The intro…
Welcome to this week’s blog!
You thought there wasn’t going to be one, didn’t you! Well, so did I but it seems like our solicitors had other ideas and in the week where we should have been moving, we’re not. Still.
Anyway, I’m not here to bore you with the endless frustration this is buying/selling a house, I’m here to talk X-Wing so let’s get to it!
I’m at the point now where I’m going to talk about the Welsh Open A LOT. And I’m not even sorry!
We are now just under 4 weeks away and so I feel like it’s time for the next prize spoilers!
We have had three designs made up to be used as participation prizes over the two days and some are being made as acrylic/spot gloss as well (although we haven’t got those to show just yet!)
I want to thank Dan Eicher for designing the Shield Upgrade, Bo-Katan and card backs and Mike Upton and Martyn Gruffydd from Vector Squadron Creative for the Predator and Welsh Open logo designs respectively!
I also want to shout out Ryan Coyle for allowing us to use his Gauntlet repaint of the artwork!
So, if these cards (or any of the other beautiful prizes) take your fancy and you DON’T have you ticket yet, why not head over to The Battlefields website and pick yours up!
Don’t forget, we’ve got a Store Championship kit for the event too so there’s some official alt arts to give out and, of course, the Worlds invite!
Speaking of store kits, the Newport Store Champs tickets are now live too! The event is on Saturday the 21st of October and there are just 13 tickets left so hurry if you’re coming!
The main bit…
Right, so while I do have a game to talk about, that’s not really the main focus of today’s post.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that there was a points change two weeks ago. The majority of the X-Wing community had expected some strong things to go up in points and the odd thing to go down in points since the main reason for the points changing at all had a lot to do with the new starter kits that are now out (which is exciting in itself!!).
What we got though was HUGE.
As well as nerfing (JARGON ALERT!!) some of the undercosted/oppressive things (a little too much in some cases but we’ve come to expect that I suppose), a large number of pilots came down in points as their loadout values were slashed to compensate.
It’s an interesting move.
Just over a year ago when the change to ‘2.5’ was made, once of the observations (well, maybe a complaint?) was to do with card bloat. One of the first lists I put together had over 30 cards as AMG made a concerted effort to steer us away from generic pilots and get more of the named pilots into play.
It worked but the general feeling was that with so many cards in play it was tricky for new players to get the hang of what was going on with so many triggers to manage (and be aware of in you opponent’s list). I can’t say I disagreed. It definitely takes me several reps of a list to make sure that I even remember what the triggers are, let alone when to use them for the best outcome.
And so, in that respect, I like these changes. Less cards might feel a bit painful in terms of what each ship can contribute but I think the game benefits from it overall.
On top of that, there are the pilot changes. I think this will lead to more ships on the board or, as one Facebook post I’ve seen has pointed out, more large ships (with high health).
Immediately and without thinking too hard, you can now field THREE VCX-100’s, each having 14 health. That’s 42 health in total. Two Decimators and a Gauntlet is one I’ve also seen floating about which has 43 health AND some agility (on one ship, anyway!)
But it doesn’t stop there.
In response to a post about high health lists, Louis Leong came up with…
Corus Kapellim (3)
Wartime Loadout (2)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (2/8) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 4
Lega Fossang (3)
Wartime Loadout (2)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (2/7) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 4
Shasa Zaro (3)
R2-D2 (Resistance) (6)
Wartime Loadout (2)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (8/9) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 4
Wilsa Teshlo (4)
Shield Upgrade (8)
Wartime Loadout (2)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (10/12) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 5
C’ai Threnalli (Y-Wing) (4)
Shield Upgrade (8)
Wartime Loadout (2)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (10/10) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 5
Jarek Yeager (3)
R1-J5 (5)
Kaz’s Fireball (0)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (5/9) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 3
Total: 20
So that’s 5 Resistance Y-Wings all with Wartime Loadout to make them 9 health, Shield Upgrade on 2 of them, R2-D2 to regen 2 shields on Shasa and R1-J5 on Jarek to repair 3 (potential) damage cards. That’s 57 health. Fifty. Seven. I’m sure it isn’t a great list (and the agility clearly isnt’ great) but there’s no way you can push that much damage in a 75 minute game.
