X-Wing/Tactics/Rebel Alliance: Difference between revisions

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Rebel fleets are cobbled together out of mercenaries or outlaws who bring their own ships into the fight, leftover weapons and vehicles from the Clone Wars, "donations" from [[Planetary Defense Force]]s that resent their nationalization, and vehicles produced by companies or planets with a grudge against the Empire. As such there's a great deal of variation among the Rebel forces, matched equally by its mix of alien pilots compared to the Empire's strict [[Humanity Fuck Yeah]] policy.
Rebel fleets are cobbled together out of mercenaries or outlaws who bring their own ships into the fight, leftover weapons and vehicles from the Clone Wars, "donations" from [[Planetary Defense Force]]s that resent their nationalization, and vehicles produced by companies or planets with a grudge against the Empire. As such there's a great deal of variation among the Rebel forces, matched equally by its mix of alien pilots compared to the Empire's strict [[Humanity Fuck Yeah]] policy.


Capital ships were hard to come by for the Rebels, with the largest and most powerful being donated by the Mon Calamari (goldfish-head people, the best known of which is the renowned Admiral "It's A Trap!" Ackbar), master shipbuilders who customize every ship as an almost organic work of art as their entire culture revolves around the freedom of space travel. Others came from Corellia, which was neither exceedingly friendly to the Empire nor particularly choosy in their buyers, the Corporate Sector Authority, who was more vulnerable to piracy than the Empire and had several members willing to look the other way if the credits were good, and a handful captured from Imperials.  
Capital ships were hard to come by for the Rebels, with the largest and most powerful being donated by the Mon Calamari (goldfish-head people, the best known of which is the renowned Admiral "It's A Trap!" Ackbar), master shipbuilders who customize every ship as an almost organic work of art as their entire culture revolves around the freedom of space travel. Others came from Corellia, which was neither exceedingly friendly to the Empire nor particularly choosy in their buyers, the Corporate Sector Authority, who was more vulnerable to piracy than the Empire and had several members willing to look the other way if the credits were good, and a handful of Imperial ships either captured or brought over by defectors.  


Since the Rebels are characterized by their actually giving a shit about the lives of the people fighting for them, Rebel ships are well-equipped, including shields, hyperdrive, and supply kits for when you invariably get shot down with only some creepy green guy to keep you company. This [[StarCraft| Protoss]]-esque philosophy also informs their ships' combat capabilities, with small squads of heavily-armed, well-equipped (but expensive) ships crewed by some of the best pilots in the galaxy. Furthermore, most fighters contain an Astromech droid which functions as a co-pilot and emergency technician.  
Since the Rebels are characterized by their actually giving a shit about the lives of the people fighting for them, Rebel ships are well-equipped, including shields, hyperdrive, and supply kits for when you invariably get shot down with only some creepy green guy to keep you company. This [[StarCraft| Protoss]]-esque philosophy also informs their ships' combat capabilities, with small squads of heavily-armed, well-equipped (but expensive) ships crewed by some of the best pilots in the galaxy. Furthermore, most fighters contain an Astromech droid which functions as a co-pilot and emergency technician.  

Revision as of 17:49, 8 May 2020

"Make ten men feel like a hundred." -Cassian Andor
Now accepting pilot applications. Requirements: Human. Male. Passed basic training. No past convicted felonies. Can read. Willing to use real name. Knows what the conflict is about. Showed up for orientation.

Rebel fleets are cobbled together out of mercenaries or outlaws who bring their own ships into the fight, leftover weapons and vehicles from the Clone Wars, "donations" from Planetary Defense Forces that resent their nationalization, and vehicles produced by companies or planets with a grudge against the Empire. As such there's a great deal of variation among the Rebel forces, matched equally by its mix of alien pilots compared to the Empire's strict Humanity Fuck Yeah policy.

Capital ships were hard to come by for the Rebels, with the largest and most powerful being donated by the Mon Calamari (goldfish-head people, the best known of which is the renowned Admiral "It's A Trap!" Ackbar), master shipbuilders who customize every ship as an almost organic work of art as their entire culture revolves around the freedom of space travel. Others came from Corellia, which was neither exceedingly friendly to the Empire nor particularly choosy in their buyers, the Corporate Sector Authority, who was more vulnerable to piracy than the Empire and had several members willing to look the other way if the credits were good, and a handful of Imperial ships either captured or brought over by defectors.

Since the Rebels are characterized by their actually giving a shit about the lives of the people fighting for them, Rebel ships are well-equipped, including shields, hyperdrive, and supply kits for when you invariably get shot down with only some creepy green guy to keep you company. This Protoss-esque philosophy also informs their ships' combat capabilities, with small squads of heavily-armed, well-equipped (but expensive) ships crewed by some of the best pilots in the galaxy. Furthermore, most fighters contain an Astromech droid which functions as a co-pilot and emergency technician.

Their ground troops are less well off in a traditional fight. Their lack of heavy industry ensures that the only truly military vehicles they can consistently (read: Outside of strategy video games) deploy are mere armored cars, reducing their role on the ground to surgical strikes most of the time. On the upside, they're the only faction to remember man-portable mortars are a thing.

Until two years before the Battle of Yavin, there were multiple, separate, rebel organizations with the most prominent headed by Senators Bail Organa (Alderaan), Mon Mothma (Chandrila) and Garm Bel Iblis (Corellia), as well as some scattered Jedi survivors such as Rahm Kota, Rachi Sitra, Echu Shen-jon and Obi-Wan Kenobi, and some leftovers from the Confederacy of Independent Systems. These factions would be united by the Emperor as part of a trap to get their leadership in one place, only to have it backfire as Galen Marek disrupted the trap and sacrificed himself to allow the quarry to escape and form the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

In the Disney third trilogy canon, the Rebel Alliance united under Chancellor Mon Mothma to break what they thought was the last of the united Empire before reorganizing their military into small local cells on every Republic planet which as a whole are called the Resistance.


Why play the Rebel Alliance

Comprising a mix of ships that were stolen and 'stolen' of both new and old vintage the rebel fleet is comprised of a broad mix of ships that generally outperform ships of their enemies on a one-to-one basis, but cost more points in exchange.

