Disagree that four ship Rebels are dead... But there is certainly no easy road.

No easy button on the munitions alpha strike panel...

Edit: dang it. This time last year I was warning people to watch what the wished for on munitions. This was exactly what I was worried about. Hopefully the scene changes again soon. Thanks PGS for the reminder.

While U-Boats are a huge problem for 4 ship Rebels, they're just as screwed by Palp Aces. Your attacks do nothing to them.

Don't forget that rebel 4 ship in the regen variant won Worlds because the Stresshog gave it a tool to deal with Palpaces along with PS10 Poe. 4 Rebels ships can be teched to have an excellent Palpaces matchup.

Dont think it was an easy road, it was a tool but still not a counter. Furthemore, imperials didnt play defenders who'd evade and do a k-turn behind all your ships even while stressed.

I would not play r3a2, i lean to bb8 since is not gamechanging but its welcomed most of the time. The solution this list offer against U-boats is wes and biggs, thats why the difference between 3 and 4 ships isnt that much, i also prefer 3 ships with miranda loaded.

The point CRCL brings is a good one, as me and a friend tested the wes/miranda/biggs with EM and chopper and between the games both played only once were both missiles launched.

Disagree that four ship Rebels are dead... But there is certainly no easy road.

No easy button on the munitions alpha strike panel...

Edit: dang it. This time last year I was warning people to watch what the wished for on munitions. This was exactly what I was worried about. Hopefully the scene changes again soon. Thanks PGS for the reminder.

While U-Boats are a huge problem for 4 ship Rebels, they're just as screwed by Palp Aces. Your attacks do nothing to them.

Don't forget that rebel 4 ship in the regen variant won Worlds because the Stresshog gave it a tool to deal with Palpaces along with PS10 Poe. 4 Rebels ships can be teched to have an excellent Palpaces matchup.

One of the easiest ships to arc dodge is a BTL-A4 Y-Wing. I don't think it's an excellent matchup, especially now that Palp Aces has Defender(s) in it.

I'd also like to put forth the argument that wave 7 Palp Aces was moderately less powerful pre-Inquisitor. You kind of were forced to use Vader as your second ace, which was more susceptible to fat turrets and TLT's and everything else in general. Inquisitor is better than Soontir, roughly equal survivability, less points, and much better offensively.

Inquisitor is also quite decent against Poe, shuts off his autothrusters and range 3 bonus die. It's not just U-Boats that ramped up the power of Palp Aces, it's also the Inquisitor, and now Defenders.

I'm fine with the power level that Defenders are at when you run 3 of them. But when you add Palp it becomes insane. Vessery with x7, Juke, and Stealth Device has got to be one of the top 3 most efficient ships in this game.

Alright, so Wave 9 is confirmed to arrive on September 22nd so our Nationals will probably allow it. I mean, I don't see why they wouldn't. Anyway, onto list testing!

The past weekend I managed to play a couple games, one with a Scum list to help a friend practice, and then played my Rebel list against the same opponent.

So,

Scum game 2

My list:

Manaroo, Attani Mindlink, K4 Droid, Unhinged Astromech, Feedback Array, P1

2x Tansarii Point Vet Scyks, Attani Mindlink, Title, HLC

This list was suggested by a user on these forums (sorry I don't remember your name right now) who took it at Gencon and did pretty well with it, so I wanted to give it a try.

Opponent's list:

