So we’re fighting imperial tyranny even in small, has-been systems (We live in a smaller community but have just found a local X-wing group). Even farm kids with a season or two in a T-16 are joining the war effort (my 12 year old wants to play).

I generally play a tie fighter list, but my son enjoys the rebels. If he can’t win some, he’ll get bored and the group is friendly but competitive. He just got an arc-170, so he’s eager to get it on the table and tonight is X-wing night at the FLGS. At our disposal are both started sets, an X-wing, an A-wing, a Y-wing, a HWK-290, and the original Falcon. We also have tie fighters and a tie advance to pull cards from.

Any advice on the best list with what we’ve got would be appreciated. I can probably pick up a small ship when we go tonight, if there’s one card or ship that would seriously help what we’ve got say so. I can play ‘for love of the game’ but having a decent chance will help keep my son interested.

Thanks for any input or suggestions.

If you’re playing casually, then proxy cards you don’t have. If proxy isn’t option, have your inexperienced farmboy try this:

Farmboy (100)

•Norra Wexley (37) - ARC-170
Push The Limit (3), •Nien Nunb (1), •R2-D2 (4), Alliance Overhaul (0)

•Han Solo (63) - YT-1300
Veteran Instincts (1), •Luke Skywalker (7), •Chewbacca (4), •Millennium Falcon (1), Engine Upgrade (4)

Thematic value on the Falcon, easy to fly, and both ships in the list pack a punch and regen.

I have to to go to work now, but I’ll post again later with strategy tips for this list.

Thanks, for the help. I've got it printed up and ready. What would you fly if you were to proxy pilots flying the models we have? Honestly we're still about wave 3 and catching up.

If your only on wave 3, for the Imps I would get a TIE Bomber. If not, a TIE Interceptor. A glass cannon, but very good looking on the field. Bomber is probably better. Gives you more hit points to play with.

There's a decent Fat Han plus Jake Farrel list. I think you'd find it here with the search function.

5 hours ago, IronOx said:

I can probably pick up a small ship when we go tonight, if there’s one card or ship that would seriously help what we’ve got say so. I

Even though you already have a falcon, I can't recommend Heroes of the Resistance expansion enough as a fellow Rebel player in terms of value for money and some great builds right out of the box.

Here's what I could come up with, given your expansions. You have both core sets you said, right?

Poe Dameron (31)
Elusiveness (2)
Proton Torpedoes (4)
R2-D2 (4)
Vectored Thrusters (2)

Chewbacca (TFA) (42)
Push the Limit (3)
Recon Specialist (3)
Luke Skywalker (7)
Millennium Falcon (1)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Chewbacca:

Keep Chewie circling around the center of the mat (when placing rocks, make sure to try and have either one in the center of the mat or none at all). Since he has a 360 turret, you don't have to worry about your primary arc facing the right way. Slow roll round 1 & 2 and let them come to you.

Take a focus every turn. I would use Push the Limit if I know I'm not likely to be shot and can get a Target Lock. If I am going to get shot, PTL for an evade.

During combat if you don't land a hit with naturals, don't spend the focus yet. Let Luke do his gunner effect and you can use his crew ability to turn 1 eye to a hit. If there's a shot coming for Chewie, hold onto the focus for defense if you have it. Spend the focus only if it's going to wipe a ship off the board or no one else has shots on you.

Poe:

This is a bit like the "Dancing Poe" but with regen.

Again, take a focus every time (because of Poe's magical pilot ability) unless you can Barrel Roll or Boost out of an arc. or BR/Boost to get a shot without risking reprisal. Poe lasts longer if you don't spend his focus during attacks. Save it for defending with unless no one has a shot on you. If you're clear, then feel free to use it on an attack. Target Lock if you think you can do it risking minimal/no damage from an attack.

If you do have to take a hit, try and have a focus on hand. Use Elusiveness to have your opponent re-roll a crit and of course, try and regen when it's safe to take that green maneuver.

Don't dive in head first with Poe. Try and flank your opponent or get him from behind. Concentrate your fire from Poe and Chewie on one target.

• Take out Quickdraw first if she shows up.
• Get in the Range 1 bubble of Dash, TLTs or Harpoons.
• You don't have Ion missiles/torps/bombs to deal with Nym, so you'll just have to pound him as hard as you can; he only has 1 agility. Come in from the sides.
• After an Alpha strike, stay behind the Imperial Gunboats (Starwing). They don't K-turn but can still turn around. They just take a lot of room to do it.

That's all I can think of for now.

Good luck to both of you!