Pros

  • Along with the Galactic Empire you have the most numerous types of ships at your disposal giving you a broad array of options
  • Good primary attacks and most ships can use torpedoes or missiles.
  • Good team work orientated upgrade and pilots letting you help keep big ships alive
  • Have two of the three most iconic ships in Star Wars, the X-wing and Millennium Falcon.
  • Wide array of Ships that can uses astromechs for more utility.
  • Good assortment of large ships.

Cons

  • Few Force users
  • Ships lean toward the expensive side.

Ships

T-65 X-Wing Starfighter

You know what it is, the Rebel ship so badass it's probably the one you'd want to be assigned to in-universe. Created for the Rebel Alliance when the Empire attempted to become a bunch of filthy Commie bastards and absorb the company that made the ARC-170 gunships for the Republic. Mostly replaced after Return of the Jedi by the T-70, the iPhone of X-Wings. The E-Wing was meant to replace the X-Wing entirely, but it was too expensive to produce and was plagued with design flaws that led it to be used by only a small handful of pilots. Pilots found in Saw's Renegades will be marked.

All X-Wings can equip torpedoes, and astromech droids. In 1st Edition, they were overshadowed by the Z-95 for price and by the T-70 for effectiveness, but with the Resistance being made a separate faction from the Rebels the classic X-Wing made a triumphant return in 2nd.

Pilots

What really sells the X-wing is the sheer number of pilots with actually worthwhile skills.

  • Cavern Angels Zealot: (SR) Lowest initiative possible, but has an Illicit Upgrade slot. Useful? at the moment likely no, but keep an eye on this one though, if a good Illicit upgrade is released this could show some promise.
  • Blue Squadron Escort: Replacement for 1st Edition's Rookie Pilot. Very basic option for cheap.
  • Red Squadron Veteran: Higher Initiative and has a Talent slot.
  • Edrio Two Tubes: (SR) One of Saw Gerrera's alien buddies in Rogue One. His ability to get a bonus action is made specifically to synergize with his eggmate, Benthic Two Tubes.
  • Jek Porkins: You know him, you love him, it's the legendary fat fuck who died like a bitch at Yavin IV. Jek eats stress tokens like a fa/tg/uy goes through cheetos. But be careful when doing so as because every time you do this you roll an attack die, so you do run the risk of blowing yourself up in spectacular failure.
  • Leevan Tenza: (SR) Another of Saw's boys. Despite his backstory of defecting from the Rebel Alliance after attacking a target against orders, his ability is on the defensive side. He can perform a red evade after boosting or barrel rolling.
  • Biggs Darklighter: Luke's wingman from A New Hope, with mustache. Has the ability take damage on a teammate's behalf. Very useful when paired with more expensive pilots to keep them alive longer.
  • Kullbee Sperado: (SR) One of the few Partisans to survive Jedha, Kullbee can flip his S-Foils after arc-dodging, effectively making him the only T-65 pilot who can boost without penalty.
  • Garvin Dreis: Red Leader from A New Hope. After he spends a focus, either in attack or defense, he can pass it on to another ship at range 1 or 2.
  • Thane Kyrell: Deuteragonist of the novel Lost Stars. Joined the Rebels while his girlfriend Ciena Ree stayed with the empire. Can spend a die result on attacks to look at the defender's facedown damage cards and expose one. If one of those happens to be Direct Hit, he can spam it multiple times.
  • Luke Skywalker: If you don't know who this is, you probably shouldn't be playing this game. Has 2 Force Points and regenerates 1 when an attack is declared against him, making him ludicrously hard to kill, especially when paired with R2-D2.
  • Wedge Antilles: Luke's other wingman in A New Hope, and co-founder of Rogue Squadron with Luke. The only pilot who survived both Death Star runs, and played a pivotal role in each one. Reduces the enemy's evade dice by one. Super deadly, but everyone knows that so he can end up being a DISTRACTION X-WING minus the "distraction" part. If you are a newbie Rebel player and don't know what to use, the wrong answer is never Wedge. Many players like to give him Outmaneuver. It also applies to Proton Torpedoes and Snap Shot.

BTL-S3/BTL-A4 Y-Wing Starfighter

Produced during the lead-up to the Clone Wars, and used for a good century by almost literally everyone except the Empire. Called "wishbones", they are heavily armed and armored in order to get through a dogfight and deliver their payload before joining the engagement on behalf of their allies. It was especially notable for being equipped with Ion-based weaponry, making fighting one without eliminating their escort a risky endeavor. The fighter was full of design flaws and was very expensive and labor-extensive to maintain, with entire sections of the ship hull needing to be replaced between battles for maximum efficiency. Technically it isn't a real bomber in the sense that it carries bombs; instead it shoots torpedoes, because space is an ocean in Star Wars. The variety you field in this game is the BTL-A4 model which is a two-man fighter with the rear pilot as turret gunner.

The Rebels' bomber and the workhorse of the Rebel fleet, it has one bomb slot and one torp slot. It's slower than the X-Wing with a firepower of 2 and has below average agility at 1, but gets 2 shields and a much stronger Hull at 6. It can also equip Astromechs, and it can use Turrets.

  • In fact, in order to make them useful, it better have an Ion Turret on it.
  • Veteran Turret Gunner and Skilled Bombardier are both strong candidates for filling the Gunner slot, depending on what you want the ship to focus on.
  • Has red barrel roll action, can be mitigated with Expert Handling.
  • Can reload spent munitions for a stress and disabled weapons
  • A Y-Wing with Hull Upgrade is very annoying to fight against.

