In-depth Look TIE/D Defender

With the of the Skystrike Academy expansion pack for X-Wing, new life has been breathed into both the TIE/d Defender and the TIE Interceptor. Below we are going to go over the new additions and some old favourites.

First up is the Standardised (if equipped to one ship, it must be equipped to all {the other}) TIE Defender Elite Configuration. You become a far more offence-orientated ship using the TIE Defender Elite Configuration, swapping out Full Throttle for Advanced Fire Control, and increasing the difficulty of your Koiogran Tun manoeuvres in order to decrease the difficulty of your Turn manoeuvres.

Personally, I am finding it difficult to justify equipping that upgrade, though, using two weapons per round does seem advantageous, I do feel it’s more of a trap to try and reduce the longevity of the TIE Defender.

The new Talent, Interloper Turn seems to be trying to force the TIE Defender into a more of a knife-fighter role, engaging at very short range with a Stress Token but with some flexibility in manoeuvrability. For the life of me, I can only see this being situationally useful, and rarely at that, as you almost always want your actions. That said, we haven’t had Structures released, revealed, or otherwise hinted until this pack was released, so, who knows, maybe this Talent is more of a gem than a hunk of rock?

Delta Squadron Pilot

The Delta Squadron Pilot is a very interesting choice here. I can see one hidden in a pack of Academy Pilots or escorting a Limited pilot of some type. Maybe it’s a fire-magnet to give your other ships a chance at getting some action in because players have been conditioned to hurl many red dice at any TIE/d Defender they encounter because they know the hurt it can put out. This is a pilot I still have yet to get around to actually trying.

Captain Dobbs

Captain Dobbs comes to us from the Skystrike Academy Expansion, and at Initiative 3, gives us a Limited pilot on the lower end of average, with a very interesting ability of gaining an Ion Token to cancel a Hit damage from an ally when not ionised and in the attack arc.

This ability could be useful to keep a different pilot alive longer or to bait a kill-box trap for the following round as your opponent will know exactly where you’ll end up.

Onyx Squadron Ace

The Onyx Squadron Ace gives you a Talent slot and an average Initiative value for a non-Limited pilot. This is, perhaps, the ideal wingman for Darth Vader or any of the other named TIE/d Defender pilots available. The Onyx Squadron Ace can pack a similar load out and has the same manoeuvrability so they should rarely be parted.

Countess Ryad

Countess Ryad is a very fun pilot to fly, changing up the usual predicatability of the TIE/d Defender by allowing a Kiogran Turn at any forward speed, in exchange for it being treated as white instead of blue. There are several uses for this ability, chiefly, the ability to slow-block an opposing Ace with a speed 1 Kiogran Turn, or slamming away fast and spinning around with a speed 5.

At Initiative 4, Countess Ryad works well with either Colonel Vessery or an Onyx Squadron Ace, or with other Initiative 4 pilots available to the Galactic Empire. Countess Ryad is a strong pilot in a strong ship which means you can’t go wrong.

Colonel Vessery

Colonel Vessery is the second Limited, Initiative 4 pilot up for grabs. This can make list building an interesting challenge as you want wingmen who can Lock to set up an ability trigger, while at the same time being careful not to base your entire strategy on the ability.

Vult Skerris comes to us from the Skystrike Academy expansion. Now, we have a new (to me) icon on his Charge count, which looks like the charge depletes itself, and I’m guessing here as the Rules Reference hasn’t been much help, during the end phase when recurring charges recover. If that’s the case, then this does make for an interesting ability.

Being able to perform an action after spending a Charge means Skerris could double reposition. Something new for the TIE/d Defender, or even go equipped to the fight with a Lock, Focus, and Evade, if not upgraded with the TIE Defender Elite configuration. It’s important to note, that, using his ability every turn after the first will result in a Strain token, which reduces the agility by one until either a Blue manoeuvre or Skerris Defends. All in all, I think I can get behind having Vult Skerris on the table, maybe with some Interceptors or even bulk standard TIE/ln Figters to box opponents in quickly.

Rexler Brath

Rexler Brath makes his appearance here now. Rexler is strengthened by attacking ships that either are unshielded or already damaged, with the Full Throttle ship ability instead of the TIE Defender Elite configuration being equipped. This is an ideal situation though. If you are equipping the configuration, I highly suggest leaving Rexler at home, as there are better uses for your post-move action than Evading.

All that in mind, Rexler Brath is a great hunter. Pouncing on wounded enemies, getting close and dealing devastating damage, or herding opposing ships for a higher-initiative wingman.

It has happened. One of the scariest combinations imaginable, Darth Vader in a TIE/d Defender. Now, the design of this card is so much better than it could have been. The pilot ability of the TIE Advanced X1 has been replaced (phew!), and Vader has been prevented from spending Force anywhere except when attacking which allows him to spend (only!) 1 force to change one Blank to a Hit result. Nasty, but, not overpowered.

This does mean, though, no force power-based shenanigans, but more passive abilities may be useful. Let’s take a look at what powers could be used:

Power:	Situation
Instinctive Aim	Using a secondary weapon with action requirements.
Predictive Shot	Target in Bullseye arc and has the potential to roll more defence dice than you have hits or cries.
Hate	Useful for fast regeneration of Force charges.
Sense	Only if you are trying to see where an enemy at range 0-1 is planning on going.

As you can see, Vader still has a healthy amount of Force powers to choose from, depending on how much you want to invest in this already pricey pilot.

Rexler Brath chases down Lando Clarissian, hoping to catch and destroy him before Wedge Antilies catches up.

