Hey folks. I started playing a few months ago, but haven't gotten too many games in due to work schedule. I've collected all the models and have a decent Imperial fleet. My opponent usually fields Luke/Wedge/Biggs and I like running all the named Ties so I can get better at dog fighting and flying in formation. I usually get creamed pretty badly although once I won by crowding Luke off of the board. Luke is usually the last guy left since he's always got R2-D2 and is impossible to kill without Wedge tearing me a new one. Once Luke is left, I'm usually down to one ship and it becomes impossible to kill him without him flying into asteroids intentionally.

So I ask you sages of X-Wing: How do you kill Luke? Am I doing it totally wrong by prioritizing Wedge before Luke? Is there a trick to nuking Luke before he just goes Green and gets his shields back?

Focused Fire is the cure to R2-D2.
However, no pilot is equipped to counter Focused Fire quite like Luke $%^&*&^% Skywalker. Still, best to kill him quickly, before he heals.

My advice?

• Figure out how to place your Asteroids so they disrupt the Luke/Biggs/Wedge formation flight, hopefully letting you take out Luke or Wedge as the first pilot.
• Figure out how to eliminate Biggs while taking the least damage possible while doing so, so that you still have all of your guns for killing Luke.
• DEFINITELY kill Luke A.S.A.P, if you're not in a Modified Win scenario. Luke + R2-D2 is just about the best last-ship you can have, and therefore the worst last-ship to be facing.
• Mitigate Wedge's damage by "Blocking" him. (I.E., placing your ships in a position where he will collide with them. He loses his action, and doesn't get to shoot at the ship he's run into).
• Don't understimate the importance of Evading or Barrel-Rolling out of damage in the early game. The longer you have all of your TIEs, the more damage you deal.

All of the above, but also interceptors. If you have 2 or 3 of those flanking your tie group you either force them to split or they get flanked and as was so well said Luke dies just fine to concentrated fire.

Thanks for the quick responses! So what I'm hearing is nuke Biggs and then deal with Luke and optimally, split Luke from Wedge to make the job easier. I suppose sneaking Dark Curse in behind Luke is also a good way to get some cheap damage on him. I've never failed to Biggs on my first turn of firing so he really does seem like a waste of points to me to buy one round of free shooting. My biggest challenge now is going to learn how to block better and use my fodder ships to upset Wedge while the star players like Stabber and Mauler work on the young Jedi.

Thanks for the advice guys. Can't wait for my next game!

The only thing worse than Luke with R2-D2 is Luke with R2-D2 and a shield upgrade!

Or Luke with a stealth upgrade increasing the chances of focuses.

What ships do you fly?

I have found certain things work very well against this squad.

It might help to take some very cheap TIEs like academy pilots to disrupt their formation. Depending on the formation your opponent flies, one single collision could deprive the entire flight of their actions.

Flank the formation from the sides. Biggs only works if your guys are capable of firing at him.

Vader + Concussion Missiles + marksmanship. No matter what x-wing you're trying to hit, this is a nightmare for them. If you have the Engine Upgrade for vader he's even better, but (though many people deride the Advanced for it's dial and attack dice) it's one of the best 'slow play' fighters you'll have. Engine Upgrade+Marksmanship offers better closing capability, and you can use Marksmanship in a round without the tradeoff of losing your evade that any other fighter would suffer. Acquire your lock in another round if you don't want to rely on your evade dice.

I use Howlrunner, Mauler, Backstabber, and Dark Curse in most of the Tie heavy squadrons I run and just fill out with jobbers and cheap EPT after that. Taking Vader sounds interesting, but he'd really eat into my budget to where I might just go with Ints at that point.

I really do love the idea of a Concussion Missile going off in the middle of his Luke/Wedge/Biggs stack though...

Hi, Radzap

I'm new to the forums too. One thing I might suggest is turning the tables on your opponent and playing the 3 Amigos yourself to see what tactics he uses to try to defeat you - that way you get to learn first hand from somebody who is familiar with their individual abilities, and it gives you a different game from the concentrated swarm of the Imps.

To the rest of the forum - apologies for straying slightly off-topic, but still within the spirit of the post, what does the "x neutral" on my profile mean? I can ask on a new thread rather than hijacking this one if appropriate

I was going to say focus fire on Luke First simply because of the R2D2 your not going to be able to do enough Damage if your down to one ship

Keep your cool.

Try using ion cannons to get Luke to move slow or if your sticking with the swarm get Luke to use his k-turn, The ties have crazy good movement and you can make that work. Also with the swarm if you use a ship remember its really ok, seeing a tie is half the cost of an x-wing.

If you want to try something fun use three bounty hunters against your friend next time, it really is is a woot.

Dont give up or lose your cool, you will find a rhythm before you know it.

If you've got the Black Squadron aces, then you'll be attacking in a loose pack.

There are two keys to killing Luke:

1) Concentrated Fire. As noted, his pilot ability makes it hard to do that, but you want to face him with many fighters rather than Wedge. Wedge's firepower is lethal but in a one-on-one fight, TIEs can often avoid getting shot in the first place, and you still have your evade token.

2) Outmanouvre him. He gets a shield back every time he pulls a green manouvre. The more he's needing to pull white manouvres, therefore, the less that happens. You need to be coming at him from the flanks, where he's got to pull hard turns in order to get a shot at you.