How highly do u rate the A-wing? will it make competitive tournament squads?

By The_Brown_Bomber, in X-Wing Battle Reports

Posted at

The_Brown_Bomber said:

executor said:

how about…

Wedge w/ Swarm tactics/R2D2 (35)
Prototype Pilot w/ Concussion Missiles (21)
Gold Squadron Pilot w/ ion cannon (23)
Rookie Pilot (21)

Keep both A-Wing and X-Wing rookies in close to wedge early on to make sure the A-Wing gets its missiles off, then let it break off harry the enemy engaging at med-long range only, Y-Wing plugs away at select targets disrupting enemy formations and chipping in with damage on their already damaged ships.

not really my playstyle and i don't like Y-wings.. not enough firepower and their movement sucks.. now give me a Y-wing that acts like biggs and i'll use it

i also don't want to run a huge threat such as Wedge that will instantly make my opponent focus him down with everything he has.. i'd rather the damage be spread out amongst all my ships

i totally get you. Play style is often what will shape my builds as well. I took a looong time to warm up to the Y-Wings, even flying a few tragic sorties with them before i had success. It seems like a big tradeoff off firepower (and it is) but in return u r gaining two things: 1) versatility - you now have the ability to hit ANY ship within a 360 firing arc of you 2) disruption - freezing an enemy ship, even for one turn will often force it to break formation disrupting its flight pattern and messing with their tactics, doing this for two consecitive turns can put the targetted ship out of the battle for 3 turns or worse. I agree the Y-Wings lack of firepower sucks but it hits consistently, chipping away throughout the course of the game and supports your main offensive ships by picking out select targets. Its lack on speed/manouvering is really a non issue because it has 360 degree targeting.

I flew 4 X-Wings at my local Kessel Run event because i hated the Y-Wings so much and couldnt see why anyone would ever want to fly one over an X-Wing (even a rookie pilot). I would say the Y-Wings are probably better vs imperials than rebels. There superior speed and turning is a non-factor vs the Y-Wing, it will usually have a target in its sights and there are also times when it will get to use its primary weapon at medium and close range as well adding to its versatility.

With the addition of the Boost action (tie interceptors are nasty) and enine upgrades will be commonly used on reg tie-fighters/advanced ties, you could argue that having a Y-Wing in your squad is more important than in the past (They cant boost out of ur ion cannon range, if u see it coming and position your ship for maximum effect).

Don't give up on the Y-Wing. its very good. Underrated actually.

i appreciate the feedback and even earlier today i've been considering trying to make them work.. my wife is even trying to make them work; so i figure i should too

Posted at

The_Brown_Bomber said:

executor said:

how about…

Wedge w/ Swarm tactics/R2D2 (35)
Prototype Pilot w/ Concussion Missiles (21)
Gold Squadron Pilot w/ ion cannon (23)
Rookie Pilot (21)

Keep both A-Wing and X-Wing rookies in close to wedge early on to make sure the A-Wing gets its missiles off, then let it break off harry the enemy engaging at med-long range only, Y-Wing plugs away at select targets disrupting enemy formations and chipping in with damage on their already damaged ships.

not really my playstyle and i don't like Y-wings.. not enough firepower and their movement sucks.. now give me a Y-wing that acts like biggs and i'll use it

i also don't want to run a huge threat such as Wedge that will instantly make my opponent focus him down with everything he has.. i'd rather the damage be spread out amongst all my ships

i totally get you. Play style is often what will shape my builds as well. I took a looong time to warm up to the Y-Wings, even flying a few tragic sorties with them before i had success. It seems like a big tradeoff off firepower (and it is) but in return u r gaining two things: 1) versatility - you now have the ability to hit ANY ship within a 360 firing arc of you 2) disruption - freezing an enemy ship, even for one turn will often force it to break formation disrupting its flight pattern and messing with their tactics, doing this for two consecitive turns can put the targetted ship out of the battle for 3 turns or worse. I agree the Y-Wings lack of firepower sucks but it hits consistently, chipping away throughout the course of the game and supports your main offensive ships by picking out select targets. Its lack on speed/manouvering is really a non issue because it has 360 degree targeting.

