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So a local store is running a tournament during the Memorial Day weekend, and a friend asked me to come. I've been playing X-wing for a little bit. Though I'm not planning to take first place or anything I want to play and I want to do decently.

I have a ton of X-wing miniatures because I got a great deal on a lot someone was selling - they were getting out of gaming. But I don't have too many of the newest releases (though I can field any number of T-65s lol).

I've played Empire a bit but I've found that with what I have they're too fragile and feel undergunned. I'm debating playing Scum or Rebels and have come up with two lists:

Norra Wexley — ARC-170
Determination
Tail Gunner
Targeting Astromech
Alliance Overhaul
Ship Total: 34

Nera Dantels — B-Wing
Wingman
Fire-Control System
Flechette Torpedoes
Extra Munitions
Ship Total: 34

"Snap" Wexley — T-70 X-Wing
BB-8
Sensor Cluster
Ship Total: 32

I'd run the ARC and B wing as a duo, accelerating straight out the gate to get the target lock and throwing out flechettes, while the T-70 does it's own thing.

Or, I'd run a Scum list

Manaroo — JumpMaster 5000 27
Attanni Mindlink
Advanced Proton Torpedoes
K4 Security Droid
Unhinged Astromech
Glitterstim
Guidance Chips
Ship Total: 40

Kath Scarlet (Scum) — Firespray-31
Attanni Mindlink
Tractor Beam
Tail Gunner
Glitterstim
Ship Total: 44

Binayre Pirate — Z-95 Headhunter
Ion Pulse Missiles
Ship Total: 15

This one I'm less sure on. I like Kath + Tail gunner, I think K4 and Manaroo can work to hand out the target lock, but I'm not sure it all blends together. I'm definitely open to changing my lists but I'd like to run something a little

I'd appreciate any input and advice for a first timer going to a tourney.

Nera really wants Deadeye in order to get rid of her payload as soon as possible. With that point saved, you could upgrade her to plasma torps and never leave home without your Guidance Chips, a free crit result is too good to pass up.

Snap would benefit more from Primed Thrusters to make sure he can use his ability as often as possible. If you save that point, you can give him at least Vet Instinct, as repositioning is best done when more of your enemies have moved. If you can save more points somewhere else, you can give him Black One, and he can remove target locks constantly. You'll ruin OLeader's day, and any ordnance carriers'.

Norra... I'm not sure. Maybe a bit of stress control with Braylen Stramm instead? The issue is that you're saying you'll go fast with the ARC and B... when both ships are really slow. And Nera can definitely benefit from coming from the side instead, as arc doesn't matter on her first two shots.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Manaroo has just been nerfed a bit. She can still work, but you have to be confident you can keep her close to whoever you want her to hand tokens to, and that is not as easy as it sounds. She's also an expensive ship the way you have her built, and she can't really retaliate if your opponent decides to keep the range open.

Kath and Tailgunner are great, maybe just give her VI instead to make sure you move last and so no one gets to dodge your rear arc. Another nasty surprise I like to pack on that combo is a simple seismic charge, at PS9 your opponent doesn't have a lot of choice.

Your Z-95 could be downgraded to a BMST (stress control) or a bug-zapper (Feedback Array) for a bit cheaper. and more chances of being effective, as both Illicit slots do not require arc, only range. BMST can be nice because you move before anyone else, almost, and so can land near that stressed ace for a nice effect.

Thanks for the advice, like I said I haven't quite got a hang of the synergies I should be going for.

The Rebels list changes make sense, I'm definitely going to my upgrades.

Manaroo has just been nerfed a bit. She can still work, but you have to be confident you can keep her close to whoever you want her to hand tokens to, and that is not as easy as it sounds. She's also an expensive ship the way you have her built, and she can't really retaliate if your opponent decides to keep the range open.

Yeah, I'm really uncertain about her. I'm wondering if I should go a different direction and take a HWK. I keep reading that Jumpmasters are great but I don't know.

Kath and Tailgunner are great, maybe just give her VI instead to make sure you move last and so no one gets to dodge your rear arc. Another nasty surprise I like to pack on that combo is a simple seismic charge, at PS9 your opponent doesn't have a lot of choice.

