I know that Biggs is a big part of playing elite 3 ship builds, but alot of people harp on how important offense is in this game. Is it feasible to just completely focus on offense? Is it just a bad idea?

I've noticed that some people seem to be pulling it off with Ibi and Garven. Would a list like the following do okay?

98 points

Luke

-R2 Unit

-PTL

Wedge

-R2 Unit

-PTL

Wes

-R2 unit

-PTL

(Wes gives a little defense because what he shoots at will be without a token so it should hurt less or he's the opener for Luke)

Beyond the list, I love firepower 3 with focus and Target Lock but the real question is 3 of them enough?

Right now I'm doing Wedge + Kyle + Jan. Basically trying to put Wedge on steroids.

I'm 2 and 1 so far against pretty good local players, but a lot of that was luck.

I like a crazy 8's build with Luke, Wes, and Garven. Wes or Garven opens (depends on presence of tokens and if Wes could focus), then the other follows up, and Luke closes for the kill:

Luke Skywalker (28)

-R2D2 (4)

-Shield Upgrade (4)

-Draw their Fire (1)

Wes Janson (29)

-Hull Upgrade (3)

Garven Dreis (26)

-R2D6 (1)

-Veteran Instincts (1)

-Hull Upgrade (3)

I also like to drop R2-D2 and DtF for a R2 Astromech and Opportunist, and then you could drop Luke's shield to a hull to make 99 points for initiative or to give Wes an R2 Astromech as well. This version is slightly more offensive (Luke should TL, take a focus from Garven, and have Wes strip his target of defenses for a 4-5 dice TL/Focused shot) whereas the other has more defensive capability.

The main reason you don't see full offense 3-ship builds is that once one of your ships goes down, you are in major trouble, especially if it's one you needed for synergies. In the second version of my list, losing any of the three is not a major deal. Garven could still strip tokens for Luke by hitting first, Wes can still take a focus from Garven, and Luke still benefits from Opportunist without the TL/Focus combo as long as Wes is there. In a Garven/Ibitsam/Wedge list, losing Wedge puts both other ships pretty far down the pilot skill totem pole, losing Garven lessens a stressed Ibitsam's ability to perform, and losing Ibitsam takes away the tankiest thing about the list. With Wedge/Kyle/Jan, the ONLY target of worth is Wedge, as the other two are simply not effective enough to close out a game. Take my Crazy 8's versus the Wedge/HWK build, and kill one pilot each, then try to mentally finish the game. Wedge and Wes are dead? the HWKs die to Luke/Garven. Wedge and Luke are dead? Wedge and Garven? No good answers.

Biggs mitigates that A LOT, and that's why you always see Biggs. He forces the choice of targets onto himself, is normally the least effective (and least expensive) pilot in the list, and can always fly away to avoid taking more damage and let the attacks get spread back out before swooping back in to save damaged comrades. He isn't a slouch on offense either, with a 3 dice attack, unlike HWKs or Y-wings, which are capped at bad main weapons, action-required turrets, or 1-damage max turrets.

As for your list, I find PTL extremely underwhelming on X-wings. Even with a ton of speed 2 green maneuvers, the X-wing is a very predictable ship, and with only 2 evade is weak to ion canons, both of which make voluntarily stressing a risky maneuver, especially with mo options for manvuerability gained from it. When wave 4 drops, I'll likely try something like that, but with Predator as the EPT insetad, for free re-rolls to replace the target locks. Now your target isn't pre-designated, and you can K-turn and still re-roll, NTM K-turn at all, which is something PTL doesn't let you do.

I tried:

Bwing Blue Squadron with Advanced Sensors and Ion Cannon

YWing Horton with Ion Turret, Proton Torps and R5

Luke with R2-D2, Draw Their Fire, Shield Upgrade

I played against Kath with Gunner and Marksmanship with 3 Academy Pilots and Howlrunner.

My YWing got blown up fast, but after our main groups passed each other, Luke and the BWing kept focusing on singular TIEs. Luke recharged shields as he could. Somehow I turned it around and won with Luke and Kath being the remaining ships.

It isn't a fully offensive build, but Luke's Draw Their Fire, R2 D2 and the BWings Advanced Sensors came in real handy. The Proton Torps, Ion cannons and R5 didn't even get used.

You mean like 3x B-Wings with HLC and Advanced Sensors or Fire Control?

In a 100 point game that has a 1 hour time limit, it pretty much is all offense.

Friendly games with no time limit, defense can play a bigger part.

What I'm finding in Epic battles is defense is a very big part of the game. Y-wings and the Advanced are going to enjoy bigger roles in this setting. With 300 points to play with the secondary weapons come in to play more and the ability to fly away after taking a beating is very important.

I love Horton's torps, especially when Jan Ors boosts them. I used to have Wedge as the third ship, but he died too fast. I'll switch to Luke + R2-D2, but I haven't flown it yet.

The best part is that after Horton uses his torps his primary weapon can be boosted by Jan, so he's rolling 3 attack dice and can reroll blanks. All he needs to do is Focus

Wes + VI

Wedge + Opp + R2

Luke + PtL + R2-D2

99 points

This list is solid and hits very hard. I have easily killed 2 ships on range 2 alpha strikes before the opponent even gets to shoot. This list really makes your opponent have to think who they want to go after first.