Pilots

  • Gray Squadron Bomber: Base Y-Wing pilot. Take these if you want cheap and tanky ion turrets on the field.
  • Gold Squadron Veteran: Same as the Gray but higher initiative and Talent slot.
  • Evaan Verlaine: Survivor of Alderaan and waifu to /swg/. Also retconned over Keyan Farlander as the pilot of the Y-Wing seen leaving the Death Star at Yavin. She served as a bodyguard to Leia Organa in the limited-run Princess Leia comic, which is reflected in her pilot ability to buff a friendly ship's agility.
  • "Dutch" Vander: Gold Leader from A New Hope. When he acquires a target lock someone else at range 1-3 can also get one on the same target. R3's bonus target lock does not let you do this twice in a round.
  • Norra Wexley: Norra flew a Y-Wing at Endor and is mother of "Snap" Wexley, a T-70 pilot. She also is one of many dull characters to appear in the Aftermath trilogy of books. In X-Wing she's actually useful. When defending, she adds an automatic evade result to whatever she rolls if she's close to an enemy. Very frustrating to the shooter.
  • Horton Salm: EU Y-Wing Ace and Rebel General. Can reroll 1 attack die for each nearby friendly ship. Syncs nicely with the extra attack granted by Veteran Turret Gunner.

Modified YT-1300 Light Freighter/Millennium Falcon

"What a piece of junk!"

The YT-1300 is the best known of the many ugly yet amazing ships built on Corellia. Created to be modular, you can buy it piece by piece (in-universe) to do as you want. A YT-1300 isn't considered the Millennium Falcon unless it takes the upgrade giving it that title (giving it the evade action). The YT-1300 is, surprisingly, more mobile than the Y-Wing despite it's greater size, but its defense is just as bad, making up for it with stronger shields and hull. It also has a bowtie firing arc. Characters of this ship cost an arm and a leg (for a long time they were easily the most expensive in the game), but the ship is so durable that the only reliable way to kill it is if your enemy can focus all their ships on it at once, not an easy task.

  • Has room for two crew and a gunner

Pilots

  • Outer Rim Smuggler: Had reduced firepower and health in 1st Edition, much to the chagrin of the playerbase. No longer the case in 2nd.
  • Chewbacca: Han Solo's Wookiee co-pilot takes the helm. Once per round, can suffer a critical hit as a normal hit. Costing less than his domestic partner in the leather jacket and really helping the durability of the YT-1300 shine, Chewie is the shit. Give him Selfless and extend the life expectancy of the whole team greatly.
  • Leia Organa: (H&A) The princess's inclusion as a pilot and high initiative has been a mild skub topic, but she did occasionally fly the ship and initiative is not necessarily the same thing as "pilot skill" like in 1st edition. It's better to think of it as her reflexes, which were honed from being raised to be a secret badass from birth. She comes with a Force point, which she can spend when a range 0-3 friendly fully performs a red maneuver to grant them a Focus token or replenish a Force point. Her Force replenishment is generally only useful if you you bring Kanan Jarrus or if there is a Force Talent that would spend Force before maneuvering. Otherwise, Luke regens Force too quickly to get any real benefit.
  • Lando Calrissian: Han's good buddy who betrayed him and froze him in carbonite. Inventor of suave and space pimp extraordinaire. When he does a blue maneuver, another ship at range 1 may perform a free action. Taking Nien Numb as a crew is almost mandatory to really capitalize on this.
  • Han Solo: Initiative 6, so he should almost always be shooting first. Gets to reroll anything and everything if he's close to an obstacle.

RZ-1 A-Wing Interceptor

The A-Wing is incredibly fast (one of the fastest ships in canon unmodified) and it turns on the dime. Anyone who played any of the video games knows this ship as the one that will fuck your shit up. Basically a more available version of the Jedi ships, it had very specific limits on pilot physical dimensions and requires absolute pros. Also one of the more liberal ships in the Rebel fleet for pilots painting the exterior (usually by squadron). It's has the highest defense of the rebel ships, but also the weakest hull in the game. Shields and firepower are average. Compare with the other Rebel fighters, it trades in torpedoes for missiles.

  • Vectored Thrusters allow any action to link to a red boost.
  • Has two Talent slots, except for Phoenix, who only gets one
  • Juke is always a great way to annoy your opponent
  • One of the few ships to not have a basic Modification slot

Pilots

  • Phoenix Squadron Pilot: These guys got their shit wrecked by Vader in the cartoon series, Rebels. Cheap, low initiative, only one Talent slot.
  • Green Squadron Pilot: Very solid choice for a generic pilot.
  • Jake Farrell: Green Squadron pilot who flew at Endor, helped with the design of the A-wing and flew its predecessor craft at Yavin. He's been toned down significantly from 1E, where he could zip around like a Physical Adept. Now, he gives foci to his squaddies when he boosts or barrel rolls. This does pair with Vectored Thrusters.
  • Arvel Crynyd: Guy who ran his ship into the Executor's bridge in Return of the Jedi. Can still attack ships, even when their bases are touching (both fluffy and crunchy, a delightful combination). 2nd Edition blessed him with the ability to boost into an enemy ship.
  • Tycho Celchu: Rogue Squadron pilot. Pilot skill 8. Can perform actions even when he is stressed. Giving him Push the Limit is a must, and then enjoy piling up six, seven, eight stress token on your ship in the game.

HWK-290 Light Freighter/Moldy Crow

"You've got to be joking. This isn't even a ship! Hey, I thought you said this thing would get off the ground!" "It will. But after that, I'm not making any promises."

Known mostly as Kyle Katarn's ship (piloted by his much better pilot, Jan Ors) from the Dark Forces video games. Known as a huge piece of shit in-universe too, except to pilots who can actually use it. Rebels used them as personnel and agent transports, similar to how the Imperials use the Lambda Shuttle.

It has average agility and shields, below average firepower of 1, only two Defense Dice, and has a Hull of 3 (remember that Shields>Hull since Shields block Crits) with option of one Crew. HWK was crap in 1E, but has been wonderfully overhauled into an actually serviceable vessel. It can now boost, jam, and drop bombs.

  • Moldy Crow title allows you to carry up to 2 focus tokens between rounds. It also grants a forward firing arc that packs a wallop. All of the pilot abilities are dependent on firing arc, so the title gives the abilities additional coverage.
  • Afterburners can help close the distance if you're trying to jam somebody.