There we have it. Perhaps my favourite Imperial ship has been updated and refreshed by AMG/FFG for 2021 with some new pilots and upgrades. While it has certainly become more versatile and less predicable, it may also get more fragile, good news for those facing them, not so much for Imperial fliers.

In-depth Look RZ-1 A-Wing

Kicking off our much-improved RZ-1 A-Wing article is the new (introduced with the Phoenix Cell Squadron Pack) Vectored Cannons Configuration. An important point to note here is that the Vectored Cannons Upgrade is a Standardised Upgrade, meaning, if you want it on one RZ-1 A-Wing, you have it on all!

Vectored Cannons replaces your Vectored Thrusters ship ability to, not only give you a front/back turret indicator, but also give you the option of during the System Phase, you may either perform a Red Boost or Red Rotate actions. Great options if you aren’t planning a red manoeuvre and one that can/will clear the incurred stress if you have planned correctly.

Starbird Slash is a Talent upgrade also included with the Phoenix Cell Squadron Pack. This allows you to Strain an enemy ship you have moved through, for free if you aren’t in their firing arc, otherwise, you also take a Strain too. So, watch those arcs if using this.

The humble Initiative 1 Phoenix Squadron Pilot is a great filler ship, or can make a menacing squadron as they are fast, agile, and often difficult to hit. The fact that even at Initiative 1 they have a Talent slot and the new configuration available means they can become rather vexing to opponents not used to their new abilities. Used to block higher-initiative pilots and remove their actions they can cause quite a snarl up. It’s worth remembering that they do only have 4 health in total, so focused fire power is their downfall, especially without tokens around to assist.

The Green Squadron Pilot is well placed in the list of RZ-1 A-Wings as it is the first port of call for two Talent slots (no, you can’t double up on the same Talent) for a modest increase. This means they can stand fairly well against equivalent opposing ships and are still available to block higher initiative pilots. Again, they do lack the staying power of other ships if they are focused on, but can still cause quite the annoyance.

Arvel Crynyd is a well-costed pilot with a great pair of abilities, but using one of them will leave them tokenless, so, it’s worthwhile considering your options. The ability to perform primary attacks at Range 0 is a strong one, especially as the majority of ships won’t be able to return fire. A staple when fielding Arvel is Intimidation to further hamper opposing ships by reducing defensive dice. The addition of a second talent slot opens up some interesting combination opportunities, like Marksmanship for an extra Critical result.

I can see the deliberately failing a boost to get Arvel out of a position of being shot by what he would be at Range 0 of, providing it is of lower initiative. Arvel may be one of the few RZ-1 A-Wing pilots not to benefit greatly from the new Vectored Cannons upgrade, as the focus/boost of Vectored Thrusters may be more useful.

Sabine Wren is a newer RZ-1 A-Wing pilot, introduced in the Phoenix Cell Squadron Pack. Her ability is similar to the Concordia Face-off of the Fang Fighter. This makes her a great jouster who is guaranteed to reduce incoming damage by a minimum of 1 for every ship facing her and firing. Not forgetting to get at least 1 Hit result under the same conditions.

With Vectored Cannons, Sabine can benefit from both parts of her ability as long as she has guns on target. Either way, it makes her a moderate threat to anything trying a front arc shot.

Jake Farrell is another pilot who may not always benefit from Vectored Cannons, as the Focus./Boost of Vectored Thrusters will allow Focus Action passing. Though, a Systems Phase Boost/Focus-Pass could be incredibly useful depending on your plan and formation flying.

While Jake is usually used as a support pilot more than anything, it is important to remember he does have offensive output that can be improved and could make all the difference.

Share Bey is another new pilot for the RZ-1 A-Wing, keeping the ability that makes her useful in an Arc-170 Starfighter, The ability to add a Focus result to your dice pool for either offence or defence means Shara is going to be burning through tokens. This is a maximum of 6 Green dice or 4 red dice under ideal circumstances for you to modify should you have the Focus token to accompany your Lock.

If you’ve seen Rebels, you’ll have met a young Wedge Antilles. Keeping his pilot ability from his T-65 appearance, Wedge does drop two points of initiative to account for his younger age. Coupled with Outmanoeuvre and Star Bird Slash, Wedge could give even (sneak peek) Darth Vader in a TIE/d Defender a bad day. Wedge is definitely a pilot I wouldn’t invest any points into missiles for, while every other A-Wing would have a solid case.

Ahsoka Tano is the next RZ-1 A-Wing to come from the Phoenix Cell Squadron Pack. Ahsoka comes with two Force Power slots instead of Talent slots, and on a personal note, I am stapling Brilliant Evasion to her as it’s such a great power for the cost, and on an A-Wing, fairly invaluable. That means I would hazard a guess it may because Agility based at some point in the future. Ahsoka’s ability to spend 2 Force tokens to allow an ally at Range 1-2 to perform an action, even when stressed makes her a great booster pilot, who can handle herself well should she need. I have yet to experiement with a second Force power for her yet, but I have been thinking that Extreme Manoeuvres might be a wonderful fit on this frame, to make it even more kinky and to come about fast without a stress.

As a side note for this article, my last game running Ahsoka had her facing off against two TIE/d Defenders and a TIE Interceptor… Neither ship could land anything telling on her, she was just avoiding everything that came her way.

Hera Syndulla, like her A/SF-01 B-Wing ability, allows her to transfer tokens during the Modify Dice step to allies at Range 1-2. Hera is the final pilot added by the Phoenix Cell Squadron Pack. Hera’s ability is great for passing off tokens she no-longer needs to allies who may be in immediate need of them, but, it’s worth mentioning that you have to pick the right time to transfer, otherwise Hera will become a priority target, especially if she is without a token herself.

