Hello all, apologies for my absense. Sometimes things in life mean spinning lots of plates at the same time gets hard… work, X-Wing, other commitments… it all adds up and something has to give. Sadly in the last few weeks finding the energy and motivation to write has been lacking. I guess in part because I have been focussing on playing with Guri Fenn in prep for worlds and let’s be honest there are only so many times people want to read about that… let alone me want to write about it…

Things have been going ok and I’ve been really touched to recieve a few messages and emails from people asking how I’m doing and when I’d start writing again. But here I am, and finally there are things to write about that aren’t just “I luv Guri”….

Since I last wrote we have had a new wave and new rules clarifications, I could go into them but why bother, David Sutcliffe has done a couple of really excellent articles summarising both the possible impact of Wave 5 and the latest rules reference. Entirely recommend giving them both a read.

My only 2 cents to throw in is that the changes to tractor are going to likely see a resurgence in a certain Mr Fett, I’ve been revisiting him with hypethetical (expensive) builds but as an answer to Sun Fac he certainly has potential….

While we’re mentioning Sun Fac: is he bust and broken and dumb? Probably, let’s see how he works over time. I’ve not played against him yet but am fully aware what a mess he is likely to make of my two aces should I get things wrong. Will he bring a significany change to the dynamics of the game? A lot of people have talked about aces being a thing of the past and now it’s all about swarms and bigger squadrons.

I think there is an element of truth in this but what we actually have is an extra entrant in the rock paper scissors of the match ups game that players are going to have to learn to overcome and incorporate into their play. You can be as skillful as you like in flying your own list, but it learning how to counter play things there is a whole other level of skill involved. reading your opponent, anticipating their moves, understanding exactly how their lists work and what they want to do to hit their triggers and get the most out it… these are all skills that you can learn, develop and work on. As is incorporating new stuff into your list building.

They are back! (that’s not really Arvel….)

Wave 5 did hold one particular joy for me, and those who follow me on instagram will have seen during the week me getting to grips with 5 old friends. In 1.0 A-Wings were my first love. They were the first ship I picked up and fell for. I know we’ve had solid RZ-A2 builds out there for months now, (and I really can’t understand why) they just don’t appeal to me. But A1s, for all their technical inferiority to their younger siblings for me have the X factor. And now they have Snap Shot… (again) Sadly Crack cannot be used when you snap, but you can still snap and crack.

It has been MONTHS since I saw a list I was excited to fly that didn’t include a certain member of the Black Sun or the Concord Dawn. I played a few games with my good friend Phill Pond in the week to see what they can do, and the answer is “more than I gave them credit for”. Phil has been successfully running Maciej Paraszczak’s four ship scum list over the last few weeks, Ion Cannon M3-A, Quad Jumper, Ketsu and Old Teroch and was kind enough to play me three games in a row with it, with three different versions of 5 A-Wings. This kind of scenario is really helpful, having a test factor when trying out lists really helps. Running against the same list flown by the same pilot three games in a row helped give perspective on the three different builds that I tried out feel. Here’s what I tried:

5 Green Squadron with Snap Shot and Crack shot

5 Green Squadron with Outmanoeuvre and Predator

5 Green Squadron with Predator, Crackshot and Homing Missiles

I wanted to try 5 with Juke and Snap too, but time was against us. The amount of character you can apply to a humble A-Wing with the option of 2 Talents is staggering. Every list flew differently, every list was really fun and made me think about different ways of playing them. So this post is going to look at those and explore a bit about the A-Wings. There won’t be a tournament write up in this post, but there will be one coming as this weekend I have a double header of the inaugural UK Squadron Championships and a Season 2 Hyperspace trial to attend, both of which will merit discussion.

Snap Crack and Pop

Ketsu gets bumped at range two of 2 and range one of 2… she got away with it but got halved in the process.

This is the most obvious build for 5 A-Wings and is really scary, Phil found himself reversing a quad jumper into a terrible place rather than face up to the opening engage of 5 snapshots. This list is at it’s best jousting, the trick is range control, and knowing how fast/slow your opponents ships are going to go as you try to build a double tap kill box for them to fly into.

Don’t read the word jousting and think that you fly straight at your opponent and turn it into a dice game. You still have to engage right, you need to anticipate lanes of escape for your opponent and shut them down, spread your arcs and try to catch a prime target in multiple range 2 firing arcs.

In order to get the most of snapshot you need to increase your odds by getting as many on the same ship as possible. You need to work out where you can go the following turn to try and trigger the ability again. 7 points is a lot for a Talent on a 32 point ship, if you only use it once that is a waste of points.

Range control and anticipation (plus an unhealthy devotion to the god of red dice) could turn this list into a real winner, but I think it struggles against aces more than it would care to admit.

Plinky Plinky Zoom Zoom

Lots of guns on Ketsu again and a panicked quad jumper for added bonus

Outmanoeuvre and predator took us into game two. Again the speed at which the A-Wing can engage is tremendous. and with 4 of the five engaging in turn two it was a good turn.

Outman on aces is something I am well used to, it’s been stapled to them for months now. Getting the best from it on lower initiative ships is a very different challenge. While the Snaps don’t mind flying in a block, these little guys really aren’t fans. You need to push and pull your opponent around getting little nibbles on them when you can. Force them to face one ship only to have two or three others reduce their agility.

If you can engineer that range one shot with outman and predator triggering it is a pretty impressive attack, sure they are not as consistent as their younger, more technologically advanced siblings, but this get them pretty close.

They lost the match up by an incredibly narrow margin but I absolutely think this combo of talents has merit. It’s more subtle than the snaps for sure, less scary initially, but bring your guns to bear up close and damage cards can reign down on a ship.

This variant is a big fan of playing your ships either independently or in 2s and 3s. whichever way you force your opponent to turn you need to make sure multiple ships are getting that outman shot in.

Homing In

having neglected to take a photo of game three, here is a Homing Pigeon causing as much mayhem as 5 homing missiles.

Another variation and another entirely different play style. The opening engagement for this list is critical. You need those target locks, but don’t take them first. Get into range 3 and token up, then try and dart around the opposition, taking a lock and boosting clear. If you can get 4 to 5 locks on the same target and not get any shots this turn then that is totally fine, the threat of those locks coming in is huge.

With potentially 10 auto damage you need to make sure you target the right thing and put pressure on it. When you say “one damage or four dice” make sure you have the focus too, you want that 4 dice shot to be as menacing as possible. There is very little point doing this to the tankiest ship your opponent has, there is a lot of point doing it to their support ships or aces.

Play for the right engagement, not an engagement and the threat of those homing missiles will pay dividends. Add in the fear factor of predator and crack at range one and a lot of ships will not know where to engage you.

This list felt surprisingly good, and of the three lists actually won in the most style, punching 4 into ketsu and landing two crits made a big difference but Phil said roll the dice… so I did.

I really liked flying it. I really liked that it threatened at any range and those locks keep the pressure on brilliantly, but you have to maximise the threat, spread it around and you will lose.

After the three games I was thoroughly enamoured with the little A-Wings that could. 2-1 against a player with a solid run of form and a strong list made me think that Rebel As could have promise in the right hands. Most importantly though I found them lots of fun, and Phil said he enjoyed the tension of every game. His fear was the snap shots, and I think it is probably the best option over all. The joy of two talents letting you add flavour as you like should not be overlooked. If the dice gods love you and variance doesn’t bother you give them a whirl and see how they feel. I don’t think they are a top tier list, I think in certain match ups they will romp to victory, but I can’t see them doing it consistently enough to threaten the likes of Sinker or Imp Aces.

Next Time: What is a Squadron Championship?

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