"Oh, It's Beautiful" - Skipray Blastboat Release

Good day, pilots! I apologize it took so long to get this PDF ready, but it is finally here. I am pleased to present to you the print-n-play file for the Skipray Blastboat expansion!

Please note, I included the large base cutouts for the ship, in case that is the ship base size you plan on flying. I personally don't use these cutouts, and just fly the Skipray on a medium base. As a reminder, you can get medium bases in the 1st Edition Saw's Renegades and TIE Reaper expansions.

I have had a blast flying this ship in my home games, and I hope that you have fun trying out some new pilots, upgrades, and builds!

With this expansion complete, I can look at some of my other projects for X-wing Miniatures 1st Edition. I have already hinted at a Support Ship upgrade and a Razorcrest conversion. I do plan on continuing with this slower pace for content, as it works well with the current pace of my life. Thank you for your patience and keep flying casual!

-PGP

"Meet New People & Make New Enemies" - Skipray Blastboat Design Part 6

Intro

We are finally here, pilots! Today's post is the last design article covering the homebrew Skipray Blastboat expansion for X-wing 1st Edition. We'll cover which pilots come with the Skipray and look at some builds. Let's get to it!

Luke Skywalker

Forced to work with Mara Jade and Talon Karrde, Luke Skywalker makes his debut as a Scum pilot in X-wing Miniatures. While Luke has his same pilot skill of 8, his pilot ability changes. Rebel Luke has a defensive ability, but Scum Luke sports the offensive Deadeye EPT ability. Since the Skipray Blastboat doesn't have talent slots, this mean that Luke is the only pilot that can shoot Deadeye torpedoes. Not having to worry about target locks also means that he can take Guidance Chips over Long-Range Scanners for a solid boost to attack.

We can't just limit Luke to torpedoes, though. His pilot ability also synergizes well with the Synced Turret. This combo gives him the freedom to select whichever target he wants during the Combat phase, rather than forcing him to choose an enemy ship to lock in the Activation phase.

Full Guns Luke - 37 points 

• Assault Loadout - 0
• Proton Torpedoes - 4
• Extra Munitions - 2
• High-Mass Compensator - 1
• Guidance Chips - 0

Broadside Luke - 37 points

• Patrol Loadout - 0
• Synced Turret - 4
• Reinforced Deflectors - 3

Picture Credit: The first Luke card uses a picture from Imgur. The alt art card uses an alternative cover art for Dark Forces Rising.

Mara Jade

During her days with the Empire, Mara was a skilled and deadly assassin. In the Thrawn trilogy, an estranged Mara threw her lot in with smugglers to survive. With no more missions from the Emperor, Mara's last goal is to doggedly pursue and kill the man that killed her master: Luke Skywalker.

As a Scum Skipray pilot, her ability to lock onto a single target is very power, especially one-vs-one. Additionally, she doesn't have to spend her lock when using her ability. This means that when she is fighting her locked opponent, she gets the partial effects of a Fire-Control System, as well as the defensive reroll of Lone Wolf.

Of course Long-Range Scanners is a great upgrade for her, but any upgrade that interacts with target locks is also powerful. Consider taking cards like Weapons Engineer, K-4 Security Droid, or Fire Control System.

Two-for-One Special Mara - 35 points

• Assault Loadout - 0
• Seismic Torpedoes - 2
• Emergency Safety Measures - 1
• Weapons Engineer - 3
• Long-range Scanners - 0

Hot Pursuit Mara - 35 points

• Patrol Loadout - 0
• Synced Turret - 4
• Smuggling Crew - 2
• Obstacle Detector - 0

Picture credit: For the first Mara ship card, I used artwork posted by "gadwag" on the FFG forums. The alt art card uses the cover for one of the Heir to the Empire comic books. (Yes, that is a crashed Skipray in the background!)

Kenix Kil

While this next pilot is not a Car'Das smuggler, he was just too good not to include in this expansion pack. Kenix Kil joined the bounty hunters of the galaxy as undercover work, but it turned out he was really good at the job. Kenix brings his personal, and heavily disguised, Skipray Blastboat to X-wing Miniatures. Perhaps his pilot skill, pilot ability, and not-terribly-clever pseudonym are enough hints to reveal to you his true identity.

Unlike other Skipray pilots, Kenix focuses on primary weapons over secondary ones. Since his Scum pilot ability gives a focus result instead of a hit, careful consideration is needed when building his loadout. Cards like Fire-Control System, Dengar, and Recon Specialist can give you the dice modification needed to give you more hit results. As he is only pilot skill 6, it can be a good idea to take an Intelligence Agent with your squad to deal with enemy aces.

No Range Is Safe Kenix - 37 points

• Assault Loadout - 0
• Advanced Proton Torpedoes - 6
• Recon Specialist - 3
• Long-Range Scanners - 0

Knife-Fight Kenix - 34 points

• Patrol Loadout - 0
• Autoblaster Turret - 2
• Fire Control System - 2
• Mara Jade - 2

Picture credit: The first Kenix ship card uses art by Odanan on DeviantArt. The alt art card uses a scene from the Star Wars Bounty Hunters Kenix Kill comics.

