This post regarding Astromech Droids 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.
Card: R5 Astromech (1)
Card Text: During the End phase, you may choose 1 of your face up Damage cards with the Ship trait and flip it face down.
Usage in game: Critical damage effect mitigation.
Action?: No.Quick Take: R5 Astromechs are pretty straightforward in their use, so there won't be a ton to discuss here. For one point, you get to flip down a face up Damage card (usually the result of a Critical Hit) on the ship with the R5. Pretty simple.
What effect does this really have? Ok, first off, there are 33 Damage cards in a X-Wing Miniatures deck. Of those 33 cards, 8 are of the Pilot type, the remaining 25 are of the Ship type, so the likelihood of this card being able to be a theoretical benefit is fairly good (2/3 of a chance- me know math!) if you do happen to incur a face up Damage card.
So what kind of ships benefit from something like this? Obviously a Rebel ship as Imps can't use Astromech droids, so we're looking at X-Wings and Y-Wings. Can we pare this selection process down further? I think we can- Y-Wings, with their 5 Hull Points are more likely to incur Crit damage than an X-Wing, because well, X-Wings with only 3 Hull Points are more likely to blow up before the Crit takes effect. This isn't a knock on the X-Wing, there's just simply less Hull to go around. So a Y-Wing then? Yeah, most likely.
How big of a deal is this? Well, most Damage cards when flipped face up will have some sort of long-lasting effect- all maneuvers of a particular flavor are now red maneuvers, not being able to fire a primary weapon system next game turn, not being able to fire a secondary weapon system at all, suddenly finding yourself playing the rest of the game at Pilot Rank 0, stuff like that. There are some effects that are worse, there are some that are not that big of a deal, and they're fairly evenly peppered throughout the deck between both Pilot and Ship types. Of course, if you're really that concerned about Critical damage effects (which after Wave 2 drops, you just might be...), a Rebel could take both R5 Astromech and the Determination Elite Pilot Skill and hope to get rid of any/ all of those nasty Crit effects.
Don't misunderstand me here- R5 Astromech is not some ship-centric, droid version of Determination; there are two important differences. First, the effects of the Crit do have a chance to take effect with R5 as the text say to flip it face down during the End phase (Determination immediately nullifies) as opposed to immediately upon receiving it. Secondly, Determination makes the ouchie go away entirely- the card isn't flipped down, it's discarded. Not only do you not get dinged with the effects of the Crit, the damage doesn't even actually count against your hull! Not so with R5- the effect of the card is mitigated by flipping it face down, but the card does in fact, stay on your ship, so you are damaged by it, just not Critically. This is why if you scroll back up to my "Usage in Game" entry towards the top of this post, you see that I have "Critical damage effect mitigation". You still take the Hull damage, just not the effect of the Crit. Important distinction.
All that said, is it worth a point? On a generic Y-Wing, yeah, I'd say so. Especially so if you're running several Y-Wings in your list. Only one Y-Wing, I think you're better off putting in a real damage mitigation droid, but if you only have a point left, I think it's worth spending it on a R5. If you've got two or three (or more) Y-Wings in your list, they're each less likely to be the target of focused fire from multiple TIEs, so they're a little more likely to be floating around the board with Hull damage.
This post regarding Astromech Droids 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.
Card: R2 Astromech (1)
Card Text: You may treat all 1- and 2-speed maneuvers as green maneuvers.
Usage in game: Stress mitigation.
Action?: No.Quick Take: R2 Astromechs are either invaluable or kind of pointless depending largely on your playstyle. There's really not a lot to talk about here- if you invoke Stress on your ships a lot in your games of X-Wing Miniatures, primarily by performing the K-Turn, you're probably a huge fan of the R2 Astromech as it gives you more Stress removing green maneuvers than what's present on the standard ship dial.
If you don't, you're probably not.
As that's pretty much the whole story, let's instead focus on whether or not you should be using the K-Turn. We'll limit this particular discussion to Rebel ships as they're the only ones with access to Droids currently.
Ideally, a K-Turn should be a recovery type maneuver after a Range 1 attack that didn't kill somebody it was supposed to, who is now nearly dead (e.g. 1 or 2 hull points). However, it's not a bad move to inflict on yourself from time to time if performing it will take you out of an Imperial's line of fire.
To put it another way, you probably shouldn't be performing K-Turns for offensive reasons, only defensive ones.
