Just played in the NSW Regional tourney, alas the dice did not favour me today. One list from my friend romped through undefeated and for the life of me I can't think of a good counter to it.

Dagger Squadron, HLC, FCS x3 (99 points)

with their slow speed it's hard to stay out of their arcs, I did what I could to block them and try and deny actions but once they've shot at you they get target lock plus focus next round means he seemed to be consistently rolling 3 or 4 hits from each of them every turn. Without perfect evade rolls it just chews through everything that doesn't get out of arc.

Suggestions anyone?

That's a stand at range list.

HLC is range 2-3. Get up close and behind, fast - force him into making hard manuevers or K-turns and break his firing line. I'd be tempted to go with a hybrid list; tie swarm coupled with perhaps a bomber (Rhymer if you can afford it) with APT to act as a fire magnet and high threat. Close fast with the ties, keeping the bomber just behind. A TL and focussed APT is pretty much a guaranteed 5 hits. On a target already softened by the joust from a swarm, should be enough to knock one out.

I'd try:

Rhymer + APT + APT (38)

Howlrunner + Swarm Tactics (20)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Dark Curse (16) = 98

Possibly dropping an APT for Stealth Devices on Howlrunner and Dark Curse, if Rhymer gets too much focus fire.

Hey Rob, many show up today?

B-Wings hate Ion.

Gold Sqn, Ion Turret, Flachette Torps

Gold Sqn, Ion Turret, Flachette Torps

Gold Sqn, Ion Turret, Flachette Torps

Gold Sqn, Ion Turret, Flachette Torps

Or

Ibtisam, Ion Cannon, PTL, Ion Cannon, FCS, Engine

Dagger, Ion Cannon

Dagger, Ion Cannon

Bottom squad comes in at 98 points so your Daggers can shoot first if you want. Just Ion them then get behind em and escort them to the table edge.

Interceptors. Interceptors tear b's apart. You need RGP's or better though. Stayout of arcs and only take shots when you are clear. Focus and evade stack using PTL.

The EH Chewbacca or Lando. EH right out of their arcs and tear them apart from the sides. Force them to take bad angles and shoot without focus.

B-Wing also hate Ion Cannons of all types and the previous poster suggested.

That's a painful list to go up against. Pretty immobile though.

One option would be good squadron y-wings. Use your lower ps to block and ion turrets to limit their moves and block more. You could get 3 of these and a damage dealer of some kind, or maybe stick more upgrades on the Ys like better pilots and some ordnance. An A-wing from green squadron with something like cluster missiles might be useful, but might also die on it's bum. Maybe worth the sacrifice if it gets the Ys in close.

B-wings will struggle to avoid ion turrets, but sometimes they will succeed and they can still roll out if you're careless. It will obviously take all day to kill a b-wing with a turret, so that's a thing. If you can get one down quickly and have 2ys chasing one of them, life will be easier, and they might even fly off the board.

Next month I would say 4- Tie Phantoms would do the trick, until then.

Option 1

3- Outer Rim Smuggler (27) then upgrades

Option 2

4-LS Omicron Group Pilot (21) Ion Cannon (3)

Option 3

2-T/B Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16) Cluster Missile (4) 2x- Fletch Torp (4)

1-T/B •Captain Jonus (22) Fletch Torp (2)

1-LS Omicron Group Pilot (21) Heavy Lasor Cannon (7)

I think option three would be brutal and if needed replace the HLC for an ion and give some bombs or Jonus a missile.

When ion pulse mission are in play they will wreck everything.

Hey Rob, many show up today.

10 players which was a bit smaller than expected. Was 14 at the last store tourney I went to so was expecting a lot more.

I went with Krassis, Rebel Captive, HLC, Howlrunner and 3 academies. Had some odd games, dice just not co operating or too much blocking messing up Krassis actions stuffing up my attacks. Had my 1st tie against a pure TIE swarm, so weird, he kept running over asteroids which means I placed them well but he managed to not damage any of them scraping paint on them and by the end we only killed one academy on each side

Vs a Baron Fell, Turr both PTL and Stealth plus a Bounty Hunter with Recon specialist, I outmaneuvered his interceptors and trashed Turr then my force got seperated by asteroids and him running his ships in opposite directions making it impossible to hunt, his Red Baron took out another academy and the Howl and he pipped me by only 8 pts.

