I played in the AoIA event on friday with a local player named Shaw. He planned on using a 4 Y squad with 4 R5's. I told him that I was looking at a similar list and (since we were the only players who arrived for the tournament) I decided to give him pointers with how my Y list would have been had I brought it. I would not use 4 R5's but use R3-A2 and load the other Y's with Flechettes. Shaw liked the ideas and went with it and won our engagement with it.

He went to the Kobold's Corner in Kanata on Saturday and placed well (not sure how well but will have to ask him next time I see him) and he is was 2-0 in a 3rd tournament today with the same build.

The Shaw-Y build:

Gold with ion turret and R3-A2

Gold with ion turret and Flechette Torpedoes x 3

This list locks up opponents and walks them off the board very consistently. It also gives an alpha punch to the Y's that has a good side benefit of causing stress to weak hulled targets. It has lost one ship in most engagements but only one of the games it was played in did it come down to one Gold and a damaged B.H.

Y's are now a real threat in the meta.

Assuming you had a 4th Flechette Torpedo, say from an E-Wing pack, would you switch R3-A2 out for one or keep him for continual stress inducement?

Assuming you had a 4th Flechette Torpedo, say from an E-Wing pack, would you switch R3-A2 out for one or keep him for continual stress inducement?

I would keep R3-A2 for continuous ability over a single shot.

It is a good build but probably not the best tournament build. A list like this relies on time and patience, not killing the enemy outright and you don't have that luxury at a tourny. It is very fun to play however your friends might want to strangle you if you play with it often

It is a good build but probably not the best tournament build. A list like this relies on time and patience, not killing the enemy outright and you don't have that luxury at a tourny. It is very fun to play however your friends might want to strangle you if you play with it often

It is a new build that makes Y's more of a threat. They now have an Alpha possibility, and locking up ships with stress/ion is nasty.

It can be a pain trying to solve it.

I beat Shaw's list on Sunday at Wizard's Tower. I used Wes, Wedge, Luke. R2s basically remove the stress + ion handicap.

I told Shaw of a better way to make the list. Its not as durable, but it adds more Stress generation.

Rebel Operative + Ion Cannon Turret + Tactician + Hull Upgrade

Rebel Operative + Ion Cannon Turret + Tactician + Hull Upgrade

Gold Squadron + Ion Cannon Turret

Gold Squadron + Ion Cannon Turret + R3A2

You loose 4 shields, but you pick up 2 tacticians. So with the Ion Cannon Turret, you are likely to stay in RB2, just add the stress and ion tokens.

Shaw's list was annoying, but once you start killing its ships it falls apart fast. The list I propose has more sustained Ion+Stress development. Shaw's list was harsh on the spam turn, especially because I had capitalized on Opportunist, but once that Flechette nut is spent, they cant generate more stress other than R3A2 (which is target numero uno.)

How to beat the 4 Ywing flight:

Thanks to their awful dials, they can't always capitalize on ionization. The secret is to really joust with them. Try to aim to be just outside of RB3 on one turn, then move 2 straight. Most ywing players I have seen love them those 1 straight moves. This should get you to either colide (which is good), or have you in RB1.

Ideally, with average luck you should be able to kill one ywing with 3 xwing or equivalent firepower. Prepare to have a ship or two ionized. If you have Biggs he will pay for himself in one pass. Next turn K turn. The Ywings will start their slow bank and you will be out of their fire range, but not out of yours. Hit them at RB3. Then repeat the joust.

I beat Shaw's list on Sunday at Wizard's Tower. I used Wes, Wedge, Luke. R2s basically remove the stress + ion handicap.

I told Shaw of a better way to make the list. Its not as durable, but it adds more Stress generation.

Rebel Operative + Ion Cannon Turret + Tactician + Hull Upgrade

Rebel Operative + Ion Cannon Turret + Tactician + Hull Upgrade

Gold Squadron + Ion Cannon Turret + Flechette Torpedo

Gold Squadron + Ion Cannon Turret + R3A2

You loose 4 shields, but you pick up 2 tacticians. So with the Ion Cannon Turret, you are likely to stay in RB2, just add the stress and ion tokens.

