So I got sick of using Jan and X-wings, and I wanted to use interceptors...Rhymer has been in a major pain in the you know what and I want something with speed and flexibility.

Whats a good build for A-wings? A friend hates Tycho because he's hard to kill and he's cheap. Counter and a black die makes them very ideal for me.

Plus....they're easy to paint.

I have an abudundance of Assault Frigates...and Cr90s...maybe even a MC80.

Back in wave one, A-Wings were the best all-around Rebel squadron. Nowadays with Intel they can struggle when they're the only squadron you use.

The best use I've seen for A-Wings thus far is adding a few to a Jan Ors + X-Wing group. The Jan blob needs to stay relatively close together to be effective but the A-Wings can use their superior speed to engage the periphery of an enemy squadron cloud, making it difficult to impossible to Intel all of your squadrons and increasing the odds of the A-Wings getting to make use of their Counter 2.

I think, pound for pound, the A wing is the best all purpose squadron. It's got great speed, average survivability, average anti-squadron firepower and average antiship firepower, all at a GREAT price. As for how to use them, all depends on what you're trying to do. If you're looking for a minimalist squadron game, just enough to lock down a Rhymerball, you can probably get away with as few as 4, using them at key points to tie down bombers or firesprays and such. Remember, the point here is not to WIN the squadron subgame, it's to keep your opponent from maximizing his. Using 4 A wings, each at the opposite corners of a Rhymerball, should allow you to lock down at least 4 enemy squadrons.

if on the other hand, you're going for a squadron heavy list, bringing things like Yavaris or Independence, A wings should be a small part of a much bigger squadron selection. I'd probably only take 1 or 2 in this case, maybe Tycho for his ability to bounce around where he's needed most. A wings really aren't going to let you maximize your squadron game in and of themselves, becausese they are generalists.

I would use 2 or 3 of them to circle a Rhymer ball.

One A-wing pins half the ball from the left hand side but stays out of range 1 of the others in the blob. The other awing does the same but from the right. Now wherever Dengar goes to give intel it leaves half the ball including maybe Rhymer in the middle pinned by whichever A-wing is not made heavy by Dengar. Doing this with only 2 A-wings is fragile and risks the enemy just killing one and using Dengar on the other to free up the ball. So using 4 A-Wings or 2+Tycho to get a little redundancy can help.

A Rhymer ball usually includes a Tie-Adv or Darth to babysit Dengar & Rhymer. If you circle the Rhymer ball and force Dengar to engage some A-wings you then have a turn to punish the punisher (sorry) and kill it with no escort present. If the escort stays with Dengar then Kill Rhymer instead who will probably have moved away.

I've come to like them in a swarm as a replacement for the Jan ball. I pair them with H6s since they don't need as much help to shake loose. You have to support them with flight controllers to make them worthwhile I find, but I'm excited about the combination of flight controllers and Toryn Farr.

In addition to the other comments here about how to use them as interdictors, A-wings are fantastic for softening up targets right before the main thrust of the attack goes in. I use six when I run 80-30-30, and they serve 3 major purposes in that list:

They provide good squadron cover against even heavy bomber lists... just don't expect them to win a pitched fighter battle.

Softening up the target that's about to die, just before the MC30's zoom in for the kill.

A very strong Superior Positions threat, giving the list a strong blue objective. I think A-wings are the very best Superior Positions asset, due to their combination of cost-efficiency, speed, and reliable damage-dealing.

What's the best size...I'm thinking of 6 Plus Tycho

What's the best size...I'm thinking of 6 Plus Tycho

For what? Locking up Rhymerball? I think 4 should mostly get the job done.

If you are going to play Superior Positions, though, you're going to need a carrier to command them. Getting the A Wings into the furball and leaving them there doesn't require too much command, nor does letting them draft a fattie like Vic or ISD. However, if you want to reliably punch the pooper, you're going to need to give them orders. So whatever you take in # of A wings, be sure you have a ship to boss them around.

What's the best size...I'm thinking of 6 Plus Tycho

For what? Locking up Rhymerball? I think 4 should mostly get the job done.

If you are going to play Superior Positions, though, you're going to need a carrier to command them. Getting the A Wings into the furball and leaving them there doesn't require too much command, nor does letting them draft a fattie like Vic or ISD. However, if you want to reliably punch the pooper, you're going to need to give them orders. So whatever you take in # of A wings, be sure you have a ship to boss them around.

I agree with this. A-wings without commands aren't really that great. They will get mopped up by commanded squadrons quite quickly. That MIGHT be what you want in certain fleets. These would be TIEs dressed like A-wings

With squad commands they are fantastic. That range 5 is so nice! And the black die so consistent.

(One thing a lot of folks will tell you is that the A-Wing has magical powers when is comes to counter. So many times they will roll two accuracies or two Crits. I have no idea how they do that.)

I'm surprised you don't see more A-Wings in minimalist or heavy AS builds. Combined with a Rieekan Aces list, they could be REALLY irritating. Since Wedge and Dutch like to go last anyway, and can suck up the fire of letting the enemy alpha strike, having a few A-Wings fly out in advance to tie down a key squadron or two could completely throw your opponent off their game. For example, a typical Imperial Aces list has Soontir and Mauler. So if you fly your two A-Wings, one to pin Soontir and the other Mauler, you're denying your opponent both of their abilities once the blue dice start flying in the squadron scrum. They can use Dengar to free up one or the other (possibly both depending on where Soontir and Mauler are), but even then your opponent loses Dengar's Counter buff for a turn, and either has to keep Dengar's Escort back or leave him open to getting destroyed.

