Ten Squads in Ten Days - Part 8) Rebel Salad

After my love letter to the Scum & Villainy faction yesterday it's going to be a Rebel-heavy day on on the Stay On The Leader blog.  I'm up this morning with the third of my Rebel squads in these ten days, and then hopefully later today I'll be finally be able to bring you our Rebel faction review... and it's a doozy! 

• Day 1) Guns n Ammo 2.0
• Day 2) Pancake & Eggs
• Day 3) Aces of Legend
• Day 4) AC-D3
• Day 5) KKKK
• Day 6) Rho Rho Rho Your Boat
• Day 7) Junkyard Falcon

I'm marking your card for the Rebel review later, because you will want to make sure you read it, but until then you know what it's time for...

8) REBEL SALAD

One of the most durable Rebel squad concepts of the last few years has been the four-ship Rebel squad.  I'm thinking now right back to the tail end of 2015 and the birth of the 'Stresshog' Y-Wings my formative time in the game was full of the likes of Biggs Darklighter running alongside a rugged toolbox of Rebels.  Over time that toolbox changed -  in came Lowhhrick, or Captain Rex, or Ezra's Sheathipede - but the basic principle of the Rebel jousting block persisted.

How well does that concept translate into the opening waves of 2nd Edition?  Well... it's definitely a struggle and you notice a lot more what's not there than what is.  There's no sign of R3-A2 for either a Y-Wing or Sheathipede to bring, the defensive annoyances of Fenn Rau, Lowhhrick, Captain Rex, Biggs and the old Selflessness have either got more expensive or less effective, and a lot of the key synergies have been broken as a result.

You can have a go, though...

Rebel Salad

• Wedge Antilles - Marksmanship, Servomotor S-Foils (53)
• Biggs Darklighter - Servomotor S-Foils (48)
• Sabine Wren (Attack Shuttle) - Debris Gambit (40)
• Arvel Crynyd (36)
• Bandit Squadron Pilot (23)

I know for sure that I'm not alone in trying to make this model work, not least because there's always so many Rogue Squadron fans out there trying to cram X-Wings into everything they can.  But I know from talking to players around me that the Rebel faction is currently proving very frustrating to build for and many of us have been knocking ideas around in this sort of area without finding a squad that we feel completely comfortable and confident in.

We've been all around the houses in this thing.  Some of us have championed Luke, some of us have tried to make the Two-Tubes brothers a thing, some of us have been working on Norra, some of have been trying out old 1st Edition stalwarts like Lowhhrick or Shara Bey.  If there's a secret sauce we've not found it yet.

The above squadlist, then, kind of came out of me shrugging my shoulders a bit and just grabbing bits of what we think are good from a lot of different squads I've seen tried and just stirring them all into each other, hence why it's been dubbed a Rebel 'salad'.

Wedge and Biggs lead the way as two of the classic X-Wing pilots who were right there at the start of X-Wing Miniatures Game 1st Edition.  The new X-Wing has picked up a lot of the gradual buffs it received, like Integrated Astromech or the adjustable S-Foil settings, and incorporated it into the base chassis.  That makes the X-Wing a great all-rounder, but unfortunately probably also means it's stepping on the toes of all the other Rebel ships... an X-Wing with S-Foils closed is a lot like an A-Wing, an X-Wing with S-Foils open isn't that much less durable than a B-Wing now that it has more hull.  It all means that a pair of X-Wings are a solid, if uninspired, start to your squads.  They're a solid foundation to build on.

The Sabine Wren attack shuttle is something you've already seen used in Day 2's bonus list and it reappears here.  At 40pts I think this is a proper little pocket battleship as with Sabine Wren's pilot ability allowing you to chain a red Evade (a white Evade with Debris Gambit) the little shuttle is a cheap way of getting a 3 red dice gun onto the table that also has action economy inbuilt with a free reposition/Evade action on top of it's main action.  

The Attack Shuttle may not have seen much table time undocked from the Ghost in 1st Edition, but when you're trying to cut corners to maximise the efficiency of a Rebel list the Sabine shuttle has rapidly become one of my frequent go-tos.

