Hi everyone,

next weekend we'll have a small local tournament and as I've only played "fun games" at home so far, I'm not sure what squads to expect.

I've built a Rebel squad that I like a lot and worked well the only time I had the opportunity to test it (easily destroying one Tie Bomber before it got it's first shot off and damaging the second in the first round).

I'd like to hear what you think about it:

- Wedge Antilles + Proton Torpedoes + Swarm Tactics

- Dutch Vander + Proton Torpedoes + Ion Cannon

- Blue Squadron Pilot + Proton Torpedoes + Heavy Laser Cannon

The idea is to have a big alpha strike (3 Torpedoes with initiative 9/9/6) and then have versatile options for the different possible threats. I don't want to rely too much on interactions between the ships in the mid to late game as your plan might fall apart if the enemy takes out your key ship. Allthough there are some interactions (Dutch giving target locks, Wedge increasing the initiative) I like that the ships are nice threats on their own.

So what do you veterans think, is this a competitive build? What enemy squads do i need to fear?

Edit: Below you'll find the list that I flew in the end and my Battle Report

It's kind of redundant to have proton torpedoes AND heavy laser cannon on the bwing. They both roll 4 attack dice, they both are secondary weapons, only thing you gain from the torpedo is the chance for some crits which still isn't worth it.

You're better off dropping the torpedo and adding advanced sensors. Or add fire control system and make the bwing a dagger.

Other option is to drop the HLC to free up 7 points, and make your bwing Ibitsam, so that even when wedge is dead or not around you still shoot at a respectable PS6.

It's kind of redundant to have proton torpedoes AND heavy laser cannon on the bwing. They both roll 4 attack dice, they both are secondary weapons, only thing you gain from the torpedo is the chance for some crits which still isn't worth it.

Hmm... yes, thats actually kinda true.

I have to think about my options. I might try the Advanced Sensors. I don't have a lot of experience with them but it seems they make the red maneuvers of the B-Wing much more attractive.

Thanks for your input

id try and play 4 ships if i were you. if u lose one of your 3 ships too early, it is going to be an uphill battle against a swarm squad which typically run 6-7 ships, a few run 8!

not sure what ships u own but...

how about starting with a base of: XXYB

for example

Garven Dreis (26)

Rookie Pilot (21)

Dutch Vander + Ion Cannon (28)

Blue Squadron Pilot (22)

thats 97pts... some options might be:

1) upgrade B-Wing to a dagger + put an R2 Astromech on something else

2) Downgrade Dutch to a Gold Squadron Pilot, freeing up more 5pts and put proton torpedoes on two of your ships NOT NAMED Garven Dreis - this will allow you to get a freee focus from Garven Dreis to maximize you torp damage

3) replace the Rookie Pilot with a second Blue Squadron Pilot and put an R2 Astromech on ur X and Y

4) Advanced Sensors on you B-Wing if you have it

Didn't see this earlier but the the Proton Torpedo + HLC on the same B-Wing throws me as well. The advantage of the HLC on the Blue is that it doesn't require a TL to fire and moving so early that could be a problem. Actually looking at things the other way your "alpha strike" has some weakness which could be improve upon. That "weakness" is that you want to move Dutch up and TL an enemy and give the TL to one of your other ships; now the Blue may be in position to take that TL and combine it with an earlier Focus so that is all good but Wedge probably can't use that TL. This means you need Wedge to TL his own Torpedo which means shooting without Focus which lessens its impact.

Also stay well hydrated and bring almonds or other good energy foods in your pockets to snack on. These tournaments can be taxing and your brain will be grateful for it as the rounds continue on - especially if you are doing well and the quality of player you are facing is intensifying.

Thanks for your insight.

I'm actually concerned about swarms. I've never faced 7 or 8 Ties yet, only 6 once and that was a very close call with me loosing in the end against a lonely academy pilot with excellent dice rolling skills :-p

I'm well aware of the weakness of the alpha strike, but if you don't engage at full speed, you can easily have Wedge within range to give him the TL. Of course there are certain situations, depending on the lineup of your enemy,when you want to engage as fast as possible.

