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 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 Lancer-Class Pursuit Craft

The Lancer-Class Pursuit Craft is a fast and somewhat nimble large-based ship, with two evade dice for defense as well. Not only that, but it also has Evade on the action bar.

Shadowport Hunter

The Shadowport Hunter gives you an Initiative 2 pilot in the Lancer-Class Pursuit Craft. Since the first article was written, the Lancer has seen a points drop, which could make them more attractive in multiples when using the Shadowport Hunter. With their current load out being Crew, dual Illicit, Modification, and Title, there is some room to add upgrades, but, without the Talent slot, some could be of limited use.

That aside, the fact the majority of Large-based ships are struggling to survive the first or second engagement due to their lack of defenses, the Lancer balances between the slightly lower health and slightly better evasion aspect, add in the fact that, without the title, it has a forward arc as well as a turret, and with some decent flying, you should be able to minimise the blindspots for your opponent to take advantage of.

Sabine Wren

Sabine in the Lancer-Class Pursuit Craft offers a decent ability at an Initiative of 3. Now, giving Sabine the Shadowcaster title, a Perceptive Copilot and Fearless still leaves room (currently) for two more Lancer-Class Pursuit Craft, one carrying Ketsu Onyo, to help keep Tractor tokens around. While fun, it’s not, perhaps, one of the most competitive lists around, but the Sabine build itself seems solid on paper, and gives full use of both her ability and the Shadowcaster title. There are plenty of options to allow Sabine to be the lead pilot in a squad, allowing her to soften a target for those following, or to clean up after higher Initiative pilots.

Asajj Ventress

Asajj Ventress is the only current Scum and VIllainy pilot with access to Force upgrades. Being a Large-based ship, that means Hate is the most expensive if you decide to equip it to her, however, equipping it does mean you can spend your Force more feely. Because of teh access to Force upgrades, Asajj is also the most expensive of the Lancer-Class Pursuit Craft pilots, but, with her ability to strip green tokens or assign Stress, we can see why. One Crew upgrade you may want to equip to Asajj is 0-0-0, to gain a Calculate or assign a second stress, while for other ships in the squad you may want to check out those which work well against stressed ships.

Ketsu Onyo

Ketsu Onyo is, arguably, one of the best Scum and Villainy pilots, and has a Crew card that is equally useful to certain squad builds. When paired with the Shadowcaster Title, even Medium-based ships need to be concerned about their positioning when Ketsu Onyo is about.

Ketsu Onyo happens to be my daughter’s favourite Lancer-Class Pursuit Craft, as well as favourite ship model too. She has been runing a fairly slim build of Ketsu, Fearless, and Shadowcaster. While she is yet to see any OP success, she has won at hme a few times against her older brother.

Personally, I do think the Lancer-Class Pursuit Craft is one of the best looking ships in X-Wing, coupled with some of the most interesting named pilots available for Scum and Villainy.

With that in mind, have you had success with the Lancer? Got a solid build that is consistent during a particular section of the game, (early, mid, late)? Don’t hesitate to leave a comment and spark a discussion.

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.

Event Types – What’s Attractive?

So, with Wave 2 firmly released now, even if there are still issues with the FFG App, we can see a large number of alternate formats for designing events, adding flavour to casual games, and generally fiddling with the methods of list building to constrain, limit, and eliminate some of the most popular ships and pilots around.  While not always a bad idea, sometimes, these limits can leave a format rather boring to try and engage with.  At least, in my opinion.

We have, as you can see:

• Extended
• Hyperspace
• No Glory
• Playing Favourites v2
• Battle of Yavin
• Season of Giving
• Evacuation of D’qar

Extended:

Long-time collectors, with conversion kits, can use almost every ship they possess, with every upgrade available for the new edition, and is constantly up to date with each new wave released.

Hyperspace:

Hyperspace gives you selected ships, pilots, and upgrades, all of which can be found in either the FFG Squad Builder app/website, or here in the Points PDF files at the bottom of the page.

No Glory:

No Glory gives you access to non-limited pilots only, basically, anything without a name.  This carries over into upgrades as well.  If it’s a character, then it won’t be present.

Playing Favourites v2:

Playing Favourites gives you a certain pilot for every ship, but, it appears to have unrestricted access to upgrades.

Battle of Yavin:

Battle of Yavin restricts you to those characters who appeared at the Battle of Yavin in A New Hope.  Which, for Scum and Villainy players, leaves them out in the cold with nothing.

