Elite Pilot Skills- Adrenaline Rush

This post regarding Elite Pilot Skills is part of a larger article regarding Wave 3 listbuilding- the rest of the posts n this series will be available in the coming weeks as I'm revealing a post or two per day on the various topics in that larger article. For more info, click the "List Building Resources" tab at the top of the page or simply click here.

Adrenaline Rush (1)
Card Text: When you reveal a red maneuver, you may discard this card to treat that maneuver as a white maneuver until the end of the Activation Phase.
Usage in game: Single-use Stress mitigation
Action?: No.
Breakdown: As you may or may not have noticed, Adrenaline Rush is the only Elite Pilot Skill for Wave 3; everything else is new weapons or pilots or whatever, but as I recall, I always started off talking about the Elite Pilot Skills, and as I'm something of a creature of habit, I figured why change now?

So Adrenaline Rush. Seems like a relatively straightforward card, right? Let's break it down and see what other fun stuff we can discover while we're dissecting this card.

First, as I'm sure all of y'all bikini aficionados know, red maneuvers generally invoke Stress on the pilot performing them. 99% of the time, this is a bad thing, or at least a detrimental thing, but once in awhile it's a good thing. Obviously you're not going to want to use Adrenaline Rush in the one or two situations where invoking Stress gives you additional and/ or Free Actions, etc.

That said, are we really looking at a get out of jail free card here for a K-Turn? What's that business about the Activation Phase?

In short, yeah- it's a get out of jail free card. If you pull out your X-Wing Rulebook and look up the section about the Activation Phase, you'll see that it's on page 7 and looks suspiciously exactly like the following-

So yeah, since the Activation Phase would start with you revealing that red maneuver which is would then become the point at which you'd choose to discard Adrenaline Rush, any red maneuver on your dial be it a K-Turn or whatever, is considered to be a white maneuver for Step 4 which of course is when you assign a Stress Token if you executed a red maneuver.

Right on. So now that we know exactly how and when the card works, who is it good for? What pilots could benefit from being able to rid themselves of a Stress Token before they even receive it once per game? 

To me, this is a primarily offensive-type card. Most of the time, when we screw ourselves out of an Action by invoking Stress, we're cutting down on our offensive output capabilities more than our defense. That's debateable of course, and it'll depend a lot on the player, but I think if you look at the context in which people are pulling reds, it's usually to make up for some problem with maneuvering in a previous round or it's an all-out attempt to try and get some other ship off the board, Actions be damned. 

That in mind, I think you also have to look hard at pilots who don't have an obvious, no-brainer Elite Pilot Skill you always take on them anyway. Guys like Tycho, Wedge, Luke, Vader, Turd Ferguson, etc., they have at least one Elite Pilot Skill that really nicely accents their card text, Pilot Skill number, or whatever. I mean look, would a guy like Wedge benefit from being able to Focus after a K-Turn once per game? Of course. Would Solo? Most definitely. All I'm saying is if you're going to burn that one Elite Pilot Skill slot on those guys, you'd probably get more mileage taking something like Swarm Tactics or Marksmanship or whatever than Adrenaline Rush.

So now that I've told you who doesn't benefit, who would get some use out of Adrenaline Rush? 

I think those mid-level Pilot Skill guys, for sure. Maybe it's me and my own playstyle, but I always have a hard time tacking on some EPS that's really good to a Black Squadron Pilot, for example. It might not be a night and day difference, but as the card only costs a point, if you aren't worried about initiative, why not give it a shot? It could work even better on Green Squadron Pilots carrying warheads of some sort as they need an Action (either a Target Lock or a Focus) to be able to unload them. 

I also think it works well on pilots who have such good card text that you generally don't find yourself needing to tack an Elite Pilot Skill on them to make them more effective or on guys who don't have card text that pairs up with an existing EPS.  If you don't find yourself using Draw Their Fire on a Chewie Falcon for example, having a K-Turning Falcon that can still Focus or Target Lock bearing down on you has got to be a pants-wetting moment for sure against the average Imperial player. On the flipside, you could easily make a case for sticking it on Boba Fett as there's not really EPS that sort of directly fit on him and well, let's face it- if you're good enough to be rolling Fett successfully over an easier to use pilot like Kath Scarlet or Krassis Trelix, being able to pull a K-Turn with impunity is probably going to be really significant in your game.

Lastly, if you're looking for a way to mix things up with the way you've been playing one of those named pilots who has the obvious, no-brainer skill, or you- for whatever reason, never got the hang of running a named pilot with the most popular internet setup, take a look at Adrenaline Rush. Like say you run your Vader as kind of a roaming solo ship that finishes off wounded enemies. Traditional internet logic says to run either Swarm Tactics or Squad Leader on him, but neither of those may work all that well for you if he's off on his own away from the rest of the swarm. Really, come to think of it, anybody who is usually kind of off on their own is a pretty good candidate for Adrenaline Rush, especially those somebodies are in a low ship count kind of list and need options to keep themselves alive. 

