Heroes of the Resistance isn't the slam-dunk best first expansion

When new players ask what Rebel expansions they should buy first on Reddit, someone will inevitably suggest Heroes of the Resistance. There's few ways to go wrong with a first expansion, and Heroes of the Resistance is definitely OK. As a two-ship combo, it's $5-$10 cheaper than buying the Millennium Falcon and another small ship separately. It's also a great expansion for fans of The Force Awakens.

However, Heroes of the Resistance isn't the slam-dunk best first purchase many people think it is. When I wrote the Beginner's Guide to Budget Lists Without Proxies, I expected Heroes of the Resistance to feature prominently in Rebel lists. Two lists ended up using pilots from Heroes of the Resistance. In comparison, four Imperial lists featured ships from Imperial Veterans. No list used both the T-70 and the YT-1300 from Heroes of the Resistance.

Why did that happen? Well, I ran into two problems. First, the expansion comes with a lot of niche pilots. Rey, Poe Dameron, Nien Nunb, and Jess Pava (<3) are all good. However, the new Han Solo and Chewbacca are both overshadowed by their original counterparts. HotR Han Solo has a gimmicky ability, and new players especially will get more use from the original Han Solo. HotR Chewbacca has awful synergy with the mandatory Gunner, and needs a larger collection of small ships to get the most out of his ability. There's a strong set of X-Wing pilots, but starting with Heroes of the Resistance almost commits you to flying a two-ship list with the Falcon and a small ship. New players would get a similar experience using the Poe Dameron which comes with the Blue Core Set and possibly buying a different small ship expansion for variety.

Second, the strong Heroes of the Resistance pilots require a lot of upgrades from other expansions to work. Gunner effects are almost mandatory on the YT-1300, and those come in other big ship expansions. Rey can use Finn instead of Gunner, but she needs Kanan Jarrus crew (from the Ghost) to consistently get opponents in arc. On the X-Wing side, they often need elite pilot talent and astromech upgrades from various other expansions to get their value. Even the generic T-70 pilots want cheap astromechs from other expansions.

In comparison, the original Millennium Falcon expansion gives players the same experience and comes with everything the ship needs. You can run Han Solo with Veteran Instincts, Luke Skywalker crew, the original Millennium Falcon title, and Engine Upgrade just from the expansion alone. You're missing C-3PO or Hotshot Co-Pilot, but this build gets enough value out of the investment. Pair it with Miranda in her K-Wing with the Twin Laser Turret upgrade and you have the cheapest strong budget list along with some of the most important upgrades to expand from.

Heroes of the Resistance gets better for those willing to proxy upgrade cards. Rey Poe can compete against most squads. On the other hand, this Chewie Poe list gets you a similar experience for $10 less (assuming you have the Blue Core set), and there are tons of other non-Falcon options once you can proxy cards.

Buying Heroes of the Resistance shouldn't give you buyer's remorse (unless X-Wing wasn't the game for you). It's a great expansion for your collection! For new Rebel players looking for the best bang for their buck, the Millennium Falcon is the best bet for a turreted ship, and Rebel Aces is the best bet non-turreted ships.

[List] The Other Hero of the Resistance (3XZ)

The spoilers for the Heroes of the Resistance expansion kicked up a lot of excitement. Rey, PS9 Poe, and Nien Nunb were the early stars. The new Han Solo and Snap Wexley cards had people mulling over the possibilities. Many were even excited by the generic YT-1300 pilot.

My favorite pilot of the set flew under the radar. My first love in X-Wing is 4-ship Rebels: a no-frills ace that won't break the bank, two efficient damage-dealers, and a cheap blocker. I'm especially fond of ~24-point ships with a better attack than 3 dice with focus, like B-Wings with Fire-Control System or Y-Wings with Twin Laser Turret. So, my favorite pilot of the set wasn't Rey. It wasn't PS9 Poe and it wasn't Nien Nunb. It wasn't Han Solo or Snap Wexley or the Resistance Sympathizer.

It was Jess Pava.



(I'm sorry, Chewbacca.)

Jess's ability is like target lock. She gets focus and target lock every turn while flying near her friends, and doesn't have to deal with not having target lock when switching targets or in the first round of combat. Even better, she gets to reroll dice on defense. At 25 points before upgrades, she can (barely) fit into a 4-ship Rebels squad as an efficient damage dealer.

But Jess has a big problem. Running her makes target selection for your opponent really easy. Leave Jess for last, and she loses her slick princess magic and turns into a scruffy Blue Squadron Novice with a pumpkin. She might never even get the chance to show off her fancy evasive maneuvers and reroll a green die.

