Hey guys, still new to this game, and so is my opponent tonight. We are by no means competitive and are just playing this over some beers and geeking out. I'm looking for opinions on the following squads:

Imperial

• 3 x T/F - Obsidian Squadron Pilot
• 1 x T/B - Scimitar Squadron Pilot (2 x Assault Missiles)
• 1 x T/B - Captain Jonus (Marksmanship, Adv. Proton Torpedoes, Cluster Missiles)
• = 100pts

Rebel

• 1 x X/W - Luke Skywalker (R2D2, Draw Their Fire, Shield Upgrade)
• 1 x X/W - Biggs Darklighter (R2F2)
• 1 x B/W - Ibtisam (Ion Cannon, Shield Upgrade)
• = 100pts

The way I see it is the Imperials have a mini-swarm with first-strike capabilities but the Rebels can soak a lot of damage. Any advice would be much appreciated. Available pieces are 2 x core sets, 1 x A-wing, 2 x B-wings, 2 x Tie Bombers. Thanks.

I'd drop the shields on ibti and take ptl or missiles of some kind

Thanks Cerealthief!

Does one look overpowered than the other? Are these at par with each other?

They seem quite balanced. Either will take experience to use well.

If you have 2.5 hours to play with

My advise is set a time limit for game 1 of about 1 hour. Then you can see what works for you.and do another game of 1 hours 15 mins.

A lot of xwing stuff is what works for your own style of play.

Are these at par with each other?

X-Wing is pretty well balanced point wise. So if both lists are 100 points, then they should be fairly evenly matched.

The missiles you have may not work as well as you hope, Cluster missiles are generally considered a bit poor, and I don't think Assault Missles will work as well against Rebel ships as they do against Ties. Give them a try and see how it goes.

I'd drop the shields on ibti and take ptl or missiles of some kind

Ibtisam really needs a tool for generating stress. PTL is the best choice.

Where are you getting "Draw Their Fire" and Shield Upgrades as those are all from the Falcon which you don't list as an available ship. I'm guessing that Proxies are being allowed but I'm just pointing out the inconsistency.

I can't say much about the rebels except maybe make some other considerations on how to outfit Ibtisam. Although the Ion Canon can make an Imperial ships movement predictable you may want to just keep the damage up to smash up the TIEs faster. PTL so you can stress yourself is certainly a decent idea.

For the Imperials I'll point out a few thing. Jonus doesn't work on himself. Because of the TL requirement for Cluster Missiles they are really far from great as that could mean locking onto Biggs and then flying through everything else to get within range 1 to use them. The Assault Missiles could be very useful even if you need to shoot at Biggs because if you hit him you'll also damage everyone else; I'm not sure how well TWO will work as that puts a BIG target on that bomber which the Rebels may neutralize before it ever gets that second shot off. I'd maybe consider adding BOMBS of some kind to the bombers. I may also consider dropping some of the upgrades so you can put in that fourth T/F.

This is fantastic guys, I really appreciate the help

Recommendations for the Imperial squad:

- Looking the squad you will be flying against, you will notice that the lowest PS you will be flying against is 5. As a result, Obsidian Sq. pilots are essentially the same as academy pilots. So I would recommend changing Obsidian Sq. x3 to either Academy Pilotx3 to give 3 more points somewhere else or Academy Pilot x2, Night Beast (or if you can find another point somewhere Dark Curse).

- Captain Jonus's ability does not work on himself, so it seems a bit wasted with only one bomber to use it on (especially since the other bomber will likely be target #1). Its not an awful choice since adv proton torpedoes+marksmanship can be pretty devastating, but cluster missiles will likely only be effective against the b-wing which you won't be hitting until mid game. Also keep in mind that Luke will likely be drawing any crits off of biggs from the adv proton torp which means that a focus could be better than marksmanship. Maybe take push the limit instead? Possible replacements: Major Rhymer w/ PtL, adv proton torpedo;

- If you want to give even more towards a swarm you could do Academy pilot x4, scimitar bomberx2, +20 pts of ordinance (recommend concussion missiles, proton torpedoes, adv proton torpedoes, bombs of some kind)

Recommendations for the Rebel squad:

- Luke and Biggs are a pretty solid defensive powerhouse. If that is what you are looking for, I wouldn't change anything there.

- Ibitsam really doesn't need a shield upgrade. She already has 5 shields and between Biggs's ability and Luke using DtF, it is unlikely that she is going to take any hits until midgame. She should also be your heavy hitter, so the ion cannon doesn't seem like a great choice either since it limits her damage output and a single ion cannon isn't that effective when facing 5-6 ships. Possible replacements: Ibitsam w/ PtL, ion cannon; Ibitsam w/ PtL, proton torpedo; Ibitsam w/ HLC, or my favorite blue squadron w/ HLC, FCS, and a proton torpedo for luke.

Wouldn't R2F2 complement Luke's pilot ability better? I'd swap R2F2 and R2D2.

i.e. Luke can change a focus to an evade, R2F2 increases the probability of rolling at least one focus.

Messing with my Imperials and came up with this:

• 2 x T/F - Academy Pilot
• 1 x T/F - Dark Curse
• 2 x T/B - Scimitar Squadron Pilot (Assault Missiles, Shield Upgrade, Proton Bombs)

I'm not 100% sold on the shield upgrade though. Any thoughts?

