I'm not partial to a side when I play X-Wing, I love running both Rebels and Imperials, however if I were to pick a favorite ship it would probably be the A-Wing. With Rebel Aces due to arrive soon I'm starting to think about all of the possibilities of what these refitted A-Wings could pull off.

I've already chosen how I'm going to run Gemmer Sojan every time (Gemmer Sojan + Chardaan Refit + A-Wing Test Pilot + Expose + Experimental Interface = 27 points). Gemmer has 2 attack and 3 agility. His ability will give him 4 agility at range 1, then Expose brings it back down to 3. However, he gains a red die at the cost of an action, then at range 1 he'll have 4 attack. Experimental Interface allows him to take the Expose action and take a Focus or Target Lock for his attack. Clearing the stress is no problem for an A-Wing. Tonight after watching the Team Covenant video my brain started formulating some ideas for Jake Farrell.

Jake's ability allows him to perform a boost or barrel roll action after either 1) performing a focus action or 2) being assigned a focus action. I'm not sure if there is a rule about this, but in a list that contains Kyle Katarn or Garven Dreis and Jake Farrell, could Kyle/Garven (both at PS6, while Jake is at PS7) give Jake a focus so that Jake could barrel roll/boost, and then could Jake spend that focus on offense or defense and then perform the maneuver that he didn't choose the first time? I know you can't perform the same action twice in a round, but could Jake's ability be activated twice? So his action chain goes: Kyle's/Garven's focus for boost/roll > Focus to modify dice > Boost/roll off of focus from dice modification? Seems pretty slick for 22 points with the Refit. Some nice dodging capabilities.

Then there's also Arvel + Test Pilot + Intimidation + Proton Rockets (coming in at a nifty 28 points) giving him 5 attack dice against an opponent he's touching, with the opponent's agility reduced by one. With a Target Lock that would be absolutely filthy.

Say I load up a Green Squadron Pilot with Refit + Test Pilot + Intimidation (22 points) and pair it with Wedge + Outmaneuver (32 points) - just as base builds, could add more depending on how you finish out the list. Get the Green Squadron Pilot and Wedge out around and behind the enemies so Outmaneuver activates, then ram him the GSP into the back of something to activate Intimidation. This will bring nearly all ships down to zero agility when Wedge attacks. With 46 points that leaves enough room for three Bandits/Talas, two Rookies/Reds, two Blues (for the beef), Corran to finish the job with his double-tap, or even naked Han if you wanted to go for 100 points.

I don't know about you guys but I'm beyond excited for the resurgence of the A-Wings with Rebel Aces and all of the new upgrades from Waves 5 and 6. Your thoughts on these builds?

Edit: Color was messed up

As much as I want A-wings to be good... they're gonna need to beat me a few times before I'm convinced they're fixed.

I've already chosen how I'm going to run Gemmer Sojan every time (Gemmer Sojan + Chardaan Refit + A-Wing Test Pilot + Expose + Experimental Interface = 27 points).

This is a terrible idea. For only 23 points you can take PTL and stack focus + target lock, which gives you almost as much damage with no agility penalty and the option to use other combinations of actions.

I'm not sure if there is a rule about this, but in a list that contains Kyle Katarn or Garven Dreis and Jake Farrell, could Kyle/Garven (both at PS6, while Jake is at PS7) give Jake a focus so that Jake could barrel roll/boost, and then could Jake spend that focus on offense or defense and then perform the maneuver that he didn't choose the first time?

You're kind of confused about this. Jake's ability only happens when you get the token, not when you spend it. But yes, you can activate it multiple times if you can find multiple sources of focus tokens. It isn't worth it, however, as you end up spending way too many points on supporting a single a-wing. Just take the single free boost/BR you get with your focus action and spend the rest of your points on better ships for the rest of your list.

Then there's also Arvel + Test Pilot + Intimidation + Proton Rockets (coming in at a nifty 28 points) giving him 5 attack dice against an opponent he's touching, with the opponent's agility reduced by one. With a Target Lock that would be absolutely filthy.

This is really bad. Arvel is high enough PS that he moves after most other ships which means you're going to be the one doing the ramming and lose the focus action you need to use those proton rockets. And without the ability to move outside of your dial you can't reposition to hit a ship and you're stuck guessing blindly about how to ram. You're much better off putting daredevil on him so you can adjust your maneuver and ensure a ram.

