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Hi all I'm new to the game (played 3 times, twice controlling one ship and one 100 point game with borrowed models). I'm considering getting more into the game and my club has an upcomming 100 point event that I am considering going to. That said here is the list I am considering.

Rebels 100 points

Biggs w/ R2-F2, and Stealth Device
2 x Blue Squadron Pilot (Bwing)w/ Fire Control
Rookie Pilot.

The thought was to use the 2 Bwings, and the Rookie Pilot to screen Biggs (giving him 5 Defense dice) while maintaining distance where he draws fire for them. Then use the 3 screening ships as the offensive output for the formation (as each has 3 attack dice) using the fire control to get target locks while being able to focus.

Thoughts? Does this seem like it would work?

It seems pretty good to me. My biggest advice for new players attending events is to play what your comfortable with. You'll do much better with a list you are used to playing, rather than a list you haven't played before.

Seems like a pretty mean list though, I wouldn't want to play against biggs that tooled up. I don't know if it's good to spend that many points on a guy you want to get shot though. but that's just me. You might consider switching the fire control system with advance sensors, (assuming you have them or can borrow the cards).

It looks like a mean list to me, so if you are used to how it plays you should be fine.

What would the advantage of advanced sensors be? You get to preform a free action, but then you don't get your regular action.

beyond that though the points don't work out (fire control is a point cheaper each, so I'd be over by 2 points).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
As for spending points on Biggs, that is true on spending points on a guy getting shot, the hope is for him to tank damage for a while. Which is very subject to bad dice i suppose, but if he focuses with 5 defense (6 at range 3), he averages 3 evades each roll, (he averages about 2 without the focus.).

yeah,
Adv. Sensors. = More flexibility in your final position and Action protection.

On ships with movement actions like boost and barrel roll, Adv Sensors gives extra manovourability which helps avoid ship and asteroid overlaps..

When you bump into / overlap another ship you lose your action or when you make a red move you get stressed and lose your action.
With advanced sensors In both of these cases you've already taken you action, so there is nothing to lose.

E.g. Normally a K-turn = Get stressed and lose the action.
But with Adv Sensors, focus before performing a K-turn and get stressed but keep the focus token.
Perfect for jousting. (when ships repeatedly K-Turn past each other.)

Panic...

I would second (or third) the Adv Sensors, despite the low PS if you are not in their arc (ie you barrel rolled away) they can't shoot you.

I used Biggs kitted like this on the weekend and its great at range but even then you can get those jammy rolls that will ruin your day (i rolled 5 blanks to lose my stealth AND 3 damage!, was a sad Panda)

I may just have to "borrow' that list and give it a go

cheers
Papasmurf

So where would you get the extra points for the sensors?

Drop stealth off biggs?
Take a different 4th ship (A green squadron A wing or Gold Squadron Y wing would cut enough points instead of the rookie.)

If I drop the stealth, Biggs probably drops a bit faster but I can keep the list and add the sensors to the B wings

OR

Dropping stealth I could also pick up the sensors and a Gold Squadron y wing with Blaster turret (or HWK rebel operative with blaster or Ion.

Thoughts?

R2-F2 is probably the worst droid. Mathematically you are always better off with a focus token than an extra defense dice. There is something to be said for the fact that you get the defense dice multiple times, and the focus only once. But in my experience most any squad can concentrate enough fire that if they are laying multiple shots at Biggs he'll go down with or without the extra dice. Save the three points and just focus every turn.

I do however like stealth device. I think that's an under used card. I would keep stealth, drop R2-F2, and upgrade to advanced sensors on the Bs.

good point on the R2-F2 I was not thinking about it costing me my action.

So now I'm leaning

Biggs w/ stealth

2 x Blue Squadron Pilots w/ Sensors

Just not sure on Rookie Pilot is he a better choice than say

Green Squadron pilot with a squad leader upgrade
A naked Blue Squadron pilot
A gold Squadron pilot with a blaster turret?

I like R2-D2 on Biggs. Do a green, get back a shield. If you fly well, he lives (and is a pain) forever.

