Last night I was trying to think of lists to complement Wes Janson, who is fast becoming one of my favorite pilots (so is Carnor Jax). I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me before but a Green Squadron A-wing with Opportunist and Chardaan Refit is only 21 points...

And so I considered the following squad:

Wes Janson - 36pts

- Veteran Instincts

- R2-A3

- Engine Upgrade

Green Squadron Pilot - 22pts

- Opportunist

- Chardaan Refit

- A-Wing Test Pilot

- Veteran Instincts

Green Squadron Pilot - 21pts

- Opportunist

- Chardaan Refit

Green Squadron Pilot - 21pts

- Opportunist

- Chardaan Refit

In Yet Another X-wing builder

Comes out to a nice even 100 points, although I wonder if it wouldn't be better to drop the droid for Veteran Instincts on the other two A-Wings. Ehh... I guess that's what play-testing is for.

Anyways the idea is simple: choose a target Wes takes away focus or evade and the A-wings lay into it with all they have. Additionally blocking and positioning will be important (one of the reasons I'm hesitant about more VI and less than 100pts) but there's no time efficient way to go into details on that here (I don't want to draw confusing pictures). I'm willing to bet I won't be able to fly it as aggressively as I would like (head down and CHARGE!) but its been far too intriguing to just dismiss out of hand.

The problem with mixing an X-wing with a bunch of A-wings is that you are pretty much forced to use the A-wings to distract the opponent and draw fire away from the X-wing, otherwise it will be a sitting duck as it is far easier to kill. Thereby you won't be able to draw as much advantage from outmaneuvering the opponent with the A-wings. A-wings need to be flown defensively, unless you use prototypes.

I love Opportunist but I think you're using it too much. It's nice in theory, but in practice, getting Wes to hit a target with only one token, then keeping that target in arc of your other 3 A-Wings will likely only happen once. Maybe twice if you're lucky. It's too easy to telegraph your strategy, and as previously mentioned, Wes will not last long.

When you think about it, your A-wings are essentially Rookie Pilots with -1 Hull, +1 Evade, +1 PS, and even then, you're not guaranteed that 3rd Attack die. If I were your opponent, I would feel confident I could keep a token on my ship and soak up the 2 dice attacks from the A-Wings.

I would keep a maximum of 2 Opportunists, but be more comfortable with 1. Use the extra points to upgrade one of the ships or sprinkle in some different EPT's that aren't as conditional.

I would drop opportunist and use predator instead.

then you can get VI on all a wings

also, drop engine upgrade, I guarantee you will almost never use it.

you would be better off with a shield upgrade if you want to spend the points

check out this tycho:

Tycho (26)

PTL (3)

Refit (-2)

test pilot (0)

predator (3)

30 points

swap out predator with dare devil if you really want to annoy your opponent.

Predator is so awesome, everyone should go out and buy defenders to get it, then fly those defenders witness the superiority of the empire and join the side fighting for galactic peace.

swap out predator with dare devil if you really want to annoy your opponent.

Haha, I had considered mentioning this as well, especially if you put it on Arvel. Daredevil is considered a maneuver, so you can use your action to ram ships and still be able to attack them.

I disagree with kiloden but my thoughts are mostly theory crafting.

The vi eu r3 package looks like it's designed to combat phantoms. As such it should do what it's expected to do.

I'm a bit hesitant about the lack of defense for Wes though.

I had fun fl(d)ying with a similar list yesterday. Won one, lost one.

Come to think of it, I got Opportunist to trigger rarely. New list inbound:

Jake Farrell + PTL + VI + Stealth (+TP +CR)

29 points

3 x Greens + Predator + Outmaneuver (+TP +CR)

3 x 23 points

swap out predator with dare devil if you really want to annoy your opponent.

Haha, I had considered mentioning this as well, especially if you put it on Arvel. Daredevil is considered a maneuver, so you can use your action to ram ships and still be able to attack them.