Elite Pilot Skills- Daredevil

This post regarding Elite Pilot Skills is part of a larger article regarding Wave 2 listbuilding- the rest of the posts n this series will be available in the coming weeks as I'm revealing a post or two per day on the various topics in that larger article. For more info, click the "Ship List Articles" tab at the top of the page or simply click here.

I swear I'll take picutres of more Wave 2 stuff than just the A-Wing tomorrow night

Daredevil (3)
Card Text: Execute a red <Turn Right at 1> or <Turn Left at 1> maneuver. Then, if you do not have the <Boost Action> icon, roll two attack dice. Suffer any <Hit> damage or <Critical Damage> damage as rolled.
Usage in game: (Scary-ass) Additional maneuverability
Action?: Yes.
Breakdown: Daredevil is a card you need to read closely to see the full potential, and even then I don't think a lot of players will fully realize what they've got in front of them. I've heard and read too many conversations that ask why somebody would waste an Elite Pilot Skill slot for Daredevil when they could just buy Engine Modification and get a Boost Action icon added to their ship for one more point. 

Look closely at the Daredevil card though, and you'll find those aren't 1 banks on the Daredevil card- they're 1 turns.

If that foreshadowing was too subtle for you, let me spell it out- Boost allows you to make banks, not turns. If you need to brush up on what a Boost Action gets you, read up on Boost if you need to.

So big deal, right? Banks, schmanks. Who cares? Why would I waste an Elite Pilot Talent on-

Well, still I think that Boost is- wait- what? OH! Oh shit! Is that picture real?

They're real, and they're spectacular. If you click on that picture, you'll see that a 1 Turn is a white maneuver for an Interceptor (just for example- a 1 Turn is a white move for several other ships too), coupled up with a Daredevil maneuver in the same direction. The empty base is in there to remind you that there's a stop along the way as they're two separate maneuvers and all.

Got a buddy who is preternaturally good at guessing your maneuvers? Seems like he's in your six the whole doggone match? Well, grab a Saber Squadron Interceptor, stick Daredevil on him, and pull the above picture in your next match for a real Shyamalan-esque plot twist (one of the good ones I mean). Be sure to bring a mop to clean up the puddle forming under your opponent as you pick up the Attack dice.

So what else is different between the Daredevil and Boost Actions?

Well, these turns that Daredevil allows count as maneuvers, and as they're listed as being red maneuvers in the card text, that means you're going to get a Stress token. In the case of Soontir Fel, that can be construed as being a good thing, for most folks this is kind of a negative, or at the very least is something that needs to be managed. That's pretty significant one way or the other. Main thing to keep in mind here of course is not to pull Daredevil if you're already stressed out- stick with a Boost if you need to get out of somebody's firing arc as it doesn't count as a maneuver and doesn't give Stress tokens.

POSSIBLY HUGELY IMPORTANT EDIT: It just occurred to me while posting in a thread about Boost over on the FFG forums, you cannot pre-measure a Daredevil action like you would a Boost or Barrel Roll. It's termed a maneuver in the card text, not an Action (like Boost or Barrel Roll), so it is not permissible to pre-measure a Daredevil maneuver (page 6 of the rulebook). With Boost, if you're going to overlap, you just don't perform the Action and your ship doesn't move, but with Daredevil, you'd perform the maneuver, then if you overlapped, you move back along your template to the point you're not touching the ship's base, etc.

I love this card because unless you either a) do your homework by actually, you know, reading the card text and pulling out your templates to see how this stuff actually functions, or b) read amazingly insightful posts like this one, this is a total sleeper card a lot of folks will glance at and dismiss.

I guarantee if your gaming group doesn't read up on X-Wing Miniatures on the FFG forums, some of the other good X-Wing forum sites, or TheMetalBikini.com, you could pull this stunt and win your next tournament with an Interceptor heavy list. Few people will see this one coming unless someone tells them about it. Because most people are stupid and lazy and want other folks to do the thinking for them. Not you though- you're cool. :)

Hell, even if they have read this particular strategy somewhere else, it's still hard to get your head around. I mean, Christ- where exactly are you safe when it comes to Boosting ships (which again- is any ship now that Engine Modification is out there) that have a 1 Turn as a maneuver on their dial that also have a pilot who is a Daredevil? It gets even more interesting if you can add in some sort of Stress mitigation mechanic.