Season of Giving:

Season of Giving, again, restricts you to certain pilots in, it looks like, all available ships for a given faction.  Crew upgrades appear to be restricted as well.

Evacuation of D’Qar:

the Evacuation of D’Qar, like Battle of Yavin, restricts you to factions and pilots seen during that scene in The Last Jedi.

So, we have a list of game-modes that are available to use.  I have an event at Ace in Colchester in January that has chosen the Playing Favourites v2 format.  So, I need to pick a faction and what I want to take with me.  200 points is the standard limit here, so, let’s take a look at my favourite ships to use, and whether any of my preferred pilots/upgrades are available.

Rebel Alliance:

T-65 X-Wing – Luke Skywalker, Heightened Perception, R3 Astromech, Munitions Failsafe, Servomotor S-Foils.  79 points.

Modified YT-1300 – Chewbacca, Selfless, Perceptive Copilot, Jyn Erso, Hull Upgrade, Hotshot Gunner, Millennium Falcon.  115 points.

Total: 194/200

Total Health: 20.

A two ship list hasn’t done as well as it used to since the new edition release, but, maybe this list has enough teeth to get the job done.  This is option 1, and the only Rebel list I feel comfortable is potentially flying, seeing as I am missing out on Wedge Antilies, Gavin Darklighter, and Jek Porkins.

Galactic Empire:

TIE/d Defender – Onyx Squadron Ace, Juke, Fire-Control System.  85 Points.

TIE Advanced x1 – Maarek Stele, Outmanoeuvre, Fire-Control System, Cluster Missiles.  64 Points.

TIE/sa Bomber – Captain Jonus, Trick Shot, Proton Torpedoes, Proton Bombs.  51 Points.

Total 200/200

Total Health 18.

Without a Phantom that can take a Talent upgrade, and the vanishing of Vader, the Galactic Empire seem to be at a huge disadvantage.  However, maybe Jonus can help bolster Maarek, while the Defender goes around doing its thing, and perhaps targeting ships after Maarek and Jonus have stripped their tokens.  One thing is fairly clear though, the Bomber will be the most vulnerable ship here, while the Defender and TIE Advanced x1 will have to slow themselves down a bit in order to keep the bomber effective.

I haven’t decided which list to take to Ace yet, but, maybe some ideas will come to me as to the effectiveness of each list.  I can’t say, honestly, that I was excited for the event once I saw the restrictions, but, maybe that will change as it approaches and I potentially get some more practice in.

What is your experience of using alternate formats?  Are you looking forward to the restrictions placed on the upcoming Hyperspace Trials?

As always, leave a comment and share your thoughts.

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 – Firing Arcs

Taking a brief break from working through mistakes of previous games, until a game can be played via vassal, for a turn by turn picture of what happens once we learn from our mistakes.

The subject of firing arcs came up during a chat, and whether it was difficult, easy, or something else.

As we know, there are many types of firing arc to consider, and different triggers, but with symbols that can mean somewhat different things, meaning we have to interpret the meaning, if there isn’t a clear answer.

First up, the basic Primary Forward firing arc.  Almost every ship has this shaded in in the front V of their ship tile, as the A-Wing above shows.

This is usually the arc used for Primary Weapons, Missiles, Torpedoes, and Cannon upgrades, as well as Fearless, Outmanoeuvre and a few other Talents, and some great pilot abilities.

Next, the Turret Primary.  Some ships have a Mobile Primary fire arc as shown by the Jumpmaster 5,000 above.  This means they need to rotate their arc, usually as an action in order to assure a shot.

It’s important to note that the Mobile Primary fire arc cannot trigger abilities that specify specific arcs, as far as I am aware because the Mobile Arc doesn’t count as any other arc.

I could be wrong in cases of Bull’s Eye arc, but, we’ll get to that one shortly.

The 180 Degree fire arc is available to certain ships such as the pictured YV-666 Light Freighter and the Auzituck Gunship.  This gives you coverage across the full front of the base to half-way down the sides.

Like with the Mobile Primary arc, the 180 Degree fire arc cannot trigger Forward Primary arc abilities or talents.  It is able to trigger Bull’s Eye arc abilities though.

The Double Turret Primary arc gives you a firing position which covers a forward/backwards or left/right situation, potentially allowing two rounds of shooting with the correct upgrades and enemy positions.

Again, only certain effects can be activated with this type of arc.