Booster Terrik

Our final named pilot for this expansion cannot believe that his old friend Talon Karrde roped him into another risky operation. Booster Terrik does not want to be on a mission for the Car'Das smugglers, let alone a dogfight, and his pilot ability reflects this. In true Scum fashion, Booster is fine leaving behind another pirate to make sure that he can make it out. 

While Booster giving out stress tokens to allies is not ideal, it can be turned good with the right squad builds. Just like how Booster subtly steered a young Wedge Antilles towards vengeance in the comics, Booster can help give stress-ability allies a nudge in X-wing Miniatures. Cards like Wired, Inspiring Recruit, and 4-LOM (pilot) can pair well with Booster's stress, providing a give-and-take synergy between them.

Thorn Booster - 33 points

• Assault Loadout - 0
• Scrambler Missiles - 2
• Extra Munitions - 2
• Emergency Safety Measures - 1
• Boba Fett - 1
• Long Range Scanners - 0

Friendly Booster - 33 points

• Gonk Droid - 2
• Operations Specialist - 3
• Inspiring Recruit - 1

Picture credit: The first ship picture is from Jetfreak-7 on DeviantArt. The alt art is from the Booster Terrik Wookieepedia page.

Tarsarri Patrolman

The mid-range generic of the pack, the Tarsarri Patrolman fought and gained good experience in the battle of Tarsarri Point. She is only one point higher than the other generic, since she does not have an EPT, making her PS 4 a decent investment. Just be careful not to overload this ship with too many upgrades.

Support Patrolman - 30 points

• Assault Loadout
• Ion Pulse Missile - 3
• Intelligence Agent - 1
• Inspiring Recruit - 1

All-Around Patrolman - 33 points

• Patrol Loadout - 0
• Flechette Torpedoes - 2
• Dorsal Turret - 3
• Luke Skywalker (Scum) - 3

Picture credit: Heir to the Empire comic book.

Car'Das Smuggler

This basic member of the Car'Das smuggler group is the low-end generic. He sports a low pilot skill, but has the cheapest Skipray Blastboat squad point cost. 

Pepper Smuggler - 30 points

• Assault Loadout - 0
• Miniaturized Proton Torpedoes - 4
• Fire Control System - 2
• Guidance Chips - 0

Steady Smuggler - 31 points

• Patrol Loadout - 0
• Synched Turret - 4
• Talon Karrde - 3

Picture credit: Heir to the Empire comic book.

Conclusion

We now have all parts of this expansion complete! With all mechanics, upgrades, and pilots finished, I can package the entire expansion together. My next post will have an easy-to-print PDF file so you can quickly implement this expansion. So hang tight, and remember to fly casual!

-PGP out.

The Car'Das Boys Are Coming - Skipray Blastboat Design Part 5

Intro

Welcome pilots! Today, we are discussing the second half of the upgrades that come with the Skipray Blastboat expansion. These four upgrades are all crew cards, showcasing the Car'Das smugglers in Timothy Zahn's trilogy. Let's get to it!

Talon Karrde

As the Car'Das leader, Talon relies on always being cautious and well-informed. As such, it makes sense that his fighting style is about biding his time to know the most opportune move to make next. While researching how to make such a mechanic, I came across the Passive Sensors upgrade from X-wing 2.0. It was a perfect fit.

With Talon flying as crew, a ship's pilot can wait out the Activation phase in order to make the best decision during the Combat phase. Since taking Talon's action has the crew in a wait-and-see situation, it makes sense that the ship cannot be coordinated by other scum ships. Additionally, I extended this to also include not being able to be jammed while the action is active.

However, Talon does have one weakness: stress. In the books, Talon's ability to observe and act accordingly was always being beaten by Thrawn's unpredictable and pre-emptive moves. If your ship receives a stress token before its turn in the Combat phase, then the bided action is lost and the crew is out of luck.

Just like with Passive Sensors, this is going to make the pilot skill you choose for Talon's ship an important decision. If you go with a high-PS ace, you aren't getting much benefit from biding. However, if you put Talon on a generic ship, that increases the chances of a stress token ruining the action. Perhaps a mid-range generic is the best bet for your squad?

Picture Credit: Artwork from the Talon Karrde Wookieepedia page.

Mara Jade

I designed this Mara to be like her Imperial version, but not as powerful. After the death of the Emperor, Mara chose to distance herself from the Force. While Imperial Mara can stress multiple enemy ships at Range 1, Scum Mara can only jam one enemy ship.

Still, the jam is a powerful weapon to have, especially when it does not take your action to use. Additionally, Mara is able to provide this jam ability to any Scum ship that has a crew slot. This makes her especially nasty when paired with pilots like Palob Godalhi, Asajj Ventress, or 4-LOM.

Consider putting her on an aggressive ship that will hound enemy large ships. A high PS Skipray with Mara Jade and a Fire Control System can trade really well against ships greater in size and cost. Alternatively, you can take her as a deterrent to close-range combat. Any enemy ace is going to think twice about closing to Range 1 against a Skipray with Mara Jade and an Autoblaster Turret.

Picture Credit: Artwork by Kohse on Deviant Art. The picture depicts Mara in her smuggler's outfit, and showcases her small forearm blaster.

