As much as my sense of uniformity despises it (in shape, not color....), I'm more than likely going to play Rebels in the next two tournies I attend and decided I'd try and get some feedback on the list I've put together. I'll preface the list with a little banter (as usual).

1) Not a fan of second player on this list so far. I'm considering dropping the Gallant Haven title and Flight Commander to get an extra 11 points, putting my bid at 13.

2) The lifeboat (gasp) is currently under testing but is designed to operate a bit closer to the fight than standard lifeboats. There's 11 points available for cannibalization here as well in case I do not want to completely gut the MkII as stated in (1).

3) I went in to this list wanting to maximize a mix of squadrons and ships that can present multiple threats to the table. As such, I feel as though I have about 2.5 threats. Primary is the bomber wing, second of which is the mc30. I say .5 because the MkII supported by the lifeboat has worked like a charm.

When playing second, I've got a pretty decent objective setup imho but I'm open to differing opinions. Precision Strike maximizes my fighter/bomber wing that should be able to kill a dedicated bomber wing before starting their approaches. Hyperspace Assault is there purely for generating an mc30 in the backfield. I do not deploy squadrons with it since I'm not using relay and don't believe in using squadron commands on mc30s. Superior Positions have blown hot and cold for me on multiple occasions. I include it for the probability of getting the mc30 behind the enemy due to it's evasiveness and high speed, as well as the bomber wing.

Lastly, in regards to squadrons....I wanted something that was capable of taking advantage of Bomber Command on the nearly naked GR-75 while still maintaining the ability to counter other bomber wings and tackling enemy fighter screens. Initially this wing was Biggs + 3 X-Wings and Norra + 3 Y-wings. Then, to get back some points, I switched from Sato to Rieekan and questioned why I'd not done so in the first place. By cutting the X-Wings and Y-wings from 4 each to 3 each, I was able to include Green Squadron and Jan and turned the entire Wing into an Ace build that can use Bomber Command as well as provide significant amounts of Escort.

Before I get to the list, please allow me to make a request. If you're going to offer advice (which I welcome), please make sure it's actually advice. Let's hear why, the thought process behind the change, and the reasons (or interactions) behind it. I have a tendency to ignore "You should do this because" with no explanation whatsoever. That's less advice and more an order.

Without any further ado:

Wednesday Rebels v3/4
Author: Sygnetix

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 398/400

Commander: General Rieekan

Assault Objective: Precision Strike
Defense Objective: Hyperspace Assault
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)
- Gallant Haven ( 8 points)
- Flight Commander ( 3 points)
- Flight Controllers ( 6 points)
- Expanded Hangar Bay ( 5 points)
= 94 total ship cost

[ flagship ] GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- General Rieekan ( 30 points)
- Bright Hope ( 2 points)
- Major Derlin ( 7 points)
- Comms Net ( 2 points)
= 59 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- Bomber Command Center ( 8 points)
= 26 total ship cost

MC30c Torpedo Frigate (63 points)
- Admonition ( 8 points)
- Walex Blissex ( 5 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 91 total ship cost

1 Green Squadron ( 12 points)
1 Jan Ors ( 19 points)
1 Wedge Antilles ( 19 points)
1 Rogue Squadron ( 14 points)
1 Biggs Darklighter ( 19 points)
1 "Dutch" Vander ( 16 points)
1 Gold Squadron ( 12 points)
1 Norra Wexley ( 17 points)

Squadrons: 128

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Edit: Spelling, grammar, a joke, formatting.

Kind if similar to a couple of builds I'm toying with - I can't decide between Sato and Rieeken though and keep changing my mind!

Have you thought about going back to Sato? That MC-30 chucking 6 black with CF is horrible. You could move the EHB to the BCC flotilla and play around with the upgrades on the AF to make it more useful at long range; EA and/or XI7 maybe? Also not sure on Derlin on the lifeboat - good with BH against bombers but if you're getting shot at it's going down anyway I'd have thought.

If you stick with Rieeken, maybe lose MC-30 and have Yavaris? Really hard to leave out of a zombie list.

Dropping Sato was a hard choice that served two purposes. Primarily, I needed the couple extra points. Secondarily, sometimes you just have to play to your strengths. For me, that's taking steps to prevent tunnel visioning on a ship and losing sight of the larger battle. Rieekan is much more forgiving in regards to those "whoops" decisions with the added benefit of not having an ability that distracts or can force bad decisions.

If I were to go Sato, I think i'd probably run 3 MC-30s and a massive herd of Z-95s, just to be obnoxious.

I haven't played more than a handful of games but the lifeboat is shockingly survivable against anything other than direct focus. Being able to reduce two damage a turn (or 1 damage per attack minimum) means my opponent can't just send a small force to engage it. Since I do not "classic lifeboat" away from the battle but rather use it as support from the fringes, if my opponent seems to send anything substantial towards it, I can shift accordingly.

It's funny you mention the MC-30/Yavaris. Yav started in that slot but ended up replaced by the MC-30. This was also an adjustment to fit my play style. Coming over from Imperials with massive squadron activations (I'm a carrier whore fan, I admit it), it's hard for me to accept Yavaris and it's maximum of 2 squadron activations. I'm also rarely stationary. Initially I had Nym, which makes Yavaris more viable (at least in my opinion) but later dropped Nym in favor of a more substantial overall Bomber compliment.

I'm not sure that Biggs is worth it in your list, with only two escort squads including Biggs himself. That means you can only transfer hits from one ace to another - whereas the usual method is to pawn the hits off onto a cheap yet-1300 or amongst various aces. With only Wedge and Biggs, would you consider switching Gold squadron to a plain X-wing or YT-1300? You lose the Riekkan effect but gain extra hit points for Wedge and Biggs...

6 minutes ago, Maturin said:

I'm not sure that Biggs is worth it in your list, with only two escort squads including Biggs himself. That means you can only transfer hits from one ace to another - whereas the usual method is to pawn the hits off onto a cheap yet-1300 or amongst various aces. With only Wedge and Biggs, would you consider switching Gold squadron to a plain X-wing or YT-1300? You lose the Riekkan effect but gain extra hit points for Wedge and Biggs...

Good point, I'll take it into consideration. I probably won't be able to make changes fast enough for my game(s) this weekend, though. These squadrons have already been painted xD

Edit: To be honest, I overlooked Rogue Squadron not having escort when I rebuilt from generics to Uniques. Might end up dropping both Rogue Squadron and Gold in favor of Luke.