This list is annoying, but once you start killing its ships it falls apart fast. Thanks to their awful dials, they can't always capitalize. The secret is to really joust with them. Try to aim to be just outside of RB3 on one turn, then move 2 straight. Most ywing players I have seen love them those 1 straight moves. This should get you to either colide (which is good), or have you in RB1.

Ideally, with average luck you should be able to kill one ywing with 3 xwing or equivalent firepower. Prepare to have a ship or two ionized. If you have Biggs he will pay for himself in one pass. Next turn K turn. The Ywings will start their slow bank and you will be out of their fire range, but not out of yours. Hit them at RB3. Then repeat the joust.

I beat Shaw's list on Sunday at Wizard's Tower. I used Wes, Wedge, Luke. R2s basically remove the stress + ion handicap.

I told Shaw of a better way to make the list. Its not as durable, but it adds more Stress generation.

Rebel Operative + Ion Cannon Turret + Tactician + Hull Upgrade

Rebel Operative + Ion Cannon Turret + Tactician + Hull Upgrade

Gold Squadron + Ion Cannon Turret + Flechette Torpedo

Gold Squadron + Ion Cannon Turret + R3A2

You loose 4 shields, but you pick up 2 tacticians. So with the Ion Cannon Turret, you are likely to stay in RB2, just add the stress and ion tokens.

This list is annoying, but once you start killing its ships it falls apart fast. Thanks to their awful dials, they can't always capitalize. The secret is to really joust with them. Try to aim to be just outside of RB3 on one turn, then move 2 straight. Most ywing players I have seen love them those 1 straight moves. This should get you to either colide (which is good), or have you in RB1.

Ideally, with average luck you should be able to kill one ywing with 3 xwing or equivalent firepower. Prepare to have a ship or two ionized. If you have Biggs he will pay for himself in one pass. Next turn K turn. The Ywings will start their slow bank and you will be out of their fire range, but not out of yours. Hit them at RB3. Then repeat the joust.

Remember that tactician only works in your firing arc.

Yup, and most people will end up in your fire arc as they joust with you.

R2 and Nien are the only two ways to turn a white maneuver green for stress removal, so a rebel list with these is a counter to this build.

Zoccola, what were the picks for the ships? Did you get the one you were wanting?

I beat Shaw's list on Sunday at Wizard's Tower. I used Wes, Wedge, Luke. R2s basically remove the stress + ion handicap.

I told Shaw of a better way to make the list. Its not as durable, but it adds more Stress generation.

Rebel Operative + Ion Cannon Turret + Tactician + Hull Upgrade

Rebel Operative + Ion Cannon Turret + Tactician + Hull Upgrade

Gold Squadron + Ion Cannon Turret + Flechette Torpedo

Gold Squadron + Ion Cannon Turret + R3A2

You loose 4 shields, but you pick up 2 tacticians. So with the Ion Cannon Turret, you are likely to stay in RB2, just add the stress and ion tokens.

This list is annoying, but once you start killing its ships it falls apart fast. Thanks to their awful dials, they can't always capitalize. The secret is to really joust with them. Try to aim to be just outside of RB3 on one turn, then move 2 straight. Most ywing players I have seen love them those 1 straight moves. This should get you to either colide (which is good), or have you in RB1.

Ideally, with average luck you should be able to kill one ywing with 3 xwing or equivalent firepower. Prepare to have a ship or two ionized. If you have Biggs he will pay for himself in one pass. Next turn K turn. The Ywings will start their slow bank and you will be out of their fire range, but not out of yours. Hit them at RB3. Then repeat the joust.

Remember that tactician only works in your firing arc.

Yup, and most people will end up in your fire arc as they joust with you.