Luke Skywalker (Rebel & Scum)

I designed a new Luke Skywalker crew card to represent him in the Thrawn Trilogy. Captured on the planet on Myrkr and surrounded by a forest of ysalamiri, Luke only has his Jedi discipline to fall back onto to survive. This design of Luke allows a ship to be focused, even while stressed. The only caveat is that you must use that focus token on defense dice.

This makes the card a lot like the Outlaw Tech crew. However, this Luke has the benefit of continuing to focus, even if you are unable to get rid of the stress. That way, your ship can continue to pick white maneuvers and still modify defensive dice while trying to escape any enemy ship that is doggedly pursing.

Similar to the Maul crew card, this Luke can join a different faction if your squad meets the appropriate parameter. In this case, your Scum squad must contain Mara Jade before you can equip this Luke crew card. As for synergies, this card works well with stress abilities, such as: Saw Gerrera, Rage, Attani Mindlink, and debris clouds.

Picture Credit: Star Wars Heir to the Empire alternate cover art.

Smuggling Crew

It wouldn't work to create a crew card for every Car'Das member, like Aves and Fynn. So instead, I made a generic crew card to pay tribute to all of these other smugglers.

As this card encompasses a whole crew, it makes sense to have it take up double crew slots. This means it is the Scum counterpart to the Rebel and Imperial double crew cards. While Wookiee Commandos provide attack die modification, and Death Troopers forces careful declarations of attacks, Smuggling Crew deals with getting a cheap and easy access to the boost action.

This crew allows your ship to fly hard and quick, and get some action economy. However, that cheaper costs comes with a downside: the enemy can negate the ability by locking onto your ship. This makes abilities Long-Range Scanners and Fire-Control System banes to this card. However, you can prepare for these counters by taking upgrade cards like the Mara Jade crew or the Countermeasures modification.

By normal 1st edition mechanics, only one ship can take this card, the Hound's Tooth (creating a whole new kind of Party Bus, lol). However, since we are dealing with 1st edition home rules, we get a list of three ships:

• Skipray Blastboat
• Hound's Tooth
• Razor Crest

Picture Credit: Artwork by JakeMurray on Deviant Art. I love that the picture captures the chill nature of the smugglers, as they relax after after a hard smuggling run. However, once the ship gets pinged by authorities, these crew members are going to be on-station, giving it their all!

(Also, here is the explanation for the Party Bus meme, if you haven't see it before).

Conclusion

These four cards and our previous ones make up all the upgrades four this expansion! I hope they inspire some new ideas on how to fly some of your favorite ships. With this part of the design done, all that we have left is the Skipray pilots. I am excited to see this project come together and can't wait to get the final expansion to you!

PGP out.

"We Can Still Outmaneuver Them" - Skipray Blastboat Design Part 4

Intro

Welcome back, pilots! We are talking about upgrades for the homebrew Skipray Blastboat expansion. After all of my brainstorming and playtesting, I created a total of nine upgrades cards. However, I couldn't fit them all onto one post. So today, we will look at the first five: two titles, two systems, and a torpedo. I will cover how each upgrades works, how they benefit the Skipray and other ships, and which pictures I picked for card artwork.

Assault and Patrol Loadouts

I talked about the design behind the Skipray titles in a previous design post. The final designs are pretty much the same as their beta designs, so I won't go into those details here.

The only change I made was to add an extra limitation to the Patrol Loadout. I didn't want the ship to have access to Twin Laser Turret spam, which I know could be unbalanced. I also thought that the Ion Cannon Turret would make the ship overcosted and take away from its role as a heavy hitter. Therefore, I worded the title so that you can only take turret upgrades that cost 4 or less points, which still offers a good selection. 

This expansion does not include a new turret. I tried making a Tru-Lok turret upgrade but nothing really worked out. I might try again in the future.

Picture credit: For the Assault Loadout, I used the artwork for Assault Proton Torpedoes from the Armada 2017 tournament kit. While this artwork does not directly show the Skipray, it shows how the Skipray can take the role of a capital ship hunter. I imagine a whole wing of pirate Skiprays strafing this Imperial Star Destroyer.

Picture credit: For the Patrol Loadout, I used a piece by Jake Lunt Davies. The picture is clearly a sequel-era resistance fighter using the turret on the Millennium Falcon, but I didn't care. I just love how happy this alien is to be blasting away at the First Order from his gunner seat. It is a perfect fit for a turret title upgrade.

Emergency Safety Measures

As promised, I created an upgrade for the Skipray's emergency acceleration compensator. However, since this upgrade can be taken by many other ships, I made the title more generic: Emergency Safety Measures. While the safety measures could be an emergency compensator, they could also be other things like smart breach foam dispensers or quick-activate cockpit shock frames.

This card provides good insurance that a pilot-based critical will not cripple an important pilot in your list. Some ship builds (or even squad builds) center around a certain pilot skill or pilot ability, so this upgrade can give you a safety net against being undermined. Additionally, ESM is a good alternative to Determination, if you want to keep the Elite Pilot Talent free for something else (or if the ship does not have an EPT at all).

While the card is inexpensive, this does not mean it is an auto-pick. I priced ESM after the Determination talent, which is such a cheap upgrade because there is a good chance that it will not activate. Additionally, since systems are such powerful upgrade slots, the opportunity cost is quite high, and a different system upgrade may work better for your specific build.