Flying the list I posted earlier: it’s a hammer and anvil. Joust with Norra and flank with Han. Han boosting at PS11 can get behind anything and always have a shot.

When Han is attacking (first as it should be) use his ability to trigger Luke and get a better second shot. The ideal situation is forcing the opponent to spend defensive tokens on Han’s first shot, then trigger Luke to have a better shot for pushing damage without spending any of your own tokens.

Norra should fly slow on the approach and fast on the way out. Use PtL to get focus and target lock every round. Nien Numb makes the dial great for high speed strafing runs.

If you’re good to proxy, then I would build the same ships like this:

Farmboy (100)

•Norra Wexley (41) - ARC-170
Push The Limit (3), •Kyle Katarn (3), •BB-8 (2), Alliance Overhaul (0), Engine Upgrade (4)

•Rey (59) - YT-1300
Expertise (4), •Kanan Jarrus (3), •Finn (5), •Millennium Falcon (sloop title) (1), Smuggling Compartment (0), Burnout SLAM (1)

That BB-8 Norra build is commonly called Butterfly Norra. No regen. Lots of action economy. I prefer it over regen Norra because she’s more nimble and responsive. It is less forgiving of mistakes becausebm you can’t get shields back, but flown right you won’t need regen anyway.

Most of this Rey build is available in Heroes of the Resistance. Great recommendation from @BlodVargarna, although I suggest proxy before you pay up. Rey is a simple point-and-shoot. The downside is many players are accustomed to her tricks and know how to engage her.

My default recommendation to new rebel players is Rebel Aces, but Heroes of the Resistance can surpass it depending on the individual.

For a single ship expansion, the K-wing is the Rebels’ best value for money. (I vomit in my mouth every time I say this out loud.) I personally shun the K-wing, even as a primarily Rebel player. I detest it, but cannot contest the results it very easily produces. If you have standards, get something else. If you want something boring that will contribute to easier victories, get a K-wing.

15 minutes ago, jmswood said:

I personally shun the K-wing, even as a primarily Rebel player. I detest it, but cannot contest the results it very easily produces. If you have standards, get something else. If you want something boring that will contribute to easier victories, get a K-wing.

Ugh. I feel the exact same way about this expansion.

Thanks to all for the help. We tried the list but I ended up playing against him. When we got there, two people had just started setting up and one guy forgot his stuff. We had the rest of our collection so I made a quick list:

Maarek Stele {27)Cluster Missiles (4) Squad Leader (2)

Winged Gundark (15)

Dark Curse (16)

Zeta Ace (18) Marksmanship (3)

Epsilon Squadron Pilot (15)

We got in about 3 rounds before it was time for dinner and homework. We will definitly keep working with the arc.

1 hour ago, IronOx said:

Thanks to all for the help. We tried the list but I ended up playing against him. When we got there, two people had just started setting up and one guy forgot his stuff. We had the rest of our collection so I made a quick list:

Maarek Stele {27)Cluster Missiles (4) Squad Leader (2)

Winged Gundark (15)

Dark Curse (16)

Zeta Ace (18) Marksmanship (3)

Epsilon Squadron Pilot (15)

We got in about 3 rounds before it was time for dinner and homework. We will definitly keep working with the arc.

Hmmm.

Imperial/First Order I can pass a couple of recommendations on:

• Maarek Stele {27)Cluster Missiles (4) Squad Leader (2)
  • Just....no.
  • Squad Leader
    • Squad Leader essentially 'moves' your action to another friendly ship.
    • Maarek Stele is the most expensive and capable ship you have - therefore giving up his action to boost a TIE fighter is almost always a bad deal.
    • Vader, by comparison, has a 'spare action' - whilst a focus/evade defence or focus/target lock attack are nice, he can get reasonable mileage out of 'just' a focus token, so can use his second action to benefit whoever else in the squad really needs the bonus action.
    • Given Maarek's ability when causing criticals, he's actually one of the better options for Marksmanship (as it's the only upgrade you've got which would help him reliably cause extra critical damage)
    • Giving Maarek Veteran Instincts lets him match Vader and Han Solo for pilot skill, whilst Push The Limit gives him the ability to acquire a lock for his missiles and still get a focus or evade token.
  • Cards You Don't Have (links included if you want to proxy!)
    • The TIE Advanced is actually pretty shoddy for its points.
    • A 'Title Card' (like Millenium Falcon) was released for it, called TIE/x1. It's hard to overstate how awesome this upgrade is.
    • A TIE Advanced-only systems upgrade called Advanced Targeting Computer was released at the same time. It's not the only option for a TIE/x1 but it's one of the best, especially given Maarek Stele's ability re critical hits.
    • Alternatively, if you really want to use Cluster Missiles, a combination of Accuracy Corrector and Guidance Chips is probably best.
    • It's good, but not best suited to Maarek Stele, who really wants critical-driven abilities - I've seen it used well either on generic Tempest Squadron Pilots or on other TIE Advanced Pilots like Zertik Strom or Juno Eclipse.