Wave 2 Imperial poster boy Soontir Fel gets absolutely terrifying with this as his Pilot Skill as he doesn't even need to buy the Engine Upgrade being as how he's already flying a TIE Interceptor. Remember yesterday when I said that Push The Limit seems tailor made for him? Well, if you're not that good at keeping your buddy's ships off your six, take this instead. 

Got Fel in your sights? Closed to Range 1 distance? Time to start saying, "Stay on target, stay on target", and laughing right? Nah. Bad news pal, after doing the 1 Turn for his movement and subsequently the 1 turn Daredevil Action, he picks up a Focus because he's stressed. Oh, and he's PR9, so in all likelihood, he's now shooting at you as soon as he sets down that 1 turn template the second time.

Don't forget the extra die, Soontir.

Elite Pilot Skills- Push The Limit

This post regarding Elite Pilot Skills is part of a larger article regarding Wave 2 listbuilding- the rest of the posts n this series will be available in the coming weeks as I'm revealing a post or two per day on the various topics in that larger article. For more info, click the "Ship List Articles" tab at the top of the page or simply click here.

Push The Limit (3)
Card Text: Once per round, after you perform an action, you may perform 1 free action shown in your action bar. Then receive 1 stress token.
Usage in game: Additional Action at a cost...
Action?: No.
Breakdown: I recently started playing Edge of the Empire with some friends of mine. I don't know if y'all play this game, but every combat turn, you can perform one maneuver (drawing a gun, aiming, taking cover, etc.) and one action (shooting your gun, etc.). Now, if you want to, you can choose to pull 2 maneuvers and the action, i.e. draw your weapon and aim it, then fire it as well, but you invoke strain to do so, which will eventually make you pass out or turn an ankle or whatever.

Push The Limit is sorta like that. One Action per turn just not enough for ya? Garven Dreis, Squad Leader, Dutch Vander, etc. not for you? Pay three points, and you too can be a sort of, generic, off-brand Vader! Pick up your Stress Token at customer service, please.

PTL isn't bad. Don't take my flippant tone the wrong way; like most any of the Elite Pilot Skills, it's beneficial with a drawback that in some specific cases, isn't really a drawback at all. In fact, it makes perfect sense to stick it on Tycho Celchu as he doesn't care if he has Stress tokens or not when it comes to declaring Actions, and it actually makes a whole lot of sense to stick it on Soontir Fel as he gets a Focus token every time he receives a Stress Token.

Think about that for a moment, Soontir Fel has four Actions in his bar, standard. If you stick Push The Limit on him, you could conceivably do up to three of those four Actions every round. Right? I'm right about that, aren't I? This has been another one of those rough weekends with the kids where I don't get much sleep, so maybe I'm got this wrong and everybody will attack me for being a laser brain in the comments section, but I swear that's accurate. Admittedly, it ain't cheap, brings him to an even 30 points, but that's pretty amazing. Just be sure you understand the first two Actions can't both be Focuses, though you could do, for example an Evade with Fel's normal round Action, pick Focus for your PTL Free Action, which then stresses you, which triggers a Focus Token (for more info on these kind of shenanigans, check out the article called Multiple Actions, Same Actions Explained!) All that with a PR 9 TIE Interceptor? Holy Mackerel, will anybody be able to shoot him down without the luckiest of lucky rolls? Sign me up.

PTL works well with pretty much anyone else who has some extra means of mitigating stress too- Luke or Wedge with an R2 Astromech (I know, I know- you'd never fly Luke or Wedge with just an R2 Astromech, but it's possible and just imagine for a moment you've gotten really good at having Biggs tank for Wedge, and now Wedge can Focus and Target Lock every... single... round), A Falcon pilot with Nein Nunb, a Green Squadron A-Wing and the plethora of green maneuvers available to A-Wings, ditto for a Saber TIE Interceptor, or the aforementioned Celchu. 

Again, anyone- even a Black Squadron TIE (hi HeyChadwick!), can conceivably make use of another Action, it's just some folks are a little better at dealing with the downside than others. It mainly depends on how competent you are at making green moves and not compromising yourself, which probably really is more about whether your opponent is good at exploiting your relative predictability in having to make a green move to get rid of your stress or not.

Well that and whether or not he's packing an Ion weapon. 

Remember, that 1 straight from an ion hit is defined as a white maneuver regardless of the ship performing it or any upgrades they may possess, so watch it pulling this stunt around a Y-Wing or a Firespray.

Also recall that in the rulebook, it states that if you assign a stressful maneuver to a ship that already has a Stress Token, not only does the move not go off, your opponent gets to take the wheel for that ship and assign it any move s/he wants (that isn't a stressful move). I expect this rule to get glossed over a lot now that Wave 2 has hit because in most cases, playing under stress wasn't really that big of a deal with just the Wave 1 stuff. Stress was largely invoked because you did a K-Turn and that was pretty much the beginning and end of it. Now with Kath Scarlet dishing out Stress Tokens when her crits are mitigated and cards like Push The Limit, we're all going to need to keep an eye on Stress a little more closely both on our side as well as the other side of the table for those folks who like to pull K-Turns willy-nilly.