I can see Hera leading an A-Wing squadron quite nicely, though the composition is very open as each other pilot needs to be balanced and useful, or a flood of generic pilots hoping to overcome the enemy with sheer numbers.

To round off this article, above you can see my attempts to represent Hera (leftt), Sabine (middle), and Ahsoka (right) in their RZ-1 A-Wings. I do have to say that I was the happiest with how Ahsoka came out, but am very pleased with all three, and am now working to putting together a list that utilises all three of them to see how well they can do.

I have to say, FFG/Atomic Mass Games did a bang up job with the Phoenix Cell Squadron Pack, bringing us some great pilots and much-needed love for this nifty fighter. The RZ-1 A-Wing has been a favourite of mine since First Edition, even if it is still a shame we haven’t got Tycho Celchu back yet.

I’m going to avoid promising what the next article will be, as I’m not totally sure just yet.

In-depth Look A/SF-01 B-Wing

The B-Wing’s Stabilised S-Foils were first released in the Hotshots and Aces upgrade pack and later added to the Phoenix Cell expansion pack. The S-Foils give the B-Wing a Barrel Roll linked to Red Lock action when open, or a Reload and Barrel Roll linked Red Evade when Closed. The limitations are in play if you are critically damaged, but otherwise give you some great additional effects when open, by allowing you to spend your lock after your initial attack to perform a bonus attack with an unfired Cannon upgrade.

The Limited B6 Blade Wing Prototype Title upgrade for the A/SF-01 B-Wing gives you the ability to add a Gunner upgrade to a single B-Wing in play. Rather useful for some interesting shenanigans and gives you the opportunity to recreate some of the Rebels mischief for fun.

Kicking off the A/SF-01 B-Wing article is the Blue Squadron Pilot. At initiative 2, the Blue Squadron Pilot would benefit from the Stabilised S-Foils configuration, by allowing it to barrel roll into a lock if you have either a cannon or special weapon like Torpedoes equipped. With 8 total health, the Blue Squadron Pilot may tend to stick around longer than other low-initiative pilots in other ships, meaning they should get the chance to use their secondary weapons.

Next up, we have the Blade Squadron Veteran.  Slightly more expensive, but with a Talent slot, to either drive damage home or increase your defenses slightly.

When you add in the S-Foils, the Blade Squadron Veteran opens up some interesting shenanigans, but still suffers somewhat from its relatively low initiative. With that in mind, if you need a tanky distraction piece that puts out some respectable damage there are worse choices unless you allow your opponent to focus their fire on it.

Netrem Pollard has a very interesting ability with a niche situational timing. the ability to perform, in essence, a barrel roll K-turn while passing the stress to an unstressed friendly ship at Range 0-1 could allow Netrem to get around in very peculiar ways. Though, on a ship that can Tallon Roll on a 1 template or even K-Turn on a 2 template, I wonder how much use that ability will get. Though, saying that, it comes to mind that being able to roll, flip direction, lock, and fire some torpedoes up the back end of an enemy who isn’t expecting it could change the game, but, that’s a lot of points to invest in somebody with low initiative, and a single defensive die.

Braylen Stramm, as one of the original B-Wing pilots, needs little introduction. The addition of the S-Foils gives him more opportunities to gain the stress he like for his attack modification. It is important to remember that he doesn’t spend the stress, but, needs it to be on him for his ability.

I can see two different roles for Braylen Stramm in a list. Firstly, he’s a hunter, potentially equipped with Outmanoeuvre and making use of the ability to stress and reroll while attacking from out of arc. Secondly, he could be used to control opponents for lower-initiative squamates depending on equipped weapons. Either way, Bralyen is likely to be a medium to high priority target for your opponent.

Ten Numb is another B-Wing pilot who loves to be stressed going into the engagement phase. Spending Stress as though it’s a Focus Token. Can’t argue with that. Especially if using a default Focus/Barrel Roll action.

Like with Braylen Stramm, Ten Numb has two options, hunting targets from behind or firing out a combination of torpedoes and cannon shots. Again, the addition of S-Foils really gives Ten Numb some excellent options which will increase his output while making him a higher priority target.

Gina Moonsong, introduced in the Hotshots and Aces upgrade pack, doesn’t like to be stressed at all. She MUST transfer any stress tokens to a friendly ship at range 0-2. Great if you are Ten Numb… not so great for others depending on your plans.

With that in mind, she could benefit from being a Lone Wolf, and dealing with her own stress, or as a feeder for pilots such as Ten Numb or Braylen Stramm. At Initiative 5, Gina can tangle with most foes on an equal footing, and the addition of S-Foils could be beneficial for lower initiative squadmates, again, depending on loadout.

Should read: “…defends or performs an attack, during a Modify Dice step, you may transfer…”

(Replaced “…defends or performs an attack you may transfer…”).

Atomic Mass Games (effective 04 May 2021

With Hera in a B-Wing (finally), and her ability to pass around Focus, Evade or Lock tokens as required, she is a great support piece for allied ships.

With the support in mind, Hera can also act as a good source of damage, and passes whatever tokens she may have around after her attack(s) have been resolved.

The A/SF-01 B-Wing (or B6 Blade Wing Prototype) has received some decent upgrades and additional pilots since the beginning of X-Wing 2.0, and feels like a much more viable ship to fly.

In a recent (at time of writing) game, I had great fun flying two of them with a pair of A-Wings. They kinda folded, but, that was on me making a mistake and my opponent capitalising. Still, I learned a lot from that.

Until next time.

In-depth Look TIE Reaper

As a larger, more intimidating version of the TIE/sk Striker, the TIE Reaper brings the same Adaptive Ailerons pre-activation move when not stressed, while having different upgrade slots and a larger base.