This list has chopped and changed between Jake and Arvel in the A-Wing, although I'd run neither with any upgrades.  The Rebel A-Wing is currently a bit of a lean and simple type of ship rather than one I'd try to pack to the gills with upgrades, as we often saw in 1st Edition.  A lot like Soontir I think Jake or Arvel can really afford to just trade off the economy they get from their Vectored Thrusters and pilot abilities.  Jake makes sense from the 'Rebel Salad' idea of supporting each other, but I've gone with Arvel.  

This 2nd Edition version of Arvel Crynyd has been subtly but significantly buffed from his 1st Edition version and he's well worth a second look if you've passed over him for the name value of Jake Farrel.  The fact that Arvel can now boost into Range 0 makes him a much better all-round threat whereas before his ideal roll as a blocker was spoiled a bit by having a mid-range Pilot Skill.  He also now has built-in action economy so he can Focus then crash into people, and all the A-Wings can now Barrel Roll, which is an essential blocking tool. 

And Arvel is only 36pts, which allows you to scrimp and save those pennies and bring in a fifth ship to complete the squad.  If we're making a salad then the Z-95 is the crispy croutons as topping - you could definitely make the salad without them, and nobody really loves them on their own, but it does all kind of work better when they're there.  Plus the Z-95s also benefit from a newly-found Barrel Roll action.

And well... that's kind of it. Where the Imperials and Scum factions can have a lot of tricks and techniques to explain the Rebels are left scratching around in the dirt.  The basic premise of this squad is unashamedly 'here's 5 pilots, 4 of them do something cool, let's try and wing it and see if we can come up with a plan on the side'.  But at least there's a lot of enjoyable flying in here, so it's good fun to play.  Your X-Wings can Boost or Barrel if needed, Sabine is dancing all over the place, Arvel is trying to smash into the face of the enemy, and even your lowly Bandit Squadron Pilot can barrel roll now.

But yeah, as you'll read later today in our Rebel faction review... it's not really clear yet what the point of Rebel ships & squads actually is.  I'm sure it's a reaction to just how dominant the Rebels were in 1st Edition and FFG have been playing it safe, but the Rebels are in a bad spot at present and it really feels like the faction identity is missing.  

You can still just jump in an X-Wing and blow something up, though.  You have permission.

Ten Squads In Ten Days - Part 7) Junkyard Falcon

It's been a week since I started my Ten Squads in Ten Days and today you're in for a treat because of all the squads I'm sharing this is by far my favourite.  

• Day 1) Guns n Ammo 2.0
• Day 2) Pancake & Eggs
• Day 3) Aces of Legend
• Day 4) AC-D3
• Day 5) KKKK
• Day 6) Rho Rho Rho Your Boat

It's a squad that may not look glamorous on first appearance but there's some genuine hidden strengths in here and it's a real blast to play.

7) JUNKYARD FALCON

When I came up with the idea of doing Ten Squads in Ten Days it replaced the fact that I was going to write a blog about maybe just a couple of my squads.  Maybe even just one of them.  This one.  Of all the squads I'm sharing this is the one I've spent most time with on the table and that's in large part because it's the one I've most enjoyed flying.  

I'm going to start by showing you the squad that I've been using, then go back in time a bit and explain how I got to this build of it.

Junkyard Falcon

• Han Solo - Trick Shot, Greedo, 0-0-0, Rigged Cargo Chute, Lando's Millenium Falcon (69)
• Trandoshan Slaver - Lando Calrissian, ID-88D, Rigged Cargo Chute (74)
• Palob Godalhi - Elusive, L3-37, Moldy Crow (57)
  (200)

Regular readers may remember that when I was talking about approaches to squadbuilding in 2nd Edition I recommended making an effort to look at squads that wouldn't necessarily interest you, just because it was going to help you learn the card pool.  Well, this is the squad that probably most cemented that in my mind as a great idea because the concept of Junkyard Falcon started when somebody shared the following list with me...