Elite Pilot Skills- Deadeye

This post regarding Elite Pilot Skills is part of a larger article regarding Wave 2 listbuilding- the rest of the posts n this series will be available in the coming weeks as I'm revealing a post or two per day on the various topics in that larger article. For more info, click the "Ship List Articles" tab at the top of the page or simply click here.

Deadeye (1)
Card Text: You may treat the "Attack [Target Lock]:" header as "Attack: [Focus]" 
When an attack instructs you to spend a target lock, you may spend a focus token instead.
Usage in game: Selective release of Proton Torpedoes or Missiles.
Action?: No.
Breakdown: As you likely know, launching Proton Torpedoes or the various Missiles is a two-step process- first one must declare a Target Lock Action in the Activation Phase, then spend the Target Lock token in the Combat Phase in order to fire as dictated on the upgrade card for the Torps or Missiles in question.

At a glance, this isn't that restrictive, and as a result, some folks are left wondering exactly what the point of a card like Deadeye is, or perhaps more accurately, why they'd want to waste a fairly valuable Elite Pilot Skills slot on something like Deadeye.

Short version? Deadeye lets you fudge a bit in your target selection.

As mentioned above, when you declare your Target Lock Action in the Activation phase, your target has to be within Range 3 of your ship. Depending on the ship's PR, the battlefield may change fairly dramatically from when the TL token is acquired and where that target ship ends up. Now, not being able to immediately launch missiles or torps sometimes isn't such a bad thing since Target Lock tokens are persistent and stick around from one turn to the next, it may give you a chance to declare a Focus then stack that benefit along with the Target Lock, but in any case, there can be some limitations with the timing of picking your target for Target Lock and having that same Target still in a fire arc when the combat phase rolls around to your ship.

Who is this likely to happen to? Folks with lower PRs.

Pilots with higher PRs, especially 7, 8, or 9 aren't likely to see that many ships move between their Action declaration and rolling their Attack dice. A PR3 ship like a Green Squadron A-Wing though? In all likelihood the game board has changed fairly significantly during the time since he declared his Action and the time he actually gets to fire his Missiles. Deadeye lets you remain flexible as, well, 90% of the time you probably declare Focus as your Action anyway, right?

Double-checking myself here, I think maybe that's the only ship I'd take Deadeye on. The few Imperial pilots who satisfy the criteria of a) Can take Missiles, b) Have PR below 7, and c) Have access to Elite Pilot Skills are few and far between, which is to say zero unless I'm missing something here. 

For the Rebels, Chewie fits the bill as he satisfies all three of those criteria, but I still think Draw Their Fire is a better choice for him in the long run. Keep in mind, this is all kind of relative to an opponent who plays a fairly wide spread of PR in their list. If your opponent only fields all-stars like Luke, Wedge, Solo, Lando, Celchu, or Vader, Fett, Fel, Howlrunner, Mithel, etc., you might drop that PR criteria, your mileage may vary depending on your local meta.

Last thing to mention about Deadeye- it's only a 1 point card, so don't feel like you MUST use it if you do take it. If you're going for an alpha strike on a ship or just like having the option available to you just in case a high-point, high-threat Imperial ship ends up in your sights or something, by all means, use Deadeye, but if at all possible, Focus that torpedo or missile- it makes such a difference in damage output it'd be worth it to eat the point you paid for Deadeye in the long run. Of course, if you plan on flying your Green Squadron A-Wing next to Garven Dreis or Lando and Nein Nunb, you can have your cake and eat it too.

Elite Pilot Skills- Elusiveness

This post regarding Elite Pilot Skills is part of a larger article regarding Wave 2 listbuilding- the rest of the posts n this series will be available in the coming weeks as I'm revealing a post or two per day on the various topics in that larger article. For more info, click the "Ship List Articles" tab at the top of the page or simply click here.

Elusiveness (2)
Card Text: When defending, you may receive 1 stress token to choose 1 attack die. The attacker must reroll that die. If you have at least one stress token, you cannot use this ability.
Usage in game: When you just have to get rid of a particular die result.
Action?: No.
Breakdown: I think Elusiveness is one of the more interesting upgrade cards of Wave 2. Although folks have definitely noticed that there are some builds, especially some Han Solo builds, that generate hits at a staggering rate, what might be equally interesting are some combos with Wave 1 and Wave 2 stuff that yield ships that are ridiculously hard to hit.