Try pairing the card with a hull upgrade. This gives you an extra hit point and increases the chances of ESM activating. For the same price as a shield upgrade (which offers more protection from critical hits), the combo of HU and ESM is a gamble that a critical hit will actually net you two extra hit points.

The card is limited to medium and large bases, since it made more sense that larger ships would have the space and the need for extra precautions. Sorry tiny snub-fighters, you miss out on this upgrade. Here is the list of ships that can take Emergency Safety Measures:

• Skipray Blastboat
• Aggressor
• U-wing
• Ghost
• Resistance Bomber
• Lambda Shuttle
• Upsilon Shuttle

If you use the medium base rules, the list expands with these extra ships:

• Scurrg (with title)
• TIE Punisher
• TIE Silencer
• Mist Hunter

Picture credit: I used the Baron Fel alternate art from the X-wing Miniatures 2017 Store Championship prizes. While the artwork shows Soontir Fel in a TIE Interceptor, I thought it could also work as the cockpit of a TIE Punisher. The damage sparks and red warning lights worked just too well as emergency safety measures activating.

High-Mass Compensator

While working on a separate project to give a boost to support ships, I created the High-Mass Compensator. It turns out that this upgrade also benefits the Skipray, so I am going to include it in this expansion. (Hopefully I'll make a separate post about support ships in the future).

As the name suggests, this system slot compensates for a ship's heavy weight, allowing the engines to be more efficient while turning. While having a red turn move is better than no turn, it still really hurts to use it. The High-Mass Compensator allows you to get the most out of your dial without resorting to self-stressing.

I priced the card after the R2 Astromech and the Unhinged Astromech, which both affect maneuver dials. However, the HMC also comes with another cost: giving up crew slots. This part of the card is absolutely necessary for balance, as builds like the Emperor's shuttle would be too powerful with better turn maneuvers. I also imagine that this compensator system would take up a ton of room, meaning that crew stations would need to be ripped out. If a ship doesn't have crew slots, then other parts of the ship need to go to make space.

While the Skipray Blastboat offers a lot of options with two crew slots, there might be times when it is better to just skip the crew. With the HMC, the Skipray can freely use its 3 turns, making it bit more efficient when jousting and dodging enemy ships.

For a ship to take this upgrade, it must meet three requirements:

1. Have red 2- or 3- speed turns.
2. Have a System upgrade slot.
3. Have unused upgrade slots that can be disabled.

Based on these requirements, here's the list of all ship that can take the HMC:

• Lambda Shuttle
• TIE Punisher
• Skipray Blastboat
• Scurrg
• Ghost
• TIE Special Forces
• Upsilon Shuttle

Picture credit: I used the cover art for the Revell model of Shuttle Tydirium. I love the motion blur on the picture, implying that the shuttle is absolutely hauling hull in space. It works so well to depict a compensator in action.

Miniaturized Proton Torpedoes

Inspired by the Heavy Space Troopers that Thrawn used in Heir to the Empire, the Skipray Blastboat comes with the Miniaturized Proton Torpedoes upgrade.

Like Unguided Rockets, MPT offers a permanent secondary weapon in exchange for dual upgrade slots. While this mini ordnance does not hit as hard as a full proton torpedo, it still can change one focus result into a critical hit.

This upgrade benefits torpedo ships with a 2-dice primary weapon, allowing them to upgrade to 3 dice, as long as they have a lock on the target. Having to spend the target lock to attack can be offset with upgrades like Guidance Chips and Fire Control System. Ships in this category are:

• K-wing
• Y-wing
• Alpha Starwing (with ordnance title)
• TIE Bomber
• TIE Punisher
• Jumpmaster 5000 (pre-nerf)

The Skipray already as a 3-dice primary weapon, so it doesn't need MPT to increase its firepower. However, taking the upgrade denies the Range 3 defense dice and increases the chance of a critical hit crippling an enemy, just like with the Mangler Cannon. Ships with three attack dice and two torpedo slots are:

• B-wing
• Jumpmaster 5000 (with title, pre-nerf)
• Skipray Blastboat (with ordnance title)

Picture Credit: I took the Zero-G Assault Stormtrooper picture from Wookieepedia. The chest hatch on the trooper's armor shows the miniaturized warheads loaded and ready to fire!

Conclusion

There we go! I hope you had fun exploring some new upgrades. Next post will cover the rest of the Skipray upgrades, specifically the crew members. See you then!

PGP out.

Magenta 5, Standing By - Skipray Blastboat Design Part 3

Great day, pilots! Welcome to part 3 of the Skipray Blastboat design. Click here for Part 1 and Part 2. Today, we are covering everything that deals with the actual Skipray miniature on the tabletop. We'll analyze the size of the ship, finalize its ship base size, and go over the painting process.

When we looked at the Skipray in Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire, we got the following parameters for the size of the ship:

1. The Skipray is lean.
2. The Skipray is long, twice as long as an X-wing.
3. The Skipray's cockpit isn't very roomy, like an X-wing.
4. Luke classifies the Skipray as a fighter.

Based solely on this info, my mind's eye pictured a ship that about the same size as the U-wing. So, I was genuinely surprised when I saw the "official size" of the Skipray miniature I bought in the 1/270 ratio. The Skipray miniature is actually closer to the size of the Firespray. 