Darth Vader, Adaptability, TIE/x1, ATC, EU

Soontir Fel, PTL, ATs

Ryad, VI, TIE/x7, TIE mk II

A classic aces list, supported by Ryad rather than Palp. I set up Manaroo on my left corner, facing right and the two Scyks on my right, facing up. My opponent deploys his ships all together, across Manaroo. On the first turn I 4-forward with Manaroo to get away from his ships while I 3-bank + BRoll the Scycs to start getting them into position. My opponent shoots forward with everything, going as fast as possible, with boosts and barrel rolls. Next turn I do a 1-turn left with Manaroo (so she is now facing up) to try and get the TL on Vader, who was closer to me, but fall short by a few millimeters. Meanwhile, the Scyks turn left to get into the fight. My opponent banks in with Vader and Soontir, towards me, while Ryad does a 5-forward, possibly going for the flank. Vader boosts to get a shot and takes his TL on me, while Soontir ends up behind Vader, but out of range of Manaroo. So Vader attacks me but does no damage while I manage to roll 3 hits with Manaroo (after focus) and Vader only saves one, so Vader loses his shields. Next turn I 2-turn left with Manaroo and grab a TL on Vader plus focus. The Scyks do a 2-forward as I am trying to stay at R3. Vader and Soontir then turn to chase Manaroo, with Vader ending up at R2 and Soontir at R1. Meanwhile, Ryad starts turning it to get into the fight. So here I made a small mistake which I caught on only after we finished the game. Manaroo's ability states that you can transfer ALL Focus, Evades and TLs assigned to you to another friendly ship. So, this means that after moving my TL and Focus to one of the Scyks, Vader's TL should have also been moved to that Scyk. Anyway, that mistake was actually in my opponent's favor, but it would not have made a huge difference anyway. So Vader attacks Manaroo but does no damage again, and Soontir rolls 4 hits after focus, so Manaroo takes 3 damage. As I said earlier, I moves the Scyks slow to stay at R3. However, one of the Scyks was actually out of range of Vader, so only one would attack him. Anyway, with focus plus TL I manage to roll 4 hits onto Vader and he only saves two, so he takes 2 damage. Then, Manaroo attacks Vader and manages to finish him off. Here we see the major problem with Vader. He is great as he is a very high PS pilot and with his ability plus EU he can arc-dodge very effectively, but he seriously lacks against turrets, since he has no autothrusters. Plus, in this list, my opponent had no Palp support, and that makes Vader much less survivable. Anyway, next turn I manage to get the block on Soontir with Manaroo and I have A Scyk pointing at him. Meanwhile, I K-turned the other Scyk to still catch Soontir in arc should I miss the block and Ryad gets into R1 of the stressed Scyk. Ryad then attacks it, and after rolling 4 hits, she kills it instantly. The other Scyk however puts two damage on Soontir and Manaroo finishes him off with a Feedback Array. So now I have a Scyk and Manaroo without shields vs Ryad. As you can imagine, Ryad was not much of a trouble, since I had the 3-dice primary turret plus HLC. After a few turns of maneuvers, I manage to get R1 with Manaroo and the Scyk in arc while Ryad had only her evade for defense, as she used her focus to attack. Anyway, I kill Ryad that round and snag a victory with the Scum list.

I gotta say, this Scum list performs really well, better than I expected to be completely honest. However, the Scyks are really terrible when it comes to survivability, and if your green dice fail you, you pretty much lose a Scyk.

Rebel game 4 - Norra Wexley list variant

Opponent's list:

Same as before.

So, as I mentioned, Wave 9 will be available September 22nd, so Nationals will probably allow it. Now I have to get a bit more practice with the ARC! This game, though, this game I just couldn't roll what I needed. Dice were not on my side, and I also saw one huge weakness the list has, and that is the ARC dying really fast after you lose Biggs. I deploy everything in my left corner while my opponent deploys everything in my right-hand corner. I open with 2/3 turns to get my ships facing the right way, and my opponent opens with 5-straights on Vader and Ryad while Soontir turns right, to flank. So here I am presented with a difficult choice of letting Soonir get on my flank or turn to deal with him and hope that I can kill him fast, as he is the least survivable ship my opponent has. I choose to deal with Soontir, so I turn with everything again to face him. He slow rolls with Soontir, ending up out of range by a small bit, while Vader and Ryad turn in towards me. Next turn I do a 3-forward with everything, expecting my opponent to either go slow, so have a R1 engagement with Soontir, or go fast and bump me (I had Wes in the back of my formation, so I would sill get to shoot him if he bumped Norra. Meanwhile, Vader and Ryad also get into the fight and Vader TLs Biggs and focuses and Soontir does a 3 forward and misses the bump by the slightest. he then B-Rolls and boosts to end up out of arc of Norra, but in arc of Wes at least. As I said, dice were not on my side this game. Wes attacks but rolls only two hits even after spending the TL on Soontir, which he easily saves, and the combined fire of Vader, Soontir and Ryad take Biggs down to one hull. Not a good start for the Rebels. Anyway, next turn I bank with Norra and grab a TL on Vader, expecting Vader Soontir to run with 4-forward. Biggs and Wes K-turn to get arc on the enemy ships. However, I predict wrong and Soontir gets into R1 of Norra and Wes by doing a 2-turn. Vader and Ryad also move into the fight, all ending up at R2 of my ships. So Wes attacks Soontir and, since he was stressed, only rolls a single hit, to which Soontir blanks out, only having his evade to save him! If I had rolled a bit better, I could have seriously hurt Soontir and then finished him off with Norra. Alas, I did not, so Vader takes Biggs out and Norra fires at Vader, rolling three hits and taking out his shields plus a hull, after he blanks out! Not bad actually. Ryad fires to no effect at Wes, and we are back to dials. Here I make a mistake and do not realize I cannot use BB-8 when I am stressed, so I dial a 1-bank with Wes and rely on BB-8 to get me in arc. My opponent does a 2-hard with Soontir to chase Norra, who previously moves with a 2-bank and grabbed TL on Vader + focus. Vader and Ryad shuffle around with small moves while Wes, since he could not use BB-8, misses the bump by a bit on Soontir, but is actually past him. I wanted the bump to be able to get arc on Vader. Now Wes has nothing in arc but is also not in the arc of anyone, so there is that at least. Soontir, Vader and Ryad all put the pain on Norra, who loses her shields and two hull. She then attacks back at Vader and kills him. The combination of her ability plus Tail Gunner has great results indeed. But ARCs are not at all survivable without Biggs, sadly. Anyway, next turn I 3-turn with Wes to start getting into the fight while Soontir and Ryad chase Norra. I grab a TL on Soontir + focus and actually survive Ryad's and Soontir's attacks so I attack back at Soontir, who only rolls two dice plus he cannot use ATs, so I put a crit on him, which is Console Fire. Next turn Wes is still trying to get into the fight while Ryad and Soontir keep chasing Norra who does greens to regen and have a TL + focus. So Norra is sitting at one hull plus one shield. Soontir rolls for his crit and takes a damage and then attacks and rolls three hits. I roll a focus with Norra and use her ability defensively to get another focus, so I spend my token to get two evades and survive! However, I am rolling unmodified dice at Soontir and I blank out. Oh well, it would have been awesome if I could survive Soontir's attacks and then kill him . But I did not, so Ryad kills Norra easily. Next turn I catch Soontir in arc with Wes and roll 4 hits to kill him while Ryad is trying to re-orient herself. However, now I have only Wes vs Ryad, and you can all guess how that went. I couldn't really hurt her, but she could, so after a few turns, Wes was no more.

