Wow. This game is addicting. Only playing solo so far and still it's awesome. Even though I am aware of the AI limitations, I can see the nuances here. Played a scenario with Luke and R2 vs two TIEs (AI), one piloted by Dark Curse and a Black squad pilot. Luke managed to vaporize the nameless guy, but could not touch Dark Curse. It's tough to do damage when you can't re roll attack dice, thus nullifying the lock on. Nor unable to focus. Also Luke with R2 is killer as shields keep regenerating. As it was, Luke disengaged to fight another day. GREAT FUN!

Not sure I like the "destroyed" result if a pilot disengages. Should be some mechanism that allow a player to bug out with a crippled fighter. Some VP percentage perhaps.

Now I am debating getting another core set or an X wing and tie expansion. (We just got back from an expensive vacation and the wife put an embargo on additional game purchases)

Good stuff! I was at a Warhammer tournament and someone pulled out the boxed set. I played 2 Tie Fighters vs Luke and R2-D2. I blasted Luke by the 4th-5th turn. I was hooked!

Another core set and the Tie expansion is a great idea. I'd start there.

One thing that is great about this game is that it's easy to pull in other new players, even ones that aren't used to games.

Should be some mechanism that allow a player to bug out with a crippled fighter.

Well there's really no score unless you're playing in a tournament. In that case it could cause skewed results by letting someone take something off the board with 1 hull left.

That said if you prefer to think of it as the better part of valor, then it's just a matter of PoV really. The outcome of the battle doesn't really change.

Now I am debating getting another core set or an X wing and tie expansion.

Depending on your budget... a 2nd core set is a great value. 1 more X, 2 more Ties, more dice, templates, ect... All for as little as $25 on line. If you get lucky you might find one cheaper at Target if they still have any. At one point they were going for as little as $12 for a core set.

Otherwise having a X-Wing and Tie Fighter expansion is a great idea for things like Wedge and Howlrunner.

I agree that a Tie and X-wing expansion are both worth it, but if you had to pick only one, then the Tie will get you more variety. Once you can get a third, go for the Y-wing. People will say avoid the Tie Advanced, but Vader is worth it. He's also iconic.

Yes. Definitely want the TIE adv.

I read at BGG that the Y wing is lousy....curious as to why.

Yes. Definitely want the TIE adv.

I read at BGG that the Y wing is lousy....curious as to why.

It's not persay lousy at this point, just that it doesn't really have its own niche anymore. During W1, it was the only turreted ship, and the only ship with an ion. During W2, it maintained itself as the only ship with an ion cannon turret (and only rebel option for ion), and was vastly cheaper than the YT-1300 as the only other turreted ship.

Then W3 came, and the HWK pretty much took over as the ion platform of choice. For 23 points you could have a gold with ICT, or for 21 points you could have a Rebel OP w/ ICT, or for 24, you could have my favorite option of Roark w/ ICT, allowing someone else to shoot before everyone else. The Y wing still has some advantages over the HWK, such as a slight survivability advantage, its more reliable, has a droid slot, and it does have a better dial (well, except the greens), but as a turreted ship, as long as you have a 2 turn, nothing else is really important.

But at this point, it was still a pretty good ship without a turret at 18 points, and made its way into rebel swarms quite often, but then W4 released the Z-95 and that died. Also, it's when predator came out and started making people fearful of running a PS2 ship. Plus Roark's PS12 ability allows someone to shoot at an uncloaked phantom. W5 will continue to not help out the Y wing, but don't fear too much, W6 should help it out and bring it back "up to code" so to speak, and worth flying again.

Then W3 came, and the HWK pretty much took over as the ion platform of choice.

I'm not sure I buy that... The Y-Wing is clearly better then the HWK in a number of ways and I don't know of many people who use the HWK as a ion platform over the Y.