If you're K-Turning just to get an Imperial in your sights and he's not close to being dead, you're unlikely to kill him because since you incur Stress at the time of the maneuver, you won't be able to perform an Action that round. You compromise yourself offensively by not being able to Focus or Target Lock and you compromise yourself defensively by not being able to Focus. Additionally, to rid yourself of the Stress, you have to pull a green maneuver for your next movement. As all ships in X-Wing Miniatures are limited in the amount of available green maneuvers to make this stress mechanic function, you're also compromising yourself in your next movement phase to get rid of that Stress token, assuming of course, that you actually want to be able to perform an Action next round.
Long story short, all of that heartache isn't worth it to score a single hit on a TIE most of the time. Target Lock him instead, fly away, then come back in a round or two for a second pass. Play patiently and you'll reap the benefits. Now, that said, is it worth it to get Vader with one hull point left off the table sooner rather than later? Hell yeah. Again, don't misunderstand me here- there are times to pull K-Turns. Is it worth it to get yourself the heck away from the business end of a TIE Swarm? Oh fo' sho'. That's where your R2 Astromech comes into play.
R2 Astro won't help you with the losing of the Action and all that, but having all your 1 & 2 speed maneuvers be green for the purposes of Stress removal does put some options back into your hands as far as maneuvering in the subsequent movement phase.
So who do you put it on? Most named pilots would benefit far more from a named droid, but having an R2 Astromech on Wedge isn't a terrible idea if you've got plans for say R2-D2 and R2-F2 already as he can mitigate the no-Action Stress side effect with his card ability. Same with Luke and his defensive Focus-lite ability.
Note in a strange bit of canon-bending, the only way (currently) to obtain an R2 Astromech is through the purchase of the Y-Wing expansion blister. Now, your buddies may have different rules than what's the Tournament Standard, but if you want to play things 100% legit in your games, you have to have a copy of every card present on every ship. Bear that in mind before you make a list with 4 Rookie X-Wings doing K-Turns all over the place with R2 Astromechs as their backseat drivers.
This post regarding Astromech Droids 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.
Card: R5-K6 (2)
Card Text: After spending your target lock, roll 1 defense die. On a <evade> result, immediately acquire a target lock on that same ship. You cannot spend this target lock during this attack.
Usage in game: Maintaining a Target Lock on particularly tough nuts to crack.
Action?: No.Quick Take: R5-K6 is a good droid to stick on an Rebel ship if you've got a few extra points and you plan on playing said ship offensively. He's not going to produce a massive difference in your damage output or anything, but as it's fairly uncommon to one-shot kill a ship in this game with anyone short of Wedge or some very lucky rolls, possessing a potentially persistent (look at that alliteration there! Whooo me!) Target Lock is a pretty handy ability to have at your disposal.
However, this isn't a done deal kind of agreement here. You only get the Target Lock if you successfully roll an Evade result on a Defense die after you spend the Target Lock token. So what's the odds of that happening? 3 in 8, or 37.5%. Not great odds, but considering it doesn't cost you an Action- just happens automatically, it's not bad for 2 points.
So the downside is you sort of wasted 2 points to do something you can do for free in the Action phase anyway. The upside is if it triggers, you can Focus with your normal Action instead. That's not bad at all if you really didn't have bigger plans in mind for the Astromech socket to start with.
Again, there are folks out there who will tell you that having points in your list that aren't utilized 100% of the time is inefficient. They're correct to a certain extent, but as having Initiative lends a fairly nebulous and convoluted advantage, if I were looking at a list that was 98 points that included a ship with an empty Astromech socket, I'd consider R5-K6 for sure. You also kind of have to take into account that line of "wasted points" thinking works a little differently in X-Wing than most other miniatures games because not all ships have the same access to upgrades.
I've seen people advocate the use of R5-K6 on Dutch Vander because the two card abilities dovetail in a rather interesting (and FAQ legal) way. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but I think Dutch Vander is enough of a priority target these days, I'd be more likely to give him a droid that helps to mitigate damage in some way. If you're curious about the particulars of that interaction, check out my article on Dutch.
Personally, I like using R5-K6 on a X-Wing of the Rookie or Red Squadron persuasion. If I know my opponent usually runs a roaming, loner type ship like Vader or Backstabber for example, I'll have that X-Wing with R5-K6 go after that ship in particular. Having a Target Locked X-Wing breathing down your neck who has a nearly 40% chance of getting that TL back for free isn't anyone's idea of a good day. Look at it this way, if he turns around and deals with that X-Wing, well, he's not going after Luke or Wedge or one of your other higher priority targets. If he doesn't deal with him, there's a better chance of putting some damage on him than there is with just a stock X-Wing. In my book, that's worth a couple of points.
