I have a friend who has bought a lot of X-Wing stuff but probably only played about 15 games, maybe 20 at the most. He's played a lot of different types of games, including Imperial Assault, so he's decent at understanding combos and card interactions. I am posting because I have finally convinced him to go to a tournament with me, and fortunately it's the best one I know of for a new person: The Campaign Against Cancer!

I'm excited and I want this to go well for him. I got Mrs. Rick to go to a tournament, and she went from hating X-Wing to becoming her alter-ego as "Gunboat Girl."

So, I was hoping some of you would help me find something that is solid and not boring to play. I figure if he wins at least two games he'll be hooked. I was thinking something jousty, like two defenders and Quickdraw (not to complicated and can do some work). Flying Poe is real fun and all, but with his lack of experience I can totally see him landing Poe in a bad spot and getting him wiped out in a single round.

I guess the only other requirement is that there are enough ships to go around. Mrs. Rick is hogging all the GUNBOATs, so those are sadly right out.

There's a good chance Mrs. Rick and I will be playtesting some of your ideas. Thanks for your input.

I did Triple x7 Defenders for my first tourney. I think it was Vessery, Ryad, and Delta with x7 and Crack Shot on each. Yes it was something I found online, but I was flying it a lot in my own play group. I liked it because: it was only one ship, highly maneuverable, could survive a hit, and could get the evade plus a focus.

Shortly after I modified the list and did to TIE/D (Vessery and Ryad with Tractor or Ion) and a TIE Striker with AA. I used the Striker to flank and hit hard with the defenders.

4x gold squadron y-wings with btl and ion cannons, r2 astromech

4x blue squadron novice with IA, r2-astromech

4x blue squadron pilot with fcs

so simple

My first thought was also triple Defenders. The Swarm Leader Vessery/Ryad/Delta list did win a regional recently! I like the idea that it's only one ship, not a whole lot of tricks to understand (or forget), and I think Ryad's ability is forgiving to newer players who might make positioning mistakes.

Triple Defenders don't have a lot of HP though. Truly, something like Wookies is probably the easiest to play and would allow for more mistakes with all that HP. Something like the triple Wookie list that Tom Wiggins ran successfully near the end of this article. There's not a whole lot of equivalent on the imperial side - maybe a RAC list, but then he might get frustrated at the lack of maneuverability with a large ship like that.

I'm sort of in the same place as your friend - been collecting since the beginning, play casually with friends/family. Follow the meta and tournaments online, but with a young family and busy job and no organized play close to me, I don't get to play competitively much. Whatever list you choose, make sure you discuss with him how to beat the common things he's going to see and their tricks - Ghost/Fenn, Nymranda, Gunboat Girls, Dash/Poe, Wookies, etc.

WOOOOOKIIIEEEEEEEEESSSSS!!!!!!

15 minutes ago, tortugatron said:

WOOOOOKIIIEEEEEEEEESSSSS!!!!!!

I only has one!

Three X7s with crackshot are a great way to learn the game.

They are survivable enough to deal with the odd mistake here or there, can punch tokened up aces if needed, and are simple enough upgrade-wise that just about anyone can understand what it can do and focus on flying instead of trying to make synergies trigger.

My son went to his first tournament when he was 6 with 3 Glaives and went 3-1 finishing second. It's been his main list for the past 2 years, though he's delving into making up his own creations now (he's getting better, but there's still work to be done on list building) with varying results. Give him those Glaives and he can reliably beat good players, the way they fly just works for him. And before anyone says that he just 4Ks (insert "nyuk nyuk, Defenders only 4K" from the peanut gallery), he actually 1 banks more often than he 4Ks, unless someone makes the poor decision of landing in a 4K killbox.

It will render someone completely unable to understand how to fly turret though, in my experience

14 minutes ago, drjkel said:

Three X7s with crackshot are a great way to learn the game.

They are survivable enough to deal with the odd mistake here or there, can punch tokened up aces if needed, and are simple enough upgrade-wise that just about anyone can understand what it can do and focus on flying instead of trying to make synergies trigger.

My son went to his first tournament when he was 6 with 3 Glaives and went 3-1 finishing second. It's been his main list for the past 2 years, though he's delving into making up his own creations now (he's getting better, but there's still work to be done on list building) with varying results. Give him those Glaives and he can reliably beat good players, the way they fly just works for him. And before anyone says that he just 4Ks (insert "nyuk nyuk, Defenders only 4K" from the peanut gallery), he actually 1 banks more often than he 4Ks, unless someone makes the poor decision of landing in a 4K killbox.

