...sorta. I picked it up when it came out, played 3 games, and then got intimidated. It's my first wargame.

As the title says, I'm a proud member of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor to the Empire. I tend to prefer either aggro or precision when I play competitive games. Operative Luke, Sabine (not in the list), and Space Llamas caught my attention. I expect Mandalorians to change my list drastically, but the approach will likely be the same.

I have a mostly naked 12-activation list I'd like help with. I'm fine with going down as low as 10. I also have a few questions I'd like to ask:

1) Opinions on Sabine (Endurance + Recon Intel), especially in an aggro list?

1a) Yes or no on the Darksaber, assuming points aren't a concern? Assume she's in a list with 3 other melee units (Llamas and either Luke).

2) 2 or 3 Llamas after the nerf?

3) Snipers in aggro? Assume there will be plenty of terrain.

3a) If so, 1 or 2?

Here's the list! Edited from BattleScribe

Commander: Rebel Officer with Improvised Orders [60 Points]

Operative 1: Luke Skywalker with Force Push, Force Reflexes, Jedi Mind Trick, & Tenacity [229 Points]

Operative 2: R2-D2 [35 Points]

Corps: 5x Rebel Troopers [40 Points each, 200 points total]

Special Forces: 2x Rebel Commandos with DH-447 Sniper [48 Points each, 96 points total]

Support: 2x Tauntaun Riders [90 Points each, 180 points total]

Command Hand: All the Luke cards and Standing Orders

Thanks!

On 7/19/2020 at 11:47 PM, realsoupersand said:

1) Opinions on Sabine (Endurance + Recon Intel), especially in an aggro list?

1a) Yes or no on the Darksaber, assuming points aren't a concern? Assume she's in a list with 3 other melee units (Llamas and either Luke).

2) 2 or 3 Llamas after the nerf?

3) Snipers in aggro? Assume there will be plenty of terrain.

3a) If so, 1 or 2?

Here's the list! Edited from BattleScribe

Commander: Rebel Officer with Improvised Orders [60 Points]

Operative 1: Luke Skywalker with Force Push, Force Reflexes, Jedi Mind Trick, & Tenacity [229 Points]

Operative 2: R2-D2 [35 Points]

Corps: 5x Rebel Troopers [40 Points each, 200 points total]

Special Forces: 2x Rebel Commandos with DH-447 Sniper [48 Points each, 96 points total]

Support: 2x Tauntaun Riders [90 Points each, 180 points total]

Command Hand: All the Luke cards and Standing Orders

Thanks!

1: Personally, Recon Intel is not what I would go with just because Sabine's normal move is so good and it can be used for so many units that will do more with it. Endurance, I would say your results may vary. She has high survivability, but that can also be pretty deceptive if your enemy rolls particularly good and/or you roll pretty bad. If you wanna do the Endurance build, the Personal Combat Shield is a must because that free block will save her life when you need it to.

1a: I love the Darksaber. Not only does it more than double her melee threat, but it also adds one of the most underrated keywords in the game: "Dauntless". It takes her from worrying all the time about getting suppressed to just shrugging it off like it's nothing (plus, Dauntless-move plus native speed-3 is AWESOME).

2: Lots of people still swear by more TaunTauns, more better. I personally love to vary things up, but if you really want an aggressive list, there aren't many better non-hero units.

3&3a: Snipers are just a staple for any list at this point. You'll want something giving cover-fire while your melee troops rush the front and corps' range 1-3 isn't always going to do the trick. I'd say start with one and see how your points go, but if you find you need the second one after a few games, then I'd DEFINITELY make the room for it. Aggro/melee takes practice and sometimes an extra supporting-fire unit is just what the doctor ordered.

PS (regarding commands): I would STRONGLY caution against putting all your commands under one unit. If you lose Luke (and if you play him aggressively, you will), then you're stuck with Standing Orders which SUUUCKs when you don't mean to play it. Sabine's commands rock, the rebel 1-2 pips also do a ton of good (especially if you go heavy on the Special Forces and Supports respectively), and the generic Ambush/Push/Assault is super underrated. I'd say pick 2-3 Luke commands you think are fun and then add in others so that losing one unit doesn't throw your entire army into disarray.

Hope these tips help, god-speed Rebel! ^^

Thanks for your responses!