I guess i'm blinded by the success of my torpedo alpha strikes that I've had recently against casual players. That's why I wanted to try it at the tournament. So let me ask you this: How do you rate torpedoes in general? Is it worth investing the points for the additional die and the higher crit chance?

Also stay well hydrated and bring almonds or other good energy foods in your pockets to snack on. These tournaments can be taxing and your brain will be grateful for it as the rounds continue on - especially if you are doing well and the quality of player you are facing is intensifying.

Very important indeed! Thanks for reminding me. I'm used to long magic tournaments, where I always have a water bottle at my side.

I will say this much about ordinance in general: I will make sure to know where it is at the start of my game, and then I will use that knowledge to mitigate the risk from it, and my opponent is usually so focused on successfully getting the ordinance off that they've not thought as much about what comes next. I'll try to use all of that to my advantage in plotting my set-up and movement. I have been known to lure a torpedo out with one ship while my others set up to kill the delivery ship that is so focused on getting the torpedo launch. And frankly, four dice with no way to modify them with a TL or focus just doesn't make me sweat any more than having a ship with 3 attack and focus or TL on me does (I might even prefer it, but I don't know the math on it - just my own experiences). What I DO know is that ordinance means less points invested in more ships, and I LOVE that if I'm your opponent.

That's my two cents - take it or leave it

I'm a longtime fan of ordnance, but over the past year I've realized that it really helps to have something to boost the attack. Wedge is nice because the opponent can dodge fewer hits. My wave 1 squad was

Horton Salm (Proton Torpedoes x2, Ion Cannon Turret, R2 Astromech.

Wedge Antilles (Proton Torpedoes, Expert Handling, R2 Astromech

Biggs Darklighter

It served me quite well, but that's mostly due to Horton's awesomeness. Now there's a man that can throw some torps! Still, even he is better with a Focus, but with torps turning an eye into a crit, I found that more often than not the extra turn to get the focus was wasted.

Lately I have started running Horton with two torps alongside Jan Ors. He one shots a TIE with each volley, which is REALLY rewarding.

If you give him a Blaster Turret as well, once the torps are gone, he can fire with focus, re-roll 2 dice at R2 and use Jan still.

Horton is bad ass in that combo.

Thanks everyone for your inputs.

After some thinking I changed the list and dropped all the weapons for a 4th ship. As I started liking Biggs to draw some fire, there was only room left for an A-Wing. So I played the tournament with the following list:

Wedge + Swarm

Blue Squadron + Adv. Sensors

Biggs

Green Squadron

And here's the Tournament report :

My first round was versus 2xRookie with Proton Torpedoes + 1 Rookie + Blue Squadron with HLC

I set my squad up, so that Biggs will hide in the 2nd round behind a Asteroid with Wedge and the B-Wing flanking him. The A-Wing was further to the left and flanking at high speed. My opponent target locked the B-Wing with both rookies and his own B-Wing but had to shoot Biggs, who got an extra defense die from the asteroid. The setup was much in my favor but the luck with the dice however not so much. In the first round of fighting my crew could hardly get any damage in while my opponent got almost only hits and crits. He shot down Biggs and damaged the B-Wing really badly. The second round of attacks was a bit better for me. I shot down one of the armed X-Wings and a crit on the other let him drop the torpedo. So my opponent wasn't able to use both of his torpedoes :-)

But after that short ray of hope things got worse. Again with incredible accurate shooting I lost both my B-Wing and the A-Wing. So when Wedge was alone vs two Rookies and a B-Wing with HLC I thought I could concede as well. But hey, you don't do that...

In the next attack step I got rid of one of the Rookies but Wedge got a crit: Stunned Pilot. So only 2 hull left and 2 enemies right in my back. In the next round I bumped into the B-Wing on purpose. I thought 1 dmg from the bump is better than an attack from the B-Wing. So down to 1 hull. Unfortunately the X-Wing surprised me and got an attack in, however he missed. One K-turn later I blew up the last X-Wing and it was down to Wedge and a B-Wing that was still in very good shape. The attack from the B-Wing got an attack. I cringed, but he missed as well.

