Secondary Weapon Systems- Advanced Proton Torpedoes

This post regarding Secondary Weapon Systems 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.

Advanced Proton Torpedoes (6)
Attack Value: 5
Range: 1
Card Text: Attack (Target Lock): Spend your target lock and discard this card to perform this attack. You may change up to three of your blank results to <eyeball> results
Usage: I have a bad habit of not reading stuff closely until I have to explain it to somebody else. I don't know, that's not entirely accurate- I have a bad habit of not fully understanding something until I have to explain it to somebody else. On some things. Not everything- some stuff I'm forced to figure it out and I never really ever have to explain it, but many things I generally read or learn just enough to do whatever's necessary to make it work for me and rarely dig much deeper.

Case in point? Advanced Proton Torpedoes.

I remember seeing the card text for this back when it was initially released and kinda went, "Sheesh- ok, I gotta have a Target Lock and Focus to make that fully worthwhile, but if I do, it's a pretty guaranteed butt-kicking." And never really went any farther than that with it.

What completely slipped right past me was that it was an Attack 5 Secondary Weapon.

Now, admittedly, I doubt my life would be any less complete if I'd not started this blog and started to write this article which forced me to read this card more closely, but it is kind of a big deal.

Yeah, it's expensive, there's no denying that, and at a passing glance, the card text isn't no-brainer, slam dunk great either. The thing is though, when you combine those 5 red dice with the card text that it starts to make some dollars to you.

First, let me preface the following by saying I don't know that this is an option for just any old ship that can take torps. It's going to work pretty decently on just about any ship with torp tubes, but it definitely works better in some lists than others, so if you're ever on the fence about taking Advanced Torps over regular torps, maybe consider some of the following points for your selection criteria.

I don't find Jeff Foxworthy particularly insightful or hilarious- I'm not mad at the guy, I'm just not a big fan, but his, "... You might be a redneck", bit kinda works here, so I'm going to steal it and adapt it. Don't feel bad for him- he made a ton of dough on that show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader which subsequently was ripped off from Howard Stern, so it's come-uppance anyway.

If yer runnin' one o' them lists that generates Focus tokens (Katarn, Lando, Dries, etc.) like my dawgs generate hot dog farts, you might want to use Advanced Proton Torpedoes.

I mean look, it makes sense, right? There are only four different results on an Attack die- crit, hit, eyeball, and blank. If you're throwing five dice and turning 3 possible blanks into eyeballs, and you've got Focus tokens flying around your ships willy-nilly, you're very, very likely to hit something very, very hard.

If yer TCB in a BTL listenin' to BTO, you might want to use Advanced Proton Torpedoes.
Having 5 Attack dice at Range 1 isn't all that spectacular in a X-Wing, which of course would normally generate 4 Attack dice at Range 1 anyway, but a Y-Wing? Well, that Y-Wing's only generating 3 Attack dice at Range 1, so this is a fairly significant boost in this context. Dig on the fact that you can roll a Goldie with Advanced Proton Torpedoes for only 24 points. One trick pony? Sure. But you're going to hurt something pretty hard with that one trick. Giddy up.

And yeah, the rednecks where I live most definitely do use the term TCB in casual conversation, but will nearly always explain to you that TCB stands for "Takin' Care of Business" even if they just explained to you what it meant the day previous. BTO is of course Bachman Turner Overdrive who wrote the song, "Takin' Care of Business (who the hell knew they had wireless mics in 1974?)." If I gotta explain to you what a BTL is, you're playing the wrong game. :)

If yer idea of a fun time is runnin' a PS 8 Y-Wing with Yosemite Sam "BACK OFF" mudflaps but no Elite Pilot Skills, you might want to use Advanced Proton Torpedoes.
It's true- you'd have to like run over a gypsy to have bad enough luck to make Advanced Proton Torpedoes not hit with Horton Salm's card text. Dammit- nevermind. :(

Other honorable mentions go to Ibitsam, Krassis Trelix (with Slave I title, of course), and yeah, even Wedge Antilles- dig that Wedge's card text doesn't make any mention of a a primary attack, just an attack, then sick him on a Shuttle. Nastiness right there. Major Rhymer, the hard rhymer, as some of you bikini aficionados pointed out in comments on his preview article makes good use of the Advanced Proton Torpedoes as he increases their range to 2. Any run-of-the-mill Bomber flying alongside Jonas can make good use of them or if you want to be a little stealthy, how about a run-of-the-mill Bomber with Jendon in the ST-321? "Oh, I don't know- I guess... I guess... oh, I guess Scimitar Squadron will just Focus..." Yeah, I guess so- until Jendon throws him a Target Lock and he drops Focused Advanced Proton Torpedoes on some poor sucker, right?

Secondary Weapon Systems- Blaster Turret

This post regarding Secondary Weapon Systems 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.

