A-Wings... Love them, hate them, how do you fly them ?

I've tried them as a Fighter Screen (2 squadrons) and I was very disappointed by their performance. 3 Blue Dices on the activation isn't that great and neither is an unbuffed Counter 2. Likewise, 4 hull wants them to avoid being in combat too much !

However, speed 5 and a black dice against ships is nothing to scoff at even without Bomber... and when paired with the anti-squadron abilities, A-Wings are quite a nimble and versatile platform !

How do you take advantage of their unique and speedy hull for Rebels ? What is your track record with A-wings ?

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On my part, I was thinking about using them with the "comparative advantages" philosophy. Use their speed to position them where the opponent will have trouble coming efficiently at them, and pick off weak spots in the Bomber Wings or force the opponent to get to chase the A-Wings while they bomb ships.

At first A-Wings were my least favorite squadron, now they are my favorite. Even though they are not bombers I agree that black die inflicts hits a lot and from my experience more so than the dreaded red die on the X-Wings.

I typically fly (4) A-Wings with Tycho and they can can completely shut down if not wipe out most bomber heavy squadrons. If you happen to fly against non-squadron builds their move and black die will wreak havoc on enemy ships. My (5) A-Wings have consistently locked down enemy squadrons for an entire game.

I see, thanks ! What do you think 2 A-Wings including Tycho fare in a list ? I'm not sure they're going to be enough of a force for Rebels.

I see, thanks ! What do you think 2 A-Wings including Tycho fare in a list ? I'm not sure they're going to be enough of a force for Rebels.

I think a key question is "enough of a force" to do what? Keep enemy fighters off your back for one or two turns? No problem. Expecting more than that out of them is asking a lot, especially when facing an enemy fighter-heavy list. But perhaps that's all your list needs...

I've used 2 A-wings to lure Howlballs (is that a thing?) into range so my Rebel ack-ack ships can shoot them all...

AFMrk2A's and Neb-b Escorts are murder to any 3-4 heath ship, and I have actually consitered dusting off point defense reroute and will defenatly run it next game.

I'll have one in my alphabet soup, he either hangs back and then darts out to lock down enemy Bombers at a critical point, or I commit him against the enemy's main fighter force so that the rest of my squadrons can chew on ships uninterrupted for a round.

I see, thanks ! What do you think 2 A-Wings including Tycho fare in a list ? I'm not sure they're going to be enough of a force for Rebels.

I think a key question is "enough of a force" to do what? Keep enemy fighters off your back for one or two turns? No problem. Expecting more than that out of them is asking a lot, especially when facing an enemy fighter-heavy list. But perhaps that's all your list needs...

I've used 2 A-wings to lure Howlballs (is that a thing?) into range so my Rebel ack-ack ships can shoot them all...

AFMrk2A's and Neb-b Escorts are murder to any 3-4 heath ship, and I have actually consitered dusting off point defense reroute and will defenatly run it next game.

Well, I've faced a Rhymerball with Vader, TIE Advanced, Rhymer and Bomber, managed by a Vic I with Flight Controllers, Chiraneau and Expanded Hangars. And they really made short work of the A-Wings (he was rolling hot and I was rolling terribly, I'm not sure if that helped).

I do run a Neb Escort to manage a flight of 2 Fighters, so perhaps I should lure them in. The problem is that I'm really not confident to tank a Rhymer ball on the flank of a Nebulon-B, and with Rhymer I can't just use the A-Wings to interdict the flank due to hitting at medium range :/ And unless I'm activating that ship first (which I won't because I have other ships), then I won't really be able to ensure being in range to shoot the Rhymer ball before it shoots me.

So yeah, perhaps the A-Wings aren't a good complement for my list and I need beefier ships rather than faster ships

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Escorting an AFMK2 would definitely be worth it ! the AFMK2 and use its AF Barrage with PDR to help support the A-Wings !

I think a perfect mix is the hardest to manage but the most rewarding and effective. Tycho + plus a wingman using their speed to prevent enemy squadrons form getting too aggressive. Then I like to have Wedge and a wingman for the X-WIngs better anti-squadron Dice and durability. Then if you want some antiship add some Bs to the mix and you can add them to the dogfight if nescesary or go after the carrier with Chiraneau on board.

Use A-Wings to engage and lock-down. Bring in X-WIngs to do the heavy hitting. Bs or Ys to add as needed.

Tcho 16 points

A-Wing 11

Wedge 19

X-WIng 13

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At 58 points its the bare minimum I'll set sail with.

Do you guys think it is possible for A-Wings to engage an enemy Bomber Wing by turn 1 ? Or is it not even possible ?

I've gotten good use from a wing of four A-Wings as great speed bumps. With their counter attack, they can be a good force multiplier. With only four, it's really meant to just stall enemy squadrons until the last turn or two. But it's good enough to lock down bombers or other problems. And A-Wing speed is so good you can use them (with a lack of squadrons) to target vulnerable hull zones on enemy ships.

