I've entered a local tournament in a couple of weeks and am thinking of taking the following

Rookie x 3

Prototype x 2

This leaves me with 3 points left to spend and I was thinking of putting either an R2 or R5 on each of the Rookies.

The R2 makes me a bit more mobile after K turns while the R5 could reduce the impact of any criticals I take.

Alternately I thought about possible dropping one of the Rookies to allow me to take some torpedoes and missiles for some long range fun.

Any thoughts appreciated

I used the following list a few times.

Rookie + R5 (as I only ever bought 1 Ywing)

Rookie + R2

Rookie

Prototype

Prototype

Great thing about the list is it doesnt need to fly in formation at all. It dog fights really well. Awings are annoying and hard to kill, as they are faster than Interceptors. How I flew it:

At the begining up and until the middle of the game my XWings would try to stay at RB3. Sure they are viscious at RB1, but they dont turn super fast (theres a lot of kturning). However given the option, I would rather give my opponent an extra defense die (which has less evades on it than an offensive die has hits and crits), and take an extra defense die when I am getting shot, than gain an attack die, but not be able to dodge so well. Xwings with 3 defense dice last well. Xwings with 2 dont.

My Awings tried to flank and fly behind the opponent, forcing him to either turn around and deal with them and not my xwings, or ignore them and take the awesome firepower of the Awing to the bum. Flown well, awings are viscious. They can be annoying to pin down and can be EXTREMELY fast, boosting after moving spd5 straight.

At the end of the game, or when the numbers became in my favour, I would move to dogfight range. Rebel swarms are about 2 things, firepower and attrition. If you have grinded a TIE swarm down to two or three TIEs to a couple of your ships, you are winning. Now is when you go for the throat.

Thinking about it, I might play this list tonight.

It's worth trying. Last time I brought a list with two Prototype Pilots to game night we landed a single hit in two entire games. I know it was a fluke, but man I do not like to fly these nimble little ships.

But that's neither here nor there. In response to your question about the astromech to take, I would choose R2 Astromech. R5's are okay, but there are enough damage cards with the Ship trait that activate immediately that it's difficult to use the droid. For example, Thrust Control Fire gives you a stress immediately. The thing I like best about R2 astromechs is that you don't have to be afraid of ion cannons when you K-turn - little R2 turns that straight 1 maneuver from white to green so you can clear stress and take an action.

I was thinking along similar lines with the R2's my main thought with the R5's was to help survive direct hits as I seem to pull nothing but them when I take crits.

Hopefully I can get a few games in before the tournament to give it a try either way.

What do people think about dropping a ship for some ordnance, is it worth losing either a rookie or a prototype to stick a missile or torp on each of the remaining ships?

I've entered a local tournament in a couple of weeks and am thinking of taking the following

Rookie x 3

Prototype x 2

This leaves me with 3 points left to spend and I was thinking of putting either an R2 or R5 on each of the Rookies.

The R2 makes me a bit more mobile after K turns while the R5 could reduce the impact of any criticals I take.

Alternately I thought about possible dropping one of the Rookies to allow me to take some torpedoes and missiles for some long range fun.

Any thoughts appreciated

its a pretty solid list. BBBAA is similar although imo a bit more powerful as ur B-Wings have the ability to barrel roll and have an extra K-Turn option. i love the standard X-Wings and they r what i use mostly as a rebel player (prior to the B-Wings). the biggest advantage the X-Wings have over the B-Wings is they have 2 agility dice on defense.

I've entered a local tournament in a couple of weeks and am thinking of taking the following

Rookie x 3

Prototype x 2

This leaves me with 3 points left to spend and I was thinking of putting either an R2 or R5 on each of the Rookies.

The R2 makes me a bit more mobile after K turns while the R5 could reduce the impact of any criticals I take.

Alternately I thought about possible dropping one of the Rookies to allow me to take some torpedoes and missiles for some long range fun.

Any thoughts appreciated

its a pretty solid list. BBBAA is similar although imo a bit more powerful as ur B-Wings have the ability to barrel roll and have an extra K-Turn option. i love the standard X-Wings and they r what i use mostly as a rebel player (prior to the B-Wings). the biggest advantage the X-Wings have over the B-Wings is they have 2 agility dice on defense.

I would also mention that X-Wings have a better dial as well i.e. more movement options when stressed.

Yeah I considered B-wings but I think I would rather 2 in the list than 1 and I currently only have the one model. I may see if I can give it a try swapping a Rookie for a Blue

I've entered a local tournament in a couple of weeks and am thinking of taking the following

Rookie x 3

Prototype x 2

This leaves me with 3 points left to spend and I was thinking of putting either an R2 or R5 on each of the Rookies.

The R2 makes me a bit more mobile after K turns while the R5 could reduce the impact of any criticals I take.

Alternately I thought about possible dropping one of the Rookies to allow me to take some torpedoes and missiles for some long range fun.

Any thoughts appreciated

its a pretty solid list. BBBAA is similar although imo a bit more powerful as ur B-Wings have the ability to barrel roll and have an extra K-Turn option. i love the standard X-Wings and they r what i use mostly as a rebel player (prior to the B-Wings). the biggest advantage the X-Wings have over the B-Wings is they have 2 agility dice on defense.

