I got the game plus Home One and an ISD for Christmas and after playing the core set over and over again against myself to try and learn the rules I got a couple of games in vs my mate (including a bigger game over a full 6x3 table). From this I realised I am not 100% on how squadrons work:

1. When squadrons shoot only hits count, not crits (unless bombers are shooting at ships). Do crits count when ships shoot at squadrons?

2. Some squadrons have defence tokens. Do accuracy icons work when squadrons and ships shoot at these?

3. If squadrons shoot at ships (with more than one dice) can you use accuracy results?

4. What range can ships shoot their anti squadron shots at?

5. Looking at Major Rhymer's skill, does that mean, for example, Tempest Squadron shoot 3 blue dice at ships insted of 1 black?

1. No

2. Yes

3. Yes

4. The range appropriate for their anti-squadron dice. So blue flak can shoot at close to medium range.

5. Major Rhymer doesn't change the dice rolled, only the range. However the range was changed in the recent errata. I've never used Rhymer so I'm not sure of the details from memory. I suggest that you download the FAQ document to get the revised text of his rule.

4 minutes ago, Porkchop Express said:

I got the game plus Home One and an ISD for Christmas and after playing the core set over and over again against myself to try and learn the rules I got a couple of games in vs my mate (including a bigger game over a full 6x3 table). From this I realised I am not 100% on how squadrons work:

1. When squadrons shoot only hits count, not crits (unless bombers are shooting at ships). Do crits count when ships shoot at squadrons?

No, crits do not count as damage when ships shoot squads.

4 minutes ago, Porkchop Express said:

2. Some squadrons have defence tokens. Do accuracy icons work when squadrons and ships shoot at these?

Yes.

4 minutes ago, Porkchop Express said:

3. If squadrons shoot at ships (with more than one dice) can you use accuracy results?

Yes

4 minutes ago, Porkchop Express said:

4. What range can ships shoot their anti squadron shots at?

At short range for black dice. At medium for blue dice. At long range for red dice.

Note Kallus does not allow you to add dice at a longer range, you need to be able to pool attack dice before kallus can be used. So if you only have black dice in your pool, you can only attack squads at close range even if you add a red via kallus.

4 minutes ago, Porkchop Express said:

5. Looking at Major Rhymer's skill, does that mean, for example, Tempest Squadron shoot 3 blue dice at ships insted of 1 black?

No. Battery armament is the anti ship dice. For tempest this is one black dice. Rhymer allows squads to shoot at close range rather than the normal distance 1. (Note he got errated to close range rather than close/medium)

Welcome to Armada!

Start reading here: http://cannotgetyourshipout.blogspot.com/p/rules-and-gameplay.html?m=1

The first link answers many of your questions. The whole site is an incredible resource. Sort of "Armada 101."