You Near-sighted Scrap Pile! - Deciding Which Salvaged Droid Your Scum Pilot Should Take

                A few months ago I did a double part special looking at the different Astromechs that the Rebellion had access to. (Part 1 & Part 2) And in the same Poor Grey Pilot fashion I took a look at each droid, how they fit into the current meta, and how we could get some use out of the less popular ones. Today I am continuing that thread by taking a look at the Salvaged Astromechs. I put off this analysis for a while on the basis that Scum ships have too few ships that use Astromechs. However, with the BTL-A4 Warthog now in use, and the Punishing One announced, I feel there is adequate material to discuss.

                To start off I just want to say that I am happy that FFG made Scum droids a separate category of upgrade. Not only does this give more unique identity to both the Rebel and Scum factions, it also fits more with the lore. During the time of the Galactic Civil War the Empire had placed a monopoly on astromechs. None were to be produced or shipped without the knowledge and approval of Imperial Authority. The main reason the Empire did this was because they knew that the Rebel Alliance's fleet was mainly filled with Y-wings and X-wings, starfighters that were reliant on droids.

                We can see how both the Rebels and the Scum & Villainy of galaxy reacted to this economic embargo. The Alliance used its many connections and strong moral stance to open up several good supply lines, for example with smuggler Nera Dantels. Furthermore, Admiral Akbar and other Rebel leaders began pushing for mass production of the A-wing and Blade Wing prototypes the Alliance had, both of which were fighters that did not rely on astromechs. On the flip side, Scum factions fell back on what they did best: cunning and self-reliance. Instead of being dependent on mint astromech supply lines, they turned to restoring and remaking used droids. These salvaged astromechs work just fine for the grungy pirate fleets and add a new, fun flavor to the droid scene in X-wing Miniatures. Let's take a look at each one available so you can decide which droid your Scum pilot should take.

"Genius" - R5 Model - 0 Points

                Haha, the first time I saw the art on this card I thought that Genius was sitting around while his master worked on the back of an X-wing. I couldn't figure out why a Scum pilot would have such a ship but after a second glance I realized that he is actually working on Genius's body. The poor droid's portrait for the game was taken while he was receiving maintenance! This actually gives an actuate picture of how he operates: the user needs to be a bit headless to charge in on crazy bombing runs.

                However, not many people fancy this droid. That is because they only see him as a suicide bomber. But that doesn't make sense to me. If you aren't willing to make a few risks to gain the upper hand then you aren't a Scum pilot! Many players find it is viable to take Z-95's with Feedback Arrays. It is the same tactic. And honestly, Y-wings can do it better because they have more hull to work with. Take a Thug pilot with Proton Bombs and Genius and he can sacrifice one of his own hull points to give out a critical to each ship in a swarm or to a low-hull ace. This is very effective versus fragile enemies like TIE Fighters, E-wings, A-wings, and Sycks. But what most people haven't realized yet is that Wave 7 brought a non-lethal type of suicide bombing. The introduction of Ion Bombs is a unique ion mechanic because it deals no damage, only ion tokens. This means you can have a Genius Bomber that won't hurt itself. You can then take it to the next level by equipping an Autoblaster Turret and Extra Munitions. Your Y-wing is now a death trap for small base swarms. Fly your bomber at the formation, drop an Ion Bomb with Genius, ionize everyone, and attack with your Autoblaster. Then everyone takes the ionized move next turn and you are once more in Autoblaster range.

                Another thing that many people haven't connected yet from Wave 7 is that Genius is a SLAM Bomber. A vast number of players wanted to use the K-wing's SLAM to drop bombs and weren't happy when the ability was removed from the game. If SLAM Bombing was really your heart's desire then you are in luck: Genius provides the same mechanic to Scum bombers and he is still legal. And you can do something that no K-wing ever could by putting Stay on Target on Kavil. Now we have a high PS ship with bombs that can turn on a dime to hunt low PS swarms. Then top off the combo by giving Kavil an Autoblaster Turret with 3 attack dice.

                There are two more things I want to say about Genius. The first is one that everyone knows: try him with an engine upgrade. That way you have a Y-wing that can move, lay a bomb, and then boost away. For a few extra squad points your bomber no longer needs to be suicidal. It is a fun combo and I recommend trying it out! The last things I want to mention is that there is a gap in Scum meta right now. In my Advanced Bombing article I talked about how there is a unique ship for both Rebels and Imperials that is a dedicated Advanced Bomber. Scum players have the Andrasta but they don't have a single ship to fill the dedicated Advanced Bomber role. Maybe Nym's H-6 Scurrg Bomber? The ship has both astromech and bomb slots. And it already appeared in Armada so I feel there is a good chance we could see it in X-wing. Keep your fingers crossed!

Unhinged Astromech - R5 Model - 1 Point

                The Unhinged Astromech is our first generic Scum droid and it can do some crazy things that it's Rebel counterpart can't. An Unhinged on a Y-wing or Warthog not only gives the ship some much-needed green moves, it turns the 3 speed hard turns from red to green. This really frees up the ship and gives it more speed and maneuverability. It is a bargain benefit for just 1 point but it doesn't end there. The Jumpmaster 5000 was introduced and FFG specifically announced that the ship would have an "asymmetrical dial". In an interview, Alex Davy revealed that the ship will have green turns to the left but white and red turns to the right. This was meant to create a unique mechanic for ship flying, but more importantly it was also meant as a detriment to the ship. It can come in at a cheaper squad cost, in my opinion, for having such a bad and predictable dial. But for just 1 point we can give the Jumpmaster an Unhinged Astromech and we have a good chance that the 3 turns will be changed from asymmetrical to symmetrical. This is just my speculation so I guess we'll have to see what happens.