This is slightly rarer, a ship with a Forward Primary arc and a Turret arc.  Useful for abilities that require something to be in an arc, and to potentially allow a bonus attack, depending on upgrades chosen.

While the Forward Primary can activate the specific abilities, in general, the turret won’t be able to.

The Forward/Rear arcs.  Available to a select number of ships, which usually have their own rules regarding usage and abilities.  However, very useful when you joust an opponent or something strays behind you at the right time.

Bull’s Eye Arc:

I do believe every ship has a Bull’s Eye arc printed on it’s tile, if I’m wrong, please say so.  This usually extends no more than the width of the movement templates across the front of the base up to Range 3, and is required for many abilities, talents, and even some weapons.

I am pretty sure that, even with a mobile arc, if a ship is in that particular area, it is still considered to be in the Bull’s Eye arc.  Which does allow for some interesting upgrades.

Upgrade Arcs:

All weapons will show an arc that can be used in order to attack with said weapon.  Some of these will be available on the ship tile, while others won’t be.

The best example of this, is the Jumpmaster 5,000, with its Mobile Primary arc, equipping a set of Proton Torpedoes.  Now, the way I am abotu to say this might be slightly wrong, if so, forgive me.  When the Jumpmaster 5,000 declares the use of Proton Torpedoes, it gains a Forward Arc, even if its Mobile Primary arc is pointed elsewhere.  That Arc is only ever present for the resolution of the attack.

The same would apply for a Missile-toting YT-1300 or a Cannon toting YV-666.  Whatever arc is stated is the arc that is used, regardless of the base tile.

This is where things get interesting.

Unless an ability clearly states that it can only be affected by Primary Weapons, like Fearless or Crack Shot, it will work with the special attacks, for example, a YV-666 with an Ion Cannon using Outmanoeuvre, in an attempt to push through a greater chance of causing Ion tokens to be dealt.  Whereas if it used its primary weapons with the 180 Degree arc, it wouldn’t trigger.

Lining Up:

I’ve seen or heard people avoiding certain upgrades because they feel the Bull’s Eye arc is too difficult to line up often enough to be effective.

I’ll be honest here, and say that I disagree.

By having a plan in mind, including alternates for different situations, you should be able to trigger any Bull’s Eye effects more often than not.  Conversely, if you know your opponent is relying on them, you should be working to avoid being there at all times.

Larger based ships, in general, are the easiest to catch in the Bull’s eye, simply because there is so much base to find.  Similarly, Medium based ships will be slightly more difficult, but, nowhere near impossible.  The difficulty is the Small based ships.  However, with some sneaky tactics, maybe involving some luring, or even a balls-to-the-wall speed joust, it should be eminently doable.  You just have to plan how to do it.

Summary:

One thing to remember, when looking at Mobile arcs, especially, is whether you can afford to lose an action, or be caught with your arc facing the wrong way.  Support ships with Co-Ordinate or the Agile Gunner can help to mitigate this though.

When building your lists, have a think about what arcs you are choosing, and whether they are right for the job you want.  Is the ship highly priced?  Is it capable of doing what you want it to?  How many extra points do you have to put in to it to make is do what you want?

As an example, the Rebel Alliance YT-1300 is nearly 100 points, on it’s own with Han Solo flying it.  Adding upgrades is quickly going to leave you with roughly 50 to spend on a wingman.  Sure, it draws the fire, and can dish out some fire too, but, against three or four ships, it’s going to be bracketed fairly quickly.  However, if you are looking at flying straight up the middle of the enemy formation, you’d be hard-pressed to find a ship that can joust with a left/right fire arc, fire out both sides with a Veteran Turret Gunner, turn around, and do it again.

So, to wrap things up for now, don’t get caught out when building a list, because not all upgrades will work with every ship.  If you are ever in doubt, feel free to double check either the Rules Reference Guide, or in your favourite Facebook group or the FFG forums.  The only stupid question is one unasked.  If I’ve missed anything, or gotten something not quite right, please, get in touch.

Tacticia – Dice

One thing any veteran X-Wing player will tell you is to never, ever, rely on naked dice if you have any way to modify them.  When you are counting on them the most is when they are most likely to let you down when you have no chance to alter the results. Throughout this particular ramble, we can take a look at the various ways to modify your dice, either offensively or defensively.

There are 5 general ways to modify dice.  Token Generating Actions, Pilot Abilities, Force, Upgrade Cards, and, Ship Abilities.

