In-depth Look Attack Shuttle/Sheathipede Class Shuttle

First up, we look at “Zeb” Orrelios in the Attack Shuttle and Sheathipede Class Shuttle.  Each ship offers a different benefit while docked with the Ghost, but, in my opinion, neither makes a stand out ship as things currently stand, but, that doesn’t mean they can’t feature in a list, just, maybe not as the lead ship.  “Zeb’s” ability is great for his survivability, and holding off on critical damage as long as possible.

Here, you can find a list designed to use the Sheathipede as a vessle for actions for ships who may be performing red manoeuvre, and would, thus, skip its action step, allowing for some interesting moves, or, for performing linked actions, followed by a blue manoeuvre, then gaining another action.  Tricky to pull off, but, a focus -> boosting, locking (or rolling) Wedge is any opponents nightmare, similarly, a locked Tallon Rolling Ten Numb or Braylan Stramm is just as nasty.

I’ll leave the Attack shuttle for now, as that has featured in a few lists alongside the Ghost and other ships.  One of the benefits the Attack Shuttle brings over the Sheathipede, while docked to Ghost, for “Zeb” is the number of attack dice and the bonus attack granted if anything tries to chase it down from behind.

Up next is AP-5 in the Sheathipede.  AP-5 is the cheapest of the Sheathipede pilots, and the lowest initiative, which could make it better at getting higher initiative pilots to get their abilities to trigger.

Using AP-5 here really allows either Han, the biggest target possible, to make some extra use of his ship and action bar, or, allows Kullbee to dart and dodge around the board, opening and closing his S-Foils as the situation demands it.  In my opinion, the beauty of this list is that, at first glance, AP-5 is the least threatening ship on the board, until he gets going.  Hopefully, if things pan out, before he really gets going, your opponent will have committed to focusing down on the ship they perceive to be the biggest threat, which is usually Han.  I went with Ion on Kullbee for two reasons.  First, it gives a measure of control, as well as pushing damage, and the second is that it could line up a ship for either sniping by AP-5, or a range 1 shot from Han.

Next up, we have the artistic Mandalorian, Sabine Wren.  In this list, I’ve given her an Ion Canon, Lando, and Debris Gambit alongside Dash and a Z-95 with homing missiles.  The idea here is for Dash to do Dash things, while Sabine dances into blind spots and either ionises opponents or unloads with a primary weapon attack on a weakened target.  Debris Gambit, in the obstacle field turns her linked evade from a barrel roll white, leaving her dial open, and gives her the opportunity to trigger Lando for more evasion or focusing.

Next up, is the young Force user, Ezra Bridger.  Ezra’s pilot ability makes good use of his single (recurring) force charge, by using the fact he is stressed to double the effect of the Force by doubling the dice he can change.  Ezra also unlocks Maul for the Rebels, but, aside from adding a recurring Force charge to whichever ship he is on, there is little benefit, currently, to taking Maul, unless you have space in your list you can’t fill otherwise.

With these things in mind, unless you have the other pilots engaged in different roles, he is rather expensive to fly either of these ships.  However, if you want to put him in the Attack Shuttle, then perhaps this list could do something for you.

Here, you have Hera using as much information as possible to get Ghost where you need it, either bumping and unloading, or repositioning to avoid getting shot, while still being able to take a shot.  Roark is there to give Hera a boost in order to try to destroy anything she’s touching or close to before there is an opportunity to receive fire.  Ezra has Heightened Perception in order to activate at the same time as Hera when undocked, and using Maul as a Force Battery.

This list works along the same principle, aside from swapping Roark for a Gray Squadron Bomber to annoy opponents with Sabine’s tricks while causing damage, and using the Sheathipede to boost actions where required if undocked.

Our last Attack Shuttle pilot is Hera Syndulla.  I’ve struggled to build an “effective” list with Hera piloting the Attack Shuttle, as there seems to be no real benefit in points, unless on a ‘Headcanon‘ basis.  Which means having a mission in mind as to why the ships are where they are, and what they are supposed to be doing.

With so much that could be going on that we just don’t see, we can almost always come up with a reason why names are where they appear on the table.  With that being said, I see the linked list as a Wookiee Escort mission, while the Ghost is off doing Rebel things, as a favour to the Wookiees who, perhaps, have just been recused, and Ghost has drawn the Imperials away, leaving Hera and Sabine to defend the Wookiees while they make repairs before fleeing the area.

Finally, we come to Fenn Rau in the Sheathipede.  An annoyance in 1.0 that has been reduce slightly due to the 50% increase in his points.  His ability has remained the same, as has his activation stage.  Generally, moving last, he can still boost the actions of a lower Initiative pilot, while denying an opponent thier dice modifications through tokens.

Here, we can see that, through a smattering of Swarm Tactics, Fenn grants his Initiative to your whole squadron, during the engagement phase, while backing up the Z-95 to get a fully modded shot off with its missiles.  Once the missiles are spent, or, if you have to break formation, Fenn can back up either B-Wing to give it a stress token if the situation presents itself.

