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So my mates and I have been playing for a few months; on the whole I really like the way nothing really seems unbeatable, and we quite often switch fleets for a rematch, so we all try out different combos.

One fleet we've found very effective though is three Bs: Ten Numb with ion Cannon and swarm tactics, 2 Blue Squadrons with Heavy Lasers, all with Fire Control. The two Bs pull out 4 attack dice at all ranges, and Ten can either fire the B's normal guns, or Ion to control movement.

We've run a few lists against it with no joy. I know in theory the best plan is to get behind and out the fire arcs, but TIE Fighters and interceptors have proven too squishy, the 4 dice are brutal, and the damned Bs are tough!

We were thinking bombers with missiles, or Phantoms? Any suggestions for taking out Bs?

Sounds more like a tactical issue. 8 hp is tough but the 1 agility hurts particularly against focus fire. Four interceptors going in push the limit with focus+evade tokens. Maybe three with some extra shields and and stealth. Two pronged, varied speed approach, prioritizing a Blue squad first, then Ten, then wrap up. Just a gut reaction though. Haven't run into a 3b list. I'll set one up next time I play.

Try Capt Jonus w/cluster missiles, 2 gammas w/clusters and proton torpedo, and a third gamma w/clusters.
Due to B wings 1 evade try concentrating all fire at 1 B at a time.

Also, putting Stress on them is a good idea, even if they have advanced sensors.

B-Wings have almost no maneuverability, so many of their turns are red maneuvers, stressing them means you can reasonably predict where they're headed.

Cool, so maybe some flèchette torpedoes too?

Maybe a shuttle with Jendon and an Ion Cannon, plus a couple of bombers with flèchette torpedoes and cluster missiles?

Yep, flechette torpedoes work as a cheap and quick way to drop stress on someone.

Deploy split up into two strong groups, draw that fire in different directions, make those B-Wings turn to engage you, or the guys behind them.

If the entire group turns in one direct, get the ones they turned away from to move in as fast as you can.

I'm not sure about the shuttle, since B-Wings have so much firepower they'll chew through the shuttle's shields and health pretty quickly with only 1 health. Actually, try putting a rebel captive on it to make him think twice about shooting it if you really want to take the shuttle. Again, that stress really hurts B-Wing mobility, but things that stay out of their range is better.

B-Wings excel at knife-fighting close in with barrel roll and a 2 K-turn. With HLC they can play the long range game too. However, with only 3 ships he only has 3 sources of damage and without a more agile ship in tandem he's very vulnerable to getting outmaneuvered.

Zippy ships like Interceptors and A-Wings can sneak around and light him up, anything in numbers can whittle him down and focused fire in general can quickly bring those B-hemoths down. Asteroids and arc-dodging are your friends.

I'm no expert, but when the Decimator is released, admiral C would do a number once he gets to range band 1 giving those B-wings stress tokens every turn.

b-wings actually have ungodly maneuverability. When equipped with advanced sensors!

By being able to barrel roll both before and after a move, the B-wings have quadrupled the number of places a single maneuver could possibly take them. It also really strongly enables aggressively using k-turns and other red maneuvers, as you can adjust after the fact.

 Killionaire wrote:
By being able to barrel roll both before and after a move,

Oh god, I'm having flashbacks...

 Killionaire wrote:
b-wings actually have ungodly maneuverability. When equipped with advanced sensors!

By being able to barrel roll both before and after a move, the B-wings have quadrupled the number of places a single maneuver could possibly take them. It also really strongly enables aggressively using k-turns and other red maneuvers, as you can adjust after the fact.

I think you mean before OR after. Advanced Sensors only lets you choose to take your action prior to revealing your dial, if you do this you skip the perform action step. It does let you focus, Barrel Roll, or Target Lock before performing a red maneuver, which is pretty awesome getting that action in before you take the stress.

If you want an absolute clinic on B-Wings with AS, check out the finals match from last years World's where Paul Heaver flies XXBB including 2 Advanced Sensor Daggers against a 7 ship Tie Swarm. Honestly the best game of X-Wing I've seen played thus far.

I agree, best game I have seen right there.

I have a friend who played a similar tricky list that depended on one ship to really "work." I enjoy using a phantom with two interceptors and finally learned to simply out-maneuver him. Echo has crazy movement and can avoid all but a turret... and if you ion Echo, the ship STILL has ridiculous movement due to de-cloak and actions. I would focus down the "elbow," as I called it, then the rest just crumpled.

My strategy against this list would probably be to simply attempt to maneuver around and crack TN, then pick off the other B's after that. Echo is HELL to kill without turrets, and not easy WITH turrets. Those B's are tough, avoiding a head-on fight would be necessary.

B-wings are really easy to ion because of their 1 Agility. Y-wings with ion turrets can just float behind them the whole match and plink them to death - I'm not saying you should do an all-Y list or anything, but one or two Y-wings would help cripple an all-B list pretty nicely.

 Moktor wrote:
I agree, best game I have seen right there.

I have a friend who played a similar tricky list that depended on one ship to really "work." I enjoy using a phantom with two interceptors and finally learned to simply out-maneuver him. Echo has crazy movement and can avoid all but a turret... and if you ion Echo, the ship STILL has ridiculous movement due to de-cloak and actions. I would focus down the "elbow," as I called it, then the rest just crumpled.

My strategy against this list would probably be to simply attempt to maneuver around and crack TN, then pick off the other B's after that. Echo is HELL to kill without turrets, and not easy WITH turrets. Those B's are tough, avoiding a head-on fight would be necessary.

Unless I've missed an FAQ/errata, you can't decloak with an ion token as at no point are you placing your maneuver dial.

Vargas79 wrote:


Unless I've missed an FAQ/errata, you can't decloak with an ion token as at no point are you placing your maneuver dial.

Correct. Since a ship with an Ion token on it places no manoeuvre dial in the planning phase you can't use any ability that has 'immediately before revealing your manoeuvre' as its trigger condition. So a phantom cannot decloak if ion'd (or use advanced sensors if taken as an upgrade).

B-wings are very weak against ion and swarms. 1 agility means they are going to get ioned reliably, and it also means 2 damage dice will reliably put dents in them.

 ph34r wrote:
B-wings are very weak against ion and swarms. 1 agility means they are going to get ioned reliably, and it also means 2 damage dice will reliably put dents in them.

Or zero agility if you take outmaneuver on a pile of black squadron ties

Yeah, the swarm did the trick, as did Col Jendon and 2 bombers, despite some atrocious luck on the Imperial side.