• Han Solo - Trick Shot, IG-88D, Qi'ra, Dengar, Hull Upgrade, Rigged Cargo Chute, Lando's Millenium Falcon (80)
• Outer Rim Pioneer (24)
• Asajj Ventress - Latts Razzi, Rigged Cargo Chute (95)
  (199)

I had zero interest in this squad.  Ze-ro.  I'd long since written off the 2nd Edition Lancer now that it only had a 2 dice rotating arc and spending 104pts on a Falcon with only 2 red dice seemed like a massive waste of time.  You've got 199pts here and could easily wind up only throwing 4 red per turn from it.  Pfft!

But I hadn't really explored the Scum ships properly so while the guy who posted it was busy with the sales pitch of how many red dice the Falcon could actually throw (+1 for Han, +1 for Trick Shot, +1 for Lando's title) I was already chopping and changing and reshaping the squad to see if I could find a build I was a bit happier with...

• Han Solo - Trick Shot, 0-0-0, Lando Calrissian, Dengar, Rigged Cargo Chute, Engine Upgrade, Lando's Millenium Falcon (91)
• Autopilot Drone (12)
• Ketsu Onyo - Squad Leader, Maul, Rigged Cargo Chute, Inertial Dampeners (96)
  (199)

The real play here was switching out Asajj's force point (which cost 10pts more than Ketsu) to play Ketsu with Maul crew (which was 13pts more but gave me a Talent slot not a Force Power slot) then downgrading the Escape Craft to pay for it all.  I think the 2nd Edition Lancers are really struggling for something awesome to do with all the blue maneuvers on their dial - there's no PTL or Glitterstim to turn those blue turns into extra action economy.  With Squad Leader I can at least push those actions over onto Han's big gun and give him all the mods he'll need.  I still didn't love the list, but I could see how it might work and wanted to try it out.

And then I had my own words thrown back in my face (quite rightly).  My approaches to squadbuilding demanded spending less points on upgrades and more on ships and firepower.  Yet this squad (that I now liked) was still spending a lot on upgrades and with the Escape Craft attached it was still a 103pt Falcon.  Discussing this list I was challenged again and again and each time I came up short... 

Was Dengar worth it?  Probably not.  

Did I need Engine Upgrade?  Probably not.  

Was the Autopilot Drone worth it for 2 more shield points?  Probably not.  

Was 96pts of Ketsu going to do enough damage?  Probably not.

So let's take all that away, strip it right back to the bits you really need and start again.  You can get the red dice buffs out of Han for just 60pts.  You can turn Ketsu down to a Trandoshan Slaver and save another 20pts.  That's 60pts spare.  That's a whole new ship and not just a Z-95... like a whole new proper ship.  I initially lumped for a Trajectory Simulating Lok Revenant then picked up on all the people raving about Palob in the new HWK and have never really looked back.

And is it good?  Well let's start with that HWK.  I remember having discussions in 1st Edition about which pilot had the best ability in the game and even among some of the bonkers overpowered stuff that was in 1st Edition there was frequently consensus that if Palob Godalhi didn't have the actual best pilot ability then he was pretty close.  The only reason Palob wasn't a monster on the table was that he was in a HWK and HWKs pretty much sucked.  Well, this is 2nd Edition now and I'd like to introduce you to the most undercosted card presently in the game: the Moldy Crow title.  

Moldy Crow costs 12pts so it's not cheap but what you get for those 12pts is worth far far more.  Let's break it down:

• You can stack Focus tokens.  In 1st Edition the Moldy Crow title did this and cost 3pts.  Costs are doubled now so let's say 6 of the 12pts in Moldy Crow are related to focus stacking.

• Your 2 dice attack becomes a 3 dice attack from the front arc.  Well the Punishing One title does something very similar to this and it costs 8pts.

• But the Moldy Crow doesn't just upgrade your red dice it ADDS A WHOLE NEW ARC.  We don't really have a good proxy for the cost of adding a primary arc but we can flip the equation and say the HWK is now a 3 dice primary arced ship with a 2 dice turret.  The cost of a 2 dice turret is the Dorsal Turret, which is 4pts.

• But it's not just a Dorsal Turret because the Moldy Crow's turret is actually a primary weapon so it can also fire at R3 and it gets an extra red dice at R1.  That's at least doubling the value of the Dorsal Turret so let's say it's 4pts again.

