Hello. I’m trying to introduce some friends to the game. So far, we have played a couple of demo games, some Tie fighters vs Z95 or X-wings, no upgrades, and also a mini demo of the Millennium Falcon. I’m looking forward to having them play some more games, slowly adding more variety and optional rules to the game like bombs and devices, turrets, etc.

I would like suggestions on squad-building, so that I can craft the squads beforehand and have them choose among those. If you want to help, post a squad that you feel is relatively easy to fly, introduces game concepts and mechanics to new players and are not overly powerful or weak. Ideally, only generic pilots and upgrades, so they can get a grip of the different ships stats, dials and ship abilities before moving into the named pilots and crew pandora box.

This is the list of models I have available, yet I can proxy pretty much any other ship and have the rebel, imperial and scum conversion kits. It’s more than ok to do some reasonably proxies. Still, would be great if suggestions are in line to these models.

UT-60D U-wing - Blue Squadron Scout - 48 Blue Squadron Scout - (43) •Baze Malbus (3) •Leia Organa (2) BTL-A4 Y-wing - Gray Squadron Bomber - 35 Gray Squadron Bomber - (31) Ion Cannon Turret (4) BTL-A4 Y-wing - Gray Squadron Bomber - 35 Gray Squadron Bomber - (31) Ion Cannon Turret (4) T-65 X-wing - Blue Squadron Escort - 41 Blue Squadron Escort - (41) T-65 X-wing - Blue Squadron Escort - 41 Blue Squadron Escort - (41) Total: 200/200 View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

It's a simple and thematic scarif list, with some simple upgrades to introduce them to range control and keeping track of tokens.

Hope I helped!

Wow! Really nice and bonus points for the direct movie reference! Thank you.

If you wanted to do a rebels trench run list try using Wedge and Luke in their X-wing. And Dutch in his Y-wing.

Also,For the imps. try Vader in his tie advanced x 1 and Howlrunner with a couple of other pilots in the tie fighter.

Quick Build cards

Roller of Blanks great suggestion got me thinking of using the Battle of Scarif as a base to theme the next game. I’m using his suggested list, simply replacing Baze and Leia for a Tac Officer, to promote the use of the coordinate action, of which the have seen none, and to keep the list free of unique cards. Added Fire Control system to round up the points and make the Uwing a bit more aggressive, and to make the choice between TL and Coord a bit more interesting.

Rebels:

UT-60D U-wing - Blue Squadron Scout - 48 Blue Squadron Scout - (43) Fire Control System (2) Tactical Officer (2)

BTL-A4 Y-wing - Gray Squadron Bomber - 35 Gray Squadron Bomber - (31) Ion Cannon Turret (4)

BTL-A4 Y-wing - Gray Squadron Bomber - 35 Gray Squadron Bomber - (31) Ion Cannon Turret (4)

T-65 X-wing - Blue Squadron Escort - 41 Blue Squadron Escort - (41)

T-65 X-wing - Blue Squadron Escort - 41 Blue Squadron Escort - (41)

Total: 199/200

All I2 is very nice as it allows simpler activation and firing decisions.

Now for the counterpart. I need to come up with an imperial squad to be the Defenders of Scarif. I viewed the battle again last night (awesomesauce) and Tie Reapers, Tie Fighters and Tie Strikers should be present. Problem is I have no Strikers, so I plan to use Interceptors instead (highly maneuverable arc-dodgers and such)

I came up with 2 possibilities:

Imperial Squad A

Tie Reaper – Scarif Base Pilot 51 – Improved Shields, Tactical Officer, Novice Technician

Tie Fighter – Academy Pilot 23

Tie Fighter – Academy Pilot 23

Tie Interceptor – Alfa Squadron Pilot 34

Tie Interceptor – Alfa Squadron Pilot 34

Tie Interceptor – Alfa Squadron Pilot 34

Total 199/200

Imperial Squad B

Tie Reaper – Scarif Base Pilot 51 – Improved Shields, Tactical Officer, Novice Technician

Tie Fighter –Obsidian Squadron Pilot 24

Tie Fighter – Obsidian Squadron Pilot 24

Tie Interceptor –Saber Squadron Ace 43 – Daredevil (3)

Tie Interceptor –Saber Squadron Ace 43 – Daredevil (3)

Total 185/200

Both have a pumped Reaper to act as counterpart of the U-wing, coordinating actions and such, with novice technician as a “regen” option example. But then the rest comes down to whether keep up the imperial numbers up or upgrade the Interceptors to I4 to allow them to outmaneuver the I2 Rebels. With the Y-Wing turrets and U-wing 90° and 180° rotates, I fear that I1 Interceptors will give a poor show. The I4 will at least give them some chance of real arc dodging, with the Daredevil talent for extra positioning options. Problem is I have no idea what to use the remaining 14 pts, to get it to 198 and have at least a 1pt bid over the rebels. Upgrade the Tie Fighters to Black squadron aces would remove the chance for some cinematic I2 “simultaneous fire” engagements but it’s still an option.

Edit: +1 hull or afterburners on both the Interceptors could be an option for the B squad option. Or switch daredevil for outmaneuver or juke.

Your thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Having a balanced match is key for me.

3 Ship Imperial Aces

Try a named reaper with Vader, it's thematic and effective!

I would suggest:

feroph/vermeil + Vader

2x saber squadron aces

2x TIEs of your choice

You can put EPTs of your choice on the sabers, and build your TIEs to support them

Some EPTs to consider:

Ruthless- maybe not the best choice, you don't have a lot of hull to use, and rebels can already win the damage race

Outmaneuver- my favorite choice, it will give the imperial player more incentive to arc-dodge, therefore introducing him to boost and barrel roll, and I will be very useful to punching through the rebel's high hit counts

Juke-also a good choice, since Vader is already striping tokens, but without focus, you'll have trouble modding attack dice. Maybe a good choice on black squadron TIEs

Predator-good, cheap, fun little upgrade that helps introduce bullseye abilities and give interceptors rerolls. However, this may incentivize the imperial player to joust, which will end VERY badly for him.

Crack shot- good one-time offense, but it has the same problem as predator. It might be okay though, since it only has one use.

Marksmanship- it's like a miniature version of predator, but with the same problems for less benefit. Not a good choice IMO.

Daredevil- very meh upgrade, you can try it if you want, but I don't think it has many benefits.

I ended up using the I4 interceptors with Afterburners and Daredevil for max repositioning. Game went great, yet somehow the coordinate ships almost never did.

Other rookie-friendly, non unique pilots and upgrades we should try?

13 hours ago, LUZ_TAK said:

I ended up using the I4 interceptors with Afterburners and Daredevil for max repositioning. Game went great, yet somehow the coordinate ships almost never did.

Other rookie-friendly, non unique pilots and upgrades we should try?

Massed TIE fighters with Ruthless can be pretty scary.

• "Mauler" Mithel - Afterburners
• Black Squadron Scout - Ruthless x 6

If you want to try a swarm built on a Reaper + Escort, then I recommend not focusing on co-ordinating; giving up the reaper's action when it's your most expensive ship to give someone less valuable a free action is almost always a bad deal.

• Captain Feroph - Ruthless, Admiral Sloane, Shield Upgrade
• Academy Pilot x 6

Feroph is remarkably hard to kill, and the Academy Pilots are disposable minions who cause the enemy stress when they get killed, and everyone gets rerolls against stressed enemies.

Finally, if you just want a nice simple swarm with a touch more punch:

• Alpha Squadron Pilot x 3
• Academy Pilot x 4

Txs Magnus.