I would also mention that X-Wings have a better dial as well i.e. more movement options when stressed.

thats def true but advanced sensors more than compensates for this as the stress is a non issue provided you perform a green manouvre every 2nd turn as the B-Wing player still gets an action.

Of course in a swarm list like this there is now room for upgrades on ur B-Wings unless u drop a ship or play more A-Wings... if u wanted adv sensors u would be best playing 4 ships... XXBB, BBBX, BBXA, BXXA or BBBB.

I've entered a local tournament in a couple of weeks and am thinking of taking the following

Rookie x 3

Prototype x 2

This leaves me with 3 points left to spend and I was thinking of putting either an R2 or R5 on each of the Rookies.

The R2 makes me a bit more mobile after K turns while the R5 could reduce the impact of any criticals I take.

Alternately I thought about possible dropping one of the Rookies to allow me to take some torpedoes and missiles for some long range fun.

Any thoughts appreciated

its a pretty solid list. BBBAA is similar although imo a bit more powerful as ur B-Wings have the ability to barrel roll and have an extra K-Turn option. i love the standard X-Wings and they r what i use mostly as a rebel player (prior to the B-Wings). the biggest advantage the X-Wings have over the B-Wings is they have 2 agility dice on defense.

I would also mention that X-Wings have a better dial as well i.e. more movement options when stressed.

thats def true but advanced sensors more than compensates for this as the stress is a non issue provided you perform a green manouvre every 2nd turn as the B-Wing player still gets an action.

Of course in a swarm list like this there is now room for upgrades on ur B-Wings unless u drop a ship or play more A-Wings... if u wanted adv sensors u would be best playing 4 ships... XXBB, BBBX, BBXA, BXXA or BBBB.

I'd say that the B-Wing's dial is not worse than the X-Wing's; it just has a lot more red on it. Advanced Sensors (and Fire-Control, for that matter), get rid of the action-loss from getting stressed, so that's rather a non-issue for all but the Naked Bs.

But then, I usually run XXBB, where the Rookies have Engine Upgrades and the Blues have Adv Sensors, so I'm the king of the Asteroid Field, and mobility is my by-word.

Specifically, the mobility differences are:

B-Wing's got a Red 1 Turn, vs the X-Wing's White 3 Turn.
B-Wing's got a 2 Koiogran, vs the X-Wing's 4 Koiogran

B-Wing's got a Red 3 Bank and 4 Foward, vs the X-Wing's White.

B-Wing has a natural Barrel Roll Action and Sensor Slot (Adv. Sensors, Fire-Control), vs the X-Wing's Astromech Slot (R2 Astromech, R7-T1).

Specifically, the mobility differences are:

B-Wing's got a Red 1 Turn, vs the X-Wing's White 3 Turn.

B-Wing's got a 2 Koiogran, vs the X-Wing's 4 Koiogran

B-Wing's got a Red 3 Bank and 4 Foward, vs the X-Wing's White.

B-Wing has a natural Barrel Roll Action and Sensor Slot (Adv. Sensors, Fire-Control), vs the X-Wing's Astromech Slot (R2 Astromech, R7-T1).

So, take away from this - the B wing is not very good at chasing down / running away. However, in the thick of things, the 1 turn and the BR make it quite a bit more maneuverable than the X wing.

Specifically, the mobility differences are:

B-Wing's got a Red 1 Turn, vs the X-Wing's White 3 Turn.

B-Wing's got a 2 Koiogran, vs the X-Wing's 4 Koiogran

B-Wing's got a Red 3 Bank and 4 Foward, vs the X-Wing's White.

B-Wing has a natural Barrel Roll Action and Sensor Slot (Adv. Sensors, Fire-Control), vs the X-Wing's Astromech Slot (R2 Astromech, R7-T1).

So, take away from this - the B wing is not very good at chasing down / running away. However, in the thick of things, the 1 turn and the BR make it quite a bit more maneuverable than the X wing.

I'd say your take-away is accurate, for the most part. B-Wings prefer being more to the center of the field, and enjoy being in an Asteroid Field (particularly with Advanced Sensors). Their tight cornering and barrel-rolls give them excellent ability to take shortcuts.

Also, Advanced Sensors + an Engine Upgrade is absolutely amazing. Nothing quite like boosting right before doing a red maneuver to close the distance!

Looking at the basic XXXAA build you could also upgrade one of your ships for a bit more pilot skill. Push a Prototype up to a Green and give it Veteran Instincts and now it is flying as PS 5.

If you're ok with swapping out ship types you could put in a Y-Wing or HWK with some kind of Turret on it instead of one of the Rookies. Gold + Ion is 23 points which would allow an R2 on it giving it a pretty good dial even if it doesn't have quite the range. A Rebel Operative with a Blaster Turret and Recon Specialist is also 23 points although here I'd stop at 99 points in a bid for initiative as you want to make sure the RO gets his actions. Of course you could also figure out how to put B-Wings in there although I don't think they change the overall performance as much as adding a turret carrying ship could.