Most of us have seen some pretty salty rebels, and a few dejected ones to. We've heard them talk about not being relevant or powerful, but I, like most of you here, believe rebels have plenty of good options, just not as obvious as the other factions.

I for one think they have some of the best coordinators in the game. Ap-5 for pure economy, U wings for offense and crew, And ten numb + squad leader is possibly the most offensively powerful action support in the game, with the possible exception of dutch or kyle+moldy crow. And we have excellent ordinance carriers too, X-wings, Y-wings, and A-wings might if they get a decent missile. Speaking of X-wings, they are one of the most powerful ships in the game, with IMO The best force ability in the game.

What do you think? How can rebels take their rightful place in the meta?

'Best co-ordinators in the game' is a proper backhanded compliment. The other factions have people that just get two actions normally, they don't need to pay for some poxy shuttle to follow them around spitting out actions.

Rebels just need points reductions first of all, medium term they'd benefit from better crew, longer term they need a root & branch rewrite and repurposing.

Based in placings so far, 4-ship rebels is the strongest archetype, followed by trip Torp. Common pilots for 4-ship are Jan, Wedge, Sabine, Norra, and Luke.

I do like Ten Numb, but the only low PS uniques that are competitive are so because their econ is stupid-good, e.g. Sabine and 4-LOM doing effectively 3 actions per turn. Ten's single "free" action, even as a coordinate, unfortunately does not make the cut.

Anything with the newly upgraded R2D2...

It's a variation on one you'll probably see most people suggest, but I really like Wedge, Jan, Norra and Arvel.

Sabine is only 2 points more than Arvel, and is arguably a lot better for those 2 points, but I like the options Arvel offers, especially with Intimidation. Something about the list appeals to me than the ProTorp lists, possibly because although she only works once per round, Jan feels a bit more flexible for your extra dice than the torps.

If you can fly her well enough, you can adapt almost on the fly to decide who's going to benefit from her ability based on who has the best chance to maximise the results. Arvel kinda works the same. In an ideal circumstance, you can have Wedge and Norra both shooting on a target Arvel's bumped for reduced agiltiy and you can pick who to Jan based on who has the best range etc.

There's room for torps on Norra or Wedge, so you can make them an equal threat if you like (both rolling 4 dice in a turn) or give Wedge a range option while Norra gets in close for a 4 dice, range 1 and Jan attack. I really want to try the list with APTs on Norra. I know general consensus on a one off weapon isn't great, but I'm interested to see if they mesh better with Norra looking to get to range 1. Especially if I can also Arvel bump them.

I feel like Braylen, Ten, Garven and Jek has some mileage too, though it's really tight on upgrades and obviously limited by that I4. Still, it's a block of 3 attack dice jousters/knife fighters with potentially decent(ish) action economy that can move in any order and either benefit from or ignore stress in 3 out 4 cases. Unfortunately, it's 1 point short of being able to run Selfless on Garven and Chopper/Elusive on Jek, which is how I'd want to do it.

Ten with AdSen

Braylen

Kyle with Title and Magva

AP

Super diverse ways to get 3 double modded 3 dice shots every turn, versatile action choices, especially re: timing, fun target priority issues, etc etc etc

Rebels need to basically bring only the most NPE ships in their faction at the moment. Triple X Alpha Strike is good for a straightforward approach, but otherwise making people waste or regret shots is an effective strategy. Norra Wexley with minimal upgrades (or regen if you want to make her heftier) is a tough nut to crack at IV 5 and gets the evasion all the time. Supernatural Luke is a waste for your opponent to shoot at most of the time, so he gets thrown in their too.

Next, add a Jan Ors with title, Jyn Erso, and Engine Upgrade and you complete the trifecta of borderline NPE nonsense in rebels. Luke will do what Luke does, Norra will be getting her free evade and it can stack with the evade token she gets through Jyn Erso for a minimum of two guaranteed evades. Finally, Jan just zooms around behind the other two aces, helps them throw 5 (or 6) dice as much as possible and can sit on a focus evade stack if she ends up not being able to boost out of arc.

It feels kind of dumb when your ships can get shot at repeatedly and take next to no damage, but there's a lot of dumb in the meta, so it's fine in my book. Just plan for salt coming your way for trying to play on equal terms with Scum and Imperials.

I love wedge, luke, thane and sabine. 200 points. Its great because u get 4 - 3dice attacks. They all have boost for when an injured pilot needs to flee.

I also like it because there is no room for tweaking! I tend to shuffle upgrades around all the time and remove upgrades for higher bids. This stops me from fiddling.

I have enjoyed playing 2B (Braylen and Ten) and 2X (Wedge and Garven). Or the same 2Bs with Corran Horn (R3 + fire control system).

U-Wing + 3A is an interesting list, although it requires absolutely perfect manoeuvering + a lot of luck.

10 hours ago, SOTL said:

'Best co-ordinators in the game' is a proper backhanded compliment. The other factions have people that just get two actions normally, they don't need to pay for some poxy shuttle to follow them around spitting out actions.

Rebels just need points reductions first of all, medium term they'd benefit from better crew, longer term they need a root & branch rewrite and repurposing.

