Unless an X-Wing has an engine upgrade, a Phantom should almost always know where any given X-Wing is going to end up. Wes is fantastic against nearly every type of ship out there- but not the Phantom. That's a whole other kettle of worms.

I'm not getting why one would take wes with R3A2 over anybody else with R3A2. If anybody wants the stressdroid, it's hobbie klivian, since he can clear his stress by spending a target lock (or getting one from dutch).

Wedge is cool for shooting at phantoms cause he is PS8, but so are a bunch of other things.

The idea would strictly be to deal with Phantoms. Since Wes is higher up on the Pilot Skill level the. Either named Phantoms he shoots first. If a Phantom is stressed at the time of thier attack they cannot activate the Advance Cloaking Device they so often have. So it simply means a Phantom that can't cloak is a dead Phantom!

Yes i agree, Klivian would be a much much better R3-A2 carrier, but sadly the difference is that he goes after named phantoms. He will stress it if he gets a shot but the phantom will already be cloaked by then. Next turn it can just decloak, do a green move and benefit from its ACD again.

While if you hit it with VI Luke, Wedge or Wes and R3-A2 it gets stress and cant use the recloak action from its ACD. That's actually extremely worse than getting stressed after cloaking since it's not only getting hit against 2 AGI for this whole round, it's also getting no decloak move next turn and is pretty much forced to do a green. And in that case even for a dumptruck like the X-Wing it's pretty easy to maneuver with it. which leads to more stress or mostly death by laser...

The trick for Wes is just getting that first shot... that's the very hard part!

Pairs well with Opportunist on a wingman.

That's a nice missile you got on that ship with a target lock. It'd be a shame if you couldn't fire it this turn.

Edit: Also, he's a counter to the upcoming Advanced Targeting computer

Not against the Sith Lord

One year ago at regionals I took a top 4 spot with this build:

Wes Janson w/ Veteran Instincts + R2 Astromech

Wedge Antillies w/ Opportunist + R2 Astromech

Luke Skywalker w/ Opportunist + R2-D2

This list is still very strong in the current meta, the only builds I struggeled to beat was Tie Swarm.

That's 101 points

That's a nice missile you got on that ship with a target lock. It'd be a shame if you couldn't fire it this turn.

Edit: Also, he's a counter to the upcoming Advanced Targeting computer

Not against the Sith Lord

How so? VI Wes is PS10, so he goes first (unless VI Vader becomes a thing) and you get to choose which token is removed. If you get a shot that TL is history.

I think he would be even more awesome with EU. Really pays off in a high skill pilot in a phantom hunter role

Wes + VI + R3A2 + flèchette torp is one of my favorite phantom killers. It's stunningly effective.

If your opponent does not know what to do!

You set him up on a side, the phantom will outflank you, or if you split your guys just kill anything Wes can't reach in time, or the rest of the list will have Wes killed before the Phantom goes in.

You set him up in the middle in formation, the Phantom will try and outflank or if you go for it simply avoid you, while the whole rest of the enemy list will get behind you and wreck you.

Lose/lose situations...

I have said this before but it holds very true. You get one shot on the Phantom with any X-Wing if you get lucky and outguess your opponent (and sure enough that's often all that's needed), after that, it's over.

Wes Janson is NOT a Phantom counter. The X-Wing's immobility andinsufficient defensive stats simply not allow for it. It's about 50/50 against Whisper (and much much worse against Echo), but he is utterly bad in alot of matchups while the Phantom is **** fantastic in most matchups. Then you have a ship that costs 32 points with R3-A2 and VI. If we are really honest, he probably needs Biggs to avoid just being killed in one turn too. Then we are talking about a rebel 3-ship most of the time. A Whisper with the absolutely necessary upgrades is 37 points, Echo is 35 points. I mean it's just ridiculous what those 2 can do that Wes can't for 3-5 points more.

Also if i really had no other ship at all but X-Wings at my disposal, i would still run Wedge over Wes, because his ability is at least working against anything but Decimators, and he is natural PS9 so you can save your EPT for something more useful than VI and just bid for initiative. I mean if then we shoot at a phantom he has 1 evade!

Real Phantom counters include anything that has PS8-9, has movement options beyond its mere dial, and at least 3 attacks.

Turrets also work, preferably with high PS on top. If you can get 4 attacks, that's also fine if some of the other prerequisites are fulfilled.

So for Rebels real counters that laves us at Han, Corran, Roark, Salm, Dash, Ten Nunb (but he is a bit too expensive), Jan Ors, Provided they are equipped right. I may forget a few here...

Other Turret ships and Ion weapons are also not bad to have around, but they feel like soft counters while the others are able to really wreck phantoms.

Remember Wes Jansen just has to get you into range 3. Once he has you in his sights and manages to get his abilities off, it's going to be hard for you to shake him especially when he is stressing you. Pair him up with a couple b-wings with Ion cannons and it hurts. I am also much more happy when your throwing agility, and not attack dice against my ships. If you decloaked to shoot, and he manages to get his flechette torps and his astromech abilities off, that's one dead phantom. Wedge and that combo hurts even more. cause your only rolling a single dice. even if you are cloaked you are only rolling 3 dice and my wedge has obliterated his fair share of 3 agility dice ships(even at range 3).

Plus there are a few dozen more ships, it's not just the phantoms. To me, Wes seems to excel at action synergy lists, or lists that gain additional actions off of abilities.

