Theterrainstudio said:

Those are good options for Wedge. Wedge at Range 1 is a TIE murderer.

I think the basic consensus after much discussion here is, no, Y-wings with no Ion cannons are pretty lame.

The question might be, why did they make them not a standard part of the equipment on the ship? I am hoping that there will be other cannon options for the Y-wing with future expansions (like Slave 1) which can be equipped in that upgrade slot.

Marksmanship really isn't good for it's cost.  And if you want to use R5-K8 he is better off on Dutch, though he's not that good overall.  And no a Y-wing is not worth it ion-less.

I love lists….sorry to annoy everyone with these.

Biggs Darklighter (5)

Upgrades: R2F2

Rookie Pilot (2)

Rookie Pilot (2)

"Dutch" Vander (6)

Upgrades: R5K6, Ion Cannon

Theterrainstudio said:

Take out Dutch for Wedge + R2 Astromech and you finally have a decent list.

Theterrainstudio said:

Because this is the general consensus, due largely to its delivery van like maneuver dial, your opponent may ignore it if you throw one in.  You can surprise them by having actually take something down.  Once your opponent is on to it and wants to take it down, it doesn't last long.

lots of suggestions.

At this point I am somewhere near this.

Wedge

R2D2

Swarm Tactics

Rookie Pilot

Rookie Pilot

Gold Sq. Pilot

Ion Cannon

you will have major problems if Wedge gets taken out, and Wedge WILL get taken out first. like I really do not expect to see him living past turn 3 at all. You might want to consider putting R2D2 on one of the random rookie Xwings instead.

on a side note, I came across this pretty interesting build somewhere else:

Luke + Biggs + Garven + rookie Xwing = 100 points

a bit of editing gives me:

Wedge with swarm tactics + gold Ywing with ionC + Biggs + rookie Xwing. keep Biggs with Wedge at all times, he will be your mini (or rather, giant) R2D2

EDIT: my earlier build left out an R5 astromech, it should be:

Luke + R2D2 + swarm tactics

rookie Xwing x2

gold Ywing +ionC + R5 astromech

So if wedge is dieing right away, why would Luke or any other named pilot not die just as fast?

The 3 named pilot list is cool, but it lacks upgrades, or is that perhaps the best?

 Luke's ability makes him harder to hit. If the firefight is getting too fierce for you, you can pull away and heal with R2D2. Wedge doesn't have the same defensive ability, so when he gets hit hard and you try to pull him away for healing, he will get chased and plummeted and die quickly, compared to Luke who may survive intact or even get away with fully repaired shields

 Some people have claimed that you never want a y-wing without Ion-turrets.  I thought that was true until I fought my brother-in-law tonight.  Dutch's ability to give Target Locks to his buddies makes him an awesome support ship.

He kept feeding Target Locks to Luke (who had R2D2) and like an idiot I kept trying to kill Luke.  Now admittedly Luke rolled really well and usually kept his damage down to a single hit per round which he immediately healed with a green move and R2D2.

But I have to say having a target lock and a Focus is really really good.  Dutch Vander pretty much gave that to a x-wing every turn.

Other thoughts:

I agree, for a competitive game you will want four Rebel ships or you will be swamped by Imperials.  5 TIEs is the minimum that you should expect to face.

Wedge is a murderer.  The reason why he will die fast is because if your opponent has fought him before he knows just how deadly he is.  

I am not really a big fan of the Luke R2D2 combo.  Yes he is really hard to kill, but a good opponent will ignore him and kill every one else first.  Luke isn't that hard to kill if he is outnumbered 3 to 1 by TIEs without any support.  I would like to point out that I lost my battle tonight, mostly because I forgot that a smart opponent will ignore Luke.  

Not to many people have mentioned Biggs.  And I have seen him used to protect Luke, but since smart TIEs want to ignore Luke and shoot down his wingman Biggs ability to draw fire isn't an advantage.  However Bigs with Wedge is a whole other matter.  Everyone wants to kill Wedge before he kills them, but if they have to shoot at Biggs then Wedge gets to kill that many more TIEs before you can focus fire on him.

My favorite list of named Rebels is

Wedge

Biggs

Dutch

Hoiw 

Hrathen said:

I think the claim is directed more towards generic y-wings and Salm.  Generic y-wings simply aren't a threat without an ion cannon. Dutch is because he basically provides free actions. Free actions = good actions all day, every day, cannon or no. I love that people are finally playing with him.  Salm gets rerolls, yes, but he's too expensive to make use of them without torpedoes or a cannon.

Never shoot at Luke with R2D2 attached unless either of the following is true:

A) All other enemy pilots have been destroyed.

B) Luke is the only available target for a given pilot.

If you still have ship advantage after A is achieved, your opponent should concede…unless he's a tool, or just that good. (in a tournament game)

qwertyuiop said:

I question the bolded statement.  Luke with R2 is a third of a 100pt squadron.  He is particularly difficult to kill as well.  I would see no reason to concede that game unless the Imperial squadron was untouched.  I think it's really unreasonable to expect a concession with a third of a squadron still active, particularly in a tournament where Luke would out-point two TiEs (depending on pilots).  Based on how scoring works in tournaments concession is always a poor choice as forcing your opponenent into a Modified Match Win could allow you to place ahead of them in the end.  For example in a three round tournament if in the final round you have to Match Wins and your opponent has two Modified Match Wins, you'd take the tournament by fighting off the Match Win.

Hrathen said:

I somewhat agree that Dutch could be worth it Ion-less, but it is an iffy proposition.

But I disagree with needing 4 rebel ships to compete.  I have 25 games with the rebels, most using three ship builds, and have had a very good success rate (90%+) against Imp builds ranging from 5 up to 7 ships.  Included the Worlds winning build.  With three ships you have to use Biggs at this point to really play evenly to be honest though. 

ScottieATF said:

assuming a single TIE against Luke with R2D2, as long as Luke permanently uses green maneuvers, the only way the TIE can do any nett damage is through rolling 2 hits and getting 0 evades or focus from Luke, and he must constantly maintain the damage exchange or at the very minimum deal nett 0 damage (meaning deal him 1 damage and have R2D2 heal back 1 shield = nett 0 damage). He could aim for a range 1 finish with 3 dice hits and some really unlucky 2 blank result from Luke, but if he fails to pull this off the moment he gets into range 1, on the very next turn the TIE will overshoot the Xwing as it's slowest maneuver is a forward 2 or hard left/right 1, so it could be within range 1 of the Xwing now and get shot down. Also, any turn that the TIE fails to deal any damage to Luke, he has to start all over again

tl;dr, the only way for the TIE to beat Luke with R2D2 on in a 1v1 situation is pretty much have the TIE player personally choose the dice results for both the TIE and for Luke for every single attempt. anything short of that kind of imba exceptional luck means that it is impossible for the TIE to take down Luke, and all it does is a few mistakes on the part of the TIE player to get within the firing arc of Luke, and he can slowly wither down the TIE until it dies

So now I really hate to ask.

Where do we stand with lists.  What are your top picks for lists given all this info I want to narrow down thoughts into lists - before I talk specific topics.  Btw, this thread has been very insightful and much appreciated.

Cheers,

Shawn Morris