I flew 4 X-Wings at my local Kessel Run event because i hated the Y-Wings so much and couldnt see why anyone would ever want to fly one over an X-Wing (even a rookie pilot). I would say the Y-Wings are probably better vs imperials than rebels. There superior speed and turning is a non-factor vs the Y-Wing, it will usually have a target in its sights and there are also times when it will get to use its primary weapon at medium and close range as well adding to its versatility.

With the addition of the Boost action (tie interceptors are nasty) and enine upgrades will be commonly used on reg tie-fighters/advanced ties, you could argue that having a Y-Wing in your squad is more important than in the past (They cant boost out of ur ion cannon range, if u see it coming and position your ship for maximum effect).

Don't give up on the Y-Wing. its very good. Underrated actually.

the Ywing is generally absurdly strong in a 1v1 situation, mostly due to its ion cannons. against anything more than 1v2 though, it will start to have major problems, and that is where the Xwing comes in

i do feel that the basic Ywing is a bit too costly at 18 points though, maybe 16 points would be better, so after you slap on the ions, it comes up to 21 points, which is the same as a basic Xwing

Posted at

Both of the above builds are interesting, but I'd lean on Y-wings. We're likely to see the size of swuads decrease with the release of Wave 2, making the impact of an ion cannon turret much greater.

What interested me most, however, was that neither of you chose Deadeye. That is the upgrade from the A-wing expansion pack I am most eager to try. Especially with Garven Dreis flying on your team.

Also, I would probably use Cluster Missiles on my low-skilled pilots because if you move first, enemies may not be in range yet. Then you don't have the Target Lock, but the following turn you're likely to be in range 1, so Concussion Missiles are useless. I don't like Cluster Missiles much, either, but it's something to consider.

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Parakitor said:

Both of the above builds are interesting, but I'd lean on Y-wings. We're likely to see the size of swuads decrease with the release of Wave 2, making the impact of an ion cannon turret much greater.

What interested me most, however, was that neither of you chose Deadeye. That is the upgrade from the A-wing expansion pack I am most eager to try. Especially with Garven Dreis flying on your team.

Also, I would probably use Cluster Missiles on my low-skilled pilots because if you move first, enemies may not be in range yet. Then you don't have the Target Lock, but the following turn you're likely to be in range 1, so Concussion Missiles are useless. I don't like Cluster Missiles much, either, but it's something to consider.

for deadeye, i find that spending points and one upgrade slot to make that 1 torps/missile slightly better is generally not that worth it (i'd much rather opt for determination, or vet instincts, in that order), unless you could somehow pack multiples of that stuff, like say a Firespray or Ywing. it is also somewhat weird with certain people, like han solo who probably requires the focus more than the target lock, or empty homing missiles for that matter. It might not be that bad in a team with Garven around though, so you could pull off a double focus surprise missiles or something with the green Awings, i dunno.

i find that i usually end up in range 2 more than range 1 or range 3 most of the time, so pretty much any missile is good i guess? maybe you could give that assault missile a try

Posted at

Parakitor said:

Both of the above builds are interesting, but I'd lean on Y-wings. We're likely to see the size of swuads decrease with the release of Wave 2, making the impact of an ion cannon turret much greater.

What interested me most, however, was that neither of you chose Deadeye. That is the upgrade from the A-wing expansion pack I am most eager to try. Especially with Garven Dreis flying on your team.