It will render someone completely unable to understand how to fly turret though, in my experience

Great idea. I only have two x7 upgrade cards though... what about 2 defenders and something else?

6 minutes ago, Boba Rick said:

Great idea. I only have two x7 upgrade cards though... what about 2 defenders and something else?

What? Who doesn't have stacks and stacks of Defenders and related cards?

Any good 34 points should do wonders. A lightweight frame, VI, FCS Quickdraw comes to mind (or adaptability to fly with Ryad and Vess, giving Vess sweet, sweet target locks). She punches hard and if she's focused on early, killing those Defenders with what's left of most lists won't be that easy.

I really like 2 x7 defenders and a 26 point wingman (OL)....

45 minutes ago, Boba Rick said:

Great idea. I only have two x7 upgrade cards though... what about 2 defenders and something else?

Vessery- TIE Defender with Expertise, Tractor Beam, TIE/D 40 points

Ryad- TIE Defender, Crack Shot, Ion Cannon, TIE/D 38 points

Countdown- TIE Striker with AA and LWF 22 points

3 hours ago, Boba Rick said:

I was thinking something jousty, like two defenders and Quickdraw (not to complicated and can do some work).

One of my recent favorites.

"Quickdraw" (29)
Swarm Leader (3)
Fire-Control System (2)
Advanced Optics (2)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Special Ops Training (0)

Delta Squadron Pilot (30)
TIE/x7 (-2)

Colonel Vessery (35)
A Score to Settle (0)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)
TIE/x7 (-2)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Been using it in casual games and doing well. Beat a Kanan/Wulf list and Poe/Fenn/Snap and Nym/Dash. Not super competitive lists, but I 1-rounded Poe, and wiped Nym off the planet. Its a scary list. List is a different take on a Swarm Leader Quickdraw/Rexpertise/2x Academies I used in a vassal league and only loss once in the finals with it.

Probably my favorite imperial list of all time is:

"Backdraft" (27)
Swarm Leader (3)
Fire-Control System (2)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Special Ops Training (0)

Colonel Vessery (35)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)
TIE/x7 (-2)

The Inquisitor (25)
Push the Limit (3)
Autothrusters (2)
TIE/v1 (1)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Went 4-1 at store champs last summer. Backdraft does nasty nasty things. Just 3 bank behind people then 1 straight for days rollin 3 or 4 red dice + a crit. Even at range 3 backdraft just destroys things. Beat Quickdraw/Vader/Backdraft, Poetensity/Dash, Kanan/Garven, OldManFenn, and barely loss to a Corran/ManglerDash.

Expertise Rey + Finn + Kanan + EU + Sloopy title

Lowhhrick + C3P0 + Tactician + Predator (or expertise if you don't want any chance of a bid)

Point Rey at something and murder it. If he does a white move and lands on debris, Kanan can clear it and he can still boost. It's a forgiving, murdery list.

35 minutes ago, viedit said:

Expertise Rey + Finn + Kanan + EU + Sloopy title

Lowhhrick + C3P0 + Tactician + Predator (or expertise if you don't want any chance of a bid)

Point Rey at something and murder it. If he does a white move and lands on debris, Kanan can clear it and he can still boost. It's a forgiving, murdery list.

I thought about something like this. How do you fly it? Just joust or do you kite? Rey has me befuddled.

Patrol Leader and two Delta X7s.

I would recommend uniform PS and not too many triggering abilities or at most abilities that trigger from the players own actions. How about

Vessery (x7, VI, mkII)

Maarek (x7, Adaptability, mkII)

Inquisitor (v1, PtL, AT)

The list gives him two brawlers and a flanker with some synergy between Vess and Inq. There is also some stress mitigation. Not many hit points, but half of them are shields.

The downsides are low burst damage and possibly predictable maneuvers due to player inexperience (not thinking one turn ahead).

5 minutes ago, RikuM said:

I would recommend uniform PS and not too many triggering abilities or at most abilities that trigger from the players own actions. How about

Vessery (x7, VI, mkII)

Maarek (x7, Adaptability, mkII)

Inquisitor (v1, PtL, AT)

The list gives him two brawlers and a flanker with some synergy between Vess and Inq. There is also some stress mitigation. Not many hit points, but half of them are shields.