With an interesting Action bar showing Focus, Evade, [Red] Co-Ordinate, and Jam, the TIE Reaper is a useful ship with some great options for offense as well as support or control.

At Initiative 1, the Scarif Base Pilot continues to offer a non-limited pilot that can mix well with other non-limited pilots on an equal level depending on where you look.  The points are fairly reasonable for the ship frame and the available access to upgrades.

With 2 Crew upgrade slots available, the TIE Reaper can provide many different roles at Initiative 1 to bolster your forces or cause frustration for the opponent you face.

Vizier gives you an extra point of Initiative and a White Co-Ordinate after your Adaptive Ailerons manoeuvre, for the low cost of four extra points over a Scarif Base Pilot, and skipping your Perform Action Step of activation.  This opens some opportunities up nicely, with an acceptable cost, especially if you plan of bumping another sip with your dial manoeuvre, coupled with avoiding the Stress of the native Co-Ordinate action.  When used this way, if you are looking at crew options, those with passive benefits can be of great help here, as can Minister Tua, as, once the shields are gone, you can start shutting down your ailerons and Reinforcing for some added survivability.

Captain Feroph sits at a nice, current 47 points, with the ability to switch a blank or Focus result to an Evade as long as your opponent doesn’t have a Green token.  This brings the Jam action into play a bit more for the Reaper, perhaps adding in some ISB Slicers, to keep tokens around until the next round.   This could also open up Jamming Beams, dependant on the list build you have chosen.  While it means Captain Feroph may stuggle without offensive modifications, Agent Kallus, for example, could work nicely.

Sitting opposite in ability with Captain Feroph is Major Vermeil, switching a Blank or Focus result to a Hit when the target lacks a Green Token.  As with Captain Feroph, watch out for Focus, Evade, Calculate, and Reinforce, judicious use of Jam can, again, make triggering the ability far easier.  All this for only 49 (currently) points, and the TIE Reaper can be something that should be taken seriously as a threat.

The TIE Reaper dial isn’t awful, for a medium-based ship, and can lend itself nicely to a Talent like Elusive, while the larger base can make triggering Predator or Marksmanhip a little easier too.  Regarding other upgrades, there has been talk of Angled Deflectors being useful on a TIE Reaper, sacrificing a shield in return for being able to Reinforce, but, that can impact the triggering of abilities on the Limited pilots.

All in all, I do think the TIE Reaper is in a good place at the moment, when flown by somebody who can grapple with the Medium Base, as, even a year after release, is still somewhat difficult for the more casual players, myself included.

In-depth look T65 X-Wing

Returning to the signature ship for both the Rebel Alliance and the game it is named after, the T-65 X-Wing, it’s time to see how this ship has fared since the release a little over a year ago.

Cavern Angels Zealot

Starting the article off is the Cavern Angels Zealot. Still comprable to the Blue Squadron Escort, the Cavern Angels Zealot trades one point of Initiative for an Illicit upgrade slot, and it is exactly the same number of points. On the table, they can be a great filler piece, used as bait or to block higher Initiative pilots, or as weapon-toting bombs when equipped with a Deadman’s Switch. One thing that I have found fun, at home, is the ability to cloak one of them to provide a greater annoyance, I am yet, however, to take that build to an event or gaming night.

Blue Squadron Escort

As with most low Initiative pilots, the Blue Squadron Escort gives you multiple cheap ships, and with higher Initiative than the Imperial Academy Pilot TIE/ln Fighter. Useful as distractions for your other pilots or as blockers, it can be easy to overlook these pilots in the chase for Aces. Partnered with slower, less agile ships, the Blue Squadron Escorts can provide a solid support ship.

Edrio Two Tubes

Edrio Two Tubes’strength comes from being Focused before his activation. At Initiative 2, that means either Benthic Two Tubes in the UT-60D U-Wing (covered in a later article), or an equal or lower Initiative Co-Ordinate to get the pre-activation Focus required for his ability. Now, I’ve struggled to really find a squadron that works well in a competitive environment, whether that’s an event or even during practice. That said, games where I have used Edrio have been immensely fun.

Leevan Tenza

Leevan Tenza can give you some great action economy, depending on the upgrades equipped. It’s worth noting now that this can become very expensive, and fast, but, flown correctly, the lack of Initiative could not be too big of a disadvantage. One possible loadout could be along the lines of Debris Gambit, Afterburners, R4 Astromech, and Servomotor S-Foils. That way, you can potentially gain 3 actions in a phase and able to bolster both attack and defense. The other potential Talent could be Juke, depending on how many points you want to invest.

Red Squadron Veteran

The Red Squadron Veteran is the only non-limited T-65 to sport a Talent slot, this continues to allow it to be a very versatile ship, despite its lower Initiative, which means not much has changed for it, aside from where talent options have increased or decreased in cost.

Biggs Darklighter

Not much has changed for Biggs in the year since the release of X-Wing (Second Edition). He is still a solid choice to syphon damage away from other pilots, as long as he is as protected as possible. Good choices for him continue to include a Shield or Hull Upgrade in combination with a regeneration or repair Astromech, points allowing.

Garven Dreis

Garven Dreis has stayed pretty much the same since release, he can still be a pretty solid choice to allow more modifications to be passed around for whatever needs arise. Garven could make decent use of Predator, to maximise the chances to trigger his ability. As before, perhas a partnership with Esege Tuketu can help things along.

Jek Porkins

Porkins has been one of my favourite T-65 pilots since the release of the new edition. Aside from his pilot ability and upgrade options, my experience has shown me that he can be pretty solid in combination with other Initiative 4 pilots. As with the majority of T-65 X-Wing pilots, not much has changed where the points are concerned, meaning he isn’t excessively expensive but as reliable as the ship itself. I’ve had some reasonably successful reults equipping Porkins with Elusive, Chopper, and, on occasion, some Proton Torpedoes. Simple, but can be effective.

