So I did some data collecting and with all the X-Wing regional tournaments I could find the record of Empire Vs. Rebels stands at:
Empire 15
Rebels 11

I see and hear a lot of players saying that the Empire has a huge advantage, and never having actually played rebels myself, I assumed the ratio would be much broader but this isn't too bad in my opinion. I was also assuming that the amount of multiple Firespray teams would be the vast majority and it turned out to be very far from the truth. Only 1/5 (that's 3 for our young mathematicians here) of the winning Empire teams ran multiple Firesprays, and that's including my own. Now out of the 11 winning Rebel teams, all 11 of them ran a YT-1300 of some sort (Han, Chewie, or Lando). I think that goes to show how good the Falcon can be. Now I also wanna point out that out of all the standings I saw the majority (about 60%) of players were playing Empire. This is another reason why the ratio is skewed towards the Empire in terms of wins. Now I'm not saying the Empire doesn't have some amazing ships, the Interceptor and Firespray 31 is absolutely amazing, but I see a high number of players in my local meta and on the interwebs saying that the Empire instantly has the advantage. Now like I said, I've never actaully played rebels (but I've had some really close games and some losses against them) so I may not have the best view of how good/bad they are. That's why I'm posting these numbers and asking yalls opinion.

So given the scenario of straight statistical roles and players of identical skill what is better, Rebels or Empire?

I have no clue why the txt came out dark but if you higlight it with your curser (make the surrounding area blue) it all shows up. Sorry guys, idk what went wrong.

The dark side is string in this one.

Which is better? I don't think we can say anything about that. I think the game designers have really got a good handle on balance. I was absolutely tickled when I learned that you could field 8 TIE fighters vs. 4 X-wings, and I think they've kept the balance pretty well through Wave 2.

But that is REALLY interesting that all the Rebel winners had a YT-1300. I was gonna bring my 2X-2Y build, but maybe I should join the winner's circle and pull out my tramp freighter. Probably not because I haven't practiced with it enough.

ur findings could also be skewed due to the popularity of falcon builds as well. if there r lots of them then some of them will make it through and win. i think overall the game us very balanced. both factions can win, esp with the impact of dice (another significant factor that determins the winner on the day). thanx tho, tahts intersting info. Go the Falcon!

Yes, non-Falcon Rebel squads are currently very under-represented in numbers of entrants at the Regionals.

Folks going for fighter builds are largely inclining towards Imperial.

I'm inclined to think that the imperial bias is due to maneuverability. Imp ships give you more options for piloting, more experience players exploit those options, and more experience players win more matches.

I think the overall popularity of the Falcon, due to its amazing role in the movies, is def a big part of why it's winning so many games. It's gotta be straight statistics at that point. If 3/5 of the rebel players are playing Falcons, which is a beefy ship to begin with, then odds tell us that if a rebel player wins then it will more than likely have at least one Falcon. My surprise is the low numbers in terms of Firesprays. Its an amazing, cheap, high damage, decent agility ship. You can play three of them which equals 30 pts of life, its a minimum of 9 and maximum of 12 damage dice per turn and its movement is nothing to laugh at. Plus it comes with one of the best upgrades in the game, stealth. I know Soontir and Turr are really good, but the big ships can take a pounding and one Firespray is the same points as Soontir with PTL and Stealth. Turr with stealth and Veteran Instincts isnt much cheaper. Shocked is the word that comes to mind when i look at the numbers.

i think the 360 firing arc of the falcon appeals more to players and to be honest is very difficult to deal with (but not impossible). In contrast the front/rear firing arc is hard to use effectively, it requires more skill and careful manouvres to pull it off, in my experience the hardest part about flying the falcon is avoiding asteroids and not having the to worry about which way your firing arc is facing makes life lots easier on the falcon pilot.

The_Brown_Bomber said:

I can see that for less experienced players. I dont have a problem getting firing arc with my Firesprays but Ive also been playing close to 10 games a week with them since they came out so that probably explains it. I have yet to use the rebels, as soon as I get everything done to my car that needs done I'll pick up a rebel force. Im excited to use the Falcon and wedge. Other than those two there arent any rebel forces I'm dying to play.

