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.
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.
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: Garven Dreis (X-Wing) 26 pts.
Special ability: After spending a Focus token, you may place that token on any friendly ship at range 1-2 (instead of discarding it).
Ability is an Action?: No.
Excels at: Support
Quick Take: Dries’ ability is fairly easy to get off, but can be a little tricky to use effectively in reality. Contextually, it can be a huge boon, otherwise, he’s basically the same as a Red Squadron Pilot with +2 Pilot Ranking for 3 more points.
The long story short here is Dries’ is a great wingman for other pilots using abilities that require them to spend their Actions on stuff besides Focusing or Target Locking. For example, a pilot using R2-F2 will love having Dreis around because they can opt to use the R2-F2 ability (which requires an action), but then receive a Focus token from Dries after he burns his own Focus token. The timing however, requires a a little planning and careful execution for it to work properly.
The thing to be cautious of here is the timing of all this- the card states when Dreis uses his Focus token, he gives it to another ship instead of discarding it. This means if he uses it in the attack portion of his turn, he can effectively only give it to a ship with a Pilot Ranking lower than his. If he uses his Focus as the result of a defense attempt, he could conceivably pass the token to a ship with a higher Pilot Ranking, but obviously this use would be hugely contextual and dependent on the opponent- basically he'd need to get shot by an opposing pilot with a higher PR, burn the token, then give it to his higher PR wingman.
Now, that being said, it's still useful even if it happens kind of late- just be careful with it and think about the order of events with regard to Pilot Ranking before you start buildling lists with Dreis being a major focal point. This is one of those pilots who I feel looks better in the vacuum of paper space than in the reality of the tabletop. Don't misunderstand- Dreis has his uses, but novice players need to be careful with him just as they need to be careful with Biggs. A certain amount of familiarity with the game needs to be in the player's arsenal before you can really use a pilot like Dreis effectively.
You can sort of mitigate all that by having Luke or Wedge use Swarm Tactics on Dreis and having him attack before them as Swarm Tactics happens at the start of the turn and it's within the rules to have the recipient of Swarm Tactics take their turn before the provider of Swarm Tactics (as they're both at the same PR at that point).
Dreis and Dutch Vander are totally BFFs (Best Friends Forever- that's for you Sean), BTW. This has gone on long enough, so I'll talk more about that when I post the article about Vander.
Elite Skills/ Upgrades: Like Biggs, Dreis does not have access to the Elite Skills, so he’s limited to droids or Torps for upgrades. R5-K6 could be somewhat useful here as Dreis wouldn’t have to spend a turn acquiring a Target Lock instead of Focusing, and ideally, he's always Focusing.
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: Mauler Mithel (TIE Fighter) 17 Pts.
Card Text: When attacking at Range 1, roll 1 additional Attack die
Ability is an Action?: No.
Excels at: Close proximity attacks
Quick Take: Mithel is perhaps the easiest to use named pilot in the game as far as making his special ability work. Most new players just fly in straight lines directly towards the opponent anyway, and Mithel supports that “tactic” quite nicely.
Elite Skills/ Upgrades: Mithel’s main problem is getting shot back at close proximity, but Determination and Expert Handling are about the only upgrades that directly help him in surviving, and they’re both kinda fair to middlin’ at providing that.
I think the best use for Mithel is right in the middle of that TIE Swarm pile so he can benefit from Howlrunner's special ability and really capitalize on throwing all those Attack dice. With that in mind, consider forgoing either of those upgrade options and throw on Swarm Tactics with the idea of buffing up some lower level pilot around him to his still formidable Pilot Rank of 7 (or acting as a relay for Howlrunner's PR 8 if you have Howlrunner equipped with Swarm Tactics as well) with the hopes of blowing whatever might shoot back out of the firmament before they have a chance to fire. Best defense is a good offense, and all that.
Aiight then, so dig this- Pilot Ranking and the way it interacts with the movement and combat phases is one of the more distinctive elements of Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures. Understanding this topic is integral to becoming a solid player.
So what is Pilot Ranking anyway?
Pilot Ranking (PR), simply put, is that orange number on your pilot cards that represents his place on the starfighter food chain, so to speak. Generally speaking, famous guys you've heard of from the movies have high PRs, while generic nobodies have low PRs.