So Elusiveness just forces a re-roll, it doesn't flat out negate or mitigate, what's the big deal? First thing that jumps out at me is it's one of those, "When defending..." type cards. It's not an Action, it's solely up to you when it triggers, which is handy as you could conceivably take a hit or two from a primary weapon if you were out of shields, but if you see a crit coming down the road from a Heavy Laser Cannon or there's an A-Wing lurking nearby with Homing Missiles and Deadeye or something, you could hang onto it apply it then. Again, it's not a sure-fire way to get out of a hit or a crit, but for only two points and the fact that you can apply it to any attack die result, it ain't half bad.

The downside is generating a stress token for yourself, but look at when you're generating that token- the combat phase. You've already declared your Action for that turn, so as long as you pull a green maneuver in your next movement phase, you're not really incurring any penalty for using this card.

I think the key to using Elusiveness to its full potential will be to apply it to someone who is already difficult to land hits against for some reason or another. I don't think it's quite reliable enough to just tack onto just anybody and feel like you're definitely in better shape than you were before, but paired with somebody who's already a hard target? Especially someone who maybe doesn't have a no-brainer Elite Pilot Skill already associated to them?

Take for example Darth Vader. Two actions per round, one of which is an Evade. Stick Elusiveness on him and if you're Focusing as well, you've got the Focus to try and mitigate hit dice, you've got the Evade token to burn, and now you've got Elusiveness to re-roll whatever might have made it through all that. As early Wave 2 meta seems to be placing a premium on higher-point individuals rather than lower-point swarms, this would fit in nicely with most any Imperial list. If you really want to make things interesting, stick a Stealth Device on him as well. It could work on the named Interceptor pilot Turr Phennir with his boosting out of the way after an attack business too.

I'll tell you who I think could conceivably make the most use of this though, and that's Luke Skywalker. Dig this combo for a moment-

(37) Luke Skywalker + Elusiveness + R2-F2 + Shield Upgrade

Could anybody reliably kill that? You've got Luke's built-in Focus-lite ability, amplified by R2-F2 or just an actual Focus. For the hits that still land, you can force the opponent to re-roll one of them, then if it still make it through all that, you've got an extra shield. Holy mackerel. Or if you feel that's overkill, maybe shave a point and trade in Shield Upgrade for Stealth, or perhaps just leave the ship mod off entirely and save the points. Of course, with that many points you're likely locked into a strictly starfighter force, but hey, you gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet, right? Oh, and I know, I already hear it- "Oh, but he's got no offense." Fool-, he still flying an X-Wing, man.

Still though, much like our discussion on Y-Wings being inherently better to take R5 Astromechs than X-Wings because they have more hull and will likely be cruising around with crits longer, YT-1300s and Firesprays would make great use of this card too for the simple fact that they have more hull and shields, and are therefore more likely to stay alive long enough to use this upgrade a bunch of times. It doesn't mesh up particularly well with any of the pilots of these ships, but if I were coming in at 97 or 98 points and hadn't stuck on an Elite Pilot Skill, I'd consider it if I'd had trouble keeping one of those big ships alive the past few games. I still believe in general one should exploit that huge base on an area buff type EPS, but again- it'd depend on my recent experiences with the ship more than anything. I'd probably consider Nein Nunb a must if I were sticking it on a YT-1300 to give myself as much maneuverability as possible when trying to shake that stress token too. Which if you're going there, you might as well give Lando a pretty hard look as he's throwing around Focuses when he does green maneuvers, which he'll have more to choose from with Nunb as Crew, bleeding off stress tokens.

Elite Pilot Skills- Veteran Instincts

This post regarding Elite Pilot Skills is part of a larger article regarding Wave 2 listbuilding- the rest of the posts n this series will be available in the coming weeks as I'm revealing a post or two per day on the various topics in that larger article. For more info, click the "Ship List Articles" tab at the top of the page or simply click here.

Veteran Instincts (1)
Card Text: Increase your Pilot Skill value by 2
Usage in game: Functions as advertised- move later, shoot earlier by boosting your PR by 2.
Action?: No.
Breakdown: I'll be the first to admit that I don't read every single X-Wing Miniatures forum or website out there, but I don't see many people talking about Veteran Instincts at all. It's all Expose this and Push The Limit that. I don't know that I've seen anyone really discussing Veteran Instincts. If I did, well, it obviously didn't make much of an impression.

That said, I can see why. It's a subtle, little 1 point card that you're most likely thinking to yourself, "So it buffs your PR by 2. Big deal. Most of the pilots who can take Elite Pilot Skills already have formidable PR ratings", right? So why would you get excited over a card like this, even if it only costs 1 point?

As usual, let's do some process of elimination here and first talk about what pilots we don't want to buy Veteran Instincts for and see if anyone's left standing at the end.

