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Hi all,

Taking part in my first tournament in a few weeks and put together the below list. Looking for comments and tips etc.

B-Wing: •Ten Numb (Fire Control System; Autoblaster; Proton Torpedoes; Decoy) 44
B-Wing: Dagger Squadron Pilot (Fire Control System) 26
Z-95 Headhunter: Tala Squadron 13
Z-95 Headhunter: •Lieutenant Blount 17

100 points

I also have a Y wing, two x wings and another B wing and A wing from the rebel aces pack.

Thanks

I don't quite get this list. Ten Numb is completely overloaded with upgrades of dubious utility, The Dagger is fine, Tala's are always good, Blount without upgrade seems kind of pointless.

So the question becomes how competitive would you like the base of your list to be and what ships/list style do you enjoy flying?

My first thought working with your collection would be go Rebel Swarm, 4B1Z(4 blue squadron b-wings & 1 bandit z-95.) is considered optimal which you dont quite have enough ships to do but swapping a b-wing for an x with an r2 unit is a pretty close second and has seen some sucess on the tournament scene. I might be tempted to recommend something a little bit more oddball like Biggs with an R2 unit, 2 Blues with Fire Control Systems and 2 Tala's as that's pretty close to a list I had a lot of fun flying last year. Would this be something that could work for you?

I think a Biggs with R2D2 + 3 Blue Squadrons with Advanced Sensors could be a good fit. The Blues can action then bump or action then K-turn while Biggs follows along behind them and soaks damage.

unfortunately that list comes to 104 points :(

Also I doubt Angry Honey Badger has 3 Advanced sensors as he lists neither E-Wings or the Lambda shuttle in his collection. Biggs walks the dogs has always been a nice list though but I've heard its lost in place in the meta ever since the Phantom came out so sees much less use.

David Clarke thanks for your input.

I am fairly new to the x wing scene so forgive me if list seemed a little mismatched. I'm slowly learning that it's not necessarily about the amount of guns something has...can you tell I'm a 40k player aswell? Haha!

I definitely want to use two B wings as I just really like them.

Your idea above is one which I like especially with the two z95's and Biggs as I've had some success with both Biggs and a z95.

And to be honest that list is the sort of list I have really enjoyed playing in the past

So a revised list is as follows:

Biggs - R2 unit
Blue squadron B wing - FCS
Blue squadron B wing - FCS
Tala squadron Z95
Tala squadron Z95

Spot on the nose at 100pts

Can you get a HWK before the tournament? This is a pretty good list if you can:

Blue squadron b-wing with FCS x3
Roark with ion turret and Chewbacca (ideal) or recon specialist (if you can't get the Chewbacca card).

Roark is a very important counter to phantoms and similar arc dodgers, you can spread out your fire arcs and use Roark to boost whichever one gets the best shot. That's much better support than Biggs, who has really declined in usefulness these days since rigid formations and jousting aren't as relevant anymore.

Angry honey badger, don't be too quick to discard lessons learned from 40k bringing the right gun for the right job and quantity having a quality all of its own are all cross applicable principles.

I love my b-wings, haven't had that much joy with them in tournaments( I've found them very vulnerable to control effects and getting blocked by large base ships) but they normally keep my opponent's very focused on them as a primary threat.

Rigid formations, jousting and Biggs still remain very relevant to the game. Its not always a quick fast dash into a straight up toe toe fight, but if you come well prepared for one then you can force your opponent to react to your moves and pacing if they are trying to outmanoeuvre you. Just make sure you are paying attention to asteroid placement, don't split your force and hold close to one of the board edges so there's always one flank which the enemy can't be attacking you from.

you could almost run an ABXXX list, with one more X wing and Chardaan refit on the A wing it's exactly 100 points. I haven't flown it before and it's not as "efficient" as the BBBBZ list but it follows the same concept but trades the Z95 for a much better (in my opinion) A wing and trades 3 B wings for X wings which most people would regard as a downgrade but I actually like the X wing more for the most part because of the 2 agility. Even though you lose out on 3 shields and the barrel roll maneuvers. And the weird dial of the B wing. Just an idea.

Thanks for all the input guys really appreciate it.

Think I'm going to try the BBXZZ idea as it sticks pretty closely to the original list I originally put together...minus the copious upgrades!

I do have an a wing so might experiment abit with one whilst I'm play testing my list over the next few weeks.