In Wave 1, Vader and Wedge have the highest Pilot Rankings for the Imperials and Rebels, respectively. Past that, as pilots become cheaper, their PR drops until it bottoms out with Academy Pilot for the Imperials with a PR of 1 and the Rookie Pilot for the Rebels with a PR of 2.
What does it mean and why do I care?
Unlike some miniatures games, X-Wing doesn't use a "you go, now I go" type system for handling movement and combat. While lots of miniatures games separate the movement and combat portions of the game turn, X-Wing not only separates them, but also reverses the order in which they occur. The order in which you move your ships and your opponent moves his depends entirely on those ships PR.
Once movement is complete and the Combat Phase of the game turn begins, PR once again determines what ships fires first, next, last, and everyone else in between. As this mechanic is unlike anything else I've encountered in a miniatures game, it's important to take a closer look to gain some understanding and hopefully insight.
Pilot Ranking and Movement
In the Movement Phase portion of the game turn, after players have assigned movements to all of their ships on their ship dials, the ship with the lowest PR has its movement dial revealed first. The owning player then pulls the appropriate template, and moves the ship (and declares an Action, if appropriate- i.e. he didn't collide with anything, etc.). If there are no other ships with the same PR, then the ship with the next lowest PR has it's dial revealed and is then moved (and declares an Action if appropriate). The process repeats until all the ships have been moved.
So stop and take a look at what's happening here, or perhaps more importantly, what's not happening here. Notice I didn't say one of the players moves all of their ships then the other player moves all of his, nor did I say the lowest PR ship moves, then the other guy moves a ship, then it goes back to the first player, then the second. There's no alternating units for movement in this game- movement is strictly based upon the PR of the ship. If one player had a bunch of Academy Pilots (PR of 1) and his opponent had a squadron consisting of Luke (PR 8), Wedge (PR 9), and Horton Salm (PR 8), every single one of those Academy TIEs would move before any of the Rebels.
Now, you may be thinking, "Hey, that's kind of messed up- why would bad pilots move before good pilots? Isn't that kind of favoring the bad pilots?"
The answer? No.
The reason? Actions are declared immediately after the ship moves. And declaring an Action is ( or should be, anyway) highly contextual.
Moving late in the Movement Phase (which high PR pilots do), allows you to not only see more of everyone's final placement just before the Combat begins, but also which Actions the ships have taken so you're not guessing or hedging your bets nearly as much with a high PR pilot when you select your Action.
(I know, I know, there's people out there who take low PR ships and try to run them into yours to block you and blah, blah, blah, so there's a school of thought that says a high PR is actually a disadvantage. Make like Public Enemy and Don't Believe The Hype. If you're so bad at movement that you're telegraphing your maneuvers to the point where your opponent can do that, it isn't the Pilot Ranking game mechanic's fault- it's yours. It's like being mad at the dice because you can't hit anything. Get a new tactic besides screaming forward in a straight line at max speed after deploying in a pile in the middle of your deployment zone right up against the forward edge, feel me? )
Initiative in the Movement Phase
If two (or more) ships have the same PR, the ship belonging to the faction with Initiative moves before the ship that does not have Initiative. This holds true for the deployment phase of things too. I know- seems a little bass ackwards, but trust me- I just looked it up to be sure.
Also, if a faction possesses multiple ships with the same PR, they may be moved in any order the controlling player wishes to move them. If you're having trouble moving your ships without running into each other and costing yourself actions, try playing a couple of games with ships that all have the same PR value until you get it together. Don't laugh! I did this for two or three games and damn near showed up to the Kessel Run Tournament with 4 Red Squadron X-Wings for this very reason!
Pilot Ranking and Combat
Once the Combat Phase starts, everything reverses order and goes from highest PR to lowest PR. So your Wedges and your Vaders attack first, then your Lukes and your Howlrunners, and so on, again from the ships with the highest PR to the lowest. Now the ace pilots really reap the benefits of their high PR getting to shoot first and ask questions later, or something like that.
Main point here is this- your high PR pilots definitely have the opportunity to take out the lower PR pilots before those cats even get to fire a shot.
As a side note, this is why Swarm Tactics is such a massively useful Elite Pilot Skill- being able to boost up some Rookie or Academy Pilot to a PR of 8 or 9 makes a huge difference in their effectiveness as you'd expect.
Initiative in the Combat Phase
As you probably remember from your rule book, the Imperials have Initiative by default if the players both have rosters of the same size point-wise, but if one player has less, then he has the Initiative.
