Trying out ideas for a tourney list composed of X Wings

By Hungariboo, in X-Wing Squad Lists

So yeah, trying to come up with a hard hitting list composed of X Wings. Yeah yeah I know they're not supposedly the best, but I love the ship and think hands down it has some of the best pilot abilities in the game.

So, my first idea was a variation of the classic Biggs, Luke, Wedge trench run list. Wedge has a good setup to keep him a threat, Luke makes a good closer, and Biggs does what Biggs does, and can steal PS from one of the others if he's in a good shot that the others don't have. Alternatively, I can switch Biggs to Porkins with PTL and R5D8 and drop the shield upgrade on Luke

Biggs: R2D6, Decoy OR Porkins PTL R5D8 (Drop shield on luke if I take this)

Luke: Lone Wolf, R2D2, Shield Upgrade

Wedge: Stay on Target, R5P9

Other idea was a more offensive list I saw a guy at my store suggest once, with Wes, Wedge and Luke

Wes: VI, R5P9

Luke: VI, R2D2

Wedge: Opportunist, R2

Idea is you strip targets with Luke and Wes and then hammer it with an opportunist Wes. Not as crazy about it, but it could have some potential.

Honestly I think the first list is better, but I'm open to suggestions. I still think the X Wing has some life in it and would like to show people they're still to be feared in a good players hands, take them to store tourneys and what not

Thanks for reading guys

Edited by Hungariboo

I Like

Wes, with VI and R2D2.

Wedge with R5P9 + Opportunist,

Garven to pass the focus to wedge, a protons to make him an early game target.

I like the idea of 3 named X-Wings. I think it can still be very potent.

R5-P9 is better on Luke from my experience, as the chance Luke will still have his Focus after Combat is much higher than with Wedge.

Here are some variants:

Wedge (Expose, R2 Astromech, Experimental Interface)

Luke (Lone Wolf, R5-P9, Shield Upgrade)

Biggs (R4-D6)

100 points

Wes (Veteran Instincts, R3-A2, Shield Upgrade)

Wedge (Opportunist, R2 Astromech)

Hobbie (Opportunist, R2-D6)

100 points

Wedge (Predator)

Luke (Lone Wolf, R5-P9, Shield Upgrade)

Biggs (R2-F2, Experimental Interface)

100 points

The "Lone Wolf, R5-P9, Shield Upgrade" Luke can be a monster in the endgame.

Edited by admat

I like the idea of 3 named X-Wings. I think it can still be very potent.

R5-P9 is better on Luke from my experience, as the chance Luke will still have his Focus after Combat is much higher than with Wedge.

The "Lone Wolf, R5-P9, Shield Upgrade" Luke can be a monster in the endgame.

The only problem with R5-P9 is that when you need to save the focus for defense you get an attack roll with mostly eyeballs, so want to spend it so you can deal some damage. Murphy's Law and all ;)

I've thought a lot about Wedge, Luke, Biggs; but its a tough list to fly successfully because bad dice can ruin your day more so than lists with higher ship counts. For that reason, I'd take predator or push the limit + R2 to mitigate bad luck on attacks at least a bit.

The 'easiest' way is to accept that you are making a team of jousters and try to maximize their damage output by keeping them on the table as long as possible:

Biggs w/ hull upgrade - 28

Wedge w/ predator + hull upgrade - 35

Luke w/ predator, R5-P9 + hull upgrade - 37

Hull upgrade is not perfect, but getting that extra 'hitpoint' increases the chances that any one of your ships lasts an extra round. Which is often another shot (and that can be all the difference with this sort of list).

This is more challenging because success is dependent on getting the approach right. Basically, you want Wedge just out of R1 from Biggs, BUT only some of your opponents should be able to shoot him (or alternatively, Biggs ends up just out of range for some enemies, but not all). Try to entice your opponent to split fire so Wedge can use R2-D2 to recover his shields (and slip into R1 of Biggs next turn).

Biggs w/ shield upgrade - 29

Wedge w/ predator + R2-D2 - 36

Luke w/ predator + R5-P9 - 34

Now, I LOVE Lone Wolf Luke, but I don't believe its the right card for this type of list. You NEED solid firepower right from the first turn of shooting and the only way to maximize it efficiently is predator. This list lives and dies by its damage output and you are in a war of attrition. You need to take down the enemy faster than they take you down. That's also why I put an upgrade on Biggs. Most people suggest don't do it because he dies first and dies fast, so don't waste points on him. But frankly, you want to buy him one extra round of life if you can - the longer he stays, the more damage your other two can deal and the more likely you can win.

Also, targeting priorities should be with an eye for what can kill Luke. You don't want a bad endgame matchup, For example, Soontir, whisper and VI Turr eat luke for breakfast - so kill them first. Fat Han/chewie can also be trouble for him - so kill them first. Corran can be problematic too - but you should only go for him early if you can make sure he has no escape route (harder if he has engine upgrade). Decimators, firesprays and most YT-2400 are not too big of a deal for him so you can save those for last, usually (but beware 4 attack dice - they kill Luke even with a regen droid).

After saying all that, though I think its easier to be successful with a 4X list:

Biggs + Wedge w/ predator (or R2 + PtL) and 2 rookies. Solid list with decent damage output. You have enough points to put R2-D2 on a rookie. Why not on Biggs or Wedge? Because they will be the first and second ships you lose (respectively). Meanwhile, a regenerating rookie in the endgame will be a tough ship for your opponent to finish off.