To get the most out of Jess, you need a build and a list which convinces your opponent to shoot Jess first. Pairing Jess with a B-Wing or Y-Wing isn't ideal because your opponent will just kill them first. You especially don't want to run her with Biggs! (Bad, FFG preview! Bad!) You want Jess to be your Biggs.

So, I gave Jess R3-A2, the most threatening droid in the game. The stressbot single-handedly shuts down some pilots and greatly inconveniences others. It's not great for Jess since it stops her from turning around and forces her to do predictable greens, but it'll usually be just as annoying for your opponent. The stressbot paints a big target on Jess's back.

I needed a second ~25-point ship with a strong attack who opponents won't want to shoot. After seeing it on Reddit, I chose another new Heroes of the Resistance build: Tarn Mison with M9-G8. Tarn gets a free target lock on any ship which shoots him. If the opponent decides to go after Tarn first, he'll have to reroll an attack die on each ship, then Tarn gets to shoot back with the target lock. In the meantime, he'll have a target lock on a friendly ship to boost their attack.

These ships are more expensive than the usual 24- to 26-point Y-Wings and B-Wings that go in 4-ship Rebel builds. Unfortunately, there was only enough points left for a Z-95 and a 35-point Poe Dameron without Autothrusters. You can either go with Adaptability + R2-D2 or Veteran Instincts + R5-P9 on Poe. I like the higher pilot skill and the option to use white maneuvers, so I went with R5-P9. With the increasing popularity of Hotshot Co-Pilot, R2-D2 might be the better choice.

That gets us to the list:

3XZ

• (35pts) T-70 X-Wing, Poe Dameron (PS 8): Veteran Instincts, R5-P9, Integrated Astromech
• (27pts) T-70 X-Wing, Jess Pava: R3-A2, Integrated Astromech
• (26pts) X-Wing, Tarn Mison: M9-G8, Integrated Astromech
• (12pts) Z-95, Bandit Squadron Pilot

I think this list is cool not just because it has 4 ships and has good action efficiency, but also because it makes it really hard for your opponent to choose the right target. You don't want to shoot Poe first because he'll just run away and regen. You don't want to shoot Jess first because she's tankier with rerolls on defense. You don't want to shoot Tarn first because he'll make you reroll your hits and you'll give him a free target lock to shoot you back with. You don't want to shoot the Z-95 first for obvious reasons. Meanwhile, Jess keeps shooting and stressing your ships, Tarn keeps buffing Poe, and the Z-95 blocks and adds the occasional damage. The M9-G8 Poe synergy is amazing,  almost doubling the chances of 3 hits without spending focus.

I think this list is reasonably strong. I've beaten Dengaroo with it (kill Manaroo first). It has trouble with TIE Defenders and it doesn't like Hotshot Co-Pilot. If I had to take this to Regionals today, I'd swap Miranda with Twin Laser Turret for Poe. If you take this to a tournament, let me know how it goes!

Something I hope you take away from this is you don't have to invent everything to build creative lists. This is the most interesting list I've built so far; maybe it'll be the most interesting list I'll ever build. And yet, I only came up with one ship on my own. I saw the Tarn Mison build on Reddit, Poe's build is standard at its price point, and the generic Z-95 has been used a million times. I even took the structure of this list from an existing archetype. It's much easier to build cool and strong lists if you can draw on a library of ship builds and archetype templates which are known to be effective. (Want to build this library for yourself? Look up top lists at tournaments and see what ships/squads show up.) The magic can come from putting the ships together in just the right combination with just the right tweak in upgrades.

Beginner's Guide to Deploying Tight Formations

If you're flying low-pilot skill ships with limited maneuverability or a swarm of cheap ships, you'll usually want to deploy your ships in a tight formation. Flying ships in a tight formation isn't too hard and is often easier than flying them individually, but it does require knowing a few tricks to avoid bumping into yourself.

There are many resources on deployment, maneuvering, and flying in formation, including these:

• Earning Your Wings
• The Metal Bikini's Maneuvering as a Formation 1 2 3
• Stay on the Leader's Flight School 101 1 2
• Paul Heaver's Turn Zero 1 2

They're great resources, but I want to give you some easy-to-remember deployments to get you flying in formation quickly. I'll also discuss some general deployment principles below.

If you just want one formation to get you started, Formation 1 is what I use most often.

Formations

Measurement

I'll use distances based on the straight templates. Distance 1 means the length of the 1-straight maneuver template, distance 2 means the length of the 2-straight maneuver template, and so on. Distance 1/2 is the width of any straight maneuver template. Small ship bases are 1 by 1 and large ship bases are 2 by 2 (not counting nubs).

If I refer to ship bases, it's distance 1 for small ships and distance 2 for large ships.



