There's a tournament coming up soon with a lot of people and I haven't gotten to play much lately, so I'd like some advice on which squad to take. I think swarms are fun, but sounds like they're generating some ill will, so how about

Jonus (22) + PTL (3) + Homing Missile (5) = 30

Scimitar (16) + Cluster Missiles (4) = 20 (This guy'll be in the front)

Scimitar (16) + Proton Torpedoes (4) + Homing Missile (5) = 25

Scimitar (16) + Proton Torpedoes (4) + Assault Missile (5) = 25

The thought is to fly them in a square to begin with, Jonus int he back, and that the protons will be more useful than a concussion since they get a crit and I likely will have to shoot them without taking a second turn to get a focus. The one cluster is insurance in case they close the gap early. Also, does Jonus let you reroll two dice per 3 dice attack with that, or 2 dice out of the total 6?

I could do a plain BBXX, which people seem to like, but rather than just copying, how about

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

either:

Luke (28) + R2D2 (4) = 32

Wedge (29) + R2 unit (1) + PtL (3) + Stealth (3) / or Ten Numb (31) + Marksman (3) + FCS (2)

or, what I think might be better for getting more ships out there.

Rookie (21)

Rookie (21)

Biggs (25)

Kind of long but I haven't gotten to play enough lately and would appreciate advice. I've not used B-wings a whole lot, but have them available too and do like their maneuvers. Thanks!

I won't comment on the imperial side, besides that I wouldn't actually be scared to fly against that. I'd let Jonus get his homings off, they'll hurt, rolling 3.75 hits (figure 2-3 damage after evades). Kill the guy with the clusters, take the hit with the unfocused PT/HM from the other two, which shouldn't do much damage (average of 2.68 hits, so figure 1-2 damage once I roll my defense). And then on the next turn, close it into R1. At this point, you likely have one of my ships on life support, but due to your low PS, it should still get its second attack off. So I should be able to kill one of the remaining bombers no problem, and lose my first ship. Now you're left with half your force, and out of missiles (well, you have a HM still, but no TL or shot lined up to use it). Jonus is next to useless now. So my remaining three ships will have no problem tearing through your 6 hull.

As for rebels, I would recommend the Biggs/Rookie/Rookie over Luke/Wedge as the main force. But if you read anything I ever post regarding builds, I'm going to be repeating myself. Drop the blaster turret and upgrade to an ion turret. And then you don't need your recon spec. So you're left with 2 points left. I would either put SL on Jan, or upgrade Biggs to Garven and then put Nien on Jan.

Biggs is kinda useless in that build. He does the same thing as the rookies, so there's no point to protecting them (actually, one would prefer they kill the rookie instead of biggs due to his higher PS). So, he would be used to protect Jan. But honestly, I would much rather the enemy go after Jan than my X wings. Jan doesn't do much damage, her ability adds .75 damage per round, so she's doing at most 2 damage per turn, and requires another ship and a reduced dial to do so. X wings on the other hand are likely doing 1-2 damage by themselves with no restrictions.

So, if you put SL on her, then she's worth more than her ability, and starts becoming a target for the enemy. Biggs now has a purpose to protect her. If you upgrade Biggs to Garven, you've basically given your squad a pseudo SL to your rookies, so they can TL+F from Garven to added damage. Garven is now the main target, which is funny because your rookies are going to be receiving the extra die from Jan and doing more damage than Garven.

Another thought would be to downgrade Biggs to a rookie, giving you 6 points left over. And you could take Chewy with 4 of those, leaving 2 for SL or Swarm Tactics.

I'd been thinking of flying more like this: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1112129/the-biggs-debate

I like the Garven idea, but maybe I'll just swarm and fool around with this in casual games until I get a better sense for how it'll all work out. Do want to use some smaller named pilot lists but don't trust them not to get blown up too quickly yet. I do think the bomber's ability to barrel roll though does make them a little better for cleanup than you suggest, but you're right in the weakness of the squad if the ordinance doesn't go through all that well.

There's a tournament coming up soon with a lot of people and I haven't gotten to play much lately, so I'd like some advice on which squad to take. I think swarms are fun, but sounds like they're generating some ill will, so how about

Jonus (22) + PTL (3) + Homing Missile (5) = 30

Scimitar (16) + Cluster Missiles (4) = 20 (This guy'll be in the front)

Scimitar (16) + Proton Torpedoes (4) + Homing Missile (5) = 25

Scimitar (16) + Proton Torpedoes (4) + Assault Missile (5) = 25

The thought is to fly them in a square to begin with, Jonus int he back, and that the protons will be more useful than a concussion since they get a crit and I likely will have to shoot them without taking a second turn to get a focus. The one cluster is insurance in case they close the gap early. Also, does Jonus let you reroll two dice per 3 dice attack with that, or 2 dice out of the total 6?