Luke w/ Lone Wolf, Engine & R5-P9 + 3 rookies. Here I find Lone Wolf is okay to miss out in the early part of the game because you have 12 attack dice. Once the furball commences, its not too hard to separate Luke from the rookies still alive (or lone rookie -- sometimes they die quick) so you can get the most out of him. This version loses some early game firepower but Luke is pretty solid as an endgame ship (but see above for things that still beat him and therefore must die before its just Luke in a 1v1). You can go with the 'classic' version, instead:

Luke w/ Draw their fire + R2-D2

Biggs & 2 rookies

Sorry for the wall of text, but I like talking about x-wings :)

Edited by blade_mercurial

Thanks admat! That was very insightful!

If you are open to proxying or using a card copy (since you likely may not have the expansion he comes in), Tarn Mison with R7 astromech is surprisingly strong late game for his cost of 25 points. Every time he gets targeted, he gets a free target lock. And once per round he can then spend it to force rerolls on any of the attackers dice, which if there are only a very few ships on the field can be quite powerful.

The trick with him that has made him work for me is how he messes with the opponent's target prioritization. With someone like Corran or Wedge flying around, Tarn is not the most immediately threatening target because he has no extra offensive power beyond a basic rookie pilot. The early game, though, is when he is most vulnerable, because R7 works only once per round and he has only two defense dice, and if Tarn is allowed to live to the endgame, he becomes a substantial annoyance. If they do target him early on, they are letting much more immediately deadly targets roam unhindered while they try to kill him off.

Not completely X-wings but a lethal list none the less.

Wedge

Outmanuver

R2-D2

Biggs

Experimental Interface

R2-F2

Jan Ors

Ion Cannon Turret

Lando

This list wrecks when flown right. Biggs can last multiple rounds by taking R2-F2 and a focus, While Wedge flies right beside him with Jan passing him an extra attack Die. His ability to reduce Agility combined with an extra Attack die is crazy powerful especially if Outmaneuver triggers. Jan just Ions anything that gets close.

I also think that if you're going to go all X wings, you should really try to get that 4th one in.

I would run this list:

Tarn - R7 Astro (25)

Rookie (21)

Rookie (21)

Luke - Lone Wolf, R5P9 (33)

Puts you at 100 on the dot. Luke and Tarn will be targeted first, so be sure to fly aggressively with those Rookies and get Range 1 TL+F to put the hurt on. Luke and Tarn should always use focus defensively.

Wes

VI

R5-P9

Luke

Opportunist

R2D2

Garven Dreis

Opportunist

R2-D6

Wes taggets first, the other two target the same.

Wes clears the token.

Luke and Garven finish it up.

Garven passes his focus token to Wes to activate R5-P9

Edited by Cununculus

Rookie Pilot + R7

Tarn Mison + R7

Red Squadron + R7

Biggs + R7

I've had a decent amount of success with this build, it's surprisingly playable and very fun to play. This is IMO about the best you can make a list composed entirely of X Wings, maybe you could ditch the red and get a rookie with Flechette Torpedoes, or put Dutch in there to hand off TL's for fellow X Wings.

As ship totals shrink this build gets easier to play.

I'm a fan of 3 named X-Wing Aces myself!

What do you guys think about this list:

- (10) Wes Janson + Veteran Instinct + R3-A2

- (9) Wedge Antilles + Predator + R2 Astromech

- (8) Luke Skywalker + Lone Wolf + R2-D2

Total 99 Pts.

Janson at PS-10 usually shoots first, stripping a primary target of a green token/TL and induces stress if desired.

Antilles with Predator and Talent makes sure his attack hits hard.

Skywalker mops up after Antilles and is late-game insurance with Lone Wolf and R2-D2.

Playing this list casually for several games now, 2-1 win stats and its always fun to fly and frustrating for the opponent :D

Edited by LtRico

I'm a fan of 3 named X-Wing Aces myself!

What do you guys think about this list:

- (10) Wes Janson + Veteran Instinct + R3-A2

- (9) Wedge Antilles + Predator + R2 Astromech

- (8) Luke Skywalker + Lone Wolf + R2-D2

Total 99 Pts.

Janson at PS-10 usually shoots first, stripping a primary target of a green token/TL and induces stress if desired.

Antilles with Predator and Talent makes sure his attack hits hard.

Skywalker mops up after Antilles and is late-game insurance with Lone Wolf and R2-D2.

Playing this list casually for several games now, 2-1 win stats and its always fun to fly and frustrating for the opponent :D

Looks good. If Luke is not getting much value out of lone wolf, you could always change it to predator too.

I like this version of the "Trench Run"

Wedge Antilles - Swarm Tactics / Shield Upgrade

Luke Skywalker - Draw Their Fire / R2-D2

Biggs Darklighters - R5-D8 / Shield Upgrade

100 pts. Biggs gets to shoot at PS9, but I'm not married to R5-D8 on Biggs... I think maybe R5-P9 might be better, but Biggs isn't going to have a spare focus very often, soooo... Of course, there is the classic:

Wes Janson - VI / R3-A2

Luke Skywalker - VI / R5-P9

Wedge Antilles - Predator / R2-D2

Wes shoots first, strips tokens, stresses. Luke shoots 2nd. Wedge with Predator is a monster at clean up...