Another A wing story :-)

By Mcpolle, in X-Wing Battle Reports

Hi guys,

Have been following Green Dragon and his 5 A wings, but my list is slightly different, so instead of cluttering up his thread, thought I would start my own, so we can both follow each others, and give input on the others list, please feel free to join in.

I have eagerly awaiting the Resistance, and very happy I was when it landed, I had played some Poe in V1, and was wondering how he would end in V2. Happily for me, my favourite ship i V1, Kylo has turned out to be a no go for me, too expensive, and have never much liked the First order stuff, apart from him.

So unpacked my resistance stuff, and put Poe on the table striaght away, with a couple of A wings, to see how that went. Lost all three games, and easily,,,,hmmmmm, Well must try Poe and something else, so tried with Jess, and an A wing, again no luck.

So finnaly decided on L'ulo, Tallie, a recruit and Jess. It started to get better, and now finnaly has progressed to this.

Temmin Wexley, Heroic, s-folis

4* GSE. Crack and Trick shot,

This was my first thoughts, that they did not need Heroic, what a mistake to make, I have heard the podcasts, and the theory to how many times you need to roll to hit three blanks, well i can tell you, I can manage it two times in a row, in one game,

Took this list last Saturday to a sort of local (1 hour drive) tourney, with 12 players, and the lovely thing was( extended) not one single double list anywhere in sight, 12 different players, 12 different lists.

I played my first game against, three Interceptors, with Turr, and two I4 pilots( do not know their names) and two bombers with barrage rockets, Well ,I got my **** handed to me, it was close to start with, but lost out to some unheroic dice:-(

My second game was vs, Ghost, Wedge and cannot remember the lae last ship, this went much better, and won quite comfortably, half way thru this game, we found out the guy i had lost to, was using the wrong dials for the Bombers, which was a bummer for him, and he dropped, because did not have the right dials to change to, and I got our game reversed, so was now 2-0, Not how i wanted the win, but thems the rules,

Game 3, was against a guy I have played just the week before, with about 4 games, and he beat me every one, (was practicing different A wing lists with him), so we got this on at the tourney, was feeling much better about my list now, and he played,

Wulfaroo, Jan Ors, Dutch and a bandit, a lot of potential firepower, which I had learnt the week before, so approached this game very differently, I came at him from both sides and up the middle with Temmin, this game went again very well for me, took Dutch off the board the second round of engangement, and followed up from there. another win and now 3-0 (kinda)

Last game, was against First order, Quickdraw, Backdraft and Tavson in his Upsilom, thankfully I remebered Quickdraw from V1, and backdraught, so, I decided to split my forces, and come in on the side of the Upsilon, and ignore Quickdraw all game, never took a shot at hima ll game, Took backdraught out quite quickly, Crack shot and that rear arc, works wonders. In the last round I finally got the Upsilon as well, leaving QD totally unharmed, in his nice looking Tie 🙂

So went 4-0(kinda) and took home so swag.

Thoughts of the day, id Heroic needed to be in the list, as I blanked out on too many occassions, I liked Temmin, ad played Jessika before, but she felt too restrictive for me, I like that Temmin can roll around on his own, and adds three red dice to the pool.

After the last weekend, was out at our local store playing in our league tonight, had 2 games to play, so thought i would play the same list again, but exchange Trick shot for Heroic, so the list looks like this.

Temmin Heroic S-foils

4 GSE, heroic and crack shot.

I played against my good friend who was a bit out of practice, he had an idea a while ago to play, with a Lamda withKrennic and Darth, 2 Scimitars, with proton torps, and Zertik Strom, who I remeber as being a pain in the butt.

But... He got in a bit of a pickle with his activations, was getting very frustrated at the little bites that kept coming from all over, and was bumping, because he had his ships in the wrong places, and could not get them free. So this was a good win for the Resistance,

Crack worked well here, and Heroic, so it seemed the right choice.

Game 2, was against another good buddy, who beat me at our last bigger tourney, with 5 Bombers, including Jonas, with barrage rockets and 4 proton bombs.

Well, he was saving this list for me, as it went so well last time, he thought it would work again....

