Heh. Sorta getting sidetracked. But yes, I think a 3-2-1-0 breakdown would work out better. In that scenario, it's not possible for a 2-1 to outscore a 3-0. Anyways, does anyone know if the tournament data from GenCon and Worlds are available? I'd like to figure out the ratios of faction to victory type to see if there's anything to lend credence to what I'm thinking.

Well, I guess you're point is that a person who only technically "won" a single match could bump out a 3-0 player. I getcha. And I realize that I'm not exactly arguing from a position of strength here, since the current World Champion won with an Imperial squad. However, I did play him in the Featured Match for Round 3, and he only got a Total Victory by hitting 33 dead on the nose. He was whooping my butt the whole game, but even then, I only lost 2 ships.

It's simpler than that, even. A 3-0 record of 3 Modified Victories will be bumped by a 2-1 record with 2 Total Victories. But, while noteworthy, that's not really my point. All I'm driving at is that, because of the likelihood of there being Empire vs. Empire matchups, it seems to me that Empire players are going to end up with more Modified Victories than Rebel players, because a Rebel vs. Rebel matchup is (in my mind) far less like to go to time.

I'm starting to notice a potential issue with the way points are awarded at X-wing tournaments, and I'm interested in other opinions. I'm getting the impression that it's more difficult for an Imperial squad to achieve a Total Victory in a tournament match than it is for a Rebel squad. Here's my thinking on the matter: Rebel vs. Rebel - High damage, low defense game. This matchup's chance of going to time is much lower than any other matchup; and even if it does, the point values on Rebel ships are so high that destroying even a single ship gets you very close to a Total Victory, if not all the way there. Rebel vs. Empire - High damage vs. high defense. This matchup seems equally likely to end in a Total Victory or a Modified Victory for either side. Empire vs. Empire- Low damage vs. high defense. This matchup's chance of going to time is much high than any other matchup, and therefore has a much higher chance of a Modified Victory. It's not uncommon in an Imperial squad for the destruction of two ships to still not account for the 33 points required for a Total Victory. So, what's the result? Well, to me, it seems that Rebel players have a better shot at achieving Total Victories and, ergo, scoring 5 points on a win as opposed to the 3 you get for a Modified Victory. Ultimately, the Empire relies on its defense to survive long enough to swarm and wittle down the enemy, but the fact that matches are timed (out of necessity, mind you; I make no claims that matches could be un-timed, that would never work) means that playing a defensive game will hurt you in the long run. Thoughts? Am I crazy? I would be very interested to see a total breakdown of matchups and their results from the Inaugural tourney at GenCon and the Worlds tourney. Does anyone have those on hand?

If you focus solely on the tactics of a single faction to the exclusion of the other, you're seriously gimping yourself. In order to play your best against either Empire or Rebels, you have to know how a Rebel/Empire player thinks, what their standard tactics are, and have a good feel for the abilities and weaknesses of the pilots. The best way to do that is to play both sides regularly. That being said, while I like the idea of playing both sides at a tourney, I think there are too many cons to doing so for it to be feasible. Prep time is doubled, as you now have to practice with two squads instead of one. Cost (though I suspect this isn't a huge deal, as most tourney players have enough minis for a squad on either side) Tournament length Faction loyalty (some of us are loyal sons of the Empire, and others are Rebel scum)

Yeah, a generic R2 on a Y-wing gives really good returns for 1 point.

It does. However, R5-K6 is unreliable. I personally prefer to use an astromech that I know is going to work 100% of the time.

I didn't get to hold the Falcon, but I did get a chance to look over some shoulders while they were unboxing them. I'm curious about the generic Smuggler. It's the first time a ship has had different stats depending on which pilot you choose. Very excited about Veteran Instincts. A 1 point upgrade for +2 pilot skill? Hey, I'll take that over Determination any day when I'm trying to fill in that last 1 point in my squad. My knee-jerk reaction to Assault Missiles was, "Well, so much for TIE swarm…" But, then I thought about it a bit, and I'm not sure it's that simple. The Assault Missiles will splash onto your own ships as well, and we all know how clustery the dogfights get around turn 4. When I saw Chewbacca's pilot card, I went "bwuh?!?!" You can't crit him. You just can't do it. That is beyond awesome. I think Lando's my favorite pilot card of the bunch. I've already got a few squads built around him banging around in my head.

