Not one mention of Daredevil? That card is becoming an auto-include on Tycho for me. The ability to turn, turn again with Daredevil and then Push the Limit to boost, without consideration for stress, makes him the most nimble ship in the game. Especially since he can do it again the next turn. His only threat is Slicer Tools.

You have no idea. Especially with the Experimental Interface. Tycho don't care bout no stress.

Neil had some great idea in this article, and I was really happy to see some love for that Rebel's TIE Advance, the HWK-290.

Very nice work man!

Nice article Tusken Tactician.

Before I even read it... where are the spoilers? We need more spoilers!!!!

I usually agree with Tusken Tactician's ideas, but Garven with R2-D6 and Adrenaline Rush? Luke with Experimental interface and squad leader? Just to give actions to Prototype Pilots? It's a bit much. I like A-wings a lot, but this is stretching it. (also, naked Roark?!)

I don't know what the policy for these squads was, but there are only 4-ship builds (with a ton of HWKs) and I think A-wings are starting to shine in the 5-6 ship area, or just as nice fillers, which I don't see much of here.

To be fair, most of the list building articles that FFG publishes (written by players or themselves) usually do not put together the "tournament best" or "most points efficient" lists out there. Which I think is fine. We don't need FFG already pushing people to play lists like "Fat Han" or "Whisper + Mini-swarm" or "58 Dash + support". New ideas that are slightly off the beaten path are refreshing.

Small ship Rebel builds have been slowly shifting from 4 ship builds to 5+ builds since wave 4. This should continue into wave 5. We have the 2-ship monster builds on one extreme, the 5+ ship swarm builds on the other, and then the "standard" 4 ship builds that are still trying to find an effective home.

Neil had some great idea in this article, and I was really happy to see some love for that Rebel's TIE Advance, the HWK-290.

Very nice work man!

Funny thing, before Rebel Aces, it was actually the A-wings that were clearly the 2nd least-used ship, by far less than the HWK! We are definitely seeing a change with A-wings now though, getting sprinkled in occasionally.

Ok article, but there are better ideas in this thread.

I liked it, and will use a few of the lists to try them out. Don't often play competitively so fun lists are fine by me.

That loadout on Tycho in the very last squad looks super fun to fly.

I would drop Expert Handling for Expose.

Do we really need to go off topic about how bad expose is?

Do we really need to go off topic about how bad expose is?

When you have enough actions to include Focus/TL in the attack, it's far more useful. Tycho can pop 3 actions without a second thought. If you're at R1, Focus, TL, Expose. If you're at R2 but close, Focus, Boost, Expose.

If my options are between a 3 dice attack with Focus and TL or a 4 dice attack with Focus and TL, the choice is quite clear.

The question here is whether taking Expose is better than more maneuverability, like Daredevil, or Expert Handling, or attack modifiers like Predator and Outmaneuver.

The case is not so clear cut as it was 6 months ago.

Its still a four hit light fighter though dropping it to 2 agility is hella risky.

I'd go for outmanoeuvre instead no inherit risk to your fighter anyone who's faced wedge knows how much it hurts losing an agility die and A-wings with boost have a fairly easy time getting into position.

Do we really need to go off topic about how bad expose is?

Actually... On an A wing (as a Second EPT with PTL being the first) Expose isn't that bad. A 2 attack TL+F attack results in 1.88 hits on average. A 3 attack F attack results in 2.25 hits on average. This is a gain of almost 20% more hits (which in turn results in quite a bit more than 20% damage depending on the agility and tokens of the defender). If we take a 2 agility w/o tokens as the defender, this results in an increase from 1.14 damage to 1.53 damage - a 34% increase! Now, when compared to Outmaneuver, you would come from 1.14 damage to 1.50 damage, pretty much the same, but it costs 1 point less, doesn't have the negative agility, but does have a restriction in the out of arc aspect of it...

Edit: Oh, and EI will also make it worth considering, given that does mean that you are paying 7 points, stress, and -1 agility in order to get an extra attack die, which can be compared to HLC (which doesn't work at R1, but works better at R3 and doesn't give the stress/agi).

Edit#2: And due to getting distracted by work, I got Ninja'd.

Do we really need to go off topic about how bad expose is?