Salvaged Astromech - R3 Model - 2 Points

                While our Unhinged R5 Droid had his head played with to give a different movement mechanic, the salvaged R3 unit has nothing to do with making green moves. These droids were probably little more than empty shells when Outlaw Techs got their hands on them. After rigorous reprogramming, these Salvaged Astromechs were turned into spare power generators.

                The Leebo crew gives you an Engine Upgrade for half the points but pays for the discount by giving yourself an ion token. It is the same for the Salvaged Astromech. He essentially gives you a shield upgrade for half the cost but pays for the discount by requiring that you apply the droid to a Ship-based Critical Hit. So you might get an extra hit point for half-off or you might not even use it as your ship is destroyed by normal hits. But honestly, while Leebo isn't the best investment, the Salvaged Astromech is. Both the Y-wing and the Jumpmaster have 5 hull and therefore have a very good chance of taking a ship-critical and using the droid. And if you give your ship a Hull Upgrade you not only get one more hit point, you increase the likelihood the SA will activate. That means you can get a 2/1/6/4 Y-wing or 2/2/6/5 Jumpmaster for only 5 more squad points. And since it is generic you can put it on multiple ships. A rather great bargain, if you ask me.

R4 Agromech - 2 Points

                Industrial Automation was the company that invented the R-series Astromech. Seeing their business sharply decline with the embargo on Space Droids, they decided to open up a new market. They took their R4 Astromech Series and made a few modifications to it. These changes allowed the droid to house agricultural memory banks rather than aerospace banks and they named it the R4 Agromech. And they actually saw good success with it. However when Scum factions saw it on the market they found they had a golden opportunity. Not only did their technicians find it rather easy to reverse-engineer the memory change, they quickly found that they received no Imperial repercussion for buying the droids en-masse. They continued to call them "Agromechs" but now the name meant Aggression. Quite a clever and poetic move.

                There are many applications of the Agromech and all of them are downright fun, especially since the droid is generic. Warthogs with a TLTs or Ion Turrets can now have more action economy to give modification on offense. And an Agromech Y-wing or Warthog can efficiently use a Blaster Turret. You spend the focus to fire the weapon and have a target lock to use for modification. You can also use the Agromech to give Fire Control Systems to your Y-wings. During the Alphas Strike you fire with your primary weapons and a focus token. While 2 attack dice won't do much you will get a free Target Lock. Then you can move into range 1-2 the next round for a powerful torpedo shot with both TL and Focus.

                The Agromech will also find a good home on the Jumpmaster. You could take him for the free Target Locks but there is another application. Consider taking Dengar with the Punishing One title and an R4 Agromech. Specifically, the Agromech requires you to spend your focus on an Attack and Dengar's retributive strike ability is considered an Attack. That means the Bounty Hunter can use the Agromech to punish higher PS pilots. If Wedge or Vader shoot at Dengar inside his firing arc, he can attack back and use his focus token without thought. Then he receives a Target Lock and fires once more during normal combat order. The Scum fleet has very few pilots with PS 8 and 9 but it is doesn't matter because they have so many abilities to punish enemy Aces.

R4-B11 - 3 Points

                The final droid in our arsenal is the B11 droid. This creepy little guy was the work of a rather sinister pirate. He acts as a reverse R7 droid. Instead of letting you spend your target lock on your defense, it lets you spend your target lock to mess with the enemy's defense. It is a powerful combo that lets you make the most of your actions. But more importantly it can help you break powerful enemies with high agility. The droid terrorizes ships like Interceptors and E-wings that rely so heavily on their evade dice. B11 paired with a turret turns a ship into an efficient hunter of arc-dodgers. So consider putting him on a Y-wing with a Twin Laser Turret and flying the ship on your squad's flank to prevent enemies from sneaking around behind. Experiment with him and see what kind of combos you can create.

                So there you go, my Scum friends. Five different Salvaged Astromechs to choose from. And if you look at the preview of the Jumpmaster 5000 we find that there are two more droids on the way! Which will you pick for your squad needs? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and have fun flying those pirate strategies!

Swarms of Bee-wings - A Utah Cup Prelims Battle Report

                This weekend I had the fine privilege of participating in the Preliminaries of the Utah X-wing Players State Cup! This tournament was held simultaneously in three different divisions: Odgen/North, Salt Lake/Central, and Provo/South. As a proud resident of the city of Provo (and a user of Google Fiber) it was really fun for me to be one of the players representing my area and the local game stores therein. For those of you who are curious, the winning lists of each division were as such: Ogden's winner flew Talonbane with 2 Cartel Kihraxzs and a Trandosian Slaver, Salt Lake's winner flew a 5 Kihraxz swarm, and Provo's winner flew a Howlrunner Crackshot TIE swarm.

                I ended up 9th in the Provo division but I didn't really mind at all. My tournament goals haven't changed since last time: have fun, meet new people, run a unique list for exciting results, and get sweet participation prizes. But apart from all of that, I feel that I still won in many ways. I am happy to say that during the whole tournament I never once clipped an asteroid! Ha! There were some seriously close misses but every time I had to make a hard call I was able to make the right decision. I only started playing X-wing this year and it makes me happy to see how much I have progressed in my skill. My second win is actually even sweeter: I walked away from the tournament with 4 large ship kills under my belt! Moreover, my first game marked the first large ship I ever took down in a competitive scene. My final win was that I was good enough to compose a Scum list that got me a final score of 2/2 with a MOV of 400.