Jonus allow rereolls and all secondary weapon attacks. With a Cluster Missile that does mean both attacks can use the reroll which is a reason Jonus is likes with that missile. With that said I think four Bombers can work but NOT like this.

1. Jonus can't use his own ability which makes ordnance on him far less effective.

2. All long range weapons on the Bombers makes them more vulnerable to short range attacks.

3. Using low PS Bombers makes getting Target Locks much harder (you move before targets get within range) which lets opponents avoid your long range missiles.

I'd load up three bombers with nearly identical load outs and cut the ordnance from Jonus except maybe a bomb of some type. With the loadout I'd probably give the bombers all a Cluster Missile to go with a long strike weapon. I'd probably give Jonus Squad Leader so he can pass an action to a Bomber so that it can TL later in the round; I'd also see about boosting the PS of the bombers.

Don't forget that HM are still just as effective on Jonus as anyone else. Since you don't have to spend your TL, you have a TL to reroll, making Jonus' ability useless.

Don't forget that HM are still just as effective on Jonus as anyone else. Since you don't have to spend your TL, you have a TL to reroll, making Jonus' ability useless.

I guess that's true. I know part of the reason for a Bomber with multiple ordnance may want to use a Homing Missile is because it can keep that TL up to use with the second shot. I first say that suggestion with Advanced Proton Torpedoes where you could TL coming in and fire Homing Missiles but keep the TL so you could Focus fire the APT later.

The two missiles that may benefit the most from Jonus are the Cluster and Assault missiles. Sure the other "spend TL to use this attack" cards benefit from the reroll but those two missiles are the ones you have the hardest time hitting with (Cluster) or really need to hit to be effective (Assault). How many have fired an Assault missile into a swarm of TIE Fighters only to see it miss completely when if had just landed one hit it would have dealt six+ damage.

I was going to use the PTL to focus along with that TL for the homing missile to guarantee that at least one hit did some serious damage, but it's a good point about the move order. I'll think about putting a seismic on Jonus instead of the PtL, which will let him disrupt the enemy's formation more, moving in clusters in place of the protons, and using that and the points from Jonus' missile to make the others Gamma Squadrons for a skill of 4. Maybe that other homing missile should go assault as well, but I'm torn there because not being able to use evade tokens for HM is so great.

Not using Evade tokens means the target needs to have an Evade token to begin with. Most analysis says that for high agility ships Focus often provides more defense than using Evade does although Evade is guaranteed while focus is not. Things may vary depending on your group although Evade can be more useful as agility goes down but it also becomes harder to find; Evade with a Falcon is good but you don't see many 1 agility ships with that option.

I recall some early Bomber lists having Jonus supporting three Bombers with Assault missiles and seismic charges. Can't recall the details and just one missile/bomber may not be an effective use of Jonus but the effect can scare anyone who wants to fly in a close formation.

I currently use the following bomber squad...

Jonus /w Squad Leader, Seismic Charge (26)

Scimitar Squadron /w Proton and Cluster (24)

Scimitar Squadron /w Concussion and APT (26)

Academy TIE x 2 (24)

Seems to be ok, provided your Alpha goes off successfully. If the TIE's survive the initial wave as they attempt to block to help keep enemy at further ranges, they can swoop around and help pick off what's left.

I find i swap out Squad Leader with Swarm Tactics from time to time, but being able to give one of the Bombers an extra action is usually good.

I'd been thinking of flying more like this: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1112129/the-biggs-debate

I like the Garven idea, but maybe I'll just swarm and fool around with this in casual games until I get a better sense for how it'll all work out. Do want to use some smaller named pilot lists but don't trust them not to get blown up too quickly yet. I do think the bomber's ability to barrel roll though does make them a little better for cleanup than you suggest, but you're right in the weakness of the squad if the ordinance doesn't go through all that well.

Garven is little used and under appreciated. I have successfully been running this list lately:

2X blue squad + AS

Garven

Roark + ion turret

I have also swapped out the HWK and gone with

Garven

2X blue + AS

Gold pilot + ion turret+ R2 astro.

both lists ahve worked well for me. Just my two cents