Quick question: what is the best way to effectively deal with 'big ships' like the decimator for example with this list? I've been under the general impression it's about outmanoeuvring them and then pouring all the attacks you have into them? Or is it more effective to deal with its smaller escort ships first?

Looking forward to the tournament now!

You should nearly always be going for the big ship first. Don't be afraid to slow play and trade shots at range 3, they may get an extra defence dice but you are pointing a lot of guns in the enemy ships direction.

Yeah, what Dave said, you can't outmanouvre a ship with a 360 arc, I'd have won a lot more games if you could!

Thanks chaps - appreciated.

Forgive me if I am being daft but what do people mean when they term a ship as a 'joust ship'?

Rik

It comes from a recent article, ships fall broadly into one of three categories,

turrets - big, tough ships normally with 360 primaries (Falcon, Decimator etc..)

jousters - Efficient ships that tend to be run as bare bones, point and click units, TIEs, Zs or Bs for instance.

Arc dodger - Highly manoeuvrable ships that stay alive by not getting shot at.

You can read the whole article here..

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2015/2/19/it-is-the-future-you-see-wave-6/

AngryHoneyBadger28 wrote:
Quick question: what is the best way to effectively deal with 'big ships' like the decimator for example with this list? I've been under the general impression it's about outmanoeuvring them and then pouring all the attacks you have into them? Or is it more effective to deal with its smaller escort ships first?

There is no single correct answer because it depends on which ships each player brought, how they deploy and make their first moves, etc. If Whisper is hiding behind the decimator then you obviously kill the decimator first, if they put the escort out in front and hide the decimator then you have to pay attention to that escort. But some general ideas to consider:

1) Decimators die quickly against concentrated fire from 4-5 ships, especially at close range. So if you get an opportunity to attack the decimator early while the escort hasn't engaged then you can make them pay for it. On the other hand, if the decimator is at long range and/or you can't concentrate fire effectively then it's easy to waste shots that aren't going to have much of an immediate impact on the game. So where exactly the decimator is and how early it enters the fight are very important.

2) The typical decimator escort (Whisper, Fel, etc) is very hard to catch once you're down to your last ships. So you can't get focused on killing the decimator, you have to make sure that you have an endgame plan for how to deal with the escort. If you spend too long chasing the decimator and lose too many ships then you have little hope of winning the game. So if you get a chance to deal with the escort early you really need to take it while you still have enough ships on the table to have a decent chance of success.

So what this usually means is that your best chance of winning the game is one of two possible situations: either you get a good early shot at the decimator, kill it quickly, and can focus on the escort with most of your ships still alive, or you kill the escort as soon as you get a chance and can finish off the decimator with whatever you have left. The games you lose are the ones where you spread fire ineffectively, don't kill either ship until it's way too late (if at all), and get to a point where you don't have enough ships left to win the game.

Thanks for the information chaps it's put it into context abit more in my head.

Are there any online resources for tactics/tips for using individual ships? If so could someone point me in the right direction?

Whilst I could probably figure out how to best use each ship myself over time by playing a lot of games and studying the cards in depth with work commitments and family life I just don't get the amount of time spare to do this.

Cheers

AngryHoneyBadger28 wrote:
Thanks for the information chaps it's put it into context abit more in my head.

Are there any online resources for tactics/tips for using individual ships? If so could someone point me in the right direction?

Whilst I could probably figure out how to best use each ship myself over time by playing a lot of games and studying the cards in depth with work commitments and family life I just don't get the amount of time spare to do this.

Cheers

In my experience, the only way to learn how to fly a ship, is to fly it. As it would be in real life.

 bocatt wrote:

AngryHoneyBadger28 wrote:
Thanks for the information chaps it's put it into context abit more in my head.

Are there any online resources for tactics/tips for using individual ships? If so could someone point me in the right direction?

Whilst I could probably figure out how to best use each ship myself over time by playing a lot of games and studying the cards in depth with work commitments and family life I just don't get the amount of time spare to do this.

Cheers

In my experience, the only way to learn how to fly a ship, is to fly it. As it would be in real life.

Agreed.

Theorycrafting can be fun and it's definitely something to consider, but you should play with the ships you want to learn.

There really is no substitute for experience, and I don't think there is a much in the way of a cheat sheet guide to the various ships. However don't be afraid to ask questions along the lines of "I like X is Y comparable?", and "What are peoples experiences of?" on here, or if you are on Facebook there's the X-Wing UK&Ireland group which will normally get you answers fast- https://www.facebook.com/groups/xwingukirl/