Arvel will always be the worst of the A-Wing pilots

That was never in doubt, but the article in question does showcase him so the point was pertinent to discuss.

I just think that since intimidation synergizes with his skill, it would be a more entertaining combination than what the article shows.

Hence "fun" in quotation marks

Fair do. I'm a PtL purist when it comes to A-Wings. I've had too many one-shot killed when I didn't have an action. Also, with the Decimator coming soon, Intimidation won't be fab. Once newer ships come out after that and the Decimator loses its novelty, Arvel and Intimidation might be playable. But I have run it and wasn't over impressed.

it doesnt seem to be anything we as the forum haven't thought of already, but its good for newbs i guess.

Yeah, one of my problems was timing. I was starting to wonder how relevant the article was. These are definitely written as introductory articles, it's just this one was more in depth than the last A-Wing article. Certainly I design lists to stir debate instead of always being super competitive. Anchorman is a good one but some of the others are designed so people on forums like this would say "I'm not keen an X but I'd probably change it to Y." When Rebel Aces were announced there was a flurry of discussion about As and Bs but that died down somewhat so this article especially serves to get people thinking and talking about As again.

Its relevant.

1) Hardcore players may not be as big of a piece of the profit pie as people think. Game companies are always trying to hook the impulse buyer, collector and new player that will buy in for small amounts.

2) The discussions that hardcore players have happen rapidly. The conversations that happened here months ago are just being had by people who are first seeing Aces. They haven't thought of them, because gaming isn't as dominant force in their lives as it may be for many here.

3) There are some who will simply enjoy and read your article because of the "Top Gun Leader" style that you wrote it in.

No matter what people think in their own little world here, I promise you that articles like this have an impact on many other groupings of players and collectors. Remember that hardcore players of games have a tendency to act like their opinions are the only ones that matter, but they are only one of many potential audiences.

Thank you. I remember turning up to a tournament after my first A-Wing article and I got chatting to a guy with an odd build. Something like Tycho without an EPT. "That's interesting," I said, meaning 'weird,' "Yes, I got the idea from the article on A-Wings that FFG just posted," he said. That made me realise the broad spectrum of players who read the articles.

Jan + greens idea is very interesting, maybe I would loose 1 green for Biggs to keep Jan alive

it doesnt seem to be anything we as the forum haven't thought of already, but its good for newbs i guess.

Yeah, one of my problems was timing. I was starting to wonder how relevant the article was. These are definitely written as introductory articles, it's just this one was more in depth than the last A-Wing article. Certainly I design lists to stir debate instead of always being super competitive. Anchorman is a good one but some of the others are designed so people on forums like this would say "I'm not keen an X but I'd probably change it to Y." When Rebel Aces were announced there was a flurry of discussion about As and Bs but that died down somewhat so this article especially serves to get people thinking and talking about As again.

Its relevant.

1) Hardcore players may not be as big of a piece of the profit pie as people think. Game companies are always trying to hook the impulse buyer, collector and new player that will buy in for small amounts.

2) The discussions that hardcore players have happen rapidly. The conversations that happened here months ago are just being had by people who are first seeing Aces. They haven't thought of them, because gaming isn't as dominant force in their lives as it may be for many here.

3) There are some who will simply enjoy and read your article because of the "Top Gun Leader" style that you wrote it in.

No matter what people think in their own little world here, I promise you that articles like this have an impact on many other groupings of players and collectors. Remember that hardcore players of games have a tendency to act like their opinions are the only ones that matter, but they are only one of many potential audiences.

This. So much time for this haha.

it doesnt seem to be anything we as the forum haven't thought of already, but its good for newbs i guess.

Yeah, one of my problems was timing. I was starting to wonder how relevant the article was. These are definitely written as introductory articles, it's just this one was more in depth than the last A-Wing article. Certainly I design lists to stir debate instead of always being super competitive. Anchorman is a good one but some of the others are designed so people on forums like this would say "I'm not keen an X but I'd probably change it to Y." When Rebel Aces were announced there was a flurry of discussion about As and Bs but that died down somewhat so this article especially serves to get people thinking and talking about As again.

Its relevant.

1) Hardcore players may not be as big of a piece of the profit pie as people think. Game companies are always trying to hook the impulse buyer, collector and new player that will buy in for small amounts.

2) The discussions that hardcore players have happen rapidly. The conversations that happened here months ago are just being had by people who are first seeing Aces. They haven't thought of them, because gaming isn't as dominant force in their lives as it may be for many here.

3) There are some who will simply enjoy and read your article because of the "Top Gun Leader" style that you wrote it in.

No matter what people think in their own little world here, I promise you that articles like this have an impact on many other groupings of players and collectors. Remember that hardcore players of games have a tendency to act like their opinions are the only ones that matter, but they are only one of many potential audiences.

Thank you. I remember turning up to a tournament after my first A-Wing article and I got chatting to a guy with an odd build. Something like Tycho without an EPT. "That's interesting," I said, meaning 'weird,' "Yes, I got the idea from the article on A-Wings that FFG just posted," he said. That made me realise the broad spectrum of players who read the articles.

I just look at the purty pictures.

They are mighty purdy....

For what its worth as an A wing fan i liked the article.

Also I'm the assistant editor of an international hobby magazine. I *love* articles written in this style and commission them all the time. (It's airsoft shooting, not wargames so regrettably I probably don't have any work for you Tusken)

what this game needs is less maths and more narrative. We play a game based around one of the richest, deepest and most exciting sci-fi universes ever created and all we do is argue about statistics.

People need articles like this to start thinking of the game in terms of character, story/narrative and drama.

When my friends and I play and i roll two evade dice against against three red hits and then have to sacrifice that evade token.. in *my head* i'm not giving up a chit.... my pilot is janking left and right in his TIE, the paintwork is seared and blistered by a laser blast that just grazes the solar arrays on his starboard wing... etc etc.

So please *do* continue to contribute in this erudite and fun style... there is enough dry maths analysis out there already

P.S. I'm writing this on a windy early afternoon in the UK with a hangover... forums are my 'downtime' so I don't exercise the same level of care in spelling, punctuation and sentence structure in my 'hobby talk' as I do in my work; so please if anyones thinking 'Gadge's magazine must be rubbish if he edits like he posts on here.... ' , rest assured i don't.

Soooo... this article actually made me take out my HWK for the first time. I ran Tycho and Jake with VI and PtL, Gemmer with PtL, all three Refitted, along with a Rebel Operative with an ion turret and Tactician. I have to say the three pilots with the extra stress and ion attacks are great at managing to take down beefier Rebel ships with relative ease. While slightly reliant on dice luck, it's a fun way to mess with most lists. Even if you focus down the HWK it's easy to start backstabbing with the three A's. It's a FUN list.

That's great. Got to say that Tactician is a weird choice on a turret ship since he only works within your firing arc (either you didn't realise that or you were flying your HWK extremely well).

Still, what you've done was exactly the point of the article - to get people to be more creative with their A-Wing builds.

Thank you.

Jan > tactician.

I have run HWKs a bunch, and always with great results, except for the one time I tries to run a Garven/Kyle build and couldn't roll a single eyeball. That one was a weak squad. But Roark is a cheap complement unit in any type of squad. He's my MVP HWK. Can't wait to see what the scum HWKs can do.