I believe the rules for movement are fine as-is. The benefit of high pilot skill is in knowing what Actions and movements have already been taken in the round (thus increasing the efficiency and usefulness of your own Actions) and the ability to fire first.. There are fringe benefits as well (you're more likely to be able to make immediate use of Target Locks, since most of your potential targets have likely already moved). Pilots with low skill enjoy none of these benefits, often being forced to guess which Actions will be best based on predictions of how the field will look come Combat Phase. Yes, they tend to have less collisions, but what good is that if half the time you choose an Action that ends up irrelevant during Combat or, worse, are destroyed before you get a turn during combat? Being able to predict your opponents movements and outmaneuver them is part of being good at the game. That takes practice and is part of being a good player, rather than just picking a handful of good pilots; and while being good at movement prediction is beneficial to pilots of all skill levels, the additional benefits that high skill pilots bring to the table already justifies their cost.

Anyone can use any Upgrade card for which they have the appropriate symbol. Artwork doesn't matter. Squad creation isn't part of the actual gameplay process. You should make your squads separately before the game begins. Obviously, if you don't have enough of a specific Upgrade/Pilot to go around, you'll have to come up with a way to determine who gets what.

I'm not a big fan of Tempest/Storm Squadron pilots. I think you're better off bringing a couple of Academy pilots. This Imperial squad I've been messing around with: Howlrunner, Squad Leader Maarek Steele, Marksmanship, Cluster Missiles Backstabber Mauler Mithal Obsidian Squadron Pilot Use Squad Leader to give Maarek a Target Lock and Marksmanship in a single round and get off those Cluster Missiles early, hopefully getting some crits through to make maximum use of Maarek's ability. Howlrunner synergizes well with Backstabber, Mauler, and Maarek, as all three have built-ins whose effectiveness can be maximized with Howlrunner's built-in and Squad Leader. Use Squad Leader to get Mauler/Backstabber into the right position with Barrel Rolls while also getting them that Focus token they need to really lay down some hurting. Or keep getting Maarek those Target Lock/Marksmanship turns with a reroll. Offensive though this squad may be, I still recommend the majority of your actions being Evade, though, especially against Rebel squads. Evade is the mechanism by which Imps survive those hard-hitting Rebels. It's not quite as crucial against Imp squads, but I still think it's the single highest-value action in the game.

There are a lot of points invested in Horton, but he's tailor made to maximize the efficiency of Torpedos. And even after they're expended, his Ion Cannon gets a boost if you can manage his range to target well. Also, you're looking at an early kill, so the point swing will be well worth the expenditure. This squad's downside is that it's completely reliant on that early kill to gain tempo. If you don't get it, you're in for a rough fight.

Torpedos have their place. You have to tip the odds in your favor. If you want to see Torps do some truly silly damage, give this squad a try: Wedge Antilles, Squad Leader, 1 Proton Torpedo Horton Salm, R5-K6, 2x Proton Torpedos, Ion Cannon Rookie Pilot The opening salvo is devastating. Use Squad Leader on the Rookie to hopefully soften up a target (1 damage is probably all you can count on him for, if that). Then let the Torps on Wedge and Horton fly. More often than not, you're going to score a kill. On a good day, you'll get close to two right off the bat. If you want to play the slow game, you can get your Target Locks then wait for a later opportunity to Torp with a Focus. Horton has a reasonable chance of getting that free Lock from R5-K6, so you might consider having him go after a thicker target, like Vader or a Y-wing, and Torp it twice. This squad is amazing in a Rebel vs. Rebel match. You can easily score a kill in the first salvo by focusing fire, and any Rebel player will tell you that losing a ship early is devastating.

Actually, I might drop the Gold Squadron Pilot and Torp in favor of Dutch. He might yield a higher upside with extra Target Locks than a single Torp.

I've tried the whole "Biggs eats the hits" squad a few times with mixed results. It seems like it either works like a charm, or he gets plastered second round by a flurry of missiles. If I were going to run a variant with Biggs instead of Luke/Wedge, this is what it would be: Biggs Darklighter, R2-D2 Rookie Pilot Rookie Pilot Gold Squadron Pilot, R5-K6, Ion Cannon, 1 Proton Torpedo Keep Biggs stationed within Range 1 behind the front line of the Y-wing flanked by two X-wings. Hopefully he can eat the hits at Range 3, or Range 2 to prevent Range 1 hits on the Rookies/Gold Squadron Pilot. Try to get an early kill with the Torp, and protect Biggs as best as possible. The worst thing that can happen here is if the enemy manages to sideslip your line or, worse, get behind you.

Duraham said: I find putting R2D2 on him encourages your opponent to target him more XD I was thinking maybe take out R2D2, then upgrade one of the rookie pilots to Biggs instead, and have him follow Wedge around instead. Biggs could benefit from Wedge's swarm tactics too, then the other rookie and gold pair could do whatever they want. In every game I've played with or against R2-D2, targeting that ship has always been folly. R2-D2 is quite a huge deterrent, as he can easily undo the efforts of any concerted attack, especially those of Imperial squads who will almost always overshoot a slow-moving target. I'm interested to try this Luke variant.

