Fast Han - A Economic Alternative For Players On A Budget

                Ever since large base ships entered the X-wing Miniatures World they have been highly favored in the meta. In some ways FFG was too good at capturing the spirit of these ships from the movies. For example, Han has an innate ability in the movies to outmaneuver huge ships as well as outgun small ships and this can be yours to command on the table top. In fact, large base ships are so good that they are actually backwards when it comes to upgrades: instead of becoming overcosted when fully loaded with upgrades, they get more powerful. This has led to an age of "Fat" large ship builds. The most well known Fat builds are the Fat Hans. And the most famous Fat Han is the one made by Paul Heaver that took him to victory in the 2014 Worlds Finals. The design is as such:

Fat Han - 61 points

                Predator

                C-3P0

                R2-D2

                Engine Upgrade

                Millennium Falcon Title

                The ship is quite ingenious: it can get 2 extra evades on a large ship, outmaneuver opponents with an engine upgrade, recharge its shields, and/or reroll between 1 to 4 attack dice depending on the situation. The final's game between Paul Heaver and Morgan Reid was truly amazing and left the viewers nostalgic for Empire Strikes Back as Han outflew a TIE Swarm in an asteroid field. However, it isn't all fun and parties with this build because there is one big disadvantage: it is very expensive. If you want to have this Fat Han build for your squad then you are going to have to pay a pretty penny since both of the crew cards come from the Tantive expansion. And on top of that you need either a Defender or a Kihraxz expansion to get Predator. Now if budget isn't a problem or if you were planning on already buying these ships then you are fine. Have fun flying Fat Han to your heart's content! However, some players might find themselves in a sticky money situation...

                But remember that this is the Poor Grey Pilot: a place where we find creative, alternative solutions to tough problems. My philosophy is that a game with only one way of doing things is a boring game. So after much searching and building I created my very own Fat Han that I find can be almost as powerful when used right. Moreover, this Falcon build requires the Rebel Aces pack which is far cheaper than the Tantive, as well as more likely to already be found in a Rebel player's fleet. So without further ado I proudly present to you the Fast Han build:

Fast Han - 57 points

                Elusiveness

                Nien Nunb

                Kyle Katarn

                Engine Upgrade

                Millennium Falcon Title

                The two function very similar to each other. While Fat Han relies on C-3P0 for an extra evade, the Fast version has the Elusiveness EPT to help prevent a hit from coming in. Next, Fat Han utilizes the boost for movement and the Predator EPT for attacks while Fast Han can both boost and have a free focus token for offense. And though it is true that Fast Han has to rely on self-stressing for his combo to work, the trade-off is still in your favor: Fast Han is much easier on your wallet and he is actually 4 Squad Points cheaper than his counterpart. The only true downside is not being able to recharge your shields. But that can easily be overcome by flying right and not getting shot at! lol. So practice, practice, practice!

                 The name is really reflective of how this ship should be flown. You want to fly Han hard and boost him past the enemy. Ideally you want to outmaneuver enemy ships, engage with your turret, and not receive return fire. But if you do have to exchange fire try to fly so that you are fighting the enemy one ship to one. When the enemy shoots you use Elusiveness to make them reroll a dice. Now normally that isn't that great of a power since you MUST take a stress and there is only a 50% chance the die will be a miss (25% if the enemy ship has a focus token). But it is wonderful in this build because you use the stress to fuel your own action economy. The next turn you do a green maneuver to clear your stress and Kyle Katarn gives you a free focus token. This allows you to use the boost as your main action and still have good dice modification for your attack. And finally we have Nien Nunb. Not only does he raise the number of green maneuvers on the Falcon from 4 to 6, he turns the straight 3 and 4 into green maneuvers as well! This is truly what makes it a FAST build. We have a Falcon that can move up to 9 small-ship bases every turn, even when it is stressed.

                However, maybe Elusiveness isn't really your style. Perhaps consider using Stay on Target instead. This elite talent allows Han to profit from his pilot skill of 9 and escape from a lot of sticky situations. This EPT self-stresses as well and so you can use it with the same crew members. Sadly, because of the timing of when the stress comes into play you have to skip the "Perform an Action" phase and so can't make use of the Engine Upgrade. That is just two ideas of an EPT and there are many more combinations out there!