6 + 8 + 4 +4 = 22.  Moldy Crow is 12pts.

You could double it's price and you'd still be in the ballpark for the value you get from this upgrade.  Moldy Crow is nucking futs.  Palob has a nucking futs ability.  The two combined are utterly nucking futs considering the ship comes in WITH COOL UPGRADES TO KEEP IT ALIVE at less than 60pts.

TL;DR: I don't even begin to understand how Moldy Crow only costs 12pts.  Oh, and the HWKs can boost and jam now, I totally forgot about all that goodness sitting on top.  GLHF!

Next up is the Trandoshan Slaver - the humble 'party bus'.  Well at this party Lando is the DJ manning the decks while IG-88D brings him the requests.  The YV-666 is always a pretty straight forward ship - it fly, it shoot, it die - but in this incarnation it offers a lot more dice mods and durability than is immediately obvious.  There's basically three modes for the Trandoshan Slaver:

1. I'm not being shot at: take two Calculate tokens, spend one of them to reroll your dice with Lando then use the second one to mod any Focus results.
2. I'm being shot at: take two Calculate tokens, spend one of them on your green dice if you need to, spend the other one to either focus mod or reroll your red dice as necessary.
3. I'm being shot at by a lot of dudes, help!: take a Reinforce action, tank behind it against all the higher Initiative attacks then spend the Reinforce token at I2 to reroll your red dice with Lando.

All three options are good, all three options are solid.  Yeah the YV is a brick but it's a brick that mods its dice better than most other things in 2nd Edition right now and that's a valuable commodity.

And lastly, there's Han Solo.  Stripped way back his Falcon costs way less than it used to but it's still got all the key functionality to throw more red dice than you'd expect or to dive in close and stress people with 0-0-0 and Rigged Cargo Chute.  And you know what, Han kind of likes not being the centre of attention any more because he's actually a bit of a wallflower.  While Palob and the Slaver are holding the centre of the fight Han is really happy to just skirt around the outside taking Trick Shots through the debris.  In my experience as soon as the opponent decides to start chasing Han as their priority he gets much worse - it's that much harder to keep obstacles between you and them and you wind up burning actions on boosting or rotating your arc instead of modding your dice.  Keep the punk kid Han Solo cheap and easy to ignore and he'll get work done, though.

And, yeah.  This squad really works.  There's synergies within each ship (I've not even touched on how I don't like Elusive or L3-37 in general but really like them on Palob specifically because of his ability) but there's also synergies in how they work together in concert.  It's fun to fly, it's fun to hurl lots of dice with Han, it's fun to shred people with Palob and Jam them up for no good reason other than you've already got all the tokens you need anyway.  And yes it's even fun to fly a brick of a YV-666 into their face and watch them try to work out whether it's worth shooting into the Reinforce or not, or try shooting at Palob with all his green dice, tokens, Elusive and L3-37.

I love this list.  Love it.

And I've not even got onto that this isn't even my current version, or all the options you can pursue.  You could drop the Slaver for a cheap Firespray like Koshka, or an IG, or a slimline Guri, or Fenn Rau, or even just for three Binayre Pirates, or... or... or...  

Goddamn there's some awesome stuff in Scum.  Everyone, just go play Scum,  they're great.

Ten Squads in Ten Days - 6) Rho Rho Rho Your Boat

It's the midseason lull here at Ten Squads in Ten Days, but don't worry as we'll soon start building towards the showstopping series finale.

• Day 1) Guns n Ammo 2.0
• Day 2) Pancake & Eggs
• Day 3) Aces of Legend
• Day 4) AC-D3
• Day 5) KKKK

Hot on the heels of one squad that's using SLAM to move unpredictably about the board and outmaneuver opponents comes... another squad that's using SLAM to move unpredictably about the board and outmaneuver opponents.  This time it's grey ships not white ships.

6) RHO RHO RHO YOUR BOAT

For whatever reason the Alpha Class Starwing, or Gunboat, has a legion of fans who had spent hundreds and hundreds of pages of the FFG forums bugging the holy crap of the X-Wing design team until they finally got their favourite ship into the game.  And the Gunboat arrived with a real splash to become an important part of the Imperial arsenal... so what are Gunboats for in 2nd Edition?

