Been trying to build a few lists as of late and I noticed that the vast majority are either Imperial or Scum (mostly Scum). The few Rebel lists I do put together seem to focus around two or at most three ship builds.

Now I remember it wasn't that long ago when I was flying a classic four ship formation, be it two red and two daggers, three B wings and Biggs, even two Dagger and four Tala lists! So what happened?

With the reduced threat of triple jumpmasters, is it time to return to these classic lists or are they gone for good? Is it time to brush the casual dust off the Gold Sqd BTL-A4 TLT Stresshog and polish it to a competitive shine, couple it was perhaps a Guardian K wing, Bandit and X wing?

What, if any, are people looking to or currently putting on the tables for this classic pillar of X wing?

Simply put, 3 dice attacks with a single modifer simply don't cut it anymore. The 2.25 average hits means that 3 will roll 2 hits, and the 4th, if it lives to get a shot, will roll 3 hits. And that's also assuming they all have a shot on the same target. Those 9 hits go against 16 greens on fel, plus 2 F tokens, an evade, and a palp. So he just needs to roll 7/16 F+E results to come away free of injury. And he should roll 10/16... So yeah, you physically cannot handle playing against Fel... or really any imp ace - defenders will probably only roll 5-6 evades (plus E token and palp), but with twice the health, doing 1-2 damage isn't going to cut it.

As you said, you see more 3 ship lists.. dual modifiers essentially nets the same 9 (8.43) hits, but against fewer greens.

Stress hog and Stress Braylen should both see some serious play now that Torpscouts are gone from competitive. Stress hog was a pretty significant member of the 4 ship rebel builds...

One of the problems with 4-ship lists is points distribution. Whether you have 4 ships at 25 points each, or a staggered spread like 36-24-24-12, or 36-36-12-12, some of your ships need to be under 25 points. Rebel options under 25 points are laughable when lined up against Imperial and Scum options for the same points.

The meta shifted to high attack action efficiency. So two bandits dont really push damage through anymore. You need rerolls and a focus with 3/4 attack dice to push damage through on those 3agi evade focus ships out there. Four ship rebel list is gonna be rare, unless you do an alpha swarm, quad TLT, etc.

Hmmm, four ship rebels...

List 1

Biggs Darklighter (26)
X-Wing (25), R4-D6 (1)

Thane Kyrell (32)
ARC-170 (26), R3-A2 (2), HotShot Co-Pilot (4), Alliance Overhaul (0)

Jess Pava (30)
T-70 X-Wing (25), R2-D6 (1), Opportunist (4)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

Here we have Thane getting full modded shot thanks to Biggs and stressing. When Thane attacks he forces opponent to use focus (HSCP). Thane is a thorn in opponents side Jess Pava attacks after Thane w/ HSCP and even Biggs, so it should kick in Opportunist giving her 4 attack die, with her focus action, and max rerolls (the Z-95 is actually useful, giving Jess another reroll, always keep him near Jess).

List 2

Biggs Darklighter (26)
X-Wing (25), R4-D6 (1), Integrated Astromech (0)

Thane Kyrell (32)
ARC-170 (26), M9-G8 (3), Weapons Engineer (3), Alliance Overhaul (0)

Rookie Pilot (21) x 2

So, Thane TLs the rookies to get rerolls plus their focus for more efficient attacking. After Biggs dies, Thane is the obvious target, but he can switch TLs to the enemy to make them reroll, keeping Thane alive longer for Rookies to attack. Thane can also TL Biggs and a rookie on turn 1. Then once Biggs dies, Thane's ability kicks in and he can TL the other rookie, giving all ships rerolls on that round.

I think Jess Pava is going to bring back 4 ship rebel builds a little bit...

I played against the one list that one of the better players at my lgs was brewing up;

Jess, Braylen, Biggs, and a bandit (there were some fun upgrades on there, but besides the obvious (r3-a2/gunner) I forget what they were).