Blaster Turret (4)
Attack Value: 3
Range: 1-2
Card Text: Attack (Focus): Spend 1 focus token to perform this attack against 1 ship (even a ship outside your firing arc).
Usage: It's no secret that I'm not a huge fan of the HWK-290. I'm not trying to be a hater, I'm just still not all that impressed with it. I don't want to get totally sidetracked, so let me just say before you fill the comments for this article with example after example of why the ship isn't that bad, let me head you off at the pass and say that there are some really good combos you can pull off with an HWK-290 I'll be discussing more in the future. For example, Sean used Jan Ors in conjunction with a Chewie Falcon on me a couple of weekends ago and it worked famously.

So again- I know it's super fun to engage in over the top hyperbole on the internet, but let me once again reiterate- I don't hate the HWK-290, I'm just not particularly impressed with it.

I bring all this up because I think we all kind of assumed the Blaster Turret would be the gun that'd balance out that 1 Attack and fairly rotten maneuver dial kinda the way we all worked out that a Y-Wing without an Ion Cannon Turret is a bit triflin' for the same reasons.

We were sort of right.

The knock of course on the Blaster Turret is that you have to burn a Focus token to fire the damn thing. Is that such a big deal? Well, yes and no. Yes because, well, it'd be nice to use that Focus token to modify your Attack roll results instead using it solely to get to roll three dice. Yes also because you (probably) need to have a Perform Action step at your disposal to get that Focus token to fire it and anybody's who's played this game a few times knows that isn't always a luxury at your disposal. No because there are ways of mitigating getting your hands on a Focus token through traditional means.

People inherently want to compare this to the Falcon's turret because they're both Attack 3 turrets. That's a mistake right off the bat because this Blaster Turret is not a Primary Weapon like the Falcon turret which means of course that you never roll the additional die for being at Range 1 because it's a Secondary Weapon System. While that also means the defender doesn't get an additional defense die at Range 3, recall this thing only has a range of 1-2 so that's not going to come up. Again, this isn't to say that it's terrible because of this, but it is something to keep in mind.

With having to burn the Focus token to fire it, you really need to have both a Target Lock and a Focus token, multiple Focus tokens, or some card text that allows you to hit more easily for your Combat Phase to be reliably successful on the attack. You don't have to hear any of that noise of course, but obviously you're going to have much better results if you do, and that's not always something easily done without a HWK carrying a Recon Specialist or some wingmen like Dutch Vander, Lando Calrissian, or Garven Dreis flying along with you. Now, again, if you want to build a list around this idea, by all means knock yourself out- it could be really fun to play and you'd definitely get some style points from me for breaking some new ground and being different, but looking at it in a vacuum, it's not the best setup.

It all boils down to should you take it though, right? Well, as usual, it depends. Only two ships can currently equip a Blaster Turret- the Y-Wing and the HWK-290.

If you're flying a HWK-290, almost certainly, yes- it's worth it. It may be possible to land a hit with only one Attack die HWK, but you're not going to be doing it regularly. Now, I know, I know, you only use your HWK-290 as a support ship. I get it. I still wouldn't leave home without one just like it'd be a rare friggin' occasion you'd catch me fielding a Y-Wing without an Ion Cannon Turret. Not saying I've never done it, but it doesn't happen much. Again- take that for what it's worth. Sean wasn't packing one on Jan and like I said, that was still a very effective combo.

While lots of people, me included, were excited about the notion of throwing this gun on a Y-Wing, after reading the card and thinking about it a lot I feel pretty strongly that the Blaster Turret is made for the HWK-290. So unless you are terrified at the notion of having to keep an enemy ship in your forward arc to roll red dice, or you have an intense love affair with the idea of a Y-Wing with a Blaster Turret, I just don't really see the point. I think the Y-Wing was made to sport an Ion Cannon Turret and that's the best use for the turret mount on that ship. If you're considering the Blaster Turret because you're looking to deal more damage, I'd look at a different ship entirely in that role before I'd seriously consider strapping a Blaster Turret on a Y-Wing.

I really don't like the fact that I can't seem to come up with a good argument for the Blaster Turret, but I've been writing this article for about two hours now and I still just can't really justify it. Am I missing something here? 

Secondary Weapon Systems- Autoblaster

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.

Autoblaster (5)
Attack Value: 3
Range: 1
Card Text: Your <filled explosion symbol> results cannot be cancelled by defense dice. The defender may cancel <unfilled explosion symbol> results before <filled explosion symbol> results.
Usage: Playing my first game last weekend after a rather lengthy layoff from X-Wing, I found myself a bit rusty at the old spatial thinking when it came to templates. Now, I was never a surgeon with the templates to begin with, but I'd at least gotten to the point where I wasn't high-fiving myself for not hitting a single asteroid after a match. Last weekend I bonked a couple of asteroids and a couple of ships, the former being an accident, the latter? Not quite as much, but still, the result was the same- loss of the Perform Action step which left me making unmodified Attack rolls more than I cared to.