You can't barrel roll or boost if you will bump with someone. You have to pick a different action.

swap out predator with dare devil if you really want to annoy your opponent.

Haha, I had considered mentioning this as well, especially if you put it on Arvel. Daredevil is considered a maneuver, so you can use your action to ram ships and still be able to attack them.

You can't barrel roll or boost if you will bump with someone. You have to pick a different action.

True, but Daredevil is not a boost. Daredevil let you perform a white sharp 1 maneuver, and then take a stress token. So DD can be used to ram.

swap out predator with dare devil if you really want to annoy your opponent.

Haha, I had considered mentioning this as well, especially if you put it on Arvel. Daredevil is considered a maneuver, so you can use your action to ram ships and still be able to attack them.

You can't barrel roll or boost if you will bump with someone. You have to pick a different action.

You are correct, but Daredevil isn't a boost or barrel roll. It is a 1 turn maneuver you complete as your action. For example, you can perform a 5 straight, then use Daredevil to 1 turn into someone's base.

ahhhh, too slow! Ninja'ed

oh, yeah! Thanks for the double correction.

The problem with mixing an X-wing with a bunch of A-wings is that you are pretty much forced to use the A-wings to distract the opponent and draw fire away from the X-wing, otherwise it will be a sitting duck as it is far easier to kill. Thereby you won't be able to draw as much advantage from outmaneuvering the opponent with the A-wings. A-wings need to be flown defensively, unless you use prototypes.

Actually I'm planning on killing him faster than he kills me... and yes I'm planning on using the A-wings to distract my opponents or... punish them for their tunnel vision. Ignoring 3 attack dice with a focus in favor of shooting the guy who's already shot this turn is not a healthy decision for your pilots. The idea is simple pick a significant threat in the enemy squad and make it dead as fast as possible and A-wings can close in quick after all, quicker than an X-wing anyways which is the reason I didn't just go with 3 Rookies.

I love Opportunist but I think you're using it too much. It's nice in theory, but in practice, getting Wes to hit a target with only one token, then keeping that target in arc of your other 3 A-Wings will likely only happen once. Maybe twice if you're lucky. It's too easy to telegraph your strategy, and as previously mentioned, Wes will not last long.

When you think about it, your A-wings are essentially Rookie Pilots with -1 Hull, +1 Evade, +1 PS, and even then, you're not guaranteed that 3rd Attack die. If I were your opponent, I would feel confident I could keep a token on my ship and soak up the 2 dice attacks from the A-Wings.

I would keep a maximum of 2 Opportunists, but be more comfortable with 1. Use the extra points to upgrade one of the ships or sprinkle in some different EPT's that aren't as conditional.

If I gain enough advantage in the first pass... It only has to happen once. And I'm not particularly worried about opportunities presenting themselves later even without Wes help.

K-turns are red, ya know?

I disagree with kiloden but my thoughts are mostly theory crafting.

The vi eu r3 package looks like it's designed to combat phantoms. As such it should do what it's expected to do.

I'm a bit hesitant about the lack of defense for Wes though.

You're right that Wes config has been tweaked to fight phantoms (and Soontir and Vader and PTL Ints). Honestly I've never had a problem keeping Wes alive, keep him back and use the engine upgrade to adjust my heading to make sure he gets a shot. If it looks like they're going to try and go 4 straight or 3 bank/turn and boost away. Also I find the R2 works well as a threat against most ships with PTL, they're afraid to use it in case they get double stressed, so then I don't have to use it (and stress out Wes).

At any rate I'll be testing this list and several others centered around Wes (I love taking peoples tokens away, makes them hate their dice even more). Some other variations I'm looking at.

In addition to a 36pt Wes:

2 Rookies and a Blue -- thought of this before the A's but oh my god is it boooooring.

2 Knaves with Sensor Jammers and R2 droids (or maybe flechettes on Wes, still 2pts of BS)

2 of the aforementioned A's with a Blue because I like B-wings.