Kullbee Sperado

Kullbee is another pilot who hasn’t changed much since release, his ability still provides some fun, and obvious build ideas include some Afterburners and an astromech of your choice. At Initiative 4, torpedoes are very much a situational thing, with higher Initiative pilots able to reposition to avoid his arc, or take him out before he fires, however, he is another pilot that can be a great distraction, with your opponent not knowing whether he is opening his S-Foils or not.

Thane Kyrell

As before, Thane’s ability requires other pilots at Initiative 5 or 6 in order to reliaably trigger, as he wants to be shooting as far down the chain as possible, in order to make use of his ability. This can be tricky, as the higher Initiative pilots tend to be expensive, meaning there are fewer oppportunities. That said, your game planning could come in here, keeping Thane as far back as possible, and allowing your low Initiative pilots to soften targets up, should they survive, and bring damage cards into a new round, where Thane can potentially pounce.

Luke Skywalker

To date, Luke is =, not only the only Force equipped pilot, but alos one that has seen some tinkering in his points value, but, not enough to be overly concerned about. As new Force powers are released, his utility can increase, meaning we may see more of him on the table, which can only be a good thing. The regeneration of Force once attack dice are rolled is an ability that appears to be much better than Hate, as you aren’t required to suffer damage, and means that equipping Luke with a Force power becomes more attractive, especially if he is in the thick of things. Couple the use of Force with a regeneration Astromech, and he can be a difficult to remove as higher agility ships like Darth Vader or Anakin Skywalker (Delta-7).

Wedge Antilies

Wedge, like Luke, has seen his points fluctuate slightly, usually after a series of competitive events where he has featured somewhat strongly. That said, he is still an attractive pilot, usually with Predator or Outmanoeuvre, to further demoralise the enemy ships with high evasion dice. At Initiative 6, Wedge can usually work against opposing Aces well, but he is still in a T-65 X-Wing, which means he can be dealt with. With this in mind, he can become the sacrifice to allow the rest of your list to get to grips with higher Initiative pilots in relative safety, as he tends to be one of the most feared pilots.

Now the T-65 X-Wing post has been pared down a little, I firmly believe it should be in a good place, as a Rebel Alliance ship. Granted, it still lacks against the Resistance T-70, partially due to the 1 lower shield count, but, it does offer some fun pilots across the Initiative spectrum, and upgrade slots that aren’t horrible to consider. As the game system moves forward, the T-65 X-Wing should get stronger as new upgrades appear.

In-depth Look E-Wing

Next in the series of rewrites is the E-Wing. With the Experimental Scanners ship ability of being able to acquire Locks beyond Range 3, at a cost of not being able to acquire Locks at Range 1. A useful ability for low-Initiative pilots and higher alike, with a rather interesting loophole. You can still acquire a Lock at Range 0 (touching), if co-ordinated or through some other source of Locking.

Knave Squadron Escort

The Knave Squadron Escort, at Initiative 2, gives you a fast blocker, that can still lock in round 1, and have at least 1 token by the time the engagement hits. The dial on the E-Wing lends itself towards some great manoeuvres, being able to keep up with Kiogran-Turning X-Wings, or spinning around on a Seignor’s Loop to take fire while slower ships come about. While the 1 hard turns are red, that can be compensated for with an R4 Astromech to increase your unpredictability, or just take the Stress and swap in an R3 instead.

Plasma Torpedoes could be a good choice for a pair of Knave Squadron Escorts, to soften up targets for your higher initiative pilot(s) the nexxt round.

Rogue Squadron Escort

The Knave Squadron Escort brings the first Talent slot to the E-Wing, and, at Initiative 4, gives you a great middle-ground generic pilot, at a fairly reasonable cost. As with the Knave Squadron Escorts, Plasma Torpedoes could fit in quite nicely here, especially if you are running an Initiative 4 squadron, seeing as you’ll rarely be worrying about a First Player Bid, you could tool up your squadron a little more than you would with the higher Initiative pilots.

The ability for all E-Wings to Boost or Roll and link to a lock can give you a slight edge if you need to get into a better position, and still Lock, because a target of opportunity has presented itself.

Gavin Darklighter

Gavin Darklighter is, perhaps, one of my favourite pilots in X-Wing. He has a decent ship under him, and can boost the effectiveness of those shooting at targets in his forward firing arc. I’ve played with a few different builds for Gavin, from Proton Torpedoes, Marksmanship, and an R3, to just Marksmaship and an R4. One build I am currently considering is to add Plasma Torpedoes to him, while his wingmen, at Initiative 4, get either main guns or Proton Torpedoes, to push as much damage through as possible. Removing extra shields is always welcome.

Corran Horn

Corran Horn, as our last E-Wing pilot has a very situational ability.  Take a second shot at Initiative 0 in exchange for losing the ability to fire next round.  Now, that shot is also restricted to his Bullseye firing arc, meaning that you would want something to augment that.

Imagr by Shane Molina

Not a huge amount has changed where E-Wings are concerned, with the majority of changes coming from the upgrades you may wish to put on them.

One thing you shouldn’t disregard is the survivability issue with E-Wings. They are fast enough, when needed, to disengage and regenerate shields with an R2 Astromech, or repair damage cards with an R5 Astromech, or their named counterparts if yoou have the points to spare.

Got some useful or successful builds that are also fun to fly?  Let me know in the comments.

