A-Wing Teardown

The A-wing is one of my favorite ships in Star Wars but in regards to X-Wing I notice that among the people I talk to there doesn't seem to be much respect for it. I have spent a lot of time and many games trying to figure out the best use for it. I'm aware there is a card being released in Rebel Aces that will reduce its cost by 2 points and while I think that is welcome I do not factor it into this article.

When I look over the A-Wing my first thought was where is barrel roll? Boost is a great ability but I honestly expected it to have barrel roll. My second thought is damn this thing is maneuverable. It has the most green maneuvers of any dial in the game as 50% of its maneuvers are green. It is identical to the TIE Interceptor with the only difference being that the 5 straight maneuver for the A-Wing is green where as it is white for the TIE Interceptor. Some highlights of the dial are its two K-Turns at 3 and 5, a straight green 5, and every maneuver at 2 being green.

At first my thinking was to use it as a cheap missile platform but with the Z-95 Headhunter coming out it will make no sense in that role. If you are going to use a cheap A-Wing then use it to obstruct and confuse enemy movement. A Prototype A-Wing makes for a good bumper car. It isn't an Academy TIE but it is the second most economically priced model in the Rebel fleet behind the HWK-290 at least until the Headhunter shows up.

The bumper car concept is to get it out there to be as big a thorn in your opponents side as you can. Conveniently you will likely be at range 1 most the time. While not quite as durable as an X-Wing you are close and with 3 Agility you should be able to weather a couple volleys. Which also means more important ships aren't getting shot at. A bumper car can find a home in many lists due to its low cost and high utility but I prefer to use an A-Wing as an elite flanker. Until Jake Farrell comes out my preferred A-Wing build is below. It costs 30 points.

Full Commitment A-Wing

Tycho Celchu with Opportunist

Now why did I choose this? Because he is the best A-Wing pilot in my opinion with the only ability in the game that lets you ignore stress tokens except for maneuvering. My temptation was to give him Expert Handling and get access to Barrel Roll but I have decided after play testing that he can survive without it. Instead Opportunist shores up a big weakness of the A-Wing in general which is its 2 Attack dice. Opportunist isn't a no brainer for every pilot but for the only pilot in the game who minimize the impact of stress it seems to work well.

With Opportunist and a willingness to get up close and personal you could be rolling up to 4 Attack dice. That is an X-Wing level attack and should force people to reconsider their attack priorities. True its nearly a third of your build total but he could potentially dish out as much as an X-Wing and with the ability to Boost after your maneuver you should be able to minimize return fire. Like a TIE fighter it is very important to stay out of arc as much as possible.

Here is an example list which I have play tested. It costs 99 points.

x2 Rookie Pilots
x1 Dagger Squadron with Advanced Sensors
Tycho Celchu with Opportunist

Now all of this comes with a caveat which is that an A-Wing needs to be with at least three other models to be effective. I don't believe that it can stand up to the scrutiny (read: Combat Phase) of being one of three targets. But as one of four it should lower its priority enough to allow it to do its thing which is control a flank, harass movement options, and get in close range shots. Some other list options not covered that spring to mind are YYXA, BBXA, and YBXA.

Another build that my friend came up with is the following for 26 points.

Green Squadron Pilot with Expose and Stealth Device

With this you can safely use Expose for a turn or two while maintaining three Evade dice. I also think this can work well with Opportunist. You can keep your action to Evade as well as the 4 Evade dice until you are hit though it is more situational.

Here is a list utilizing the above build minus the Stealth Devices on the A-Wings for those who actually own three A-Wings.

x3 Green Squadron Pilot with Expose
Biggs Darklighter with R2-F2 and Stealth Device

This is is designed to have Biggs tank while your A-Wings do their thing without fear of being shot at with reduced Agility. Biggs can (and should) have 5 Evade dice base so he can soak fire. The list is vulnerable to AoE damage effects like Assault Missiles and is a bit predictable due to the need to stay close to Biggs but it is interesting nonetheless.

Don't be afraid to field an A-Wing. With practice you may surprise people who underestimate what you can do and you will only like it more when Rebel Aces comes out and it grows in popularity thanks to its lowered cost and the great cards coming out to support it.

For this weeks The Wookie Won here is a three X-Wing list that I created that should prove fun to field. I did not name it as most of theses lists are just variants of the original concept called 3 Headed Dragon. The list is 100 points.

Wedge Antilles with Expose and Hull Upgrade
Luke Skywalker with Draw Their Fire and R2-D2
Biggs Darklighter with R2-F2 and Stealth Device

This is a pretty rough list. As long as you keep Biggs the target for the opening salvos he should have 5 Agility which should soak some fire. Then Luke has his own ability combined with the ability to take a critical hit off of Biggs then heal the shield with R2-D2. Lastly Wedge has a chance to risk using Expose for a turn or two while Biggs is alive so that he can worry less about only having 1 Agility.