First and foremost, anybody who generally utilizes Swarm Tactics is off the list. So no Luke, no Howlrunner, etc. Gone also are the guys who can make use of several different Elite Pilot Talents depending on what fits your style- I'm talking about Wedge Antilles and Vader primarily here. We said yesterday that Draw Their Fire fits in nicely with Chewbacca, so he's gone as well.

On the Rebel side, all we've got left is Wave 2 stuff (which at the time of this posting, I haven't covered yet, but looking ahead). Solo already has a PR of 9 and a very offensive ability that can be further buffed by other Elite Pilot Skills like Marksmanship, so I'm not nuts about putting VI on him. Tycho Celchu, the A-Wing pilot, seems to have had Daredevil custom made with him in mind, and as he's already PR 8, I'm not really feeling it for him either. The Green Squadron A-Wing can take Elite Pilot Skills, but fall in kind of a PR no-man's land of 3. It's only a point, but I don't see the point (pun intended) of giving them a 5 PR. Early projections have them being great candidates for other Elite Pilot Skills like Deadeye, Daredevil, or Push The Limit depending on the role you plan on them taking for you on the table and the amount of A-Wings/ other ships you plan on fielding in your list.

So who have I left out on the Rebel side?

Lando has a Dreis-like Focus buff with a range of Range 1, but it's linked to a green maneuver rather than spending, so giving him Veteran Instincts would delay the gifting of this Focus token to another ship, which in this instance is useful as it'd be quite late in the movement phase now that Lando's stock PR has been boosted from 7 to 9, so ostensibly you could give it to the ship needing it the most. Lando also strikes me as one of those pilots that doesn't have a particular Elite Pilot Skill that works well with him; or to put it another way, has several available that are all sort of useful, but nothing just jumping out saying, "Pick me! Pick me!" like the nerdy kid in class that knows the answer to the teacher's question.

On the gearhead side of the fence, Mithel's a possibility as him shooting at the same PR as Wedge is scary to me as a primarily Rebel player. He's also one of those guys I don't usually give an Elite Pilot Skill to as none of them are flat-out obviously for him; you could always have a Black Squadron TIE take over his Swarm Tactics relay duty if you roll him like that. Speaking of which, what about a Black Squadron TIE? It'd kick them up to a PR of 6, which kind of isn't bad as they'd fire before any X-Wing except Luke and Wedge, and tie him with Garven Dreis. Not terrible for a 15 point TIE Fighter (total points, of course). 

I think the main benefit here would be having an extra ship firing at that PR. If your usual Rebel opponent takes the usual compliment of Rebel stuff, he's probably got a ship or two firing at PR 8 or 9, then everyone else going at 2 or 4, with possibly one ship at around 5 or 6. Most Wave 1 Imp players have anywhere from 1 to 3 ships firing at PR 8 or 9, then maybe one or two at 5 to 7, then the rest firing at 4 or less. In other words, Imperials usually have the top and bottom of the shooting phase with Rebels going in the middle. Shifting one of those ships from the bottom of the pile to the middle could be fairly significant especially if you have nothing else in mind for that Black Squadron TIE as far as Elite Pilot Skills.

To put it another way, as an Imperial player, do you ever wish you could get Biggs out of the way a little slower? Yeah. Didn't think so.

As for Wave 2, like the Rebels, most of the Wave 2 stuff has other Elite Pilot Skills that are probably better suited for use. Fett's high PR and gigantic base making his Range 1 that much larger, should look at Swarm Tactics pretty hard. Of the Firespray pilots though, Kath Scarlet jumps out at me as being a big beneficiary of VI. First, it pumps her PR to a formidable 9. Secondly, it lets her put those Stress tokens on somebody early which gives the ships accompanying her more time to prioritize targets later in the turn and well, helps to ensure she's still around to put those tokens on somebody.

Soontir Fel, the TIE Interceptor pilot, dovetails so nicely with Daredevil it's sorta disgusting, so I wouldn't think of giving him anything else. but Turr Phennir has some potential as a VI candidate. He would boost up to a PR9, and as his special ability let's him perform a Boost or Barrel Roll after he attacks, why wouldn't you want to do it earlier rather than later? Saber Squadron Pilots wouldn't be stupid for thinking they ought to consider VI as they're probably roamers or at most, in a group of 2 with another TIE Interceptor. Obviously, if their wingman is somebody cool possessing Swarm Tactics, this probably isn't the Elite Pilot Skill they're looking for, but if it's just the Saber and another Saber or an Avenger, it just might be.

So who's left at this point? Poor old Maarek Stele. Is this the card that finally makes him work? Nah, probably not. It makes him more effective, sure, but again, for only one more point you've got yourself a Vader who is PR 9 without having to use his Elite Pilot Skill on VI.

