Exceptional synergy with Howlrunner and TIE Fighters and Ints. TIE Fighters get Counter 1 and Howlrunner boosts it to 2. Which means that for 8 points, TIE Fighters have 4 blue dice with 1 reroll as normal attack and Counter 2 with 1 reroll when attacked.

Yeah I agree. Dengar is a massive boost, Boba is a threat to everything. Do most people plan on buying just one pack or multiple? is there room for boba and a few firesprays in lists?

(I would love that list)

I'm planning on getting 4 packs total. At the moment I've agreed to split the first 2 with my Rebel-playing buddy, but then I decided it was time to expand into playing Rebels periodically and would like two more packs for the Rebel ships, which will bring me up to 4 of everything Imperial and 2 of everything Rebel. That's up to 4 Firesprays, which seems like plenty (they are not cheap, as I'm sure you're aware).

To post a bit more on the original topic, I think Imperials benefited the most for a reason that's a bit more "slippery." Namely, it seems like we're looking at an upcoming meta with more squadrons in them (or at least squadrons used more consistently, anyways). With Intel being a factor, simply tying things up for a while is less reliable. Rebels are great at tying things up due to having more hull points than Imperials. The only surefire way to remove squadron threats is to destroy them (or at least destroy the Intel ship). Imperial dogfighter squadrons may not be cost-effective at being meat shields but you better believe they're cost-effective for destroying other squadrons.

Hence it's not just the new squadrons that are available, but what the predicted new meta will mean for the squadrons already used by the different factions. Note this doesn't mean I think Rebel squadrons are bad or somehow worse than Imperial ones. Just that Imperial squadron composition in wave 1 has been not nearly as varied as Rebel squadron composition and I'm looking forward to both factions having a wide variety of competitive options.

For me, Dengar wins the pack. Exceptional synergy with Howlrunner and TIE Fighters and Ints. TIE Fighters get Counter 1 and Howlrunner boosts it to 2. Which means that for 8 points, TIE Fighters have 4 blue dice with 1 reroll as normal attack and Counter 2 with 1 reroll when attacked.

Yea, TIEs can become amazing. But even with JUST howlrunner, they are amazing for 8pts and shut down Rhymerballs and A-Wing/Y-Wing clouds very cheaply. I'm still amazed so many Imperial players forgo even bringing just a couple of TIEs as protective insurance.

Of course, since I cake-walked our Sullets event with 10-0, 10-0, 7-3 games using A-Wing swarm against a bunch of squadron-less Imperials, I guess I shouldn't complain. .

For me, Dengar wins the pack. Exceptional synergy with Howlrunner and TIE Fighters and Ints. TIE Fighters get Counter 1 and Howlrunner boosts it to 2. Which means that for 8 points, TIE Fighters have 4 blue dice with 1 reroll as normal attack and Counter 2 with 1 reroll when attacked.

Yea, TIEs can become amazing. But even with JUST howlrunner, they are amazing for 8pts and shut down Rhymerballs and A-Wing/Y-Wing clouds very cheaply. I'm still amazed so many Imperial players forgo even bringing just a couple of TIEs as protective insurance.

Of course, since I cake-walked our Sullets event with 10-0, 10-0, 7-3 games using A-Wing swarm against a bunch of squadron-less Imperials, I guess I shouldn't complain. .

My concern regarding Dengar is that yes, he definitely makes those nearby TIEs better. No doubt about that whatsoever. The problem is his points cost of 20 is non-trivial and you might be better off simply using those points for a TIE Advanced meat shield for Howlrunner + another TIE Fighter for the blob. I feel like if you really want Dengar to shine, you're probably better off combining him with Mauler Mithel so Mithel can continue doing his "hop and pop" technique due to Intel. Alternatively/in addition to that, I feel like he combines better with Interceptors than TIE Fighters, as bringing the Interceptors up to Counter 3+Swarm makes them extremely dangerous rather than just moderately dangerous for other dogfighters. Plus allowing the Interceptors to make full use of their speed 5 if you want to chase off after juicier targets is pretty sweet.

After a few proxy games, I'm of mixed opinion. I love the rogues as vanilla ships but I definitely prefer the Villains characters. Props to vanilla Aluminium Falcon tar pits even if they are tough to use.

I just wrote an article on my blog about the effectiveness of having cheap singular ships instead of taking squadrons. If we're to count that, I think Rogues might edge out ahead.

The Fett

While Dash and Han might be sorta useless for the points, I think Jan brings some squad synergies that were otherwise lacking for the rebs. Also, see the thread about Rieekan's zombie squad.

I'm eager to try out Wedge + Jan + 6 H6's wreaking havoc. I suppose it's somewhat thematic that Wedge's function is to absorb lasers and then run away...

Yeah let's just say I disagree with Dash being useless.

Yeah let's just say I disagree with Dash being useless.

That's true: I forgot about how wave 2 and intel will probably force furballs back into the game. When Dash is in the mix, that's enough re-rolls to fish for 4 hits!

Dash is awesome! Rogue Bomber with a black die? 4 anti squadron? 4 speed/6 hull? Built in roll protection?

What's not to like?