Then I went against the 3 Daggers and after the exchange of shots, he quickly took down Howl then I was going for blocking but Krassis got taken out the then I killed one of the Daggers and then it became drawn out as I tried to outmaneuvre him with my TIEs but those **** 2 Kturns make it so **** difficult, I had one down to 1 HP and some hurt on the other but with his free target locks and focus I couldn't afford to Kturn to get a shot on him cause he'd nail me.

After the game I was talking with him just trying to think up a counter to it and just couldn't think of a list that could survive a front on from 3 target locked and focussed shots every round from ships with 8 HP each. I saw him go vs pure swarms so I know that's not the answer and a Chewy with escorts list. Ion may well be the answer but trying to walk an enemy off the board seems a limited way to go, and then how will it handle other fleets

High pilot skill lists destroy this list. Try out those new X-wing pilots. You need to take advantage of the slow speed and close distance to range one or two in your alpha strike. A wedge list where all pilots shoot before these guys should kill a Bwing a turn. I've done this. It took me two or three games but man the look on the guys face when Luke and Wedge killed a Bwing before it got to shoot......... Then Biggs taking four shields off one...... I'm smirking as I type this.

Also a swarm with Mauler Howler and some ST will go a long long way against this list.

High pilot skill lists destroy this list. Try out those new X-wing pilots. You need to take advantage of the slow speed and close distance to range one or two in your alpha strike. A wedge list where all pilots shoot before these guys should kill a Bwing a turn. I've done this. It took me two or three games but man the look on the guys face when Luke and Wedge killed a Bwing before it got to shoot......... Then Biggs taking four shields off one...... I'm smirking as I type this.

Also a swarm with Mauler Howler and some ST will go a long long way against this list.

Seems a lot of the best B-wing counters belong to the Rebellious Scum of the Empire.

I have yet to recieve my transport so I havent played around with any of the new X-Wings yet but daaaaang, the new options for the X get me pumped for wasting some Villianous Loyalists with em.

so many ways to counter this lousy list.

Rebels:

Ywings + ion turrets will easily handle them, 1 for 1. just make sure that you always maintain at least a 1 to 1 number advantage, and its an auto win for you. Of course, if your list is made up purely of Ywings you would have a very hard time against other lists, so simply make sure that in your usual 4 ship list your Ywing is the last to die, and you will always have an advantage over him. The new R4D5 astromech, when equipped on Ywings, will easily help you counter his HLCs and stay alive for an extended period of time.

Wedge can also punch through them very very quickly, but you will need to have Biggs to keep your Wedge alive. PTL on wedge = strings of 3-4 every single time.

Green Awings on PTL can also go up against them in the same way as TIEints on PTLs, except that you now have access to missiles too. Both clusters and concussions can chew through a Bwing pretty quickly.



Imperials:

TIE swarms will easily melt the Bwings due to their 1 agility.

TIEbombers + clusers will also chew them apart very quickly, even more so when supported by Jonus, even worse when your TIEbombers are Gammas

If you have a lot of confidence in your skills, TIEints on PTL can also do the trick by jumping out of their firing arcs


General

You have to close in fast, and avoid range 3 because that is where you have the least advantage. Range 2 is alright, range 1 is actually the best since you now have the same firepower as him, and a well placed string of 4 from 2 Xwings / TIEints with a bith of luck can take out a full hp Bwing just like that.

Ions are a cheat code against Bwings, even the Imperials can give it a try using the Shuttle or Firespray.

needless to say, drawfire and other regenerative tanky ideas like Luke R2D2 are a bad idea against them due to their extremely high quality attacks.

If flying TIEswarms, always have the FCS-ed target fly in highly erratic maneuvers, and in strange directions. That ship may not be able to get a shot at them, but you would force them to either spend actions to target someone else, or have them chase you and be forced to do K-turns or otherwise select poorer maneuver choices. Either way, the longer your TIEs stick around, the better it is for you.

B-Wings hate effect-based ordnance, like Ionization.
B-Wings hate lists with many attacks.