Rho Rho Rho Your Boat

• Rho Squadron Pilot - Crack Shot, XG-1 Assault Loadout, Ion Cannon, Fire Control System, Advanced SLAM (49)
• Rho Squadron Pilot - Crack Shot, XG-1 Assault Loadout, Ion Cannon, Fire Control System, Advanced SLAM (49)
• Rho Squadron Pilot - Crack Shot, XG-1 Assault Loadout, Ion Cannon, Fire Control System, Advanced SLAM (49)
• Duchess - Outmaneuver (48)
  (195)

To be honest with you I can't take much credit for this squad because it was kindly fed to me by James Dowdall of the 186th Squadron when he saw me flapping about not having ten squads I liked!  James is a man who likes his SLAM and though I don't know if either of us would really stake our lives on this being an actually strong squad it's something that we both would like to see on the table, just to be sure.

The list features three identical Alpha-Class Starwings (aka. Gunboats) and the loadout for each of those is almost entirely decided by the inclusion of one card: XG-1 Assault Loadout.  One you've decided to play the XG-1 Assault Loadout then pretty much everything else follows suit.  If you want to be able to SLAM around and fire your cannon, as XG-1 lets you do, then you're almost certainly going to want an Ion Cannon.  It's early days for the Second Edition card pool and there's slim pickings in the Cannon department - neither Tractor Beam or Jamming Beam does damage, and if you take the new slimline Heavy Laser Cannon you're both gambling on SLAMing into bullseye shots and restricted from firing that 4th red dice anyway by XG-1!

That puts you into Ion Cannon as it's a 3 red dice Cannon that doesn't need bullseye and actually deals damage, albeit only 1 damage, and then the mechanics of the new Ion Cannon (and Turret) mean you're really looking to roll max hits every time to actually push Ion tokens onto the target.  The 1st Edition Ion Cannon would deal 1 damage and 1 Ion on the first dice that hit then ignore all further results, while the 2nd Edition Ion Cannon deals damage on the first hit then only adds Ion tokens for any additional hits... it's quite a bit worse unless your red dice are really solid.  That requirement means backing them up with both a Fire Control System and the opportunity to Focus after your SLAM action with Advanced SLAM.

The last nice touch on that line of thinking is that it uses the elite Rho Squadron Pilot and brings a Crack Shot as the pilot's Talent.  Crack Shot is only a shadow of its former self and I tend to resist playing it in 2nd Edition squads, but in this case that ability to force an extra hit through and ensure you Ionise a target is far more likely to be clutch than if you were just shipping one more damage card.

And there's three of these things to deal with.  Three Gunboats SLAMing rapidly and unpredictably around the table, like the K-Wings, but unlike the K-Wings being able to do so and keep on firing their Ion Cannons.

Assuming this all works and you've left your opponent with just an armada of broken and lifeless ships, then you're going to need somebody to actually blow them up and that's where I bring Duchess into the squad.  With her excellent maneuvering abilities the Duchess will find it child's play to Outmaneuver the ionised ships and swiftly reduce them to rubble!  Probably.

As I said when I introduced this squad I don't know that it's a really strong squad, but I do believe that the Gunboat has proven itself to be such a solid and flexible platform that there's something in here.  Do you need three Ion Gunboats?  Can you run with two, and maybe even cut them to Nu Squadron Pilots, to bring another ace to help Duchess out in the damage stakes?  Or maybe a Defender or Darth Vader?  There's plenty of room for experimentation here, I think, and I know the Gunboat has plenty of fans who will want to try...

Ten Squads in Ten Days - Part 5) KKKK

It's day five of my Ten Squads in Ten Days, we're halfway there and I don't know about you but it's getting so close I can almost reach out and touch it.

• Day 1) Guns n Ammo 2.0
• Day 2) Pancake & Eggs
• Day 3) Aces of Legend
• Day 4) AC-D3

Today's squad features a team of pilots want to go fast.  How fast, you ask?  They're going straight to.... LUDICROUS SPEED!!!