Quick Build Party 30/11/2018

So, after a fairly hectic day, I collected the wife from work, and, daughter in tow, I headed off to Colchester for the Ace Gaming Quick Build Party.  After plenty of umming and ahing, I decided to take my new Galactic Empire conversion kit for a spin, and looked at the myriad of available options, and quickly began to ignore builds for ships I don’t own yet.

As you can see, I had given myself a nice and varied selection of Imperial ships, however, health conditions prevented me from getting more than a single game in.  This means I have 2 lists left to try.  So, what did I take?

My highest Initiative ship, “Whisper” with Agent Kallus, Advanced Sensors, Juke, and Stealth Device.  “Whisper played an absolute blinder, even more so when I remembered to actually use Agent Kallus, instead of the Focus token, especially on a single Eye result… grumble, grumble, grumble.

“Echo” did a fair amount of work this evening, though, there was a moment where a miscalculation on my part would have seen this great ship fly straight off my own edge of the table.  Must remember to watch that in the future.

Turr Phennir was the final member of my 8 Threat squad that I flew, intending to swap out throughout the evening.  Can’t, honestly, say that I was impressed, though, that might have been due to my flying.

For what I thought would be my first game out of three, I was facing the Rexlar Brath Defender Quick Build, 2 Planetary Sentinals with Conner Nets, and an Academy Pilot, flown by Phil.

During setup, I assigned Rexlar the Hunted condition from Agent Kallus, knowing that, when it came to it, was going to be difficult to push damage through on the 4 shield, 3 hull, 3 evade Defender.  I was also given First Player by my opponent, due to him wanting to see where I could go with “Whisper” before Rexlar manoeuvred.

They opening turns were somewhat of an eye-opener for me.  There’s nothing quite lite getting ships onto the table for seeing how things pan out.  The bendy decloak of “Echo” is rather fun, and can cover an enormous amount of table space, while the actual moves “Whisper” can make are fairly shocking too.

Turr Phennir was the first of my ships to go down, somewhat understandably considering the way I flew him.  He got greedy and tried to get stuck in before the Phantoms could support him.  The Phantoms then proceeded to dispose of the Strikers in a fairly workmanlike manner, taking full advantage of Juke on “Whisper” while “Echo” was fairly consistent due to the Perceptive Copilot.  No Conner Nets managed to get dropped due to my focus-firing them off the table.  Both Phantoms proceeded to lose their Stealth Devices along with a single shield, as the Academy Pilot went down.  That left me with two fairly healthy ships, against a full strength Defender.  I was moving first, but, also shooting first.  However, I could still see the many ways this could go wrong.

As we entered the end game, with time running down, I decided that I needed to try and bracket Rexlar as quickly as possible, otherwise I was going to lose my ships.  Finally, we ended up with “Whisper” Advacned Sensoring a Focus before a K-Turn, “Echo” getting a decent line into where Rexlar was at the time, in preparation for following next turn…  Rexlar revealed his dial into a 1 hard right, right into the firing arc of “Whisper” and a Range 2 of “Echo” and I couldn’t be happier.  “Whisper” did what “Whisper” does, and made use of Agent Kallus, while losing a single shield in return, and “Echo” makes the kill shot, securing the game in a rather surprising way for the pair of us.

I managed to secure all three challenges during that game, Spending 3 Charges, 2 Stealth Devices and a Lone Wolf, Destroy a Ship, that was the first Planetary Sentinal, and Play a game with a Threat Level of at least 5, as our Threat Levels were 8, that was covered.  So, 3 Large, metal Charge tokens as well as the trio of Quick Build cards featuring Iden Versio, a Skull Squadron Pilot, and Thane Kyrell.

Once the game was over, I was feeling the effects of the day as well as the mounting tension of the endgame from my match, and elected to sit a game out with a view to recovering some strength to play a final game.  However, it turned out that things weren’t going to go the way I needed them to, and had to leave early.

So, while disappointing in that I couldn’t continue the evening, this was the first event I managed to open with a win, and the game was full of emotion where I thought I had made a mistake, which would see me go down hard, to managing to recover well enough to correct quickly.

Phil was a great opponent, and I’d be more than happy to play him any time we chance to meet across the table.

If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of a Quick Build game, I highly recommend you do so, you can get some unexpected effects in your games, while using upgrades you may not usually consider.

In-depth Look Modified TIE/ln Fighter

The Modified TIE/ln Fighter, or, Mining Guild TIE is a new addition to the ranks of the Scum and Villainy.  At 24 points and with a Modification upgrade slot, the Mining Guild Sentry offers a great swarm option for the Scum and Villainy.  A great aspect of the Modified TIE/ln Fighter is the Notched Stabilisers ship ability, allowing you to ignore asteroids while moving.  A note of caution though, your opponents will attempt to outfox you by bringing debris clouds.

With the Focus, Evade, and Barrel Roll actions, there isn’t much difference between this and the basic TIE/ln fighter found in the Galactic Empire.

Despite thinking about swarming up, I’ve used a pair of Modified TIE/ln Fighters alongside Han Solo in Lando’s Millennium Falcon, and Outer Rim Pioneer, and 4-LOM to make best use of the obstacle field.  Even parking on top of asteroids will no longer be an issue while in Range 0-1 of the Pioneer.

The Mining Guild Surveyor clocks in at only 25 points for access to the Talent slot, and an extra point of Initiative.  This is another version that would swarm up well, especially packing Trick Shot.

With 6 Mining Guild Surveyors and an Outer Rim Pioneer, all armed with Trick Shot, carrying Tobias Beckett for last minute obstacle changes, seems like it will give a decent account of itself.

