I've had a bit of fun running Farlander with AS + PTL + Engine Upgrade, as he can suddenly arc dodge spectacularly well for a B-Wing, though I did have some trouble against Ions.

As for Nera, I think Deadeye + E/2 + Recon Spec + Any Two Torps, is super solid, especially against higher PS builds.

I need to try this Farlander build. Ions are a good counter to Keyan, but ions are a good counter to a lot of ships.

So I tried a Nera build tonight, which maybe at the end of it all wasn't the best, but, it held it's own and fought to the bitter end and it was amazing. I was the reason my escalation tournament wasn't a total wash.

She was pricey, so...

So I've been toying with novel builds with the B-Wing and there's a number that I was pondering of late. With the release of Rebel Aces and everyone finally getting their grubby little hands/hooves/paws/tentacles on them, there are lots of new options to play with. However, when I see Aces B-Wing builds, they are generally pretty obvious, and solid, builds. I wanted to explore some more esoteric builds I haven't seen much talk consideration done for. Not sure all, or any, of these will work.

Ten Numb (31)

Marksmanship (3)

Sensor Jammer (4)

Experimental Interface (3)

Marksman is an interesting idea here. Now you get the mobility of barel roll together with it. I bit pricey, but I like it.

Keyan Farlander (29)

Opportunist (4)

Fire-Control System (2)

Gunner (5)

B-Wing/E2 (1)

Keyan seems to be the obvious choice from the Aces. I see him all the time popping up. The US Nationals showed that Gunner is always a good idea, even if you have 4 dice. You could fly him with Wes here, that could free the points of the gunner then - or still leave gunner if you have to go against A-Wings or Phantoms.

Nera Dantels (26)

Deadeye (1)

Fire-Control System (2)

Proton Torpedoes (4)

Ion Torpedoes (5)

Han Solo (2)

B-Wing/E2 (1)

From your builds I like this one the most. Two reasons: Nera brings back the fun of using ordnance, and you run Han Solo here. I believe that Han is a highly underrated crew; when I saw this card the first time I was like "hell yeah, finally no more wasting my TL anymore". Too bad you can't get failsafe into that anymore, that would be the sugar on the delicious cake.

Ibtisam (28)

Elusiveness (2)

Sensor Jammer (4)

C-3PO (3)

B-Wing/E2 (1)

This looks really annoying for your opponent. He has to dedicate at least 2 ships for this one to kinda counter your "trick", which justifies the points spent. Also she's cheap enough to get a few decent friends, again Wes comes to my mind here first to maximize Sensor Jammer. (I can see something like this Ibti + Wes + Airen&Wingman + Bandit). Maybe not highly effective on tournament level, but surely fun for casual play. Best thing about this build: you make use of elusiveness, one of the more "useless" cards (it probably ranks close to Expose) - I used that card on Luke a few times when I started playing, and he was incredible tanky, but lacked the firepower, and so I lost all games with that setup (well, looking back I probably lost all games because I was new to the game... ;-) ). Now you bring that card back to the table :-)

I got a friend who really fell in love with the B-Wing now, I will show him your builds and have him run them against me - that shows me the weaknesses ;-)

Thanks for sharing your ideas here.

Sable! I've missed you!

For me,

• Oh hey, they made something that can make Marksmanship viable on Ten Nunb. Yay!
  I'd rather just fly him with Etahn Abaht, myself.
  However, I'd also consider giving Ten Nunb Decoy. His crits want to show up late in the firing in the early game, so your other ships can knock off the shields first. Then, in the end game, you just don't use it to polish an enemy off.
  
• I thought about the Farlander build, and honestly when you're rolling 4 dice with a 'focus' against an enemy with an unmodified defense, Gunner ain't gonna proc unless you need to set your dice on fire.
  He's already got high-offense for his survivability. I'd concentrate on mobility, m'self.
  Besides, with his ability to turn stress into damage, he might be the best Hypermobile option in the game
  
• Nera Dantels strikes me as a very interesting bird. I would personally run her with Flechettes, but that "Ion the entire fleet" option seems very tasty in the near future.
  Deadeye + Han is a very nice interaction as well. I'll have to steal this.
  Alternatively, I might run Munitions Failsafe on her, rather than B-Wing/E2. She wants to run those torpedoes out as often as possible, so you might as well enable her to do so.
  
• I mistrust a tanky Ibtisam, but then, I haven't lived through Fat Hans, and she resembles a slimmer version of this. If only there was a way to clear her stress after combat, but before she moves....

Ibtisam (28)

Elusiveness (2)

Sensor Jammer (4)

C-3PO (3)

B-Wing/E2 (1)

I think this setup is incredibly overrated. Unless you have a lot of action denial elusiveness and sensor jammer are pretty weak but cost a lot of points, leaving C-3P0 as your only defense. The re-roll trick is interesting, but it only works once per turn so 2+ ships are going to kill Ibtisam very quickly. Meanwhile you don't have all that much offense, so your 38 point investment isn't going to accomplish much before dying. Just take Farlander instead.

I feel that I have to vouch for Ibi here. I was running that setup (minus C-3PO) for some time prior to wave 4 and I couldn't disagree more. The combination of Elusiveness and Sensor Jammer gives her incredible staying power. Often times my opponents will try to take her out first (understandably) only to waste their shots as she soaks most of them up which causes them to switch targets instead of wasting their time and effort on her. It's really something when a 1 agility ship is able dodge 3 hits at range 1 and come out on top. Offensively she's slightly better then the average B-wing which is not a bad thing though she's not as ridiculous like Fat Han or Chewie but effective nonetheless without being OP.

