Ok, this is an unusual post for me, it’s not talking about a tournament or the community or the usual stuff I go on about. The title says it all, this is an article about beating Y-Wings: a tool and strategy you need to do it.

Now the Y-Wing is an interesting ship in X-Wing history. I don’t think there is a single ship that has drawn as much public dislike as this humble rebel bomber/turret. Post wave 2 in 1.0 it was a somewhat uninspiring ship, until the Twin Laser Turret arrived. Then it became a reviled monster, and there were two builds that caused this. The first was the stress hog. R3-A2, the title and a TLT dropping two stress a turn on your opponent regardless of whether you hit or missed felt unpleasant. But 2.0 has done away with stress stacking (long may that continue).

The other build was the Thug Life build, 4 Y-wings with TLTs and all their 3 speed moves were green. It was derided, it was not loved and it was horribly good. There were ways to beat it, but you knew it was a solid list. The TLT was the problem, not the Y-Wing, the Y-Wing was just a very good carrier for the most hated card in 1.0.

And now we are kind of back at the same place. A ship that most people have a bit of a soft spot for is becoming synonymous with uninteresting, or dare I go so far as to say “negative” play experiences. There are two lists that have quickly risen in the Hyperspace environment to become consistent performers since the points change a few weeks ago.

One is the “Dirty Ys”. 4 Y-Wings with Ion Cannon Turrets, Veteran Turret Gunners, proton bombs and shield upgrades. coming in at exactly 50 points a piece. The second is the 5 Y-wings, all with Ion Turrets and four with VTGs. I have played against people flying these lists, people who I have genuine affection for, who freely admit they are there to win (which is fine, we go to tournaments because we ultimately like winning) but readily accept that the list they are flying isn’t actually that fun to fly, and certainly isn’t that fun to fly again.

Now kudos to FFG for the nerf-bat they swung at the Trip-Ups a few weeks ago, they saw a problem and fixed it. It gave great credence to their ability to amend points on the fly when they see a problem with the game. But there isn’t a points change due for several months so we’re going to have to get used to losing to these Y-Wings or learn how to beat them.

The only list that I have come up with that has consistently done so is double Firesprays, I am sure there are others out there that can manage it regularly, but I haven’t flown them and don’t have the experience with them to write an in-depth tactics article about how to do it. I can only write about what I know, I’m not going to try and say something works when I haven’t experienced it. The list is also pretty good against a lot of other things, but if you want to take it to a tournament you can work out how to beat them with it yourself…





So here is my Firespray list (hyperspace legal) and how you can beat Y-Wings with it consistently.

Boba Emon Slave 1 Andrasta Trickshot Trickshot Perceptive Co-Pilot L3-37 Proton Bombs Proton Bombs Proximity Mines

It comes in at exactly 200 points, offers a huge amount of area control with all it’s bombs and some very big guns. But before we look into how to fly it we’re looking at the most important part of your game plan. Setting up your obstacles. As it’s hyperspace and mining guild ties exist take debris. This is not only for those pesky “mini-Dashes” floating about, it is also because Y-Wings are BAD at dealing with stress. Going over a rock doesn’t slow them down nearly as much as a stress token. Here is how I would aim to set up the three obstacles I place in turn 0.

Placing first or second does really matter, I like placing second as it lets me respond to my opponents decisions but I have the same placement objectives who ever places first. Obstacle 1 is placed about 3 from your opponents edge of the board and a little over 2 in from the side. Ideally your second and third obstacle will be about 2.5 from their edge and then 3.5, both just over 2 in. What you’re doing here is blocking off the options to turn into the board. Or at least making it interesting for them. Next up the Y-Wing player will set up their ships, if they are correct they will go on the side with the less obstacles on it as it gives their somewhat more unwieldy ships a better turning option. You then take your two firesprays, line them up directly opposite as far back as you can. The board will probably look something like this at turn 0.

Turn one is super easy. You watch what your opponent does and your Firesprays go one forwards and focus. Easy as that. Your opponent will have done one of two things if they’re sensible, one of three is they have read this and thing “I have a cunning plan”. Please note that Emon is on the INSIDE and Boba on the out.