So what good is Initiative in the Combat Phase?
If two ships have the same PR and shoot each other, their attacks are considered to be occurring simultaneously, even though in real life, you probably aren't actually rolling all the necessary dice at the same time, so it's totally possible both ships blast each other out of the firmament.
The only thing Initiative is good for in the Combat Phase is this- if an attacking ship with initiative inflicts a Critical Hit on the defending ship, the effects of that Crit happen before that ship without initiative rolls its dice to attack. Because of this rule, if two ships with the same PR are attacking each other, the ship belonging to the faction with Initiative should always roll his attack dice first.
Wow, sounds important huh?
Yeah, it really kind of isn't. I'm not saying it's 3,720 to 1 unlikely to happen, but it's pretty close. When you read that, it kind of sounds like a big deal, but the reality is a lot of stuff has to line up in conjunction for the above scenario to play out, so don't get too obsessed over it. If you're stressing over spending your 98th point on Determination (1) so you can come in at 99 and hopefully get Initiative from your buddy who always makes 100 point lists right on the nose or Swarm Tactics (2) and coming in right at 100, for Christ's sake- get Swarm Tactics instead.
In Conclusion
PR can be hard to get your head around because the stuff you move first shoots last and vice versa. I don't know about you, but I've never played a game where you effectively have a snake draft when activating your units. It takes awhile to get used to. It really does. I find that mastering how PR works is the first step in going from a total novice beginner to an intermediate player. Take heart in the fact it is something you get better at the more you do it, and once you've got it down, it's totally not a big deal.
As always, shut down the 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: Biggs Darklighter (X-Wing) 25 pts.
Card Text: Other friendly ships at Range 1 cannot be targeted by attacks if the attacker could target you instead
Ability is an Action?: No.
Excels at: Tanking for more valuable ships, disrupting enemy plans
Quick Take: Biggs is a choice for a more advanced player of X-Wing as the effect of his special ability can be quite dangerous in the hands of someone who doesn’t understand how to use him properly. Not for beginners, definitely, but great for drawing heat away from Wedge especially or other named pilots who get keyed on for their special abilities. Also great to pull out on veteran players who have established game plans and tactics from which they rarely deviate- Biggs can be a game-changer in that regard. Just don’t fly him right down the middle into a swarm of TIEs, roll him down a flank and cheat in to take away shots that would otherwise be focusing on other ships.
Elite Skills/ Upgrades: Obviously any droid that mitigates damage, but which one? Ideally, if you feel can control/ limit the attacks against Biggs through effective movement, I think R2-D2 is the way to go as just by doing green maneuvers you'll gain back a shield every turn. If you'd rather spend Biggs' movement phase considering how best to kite the Imperials fire away from another Rebel Pilot, R5-D8 might be the better choice, as he can get rid of the face down damage cards you're likely to pile up. Just remember the droid's ability is an Action where R2-D2's is just a free thing that happens. It really just boils down to your playstyle and what works for you. If you want to play Biggs somewhat offensively where he'll be using his Actions on Target Locks and Focuses, then you should probably go for R2-D2. If you're playing him solely as a bullet magnet, by all means, take R5-D8.
Biggs does not have access to Elite Skills, so the rest is a moot point.
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: Dark Curse (TIE Fighter) 16 Pts.
Card Text: When defending, ships attacking you cannot spend Focus tokens or reroll attack dice.
Ability is an Action?: No.
Excels at: Surviving
Quick Take: Remember when you first got your X-Wing Core Set and you played under the Quickstart rules? Remember how hard it was to score hits on a ship, let alone kill one because the Action phase was omitted from the game and you couldn't Focus your rolls? Dark Curse is sorta like that.
Does Marksmanship, Proton Torpedoes, etc. still work on him? Yeah, sure. Anything that automatically changes a die without rolling will still do a number on Dark Curse, but not all ships carry those types of upgrades and if you can keep Dark Curse away from them, he’s a pretty tough nut to crack. As you should always be performing Evades unless you’re Barrel Rolling, try to fly him near Howlrunner to get an attack buff or near somebody with Squad Leader. His damage output isn’t as great as some of the other named pilot TIEs, but he’s hard to kill and if you can make him a particularly annoying thorn in the opponent’s side, they’ll waste time, Actions, and attack dice trying to kill him instead of other more important or dangerous ships like Vader or Howlrunner.
