The Rebel Alliance is one of the two sides a player can command in Star Wars: Rebellion; the other is the Galactic Empire. The manual's opening statement for the Alliance player sets the aim of continuing from the destruction of the Death Star by gaining control of more systems and then striking at the Empire's leadership.

Goals and play style

The manual's statement for the Alliance says that the recent victory has raised support for the Alliance, while the Empire still holds many systems. It tells the player to take more systems to strengthen the Alliance's position and resources, and then to go after the Imperial headquarters at Coruscant, Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine.

The manual's overview of the two sides says each has its own distinctive characters, and that the types and numbers of ships, troops and special forces depend on the side chosen. Its example for the Alliance is a fleet filled with X-wing fighters. The Alliance headquarters differs from the Empire's in that it can be moved, either by dragging its icon to another system or by using the Move command. For such a move the manual advises preparing a well-defended destination and bringing along troops, fighters and personnel from the old site.

When a game starts, the Alliance headquarters sits on a randomly chosen Rim system whose location the Empire does not know. Yavin, in the Sumitra sector, is always Alliance-controlled from the outset. Both Yavin and the headquarters system start with the population's loyalty fully (100 percent) on the Alliance side. The manual advises either moving the key characters away from Yavin at the start or building up its defenses.

Victory conditions

To win as the Alliance, the player needs to take Coruscant, the Imperial headquarters, and keep it, and also needs to take and keep two Imperial key characters: Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader. The manual adds that taking Coruscant is not enough on its own: the Alliance must keep it until all three conditions are met at once. It also notes that captured key characters can escape through a Rescue mission, so they need to be kept in a well-defended system or kept moving.

The Alliance's own key characters, Mon Mothma and Luke Skywalker, are the targets of the Empire's victory conditions. The manual advises basing them on well-defended systems and sending decoys along when they go on missions.

Starting characters

The Alliance always begins with Mon Mothma on the system that holds the Alliance headquarters. The six characters starting on Yavin are Wedge Antilles, Jan Dodonna, Chewbacca, Han Solo, Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker. One further randomly chosen character is added for a small galaxy, two for a medium galaxy and four for a large galaxy.

The manual states that the game has 60 characters, 30 on each side. In the game data the Alliance has 30 character records: 4 major characters (Mon Mothma, Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo) and 26 minor characters.

Units

Counting the game-data records that carry the Alliance flag and not the Empire flag gives these numbers for units that only the Alliance can use.

Type	Alliance-only records	Examples
Capital ships	15	Mon Calamari Cruiser, Nebulon-B Frigate, Assault Frigate, Corellian Corvette, Alliance Dreadnaught
Fighters	4	X-wing, Y-wing, A-wing, B-wing
Troops	5	Alliance Fleet Regiment, Alliance Army Regiment, Sullustan Regiment, Wookiee Regiment, Mon Calamari Regiment
Special forces	4	Guerrillas, Infiltrators, Longprobe Y-wing Recon Team, Bothan Spies

The game data flags the six manufacturing facilities, the two production facilities (mine and refinery) and five of the six defensive facilities as available to both sides. The sixth defensive facility, the Death Star Shield, is flagged for the Empire only. The manual likewise says only the Empire can use the Death Star Shield.

Side-specific missions

Only the Alliance may attempt Death Star Sabotage, and the target Death Star's whereabouts have to be known first. Both espionage and combat ratings of the assigned personnel affect the result; a success destroys that Death Star. The manual's mission table lists it the same way, as an Alliance-only mission using the combat and espionage attributes. The manual also states that an Alliance player cannot shield a system against a Death Star, and names this mission, or a fighter "Death Star run" during a tactical battle, as the ways to try to destroy the weapon.

The Assassination mission is not open to the Alliance: it is restricted to the Empire.

Agent

The LucasArts product site's FAQ names C-3PO as the agent that keeps the Alliance player informed of events.