Formation 1: deploy your ships in a grid half of the ship-base apart.

If you only want to remember one formation, this is it. This lets you perform the same maneuver on all of your ships without bumping.



This works for both small- and large-base ships. For small ships, you need to deploy them distance 1/2 away from each other. Use the width of the straight maneuver templates to space your ships out. For large ships, you need to deploy them distance 1 away from each other.

When playing with the physical miniatures instead of online, your ships will get nudged and the maneuver templates are slightly imprecise. Over time, it can take your ships out of formation and cause bumps. The large ships should be fine, but the small ships can be quite sensitive to this. You can't space out the small ships more vertically since the deployment zone is 2.5 small ship-bases in width, but you can slightly shift the alignment of the front or back row to give the corners more space on the banks.

You can use this principle with as few as two small ships. For three ships, some players like to deploy them in a line while others like to deploy one ship behind another. For four ships, some players like to form a block while others like to make a Tetris "T" or "L" shape. You can experiment with the different shapes as long as you space your small ships distance 1/2 apart.

If you have both small ships and large ships, deploying them distance 1 apart will let you perform the same maneuver without bumping. However, this usually isn't the best option since the small ships move slower than large ships when performing the same speed maneuver. You'll usually want to deploy the ships distance 1/2 apart and perform maneuvers 1-speed faster with the small ships (see Formation 3).


Formation 2: With small ships, align the outside of the nub on one ship with the opposite edge on the front/back ship.

This formation also lets you perform the same maneuver on all of your ships without bumping.

Be generous when lining up the outside of the nub with the edge. If you line up the edge against the nub, your back ships can run into your front ships when doing a straight maneuver after a bank maneuver. You may want to add a bit more space between ships and between the nub and ship edge when playing with the physical miniatures to account for any nudges or imprecise maneuvers.

This formation is useful when you want a vertically-compact formation for small ships at the cost of being more spread-out horizontally. If you deploy in the corner, the sixth ship will run into asteroids placed at range 2 from the board edge.

The pinwheel formation is a slightly tighter variation of this. Line up the back ship's nub against the opposite nub of the front ship:

Formation 3: In mixed small/large ship squads, deploy your ships distance 1/2 apart. Your small ships must be against the front or back edge of the deployment zone.

Your small ships must perform maneuvers 1 speed faster than your large ships to avoid bumping.



Again, you may want to slightly offset the small ships to give yourself more tolerance for nudges and imprecise maneuvers when playing with physical miniatures.

Since large ships move faster, you generally perform maneuvers 1 speed faster with small ships to keep up. This formation lets you do just that while keeping your ships in formation and is tighter than spacing your ships distance 1 apart.

If you want to perform the same speed maneuver with your small and large ships, they need to be deployed distance 1 apart.


Formation 4: Deploy one large ship on front edge of deployment zone facing forward. Deploy another ship on back edge of deployment zone distance 1 away facing the first ship.

If both are big ships, your first maneuver will be a 3-straight with the forward ship and a 2-hard turn with the back ship. This formation lets you fly one ship behind the other and do the same maneuver on both ships without bumping.

   

You can use Formation 1 and deploy two large ships distance 1 apart facing the same direction, but that takes up a lot of room horizontally. You might have trouble navigating past asteroids between your ships, and the inside ship may have to turn toward the board edge to engage enemy ships. This formation saves space horizontally and puts both of your ships near the board edge. The back ship will almost always be 1 range farther, which can be good or bad depending on your list and the target.


If the back ship is a small ship, your first maneuver will be a 2-straight with the big ship and a 3-turn with the small ship.

   

It tucks the small ship behind the big ship and is often used if you have Tactical Jammers on the big ship. If you want to keep this formation, have the small ship perform maneuvers 1-speed faster than the big ship.

As a variation, you can deploy the forward-facing ship touching the side-facing ship instead of distance 1 apart. If you do this with the side-facing ship facing the board edge, make sure your side-facing ship is at least distance 3 away from the board edge so its turn will fit.



General Deployment Principles

Why not deploy ships right next to each other?

Imagine deploying your ships side by side. They each take up 1 ship base in width. After a bank, they've turned 45 degrees. As we learned in high school, the diagonal is ~1.4x the ship's width so your ships won't fit. (You also won't be able to do hard turns because there won't be room for the nubs.)

There may be cases where you'd want to deploy ships right next to each other, but it'll be harder to fly them close together without bumping.


Why deploy your ships in a tight formation?

Focusing your fire on one enemy ship is very important in this game. It reduces the damage you take by killing enemy ships faster, and it's often the only reliable way to push damage through on tokened-up evasive ships. If you spread your ships out, there's a risk your opponent will rush down an isolated ship before your other ships can help it. It's also easier to fly your ships in formation as one "super-large" ship rather than fly your ships independently.