                But wait! The Poor Grey Pilot flew a Scum list? Haha, yes. I decided I wanted to try something different and I also wanted to take my new Star Viper for a whirl. I just barely got it this month and I have been having a blast learning to fly the Space Butterfly. Here is the list I took to the Prelims:

Morgan's Scum Bucket - 99 points

Scyk w/ Serissu - 25 points

                Expert Handling

                Stealth Device

Viper w/ Guri - 33 points

                Veteran Instincts

                Autothrusters

Hawk w/ Spice Runner - 26 points

                Twin Laser Turret

                Intelligence Agent

                Moldy Crow Title

Z-95 w/ Pirate - 15 points

                Hot Shot Blaster

                After practicing Scum for awhile I picked my favorite bits and threw them together in a list that is pretty cohesive. Serissu isn't a surprise after I did a whole article on her. But Expert Handling might pique some of your interest. My first choice was Juke but that hasn't been released yet. My second choice was Veteran Instincts, thus making my Bothan a PS 10, but I only had one copy and I wanted it more on Guri. So I looked at the rest of my EPTs and deliberated for a long time. Finally, Expert Handling won out because it had everything I wanted: a cheaper EPT that doesn't self-stress and still makes my ship a more slippery target.

                Next, I wanted a Star Viper in my list. Normally, I speak of how one pilot sticks out to me in an expansion. And when I opened my Viper I immediately fell in love with Guri. To save space here I will save my analysis of her for my next Pilot Highlight. Suffice it to say that her ability is amazing! I have a blast every time I fly her ship, the only downside is her low pilot skill. So for me, adding Veteran Instincts was a must. That way I can get the most out of her strong mobility. I also wanted Autothruters. I am a player on a budget so I've had to make do without AT for the longest time. But now that I had them I was sure to make use of them.

                My third choice of ship was the Binayre Pirate. By adding the Hot Shot Blaster I created a ship that can joust effectively for its cost and then, if ignored, can slip behind enemy lines and take a turret potshot. I play-tested it in several causal games and it was both effective and fun. It is quite fulfilling to do a sharp turn when your opponent is expecting a K-turn and then you shiv them in the back. Yeah, the card should be called the Space Shiv. lol. To visually represent my Hot Shot Pirate, I used the Headhunter model I modified awhile back.

                The final 26 points were the hardest to fill. I wanted a Hawk but I couldn't decide on a pilot. Palob was a good choice but I found that he drew more aggro than I liked. Players don't like having their tokens stolen! I then decided on a Spice Runner with the Crow title. Not only would PS 1 draw less aggression, he could fly better with my Pirate. But the big question is this, why a TLT Hawk rather than a Y-wing? The answer is that the Moldy Crow has much better action economy. A focus battery is much stronger than the R4 Agromech or even the BTL-A4 Title because it can give needed modification to both defense AND offense.

                In a previous article I talked about how the Scum faction mechanic works in-game. I applied that knowledge to my squad. Here is what I mean. Rebel ship mechanics rely on heavy shielding to outlast opponents. Imperial ships use high agility and mobility to dodge attacks that would normally obliterate them. And I have found that Scum ships excel at not getting one-shot! Haha, I know that sounds funny but it makes sense. The Scum & Villainy of the galaxy rely on medium agility and minimal shields to last long enough to dish out their punishment. My list has one goal: joust the enemy, take a black eye, but survive. During the alpha strike my generics stay close to Serissu for protection. And after the initial joust I break the formation and take the better positioning with my aces and turrets. This greatly punishes enemies because I am now behind them and I can hound them for several turns. Let's get into the details.

Round 1 vs Brobots - Loss

                Honestly, I was scared when I saw two Aggressors across the table from me. Ever since the tournament were I got slaughtered by two different Outriders I have been somewhat averse to large ships. But I knew that large ships aren't inherently overpowered, especially since the half HP rule change, and after watching small ships take X-wing Worlds by storm. FFG has done so well at game balance that the skill of the player is much more important than the ships that are flown. So with a deep breath I courageously went into the fight.

                My opponent's Aggressors were letters B&C and were twins on upgrades: Mangler Cannon, Predator, Sensor Jammer, Inertial Dampener, & Title. We placed our asteroids in two straight lines, creating 3 landing strip lanes. I placed my Scyk, Pirate, and Runner in the left lane and Guri in the middle. Both my generics greatly need Serissu but my Viper flies better when tagging close to the formation. Opponent 1 placed his ships in the left lane as well but boosted the first turn towards the middle lane. I slow-played my squad up the lanes to charge my hawk battery and to use the rocks for cover. Then the alpha strike came and I was in great position. My mini swarm came out from behind cover and had a clean shot and Guri flew a 4 straight right up the middle. I then boosted her past the arc of Aggressor C and into range 1 of the second. Just as I planned, my ships took a beating but none of them died. In return, I sure gave some solid hits right back and Aggressor B took serious damage.

                The next round I broke the formation, with my generics going up the lane and Serissu cutting across to stay out of arc. But sadly I was outmaneuvered when Aggressor C did a 4 K-turn and B did a stall with inertial dampeners. Serissu was sitting in a very deadly pincer move. I am still learning how all the scum ships fly but I will be sure not to fall into that kind of trap again! However, things went in my favor because my opponent forgot that use Predator and his stressed ships didn't have actions for modification. My Scyk took 4 cannon shots and only lost 1 shield and the Stealth Device. Guri and the Spice Runner's fired to bring the Aggressor down to 2 hull points and that is when I knew I had to use the Hot Shot. I caught my opponent by surprise and my hot shot dealt the final 2 damage to IG88 B. As I have said before, true subterfuge in X-wing is not hiding your cards from your opponent but rather being able to pull a fast one on them, even after they have seen every card in your list. And this marked the first large ship I killed in a competitive game! I actually felt that I had a chance to win this one.

                However, two things went bad for me here. The first was that the Tournament Officiator stopped by our game and saw how my opponent was using Sensor Jammer. He said that we were playing wrong and that SJ took effect AFTER I spent my focus token. I wasn't sure that was how it worked, especially since I've specifically studied dice mod order of operation. But the ruling of a TO is final and I was willing to accept it. Yet I do not blame my loss on that ruling. That was out of my control but what was in my control was how well I flew.

