People should know of my love for the most beautiful model in all of Xwing miniatures, and how I felt they kinda got the shaft in the transition to second edition. Braylen and Thane got amazing abilities, but then transfered to different ships and replaced with horribly situational abilities (especially since you apparently can't spend focus to change zero results, rendering Garven an rng nightmare)

Also the rebel factions has ONE non-turret gunner...and it sucks. Scum's sitting on the PERFECT gunner for Shara, but we can't get that now can we?

Mince mince mince, whinge whinge whinge etc.

Let's try to make them work, at least until future waves hopefully give them reasons to exist.

1.) First of all, it's become very apparent to me that easy access to full, action independent modifiers are no longer a thing. I've managed to create maybe five buids that fit the mold (redline, Vermeil, boba, Palob, Kavil), but they're super expensive, or squishy, or both

So we might just have to embrace support jank as a core tenant of the rebel faction identity.

There are a LOT of support options for Rebels

Airen is the cheapest, is I 5, and circumvents the problem lower initiative ships have when locking higher initiative enemies. Range 1 and stress are easy to work around when you have an aux arc. Recommended, he'll probably see play in a lot of lists for his price and I 5 alone. (42 points)

Kyle is interesting because I've found Moldy Palob to be incredibly formidable. Kyle is no Palob, but because the title doesn't limit the amount of focus you can have at a time (just how many you get to keep) you can derp around with up to four focus in a round. Because of the title, Kyle can roll in with two focus, take a lock for full mods, and pass a focus to a buddy. (60 points w/ Moldy Crow + Perceptive Copilot)

Ey, Two-tubes! is expensive and hits a low initiative, but is actually surprisingly potent as a solo ship thanks to advanced sensors and the U-wing's statline. Two crew slots also let him pack the Perceptive + Jyn combo, letting you potentially irritate opponents with the evade Biggs combo (we'll get to that later). Large base and advanced sensors also make him a very potent blocker. A more aggressive support, relative to Kyle; pricey. (67 points w/ Advanced Sensors + Peceptive Copilot + Jyn)

Esege ...oh man, if ever a ship got ****** worse in 2nd ed than the ARC...well, the K seems right useless atm, but Esege's on-demand ability is interesting and at least he's a platform for hot-shot gunner. If FFG ever comes to their senses and gifts the K with a Trajectory Simulator slot, and bam! you'll have the best friend anyone could ask for. Atm though, Senior Tutu seems kinda jank. (65 points w/Perceptive + Hotshot, 68 with optional ASLAM and 70 with optional ion missiles)

Won't really get into Horton . I don't enjoy relying on I 4 target-locks unless Airen is also there for a massive support synergy train . By himself...eh

2.) In a bizarre twist of fat e , r3 has gone from perhaps the worst card in the game to the most useful Astromech on non-Garven ARCs

R3 Astromech is cheap, holds locks for Shara to use, and enables an interesting combo with Freelance Slicers (which probably result in a far superior defense than focus on 1 agility)

Because of the risk of self-jam, you'll probably want the combo on Norra with her initiative of 5. It also combos well with her defensive ability.

3.) Biggs is back, baby!

Take my word on this, TIE swarm or even a mini-swarm will eat you alive . If a reinforced YV doesn't stand a chance, your over-sized and over-priced flying bullseye won't either. Bring. Biggs. Without access to boost or SLAM or any other means of rapid transit, he's basically non-negotiable .

4.) Rebel Crew ...kinda suck?

I hope someone can prove me wrong here, but of the three current factions Rebels seem woefully inferior in the crew department. How FFG decided Kanan (crew) was worth as much as Vader (crew) is completely beyond me

Anyway, it's very difficult to get this slot to work for the ARC (though not literally impossible, as it is with all the gunners that only work on dang turrets). The only real standout is Saw Gerrera, aka Shara's Bae (sorry, not sorry), for obvious reasons. The self damage sucks, but crits in 2nd edition are so incredibly dumb that it's a price worth paying. Magva is about the only other crew that gives mods and, while she seems great in general (Wulfwarro want!), I don't think she's particularly good on ARCs

A lot of rebel crew are decidedly useful-seeming but meh because they don't contribute to the immediate effectiveness of the ship. For example, Chewbacca (crew) is great because crits in 2nd ed are some ol bull (yes, it bears repeating). And yet, the fact that he doesn't do anything to immediately help your ship make him difficult to justify as your only crew upgrade. There's Lando, the useless master of green dice, who is very unappealing on the 1-agility ARC. Baze is just...ugh, why is he only 2 points less than Perceptive Co-pilot exactly? Leia seems nifty, but you'd want her on a cheap-nothing ship which doesn't need many modifiers (like a Sheathe). R2-d2 seems too situational, c3po way too expensive, gonk way too slow, and Kanan is just laughably pricey.

There's Cassian , who actually seems quite abusable with the medium base and aux-arc, but simply doesn't offer modifiers. Hopefully, a braver soul then me will try and have great success with him (seems good with Norra).