Also, I would probably use Cluster Missiles on my low-skilled pilots because if you move first, enemies may not be in range yet. Then you don't have the Target Lock, but the following turn you're likely to be in range 1, so Concussion Missiles are useless. I don't like Cluster Missiles much, either, but it's something to consider.

i had dead eye considered, however for homing missles you aren't required to spend the target lock anyways so it wouldn't work.. plus arvel can't use pilot upgrades, only tycho and green pilot can.. but if i'm running tycho i'd much rather run push the limit as dead eye is only useful once for a single shot missle

however, i believe that dead eye is going to work very well for Y-wings with 2 proton torpedoes strapped on them along with garven feeding him focus


also my original list had cluster missles.. but vs imperial players it's pretty much pointless, as i'm only going to roll an average of 1-2 hits both times with them and they are most likely going to dodge both… i'd rather have one deadly shot of a homing missle and average a 3-4 dmg hit and almost garuntee 1-2 dmg minimum with the shot rather than maybe put 1 damage through if i'm lucky

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executor said:

i had dead eye considered, however for homing missles you aren't required to spend the target lock anyways so it wouldn't work.. plus arvel can't use pilot upgrades, only tycho and green pilot can.. but if i'm running tycho i'd much rather run push the limit as dead eye is only useful once for a single shot missle

however, i believe that dead eye is going to work very well for Y-wings with 2 proton torpedoes strapped on them along with garven feeding him focus

also my original list had cluster missles.. but vs imperial players it's pretty much pointless, as i'm only going to roll an average of 1-2 hits both times with them and they are most likely going to dodge both… i'd rather have one deadly shot of a homing missle and average a 3-4 dmg hit and almost garuntee 1-2 dmg minimum with the shot rather than maybe put 1 damage through if i'm lucky

sadly no Y-Wing pilots have the pilot skill upgrade bar :( not even Horon Slam who has skill 8 :(

i think lots of us r hoping that new pilot cards for every ship type will be released which is mix things up.

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The trick to the A wing is approcah from the side, or aim across their front, try to anticipate where your oppenant is going, easy if there are swarms and one or two of them have moved already, use boost ito move into out of fireing arks.

They may have trouble with rebel on rebal but arm them with close quatrer missles like assult missles. Three A wings with three assult missles each hiting a swarm thats a dead swarm with three shots.

Does not matter if its three A wings against thirty (i would suggest someone is cheating if thirty ties get linged up on the table) if there in ranage one of the ship your shooting at, and the dice is kind. Game over in the first few moves.

can an y wing do that I dont think so.

Although has anyone considered putting the bost card/ engine up grade onto wedge or horton?

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Good topic and great comments. What I like the most about the A-Wing is Boost Action . Combined with it's zippy maneuver dial, boost action allows the ship to dance around the opponent, staying out of firing arcs while bringing others into your sights. Every Pilot card has the missile upgrade icon and two out of the four have the medallion upgrade icon. Truly the only thing missing from the A-Wing's action bar is barrel roll, but it's not necessary to add via Expert Handling.

The other thing I like about the A-Wing is it's Shields. I'd rather have a point of shields than an extra point of hull any day, because a critical damage to a shield is like water off a ducks back. Also, though it is seemingly less offensive when compared to the X-Wing, it's greater ability to position it's self in the battle space allow for more opportunities to fire as opposed to fewer times with greater success.

The best A-Wing to me is Arvel Crynyd. His Pilot Ability combined with boost action allow me greater control of engagements and make me less likely to be concerned about getting in close. He is also great for making the weak primary weapon more effective, by staying in range one of the opponent while using boost action to take away their ability to fire back. Although his lack of a medalion icon may seem bothersome, the missile icon allows him to make up for the weak primary weapons at greater range (even if for only one attack).

The A-Wing adds greater depth to the Rebel Fleet making any build more versatile. I agree that it can function well in support but also feel it has offensive capabilities given it's extreme maneuverability.