                The central point I am getting at is this: there are so many ways to create the same type of squad mechanics and it is up to you as the player to find and build the one that fulfills your needs. Please don't get caught in the trap that there is only one way to do a certain thing. If you want a specific mechanic for your squad you don't need to follow someone else's exact build or pay lots of money just to get all the "right" pieces. There is only one thing I want to happen from these articles and that is for you, the readers, to be inspired to create amazing things. What are some of the unique, substitution builds that you have created? Let me know in the comments below! And as always, thank you so much for reading.

Afterwards:

Fast Han & Blues - 100 points

YT-1300 w/ Han - 56 points

                Elusiveness

                Nien Nunb

                Kyle Katarn

                Engine Upgrade

B-wing w/ Blue - 22 points

B-wing w/ Blue - 22 points

                I have flown this build with great results. By dropping the Falcon's title there is enough points to fit in 2 B-wings. The squad flies as such: Han is the bait and flies out on his own. If the enemy aims for Han then the B-wings sweep in for the flank and Han uses his Engine Upgrade and green moves to outmaneuver the enemy. If your opponent decides to instead swarm your B-wings then you slow play your two fighters while Han swings around and blasts at the enemy from behind. Either way you want to cause havoc in the early game. Whether your B-wings die or not doesn't really matter because this squad's strength in the late game is Han's mobility. So you want to keep Han safe so that he can then easily mop up broken formations and fleeing ships. Try it out!

Serissu & Laetin - Veterans of the Battle of Tansarii Point Station

                To say that the Scum and Villainy of the galaxy is a faction in the Civil War is somewhat of a misnomer. "Scum" in Star Wars can range from mercenaries to smugglers to crime bosses. With such a diverse range of people - and potitical motives - it can be hard to believe that any of them could be considered in the same category. However, all underworld syndcates share two things: a sense of amorality and a desire for power and money. When looking at the situation from that angle, we can understand why the Empire is correct in lumping the Hutts in with the Black Sun but is wrong in assuming that the Alliance to Restore the Republic is simply more "rebel scum". It also makes sense to us gamers why FFG is justified in making Scum and Villiany its own faction in X-wing Miniatures. Its not rather difficult to believe that any greedy pirate can be put in your fleet for the right number of credits.
                However, today's pilot highlight is actually drawn from a moment where this "faction" was actually divided. The Battle of Tansarii Point is part of the Star Wars Galaxies MMORPG. The young Car'das Smuggler Cartel owned the Tansarii Point Station in the Bright Jewel star system. This station oversaw mining operations and was also the biggest trading post in the sector. And as such the Black Sun Syndicate saw it and wanted it for themselves. After many covert attempts to take the station failed the Black Sun discarded all attempts at stealth and launched a full assault on the facility. In the end the Car'das smugglers were able to hold off the attack (in large part to the playable character of the video game) and were then able to make several key counter strikes against Black Sun facilities. Needless to say it was one of the biggest upsets in the history of scum inter-rivalry. For this reason the title of Tansarii Point Veteran was a big deal and as notable as the Greek's title of Veteran of Marathon.
                These Car'das veterans flew M3-A "Scyk" Interceptors during the battle. The Scyk was created by MadalMotors to be an starfighter that filled a niche. It was to be much more versatile in combat than a Tie Fighter as well as be much more customizable. And on the opposite side it was to be cheaper than other interceptor-class ships. It is the same inside X-wing Miniatures and we benefit the most when we learn this ship's niches. As I talked about in my Scum article, one of them is in being the cheapest cannon ship in the game. Another niche is that it is the only Interceptor in the game with the 1 bank maneuver, thus allowing the ship to slow play. And finally this ship gives us two named pilots with amazing defensive abilities. Let's take a look at these Tansarii Point Veterans.