Credit to Ravendeviant on Deviantart.com

There we have it.  That’s my look into these accessories for the Ghost, and whether they can handle themselves as part of a larger squadron, or for working with or backing up other ships.  As always, I am interested to hear about your other uses or fits for the ships I talk about, either on here or whicherver Facebook post you wish to comment on.

In-depth Look BTL-A4 Y-Wing

Looking at the Gray Squadron Bomber in the Y-Wing, we can see two new actions, and a shift of a shield to an extra hull, meaning those critical hits are going to hurt a little more.  With that being said, the Y-Wing retains its ability to take an astromech and turret, while gains a gunner slot alongside a device slot.

These changes mean the Y-Wing can fulfil some different roles on the table, from a relatively cheap asteroid removal tool, to a turret-toting menace.  The ideal turret appears to be an Ion turret with a Veteran Turret Gunner to tap that primary weapon as well as a turret shot, both out of the front, as a Primary Arc is considered separate to the Turret Arc.

This list appears to be a decent control list, enabling you to ionise targets, albeit, with more difficulty than previously, and still force damage through.  The frame is robust enough to survive at least one joust, with more decisions in the mid and late game.

The Gold Squadron Veteran brings the Talent slot to the Y-Wing now, to open it up for those who enjoy them.  This enables them to add a white barrel roll to their action bar, to increase their positioning ability.  While actions are far more important in X-Wing now, there are still times where a barrel roll can put you in the exact position you want to be, even moving early during the activation phase.

Fielding four Y-Wings, with Expert Handling and Proton Torpedoes could make for a very difficult list to fly against.  At Range 2-3, you are denying range bonus (3) and hitting with a 4 die, locked attack, while at Range 1, you open up with a 3 dice primary attack as seen here.

Coming up with a list where this would be most beneficial was rather, interestign to say the least.  Evaan’s ability appears to be a double-edged sword.  However, here, I’ve paired her with AP-5, Biggs, and a Blue Squadron Escort, to increase Biggs’ survivability if you run him out the front, while AP-5 Co-ordinates that Focus action, while knowing what a particular ship is going to be doing.

Using Horton’s ability here seems a little wasted, especially when you are generally going to have a lock and a focus token when you are attacking.  It kind of feels like he is supposed to be going in with a swarm of allies, and no active modifiers, rather than the way the majority of players like to rell the attack dice.  That being said, however, Horton does provide you with a lock effect for those times where you find a target of opportunity with your primary weapons or a turret.

As you can see here, I’ve built him with Kyle in Mouldy Crow, and two Phoenix Squadron pilots.  The A-Wings can get in close, while Horton does his thing, or block to make targets stop where you want them, while Kyle passes around a focus token, when needed.  Both have a Seismic Charge for opportunistic obstacle destruction, if targets present themselves.

“Dutch”, as you can see, is rather a handy pilot, with his ability to aid allies in acquiring locks for later in the game, or for some great Torpedo shots.

After watching A New Hope last night (time of writing), I figured I’d see if I could give “Dutch” a better shot at getting his Torpedo shot off, and hopefully surviving the Battle of Yavin, here.

We come to our final BTL-A4 Y-Wing pilot, Norra Wexley.  For those who aren’t new to X-Wing, Norra is usually found in the cockpit of an Arc-170.  However, she appears to have found a new ship to fly as well.

Norra’s ability gives her a massive advantage to getting up close, and staying there.  You are always guaranteed a single evade result.  That means that she’s going to be rather difficult to hit.

I’ve thought about this list, full of knife fighters, and a bumper to try and block while still getting a shot off.

Well, that’s the BTL-A4 Y-Wing looked at.  I can’t say I’m totally happy with it, but, I’ve yet to actually put one on the table, despite owning five of them.  If anybody does try any of these lists, I would love to hear some results and experiences with said list.  As always, if I’ve missed something out, let me know.

 

In-depth Look UT-60D U-Wing

Partisan Renegade

Let’s kick off with the Initiative 1 Partisan Renegade.  At first glance, there seems to be very little to inspire you to take a Partisan Renegade over a Blue Squadron Scout, with the lower initiative.  However, the Partisan Renegade does bring the Illicit slot to the rebellion, meaning that this ship can bring all sorts of tricks to the table.  While the illicit slot used to be hotly contested, that isn’t the case currently, but, if you do want to get some use out of it, perhaps running 4 renegades together, with rigged cargo chutes could cause no end of issues for both yourself or your opponent, or, to get the best out of both the ship and what it can bring, perhaps pairing with a large ship.

Dash/Partisan

The interesting thing I thought about with this list was using the initiative 1 step to co-ordinate an action off to Dash to activate C-3PO, or to get a white barrel roll off to get him out of a bump position for later in teh game.  It brings Dash a pseudo-Advaced Sensors upgrade.  There is always the option to replace Expert Handling on Dash for Trick Shot, but, sometimes, repositioning can be more important that adding extra dice.

Blue Squadron Scout

With the Scout, no illict slot leaves it clear to perform its Support Ship role rather nicely.  Some Advanced Sensors and a Tactical Officer leave it wide open for passing bonus actions around.  Giving it the configuration too means that it can co-ordinate off an action, then stop and rotate to get a prime shot off.

