So far I've gone 1-3 with the new ace in standard matches, with an extra win in epic play. he still got taken out in the late game, after it was a lock that my team wouldn't lose.

Keyan isn't a strong survivor after the initial pass. I can usually get 4 hits out of him each volley, but once we start turning to re-engage he just gets lost. I'm considering running him with stealth device and recon specialist to try and keep him around longer. Or you know, Biggs.

He's got this week to clean up his act or he's gonna find himself on the bench.

At end of the day, he's just a B-Wing. His ability doesn't improve his defence, but it makes him a priority target.

He's good, but I think his value probably lies in early game damage dealing than end game survival.

you have to give him some way to protect himself, like Jan ORS crew or Biggs. Otherwise he's just a B wing, and probably your enemy's highest priority target.

Give him 3PO or Chewie to make him last longer.

I always give him 3PO. Never flown him without it.

Or, defense through maneuverability: engine upgrade + PTL. Not getting shot at is superior than stealth device any day of the week.

I'm gonna try out runnig Biggs first, and the fancier higher point varieties second.

I have to say that overall, I am not THAT impressed with Rebel Aces as a whole. I will preface my next statements by stating I did buy 2 sets of Rebel Aces, and will buy two more... because I love X-Wing and HAVE to have them! Intervention anyone?

Yes, there are great model repaints in there, which I love. Yes, there are great cards there in Chardaan Refit and Proton Rockets. But these cards were more like 'fix' cards then anything else, trying to fix ships that needed help as opposed to bringing the rest of the game up with it. I would argue the best cards in the set are the Enhanced Scopes and Kyle Katarn cards. ES on a Shuttle with APL is just amusing to me!

The pilots there are all OK, not great, just okay... The A-Wing pilots are good, save for the fact that they are in A-Wings... which, even after the 2 point drop, aren't great ships. Good ships, yes, but not great. They may start to fill the role of filler ships like the Bandit, but in a game of only 100 points, ever point counts, and I still feel the Z will win that battle over the A for a filler ship.

The B-Wings are better, but only because they are in B-Wings and they are in far superior ships. I really do like Nera's ability, but she is also a trap ship where points fall into. You end up spending so many points on torpedoes and munitions failsafe that she turns out to be a 30+ ship. Good, for what she does, but not blown away by her. Keyan is also like that, good, but not great. It is important to note that you can spend that stress on attacks, even if you do not roll focus on the dice. Please remember to do that so you do not have a stressed ship all the time. If Keyan could use that for both offence and defense it might be worth it, but...meh. It's ok.

Needs someone nearby that they want to kill more.

Uhm, no, Keyan is awesome. He's not particularly easy to kill. He is dieing soon because he is good and you opponent wants him out of the way quickly. He does need some way to get a stress, PtL, or Daredevil (w/EU) can both be used to defensive potential.

When I flew against Keyan, my opponent had him with HLC and Opportunist. And kept him at range 3. he was pretty hard to kill, while doing about 5 attack dice a round.

Or, defense through maneuverability: engine upgrade + PTL. Not getting shot at is superior than stealth device any day of the week.

yes; especially a stealth device on a 1-agi ship. You're not going to get a lot of mileage out of that stealth device before you get hit and it de-activates.

Biggs and/or Jan Ors crew is a good solution to keeping Farlander up though.

Keyan is definitely going to die. He's a great heat score. I don't want to put too many points in him, though.

The trick I find when building lists is a pair of blue squadron pilots is easy to fit into a list so I haven't been picking Keyan as often.

If only the rebels could take a ship that could force your opponent to shoot him before they have to shoot at Keyan.

He's my new favorite ship! Keyan with Advanced Sensors, B-Wing E2, Jan Ors, and Push the Limit is completely insane! He's also 38 points, but who's counting? He's FocusedEvaded and StressedFocused every turn, and he is often either Target Locked or Barrel Rolled as well. Tack that onto 3 attack and a total of 8 hit points, and he's a beast. Effectively white 2k turns are awesome when your opponent can't do the same.