I really like this Rebel list, especially with Norra in, because she offers a lot with her ability and she is a 9 health ship after all. But she dies extremely easiliy and her regen is not really top notch, because you can't run away from a fight and then come back in, nor is it that reliable like Miranda.

Anyway, tell me what you think. I am always open to suggestions!

Cheers.

Hello there again!

Greek nationals are next week, Sunday 25th of September, so this will probably be my last pre-nationals battle report post.

This week, I tested out the x7 Defenders and boy, they are awesome! I think I am falling in love with that ship !

So, my list was (taken from the French Championship's winner)

Vessery, TIE/x7, Crackshot

Ryad, TIE/x7, Crackshot

Glaive pilot, TIE/x7, Crackshot

Defenders game 1

Opponent's list:

Chiraneau, Adaptability, Rebel captive, Palpatine, EU

Whisper, VI, FCS, ACD

Asteroids are clustered up in the center of the board. I deploy all my Defenders in me right-hand corner, with the Glaive up front and Vessery with Ryad following behind. My opponent places his ships centrally. I open with 3 forwards for vessery and Ryad, while the Glaive goes 5-froward, to try to flank later while the other two would fight head-on. Chir(aneau) goes 1 forward plus boost to the left and Whisper goes 4 forward and cloaks. Next turn I 3-bank with everything while Chir does a 2 forward. Whisper had decloaked to her right, did a 1-turn left and cloaked again. The initial exchange sees Chir lose three of his shields while I take no damage. Next turn, I 3-turn the Glaive and 3-forward the other two Defenders. Chir does a 1-forward plus TL on Ryad, while Whisper, after having decloaked forward, goes 3 forward and focuses. He targets Ryad with everything and all my opponent manages to do is plink a couple shields off her. Then all my Defenders attack Chir and manage to do a lot of damage, plus a Damaged engine crit and a Stunned pilot crit. So, next turn I 4-k with Ryad and Vessery while I 3-turn with the Glaive. What that effectively did was point me in the right direction to face Whisper, should Chir bump me, or face Chir if he flew past me. Indeed, Chir flies past me and TL's Ryad, while Whisper did her decloak plus 2-bank thing to maintain arc, but Ryad ends up not being able to be shot at by Whisper, which is huge for me, since I force my opponent to split fire. Ryad takes a heavy beating from Chir though, and goes down to a single hull while Whisper fires at Vessery, doing no damage. I fire at Chir and bring him down to two hull. Next turn, I k-turn Ryad and Vessery again, while the Glaive gets out of the fight to re-orient itself. This causes Chir to bump me, while Whisper also bumps on Chir. So Chir has no shots while Whisper attacks Ryad but, since she was rolling naked dice and chose to keep Palp for defense, does no damage to Ryad, so she survives another turn! Then I attack Whisper with Ryad and Vessery and I spend both my Crackshots to get rid of Whisper's shields and put a crit though, which was Blinded pilot. Next turn I k-turn both Defenders yet again, because I don't really have anything better to dial in, and I really don't lose anything by doing so. he Glaive does 3-turn to face Whisper. Whisper gets out of the fight however, to get a better positioning while Chir moves around and Tl's Ryad. This time, Chir manages to kill Ryad but then dies to Vessery. So now we are left in a scenario of 2 healthy Defenders vs a 1-hull Whisper. The game does not last long after that, since after a few turns, I manage to get Whisper in arc of the Glaive, and after using Crackshot, I snag the kill.

Well, Defenders certainty seem to be powerful (that is no surprise I guess). I really like the list, even though I only played it once. So, that makes me have second thought on taking the rebels list to the Nationals, since the Defenders seem to operate much better, and there are many scenarios where my opponent knows I am gonna k-turn, but can do absolutely nothing about it, plus Defenders can k-turn forever, so that adds an extra level of versatility to the list.

Anyway, As I mentioned before, this will probably be my final battle report post before the Nationals. I will fully document my experience of the Nationals, obviously, and share it with you guys.

Till next time, Fly Casual!