That said, there are reasons why you'd spread your ships out. For example, suppose you have a high-pilot skill ace with your group of jousting ships. If your ace deploys last and your jousters are deployed opposite to your opponent, you can deploy your ace in a flanking position to make it harder for your opponent to focus it down. This is especially true if your ace relies on avoiding enemy firing arcs; these ships don't want to be too close to your other ships. You may also have to spread your ships out if your game plan relies on killing one specific enemy ship first.

Keep in mind these formations are for deployment and pre-engagement moves. You may want to split ships off to block in the initial engagement, and your formation will inevitably break apart after the first turn or two of engagement.


Why deploy in the corner?

You usually want to deploy in the corner for two reasons. First, it limits the directions your opponent can attack you from. You'll be able to cover most flanking options by either banking or hard turning. Second, it limits your opponent's options after the initial engagement. Suppose you deployed in the corner while your opponent deployed in the center. After your opponent's ships turn to face yours, they'll be facing the board edge and many not be able to safely K-Turn.

There are cases where you'd want to deploy near the middle of the board. The flanking ships mentioned above will usually go near the middle of the board. In general, deploying highly-maneuverable aces gives them more room to play with, although you'll still often see them deployed in a corner.

You'll usually want to deploy in the middle if you have to deploy first and your opponent's squad is better at jousting than yours. Deploying in a corner means your opponent can deploy across from you and force a joust away from obstacles, while deploying in the middle brings the obstacles into play. (If you deploy after them, you have the option to deploy in the far corner.)

Lastly, deploying near the middle makes sense if you're playing against a list where you have to kill one ship first, especially if you have to deploy first. Deploying in the middle usually makes it easier to hunt that ship down, while deploying in a corner lets your target hide in or run to the opposite corner.

Deploy your low-pilot skill ships in front and toward the side you'll be turning.

If you put the low-pilot skill ships behind your high-pilot skill ships, you won't be able to do 1-speed maneuvers without bumping your own ships. There are some good reasons to put low-pilot skill ships behind high-pilot skill ships, usually to hide important ships or for the option to bump your own ship to block certain maneuvers. For convenience, you'll normally put your low-pilot skill ships in front and on the side you'll be turning towards.


Closing

These formations and principles are useful to know for your first games flying in a tight formation, and you'll probably use some variation of these in many of your future games. The best deployment will change based on what squad you and your opponent is running and on the obstacle placement. Don't be afraid to experiment with other formations and deployments! It's said that obstacle placement, deployment, and initial maneuvers can be as much as 33% of the skill in X-Wing, so this is a good thing to think about and practice.

The good news is deployment and initial maneuvers are relatively easy to practice. Set up some rocks in common places (e.g. range 2 x range 2, range 3 x range 3, or in the middle of the board) and see what maneuvers you can do while avoiding them. Pretend you're facing a common list and see if you can handle several different deployments (e.g. across from you, in opposite corner) and initial maneuvers (e.g. turn away, go straight, turn towards you, going fast, going slow).

I use VASSAL (X-Wing module here) to practice deployment and initial maneuvers; you can find a tutorial here or on YouTube. You can also use X-Wing Squadron Benchmark. For initial maneuvers, you should understand the Rule of 11 (here called the Rule of 10:16)

Good luck and good flying! Please let me know if you have any other simple and useful formations.

How Good is Kylo Ren Crew?

Wave 10 hasn't released yet, but there's already concern that the new Kylo Ren crew will be too strong on Rear Admiral Chiraneau. Kylo Ren lets you choose which critical damage card an enemy ship takes, although the chosen damage card has to have the Pilot trait. If you roll a critical result when attacking the enemy ship and it's not evaded, you deal the chosen damage card face up even if the enemy ship has shields remaining.



The strength of Kylo Ren depends on the strength of the Pilot critical hits. They include:

• Blinded Pilot (old and new). The old one causes your next shot to miss, while the new one prevents you from taking your first shot next round. Probably the best all-round Pilot damage card to pull with Kylo Ren.
• Injured Pilot (old). Removes your pilot ability and Elite Pilot Talent. Can be incredibly strong, "merely" good, or useless.
• Damaged Cockpit (old and new). Sets your pilot skill to 0. Very strong against high-PS arc-dodgers, not very useful against other ships.
• Stunned Pilot (old and new). Take damage when bumping. Situational, but can be strong.
• Shaken Pilot (new). Can't do a straight maneuver next turn. Very situational.