Actually... On an A wing (as a Second EPT with PTL being the first) Expose isn't that bad. A 2 attack TL+F attack results in 1.88 hits on average. A 3 attack F attack results in 2.25 hits on average. This is a gain of almost 20% more hits (which in turn results in quite a bit more than 20% damage depending on the agility and tokens of the defender). If we take a 2 agility w/o tokens as the defender, this results in an increase from 1.14 damage to 1.53 damage - a 34% increase! Now, when compared to Outmaneuver, you would come from 1.14 damage to 1.50 damage, pretty much the same, but it costs 1 point less, doesn't have the negative agility, but does have a restriction in the out of arc aspect of it...

Edit: Oh, and EI will also make it worth considering, given that does mean that you are paying 7 points, stress, and -1 agility in order to get an extra attack die, which can be compared to HLC (which doesn't work at R1, but works better at R3 and doesn't give the stress/agi).

Edit#2: And due to getting distracted by work, I got Ninja'd.

But it's a good post all the same. Expose is still a dicey option, but possibilities are opening up to make it a more viable choice.

Lots of talk about Proton Rockets, but none of the lists actually demonstrated them. Or any other missiles, for that matter. And yeah, HWK much?

HWK much indeed.

Jan + 3 decked out As is a list I have been wanting to try out for a while. Though I might end up running 2 As, a B, and Jan.

And while expose is generally bad it is great on the Rear Admiral, and I think it could find a place on an A-wing. The A-wing can still have PtL which it needs. It will also most likely be flanking so you don't exactly need to worry about being shot. If you are running Tycho who is the A-wing I would be most likely to put it on you can run E.I. and you don't have to worry about the stress. Push the limit for TL + F and if you are out of arc EI to activate expose. Aside from it being a bit pricey you have effectively just removed all the downsides to expose. If you were to put it on Jake you would end up with TL+F and your choice of boost or barrel roll on top of the expose for the added probability of ensuring you are out of a firing arc, though in this case you are now stressed. I am not saying expose is amazing or anything but its definitely not bad on the right ships.

Great article. I loved how it was written like the reader is a new A-wing pilot.

I think the Tycho - Rookie - Biggs - Roark build is solid, though Biggs isn't entirely necessary there in my opinion, as the X-wings are likely the ships you want to target first anyway. I'd replace him with Tarn + R7 then spend the last point on an R2 astromech for the Rookie since initiative isn't too important for this squad.

Jan + 3 decked out As is a list I have been wanting to try out for a while. Though I might end up running 2 As, a B, and Jan.

And while expose is generally bad it is great on the Rear Admiral, and I think it could find a place on an A-wing. The A-wing can still have PtL which it needs. It will also most likely be flanking so you don't exactly need to worry about being shot. If you are running Tycho who is the A-wing I would be most likely to put it on you can run E.I. and you don't have to worry about the stress. Push the limit for TL + F and if you are out of arc EI to activate expose. Aside from it being a bit pricey you have effectively just removed all the downsides to expose. If you were to put it on Jake you would end up with TL+F and your choice of boost or barrel roll on top of the expose for the added probability of ensuring you are out of a firing arc, though in this case you are now stressed. I am not saying expose is amazing or anything but its definitely not bad on the right ships.

The thing about it with Jake, is you have to decide before you focus that you want to use Expose since you can only use PTL to perform a free action from your action bar. So any of those dicey "I think the BR will get me out of arc" moments will be even more tense since you have to choose Expose first. And if you use EI, the flip side is that you can only take a second (er, 3rd?) action to be Expose, you can't use it to turtle up with F+E as you could with PTL. But it does open up your second EPT slot, so you could put VI on him and have Jake move at PS9 after everyone (well, sadly phantoms have made it such that this is no longer true) so you'll know whether to expose or not.

Jan + ICT

Airen + Squad Leader

2 x Green + Test Pilot + Chardaan + PtL + Expose

Expose and A-wings don't mix in my opinion. Kind of the beauty of the A-wing is its a lower threat than many of the other Rebel fighters. Being a low threat, a lot of times they will get ignored. Putting Expose on them ups their threat level thus making your opponent more likely to attempt to engage. If you get caught exposing, you are basically a Z-95. Your expensive A-wing can go down in a hurry.

Expose and A-wings don't mix in my opinion. Kind of the beauty of the A-wing is its a lower threat than many of the other Rebel fighters. Being a low threat, a lot of times they will get ignored. Putting Expose on them ups their threat level thus making your opponent more likely to attempt to engage. If you get caught exposing, you are basically a Z-95. Your expensive A-wing can go down in a hurry.

