T-65 X-Wing Squadron

X-Wings, the heroes of the rebellion! X-wings are the quintessential Star Wars fighter. They appear in nearly all Star Wars media in some fashion. It is one of the coolest-looking ships in Star Wars with its X shaped s-foils that open and close. The first time I saw that on-screen my 6-year-old jaw dropped. Now let's see how they do in-game.

X-Wings (Xs) are one of the most useful squadrons the rebellion has. Their speed 3 is just the middle of the pack so they can get where you need most of the time and can keep you at the perfect speed to be escorting Y-wings (which might be their favorite thing to do). 4 Blue die is pretty good at killing things, especially if you bring a couple of them. Generic Ties have 3 hull which means you don't even need to roll perfectly to kill them with an X. Currently, the highest hull on a squad is 8 so with two Xs that roll perfectly (thanks Toryn), you can kill them. 1 Red bomber die is very swingy so be careful when bombing with these. You will need a bomber command center. Finally, the best thing about them is escort. Currently, only X-wings and non-unique YT-1300s have this keyword for rebels, and damn they do a good job at it. I have never flown a large fighter group without at least two of these guys in there to protect a key hitter. Pair them with Jan Ors and they become annoyingly hard to kill.

I love Rogue Squadron. For one more point on top of the normal 13, you get rogue. Which is huge. If you need a cheap, heavy-hitting, rogue activation, this squad is the bomb (literally). Four blue die, as always, is pretty solid. Once again, bring BCC if you plan on bombing with 1 red die. Pair this with Dash, Corran, and a YT-2400 and you've got yourself a cheap rogue bomber ball. I wish so desperately that this baby had defense tokens, I would even pay more for them. My only issue with this squad is the lack of defense tokens, though without escort you can protect it with other X-Wings.

Biggs is nearly an auto-include if you're bringing escorts. His ability to toss around damage is crazy good for the staying power of your escorts. 19 Points is +6 points and you get 2 braces and his ability. His ability is fantastic. It allows you to splash around damage on all of your escorts. Oh no! an Interceptor has rolled 4 damage at a friendly escort what do I do? Well, use Jan Ors to brace that damage down to 2 and then toss one of it over to another escort so they can both live longer! say what!!?? In all seriousness, Jan, Biggs, and a couple of Xs is so good and has become such a staple for Rebels that it has their own name: A Biggsball. 2 Xs, Biggs, and Jan is 64 points but really sticks around like 100+ and can do a buttload of damage along the way.

Luke takes the bombing ability of the X-Wings to another level. 20 points feel a little bit pricey to me if I'm being honest. Note, Luke does gain a black bomber die instead of the red, so that makes it a bit easier to hit ships with damage. His ability is meaaaaaan. When you hit something with <6 hull with a hit/crit and you pull a Structural Damage, man it feels immaculate. Arqs, Raiders, and Quasars start sweating when Luke gets on the table. His ability paired with Dodona is very nice to be able to hit right on the hull and then pull a terrible crit on someone. With BCC he can put in some crazy work, but make sure you get his buddy Biggs around to help keep him alive.

Wedge has the #1 dice ability for squadrons in the game. He has one of the most potential damage outputs of 6 plus flight controllers for 7 blue dice on activated targets. That's enough to one-shot scatter aces if you roll perfectly, so have Toryn nearby to help him out. He pairs insanely well with Dutch who loves putting squads to sleep just for Wedge to come by after and put them to permanent sleep himself. This combo "The Dutch-Wedgie" has been used since wave 1 and is still seen pretty commonly. Wedge is a very good squad to bring in just about any list, when he's not exploding scatter aces he can still support the ship fight with 1 Black bomber die.

X-Wings are some of the best squads in the game and I highly recommend using them with Ys, Bs, or Scurrgs to great effect. All you need is Biggs and a few of these fellas and you'll be protecting your bombers all the way to a dead ISD.