Trademark digressions as article intros aside, the first thing I love about Autoblaster is it's a buffed attack that doesn't rely on an Action. This isn't to say that it doesn't work even better with an Action like Target Lock or Focus, but if for some reason you don't have one available at the moment because of a collision or a Stress Token or whatever, you're not completely naked when you go to throw those dice which is great when you don't have an Action Token because the poop hit the fan. Er, because your ship hit a rock. Whatever.

Secondly, as it's got the "Attack: Attack a single ship" bit in the card text, it's just a Secondary Weapon System (a Cannon, by the icon or as I like to call them, Funky Rayguns), so you can put it on even no-name, generic pilot ships unlike Elite Pilot Talents (the other way you usually end up with abilities that aren't entirely Action dependent outside of named pilot card text) so long as it has the right icon in the upgrade bar.

Third, this is one of those Attacking options on the short list of cards that do manage to give you some sort of bonus when going after Dark Curse.

Right on- so that all sounds pretty cool, but is it worth 5 points? Let me try to think of some downsides here.

First thing that comes to mind is the way the card is worded: Your <filled explosion symbol> results cannot be cancelled by defense dice. So that means while a wavy arrow Evade result on your buddy's green roll doesn't work against an Autoblaster hit, an Evade Token certainly seems to. What about a Focus Token and some green eyeballs? Those don't work against hits from an Autoblaster as they'd simply end up being wavy arrows if your target played the token.

Second thing of course is the bit about being able to cancel the crits you've rolled against your target. That kinda stinks.

So we've got a couple of votes for and a couple of votes against- what's the final verdict?

I think it's a good upgrade right now despite the cost because not many people choose Evade as an Action. Your meta may vary, but I've seen messageboard threads dedicated to turning prospective players off to the idea of declaring an Evade Action in virtually any situation, so I'm pretty comfortable making that blanket statement. 

Now, I know you're thinking, "Well, so what? A player can choose or choose not to Evade contextually if there's an Autoblaster roaming around.", And you'd be right of course. The thing is though, most folks aren't going to do that repeatedly in a match. If you were to float a ship bearing an Autoblaster up into range of two or three different ships with Evade as a potential Action, the player is unlikely to declare Evade with all three of those ships and go into the Combat Phase with unmodified Attack rolls. He might, sure- maybe he's got a lot of hull and or shields or maybe he has named pilots with card text that mitigates not having an Attack-oriented Action, but maybe he doesn't. This is of course, assuming he even is flying a list with access to an Evade Token at all- a Firespray or Shuttle sporting an Autoblaster against a Rebel list may not even have to worry about this, and even if they do have a Falcon title or an A-Wing, well, so what? You're still keeping them from Focusing, Target Locking, Marksmanshiping, or whatever, or well... they decide not to worry about it and they take a chance you're dinging them up better than usual.

So what ships does Autoblaster seem to work particularly well on?

Well first, what ships even have the option to take it? Prior to Wave 3 there was exactly one ship that could take funky raygun weapons- the Firespray. Post Wave 3 release, we've also got the B-Wing and the Imperial Shuttle.

You can put it on the Shuttle, but personally, I think the dial on a Shuttle is way too restrictive to fly it into short range combat, which of course is where the Autoblaster has to be used. You could use it on somebody that tries to come get you, but at this point, all signs seem to point to the Shuttle being a long-range support gunship, and as it only has one funky raygun icon, I think you're better served rolling an Ion Cannon or Heavy Laser Cannon if anything, and if you're that worried about somebody coming after you on the backline, consider an Anti-Pursuit Laser and just make like that boat in Ben Hur.

The B-Wing is more maneuverable and I think a case could be made for stocking an Autoblaster on a B-Wing you intend to get into the mix a bit, especially if you're decently handy with maneuvering and Barrel Rolling. It'd work especially well on Ten Numb, his card text stating that one crit can't be cancelled and it being fairly unlikely you'd roll more than one on three dice anyway. That said, for the extra LOLs, you could always roll him with an Autoblaster and Marksmanship and while you'd kinda be putting all your eggs in one basket points-wise (39 if my math's right), it's a basket that hits like a brick to the face, yo.

On a Firespray, I think is where most folks can get a lot of good use out of this card. While Kath Scarlet is the pilot who immediately springs to mind because of her crit-cancelling shenanigans, I like the Autoblaster on Krassis Trelix too as he allows you to reroll an Attack die on Secondaries for free just because of his card text leaving you contextually able to defensive Focus or Evade with your Action to help him survive close combat. It works decently well on Fett too as you can use his card text to position yourself in the thick of things so long as you pick banks.