• Winged Gundark (15), Dark Curse (16), Epsilon Squadron Pilot (15)

  • Well, they're generics with relatively few options.

  • All of them are okay. Dark Curse, especially, is annoying as heck for his points to try and kill.

    • Winged Gundark is probably the weaker ship. The free critical is nice, but you've still gotta hit with it - since he's 15 points, and an academy pilot only 12, you're essentially paying 3 points for the ability - enough, for example, to turn Maarek Stele into Darth Vader and still have some change left over.

      • Having an academy pilot and an epsilon squadron pilot is also useful because they move at the same pilot skill - meaning you can chop and change what order you want them to move or shoot in (useful in a scrum, or if facing one of the assorted aces who get to shoot back when fired upon)

  • Cards You Don't Have (links included if you want to proxy!)

    • Dark Curse is nice, but arguably a better pilot (in the TIE Fighter expansion) for the same price/PS is Backstabber. They do two different jobs - one blocks and gets in the way without being hit, the other is great for chasing a big ship with a turret (because it's a 3-dice attack for cheap)

    • The Epsilon Squadron Pilot is great with Advanced Optics if you can get a copy. Being able to hang on to a focus token will give you a free action probably every other turn, and you'll be able to go into the first shootout of the game with focus/evade or focus/target lock as you see fit, making the cute lil' TIE/fo punch way above its weight.

• Zeta Ace (18) Marksmanship (3)

  • Honestly, Marksmanship is mostly dead weight here.

  • Zeta Ace's special ability involves being able to barrel roll (which requires an action), and you can't use marksmanship and barrel roll at once (Barring Squad Leader Vader yelling orders to do so).

  • Marksmanship is....not actually that good in most cases. Swapping all your [focus] results to [hit] results is essentially identical to spending a focus token.

    • Which also costs an action, but is a free ability of a TIE fighter without spending any points on it, whilst marksmanship significantly increases your cost.

    • Which could be used on your green dice when defending you, which marksmanship can't.

    • Marksmanship isn't useless, but it's best used when:

      • You have a special ability related to causing a critical hit and want to increase your odds of getting one (like Maarek Stele)

      • You attack multiple times per turn, because a focus token can only be spent once whilst marksmanship applies to every attack (like Cluster Missiles)

      • Both (taking your squad as an example, if Maarek Stele were to target lock one turn, then use marksmanship for his action and fire cluster missiles the next turn).

  • Cards You Don't Have (links included if you want to proxy!)

    • Using Zeta Ace's Barrel Rolling ability is great, but you never want to spend too many points on a TIE fighter - make them too expensive and they'll never pull their weight with those 2-dice attack popguns.

    • Intensity is a sort of cut-price version of Push The Limit which is more limited but cheaper and doesn't stress you. Pair it with Threat Tracker and target lock someone as your action, and once it's their turn to shoot, but before they shoot, you get a free (massive!) barrel roll to get out of their arc and a free focus token to shoot them with. It makes Zeta Ace a real pain to nail down.

    • Alternatively, Snap Shot gives you a free attack if someone parks at range 1 in front of you - before they get to perform their action, and critically before they get to boost and barrel roll back out of your arc again. Combine it with Primed Thrusters and Zeta Ace can pull a (red) speed 2 segnor's loop then barrel roll '2' sideways, resulting in a sort of sideslip-facing-back-the-way-you-came. It means you can put Zeta Ace's arc of fire (and hence those free snap shots) in some very unlikely places.

Really appreciate the advice. The ties are a lot of fun, especially zipping amidst the asteroids. I realize that I'm flying an "up on cider blocks in the front yard" list, so I think I'll proxy more often for sure. The title for the advanced is at the top of my list of acquisitions. I've seen that with ATC on ebay. I usually do use Backstabber (we do have a couple of TIE expansions), Dark Curse was a mission specific decision. I tend to roll badly so his job was to keep Han from re-rolling. Same with cluster missiles, more rolls equal better dice for me.

I think I’ve really just been using this kind of TIE list backwards. Marrek uses missiles to strip shields then the ties nibble away with him passing actions if it helps. Thanks for taking the time to give your insights.

Great advice, @Magnus Grendel