https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/9/21/it-is-the-future-you-see-1/

first time adding a link

Some stuff for newcomers to skirmish I guess.

Wereregular sabs a thing ever? I guess I haven't been playing that long, but why even mention stuff that doesn't work that well.

I've only played Elite Sabs and have always thought they were great, with or without the FAQ. They are probably better now just for tacking on extra spy deployments. I don't think I've played them seriously with those cards yet.

Kind of a weird article as it almost downplays the Rebels and toots the Imperials are awesome horn. I would have thought it would be better to have someone who plays Rebels write the article and talk about the strengths of the Rebel faction.

They could have described the awesome unique deployment cards Rebels have, as well as great support units as well as the variety (something most Imperial lists lack actually)

Rebels have

Gideon, R2, C3Po, Leia, Luke, ESabs,All the Force Users (sell their new product Ben Kenobi) ETroopers, Wookiees, Support cards like Heroic Effort, RHC, Diplomatic MIssions, Balance of the Force, My favorite ~ Smugglers of all sizes and shapes.

He spent half the article talking about the past and stuff that wasn't so good and Imperial stuff.

I think FFG should get Nick2002,Roguelieutenant, DerBaer, Masterchieffspiff, A1bert, RoyalRich or anyone of our loyal contributors here on the board to write the next article and really sell the game.

When I read the article, I kept thinking how FFG can 'fix' the Giddeon/C3PO problem for rebels.

At worlds last year you were either running Guards and Officers, or something with a stupid amount of Sabs (that is if you wanted to get to the top tables).

So yeah, sabs were a thing.

When I read the article, I kept thinking how FFG can 'fix' the Giddeon/C3PO problem for rebels.

Looks like they may have fixed it for Scum (with Jabba). Not sure what to do about it for Rebels though.

They'll fix rebels in the next big box expansion... with general solo, commandos, a solo's command attachment, ewoks and a 1/2 ewok that slots into the top of an AT-AT.

Wereregular sabs a thing ever? I guess I haven't been playing that long, but why even mention stuff that doesn't work that well.

Yeah, for a bit, in the dark times when all we had was the core set and Wave 1 or 2 stuff. There wasn't much variety and Sabs were one of the best units around and certainly the best in Rebs. The only problem being that you could only take two lots of elites, so yeah, they were a thing. They stopped being a thing after the errata and after we got loads more content for the game.

When I read the article, I kept thinking how FFG can 'fix' the Giddeon/C3PO problem for rebels.

I was not aware that there's a 'problem'. Where's the problem in having good, synergistic support pieces in the game? Unless the 'problem' is unequal access to such peices between factions, but that should be solved after Jabba hits stores.

I agree that this article series feels slightly biased towards the OMG IMPS ARE BEST approach. Imps are good. They might have a slight edge overall at the moment. But it's not that big of a gap, if any. But that's just the internet penchant for exaggeration I guess, I feel the VF podcast lads are prone to that too. Besides, any advantage Imps may or may not have will probably go away with the Jabba wave. Unless generic Dewback Riders and elite Jetpack Troopers are somehow THE S**T, I can't see anything interesting and balls to the wall competitive to add to Imp squads, while both Mercs and Rebs get great additions to their toolboxes.

Other than that, I cannot, not in a million years, agree that Leia is a must-have in every Rebel list. She's mediocre and not worth her points most of the time, at most pretty good if you manage to score big time on her recycling thing (whcich happens approximately once in a blue moon) and an easy 8VPs for your opponent at worst.

I think it was an informative beginner article. It pointed to the necessity of paying attention to what your likely to go against in the meta. I'm not saying that empire has the definitive edge or advantage (they are strong don't get me wrong) but they are right now arguably more popular/commonly played and then zillo is probably in a majority of lists there.

But really this article points out just how important Gideon and 3P0 are to rebels - and there's nothing wrong with that.

There is something boring about the Rebel Care Package being in every Mercenary list though, and Jabba is designed to fix that without becoming the Jabba Care Package for Imperial (since his abilities only help Merc figures, so at most one other deployment card if he's splashed into Empire for really expensive access to card drawing lol) or Rebels (There's never a reason to play Saska and bring Jabba into your list).

I for one think it would be really hard to write an article for the Rebels since there is so much utility/choice to what you want to do in the faction. And he had to pick a couple archetypes and give some mostly formed lists for a new person to try out and then tweak. We can argue over whether Leia is amazing or easy to kill or hard to play effectively, whatever, but you can't argue that one of the main archetypes people play with Rebels is a Twins list and then Leia with rebel good stuff. It just is what it is.

I just really hope Zach gets to write the Merc article after a full reveal of Jabba (or at least gets to touch on how Jabba is going to impact the faction) other wise it might be a boring (to me) article since it's mainly bantha/beast machines, something with Bossk, or trying to make strain train work consistently. All with Rebel Care Package as an auto include.

