Autoblaster makes hits immune to dice and his pilot ability makes crits immune to dice for an effective agility of 0 against his opponents at range 1.

Sorry for any confusion. I realise you are not buying the store list. Was just gettinf ahead of any later conversation incase you fall in love with store list..

Cheers for what info you had on tourney

Nah, I prefer rebels. I am tempted by the B wings and A wing list however....

Just remember, as the end of the day the B-Wings only have 1 agility, so when you close to range one, even stock TIEs will eat them up.

Do not underestimate the maneuverability of the B-Wings, the 2 speed K-Turn is something.

So...:

1) I should not be too worried as I can just outmaneuver them and because they have only 1 agility I should be able to eat them up?

2) It's not better than the Biggs/B-Wing/Wedge list

No disrespect and i am not the best but if you have had limited experiance flying any of the ships and your opponwnt has it probably wont matter which list he uses against you, he has the advantage.

I firmly believe a good list is still no substitute for good flying.

Lambda shuttle and hawk possible exceptions

Oh I know he has a distinct advantage, this is his 20th game or so, and this is my 2nd. I was merely asking if his list is better than the one I wrote for rebels as if it is I might buy that instead of what I already planned.

Ok. just to clarify because my phone is a bit S#@T and so tracking back threads can be painful.

Can you type both squads your considering for purchase in this post so I and any others can try to answer the which is best question.

Squad one is the autoblaster b-wing list on page one of this thread I believe, the other I don't recall.

I apologise if this is frustrating.

Not frustrating at all swampthing. You helped design the first list which is what I was going for:

Wedge Antilles

Ibtisam+Heavy Laser Cannon+Veteran Instincts

Luke Skywalker+R2-D2+Stealth Device

And the list I am facing next week that people are making a big deal out of that I am considering choosing over this list is:

Prototype A-Wing+Cluster Missiles (OR) Rookie Pilot

Ibtisam+Fire-Control System+Autoblaster+Push The Limit

Ten Numb+Fire-Control System+Autoblaster+Marksmenship

I would be worried that the second list is maybe too many upgrades... but hey.

Please forgive me again but in an earlier post when discussing what to build with what you have and what to buy there was an issue with which upgrades come with what ships and hence needing more than just the ships you want to fly.

Probably wrong but in first list i'm not sure but you would need to buy a Firespray for the Veteran instincts and HLC, and the B-wing to equip them. Fine, 1 big ship and 1 small

Too run second list need to buy 3 small ships, 1 a-wing and 2 b-wing , also fine.

ignore me thinking out loud, I suffer the same problem as other people in my brain trying to build you thing with cards you don't have as I feel each of these lists could be tweeked to make optimal but I have not flown/ or against either ... anyway..

Back to question, i'm going round and round and can't decide.

I am going to go with List 1 being better. But I have yet to be attacked by an autoblaster.

List 1 List 1. The points are spread a little better across ships also.

No need to be forgiven man. And can I ask what you would do to tweak both lists and after tweaking which you would prefer? Also is there any 3x B-Wing lists that are any good?

I should never have let myself get stuck into this quest.

Now I am home and have access to voidstate etc I have a spanner in the works suggestion.

I quite like this squad also as a third option although again untested and could be improved with other cards but can be built by purchasing 1 y-wing, 1 a-wing, 1 B-wing

Dutch Vander (y-wing) w/ ion cannon + R2 astromech

Wedge w/ swarm tactics + R2D2

Ibtisam w/ autoblaster +Push the Limit

I shall look at picking up a Y wing again when they come in stock if I have the cash then And any idea for 3x B-wing builds if it is at all viable?

And any idea for 3x B-wing builds if it is at all viable?

The "cookiecutter" build is...

Dagger Squad, Fire Control System, Heavy Laser Cannon, x3

And any idea for 3x B-wing builds if it is at all viable?

The "cookiecutter" build is...

Dagger Squad, Fire Control System, Heavy Laser Cannon, x3

And is that any good? And are there any variants? Also, still unsure how to beat the earlier list with the imperials

As for tweeking I unfortunately mean adding cards you would not get from certain sets for example an engine upgrade that only comes in the falcon so lets ignore that.

As to 3 B-wing lists I've yet to try any or play against any but the cookie cutter looks good, I like the fact that they are dagger squadron.