Oh and for the record your responses (except for Blail's) were more or less what I would expect, try and be a little less predictable guys, its a dangerous habit, ya know?

If I gain enough advantage in the first pass... It only has to happen once. And I'm not particularly worried about opportunities presenting themselves later even without Wes help.

K-turns are red, ya know?

Well, maybe. Depends what you're shooting at. Your opponent can still get tokens while stressed or action denied, and your ships can get stressed without doing red maneuvers. In my experience, it doesn't take long for opponents to identify the threat from Opportunist, and it doesn't take a whole lot of effort to deny it's use.

Oh and for the record your responses (except for Blail's) were more or less what I would expect, try and be a little less predictable guys, its a dangerous habit, ya know?

Haha, well, when this list comes to the table, it's fairly predictable what you're going to be doing. How can you really be unpredictable? Take Opportunist and not use it? I'm not trying to troll you or anything, I really do like your list, I've just been burned too many times with similar ones.

Also...it wouldn't work in your list so much, but have you considered....Porkins? haha, I know it sounds lame but I've been able to K-Turn, then TL, then Opportunist several turns in a row with him. The only risk is you might....you know....kill yourself. But hey, YOLO, right? Turn down for what?

If I gain enough advantage in the first pass... It only has to happen once. And I'm not particularly worried about opportunities presenting themselves later even without Wes help.

K-turns are red, ya know?

Well, maybe. Depends what you're shooting at. Your opponent can still get tokens while stressed or action denied, and your ships can get stressed without doing red maneuvers. In my experience, it doesn't take long for opponents to identify the threat from Opportunist, and it doesn't take a whole lot of effort to deny it's use.

Oh and for the record your responses (except for Blail's) were more or less what I would expect, try and be a little less predictable guys, its a dangerous habit, ya know?

Haha, well, when this list comes to the table, it's fairly predictable what you're going to be doing. How can you really be unpredictable? Take Opportunist and not use it? I'm not trying to troll you or anything, I really do like your list, I've just been burned too many times with similar ones.

Also...it wouldn't work in your list so much, but have you considered....Porkins? haha, I know it sounds lame but I've been able to K-Turn, then TL, then Opportunist several turns in a row with him. The only risk is you might....you know....kill yourself. But hey, YOLO, right? Turn down for what?

Porkins - Because sometimes your opponent might need help killing you.

I would be baffled, atleast. Then i would proceed to kill Wes and focus every turn.

Porkins - Because sometimes your opponent might need help killing you.

Haha, hey man, with Opportunist and R5-D8 in a list of elite pilots, he can really clean up. K-Turning with 4 attacking dice and no consequence, it's pretty good.

I would be baffled, atleast. Then i would proceed to kill Wes and focus every turn.

In my experience with this Wes config... killing him is much easier said than done. PS 10 and the boost make him hard to pin down and even then he tends to shoot first. And IRL (unlike George Lucas' fantasies) shooting first makes a big difference.

Also its worth noting that in order to deny opportunist against all of the A-wings you can't use that focus for anything until the last A-wing attacks. If you're taking a token and not using it, how much good is it doing you.

Oh, i was thinking about swarms, because that's mostly what i play nowadays, should had specify. They have plenty options to kill wes (boosting or not, an X is an X) and just focus and wait to decide wether use it or not ;P

Oh, i was thinking about swarms, because that's mostly what i play nowadays, should had specify. They have plenty options to kill wes (boosting or not, an X is an X) and just focus and wait to decide wether use it or not ;P

I've faced swarms and never had a problem, Ties don't do well against Xs at Range 3 which is where Wes will be on the first exchange and then they have to break formation to get a shot on subsequent turns. Swarms aren't all that scary after you've faced them a couple of times.

Wes with R3-A2 and vet instincts is a staple in almost all of my rebel lists now. Totally worth the points IMO.

I have not had much success pairing with A-wings though.