But if that's what the article is that's fine - I have to remember these articles are not for me, it's for pointing new people towards to get their feet wet or to see what the thinking behind some things in the other factions are. We should all want something to be able to point interested people to read quickly and get an idea of what they'd like to try! And we all want new people to play this game

I have a hard time wrapping my mind around Leia not being good for her 8 points. She may not fit into all lists, but the Rebels faction is full of high-costed uniques (I would have likes to see mention of the all-unique list option for Rebels) and Leia helps you get the most out of their high attacks. And I would argue she's certainly a must if you run Luke, as she helps him to potentially heal four damage in a round rather than just two. She's squishy, sure, but most of the time I get way more than my 8 points out of her, if she dies at all. But then, I use her with Luke, typically. She may not work as well with other lists.

As to the article, I wish it had sung the praises of this faction a bit more and explored the various options it has for melee and long-range lists, maybe mention quirky lists like the Wookie point denial list that place second at Gen Con. But it was aimed at beginners, so maybe that would be offering more than a newcomer could handle at first.

-ryanjamal

Wereregular sabs a thing ever? I guess I haven't been playing that long, but why even mention stuff that doesn't work that well.

Yeah, for a bit, in the dark times when all we had was the core set and Wave 1 or 2 stuff. There wasn't much variety and Sabs were one of the best units around and certainly the best in Rebs. The only problem being that you could only take two lots of elites, so yeah, they were a thing. They stopped being a thing after the errata and after we got loads more content for the game.

When I read the article, I kept thinking how FFG can 'fix' the Giddeon/C3PO problem for rebels.

I was not aware that there's a 'problem'. Where's the problem in having good, synergistic support pieces in the game? Unless the 'problem' is unequal access to such peices between factions, but that should be solved after Jabba hits stores.

I agree that this article series feels slightly biased towards the OMG IMPS ARE BEST approach. Imps are good. They might have a slight edge overall at the moment. But it's not that big of a gap, if any. But that's just the internet penchant for exaggeration I guess, I feel the VF podcast lads are prone to that too. Besides, any advantage Imps may or may not have will probably go away with the Jabba wave. Unless generic Dewback Riders and elite Jetpack Troopers are somehow THE S**T, I can't see anything interesting and balls to the wall competitive to add to Imp squads, while both Mercs and Rebs get great additions to their toolboxes.

Other than that, I cannot, not in a million years, agree that Leia is a must-have in every Rebel list. She's mediocre and not worth her points most of the time, at most pretty good if you manage to score big time on her recycling thing (whcich happens approximately once in a blue moon) and an easy 8VPs for your opponent at worst.

I don't want to start an argument and I respect your opinion, but I really think you're wrong on that one. Leia is definetly, as the article says, one of the strongest characters in the game. Playing SoS 2 or 3 turns in a row is insane. Combine her with channeling, and suddenly you're force rushing or force surging all day long. Davith playing Vanish for several turns in a row ... All of that stuff is insane. On top of that she grants a quality attack from a friendly, she opens spy cards up and she is a leader. That girls is the real deal. IMO then best rebel deployment, by far.

Regarding the article, I don't understand his choice of command cards for the force user list. WHY would he take force illusion instead of camouflage? Spending an extra point on an inferior card makes no sense.

Also, why use strategic shift? When is that ever better than single purpose for instance. He has two slippery target. Why? They're good with Davith, but thats about it, he doesn't have vanish, force surge or devotion in his deck.

I like the deployment options to some degree, I am not sure about sabs, they could be Loku, smuggler, channeling.

Just my two cents

They'll fix rebels in the next big box expansion... with general solo, commandos, a solo's command attachment, ewoks and a 1/2 ewok that slots into the top of an AT-AT.

ugh, I hate this, but you're probably right - that's what they'll do

But if that's what the article is that's fine - I have to remember these articles are not for me, it's for pointing new people towards to get their feet wet or to see what the thinking behind some things in the other factions are. We should all want something to be able to point interested people to read quickly and get an idea of what they'd like to try! And we all want new people to play this game

Yes, but the point I was trying to make (poorly, I must say) is that if this is for new people, don't dump on one faction and glorify the another. He already made the Imperials sound great in the Imperial article, if the intent is to draw interest in the game, don't make it sound like one side is heads and shoulders above all the others. Maybe they are in this guy's opinion, but don't print his article then. I believe the game is fairly balanced and a load of fun, I know some people only play for plastic tokens, alternative art cards and to make their opponent cry, but I love this game and I've had more fun playing it with 1. my kids (which I can't do with a lot of games) and with 2. my friends and 3. total strangers and I've played Rebels quite a bit and they have several really good characters and deployment choices. They have some stinkers, but most of those are from the core set and wave 1. Bespin was really good for Rebels, Obiwan is really good, most of the ally and villain packs are all useful and fun to play with and most are really competitive. They should make that known in the article.