Green + Chardaan + Test Pilot + Expose + Push the Limit

It costs one more point than a Red Squad. You lose 1 PS and 1 hull, but gain a better dial, and Boost, and Evade actions.

With late round action-granting, you have ships that can re-position against Phantoms.

I've told them about the R2-D2 link, thanks. That'll probably change in a few hours.

Pygon, I far prefer the HWK. An extra evade die and the possibility of crew far outweighs the lack of K-turn for me. But that's a discussion for another day.

Cody, sorry you don't like the style. Some others have said it's the best article I've written so far. Horses for courses, I guess. Rest assured that the next one (ooooh!) won't be in that style.

Haha, hey man, you're the one writing articles on the front page and I'm just on the forums =).

Don't take my criticism too seriously...you've been getting some good feedback, so if everyone likes it, I'll just have to used to it.

Sorry if I sounded harsh. I had just woken up and had to abandon my post before I had a chance to really think about what I wrote.

Long story short, write for your fans, not your critics. You deserve to write the article you want to!

All that HWK love might mean they are amped for scum HWKs. I know I am.

Expose and A-wings don't mix in my opinion. Kind of the beauty of the A-wing is its a lower threat than many of the other Rebel fighters. Being a low threat, a lot of times they will get ignored. Putting Expose on them ups their threat level thus making your opponent more likely to attempt to engage. If you get caught exposing, you are basically a Z-95. Your expensive A-wing can go down in a hurry.

Green + Chardaan + Test Pilot + Expose + Push the Limit

It costs one more point than a Red Squad. You lose 1 PS and 1 hull, but gain a better dial, and Boost, and Evade actions.

With late round action-granting, you have ships that can re-position against Phantoms.

If you can get out of arc.. but if you have to use actions to get out of arc, then having 3 or 4 unmodified dice, well we all know.

Why would I evade? If I am bringing along a card for offense, why would I take an action that doesn't buff my offense? The boost is nice, but ask PTL Squints if boost gets you out of arcs reliably. You need that barrel roll.

Still rather have Tarn + R7 for late game too. A phantom is going to one-shot your poor exposed A-wing too.

I'm really appreciating this conversation. The last time I wrote an article (about Echo) people were just spitting fire about how OP the Phantoms and Echo were. It wasn't pretty.

Cody, I didn't take it personally. You're not the only one to not be a fan of the style. But I appreciate your comment.

Ryther, interesting thought. I'm saying nothing.

But genuinely, I love HWKs and I love A-Wings. I can't deny, though, I REALLY love Phantoms. But I think the HWK really complements the A-Wing well, which is what I mentioned in the article. I think people are noticing the HWK love particularly because there were a couple of squads there that have two of them, and that's quite surprising for people. And also because of the tweaking of squads - so the Tycho squad (which I think is great) then got tweaked to Tycho with EI which is even more enjoyable so there was another HWK present. Still, A-Wings and HWKs are often overlooked for big hitters and I think that's a mistake and I guess that probably came through in the article. I still really like the first squad, though. Bit of A-Wing, bit of B-Wing, bit of Outrider with some pilot abilities thrown in.

The interesting thing is that I may have a tournament in two weeks and if I do I'll be very interested to see if any of these squads, or variants, make an appearance. That would be my hope, just to get more A-Wings on a table. And I really want to see a tournament won by a squadron with an A-Wing Ace in it. That would be really sweet and would be a big pat on the pack for the people who helped develop them.

I loved the writing style, but it actually further depressed me about the state of the meta. Really tough to envision running a two attack ship as anything other than filler right now

Shame. I was hoping to show how a two-attack ship can be perfectly viable and competitive. Gemmer with Stealth sucks up attacks like crazy so your other hitters can go heavy. Put Proton Rockets on him and your opponent will think twice before leaving him untouched. Or run a supporting HWK (yeah, I know, I know...) and he's more powerful. Will Farrell and Tycho are the same. You don't want to leave these guys to do their thing. Jake and Tycho can one-shot kill Echo. Tycho can one-shot kill Whisper. Now that Fat Han has been slightly nerfed so that 3-PO doesn't help against Autoblaster or Ten Numb, I'd hope we might start to see more diversity. Couple of Proton Rockets puts a serious dent into a Fat Han build and now the top Phantoms are threatened, let's say. That could.... could... open up the meta somewhat.