Your Z-95 could be downgraded to a BMST (stress control) or a bug-zapper (Feedback Array) for a bit cheaper. and more chances of being effective, as both Illicit slots do not require arc, only range. BMST can be nice because you move before anyone else, almost, and so can land near that stressed ace for a nice effect.

I don't think I have a copy of BMST, but I have plenty of Feedback Arrays. I'll definitely make that switch up

Jumpmasters are good, but since Manaroo has been nerfed, Dengar and the Contracted Scout shine even brighter.

The Contracted Scout can be a good ordnance carrier, but use a torp that is less expensive & has more range. For the same price as your Manaroo, you could have the following:

Contracted Scout
PTL
Dengar
R4 Agromech
Plasma Torps
Extra Munitions
Guidance Chips
Scavenger Crane

I'm not necessarily saying you should, but you could. That crane can make sure you re-equip those torps and keep firing them. Dengar will give you rerolls so you won't mind losing your Target Lock to fire.

Braylen Stramm — ARC-170
Tail Gunner
Targeting Astromech
Shield Upgrade
Alliance Overhaul
Ship Total: 33

Nera Dantels — B-Wing
Deadeye
Extra Munitions
Plasma Torpedoes
Guidance Chips
Ship Total: 32

"Snap" Wexley — T-70 X-Wing
Veteran Instincts
R2-D2
Primed Thrusters
Black One
Ship Total: 35

The shield upgrade and R2-D2 are mostly because I had 8 points and I felt like it would up the durability of my ships a little more.

I think I need to go back to the drawing board on Scum. Maybe just Kath and a bunch of Z-95. I'd like a mid cost fighter in there but I've heard my options on that are not great (Kirhax, Starviper etc)

Your third list, like the two before it, suffers from having a lack of purpose. You've got some ships thrown together, some of them with reasonable upgrades, some of them with random stuff, and none of it has any synergy to make it greater than the sum of its parts. Nor are any of the things powerful top-tier ships that can win by brute force. So the end result is that nothing is really threatening, and an optimized tournament list is just going to dismantle it piece by piece.

That said, some comments on your specific ships:

Braylen is a waste. The shield upgrade is incredibly inefficient on a 1-agility ship (compared to its value with more green dice protecting it, where it's still not a great option), and targeting astromech is terrible on a ship with a rear arc and very little need to k-turn. Drop the targeting astromech for R3-A2 and tactician/gunner (with vectored thrusters optional). This gives you powerful stress control, with Braylen's pilot ability and abundant green maneuvers allowing you to clear the stress easily and keep your own actions.

Nera is not the worst, but you're leaving a very powerful slot open. The system slot for fire control system or advanced sensors is a must-take on all but the very cheapest b-wings because it adds massive value for a very low point cost. FCS significantly increases your firepower (and still works when you're stressed/bumped/etc) while AS makes you immune to blocking and ensures that you always get your torpedo shots off.

Wexley is actually not bad, but you probably want to take pattern analyzer instead of primed thrusters. Most of the time the two are equivalent, allowing you to take an action after a red maneuver, but pattern analyzer allows you to take your normal focus action, not just a boost action. With pattern analyzer you can do a t-roll, take your free boost to set up a shot, focus, and then finally take the stress. Then next turn you clear the stress and recover HP with R2-D2. But you need to fill your modification slot. Integrated astromech is a zero-point upgrade that adds a free HP, there's literally no reason not to take it if you aren't taking another modification. But autothrusters is ridiculously powerful and goes on pretty much every ship that can take it, so you probably want to find a way to get the extra 2 points.

If you're dead set on getting Snap some Autothrusters and a regen droid, strip Braylen of everything, then give him just the stress astromech, R3-A2, a Tactician, and the title. That'll free enough points for FCS on Nera, Pattern Analyzer and, R5-P9 and AT on Snap.

I'm not wed to Snap, what I want in my list is the ARC and maybe a B-wing those are my focus.

