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!
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