Since posting this, I actually scrapped Sabine from the list simply because she ate up too many of my points and I felt like I had to run everything else too bare. I don't mind running corps units bare, but I feel like Snipers and Tauntauns need HQ Uplink at minimum. My current lists are variations on Rebel Officer or Leia + Operative Luke & R2 with 2 Tauntauns. The list I want to work with now with uses Leia, but that cuts out 40 points of customization. I pretty much only want her for Coordinated Bombardment, so perhaps the Rebel Officer fits better even with generic battle cards. You're right, they are still good. With the Rebel Officer, I also can upgrade everything the way I want and still have 7 points left. If I swap another Corps unit in over a Sniper, I have 15 points to work with, but not much to do with them. I really don't care for Snipers from the few games I've played so far, but I can see why having at least 1 is a good idea.

I'm currently stuck between two very similar lists. Here's the first, coming in at 793 points:

Commander: Rebel Officer (Improvised Orders)
Operatives: Luke (Push, Reflexes, Mind Trick, Tenacity), R2 (HQ Uplink, 3PO just to distract attention away from Luke)
Corps: 3 naked Troopers
Special Forces: 2 Snipers (HQ Uplink)
Support: 2 Tauntauns (HQ Uplink, Tenacity)

Commands: Son of Skywalker, You Serve Your Master Well, My Ally is the Force, Push, Assault, Return of the Jedi, Standing Orders

and the second, 800:

Commander: Leia (Improvised Orders)
Operatives: Luke (Push, Reflexes, Mind Trick, Tenacity), R2 (HQ Uplink)
Corps: 4x naked Troopers
Special Forces: Sniper (HQ Uplink)
Support: 2 Tauntauns (HQ Uplink, Tenacity)

Commands: Coordinated Bombardment, Son of Skywalker, Full of Surprises, My Ally is the Force, Return of the Jedi, Somebody Has to Save Our Skins, Standing Orders

Interesting lists for sure.

I do have to caution the over-spam of HQ uplink. It is really tempting to gain face-up order tokens without spending command card orders, but at the same time 10pts is a LOT of points and you're using up 40-50pts worth in either list for just this one effect (that has to spend a recover action for every use after the first one). For example, if you dropped one HQ uplink and a corps in the second list, you could afford a second sniper strike team with 2pts change.

Yeah, I definitely see that. I would be tempted to spam it since it's so good. I figured what I would do is try to hold off on it and use it sparingly. The plan was to try to move units like Tauntauns last and then use the uplink to guarantee they can go when I need them to at the beginning of the next turn.

What do you think would be best in regards to how many HQ Uplink upgrades I run? I'm definitely too new to this game and wargaming in general to know how to properly use those upgrades. I would assume you'd want them on the snipers if you can get them into a good point of cover where they don't have to move, but I don't know. I also figured it would be useful on R2 to try to complete his secret mission and then get him out of there ASAP.

If I drop more HQ Uplinks, I could potentially work in another activation or throw something like Threepio out there with Artoo. There are so many options to consider. It's hard to figure them all out. If I go with Luke & Leia, working Commanding Presence in could help reach the units that are farther away and I could spread orders out better with the two Commanders. I could do the same with the Officer, but he only gets the one command slot.

I would definitely say out of all of your units which would need them, it's the ones in the thick of combat that need direct orders the most. Snipers, if you place then right, will almost never be targeted or, if they are, will almost always avoid being hit. Tauntauns, meanwhile, they're up in the thick of it dealing out damage on the front lines. That said, there is something to be said about using their Comms slot for something more cutting to your enemy's strategy vs vital to yours. This is why many people love to run things like Comms Jammer, because Tauntauns will be right up in your enemy's face and with the Jammer, they can stop said enemy from getting precious commands when they need it most.

(NOTE: is actually only 5pts now)

R2 honestly is going to be one of the last units that will get hit if you play him well (especially if you have melee units in the fray). He'll slide right across the battlefield with not a care in the world whether he has orders or not.

Basically, I would say unless you're doing something tricky with it (like the Vets + HQ Uplink + MkII gun combo), HQ uplink isn't really worth all the points that you could be spending to beef up other units.

Cool. Thanks for the advice! I'm going to work on an Officer list and a Leia list with that in mind.