Duraham said: Tawnos said: A more serious squad I've been running lately is very similar to a previous one posted: Wedge Antilles, R2-D2, Swarm Tactics 2x Rookie Pilot 1x Gold Squadron Pilot, Ion Cannon Not a lot to say about it. It's less defensive than the similar squad with Luke. I feel like Wedge has a bigger upside than Luke for one point more, though I see the obvious synergy between Swarm Tactics and keeping Luke alive with his natural defensive ability and R2-D2. do you face any problems with Wedge getting taken out too early in the game? would like to hear how you deal with it, because I'm kinda wanting to try this over my Luke ver. and see the differences. I've started off with your version actually, but after Wedge keeps dying on the 3-4th turn I sorta gave up and swapped him for Luke instead Wedge always has a huge target painted on him. R2-D2 is there to discourage focusing him first, but even so, chances are good he isn't going to be ignored. The best thing you can do for him is for the Gold Squadron Pilot to focus his Ion on whoever the biggest threat to Wedge is.

Here's another one that, well….maybe it doesn't belong in a Top Squad list, but damned if I don't want to give it a try: Dutch Vander, R5-K6, Ion Cannon 3x Gold Squadron Pilot, Ion Cannon You know what's better than agility? Locking out your opponents ability to even get a firing arc on you. Every…..turn. You might even occasionally run the opponent right off the board. Weee! This squad would more than likely fall flat on its face against Imperial swarms, and is very unforgiving of bad dice rolls.

You give Wedge the second Focus exactly for the reason you mention. The squad's utilizes a real "all-in" strategy and makes Wedge a huge target. Any defensive edge you can give him to keep him alive makes it that much more effective. I've run a variation of it where Wedge uses R2-F2 to increase the value of that extra defensive Focus token, but ultimately I've found that 3 defense dice with a Focus token has less defensive value than 2 defense dice with Focus + R2-D2.

I've not been a big fan of the 3 ship setup for Rebels, but one thing I've been playing around with is this: Garven Dreis, R2 Astromech Dutch Vander, R5-K6, Ion Cannon, 1 Proton Torpedo Wedge Antilles, Swarm Tactics, R2-D2, 1 Proton Torpedo The idea is an "all eggs in one basket" strategy to turn Wedge into a "one shot, one kill" juggernaut. Give Wedge Target Locks from Dutch, and use Swarm Tactics to enable Garven to give his Focus to Wedge before Wedge makes his combat rolls. The torps are there to fill in points. Wedge has R2-D2 for some amount of protection. Garven runs the R2 unit to get rid of stress tokens a little easier (he needs to be able to Focus). And R5-K6 on Dutch needs no explanation. A more serious squad I've been running lately is very similar to a previous one posted: Wedge Antilles, R2-D2, Swarm Tactics 2x Rookie Pilot 1x Gold Squadron Pilot, Ion Cannon Not a lot to say about it. It's less defensive than the similar squad with Luke. I feel like Wedge has a bigger upside than Luke for one point more, though I see the obvious synergy between Swarm Tactics and keeping Luke alive with his natural defensive ability and R2-D2.

At the Inaugural tourney, when filling out your squad sheet, your Upgrades went with the Pilots. I don't recall if the FF judges were checking people's squads during the tourney, but in other minis games I've played, the judges will usually grab a handful of the squad registration sheets while the rounds are going on and walk around checking random players to make sure they haven't modified their squads.

Yep, I'm going. Should be good times.

it completely up to you. When you're letting a friend play with your minis, you might only have one deck. Most people who are moderately to extremely serious about the game will probably insist on tournament rules.

In order to turn the tide, the Imps need to survive the first few rounds. That's when the Rebels do the majority of their damage. Torps and focus fire while the Rebels are still flying formation are deadly. The key to Imp victory is to survive those first few rounds with minimal losses. Trying splitting off 2-3 TIE flights. Put a pair like Backstabber and Howlrunner off to the side at start. Make the Rebels make a difficult choice. Do they engage the bulk of your force, going for your big names like Vader and Mauler Mithel, and risk letting Howlrunner and Backstabber slip behind them? Or do they chase down Backstabber/Howlrunner and allow Vader and Mithel to close distance and get very deadly up close? Also, make judicious use of Evade in the early turns. Use Evade even when it seems like you may not need it. Remember that more often than not, the Rebels are going to move after most of your ships. You might very well need that Evade when they try to pull a surprise on you. Once the terrain of the dogfight starts to force the Rebels to break formation a bit, that's when you strike, and strike hard. Then get out of there. Don't stay in a head-on engagement long. Hit and run works wonders.

voidstate said: Daveydavedave said: 5. Try hard. Do or do not. There is no try. Win, or win not. There is no tie.