Gideon is ridiculously good. So good, I'm suprised there isn't a move to make him cost more. Leia is also really good and an excellent choice. Outside of Gideon, I don't believe any deployment card is a "Must Have" in a Rebel list or Merc list for that matter. Competitively, Gideon is a Must Have for both factions until Jabba comes out.

I'm really interested in how the next wave will affect the Rebels. I think the Rangers will be a great addition, and the regular units may replace the elite troopers in a lot of lists. The reroll, superior range, and the better surge abilities make them a great option. I love the range superiority they will give alongside the twins. Also, it's interesting that the regular units will (probably) see a lot more play than the elites. But now I suppose I'm derailing this thread...

-ryanjamal

The "problem" with Gideon/C3PO is not that they are strong. It's just that every list includes them. All rebels need is another 2-3 point support character that would compete with C3PO.
There's no doubt that Gideon is strong. He's gives movement and focus with no range limitation.

C3PO on the other hand I think gets taken because there's no other good support unit.

Personally I prefer a smuggler or R2D2 for the command cards rather than C3PO. He certainly works well in a list that's designed around him, like a Smuggler's Box, but in other lists (especially fast ones) with sabs and force users, he'll give out 1 focus then spend the rest of the game sitting around up the back by himself. He's just too slow.

But at 2 points, he's hard to go past. Just like you won't see an Imperial list without one or two officers. I think the smuggler was supposed to help flesh out that 2 point support role but didn't really pick up for some reason.

It would have been nice to see Murne be a better 3 point support hero.

As for Leia, she's certainly a great character, but she is also only worth it in certain lists. She awesome when she can give some more attacks to Luke or Fenn or Han. She's not so good with melee characters and cheaper/weaker units like troopers. She's also not great AGAINST cheaper/weaker units. If you take someone like luke or han who can already one shot troopers, and then have Leia shoot, only to have Luke finish off the last 1 or 2 health on a stormtrooper... that's just simply overkill.

I'm very wary of her when I'm using an expensive character like RGC or AT-ST etc... In that case the focus fire is quite scary.

The point that this article misses I think is that units and command cards need to work well together. That's where you get the most value. Having Luke is great but kind of useless if you have no one to benefit from his rerolls. Having Leia is great but useless if all she's doing is giving a sh*tty trooper another attack. Double elite sabs are still amazing, especially with rerolls (TC or Luke).

And finally, as awesome as Zillo is.... it doesn't automatically make any unit with Pierce 2 useless. First of all, it's only 1 attack. If you dump 5+ on them, Zillo has much less effect. Secondly, if you're playing competitively, you'll be playing against Rebels and Mercs too, so don't write your list expecting nothing but Zillo.

Finally, as MasterChief said, the article isn't really for those of us who have some experience... it's not bad as far as beginner articles go. That being said, I do disagree with most of it and I really hate discussions about the "meta" because the game is still way too small to really see any patterns. Banthas were super popular 4 months ago, and nothing has really changed to stop that, but people have moved on. Troopers are certainly strong but they aren't winning every single tournament.

Derail away ryanjamal

I think the elite are good, but the regulars being reinforceable and having +2dmg surge and a built in reroll at distance is probably too good to pass up for 3 figures

Inquisitoz, you have articulated exactly what I was trying to point out. And we share several of the same opinions. 3PO is alright, but his main attraction is that he only costs 2 pts and sources of focus are hard to come by

I still think several members of our community here could've written a more inviting, and less biased introductory article about the different factions

On the flip side, I am glad that they're doing this series of articles. It's better than only releasing preview articles for expansions. I would just like more of these to delve in a bit deeper.

And yeah the main deterrent for me for the elite rangers is not being reinforceable. I don't think you get that much more for the extra three points, but you lose a lot by going up to four points per figure. I'm quite excited because the elite rebel troopers were the weakest part of my twins list. So release them already!

-ryanjamal

The elite rangers are totally not worth the extra 3 points. They are up there with elite wookies, elite trandos and elite HKs. Certainly usable and very powerful, but just not worth it.

The extra health is pointless because you should always be far away, if your rangers are dying, you're probably getting smashed. Lack of reinforcements is obvious and +1 pierce isn't that amazing.

The extra reroll is also rarely useful. One reroll is great, two is unnecessary. It's obviously better than not having it, but just not worth the points. Maybe if you can keep them all focused some how? 2 rerolls on a 3 dice attack is much better than 2 rerolls on a 2 dice attack.