It seems like the trade-off of extra maneuverability and survive-ability is worth losing a ship over the 7 tie swarms. You have 10 points leftover to up one to an Ace or throw on some p-rockets, which seems like a nice deal.

Also why do Zs generally seem to be preferred to As as blockers and fillers for squads?

It seems like the three points would be worth the giant upgrade on the dial, the boost action, plus what amounts to the 3 point stealth device.

Swarms havnt been popular in a while (very difficult to play)

Ties and Zs are more efficient ito stats per points paid. +3 points != 1 agi over z95

A is by far the superior lone blocker due to dial + boost and made 2nd place in worlds by carrying corran + poet with his blocks. It's a great and oft underestimated little ship.

Heaver just seems to love Zs, for whatever reason. Easier to fit with turrets, I guess

Might just be your meta. A-wings are loved by many and often used as blockers. Zs, in my area, tend to by used as cheap missile carriers.

I have a friend than enjoys flying all A-wing or A-wing Aces and Craken lists.

Alex Davy won a Store Championship with a 6 A-Wing list last year.

I don't know that I've ever played against anyone that was running a Rebel Z-95 swarm that wasn't packing ordnance.

If I'm just putting one or two ships in as filler, I'll take the A-Wing over the Z-95 as long as I can swing the points.

Double and triple ace lists give them fits. Otherwise they are actually really good.

The answer is simple for getting a blocker. It is easier to free up 12 points than 15. But everyone will agree that the A-wing is by far the superior blocker.

Look at the current world champion list. Try and cut an extra 3 points out of that list...its very hard to justify.

For swarms its literally bang for buck. you want the cheapest option that gives you the most stats. This roughly translates into get as much red dice as possible.

Myself and another player at our local X-Wing club use six A-Wing swarms to great effect. For me they are more fun to fly than TIE swarms and new opponents always underestimate them badly.

I don't play Rebels a lot so take this with a grain of salt. Here is my take. 2 Attack is pretty weak and the Rebels have a wealth of cheap 3 Attack or turret options that Imperials just don't have access to. Rebels can take B-Wings, turret Y-Wings, X-Wings and other more hard-hitting ships for only a few points more. Also, Rebels don't have a force multiplier like Howlrunner to let swarms of 2 Attack ships pack more punch.

If you want a cheap blocker that you don't care whether it lives or dies, a Z is just plain cheaper.

1.) Not many people have 6 A-Wings.

2.) 6 of them isn't that good. 2 Attack dice ships are obsolete without Crackshot/Juke/Accuracy Corrector. You'd just be better off with 8 Z's or 8 TIEs. When you have 8 2 attack dice ships they're no longer obsolete as long as you spam block things with them because you have 8. But just 6? Eh.

Well, now that I've read the other responses to the thread, hmm. You guys have had success with 6x A-Wing? I've flown it once or twice and it was awful. How did you set them up, what was your exact loadout, etc. I do love me some swarms.

A prototype A-wing with refit is good value at 15 points. Two of them for 30 is potentially less value in terms of what else you can pick up for 30 points (a decked out Jake Farrel, a TLT Warden. Heck, even Wedge with an R2 and IA). With Zs, 12 points is decent for a Bandit, but a pair of them for 24 points is still good value. It's only competition for that exact value is an FCS B-wing or a TLT Y-wing, and even then, the choice is more down to the flavour of the rest of your list.

Their value as cheap ships has diminishing returns as you take more, unless you have a really well thought out plan (and a fair bit of practice) on how to use them. Nothing's impossible, but there are just better options than swarm As.

With that said, I love throwing one or two green squadron into builds. Gemmer Sojan has recently become the hero of a few games, too.

5 awings (3 protos + a greenie + a procket ace) is also a ton of fun

Don't think it'd survive the world of palp shuttle and stresshog without vi Tycho, though, and that means no brolls

It seems like the trade-off of extra maneuverability and survive-ability is worth losing a ship over the 7 tie swarms. You have 10 points leftover to up one to an Ace or throw on some p-rockets, which seems like a nice deal.

Also why do Zs generally seem to be preferred to As as blockers and fillers for squads?

It seems like the three points would be worth the giant upgrade on the dial, the boost action, plus what amounts to the 3 point stealth device.

A prototype A-wing with refit is good value at 15 points. Two of them for 30 is potentially less value in terms of what else you can pick up for 30 points (a decked out Jake Farrel, a TLT Warden. Heck, even Wedge with an R2 and IA). With Zs, 12 points is decent for a Bandit, but a pair of them for 24 points is still good value. It's only competition for that exact value is an FCS B-wing or a TLT Y-wing, and even then, the choice is more down to the flavour of the rest of your list.

Their value as cheap ships has diminishing returns as you take more, unless you have a really well thought out plan (and a fair bit of practice) on how to use them. Nothing's impossible, but there are just better options than swarm As.

With that said, I love throwing one or two green squadron into builds. Gemmer Sojan has recently become the hero of a few games, too.

Please recount the details of your Gemmer Sojan conquests, I am very intrigued.