With Rebels? You're doing it wrong.

Full offense is Fel, Jax, Phennir. Fully loaded, no tricks, no stupid hijinks. Just three standout pilots that can hold their own without any support.

There's no fancy or trickery in there. No bs mechanics that taunt shots off or regen shields, or focus/TL passing.

If you can win with that trio, at 100 points and I'll be more than happy to call you a pro player.

With Rebels? You're doing it wrong.

Full offense is Fel, Jax, Phennir. Fully loaded, no tricks, no stupid hijinks. Just three standout pilots that can hold their own without any support.

There's no fancy or trickery in there. No bs mechanics that taunt shots off or regen shields, or focus/TL passing.

If you can win with that trio, at 100 points and I'll be more than happy to call you a pro player.

I guess by "fully loaded" you mean something like this:

Fel + PtL + SU

Jax + PtL + SU

Turr + PtL + SU

99 points

I see all kinds of "bs mechanics" from pilot abilities to added pilot skills. This list is no more than an Imperial list equivalent to the Rebel ones listed.

Wes + VI

Wedge + Opp + R2

Luke + PtL + R2-D2

99 points

This list is solid and hits very hard. I have easily killed 2 ships on range 2 alpha strikes before the opponent even gets to shoot. This list really makes your opponent have to think who they want to go after first.

Is it really necessary for Wes to pull a token of of Wedge? It seems like when Wedge shoots he's going to pull the token off anyway if they have it so it effect almost mirrors Wes's ability. Wouldn't it be just as effective to just up both their firepower (PTL or Predator)and let Wes's ability work for another follow up ship or two?

Wes + VI

Wedge + Opp + R2

Luke + PtL + R2-D2

99 points

This list is solid and hits very hard. I have easily killed 2 ships on range 2 alpha strikes before the opponent even gets to shoot. This list really makes your opponent have to think who they want to go after first.

Is it really necessary for Wes to pull a token of of Wedge? It seems like when Wedge shoots he's going to pull the token off anyway if they have it so it effect almost mirrors Wes's ability. Wouldn't it be just as effective to just up both their firepower (PTL or Predator)and let Wes's ability work for another follow up ship or two?

Wes makes sure Wedge gets to "use" Opportunist by pulling that token off. Wedge with 4 attack dice and the target at -1 agility dice at range 2 or 3 can make a ship go away especially if Wes damaged it on his attack.

Ok, drop Carnor and take an RG. Now nonof those ships have anything that interferes with the other player's ability to do what they want.

If you want full offense you have to sacrifce your own internal support and feild three "fencers". Taking Luke is saying, "yeah, I'm full offense until we're down to two ships, then I'm all green moves."

I like the idea of heavy offensive because the dice are suppose to favor it. But if you going to run Biggs who has to be shot at. I don't see why you wouldn't do a more defensive build on him.

Wes + VI

Wedge + Opp + R2

Luke + PtL + R2-D2

99 points

This list is solid and hits very hard. I have easily killed 2 ships on range 2 alpha strikes before the opponent even gets to shoot. This list really makes your opponent have to think who they want to go after first.

Is it really necessary for Wes to pull a token of of Wedge? It seems like when Wedge shoots he's going to pull the token off anyway if they have it so it effect almost mirrors Wes's ability. Wouldn't it be just as effective to just up both their firepower (PTL or Predator)and let Wes's ability work for another follow up ship or two?

Wes makes sure Wedge gets to "use" Opportunist by pulling that token off. Wedge with 4 attack dice and the target at -1 agility dice at range 2 or 3 can make a ship go away especially if Wes damaged it on his attack.

Wouldn't PTL be more reliable.Just as with PTL v Expose, PTL give you comparable power to firepower 4 with F/TL and it doesn't require you to jump through extra hoops like stripping a token (it's also cheaper) and they have the same drawback, a stress token.

(Wes gives a little defense because what he shoots at will be without a token so it should hurt less or he's the opener for Luke)

You want the guy Wes shoots at to have a token (so he spends it on Wes or loses it). Give him VI so he's shooting first, and maybe A3 so he can give the other guy a stress too (just incase you don't kill him).

With Wes shooting first, its a toss up between PtL (for TL and Focus) or Opportunist (for +1 attack).

If you want to go the PtL rout with all (which is still quite effective), I'd include Hobbie - A3 (or even R2-D6) and Flachette torps instead of Wes as his ability is better for the last shooter.

I made the top 4 at regionals with this squad:

Luke Skywalker + R2-D2 + Opportunist (36)

Wes Janson + Veteran Instincts (30)

Wedge Antilles + R2 Astromech + Opportunist (34)

I've made many post on the strategy on flying this squad all over the forums.

http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/72055

used this last week really effectively: Alpha strike: wes attacks and strips token. wedge takes a focus and the TL from dutch. fires a five die opportunist torpedo at Ibtisam. she gets no defense dice and takes four hits (plus the one from wes in the alpha). Dutch hits with one shot and IB is pretty much done for. round two the wes/wedge combo takes out an awing with a crit 2 damage card. game over from that point on