                In the subsequent rounds I was outflown and outsmarted, which lost me both Guri and Serissu. That took away my squad's high PS and high mobility. And that effectively lost me any power to hunt down large ships. So for the rest of the match I tried to fly evasively till time ran out to save some squad points. But his Aggressor was too mobile and was able to catch both my ships each in a boost to range 1. Though his supercharged Sensor Jammer gave him a definite edge, I know that if I had flown better I would have at least had a chance. I know this because Opponent 1 didn't take 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place at the end of the tournament. One of these winners must have had to play him and was able to eat through his ships, even with the unfair bonus. So I will learn from my mistakes and move on.

Round 2 vs Outrider & Escorts - Win

                I wasn't scared this time as I sat down across from the third large ship in two matches. The first reason I wasn't scared was because Opponent 2's HLC Outrider had Dash with Veteran Instincts instead of Predator. That meant that his ship had to choose between an offensive or defensive action. And that meant a possible weakness in his strategy. The second reason why I wasn't scared was because I had just had my first taste of large ship blood...and I was thirsty for more. After doing it once, I knew that I could do it again. His large ship was also escorted by Etahn A'baht with a Sensor Jammer and a Prototype A-wing.

                I played my asteroids safe, sticking my obstacles in 3 of the 4 corners of the map. He placed his debris in a small cluster in the middle, thus creating a circular arena. I placed my squad formation on the right side and he set up in the middle. Trying to think like I had Dash, I would have flown fast forward through the middle cluster to get to a flanking position. If he did that then Etahn would be vulnerable so I decided to gun for the E-wing first. I again slow played with my mini swarm while Guri boosted on ahead. Since Guri had VI, she was higher than Etahn and so was able to barrel roll easily into range 3. However, things got dicey when his PS 9 Dash turned sharply towards me instead of flying for the obstacle cover. He measured for a target lock on Guri but barely failed. And things were too tight for a barrel roll so he settled with a focus token. Whew! The A-wing was on a wide sweeping vector and was well out of range for the alpha strike.

                Guri fired on Etahn but didn't break through the SJ. His E-wing fired back and my green dice blanked, giving me only 1 evade from Autothrusters. A hit and critical went through on Guri, giving her a Damaged Sensor Array. However, Guri's ability specifically states that you ASSIGN a focus token to yourself, rather than getting a FREE focus action. Therefore Guri can still use her ability, even with the damaged sensors. I flew her straight at Dash, going for the block, and fixed the Damaged Sensor Array as my action. Etahn casually moved 1 forward, wanting to keep his firing arc on me as long as possible and the A-wing came in from its flanking maneuver. My mini swarm had not yet received fire but I still had to split it to get around the debris cluster. However, due to careful planning and lots of practice, I was still able to keep both generics at range 1 of Serissu in a loose formation. Dash finally moved and went 1 forward, nestling right in front of Guri. Not only did my Viper get her free focus toekn, she was in the range 1 blind spot! Because of this my opponent switched targets entirely, taking a target lock on my Hawk.

                Here was the strategy weakness I spoke of. Though the Outrider is fearsome, it has no more damage mitigation than an X-wing. And without a focus token for defense, Opponent 2's Dash was very vulnerable. My Viper and Hawk did a combined 3 damage on Dash, not as much as I wanted but still good. And Serissu & the Pirate were facing the A-wing at range 3, so not much happened on either side. Both Dash and Etahn shot at my Spice Runner but his many focus tokens and Serissu's reroll ability kept him from losing more than his one shield.

                The next round I did a 1 sharp turn with Guri to stay in the direction Dash was heading and used the Hawks IA to look at Dash's dial. The Outrider was doing a 2 turn back towards its starting edge and so I was able to barrel roll Guri right back into the range 1 blind spot. The mini swarm moved further up towards the A-wing. Dash moved and took a target lock on Serissu, my opponent now seeing where my defensive strength came from. But again he left himself open on defense. All of his ships fired on Serissu but her Stealth Device and focus token allowed her to block all but two of the shots and she kept going with 1 hull. Guri fired at range 1 to take off Dash's final 2 shields. It was then that I did the math and saw the solution: Opponent 2 had forgotten about my Hot Shot Blaster. I shot with my Hawk first, dealing 2 damage with the TLT and leaving 3 hull. I then announced that I was firing my Hot Shot at range 2 and that is when things clicked for my opponent. I rolled 3 hits with the help of a focus token and the Outrider rolled 2 misses. With shock I saw the YT-2400 leave the board and could barely believe it! That marked my second large ship kill for both me and my Hot Shot Pirate.

                Going back to maneuvers, I did a K-turn with my Headhunter, a 1 forward with my Hawk, a Segnor's Loop to get Guri Behind Etahn, and a 3 bank to rocket Serissu out of harm's way. Sure enough, my opponent had come in for a pincer to try and catch my 1 hull Scyk but found that she didn't stick around. He shot at my Hawk and it came perilously close to death. I shot back with three of my ships on the E-wing but the Sensor Jammer saved Etahn, allowing me to only deal two damage. At the end of this round I realized I had a choice. The asteroid cluster limited his E-wings movements and he really only had two paths: down towards my edge or up towards his. I made the guess that he would go down and so I set up my ships accordingly. My Headhunter purposefully moved across the debris field to get the block, Guri did a 1 forward, and Serissu did a 5 K-turn to get way out of the way. However, I was outflown as his E-wing did a 3 turn up! Not only were all of my ships out of position, Serissu didn't have an action to barrel roll away. She shot at Etahn but with no effect. And Etahn shot back and destroyed my Scyk. I will have to be more careful of when I K-turn that ship in the future.