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greetings friends, I hope the force has been with you on your battles. :) I have just read about the a-wing attack groups you have stated and thought I was pretty much alone in thinking a-wings could be a very viable source of imperial destruction. and I self made a list BEFORE reading this forum. and so I looked at my list of 3 a wings and I think I have hit on a very viable way to wreak havoc on those pesky imps. and maybe even the rogue rebels who I might encounter in the star wars galaxy. now first I would like to say I am a fairly new player still less than a year playing. and I had two x wings and two a wings in the may 4th tour in Roseville mn. And although I lost I did see something in the a-wings that I thought would be useful in the galaxy. while most people were using firesprays and yt-1300's and swarms of tie fighters I really wanted and had hoped to fair a little better and might have if I would have played my forces better and kept them in formation. so after leaving defeated. and having time to reflect on my mistakes I was left pondering what I had learned and what I needed to learn. so I began thinking in terms of formation flying and have built my a-wing force on relying on formation flying to fly circles around my enemies and getting ranged shots as well as close combat if needed it seems to me that formation flying can greatly increase your survival as long as you can disrupt your opponets formation or whittle away at him from the outside so with that being said here is my 3 ship a-wing list I welcome any and all constructive critizism as well as any suggestions I do plan on running a 4 a-wing group when I can. as of this writing I have only three available to me. so I work with what I have instead of relying on what if's or wishes.

1.) Tycho Celchu=26 + ptl=3 + assault missiles=5 : = 34

2.) Green Squadron pilot=19 + marksmanship=3 + cluster missiles=4: = 26

3.) Arvel Crynyo=23 + cluster missiles= 4: 27

grand total =87

this is a cheap fleet I know but I do think it can pack quite a punch at least in the initial fire fight by using missiles in the right context and not firing all of them at once I plan to use the cluster missiles first then hit the big gun with the assault missile. all from medium to far range and then doing hit and runs to get in and back out of firing range . and with marksmanship and push the limit I can really add a lot of punch to this squad. I have not played it as of yet but fully intend to next time I can. any thoughts? thanks guys. :rolleyes:

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@wackydave: I am surmising that you do not have either of the large ships; is that right? Because if you have even one of them I'd slap some upgrades on those A-wings - a Shield Upgrade of Stealth Device would do well to keep your squad kicking for longer.

I think your missile load looks good, but since you have the points for it, I'd put Homing or Assault Missiles on all of them. That's just me. I think you can make a case for Marksmanship + Cluster Missiles on the Green Sq. Pilot. That can do some damage.

However Arvel with Cluster Missiles is probably not ideal. I mean, if you are at range 1, you are already throwing 3 attack dice, so why not use the missile to cover for his weakness, which is long range attacks. Against an Agility 1 ship the Cluster Missiles will fair well for him, but he's likely to make the attack without focus (assuming he collides with his opponent), and for that I think Homing Missiles or Concussion Missiles would work better. I see a lot of people equip Arvel with Cluster Missiles, but to me it just doesn't make a lot of sense (in my experience Cluster Missiles have not performed as well as Concussion Missiles have). Better to make Arvel dangerous at close and long range.

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Posted Yesterday, 12:19 PM

@wackydave: I am surmising that you do not have either of the large ships; is that right? Because if you have even one of them I'd slap some upgrades on those A-wings - a Shield Upgrade of Stealth Device would do well to keep your squad kicking for longer

Actually I do have the larger ships. but I built the squad for a quick hard hit with close range mop up. I wanted to be aggressive right out of the box then if all the missiles hit I could do a mop up of anything left I had thought about using swarm tactics. The main problem with the a-wings though is how little you can actually upgrade them. if you want to be more defensive then yes the engine upgrade and or the shield and stealth upgrade would be ideal. However I am beginning to understand that the a-wings best suit might be as an advance hit and run type with x-wings following for the clean up. only two of the pilots have more than one upgrade slot and not sure but I do not think the prototype pilot even has an upgrade slot which in my opinion, REALLY BLOWS CHUNKS. that being said I do believe you either have an aggressive setup on the a-wings and hit hard and fast, OR have a defensive set up and hope to pick away from the outside. My set up is to hit them hard and fast with the missiles then swing around for the mop up and hopefully not have to get in too close and personal with my opponents ships. especially if I can force him to chase me through the asteroids. Ok I will take into advisement on the missile packages, I had opted for the cluster missiles for the double attack. However, you do bring up a good point and I just might swap out arvels cluster for a bigger bang. I would love to thank you for your advice and tips they are much appreciated. I will be playing them this weekend and will post on here my results.