Think about slapping oppertunist on him. That gives you an extra attack dice AND a 'focus'. That frees up your action for a target lock. Now, to be safe, throw in Wes to make sure that you can trigger oppertunist. And what is more fun that throwing 4 dice at range three? Adding Jan Ors to throw 5 dice at range three. Jan will need an ion turret to be useful, so let's give her one, making her30 points. Now, with 8 points to spend, we can make that range 3 attack a little more crazy. Add a HLC to make that 6 dice at range 3 AND negate there bonus range 3 defense dice. Your going to be throwing so many dice, critical won't even matter. And remember, to throw 6 dice means they don't have an evade or focus to spend on defense, so they most likely won't block any of it, while your TL+focus 6 dice attack has a good chance of getting all 6 dice to hit.

Yeah, he has been my favorite b-wing pilot so far.

Think about slapping oppertunist on him. That gives you an extra attack dice AND a 'focus'. That frees up your action for a target lock. Now, to be safe, throw in Wes to make sure that you can trigger oppertunist. And what is more fun that throwing 4 dice at range three? Adding Jan Ors to throw 5 dice at range three. Jan will need an ion turret to be useful, so let's give her one, making her30 points. Now, with 8 points to spend, we can make that range 3 attack a little more crazy. Add a HLC to make that 6 dice at range 3 AND negate there bonus range 3 defense dice. Your going to be throwing so many dice, critical won't even matter. And remember, to throw 6 dice means they don't have an evade or focus to spend on defense, so they most likely won't block any of it, while your TL+focus 6 dice attack has a good chance of getting all 6 dice to hit.

Yeah, he has been my favorite b-wing pilot so far.

I think you're math is a bit off. First, with the Jan Ors crew card he can not take the HWK-290 Jan... but even at that, he could not then fit in an HLC for Keyan.

Here is the list I have with your suggestions:

Keyan Farlander (29) + Advanced Sensors (3) + Opportunist (4) = 36 points

Wes Janson (29)

Jans Ors (25) + Ion Cannon Turret (5) = 30

That is 95 points. Where is the other 2 points coming from for HLC?

I only ask, because I think this idea is amazing and I want to run it!

I'm not sure what more you could want from Keyan. He is in a B-wing, for many people the best ship in the game. (Not my favorite, but I will admit a pretty awesome ship) And Keyan's ability is debatably the best one in the game.

Keyan is the only pilot who can take a negative effect and use it as a positive effect. He can easily get the equivalent of three actions per turn and not be stressed at the end of it.

but once we start turning to re-engage he just gets lost

How can he get lost with that sweet K-Turn? please elaborate

but once we start turning to re-engage he just gets lost

How can he get lost with that sweet K-Turn? please elaborate

Probably because I'm not running him with advanced sensors, for gauranteed actions. I like PTL to guarantee myself stress, but PTL, advanced sensors, HLC, and various crew start to turn Keyan into a 50 point ship.

I was beaten by a Chewie/Keyan combo, but I'm not one to copy cat.

He's a decent pilot but he's in a b-wing you have to accept he's not going to last that long SD is a waste on a ship with 1 agility as is adding on chewie end of the day its points you can spend better, use him get as much damage in as you can but understand he's not seeing turn five.

Totally nope:

Keyan with Opportunist and HLC has netted me a one-shot each game. You don't even really need to plan for it. Just take the 5 when you can, and let it be when you cant. Take a red move. Automatically remove the stress, then do 2k(white) back and forth like a frothing at the mouth defender.

If you want more survival, as people have said: put Chewbacca or C3PO or Jan Ors on him. Or just better yet, run Biggs.

I haven't tried Nera, but I'm excited to. 360 Flechettes + Roark PS 12. Throw in Luke + Lone Wolf for giggles.

Think about slapping oppertunist on him. That gives you an extra attack dice AND a 'focus'. That frees up your action for a target lock. Now, to be safe, throw in Wes to make sure that you can trigger oppertunist. And what is more fun that throwing 4 dice at range three? Adding Jan Ors to throw 5 dice at range three. Jan will need an ion turret to be useful, so let's give her one, making her30 points. Now, with 8 points to spend, we can make that range 3 attack a little more crazy. Add a HLC to make that 6 dice at range 3 AND negate there bonus range 3 defense dice. Your going to be throwing so many dice, critical won't even matter. And remember, to throw 6 dice means they don't have an evade or focus to spend on defense, so they most likely won't block any of it, while your TL+focus 6 dice attack has a good chance of getting all 6 dice to hit.