Secondary Weapon Systems- Ion Cannon

This post regarding Secondary Weapon Systems 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 "Listbuilding Articles" tab at the top of the page or simply click here.

Ion Cannon (3)
Attack Dice: 3
Range: 1-3
Card Text: If this attack hits, the defender suffers 1 damage then receives 1 ion token. Then cancel all dice results.
Usage in game: Forcing 1 straights and increasing duration of ship stress on enemy ships.
Breakdown: Unsurprisingly, the Ion Cannon functions fairly similarly to the Ion Cannon Turret, which I've already talked about, however there are some fairly significant differences in this Firespray version which demands further discussion.

Looking at those differences, the Rebel version that bolts onto a Y-Wing is a turret, so it has the 360 degree firing arc. This one is not that one. If you're looking for similar functionality, you won't find it here. The Ion Cannon Turret is taken largely to mitigate the relatively poor movement dial options for a Y-Wing, rather than any real benefit from the Ion Token itself ask yourself this- if you could take an Attack 3 Laser Cannon Turret on a Y-Wing for 5 points, would you ever take the Ion?), at least in my experience. The Rebel version is also limited to Range 1-2 whereas this one is Range 1-3.

What's similar? The fact that they're both 3 Attack dice and hand out a single Ion Token if you manage to get a hit against the target while cancelling any other possible hits. That's about it.

So looking at this distinctly Imperial version with a whole different set of selection criteria than the Rebel version where it's practically a no-brainer on the Y-Wing, what's the deeper story with this Ion Cannon? Because right now, being as how you have to score two Ion Tokens on a large ship, it kinda seems a little bit pointless, doesn't it? Let's keep digging.


I don't know how much you've messed around with Ion Cannons, but on-table, perhaps the best application of an Ion weapon isn't to force the other guy's most maneuverable or dangerous ship into making a 1 straight. I mean, yeah, that's cool and all, and some people will even tell you it's invaluable knowing exactly where your enemy will be after the next movement phase. They're not wrong, but they're not 100% all the way right either. 

It is what everyone says though that hasn't messed around with Ion Tokens much, and to be fair, that's most players. The Y-Wing isn't the easiest ship to use, and an Ion Token by itself, is kinda underwhelming, frankly. For more detailed info on Ion Weapons rules, check out the Bikini Battle Basics- Ion Weapons Explained! article.

The text for the Ion Token card says, boiled down, the ship that received an Ion Token can still do Actions and shoot and stuff, and yes, he does have to make a 1 straight maneuver, which is considered to be a white maneuver. This, dear readers, is the big deal about the Ion Token. If you can manage to Ion a ship with a Stress Token, he's going to hang onto that token for at least another turn, which as we all know, is significant because ships with stress (without some sort of special rule) can't perform Actions.

And ships that can't perform Actions get dealt with. And by dealt with, I mean dealt with. 

Therefore, the best application for an Ion weapon is ionizing a ship with a stress token.

This is why Ion weapons are going to be worth a lot more now that Wave 2 has dropped- because there are lots more ways to either incur Stress voluntarily or get it stuck to you involuntarily than what was present in Wave 1 when it was fairly contextual. The times they are a changin'.

Currently, it's limited to the Firespray, so let's look at pilots. Fett's ability doesn't really do much for it and personally, I feel like if you're going to look at putting an Ion Cannon on Trelix because of his pilot ability, you'd be better served by paying the extra points (if you can find them, obviously) and going with a Heavy Laser Cannon. Four Attack dice at Range 3 with one re-rolling ain't exactly triflin', but if you don't have the points, you don't have the points. Take it if it fits in your list.

Kath Scarlet? No comment. Keep on walkin'.

The other Firespray pilot of course is the generic Bounty Hunter. Is Ion Cannon worth it on him? As you're likely trying to field a cheaper version of a big ship if you're opting for a generic pilot, yeah, it could be. It's much cheaper than the Heavy Laser Cannon. That said, it's not much different than the stock Primary Attack weapon on the Firespray, so it may not be worth it in your list. I've not investigated it myself personally, but I've read about folks fielding dual Firesprays. This might be one way to do that and make it a little more versatile while scoring Ion Tokens on big ships in the process.

Secondary Weapon Systems- Heavy Laser Cannon

This post regarding Secondary Weapon Systems 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 "Listbuilding Articles" tab at the top of the page or simply click here.