This surprise led me to research the ship's size. According to Wookieepeida, the ship is a lot bigger than it is initially described in Heir to the Empire. The tail fins and engines may be lean, but the chunky body and sensor pylons are far from that. The large cockpit is much roomier than the cramped seat in an X-wing. Finally, the ship's official size is classified as gunship, rather than a fighter. (In fact, the Wookieepedia article even goes so far as to call the Skipray a miniaturized capital ship).

After scrutiny, the only part of Zahn's first description of the Skipray that is still correct is that it is twice as long (if not a bit longer) than an X-wing. I understand that the Skipray probably evolved in size and shape since its debut in Heir to the Empire. I personally feel that the 1/270 Skipray looks oversized, just like the Firespray model. However, despite that, I still really like the look of the Skipray on the tabletop. It is beautiful to see it fly in games!

Since the miniature is so big, it does make sense that its standard base size is large, rather than small. However, I made home rules for medium ships in 1st edition. With my Skipray design in mind, I included the ship as one that can take a medium base. This better fits the Skipray's design and allows the ship fulfil its role as an attack gunship. Here's the link to my rules on Medium Bases.

Ok, with the business out of the way, let's finally get on to miniature itself. I bought my Skipray miniature in the 1/270 ratio from Mel Miniatures on Shapeways. I got the White Natural Versatile Plastic, which looks great and has lots of details. It even had a large base peg built into the bottom of the ship for use with X-wing Miniatures! My only complaint was that the miniature was covered in white powder, which was probably knocked loose from the model during shipping. 

After washing and drying the model, I tried to prime it. However, I used grey enamel paint, which was a mistake. The enamel paint did not dry on the plastic model and was hard to clean off. After learning that lesson, I started over on the painting process.

This time, I primed with a plastic-friendly grey primer. As for color scheme, I decided to follow the painting of other ships in the Scum faction: black cockpit, dark grey panels, maroon ship striping, and a black wash to fill in all the cracks. To finish off the model, I used a clear matte finish. Now, I'll admit that my paint job isn't good enough to sell the model right out of the box, but I am super happy with it. The magenta striping was a perfect fit, and the ship fits at home with other Scum on the tabletop.

There you have it! We finally have a physical ship and it is looking great. Enjoy the shots I got of the miniature on the tabletop! All that is left is to get pilots and upgrades for this expansion. See you in the next design post!

PGP out.

"Sounds like our ride is already on the way" - Skipray Blastboat Design Part 2

Intro

Welcome to the second design post for the Skipray Blastboat! Today, we will be using Wookiepdedia stats, balance mechanics, and "the rule of fun" to fill out the rest of the ships details. For a refresher on the alpha design, checkout my last post. Aright, let's get to it!

Attack Dice

With a dual-laser dorsal turret and fin-mounted ion cannons, the Skipray brings a lot of firepower besides its ordnance. After considering the number of attack dice the ship should have, I came up with two possible options:

1. Give the Skipray two attack dice and a cannon slot.
2. Give the Skipray three attack dice and no cannon slot.

After a lot of deliberation, I decided to go with option 2. Here's why:

• The cannon slot is effectively a better torpedo/missile slot. They are permanent upgrades and have almost the same selection and cost as ordnance. Giving the Skipray a cannon slot really takes most of the oomph out of its ordnance upgrades. The goal of this project is to make a fun homebrew ship for casual play, rather than an uber-viable chassis to win tournaments.
• Having three attack dice gives a bonus to applicable upgrades—such as Guidance Chips and Synced Turret—getting us the most out of these cards. 
• The final nail in the coffin was when I learned that the Razor Crest expansion for 2.0 has multiple crew slots and a cannon slot. Ship identity is important and I didn't want the Skipray to feel exactly the same as the Razor Crest. (Why not? Spoilers...)

As for more about the Skipray's turret, see the Upgrade Slot section below.

Conclusion: 3 attack dice.

Defensive Dice

Wookieepedia sometimes gives a DFP rating for starships, which is a unit of measurement for maneuverability. The Skipray has a rating of 64 DPF, which is very similar to the Y-wing's rating of 59 DFP. This fits with the description from Heir to the Empire that the ship has a lot of armor and therefore is not the most agile.

Conclusion: 1 defense die.

Hull & Shields

In the last post, we determined that the ship needs a lot of hit points. To find exact numbers for hull and shield values, we have two Wookieepedia stats to look at: RU and SBD. However, after researching a bunch of different ships, I found that X-wing Miniatures does not follow these stats at all.

• For example, by RU and SBD standards, a TIE fighter should have 1 hull point and an X-wing should have 2 hull and 5 shields.

While the numbers don't translate into X-wing mechanics, what does work is to translate game mechanics already established. If we find a ship with similar stats to the Skipray, we can use that ship as a template in-game. Of course, there is a ship with almost the exact same RU and SBD stats as the Skipray: the Firespray. This gives us a starting template of 6 hull and 4 shields. Since I am not a mathematician like Math Wing, I had to rely on playtesting the ship at different squad points to get the right values. My playtesting found that values of 6 hull and 5 shields worked well for the targeted cost I wanted for the ship. (See the Ship Costs section below for more details).