The downsides are low burst damage and possibly predictable maneuvers due to player inexperience (not thinking one turn ahead).

Hmmmm... I pretty much play Rebels and Scum. How are these ships against alpha strikes? Will one of them get nuked off the board?

15 minutes ago, Boba Rick said:

I thought about something like this. How do you fly it? Just joust or do you kite? Rey has me befuddled.

I want to say it doesn't matter because Rey will be where ever she wants to be, but that's a bit disingenuous. That's just how it feels flying against it. Rey wants to naturally joust. That activates Finn for offensive and defensive rerolls. Between the ability to sloop or blow through debris and clear stress afterwards with Kanan then boost she has a LOT of freedom to move and can close a ton of distance in a hurry. She just wants to delete primary threats off the board as fast as she can. The longer she is on the board, the more risk she is at being whittled down. Lowhhrick is there to offer evades from his ability and punch some extra damage through on targets that Rey wasn't able to kill. He's also a hard to kill point sink at the end of the game if it's down to him and another ship.

36 minutes ago, viedit said:

I want to say it doesn't matter because Rey will be where ever she wants to be, but that's a bit disingenuous. That's just how it feels flying against it. Rey wants to naturally joust. That activates Finn for offensive and defensive rerolls. Between the ability to sloop or blow through debris and clear stress afterwards with Kanan then boost she has a LOT of freedom to move and can close a ton of distance in a hurry. She just wants to delete primary threats off the board as fast as she can. The longer she is on the board, the more risk she is at being whittled down. Lowhhrick is there to offer evades from his ability and punch some extra damage through on targets that Rey wasn't able to kill. He's also a hard to kill point sink at the end of the game if it's down to him and another ship.

I think trying to keep in range one for Lowrick's ability is going to be tough for him. What about running Fenn and Rex with Rey to distract and harass?

Also, what about Countermeasures on Rey for the initial joust?

I have a fun simple "triple" wookie list but you may not be able to run it if you only have one Azuituck.

Shag Carpet

Chewbacca (rebel alliance)-c-3po, rd-d2 crew, evade title, trick shot

2x Kashyyyk Defender-wookie commandos

I'm sure you could swap out one Azuitick with 25 points of something else. Maybe a TLT Y-wing.

4 hours ago, Boba Rick said:

Hmmmm... I pretty much play Rebels and Scum. How are these ships against alpha strikes? Will one of them get nuked off the board?

Two high-PS harpoons can down a tokened-up Defender, but that also means below average green dice. The good thing is that a barely alive x7 can still take a lot of effort to down, if flown defensively. From my experience, the obstacle placement and the approach using them makes a difference. Also, getting the damaged one away, while the other engages. This rotating might take more patience than a player new to Defenders has.

The Inquisitor should and can run from alpha strike threat. ”Very dangerous, you go first.”

TIE swarm, TIE swarm is always the answer.

On ‎2‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 11:52 AM, Boba Rick said:

Great idea. I only have two x7 upgrade cards though... what about 2 defenders and something else?

I had moderate success with (IIRC):

Ryad with X7 and Expertise

Vessery with Tie/D, Ion Cannon, Ion engine and Expertise

Backstabber with Ion engine.

How many TIE SF do you have? I've loved flying Quickdraw with a pair of Accuracy Corrector Zeta Specialists. They start at 28 points, same as a Delta/x7, with a fairly similar stat line and you can upgrade them with Primed Thrusters or Sensor Cluster to maximize the effectiveness of their actions. They're just simple, effective ships.

Additionally, there's a lot of ships out there which mess up your attack dice, and having AccC to counteract that might be fun for a newer player. I mean, if I were starting out and wound up facing a Fenn/Ghost early on, I wouldn't want to be stuck shooting blanks.

Accuracy Corrector is also nice on generic SFs since you won't have as many tools to stay on your desired target as a high-PS Quickdraw, or the experience to keep FCS on the same target. Accuracy Corrector can do more damage if you're frequently switching targets. Switching is suboptimal, but what's a PS 3 going to do, particularly a new player's PS 3, when the option isn't there.

YOUNGSTER - DEBRIS GAMBIT

2 SFs WITH JUKE AND ACCURACY CORRECTOR