When you also think about the increased ship count, it’s likely to lead to a slight reduction in turn count as well. More ships to move, more bumps to resolve, more shots to take.
It’s certainly going to be interesting!
Full points documents are here and, as I linked last week, someone has created a very helpful and comprehensive comparison spreadsheet so you can easily see where points changed.
Enough observation and commentary though, what am I actually going to play?!
If you’ve been following my blogs lately then you’ll know I’ve been pretty enamoured with this list:
Ezra Bridger (Gauntlet Fighter) (7)
Notorious (5)
“Chopper” (Crew) (1)
Veteran Tail Gunner (3)
False Transponder Codes (3)
Nightbrother (0)
Swivel Wing (0)
Hera Syndulla (4)
Ship Cost: 7 Loadout: (16/16) Half Points: 3 Damage Threshold: 5
Magva Yarro (5)
Jyn Erso (5)
Ursa Wren (6)
Contraband Cybernetics (3)
Pivot Wing (0)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (14/14) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Saw Gerrera (5)
Hopeful (1)
The Child (7)
Leia Organa (7)
Contraband Cybernetics (3)
Pivot Wing (0)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (18/18) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Keo Venzee (3)
Crack Shot (3)
XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (4)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (7/8) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
Total: 20
This list no longer works. Well, no, that’s not quite true. Let me break it down:
- Ezra has lost 4 loadout and both Veteran Tail Gunner and Notorious got more expensive. Ezra’s pilot cost also dropped by a point.
- Magva’s loadout stayed the same but Jyn got more expensive
- Keo is unchanged but Ezra’s point drop means I have a squad point left over and Keo is the ‘weakest’ piece.
Saw remained unchanged and I actually like how he works in general despite considering changing him out for Casian for the sake of matched initiatives and his pilot ability. The loss there would be in loadout which, depending on what other options I take in the list, might not be a disaster.
It’s weird because while the list is/can be almost the same, when you start moving pieces around, it sort of leads to a complete rebuild.
So how do I go about making this legal/efficient/good again?
The answer is, I’m not quite sure. I’m not a list builder (like, at all!) and so finding things that just fit together nicely is something I find quite tricky. Still, I’m going to give it a go!
The Essentials
When it comes to a list, you sort of have to what it is that you’re trying to do with it and what exactly makes it tick.
This list wants to do a few things:
Stop.
Stop again.
Maybe stop again.
Reroll attack dice.
It’s got large/medium bases for claiming well in Assault and all ships have at least 2 agility and a defensive buff from Magva so it’s pretty survivable (which is nice for Chance). Scramble and Salvage are a little more tricky but Ezra’s free evade or focus from Nightbrother along with three of these ships being able to coordinate means that claiming/picking up objectives instead of taking a mod isn’t the end of the world.
So what enables these things?
- Leia crew
- Contraband Cybernetics
- Hera & Chopper crew
I have to keep these pieces in for the list to function like it did before.
The desirables
What can the list do with old points that I’d still like it to do?
Free mods. Saw’s Force points from The Child are often handy. Magva stays in the list anyway but her pilot ability has come into play regularly, as has Ursa Wren for the free locks. Keo has sometimes fired the Thread Tracers but not enough to make them essential.
There’s a question over Jyn crew. A U-Wing being able to take an evade has come in useful but Jyn’s increase from 5 to 7 means I could drop it if I need to points for something else.
Vetern Tail Gunner is an interesting one. Being that I generally stop with Ezra and don’t move all that much, it’s use depends on how well my stopping has worked. If I’ve jammed up my opponent’s ships in front of me then it’s useless. If something has K-turned (JARGON ALERT!!) over the top of me then it has value. Actual using has been, a mix of both.
False Transponders went in only because I found out that Contraband doesn’t combo with Chopper and they were the same points.
Ship 1 – Ezra
Look, the Gauntlet is fast becoming my favourite X-Wing ship. Between this list, my STO list and the Scum list I was flying before Christmas, it’s been almost 9 months since I regularly flew a list which didn’t have one.
Crazy.
I liked this Ezra in particular because you have a LOT of options for moving or not moving and still having tokens and actions.