This post regarding Astromech Droids 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.
Card: R5-D8 (3)
Card Text: Roll one Defense die- on a <evade> or <focus> result, discard one of your face down damage cards
Usage in game: Hull damage mitigation.
Action?: YesQuick Take: First let's look at what all is going on with R5-D8- he requires an Action and doesn't have an automatic success rate, but the ability to remove a face down damage card is pretty huge, so is R5-D8 worth it or not?
So what's the success rate on R5-D8? Since rolling an eyeball or an Evade is what we're looking for, the only thing that screws us here is a blank. If you examine a Defense die, you'll see of its 8 sides, three are blanks, so there's a not insignificant 37.5% chance even after spending the 3 points necessary to buy R5-D8 and spending one of your valuable Actions, you still have nothing to show for it.
So with all that in mind, do we like him or not?
I like him, and the other R5's on Y-Wings in a general, blanket statement kind of way. Since X-Wings have only 3 hull, you might not live long enough to have a chance to use R5-D8 effectively. A Y-Wing though has 5 hull, so even if you blow an attempt at R5-D8's Action or two, you still just might be alive to get attempt three or four to work, and although it might not seem like much, there's a world of difference in how many TIEs statistically are required to take down a Y-Wing with 3 hull points left or 4 hull points.
To put it another way, Y-Wings are much more likely to be involved actively in the game in some sort of (hull) damaged state for a longer period of game time than an X-Wing will be. That said, I could see him work on Luke as well because of Luke's increased longevity due to his Focus-lite defensive ability. As both R2-F2 and R5-D8 are dotted (unique and can only be taken once in a ship list), I could see making a case for sticking R2-F2 on someone like Biggs or Wedge and saving R5-D8 for Luke.
Again, like R2-F2, you can somewhat mitigate the spending of your Action on the droid ability by flying alongside someone who offers the Focus and Target Lock tokens normally available to an X-Wing or Y-Wing: Garven Dreis and/ or Dutch Vander.
This post regarding Astromech Droids 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.
Card: R2-F2 (3)
Card Text: Increase your agility value by 1 until the end of this game round.
Usage in game: Survival through stacking the deck.
Action?: YesQuick Take: For my own personal playstyle and taste, R2-F2 is the droid to have on a ship you're trying to keep in the game in Wave 1. Strange as it may seem as Luke and R2-D2 have this father/ robot son relationship kind of thing going on, I think R2-F2 is the best match for Luke in just about any build. Recall that Luke already has kind of a built-in Focus lite ability, spending an Action on R2-F2's ability just adds one more die to that possibility.
He also adds an interesting dimension to a Y-Wing as everyone is completely used to the notion of a Y-Wing having 1 Agility and you're sure to disrupt some game plans by using the Action and it suddenly has 2 Agility (to go along with the 3 shields and 5 hull).
The cons are obvious- he costs 3 points and requires an Action to work. The three points I don't feel is a bad price to pay for having the option of adding an extra defense die when you want it, and giving up an Action on an X-Wing isn't the end of the world. Again, you're only ever Focusing or Target Locking with most pilots anyway, so if losing those tokens is a big deal to you, try to work in Garven Dreis or Dutch Vander, respectively. Also note that R2-F2 is a "dotted" card which of course means he may only appear once in your squadron list.
Me personally, I don't find it's usually necessary because I don't usually activate R2-F2 every single round. There are some that might say that's a points inefficiency, but I usually have a handful of points lying around extra when making a 100 point list anyway, so rather than sticking on Proton Torpedoes or a droid for a pilot who probably doesn't really need him/ utilize him, I'll just use R2-F2 instead.
The last thing I'd mention about R2-F2 is figure out a system to help you remember you need to perform his action or that you've performed his action. As he doesn't have a special counter, sometimes he can get lost in the mix. I usually just turn his card sideways next to the owning pilot's card.
This post regarding Astromech Droids 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.
Card: R2-D2 (4)
Card Text: After executing a green maneuver, you may recover 1 shield (up to your shield value).
Usage in game: Survival through shield maintenance.