Laetin A'Shera
                Many people disregard Laetin, claiming that he isn't worth the points. Even Major Juggler stated in his Math Wing analysis that his pilot ability is "easily bypassed". True, if you just throw Laetin into the fray for no reason, he will easily be killed without fulfilling a purpose. But what interceptor wouldn't? In this writers opinion, his pilot ability is actually what gives him so much strength. The easiest way to counter Laetin's ability is to never shoot at him, and that is the best thing you want in an Interceptor.
                In my experience there are two proper ways to fly Laetin. The first is in escort mode. Suppose you fly Laetin on point in a joust and have Boba Fett further back at range 3 of the enemy. If the enemy squad shoots at Laetin then Fett is protected this round and can move unscathed into range 1 next round. And Laetin has a good chance of shirking off the damage with his ability. But if he dies, at least your high priority ship was protected. If the opponent opts to shoot at Fett instead then Laetin is free to blast away at close range. For only 18 points he is a good investment to make sure another ship lives.
                The second way to fly Laetin is in counter mode. Place him in your squad and you can have strong power against certain builds. Give him a stealth device and he is a shield against Twin Laser Turrets, especially since the turret is counted as two attacks. And since the turrets are found on low agility ships, your Scyk's two red dice won't go to waste. Or you can consider picking him to punish 2 Ship builds. When a squad only gets 1-2 shots a round, it isn't efficient to waste one on a cheap, low attack ship that might get stronger from being shot at. That means that Laetin will have more freedom to hunt these ships from the flanks, like an interceptor should. Finally, Laetin punishes the Gunner crew. I know for me that that crew card is really annoying, moreso when it wastes your actions. But Laetin isn't bothered by it: either he gets an extra evade or else the gunner isn't even used.
                Whether its to protect a bigger ally or to counter certain abilities, Laein A'Shera can be just the right fit. Try him out and see if he fits into your squad's needs.

Serissu
                Serissu is a really fun character. She is a Bothan pilot that is your first quest-giver in the Galaxies game. She shares the same Scyk survivablity as Laetin but rather than keeping it for herself she passes it onto others. And what is most interesting about this is that she is a rare exception in Scum philosophy. Instead of benefiting from flying solo, Serissu wants to be in range 1 of allies and adds great squad strength when in formation.
                Just like with Laetin, Serissu is strong at escorting allies. You can add her to a Xizor Headhunter swarm to make it even more tanky. Or perhaps you want to make a stationary turret as suggested in Alex Davy's Scum article. Take Moralo Eval with a Heavy Laser Cannon and an Outlaw Tech and have Serissu accompany him with Wingman and a Steath Device. Our Bothan can use her green 1 bank to make slow circles around your immobile battle station. With her there, Moralo has great chance to get 1 evade on every defense. And if your opponent choose to shoot the supporting Scyk instead then that gives your Hounds Tooth that much more time to blast things out of the sky. A third idea is to run Serissu alongside the Andrasta with Proximity Mines. Attach the Juke card to her and she can mess with enemy's' defenses while giving defensive rerolls to your action-less bomber.
                Of course, you aren't limited to just squad flying. Serissu also makes a wonderful arc-dodger. Give her Veteran Instincts and you have a 21 point ship that can hunt enemy aces for a fraction of the price. With PS 10, as well as the barrel roll action, she can outmaneuver pilots like Fel Turtles or Super Corrans. And after she comes in on a flanking vector she can swoop into the fray at range 1 to provide help to allies in traffic jams. The build possibilities for her are vast and all you need to do is work to find the one that is right for you.

                In closing, these pilots can be just as good in X-wing Miniatures as they were in the Battle of Tansarii Point. Their low attacks and fragile hulls just mean that they need extra care to find the right squad niche and be effective. But that shouldn't be new to us in the X-wing world. So here's to hard work and efficient squad building: may you find the joy of the game therein. And who knows, maybe we'll see a future release of a Scyk/Viper Scum Aces pack. Poor Grey Pilot out.


Afterwards:             
                This squad offers a powerful ace as well as a strong escort force. Kath is the heavy hitter, being able to shoot with 4 attack dice in either the forward or auxiliary arc. Serissu wants to stick close to Kath to keep her alive. She can use her Juke to have an evade for both offense and defense. And finally the 2 Headhunters can be versatile support. You can put them in front for cover, have them sweep on a flank from the side or even slow play behind your aces to catch enemy arc-dodgers.

