Since wave 2 came out I have been able to build several Imperial Teams focused around Tie interceptors, arguably the most versatile and dangerous ship in the game. Soontir Fel and Turr, with the right enhancements and when used properly are extremely dangerous and very hard to damage, bordering on the unstoppable… That said, I know that the A-Wing has similar benefits but I find them extremely lacking in firepower and named pilots. There is nothing that fits an A-Wing as perfectly as say Soontir and PtL or evasiveness …. I have tried but can't seem to make the As work all that well… Anyone had any success running A-Wings? Anyone with good A-Wing builds? Good combos with current A-Wing pilots? I love the ship and rebels but have been playing a lot of imperial builds cuz, at this point, the combos w interceptors are just filthy.

Thanks!

GoldCrow18

I use A-wings as rouges in D&D. The have one hard hit then fade back. I give them a ptl and a missile and they are a poor man's Vader. A prototype with a homing missile will draw more opening fire than Wedge most of the time. It is all in how you want to fly.

Picasso said:

Amen to that! Everybody knows how potent those homing missles are.. and if you don't know, then you've never been hit by one before.

definitely the best way to spend 5 points in this game.. hands down

I'd say Gunners are the best way to spend five points in the game, with Homing Missiles being a competitive second.

Thinking this may be good

Total Squad Points: 99

Tycho Celchu
Push The Limit (3)

Assault Missiles (5)

Stealth (3)

Green Squadron Pilot x2
Expose (4)

Assault Missiles (5)

Stealth (3)

Use Tycho to get first missile off quick and then use extra actions constantly for maneuvers or Focus and target to get guaranteed hits. Then use green squad a little slower to get their missiles off and after try to maneuver out of a multiple shots on them and drop agility to use expose if stealth device is still on still rolling 3 green. List requires good piloting and luck to work though.

I run a similar list. I swap exposé for ptl. And the assault missile for a homing missile.

Now that I've picked up my 4th A-Wing, I'm looking at a list like this:

Tycho w/ Push the Limits and Concussion Missile
Green Squadron w/ Vet Instincts and Homing Missile
Green Squadron w/ Vet Instincts and Homing Missile
Prototype

It has a solid first round volley and has enough ships to be playing with a potential numbers advantage after the missiles are spent.

@Edwards

i must argue against gunner as the best five points in the game. It is only (right now) applied to two ships. The Homing missile can be applied to four ships. Also by itself the homing missile is a better attack than any ship's primary attack.

I agree, 'Homing Missiles' is one of the strongest cards in the game. When I said Gunner is the best way to spend five points I wasn't focused on comparing a single attack vs a single attack. I was thinking more about which five points spent would have the greatest impact when assembling a list. From my point of view, Gunner changes the strength and dynamics of a list moreso than another other five points in the game. With that being said, Picasso, when comparing upgrade cards I think you'll find that many of the strengths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.

Endgame124 said:

I agree, this is a very similar build to what I run. The only difference is that I run only one Vet insticts to upgrade to an Assault Missle for Tycho. I have been toying with the idea of dropping the two Green Squads to Prototypes and down to Concussions for Tycho to fit Arvel Crynad in for bump and run shenanigans….

I've been toying with:

3x prototype pilot

rebel pilot

luke skywalker

If your an A wing homing missiles or assult missles dont leave home with out them.

John Edwards said:

Amen on that! But the Missiles are not bad, gotta say that!

@Edwards,

dont get me wrong. I have gunner over homing missile in my build right now. I'm arguing for the missile because I think the point trade off is better. A homing missile can more often then not one shot a ship, tie whatever, a-wing, x-wing. So I look at the point swing. You could in theory field four homing missiles. The most gunners you could field are two and they can currently only go on two ships. The missile can go on four different ships. I think it's more versatile

that being said I'm also making this argument with gunner, I've played entire games where I don't use it. I know I'm going to use that missile. I know even if I shoot down a 12 point tie I've more than doubled the missiles points.

Gunner is an amazing card as well but it is number two in list of best upgrades. Ptl might even be better than the missile. Huh? This sounds like a new thread. "List in order your top ten upgrades and why."

Never take exposé on a general a-wing. It is an action, so your choice is between expose and focus. With two normal shots you can expect 1.5 hits with focus (2 * 0.75) or 1.5 hits with expose (3 * 0.5). With range one of 3 dice you expect 2.25 with focus or 2.00 with expose. Exposé is only good when combined with a focus or target lock. Therefore, you need push the limit, Garven, Lando or Dutch to make it useful. Expose is 4 * 0.75 = 3.00 or target lock and focus is 3 * 0.9375 = 2.8125.