As I mentioned earlier, Chopper and Hera crew are essential for this. Having Leia elsewhere in the list gives a free stop, yes, but Hera allows me to keep doing it and Chopper means I can still reinforce. Sure, it’s sometimes a bit of mental maths to work out whether I’m better off taking a damage for the reinforce but it’s not difficult. Am I being shot more than once or twice? If yes then take a damage to get reinforce. It’s likely to be better for me across the whole turn.
Notorious is tricky. It going up and Ezra’s loadout going down means that since I HAVE to have an illicit to equip it, if I value Chopper and Hera then I simply can’t afford Notorious at all. So I guess it’s not too tricky after all!
Having Hera and Chopper leaves 7 points to play with but the slots are limiting. Adding Drop Seat Bay adds another crew but since it’s 5 points that just leaves 2 points for the actual crew and playing 7 points for a 2 point crew seems stupid.
After lots of clicking on drop down lists on YASB, I came to two conclusions. It’s either Ablative Plating and Seismic Charges or it’s Veteran Tail Gunner and Tactical Scrambler.
I didn’t think bombs would work with stopping but obviously Ablative negates that. What it doesn’t negate is damage to my other ships though and so, I’m going with VTG and Tactical Scrambler.
Ezra Bridger (Gauntlet Fighter) (6)
Hera Syndulla (4)
Veteran Tail Gunner (5)
Tactical Scrambler (2)
Nightbrother (0)
Swivel Wing (0)
“Chopper” (Crew) (1)
Ship Cost: 6 Loadout: (12/12) Half Points: 3 Damage Threshold: 5
Total: 6
View in YASB 2: https://yasb.app/?f=Rebel%20Alliance&d=v9ZhZ20Z520XWW35W89WWWWW110W448W449W23&sn=Beefy%20Rebz%201.1&obs=
Ship 2 – Magva
Before picking up this list I’d not flown U-Wings a lot but I certainly do like them.
Magva brings the defensive buff to the whole list (well, as long as they’re range 0-2 of her) but what about the loadout?
Well, this basically all hangs on one thing. Do I need Jyn crew?
If I do then it’s Ursa Wren (because free locks are GREAT) and then a 1 point upgrade is all I can have. There’s not many of those and having scoured the lists, Hopeful is the best I could do.
If I don’t need Jyn then it gets more complicated. I do want Contraband which then leaves me 5 points. Having weighed up several options, I’m thinking Fire Control System (since Magva very often has locks) and then either Tactical Officer (for a white coordinate) or Tristan Wren (for hit -> crit mod for someone. And for the theme since Ursa is already on board!).
At the very least I’m willing to try this without Jyn and see how it goes.
Magva Yarro (5)
Fire-Control System (2)
Tactical Officer (3)
Ursa Wren (6)
Contraband Cybernetics (3)
Pivot Wing (0)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (14/14) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Total: 5
View in YASB 2: https://yasb.app/?f=Rebel%20Alliance&d=v9ZhZ20Z34XW113W61W439W92WW140&sn=Beefy%20Rebz%201.1&obs=
Ship 3 – Saw
Ok, this might be the simplest one. Nothing on this ship changed and so I think I’m going to just leave it as it is.
Then again, I could take off The Child and put Jyn on here instead if I find that she’s more important than I thought.
Saw Gerrera (5)
Hopeful (1)
The Child (7)
Leia Organa (7)
Contraband Cybernetics (3)
Pivot Wing (0)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (18/18) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Total: 5
View in YASB 2: https://yasb.app/?f=Rebel%20Alliance&d=v9ZhZ20Z35X378WW453W46W92WW140&sn=Beefy%20Rebz%201.1&obs=
Ship 4 – ???
Ok, this is where it gets interesting people.
Keo isn’t bad per se but I certainly never got the value from the ship that I could have. He got one-shotted a few times and in probably 50% of games didn’t fire Thread Tracers and NEVER used Crack Shot (ok, that was mostly on me for forgetting…).
An extra point changes things quite drastically. There are now a large number of 4 point options in Rebels and I have to try and figure out what fits best. Here’s what I’m thinking so far.
- Dutch Vander Y-Wing. More free locks you say? Matched initiative with Saw and maybe ordnance?
- Hera Syndulla A-Wing. Tokens ahoy but if I pick her then I’ve got to drop her as crew on Ezra.
- Corran Horn T-65. Again, more lock nonsense but also a higher initiative 3 dice gun.
