Wes Janson has this ability " After you perform an attack, you may remove 1 focus, evade, or blue target lock token from the defender." I'm getting ready to play test with Wes this evening. Just so I get accurate results I want to make sure on the timing of this ability. Does Wes's ability trigger immediately after he rolls attack dice before the defender rolls, or does the defender roll his defense and damage is assigned then the ability triggers?

By precedent, "after you perform an attack" means after all steps of the attack have been completed--that is, after damage has been assigned.

I thought that was the case but wanted to make sure. It could have made a big diffrence if he takes the token before the defenders roll.

Yes, the opponent still defends against your attack, and therefore still has a chance to use his token. Point being you're trying to bait him into using it, because he is going to lost it either way. However, it is important to note that Janson's ability takes effect even if he deals no damage.

Wes Janson has this ability " After you perform an attack, you may remove 1 focus, evade, or blue target lock token from the defender." I'm getting ready to play test with Wes this evening. Just so I get accurate results I want to make sure on the timing of this ability. Does Wes's ability trigger immediately after he rolls attack dice before the defender rolls, or does the defender roll his defense and damage is assigned then the ability triggers?

By precedent, "after you perform an attack" means after all steps of the attack have been completed--that is, after damage has been assigned.

I'm trying a build to use Wes to set up some opportunist shots behind him.

Wes+Vet Instincts FTW!

I am really looking forward to builds with Wes.

Could give Wedge some compitition.

Then how bout 2 of these:

Green Squadron Pilot

+Chardaan Refit

+A wing Test Pilot

+Opportunist

+Expose

25 points each

5 dice range 1. Drop Airen Cracken next to them to give one a focus or target lock.

99 points.

If they had thrown that word "iimmediately" in there like the HLC it would happen before defense dice were rolled...and would be OP.

As soon as I saw Wes' ability I knew right away I'd want him on my squads. Adding Veteran Instincts onto him to set up attacks before Wedge seems like the way to go since it will mitigate defences before Wedge's ability will basically mean the ace will either be safer to fly (with the removal of target locks and offensive focuses) and his pure offensive striking power.

As soon as I saw Wes' ability I knew right away I'd want him on my squads. Adding Veteran Instincts onto him to set up attacks before Wedge seems like the way to go since it will mitigate defences before Wedge's ability will basically mean the ace will either be safer to fly (with the removal of target locks and offensive focuses) and his pure offensive striking power.

Agreed! Wes with VI and then Wedge with Opportunist.....shudder.

This raises an interesting question: what astromech works best with Wes? I'm either going to say a generic R2 unit (that way he'll always be making the most of his firing arc) or the new R3-A2, depending on who else is in the squad. If he can remove tokens -and- place stress he's going to be dreaded on the field about as much as Wedge.

As soon as I saw Wes' ability I knew right away I'd want him on my squads. Adding Veteran Instincts onto him to set up attacks before Wedge seems like the way to go since it will mitigate defences before Wedge's ability will basically mean the ace will either be safer to fly (with the removal of target locks and offensive focuses) and his pure offensive striking power.

Agreed! Wes with VI and then Wedge with Opportunist.....shudder.

I ran this quad Vs a tie swarm 3 times last night

Wes Janson + Veterian Instincs

Wedge + oppurtonist + R2 Astromech

Luke + Oppurtonist + R2D2

I won all 3 the closest match he had me down to just Luke vs 2 Ties. Not once when all three fired at the same target did the a single Tie live. Wedge was always his first target followed by Wes. Now onto other builds to test against.

Came up with a simple but fun 99 point Rogue Squadron list.

Wes Janson: Veteran Instincts, R2 Unit, Shield Upgrade

Wedge Antilles: R2 Unit, Shield Upgrade

"Hobbie" Klivian: R3-A2, Flechette Torpedo, Munitions Failsafe

Strategy: with Janson attacking first he'll force off tokens while hopefully causing damage, following with Wedge either firing on the same target or otherwise. "Hobbie" is used to create stress with R3 and/or his torpedoes, which have the benefit of coming back on the possibility of him missing, which he can also create with target locks or selective firing at targets with lots of evasion, which then have the difficult choice of taking the damage and him losing the flechette, or avoiding the flechette but being attacked again with it.