Pilots

  • Rebel Scout: A Rebel, who scouts. A nice, cheap way to jam enemy ships.
  • Roark Garnet: A smuggler, and the original owner of the Moldy Crow. One of the example characters from Star Wars D6. Had many adventures, a few of which were on behalf of the Rebels. Never worked with the Empire. At the start of combat he picks an ally in his firing arc and makes them Initiative 7.
  • Kyle Katarn: A Stormtrooper cadet that defected to the Rebellion after learning about the Empire's involvement in his father's death, was one of the nine attempts by the Rebels at capturing the Death Star plans, shut down the Dark Trooper project one piece at a time, punched a Krayt Dragon to death while giving Jabba the Hutt the middle finger, and later became a Master in the New Jedi Order. Lets you give a Focus Token to another friendly in his firing arc at the start of combat. Like Garven Dreis for the X-wing, except he can build up a reservoir of Focus by keeping it across turns if you take the pretty much mandatory Moldy Crow Title. Jyn Erso synergizes excellently with Kyle.
  • Jan Ors: The woman who made Asians canon in Star Wars. An engineer/pilot/ballerina from Alderaan, was an agent and spy early on before she got her buddy Kyle into the Rebel Alliance by telling him the truth about his father (pottery). Played taxi driver to Kyle on his missions for awhile, then helping him out after the fall of the Empire as well. If she has no Stress Tokens, she can take one to give an ally one more Attack Dice. Say hello to the pseudo-Phantom.

A/SF-01 B-Wing Starfighter

Designed by Admiral Trapmaster himself(Or by a Mon Calamari with a fish mustache in the New Canon), B-Wings were built when the Rebels realized that their fighters are fucking awesome and their capital ships fucking suck. The resulting solution is a really difficult to fly super-bomber. Since its cockpit rotates, the pilots can pull off batshit insane maneuvers.

You really want something dead when you first aim at it? This is your ship. It has as much firepower as an X-Wing and it's as durable as a Y-Wing though the shields and hull are equalized, meaning it is less susceptible to crits than the Y-Wing. For upgrades it can be given two cannons, a torpedo, and a sensor.

  • Be warned, it's slow on its own.
  • The B-wing really shines when given Advanced Sensors, with it the previously sluggish craft becomes surprisingly agile with a barrel roll and the ability to perform its actions BEFORE it moves.
    • Doing this lets you do Koiogran turns or Tallon rolls at very unexpected angles and positions, perfect for getting out of firing arcs while keeping the empire firmly in yours.
  • Considering how easily these things get stressed, both pilot abilities aren't nearly as situational as they might sound.
  • Hotshots and Aces gives the Stablized S-Foils configuration, which can be opened and closed for different functionality like the X-Wing, but only if it isn't critically damaged.

Pilots

  • Blue Squadron Pilot: Base B-Wing.
  • Blade Squadron Veteran: Higher init, cost, and Talent slot.
  • Ten Numb: Can spend stress like focus tokens. Rip and tear.
  • Braylen Stramm: Cannibalized and upgraded Ibtisam's ability from 1E: Can reroll TWO dice when attacking/defending while stressed.
  • Gina Moonsong: (H&A) The only I5 B-Wing pilot. If she's stressed at the start of Engagement, she is forced to transfer a stress token to a range 0-2 friendly. Obviously intended to be flown alongside Braylen or Ten.

GR-75 Medium Transport

One of those Rebel transports you saw in Empire Strikes Back and the first of the huge ships. Although technically used by everyone, starting as supply ships for the Republic during the Clone Wars, the Rebels and Resistance used them the most as they were cheap, durable, and very easy to modify for assorted roles. If you're wondering how a ship that big is made to scale with the much smaller ones in this game without taking up the whole board, it isn't, it's considerably smaller than it should be for that very reason. Even with the scaled down size it still dwarfs anything released before and is so big that you have the option of using its base as a wreck marker. The ship is durable (not as much as it should probably be given its size), but also very sluggish, has a defense of zero, a forward attack of 2, and replenishes 1 shield and energy each round.

  • Holy shit, this thing has guns now! You won't get much out of the forward cannon, but there are slots for a turret and a hardpoint. Given the GR-75's slow-ass energy regen, you'll probably get more use out of a turret.
  • When a range 0-1 friendly performs an action, Resupply Craft allows a GR-75 to spend an energy to remove a red/orange token from that ship or recover a shield. This makes the chassis a rock-solid support craft.
  • The Luminous title gives 2 energy, takes 1 shield. It also starts you in reserve until the end of setup, at which point, you spawn at range 0-2 of any friendly ship, helping to turn your craft into an effective METAL BOX.
  • Bright Hope prevents you from reinforcing your aft, but grants an additional defense die when defending a reinforced fore.
  • Quantum Storm grants +1 energy along with a crew and cargo slot. It allows allows you to recover 1 energy after performing a white maneuver.

CR90 Corvette/Blockade Runner

The Blockade Runner is the ship Princess Leia and the Rebels tried escaping from a Star Destroyer in at the start of the original movie. It didn't look too impressive there, but when not overshadowed by a Star Destroyer you see how big this thing really is compared to your tiny fighters, (and hold it up to its Star Wars Armada model to get a real sense of X-wing's scale) Also known as the Corellian Corvette and Alderaan Cruiser. Another ship used by everyone for every purpose as like the YT-1300 it is purchased in sections (again, in-universe). Early on they served as private ships for important personnel in the Republic, then the preferred ship of diplomats in the Imperial era (although the Rebels were able to acquire some as their only choice for capital ships early on). After the senate was dissolved and the only government VIP transport was Imperial military craft, quite a few found their way into Rebel hands.

  • Jaina's Light: The only one of the three that looks different, with two red stripes on the sides of its hammer head instead of just one. +1 Shield, -1 Energy. Allows you to spend energy to grant an extra green die to a friendly ship being attacked through cover. Eh.
  • Dodonna's Pride: -2 Shields, adds Team and Cargo slots. Adds Evade and Focus actions which can both link to red Coordinate.
  • Tantive IV: Adds 2 crew slots, gives an extra green die when being attacked from the rear.
  • Liberator: +1 Energy. Allows you to dock up to 2 small ships. When one deploys from you, it may Focus or Barrel Roll.
  • Thunderstrike: +3 Hull, -3 Shields. Adds gunner slot. Lets you reroll one attack die when performing a bonus attack against a target you haven't already fired at this round. Benefits from any Hardpoint upgrade, but massively so with Point-Defense Battery.