                I had done a 1 forward on Guri because it is a classic chase move. If your ship is behind a lower PS enemy then you chose a maneuver that will place you where they are right now. They will have to move first, leaving it open for you. And since you end up where they started, you almost always have a shot on them. Since I did that, Guri wasn't too far out of position when the E-wing went the other direction. And so I was able to do a 1 sharp turn the next round towards Etahn and get him back in arc. My Hawk kept his straight course, building up focus again. My Headhunter was far out of the action and stressed, forcing me to take a slower path back to the action. Etahn did a 3 K-turn to attack while his mobile A-wing started hounding my Hawk. However, the Prototype pilot was too close to Guri and gave her the range 1 focus token.

                My Viper shot at the E-wing, getting 2 hits and a focus. Sensor Jammer turned 1 hit to another focus (since he was flying the system upgrade correctly) and I used my token to get 3 final hits. He rolled and got 2 blanks and a focus, allowing my Viper to eat through his last shield and 2 hull. Though I had made a big mistake the round before, this sealed the deal on me winning the match. For the next two rounds his Prototype tried to flee but I was able to catch it with my TLT and with Guri's high PS.

                Though killing Dash was a great highlight of this match, it wasn't my favorite part. During the first few rounds when we placed our ships and jockeyed for position, my wife showed up unexpectedly! She brought some lunch and only stayed 30 seconds to give me a hug and kiss. It was a simple gesture but it was really sweet of her. Some people pin their wins on skill or the luck of the dice. This win was definitely because of my wife! lol. Not only was it a great morale booster, it meant that I didn't have to run out during the quick 30 minute lunch break, trying to find something to eat. I would greatly recommend the institution of marriage to anyone. :)

Round 3 vs Triple Imperial Ace - Loss

                As I said in the analysis of my squad, it was built to joust and then take better positioning. It had worked really well so far but in the third round I was up against 3 Imperial Aces. Opponent 3 was running Darth Vader with Ruthlessness and the Advanced Targeting Computer, Whisper with Veteran Instincts and Fire Control System, and Dark Curse with a Stealth Device. I wasn't quite sure how to approach the enemy but I did know one thing: I would have to get blocks to overcome his higher PS and throw the balance in my favor. If I didn't block then he would have plenty of actions to stay mobile and fly circles around me.

                Asteroid placement was similar to last game with a cluster in the middle and a few on the outskirts of the map. I approached on the right while Dark Curse came down the middle and his PS 9s came from the left. As our squads closed, both Guri and Dark Curse approached an asteroid on the top right side. His TIE Fighter flew up next to the asteroid for cover and I decided to do the same, barrel-rolling my Viper behind the rock so we both faced each other obstructed. However, this turned out to be the wrong move and I found out why when Vader activated. He flew in fast and was able to catch a target lock on Guri. If I had barrel rolled towards Dark Curse instead of away, or if I had just taken a focus token then I would have been in better shape. That is because the Advanced Targeting Computer doesn't care about asteroids! Sure, the enemy gets an extra defense dice but you are already get a guaranteed critical hit. So despite my range, cover, and Autothrusters, Vader hit Guri hard with an unanswered hit and crit to give Guri a console fire. No one was close enough for Ruthlessness to take effect.

                The next round for movement I decided to fly Guri in fast to slip past Dark Curse and get the block on Vader, using my action to stop the console fire. And his Whisper was in the middle of the map so I sent my squad to block the most favorable approach vector, a gap between two obstacles in the middle. If I guessed right on Whisper's movement then she would have to deal with my whole squad's firepower. However, when she decloaked she didn't move forward like I hoped but rather up, past the debris field that I was sure she couldn't get around. And when Vader and Whisper moved, they nestled right into range 1 of Guri, rather than being blocked. My opponent decided to fire first with Vader and struck the killing blow on my Viper. However, when he measured for Ruthlessness he found that Guri was just out of range of my mini swarm and so had to put a damage on Whisper. That was somewhat consoling. lol.

                Whisper shot next at Serissu but the range and the SD kept her from taking fatal damage. I shot back with my squad but only managed to take off the remaining shields of Vader and Whisper. I had one last hope and that was my hot shot blaster. I moved into knife range and actually did the best I could have hoped for. My Hawk managed to get the block on Dark Curse. And I was able to see where Whisper was going to move from my Intelligence Agent. So I barrel rolled Serissu out of what would have been a horrible spot, which removed the target lock and left Whisper with no shot and no use of the Advanced Cloaking Device. However, despite all my success I was still outmatched. Vader causally moved into range 1 and shredded my poor Spice Runner in one shot with a Direct Hit critical. My opponent then measured for range and put the Ruthlessness damage on Serissu's last hull, killing her despite her first miraculous escape.

                With a chance to earn some points this round I used my Hot Shot blaster on a very vulnerable Whisper. Yet the dice went in my opponent's favor and the Phantom survived. In the next few rounds Whisper flew away to safety while Vader and Dark Curse did a dance with the Pirate. My opponent was actually impressed with how well I was able to fly my Headhunter to keep it alive but finally the inevitable came and I lost the ship for a final MOV of 100-0.

                Thankfully it was the only time I was fully wiped in this tournament. And I came from the battle happy, especially since I knew I had had a good chance of getting Whisper. Now that Three Ship Aces is a popular meta build I will have to start practicing against it.

Round 4 vs Bossk & IG88 B - Win

                Opponent 4 had a Hounds Tooth and an Aggressor. His Aggressor was IG88 B with a Heavy Laser Cannon and Predator. His Hounds Tooth had Bossk with a Mangler Cannon, Marksmanship, and the Title. Hehe, I spotted the combo right away, have you? Bossk shoots with the Mangler Cannon and Marksmanship, giving himself an almost guaranteed 2 criticals every time. He then uses his ability to change one critical into two hits for a powerful offensive volley. For the same amount of points, Bossk gets a HLC that can also give critical hits. Now I had never flown with a Hounds Tooth before but it is a large ship and it follows the same large ship mechanics. So it was time to hunt it like the others I had that day.

