I'm looking to get a build with B's and Xs. I can't decide if i should go basic pilots or named Pilots. If I go named I think this is what I'm lookng at:

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Crafty Veterans
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100 points

Pilots
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Ibtisam (34)
B-Wing (28), Advanced Sensors (3), Push the Limit (3)

Luke Skywalker (33)
X-Wing (28), R2-D2 (4), Adrenaline Rush (1)

Wedge Antilles (33)
X-Wing (29), R2 Astromech (1), Push the Limit (3)

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View: http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/42742/crafty-veterans
Tweak: http://xwing-builder.co.uk/build/42742

Can that build be improved much? Is it better to go with 4 no name pilots in your experience or 3 named pilots (especially if one of those names is Wedge)? I really like the idea of the Bwing with the adv sensors and PTL

The problem with 3 ships vs 4, is that the power of a squad, all else being equal, is proportional to the number of ships squared. So to drop down to 3 ships from 4, you need to increase your damage output, or damage mitigation, or some combination of the two, by 77%. That's assuming 4 ships of the same type to 3 ships of the same type, so it gets more complicated with mixed squads, but you can see the basic dilemma.

That said, that looks like a very solid list to me. The only tweak I would make is swapping out Adrenaline Rush for Draw Their Fire on Luke, so he can soak and regenerate some damage for free, since he already has R2-D2.

I was also going to recommend Determination, because it's under-rated, but Draw Their Fire is probably the correct answer.

yep. Draw Their Fire on Luke for sure. this is a solid 3 ship list.

The problem with 3 ships vs 4, is that the power of a squad, all else being equal, is proportional to the number of ships squared. So to drop down to 3 ships from 4, you need to increase your damage output, or damage mitigation, or some combination of the two, by 77%. That's assuming 4 ships of the same type to 3 ships of the same type, so it gets more complicated with mixed squads, but you can see the basic dilemma.

That said, that looks like a very solid list to me. The only tweak I would make is swapping out Adrenaline Rush for Draw Their Fire on Luke, so he can soak and regenerate some damage for free, since he already has R2-D2.

Good call on DTF. Forgot about that one somehow. And the 3-4 ship decision is a tough one to make. I'm leaning towards the Veterans in the hopes that Higher PS + pilot abilities + upgrades will allow me to take out some ships before they even get to fire, thus leveling the playing field. Plus named pilots with upgrades are much more fun to fly with IMO

If you want 2 Bs and 2 Xs, consider 2 rookie pilots for your Xs, and 2 blue squadron B-wings, each with Heavy Laser Cannon.

I've been toying with variants on a not entirely dissimilar squad, but using Jan to boost damage. She worked well in a 3X squad, so how about

Jan (25) + Recon (3) + Blaster (4) = 32

Luke (28) + R2D2 (4) = 32

Wedge (29) + PTL (3) + Shield Upgrade (4) = 36

I've seen the extra shield for Luke make him hard to take down, but this might spread the survivability out a bit.

Or swap Wedge for Ten Numb with Marksman and an FCS?

If you want 2 Bs and 2 Xs, consider 2 rookie pilots for your Xs, and 2 blue squadron B-wings, each with Heavy Laser Cannon.

Yeah that would be my first instict. But the last time I played with my normal opponent he was running Jonus + Bomber with cluster missile+ Vader with Cluster missile. He flew straight at my BS B-wing with HLC and dropped him with CM+Jonus Rerolls before I could fire. I'm trying to hedge my bets against that type of build next time by getting my ships to shoot first and be placed after his bomber if he brings one for a more optimal board setup. That's where the desire for named pilots started

Bloody Daggers is a strong 4 ship list.

2 x Red Squadron

2 x Dagger Squadron with Adv. Sensors.

For the 3 ship list I would be tempted to drop PtL on Ibti and Adrenaline Rush on Luke for an Engine Upgrade on Ibti, but that is personal taste and the list as is will perform very well.

My favorite 3 ship Rebel right now is;


33 points
Wedge Antilles
R2 Astromech, Push the Limit

33 points
Ibtisam
Veteran Instincts, Engine Upgrade

34 points
Jan Ors
Determination, Blaster Turret, Nien Nunb, Moldy Crow

I would think that the XXBB squad to go with would be the one that won Worlds, the third Vassal tournament and the big tournament in Spain in November: Biggs Walks the Dogs.

Biggs

Rookie Pilot

Dagger Squadron Pilot w/ Advanced Sensors

Dagger Squadron Pilot w/ Advanced Sensors

Although that's mixed between named pilots and unnamed pilots, so I don't know if the OP would be willing to compromise on that point.

As EnglishPete said, it's also worth consideration is swapping PTL and adrenaline rush for an Engine Upgrade on Ibtisam. You lose attack quality for extra mobility which is generally a more defensive move. Were I to do that, I'd also swap R2-D2 for a generic R2 and PTL on luke to increase overall offense. I don't like R2-D2 on luke unless it's comboed with Draw their Fire. Adding Defense to Defense just aims their guns at your better attackers.