Action?: NoQuick Take: The key to properly using R2-D2 and getting your points out of him is to not overestimate his ability. Getting a shield back after a green maneuver is awesome, but you can't just charge in willy-nilly like a Space Marine with a new suit of blessed power armor shouting "FOR TEH EMPRAH!!!", y'know?
First, understand that R2-D2's ability is going to trigger during the movement phase in the turn after you get shot up. This is important to understand- if you get focused on by two or three TIEs, you're still going to die. R2-D2 only helps you out if you survive the current round of combat. The other portion of the equation is you need to pull a green maneuver, which usually isn't that big of a deal, but there are some Damage cards out there that will effectively nullify your ability to pull greens, sometimes permanently.
As such, putting R2-D2 on a bullet magnet like Wedge or Biggs then driving right into the middle of a TIE pile isn't the best application for him. I don't know that R2-D2 is a great droid for either of those guys in general really- they take too much fire. Does R2-D2 help? Sure. Are there other droids that can do the job of keeping those dudes alive more effectively? I think there are. There's some disagreement here to be had, I'll fully admit and in the interest of full disclosure, sticking R2-D2 on Wedge or Biggs probably won't be the dumbest thing you do that day, if you do decide to try it.
So who is R2-D2 good on? Sticking him on Luke I feel is a bit overkill, but depending on the droids your other pilots are taking, it might be a good move. Depends too if you're using Luke in a more offensive role or if he's more support because you've dished him Swarm Tactics.
I know it'll sound silly, but I like putting R2-D2 on a low priority target- a Red Squadron Pilot preferably. It seems like my opponents focus on getting the A-Listers off the table as quickly as possible, then deal with the B-listers like a Red Squadron Pilot when they feel like it with whatever ships remain. A Red Squadron Pilot with R2-D2 is unlikely to get focused on early in the game, so when it starts to get late, that dude will likely be completely unscathed and since he's facing less TIEs now, will suddenly become the MVP of your force. R2-D2 isn't going to be able to mitigate the damage from two or three focus-firing TIEs with Howlrunner letting them re-roll, but he sure as hell can mitigate a TIE or two firing on their own and that's a match-up that's going to go the X-Wing's way every time.
I tell ya who else I like sticking R2-D2 on, a Y-Wing. The downside is they have relatively few green maneuvers, but the upside is they have 3 shields standard, so they're fairly hard to burn off anyway so long as you keep them from getting ganged up on. Horton Salm with R2-D2 and 2x Proton Torpedoes? Madness you say!
This post regarding Named Pilots 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.
Card: Darth Vader (29)
Card Text: During your "Perform Action" step, you may perform two actions.
Ability is an Action?: No.
Excels at: Being the black private dick that's a sex machine with all the chicks.
Quick Take: Vader is like the John Shaft (and I'm talking Richard muhfuggin' Roundtree here, y'all) of X-Wing Miniatures Wave 1. He's a bad mother- shut your mouth. No doubt about it. Two actions every turn? Right on. Pilot Rank 9? Can you dig it?
Unlike Shaft, Vader is understood by everybody, not just his woman. Having two Actions is simply massive in this game and to be totally honest, you really have to screw something up to even get Vader's shields burned off, let alone get him killed. You can't repeat the same action twice, but even if you just Evade and Focus every turn for your two actions, you're unlikely to get hit by much of anything as you've still got the usual 3 Defense dice on top of that!
Personally, I like letting him roam around the flanks of a TIE Swarm filling in where necessary, but really you can use him just about anywhere and have him excel in the role you give him. Elite Skills/ Upgrades: Who is the man who will risk his neck for his brother man? Shaft! Er, Vader with Squad Leader. So you give up an action- big deal. Vader still has one, and whatever lucky bastard with an Imperial Gear on his helmet at Range 1-2 now gets to pretend like he's Vader for a turn, pulling a Free Action in addition to his own. Recall this Free Action kicks in immediately, so you can use it to fake out your buddies too. Declare a Focus on that lead TIE, then before the fun begins, have Vader throw an Evade on him.
Who's the cat that won't cop out when there's danger all about? Vader with Expert Handling. I know, I know. I said I'd be unlikely to pay 3 points for an ability I already have (Barrel Roll), but you can bet any Rebel worth his Jawa Ashtray will be gunning for Vader first and foremost if at all possible. As such, you're likely to get Target Locked quite a bit even by dudes who aren't carrying Proton Torpedoes. Expert Handling removes some of those worries. Vader pulling an Expert Handling barrel roll and declaring an Evade is unlikely to incur any significant damage unless he's getting focused on by three or four Rebels, and flying a TIE Advanced, you just gotta not let that happen.