It looks as though Han, a Scout, and a Tala Squadron Pilot could provide some interesting distractions for an opponent here.  With the Scout opoening up Han for boosting, using Lando, Evading, or locking/focusing, means that he can save his action to rotate that bow-tie arc to prime position with almost perfect information when facing Initiative levels lower than his.

Heff Tobber

Heff Tobber is an interesting pilot, with a very situational ability.  He loves to be bumped.  With that in mind, pairing him with “Zeb” Orrelios Crew seems like a no-brainer.  Add in a Tactical Officer (yes, you will see one on almost every U-Wing I can build), and he can forego his action if required, because, when he is in exactly the right place, you will have forced your enemy to bump him hard, and often.

For this, I’ve gone with a Ghost/Attack Shuttle/Heff build, making use of “Chopper’ in the battering ram that is the VCX-100 with a loaded Informant on board, allowing you to get a good idea of what’s coming your way.  Now, you could move that informant onto the U-Wing, but, I believe Heff would prefer the Tactical Officer and “Zeb”.  We’ve got Sabine in the attack Shuttle as she is a focre to be reckoned with in her own right, and, it gives the Ghost a rear fire arc with 3 attack dice.

Benthic Two Tubes

I’m not going to go on a long rant here.  I’ve talked about Benthic a few times, in that, paired with a Perceptive Co-Pilot and Edrio Two Tubes, you can’t go far wrong, the rest of the list is fairly open for your favourites.  But, let’s have a look at an alternate build for fun shall we?

Bentic/Shara/”Dutch”

Cassian Andor

Next on our list is Cassian Andor.  He looks like a great squadmate for some B-Wings, thanks to an interesting idea I saw on the FFG Forums, which got me thinking about how else he could be used in stress mitigation.  What other ships are out there that stuggle with shedding the stress they seem to accumulate so quickly?  After looking around, the only other ship I could think of was the HWK 290, but, that has ways itself of either mitigating stress, or, just not getting stressed in the first place, so, back to the B-Wings it is.

Here, we have Cassian and 3 Blade Squadron veterans.  The idea is simple.  Get amongs the rocks, use the lead B-Wing to pull something onto a rock to deny return fire, Leia helps reduce the red on teh B-Wing dials once every 3 thurns, so, consider it carefully when you want to trigger.  Cassian should be activating first if the B-Wings are going to stress themselves, so he can Co-Ordinate an action out first.  The Debris Gambits are there to help up your dodging.  If you’ve placed correctly, you should have a minimum of 3 green dice, plus an evade token, for changing out those blanks.

K-2SO Place-holder

Magva Yarro

I had quite a hard time deciding where to plave Magva Yarro, and how her pilot ability could be put to best use.  I’m not totally happy with this but, it could work in the squadron’s favour.  With her ability to deny multiple die re-rolls, it should give the K-Wings a decent shot at surviving incoming fire, and, as their dials are very similar they should all be up to staying with each other.  They K-Wings have their Advanced Slam modifications for when they need to both get out of the fight, and reload their Proton Rockets.  The idea being that their primary weapons are for taking on targets that get in their arc, while the Proton Rockets are for forward facing threats, and give them a decent jousting threat level.  While the K-Wings are Slamming around, Magva should be either spinning on the spot to face where they will end up so she can rejoin them, or, following, and providing support from her weapons.

We come to our penultimate U-Wing pilot, the Imperial Defector, Bodhi Rook.  There are a fair few lists that could utilise Bodhi’s pilot ability.  The most obvious one being Shara Bey in her Arc-170.

The list I decided upon for this pilot is here and, I think, gives some nice interactions.  The idea is that the A-Wing dashes off, getting as close to the opponent as possible, while the other three ships slow roll in, bouncing locks off the A-Wing.  Once everybody has locked in, they can come about, and begin the engagement, loaded with focus and locks, with Bodhi co-ordinating wherever needed, and, during the engagement phase, Airen pinging a cheeky barrel roll off to Shara to either get her into prime position, between two ships, or out of the line of fire, while lining up herself.  Definitely an interesting ability to watch out for.

Here we go, our final pilot for the UT-60D U-Wing.  Partisan leader Saw Gerrera.  As you can see, his ability is almost perfect for ships that will take a pounding.

This seems an almost perfect pairing with the mighty VCX-100 alongside Jan Ors in the HWK-290.

Granting the VCX-100 a reroll, alongside an extra attack die, meaning, at Range 1, you would be doling out six attack dice, with a reroll, and whatever other modifiers you placed, such as either a focus or a lock.  A very intimidating prospect.  Keeping the VCX-100 to the fore, followed slowly, and are Range 3, by both Saw and Jan, you should guarantee it takes, and therefore gives, an awful lot of shots, and, with a Co-Ordinate from Saw, there is the extra modifier you are looking for, unless you go reinforce for damage mitigation.

Well, there you have it, a few ideas there on where to slot a U-Wing into a list, and what roles I feel it should be fulfilling.  As always, if you have any feedback on any of the lists, or even my opinion on the ship or pilot ideas, feel free to leave a comment.