My only thoughts in the back of my mind have always been to try to find lists that let you buy ships that in turn give you many squad options in the future with the same ships.

Not sure if 3 B-wings does that for you, or an A, Y and B either as you may not use the A-wing that much but will use push the limit and the Y-wing.

That said I hear the Y-wing is out of stock so POO to that idea anyway.

My two cents, Stick with squad 1 unless you find your friends list is killing everyone including practised flyers.

Assuming he will be running it before you order your ships.

He won a local store trench run tournament with the list. Kept getting very close to ships and concentrated on getting in range 1, and used the A-wing to alpha strike the weakest ship just to lower numbers turn 1 and then used it for harassment. He did rather well. I just watched as I wasn't playing yet. His previous 3x B-wings all with Ion Cannons also did quite well by running people off the board. And please include ideas that involve buying other sets, this will be great for my future reference

And is that any good? And are there any variants?

I've had some success with it, but how it does will depend greatly on the skill of both players. You won't find it hard to win, because the list is bad, but it also won't be quite as easy to use as a Hand Shot First list.

There aren't any variants really, because the whole list is based on the idea of 3 HLC's.

He won a local store trench run tournament with the list. Kept getting very close to ships and concentrated on getting in range 1, and used the A-wing to alpha strike the weakest ship just to lower numbers turn 1 and then used it for harassment. He did rather well. I just watched as I wasn't playing yet. His previous 3x B-wings all with Ion Cannons also did quite well by running people off the board. And please include ideas that involve buying other sets, this will be great for my future reference

Sounds like he's fairly on the money, skills and ides wise.

as far as further ideas we could probably be at it all day with combos of cards from other lists with other ship upgrades there is no definite winner.

Another thread would probably better nearer the time. But......

There are certain combos that seem to be tried and popular to think about if you want to consider which upgrades you wish to get hold of in future.

I.e. Wedge w/ PTL + R2 astro

Luke w/ R2D2 + shield ( sometimes with Draw their Fire )

Ibtisam w/ PTL ( personally a friend also flies this but with an engine upgrade also, very annoying)

Ok so thanks to the advice on this thread I won! He concentrated too much on the small craft trying to ion them off the board that he ignored the firespray which after destroying the 2x B-wings the rest of the unit made short work of Biggs. Ok so the next list I am against is the store tourney champ and later that day him again with an experimental list he wants to try out. List is same as usual, vs:

2x Rebel Operative with Ion Cannon Turret

2x Blue Squadron Pilot with Autoblaster+Fire Control System

and his experimental list:

4x Blue Squadron Pilot with Ion Cannon

How to defeat these. I know the first is scary as he won with it, but 4 B-wings? that will be slow and rubbish surely. Not really afraid of that. So how do I counter first one?

The "counter" to a pair of Rebel Operatives with Ion Turrets and a pair of Blues with auto blasters is mostly STAY AT RANGE. The idea behind that squad is to ionize something with the RO's so you'll know where it will be next turn and then swoop in with the B-Wings next turn and pop the target. The thing to keep in mind is that the ROs aren't too tough and only take five hits before they're gone and only one before they need to worry about criticals.

The auto-blasters will be nasty to the TIEs but aren't as scary against the less maneuverable Firespray.

So concentrate all fire on the rebel operatives and ignore the B-wings and stay at range as much as pos?

Part of the "strategy" behind that 2:2 build is that you'll ignore the 'weak' HWKs and instead go for the easier to hit (1 defense vs. 2) but harder hitting B-Wings. Now IF you could drop a B-Wing fast enough you may want to go for one of those instead but as it is presented the HWKs are the setup men for big, and often hard to avoid, attacks from the B-Wings. The idea is that the Ion Turrets control you giving him the advantage.

As for staying at range you should remember the ion turrets only reach range 2 and the autoblaster is only good at range 1. If you're outside those ranges then you've negated the points that were spent for those upgrades and are winning that way. While you may want to stay at range you'll probably need to drop in close to make some kills but if you can avoid ionization you'll have that option.

I have nothing to add. Sounds like a plan.

As to beating the four bwings/ ion.

Just focus fire. Give him all your ships as targets at once but make sure they all have sights on his would be my plan. The range of his ions will be your only problem.

He can't ion all your ships in one turn. if you can take down one that just tips the odds further.

Just an idea.