Of course Swarm Tactics is always an option on high Pilot Rank named pilots, but really I think you can do better with Vader than just letting someone shoot earlier. Go for Squad Leader or Expert Handling and mix it up a bit.
If all that isn't enough for you, there's always adding Concussion Missiles or Clusters. Either are fine options on Vader and increase that measly 2 Attack he's got going on. Again though, at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter- Vader could have a 1 Attack and he'd still smoke fools because he's just so damn hard to hit.
I was reading the FFG X-Wing Forums over the weekend and I ran across another thread regarding how terrible Y-Wings are and how underpowered Rebels are in general.
I also was lucky enough to play a game last Friday night over Google Hangout (there's another article I need to write- screw Vassal man; play this game the way it was meant to be played) with a good friend of mine who was nice enough to run a 50-point list with no pilots above Pilot Rank 4 in order to playtest some ideas I've got for a campaign system.
So how do these two seemingly disparate topics end up in a post called, "Why Do You Lose?"
Long story short, I used to be the Y-Wings are terrible/ Rebels are underpowered guy, but I've since evolved. If you want to get better, you need to evolve too.
After going on a 8-10 game losing streak back in November and early December, I had to figure out why I was playing so terribly before the Kessel Run Tournament my club and FLGS were hosting. I'd chalked up my main reasons for not being good at the game to Rebels being underpowered, because try as I might, I never could get past the good TIE swarm players at my club.
Being as how I fix stuff for a living (computers, fire alarm systems, manufacturing processes, whatever), I stopped bitching about imbalance and applied my troubleshooting skills to my X-Wing game and found some flaws that needed addressing.
1. Movement PhaseIn short, I was colliding with stuff way too much as a result of trying to play too aggressively. If you're an Imperial player, this isn't such a big deal because you have lots of ships to mitigate the loss of a few actions as the result of some collisions with other ships or asteroids. If you're a Rebel player however, this is unacceptable and frankly, uneccessary. As I've mentioned before, the game favors the Rebel player the longer it goes on- there's no reason to risk losing Actions for a turn just to try and get some more shots in on a TIE in turn 3. Play patiently, play safely and away from other stuff and you'll be fine.
I've alluded to this before, but if you're having trouble running your ships into each other, make a list of ships at all the same Pilot Rank- this helps to mitigate some of the issue by allowing you to move your stuff in any order you wish. If you still have trouble colliding with your own stuff, well, you just need to play more and develop your spatial thinking for this game.
2. Learning CurveOne of the main knocks against this game I see on forums and similar sites is how X-Wing has no depth. I absolutely don't subscribe to this notion in the slightest. I do think however, that some folks approach the game from this perspective, and when they don't win every game, they blame the game rather than the learning curve associated with every game.
This game uses two mechanics that are quite different than most other miniatures games- the maneuvering and movement of the miniatures and the Pilot Ranking mechanic.
Pilot Ranking has it's own article, so I won't rehash, but suffice it to say, the movement and subsequent activations of your miniatures is different in this game than any other. As such, it'll take you a little while to get your head around it.
X-Wing isn't the first game to allow some units to move differently than others, but when you couple that along with not being able to move backwards at all, and using templates to cover every possible move you can make, you get a pretty interesting and different set of rules to move your miniatures around at able with. Like Pilot Ranking, it's also going to take a little while to get your head around it.
Once I got better at those two things my Win-Loss record improved, but what about the Rebel-Imperial imbalance?
3. There is no "Tournament List"Unlike many other miniatures games out there, there's no optimum tournament list build. There's not even any must-have pilots in my opinion, and I think anyone whose actually played the game extensively versus just read cards, read internet forums, and thought about it a lot would agree. Are there pilots who are easier to use than others? Most definitely, yes. Is there an X-Wing equivalent to a Draigowing or Necron Flyer Spam List? Most definitely not. Will this hold true in Wave 2 with the Falcon and TIE Interceptors seeming to dominate the pre-release tables of those lucky enough to win them from Kessel Run Tournaments? I don't know, only time will tell. My gut feeling is no, it'll still be balanced, but it's tough to tell at this point.