Seemed like quite a solid list; I couldn't get the better of it. Although that guy is a better pilot than me, unquestionably.

Point being I think we've got some nice new interesting toys in HOTR which might just push 4+ rebel builds back into viability, particularly if palp aces edge off a little. (With no jumpmasters around people are free to punish palp aces players, and i do think that will drop their numbers a little).

Wait for wave 10. The rebel builds will have some tie fighter love. I have put together a couple 2 tie, 3 a wing swarms that look real fun to fly.

4 ship Rebel builds take a bit more thought to fly... You can still win but the lists tend to be unforgiving to mistakes.

Simply put, 3 dice attacks with a single modifer simply don't cut it anymore. The 2.25 average hits means that 3 will roll 2 hits, and the 4th, if it lives to get a shot, will roll 3 hits. And that's also assuming they all have a shot on the same target. Those 9 hits go against 16 greens on fel, plus 2 F tokens, an evade, and a palp. So he just needs to roll 7/16 F+E results to come away free of injury. And he should roll 10/16... So yeah, you physically cannot handle playing against Fel... or really any imp ace - defenders will probably only roll 5-6 evades (plus E token and palp), but with twice the health, doing 1-2 damage isn't going to cut it.

As you said, you see more 3 ship lists.. dual modifiers essentially nets the same 9 (8.43) hits, but against fewer greens.

So true! Gone are the days that three red dice and a focus was enough, now you need four red, a focus, re rolls and another gimmick to see consistent damage.

So true! Gone are the days that three red dice and a focus was enough, now you need four red, a focus, re rolls and another gimmick to see consistent damage.

Yes and no.

firing three dice with a target lock at most important targets won't hurt them, but it will make them spend a token, trigger an ability, etc. Don't underestimate the special ability of "and now I have another guy to shoot after you've run out of tricks".

What, if any, are people looking to or currently putting on the tables for this classic pillar of X wing?

You can't go far wrong with the Baby Blues as a starting point. Blue Squadron Novices with R2 Astromech and Integrated Astromech are a hell of a lot of ship for only 25 points - as agile and well armed as an X-wing, as tough (near enough) as a Y-wing, and with a dial like an A-wing.

Swapping out one for Jess Pava is a good trade, too. Just a shame she has to hand in her astromech to fit.

I used to run a 3x Blue squadron B-wings with FCS (1 with IA) + 1 Stresshog before the jumpmaster wave. It was such a good good list.
After jumpmasters were gone I tried it out again, and then what happenend? Defenders. Those bastards, with their superior white k-turns + evade every turn. Ofc you can try to block, but still.

If you run a generic ship lists, you BETTER bring stress, and the hog is the cheapest option.
Then your Soontir only have his palpatine, maybe autothrusters next turn.

Good point about the T70 generics, they really are quite awesome for their price, fast too!.

Hmm Jess Pawa does look extremely neat. Ill try this list over the weekend.
It has stress, intelligence agent to have control on the target, and loads of firepower.
Not sure if a t70 generic without astromech is better than a B-wing with FCS. It is faster and have better maneuvers, but no BR + constant TL. Hm.

I'd take that R2 Astromech & Integrated Astromech off Jess and hand it to the generic Novice.

Both get exactly the same useability out of it, but you want your opponent trying to kill Jess first.

• If he fires at the novice first, then jess, jess is on her own....and her pilot ability might as well be blank
• If he fires at jess then the novice, he still has to do exactly the same amount of damage, but jess is getting defensive rerolls

I like Jess. Flew her with Biggs and two Red squad - Jess with R2-D6 and adaptability. Did well and won vs two torpedo uboats pre-FAQ and a TLT ywing. I would remove Biggs in future runs.

I played Jess with M9-G8 or what the hell the droid is named. Along with three bare novices. Not only did she have re-rolls, she gave one to her colleague.