The most powerful use of Kylo Ren is dealing Blinded Pilot cards to prevent a ship from shooting for up to two turns and/or dealing a Damaged Cockpit/Injured Pilot cards to cripple aces. Kylo Ren is also good for sticking damage on Regen ships like Poe, and as a threat against two-hull ships with shields like Corran Horn, Whisper, and the Inquisitor.

On the other hand, upgrade cards that take your action have a high bar to clear. Players often forget the default actions are very strong. Is using Kylo Ren's ability really better than taking Target Lock? After all, killing the enemy ship a round earlier is like preventing a shot with Blinded Pilot while getting an extra shot from your ship. Do the early critical hits make up for the loss in damage output?

Experiment

To answer this question, I run a simple duel between two Rear Admiral Chiraneaus, one with Kylo Ren and one with Ysanne Isard. Both ships have their common build with Gunner, Hotshot Co-Pilot, Veteran Instincts, and Engine Upgrade. I assume combat always happens at Range 2 to make things a bit easier. To be generous, I assume the Kylo Ren Decimator has initiative and shoots first (it technically has the 1-point initiative bid).

This isn't a perfect test. The true measure of a ship's strength is how well they fare against many different 100-point lists, not against a similar ship in a duel. Still, this is a useful way to benchmark Kylo Ren's power, especially because it's strongest against big expensive ships. I'll discuss other factors to consider below. Ysanne Isard costs one extra point, so we'd expect it to be slightly stronger.

I run the numbers for both damage decks. In the first scenario, the Ysanne Isard Decimator brings the new damage deck. Here, Kylo Ren wants to pull two Blinded Pilot (new) cards and a Damaged Cockpit. It takes Target Lock every round afterwards.

In the second scenario, the Ysanne Isard Decimator brings the old damage deck. Blinded Pilot (old) is negated by Gunner, so Kylo Ren only pulls an Injured Pilot critical hit to eliminate Chiraneau's ability and Veteran Instincts. He'll then take Target Lock every round.

Since there's a 31% chance a Decimator will keep its target lock, I let the Kylo Ren Decimator have focus and target lock every third round it takes target lock.

Results

I use the excellent X-Wing Probability Calculator to get these damage numbers. Please note the Round 5 end HP numbers are repeated after the line break.

The ships are pretty even with the new damage deck. Ysanne Isard ends up doing more damage, but Kylo Ren has the pilot skill advantage. Target lock's extra damage and Ysanne Isard's free evade eventually outstrips the two missed rounds of shooting and the lower pilot skill. Using the original damage deck widens the gap to give the Ysanne Isard Decimator a comfortable lead.

Other Considerations

With this in mind, there's a few things missing from this analysis which helps Kylo Ren:

1. Kylo Ren defends your whole list while Ysanne Isard only defends the Decimator.
2. Kylo Ren is front-loaded while Ysanne Isard needs time to take effect. In general, the first rounds of shooting are often more influential. In this duel, the Kylo Ren Decimator can deal a crippling critical hit earlier.
3. Kylo Ren is stronger against ships with very strong attacks (e.g. the Ghost). You avoid a stronger attack, and Ysanne Isard loses value when the Decimator dies faster.
4. Kylo Ren goes through shields, so it's stronger against regeneration and evasive ships with shields.
5. The Kylo Ren Decimator could take target lock every round and only use the Kylo Ren ability when he keeps the target lock from the previous round (31% chance of not needing it). I think this improves his damage output slightly. It might be enough to nudge him ahead, but it seems contrived and negates the front-loaded benefit of Kylo Ren.

And here's a few points against Kylo Ren:

1. You can also boost and use Ysanne Isard, but Kylo Ren takes your action. Boosting can often prevent a shot just like Blinded Pilot would.
2. The Blinded Pilot critical hit (new deck) is wasted if the enemy ship didn't have a shot this round.
3. You have to shoot the ship with the strong attack to make use of Kylo Ren. For example, you may want to kill a Lambda Shuttle with Emperor Palpatine first, but need to shoot and hit Countess Ryad to defend against her attack.
4. Kylo Ren is much worse at Range 3 where Chiraneau's ability doesn't work. You only have a 37.5% chance of rolling at least one natural critical result.
5. The chance of at least one critical result at range 2 is 77% with Chiraneau's ability. Kylo Ren won't work about 1 in 4 times even with no green dice. Granted, the condition does stick around until used.

Conclusions

Overall, this analysis shows Kylo Ren crew is roughly comparable to other options around his point cost. Kylo Ren is 1 point cheaper and comes out roughly even with Ysanne Isard. That feels OK since Ysanne Isard isn't a top-tier upgrade. Kylo Ren looks strong, but I'm not ready to say he's overpowered until the tournament results come in. I'm not even ready to say he'll drive archetypes out of the meta.