I'ma keep lookin' for you though, Maarek. I'ma keep lookin'.

Elite Pilot Skills- Swarm Tactics

This post regarding Elite Pilot Skills is part of a larger article regarding Wave 1 listbuilding- the rest of the posts n this series will be available in the coming weeks as I'm revealing a post or two per day on the various topics in that larger article. For more info, click the "Ship List Articles" tab at the top of the page or simply click here.

Swarm Tactics (2)
Card Text: At the start of the Combat Phase, choose 1 ship at Range 1. Until the end of this phase, treat the chosen ship as if it’s pilot skill were equal to your pilot skill.
Usage in Game: To boost a ship/ pilot’s Pilot Rank to get some shots off earlier than he’d normally fire.
Action?: No.

It’s still kind of amazing to me that Swarm Tactics isn’t a “dotted” card, doesn’t require an Action, and is such a low-points card. Regardless of what faction you play, this is a card you should have on your best pilots, full stop. The ability to have a low Pilot Rank ship resolve its combat at a higher step is massive in this game and with the only real limitation being the target ship having to be within Range 1? Oh well.

Swarm Tactics isn’t without it’s more complicated applications either- it has been confirmed in the FAQ that multiple Swarm Tactics upgrades “chain” together. For example, Vader with Swarm Tactics flanked with two Black Squadron Pilots, one of whom has Swarm Tactics, effectively bestows Swarm Tactics to all three ships, and yes, all three ships resolve combat at Pilot Rank 9. Nasty Imperial players could use this chaining ability to create high Pilot Rank “bubbles” that move about as needed bestowing the higher Pilot Rank to ships who need it most. It would take some fairly precise moving and maneuvering, but imagine the previous example of Vader and the 2 Black Squadron Pilots, but now imagine they all possess Swarm Tactics and the wingmen are spread to the limits of Range 1 from Vader. That’s a pretty big area of Pilot Rank 9 effect.

While this bubble trick doesn’t work as well with Rebels, Swarm Tactics is still quite useful, even if you don't deploy in one big pile in the middle. Pair Luke with Swarm Tactics with a Rookie Pilot following closely enough behind to be within Range 1 of him, and you’ve got one heckuva 1-2 punch that’ll drop just about anyone but Vader before they have a chance to really react.

Elite Pilot Skills- Marksmanship

This post regarding Elite Pilot Skills is part of a larger article regarding Wave 1 listbuilding- the rest of the posts n this series will be available in the coming weeks as I'm revealing a post or two per day on the various topics in that larger article. For more info, click the "Ship List Articles" tab at the top of the page or simply click here.

Marksmanship (3)
Card Text: When attacking this round, you may change one of your <eyeball> results to a <crit> and all of your other <eyeball> results to <hits>.
Usage in game: Similar to Focus, but automatically bestows a Crit result instead of just hits.
Action?: Yes

At a glance, this is basically paying 3 points for a Focus Action, but one of the eyeballs you rolled becomes a crit instead of just a hit. This is fairly significant in and of itself as crits can be pretty nasty and of course, often have an ongoing effect that really screws up the victim’s day. All that said, bear in mind that if you’re shooting at somebody who still has shields, this ability will do absolutely nothing for you a Focus wouldn’t as crits have no different effect than hits on shields.

Digging deeper, the use I see for Marksmanship is stacking with a Target Lock, where you can re-roll the results you want, regardless of what they are. Of course, as Marksmanship is an action, you’d need to have the TL from a previous round. If you’ve got one though, you could use Marksmanship with Proton Torpedoes and you’re practically assured of registering all hits and at least one crit. It’d also go nicely with Concussion Missiles as Marksmanship switches <eyeball> results and Concussion Missiles already has a built-in rule to change a <blank> result to a hit. Again though, kind of a waste on ships with shields left.

The thing that jumps out at me is you need kind of a lot of variables to be in conjunction contextually for this to work well enough to 1) make you take it over the more versatile Focus Action and 2) feel like you got your points worth. This is one of those cards I look at and wonder if it’s true value isn’t more apparent once Wave 2 has dropped. Otherwise, unless you’re just so much better at movement/ maneuvering than your opponent that you find yourself behind him all the time and wish you had a Focus action with more pop, I can’t see actually paying for Marksmanship over the free and available to every ship Focus.

That said, a case could be make for giving Skywalker Marksmanship as his special ability is kind of a Focus-lite that only works on defense.

Elite Pilot Skills- Expert Handling

This post regarding Elite Pilot Talents is part of a larger article regarding Wave 1 listbuilding- the rest of the posts n this series will be available in the coming weeks as I'm revealing a post or two per day on the various topics in that larger article. For more info, click the "Ship List Articles" tab at the top of the page or simply click here. 