Z-95 Headhunter

The X-Wing's predecessor, a very small fighter invented before the first Star Wars prequel. First introduced in a novel which came out before even Empire Strikes back, later used as the tutorial ship in the X-Wing flight simulator vidya. A modified variant was used by the Republic in the Clone Wars, and later used by the Rebels prior to the X-Wing. They were always very popular with space pirates however. Basically the F-5E Tiger to the X-Wing's F/A-18C of the Star Wars universe: they could be easily retrofitted with any technology that came out so despite military versions being a very piss-poor ship, a single mercenary or bounty hunter can go toe to toe with the elite. They can even be equipped with the wings of an X-Wing while still technically being a Headhunter.

On the table it's a rather unimpressive ship, but it's cheap. Use it as a cheap missile platform since it has a Missile slot. Ironically, while in-universe the X-Wing replaced the Z-95 for all but pirates, in the game's meta the Z-95 for a time replaced the X-Wing for the Rebels and was glossed over by Scum & Villainy.

Pilots

  • Bandit Squadron Pilot: Run of the mill pilot.
  • Tala Squadron Pilot: Bandit with Talent slot.
  • Lieutenant Blount: One of the guys seen in the cockpit of the Falcon during the Battle of Endor. Init 4, rolls an additional attack die when an ally is near the defender, effectively subverting the fire into melee penalties in most other games.
  • Airen Cracken: The other guy in the cockpit of the Falcon, also piloting a Z-95 now. After attacking, a friendly ship at range 1 gets a free red action. Cheap and with a high enough initiative that most ships will benefit, nice way to round out a squad that needs a little something something. This applies to bonus attacks as well, such as those granted by Cluster Missiles or Snap Shot.

E-Wing Escort Starfighter

First seen in the Dark Empire comics and was popular enough reappear in lots of other EU material, this is the ship the Rebels intended to replace the iconic X-Wing for the New Republic. It ended up getting assigned alongside upgraded X-Wings instead. It had a special (VERY expensive) astromech droid that was protected within the ship and also more durable than its older kin.

Aside from having a weaker hull (though it has an extra shield), it's superior to its cousin in every respect aside from attack (which is the same). So it's faster (around the same as a TIE fighter), more survivable, can add a sensor, can boost without taking an attack penalty, in addition to being able to take any upgrades that the X-Wing can. Downside it's a step up in price as well, and it only has a few pilots for it, so don't expect to replace the X-Wing in this game.

  • Can acquire target locks beyond range 3, but not in range 1.
    • Due to wording, it can get target locks at range 0, if you have Advanced Sensors or Coordinate.

Pilots

  • Knave Squadron Pilot: Cheapest option and likely to distract opponent with the stupid name.
  • Rogue Squadron Escort: Awesome init for a generic and Talent slot. Very solid choice.
  • Etahn A'Baht Gavin Darklighter: Biggs's younger cousin. Enemy ships defending in your forward arc can have a hit turned to a crit.
  • Corran Horn: Can shoot twice at enemy in your bullseye arc. Your weapon is disarmed on the next round, but if you're flying correctly, that won't be a problem.

YT-2400 Light Freighter/Outrider

One of the most popular ships in the Star Wars universe for independents like pirates or mercenaries in the fringes, essentially it's a smaller (and much newer) YT-1300 from the same manufacturers on Corellia. Mostly known as the ship model of Dash Rendar's Outrider, which the Rebel-friendly mercenary used on missions.

The natural thing to compare this with is the modified YT-1300. The attack and agility are up by one, but with reduced hull and shields and the apparent oddity of "Sensor Blindspot," which penalizes you for attacking at point-blank. This is essentially a streamlined version of the "Dash Donut" from 1st Edition, where the attack was meh, but the Outrider Title card allowed a Cannon upgrade to fire 360°. The only real option was Heavy Laser Cannon that had an attack of 4, but could only fire Range 2-3.

Pilots

  • Wild Space Fringer The basic, no frills pilot.
  • Eaden Vrill A martial artist Nautolan (Kit Fisto's race) and one of the last masters of Teräs Käsi (anti-Force) discipline who was one of Dash Rendar's companions. Killed by an Imperial assassin. A slight upgrade at Pilot Skill 3 for 32 points, and when you attack a stressed ship with your Primary Weapon he gets an extra Attack Die. Not bad, but entirely useless if you run the Outrider title.
  • "Leebo" Dash Rendar's droid copilot, actually called LE-BO2D9, is a smartass repair droid from a series designed work as both an Astromech Droid and a Protocol Droid (that's right, C-3PO+R2-D2=Leebo). Being a droid pilot, he has Calculate instead of Focus, and his ability allows him to recycle Calculate tokens.
  • Dash Rendar Protagonist of the Shadows of the Empire series, a Corellian mercenary who was thrown out of the Imperial Academy after Prince Xizor sabotaged one of their freighters when his family refused to be bought out by his Black Sun syndicate; the resulting crash killed Dash's brother and destroyed a major museum. Legendary in 1E for the "Donut Dash" build, which combined Dash's complete lack of fucks about obstacles with a Heavy Laser Cannon to arc-dodge the entire enemy squadron while vaporizing anything outside of Range 1. 2E made this even worse, as a change to the wording of his pilot ability lets him make like Peppy and do a barrel roll through asteroids. Comboing with the Outrider title to remove the stress token from his red maneuvers, he can K-Turn through an asteroid and come out undamaged and unstressed. And if all that wasn't enough, he can shoot through obstacles without the defender getting an extra defense die AND then if you give him trick shot he can get a bonus attack to a max of FIVE. Most Large ships in 2E had to have their base costs reduced to stay competitive. Not Dash.