Truant Squad - 100 Points
Firespray w/ Kath Scarlet - 51 Points
                Predator
                HLC
                Recon Specialist
Scyk w/ Serissu - 25 Points
                Juke
                Stealth Device
Headhunter w/ Binayre Pirate - 12 Points
Headhunter w/ Binayre Pirate - 12 Points

Please Pardon the Dust - A Poor Grey Pilot Blog Update

                Hi readers. You probably have noticed a few changes on the blog. Please note that I plan on continually updating and making changes and I apologize in advance for that. Like Utah Highway Construction, changes will be constant but for your benefit. Or to make a more appropriate analogy, I want my blog to be living and change just as much as the X-wing Miniature game breathes and grows.

                One of the big things I am working on is creating a better comment system. Right now my Blogger template doesn't offer a "Write a Comment" button at the end of posts. (At least from what I've tried to find). All it has is the generic "Comments" button. I am researching a smoother mechanic but until I get it, please know that to comment on a post you need to click the button that either says "No comments" or "X Comments". For any blessed soul out there who know more about Blogger than I do, please comment and let me know what works for you!

                Finally, this is a perfect time to get some feedback. What kinds of things do you want to see more of on the Poor Grey Pilot? Rethinking and creating viable builds from supposedly useless pieces of the X-wing game? Spotlights on less used and underappreciated pilots? More fun custom creations? Or something else? I have put up a poll that will run for the rest of the month. Please leave your feedback as to what you'd like to see! And if you have any ideas or topics you'd like to share, leave me a comment. (See above for comment instructions, lol).

                Thanks for the help and for your continued reading! Have a great day out there in the universe.

Decoy Flares and Medical Droids - A Delve Into X-wing Miniatures Custom Card Making

                Good day, PGP fans! Today I am in quite a good mood and it is because two great things happened this weekend. The first was being able to hear the words of modern Prophets at the LDS General Conference. The second was that I discovered a wonderful program named Strange Eons.

                When it comes to a diverse game like X-wing Miniatures there are many different aspects that appeal to people. Previously I said that my favorite part of the game was being able to create squadrons and then see how they fared out on the playing field. But I think that there might be a new challenger in my favorites now that I have had a taste of creating my own custom X-wing cards. It was refreshing to take a momentary step back from number and strategy crunching and to just play in the sandbox of possible ifs. So for this week's article I eagerly present to you a look into the more creative part of my mind and into custom card making.

                For those of you who don't know, Strange Eons is free software that was created by and offered to enthusiasts of card games. You download the program and then it asks you which "plug-ins" you wish to attach. These plug-ins are the files for specific games and I was delighted to see that X-wing Miniatures is one of them. Once you've downloaded the plug-in then you can start creating X-wing cards to your heart's content!

                I got the program, jumped right in, and started playing with ideas I've had. So here is a look at what I have been working on. And of course, I have included all of my thoughts, ideas, and musings as to why I made the choices I did.

Decoy Flares & Counter Missiles

                FFG has worked hard to make Ordnance a viable part of the game and in return we, the gamers, have been working hard to learn the valuable skill of Ordnance use. However, I had an idea of another route we could possibly take to make sure that ordnance upgrade slots are used: Defensive Ordnance Loadouts. I have recently started re-reading the Honor Harrington series and I love the dynamic action sequences in the books. So drawing some inspiration there, here are my two defensive ordnances: Decoy Flares and Counter Missiles.

                Imagine for a second that you are a pilot about to shoot at a Star Viper. You have the ship locked in but before you can pull the trigger the Viper shoots off a pair of Decoy Flares. Your computer is now totally screwed up and confused trying to track 3 targets but you yourself can clearly see which is the real ship. So you have to forget your targeting computer and just focus to make your manual shot come through. Or think of another example, you have fired your Cluster Missiles at a vulnerable Tie Bomber. However, the Bomber fires a volley of counter missiles intent on intercepting your ordnance. Since you've already fired there is no way for you to just focus your shot past. You have to rely on the guidance systems of your missiles and hope that they can overcome the guidance systems of the counter missiles.

