I've played about 20 games now and I've focused mainly on Rebels. I've flown a few scum lists and haven't touched imperials yet even though I own a ton of imp ships. But I'm getting the feeling for what I like and don't.

A-Wings : I love these things. but I have really bad luck with them and the dice don't love me back. Tycho and I are getting really well acquainted, while Jake and Gemmer are not getting as much use as I have started to phase them out of lists. Jake I don't fly well at all. Gemmer and Tycho have been great for me as flankers. They are squishier than I would like. But I have flown them more than any other ship.

B-Wings: I can't fly these things. They usually become cannon fodder when I fly them dying withing a turn or two. Lots of HP, but that dial is terrible and with only one evade I find I'm often disappointed with them.

X-Wings: I've had some luck running Wedge and Red Squadies, but haven't really used any of the other pilots. I don't mind them, but perfer the T70 for sure.

T70: I love the T70. My best list has usually include a pair of them. Usually Poe and a Vet. Probably will try a Vet and Ello next as I love the T-roll. I love how quickly these things can move around the board, don't even really need to upgrade them and still have them be fairly useful.

Y-Wings: I only like running them in Scumm because of Unhinged Astro and Engine Upgrade. But I run a pair with title/UA/EU/TLT and 3 Z95's with quite good effect, it has been my most dangerous list to date.

E-Wings: After the T70 my most effective ship to run is the E-Wing, either Ethan or Corran. I love the dial and while they are way to expensive I do find I can do fairly well as long as I don't loose Corran too early..

YT1300 - I've only flown it a few times, I'm very impressed with how good it can get around. There are so many fun ways to build it. Expert Handling and Experimental Interface for example is a lot of fun and a bit unpredictable. I can't wait for Chopper, Ezra, and Hera to come out which can really make it even more fun!

YT2400 - own it, haven't flown it yet

HWK-240 - Only used it in Epic play so far. Roark with TLT. Made for some fun combos until my CR90 squished it

K-Wing - Tactician and TLT is super cheesy.... I decided not to do that again.

Z95 - A lot of love for this ship, starting to get why... Not a great dial, but not a terrible one either.

So I've decided to start focusing on my best lists so far.... Please critique:

Sounds like you are mixing things up a lot, which is really great to do. This game has so much variety and choice.

I would say though that what you really want to do is pick a list and fly just that list, until you learn how to make it work. Tweak the upgrades from game to game until you find a combo that works with the same backbone of ships, and eventually you'll home in on an optimised version. That's how I learned. Once you know you can make that list work consistently, then start changing the ships around. Maybe one ahip at a time.

If you keep changing lists you will take much longer to figure out each ship and how it flies.

As for your comments about B wings, I like them but the TLT meta makes them a lot more squishy than they ought to be. I'd say fit them with FCS and don't be afraid to use the red manoeuvres. Just make sure you have planned what your next turn manoeuvre will be before you set that red dial!

Wow, that's a lot of lists to go through!

I'll start with the last two.

Thug w/ TLT, R4 agromech + engine = 30

Go with this instead. Its arc-dodgy, punchy and you can zip it around the board just trying to stay out enemies arcs keeping them at distance and you pretty much always have shots. If you have engine, you don't need the unhinged (the 3 hard turn is not as important, although sometimes nice, if you practice with it, you'll find you don't miss it). R4 agromech though is essential in making twin laser turret deal consistent damage against high agility targets.

2 of those guys leaves 40 points. I usually run Guri in that spot for funsies, but you can totally do 3 z-95s instead. Either 3 blacksun soldiers, or 3 binayre pirates and give 2 of them feedback arrays (very annoying list for enemy arc-dodgers!)

For your last list, I think its more or less okay, except you have the EPTs backwards on your T-70s. Give the red vet Push the Limit (which you can use off of BB-8 so you clear your stress immediately when you reveal the green move, AND you still get your regular action!). Veteran instincts is also much more useful on Poe, boosting him to PS10.

If you find Psycho Tycho dying a lot, then I think you are flying him wrong (no offense, but he is arc-dodgy as hell, so shouldn't be getting shot much). Your tycho build is fine as is, you just need to practice more, I think. Something to remember: he ignores stress, so you can activate experimental interface (for DD only) and push the limit in any order either off each other or the first action you take. So you have absolute flexibility in how you use it. My suggestion is to throw some asteroids onto your kitchen table (or whatever) and take out Tycho and your maneuver templates. Now just practice moving him around the rocks and finding all of the different crazy approaches he can pull off. Something else to practice: banks and turns AWAY from the enemy, followed by boost and/or daredevil turn back towards the enemy can create very interesting and unexpected positions for Tycho, allowing him to get out of their firing arcs yet still have a shot...

Keep practicing and you'll get it!

One os the biggest blocks for me personally was learning not to choose the move that will give me sure-fire shots on the enemy, but moves that will get me a shot on the enemy while the enemy has no shot on me. The Yt-2400 will teach you that, it's a very large A-wing, the way it moves. You seem to like cancelling damage and not taking it, so high Agility PTL awings with Prockets would be your friend or T-70 regen Poe.

thank you everyone for the help and guidance. I really appreciate it.