My default rebel flight is XXYY (with both Ys having ion turrets)

Garven Dreis in one X

Generic pilot in another

Dutch Vander in one Y

Generic Y in anohter

add R2D2 to garvin to increase surival odds and a stock R2 to one Y wing to add more greens, if you've got the points an r5 in one of the ys means you can control those critical a bit

with garven and dutch swapping each other focus's and target locks (or to their wingmen) its a really strong list using really early ships.

Even torn echo up with it both times its come up against a phantom

Not sure I like the "destroyed" result if a pilot disengages. Should be some mechanism that allow a player to bug out with a crippled fighter. Some VP percentage perhaps.

For a game with no history, it makes sense. You've driven the target away, and it's no longer a factor. In a campaign-style game, keeping track is more useful, and so a percentage would make sense in that case.

Then W3 came, and the HWK pretty much took over as the ion platform of choice.

I'm not sure I buy that... The Y-Wing is clearly better then the HWK in a number of ways and I don't know of many people who use the HWK as a ion platform over the Y.

Well, it at least took a chunk out of it. Usage based on Regionals shows 1.8% Y wing, and 1.1% HWK, and as for turrets, over 75% of them were ion turrets. And I wouldn't be surprised if most of that 1.8% was from turretless rebel swarms.

It came out in Wave 1. The only Imperial ships to fly against were Tie Fighters and Tie Advanced. Since the Advanced is only used for Vader (even then) that leaves a lot of Tie Fighters to fly against. The Y-wing only has a single evade die. When you get 6 or so Tie Fighters shooting at it, it doesn't last long. Also, the main strength of the Y-wing is consdired the Ion Turret. When you Ionize one out of 6 Tie Fighters.....big deal. So, in the early waves, it wasn't really considered much.

I took a year off the game as the local scene dried up. When it picked up again, I thought to try Dutch Vander with an Ion Turret for the hell of it. What I found was that most lists these days only have 3-4 ships, no matter what side you are playing on. The Ion Turret is much more effective as you stun one of those ships. Also, you don't have death by 101 cuts anymore with the smaller lists. So, I find the Y-wing to be great to use!

If you get the E-wing, you get R7-T1, which lets you boost and get a Target Lock. This guy was made for Dutch Vander! First off, the Y-wing is pretty cumbersome. Once you get past the fighting, you need to K-turn to get back. If you do that, you don't get to give your TL to anyone. If you decide to usee R7-T1, you get a boost to turn around faster AND get the TL to then hand off to someone. Pure sweetness.

There's another build that is starting to get momentum, but you have to understand the back store first. The US national event was a Gencon this year. At that point in the release cycle, Phantoms were pretty much the thing to beat. Not many had figured ways to beat them yet. The best way was to take Han Solo who was all geared up (Fat Han). Many of the Top 10 of that event were Fat Hans. So, you had everyone looking at what was the powerful builds that the "elite" were flying. What people have been flying have been Phantoms, Fat Hans, and Tie Swarms. It's been called Rock, Paper, Scissors as Phantoms beat Swarms, but lose to Fat Han. Fat Han loses to Tie Swarms. So, people have learned how to fight against Phantoms a bit. Also, Rebel Aces is out, too. More cards and more variety, but some people think that those three are the way to go. Many people are thinking of other lists that have a good chance. Here is one build for one of those lists:

Horton Salm w/ 2 Proton Torpedoes + Vet. Instinct + Ion Turret

He hangs back and goes last all the time (well, most of the time). He gets to fire his Torpedoes, which most people consider too unreliable. With the 2 re-rolls, they become reliable. Horton can fire before Phantoms attack, which is important with Advanced Cloaking, and then he can blast Falcons, too. So, that's an option.

Oh, this post took too long. I'm sure there will be many replies by the time I hit this.

Usage based on Regionals shows 1.8% Y wing, and 1.1% HWK

Sure, but the thing is the Y-Wing is at least semi-pointless without a ICT, but the HWK can have some use without it, a Blaster and Recon Agent.

It's not that the HWK is bad. But for 2 more points you get 2 more shields, 1 more hull, 1 more attack (which is iffy I know... but it's still something) and lose 1 evade die.