- Garven Dries ARC-170. A third medium base, a chonky boy for more health and (potential) token sharing. He could take a crew too.
- A B-Wing? Gina at i5 or Netrem at i3
- A Fang? Dirk or Bodica
- A different T-65? There’s a lot of options now – Thane, BoY Jek, BoY Garven, Kulbee or Leevan.
Clearly that’s a LOT of choice.
The most straightforward of these to pick I feel is Dutch. He leans into the ‘free rerolls’ theme of the list, slightly making up for the loss of Notorious.
His loadout isn’t bad but after the ‘auto-include’ of R3 Astromech, the rest of the points aren’t so clear.
At this point I was running out of time to get my brain in gear so I figured ‘ion control’ and leaned into it. Heavily.
“Dutch” Vander (4)
Ion Cannon Turret (5)
Ion Torpedoes (4)
R3 Astromech (3)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (12/12) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Total: 4
View in YASB 2: https://yasb.app/?f=Rebel%20Alliance&d=v9ZhZ20Z27XW138W135WW4WWW&sn=Beefy%20Rebz%201.1&obs=
Final form
So, that give me this.
Ezra Bridger (Gauntlet Fighter) (6)
“Chopper” (Crew) (1)
Veteran Tail Gunner (5)
Tactical Scrambler (2)
Nightbrother (0)
Swivel Wing (0)
Hera Syndulla (4)
Ship Cost: 6 Loadout: (12/12) Half Points: 3 Damage Threshold: 5
Magva Yarro (5)
Fire-Control System (2)
Tactical Officer (3)
Ursa Wren (6)
Contraband Cybernetics (3)
Pivot Wing (0)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (14/14) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Saw Gerrera (5)
Hopeful (1)
The Child (7)
Leia Organa (7)
Contraband Cybernetics (3)
Pivot Wing (0)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (18/18) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
“Dutch” Vander (4)
Ion Cannon Turret (5)
Ion Torpedoes (4)
R3 Astromech (3)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (12/12) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Total: 20
I figured that the loss of Keo factored into how to play it in some way but alas, my time was up. I got the infinite arenas sheet printed, dug out Y-Wing components and headed down to Firestorm Games in Newport to try it out.
The (truncated) batrep… (JARGON ALERT!!)
I got down to Firestorm, unpacked my stuff and we worked out who was playing who.
I was to play against Martin who had brought a Scum list that he’d literally put together in the car on the way down (no, he wasn’t driving it!)
Bossk (6)
Predator (3)
Gamut Key (8)
BT-1 (2)
Contraband Cybernetics (3)
Hound’s Tooth (0)
Ship Cost: 6 Loadout: (16/16) Half Points: 3 Damage Threshold: 6
Fenn Rau (6)
Swarm Tactics (5)
Elusive (4)
Beskar Reinforced Plating (3)
Ship Cost: 6 Loadout: (12/12) Half Points: 3 Damage Threshold: 2
Zealous Recruit (4)
Beskar Reinforced Plating (3)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (3/5) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 2
Zealous Recruit (4)
Beskar Reinforced Plating (3)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (3/5) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 2
Total: 20
View in YASB 2: https://yasb.app/?f=Scum%20and%20Villainy&d=v9ZhZ20Z153X127WWW386WW79W92WW150Y97X132W119WW445WY102XW445Y102XW445&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron&obs=
Hmmmm…. Three squishy Fangs and a beefy Bossk. Let’s take a quick look at some Pre-Flight checks:
Scenario – Chance Engagement
Target/Objective Priority – I’d like to take out Fenn but Bossk is going to be easier to track down.
Obstacles – If I place a string of rocks along his board edge he can’t keep the small ships next to Bossk. But does he want to?
Deployment – Weirdly, despite playing an almost identical list, I stumbled here. I’ll get to that in a minute.
We place everything down and we’re ready to start.
Now, truth be told, I had no clear idea of what I was doing. Having Dutch at i3 instead of Keo at i3 threw me a bit. I kept flip-flopping on where to place because he’s higher initiative so keep him back/to the side but then thinking I want him in close to lock things so he can give out free locks.
As we planned turn 1 I decided to ignore the Zealous Recruit on my right and aim in towards Bossk.
Unfortunately, I made some range control errors and this was our first engagement.