BTL-S8 K-wing Assault Starfighter

First appearing in a supplement for West End's Star Wars RPG, the K-Wing is the successor to the Y-Wing by the same manufacturer in the age of the New Republic. As such it can carry a fuckload of interchangeable weapons and double as a heavy bomber to destroy capital ships and bomb in the atmosphere or pull duty as a heavy escort and recon fighter. It has a primary pilot and a bombardier. While it's slow as shit, it gets around this with a unique action called a SLAM (SubLight Acceleration Motor). Yes, like the one from TIE Fighter. This allows the K-Wing to perform two maneuvers in one turn as long as the second maneuver is at the same speed as the first by diverting power from the laser cannons; this means that you can't attack normally for the rest of the turn after SLAMming. But with the Advanced SLAM modification, it can perform a free action afterwards if it isn't overlapping anything, which means it can be very effective at setting up bombing runs against seemingly unreachable targets.

There's nothing stopping you from performing a maneuver, dropping a bomb, and then using the SLAM to get your ass out of there before your intended target can retaliate. Six Hull points and three Shields mean it can take a beating, and as the icing on the cake it has a White Reload action, so you can bring along even MORE bombs and missiles.

Pilots

  • Warden Squadron Pilot: Having an Initiative of 2, the generic pilot actually opens up a few less conventional strategies. See, since low Initiative means you move earlier in the turn, you can use a SLAM to force an enemy ship into base-to-base contact with you, and since at that distance you can't shoot anyway the weapon disabling effect of the SLAM is made irrelevant. You might not necessarily survive, but it can stall for time just long enough for your other ships to reach their intended targets.
  • Esege Tuketu: A long-limbed alien pilot killed in a suicide attack when bombing a Yevetha (Always Chaotic Evil race of genocidal imperialists) shipyard. When another friendly ship at Range 0-2 is attacking, that ship can use Tuketu's Focus Tokens instead of its own. Remember that SLAMming keeps you from firing your weapons, and with only one Defense Die a Focus token won't do you much good- or at least, not for the K-wing. But for anyone else, it could be a lifesaver. Consider pairing him with Garvin Dreis if you really want to make that one token go the distance, both figuratively and literally.
  • Miranda Doni: Commander of one of the earliest deployed squadrons of K-Wings, killed when the Yevetha fleet they were supposed to be obliterating used false broadcasts of dying captured civilians to make them hesitate and fall into a trap. She can spend a shield to roll an extra attack die on her swivel turret, but if her shields are gone, she can recover a shield at the cost of one of her attack dice. Had to be MASSIVELY reined in from the 1E days. She used to be able to recover her shields regardless of how full they were, and the infamous Twin Laser Turrets allowed her attack twice in a round. This widely used tactic was the surest indicator of playing against That Guy.

Aggressive Reconnaissance-170 starfighter

The first Starfighter to come from the prequel trilogy. A clone Starfighter that is one of the parents of the famous X Wing. Its a multirole fighter that was famous for being armed enough to damage capital ships, well protected, and slow as hell for a fighter. Basically, it's like a Stuka ,Il-2, US Navy Dive Bombers in space. Compared to a standard X Wing, the ARC-170 has more armor and shields. The main cannon is equivalent, but the rear gun is slightly weaker. The ARC has the unique combination of Crew, Gunner, and Astromech slots, giving it great utility for the Rebels. The ARC-170 does lack in agility, so be aware of this. Also, the Rebel ARC-170 only has unique pilots (and even then none of them actually piloted this thing during the civil war). The fighter can become expensive, so be warned. Turning wise, it has more blue than the X-wing, but has problems making U-turns.

Pilots

  • Shara Bey: Shara is Poe's mom and flew an A-Wing at Endor among other things. Her ability lets you spend a target lock when attacking or defending to add an eye result. Her ability becomes very potent with R3 and/or Perceptive Copilot, and she can use it very reliably when being a wingman to Dutch, Dreis, Farrel, or anybody else who can pass actions around. Giving her Veteran Tail Gunner guarantees a very wide berth.
  • Norra Wexley: Same ability as her Y-Wing counterpart, equally useful in the 170.
  • Ibtisam: Female Mon Calamari pilot. Has a chance of shedding stress after performing a maneuver. Goes nicely with Elusive.
  • Garven Dreis: Red Leader, but in an ARC-170. The ARC offers his ability more flexibility by allowing him to take a Perceptive Copilot or Baze Malbus.

VCX-100 Light Freighter and VCX-series Attack Shuttle/The Ghost and The Phantom

The main ship from the animated "Rebels" series put out by Disney, inspired by the real life B-17 Flying Fortress and in X-Wing it can really show it! Another Corellian modular model (model as in "type of ship", not "you have to buy this mini in parts"), The Ghost has powerful stealth technology and extremely powerful armaments, but that's not its main draw. That would be the VCX-series Attack Shuttle that comes with it; it's a small but fast and surprisingly hard-hitting given its size. The shuttle can dock with the VCX-100 at will, effectively acting as a secondary turret when things are too dangerous for it to be deployed on its own.

The Sheathipede-class Shuttle was later released as an alternative to the Attack Shuttle. It doesn't hit as hard, nor does it grant a bonus attack when docked, but it has the Coordinate action. When docked, the Ghost can Coordinate for free before moving.

The VCX-100 can be deployed with it's free title, the Ghost. Doing so will allow either Shuttle to equip the Phantom title (almost free), and allow the Ghost to deploy the Phantom from its rear guides after executing a maneuver. The Phantom's title allows it to perform primary weapon attacks from its special firing arc while docked with the Ghost.

The VCX is a hefty platform being Rebel's first 4 attack die ship, 10 Hull and 6 shields, but no Agility. It can focus, target lock and reinforce, and has an impressive upgrade bar for Sensor, Turret, Torpedo, and two crew slots, along with an exceptionally agile dial for a ship so huge it needs a unique type of peg to stand on it's base. The attack shuttle is fragile with 2 and 2 health and only 2 agility, but has 3 attack still and can barrel roll and evade in addition to Focus - and can equip a single crew and turret upgrade. Lastly the VCX lives up to its 'flying fortress' inspiration by having three options for attack. One primary, One bonus for the docked attack shuttle (it can make a rear arc attack after a primary or turret attack) and a turret attack with either Ezra or a bog standard veteran turret gunner. The rules instate a hard cap of one bonus attack per round, so you couldn't actually perform three attacks in one round, but the versatility unmatched.