One os the biggest blocks for me personally was learning not to choose the move that will give me sure-fire shots on the enemy, but moves that will get me a shot on the enemy while the enemy has no shot on me. The Yt-2400 will teach you that, it's a very large A-wing, the way it moves. You seem to like cancelling damage and not taking it, so high Agility PTL awings with Prockets would be your friend or T-70 regen Poe.

Is it worth the one shot hail mary for Prockets though? People have used them on me, and maybe I've been lucky, but I rarely feel the pain from them. Yes, I was looking at the dial of the YT2400 after I posted this last night and realized the fringer is actually fairly inexpensive... I don't know how viable it would be, but part of me really wants to try out 2 fringers with Tactician and 3 Z95's. thats a lot of HP, not a lot of attack dice though. I'll borrow another YT2400 instead of buying one to try this out.

Wow, that's a lot of lists to go through!

I'll start with the last two.

Thug w/ TLT, R4 agromech + engine = 30

Go with this instead. Its arc-dodgy, punchy and you can zip it around the board just trying to stay out enemies arcs keeping them at distance and you pretty much always have shots. If you have engine, you don't need the unhinged (the 3 hard turn is not as important, although sometimes nice, if you practice with it, you'll find you don't miss it). R4 agromech though is essential in making twin laser turret deal consistent damage against high agility targets.

2 of those guys leaves 40 points. I usually run Guri in that spot for funsies, but you can totally do 3 z-95s instead. Either 3 blacksun soldiers, or 3 binayre pirates and give 2 of them feedback arrays (very annoying list for enemy arc-dodgers!)

For your last list, I think its more or less okay, except you have the EPTs backwards on your T-70s. Give the red vet Push the Limit (which you can use off of BB-8 so you clear your stress immediately when you reveal the green move, AND you still get your regular action!). Veteran instincts is also much more useful on Poe, boosting him to PS10.

If you find Psycho Tycho dying a lot, then I think you are flying him wrong (no offense, but he is arc-dodgy as hell, so shouldn't be getting shot much). Your tycho build is fine as is, you just need to practice more, I think. Something to remember: he ignores stress, so you can activate experimental interface (for DD only) and push the limit in any order either off each other or the first action you take. So you have absolute flexibility in how you use it. My suggestion is to throw some asteroids onto your kitchen table (or whatever) and take out Tycho and your maneuver templates. Now just practice moving him around the rocks and finding all of the different crazy approaches he can pull off. Something else to practice: banks and turns AWAY from the enemy, followed by boost and/or daredevil turn back towards the enemy can create very interesting and unexpected positions for Tycho, allowing him to get out of their firing arcs yet still have a shot...

Keep practicing and you'll get it!

Tycho doesn't die a lot, he actually has been my saving grace and often my last ship on the board. Green dice were very hot with him every game I've used him which doesn't hurt. But yes, I love the maneuverability and I feel like I'm getting a good handle on distance. Have had many a close call...but I've not landed on a rock in a few games now. Jake and Gemmer are the ones dying on me, Jake more than Gemmer.

I'll try the Agromechs in the Y wing build next run out. I used to run Guri originally, but I found the 3 Z95's work much better against my local opposition as I'm usually facing 4+ ships and that extra body has been more important it seems.

Sounds like you are mixing things up a lot, which is really great to do. This game has so much variety and choice.

I would say though that what you really want to do is pick a list and fly just that list, until you learn how to make it work. Tweak the upgrades from game to game until you find a combo that works with the same backbone of ships, and eventually you'll home in on an optimised version. That's how I learned. Once you know you can make that list work consistently, then start changing the ships around. Maybe one ahip at a time.

If you keep changing lists you will take much longer to figure out each ship and how it flies.

As for your comments about B wings, I like them but the TLT meta makes them a lot more squishy than they ought to be. I'd say fit them with FCS and don't be afraid to use the red manoeuvres. Just make sure you have planned what your next turn manoeuvre will be before you set that red dial!

Thanks. Yes I have been wanting to try everything possible with Rebels to get a feel for it. I was originally collecting so I have at least one of each and started buying more of what I like. I'm going to narrow it down to two lists and run that for a while. Probably my Scum list and something using Tycho and T70s

Try Tycho with Red Ace and Blue Ace.

Every ship in this list is consistently useful and you have reasonable damage and staying power. It also doesn't require huge amounts of tricksy flying so it's good for learning. Probably not the most competitive but I think it's quite fun, and has the tools to get you out of tight spots.

A-Wing: · Tycho Celchu (26)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Chardaan Refit (-2)

Autothrusters (2)

A-Wing Test Pilot (0)

Push The Limit (3)

T-70 X-Wing: · "Red Ace" (29)

· R2-D2 (4)

Autothrusters (2)

Comm Relay (3)

T-70 X-Wing: · "Blue Ace" (27)

· BB-8 (2)

Autothrusters (2)

-- TOTAL ------- 99/100p. --