Heavy Laser Cannon (7)
Attack Dice: 4
Range: 2-3
Card Text: Immediately after rolling your attack dice, you must change all of your <crit> results to <hit> results.
Usage in game: Giving you an excuse to say, "From downtown!" (skip ahead to 1:49- this guy is painfully bad) like the NBA Jam announcer. Also, if you have OCD and want to roll 4 Attack dice at all times.
Breakdown: A lot of people, early on, were calling this upgrade an unlimited Proton Torpedoes. They're not far off in that assessment. It's 4 Attack dice at Range 3 as many times as you want. It's also 4 dice at Range 2, and if you're at Range 1? Well, don't use the HLC as it won't work, however, the Firespray-31 Primary is normally Attack 3, so you're still rolling 4 Attack dice. The downside? You lose your crit results if you rolled any, but not entirely- they just become hit results instead.

EDIT: I usually go out of my way to remind people about Secondary Weapon Systems not granting the defender their usual bonus die at Range 3, but I didn't call it out in this article and Bikini Aficionado mhanan called me out on it in the comments. So yeah- if you're bombing in those aforementioned Range 3 HLC bolts, by all means, do not allow your target to roll more than his stock Agility value!

So how significant is that loss of crit results?

In Wave 1, I'd have said, "Not very", and left it at that. However, I think you're going to see a more and more people try and integrate attacks that deal crit results now that Wave 2 is here. "Why now?", you ask?

Because big ships have a lot of hull. And can, if not will, be flying around, shooting up your stuff for at least a few turns without their shields. If you can lay a decent face-up Damage card on one of those guys sooner rather than later, you likely did a whole lot to decrease it's survivability or reduce it's offfensive or maneuvering capabilities.

So as long as folks field big ships, everybody should be doing what they can to inflict critical results on them. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

Ok, so all that crit talk in mind, is HLC a bad choice for a Firespray secondary weapon?

Not at all! Luckily, there's an upgrade, a Crew upgrade, called Mercenary Copilot. He costs 2 points and you get to change one of your hit results into a critical result.

So now I'm looking at 9 points if I want an HLC that can produce critical results? This is starting to feel like signing up for cable or something- I'm getting nickeled and dimed, here.

True. And if it came right down to it, as long as you had some other crit dealers in your list, you'd get a pass from me for not having the Mercenary Copilot jockeying the controls for the HLC. Also, he only works if you're firing at something at Range 3, so take that for what it's worth. If you're the kind of player who likes to rush things forward and get those extra dice at Range 1, I'd skip the Mercenary Copilot, and maybe even the HLC all together as you'd probably be better served with a Shield Upgrade or one of the Bombs or something.

At the end of the day though, if you're one of those players who can resist the siren song of close combat in space, an HLC would serve you well- bombing in 4 attack dice from long range isn't to be underestimated in the hands of someone who's smart with target priority and knows how to maneuver, Mercenary Copilot or not. If you don't take him, take a Firespray pilot with a higher PR and peel off shields while the other members of your squadron inflict the hull damage later in the combat phase. If you do invest in a Mercenary Copilot, you're virtually assured one critical per salvo with the HLC, so stay at Range 3 with a lower PR firespray pilot, and let the opposite happen- fly your higher PR ships in there to eat up shields, then finish them off with the HLC. Hmmm, if only there were a low PR Firespray pilot who had some interesting ability...

Or hell, maybe you're just somebody who loves working in NBA Jam quotes any chance you get, keeping an eye out for anyone who pops their head up, because you know you can now make Tom Gugliotta jokes, and they likely won't go unnoticed.

EDIT: No, you're not crazy. I changed the Condescending Wonka joke after I got to work today, so roughly 150 people saw the previous version, which upon sleep and reflection, was a little more snarky than it needed to be.

Secondary Weapon Systems- Homing Missiles

This post regarding Secondary Weapon Systems 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 "Listbuilding Articles" tab at the top of the page or simply click here.

Homing Missiles (5)
Attack Dice: 4
Range: 2-3
Card Text: Discard this card to perform this attack. The defender cannot spend evade tokens during this attack.
Usage in game: 4 hits for 5 points with nearly Colt .45 level of accuracy.
Breakdown: As I mentioned in the Assault Missiles article, Homing Missiles are the poster boy, gotta have it, Secondary Weapon System of Wave 2. Everyone be lovin' Homing Missiles like they name was Raymond. Even before somebody finally read the card closely, people were in love with Homing Missiles.

So what's the story? It's a pretty good offensive punch to start with as the starfighters that can stock missiles don't have the ability to reliably get 4 attack dice. Then tack on the "can't spend Evade Tokens" thing and you've got yourself a decent little missile for downing the same guys who can take them. Couple it up with Deadeye, and it shouldn't be too hard to launch on the low PR TIE Advanced or A-Wing that took Evade because he had no valid targets.

Then somebody finally noticed the fine print about this card, or more accurately, the lack thereof.

Every other missile (and yeah, even Proton Torpedoes), you have to have and spend a Target Lock token to fire the missile. Not Homing Missiles though- you only have to possess the Target Lock.