The question now is whether it is justified to spend an additional 4 points for C-3PO which wil make her even harder to take down than she already is and whether that setup can stand up to the top predators of the current meta. It is an interesting suggestion nonetheless and one that I intend to try out.

I've had a bit of fun running Farlander with AS + PTL + Engine Upgrade, as he can suddenly arc dodge spectacularly well for a B-Wing, though I did have some trouble against Ions.

I ran Farlander for a few of games this weekend. Originally I went with a Wes + Opportunist combo with him, but it proved too situational, even with Wes. Only had a couple of rounds where I was able to Utilize the combo fully, and then I would have to rely on red maneuvers for stress in order to use Farlander's ability. While there are more than enough red maneuvers on the B-Wing, it simply didn't cut it. I felt that Opportunist was a wasted option, since I was quickly outmaneuvered and locked out of using it.

That's why I'm partial to Farlander + Advanced Sensors + Push the Limits + Engine Upgrade above, which I tried thereafter. High maneuverability and stress at will proved much more potent and fun. I only lost that match due to a horrible run with the dice the very last round, but it felt like a lot more bang for the bucks than Opportunist. I reckon one could do without the Engine Upgrade for some E2 shenanigans or a cannon (or to save points), if one wanted.

Can you open up a school of thought too?

One list that I have been thinking about, but have not had the time to try out yet is

Farlander w/ sensor jammer, hlc, ptl, e2, Jan Ors

Hobbie w/ r2-d6, ptl

Biggs

The idea is to have two ships that will have tl and focus most every time (also having the hlc is nice) while canceling their own stress. Jan Ors will hopefully help Biggs live a bit longer. But when he is gone Farlander should have a stress to use as a focus for shooting, plus target lock, and a focus to turn into a evade (as I understand it Jan Ors can be used on the ship she is a crew on). This plus sensor jammer should keep him around.

I have thought about dropping the hlc, and Hobbie altogether, and adding Wedge w/ r2-d2, and predator for some nice high ps firepower, or Wes with the same upgrades to strip focus and help the sensor jammers.

Can you open up a school of thought too?

I think so.

Guys, forget about ion cannon tactician fire control system b-wings. They are evil and unfair. Friends don't let friends use blue/black magic decks.

I still think that the y-wing is the best stress/ion platform out there, with flechettes, astro, and ion 360 for the same cost as ion in a fixed arc. comperable HP, can improve the dial a lot cheaply with astro or add the stress bot. Y-wing will continue to be my control platform of choice. Now you can even ion a ship into your own bomb. I like b-wing for bringing the damage though.

Also, played a game with tank istbalm, and it tied up an interceptor (the one that can boost after attacking) and whisper for the first 3 turns hunting her down. By then the duel goldies w/ions had gotten into position and proceed to destroy them. It was an interesting idea, almost like having a more expensive and durable Biggs on your side.

I'm really thinking of using: http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/135001/2-dagger-3x-a-w

My local shop is starting a league for the next month or so, and I'm thinking that will do some damage against our local meta.

I might switch to using biggs + a rookie but I'm not sure I'd want to drop to blues and lose some of the PS.

Ibtisam (28)Elusiveness (2)Sensor Jammer (4)C-3PO (3)B-Wing/E2 (1)

Add HLC along with 2 Bandits and 2 proto's running chardaan refit is what won our local monthly tournament this weekend. I ran against it and the dice destroyed me before I made it to Ibtisam. My 4 ships, one with HLC could not take out an Awing in the first 2 rounds before Ibtisam came into range, and the. I think I got one shield off of her for the game. The person with this build is very good, top 4 regional finisher this year. This build is annoying and with more pest support ships I can see this squad showing up more.

I am currently looking at:

Nera Dantels, FCS, Proton Torp, Adv. Proton Torp, B/E2, Deadeye, Recon. Spec.

it's 43 points, but paired up with Roark, it's 43 points of PS12 death dealer.

Deadeye/Recon allows you to fire and focus at a target of your choice so you are not limited by what you have a TL on.

FCS may give you the added bonus of a TL if you are well positioned. FCS is also useful once the ordnance is gone.

Back when W3 was still fresh, I was exploring an Ibby build that took advantage of SJ and Elusiveness (I called it Ninja Ibby, and there for awhile she even had SD). I was pairing her with a pair of prototype A wings that would get up there and action deny the opponent (and then Luke to round it out because he's also annoying to hit).

It was working okay, but something was missing, and I couldn't quite piece it all together. But now with Rebel Aces, I might have to go back and try it out again. I could see it working either by just adding C3PO/Jan, and the 4 points from the Chaardan refit could keep the rest of the list the same... Or, I could upgrade to Greens w/ Opportunist, and downgrade Luke into a pair of Bandits. Now when I don't action deny you, you have to decide - do I spend my Focus to get a hit through on Ibby, but allow the pair of A wings to both activate Opportunist, or do I save it for the meager 2 attack dice from the A wings, but prevent the Opportunist...

I could see that working really well. Plus the A wings would continue to attempt to action deny, and the PS3 upgrade doesn't mean that much since the average build PS has increased, it could actually be a good thing if they're left to face off against a Blue at the end of the game.

I am still convinced of Nera Dantels with 2 flechettes and a Munitions Failsafe.
2, maybe 3 stresses dealt against 1 agility ships

3 maybe 4 dealt to 2 agility.
Against 3 agility or more? Very potent control

I have also been toying with some high PS lists with stress abilities.