So when does Wes Janson's ability take effect. It states "after you perform an attack". Is this before defence dice or after defence dice?
My understanding is that "performing an attack" is performing stages 1-7 of the combat phase? I am at a loss to see whether he is worth it!!!
You are correct that it happens at the end of the attack. It is still quite worth it.
Wes is PS 8, so should be firing first. When he fires the opponant loses his focus or evade (because if he doesn't spend it, Wes will take it anyway)
This then allows you to:
A - make use of concentrated fire knowing that the token is already gone
B - get maximum benefit from Opportunist.
He is great, not for what he can do (Like Wedge), but for what he can allow others to do (like Garven or Dutch)
Yes, it happens after the attack is resolved, and it happens whether the attack hits or not. Therefore, it's kind of like bait. The enemy will probably use their token for defense, and take no damage. But they lose the token either way. Then other ships can open fire on a defenseless ship, or you saved a valuable pilot from a missile salvo.
Yeah as others have said. Wes is a team player and his ability is more about setting up the defender for the next attack that round.
Beauty is, you can take a less then optimal shot with Wes because you don't even need to hit to strip tokens off.
Beauty is, you can take a less then optimal shot with Wes because you don't even need to hit to strip tokens off.
Ironically, his ability actually plays better taking bad shots.
If you take a good shot with Wes, odds are your opponent will just spend the token he has against that attack. You control when the token gets spent, but not necessarily wasted.
But that stressed Range 3 shot across an asteroid will mean a very good chance that the shot would mean nothing, so the token would be completely wasted.
Not that I'd necessarily go looking for bad shots specifically, but it's an odd quirk in the practical use of his ability.
Ironically, his ability actually plays better taking bad shots.
Yeah he will have more bang for the buck as it were if he takes bad shots. Shots that have next to no chance of hitting anyway still end up costing the defender the focus/evade token.
It gives you some freedom in what you do with him, because lining him up for a good shot is a lot less important then it is with other pilots. That means you can fly him a bit more defensively.
Wes Jenson??? I purchased one of EVERYTHING, no Wes Janson anywhere. How do I obtain him?
Wes Jenson??? I purchased one of EVERYTHING, no Wes Janson anywhere. How do I obtain him?
He's one of the X-wing pilots in the Rebel Transport pack.
I did not think they were out yet. I see site with "pre-order".
I did not think they were out yet. I see site with "pre-order".
Official release is today, and they've been on the shelf in some places since last Friday. I got mine last night 
I did not think they were out yet.
They just came out, Barnes and Nobel has them in stock, but apparently Amazon isn't shipping them yet. Miniature Market and other places have them and are shipping them.
But if you ordered the Transport and Corvette from Miniature Market yours might be held until the Vette is released.
Ironically, his ability actually plays better taking bad shots.Beauty is, you can take a less then optimal shot with Wes because you don't even need to hit to strip tokens off.
Might be the best opportunity to try the deliberate miss strategy some people were suggesting with flèchette torpedoes and munition failsafe. I still don't think it's a good idea, but repeatedly stripping a token AND adding a stress every turn might work for some.
I played a 150 point game with the new transport and used Wes as an escort. He had R5-P9 and Swarm Tactics. I played against a bomber heavy list and Wes was able to prevent a nasty Alpha Strike with his ability and the Transport kept handing out up to 3 Stress Tokens a turn. If you play it right, you can hand out a stress token at range 4 with the Transport.
Guess who just got his rebel transport just now? Ok, you will never guess. It's me! I thought that maybe since I am in Canada (Montreal) that it would take longer for the release.
Thanks for the heads up guys.
We've had them in Australia for about 4 days now. I was surprised how quickly we got them
I've been toying with the following list:
Wedge Antilles (29)
Opportunist (4)
R2 Astromech (1)
Luke Skywalker (28)
Opportunist (4)
R2 Astromech (1)
Wes Janson (29)
Veteran Instincts (1)
R5-P9 (3)
Total: 100
Wes is PS10 now, so he shoots first. He will strip focus/evade from the target. Wedge shoots next, using Opportunist on the vulnerable target, to have 4-5 Attack dice and they lose an agility die. Luke then shoots, also using Opportunist. Wedge and Luke have R2s to give them lots of soothing, stress-free maneuvers to clear the Opportunist stress. Wes gets a shield recovery Astromech, since he is going to be targeted second or third and it's a great late-game ability.
I've been toying with the following list:
Wedge Antilles (29)
Opportunist (4)
R2 Astromech (1)
Luke Skywalker (28)
Opportunist (4)
R2 Astromech (1)
Wes Janson (29)
Veteran Instincts (1)
R5-P9 (3)
Total: 100
Wes is PS10 now, so he shoots first. He will strip focus/evade from the target. Wedge shoots next, using Opportunist on the vulnerable target, to have 4-5 Attack dice and they lose an agility die. Luke then shoots, also using Opportunist. Wedge and Luke have R2s to give them lots of soothing, stress-free maneuvers to clear the Opportunist stress. Wes gets a shield recovery Astromech, since he is going to be targeted second or third and it's a great late-game ability.
I was contemplating trying out this exact list.... you beat me to post it here though.
I hope there will be some clarification about wes janson ability, because for his 29 points, I've thought that we can use the ability before the rolling of defensive dices...
if the ability triggers only after the defensive dices... I will always pick wedge...
Wes Janson's ability works better with his fellow fighters, adding to their survivability or damage, depending on what type of token he removes. He also sets up for Opportunist better than any other craft in the game.
Wedge's ability is... a non-situational Predator.
...On the other hand, I kind of want to try out Wedge with Predator now. "No, no, it's okay, don't bother rolling".
Wes Janson's ability works better with his fellow fighters, adding to their survivability or damage, depending on what type of token he removes. He also sets up for Opportunist better than any other craft in the game.
Wedge's ability is... a non-situational Predator.
...On the other hand, I kind of want to try out Wedge with Predator now. "No, no, it's okay, don't bother rolling".
*coughyoumeanoutmaneuveraspredatorallowsyoutorerolldicecough*
Wes' ability is great against ordnance I should point out. Your enemy has to target lock, but now you can break that target lock so you can't fire his missiles/torpedoes. Or, if you roll three hits and he rolls three evades and therefore doesn't have to spend the focus he may use to attack you with, you can still strip it off. It's a useful ability.
Wes is a support ship. He pretty much guarantees that his target won't have any tokens by the time he's done with him. It may not do much to help him hit, but it'll either limit the offense of whoever he shoots at, or take away something they could have used for defense. It's great against ordnance ships (all... uhm... both builds) and also a very big help against things like token-stacking Interceptors. For all his family rivalry with Wedge, Janson is the one that actually keeps Fel up at night.
Yeah I played against Wes today, and he really makes you waste tokens when you dont want to. Quite annoying.
Yeah I played against Wes today, and he really makes you waste tokens when you dont want to. Quite annoying.
Totally in-character, too. Yub yub, Commander.