It started well for him, he was keeping them all close together, we were working for position, and at one point, i guessed he would turn the formation one way, and he went the other, resulting in a dead A wing, facing 15 dice with re rolls and focus ,not great surprise, but there it all changed, after this, I had thought he would not turn that way, because it would put him i na bad place for the rest of the game, and it went exactly like that, I could get around him, and on his sides, he tried to drop bombs, the first time I dodged them, and the second time he ended up giving himself more damage than me, at this point he had almost given up, with 3 Awings and a T70, buzzing around ,which he could not get a bead on, he gave up, so another win.

I am very happy with the list, it plays differently every game, and I am learnig with every game, I am very happy with heroic, and yes, Ihave read Phil GC, but, saying that it works for me, to have in the back of my mind, trick shot I found was getting me in bad situations trying to get it to work. So the list is staying the same for a while, as I am enjoying it, and like it 🙂

Hope you enjoy the read, am not used to writing so much, but will try and update with different games, and see if i can get some pictures for next, and find out how to add them.

Love these threads. Looking forward to getting my As #4 and 5.

What is Phil GC?

14 minutes ago, arctic_rogue said:

Love these threads. Looking forward to getting my As #4 and 5.

What is Phil GC?

Phil GC is an X-Wing blogger in Britain - Such An X-Wing Hipster. Solid writer, solid player.

And I am definitely enjoying these threads, too. Although I am more interested in A-Wings escorting Bombers. Which hasn't been going as well for me as for these two guys swarming up, ha ha.

Ahhhh. I've read the blog... It's fantastic. Thanks!

Thanks for the write up. I have some (or lots of) comments and questions:

11 hours ago, Mcpolle said:

ignore Quickdraw all game

That was definitely the way to handle Quickdraw, and I think it still is. Just as a note: if QD used the double shot (front+rear) you are good to go nuts! Only one bonus attack, and that was then already used. I wasn't aware myself when I last played against QD. There's also an argument to be made that QD has not much of a bite anymore, which I'd agree with. Those two shots are not both double modified. The "best" case is to have focus+FCS on the first, and TL+Fanatical on the second shot - but then she's out of shields. I have to think about it, but for now I'm also ignoring QD all game.

11 hours ago, Mcpolle said:

Crack shot and that rear arc, works wonders.

You don't mean at the same time, right? ^^ Just to make sure

11 hours ago, Mcpolle said:

Wulfaroo, Jan Ors, Dutch and a bandit

So you started with Dutch? And the next target was? I think Dutch or Jan are good first targets. Wulf withouth damage and without Jan and without locks from Dutch loses a lot of offense, so he can be ignored until the others are gone.

11 hours ago, Mcpolle said:

vs, Ghost, Wedge

Who did you go for here? The Ghost is a juicy target with 0 agility. But you have 11 dice, so two turns are in principle possible.

11 hours ago, Mcpolle said:

with 3 Awings and a T70, buzzing around

That sounds like you were arc dodging a lot? Nice!

On 1/8/2019 at 10:07 AM, GreenDragoon said:

Thanks for the write up. I have some (or lots of) comments and questions:

That was definitely the way to handle Quickdraw, and I think it still is. Just as a note: if QD used the double shot (front+rear) you are good to go nuts! Only one bonus attack, and that was then already used. I wasn't aware myself when I last played against QD. There's also an argument to be made that QD has not much of a bite anymore, which I'd agree with. Those two shots are not both double modified. The "best" case is to have focus+FCS on the first, and TL+Fanatical on the second shot - but then she's out of shields. I have to think about it, but for now I'm also ignoring QD all game.

You don't mean at the same time, right? ^^ Just to make sure

So you started with Dutch? And the next target was? I think Dutch or Jan are good first targets. Wulf withouth damage and without Jan and without locks from Dutch loses a lot of offense, so he can be ignored until the others are gone.

Who did you go for here? The Ghost is a juicy target with 0 agility. But you have 11 dice, so two turns are in principle possible.

That sounds like you were arc dodging a lot? Nice!