                My opponent placed his asteroids in a wall in front of my starting edge and I placed my in the corners. This created a box arena with my side closed. Perhaps my opponent wanted me to be delayed while he got into position but all I did was place my squad on the right side and bypassed the wall. He set up on the opposite left corner and the first few initial rounds was us moving up past the obstacles and turning 90 degrees into the box. Things were set up for a harsh joust in the alpha strike. But remember, my squad strength is in shrugging off initial joust damage.

                We approached each other at extreme range three and his Aggressor targeted Guri while Bossk was just barely out of range. The Aggressor fired and rerolled a blank to get a critical. Since the HLC's ability triggers only after your roll the first time, IG88 B got to keep the critical. Guri blocked two of the hits but took a shield damage and an Injured Pilot hit. However I wasn't deterred by this because, just like with Damaged Sensor Array, Guri always has two avenues to get her focus token. Without her ability, it just meant I had to fly smarter to hunt the now higher PS enemies. Then my squad's concentrated firepower took off the Aggressor's shields.

                Now was the time for me secure better board position. If I didn't then I would just be taking more of a beating. The Pirate did a 4 forward to block the Aggressor and my Hawk did an unexpected red 4 forward to block the Hounds Tooth, with Serissu following up right behind. Guri did a Segnor's Loop to put her on the side still facing the right direction. My block half worked. The Hounds Tooth was caught in my snare but the Aggressor did an S-loop himself, putting him right behind my pirate. But that was ok because Guri was still able to keep him in arc. The Aggressor shot at my Hawk but didn't have a focus and so couldn't overpower my Crow's focus battery paired with Serissu. And Bossk fired at my Pirate but Serissu helped so that he only lost his shields. I then fired into the Aggressor with extreme prejudice. The combined efforts of Guri, the TLT, and my Hot Shot brought the large ship down.

                Like a pack of orcas swarming a space whale, my squad now had the board position to dog the Hounds Tooth. My opponent flew it on a red 2 turn though, which I didn't expect since I don't the ships dial very well. Serissu was caught out in the open. Bossk used his combo at range 1 and one-shot the poor Scyk. However, the Hounds Tooth only has 1 evade die and I was able to shred through it quickly since I stayed behind the ship and outside its 180 degree firing arc.

                The match wasn't over since I still had to deal with the Pup. It launched from its dock, doing a backwards 3 K-turn to put Bossk behind my whole squad. And I learned that the Pup keeps Bossk's PS of 7. What a crazy, cool upgrade card! I turned Guri into a blocker to make sure that Bossk couldn't finish off my badly hurt Viper. And my Pirate and TLT Hawk were able to finish off the Pup for a good win of 100-25.

                As I said before my final score was 2/2 with a MOV of 400, which is literally 50%. So not half bad! And it makes sense that my placement was 9 out of 16 players in the tournament. It still amazes me how well balanced this game is. My hat is off to you FFG! I want to give a shout out to everyone who worked so hard to put this tournament together: you did an amazing job! This article has already gone quite long so I will put my post-analysis in the afterwards, if you want to stay for that. Thank you so much for reading. I hope you have an amazing week and have fun flying your own unique, fun builds! PGP out.

Afterwards:

                First things first, the original damage deck punishes this list. The new one would have been much better but I do not have the new Core Set. But even with the old deck I wan't debilitated by the criticals. In fact, this squad is strong at still pressing on even with critical damage. Serissu died every game but she did her job of keeping allies alive at key points. Expert Handling, though not used often, was crucial at the times it was needed. So I stand by my previous statement that it was the best fit for my build. But as soon as Juke comes out I will be enjoying that! Guri did a remarkable job, though she was still vulnerable to enemy aces. Perhaps I should consider using my own Sensor Jammer. The Hawk exceeded all my expectations! Though weak on its own, it added immensely to the strength of my squad and the Moldy Crow title came through time and time again when a Y-wing or a Recon Specialist would have failed. And finally the MVP of my squad was definitely the Binarye Pirate. His hot shot blaster was on fire and he was generally the last target of most engagements. I really have fun flying ships that people underestimate and, as such, give me the upper hand. Apart from the Juke, and maybe the Sensor Jammer, I really don't have anything else to tweak on this list. I feel it is as perfect as it can be. The only thing that needs improvement is my own skill, so we'll see how that goes.

Kyle Katarn - A Versatile and Highly Customizable Pilot

                I made a startling, yet wonderful, surprise a couple of weeks ago: I found the Star Wars Dark Forces video game on Steam. I know this doesn't sound like much but what must be understood is that I grew up playing Dark Forces 2 and it NEVER occurred to me to go search for a Dark Forces 1! It seriously felt like a missing piece of my life had been filled, almost like I had discovered a secret Episode that had never been released. Although the gameplay was the old-fashioned FPS style and had terrible graphics, I absolutely loved going through a brand new campaign and once again taking up the role of the infamous Kyle Katarn.

                Kyle's story is deep with many different character arcs. He started off as an Imperial Stormtrooper. However, like many people including Han and Biggs, he saw the truth behind the Empire's facade and defected. He became a freelance mercenary, making good use of his Imperial training. It was at this time that he was contacted by Mon Mothma and was offered a continued contract in the Rebel Alliance. Throwing his side in with the Rebellion, Kyle asked for only one thing: that he get to work with the pilot Jan Ors, a Imperial prisoner that he saved while escaping from the Academy. He worked with the Rebellion for a long time and fulfilled many missions. In fact, he was one of the dozens of Rebel Operatives sent out to try and steal the plans for the Death Star. For awhile though, he went off the grid when he learned that his father had been murdered. On his quest for vengeance he discovered the Valley of the Jedi and the latent force-sensitivity in his blood. Taking up the mantle of Jedi, he was able to defeat the Sith that had killed his father. But in the process he almost fell to the dark side and fearfully discontinued his training, returning to his life as a Rebel mercenary. However, he was forced to reevaluate his Jedi ways when another Sith Lord rose and kidnapped Jan. Thankfully this time he was able to discipline himself and defeated the Sith without temptation. He then continued his training, became a Master in the New Jedi Order, and married Jan Ors (since the New Order allowed Jedi to love).