Man. . .I never through about how much of a pain those little buggers could be. And that would be a 22pt upgrade to your fleet. "A-Wing Screen. Sacrifice two A-Wing squadrons to make your opponent hate their life."

A few more notes:

1. How many you want depends on the rest of your fleet. More if you are slow or you took superior positions. Less if you are fast or have a lot of AA firepower you intend to use off ships.
2. Be patient. A-Wings often have the ability to pick their fights due to speed 5. They out-range everything other than TIE interceptors and other A-Wings (and IG-88). If you are using them to defend yourself, you should make sure you get the maximum bang for the buck, which is often not rushing out to fight right away.
3. They are a great alpha strike to hit ships. Often opponents with superior firepower are thinking of how to engage your squadrons, not thinking that you can jump behind / to the side and hit their ships. Four plus A-Wings to the hull zone you are about to drill with a high powered ship can make a huge difference, so you also need to be able to position them to give you options.
4. Tycho. If you have the points, always.

fighters should come in packs of 8 to 10

Be patient. A-Wings often have the ability to pick their fights due to speed 5. They out-range everything other than TIE interceptors and other A-Wings (and IG-88). If you are using them to defend yourself, you should make sure you get the maximum bang for the buck, which is often not rushing out to fight right away.

QFT. This is the best articulation on how to use A-wings in squadron combat that I've seen.

I don't bother with them cause ya know the imps have a piece that shuts them and Jan down, while also being the best AS squadron in the game

A-wings let you get economy of mass on demand: whatever you're fighting, you can have more of your dudes fight less of theirs, at least initially.

The counter on a-wings lets them operate "sort of okay" sans squadron commands in a pinch, which is another big plus.

I still think Rebs can run great with alphabet soup: that is, a mix of everything, and utilizing each stand as the situation unfolds. A's to engage/create problems, x's for the kill, y's as land mines, b's as closers, etc.

I don't bother with them cause ya know the imps have a piece that shuts them and Jan down, while also being the best AS squadron in the game

Wait... I'm really not sure what you're talking about here, because the "best" anti-squadron fighter is so extremely situational, and certainly doesn't belong to one squadron hands-down always. And there's definitely no magic squadron out there that "shuts down" either well-flown A-wings or Jan...

yeah his name is ig 88 and he shuts down Jan and a wings. But I should charity him as the most cost effective well rounded AS cause your right the best can be situational. Although I do think in most cases it is ig. I understand the general community is against him for some reason

In what sense does IG88 "shut down" A-wings? You mean their counter? Vanilla counter is trivial in the pitched anti-squadron fight, especially once per round.

As for Jan, IG88 isn't going to one-shot anything with any degree of reliability, and one scatter isn't going to save his 21-point ass from the immediate counterattack. Sure you can use Advanceds to try and keep him alive, and Dengar to release him to go chase Jan to try for a second shot, and Mauler to increase your kill chances... but then you're talking about not one dude but a whole squadron build and tactics.

In what sense does IG88 "shut down" A-wings? You mean their counter? Vanilla counter is trivial in the pitched anti-squadron fight, especially once per round.

As for Jan, IG88 isn't going to one-shot anything with any degree of reliability, and one scatter isn't going to save his 21-point ass from the immediate counterattack. Sure you can use Advanceds to try and keep him alive, and Dengar to release him to go chase Jan to try for a second shot, and Mauler to increase your kill chances... but then you're talking about not one dude but a whole squadron build and tactics.

Request to maybe tone down the harshness of the response a bit?

IG-88 is pretty good against Jan and A-Wings for what it's worth. He can attack Jan directly without fear of Escort X-Wings and he ignores both her Counter and the A-Wing Counter. Both Jan and A-Wings don't roll too many blue dice and so he's got good odds of taking minimal damage and facing attacks without an Accuracy to lock down his Scatter. All on his own it's obviously still a death trap, but with some supporting squadrons going in there with him, he's pretty strong.

I've used them before. You need 6.

However for most things I've been preferring some mix with Jan.

I've been really weighing the difference between using A-Wings vs YT-2400s. 3 A-Wings and 2 2400s have pretty much the same cost and similar capabilities. The A-wings are probably better, but Rogue is just really useful.

In what sense does IG88 "shut down" A-wings? You mean their counter? Vanilla counter is trivial in the pitched anti-squadron fight, especially once per round.

As for Jan, IG88 isn't going to one-shot anything with any degree of reliability, and one scatter isn't going to save his 21-point ass from the immediate counterattack. Sure you can use Advanceds to try and keep him alive, and Dengar to release him to go chase Jan to try for a second shot, and Mauler to increase your kill chances... but then you're talking about not one dude but a whole squadron build and tactics.

Request to maybe tone down the harshness of the response a bit?

Thanks, Snip.

My apologies, Tirion, didn't at all mean to be combative, but on rereading it definitely comes across that way.

I've been really weighing the difference between using A-Wings vs YT-2400s. 3 A-Wings and 2 2400s have pretty much the same cost and similar capabilities. The A-wings are probably better, but Rogue is just really useful.

Once you are running that light of a fighter screen numbers mean more than rogue since actual numbers of models create more effective CAP. Positioning your fighter screen is much more important than your ability to attack.

I guess I could have been clearer.

I wouldn't run that light of a screen. It's just when selecting squadrons I have to weight between 3x A-Wings or 2 2400s as a part of my total force.

I guess I could have been clearer.

I wouldn't run that light of a screen. It's just when selecting squadrons I have to weight between 3x A-Wings or 2 2400s as a part of my total force.

My bad. I run light fighter screens, which can and do work, so I was coming from that standpoint. In your case if you are running a decent amount of other things I'd go the YT2400. They require less support have more health, and bring more firepower to the table. Flotillas will probably change that up completely.