Yeah, he has been my favorite b-wing pilot so far.

I think you're math is a bit off. First, with the Jan Ors crew card he can not take the HWK-290 Jan... but even at that, he could not then fit in an HLC for Keyan.

Here is the list I have with your suggestions:

Keyan Farlander (29) + Advanced Sensors (3) + Opportunist (4) = 36 points

Wes Janson (29)

Jans Ors (25) + Ion Cannon Turret (5) = 30

That is 95 points. Where is the other 2 points coming from for HLC?

I only ask, because I think this idea is amazing and I want to run it!

Take off advanced sensors. That wasn't mentioned in his post.

So far I've gone 1-3 with the new ace in standard matches, with an extra win in epic play. he still got taken out in the late game, after it was a lock that my team wouldn't lose.

Keyan isn't a strong survivor after the initial pass. I can usually get 4 hits out of him each volley, but once we start turning to re-engage he just gets lost. I'm considering running him with stealth device and recon specialist to try and keep him around longer. Or you know, Biggs.

He's got this week to clean up his act or he's gonna find himself on the bench.

Problem one, your expectations. Nothing about him makes him tougher than the average B-Wing (which aren't all that tough to begin with), that's not his thing. You said you were consistently getting 4 hits; that's his thing. You just need to build around him better.

Secondly, sounds like all you were just lining up and jousting over and over. This is not a good general strategy in X-Wing. Generally in fact when I hear people talk about the initial pass and all that, I think you could be flying better, as the game should not have to devolve into pass after pass. Even then however, how are you struggling to recover after a pass with a 2-k turn on a stress spending machine?

Think about slapping oppertunist on him. That gives you an extra attack dice AND a 'focus'. That frees up your action for a target lock. Now, to be safe, throw in Wes to make sure that you can trigger oppertunist. And what is more fun that throwing 4 dice at range three? Adding Jan Ors to throw 5 dice at range three. Jan will need an ion turret to be useful, so let's give her one, making her30 points. Now, with 8 points to spend, we can make that range 3 attack a little more crazy. Add a HLC to make that 6 dice at range 3 AND negate there bonus range 3 defense dice. Your going to be throwing so many dice, critical won't even matter. And remember, to throw 6 dice means they don't have an evade or focus to spend on defense, so they most likely won't block any of it, while your TL+focus 6 dice attack has a good chance of getting all 6 dice to hit.

Yeah, he has been my favorite b-wing pilot so far.

I think you're math is a bit off. First, with the Jan Ors crew card he can not take the HWK-290 Jan... but even at that, he could not then fit in an HLC for Keyan.

Here is the list I have with your suggestions:

Keyan Farlander (29) + Advanced Sensors (3) + Opportunist (4) = 36 points

Wes Janson (29)

Jans Ors (25) + Ion Cannon Turret (5) = 30

That is 95 points. Where is the other 2 points coming from for HLC?

I only ask, because I think this idea is amazing and I want to run it!

I never said anything about advanced sensors. And when I said Jan Ors the ship, I did not mean the crew.

Look for the "Your gonna go Far(lander), Jan" thread I made a few months back. Just to throw 6 dice around, willy nilly.

Secondly, sounds like all you were just lining up and jousting over and over. This is not a good general strategy in X-Wing. Generally in fact when I hear people talk about the initial pass and all that, I think you could be flying better, as the game should not have to devolve into pass after pass.

In almost any game, jousting will favor one side or the other. I love when I know I have a mathematical advantage and my opponent accepts the joust anyway.

Edit: So without knowing what lists have faced off in the OP's games, we cannot say that he is playing poorly simply because of this technique. With Keyan's (effective) white 2K plus offensive focus, he should joust tremendously well, so long as his side has firepower parity.