Overseer Yushyn is the same points and Initiative as a Mining Guild Surveyor, but without access to the Talent slot.  However, being able to swap a Weapons Disabled token for a Stress token is rather large for ships that utilise the Reload action, being able to reload and then fire is rather useful.  Sure, you become stressed, but, many ships will be able to cope with that easily enough.

An interesting use for Overseer Yushyn could utilise pilots like Emon Azzameen and a pair of Crymorah Goons.  Multiple uses for their devices or ordinance for even more shenanigans, you can always swap out one of the Goons for Boba Crew on Emon and add in an Outer Rim Pinoeer.

Captain Seevor is fairly great if you can keep him out of the Bullseye arc of an enemy ship.  Being able to Jam a ship to rob it of its green token or Lock while it’s attacking you is fairly strong.  At 28 points, it’s not going to limit you too much on what else you spend your points on.

Adding Predator to Captain Seevor while providing more tempting targets can give you the edge, while Ketsu Onyo can pull ships into the position you want them in while dealing damage, and IG-88A makes for a great alternate target too.

Ahhav has been the butt of many jokes since reveal, but has a rather strong ability.  Under the right circumstances, Ahhav can put out 5 attack dice, and doesn’t require the opponent to have any particular tokens.  Being more effective than ships on a Medium or Large base give Ahhav a distinct advantage while there are other, more tempting targets available.

Adding Ahhav with Trick Shot to a list containing an Outer Rim Pioneer, Unkar Plutt and Bossk gives your opponent three different ships to target, allowing you to set up your ideal engagement.  The Hound’s Tooth is set up to be difficult to kill, while Unkar Plutt is there to pull the larger ships into position for Ahhav to get that ideal shot.

Foreman Proach has an interesting ability whereby he gains a Disarm token at the start of his engagement, and assigns a Tractor token to a ship at Range 1-2 in his Bullseye arc.  This can be great for denying an enemy a shot at him by pulling them onto an Asteroid, or even pushing them out of arc completely.

I do feel I might have made a mistake with building a list for Foreman Proach, thinking that Overseer Yushyn can change that Disarm to a Stress and still allow Proach to fire.  I’m not sure whether the Replacement Effects rule would trigger here.  That being said, there are more than enough Tractor tokens being thrown about by the list to give even Large based ships pause for thought.

So, there’s a look at the Modified TIE/ln Fighter used by the Mining Guild.  Rather an interesting ship, with a change to the dial over the TIE/ln FIghter, not quite as fast, and a bit more difficult to shed stress, but, able to ignore Asteroids while moving.  All in all, not a terrible ship at all, and adds a decent swarm option to the Scum and Villainy faction.

Got some other ideas on how to utilise this ship on the table?  Leave a comment and share your ideas.

Tacticia – To Swarm Or Not To Swarm – Part 3 Scum and Villainy

When it comes to swarming up, the Scum and Villainy have a fair few options themselves, usually from the larger organisations and cartels that aid in making up their faction.

Just like the Rebel Alliance, the Scum and Villainy have access to the humble Z-95-AF4 Headhunter

The Scum and Villainy can produce a swarm of 8 Binayre Pirates who, while being Initiative 1, can still produce a huge amount of fire power.  Many people discount the 2 attack dice at Range 2-3 that can be thrown, but, when you are rolling often, you are playing the odds that they will begin to run out of modifications and tricks to counter the sheer weight of fire they are suffering.  On the occasional roll, a 2 dice defense will usually do ok.  But, the more rolls you are forced to make, the harder it feels like you are going to actually evade anything.

You can drop 1 Z-95-AF4 Headhunter and upgrade the other 7 to Black Sun Soldiers with Crack Shot to intimidate your opponent even more.

The Cartel Spacer equipped with a Tractor Beam can make things incredibly difficult for even the nimblest ship.

The M3-A Interceptor gives you up to 6 ships while using the Cartel Spacer where the only variable is on how you want to arm them.  By going with Cannon upgrades, you are reducing your reliance on Target Locks (even though you should probably have one anyway), in order to get your attacks off.  The mixture demonstrated in the link enables your Ion Cannons to potentially begin firing at a target that has its agility reduced by a Tractor Beam.

The Jakku Gunrunner, in such numbers is extremely intimidating.

This brings us around to one of the cheapest ships you can field multiples of, with a fun ship ability, the Quadrijet Transfer Spacetug, or, Quadjumper.  Putting 7 Quadjumpers on the table is certainly goign to be an experience.  2 should be able to pull, push, or roll even a large-base ship into a difficult position, and, if you dare, even push them off the board, by leaving them with no other manoeuvre option, trusting your numbers to allow it to happen.  While they only have 2 offensive dice as standard, sheer weight of fire should prove out in the long term, even against Aces, as you have the opportunity to place them into difficult positions and potentially denying a shot.

I’m sure there are creative people out there who are rather interested in what else they could put together in a swarm for the Scum and Villainy faction.  Perhaps 5 BTL-A4 Y-Wings with turrets?  Whatever you manage to fly in a swarm situation, please, leave a comment and get involved.

In-depth Look M3-A Interceptor

The, current, final ship for the Scum and Villainy faction, the M3-A Interceptor. At 29 points for an Initiative 1 Cartel Spacer with Focus, Evade, Lock, and Barrel Roll on the action bar and a single upgrade slot that allows you to equip a modification, it may not seem like you are getting a lot for the points. However, the M3-A Interceptor does allow you to choose to equip either a Cannon, Torpedo, or Missile upgrade, via the Weapon Hardpoint ship ability.

It’s worth noting that the Cannon slot has lost some of its potency now, due to granting a bonus for Range 3 for the defender, while balancing with a bonus for being at Range 1. The Missiles pretty much speak for themselves, while the Torpedoes are in a nice place, with a decent trade-off between points cost and usability.