I've mentioned it in other articles around here, but the only way to get good at this game is to play it. You're not going to run across some internet list that's impossible to beat even if your idea of tactics and strategy is push everything forward as fast as possible and roll buckets of dice. It ain't gonna happen, so stop spending hours and hours searching and trying to create the perfect list and instead, spend those hours playing the game. You'll be better as a result.
Playing that 50 points or less, PR 4 or less game last Friday evening showed me once again, this game is very finely balanced. Where the perception of imbalance comes into play is with Named Pilots whether or not most people realize it. I feel that much of this perceived imbalance comes from Imperials being largely easier to pick up and being more forgiving to a new play by nature than an actual imbalance. Or to put it another way, I think that if you play Imperials, you have an easier time mitigating the learning curve associated with both maneuvering and Pilot Ranking than someone who exclusively plays Rebels.
Being able to deconstruct your game and determine the real reasons why you're losing is an important skill to possess. It's that same line of thinking coaches apply in post-game analysis in sports and it's one I learned years ago when my dad taught me how to play golf. It's also why folks say you learn more from your losses than your wins, but you have to want to learn for it to work. If you blame your losing on a bad list when in fact you lost half your actions due to collisions, well, I can't do nothin' for you man.
So the next time you end up on a losing streak, instead of jumping on the internet to complain that Y-Wings are terrible and the game is imbalanced, take a few moments and objectively examine why you're really losing and seek to mitigate those reasons.
Now, shut down your browser and go play!
This post regarding Named Pilots 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.
Card: Maarek Stele (27)
Card Text: When your attack deals a face up Damage card to the defender, instead draw 3 Damage cards, choose 1 to deal, and discard the others.
Ability is an Action?: No.
Excels at: Uh...
Quick Take: Stele is another one of those guys like Winged Gundark that looks better on paper than he seems to function in reality.
The first, and probably most significant knock against Stele is that he's only two points cheaper than Vader. Not to get completely sidetracked onto Vader, but briefly, for those two points, Vader has +2 Pilot Rank and a second Action every turn. That's a much better ROI any way you want to cut it. Whether Stele should be cheaper or Vader should be more expensive, my opinion is Stele should be cheaper, but whatever.
I want to love Maarek Stele. I want to be the guy who finally figures out the proper way to use Stele because dammit, I loved TIE Figther back in the day. After getting my first PC for Christmas in '96, I subsequently spent New Year's Eve playing TIE Fighter instead of partying on the streets of Austin, TX. While other twenty-somethings were out living it up on Sixth Street, I was getting Force Lighting tattoos, so don't misunderstand my intent here- I'm not just another internet Maarek hater. I just still can't figure him out.
All that said, if you can manage to trigger his card ability, it really can be pretty devastating to the victim.
Elite Skills/ Upgrades: Let's get this out of the way right off the bat- yes, I've tried Maarek + Cluster Missiles + Marksmanship. Yes, the combo works, but no, I didn't feel it was worth it's points as there's still quite a lot of variables in that equation when there are cheaper and more reliable combos out there for the Empire. Admittedly, that might be more the way I feel about Marksmanship in general than about Stele in particular, but it left me underwhelmed- especially so for a setup that's running a point over a full third of a standard tournament list. Your mileage may vary, but honestly, I'd be shocked if it did.
If you put a gun to my head and said, "Run Maarek in a Wave 1 list", after experimenting with some offensive builds (including the misisles + Marksmanship one above), I'd probably just strap some Clusters to him and stick him front and center on the TIE swarm pile in front of Howlrunner with not other upgrades or skills. I think this role plays to his strengths- he has a decently high Pilot Rank (but not really enough to justify an application of Swarm Tactics, in my opinion) and he has shields on his ship. His special ability is kind of nasty when/ if you can get it to go off, so a Rebel player can't just ignore him, but if he's putting shots onto Maarek, then he's not focusing on Howlrunner, which of course is the whole point.
Would I take something like that to a tournament? You know, I just might. I like doing non-standard stuff like that just to put my opponent on his back foot for a moment. That moment where he's going, "Hey- what's this guy figured out with Maarek?", might just be the moment he makes a mistake. I like to make my opponent think and make as many decisions as possible in my games because there's a good chance if you make a guy deviate from his normal game plan either by fielding a weird list or executing strange maneuvers, he's going to underthink or overthink and make a mistake. Of course, I'd much rather just go into a tournament situation with a good combination tacked onto Maarek, but again- I don't think that exists right now in Wave 1.