There's two general lessons to draw from this. First, the default actions are very strong, and most ships can only take 1 action per round. It takes a truly powerful ability to be worthwhile over the "boring" actions you already have like focus and target lock. Engine Upgrade on big ships with turrets is one example. Black Market Slicer Tools is another.

Second, when you can, you should run the math before saying something's too strong. The X-Wing Probability Calculator makes it easy to run the numbers and see exactly how strong a ship/upgrade is. Or don't run the numbers, post on reddit, and give me more material for this blog :).

[List] The Peasant Swarm

Once upon a time, an X-Wing player longed to fly TIE Swarms. Flying TIE Swarms was a noble pursuit, and the X-Wing player knew it'd be a long journey of fun practice and hilarious mistakes before they'd become a TIE Swarm guru.

Sadly, the X-Wing player didn't think they'd ever fly a TIE swarm, much less become a TIE Swarm guru. Without any duplicate expansions, they only had five TIE Fighters and three Crack Shots. They could not build the popular TIE Swarms or crack the defenses of skilled ace pilots. Their dream of becoming a TIE swarm guru would stay a dream.

But one day, the X-Wing player had a realization which filled them with hope. "Omega Leader with Juke and Comm Relay works like Crack Shot," they thought. "I can use Omega Leader to take down ace pilots!" And so, the Peasant Swarm was born, and the X-Wing player started down the path of fun practice and hilarious mistakes in pursuit of one day becoming a TIE Swarm guru.

Don't let your dreams be dreams. Fly the Peasant Swarm.

The Peasant Swarm

• (19pts) TIE Fighter, "Howlrunner": Crack Shot
• (26pts) TIE/fo Fighter, "Omega Leader": Juke, Comm Relay
• 2x (15pts) TIE Fighter, Black Squadron Pilot: Crack Shot
• 2x (12pts) TIE Fighter, Academy Pilot
• 1 point unspent

More seriously 🙂, being a TIE Swarm guru isn't exactly my goal in X-Wing, but I think TIE Swarms are fun and instructive lists to fly. I built this list to fly a Crack Swarm while only having five TIE Fighters and three Crack Shots. If you want to try out a Crack Swarm but you're not ready to splurge on that full set of TIE Fighters and Crack Shots, this is a good place to start.

The Peasant Swarm gets its name because unlike most Crack Swarms, it doesn't require duplicate expansions. You can run this list with one of each of these expansions:

• Red Core Set
• TIE Fighter
• Imperial Assault Carrier
• Imperial Veterans
• Hound's Tooth
• Kihraxz Fighter

Most of these expansions are useful for other strong squads; only the TIE Fighter and the Kihraxz Fighter have limited uses outside the Crack Swarm. (I'm so sorry, Kihraxz fans. It's alright, I'm sure your day will come soon^TM.) To reduce the cost of fielding this list, the Imperial Assault Carrier can be replaced by the Sabine's TIE expansion (you have extra generic pilot cards/bases) and an extra TIE Fighter expansion. The Imperial Assault Carrier can also be steeply discounted during sales.

The Peasant Swarm is a great low-commitment option, but how does it stack up against other TIE swarms? If you have the ships and upgrades, should you fly the Peasant Swarm over these more common lists? Honestly, I don't have the experience to give a good answer to this question, but I'll try to compare this with other Crack Swarms. I'd love it if more experienced TIE swarm players can share their knowledge.

Here's a few TIE swarms which have been successful:

6-Ship Crack Swarm (Omegas)

• (19pts) TIE Fighter, "Howlrunner": Crack Shot
• 2x (18pts) TIE/fo Fighter, "Omega Squadron Pilot": Crack Shot
• 3x (15pts) TIE Fighter, Black Squadron Pilot: Crack Shot

6-Ship Crack Swarm (PS7 TIEs)

• (19pts) TIE Fighter, "Howlrunner": Crack Shot
• (18pts) TIE Fighter, "Mauler Mithel": Crack Shot
• (18pts) TIE Fighter, "Scourge": Crack Shot
• 3x (15pts) TIE Fighter, Black Squadron Pilot: Crack Shot

6-Ship Crack Swarm (Zeta Leader)

• (19pts) TIE Fighter, "Howlrunner": Crack Shot
• (21pts) TIE/fo Fighter, "Zeta Leader": Crack Shot
• 4x (15pts) TIE Fighter, Black Squadron Pilot: Crack Shot

The Pattiswarm (7-Ship Crack Swarm)

• (19pts) TIE Fighter, "Howlrunner": Crack Shot
• 3x (15pts) TIE Fighter, Black Squadron Pilot: Crack Shot
• 3x (12pts) TIE Fighter, Academy Pilot

