I thought I'd bring up some interesting theorycrafting and thought processes I have in particular to 3 kinds of A-Wing Swarms, and as a general rule of thumb, all A-Wings in discussion are equipped with the Chardaan Refit:
1. 4 Prototypes + 2 Green Squadrons w/PtL
2. 5 Greens with PtL
3. 4 Greens with PtL, Predator and Autothrusters
1. The first list offers the most ships and the most red dice while still not insta-losing all of the PS bid with two Greens accompanying them. I think this list has the firepower to bring down Swarms, the maneuverability to tackle Phantoms and the agility to outlast Turrets. The Protos are also capable of moving and taking actions prior to most other ships, so setting them up to block movement in order to deny actions, prevent decloaking, or traffic jamming a Swarm becomes and extremely valuable tactic. In the meantime, your more elite and dangerous Greens can flank and try to sweep up the messes created by Protos.
However, I feel like the downfall to this list would be having so many low-pilot skill ships. The Protos will be shot at by the lowest chosen options in other rebel lists, such as Blue Squadron B-Wing, Rookie X's, and Bandit Z's. Although a skilled pilot will be able to outmaneuver an opponent with an A-Wing dial, this requires the player to be aware of the thin margin for error in the planning and activation phase. Then, that player will also have to worry about surviving volleys from enemy ships before the Potos even get their shot back.
Is it worth it? Forsaking the PS bid for more ships on the table, to me, sounds like a high-risk, high-reward. However, the odds are against you: At 100 points, you'll be losing the initiative to a 7-TIE Howlrunner Swarm, Han's Bandit-fodder will be shooting at you before you shoot them, and the amount of firepower Rookies and Blues have against an A-Wing will shred Protos without giving them a chance. I don't think so.
2. The next list is one ship short of the previous list, but it offers 5 PS3, PtL A-Wings. The list has much less bite, but when every ship has PtL their mobility, survivability and lethality are greatly increased. Being able to double-action each turn and having 8 green maneuvers make you extremely unpredictable. Arc dodging and evading, focusing and TL'ing, boosting and TL'ing for later, the possibilities are insane. Also, you wont be losing out On shots against the chaff and backbones of other lists when you have 5 PS3 ships. It's like having 5 wasps to dart around the table to sting your opponents.
But I feel that it is the stinging that is the downfall of the list. With only 10 red dice across the board, you'll have to focus down targets or manipulate the force around your opponents' green dice for you to actually kill something. Not to mention, bringing down a B-Wing, let alone a Fat Han or Decimator, is a colossal task for 5 A-Wings. My fear is that losing an A-Wing while flying this list isn't too bad, but once you're down to 6 red dice, your efforts are pretty much fruitless at bringing down any other ship with 2+ agility.
Of course, with proper flying and spacial awareness, you are likely to be in range one a lot of the time to saturate your red dice, but that is terribly risky and foolish to bank your entire strategy on those kind of shenanigans. Your margin of error is slightly larger than the previous list because of PS and PtL, but it comes at the cost of firepower and body count.
3. I know I was complaining about the lack of firepower the last list brings to the table, and you're probably thinking "how could this be any better?", but hear me out. Cutting a PtL-GSP from the previous squadron in order to equip the rest of the team with Predator and Autothrusters brings a whole new game to the table. You now have 4 PS3, double EPT ships equipped with Autothrusters. Now, I don't know the MathWing behind it all, but having 4 hyper-mobile, double actioning ships with passive abilities from Predator and Autothrusters make them more efficient, lethal and survivable than they could ever be.
Having Predator on you is like having a mini-TL or built-in Howlrunner effect on each of your ships. This does two things for your A's: Makes your offensive capabilities more consistent and improves your action economy since you won't have to TL to reroll, saving your focus tokens for defense or allowing you to capitalize on them in an attack. Autothrusters improves your survivability against turreted buffoons or range 3 pot shots, also making your action economy more consistent. It gives the ship a pseudo-evade action built in against turrets, which will no doubt still be popular when wave 6 drops.
Now that your A's are even more lethal and harder to kill, I must ask, is there enough firepower? My answer is still 'no', however, the trade-off in comparison to the prior lists brings me to favor this one. Even at 8 dice, having four, nearly unkillable ships with built-in Howlrunner effects and PtL is a force to be reckoned with.
The con every list suffers is running a full 100 point list and overall low PS, forfeiting initiative. But whether or not that is a bad thing is up to the player and their strategy to decide. I'm not entirely sure if 4 Elite Green Squadron Pilots is where it's at for the upcoming meta, but personally I am confident that these lists are good enough to fight their way into several top 8s in several events.
What do you think?
Edited by SpikeSpiegel