5) KKKK

No flashy squad name this time, and that suits a squad that's pretty no-nonsense and just sets out to do the dirty work with a set of unglamorous generic bombers.

KKKK

• Warden Squadron Pilot - Barrage Rockets, Proton Bombs (51)
• Warden Squadron Pilot - Barrage Rockets, Proton Bombs (51)
• Warden Squadron Pilot - Barrage Rockets, Seismic Charges (49)
• Warden Squadron Pilot - Barrage Rockets, Sabine Wren (49)

You get the idea...

While the TIE Punisher is enjoying an unaccustomed moment in the sun as everyone's favourite Trajectory Simulating bomber the opposite is true of the Rebel equivalent, the K-Wing.  Having terrorised the metagame for much of the last 18 months the SLAM-bombing K-Wing has been given a real beating in 2nd Edition and most of the best reasons for using a K-Wing have gone (namely Harpoon Missiles, Twin Laser Turret, post-SLAM bombing and Miranda Doni's crazy old pilot ability).  I mean, with the dreaded little primary bowtie arc replacing the Twin Laser Turret what even is left for the K-Wing to do?

Well the answer may be 'nothing good' but I don't want to give up on them quite that easily and there is at least one decent trick up the K-Wing's long and ungainly sleeves - it's the turreted ship that can manage to cover all 360 degrees with threats!

Because the K-Wing can equip Barrage Rockets it can set the 'bowtie' arc to cover the left and right arcs while it presents a missile threat from the front arc and drops Proton Bombs from the back.  That's almost everything covered off, a bit like the old turreted ships of 1st Edition!  It's not flawless - you can't use the Barrage Rockets at R1 in the front arc, for instance - but where other turreted ships might struggle to keep arc on opponents the K-Wing is actually pretty much 'set and forget' and can spend its actions on Focusing, SLAMing, and Reloading more nasty bombs.

That brings us around to a new strength the K-Wing has compared to 1st Edition, namely that with a Medium base it's actually a bit faster than its old model, especially when it's SLAMing up and down the table.  This squad aims to make full use of that by spending a ton of time just SLAMing around at high speed dropping bombs, then taking potshots of opportunity as the enemy struggles to keep up.  The kicker magic ingredient is the lovely Sabine Wren, whose 2nd Edition version isn't quite as outright devastating as she was in 1st Edition but could be no less frustrating.  The threat that your Proton Bombs and Seismic Charges could hand out stress/jam/tractor tokens at unfortunate moments has to be something that your opponent respects and it's just going to add to their confusion of how exactly they should approach dismantling these new K-Wings.

Ok, I'll level with you.  Christ knows if it'll work or not - I've not put this on the table yet - but my spidey senses are tingling that this squad will do enough unexpected things with that speedy SLAMing and all-round threat that your opponent will likely struggle to adapt to what you're doing until it's too late.  I imagine that if you play somebody half a dozen times they'll figure it out eventually but I think you'll be able to pick up a few wins along the way while they get through the error part of 'trial and error'.  Can they afford to joust into 12 red dice of Barrage Rockets and 36 hull, then k-turn into Proton Bombs?  And if they're not going to do that then can they really reposition for a favourable engagement faster than the SLAM-speed K-Wings on their medium bases?

It's something that I at least want to see played out on the table because I'm not prepared to give up on the versatile K-Wing platform just yet.  And that's a nice link into tomorrow's squad as well...

Ten Squads in Ten Days - Part 4) AC-D3

Just a week to go.  One tiny little week.

• Day 1) Guns n Ammo 2.0
• Day 2) Pancake & Eggs
• Day 3) Aces of Legend

In today's squad I'm going to return to an old theme I've already looked at in my first effort - Trajectory Simulators - and try to crack it from a different angle.  Will it work?  Let's just say I'm taking a calculated risk...

4) AC-D3

After a long while as the forgotten men of Scum & Villainy their unexpected victory at the last 1st Edition World Championships hurled 'Brobots' right back into the forefront of people's minds so it's a combination that I know a lot of people have been looking at.