Strengths: High attacking power and ability to ruin strategies mid-turn with Wes. Although it is not a blocking list it still benefits from action denial in an entirely new form. "Hobbie" will prove useful for action denial in subsequent turns with stress creation. They all have mid to high pilot skill making them attack first in many situations. Hobbie can also stress large ships, which don't usually have a lot of green movement options (barring the Falcon with Nien Numb). They're a great TIE screen for Squints, Eyeballs, Dupes and Brights with their focused fire.

Weaknesses: It is easy to combat this list with turrets, and they don't have a heck of a lot of defensive power. Ion cannons and missiles are going to wreck havoc on them if you can get behind them. TIE Howlrunner swarms -can- cause problems if their initial attack doesn't manage to knock out 1 or 2 units or knock out Howlrunner herself, and they, of course, suffer from the problem of getting blocked if they are outmaneuvered. Hobbie's torpedo is worthless against Y-Wings and large ships, so he's going to be forced to use his R3 unit to instead create stress for them, and since he lacks the benefit of the R2 units he's the more predictable X-Wing of the 3, unless he can make the best use of his target locks.

So Jansens ability only really has an effect if there are two or more ships (including Wes) having a shot.

With only Jansen being able to attack it only really allows him to remove target lock.

To remove a focus or evade as a positive for Wes it ties up two of your ships.

I prefer Wedge for the points.

Versus TIE swarms, the way I see it with only 3 or 4 ships, having two attacking one seems risky.

To get the full use of opportunist, you should use it on pilots with lower PS than Wes, so that he gets to fire before them.

So Jansens ability only really has an effect if there are two or more ships (including Wes) having a shot.

With only Jansen being able to attack it only really allows him to remove target lock.

To remove a focus or evade as a positive for Wes it ties up two of your ships.

This is true, but you could also think that you can use him to remove tokens from single ships if he happens to get into a 1 on 1 duel.

For example, Wes VS a Saber TIE Interceptor that has Targeting Computer and Push the Limit. Wes has the benefit of being able to move afterwords, so it's tricky to outmaneuver him. The seemingly obvious strategy is to try and be both defensive and offensive! The Saber moves into a position where they both end up facing one another, him getting a target lock last turn and evading and focusing this turn. Wes shoots first and rolls 3 hits with the use of his target lock. With the focus and evade the Interceptor barely missed the attack, but survived. But wait! Wes also removes the target lock from the Saber and the Interceptor now doesn't have any leg up, and is now stressed with no headway made.

So, in a way, Wes is kind-of anti PtL as well.

To get the full use of opportunist, you should use it on pilots with lower PS than Wes, so that he gets to fire before them.

I agree, giving Wes Veteran Instincts has him at pilot skill 10. Everything shoots after him.

So Jansens ability only really has an effect if there are two or more ships (including Wes) having a shot.

With only Jansen being able to attack it only really allows him to remove target lock.

To remove a focus or evade as a positive for Wes it ties up two of your ships.

I prefer Wedge for the points.

Versus TIE swarms, the way I see it with only 3 or 4 ships, having two attacking one seems risky.

Fair point, but it's basically never a good reason not to focus fire. So there is no issue with this.

Versus TIE swarms, the way I see it with only 3 or 4 ships, having two attacking one seems risky.

As Yoda would say " that is why you fail " . The most effective way to remove ships from the field is to focus fire upon them. Spreading out damage across many ships generally means they stick around a lot longer. The idea behind this is, a dead ship can't shoot back. You almost have to look at it as removing red dice from their fleet. The less dice they roll, the less damage they can do. This is one of the reasons people focus so much to remove Howlrunner from Tie Swarms. Just taking out Howlrunner reduces the number of dice being rolled against you, thus decreasing the damage output the swarm has.