Conclusion: 6 hull and 5 shields.

Actions

By default, the ship has the ability to Focus. Next, the core identity of this ship in X-wing Miniatures is of a heavy-hitting gunship. So, the ship needs both the Target Lock and Reload actions, like with the Alpha Starwing.

I heavily debated giving the ship the Jam action, since it has a powerful sensor suite. Additionally, the Skipray's special ability in Empire at War: Forces of Corruption is a jammer that hides the ship on the minimap. However, I found that Jam, like the cannon, takes away from the ship's main identity as an attack vessel. If you really want to "jam", you can take the Sensor Jammer system upgrade.

With the ship's heavy armor, it doesn't make sense for the Skipray to come with a natural Barrel Roll, Boost, or Evade action. As a large base ship, the Skipray cannot take Vectored Thrusters to get Barrel Roll, but it can take an Engine Upgrade to get Boost.

Finally, I was considering giving the ship a mobile firing arc, and would therefore need to include the Rotate Arc action. However, I eventually determined that the Skipray's dual-laser turret would best work as a turret upgrade. (See the Upgrade Slots section below).

Conclusion: Focus, Target Lock, Reload.

Maneuver Dial

For the dial, we have another Wookieepedia stat: MGLT. This Star Wars unit appears to more flushed out than the others. From it, we can see that the Skipray again matches the Firespray, right on the nose. Both the Skipray Blastboat and the Firespray have 91 MGLT, with 16 MGLT per second.

This fits perfectly with our initial assessment that the ship should have plenty of green moves, few red moves, and no crazy advanced moves. However, copying the Firespray's dial exactly removes some identity from both ships. Since the Skipray has less agility, it makes sense that it would have a slightly worse dial. So, I crossed the Firespray and the ARC-170 dials to create something unique for the Skipray. The ship's powerful engines means it has lots of white and green moves. On the other hand, its heavy mass means that it struggles with 3-speed turns, and takes a whopping 5-speed to perform a K-turn.

Conclusion:

Upgrade Slots

If we were to just translate the Skipray's features straight into in X-wing Miniatures, then the ship would have the following upgrades: System, Cannon, Turret, Torpedo, Missile, and Crew. This is too many for the ship to stay balanced. Additionally, just slapping on everything and calling it a day doesn't give consideration to ship identity.

Instead of giving the ship every upgrade, I decided to split the ship's upgrades into three groups: base upgrades, and two different title configurations. Having certain upgrades sectioned off with titles helps keeps the ship versatile and balanced. 

• Base upgrade slots: System, Torpedo, Crew, Crew
• Justification for the system and crew slots are covered in my previous post.
• The torpedo slot is a given, as it is core to the Skipray's identity in the game. The Reload action allows you to get more uses out of this one torpedo slot.
• This combo makes the upgrade bar look like the U-wing, but it is not the same. The U-wing gets rid of its torpedo with the Renegade Refit, and the Skipray can take one of two titles to get more upgrade slots.
• Assault Loadout slots: Torpedo, Missile
• The Assault Loadout locks the ship into a heavy hitting jouster.
• Having more ordnance slots means you have more options for torpedo and missile builds.
• Assigning these two upgrade slots to a title means that you have to take it in order to get certain upgrades, namely Extra Munitions and Long-Range Scanners.
• Patrol Loadout slots: Turret
• Assigning the turret slot to a title allows better control of balance and also allows us to add more identity to how the turret works. I love the Skipray's ventral and dorsal fins, but they kind of get in the way of a dorsal turret. (See this example showing the problem).
• As such, the turret should not be programmed to fire out of the auxiliary firing arc area of the ship. This requires you to fly the ship as a broadside hitter. Moreover, just like with the Outrider, this gives enemy ships the chance to slip into a blindspot, allowing for dynamic ship engagements.

As for upgrades that are purposefully not included, the list is as follows:

• No Cannon slot. (See the Attack Dice section).
• No Salvaged Astromech or Illicit slots. (See the previous design post).
• No Elite Pilot Talent slot. This gives the Skipray that same "too-chunky-to-be-clever" feel that other heavy ordnance ships have, like the Ghost, TIE Punisher, and K-wing.

Conclusion: Depending on the title you take, the Skipray can have one of two upgrade bars:

1. Assault: System, Torpedo, Torpedo, Missile, Crew, Crew
2. Patrol: System, Turret, Torpedo, Crew, Crew

Ship Cost

While the Skipray acts like the Firespray in some ways, I did not want the Skipray to be that expensive. The fact that the Firespray has 3 attack dice with an auxiliary firing arc, 2 agility, a perfect dial, and a natural evade action means that it costs a lot to bring it to the table. For the Skipray, I wanted the ship to have a more affordable cost, one that would allow you to still field a good squad of other ships in your squad build.

After taking all factors into consideration while playtesitng, the base cost I arrived at was 24 points. This makes the Skipray a cheaper gunship, like the U-wing and TIE Reaper.

Now, there is some concern with making a ship with this many attack dice and hit points less than 26 points, since that means 4 generics could be flown in a 100 point game. However, I chose not to account for that while balancing because I plan on fielding just one Skipray and no more. It is really nice to not worry about tournament balance when making your own expansion.

Conclusion: Base cost of 24 points.