Like many would-be Broboteers I landed quickly on the exciting potential that a medium base Brobot could now take Juke to pair with the free Evade token from IG-88C.  Unfortunately that was about where my excitement ended because I didn't really have anything else to follow it up with... no Push The Limit or Fire Control System meant that 'free' Evade wasn't all that free as it came at the expense of taking two Calculate tokens instead.  I couldn't spend the Evade if my opponent had higher Initiative without turning off Juke, and if I did spend it and lost Juke then I was throwing unmodified red dice that wouldn't achieve much.  I felt like the upgrades weren't there to make Brobots work in 2nd Edition (yet) and abandoned them to look at more promising Scum options.

AC-D3

• IG-88A - Predator, Trajectory Simulator, Proton Bombs, Inertial Dampeners, Ablative Plating, IG-2000 (87)
• IG-88C - Predator, Trajectory Simulator, Proton Bombs, Inertial Dampeners, Ablative Plating, IG-2000 (87)  
• L3-37 - IG-88D (26)
  (200)

What brought me back to Brobots for a second look was playing my twin Punisher list with the pair of Trajectory Simulators.  They had been so successful at countering the swarm that I was very interested in seeing if the IG-2000s could repeat the trick for Scum & Villainy.  The problem the Punisher had was approaching the non-Swarm matchups that would be able to exploit the TIEs slow dial and low agility... those were problems that the Brobot's natural statline answered pretty well!

On top of this, my experience of flying the Punishers was that the threat of the Proton Bombs being hurled about wasn't just about actually dealing damage as much as it was about controlling the space your opponent was prepared to fly into.  That was always the real strength of the Ion & Tractor cannons on the Worlds-winning 'Controlbots' squads, and its designer Jesper Hills always made that point when he spoke about the squad.  Blocking out portions of the board with Trajectory Simulator was different to doing so with Tractor Beam threats, but the underlying principle was actually pretty similar.

The kicker that really got me excited about the squad, when I finished loading up my IGs, was that I had the points left for bring an Escape Craft.  L3-37's Coordinate action functions as a sort of flying Advanced Sensors/Push The Limit combo able to support one of my IGs each turn.  The Boost from an IG-88C still gave me a free Evade but now instead of it replacing anything else I might want to do I could coordinate a Calculate action as well.  Better yet, by including IG-88D on L3-37 in the Escape Craft I now had incredible flexibility to network my ships and share their Calculate tokens around!

Equipped with Trajectory Simulators and Ablative Plating the IGs can lay down a carpet of fire ahead of them and simply walk right through it.  With the ability to also stack Calculate & Evade tokens on both ships (thanks in part to IG-A and some helpful coordination) that a head-on display of jousting firepower that not many opponents are going to want to take on.

If I'm honest I still feel like this squad is missing something.  The Predator and Inertial Dampener spots feel more like placeholders for better upgrades to come rather than the optimal choices I'd want there, but the combination of being able to dismantle swarms and the strong flexible chassis of the IGs is a potent one that seems well-positioned for the early TIE-heavy metagame I think we can expect to see in 2nd Edition.

Ten Squads in Ten Days - Part 3) Aces of Legend

So far I've shared squads with a ton of bombs or trying to resurrect our old friends the fat turrets. 

• Day 1) Guns n Ammo 2.0
• Day 2) Pancake & Eggs

Let's shake it up a bit and head towards the fast & agile end of the market with a couple of ace pilots who have a strong claim to being the best of the best...

3) ACES OF LEGEND

When FFG first announced that there was going to be a 2nd Edition for X-Wing their initial articles placed two men right at the forefront of the action: Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.  With the announcement of brand new Force powers and points to spend it was the Jedi and the Sith who stood out as something new and exciting for players to get to grips with.  Vader in particular, maxed out at Initiative 6, and with the ability to take as many as five actions in a single turn (!) really caught a lot of player's imaginations, and that's where I've come in as well...

Aces of Legend

• Soontir Fel (52)
• Darth Vader - Supernatural Reflexes, Fire Control System, Afterburners (93)
• Vizier - 0-0-0 (48)
  (193)

I'm going to start the explanations for this squad at an odd place - the end.  This squad comes in at 193 points to give you a 7pts bid - the equivalent of a 96pt squad in the old 1st Edition.  As we get closer to release date of 2nd Edition one of the questions that I see being asked repeatedly is 'how much are people going to bid?' and I think for the big Initiative 5 and 6 aces the answer is going to be "a lot".  For this squad, with two Initiative 6 repositioning aces as it's entire purpose for being, winning that bid is going to be vital and so sustaining a deep bid is one of the most important factors in any decisions I'm making.  