The Gold with a blaster turret would give you another tank and the ability to hit targets 360

In the end that would be 15 shields and 14 hull for your opponent to burn through

cheers

Papasmurf

Breng77 wrote:


Just not sure on Rookie Pilot is he a better choice than say

Green Squadron pilot with a squad leader upgrade
A naked Blue Squadron pilot
A gold Squadron pilot with a blaster turret?

Squad leader is another kind of meh card. It doesn't generate extra actions, just transfers them which makes your A vulnerable and ineffectual offensively, especially because it only has 2 attack dice to being with. My comments on the end hit this again but self supporting/independent ships are generally better, and getting a squad to 12 attack dice (with a focus or TL on every ship), in most circumstances, is almost required. There are some successful builds with less, but when you realize some builds are bringing 13,14 attack dice (and potentially 21 at range 1) with reliable buffs the need to keep up hits home.

A naked blue is always a solid choice. I've had a lot of success with variations of XXBB and have recently been playing a lot of 3 blues w advanced sensors + Biggs, so I'm very familiar with that particular swap. I don't know that either is right or wrong. The B is probably the more powerful ship, but you can have too much of a good thing. The maneuverability of 2 X's compliments 2 B's really nicely. It opens up a lot of options in the game that are hard to see based on stats and math. If you have a chance, play both and see which one you like.

The gold with a blaster turret is hardly ever taken. The issue is the blaster turret is hardly ever taken. Having to spend a focus just to get the attack off is crippling. People can action deny away your attacks which blows, and even if you get to attack 3 dice with no other buffs (because you had to use your focus/action to shoot) rarely does appreciable damage. You're going to have to get the gold a second action from somewhere which requires a lot of combo-ing up just to make an expensive attack that's no better than what an X or B could have done on their own (assuming they were in arc).

And on the topic of combing, if you're new to the game, there's a temptation to build squads and combos that layer together to form these massively cool interactions that seem super powerful. At least for the rebels, the competitive meta is very light on combos. It's just too expensive and too complex, too many things can go wrong. Often you'll find yourself in a 3 ship list very dependent on getting the exact right actions to function, and that is just not consistent or resilient enough for sustained success.

Very sound advice from the sound of it. So I'll stick with the Rookie for now (if for no other reason that it will make keeping the bwings straight easier.)

 ArtfcllyFlvrd wrote:
Squad leader is another kind of meh card. It doesn't generate extra actions, just transfers them which makes your A vulnerable and ineffectual offensively, especially because it only has 2 attack dice to begin with.

The problem with this analysis is that not all actions are equally valuable. Squad leader lets you transfer actions to the ship that needs them most. For example, trading the A-wing's focus action on a range 3 shot (which is unlikely to do any damage) to stack focus + TL on an X-wing's range 1 shot, or barrel rolling a PS 2 B-wing into a better position after PS 3 ships have moved.

The issue is the blaster turret is hardly ever taken.

Strongly agree with this though. The blaster turret is just bad (except maybe on a HWK with title card and recon specialist). You're not doing more than one damage very often anyway, so essentially what you have is an ion cannon turret that is less likely to do damage at all (since you have no focus/TL to spend to boost your dice), doesn't ionize the target when you hit, and can't be used if you lose your action. That's not really worth it to save a mere one point.

And on the topic of combing, if you're new to the game, there's a temptation to build squads and combos that layer together to form these massively cool interactions that seem super powerful. At least for the rebels, the competitive meta is very light on combos. It's just too expensive and too complex, too many things can go wrong. Often you'll find yourself in a 3 ship list very dependent on getting the exact right actions to function, and that is just not consistent or resilient enough for sustained success.

One important thing to note here is the difference between combos that are a nice bonus and creating some complex combo-based list. For example, upgrading your ion turret Y-wing to Dutch is a straightforward "combo" that almost always works and doesn't cost too much. As long as your list is able to function without the combo working you shouldn't be too paranoid about including ships that benefit each other.