                Let's take a look at my reasoning for these upgrades. I chose small ship only because large base ships already have the Countermeasures upgrade. And it makes sense to me, lore-wise, because large ships are too big to have flares fool targeting computers. Instead they just toss tons of flares and pray for the best. I chose to make these upgrades ordnance slots instead of modifications because then a ship can take both. Moreover, ordnance platforms now don't have to either run naked or overcosted with upgrades. They can take a mix of offensive and defensive ordnance and have better survivability. I feel that they aren't overpowered because they are one-shot items. I made Decoy Flares 1 point since they are quick and won't last very long against sustained attack. The low cost also means that X-wings, E-wings, or even Heavy Sycks can make use of their usually-empty torpedo slot. And I decided on 3 points for Counter Missiles because it is an investment on your part to attempt to waste your enemy's squad points. Let me know your thoughts about these.

Medical Droid

                I am a fan of having strong ships that can last longer than the opponent rather than powerful ships that just blow things up. For that reason I have always enjoyed the Determination upgrade. It is exhilarating to be in the middle of a battle and be able to absorb a critical damage! However, I have felt that the card was too limited: only Elite pilots can take it. I wanted to capture the essence of Determination but have it more accessible.

                So I made the Medial Droid. Yes, I made it more expensive than determination but it makes sense. The Medical Droid can be taken by ANY pilot with a crew slot, not just Elite pilots. Furthermore, Elite pilots with crews are now free to use their EPT for something else. And even though 2 points still seems cheap, remember that it only activates on Pilot Criticals and takes up a crew slot. So it is a risk/reward type of play, it might help you or it actually might do nothing. I was going to limit it to Large ships but felt I didn't need to because it really is just common sense. You want a Medical Droid on your Decimator or Hounds Tooth, not on your B-wing or Phantom. And finally it was more fitting to lore, in my opinion, for the Medical Droid to take effect during the End Phase. But with that it means that a Pilot Critical on your last hull can kill you before the droid can take effect. I also made it Limited so that, just like with the Tactician, you can't stack the ability.

The Dogfighter Y-wing

                This custom upgrade is actually one of Major Juggler's House Rules. However, I felt it was more exciting as a Title rather than a turret refit. Honestly, it doesn't matter since this upgrade wouldn't conflict with the BTL-A4 Title because there is no more turret to work with! It adds a fun and new dynamic twist to the Y-wing: a jousting ship that trades high attack power for high hit points and low cost. This means you could field a swarm of 6 Dogfighter Golds and still have 4 points left over for Astromechs or Decoy Flares.

The Poor Grey Pilot

                I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself! While the rest of my ideas on this article are actual attempts at making viable upgrades, this card is just simple fun. The Poor Grey Pilot is a named pilot with PS 4, an EPT, and a unique ability. Yes, his pilot ability is actually overpowered. But that's what your opponent gets for flying overused, meta pilots! Ha! lol. It was just too perfect for me not to use. For those who are curious, the 2014 Worlds Top 16 included: Airen, Backstabber, Biggs, Chewy, Corran, Dark Curse, Han, Howlrunner, Jan, Soontir, Wedge, and Whisper.

                 I really hope you enjoyed this little excursion of creativity. Even though these custom cards won't be usable in tournaments, I will still have tons of fun using them in causal play. Feel free to use these upgrade cards for your own personal use. But if you post them online at all please give me credit, just as I give credit to the artists in my afterwards. And again, feel free to leave comments and discuss. Thanks for reading!

Afterwards:
Picture Credits: The Decoy Flares picture was taken from the Tie Fighter Short Film (the film uses red missiles but they look a lot like flares!) The Medical Droid picture was taken from "The Hunt for Warlord Sarkasey" Star Wars Role Playing Game forum thread. The Dogfighter Y-wing picture belongs to FFG. The Poor Grey Pilot Y-wing picture belongs to me.