While it may seem like a massive investment, running 5 Cartel Spacers with Munitions Failsafe and Proton Torpedoes will certainly give an opponent a moments pause when deciding how you approach you. Come in too slowly, and risk taking 5 torpedo shots, or come in fast, take the Locks, and possibly face being fired at with no return shot, as they turn hard behind the enemy ships.

Sunny Bounder is the first of the named pilots for the M3-A Interceptor, with a pilot ability that, once you are finished rolling your dice, or rerolling them during attack or defense, if you have matching results, you may add a further result that matches the rolled ones. Now, it’s worth noting here that you can execute this ability during any attack, regardless of weapon, at during defense, not either/or. For this, he costs 2 extra points over a Cartel Spacer.

Due to the somewhat fragile nature of the M3-A Interceptor, as a ship, I figured Sunny Bounder could do with some higher priority targets, while assisting them by blocking enemy ships, causing bumps, and taking opportunistic shots as often as possible. Both IG-88 Droids in their Aggressor Assault Fighters should fulfil that category, while also toting Tractor Beams, to reduce the agility of a ship, if they miss their primary targets, to soften a ship up for Sunny to finish off.

Inaldra allows you to suffer a standard Hit damage to reroll any number of dice when attacking or defending. This makes it slightly easier to attempt to push damage through on an opponent, or dodge much more incoming damage, but, at the cost of a quarter of your standard health. Double edged sword, especially against high dice attacks, where you could assist in your own destruction, but, if it helps you take an enemy ship out, regardless of the cost, it could be worth it.

Flying Inaldra alongside Torani Kulda and Ketsu Onyo gives you 2 ships with decent damage output to assist with possible pushing damage though in final rounds. The benefit of both the Lancer-Class Pursuit Craft and Kimogila is that they can both take a beating, while still dish the hurt out, allowing the M3-A Interceptor to duck in at opportune moments.

The Tansarii Point Veteran is the first M3-A Interceptor pilot that can access the Talent upgrade slot, and is 4 points more expensive than the Cartel Spacer, with 2 extra Initiative points.

Running 5 Tansarii Point Veterans with Predator and Homing Missiles gives you a flexible squadron that can either deal consistent damage at medium to long range, or your opponent can gamble on avoiding all hits. Up close, you switch to Primary weapons, gives you rerolls you may otherwise not have, or wish to save for after a Kiogoran Turn ready to unleash a missile volley. You could substitute Predator with Fearless for enhanced offensive results and lower your Initiative bid.

Quinn Jast has a great pilot ability, for such a small, fragile ship. If you plan correctly, at the start of an engagement phase, you can reload either a Missile, Torpedo, or even your Talent, at the cost of a disarm token. Nice, and a pretty good trade off for when you are disengaging and preparing to come about to rejoin the fight. Distract the enemy well enough, and a pair of upgrades can be reloaded as you return to the fight.

In order to get the best out of Quinn Jast, I feel that Crack Shot and Advanced Proton Torpedoes are going to be almost a staple, with both being able to be reloaded, without costing an action, you should be hitting fairly hard whenever involved in an engagement. Providing backup are a pair of Cartel Marauders with Fearless, Proton Torpedoes, and R5 Astromechs, and an Outer Rim Pioneer with Trick Shot and a Tactical Officer, to provide an action boost to an ally.

Laetin A’shera allows you to gain an evade token after defending or attacking, as long as the attack missed. Now, the wording here is important, as this is after every defense or attack, because you are just being assigned a token, not performing the action.

Having Laetin A’shera leading a swarm of ships toting Juke and a Stealth Device should allow for more reliable survival, while working towards gaining those Evade tokens, allowing Laetin to trigger Juke. With Quinn Jast along to provide a hard-hitting attack option, 3 Cartel Spacers with Homing Missiles to either block higher Initiative pilots, or lay out firepower if they are ignored. An Autopilot Drone rounds out the list and provides area denial or assists in pushing damage through early on.

Genesis Red lets you remove all your Focus and Evade Tokens and steal the same number from a ship that you have acquired a lock on. This would then boost your capabilities while, at the same time, reducing the effectiveness of your target. Now, it appears you need a lot of Co-Ordinating to get this off effectively, and might not be completely worth the effort, but, it can make things interesting to try.

Update – I’m wrong on the token-stealing here, it’s just copying the tokens a defender has, at the cost of the tokens you had built up. therefore, if the defender only has focus tokens, that’s what you copy.

Working towards getting Genesis Red‘s ability off as completely as possible, you’ll find an Outer Rim Pioneer with a Tactical Officer and Trick Shot, Sabine Wren in Shadow Caster with Squad Leader and Tactical Officer, and a Black Sun Assassin with Trick Shot working together to draw an opponent in to range for a Cluster Missile shot from Genesis Red. With Sabine able to potentially tractor wounded ships around too, it should certainly be interesting to attempt.

Serissu allows friendly ships at range 0-1 to reroll a defensive dice. Simple, basic, and effectively gives every ship in range the Elusive Talent, even when they may not be able to take a talent.

Having Serissu at the center of a swarm gives it the survivability boost it needs to last long enough to bring weapons to bear. Hiding an Ion Missile amongst the Cartel Spacers gives you an option to control where a target ends up when it presents itself.

While it’s not the most survivable of frames, the M3-A Interceptor does have some pilots with interesting abilities that can be used to either assist allies or deny an opponent a boost. While not the most manoeuvrable of the Scum and Villainy ships, it’s possibly one of the most versatile. If more Cannon upgrades appear with later releases, it might be worth looking again at some of the options available.

Got some interesting lists that feature M3-A Builds, please, leave a comment and share your ideas.