Braylen Stramm — ARC-170
Tactician
R3-A2
Vectored Thrusters
Alliance Overhaul
Ship Total: 31

Ten Numb — B-Wing
Marksmanship
Fire-Control System
"Mangler" Cannon
Ship Total: 40

Bandit Squadron Pilot — Z-95 Headhunter
XX-23 S-Thread Tracers
Guidance Chips
Ship Total: 13

Bandit Squadron Pilot — Z-95 Headhunter
Cluster Missiles
Guidance Chips
Ship Total: 16

So I think I got it with Ten Numb, being able to Marksmanship or Mangler cannon to get that crit. The Z-95s pair off and can land the target lock followed by the missile. I was considering an A-wing instead of the Z-95s but I felt like I couldn't get one that was good enough for the remaining points that wouldn't be eaten up by Soontir Fel.

So a really strong Arc build that went to the top (won?) In the Stele Open this year was:

Norra Wexley (37)
ARC-170 (29), BB-8 (2), Push the Limit (3), Kyle Katarn (3), Alliance Overhaul (0)

Bb8 to barrel, Push the Limit to TL/focus , do a green, remove the stress, assign a focus token, focus/TL for the action phase.

Also, use calculation instead of Marksmanship for that Ten Numb build. It's cheaper and preserves the opportunity use the focus for defense.

 ScarletRose wrote:
So I think I got it with Ten Numb, being able to Marksmanship or Mangler cannon to get that crit.

You didn't. Marksmanship is trash in general (costs 3 points and your EPT slot to replace your focus token with a focus token that you can't spend on defense) and completely redundant here. The mangler cannon already gives you a crit in every possible situation (excluding weird edge cases) where marksmanship could give you one, and Ten Numb's pilot ability only lets a single crit auto-hit. And beyond that problem Ten Numb just isn't a good ship. He costs a ton of points but has very poor durability and mediocre firepower. With VI for PS 10 he has a niche role as a counter to very fragile ships with extreme defense dice (Soontir Fel, etc) but that's not really a thing in the current meta. Most of the time his pilot ability is going to be redundant, so you're throwing away 16 points to get a very marginal improvement over a generic blue with FCS.

If you insist on a B-Wing, just accept that the named pilots are sub-par, but if you want to use them, have a blast.

As Peregrine said, though, Marksmanship isn't where you'll find his niche. The Mangler is a much safer bet, and frees up the EPT. It also helps that it denies the extra green at range 3 because it's a secondary weapon. VI would make sure you get your shot off first, even before Soontir Fel (although he is far from your first target with this ship).

Alternatively, a fun build is Keyan Farlander with PTL, E2/Ezra Bridger and FCS. You even save two points. You just make sure to change your first eye to a crit, then spend the stress to change any other eye, and then you can use your focus for defense. It's not earth-shattering, but unless you roll blanks constantly, at least you get some damage through.

That Norra build, above, is ace, though. Still a ship that can easily go down because it has a single green die, but it's a good build if you can fly her well. Boost her to 41 with an Engine upgrade and you can pretty much go where you want to.

So, I don't like to netlist but I realized I needed to do more reading up to have a decent list. I actually found a dual ARC-170 list that apparently won a big tourney:

Norra Wexley - Push The Limit, Kyle Katarn, BB-8, Alliance Overhaul (37pts)
Shara Bey - Adaptability, Jan Ors, R2-D2. Alliance Overhaul (34pts)
Jess Pava - R3-A2, Primed Thrusters, Integrated Astromech (28pts)

I like it and I can see how it works, I'll practice up with my normal opponent and see how it goes.

I had wanted to try my hand at a Scum list as well and I came up with dual Firesprays. Maybe not for the Memorial Day weekend tourney but something to work on

Kath Scarlet (Scum) — Firespray-31
Outmaneuver
Ion Bombs
Tail Gunner
Glitterstim
Countermeasures
Ship Total: 50

Boba Fett (Scum) — Firespray-31
Adaptability
4-LOM
Glitterstim
Engine Upgrade
Slave I
Ship Total: 46

And I have 4 points for something - a cannon or torpedo or changing up my EPT to something more expensive. Maybe VI instead of Outmaneuver so I can run Fett and Kath at PS 9

Practice, practice, practice. It's the only way to get to Carnegie Hall. The list is not my cup of tea, but I can see how it works, I'd just have to play a lot of games to get the groove.

If you want to master the game and having a hard time doing it, try playing Brobots for a while...