VCX-100 Pilots

  • Lothal Rebel: The generic VCX pilot.
  • "Chopper": The first unique pilot, Chopper is the Ghost crew's angry, sociopathic astromech droid. His ability causes enemy ships he's touching to become double-jammed in the Combat phase, making him nasty with builds focused on bumping.
  • Alexsandr Kallus: (H&A) A bad guy in Rebels that later turns good. When defending, if the attacker modifies any attack dice, you can roll an additional defense die. Handy.
  • Kanan Jarrus: An ex-Jedi Padawan turned Rebel, Kanan is a major character in Rebels and often leads them in the field on an op. His ability allows you to spend a Force Point to cause any enemy ship attacking a friendly in his firing arc to roll one less die. Great for certain tanking builds, but the force makes him expensive to deploy.
  • Hera Syndulla: A female twi'lek and captain of the Ghost. Her ability lets you reveal a blue or red maneuver, and switch to any other maneuver of the same difficulty (i/e color), giving her a lot of flexibility in the Ghost. Nien Numb and Seasoned Navigator make awesome copilots to her.

Attack Shuttle Pilots

  • "Zeb" Orrelios: A male Lasat, and muscle on the Ghost crew. Zeb's ability lets you cancel crits before hits when defending - allowing you to minimize nasty surprises. Good, low-cost pick if you just need a body to work the Ghost's tail gun.
  • Ezra Bridger: A force-sensitive street rat picked up by Kanan to train, he's skilled but inexperienced. His ability is when stressed he can spend 1 Force to turn two eye results into hit/evades. He also allows Maul to be in your squad.
  • Sabine Wren: A female mando who loves bombs and art (and sometimes art that is bombs). Her ability allows you to boost or barrel roll free action before you reveal your maneuver which makes her very flexible.
  • Hera Syndulla: Hera can also fly the Shuttle, where she keeps her initiative. Her ability remains the same as in the VCX.

Sheathipede-class Shuttle Pilots

  • AP-5: A droid who defected from the Empire. He has an initiative of 1 and can coordinate ships that have exactly 1 stress token. Lowest cost means that he's the one to pick if you have no intention to undock, but his ability cannot be used while docked.
  • "Zeb" Orrelios: Zeb's ability allows the dinky command vessel to throw down on the cheap when undocked.
  • Ezra Bridger: Same deal in the Attack Shuttle.
  • Fenn Rau: After his stint of Trainspotting with Obi-Wan Kenobi, Kevin McKidd became a Mandalorian and gunned down a handful of Rebels, including Hera Syndulla, before becoming one himself. His ability lets him get stressed to pick an enemy ship in his firing arc and prevent them from spending tokens to modify attack dice. This ability was stupidly crunchy in 1st Edition.

UT-60D "U-Wing" Support Craft

Featured in the Rogue One anthology film, this swing-wing equipped craft is made by the same corporation who designed the X-Wing as a multi-purpose support ship with a lot of possible configuration. The film shows it used as basically a space helo - being a transport, gunship or recon craft depending on who is flying and how it's interior is configured. In the game, it's basically a lighter, stripped down Lambda Shuttle. Its front gun is the same, but no tail, its agility is (usually) better, and hull & shield both have a point shaved off. Its Coordinate action is red, so Tactical Officer is always a consideration. Its maneuver dial is leaps and bounds better than the Lambda. It has a decent number of blues and only one red (The stop maneuver) to the Lambda's 5. Speaking of stopping, it can close the pivot wing to parking mode so it can turn 90° or 180° while stopping. The only caveat is that agility is reduced, so you'll want to open those wings back up after you're done.

  • The U-Wing is a great spot for any support crew like Leia, Cassian, or Jyn Erso. Saw Gerrera and Magva Yarro are also good picks if they aren't already at the steering wheel.

Pilots

  • Partisan Renegade: (SR) This generic pilot has an Initiative of 1, an Illicit Upgrade slot, and a sweet new paintjob. Could be a good choice if FFG released some decent illicits for 2E.
  • Blue Squadron Scout: Init 2 Generic. Good choice if you just want the stats and upgrade options.
  • Benthic Two-Tubes: (SR) One of Saw's boys seen in Rogue One and Solo. When he focuses, he can give 1 focus token to a friendly ship Range 1-2. If you're flying Benthic, you're flying Edrio. You also have a Perceptive Copilot or Baze Malbus.
  • Heff Tobler: Was actually an X-Wing pilot in the film, but FFG needs names from somewhere. His ability lets him perform a free action when an enemy ship bumps him, making him an excellent choice for a blocker, and combo with crew cards which require Actions, like Baze Malbus. Could also combo amusingly with Zeb Orrelios
  • Cassian Andor: A rebel intel agent and discount Kyle Katarn - Cassian has the ability to pull stress off another friendly ship at range 1-3 at the start of the Activation Phase. Great squaddie to heavier ships with lots of red maneuvers.
  • K-2SO: (H&A) An Imperial security droid reprogrammed into a snarky asshole for the Rebellion in Rogue One. As a U-Wing pilot, he gains a calculate token after gaining a stress token, which gives him some extra action economy from the red coordinate.
    • Hotshots and Aces also gives K-2SO as a crew card. As a crew, he adds calculate and jam to the action bar. He can grant a calculate and stress to a friendly ship range 0-3 in the System Phase, you know, right before they would perform a blue maneuver and clear that stress.
  • Magva Yarro: (SR) Another Partisan. Magva can prevent enemy ships from rerolling more than one attack die against any friendly ship range 0-2, herself included. Limited use, as there aren't many Imperial ships that would reroll more than one attack die in the first place, except for the TIE Punishers that have been dominating 2E's meta.
  • Bodhi Rook: An imperial cargo pilot who defected with a message from Jyn's dad, Bodhi has the ability to allow all ships in your squad to target lock any ship so long as it's in range 0-3 of any friendly ship, meaning he could be flown to buddy up with Rebel ordnance carriers.
  • Saw Gerrera: (SR) Saw first appeared in The Clone Wars TV series. A fiery youth eager to fight, he just needed training and guidance. They sent Anakin Skywalker, apparently forgetting the bad influence he was on the comparatively stable Ahsoka Tano. Anakin proceeded to show the already aggressive Saw that rules and regulations are for pussies, causing him to become more extreme. He showed up in Rebels and in Rogue One, where he helped raise Jyn Erso and tortured Bodhi Rook before getting Death Star'd. In X-Wing, he allows nearby damaged friendlies (as in, at least one damage card) to reroll 1 attack die, effectively rewarding recklessness.