Last Winter's Night (article)

• (26pts) TIE/fo Fighter, "Omega Leader": Juke, Comm Relay
• 4x (15pts) TIE Fighter, Black Squadron Pilot: Crack Shot
• (14pts) TIE Fighter, "Wampa"

The Slaughterhouse (article)

• (19pts) TIE Fighter, "Howlrunner": Crack Shot
• (26pts) TIE/fo Fighter, "Omega Leader": Juke, Comm Relay
• (21pts) TIE/fo Fighter, "Zeta Leader": Crack Shot
• (18pts) TIE Fighter, "Scourge": Crack Shot
• (16pts) TIE Fighter, "Youngster": Crack Shot

The Peasant Swarm is unique in that it has six ships with both Omega Leader and Howlrunner. Omega Leader gives you a strong closer and is especially useful in a meta where evasive ships like the x7 Defender are common. Howlrunner provides consistent dice on offense. She improves your chance of rolling 2 hits on 2 dice from 56% to 84% with focus, and from 25% to 50% if you don't have focus. If you've read my other articles, you know I like to build lists which don't have an easy first target. Having both Omega Leader and Howlrunner in this list forces opponents to decide which to kill first.

The Peasant Swarm has two more subtle advantages. First, its PS1 Academy Pilots can block low-PS ships that move before the PS4 Black Squadron Pilots. This lets you block Rebel jousters, other TIE swarms, and generic Jumpmasters. Second, the Peasant Swarm has a 1 point initiative bid to potentially take initiative against other PS1 blockers and PS4 alpha strikes, or to potentially give initiative to arc-dodging PS8 aces like the Inquisitor and Carnor Jax.

The Peasant Swarm's biggest weakness is its weaker alpha strike. On average, you're losing around 1 damage in the initial engagement with fewer Crack Shots, fewer ships, and/or lower pilot skill. Your damage output is more reliant on Howlrunner because you don't have the extra Crack Shots as backup consistent damage. You can compensate for these weaknesses by taking defensive actions with Howlrunner and by setting up for a strong follow-up to the initial engagement. I find this list rarely wins or loses on the initial engagement, but more commonly on what happened in the round afterwards.

The Peasant Swarm has a high skill cap. Besides the tactical decisions, there's a lot of strategic possibilities. I've always deployed Omega Leader in formation (see the Beginner's Guide to Deploying Tight Formations), but there may be matchups where deploying Omega Leader away from your formation is optimal. There may be other matchups where you'd benefit from deploying an Academy Pilot away from your formation.

Overall, I don't feel like the Peasant Swarm is the strongest list I've flown, but I'm not sure if it's because of my inexperience with swarms or if it's because the list has less potential. Maybe more experienced TIE Swarm players can try this out and let us know 😊. A similar list made the top 32 in the 2016 UK Regionals. Regardless, it's a great low-commitment entry point if you want to fly a Crack Swarm.

Beginner's Guide to Budget Lists Without Proxies (Updated for FAQ v4.3.0)

My previous post covered good expansions to start with if you can proxy upgrade cards. I got a lot of requests for first purchases if proxies aren't allowed, and also for more context on how the ships are used. This article covers that by providing strong lists you can build with a small collection. These lists are limited to a budget of 150 USD pre-tax with a mandatory Core Set (180 USD for Scum), paying the MRSP on FFG's website.

To make this interesting, I'm going to set some limits:

• Avoid "weak" lists. I don't like running weak lists, so I have a relatively high bar for what lists I'll recommend here. I don't think these can win any tournaments, but they should have the potential to go 50/50 or better in a small tournament with good flying.
• Avoid lists which have a missing "fix" upgrade (e.g. X-Wings without Integrated Astromech, TIE Interceptor aces without Autothrusters).
• Avoid buying multiples of the same expansion (with a couple exceptions for upgrade cards and Scum). This is mostly to exclude stuff like 4 B-Wings and a Z-95. It's hard to expand your collection from that.

I was surprised by how many good lists you can make on a modest budget with these limitations. Most of these lists will give you a good base from which you can expand your options.

Let's set some expectations. No proxies means much less flexibility in lists you can build. You may only be able to build one strong list (although playing only one list at first helps you learn the game faster). The list you have may not be the most optimal version. You'll need some patience because once you have that starting point, expanding your options becomes much cheaper and easier. It also means you'll have to buy some ships which aren't very useful and may be better suited for the display case than the table (e.g. StarViper, second Interceptor in Imperial Aces, second Millenium Falcon).