Beta Design

Here is the Skipray's beta design from today's process. I cannot wait for the expansion to finally come together! In future design posts, we will cover the ship size, pilots, and expansion upgrades. Have a great week and catch you next time!

-PGP

"Warming up one of the Skiprays" - Skipray Blastboat Design Part 1

Hello pilots! Welcome to the first post exploring a homebrew Skipray Blastboat expansion for X-wing Miniatures 1st Edition. The inspiration for this homebrew expansion came from my re-reading of Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy. The Skipray only appears briefly, but it is crucial to the interaction between Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade! Today, we will go through Zahn's descriptions of the Skipray in Heir to the Empire and use that as the foundation for how the ship is going to feel and fly on the tabletop. Let's get to it!

First things first, this ship expansion will be for the Scum and Villainy faction. According to the Extended Universe, the Imperials did use some Skiprays. However, this expansion is specifically inspired by Talon Karrde and his daring smugglers. While I can consider doing an Imperial Skipray expansion later, right now I am focusing on Scum. 

Here is the first excerpt from Heir to the Empire:

"...long, lean ships about twice the length of Luke's X-wing. Fighters, obviously, but not like anything the Alliance had ever used...Unlike X-wing design, the entrance was a hinged hatchway door in the side...The pilot's cockpit wasn't much roomier than an X-wing's but directly behind it was a three-seat tech/weapons area. The seats weren't designed for astromechs[.]" (Zahn 270-271)

• We have our first exclusion: no astromechs. While I love the astromech upgrades (especially the janky salvaged ones), they won't appear in this expansion.
• On the other hand, we do have a confirmation on crew. The Skipray has a running crew of 4: 1 pilot, and 3 weapons/tech crew. I think that this easily translates to 2 crew slots and 1 system slot. The current Scum roster only has one ship with multiple crew slots (the Hounds Tooth). Having another chassis to be able to combine crew upgrades will be fun and give the ship some identity. Additionally, the system slot fits well with Talon Karrde himself. He is not the type of person to skimp and buy cheap fighters. Rather, he gets state-of-the-line ships with high-tech systems and powerful sensors.
• While the ship's size and description seem pretty straight forward, they actually conflict with the official scaling of the ship on Wookiepedia. For now, I will assume that the ship has a large base and will explore the scaling in a future post.

We're already off to a good start! Here's the next excerpt:

"The strange fighter's handling wasn't even remotely like anything [Luke had] ever flown before; slightly reminiscent of the snowspeeders the Alliance had used on Hoth, but with the kind of sluggish response time that implied a great deal of armor and engine mass. With time he was pretty sure he'd be able to master it." (Zahn 273)

• First off, the ship should have a good amount of hull points. Also, I don't believe that Talon would be satisfied with sub-standard deflector shields. Pair this info with the fact that the ship is sluggish from so much armor, then the best fit is 1 agility die and high hit points.
• The large amount of engine mass means powerful engines, so the ship's basic maneuvers should include an adequate number of greens and only a few (if any) reds. Having heavy armor on top of powerful engines means that the ship shouldn't be able to pull super-crazy stunts like T-rolls, S-loops, and stop maneuvers.

Things are building quite nicely and we're getting a good direction for the ship. Here's the third excerpt:

"The fighter dipped a little too deep, scraping its ventral tail fin against the tops of the trees...There, directly above his dorsal tail fin and less than a ship's length away, was [Mara's] fighter. 'Hang on!' Luke shouted to Artoo, clenching his teeth tightly together. His one chance now was to pull a drop-kick Koiogran turn...And abruptly, the cockpit canopy exploded into a slapping tangle of tree branches and he was thrown hard against his restraints as the fighter spun and twisted and rolled out of control." (Zahn 274)

• This section has Luke failing to execute a K-turn with the Skipray. However, I do not believe that this means the ship cannot actually do a K-turn. Luke does not have a good grasp of the ship. This is his first time flying a new ship on a new planet, and he can barely keep it afloat, let alone pull a Koiogran. If he had time to get used to the ship, then I believe he could have pulled it off. Luckily, he will get plenty of practice with this expansion!
• Including a K-turn on the dial gives the ship the ability to quickly turn around, which makes sure it can be viable in dogfights. Since its weight-to-engines ratio runs on the heavy side, the 5-speed K-turn fits better, like with the TIE Bomber.

Almost there! We only have one excerpt left:

"The strangest thing about waking up...was that he didn't actually hurt anywhere. And he should have. From what he remembered of those last few seconds—and from the view of the splintered trees outside the fighter's twisted canopy—he would have counted himself lucky even to be alive, let alone undamaged. Clearly the restraints and crash balloons had been augmented by something more sophisticated—an emergency acceleration compensator, perhaps." (Zahn 280)

• Once again, this section reinforces Talon's foresight in buying quality starships for his smuggling operation. The ship most definitely has a system slot.
• In a past post about the Scum faction, I talk about how Illicit upgrades aren't "illegal", but instead are "inhumane". The amount of care that Talon put into the safety of his ships is the direct opposite of inhumane. As such, this ship expansion cannot justify getting an illicit slot. Perhaps other scum factions in the galaxy are fine with treating their crews as expendable. The Car'Das Smugglers aren't.
• Ship expansions need to include cool new upgrades alongside the new ship. Here, we have our first upgrade to create, an "Emergency Acceleration Compensator". Based on how it saved both Luke and Mara's lives in the book, this upgrade needs to be a system that nullifies Pilot-based criticals. It could be similar to the Elite Pilot Talent "Determination".
  

