I chose rebel as the faction being the most used. It was the most used at gencon.

Regionals it was republic.

But I think fringe probably should be the most used technically. Every build and I mean every build I have seen in the last 2 years has had a fringe piece. It may be argued that the mass majority of the squad is rebel, empire, republic, OR, mado etc. and it is just a legality of the game to have a fringe piece in any faction build.

I don't see how fringe can be considered over used? Is it mixed in everyfaction, yes it is, but how many pure Fringe squads do you see? And when you consider a great deal of the Rebel and Republic and a few of the older imperial builds, the fringe tended to be filler/activations/door control. Vong are the key exception with Nom Bombs, where it's nom and a huge number of fringe pieces, of course if there was more than 3 Vong with stealth it would prolly be a bit different.

As for what see's the msot play, surely that depends on the venue. I have gone up north and seen a lot of the gimmiky factions battleing it out, at regional last year it was Gowk and Rebel Push, where I play. So the question comes down to venue and the player base.

But the majority of squads I see posted online, and or run with an even winning percentage tend to be Rebel, Republic and Empire, with the NR and Sep's close behind. And that often tends to fall on the matchup side of things.

DG: Yes. I love a lot of the Sith characters as individuals, but as a faction, they're a complete joke - and this is coming from someone who desperately *wants* to play Sith. They have a ton of useful Force Powers and Special Abilities, but nothing that an equally-skilled player can't counter with a squad from a more cohesive faction.

Nope, not the reason for this result at all. It's because they are in fact the most underused faction, and their insertion on this particular list is odd, given that I would have not put any of the lesser factions on a list like this.

Sith are quite powerful in the 200pt championship meta right now, and locally, there are a ton of legitimate squads that can compete. In fact, I'd argue that Sith have 3-4 tier 1 builds out there, which is coincidentally the same number as say the NR, the Seps, and the Imperials. Rebels and Republic have a higher number, but largely because they have so many pieces that are interchangeable which create a vast number of varieties on a theme. But if you look at it carefully, there are about the same number of legit themes in these factions as well in terms of tier 1 competitive squads. Tier 2, Rep and Rebel certainly have a higher number than Sith, but again, is this because they are better factions, or because they simply have a vastly superior number of options and combination of pieces?

I suggest you actually try watching someone run a well built Sith squad. Malak squads are certainly tier 1. I watched Weeks destroy a well built GOWK squad last night on Vassal with Uliq, Sith Lords and some Mandos (the guy was using his regional squad mind you), and I still contend that Exar and Freedon have competitive squads waiting to be tried out. Further, some of the other "forgotten" sith lords have places as well, that at the moment might be tier 2-3, but that with the right support in a 200 squad can be made to compete with other tier 1 squads.

People just aren't using it, or have long given up the faction after failing with them at some point. That makes them the most "underused" and the OP used the moniker "overused" for this poll (which gives it a significant bias in the results mind you).

As for "trooper squads", well they are about 1 CE or SA away from being competitive. Biggest problem is they have little counter to strafe and gallop. But isn't that true of many trooper squads? And if you aren't playing tier 1 competitive, there is no reason to worry about yodabuck and lancer when you play sith. The Troopers do quite well with either Freedon or Malak. Further, Freedon can be used to make a nice Vigo squad as well that is hard to replicate in other factions. The synergy of Sith Sorcery with Opp shots has not been explored by a lot of players that I've seen, but that doesn't mean it isn't good.

Aye, Freedon Nadd is a immensely powerful figure for the Sith. Sith Sorricery is a skill normally seen on commanderless figures and the expensive. So not only is he the cheapest source of it that I am aware of, but he can also serve the role of Malak without replacing him. (Malek with Sithlords is deadly, while Nadd works better with every fringe shooter that does not use force points) Can't understand why anyone could be disapointed with him. I ran him locally and while he's not a melee fiend, he definately is sturdy and a threatening piece. Exar is also a pretty cool piece, though I admit, I would be a little scared to run him. Both him and Bane suffer from high costus symdrome.

The only reasonI put them on the list is because Sith are used often where I am, and I don't know how many others play Sith, so I just put them on it.