I'm quite happy with my Rebels; I 'm taking the advise of many and going with:

• 1 x X/W - Luke Skywalker (R2D2, Draw Their Fire, Shield Upgrade)
• 1 x X/W - Biggs Darklighter (R2F2)
• 1 x B/W - Ibtisam (Push the Limit, Proton Torpedoes)

Wouldn't R2F2 complement Luke's pilot ability better? I'd swap R2F2 and R2D2.

i.e. Luke can change a focus to an evade, R2F2 increases the probability of rolling at least one focus.

Not really. So in early game, everyone will be shooting at Biggs and any chance you can reduce the damage is good. The most direct way of doing this is increasing his agility, thus R2F2. Those hits that do get through have a pretty good chance of being critical hits which is where Draw Their Fire comes into play. Luke will draw their fire, and then just regenerate the shield next turn with R2D2 and not be in danger of being shot at directly as long as Biggs is still alive.

imho ur bombers are overloaded - the issue with ur imperial squad is its part swarm and part bomber squad - without doing either job effectively. do u have more bombers? or a few tie-advanced?

one option might be to drop the shield upgrades (10pts), replace the proton bombs with seismic charges (10-4=6pts) giving u 16 more points to spend on something like...

backstabber?

replace dark curse with a 3rd academy pilot and spend those extra points on Howlrunner? swarm? Maybe Jonus+Squad Leader?

I am a little concerned about ur low Pilot Skills but cant see a way around that unless u drop a tie-fighter altogther. U r in new territory with wave3 and its lots of guesswork. its really a matter of testing things out a bit so u can get a feel for what is working for you

my personal preference would be Squad#4. u have the option to use the academy pilots as blockers, ur bombers are pretty scary with two missiles each and jonus complements their offense well.

Luke's ability lets Luke focus on offensive abilities instead of needing to use his actions for offense and defense. Using his action for defense takes away from his offensive power unless you can get him an offensive power somehow. Dutch is a good way to do that.

Firstly I agree with DarthUrsus on the tie pilot skill levels.

It's a bit cheeky to change once you know what your facing as this would not normally occur.

But that said the points used to make them obsifian and not academy pilots are definately wasted, down grade them.

Also without changing the squad I would personally drop an assault for an adv. Proton.

Give Jonus squad leader and swap his cluster for a homer.

And yes try and fit elusiveness or push the limit

Here's an idea for the Imperials:

• 4x T/F - Academy Pilots 12pt (48 total)
• 1x T/B - Scimitar Squadron Pilot + Assault Missile + Seismic Charge (23 points)
• 1x T/B - Captain Jonus + Squad Leader + Proton Bomb

Since you seem to be using proxies when it comes to upgrades I'm figuring you want Jonus with Squad Leader so that he can pass his action off to the SSP and allow it to target lock on one of the rebel ships which may have been out of range when it moved. This can provide your best chance for lower skilled SSP to get off that Assault Missile before things are too close. You could do something different where I have the bombs listed if you want to try getting more out of Jonus's ability but doing that will require keeping both bombers around.

I'll also remind The Brown Bomber of the restrictions placed in the original post. Those include a max of two Bombers but also seems to exclude the TIE pilots (Howlrunner) from the expansion set.

Luke's ability is defensive, not offensive -- he's not much more powerful than biggs on the offensive. Although he does have a higher pilot skill, so I grant that he may be slightly more powerful.

Darth Ursus made a good point though. I think I'll try something similar for my next squad... I have a bad habit of always taking the same upgrades and haven't made use of Draw Their Fire yet.

Luke's ability lets Luke focus on offensive abilities instead of needing to use his actions for offense and defense. Using his action for defense takes away from his offensive power unless you can get him an offensive power somehow. Dutch is a good way to do that.

Here's an idea for the Imperials:

• 4x T/F - Academy Pilots 12pt (48 total)
• 1x T/B - Scimitar Squadron Pilot + Assault Missile + Seismic Charge (23 points)
• 1x T/B - Captain Jonus + Squad Leader + Proton Bomb

Since you seem to be using proxies when it comes to upgrades I'm figuring you want Jonus with Squad Leader so that he can pass his action off to the SSP and allow it to target lock on one of the rebel ships which may have been out of range when it moved. This can provide your best chance for lower skilled SSP to get off that Assault Missile before things are too close. You could do something different where I have the bombs listed if you want to try getting more out of Jonus's ability but doing that will require keeping both bombers around.

I'll also remind The Brown Bomber of the restrictions placed in the original post. Those include a max of two Bombers but also seems to exclude the TIE pilots (Howlrunner) from the expansion set.

hmm, my bad. missed the restrictions of ships. imperials wout howlrunner is hard. based on what hes got in terms of ships i think ur build is good. Jonus is just screaming to be supported my more missiles but if u only got 2 bombers then thats all u can play.

Jonus without the chance to support multiple ships and shots really does make his use questionable. Now maybe the Assault Missile will hit a rebel ship often enough that rerolling the pair of dice isn't needed to get some damage but I've seen situations where that Assault missile misses when just hitting for a point of damage could easily be the game.

I know I could also get behind the idea of two T/B being used to support four T/F but that is made easier when you have the expansion pilots.