Based on your suggestions and reasoning with HQ Uplinks and Comms Jammers, I edited the two lists and came up with the following:

A (Officer, 11 activations, 793 points)

Commander: Rebel Officer (Improvised Orders)

Operatives: Luke (Push, Reflexes, Mind Trick, Tenacity), R2 (C-3PO)

Corps: 4x naked Troopers

Special Forces: 2x Snipers

Support: 2x Tauntauns (Comms Jammer, Tenacity)

Command: Son of Skywalker, You Serve Your Master Well, My Ally is the Force, Push, Assault, Return of the Jedi

B (Leia, 10 activations, 798 points) - The only difference from list A is that the Officer and 1 Trooper unit were replaced with Leia with Improvised Orders and Strict Orders. I'm not sold on Strict Orders, so this could also drop to 793 to almost guarantee I win the bid. This list also took Coordinated Bombardment over You Serve Your Master Well and Somebody Has to Save Our Skins over Assault.

I do like the little combo with Jedi Mind Trick and You Serve Your Master Well, but Coordinated Bombardment is a much stronger turn 1 play than pretty much anything else I have available. It seems like the decision, if these lists are worth running, is down to my preference between having 11 activations at the cost of a weaker commander or having only 10 activations with a stronger commander and a couple of very strong command cards. As of right now, I'm leaning toward A. What would you do? I'm sorry if I'm asking too much, I'm just really torn.

18 hours ago, realsoupersand said:

I do like the little combo with Jedi Mind Trick and You Serve Your Master Well, but Coordinated Bombardment is a much stronger turn 1 play than pretty much anything else I have available. It seems like the decision, if these lists are worth running, is down to my preference between having 11 activations at the cost of a weaker commander or having only 10 activations with a stronger commander and a couple of very strong command cards. As of right now, I'm leaning toward A. What would you do? I'm sorry if I'm asking too much, I'm just really torn.

The key phrase here is "what would you do?" in that I'm generally a MAJOR sucker for more iconic games. The more named units the better, so my leaning is toward option B purely for personal preference reasons. Overall I think these lists run a lot tighter and you have far more points being used far more often.

Take this with a pretty decent sized grain of salt because I haven't used it, but I think Strict Orders is a pretty good choice when you're running someone as high-courage (and with such a large target on his back) as OP Luke. Having a guaranteed single-suppression removal would keep him in the two-action area especially since it's contingent on him getting ordered by Commands. All in all, it's worth trying in a couple games at least. The only substitute I'd suggest (if you don't want to just drop it) might be Esteemed leader, since Leia doesn't really roll Red DEF and she'll die pretty quick if she gets targeted.

Overall, in my experience, Rebel hero units make WAY more of a splash in armies than generics do (especially compared to generic corps). Leia makes all other units near her better and, as you said, her commands are pretty powerful.

Cool. Thanks! I really am torn. I'm playing with an Imp player with 9 activations, including 1 AT-ST, soon, so I'll try out list B and see how it goes. Leia definitely does more than the Officer.

15 minutes ago, realsoupersand said:

Cool. Thanks! I really am torn. I'm playing with an Imp player with 9 activations, including 1 AT-ST, soon, so I'll try out list B and see how it goes. Leia definitely does more than the Officer.

Definitely don't focus on the AT-ST that much if you can afford not to. Play the objectives and worry more about the enemy troopers who are also trying to play the objective. It's tempting to try and tackle that 11HP behemoth for bragging rights, but it's definitely way harder than it looks as a Rebel player and especially since you don't have much in the way of dedicated Impact.

Rebels seem to be more about outmaneuvering and positioning than the other armies. Is that right?

2 hours ago, realsoupersand said:

Rebels seem to be more about outmaneuvering and positioning than the other armies. Is that right?

According to the devs, they SHOULD be about outmaneuvering other armies, yes. In-practice that's largely hit-or-miss depending on the unit (corps: close to never; Pathfinders, Tauns, and AT-RTs much more often yes). As far as positioning, I would argue that's a universal thing... but Rebels definitely suffer more when they're positioned badly. In a perfect world, Rebel troopers would go from cover to cover and only leave it if they absolutely HAVE to. The upside to the Rebs is they don't really NEED to spend an action a turn aiming, so unlike other units they have more reason to move -> shoot; downside of course being open areas/no-man's lands are a death sentence for them.