I really hope that some exotic combination of Wave 2 and Wave 1 stuff unlocks Maarek's true potential. I want to like the dude. I really, really do. I just really, really can't justify him right now.
This post regarding Named Pilots 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.
Card: Horton Salm (Y-Wing) 23 pts.
Card Text: When attacking at range 2-3, you may reroll any of your blank results.
Ability is an Action?: No.
Excels at: Attack
Quick Take: Salm may not be flying a ship that can do a ton of damage, but if he’s got a Focus token and firing at range 2-3, he very nearly can’t miss. For this reason, he's the only Y-Wing you might even consider taking without an Ion Cannon Turret, but if you do opt for the ICT, you'll find it much more effective than on any other Y if you can manage to stay at Range 2 from your target (remember, ICT only works at Range 1-2 and Salm's ability only works at Range 2-3).
Elite Skills/ Upgrades: This is the one time in this whole article you’re going to see me advocate the use of Proton Torpedoes without regard to context. Horton Salm is a torpedo boat, full stop.
If you can manage to grab a Focus (paging Garven Dreis, paging Garvin Dreis, please pick up the white courtesy phone), you’re virtually assured four hits, at least one of which ought to be a crit. Even if you're not flying with Dreis (and bear in mind, you're going to probably need some Swarm Tactics shenanigans to get Dreis to predictably discard the Focus onto Salm as Salm is a higher Pilot Rank), still try and get that Focus token before you launch your torps. It' ain't the end of the world if you don't, but you're really going to sting somebody if you do.
It’d be pure insanity, but this is also the only time I’d actually consider using the Y-Wing’s ability to stock 2 salvos of Proton Torpedoes- look closely at the card; Y-Wings have 2 Torpedo symbols on them. How nuts would that be?
Other than PTs, Salm benefits from R5 droids, just like Dutch Vander or any Y-Wing, to keep him in the game by mitigating or removing inevitable damage from only having 1 Defense die. Whether all those points are worth it on a ship with such a specialized use such as Salm is entirely your call. A case could be made for loading up on Torps and forgetting a droid as Salm should be at 2-3 re-rolling dice anyway and at that range, a TIE (or even several) will have trouble doing any significant damage to a Y-Wing. If you really want to try Salm + Torps but can’t find the points, try running him without a droid at all.
In the most terrible plot-twist this side of The Village, Salm does not have Elite Skills available to him. I haev no idea why- he's PR 8 for Christ's sake. If only you could give him Swarm Tactics...
This post regarding Named Pilots 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.
Card: Winged Gundark (TIE Fighter) 15 Pts.
Card Text: When attacking at Range 1, you may change one of your <hit> results to a <crit>.
Ability is an Action?: No.
Excels at: Crippling ships
Quick Take: Gundark’s not bad, the knock against him is he only does anything special when his target has been stripped of shields which limits his ability. He’s only 1 point more than a Black Squadron (with +1 PR to boot), which is good because if he was any more expensive, I think folks would leave him on the shelf. As it stands though, if you can keep him alive long enough to start shooting at ships without shields, he’s totally worth it as most critical damage really, seriously affects a ship. It’s just having him be kind of less than optimal for that period of time that’s the problem.
I think Gundark’s one of those guys that people try out on a whim, and when he does kinda fair to bad a couple of games in a row, folks don’t take him again, but don’t really know why he doesn’t work all that well. He’s also a guy who seems a little better on paper than he is in real life.
This is like a whole other post in and of itself, but most successful TIE swarms overwhelm their opponent quickly by weight of fire. The longer the average Wave 1 X-Wing Miniatures game goes, the better for a Rebel player as the weight of fire drops as TIEs get destroyed. As Gundark’s ability shows up for real late in the game, he’s sorta not geared for that style of play, which limits his usefulness compared to other named pilots or the aforementioned Black Squadron Pilot who can take Elite Skills.The bad synergy comes largely from the fact that TIE swarms have to make the majority of their hay while the early game sun is shining, if you’ll allow me to mix the hell out of some metaphors. Which again, isn’t what Gundark is good for.
Elite Skills/ Upgrades: Nope.
This post regarding Named Pilots 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.
Card: Dutch Vander (Y-Wing) 23 pts.
Special ability: After acquiring a Target Lock, choose another friendly ship at Range 1-2. The chosen ship may immediately acquire a Target Lock.
Ability is an Action?: No.