Very easy... If their Carrier is set up right at the Front, they are set up well into the set up area by dint of being distance 2 from a ship, and then they get a Squadron Command to hit bombers which have been set up the same way...

It does rely on the enemy putting their bombers forward like that... But hey, that is possible.

Very easy... If their Carrier is set up right at the Front, they are set up well into the set up area by dint of being distance 2 from a ship, and then they get a Squadron Command to hit bombers which have been set up the same way...

It does rely on the enemy putting their bombers forward like that... But hey, that is possible.

So yeah, only if the Bombers are forward, you deploy after him in front of the carrier ship and you get the initiative.

****, these little buggers are hard to get the most ouf ot them (and sacrifing points was never of my liking )

Do you guys think it is possible for A-Wings to engage an enemy Bomber Wing by turn 1 ? Or is it not even possible ?

I'd want to measure this out to check. Place some fighters at distance 5 from the edge (3 for ship, 2 extra for squad deployment) and another at 5 from the other edge. If they're in range to engage at speed five, then yes. (Which, I realize now, they'd have to be, since range five is about a foot and the table is three feet. So... Yes)

Do you guys think it is possible for A-Wings to engage an enemy Bomber Wing by turn 1 ? Or is it not even possible ?

I'd want to measure this out to check. Place some fighters at distance 5 from the edge (3 for ship, 2 extra for squad deployment) and another at 5 from the other edge. If they're in range to engage at speed five, then yes. (Which, I realize now, they'd have to be, since range five is about a foot and the table is three feet. So... Yes)

Yeah, I measured and the enemy fighters need to be just outside of range 1 from a ship deployed at range 3 in order to get engaged.

As a rule of thumb, I guess watching the opponent place his ship at range 5, as long as he deploys in front of his ship you can engage them. But I'm not sure it's super reliable.

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So far, people seem to have had good experiences with 4 A-Wings. Do they really need numbers to make an impact or is there a small trick to make them work in smaller numbers ?

EDIT : Giving more thoughts about this, I've got a funny feeling that they *could* work in smaller numbers, but you'd need a way to ensure that they're activated before the opponent. Maybe through an initiative bid or something. Because if the opponent has the opportunity to activate his own fighters/bombers before your A-Wings, you're losing on the double tap :

1) If you plan to intercept, the fighters will probably already have moved in and you're going to lose on the counter even though the A-Wings will have regular attacks.

2) If you plan to be intercepted, they're going to lose the 3 blue dice of the regular attack.

Do you guys think it is possible for A-Wings to engage an enemy Bomber Wing by turn 1 ? Or is it not even possible ?

I'd want to measure this out to check. Place some fighters at distance 5 from the edge (3 for ship, 2 extra for squad deployment) and another at 5 from the other edge. If they're in range to engage at speed five, then yes. (Which, I realize now, they'd have to be, since range five is about a foot and the table is three feet. So... Yes)

Do you guys think it is possible for A-Wings to engage an enemy Bomber Wing by turn 1 ? Or is it not even possible ?

I'd want to measure this out to check. Place some fighters at distance 5 from the edge (3 for ship, 2 extra for squad deployment) and another at 5 from the other edge. If they're in range to engage at speed five, then yes. (Which, I realize now, they'd have to be, since range five is about a foot and the table is three feet. So... Yes)

Yeah, I measured and the enemy fighters need to be just outside of range 1 from a ship deployed at range 3 in order to get engaged.

As a rule of thumb, I guess watching the opponent place his ship at range 5, as long as he deploys in front of his ship you can engage them. But I'm not sure it's super reliable.

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So far, people seem to have had good experiences with 4 A-Wings. Do they really need numbers to make an impact or is there a small trick to make them work in smaller numbers ?

If the carrier Ship that lunched the awing Squadron had Adar Tallon Than you could get another 5 movement during the Squadron phase.

If the carrier Ship that lunched the awing Squadron had Adar Tallon Than you could get another 5 movement during the Squadron phase.

Can confirm. This annoys Rhymer balls to no end!

Also, this thread has motivated me to try out something like this:

1 • Nebulon-B Escort Frigate - Nebulon-B Frigate (57) - Salvation (7)

• Total : 64 • Code : -

2 • Nebulon-B Escort Frigate - Nebulon-B Frigate (57) - Redemption (8)

• Total : 65 • Code : -

3 • Assault Frigate Mark II B - Assault Frigate Mark II (72) - Mon Mothma (30) - Raymus Antilles (7) - Flight Controllers (6) - Advanced Projectors (6)

• Total : 121 • Code : -

4 • Tycho Celchu A-wing Squadron - A-wing (16)

• Total : 16 • Code : r12

5 • A-wing Squadron - A-wing (11)

• Total : 11 • Code : r13

6 • A-wing Squadron - A-wing (11)

• Total : 11 • Code : r13

7 • A-wing Squadron - A-wing (11)

• Total : 11 • Code : r13

8 • Objectives - Objectives (0) - Advanced Gunnery (0) - Fleet Ambush (0) - Dangerous Territory (0)

• Total : 0 • Code : -

Actually, now I'm curious to try a similar list, but voluntarily underbidding to ensure the initiative !