Expert Handling (2)
Card Text: Action: Perform a free barrel roll Action. If you do not have the barrel roll Action icon, receive 1 Stress Token. You may then remove 1 enemy Target Lock from your ship.
Usage in game: Primarily to give an X-Wing the Barrel Roll ability or to give an Imperial fighter the ability to shed pesky Target Locks.
Action?: Yes. Using Expert Handling requires the use of an action.

A Rebel ship suddenly able to Barrel Roll has the potential to disrupt a lot of Imperial player’s plans because it’s just so unexpected and goes against how they’ve learned to play the game. It does require an action, but so does regular Barrel Roll, so you’re really not giving anything up there.

On the Imperial side, I’d be unlikely to pay for something I already get in the cost of the ship, but that’s me- your mileage may vary. Shedding TLs is nice, but I don’t know that it’s worth 2 points. Perhaps on ships like Vader who has two actions or Howlrunner and her nice Area-of-Effect buff as they're also juicy targets for TLs. Or if you want to make Dark Curse just damn near unhittable...

Elite Pilot Skills- Determination

This post regarding Elite Pilot Skills is part of a larger article regarding Wave 1 listbuilding- the rest of the posts n this series will be available in the coming weeks as I'm revealing a post or two per day on the various topics in that larger article. For more info, click the "Ship List Articles" tab at the top of the page or simply click here.

Determination (1)
Card Text: When you are dealt a face up card with the Pilot trait, discard it immediately without resolving its effects.
Usage in game: This card is pretty specific in its usage, but as it only costs 1 point, it’s still not a bad deal.
Action?: No.

First, the face up card referenced in the card text is, in plain speak, a Critical Damage result. If you haven’t noticed, there’s only one crit marked on the standard attack die although there are several pilots with special abilities that allow them to bestow crits in various ways. In any case, should you be unlucky enough to be the recipient of a crit, if the result is a Pilot damage trait (8 out of 33 total Damage cards), it goes away like it never happened. Is that statistically likely to happen? No. Is it worth 1 point to totally ruin your opponent's day if it does? Maybe. I have been known to throw it on the random pilot from time to time in situations like that.

Elite Pilot Skills- Squad Leader

This post regarding Elite Pilot Skills is part of a larger article regarding Wave 1 listbuilding- the rest of the posts n this series will be available in the coming weeks as I'm revealing a post or two per day on the various topics in that larger article. For more info, click the "Ship List Articles" tab at the top of the page or simply click here.

Squad Leader (2)
Card Text: Choose a ship at Range 1-2 with a lower Pilot Rank than you. That ship may immediately perform a free action.
Usage in game: Ideally this card is given to a high ranking Pilot so as many ships as possible can benefit. Giving it to a Black Squadron TIE only really works if he’s surrounded by Academy TIEs, for example.
Action?: Yes. To use the Squad Leader Talent, it requires an action.
NOTE: This Elite Talent is dotted (is unique and cannot be replicated in squadron list).

There are two things you want to note right off the bat when it comes to Squad Leader- first, what a "free action" is, and secondly, this card effectively takes an Action from one ship and gives it to another as Squad Leader is itself, an Action.

The "free action" is simply a standard action available to you that doesn't count against the normal one action per round rule and takes place during a different part of the turn than the "Perform Action" step. As you're declaring this second free Action, you can't perform the same action again- it has to be a different Action than the one you have likely already declared. The cool thing though is since the timing is different, you can declare a free action if you've hit an asteroid or collided with somebody (dig the FAQ on this bit and the rulebook, specifically the Perform Action steps).

The giving away an Action so somebody else can have a free Action is fairly easy to get your head around, as is the obvious best Pilot to take this Elite Pilot Talent- Vader.

Squad Leader on the Rebel side only works on Wedge or Luke as they're the only pilots who can take Elite Pilot Talents. It works particularly well on a ship flying near Garven Dreis or Dutch Vander as those ships can give away Focuses and Target Locks respectively which often can mitigate the loss of the Action due to triggering Squad Leader. Just keep in mind, both of those pilots give their tokens away after they use them, so the recipient won’t get full use of those tokens if they’re at a higher Pilot Rank than Dreis or Vander (which they probably will be)*. Better than nothing, but don’t rely on it like it’s going to be the same as a Rebel Vader or something.

On the Imperial side, this card works best on Vader as again, it’s basically one ship trading it’s action to give another ship an action otherwise. With Vader having two actions, he can use Squad Leader and still have one action of his own to use. It can be decent on a TIE that's there more for support than offense though like Howlrunner for instance.

*Note that in the interest of full disclosure, this can be mitigated somewhat with Swarm Tactics.