Is a 7pts bid enough?  Hopefully, but time will tell if it's not and at that point there may have to be cuts made to increase the bid somehow and get ahead of the competition once again.

Soontir Fel naked?  What the hell?  You wouldn't see the Baron without all his toys and trinkets in 1st Edition so what's changed that I'm happy to send him out into the world in his birthday suit?  Well, a few things actually:

1. he has Push The Limit built-in thanks to the Autothrusters of his TIE Interceptor
2. there's no equivalent of old Autothrusters and all the other defensive Modifications cost a TON of points on a 3 Agility ship
3. Predator's a really good fit for him and it only costs 2 points... but it's not better than another 2pt bid to ensure that you're bossing the table

It might be a bit jarring to players used to the old bulletproof Soontir all loaded up but Baron Fel is a Ace of Legend and I'm sure he can handle himself.  And don't worry because Soontir hasn't come alone, he's brought a friend called Vizier.

Vizier moves and takes a Coordinate action, either a white Coordinate after his ailerons move, or a red Coordinate action.  Soontir is able to take a Focus action from Vizier's coordinate then uses his TIE Interceptor's Autothrusters to chain a red Barrel Roll action off it.  Soontir reveals a blue maneuver from the powerful Interceptor's dial then is able to take a whole new action again - either Boost or Evade, and could then even choose to use Autothrusters again if it really matters to nail the bullseye arc and get a second Focus token.  So Soontir may not have Push The Limit any more but he can still sit pretty on Evade and double Focus after repositioning to his hearts content!

Coordinate is so good with Soontir that I struggle to see myself bringing the Baron to the table without a coordinator to help him out.  I've gone for Vizier over a Lambda Shuttle pilot because I want the Reaper's extra maneuvering to help contribute blocking and red dice to the fight.  Vizier can sloop and stay connected in a dogfight, or alternatively he can follow Soontir in a run for the hills if that's what's needed... a Lambda shuttle can do neither.

If Soontir is happy to run naked, though, then the opposite is true for the dark Lord of the Sith and he demands nothing less than the best of the best from the Imperial arsenal for his TIE Advanced.  After all, he's more machine now than man!

I think we have to take a minute to talk about what Darth Vader is in 2nd Edition, because I think the temptation is to think he's about the same as his 1st Edition counterpart when I'd argue he's a different beast entirely.  Although Vader has gained a powerful Force ability and a better dial for his TIE Advanced he's also quietly lost the two things that probably most defined why he was successful - either his ability to arc-dodge with Barrel Roll & Boost, or his ability to stack Focus and Evade tokens and buff his green dice to the moon for a tough target.  No Evade action, no Boost action.  It changes what Vader does and although you can bring a certain amount of repositioning into his build with Afterburners and Supernatural Reflexes I don't think it really replaces what he lost, at least in terms of being an endgame 1v1 ace.  

In a tight dogfight against another ace, like Soontir, Vader is going to rapidly burn through the energy on his Afterburners and may even have to start taking damage from Supernatural Reflexes.  That's not what Vader's for any more and instant he's really an early-midgame powerhouse.  That's where he can use his unprecedented ability to take multiple actions and really generate a short-term advantage.  Use the hell out of the Barrel Roll on Supernatural Reflexes but save the boosting for moments of emergency and to get the hell out of trouble - there's going to be times when taking a damage from Supernatural Reflexes could be the difference of sitting in 3 arcs and exploding!

Vader's weakness in endgame dogfighting means your squad really need to prioritise despatching the high PS opponents from enemy squads as quickly as possible so that Vader's lack of boost isn't exposed later in the game.  And that strategic need, in turn, feeds back into ensuring you've got a high enough bid to be able to pursue and kill any enemy aces as quickly as possible.

That's why these are the Aces of Legend... they killed all the other aces!