                Whew! Kyle Katarn is such a dynamic character and has so many fun stories. But the question is this: Of all of these versions, which Kyle do we have in X-wing Miniatures? The artwork on his crew upgrade shows him with no gray hair and a full beard. And the original picture from the Star Wars Card Game has him holding a green lightsaber. This places him in the middle of the Dark Forces 2 game when he uses the lightsaber from his father. This is quite interesting to me since at this time in the story Kyle is far from wanting to help the Rebels win space dogfights. But just like with Biggs and Nera, we get a slice of this universe captured and kept forever in a single moment. That adds a great deal of fun in the game for me. As a Jedi, his ability focuses on actions and is similar to Luke getting a free defensive focus and Vader getting a free action. Kyle can use his ability to give one of his focus tokens to an ally at Range 1-3. He can use the force and his trusty ship to better predict battle situations and help allies stay focused. And when he is the crew to a ship, he can rid the ship of stress in sticky situations and keep everyone calm. Both abilities are themed very well and are quite powerful.

                So how do we best use Kyle Katarn? Let's start with the basics. The first thing any player should do when they open up their Hawk expansion pack is fly the Focus Battery build.

 Focus Battery - 31 points

                Hawk w/ Kyle   

                Blaster Turret

                Recon Specialist

                Moldy Crow Title

                It will teach you the mechanics of the ship and how it is supposed to fly. You want to keep the ship in the back, piling on tons of focus tokens with the Recon Specialist and Title. Then during combat you give out focus to help your allies hit hard. It is especially strong when paired with allied ordnance shots, making sure that your squad points are well spent and make effective hits. Then when the fight comes to Kyle make sure you fly evasively. The Hawk's movement dial is rather slow but it is still fast enough for the ship to be able to fly past enemies and engage with your turret. And his 2 evade dice will rarely go to waste since they will always have a focus token to use. The build is rather expensive in squad points but it is nice on your budget since everything you need is all in one box. However, if we look at all upgrades out there, we see that the Hawk is highly customizable.

                Lets start that customization. Maybe you don't want more focus but stronger defense. You can replace the RS with the Jan Ors crew (but remember they aren't married at this time so keep things decent in the Hawk, you hear me!? lol).

Evade Battery - 31 points

                Hawk w/ Kyle

                Ion Cannon Turret

                Jan Ors

                Moldy Crow Title

                With her as copilot, Kyle can hand out an evade token to an ally instead of a focus. This can be crucial to keeping an important ally alive. You can give an free evade to Biggs after he has turtled up with R2-F2. Or perhaps one of your precious jousters got outmaneuvered and broadsided by an enemy arc-dodger. Since Kyle uses his ability right before combat he can always know who needs his help the most. And Jan doesn't lock the focus always into an evade. Kyle can still give out a focus when its needed and Jan Ors ability can help an ally all on its own. The only downside is that you no longer have the RS to quickly charge the battery. So learn to slow play at the beginning to get your focus bank filled.

                But how about a different direction? Let's just ignore his ability and look at what else Kyle has: Pilot Skill 6 with an Elite Pilot Talent. This means he can be a well rounded, mid-range hitter.

Heavy Kyle - 30 points

                Hawk w/ Kyle

                Lone Wolf

                Twin Laser Turret

                Nien Numb

               

                This build capitalizes off of Range 3. The introduction of the Twin Laser Turret really brought life back to the Hawk meta and it adds a lot of strength to this build. Normally Kyle would have a Range 2 turret and have to get closer to the fight to give necessary cover fire. But with the TLT you can keep Kyle way back out of danger. When at Range 3 of his allies he can use Lone Wolf, his turret, AND his ability. This makes for a very strong combo that rests at a safe distance. And Nien Numb acts as a cheap engine upgrade, allowing the Hawk to have a green 3 and 4 straight move. With him as crew the ship is much faster and has more options when clearing stress. The negative part of this build is the Range 1 gap. To overcome this be sure to practice so you know which choices to make in certain scenarios. And make use of your primary weapon. You heard me right! While 1 attack die is normally useless, remember that it is still an attack. I once lost a precious B-wing ace to a one die attack from a Hawk. And at Range 1 it becomes 2 dice! 2 attack dice are still somewhat weak but it is enough to do necessary damage at a crucial time. So if your opponent is coming after Kyle and you aren't sure you can keep them at Range 2, try pointing the nose of your ship at them and hope they fly ignorantly into a trap.

                I want to look at one last build but this is actually one you've already seen from my Eaden article. This is my favorite Hawk Ace build.

Ace Jan - 39 points

                Hawk w/ Jan

                Veteran Instincts

                Twin Laser Turret

                Kyle Katarn

                Engine Upgrade

                This Hawk comes in at 39 points but it is well worth it. Jan has a Pilot Skill of 10 and an engine upgrade to outmaneuver enemy aces, keeping them out of her Range 1 blindspot. And since her combo relies on self-stress, just like with Fast Han, we can use the Kyle crew here for similar results. The round after she uses her ability she can do a green move, get a free focus, and still use the engine upgrade to not be a sitting duck. And finally, there is one last mechanic that I found this build excels at: Range 3 flying. You want to be sure that Jan is out at Range 3 for protection but it is a small window. If you fly too close you risk entering Range 2 and if you fly too far out then you risk not getting a shot. But a Hawk with a TLT and EU can ride this window with ease. Keep Jan out at extreme Range 3. When you chose your action, start with a Target Lock. Here's why: if you are in range to get the TL then you are in range to also shoot. If you aren't in range then the TL fails and you must pick another action. So do a Boost towards your opponent and then you WILL be in range. I have found this build to be both powerful and a lot of fun.