I got some decent hits into Bossk, bringing him down to 7 hull but Martin got more into Magva, leaving her on 2 hull but with a Hull Breach AND a Fuel Leak. Ouch. One hit and she’s dead.
Then I made a big mistake.
With Fenn coming in from my flank threatening to roll 5 dice at someone, I decide to shift my focus and see if I can take him down.
Magva banks right at him while everyone else turns in his direction.
I’ve got shots from Saw and Dutch which manage to do…. 1 damage to Fenn.
Balls.
I back out of following up with Ezra and fire into Bossk with him, bringing him down to just 3 hull left (thanks to a Direct Hit) but he’s lived and so has Fenn and I’m regretting my choices.
Ezra took a hammering this turn, losing both shields and taking 4 hits to hull.
In the next turn I ionise Fenn and take out Bossk which feels like it should put me in control but it really doesn’t as Martin’s i1 Fangs punish Ezra a bit more.
I chase down the ionised Fenn but, dice are dice and he lives on 1 hull.
Magva is destroyed and the Fangs hammer Dutch for good measure before Fenn takes a blue 2 hard left and boosts into a red focus to kill Ezra while I get no shots onto Fenn.
Result: 16 – 18 loss
The conclusion…?
This is tricky. While this is a somewhat experimental list, it’s just an adjustment of one I’ve been flying for a good while.
Match up wise I think facing an i6 was tough but my failure to make a decisive choice on my target when I switched from Bossk to Fenn was my undoing. Looking back, I think that my positioning on the first engagement lost me a shot into Bossk and if I get that, I definitely go for him next time to finish him off, sacrificing a ship if necessary to the incoming Fangs. I could then have leveraged my stops to force the Fangs to either disengage by flying past me or denying mods by bumping into me.
Still, it was well played by Martin and an interesting list. He didn’t even use Gamut Key to his full advantage by double reinforcing and didn’t need the Beskar plating on the i1 Fangs!
I can’t quite decide whether I need to drop Dutch for something else or if I just need to think more about deployment and how having a slow Y-Wing that wants to be in the mix works differently from a nippy A-Wing that likes to be ignored and run objectives.
So, the big question is – stick or twist? Do I keep Dutch or look at an alternative?
If I keep Dutch then I definitely change his loadout. Not only did I forget to actually put a turret marker on the ship (and therefore forget he had the ion turret!) but doubling down on ion is just silly. Maybe something like this is better:
“Dutch” Vander (4)
Hopeful (1)
Dorsal Turret (2)
Plasma Torpedoes (5)
R3 Astromech (3)
Munitions Failsafe (1)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (12/12) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Total: 4
View in YASB 2: https://yasb.app/?f=Rebel%20Alliance&d=v9ZhZ20Z27X378W137W234WW4WWW108&sn=Beefy%20Rebz%201.1&obs=
I’ve also considered going back to an A-Wing but the choices are simultaneously wide but limited. I wonder if Tycho is worth it (despite the Composure hack being nerfed) for the i5 Tracers as a flanker/objective runner:
Tycho Celchu (4)
Elusive (4)
Hopeful (1)
Heavy Laser Cannon (5)
XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (4)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (14/14) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 2
Total: 4
View in YASB 2: https://yasb.app/?f=Rebel%20Alliance&d=v9ZhZ20Z596X119W378W10W332W&sn=Beefy%20Rebz%201.1&obs=
Or do I go with a 3 dice gun to help with damage output?
Thane Kyrell (4)
Marksmanship (1)
Concussion Missiles (5)
R4 Astromech (2)
Servomotor S-Foils (0)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (8/8) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 3
Total: 4
View in YASB 2: https://yasb.app/?f=Rebel%20Alliance&d=v9ZhZ20Z9X125W99W5W142&sn=Beefy%20Rebz%201.1&obs=
Any advice on these or any other options you think might work would be greatly appreciated!
There are possible adjustments to be made on the other ships too but I think that sorting the fourth ship is a priority first. That and seeing how much of what I feel I didn’t use was just the result of a one-off game.
Alright, that’s it from me for this week, thanks for reading!
I’m not quite sure whether there will be a post next week just yet. The house move is frustratingly unclear so just keep your eyes peeled for a post!
The outro…
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