I've been playing around with various stress+ion lists to take to a regional tournament in a couple of weeks but have been struggling to decide on which one to use. Most of my lists have been Imperial based around Kath Scarlet, but I had a brainstorm that maybe Rebels could do the same job better as they have good carriers for crew and Ion Cannons/Turrets.

Blue Squadron Pilot (22) – Ion Cannon (3), B-Wing/E2 (1), Tactician (2), Accuracy Corrector (3)

Blue Squadron Pilot (22) – Ion Cannon (3), B-Wing/E2 (1), Tactician (2), Accuracy Corrector (3)

Gold Squadron Pilot (18) – Ion Cannon Turret (5), R3-A2 (2)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12) – XX-23 thread Tracers (1), Guidance Chips (0)

Total = 100pts

The Bandit Squadron pilot is just there because I couldn't find a better use for the remaining 13pts. I tried changing things round to get the Sheathipede in but wasn't satisfied with the results. The list obviously has weaknesses with low pilot skill and lack of agility. Arc dodging opponents will be an issue, but I only need to land one hit with an ion weapon (or two on a large base ship) and suddenly their movement is a lot more predictable and I can start chasing them down. I also think it helps that the three main ships can ionize and stress at the same time, so the list should still work if I lose one of the B-Wings early on. I haven't tried it out yet, but I can see this list ionizing some of the popular one or zero agility ships like RAC, Nym or Ghost off the table.

Does it have potential or is it doomed to failure?

Drop the Accuracy Correctors. With 6 more points you can take Captain Rex with Sabine’s Masterpiece, Tactician and EMP Device. He protects your other ships and contributes to the theme of your list.

I like Stressbug Ezra better than the Stresshog, even if Ezra can’t ionize anything. Ezra is harder to kill and can take Gunner or Baze to lay down more stress.

Dropping the Accuracy Correctors does seem like the obvious way to save points. My main concern was that between Hotshot Co-Pilot and Sensor Jammer they might struggle to hit certain targets without the consistency they offer. This was based on a recent game I played where my 4-dice attacks repeatedly missed the Ghost. I do like the Captain Rex idea though (I had been thinking of Zeb to fill the spare 13pts) so will probably give that a try.

Ohhhh, this is cool. What about this:

2x Blues

Collision Detector

Ion Cannon

E2

Tactician

Ezra

Snap Shot

Gunner

R3-A2

Rex

Title

Tactician

BMST

This is A LOT of control. It doesn't even really matter that there isn't a load of damage, because your opponent will be screwed no matter what.

Thanks for the feedback. I incorporated @jmswood suggestion for Captain Rex and used the following version of the list at my club tonight:

The second game was against an alpha-strike Rebels list with 2 Green Squadron pilots, Airen Cracken and Fenn Rau, with all ships that could taking Cruise Missiles. This game was a bit more one sided as 4/5 dice attacks with the missiles killed the A-Wing and took all the shields off one of the B-Wings. I did have another fun moment where Rex got in the middle of everyone and triggered the EMP so that no ships could place dials the next turn, and I got a bit more use from suppressive fire. Unfortunately I wasn't able to kill any ships this game although I got both Fenn and Airen down to one hull each, but I lost the Y-Wing (turn 2 again) and a B-Wing in return and had the second B-Wing down to one hull.

There were probably 4 or 5 times in those games where I fluffed with the B-Wings and wished I still had the Accuracy Correctors, but I did like the addition of Rex so I'm not sure I'd drop him to get them back. The Y-Wing never got a chance to really do anything, so it was obviously perceived as a significant threat. Maybe I just need to fly it better as I haven't used one in years. If I get the opportunity I might try swapping it for Ezra with R3-A2, Snap Shot and Baze Malbus, although I'd be slightly concerned that the attention the Y-Wing suffered would just switch to the B-Wings instead, leaving me with limited ionization capability.

Thinking some more about my playtest experiences and the suggestions above, I came up with 3 more variants that I think have a bit more potential:

List 1: Stress Heavy

Captain Rex - Sabines Masterpiece, Tactician, EMP Device, Captured TIE

Ezra Bridger (Sheathipede-class Shuttle) – Snap Shot, Baze Malbus, R3-A2

Blue Squadron Pilot - Collision Detector, Ion Cannon, B-Wing/E2, Tactician

Blue Squadron Pilot - Collision Detector, Ion Cannon, B-Wing/E2, Tactician

Total = 100pts

This list has the most stress causing effects but probably the least ionization capability as only the B-Wings can keep on making ion attacks. If I lose a B-Wing early I'll struggle to ionize large base ships. I added the Captured TIE to Rex purely because I had a point left over and I don't see much point going for an initiative bid, but I think it might be useful against NU Squadron Pilots, Wookie Gunships, Z/TIE swarms, etc. I could drop it though just to reduce Rex's cost so he gives away less points in close games if he is killed.

List 2: Spread the risk

Gold Squadron Pilot – Ion Cannon Turret, R4-D6

Ezra Bridger (Sheathipede-class Shuttle) - Trick Shot, Hera Syndulla, R3-A2

Blue Squadron Pilot - Collision Detector, Ion Cannon, B-Wing/E2, Tactician

Blue Squadron Pilot - Collision Detector, Ion Cannon, B-Wing/E2, Tactician

Total = 100pts

This list is closer to my original version, but it spreads some of the better upgrades across different ships. In the original list, the Y-wing was a high priority target as it was relatively vulnerable and with the turret and R3-A2 had probably the 2 best upgrades on one platform. By putting R3-A2 with Ezra instead I spread the threat around and can hopefully mess with my opponents target priority, as well as allowing the list to still function well if any one of the ships gets destroyed. Potential changes would be to drop R4-D6 for another 1pt Astromech (although I think R4-D6 will be useful to protect against missile alpha strikes), or not even have one and drop Hera too for either Tactican or Snap Shot on Ezra. No Captain Rex in this one though, which is a shame.

List 3: Consistent Ionization, or: Walking the Ghost off the table

Captain Rex - Sabine's Masterpiece, Courier Droid, EMP Device

Ezra Bridger (Sheathipede-class Shuttle) – Adaptability, Tactician, R3-A2

Blue Squadron Pilot - Accuracy Corrector, Ion Cannon, B-Wing/E2, Tactician

Blue Squadron Pilot - Accuracy Corrector, Ion Cannon, B-Wing/E2, Tactician

T otal = 100pts

The accuracy correctors are a bit of a luxury, but they do make it virtually impossible for most Ag 1 or AG 0 ships to avoid being hit and ionised by them, as well as getting around token stealers, Sensor Jammer, and Fenn and Kanan's abilities. The downside is that it will take more effort to make everything works together as it should as there is little redundancy built into the list. I took Adaptability over Trick Shot on Ezra as I may want to drop his PS to the same as Rex's depending on what I am facing.

Anyone have preferences on the above, or better suggestions?

I like the stress-heavy list myself.

Yeah, I'm leaning towards that one myself at the moment. Only possible change is to swap Rex for Zeb and drop Captured TIE so I can swap Baze for Gunner, but I think Rex's ability is too useful to give up.