Not every blog I write can be full of deep strategic insights (or, arguably, any of them) and this is certainly not. Instead I'm going to start an infrequent series that looks at the background of some of the characters we see appearing as pilots in the X-Wing Miniatures Game, especially those that come from the more obscure parts of the Star Wars canon.
This time I want to cover off three First Order characters who all stem from one place - the short Captain Phasma series of comics. In there we find out a bit more about Captain Phasma herself and we also meet both Lieutenant Rivas and pilot TN-3465. I love these three because not only do I like the three pilots and use them a lot in my First Order squads, but I also think their abilities are fantastically well designed based on what they do in the comics.
There was only four episodes of these Captain Phasma comics and I want to make absolutely clear that you can't read them online for free at this website. I certainly didn't read them at that website and you shouldn't do read them there either.
*** SPOILER ALERT - if you care deeply about not having the plot points from a minor side story of comics spoiled for you that were released 3 years ago then stop reading here! ***
IN THE COMICS
The Captain Phasma comics pick up Phasma's story right after we leave it in The Force Awakens. Starkiller Base is under attack and Phasma has been abandoned in the trash compactor by Han and Finn after being forced at gunpoint to drop the bases shields. After blasting her way out of the compactor Captain Phasma has a big problem, and it's not that the planet she's on is about to explode. Phasma's problem is that her computer login has been flagged as the one that lowered the shields. Phasma returns to the terminal she used to expunge the records, only to find that somebody has already accessed the terminal before her.
Somebody knows it was her login that lowered the shields.
Phasma has a new problem. But she also has a solution - if she can catch the person who accessed the terminal and kill them she can cover her tracks AND pin the blame for lowering the shields on them.
That person is Lieutenant Rivas.
With Starkiller Base crumbling around her Captain Phasma chases Rivas outside only for him to steal a TIE Fighter and escape. Phasma can't let him get away as he knows the truth about her failure so Phasma commandeers a nearby TIE/sf and orders the pilot to chase Lieutenant Rivas and follow him out into space. This is where we meet our third X-Wing character, TN-3465.
Together, Phasma and TN-3465 escape from Starkiller Base seconds before it explodes and embark on the typical comic miniseries arc of perfectly straightforward things that should be able to get covered in 3 pages being strung out over 3 comics instead...
Phasma and TN-3465 chase Rivas through space but the guns on their TIE aren't functioning so they can't shoot him down and have to follow him to a nearby planet. They land and find his TIE Fighter but he's already left. They need to find disguises to meet the local villagers and find out that Rivas was captured by a group of alien sea monsters.
They agree team up with the the villagers to help them kill the local sea monsters and be safe once and for all...
...then Phasma lets the villagers all die because all she really needed was a distraction to get past the monsters to find and execute Lieutenant Rivas.
Which leaves Phasma with one last problem...
With the dirty work done Captain Phasma is now free to return to General Hux and explain her heroic efforts to track down and punish the traitor who allowed the Resistance to destroy Starkiller Base.
Hurrah, well done Captain Phasma. Report to your section immediately for jelly and cake!
In The X-Wing Miniatures Game
So how are these three pilots represented in X-Wing?
We get Lieutenant Rivas - Inconvenient Witness
Lieutenant Rivas has the pilot ability to get target locks on things that his friends target lock (assigning a target lock is gaining a red token). This is very literally all that Rivas actually does in the comics - he uses a computer after somebody else uses it. It's a nice neat thematic, if rather literal, card design based on the only piece of information we have about Sol Rivas - he used a computer once.
We also get TN-3465 - Loose End.
Like Lieutenant Rivas the young TN-3465 has an ability based around what happens in the comics. Her friends can choose to deal her a damage in order to convert attacks into critical hits. TN-3465 literally gets shot in the back by her own team to ensure they complete their mission. Poor girl.
And finally, we get a pilot card of Captain Phasma - Scyre Survivor.
If there's one thing we've learned about Captain Phasma in this short story it's that she's a survivor who's fully prepared to let everyone around her take a fall if it's in her best interests. We see that in game with her ability forcing her to hurt nearby friendly ships whenever she would take damage. She's always going to be the last person to actually get hurt by anything that goes wrong, which is perfect thematic and 'fluffy' design.
All hail Captain Phasma. All hail the First Order!
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