How did you make so many different quotes on my post, wanted to answer your questions, but was not sure what you did there

45 minutes ago, Mcpolle said:

How did you make so many different quotes on my post, wanted to answer your questions, but was not sure what you did there

Just mark individual sentences. A button will appear to quote just that.

22 hours ago, Mcpolle said:

How did you make so many different quotes on my post, wanted to answer your questions, but was not sure what you did there

Ahh, I sse thx for that

On 1/8/2019 at 10:07 AM, GreenDragoon said:

Just as a note: if QD used the double shot (front+rear) you are good to go nuts! Only one bonus attack, and that was then already used. I wasn't aware myself when I last played against QD.

This I was not aware of, thx for that little titbit 🙂

On 1/8/2019 at 10:07 AM, GreenDragoon said:

You don't mean at the same time, right? ^^ Just to make sure 

Nope, you are correct.

On 1/8/2019 at 10:07 AM, GreenDragoon said:

Wulfaroo, Jan Ors, Dutch and a bandit

Dutch first. then jan, and or the Bandit, if they get a good shot in.

On 1/8/2019 at 10:07 AM, GreenDragoon said:

Who did you go for here? The Ghost is a juicy target with 0 agility. But you have 11 dice, so two turns are in principle possible.

Started on Ghost, then Wedge came, in and he got totally smashed in one round, then back onto Ghost 🙂

On 1/8/2019 at 10:07 AM, GreenDragoon said:

That sounds like you were arc dodging a lot? Nice! 

I was for sure, and the more I play it, the more fun it seems.

Polle

Finally got around to taking the A -wings out for another spin, but after hearing the Mynock sqd podcast, and what Kevin was saying about Poe, I thought I would give him a spin, (with his build, with BB8 and HLC) with L'ulo and Tallie, both with Heroic and Trick shot, and Zari, also with the same,

Poe, Tallie, L'ulo and Zari, with a 5 point bid, playing against Inferno sqn, 6 Tie fighters, with Howlrunner at the fore, bringing the Tie pain, have no idea of their names, was hard enough during the game to keep track of their abilities, but still all the same good game was had,

Inferno sqd started out all down one side of the board, and advanced, I started Tallie in the middle, with Zari almost out to the same side as Infernal sqn, and L'ulo and Poe on the opposing sides, getting ready for a long swoop in behind. Started out well, and all was going to plan, baited with Zari and Tallie, trying to make him split the swarm, around the bottom right asteroid at 2*2, which also went well, but my swooping Poe, did not swoop as I thought, because I had come in and stressed him, not thining that I could not BB8 next turn( need to play him some more to get that ) so instead of BB8, coming round the rock at the back of the swarm, nooo. I go stright ahead onto the rock, oops.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, it turned very much into a turning and knife fighting game, but I always felt I had the edge, because of my rear arc, it helped a lot, I downed Howl runner, and another I4 pilot, and half on another, to my only loss of Tallie, dice were pretty equal on both sides, both were hot and cold.

My thoughts on this game compaired to my others, with Temmin and 4 Greens , is hmmmmmmm, well I need to play some more, it was nice moving last, and being able to react on the fly, so to speak, but I felt I got not much at all out of Poe, so need to play him some more, to see if he is better, or the generics more suit my style, not sure I missed the 5th ship, that I have had before, was impressed with Zari, for only 1 more point than a GSE, well worth the extra point investment.

So have had some more games with my A wings.

My first game was with 5 A wings, with L'ulo, Tallie, Zari, and 2 GSE. played this against vs Braylann, Ten, and 2 Uwings, this is befroe the points change, but to say it short, this was fun, flying with 5 A wings, they had Trick shot, heroic and Optics, and went well, won the game, but not by as much as I expected.

Then I flew with Poe, L'ulo, Tallie and blus sqd T70, against the same list, i won again, but it was a lot closer,

Poe seems like fun to fly, but seems hard to get him to shine, maybe it is my flying style.

Then last night played again with the new points cost, tried the 5 A wings first, with crack and Heroic, because thought Trick shot was a little expensive, also tried Proton rockets on both tallie and L'ulo, flew against 2 Defenders I1, and shuttle with adavnced sensors and title, it was really hard to get thru the defenders, even tho they were only I1, got the shuttle down, but could not get thru the Defenders, so lost, not by much ,but still a loss.