I'm pretty sure R2 and Nien Nunb do not counter an effect such as ion. Rules have always stated that the more difficult maneuver takes precedence when something negative occurs to affect your maneuver. See the damaged engine R2 example on the FAQ: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/x-wing/support/faq/X-Wing-FAQ.pdf

I'm pretty sure R2 and Nien Nunb do not counter an effect such as ion. Rules have always stated that the more difficult maneuver takes precedence when something negative occurs to affect your maneuver. See the damaged engine R2 example on the FAQ: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/x-wing/support/faq/X-Wing-FAQ.pdf

By that logic R2 would never change anything. Both do make the Ion manuever green. The option you're looking at is about when a manuever on the dial is changed. The Ion manuever is different.

I'm pretty sure R2 and Nien Nunb do not counter an effect such as ion. Rules have always stated that the more difficult maneuver takes precedence when something negative occurs to affect your maneuver. See the damaged engine R2 example on the FAQ: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/x-wing/support/faq/X-Wing-FAQ.pdf

You're pretty wrong. You should more carefully read the FAQ you are referencing - from page 8:

"If ship is ionized, R2 Astromech’s ability does make

Zoccola, what were the picks for the ships? Did you get the one you were wanting?

I got the Phantom, which I really wanted. But I would have been fine with any ship. I want 2 of each.

If you're jousting with Turrets you're hamstringing yourself. The Hawk doesn't fly well enough to keep people in its firing arc, and having no shot worth anything at range 3 makes it a terrible jouster.

I know that you dont want to joust with Ywings. And if your opponent is good, then he knows that too. Which is why he will probably joust with you. As your manuever dial isnt the best, he should be able to dictate where the engagement will be. He will either come at you from an angle, which is bad for him, as you can turn against his approach and get beside/behind him as he passes you and turret him while he has no shot.

Alternatively, he will plain joust with you as I described, aiming to land RB1 and then blow past your RB2 range with a kturn. Thats the turn that Tactician will make such a massive difference. You ionize and stress the most important enemy ship, and once it has both an ion and a stress, you focus on the second most important ship. After the joust, you should have assigned 1 stress and 1 ion to at least 2 ships (hopefully 3). Try to ionize something else.

Then everything Hard 2 turns left or right keeping the ionized ships in RB2. Tactician will allow you to apply the stress again and you try to repeat the control. The goal on this turn is to keep 2 ships ionized and stressed while you turn about.

Then either shepherd the ship off the table or kill it with slow ion death. Its surprisingly effective. The only thing that really breaks it is if you are facing off against massed R2 astromechs and Nien Nunb, or there is a Biggs style effect.

That 4 ship flight gets even better in Epic play, where you can afford to use unique pilots for more PS and more upgrades. As soon as I get a second transport, my go to epic list will be:

Jan Ors +Opportunist +Ion Cannon Turret +Tactician

Kyle Katarn +Opportunist +Ion Cannon Turret +Tactician

"Dutch" +Ion Cannon Turret +R2-D6 +Opportunist

Gray Squadron Pilot +Ion Cannon Turret +R3-A2

GR-75 Medium Transport +Raymus Antilles +Frequency Jammer +Dutyfree

GR-75 Medium Transport +Intelligence Agent +Intelligence Agent +Slicer Tools +Quantum Storm

Chewbacca +Push the Limit +R2-D2 (Crew) +C-3PO +Millennium Falcon

Ibtisam +Push the Limit +Advanced Sensors

The idea is to generate a lot of stress that cant be removed and then pound on those ships with the Transports. Chewie and Ibti running interference and killing stuff. The idea is the fly with the transports, when stuff gets in range, Jam it, then Slice it, then hit it with ion cannons and more stress. You can easily get a ship ioninized with 3 stress on it.

I'm pretty sure R2 and Nien Nunb do not counter an effect such as ion. Rules have always stated that the more difficult maneuver takes precedence when something negative occurs to affect your maneuver. See the damaged engine R2 example on the FAQ: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/x-wing/support/faq/X-Wing-FAQ.pdf

But that example is a negative modifier vs a positive modifier and negative trumps positive. The ion is your maneuver, not modified, so R2 and Nien work to modify it from white to green, that's why it works as stated in the FAQ.