5.) Some lists:

1. Norra (Trickshot, Freelance Slicer, r3 astromech) [62]
2. Kyle (Moldy Crow, Perceptive Copilot) [60]
3. Biggs (R5 astromech) [53]
4. El Gran Bandito [23]

or r3 slicer Norra + Concussion Cracken + Naked Biggs + Naked Thane

1. Cracken (Concussion) [42]
2. Shara (Saw Gerrera, R3 Astromech) [64]
3. Biggs (darklighter) [48]
4. Red Vet, AKA "Mini-Biggs" (Selfless) [46]

Hope you guys enjoy some success with this most lovely of ships

Shara is a bridge too far in my opinion. Requiring another ship for the combo makes it substantially less useful on multiple levels. You can take Garven and hope he gets to spend his focus before she activates, Dutch is pretty good for his cost, Jake can maybe do it, but I don't feel like orbiting Shara is the best use of his time. All of these get thrown off if you're out of position or start taking casualties. The only other way for her to naturally use it is Saw or Magva, but one of those requires taking damage and the other requires the enemy to attack you before you shoot. I'm not sold trying to set up this pilot ability is worth it without PTL. It would be substantially better if the ARC still converted a focus into a crit in the back arc.

Norra's pilot ability has been quite fantastic on a Y-Wing, but I think you need to be super selective about upgrades. I've run a relatively fat Norra Y-Wing with Torps, turret and Seismics for 61, but she has a lot more options to punch damage through than the ARC does for the cost and I prefer the 180 Primary + Turret over the double not quite 90 degrees of the front and back.

Garven with the current RRG is super meh. He either needs to get shot at and roll focus (not great odds on 1 green base) or fire a shot that rolls a focus to pass it off. In short, not a huge fan of him with the curretn state of the RRG.

Ibtisam is super meh. It wasn't a great pilot ability in 1.0 and it doesn't get better in 2.0 with less offensive stress application.

If there was more of a cost seperation, then this would be a real choice, but it's a wopping 5pt difference between the relatively useless I3 Ibtisam and the Norra's really solid I5 pilot ability. Expert Handling and a tail gunner are relatively cheap adds that help out a lot for Norra.

Captian Rex as a pilot w/ ability in a Arc-170?

12 minutes ago, Zeoinx said:

Captian Rex as a pilot w/ ability in a Arc-170?

(Possibly) coming to a republic faction near you, wave 4, fall 2019.

(I say that because there’s a draft for a clone wars episode where Rex basically top guns in an arc. It was never finished and released. It may come back in season 7).

Shara bey with saw Guerrera crew is 61 points of "deal with me or I will murder you". You can potentially combo her with ships like Biggs or lowhhrick and that gives your opponent a very tough firing priority choice. Keep shara cheap make her into something of a suicide fighter.

She will be very similar to how RAC with vader & gunner played in 1.0. Force your opponent to deal with shara and leave your end game ship alone to clean up later.

I’ve had better luck PS-killing ties than using Biggs to tank them.

23 minutes ago, TasteTheRainbow said:

I’ve had better luck PS-killing ties than using Biggs to tank them.

so would I, if my opponents didn't have my inverse luck when it comes to preserving them

or Iden

At the risk of derailing the thread a little, what does everyone think the GAR ARC will look like, and do you think having a generic will be appealing?

IMO there is two important upgrades for basic arc. Veteran tail gunner (4) plus expert handing(4?)

As for quickdraw in V1, the double tap is not that hard to trigger when you can barrel and Arc hit with 3 in front...

I think R3 to enhance the double tap game.

Landon can feed two focus tokens, but gamble. Perspectives copilots is good but twice the price.

Sarah can fire twice fully modded shot per turn for about 80 pts but will really need a support to coordinate the barrel roll or the focus ( naked AP5 blocker?). But, there is a lot of potential in this ship IMHO

Fortunately, the quality of the Rebel ARC-170 no longer matters, as we’ll be able to fly them properly with clone pilots alongside Jedi Starfighters, the way they were meant to be fielded (spaced?)!

Presumably also with clone crew and gunners who are basically designed to sit in ARC 170s.

I made a list for a friend, including what I call, Up close and personal Norra

Norra

Intimidation

Zeb

Vet tail gunner

r2d2

Shield upgrade, if you got points for it. (for 4 points, its a steal)

You go for bumps, get a free evade, they get a penalty for defense dice (and might not be able to attack at all, if you play your moves right), plus you are likely tankier than most, with r2 and shield upgrade.

It's not at all like 1.0 norra, but looks pretty cool.

Garven is a tough one. It’s hard to fathom a list that can use his ability effectively. Anything low I that needs focus would be the natural choice, but he doesn’t have enough support for a swarm, and most cheaper ships aren’t worth investing in.

He could possibly use it twice with perceptive copilot and VTG. But flying in the middle of everything means that it’s hard to keep your wingmen in range.

Arvel doesn’t need it because he can focus before boosting.

Maybe Low, since he always reinforces?