Go with a Tie Swarm, an Ion Spam, or a Cluster-Missile Alpha. They'll melt.

Played against that in the GSC's. I had Biggs + 3 Blue Squadrons with Advanced Sensors and shredded it the second chance I got (first time I flew horribly).

The other day I beat it with: Howlrunner + ST, 4 x AP , Buzzsaw shuttle. I'd take that list against it every time, probably. Lots of Ties in general is my answer to B Wings especially. Sure, you're likely to lose Howlrunner early with those HLCs, but you still only have to kill 3 B Wings. And without advanced sensors, you can action deny pretty handily.

Yep, he ate through my Chewie's knives list, as well as a pure swarm, and Rob's Krassis list. I killed 1 B-Wing, but I think that may have been the only one lost all day?

Idk. Just rethink HOW you play it, maybe. Most lists CAN beat most lists with the right tactics. Dice coulda just been on his side or he made some good tactical choices.

Rush range 1 on first engagement and even the odds with Range 1 vs Range 1 attacks seems like a pretty solid tactic to me. If he can't use HLCs, that's 21 wasted points.

It's a solid enough list, but not without a way to tactically beat it.

I'd do a High PS swarm. 6 Ties have a good enough chance of taking out a B Wing before it shoots.

I'd happy with a "Hobbling Hobbie" list against it.

B-Wing - Blue Sqn - Ion Cannon

X-Wing - Hobbie Klivian - R3-A2

X-Wing - Biggs Darklighter

Y-Wing - Gold Sqn - Ion Cannon Turret

You'll probably lose Biggs on the first exchange, but he should have 1-2 ioned B-Wings and another will be stressed, which means they pretty much have to go forwards. You can then swing past them, ideally K-Turning to get behind them and then it's pretty much game over.

I've only played against it once and it was brutal. I could have made it closer but messed up a move after the first engagement. Granted I didn't have an ideal matchup against it to be sure.

It certainly is beatable as others have said, but it is very intimidating.

Ywings + ion turrets will easily handle them, 1 for 1. just make sure that you always maintain at least a 1 to 1 number advantage, and its an auto win for you. Of course, if your list is made up purely of Ywings you would have a very hard time against other lists, so simply make sure that in your usual 4 ship list your Ywing is the last to die, and you will always have an advantage over him.

Wedge can also punch through them very very quickly, but you will need to have Biggs to keep your Wedge alive. PTL on wedge = strings of 3-4 every single time.

I've had pretty good success with Wedge, Biggs, 2x Gold Sq. Pilot + Ion Cannon Turret in waves 1 and 2, and it would probably do well against the triple B-wing threat.

I've done very well against B-Wings with my Jonus Brings a Lamb list (it's been a good list period, but it especially eats up the Bs)

Jonus: Homing Missles

Gammax2: Cluster+Assault

Black Tie: Shield, Draw their fire

I played against a Tie Swarm on Sunday and beat it fairly convincingly, I played another Tie Swarm last night and got absolutely hammered.

The difference between the two was tactics. One person tried to be clever but actually made things very easy for me, the other player was very different and made things difficult and forced me to make some tough decisions (including a critical decision that I think won him the game).

The answer is probably to find a strong al-round list that you fly well, enjoy playing and have an edge with, rather than trying to find the one magical list that will destroy the B's and probably lose most other matches.

Another point worth making is luck. The guy I beat the other day made quite a point about me getting lucky rolls. My observation is that if you let me get a target lock and focus on you with an HLC then I will get very lucky rolls. If you block me so I don't get to focus, or manouver so that the target locked ships are behind me you will find my rolling a lot less lucky.

Basically I think the better you play or the worse your opponent plays the luckier you get.

And I will point out that I can be a bit of a dice-whinger myself with a history of lucky opponents to annecdote about.

I've done very well against B-Wings with my Jonus Brings a Lamb list (it's been a good list period, but it especially eats up the Bs)

Jonus: Homing Missles

Gammax2: Cluster+Assault

Black Tie: Shield, Draw their fire

Looks fun. Do you think you could ditch the assault missiles for proton bombs? That could lend you some early criticals to mess with pilot abilities and the like before you have to chew through all that shielding… I don't fly bombers a whole lot so I'm no pro on them.