Maybe something like AFMK2B with Expanded Hangars, Enhanced Armaments and Gunnery Team to manage the flight of A-Wings (and shoot twice from the Broadside : once at the ships, once as an anti-fighter barrage or against 2 ships if there aren't any fighters), 2 Neb B Support Frigates with XI7 acting as little snipers, one with Salvation.

The fact that the A-Wings will be able to be activated first by activating the AFMK2 would be a pretty strong boost to ensure their survivability.

Do you guys think it is possible for A-Wings to engage an enemy Bomber Wing by turn 1 ? Or is it not even possible ?

I'd want to measure this out to check. Place some fighters at distance 5 from the edge (3 for ship, 2 extra for squad deployment) and another at 5 from the other edge. If they're in range to engage at speed five, then yes. (Which, I realize now, they'd have to be, since range five is about a foot and the table is three feet. So... Yes)

Yeah, I measured and the enemy fighters need to be just outside of range 1 from a ship deployed at range 3 in order to get engaged.

As a rule of thumb, I guess watching the opponent place his ship at range 5, as long as he deploys in front of his ship you can engage them. But I'm not sure it's super reliable.

____

So far, people seem to have had good experiences with 4 A-Wings. Do they really need numbers to make an impact or is there a small trick to make them work in smaller numbers ?

EDIT : Giving more thoughts about this, I've got a funny feeling that they *could* work in smaller numbers, but you'd need a way to ensure that they're activated before the opponent. Maybe through an initiative bid or something. Because if the opponent has the opportunity to activate his own fighters/bombers before your A-Wings, you're losing on the double tap :

1) If you plan to intercept, the fighters will probably already have moved in and you're going to lose on the counter even though the A-Wings will have regular attacks.

2) If you plan to be intercepted, they're going to lose the 3 blue dice of the regular attack.

So, from this, as long as I deploy my bombers just inside of range 4 from the board edge (1 from nearest ship) then I know they CAN'T be blitzed by a turn one squadron command from some snubfighters? These are exactly the sort of rules I like to set for myself to keep my deployment tight.

On the topic of smaller numbers of A-Wings:

It depends what you are using them for.

If the other guy has a ton of bombers or a rhymerball, the right tactic for me is usually to make sure I do NOT engage early with them. Hold them back, make them take time coming to you, and the turn they intend to commence the bombing run, then hit them with the A-wings to tarpit them. The longer you make bombers wait to attack you, the more time you have to kill the ship giving them squadron commands.

If the other guy has a ton of squadrons to kill other squadrons but no real ship attackers, I tend to play keep away with them to just save the points, or use them if balls of squadrons get close to a single ship I need to protect. If you can find an isolated ship, A-wings are also great to throw long-distance into it to bomb it.

If the other guy has no squadrons, A-wings have the range to be thrown out as an alpha strike to assist ships. I will say this benefits multiple assault frigates in particular as broadsides plus A-wings hits hard at long range. If you can maneuver such that you can activate them again next turn, great, but this is not always possible; still, with speed 5, the next turn is often "fly back into squadron range for the turn after" so you can fire them every other turn.

One of my (minor) gripes with the game is the A wings black dice anti ship. I think its a bit too good, doesn't correspond with the ships role (at least for me as a long time Xwing computer game player) and detracts from the Xwings comparative role. I think it should be a blue dice.

i think the black dice represents their speed to avoid incoming AA fire to missile strike vulnerable exposed parts of the ship like shield generators and the like, other ships like the xwing must launch their torps and break off before getting too close so may miss more, thats my theory at least

I think if you go back and rewatch the Battle of Endor scene you'll see the A wings really do more noticeable damage to ships than any other fighter type. They pop a bridge deflector shield generator and then there's the (accidental) Kamikaze into the SSD's bridge.

I think if you go back and rewatch the Battle of Endor scene you'll see the A wings really do more noticeable damage to ships than any other fighter type. They pop a bridge deflector shield generator and then there's the (accidental) Kamikaze into the SSD's bridge.

A-Wing Special Ability: "Too late!"

While attacking a ship, this squadron can suffer two damage to cause the defending ship to suffer one damage on the defending hull zone.

A-Wings make great missiles!

Why isn't Arvel a named pilot :(

The times that I have used A-Wings in this game have been a fairly positive experience. I would like to explore more list builds with them as I now have six squadrons of them