Sabine's TIE Fighter

Want to fly a TIE Fighter, but want to do it for freedom, liberty, expression and garish paintjobs? Now you can, with Sabine-Wing's Sabine's Sabine TIE Fighter!

While ships being shared across factions isn't a new concept, some Imperial players are butthurt that the "Rebel Scum" get access to their iconic ship, or that FFG's design is lazy to release this ship, but fundamentally the two factions' versions of the ship are very different. While the stats and actions, dial and general cost scale are the same, Imperial TIEs tend toward swarm lists, or pocket aces for low costs, and the Rebel version functions more as a support ship. It has several unique elements (prepare for the word "unique" to lose all meaning). The first is that all four of it's pilots are uniques, meaning the maximum number you can field is half that of Imperials (protip: if you have a red core set and two Sabine's TIE expansions, you can field all four at once). Secondly, it adds a new unique title Sabine's Masterpiece, which represents the gadgeteer's tinkering with the ship and adds the Crew and Illicit upgrade options, and can only be equipped to the Rebel version. The last is a unique modification called "Captured TIE", which prevents ships with a lower PS skill from shooting at you, so long as you're not the last rebel ship on the board and don't attack yourself - and leads to hilarious imagery of Imperial and Scum grunts unsure if this brightly painted TIE is one of theirs or not. The concentration of "unique" pilots and upgrades means it's unlikely to see more than one or maybe two Rebel TIEs in a list, and that it makes an ideal single filler ship like a Z-95 if you want some options.

  • The Rebel TIE is based on a plot thread from the first season of Rebels, where the team steals a TIE fighter and Sabine modifies it a little, then it returns to be used as a decoy to sneak into an Imperial ship. In the new Canon, TIEs have very basic life support systems - but the safety suits keep pilots alive in case of a breach or failure (likely without shields) so the Lothal rebels really took their lives into their hands to cram 4 or 5 of them into a single eyeball.

Pilots

  • "Zeb" Orrelios: Same Initiative and ability as in the Shuttles. He was actually the one who originally stole and flew the fighter, before Sabine went all "college art major" on it. Zeb's ability is actually more useful in a TIE which has no shields to absorb crits.
  • Ezra Bridger: Ahsoka got snubbed for this punk.
  • Captain Rex: A clone commander under Anakin Skywalker, like most clones he was retired after the war due to accelerated aging, but he's not too old to kick ass. His ability assigns a special condition called "Suppressive Fire" to the enemy when he attacks, which makes them roll 1 less die when they shoot anybody other than Rex meaning he can do some real tanky stuff. The condition goes away when you shoot Rex, Rex is destroyed, or Rex doesn't shoot for a turn. This condition is unique, so it can only assigned to one enemy ship at a time. Rex never had an opportunity to fly the TIE, appearing in the show after it was used, but who cares, Rex is awesome.
  • Sabine Wren: Sabine's third pilot card, her repositioning ability working wonders in the agile TIE.
  • Ahsoka Tano: Anakin's former padawan, who left the Jedi Order before the war ended and acted as an agent for the early rebels. Ahsoka has a PS of 7 and an EPT, making her an ideal pairing with VI so only the tippy-toppest of Pilot Skills can shoot at her with Captured TIE. Her ability lets her spend her focus to give an ally at Range 1 a free action at the start of the Combat Phase. At only 17 points this means there are a number of cheap combinations of upgrades Ahsoka can take to make her a useful support ship. Like Rex, she didn't have time to fly the Rebel TIE when originally introduced, but she has been known to pilot an A-Wing.

Auzituck Gunship

A Wookiee gunship built from wood and tree sap (no, really) that was designed to deter slaving operations from targetting Kashyyyk. The name comes from Chewbacca's father in the 1973 rough draft of "The Star Wars," but the ship itself first appeared 40 years after the fact in Rebels and in the nu-canon comics. The second ship to be released with a full-front arc, and the very first non-huge ship to have the Reinforce action, this thing made waves upon release. The word "Gunship" sent players into an autistic frenzy of speculation about a possible Republic LAAT Gunship, and hay it's coming so guess that worked out then.

The maneuver dial is interesting. The Auzituck is a heavier, clunky ship that can turn 2 and 3 without getting stressed. In fact, the only red maneuver it has is to fully stop. It has no K-turn capability, but it makes up for that by turning better than a Lambda and being able to Reinforce itself. It has 2 crew slots like the U-Wing, but is more inclined towards offensive tanking than support.

Pilots

  • Kashyyyk Defender: Initiative 1 generic. The low cost is a strong factor to consider.
  • Lowhhrick: A pregen Player Character from the Edge of the Empire Beginner Game. Lowhhrick swore vengeance after Trandoshans killed his sister and nephew for sport, got captured and forced to fight as a gladiator, then escaped and became Wookiee Doomguy. His in-game ability allows him to spend his Reinforce token to give a nearby defending ally an evade token. Excellent for keeping allies alive.
  • Wullffwarro: A Wookiee Silverback who fought in the Battle of Kashyyyk in Revenge of the Sith and later enslaved by the Empire. Joined the Rebel Alliance after the Ghost rescued him and his son. Gets an additional attack die if his hull is damaged, so he works well as a battering ram that you can dare your opponent to try attacking. Selfess and Magva Yarro are good options, and Hull Upgrade is all but required.
Star Wars Miniature Games Tactical Guides
X-Wing: Rebel Alliance, Galactic Empire, The Resistance, The First Order, Scum & Villainy, The Galactic Republic, Confederacy of Independent Systems
Armada: Rebel Alliance, Galactic Empire, The Galactic Republic, Confederacy of Independent Systems
Legion: Rebel Alliance, Galactic Empire, Grand Army of the Republic, Confederacy of Independent Systems,