Then Why are there pilots like L3-37 and Vizier seeing so much play?

And with cards like rec spec, MC, and a few pilot abilities, their not completely useless alone.

Four ship rebels is where it's at.

Whether it's the Michigan GT-winning (& runner up) list (Swarm Tactics Wedge, Moldy Jan, Proton Dutch with R3, Blue Squadron), my own GT Top 8 (Wedge, Blue, 2x Vet Gunner ICT Grey Squads with Seismics), X-wing efficiency (Luke, Wedge, 2x Blue Squad), a dash of Sabine (Luke, Wedge ,Blue, Jukin' Sabine), or even a near-Fair Ship list (Wedge, Biggs, Selfless Red Vet, Jukin' Sabine) you can find something tanky, efficient, and throwing plenty of red dice. And I haven' even started trying some of the U-wing based 4-ship lists.

I can't comment on "the meta" at large but list fortress basically backs up what's been said with a few odd balls. That said at a casual level I enjoy flying rebels and find them solid enough although with less variety then scum which is my first addiction or imps my second.

Four ship Rebels has been working for me, also, though I’ve only played at my LGS’s casual nights. Squads I’ve enjoyed:

Four Ship Synergy

(42) "Dutch" Vander
(9) Proton Torpedoes
(2) R4 Astromech
Points 53

(38) Kyle Katarn
(12) Moldy Crow
(1) Trick Shot
Points 51

(47) Garven Dreis
(0) Servomotor S-foils
Points 47

(48) Biggs Darklighter
(0) Servomotor S-foils
Points 48

Total points: 199

Fly ships in pairs of like initiative and form a killbox. Dutch gives Garven a lock, Kyle gives Dutch one of his focuses and takes a lock himself, for three double-modded shots round 1. Garven’s ability is used to top off Kyle’s focus stack.

Cassian Control Ys

(47) Cassian Andor
(0) Pivot Wing
(5) Informant
Points 52

(38) Horton Salm
(6) Ion Cannon Turret
(8) Veteran Turret Gunner
Points 52

(36) Arvel Crynyd
(3) Intimidation
Points 39

(43) Norra Wexley
(6) Ion Cannon Turret
(8) Veteran Turret Gunner
Points 57

Total points: 200

Arvel and Norra like to get in close, which gives Horton rerolls. Arvel’s debuff makes the Ys primary attacks more potent, and increases the likelihood that you’ll put ions on the target. Not sure yet if I really like Informant, though.

11 hours ago, SOTL said:

'Best co-ordinators in the game' is a proper backhanded compliment. The other factions have people that just get two actions normally, they don't need to pay for some poxy shuttle to follow them around spitting out actions.

Rebels just need points reductions first of all, medium term they'd benefit from better crew, longer term they need a root & branch rewrite and repurposing.

Do you feel a points reduction on crew will effectively give them "better crew", or are the crew options that trash?

My biggest gripe with the Rebel faction right now is its faction identity is the socialist phalanx, but they are costed out of putting those types of lists together.

You can't have 'fairship' be their faction identity, but price them out of it for fear of returning to 1.0.

That's where the Dev's need to readjust their bearing. Short term, a points drop will allow them to utilize that current role at competitive level. They have plenty of options to do so.

I do agree with @SOTL in that they could do with some better crew.

I love me a Fat Han Luke list

Three rebel lists made the cut at Australian nationals, and all of them are quite good.

Top 16: Jan, Luke, Wedge, AP-5.

Top 4: Dash Roark (this list is really a "combo" rather than a "rebel list")

Top 4: Wedge and garven with protorps, swarm tactics, R3 astromech and sfoils, plus esege with perceptive copilot, barrage rockets and proton bombs. My friend built this list to kill redline before he shoots.

7 Z95s with Selfless.

Should mention another solid local list: homing missile bandits and Bodhi. With 5 bandits, they all take locks on whisper and she's living on a countdown.

I plan on running a similar-ish list. 5 Tala Squadrons with Intimidation and Saw with Intimidation, FCS and Tactical Officer. Everyone is Wedge when you have Intimidation in your list

I've yet to fly this, but I like the look of Wedge with three Red Squadrons, all with swarm tactics. It has all four shooting at In6, is pretty tanky, and capitalizes on how awesome the X-wing is. I'll give it a try at some point, but I'm still having too much fun with Interceptors.

Chewie with Perceptive copilot, Jyn, Lone Wolf

2 PS 2 B-Wings with Advanced Sensors

Currently 4-0 & top of Swiss in the UVX TTS tourney with Han/Luke. I’m 7-2 with that exact load out & probably about 15-4 or so with Han plus something.

https://tabletop.to/uvx-tabletop-simulator-tournament

I've been enjoying this

(52) Wedge Antilles
(0) Servomotor S-foils
(9) Proton Torpedoes
(3) R3 Astromech
(1) Crack Shot
Points 65

(62) Luke Skywalker
(0) Servomotor S-foils
(12) Supernatural Reflexes
(9) Proton Torpedoes
(3) R3 Astromech
Points 86

(48) Thane Kyrell
(0) Servomotor S-foils
Points 48

Total points: 199