May I introduce to you - Arvel's quick temper

Arvel Crynyd - Proton Rockets, Guidance Chips, Test Pilot, Snap Shot

Tarn Mission - Integrated Astro, R7 Astro

Biggs - Integrated Astro - R4D6

Green Squadron Pilot - Juke, Charddan, Snap Shot, Test Pilot

no?

How about Jan and Wedge's date night

Wedge - Crackshot, R2, Vectored Thrusters

Gold Squadron Pilot TLT

Bandit

Jan Ors - Kanan Jarrus, Dorsal Turret, Adaptability

The one I'm using this season has work fairly well so far. Have beaten double Shadowcasters with Asajj and Ketsu and I've beaten Manaroo w/ Old Teroch and Fenn Rau. So I haven't gotten a chance to play against Defenders yet so we shall see. The list is as follows:

Norra Wexley:

R2-D2

Push the Limit

C-3PO

Alliance Overhaul

Wedge Antilles:

BB-8

Plasma Torpedoes

Push the Limit

Integrated Astromech

Bandit Squadron Pilot x2

I'm pretty set on this build but some constructive criticism wouldn't hurt.

Fun list, untested though:

Jess pava.

R2.

IA.

Thane Kyrell.

Weapons engineer.

M9-G8.

Title.

Green squadron pilot.

Snap.

Juke.

title.

Green squadron pilot.

Snap.

Juke.

title.

Thane locks the A-Wings early and gives them mods on both snaps and regular attacks, Jess sits in the middle of the squad. Thane at the back. A perfect storm scenario has this list throwing no less than 16 attack die in a round. One potential alternate is swapping Jess Pava for a stressbot.

Eh...

So for the people running pava, shes honestly good enough even with "just" one reroll

You can slot her into 3 ship builds just fine and her partners being more effective is probably a better bet overall than a fourth ship

Last week i tried,
3x Green squads with Juke and snap shot.
Jake with proton rockets and VI

Autothrusters on everyone i believe

Only played one game but i won it with 2x of my A-wings leaving the game untouched.

However generally rebel ships are just a bit to expensive to get 4 in a list i like, i love imperial 4 ship builds.

Eh...

So for the people running pava, shes honestly good enough even with "just" one reroll

You can slot her into 3 ship builds just fine and her partners being more effective is probably a better bet overall than a fourth ship

I think Biggs is the key to Rebel 4 ship lists these days. Alpha strikes are still a thing, so you need some kind of protection to avoid your key players from being wiped out.

Biggs Darklighter (25)

R4-D6 (1)

Integrated Astromech (0)

2 x Green Squadron Pilot (19)

Juke (2)

Crack Shot (1)

A-wing Test Pilot (0)

Chaardan Refit (-2)

Wild Space Fringer (30)

Feedback Array (2)

Intelligence Agent (1)

Tactical Jammer (1)

Smuggling Compartment (0)

Total: 100 pts.

Never underestimate the strength of Juke/crack shot A-wings. Anything without a focus token will find them to punch quite heavily for their 20 points. Biggs and the A-wings run together, and are mainly for gunning down swarms and low-agility ships.

The Fringer gives you complete denial of every ace in the game, from Contracted Scouts to Vader. Mainly because of the amazing barrel roll and intel agent combo, once it closes to range 2 of a target, the block is all but guaranteed. Soontir Fel with the works? He'll last 3 rounds against a feedback array. If you're more offensively minded, you could switch out the feedback array for an EMP device, and the tactical jammer for an ion projector, keeping enemies near-indefinitely trapped.

Despite its good qualities, this is not a great list, or even a good one. What the Rebellion needs is what scum and imperial fleets both have - 3 die attacks for 20 points or under. Imperials have the Interceptor, and scuming have the Kihraxz and Scyk (with title). Rebels have... Zeb in an attack shuttle? Biggs with 3 cheap, strong punching ships with anti-ace upgrades (possibly illicit or crew) could be a real thing. Currently, however, Rebels lack anything that can hold its own once Biggs inevitably goes down.