Phantoms are definitely much tougher to fight, but one little mistake (and we all make them) that is when your phantom gets obliterated.

People who use Recon Specialists, lose their focus weather they use one or not. Plus when somebody super dodges your shot or completely fails, your action is also taken so you, either cant use it, or you cant defend with it against my other ships. There is always having your opponent being forced to use it when he doesn't want to.

One year ago at regionals I took a top 4 spot with this build:

Wes Janson w/ Veteran Instincts + R2 Astromech

Wedge Antillies w/ Opportunist + R2 Astromech

Luke Skywalker w/ Opportunist + R2-D2

This list is still very strong in the current meta, the only builds I struggeled to beat was Tie Swarm.

That's 101 points

Yeah sorry no mech on Wes.

One year ago at regionals I took a top 4 spot with this build:

Wes Janson w/ Veteran Instincts + R2 Astromech

Wedge Antillies w/ Opportunist + R2 Astromech

Luke Skywalker w/ Opportunist + R2-D2

This list is still very strong in the current meta, the only builds I struggeled to beat was Tie Swarm.

This build appears to be 101 points! It should be strong, it's one point over!! LOL!

I would put something more useful like Predator on Luke and get it down to 100pts as well!

Keyan Farlander with opportunist might be an option.

Wes + VI + R3A2 + flèchette torp is one of my favorite phantom killers. It's stunningly effective.

If your opponent does not know what to do!

You set him up on a side, the phantom will outflank you, or if you split your guys just kill anything Wes can't reach in time, or the rest of the list will have Wes killed before the Phantom goes in.

You set him up in the middle in formation, the Phantom will try and outflank or if you go for it simply avoid you, while the whole rest of the enemy list will get behind you and wreck you.

Lose/lose situations...

I have said this before but it holds very true. You get one shot on the Phantom with any X-Wing if you get lucky and outguess your opponent (and sure enough that's often all that's needed), after that, it's over.

Wes Janson is NOT a Phantom counter. The X-Wing's immobility andinsufficient defensive stats simply not allow for it. It's about 50/50 against Whisper (and much much worse against Echo), but he is utterly bad in alot of matchups while the Phantom is **** fantastic in most matchups. Then you have a ship that costs 32 points with R3-A2 and VI. If we are really honest, he probably needs Biggs to avoid just being killed in one turn too. Then we are talking about a rebel 3-ship most of the time. A Whisper with the absolutely necessary upgrades is 37 points, Echo is 35 points. I mean it's just ridiculous what those 2 can do that Wes can't for 3-5 points more.

Also if i really had no other ship at all but X-Wings at my disposal, i would still run Wedge over Wes, because his ability is at least working against anything but Decimators, and he is natural PS9 so you can save your EPT for something more useful than VI and just bid for initiative. I mean if then we shoot at a phantom he has 1 evade!

Real Phantom counters include anything that has PS8-9, has movement options beyond its mere dial, and at least 3 attacks.

Turrets also work, preferably with high PS on top. If you can get 4 attacks, that's also fine if some of the other prerequisites are fulfilled.

So for Rebels real counters that laves us at Han, Corran, Roark, Salm, Dash, Ten Nunb (but he is a bit too expensive), Jan Ors, Provided they are equipped right. I may forget a few here...

Other Turret ships and Ion weapons are also not bad to have around, but they feel like soft counters while the others are able to really wreck phantoms.

Remember Wes Jansen just has to get you into range 3. Once he has you in his sights and manages to get his abilities off, it's going to be hard for you to shake him especially when he is stressing you. Pair him up with a couple b-wings with Ion cannons and it hurts. I am also much more happy when your throwing agility, and not attack dice against my ships. If you decloaked to shoot, and he manages to get his flechette torps and his astromech abilities off, that's one dead phantom. Wedge and that combo hurts even more. cause your only rolling a single dice. even if you are cloaked you are only rolling 3 dice and my wedge has obliterated his fair share of 3 agility dice ships(even at range 3).

Plus there are a few dozen more ships, it's not just the phantoms. To me, Wes seems to excel at action synergy lists, or lists that gain additional actions off of abilities.

Phantoms are definitely much tougher to fight, but one little mistake (and we all make them) that is when your phantom gets obliterated.

People who use Recon Specialists, lose their focus weather they use one or not. Plus when somebody super dodges your shot or completely fails, your action is also taken so you, either cant use it, or you cant defend with it against my other ships. There is always having your opponent being forced to use it when he doesn't want to.

The thing is i see X-Wings going for a phantom from miles away and i will just avoid them and lead them around like a bull on a nosering, while the rest of the list demolishes their backdoors (no pun intended... Or maybe a little XD)

That's a nice missile you got on that ship with a target lock. It'd be a shame if you couldn't fire it this turn.

Edit: Also, he's a counter to the upcoming Advanced Targeting computer

PS 11 Vader says "NO!"

I see him as an enabler for Opportunist builds and as an anti-ordnance option.

I mostly see Ewok pilot jokes in Wes. "Lieutenant, you're out of uniform! And you know, wearing an Ewok as a swimsuit is a felony on some worlds!"

Actually, I am a bit irritated that Wes costs as much as Wedge, without a pilot skill or ability that is nearly as threatening, and more than Luke, who is way more survivable. Other than that, I think he's awesome.

Tall dark and handsome