Excels at: Support
Quick Take: Similar to Garven Dreis’ ability, Dutch Vander is more forgiving and easy to use because unlike Dreis’ Focus token, Target Locks are persistent from round to round and because Vander hands off an extra Target Lock as soon as he acquires it, not when he actually spends it. Remember how I said without Swarm Tactics, Dreis can't really give his Focus to anyone with a higher Pilot Ranking? You don't have to worry about that with Vander's Target Locks since he acquires his Target Lock before the Combat Phase starts, he can dish that TL for immediate use to anyone so long as they're in range.
Main worry is Vander is a Y-Wing which can be difficult to use because of it’s relatively poor handling represented by limited options on the movement dial. This is mitigated by most players with the installation of an Ion Cannon Turret upgrade, but as Vander needs to remain within range 1-2 of someone that could make use of a Target Lock, his maneuverability does come into play to an extent when paired with a more agile buddy flying near. The good news is an Ion Cannon Turret doesn’t conflict with Vander’s acquisition of a Target Lock as Target Locks can be acquired on any enemy ship at range 3 or less regardless of firing arc.
Be sure since you can only maintain one Target Lock per ship at a time, to have Vander always using his Target Lock so he can acquire a new one next round and hand off another TL to a friend.
EDIT: Understand that when I wrote this, I misunderstood the rules for getting rid of a Target Lock, so let me take a moment to clarify-
You sort of can't actually just get rid of a Target Lock without spending it, but you can do two things (clarified by the Rulebook itself and also one of the old FAQs- you can either "spend" it but choose to not modify any of your dice, or you can, in your Perform Action step of course, decide to acquire a new Target Lock which effectively replaces your existing one because you can't (normally) have more than one Target Lock.
Thanks to +Danny Brase for reminding me that I'd never gone back and updated this old chestnut of an article!
Dreis and Vander flying together basically hand each other the Actions virtually all Rebel ships use on the regular- Target Locks and Focuses. They're also the same Pilot Rank, so you can move and shoot the two of them in any order you wish. Try hooking Dreis up with R2-F2 and Vander with R2-D2 and spend the rest of your points on a couple of Rookie X-Wings with droid support or a couple of naked Red Squadron X-Wings and see how it treats ya.
Elite Skills/ Upgrades: Like all Y-Wings, Vander needs one of the droids to keep him alive by helping to remove damage, namely the R5’s except for R5-K6 or R2-D2 could serve a purpose here. R2-F2 not so much because his ability requires an Action and ideally, Vander is using his Actions acquiring Target Locks. R2-D2 is particularly useful on a Y-Wing with an Ion Cannon Turret because you're more likely to be able to pull a green maneuver with a 360 degree firing arc afforded by the turret and because Y-Wings sport 3 shields, which becomes pretty sturdy when you're gaining one back every round from R2-D2.
R5-K6 a result in an interesting combination with Vander’s ability in that it’s permissible for Vander to acquire a TL via his standard Action, pass on the TL to another ship, then subsequently use the Target Lock to attack an enemy ship, which triggers R5-K6’s roll to see if the TL is reacquired. If it is, another TL can be passed on to another ship. While it's not exactly automatic, it’s legit if you can pull it off.
An Ion Cannon Turret is also a necessity for most players which ups the cost of Vander considerably, but makes the Y-Wing infinitely more usable in most situations. Note: having this Ion is kind of vital to Vander being able to burn off the TLs he acquires as he can’t get a new TL (more importantly, can’t give one to a buddy) if he has an existing TL.
Vander does not have Elite Skills available to him.
This post regarding Named Pilots 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.
Card: Night Beast (TIE Fighter) 15 Pts.
Card Text: After executing a green maneuver, you may perform a free Focus action.
Ability is an Action?: No.
Excels at: Survival, supporting through versatility
Quick Take: I like Night Beast because he’s flexible and I value flexibility highly in miniatures games. Since there are so many green maneuvers available to a TIE, you ought to be able to Evade or Barrel Roll as needed with Night Beast’s actual Action, then still Focus with his free Action. This makes him tough to kill while still having good offensive potential. He's usually not a high priority target compared to the big names like Howlrunner and/ or Vader, but he has definite thorn-in-the-side potential like Dark Curse and can function reasonably well on his own outside of Howlrunner's ability and even the effects of Swarm Tactics to a certain extent as he'll fire before any non-named pilots on the Rebel side . Use him in roving support role helping out where he's needed and you'll find he's frequently one of the last men standing.
Elite Skills/ Upgrades: None.