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You don't need the engine upgrade on an A-wing because the A-wing can already boost.

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Agreed. My point about upgrades (I meant modifications) was that wackydave's list comes in at 87 points, and he's maxed out on the upgrades. If he put 2 shield upgrades and a stealth device on his ships the squad would be a tad more defensive and come in at 98 points instead of 87. Seems like a good idea to me. I mean, why wouldn't you throw some modifications to get closer to 100 points.?

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I recently ran Tycho w/ assault missles, expert handling and a stealth device, along with Salm & gray sqdn pilot both w/ ICT, and 4 rookie pilotss (200 point game) against Vader, Krassis, Storm sqdn, two Avenger pilots, and 4 academy pilots. anyways, Tycho damaged every onw who got close and didnt take a hit during the whole game.

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Agreed. My point about upgrades (I meant modifications) was that wackydave's list comes in at 87 points, and he's maxed out on the upgrades. If he put 2 shield upgrades and a stealth device on his ships the squad would be a tad more defensive and come in at 98 points instead of 87. Seems like a good idea to me. I mean, why wouldn't you throw some modifications to get closer to 100 points.?

yes, I thought you had to have the mechanics upgrade on the pilots card but the other a-wing forum on here set me straight. LMAO. so I will be adding stealth and shield upgrades but on who and why? who gets what and why is what I am actually asking lol/ :)

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What the a-wing really need is a card that allows them to barrel roll after an attack. that would help them so much in a defensive way for example tycho fires his assault/ homing missile then is able to barrel roll out of the enemies line of fire. since they are a very agile ship a good pilot should be able to do this easily. any thoughts? just a wish maybe lol

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Agreed. My point about upgrades (I meant modifications) was that wackydave's list comes in at 87 points, and he's maxed out on the upgrades. If he put 2 shield upgrades and a stealth device on his ships the squad would be a tad more defensive and come in at 98 points instead of 87. Seems like a good idea to me. I mean, why wouldn't you throw some modifications to get closer to 100 points.?

yes, I thought you had to have the mechanics upgrade on the pilots card but the other a-wing forum on here set me straight. LMAO. so I will be adding stealth and shield upgrades but on who and why? who gets what and why is what I am actually asking lol/ :)

I am taking a blind stab at this, but I think giving Tycho Shield upgrade is a good idea. Normally I'd say Stealth on him, but he attacks at Pilot Skill 8, and will likely use his Focus, making Stealth Device a little less enticing. And if he doesn't need the Focus for attack it doesn't hurt to have it sitting there for defense when you're rolling 3 agility dice.

The other two could probably stand to use Stealth Device. I don't really have a strong opinion on them. It really could go either way for all three pilots, right?

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The A-wing really should have the barrel roll action standard.

We recently played some 100 point tournament style games. I ran Tycho + PTL + stealth + assault missiles and (2) Green Squadron pilots with the same PTL + stealth + assault missiles. Results turned out to be 1-1 (70/30 points and 30/100 points). neither game afforded the first strike salvo shot with the assault missiles I had hoped for.

First game was vs Rebels with 2 Xwings and a Ywing. My opponent had all his ships set up for a great opening salvo for my assault missiles however I neglected to not that Biggs was on the board and errantly placed my target locks on the cumbersome Ywing. The game resulted in a long dog fight with me losing all my Awings eventually while only killing the Ywing and damaging both Xwings. His set up with Biggs is a great defense vs this squad set up.

Second game was vs Imperials, 4 TIE Interceptors with Vet Instincts (Pilot 6) and stealth. My opponent knew what I had in store and split up his ships in pairs. I did get a salvo off but only caught two vessels. This was again a long dog fight and ended with the loss of one Green squad Awing and splashed all four Interceptors.

Overall I would say the Awing is tournament worthy but don't expect solid crushing victories with them unless you really catch an Imp player sleeping. The Awing is a bit fragile but they endured long dog fights with hardier ships. What I dislike about them is that they lack the firepower to inflict much damage. They slowly plink away at their targets.