Lt. Husker said:

good points. practice pays off for sure. i like to switch between factions a bit more than most. its good to get a feel for how the enemy ships fly which helps anticipate them a bit more easily i find. i know if i flew the firesparays as much as u have id get the hang of it.

Well I'm lucky to have a group that's always willing to play so I get a ton of practice. Id really like to hit up worlds but I was told the seats are already sold out and that FF has held more regionals than seats available and are still holding regionals. Im kind of curious why they set a limit as to how may players could play. Although I havent read any of this myself and it could all be hoopla.

Lt. Husker said:

i'm sure they don't expect everyone that placed 1st at a regionals to attend the worlds.. it's a pretty large expense for many of us to attend a worlds that are halfway across the continent (such as the West Coast where I reside)

whether you fly or drive, it's one hell of an expense plus booked time off work to attend one of these major events and not appealing to many for that reason

i just hope that they have prioritized seating to those who have the coin before they let in others

Just starting Regionals Tournament in Poland. Will see, if Middle-Europe meta is similar to American

Hail yeah, post back and let us know what won.

Just thought I'd chime in on your post here about Rebel vs. Empire stats.

Dice Age Games in Vancouver, Washington just hosted their X-wing regionals yesterday.

The final round 1st and 2nd place match-up was:

2 Rookie Pilots w/ Shield upgrades

Dutch w/ Ion Cannon

Green Squadron Pilot w/ Push The Limit

vs.

Garven Dreis

Biggs Darklighter w/ Stealth Device, R2-D2

2 Rookie Pilots

Both builds were 4-ship Rebel Builds, neither had YTs and both were 3-0. The first list won the final match.

as I promised, some data from Poland:

1. Regionals in Warsaw 21th April

Winner- Me

Kath Scarlet (Gunner, Marksmanship)

Howlrunner (Stealth Device)

Bounty Hunter

2.Regionals in Bydgoszcz 9th June

Winner- Michal "Kolas" Kolasinski

WEDGE ANTILLES (29) + EXPERT HANDLING (2)

GOLD SQUADRON PILOT (18) + ION CANNON TURRET (5)

GOLD SQUADRON PILOT (18) + ION CANNON TURRET (5)

GOLD SQUADRON PILOT (18) + ION CANNON TURRET (5)

(but in the second tournament someone with HSF was very close to win)

Thanks for the input guys. That changes some of my thoughts. Im starting to see a lot of use of the non falcon builds more and more. I think it was just a surprise factor of that 360 firing arc that was pulling it through. I feel that the falcon is good but after upgrades it's usually half your total which can be a huge pain when fighting bounty or tie spam that doesnt have anything near that many points sunk into one model. Once the falcon has gone down you better hope you took at least half their ships down with it.

Ever since the game first came out, I've always seemed to gravitate towards X-wing/Y-wing combos. And what keeps surpising me is how the wave 1 Rebel ships perform and remain solid contenders for a good list, even when flying in the shadow of the named YT-1300s.

For a while I tried getting used to running the named YT-1300s. I like Chewie but I have yet to make a good list using Han or Lando, which is sad because I see a lot of support potential with Lando's ability - and Gunner or not, Han 's reroll ability plus Marksmanship just makes stuff disappear. And Chewie's crit-denying ability coupled with 13 hull/shield points makes him very annoyingly survivable.

One list idea I had that I still want to explore for tournament play looked like this:

Chewbacca w/ Millienium Falcon title card

Gold Squadron Pilot w/ R2 Astromech

Gold Squadron Pilot w/ R2 Astromech

Gold Squadron Pilot w/ R2 Astromech

3 Y-wings and named YT-1300, 37 total hull/shield points. As interesting as I think it is, I don't see myself making any friends with a list like this…

Rainbow_Chaser said:

that 3 Y-wing list is a good foil for other big ship squads i think. it might have trouble with a swarm tho. id like to see it played

Rainbow_Chaser said:

That does look really interesting. I've ran 3 Firesprays before and the amount of life on them was the most annoying thing and this list has even more. I recently picked up a large rebel force and I have all of these ships so I'll have to give it a try.

Let me know how it goes!

I'm interested in what others think of this list since I am one of the few players in my gaming circle that currently could run it without borrowing any ships.