Wait, what?

I know, I know. I missed it too. I've had an A-Wing since the KRT and I didn't notice it either. In my defense, I only used Homers once, the rest of the matches I played with my A-Wing, I ran it without missiles entirely. It's no excuse, I know, but yeah- I was one of those dummies who didn't read their cards closely, opting instead to hold it in my hand and imagine it zooming around crashing into the bridge of The Executor.

I'm sure other folks noticed it sooner, but I didn't hear anyone talking about the difference between Homing Missiles and every other missile weapon until the day Wave 2 came out, then suddenly everyone on the FFG X-Wing forums was talking about it. I dug into my X-Wing stuff, pulled out the card, and sure enough- every other missile card makes specific mention of needing to have a Target Lock to fire the missile, spending the Target Lock, and then discarding the missile card, but Homing Missiles just says "Attack: Target Lock" then the "discard this card" bit.

What's the big deal? Here's the big deal- if you don't have to spend the Target Lock to fire Homing Missiles, you can use the Target Lock to modify your Homing Missile roll. As in re-roll whatever dice you choose kind of modify? Yeah. Kind of makes a big difference, no? And God help whoever's in your sights if you had that TL from the round prior and managed to couple it up with a Focus token.

So what's the downside? Well, 5 points is kinda expensive, and of course it's only the one shot. You're going to want to make it count, so besides Target Locking and Focusing, is there anything else we can do to try and increase the odds of all four of those Attack dice hitting hard?

Looking at starfighters on the Rebel side, the only ship that can take Missiles is an A-Wing. Being a 2-3 ranged weapon, it doesn't mesh particularly well with Arvel Crynyd (not saying don't take it on him, just that it doesn't dovetail well with his ability). If you were running Green Squadron Pilot or Tycho Celchu with Push The Limit, you could tack on that extra Focus no problem, or go Deadeye instead, using the Focus to fire the missile and still modify the roll. Of course, flying near Garven Dreis or Dutch Vander yields Focuses and Target Locks respectively, but as I mentioned in their articles, be careful of the timing of the differing PRs involved.

A named pilot (grumble, bitch, grumble, only ship in the damn game that changes stats depending on the guy behind the wheel, bitch, bitch, grumble) YT-1300 can stock missiles, so you could throw a set of Homers on there and have a pretty robust firing platform, but then you're denying yourself a 3 Attack dice 360-degree turret attack, which isn't the best trade-off for 5 points, frankly. Once you've got that many points into one ship, 5 points does kind of add a lot and with the Gunner upgrade, you kind of don't need Homers anyway as you're getting a very similar end result with a better, as in more flexible, firing arc.

On the Imperial side, the TIE Advanced is the only starfighter who can stock missiles. I mentioned earlier today on the comments for Assault Missiles (I think) that I predict we'll start seeing more TIE Advanced pilots creep in to the game besides Vader. Why? Change in meta, Rebel meta, specifically, and a move away from swarms in general, at least in the short term. The people that are comfortable spending points on a one-shot weapon, given the possible if not probable outcomes, are going to want more missile boats in their lists, hence more TIE Advanced floating about the tables of X-Wing Miniatures players in numbers never seen up to this point before. 

I'm also saying this is where and how I'd use Maarek Stele if I were going to try and shoehorn him in somewhere. Yes friends, this is finally the card that makes him more that just somewhat worthwhile. You're for sure going to re-roll any dice that don't miss due to the Target Lock you're required to have to even play the card. If ever there was a time you'd be more likely to apply a crit than average, I think this is it. Especially if you dish him Push The Limit or Marksmanship (remember though, Marksmanship requires an Action, so make sure you already have the Target Lock). Can you imagine if you happened to roll 2 crits with that guy? The feeling of hopelessness you'd instill in your opponent as you rifled through six cards, picked out the worst two, and stuck them on his (formerly) 8 hull YT-1300? The schadenfreude would be nearly overwhelming.

If you're not sold on Stele, this is a nice missile for Vader and his two Actions. Declaring a Target Lock and a Focus is great as outlined above, just be sure to burn the TL first- you may not even need the Focus, so hang onto it and use it on defense later in the round. 

Wrapping up, are there ever instances in which you wouldn't take Homing Missles since they're just so doggone cool? Well, yeah. Although people argue with me about it, I still say against a target with only 1 Agility, Cluster Missiles can be more worthwhile than any other missile system, Concussion Missiles have their special rule turning a blank into a hit, and Assaults can hit stuff you didn't even actively target with the shot. Thing is though, those systems are all sort of contextual. You may not have an opponent who fields ships with only 1 Defend die, or roll a blank when you fire, or have ships within Range 1 of the guy you want to shoot. That's where Homing Missiles truly shine- they're never really ineffective. Are they the most effective option in some contextual situations? Nah, but they've never the out-and-out wrong choice either.