Elite Skills/ Upgrades: None.
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: Luke Skywalker (X-Wing) 29 Pts.
Card Text: When defending, you may change one <Focus> result to an <Evade> result.
Ability is an Action?: No.
Excels at: Staying Alive
Quick Take: Similar to Wedge in Pilot Rank and points cost, but fairly dissimilar in usage and application. Luke is great for players who have trouble keeping their pilots alive long enough to be effective while still being simple and straightforward to use. His ability doesn’t require an action and is in effect on every defensive roll. Adding a droid to Luke is a good way to keep him in the game even longer of course but, R2-D2 on Luke is considered overkill by most.
Luke really shines as a ship who acts more as a force multiplier to those around him. Don’t expect him to mow down the opposition- that’s more Wedge’s job. That said, don't underestimate him either just because he doesn't statistically one-shot opposing TIEs- he is flying an X-Wing after all.
Elite Skills/ Upgrades: Luke with Swarm Tactics is a good combo for the same reason as it is good for Wedge as is Squad Leader. In my opinion, either of these skills on Luke is actually more efficient for the points than Wedge as you can plunge Luke more into the thick of the fighting and worry less about him being destroyed right off the bat than Wedge (not to mention opponents tend to key on him less). Because of that, he can worry less about enemy firing arcs and worry more about staying close to his buddies, continuing to bestow Swarm Tactics or Squad Leader.
Don't misunderstand what I'm saying here- Skywalker can be something of a bullet magnet against a more experienced opponent or if you only have no-names for the rest of your squadron, but he's a more difficult bullet magnet to kill than Wedge and there seems to be kind of a meta vibe around Luke that he's not that great. I've had opponents put a higher priority on killing some no-name Y-Wing than Luke with Swarm Tactics. You can definitely use that to your advantage. I often pair him up with R2-F2 if I have the points as that extra die R2-F2 bestows is just one more die for me to roll a Focus result on with Luke's ability.
I've also found that flying a Rookie close enough behind Luke to benefit from Swarm Tactics in a split-deployment type setup is plenty rough enough to cause some major headaches for the other side of the table.
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: Howlrunner (TIE Fighter) 18 Pts.
Card Text: When another friendly ship at Range 1 is attacking with its primary weapon, it may reroll 1 attack die.
Ability is an Action?: No.
Excels at: Buffing everyone within Range 1 of her
Quick Take: Howlrunner is a big reason why the TIE swarm became such a popular build in Wave 1. Any ship within Range 1 of Howlie gets to re-roll one attack die; doesn’t matter if that’s one ship or five ships- if they’re in Range 1 of her, they’re good.
Now, you’re going to want to practice flying in formation and stuff so you’re not colliding all over the place and losing out on a bunch of actions, but even if you slip up, as her ability isn’t an action, you don’t really have to worry so much.
As for actions, Evade, Evade, Evade. Keep that girl alive if at all possible. Also it may be worth noting that the reroll isn’t valid for Howlrunner herself.
Elite Skills/ Upgrades: Ah! Not only do you get a great Area of Effect style buff, Howlie can also take Elite Skills! Swarm Tactics is obvious to exploit her PR of 8, but I think folks ought to also consider Expert Handling on Howlie as she’s such a high priority target- especially if they're already running another high Pilot Rank TIE with Swarm Tactics in their list.
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: Backstabber (TIE Fighter) 16 Pts.
Card Text: When attacking outside the defender’s’ firing arc, roll 1 additional attack die.
Ability is an Action?: No.
Excels at: Attacking
Quick Take: Most folks run TIEs straight at their opponents to get into Range 1 to help compensate for only having 2 attack dice. While Backstabber can do this, and does it very well getting a massive 4 attack dice if still managing to stay out of his target’s firing arc at Range 1, I think perhaps a more important use for Backstabber is to provide some more long range fire support- something missing in the Wave 1 Imperial arsenal. For whatever reason, a lot of folks don’t seem to realize that Backstabber’s ability works regardless of range, so from an attacking perspective, he’s more or less an X-Wing so long as he’s outside his target’s firing arc, which when you've got as many moves as a TIE fighter, shouldn't be that hard.
Flying Backstabber on flanks where he can more properly exploit his special ability is a great move. Pairing him up with Vader as the rovers accompanying a TIE pile supported by Howlrunner is the basis of a great Imp swarm list.
Elite Skills/ Upgrades: None.