Say I load up a Green Squadron Pilot with Refit + Test Pilot + Intimidation (22 points) and pair it with Wedge + Outmaneuver (32 points)

You're missing something on the GSP. PTL maybe? Anyway, this is yet another bad idea. You're spending 22 points to lower a target's agility IF you can successfully ram them. This is almost certainly going to be less total damage than you'd do by taking a rookie pilot and shooting the target with a second ship, especially since Wedge + outmaneuver already cripples defense dice so thoroughly without support.

Don't spend so much on trying to support an A-wing. And Expose will always be terrible. Jury is still out on the Decimator combination, but that's for another thread. Arvel+Intimidation is good, but don't bother on the Proton Rockets. If he is the one to bump, which will happen most often, then he wont be able to focus to fire them. The best part about him is intimidation gives him squad support, but you can still focus fire.

Outmaneuver is only worth it on arc dodgers. It is certainly possible to get use out of it on Wedge, but most ships in the game have 1-2 agility. After his ability kicks in, he will do almost certainly deal damage every attack, assuming he has an action. It will be difficult to activate and is mostly superfluous.

Jake should be mostly independent; don't build around him. The best way to approach him in my opinion is Refit+PtL+Outmaneuver. MAYBE a Proton Rocket, but likely not worth the upcharge after Refit. Basically, every turn, he focuses, barrel rolls, and boosts, exclusively in that order. Allows him to arc dodge and get close to deal decent damage with the Range 1 boost and Outmaneuver.

Jake with PTL or Kyle in the squad is amazing. Do not underestimate him.

Played a 35 point Furball tonight with six players. One of them had Rebel Aces and played this:

Jake Farrell

++A-wing Test Pilot

++Push the Limit

++Outmaneuver

++Proton Rockets

Having seen it played, it is certainly a powerful build. I am convinced that A-wings will now be seen. I don't think A-wings will be extremely common, but they may begin to turn up at tournaments, particularly Jake, Greens with Double EPTs, and Prototypes with Refits.

As much as I want A-wings to be good... they're gonna need to beat me a few times before I'm convinced they're fixed.

The chaining part made me think Squad Leader was going to be involved, which got me to thinking about ways to get Squad Leader involved.

Tycho + Test Pilot + PTL + Squad Leader + Experimental Interface + Chardaan Refit. 32 points, with two actions for Tycho and one more for any pilot of PS7 or lower within range 2.

It's like Cracken on amphetamines.

Jake Farrell

++A-wing Test Pilot

++Push the Limit

++Outmaneuver

++Proton Rockets

This is what I look forward to using, just with VI instead of outmaneuver since high-PS ships are so popular right now and moving last is very important with a proton rocket a-wing.

Don't underestimate the ability to maneuver Jake in the combat phase (via Garven, Kyle, Airen etc.). Jake can do some pretty crazy things that even an interceptor would envy.

I like the idea of expose and experimental interface on an a wing. you get better value out of expose at lower dice, and in the a Wing you've got a ship with the ability to arc dodge so that the agility penalty doesn't kick in and a lot of green on the dial so you can get rid of stress. Expose works out (marginally) mathematically superior to normal actions when you start with 2 dice and when you can add a TL or focus on top it's better up to 4 dice. The lower the dice you would be throwing the bigger it's relative effect. It's still expensive, with EI it's 7 points, so the jury is still out, but of the 3 noted flaws of expose (worse than normal actions, agility penalty and cost) on the a wing with EI, the action penalty does not apply and the agility penalty is mitigated, so only the cost is due remains. It might still be not worth it overall, but I think it warrants playtesting to see in game play hoe much difference it actually makes

the action penalty does not apply

Yes it does, unless you're Tycho. A-wings (other than cheap prototypes that don't have EPTs) always have PTL, which means you're already taking stress every turn. EI only adds an extra action at the cost of a stress token, so either way you're only getting two actions per turn with one of them being expose.

and the agility penalty is mitigated

It really isn't, because a-wings depend on their agility to stay alive. On, for example, a b-wing the penalty would be much less because it has the raw HP to survive even without green dice.