I used to tell people just starting out in 40k who would end up on a long losing streak the following advice- "Stop playing to win and start playing to not lose." May sound like an exercise in semantics, but to me there's a world of difference in playing to win and playing to not lose.

If you take Homing Missiles, you're playing to not lose. And that can be a very good, very successful strategy for you to employ in this game too.

Secondary Weapon Systems- Assault Missiles

This post regarding Secondary Weapon Systems 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 "Listbuilding Articles" tab at the top of the page or simply click here.

Assault Missiles (5)
Attack Dice: 4
Range: 2-3
Card Text: Spend your Target Lock and discard this card to perform this attack. If this attack hits, each other ship at range 1 of the defender suffers 1 damage.
Usage in game: Splash damage
Breakdown: A lot of people saw this card early (looking at zoomed in early release photos, if I remember right) and dubbed it the swarm killer and there was much rejoicing. Then the Kessel Run Tournaments happened and a few lucky folks got their hands on Wave 2 stuff early and reported that Assault Missiles were "rather underwhelming" and all the Rebel players still looking for an answer to the TIE Swarm were sort of collectively bummed out. Of course, then the TIE Swarm meta that'd been so dominant since the release of the game sort of started to stall out as dedicated Rebel players learned how to play the game better (mostly with 4 X-Wings at 100 points), and Assault Missiles were kind of forgotten; largely eclipsed by Homing Missiles as the new gotta have it Secondary Weapon System.

I'm not sure why folks were so underwhelmed; the card does two things that are fairly uncommon, if not flat out unique in this game- first, it's one of the only attacks that has the potential to damage more than one target, and two, it's one of the few cards that automatically damages without the defender getting a chance to try and mitigate the damage through normal game mechanics.

As for hitting multiple targets, it is what it sounds like in the card text- if you get a hit (and again- we're talking about you have at least one success that isn't mitigated by an Evade, Focused eyeball roll, etc.), then the target of the Assault Missiles takes damage just like with any other missile and any ships within Range 1 of that ship take one damage. Sure, it may not be a one-shot machine, although it's at least possible to one-shot a TIE, A-Wing, or Interceptor with it and you deal damage to everyone else around him.

Now, I know, I know, Swarms are dead, everyone's going elite pilots over spam no-names, I hear ya. That said, there are still a lot of Elite Pilot Skills that have a Range 1, so the notion that everyone is suddenly going to be flying around all by their lonesome seems unlikely to me. Also, while a lot of folks think of this as being a more Rebel-oriented weapon system, it very well could see more use in Imperial hands. 

Dig this- first off, it's 4 attack dice. Imperial ships don't get that nearly as often as Rebels, and especially not at 2-3. Next, a lot of Rebel players, like their Imperial counterparts are moving to less ships in their list, meaning basically, a 3 ship list of some sort. What's the odds all three of those Rebel ships are totally spread out? Maybe I'm nuts, but I'm saying not many. You're going to see a lot of the same old Wave 1 stuff with a few Wave 2 elements tacked on for awhile yet and a lot of those old combos are dependent on ships being in range 1 with each other. In other words, Rebel opponent forcing you to shoot at Biggs? Load up the Assault Missiles. How's that treatin' ya, mustache?

Secondly, regarding the damage, note the way the card reads- the ships at range 1 of the defender suffer one damage. No Evade tokens, no rolls, nada. Just take 1 damage. Is it a ton? No. Is it 1/3 of a TIE's hull? Yes. Why are people complaining about this? So it only burned a shield off a Y-Wing, so what? It's still one less shield you have to burn off yourself, and for Christ's sake- you weren't even shooting at that guy!

I think if Homing Missiles don't exist, less folks are "underwhelmed" with this card. Is it something I'd take every match? Nah, probably not. Of course, I'm not a big missile/ torpedo guy to start with, so that's kind of misleading to begin with. That said, am I considering packing a set for my next FLGS tournament? Sure, why not? I know somebody's going to still be flying a swarm- might as well try and make them pay for it.

So let's say I've talked you into the notion of Assault Missiles- what are the best ways to try and get your points worth? Well, first ideally you need to have a Focus token to burn along with that Target Lock when you fire it, so pilots or Elite Pilot Skills that make that more likely to happen are options you want to look at closely- Push The Limit, a nearby pal with Squad Leader, Garven Dreis, Dutch Vander, Lando and Nein Nunb, etc. You could substitute this for Marksmanship too if you wanted to use that instead. In fact, on somebody like Vader I think that'd be the way to go.

I was going to make a case for putting Assault Missiles on a low PR pilot (Green Squadron A-Wing, Tempest TIE Advanced, etc.) in an attempt to mop up several already dinged ships, but really, I think perhaps the opposite is true- stick it on somebody with a high PR like Vader and maybe some of your lower PR pilots can do the mopping up as their targets are already a little big banged up.