Honestly Shara could be a good fit due to easy formation flying and similar initiative.

Turrets are always going to be action-starved. Outer rim smuggler? Wild Space Fringer?

I’m drawing a blank. What could they have possibly envisioned for his role?

I was looking at a Norra with Jyn crew and Juke. She can tank some damage. Also have room for Lowhhrick and supernatural Luke. Seems interesting on paper.

The change in Lowhhrick's ability allows Juke to also trigger since you gain an evade token.

This comes in at 190 points, leaving you 10 more for upgrades.

List Total: 190

I'd think about something like Selfless + Rigged Chute on Lando, plus Elusive on Shara Bey, to bring you to an even 200. Or just say screw it to the Selfless and just give your ARC an extra hull to tank damage with.

I think I'd prefer Hotshot and defense on the Falcon, but alternately, you could go with the Perceptive/Nien/Bistan build:

List Total: 200

And as a bonus, so very few green dice to get in the way of your fun.

After some thought: what about switching out Kyle for Jan Ors ? For those same 60 points, you get I5 Coordinate + an extra attack die for your ARC monster, while she still rides into combat with two focus tokens:

I used that to bring this list together, thinking she'd be useful for giving a Shara a nasty 4 + 1 primary with full mods. Kanan Jarrus is overpriced but I specifically like the flexibility he brings to this list, as he can open up your stressed Jan's dial or be used defensively; in a pinch, he could also still let you use that extra focus result. C-3P0 is a more defensive option that also lets you do something with the focus result, and save a couple points to boot, but when you're trying to mod five dice you'd probably prefer the focus token to the double calculate.

I also personally really like flankers, and I also prefer to spend the last third of my points on two skinny ships rather than one fatter one, so I came up with this. It lacks the damage-leeching that Biggs would offer, but it's also much more dangerous, and if your opponent kills Shara first they'll still have to deal with Arvel rolling four red dice directly up their nose.

This is also my fav ship... if my sn didn't give it away, lol.

I wasn't sure old Norra/new Shara would be useful anymore without PTL... but with R3, you can hopefully set up her ability every other turn. And veteran tail gunner is a given and also goes well with R3 if you can fly her well enough. Expert handling will definitely help with that, but then you'll loose the ability to use her pilot ability again... so it's a toss up.

It seem stress will be much more prevalent in 2.0, so I do like Nien Numb for crew to keep the dial more open. (adds two more blue maneuvers)

At first I really like Norra's ability, will definitely keep the ship more tanky, but then she looses her original ability to shara. Her ability really wants her to be super maneuverable, so I hope something comes along in the future to give her a boost action as well. But... the medium bases do allow for faster movement in general... so I don't know.. will take some practice to see which of these two pilots i'll want to run with.

I use to be a fan a support jank... but now i've been leaning towards less support and more general ships that can do fine on their own. So I'd like to fly one of these two ARCs with 3 cheap baseline Xwings. Airen Cracken may be the exception there, so maybe Shara, Airen, and 2 slightly better than baseline Xwings.

Btw... right now... until 2.0 officially comes out, Boosted Norra with 3 cheap Xwings is working very well.

I don't see any reason why the Galactic Republic faction would not be able to field generic versions of this craft. A squad of 4 of these seems VERY powerful to me.

Have not had much luck with the less janky squad (Norra + trickshot + r3 + slicers / Cracken + concussion / Biggs / Thane). Rebels just burn too fast, and while Norra lasted longer with jam + ability, her damage output just kinda blows

And I don't think the base ARC is particularly impressive either. Scum can already field four Kims which are very similar in statline and cost, trading the aux arc for a bullseye and slightly cheaper price.

1 agi without any terribly amazing features don't make them terribly impressive

On 8/11/2018 at 6:14 PM, Commander Kaine said:

Norra

Intimidation

Zeb

Vet tail gunner

r2d2

Shield upgrade, if you got points for it. (for 4 points, its a steal)

Loaded up more than I'd like in 2.0, but the Intimidation + Zeb combo is intriguing. Seems like an excellent blocker against I6 aces. And honestly with the free evade and lowered agility, ramming isn't a terrible idea either. So the trick is filling out the rest of the 140 points with enough efficiency to handle the rest of the field.

Anyone have any recommendations?

What about Lando crew? He's better in 2.0 as you always get something.

On 8/13/2018 at 8:17 PM, BDrafty said:

I don't see any reason why the Galactic Republic faction would not be able to field generic versions of this craft. A squad of 4 of these seems VERY powerful to me.

I don't understand why the first order can't field silencers as their main fighters.

Because flavor. The ARC represents that the rebellion will use scraps, and also that they uphold the ideas of the republic.

Its not their flavor to use generics as a squad.

2 hours ago, Commander Kaine said:

I don't understand why the first order can't field silencers as their main fighters.

Because flavor. The ARC represents that the rebellion will use scraps, and also that they uphold the ideas of the republic.

Its not their flavor to use generics as a squad.

Read his post again.