In conclusion, here is a summary of our research. This is the alpha stage of the Skipray's design:

• 
  A Scum faction ship.
• No astromech slot.
• No illicit slot.
• 1 system slot.
• 2 crew slots.
• Large base ship.
• High hitpoints (both hull and shields).
• 1 agility die.
• Basic maneuvers include plenty of greens, and reds are few (or none).
• The only advanced maneuver it has is a 5-speed K-turn.
• The expansion includes an Emergency Acceleration Compensator upgrade.

This part of the design process is complete! Stay tuned for more design posts, as this homebrew Skipray Blastboat expansion comes together. Happy flying!

-PGP

Works Cited:

• Zahn, Timothy. "Heir to the Empire." Del Rey Mass Market Edition, 2016.

"You're Used to a Gunboat, But She's a Starfighter"

Receiving incoming transmission!

As promised, I've written rules for implementing medium bases into 1st Edition.

Link to view and download: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A0xRCRpgqi9dnPKg4vcxKFg8VmUcnmGv/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=117639154480593840254&rtpof=true&sd=true

The rules cover the following topics:

• Where to get plastics medium bases.
• Which ships can be covered to a medium base.
• Some advantages/disadvantages for taking a medium base.
• Which actions and tokens are changed when dealing with a medium ship.
• How size-based upgrades apply to medium ships.

I have had so much fun flying with medium bases. It has brought life to several ships that always just felt a bit out-of-their-skin for their standard base size. Here are a couple of medium ship builds that I have enjoyed bringing to the table:

TIE Reaper - 31 points

• Major Vermeil - 26
• Advanced Ailerons - 0 
• Veteran Instincts - 1
• Agent Kallus - 2
• Lightweight Frame - 2

The Reaper is fast with its aileron boosts, and it is even faster as a medium base. The aileron boost count as a maneuver, not a action, so it does not care about obstacles. Pair that with Vermeil's and Kallus's abilities, and the ship can always have dice modification every round. I used this build as a large ship hunter and it had the speed and dice modification needed to take down a Dash HLC Outrider. While PS 8 means that it can deal with most ships, it is going to struggle against enemy aces, so build out your list to help with that.

U-wing - 30 points

• Saw Gerrera - 26
• Renegade Refit (-2)
• Cool Hand - 0
• Wookie Commandos - 1
• Thrust Corrector - 1
• Engine Upgrade - 4

The U-wing flies so much better with a medium base, but even then, it still needs the boost to keep up with other ships. This build allows Saw to boost every round and still give himself attack modification. He can then trigger his ability on himself when higher PS pilots shoot at him first. Pair Saw with self-stressing ships to get the most out of his ability, such as Cavern Angels with Opportunist or Braylen Stramm with R3-A2.

Firespray - 43 points 

• Mandalorian Mercenary - 35
• Andrasta Title - 0
• Determination - 1
• Ion Bombs - 2
• Proximity Mines - 3
• Bombardier - 1
• Burnout Slam - 1

This Firespray has a much easier time navigating through obstacles with its medium base, which gives it a better chance of getting bombs to the right place at the right time. Taking a bomb and a mine gives the ship options against both low-PS swarms and high-PS aces. And its one-use SLAM action can get it out of a sticky situation. I paired this ship with two Black Sun Assassins with Attani Mindlink and everyone flew beautifully through my asteroid clusters.

I hope you are able to try some ships with medium bases and see how they fly!

-PGP

"We Have Power, Shields Up!"

Greetings pilots, it sure has been awhile! I am writing to announce that the Poor Grey Pilot is operating again. In this post, I'll explain what to expect.

While I stopped playing X-wing Miniatures competitively when the franchise moved to 2nd Edition, I did not jump out of the game entirely. I have played games off and on over the years. It has been a blast to keep ships flying and even playtest my own homebrew mechanics. Going forward, this blog will be the place for me to record my homebrew content for X-wing Miniatures 1st Edition. Not only will this provide good organization, it also allows me to share it with others online.

I recently watched a video essay that goes into why user-created content is so vital to the longevity of RTS video games. It creates the very definition of "a living game". I wholeheartedly believe that it is the same when it comes to tabletop games. My hope is that if you are still flying 1st Edition, adding some homebrew content to your collection will result in fun new games, and add needed lifeblood to the joy of the hobby!

This blog began with my analysis of X-wing Miniatures mechanics, which turned out to be my first foray into technical writing. I have since graduated college with a degree in technical writing, and now have worked four years in the technical writing field. I love my current job writing for the library industry. However, it does not scratch the itch I sometimes get to dive into game mechanics! So, its time that I come full circle and start creating X-wing content again.

I plan to post regularly, but not frequently, so be sure to be on the lookout for uploads as they come. The first mechanic I am finalizing is using medium bases in 1st Edition, which is super exiting!

Have a great day, pilots, and remember to fly casual.

-PGP

PS: Also, here's a sneak peak at a future homebrew expansion.