I know people saying if they know their opponent is packing Assaults they'll just spread out. Let 'em. Odds are, that wasn't part of their original plan, and as such, they'll be in somewhat unknown territory. Let them try to fly their list without Howlrunner providing re-rolls, or Vader doing a Swarm Tactics drive-by, or Lando tossing a Free Action out the window of the Falcon. Like I always say- force your opponent to think and he's way more likely to make a mistake.

Secondary Weapon Systems- Ion Cannon Turret

This post regarding Secondary Weapon Systems 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.

Ion Cannon Turret (5)
Attack Dice: 3
Range: 1-2
Card Text: Attack 1 ship (even a ship outside your firing arc). If this attack hits the target ship, the ship suffers 1 damage and receives 1 Ion Token. Then cancel all dice results.
Usage: First, understand how this works- if you score at least one hit (e.g. you roll more hit/ crit explosion symbols than your opponent can cancel with wavy arrow Evade symbols), they get an Ion Token and one damage (regardless of how many hits actually got through the Evades rolled, Evade Action, or shields). If they get an Ion Token, they don’t use a movement dial next turn, instead they move forward 1, which is considered to be a white move for these purposes (note they can still do Actions and can attack and defend as normal). Second, realize that a TIE with an Evade token is not very likely to be ionized- this isn’t some spam cannon- you do still need to be intelligent with your target selections. Third, you’re only going to do 1 hit worth of damage when you successfully use the Ion Cannon Turret, regardless of what you roll, so be smart about that too. 

Admittedly, with only having a 2 Attack primary weapon, it’s usually going to be better for a Y-Wing to fire the Ion, but not if you can get into Range 1 and fire primary which of course nets you 3 dice without a hit limiter.


All that said, many people, me included, really don’t consider fielding a Y-Wing without an Ion Cannon Turret as they tend to mitigate the poor manueverability of the Y-Wing. It’s also great for catching people off guard as many players look at movement and manuevering with a keen eye on the firing arcs of their opponent’s ships. Having a 360 degree arc of fire will catch veteran and new players off-guard a like, often several times per game (at least in my experience).

Bear in mind too, even though it's not some sort of missile or torpedo, the Ion Cannon Turret is a Secondary Weapon System. As such, you do not get an extra attack die firing from Range 1, but conversely, your opponent does not get an extra defense die if you're attacking him from Range 3!

EDIT: Recall that the Ion Cannon Turret has a Range of 1-2 so the above doesn't really apply to the ICT. The no extra Defense die portion of the discussion is the result of me getting that rule wrong for a long time, so I kind of go overboard mentioning it any chance I get.

The takeaway here is the discussion is correct, but it doesn't apply to ICTs.

Secondary Weapon Systems- Proton Torpedoes

This post regarding Secondary Weapon Systems 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.

Proton Torpeodes (4)
Attack Dice: 4
Range: 2-3
Card Text: Spend your Target Lock and discard this card to perform this attack. You may change one of your <eyeball> results to a <crit>.
Usage: Doesn’t dovetail quite as nicely with Focusing as Concussion Missiles, but the built-in, one-die Focus to get a crit is a nice touch especially since you don't always have the luxury of waiting around a for another turn to pick up a Focus token to use along with the (pre-existing) Target Lock.

There’s a lot of debate (mostly anecdotal evidence vs. statistical math) on whether or not PTs are worth it. Here’s my take- if you value having a 4-dice attack at Range 3 (again- that the victim does not receive an extra Defense die for), then you should take some PTs. If you don’t, then you probably don’t need to bother.


I think the main reason so many people disregard PTs is because so many people use X-Wings, and X-Wings can get a 4 attack dice attack just by getting into Range 1 (which happens a lot because TIE fighters like to get into close combat), so you kind of look at PTs and say, “Why would I pay 4 points for that (not to mention it's a one-shot deal)?” Couple on the fact that everyone takes Ion Cannon Turrets on their Y-Wings (effectively giving them an Attack 3*) and you see why PTs don’t get much love- there’s just not much use for them in the Wave 1 stuff. If FFG had made them a Missile rather than a Torpedo (the symbols, I’m talking about here), I think they’d see more use, but as it is, contextually they don’t provide enough of a benefit for the points cost.

TL;DR- they aren't a bad card, but the only ships that can take them right now don't really need them.

That said, there is one pilot that I think not only do you always give PTs, but maybe the double load accessible only by a Y-Wing- Horton Salm. Salm has a special ability that dovetails so nicely with PTs, it’d be unfair if it wasn't so expensive. For the particulars on that, check out the article on Horton Salm.

*For dice rolling purposes, of course. Not for damage.