Then tried Temmin and the A wings, 3 GSE and Zari, all with Heroic and crack, against the same list again, and the same outcome, could just not get damage thru onto the Defenders.

Finally tried the Poe list again, against Vader, Duchess, and a reaper, was a little closer, but all those silly force tokens all over the place, still found it hard to get damage thru.

Hmmmm, bit dissapointing, to have played three games, all with small losses, just had a real hard time getting damage thru,

Ideas anyone?? Green Dragon??

Polle

On 2/3/2019 at 3:19 PM, Mcpolle said:

My first game was with 5 A wings, with L'ulo, Tallie, Zari, and 2 GSE. played this against vs Braylann, Ten, and 2 Uwings, this is befroe the points change, but to say it short, this was fun, flying with 5 A wings, they had Trick shot, heroic and Optics, and went well, won the game, but not by as much as I expected.

To be fair, that's a lot of HP to chew through!

On 2/3/2019 at 3:19 PM, Mcpolle said:

Then last night played again with the new points cost, tried the 5 A wings first, with crack and Heroic, because thought Trick shot was a little expensive, also tried Proton rockets on both tallie and L'ulo, flew against 2 Defenders I1, and shuttle with adavnced sensors and title, it was really hard to get thru the defenders, even tho they were only I1, got the shuttle down, but could not get thru the Defenders, so lost, not by much ,but still a loss. 

Then tried Temmin and the A wings, 3 GSE and Zari, all with Heroic and crack, against the same list again, and the same outcome, could just not get damage thru onto the Defenders. 

So you went for the shuttle first? The I1 defenders move before you. Did that allow you to arcdodge often? Were you ahead or behind on points when the shuttle went down?

On 2/3/2019 at 3:19 PM, Mcpolle said:

Finally tried the Poe list again, against Vader, Duchess, and a reaper, was a little closer, but all those silly force tokens all over the place, still found it hard to get damage thru. 

Hmmmm, bit dissapointing, to have played three games, all with small losses, just had a real hard time getting damage thru,

Did you take advanced optics? In my experience that really helps a lot. Somehow the big names never use it and I must be wrong, but I think optics is amazing on the A2!

No, I did not take optics, have tried them only once, in a 5 A wing game, they procked a few times for me, maybe should try them some more, see how they pan out.

13 minutes ago, Mcpolle said:

No, I did not take optics, have tried them only once, in a 5 A wing game, they procked a few times for me, maybe should try them some more, see how they pan out.

The thing is this: if you don't use it often, then you have good dice. The rare-ish result of focus+blank is the only bad one. Everything else nets you 2 hits. That's a lot of very consistent offense, and allows you to get even through 3agi ships.

The other part is to observe your games regarding time on target. If you can have most/all of your Awings pointing at the same ship, you'll be able to overwhelm it sooner or later and destroy it. Coupled with the optics, that should be sooner.

I remember saying A-Wings were going to be the best ships in The Resistance, while everybody was freaking out about X-Wings with Ferrosphere paint.

You hear about A-Wings way more than either of those two.

4 hours ago, Captain Lackwit said:

You hear about A-Wings way more than either of those two.

That's an interesting point. I think there are several things to consider:

  • A-wings have a cult-like following, some really dedicated fans :P
  • Lists like Poe + 3 As: is that an Awing list, or is Poe the protagonist with some support? I percieve it to be the latter
    • same for all XAAA and XXAA versions
  • Lists with 4-6 Awings are still quite rare. Personally I only consider those to be actual A-wing lists, even though the XAAA and XXAA should of course count, too. It's just that the Awings seem to play a minor role there
3 hours ago, GreenDragoon said:

L  ists  l  i  ke Poe + 3 As: is that an Awing list, or is  Poe the protagonist with some sup  po  rt? I percieve it to be the latter         

I view that as an A-Wing list with Poe as bait for your opponent to try to chase down... 😛

Was thinking about something like this, so have a three Optics in there, and 2 I5. And a very little bid,

What do you think? (Green Dragon)??

