Hey all,

So the X-Wing is probably my favorite ship in Star Wars, followed by the Z-95 headhunter, but I think a lot of fancy new ships have overshadowed the X-Wing lately. I've built a list around my favorite two X-Wing pilots in this game, check it out:

http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/148085/xxzz

Airen Cracken (20)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Wedge Antilles (37)

R2-D2 (4), Opportunist (4)

Wes Janson (30)
Veteran Instincts (1)

Tala Squadron Pilot (13)

Total: 100 pts

Haven't fielded it just yet. I'm hoping that I can have Wes shoot, strip tokens off my target, followed by having Airen shoot, giving a free action to Wedge, who cleans up with Opportunist+that free action (with the idea being Wedge shooting 4 dice with a TL+focus). The Tala can be downgraded to a Bandit, for the 1pt initiative bid, but there are a lot of scary Predator cards out there lately, I think.

My fear is having Wedge focused down too fast, so I put R2-D2 on him to give him slightly more survivability. Also, I would be forced to fly in a pretty tight formation. Wedge being stressed all the time might make him pretty predictable too. What are your thoughts? Or, what lists favoring X-Wings have you been flying lately? I'd love to see em! Thanks.

I've been hung up on Luke lately, specifically Luke with VI, R3A2, and engine. With this build, he hunts phantoms, interceptors, and mobility-built falcons. He survives a lot longer than Wedge, too.

Wedge would definitely get focused down hard in this list. Not only does his pilot ability/PS level make him a beast, but the fact he has Opportunist and R2-D2 (8 extra points) means he will definitely get focus fired. Depending on the list you are facing, a strait up formation joust like you described would leave him crippled, if not destroyed with the first pass.

The last X-wing list I ran was something like:

Wedge - R2-D2, Opportunist, Shield Upgrade

Wes - R3-A2, Flechette Torpedoes, Veteran Instincts

Biggs

This isn't the most conventional, but it uses Wedge and opportunist. It protects Wedge a little bit better with Biggs and also adds a shield upgrade on there. Yes, you sacrifice the 4th ship, but now you are at 3 X's instead of 2 X's and 2 headhunters...which can give you similar firepower results.

If you don't want to add Biggs (or another X-wing), you can help wedge out a little bit by making Wes an even bigger threat. R3-A2 is a solid choice to do this...now your opponent has a decision on whether to focus on Wedge or to focus on Wes.

A third problem that could arise if this happens is that IF Wes goes down first...how much use will you get out of Opportunist? Also keep in mind you can't use it after a K-Turn, so it depends on how you want to fly your X-Wings. I'm always looking at efficiency and synergy with pilots/upgrades and how much mileage I'm going to get out of certain cards or builds. In the squad I posted I get a decent amount of mileage out of opportunist because Biggs is going to be taking hits before Wes or Wedge. Is it the best list to beat all lists? Most likely not...but I have enough synergy between my pilots to handle a few types of squads and I have enough flexibility for different tactics.

R3-A2 makes almost any X-wing not only better, but good.

Wedge is a 100.000 kiloton nuclear weapon in that build and thus is likely to go down in a single turn if your oppent can fire all his guns at him. Sadly, R2 won't help with that. I'd suggest trading in your Z's for another high powered ship or someone to draw fire away from him. Luke, Biggs or Porkins if you want to stick to X's. Keyan also fits nicely and would be in this build if i didn't restrict myself to X's or Z's.

The list I'd probably play;

Wes Janson (29)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Flechette Torpedoes (2)
R2 Astromech (1)

Wedge Antilles (29)
Opportunist (4)
R2 Astromech (1)

Luke Skywalker (28)
Opportunist (4)
R2 Astromech (1)

Wes is an awesome debugger with his normal ability plus he can stress at PS10 to disable Adv cloak (and other in-combat action shenanigans). 4 dice Wedge+Luke will almost always hit like a hammer when shooting with TL and they need to bring the pain in the first round of fire to get ahead.

@Deepspace, Id switch A3 or the flechettes for a standard R7 on biggs, It helps him surive the worst of enemy shots.

I don't personally believe X-wings have been over-shadowed by new (Wave 4 although Z-95s didn't help) stuff, but I've never been able to justify them over B-wings. I've always felt they were a little glass-cannon, having only 1 hull over the expendible head-hunters. Still, I've tried to get more use out of them (because they're just so **** classic )

Wedge is one of my favorite pilots, and I recently ran him (Predator) along with Keyan (advanced sensors) and 3 bandits to decent effect in a local tournie (3rd after tie breaker points). Ran up against a Whipser + mini-swarm that saw him get obliterated (knocking whisper down to 1 hull, first, though) because I postioned him poorly in the center of the table. It's okay, though, a Bandit took out Whisper (still lost two Academy ties to nothing, though). In the next game, I learned to use Wedge's PS to deploy him further off to the side of the enemy squad while the Bandits, backed up by Keyan, took the middle to be better able to block enemy fighters. With that tactic, it was much easier to keep him safe and keep him annhilating enemy ships.

In terms of using multiple Xs, though, the only area where I feel they have a definite advantage over other rebel options (Bs and Zs especially) is in the named high PS pilots that can use their glass cannon advantages hopefully before they're blown out of the sky. I'm not sure there's another way to run them outside of a high PS wall (faciliated by Swarm Airen, who can make even a Rookie a terrifying pilot) with Biggs support.

Not sure if this isnt common knowledge by now, but Airen (Swarm) and Biggs (R7 Astromech) is hilariously infuriating.

Currently waiting (very impatiently) for the YT-2400 so I can nab Lone Wold for Luke and actually field a durable X, for once. Probably not the best against ships with 3+ red dice, but he'll make swarms angry.

I once played a Wes/VI + Wedge/Opp + B/Opp before and it's pretty neat. Opportunist seems great in theory, and is even better in practice. I didn't realize how often people didn't have tokens until I figured out that it works when they're stressed or crashed or whatever. That really makes a difference, and since my first run, Keyan has become the perfect Opportunist because A: he gets the Opp stress before modifying dice and B: it's essentially a free pseudo focus. Forget the X/Zs, throw in good ol' Farlander.

Also, anyone looking for a cheaper X-wing could think about Tarn Mison + R7 Astro. For 25 points, he seems very decently tanky (provided your opponent doesn't get lucky twice), especially for an X. Throw in a higher profile pilot to detract attention from him, and he could also be an incredibly annoying blocker.

Airen Cracken (20)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Wedge Antilles (37)

R2-D2 (4), Opportunist (4)

Wes Janson (30)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Tala Squadron Pilot (13)

Total: 100 pts

I have been on the receiving end of that Wedge/Wes combo more times than I care to count, and I still twitch when I see it anywhere.

I'd recommend dropping R2-D2 to a standard R2 to alleviate the Stress from Opportunist. If you can squeeze the points, an Engine Upgrade might be nice for one of your X's, for a little maneuverability buff. (Just my preference, I'm addicted to the Boost action...)

I'd say put Oppotunist on Cracken, Decoy on Wedge, and Tala to Bandit. And possibly R2D2 to Wes and DTF for VI.