And no, it's not the scale that I'm talking about. The A-Wing should have an auxiliary firing arc to the rear. I was at a Barns & Nobel, killing time at lunch, and was leafing through a copy of Star Wars: Complete Vehicles. It's a great book with cross sections of many of the vehicles in the Star Wars universe. When I got to the A-Wing entry, I was surprised to read that the guns on the A-Wing had the ability fire to the rear of the craft. If you look at the miniature, you can see that there is room for the swivel to point backwards so firing to the rear would work.

According to other references (albeit perhaps outdated) this is a feature on some of the a-wings, not all. So maybe there will be an upgrade or title available in the future (perhaps similar to the one speculated for the y-wing, BTL-S3, that provides the ship with a crew slot).

The rebels definitely needed that back arc on the A-Wing, too. Since they have no other auxiliary firing arc options...

I think the balance of the game is more important than the fluff of some A-wings having a rear arc.

You know what would have been awesome? "When firing your primary weapons, you may re-roll one (eye)." Why? The guns swiveled to track targets better. Totally thematic and would have added to their canon information available. It gives them a tiny boost, but enough of a boost to make a difference in the macro scale.

Then again, firing on something outside your field of vision from something as responsive as an a-wing shouldn't yield any particularly high success rate.

According to other references (albeit perhaps outdated) this is a feature on some of the a-wings, not all. So maybe there will be an upgrade or title available in the future (perhaps similar to the one speculated for the y-wing, BTL-S3, that provides the ship with a crew slot).

Even as a modification or pilot specific upgrade, that rear firing arc would really make an A-wing more viable. I for one would love to see that.

From a canonical source (I think):

http://starwars.com/explore/encyclopedia/technology/awingfighter/

The guns do pivot, it does say rear.

Either way game balance is, at least to me, more important.

It would be nice to get upgrades that come with new pilots and bases, but not ships, wouldn't it? Then you could have have varients that look the same but with different stats. Of course, if they release variant models people like me will buy them all anyway, so that's probably what they'll do...

From a canonical source (I think):

http://starwars.com/explore/encyclopedia/technology/awingfighter/

The guns do pivot, it does say rear.

Either way game balance is, at least to me, more important.

I remember hearing somewhere, possibly the Rogue Squadron game, that the pivot is limited to a narrow forward angle. I also think there have been instances of rear-facing pivot in other places, which makes it seem like an upgrade option (fiction upgrade, not game upgrade) such as mentioned with the Y-Wing BTL-S3 and A4.

From a canonical source (I think):

http://starwars.com/explore/encyclopedia/technology/awingfighter/

The guns do pivot, it does say rear.

Either way game balance is, at least to me, more important.

I remember hearing somewhere, possibly the Rogue Squadron game, that the pivot is limited to a narrow forward angle. I also think there have been instances of rear-facing pivot in other places, which makes it seem like an upgrade option (fiction upgrade, not game upgrade) such as mentioned with the Y-Wing BTL-S3 and A4.

Yeah, 90 degrees total travel, so 45 up/down.

I could see them adding some new bases for the A-wing that include the reverse arc, but i frankly like them how they are already, and i believe they're balanced fairly. A Rear Arc would kinda shift things up...not to mention that it would leave all but 2 rebel ships with turrets or expanded firing arcs.

If game balance is a factor, the A-Wing sucks. It needs something to make it better. It is absolutely not balanced. You could run a full squad of anything in the game except A-Wings and hope to win.

If game balance is a factor, the A-Wing sucks. It needs something to make it better. It is absolutely not balanced. You could run a full squad of anything in the game except A-Wings and hope to win.

How about a squad of HWK-290 or TIE Advanced.

Hehe, sorry couldn't resist.

Barrel roll!!

From a source perspective, the X-Wing series of novels (which I love), states that the newer model of A-Wings (made a few years after The Battle of Endor) have the ability to swing around to fire in the rear. This was done to try to keep the A-Wing modern and desirable. As far as the "normal" traversing up and down 45 degrees, that lets you maneuver a little more while staying on target. Considering how much an A-Wing bucks around, I'd put that as a wash and say it is rolled into the overall ship stats (the Agility and maneuver options) and not worry about it.

Wow, why so much hate on the a-wings? I went 3-1 in the North American Championship at Gen Con with Wedge and 3 A-wings before I had to cut out for another event. Only loss was to double falcon list where my opponent kept throwing 3 and 4 hits on every attack, and nothing survives that, regardless of what ship it is.

You know what would have been awesome? "When firing your primary weapons, you may re-roll one (eye)." Why? The guns swiveled to track targets better. Totally thematic and would have added to their canon information available. It gives them a tiny boost, but enough of a boost to make a difference in the macro scale.

I would love this. The A-wing is one of my favorite ships and I wish I had good reasons to use it.

Because the only ship that doesn't catch flak for having two attack dice is the standard tie fighter. I disagree with that view, the only ship that can outfly an A-wing is the interceptor with it's barral roll action, though the A-wing has a slightly better dial (the only difference being the A-wing has a green straight 5 instead of a white). The a-wing's target lock makes up for the lose of an attack die as well.

I remember hearing somewhere, possibly the Rogue Squadron game, that the pivot is limited to a narrow forward angle. I also think there have been instances of rear-facing pivot in other places, which makes it seem like an upgrade option (fiction upgrade, not game upgrade) such as mentioned with the Y-Wing BTL-S3 and A4.

What may emulate the gun with a limited traverse would be to increase the angle of the primary fire arc from its aporox 90 degrees to about 135 degrees. The only update would be to the cardboard counter.

Or better yet a 135 degree forward auxilary fire arc. Primary weapon fire only in auxilary arc.

what i think they messed up on with the awing is it is suposed to have target jamming equipment, this should prevent automatic target locks against the awing, like roll a red die, on a blank result target lock fails, any other result, target lock hits.

From a source perspective, the X-Wing series of novels (which I love), states that the newer model of A-Wings (made a few years after The Battle of Endor) have the ability to swing around to fire in the rear. This was done to try to keep the A-Wing modern and desirable. As far as the "normal" traversing up and down 45 degrees, that lets you maneuver a little more while staying on target. Considering how much an A-Wing bucks around, I'd put that as a wash and say it is rolled into the overall ship stats (the Agility and maneuver options) and not worry about it.

Correct. I believe it was in The Bacta War. Anyways we can always hope for a variant A-Wing (with say Pash Cracken) and a modification that grants the auxiliary arc....

If game balance is a factor, the A-Wing sucks. It needs something to make it better. It is absolutely not balanced. You could run a full squad of anything in the game except A-Wings and hope to win.

So? Why does a ship have to be good in a squad of four-of-the-same? Personally I think running four of the same ship is boring - and, even if it weren't, it doesn't make a ship that can't function on its own worthless. Tycho is a great addition to almost any squad.

Barrel roll!!

Eggxactly!

Green squadron with PtL is just plain outstanding. Evade + focus when you're in the line of fire, Target Lock + focus when you're in line to shoot something. Same points as a Rookie with an R2, but better defense dice and I believe better odds to hit if you can take the actions.

You guys are crazy if you think A-Wings aren't viable. The named pilots are both fantastic (particularly Arvel). Don't underestimate the value of boosting. If you are under impressed with A-Wings, jam more. Put them where your enemy is trying to move.

2 attack dice vs 3 def dice is rough so you want to be in range 1 where possible. Gotta use em aggressively and body block a lot.