Green Squadron Expert — RZ-2 A-Wing 34
Heroic 1
Crack Shot 1
Advanced Optics 4
Ship Total: 40
Half Points: 20 Threshold: 2
Green Squadron Expert — RZ-2 A-Wing 34
Heroic 1
Crack Shot 1
Advanced Optics 4
Ship Total: 40
Half Points: 20 Threshold: 2
Zari Bangel — RZ-2 A-Wing 35
Heroic 1
Crack Shot 1
Advanced Optics 4
Ship Total: 41
Half Points: 21 Threshold: 2
Tallissan Lintra — RZ-2 A-Wing 35
Heroic 1
Crack Shot 1
Ship Total: 37
Half Points: 19 Threshold: 2
L’ulo L’ampar — RZ-2 A-Wing 38
Heroic 1
Crack Shot 1
Ship Total: 40
Half Points: 20 Threshold: 2

I'd remove the crackshots. Maybe leave tallie's in. That increases the bid to 6pt, or allows you another talent. Optics on the i5 requires you to really know when to spend the focus, but would be my choice here.

On 1/7/2019 at 1:54 PM, Mcpolle said:

Temmin Wexley, Heroic, s-folis

4* GSE. Crack and Trick shot,

Recently I've been playing and loving

Rey w/ Rose Finn Title and x3 Blues

Vennie w/ Paige VTG PA Rose Seismics and x3 Blues w/ Optics

BUT, I just got my 4th Awing and you have inspired me:

Blue Squadron Recruit (32)
Advanced Optics (4)

Blue Squadron Recruit (32)
Advanced Optics (4)

Blue Squadron Recruit (32)
Advanced Optics (4)

Blue Squadron Recruit (32)
Advanced Optics (4)

Temmin Wexley (54)
Composure (1) or maybe Black One instead?
Integrated S-Foils (0)

Total: 199

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0

Man, I love these RZ-2s

Edited by wurms
10 hours ago, wurms said:

BUT, I just got my 4th Awing and you have inspired me:

Great to hear, must say that having Heroic on mine has saved me more than once, that so called 16% or whatever they say it is, turns up often for me 😞

18 minutes ago, Mcpolle said:

Great to hear, must say that having Heroic on mine has saved me more than once, that so called 16% or whatever they say it is, turns up often for me 😞

Yeah, heroic is tempting but Ive run heroic like two dozen times and it triggered once resulting into double blanks. Would have triggered twice but I was locked by Midnight so couldnt reroll.

Ive been on the reverse end of heroic, having a tokenless awing roll 3 blank greens and then reroll em into nattie evades. Same guy said it triggers for him like 2 or 3 times a game.

No awesome heroic stories for me. My luck doesnt work like that. My awings roll 1 eyeball and blanks most of the time. Below avg and not triggering heroic so they still pop fast.

Ive all but given up on that card.

Have you run the list against triple Ups? Awings and a 5 ship list seem like a great matchup for it.

Edited by wurms

No, have not played against the dreaded Trip ups as of yet, and am not sure how it would go, but am thinking if I did play against it,I would line by back line with A wings, to try and make a run for it, in turn one, maybe accepting to lose an A wing first turn.

I am about to put up a tourney list ,and update maybe tomorrow, with the 5 A wings.

Pretty rude of GreenDragoon to keep interjecting when the OP is clearly referring to Green Dragon 😂 (I also misread it forever)

I am heading down the same path as you guys. We should officially launch GreenDragoon's Domo of Awing Mastery (GD'DAM for short). People will say things like "Man, I'm tired of getting beat by GD'DAM Awing lists, guess I better switch to 5Yion"

9 minutes ago, prauxim said:

I also misread it forever 

It has, by the way, nothing to do with a Final Fantasy character or something along these lines. The Green is directly from the Green Sqd A-Wings, and Dragoon refers to the fast and often light cavalry units, and I see the interceptor type ships in line with them - the ships I enjoy most, and obviously the A-wing is the pinnacle of all of them!

e: plus it's fun to say if you draw out the oooo's. Dragooooon

Edited by GreenDragoon