Its interesting TBH, I was at the same point last week with trying to decide if I wanted quanity over quality. I chose quanity and had pretty darn good results during the weekend. However, that being said, I felt myself wishing that I had a named pilot in the mix for some abilities. In my mind, it really is a toss up! I am going to play this weekend with some named pilots for sure and see how the results compare. Now I also understand that it is tough to judge because my throws could just be bad as well.

I think the original build looks pretty stout but the Biggs/Rookie/Daggerx2 also looks pretty good as does the 2x Red Squadron pilots and the Daggers with the advanced sensors.

This is the problem with posting builds and asking for advice: by the time i factor in all the advice I've got about a dozen different builds I want to try! Ha. I guess that's a good problem to have. Now if I only I was able to play more often so that I would get to try them all out.

If I go with generic pilots I'm leaning towards the Bloody Daggers suggested by EnglishPete so that my PS is still higher than his PS2 bomber to avoid the Jonus trap

That is why most folks take Bloody Daggers in that situation. It also has the move and fire advantage on most Imp Swarms.

Paul's Walk the Dogs list that won Worlds uses Daggers with Adv. Sensors for that reason.

I think ur B-Wing will take a pounding early on - their goal will be to take down one ship fast and the B-Wings low agility will be tested. Wedge is also a tempting target and they may go for him depending how u approach in the first exchange.

Id be concerned about swarms from rebels as well as imperials. BBBAA for example has the firepower and blockers to cause one of ur ships to lose its action and get pounded if they can guess ur flight path - easier for the X-Wings than B's in practice i know.

I've been toying with variants on a not entirely dissimilar squad, but using Jan to boost damage. She worked well in a 3X squad, so how about

Jan (25) + Recon (3) + Blaster (4) = 32

Luke (28) + R2D2 (4) = 32

Wedge (29) + PTL (3) + Shield Upgrade (4) = 36

I've seen the extra shield for Luke make him hard to take down, but this might spread the survivability out a bit.

Or swap Wedge for Ten Numb with Marksman and an FCS?

I've seen these pilot used but there are ways to make it more robust even if it concentrates points a bit more.

Remember that to use Jan's ability she takes on Stress and once you have that you'll need to shed it before you can do it again; it also prevents you from Focusing which hurts Recon Specialist+Blaster turret from working at all. Much of the time you'll see Jan with a Ion Turret which she can use tokenless and stressed and Nien Nunb as crew to make it easier for her to dump the Stress she gets using her ability which is why you player her to begin with. This change nets you +1 point to work with but doesn't alter her offense too much once you start going into the numbers.

Luke and Wedge is a common pair but consider giving Luke Draw Their Fire so he can regenerate criticals form Wedge or Jan using R2D2. Putting the basic R2 on Wedge makes it easier for him to use PtL and then shed the stress the following rounds. Of course these two changes cost 2 points and while we saved a point on Jan we need to get rid of the Shield Upgrade for the points.

This leaves 3 points and ships as 33, 33, and 31 points. Putting an EPT on Jan may make the points most even but I'd argue you should put a Stealth Device on Luke. His ability makes it a bit more useful and he is probably the most survivable ship in the squad but also may not be the biggest threat. I'll also remind you that he can use DTF withOUT lose the Stealth Device.

Good advice! When I used Jan before, not with this exact build, I ended up doing enough green maneuvers that shedding the stress wasn't a problem since her ability happens during the attack phase and doesn't interfere with the focusing. Circling around at the edge of the battle made her lack of maneuverability much less of a problem and dodging through the asteroids was a lot easier when shooting with a turret. DTF makes a lot of sense here and you're right about stealth on Luke. Usually don't think about those for rebel builds.

I guess the thing about Jan picking up Stress is that if your opponents realize how much a pain she is she becomes a prime target. Her movements become a lot more predictable if she needs to dump stress before she can use her ability or even take an action so she can attack. Putting the Ion Turret on her means she no longer NEEDS her action to be useful offensively and putting Nunb with her gives her a couple "high speed" options to clear stress and make distance if needed; having Numb turn a Red maneuver into a Green is also quite a reversal.

Most of the time the Stealth Device is something you should only think about on "high agility" ships which leaves out most of the Rebels. You may want to try it on Luke so he has one more die for his ability to kick in on (assuming you aren't spending the Focus to turn all [eye] results) and it MAY work for Biggs at times because you know he'll be shot at and if the Stealth Device prevents even one hit it has done it's job for less than a Shield Upgrade. If used on Biggs you may even throw in the R2F2 so he could be rolling with 4 agility dice although in this case it may be nice to give him a Focus from somewhere.