So take expose on Vader.

Magnus3740 said:

Or take an X-Wing or Interceptor where you have firepower anyway. Whereas on an A-Wing with expose and push the limit you can't really use its superior manoeuvrability if you use all the actions to get more firepower.

By the way my list would be:

Tycho Celchu 26

- Push the Limit 3

- Homing Missile 5

X3 Prototype Pilot 17

- Homing Missile 5

You can of course swap out for assault missiles, or concussion missiles on the Prototypes plus a stealth device on Tycho

i like the 3 - Ship builds as you can fully kit them out but this gives me a fourth missile for a full barrage. This should serve to even out the odds, then the A-Wings can try to mop up the rest of the enemy team or evade and harass them with their puny little lasers XD

ForceM said:

Nope, even at range 1 expose is 4 * 0.5 = 2 expected hits and focus is 3 * 0.75 = 2.25 expected hits. Push the limit and expose are both pilot skills, so you can't have both. You'd need squadron leader on another ship or one of the ships I listed above to make it useful. Personally, I'd rather have any of the modifications rather than expose for 4 points.

Magnus3740 said:

depends on what he's running, if he's running Dutch to pass the target locks around then expose is a very worthwhile card for those finishing blows where 2 dice will just not be enough to guarantee a hit for that last hit point or two.. or in the case of an X-wing.. 5 dice at range 1 with a target lock? at that point you have a good shot at even 1 shotting an X-wing..

I just ran this list tonight and it works really well:

Wedge: (PTL, Engine Upgrade, R2 Astro, Torps)

- 41

Green Squadron: (PTL, Concussion Missiles, Stealth Device)

- 29

Green Squadron: (PTL, Concussion Missiles, Stealth Device)

-29

Total = 99 Pts (I can upgrade 1 of the Concussions to Homing for the last point.)

Took it against an Imp squad consisting of Vader with Expose and Concussions, The Turrfinator with swarm tactics and 2x Alpha Squadron interceptors.

This flies like 3x A Wings but hits a lot harder and Wedge with PTL and Boost can really get into position to make TL and Focus actions count. The R2 allows him to dump stress better than an A Wing too. The missiles/torps allow you to get 1 good pass in and then it becomes a game of manoeuver for The Wedginator to make the killing blows. I dont expect the A Wings to come out unscathed, but they can set up as the hammer to the anvil; with PTL they have both TL and Focus when I need them to. If they need to go evasive, PTL for Focus and Evade and the Stealth Device usually does the trick.

Overall its a fun list that rewards aggressive play and can quite happily mix it up with elite Imperial builds. I havent tried it against a wave 1 style TIE swarm yet.

I also ran a variant which swaps Wedge out for Horton in a Y with Ion turret, 2 torps and R5-D8 to keep him alive - my Y's usually attract a lot of fire from my friend. That doesnt hit as hard but is an interesting variation if you can mantain a bit of distance. My friend took the same Imp list as above against it but swapped Expose for Engine Upgrade (Vader using boost and barrel roll in one move is just slippery evil), so I had a ***** of a job trying to make Vader stick in one place to get those torps out of the tubes. Eventually managed to take Vader down with torps after ioning him for a couple of turns so I could manouever in with Horton, but spent too long angling for a shot and ended up getting splashed by some very good dice from the interceptors straight after. Next time I might swap one set of torps for an engine upgrade on Horton. I like the idea of a turbo-charged Y….

I'm contemplating an all A-Wing list consisting of 4 x Green Squadron with Vet Instincts and Homing Missiles….100 points even.

Not sure how it will do but it might be fun.

zathras23 said:

i ran it once, had a lot of fun with it.. won with 2 ships remaining against another rebel list.. i'd like to do more testing but there is a lot of other lists i want to try out as well and only so much time to play each week.. lemme know how you like it

zathras23 said:

I have run this but with Deadeye instead of Veteran instincts.

In my opinion, the Initiative 5 is nice, but either you go against elite builds which go before you anyway or against Alpha or Academy swarms. With Swarm

tactics they shoot before you and without after you. So getting medium pilot skill is not that desirable if you ask me.

With Deadeye on the other hand you can do more easily what A-Wings are good at, which isshooting missiles. And this keeps your opponent guessing what you're up to, and you can assure that you can shoot all your missiles beforeban A-Wing goes down without them. You can also focus one enemy down, or spread your fire evenly.

Of course after firing your missiles the 1 point per ship is wasted while your pilot skill 5 would stay. But i have made bad experience with Prototype pilots getting killed without even getting any chance to fire their missiles because they move first, don't get a lock and the turn after they are already too close do fire, or they're dead…