I ran Wes with VI R5 P9, Wedge Opp R2 astro & Luke Opp R2 astro.

It won me a Z95

Only game I lost was against a HWK who gave PS12 to Wedge who had Swarm Tactics.

Shut down Wes shooting first and it was all over quickly. But the other games I played, I just creamed the opponents (Chewie YT gone in two turns of shooting)

Yeah, the Wes triple threat MELTS big ships.

I ran the following:

Wes + VI + R2F2

Wedge + Opportunist + R2

Luke + Opportunist + R2

My day was mired in awful dice rolling. Thankfully because so many tournaments were held at the same time, only 3 other people showed up to this one, and for some strange reason, we all ended up 1 and 2. We amicably decided which ships we wanted.

My first opponent flew:

Chewie + Opportunist + Weapons Engineer + Milenium Falcon

Blue Squadron + Advanced Sensors

Blue Squadron + Advanced Sensors

First salvo I managed to get all 3 of my ships to Alpha a blue squadron member. He survived. 11 dice of incoming damage and he had 5 dice to defend. Sigh. Luke was brought down to 1 hull. Second round, finished off the first Bwing, hammered Chewie. Wes brought down to 1 hull. Third round kill second Bwing, Wes dies. Fourth round Wedge lands on an asteroid, Luke whiffs, Chewie blows up Luke. Then it was the rb3 360 turret vs wedge. Took a turn for me to get him into my arc and in that turn I lost my shields. Last turn, RB1 Wedge vs Chewie, 1 hit and 3 blanks. Uses the evade token. Opportunist Chewie blew Wedge to Smithereens.

Second game:

Howlrunner

Dark Curse

Backstabber

Royal Guard + PTL

Royal Guard + PTL

Managed to circle the table and then dive through the asteroids at his formation. My opponent is a really good tie fighter player and the comedy of errors that ensued was awesome. He ended up landing Backstabber on an asteroid (that he would have to fly through next round). This led to a series of ships bumping into each other (as he intended to barrel roll them). I grinned, naked tie fighters in front of elite xwings with opportunist. First rounds firing, DC down to 1 hull (double critted = lost pilot card ability and ept and the ps0 damage. Best crits on Dark Curse!) And that was it. Again 11 dice of damage potential led to 2 crits. Again Luke in the lead, ate everyone's fire, and limped away with 1 hull. Turn two saw Backstabber eatting a crit from the asteroid (he took a regular hit last turn). Now my dice woke up. 5 hits from an RB1 Wedge on a Royal tie obliterating it. Luke took out Howlrunner too. Wes was pounded by the other Royal Tie. Turn 3 saw the end of Dark curse and Wes. Turn four saw the end of the other Royal tie and Luke. All that was left was Wedge -1 shield and Backstabber with 1 hull. RB3 attack from Backstabber while I was out of arc, he rolls 4 hits, and I roll 3 blanks. Game over. This is where I almost pitched my dice across the room.

Final game was against:

Gold Wing + Ion Turret + Flechette

Gold Wing + Ion Turret + Flechette

Gold Wing + Ion Turret + Flechette

Gold Wing + Ion Turret + R3-A2

This list was horrifying. First engagement turn (as it took like 5 turns for them to plod across the field) I brought a Ywing down to 1 hull. I ate a little incoming fire. Nothing. Second turn, killed off the first ywing (the one with the R3-A2) and did some damage to another. I ate 3 flechette missiles (2 on wedge). Wedge lost his shields and Luke got dinged for a shield. Third turn, I brought the y wing down to 1 hp and laid some damage into a third (couldnt concentrate). Everyone got ionized excet for Wedge. Wedge started the 90x2 turns to realign for the next pass(too close to the corners and side to try a kturn) and luckily Luke bumped into Wedge and Wes into Luke. Took some more Ionization, Wes and Luke now have no shields. Wedge turned about fired long shot through some roids, damaged the fourth ywing (yes spread spreaqd spread that damage.... I know but I had no shots.) No incoming fire that round, got Luke and Wes back into the fight, killed a ywing, wedge at it from Ywing blasters. Next turn Wes and Luke miss everything and get ionized facign the wrong direction. Luke is near death and is targeted by both ywings, he dies. Wes is left vs two badly damaged Ys. I barely have enough room to make a hard2 before flying off the table. No one is in range for this turn. I realign for a pass and managed to move where i could fight them one on one. I blew up the first ship on the first pass and then the second ywing on the next turn. All I can say is thank god for the R2 astromech. On the third turn Wedge was ionized with 3 stress... 1 from himself and 2 from the enemy.

On the same topic, I managed to beat a Wes list with a Interceptor + Shuttle list at one of the AAIA events.

He had:

Wes + VI + R2?

Wedge + Oppurtunist + R2?

Luke + Oppurtunist + R2D2

My list went 3-0:

Turr + VI

RPG + PTL

RGP + PTL

Omicron Shuttle + Darth Vader

I was quite scared of this list. I think I grabbed initiative, which helped with Wedge. The high pilot skill of the list meant I could deny actions and never let more than 2 ships focus fire, which is what makes Wes deadliest. It helped that Wedge landed on a rock, though he had no shot if he didnt hit the rock. Idk if he ever got to use Oppurtunist since PTL gave me 2 tokens, minimal actions meant minimal need to spend my tokens, and Turr with Initiative was wiley enough to only get shot by Wes.

I think I like Ibi a bit more. Barrel roll and the synergy with stress lets Ibi fit better.

Just giving my 2 cents on the other side of the Wes vs Interceptor debate. I think he is a great choice if you can line up shots, but X Wings are definitely as predictable as always, and even a PS 9 can be used as a blocker against that PS 10. And as usual, the pilot of the fleet can make the difference.

I AM very glad that Oppurtunist is finding a home, though. Falcons and Wes lists seem to rock with it.

@phild

Ibtisam is the better choice over Luke. More HP, more firepower and more accuracy. Luke is always a solid choice, don't get me wrong, but he will perform better in the role of closer due to his survivability. Adding Luke makes target acquisition easy: just go for the easier hit. Ibtisam forces the enemy to think and think hard about who they should try to take out (do I start early on Ibtisam because she has so many HPs or go for Wes because he's the real threat, OR maybe Wedge, because, well, you know, he's WEDGE). Plus, she has added resilience against the initial missile attack from a bomber (because let's face it, Wes' triple threat is going to DESTROY the closest bomber before it can get its shot off).

Now, in the original vein of the discussion, Whisper is going to be a kick in the nuts for Wes. If you fly the Triple Threat against her, it will be your skill as a pilot that keeps you in the game. You could possibly replace the B with Dutch and an ion without sacrificing too much durability or firepower.

Wes + VI + R2

Wedge + R2D2 + Opp

Jan + Ion + Nien

Creates opportunity for a 6d attack at range 1, with a -1 ag.

The fire control system on ibi is there because I think that wes/wedge can effectively take out a single ship. Give Ibi a target to focus on the following round and Wes/wedge a different target. You can destroy 3 ships in 2 turns.

@Bohrdumb

I think that has potential to be a good, anti-Phantom list. Play it out! I think you will want to watch out for opponents having an easy time picking targets as Wes and Wedge have now become obvious threats.

@macar

It's certainly possible, but I like the added durability R5-P9. The little droid strikes me as important because of the value of Wes to the overall strategy and the flimsiness of three ship squadrons. FCS is another good choice, but I think it's uneccessary considering Ibtisam's natural stress reroll, although I can see your point if she doesn't have a good target to opportunize on. Even with the firepower available, it will take your opponent making some poor choices to allow for a reliable 2 ship kill in a turn.