At this point I thought, I was lucky to get here at all. My opponent had all the luck in the world in the first couple of rounds, but after that he rolled very poorly, that was the only reason for me still being on the battlefield. So things looked still grim for me but I wanted to get down with a fight. I faced the B-Wing like a man, but as you can guess, Wedge didn't live much longer. One minute afther our finish, time was called. Only at this point I realised that I could just have run off with Wedge. Getting out of range and letting the clock run out would have given me a modified win (I still had 31 points on the board vs 29 from the opponents B-Wing). I'm still not sure if I should have done that. On a regional championship or Worlds? Sure. But this was a Fun Tournament after all and I had a lot of fun with my opponent. So yeah, I threw away a modified win, but I had a blast. Maybe you can write your thoughts on this.

In the second round I faced Kagi with all sorts of annoying stuff, a fully loaded Tie Bomber and 2 Academy Pilots.

My opponent set Kagi up in the far left corner and the other ships on the far right side. I faced the ties with my squad and zoomed in fast. Before Kagi was even around, I decimated the opponents board to a lonely Academy pilot and Kagi. The Bomber couldn't even get one of his Torpedoes or Rockets off. I lost my A-Wing but the rest of my squad made short work of the shuttle.

My opponent was clearly new to the game and had some problems maneuvering. So that was a very easy win for me.

In the third round I faced Roark with Blaster, Recon Specialist, Moldy Crow, Biggs with R2-D2 and 2 Rookie Pilots.

Again I hid my own Biggs behind a Asteroid to get some defense. Wedge and the B-Wing easily took down the opponents Biggs in the first round of combat and my A-Wing attacked from the back and distracted Roark. My setup worked exactly as planned. Biggs dictated the game for the opponent while Wedge and the B-Wing outmaneuvered the opponent. I don't remeber every detail, but it didn't take long and my opponents squad was wiped while I still had all ships on the board.

The fourth round was vs. an interesting swarm: Howlrunner with Stealth + Swarm Tactics, 3 Academy Pilots and 2 Scimitar with Proton Torpedoes

This was one of the strangest fights I've ever had. I don't want to bore you with all the details but we both flew rather defensively. I hid Biggs as good as I could behind Asteroids while I tried to take down the Howlrunner. Wedge didn't get rid of the stealth device in the first round, so I thought I don't even bother with the B-Wing. He got in some damage on a Bomber and the others didn't do much of notice. The opponents bombers couldn't fire off the torpedoes because they had to shoot Biggs but weren't able to get a target lock on him. So after the first round of combat, Biggs was still pretty intact and the opponent didn't loose any ships either.

In the second round my opponent was afraid of loosing his bombers and moved them were I didn't expect them. So I couldn't shoot them, but they couldn't shoot me either. He opened the formation of the ties and some bumping ensued.

The rest of the match continued in the same fasion: Every round several ships weren't able to shoot at all.

To make a long story short: In the end I had made 8 damage spread among his squad and my opponent got 6 shields blown from my ships, but nothing more. 60 Minutes of flying and we both didn't loose a single ship...

I ended the tournament with 2 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss in 3rd place. My first opponent won the tournament.

I had a lot of fun and learned a lot.

So yeah, I threw away a modified win, but I had a blast. Maybe you can write your thought on this.

Fly casual, have fun!

Seems like you had a good day for a 1st time. Still looking for my first one as well.

Not bad considering you probably didn't have much time testing out your build.

Not bad considering you probably didn't have much time testing out your build.

Thanks.

Actually I didn't have time to test the squad at all. The only thing I tested was the maneuvers to hide Biggs behind a asteroid in the second round. I checked the distance needed to get him directly behind the asteroid with a 2 straight and 2 bank maneuver and then get him out again with another bank maneuver without hitting the asteroid. That helped a lot. In the first game I was a bit too far away for my liking but in the other games I got pretty much the perfect spot.