This is where the rule of 11 comes into play, and I could explain it all in depth or I could just show you what to do in either situation, what you need to know is that 11 is the sum total (including ship bases) that must be moved before you are at range three of each other.

If the Y-Wings went one forward they are now using up 2 of the 11, your 1 forward has used roughly 2.5. So we’re at 4.5 out of 11. There is no way anyone is getting a shot here.

If the Y-Wings went three forward they are using up 4 of the 11 and you have used up about 2.5, so we’re at 6.5. Still miles away. But that is turn one done. The Y-Wings are most likely to have done one of those two things.

So we come to turn two. If your opponent went one forward the furthest they can get their ship onto the board is a 4 forward, including the base length that means they are now 7 onto the board and stressed. We’ve already mentioned that Y-Wings don’t like stress, so if your opponent does a 4 forward I would be shocked. So most likely they will either one forward again or 3 forward. If they did a 1 forward then dial in a 4k with both your ships.

If they did a three forward in turn one then dial in a talon roll with each ship, one left and one right so you end up parallel with your rear arc to the Y-Wings. Finish your Talon with the ship as far away from the Y-Wings as you can.

The Y-Wing player has a choice now, they have read this article and have decided to either whether the storm that is coming or they are going to turn away. If they turn away their formation is going to run into problems in a couple of turns time, if they decide to take it on the chin then the firesprays are already in the ascendancy.

There will be some shooting, you make lose a shield or two (and it doesn’t really matter if you do) but you’ll be pretty unlucky not to take put some damage into the Y-Wings in return.

Which brings us to turn three. The Bombing turn. Both Emon and Boba are dropping protons. If at this points Emon is on the outside (because you Talon Rolled) he uses the hard three and Boba the one.

If Emon is on the inside he uses the straight three. Any Y-Wings committed to coming after you are going to get hurt. One is likely to take a couple of crits.

A 2 forward maintains your range. Boost if you need to.

You should have targeted the one most likely to land on a bomb… then you simply one bank away and take a focus with the inside ship, the outside does a 2 bank and stays stressed.

From here on in you can work it out, and have controlled the engagement, it is now on your terms. Put bombs in front of them and fly away taking focuses. Boost when you have to maintain range, at range three you are rolling 3 red vs 2 green and they are rolling 2 red vs 3 green. Re-load with Emon when he’s not getting shot and keep throwing those bombs out towards the Y-Wings, they are a huge deterrent to being chased. If you can drop a prox mine on a Y-Wing then do, but these are best used to control the board like asteroids.

Once a Y-wing become killable (so 4 health or less) turn boba into them HARD. Take a reinforce if you’re at range one then use Slave One to avoid being blocked next turn. It is better to stay stress and not be blocked than be blocked and clear your stress.

I mentioned earlier that your opponent may have read this and thought: I can do that. so they rotate their arcs and try to convince you to follow them, potentially through some bombs, don’t do that. If they do then boost on in and and plink away until one’s dead. Then zoom in and kill them with extreme prejudice. You are more mobile, faster and do more damage than they can; especially at range three.

L3 is there on Emon for when your opponent rolls CRITS and you have no shields to soak them up. Either that or use it on a shot that could potentially kill you, don’t use it on the first half decent dice roll your opponent makes, and for the Pete’s sake, only spend your focus in attack if it guarantees a kill shot or there is no risk of you being ioned in a bad place/taking a crit when they shoot back at you.

This is a match up about patience and chipping away at paint work. Not getting greedy. My first rule of X-Wing is DON’T GET GREEDY. Pick a ship, kill it, if you get a 4 dice trick shot with all the mods against one ship on full health, or you can take a 3 dice long shot at a ship on one health: KILL THE ONE ON ONE HEALTH.

The Firesprays are actually very good against a lot of things. Tie’s are not fans of the bombs, Aces have to be very careful of the bombs and the big guns (and being blocked) and they can reign down death and destruction through their arsenal of weapons on the likes of Vennie. There is stuff they find hard but it’s such a fun and rewarding list to fly, plus, y’know, it beats Y-Wings…

NEXT TIME: Less Theory, MOAR BOOM!

If you’re looking for X-Wing tournaments to go to then head over to the 186th Tournament Calendar.