Token Generating Actions:

Here, we are looking at Lock, Focus, Evade, and Calculate.  Generally, you will need perform an action to receive one of these tokens, however, some Crew Upgrades can manipulate the Token type or quantity received for each action taken.  Others, including the Lock action can be manipulated in quantity via Pilot Abilities or Upgrade cards too, which usually allows you to take an additional Lock on either the same or different target, depending on the ruling as it’s written.

Proton Torpedoes fired at a TIE/ln Fighter before modification

A few examples can be any of the IG-88 droids either as pilots of the IG-2000 or IG-88D as a crew member, all allow you two Calculate tokens.  Perceptive Copilot doubles your Focus tokens received for a single action.  Jyn Erso allows you to swap one or more Focus tokens received for an Evade token, allowing Evades where they usually wouldn’t be, and R3 Astromech allows you to take two locks on different targets within range.

Experienced players will know that a Lock allows you to reroll as many offensive dice during an attack as you wish, as well as allowing the use of munitions.

The TIE/ln Fighter returns fire where both attacker and defender have no modifications.

Focus Tokens change all Focus (Eyeball) dice results to either Hits or Evades, depending on the dice rolled.  Once spent, it is usually discarded.

The same Torpedo attack after applying the Focus and Hit to Critical modification of the attack dice, and an Evade Token for the defender.

Evade Tokens allow you to alter 1 rolled evade die to an Evade result.  This is somewhat important if you are coming from First Edition, as it used to just add an evade.  Now, you actually change the die result.

Calculate tokens allow the changing of a single Focus result per token spent to either a Hit or Evade result.  Focus, but slightly weaker.

Pilot Abilities:

Some pilot abilities allow you to either modify dice results that were rolled, or even add certain results under special circumstances.

Some pilots, like Fenn Rau or “Scourge” Skutu can even allow you roll extra dice under their own specific conditions.

Norra Wexley in either the Arc-170 or BTL-A4 Y-Wing adds an Evade result when there is an enemy ship at Range 0-1.

Ship Abilities:

Some ships, such as the TIE/d Defender and TIE/ph Phantom grant you an action, outside the usual step, for a specific token gain, while others let you alter the dice themselves, like the Fang Fighter with its Concordia Faceoff.

Choosing a ship with a decent ability can be very important, especially if you would rather use your action for another purpose, but still want a Token for defense.

Force:

Nice and simple.  Either as a pilot or Crew upgrade, Force counters recharge every turn and act like Calculate tokens, allowing you to switch a Focus result to either a Hit or Evade result.

Upgrade Cards:

There are many upgrade cards that allow you to modify dice results in an enhanced manner, the number of dice rolled, or just through forcing an opponent into a situation where they may need to spend a token before they might have wanted to.  Some will even add or remove results for added shenanigans.

While there are many ways of modifying dice, getting them all together can be a real struggle now.  Action economy is much more difficult to ensure a fully modified shot on target unless you have certain support ships available.  Abilities that allow ships to boost the effectiveness or number of certain tokens for friendly pilots can be useful, other abilities grant friendly ships extra actions.

Then, there are, on occasion, times where, no matter how perfectly you prepare your modifications, you completely blank out, with no way to change it.  It happens, and it’s just a part of the game that we need to take in our stride.

One of the most asked questions, even if it’s to yourself, is whether it’s worth spending that Focus token on an attack, or save it for defense.  Seeing as modifications are so much harder to come by now, in the quantity veteran players are used to, which means that is a far bigger question than may be realised at first.

Things to consider before deciding are whether the defender is yet to attack, and whether they should spend their token on their defense, do they have other ways to modify their attack dice?

The biggest factor comes in as “Don’t Get Greedy” when rolling your attacks.  If you are taking pot-shots, then you are more likely going to want to save that token for defense if other ships have you in arc and range for a shot.  If you are fully modified, and have almost every possible advantage in the shot, then, go for it.

Dice variance can be massive, going from ‘hot’ to ‘cold’ in a single roll, however, minimising that variance with modifications is they key thing to remember.  If you are trying to bring down a ship and have no modifications at all, that’s down to you, not your dice.  The more games I manage to play in person, the more I manage to see this.  While it doesn’t overly help while playing digitally due to the Random Number Generator used by whichever program, ensuring you have the best available modifications can mitigate this somewhat.

To sum up, yes, your dice can betray you, however, it is far rarer that they do than we give them credit for.  Many times, it’s our lack of forethought and realisation that we aren’t always giving them their best chance of helping us.