                In conclusion, Kyle Katarn is an amazing character in Star Wars and a versatile Pilot in X-wing Miniatures. He has several standard builds that are very solid and many new ones thanks to the Twin Laser Turret meta. Which Hawk builds have you had success with? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and have a great week of flying!

The Ralph McQuarrie Y-wing - A Custom Ship Tribute

                One of the biggest things that makes Star Wars a memorable film is that it has such a stunning and visually-capturing universe. Whether it's the sleek snap of an S-foil, the surge of the Death Star vaporizing a planet, or the fearsome blankness of a Madalorian helmet, there is something that everyone has connected to when experiencing Star Wars. This vast galaxy of wonder was possible thanks to the concept artists, computer graphic engineers, sculptors, and many others who worked together on this amazing movie. Out of all of these people, I greatly connect with Ralph McQuarrie and his concept art.

               George Lucas told Ralph his vision and the talented artist took it and created it visually with only a few corrections needed. To give tribute to him, as well as to go back to the "roots" of Star Wars, JJ Abrams and the crew producing Episode 7 returned to Ralph's work for inspiration. It is fun to see that the T-70 X-wing actually draws on Ralph's preliminary X-wing designs.

                The BTL-B Bomber created for the Clone Wars cartoon series was also a product that drew inspiration from Ralph McQuarrie's original Y-wing. Honestly the bubble turret says it all, you just need to add some armor plates. I have hope that just like the T-70 X-wing, a "McQuirre Style" Y-wing could appear in Episode 7! In light of this, and to pay my own tribute, I present to you my custom Y-wing for X-wing Miniatures casual play:

                To me the McQuarrie Y-wing feels lighter and yet more fragile than the final versions we see in the Original Trilogy. To reflect this I dropped the Y's hull to 3 and increased its agility to 2. This won't make the ship overpowered because comparatively this means it will last only a little longer in a joust than an X-wing (and with Integrated Astromech the X-wing will last just as long).

                Ralph's artwork shows his Y-wings to have a gunner rather than an astromech. Accordingly, I removed the astromech from the upgrade bar. However, I ran into a problem when I wanted to add a crew slot to the ship. I crunched the numbers and possible combos and found that the crew slot on a Y-wing is really powerful. Therefore, in order to keep the cost low I opted to not include the crew slot and instead make a BTL-S3 Title with a crew. (Still playing around with that one so I won't include it here).

                In my mind this type of Y-wing would be a lot harder to fly, especially when you have to work to give your gunner a good firing angle. To reflect this I drew upon the idea behind ships like the A-wing, Tie Fighter, and Illicit Headhunter. All of these ships are much harder for pilots to handle and it made sense to me that they are always 1 pilot skill lower than other star fighters. So I made my McQuarrie Y-wings have 1 less PS than normal and as an interesting side note it also helped keep the ship's cost low.

                Next was to create the four pilots I would include in my "expansion". I named the lowest generic pilot to be from Shadow Squadron. I felt this was a good carryover of the connection this ship has to the Clone Wars. For the PS 3 I wanted a squad that had that same feel as Shadow Squad but was also unique. After much thought I decided on an appropriate Black Knight Squadron. And also in line with the T-70, I gave the higher PS generic access to the Elite Pilot Talent slot. As for the two named ace pilots, I didn't want to create names that would have no meaning or put Extended Universe pilots in a ship that technically never existed for them. So instead I felt it fitting to give a shout-out to Ralph McQuarrie himself as well as his co-worker Colin Cantwell. I gave Colin a pilot ability similar to the scum Kavil. However, instead of receiving an extra attack die for firing out of arc, Colin gets a free focus. That can help his gunner have the necessary dice modification for better attacks. It also means he can use a Blaster Turret effectively with both a target lock and a focus. Or he can save it for defense because, unlike 1 defense die, 2 agility can use a focus token effectively. And for my final ace I wanted to give Ralph McQuarrie a really good ability. The pilot that bears his name is so good that he can fly and use of his primary guns while his gunner fires as well. Just like with the upcoming Ghost freighter, I wanted a combo that allowed a ship to operate at full capacity.

               

                The final thing I did was price everything. I did my squad point number crunching with the help of the Pilot Generator made by Jason Fuller. (Which at this time I believe is now taken down.) Dropping the Astromech slot, 1 PS, and 2 Hull was more than my increase of 1 Agility and as such the final price was 17 points for the lowest generic. I kept my next generic at just 2 points above because the EPT helps turn 18.5 points into 19. And finally I scaled Colin by an extra point and Ralph by an extra two in addition to their increase in Pilot Skill.

                Have you created any fun, custom cards for your own causal play? And would you fly the McQuarrie Y-wing? Let me know in the comments below. I wanted a custom ship that captured the essence of Ralph McQuarrie's original concept art and I think it came out pretty good. Now I have to work on a good modification for a crew slot as well as come up with what kind of dial I want to have. I hope you enjoyed this fun, creative project. Please give me credit if you repost these, just as I give credit to the artists in my afterwards. Thanks for reading and have a great week!

Afterwards:

The two art pieces are from Ralph McQuarrie's concept art. The artwork used on the Shadow Squadron Pilot and Black Knight Jockey also come from Ralph McQuarrie. The pictures used on the Colin and Ralph pilots were taken from the CGI work of Michael Hanson from japetusproductions.com.