There are a few decent options for A-Wing Swarms, but none of them are as spammy as TIE Swarms.

The trick is to use their upgrade slots effectively, and aim for 5.

5x Prototypes with Proton Rockets is technically a swarm, and is hellacious.

5x Green Squadrons with Chardaan, Juke, and a 1 point Elite Talent of your choice (like, say, Crackshot) is bleeding insane.

5x Green Squadrons with Chardaan, Juke, and a 1 point Elite Talent of your choice (like, say, Crackshot) is bleeding insane.

If I could afford this, I would run it forever.

5x Green Squadrons with Chardaan, Juke, and a 1 point Elite Talent of your choice (like, say, Crackshot) is bleeding insane.

If I could afford this, I would run it forever.

Fake it 'til you can make it (aka Proxy)

Swarms need ace counters. A-Wings don't really have that. TIEs can take Crackshot, but you're looking at 18 points to have it on an A-Wing, which knocks you down to five max.

5x Green Squadrons with Chardaan, Juke, and a 1 point Elite Talent of your choice (like, say, Crackshot) is bleeding insane.

If I could afford this, I would run it forever.

Fake it 'til you can make it (aka Proxy)

Ya can't proxy three A-Wings there, good sir

Skill demand. The most popular lists aren't the most powerful, they're the best tradeoff between ease of use and power because A: easier use means more players can get good mileage out of them and B: the really good players don't need to copy lists because they know the game well enough to craft their own far better suited to their playstyle. A squad with all the tools that needs an amazing player at the helm just doesn't manage the same popularity. Look at Paul Heaver's Worlds list: it's good but it hasn't taken off as the New Fat Han.

I fly a lot of Z swarms. I used to fly a lot of A swarms, but stopped for three reasons.

1). I consistently win tournements with Z swarms, and consistently lose with A's It probably had a lot to do with how I fly them, as I do not do well with tie swarms either, but the results with the Z's are decisive.

2). Cost. 12 points for a Z versus 15 for an A does not sound like much when you get a better dial and an extra green die, but it adds up when you have 5 or 6 of them. I always have a support ship of some type (hawk, K-wing, something) which helps make the swarm more effective, and that extra 8-12 points costs you a ship. The number of ships in your swarm does matter.

3). 1-speed maneuvers. The 1-turn is great for single ships, but for swarms, blocking, in a field of rocks, 1-straight and 1-bank are king. Only the Z's have it.

Well, now that I've read the other responses to the thread, hmm. You guys have had success with 6x A-Wing? I've flown it once or twice and it was awful. How did you set them up, what was your exact loadout, etc. I do love me some swarms.

My latest set-up is:

Green Squadron Pilot (19)

Crack Shot (1)

Chardaan Refit (-2)

Autothrusters (2)

Green Squadron Pilot (19)

Crack Shot (1)

Chardaan Refit (-2)

Autothrusters (2)

Prototype Pilot (17)

Chardaan Refit (-2)

Prototype Pilot (17)

Chardaan Refit (-2)

Prototype Pilot (17)

Chardaan Refit (-2)

Prototype Pilot (17)

Chardaan Refit (-2)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

I've had the greens with PtL and no autothrusters or calculation and autothrusters too. I run them in pairs trying to keep the pairs in a loose formation. Protos go in fast, greens hang back then push in when the blocks are set. A-Wings can fight close up or disengage and reset to strafe as the opposition demands. They really are nippy little things.

I love me my A wings. I spent an entire year using a 15 point prototype as filler (even though I could have afforded a Z w/ concussions/clusters/IPMs). And to be fair - I've never run the 6 A swarm before.

But in general, I feel like the power of the A wing right now is its flexibility. For 20 points, you have a Green w/ PTL and an empty EPT. Prior to wave 7 though, there wasn't much worth putting in the second EPT - Outmaneuver and predator were the two best options, but predator isn't that powerful on a two dice 2 action ship, and outmaneuver never really took off. Now you can put Juke or Crackshot in there, and for 22/21 points, you have a deadly ship that can be be flown in multiples, is difficult to kill, and really isn't a huge loss when it dies.

But due to its 21-22 point cost, you can only fit 4 in a squad, but that leaves you only enough points for a Z95, so realistically you can only fit 3 (or two, or one) in a squad. And three is hardly a "spam" of A wings.

A wings are precision strike craft and because of that don't spam very well. Or at least that's my opinion. But short of a brief hiatus during Wave 4, I almost always have an A wing on the table, so I might be a bit biased in my opinion.

Because it works so well for Phoenix Squadron..

Lots of claims about the metagame being bandied about here that aren't really meshing with list juggler results, like TIEs swarms not doing well and Paul Heavers Worlds list not being copied by a ton of people.

I guess everyone is kind of enjoying their own little private x-wing reality

Well, I think we actually do all enjoy X-wing for the most part in our local bubbles, each of which has its own group think or meta. I have never seen an awing swarm on the table, but sounds like in other places it sees some play. the Xwing "meta" is really a bunch of separate communities with some overlap and crossover (Like large tourneys and worlds)