Quick Word on Core Sets

I assume you need to buy a core set to play the game, and some lists don't care which core set you buy. The Red (Original) Core Set has more useful ships and upgrades out of the box. The Blue (The Force Awakens) Core Set needs Veteran Instincts, R2-D2, and Autothrusters for Poe to really shine.

That said, the old damage deck in the Red Core Set has some truly awful critical hits, including one which removes your pilot ability and Elite Pilot Talent and one which discards your secondary weapon. You should get both core sets eventually, but for now, you need to decide whether you want more list-building flexibility in the Red Core Set or if you want the more balanced damage deck in the Blue Core Set.

Rebels
Rebels have many good options to start with, and it has big ship and small ship options. Most of these lists are forgiving with turrets and lots of health.

($90) Budget Han Miranda: Either Core Set ($40), Millennium Falcon ($30), K-Wing ($20)

($105) Budget 4-Ship Miranda (turrets): Either Core Set ($40), Rebel Aces ($30), K-Wing ($20), Y-Wing ($15)

($135/$120) Budget 4-Ship Norra (no turrets): Red Core Set ($40), ARC-170 ($20), Rebel Aces ($30), B-Wing ($15), Imperial Aces ($30) or A-Wing ($15)

($135) Budget Rebel Regen: Red Core Set ($40), Heroes of the Resistance ($40), K-Wing ($20), StarViper ($20), Y-Wing ($15)
(Note: Don't stress too much about using Trick Shot, it's free and this is the cheapest way to get a high-PS Poe. I'd prefer Veteran Instincts on the PS8 Poe from the Blue Core Set, but that costs more money.)

($145/$120) Budget Kanan Biggs: Red Core Set ($40), Ghost ($50), TIE Phantom ($15), Heroes of the Resistance ($40) or T-70 X-Wing ($15)

($145) Budget Rey Ghost: Either Core Set ($40), Ghost ($50), Heroes of the Resistance ($40), TIE Phantom ($15) or B-Wing ($15)

($145) Less Budget Han Miranda: Either Core Set ($40), Millennium Falcon ($30), K-Wing ($20), Heroes of the Resistance ($40), TIE Defender ($15) or Kihraxz Fighter ($15)

Imperials
I suggest starting with a Defenders list to smooth the learning curve. Push the Limit and Autothrusters are important upgrades, so you'll see Imperial Aces and StarViper in most lists.

Important errata in FAQ v4.3.0: The TIE/x7 title now only triggers if you didn't overlap obstacles or ships, and is now a free evade action so you don't get it while stressed.

($120) Crazy 8's Aces: Red Core Set ($40), Imperial Aces ($30), Inquisitor's TIE ($15), TIE/fo Fighter ($15), StarViper ($20)
(Note: This is not a budget list and makes no sacrifices for budget. Be warned, this is not a beginner list! It's unforgiving and hard to fly. Don't let me stop you from using this as your first "casual competitive" list though :). My head exploded the first time I ran it, but I got the general idea after a couple games.)

($130) Budget Whisper Defenders: Either Core Set ($40), Imperial Veterans ($30), TIE Defender ($15), TIE Phantom ($15), Millennium Falcon ($30) or Slave I ($30)

($135) Budget Jax Defenders: Either Core Set ($40), Imperial Veterans ($30), TIE Defender ($15), Imperial Aces ($30), StarViper ($20)

($135) Budget Jax Inquisitor Defender: Either Core Set ($40), Imperial Veterans ($30), Imperial Aces ($30), Inquisitor's TIE ($15), StarViper ($20)

($140/$125) Budget 5-TIE Swarm: Red Core Set ($40), Blue Core Set ($40), TIE Fighter ($15), TIE/fo Fighter ($15), Imperial Veterans ($30) or Kihraxz Fighter ($15) or Kihraxz Fighter x2 ($30)
(Note: If you bought two Kihraxz Fighters, drop Weapons Guidance to add a Crack Shot on Howlrunner.)

($140/$125) Budget 6-TIE Swarm: Red Core Set ($40), Blue Core Set ($40), TIE Fighter ($15), TIE/fo Fighter ($15), Imperial Veterans ($30) or Kihraxz Fighter ($15)

($150) Vessery Ryad Lockdown: Either Core Set ($40), Imperial Veterans ($30), TIE Defender ($15), TIE/fo Fighter x2 ($30), TIE Punisher ($20), A-Wing ($15)
(Note: This is not a budget list. I'd prefer Imperial Aces over the A-Wing, but that puts us $15 over budget. Two copies of the TIE/fo Fighter is unfortunate, but the second copy of Juke and Comm Relay are nice to have.)

Scum and Villainy

Scum's much harder to start with. Besides the general lack of good workhorse ships, few Scum ships come with most/all of the upgrades they need to be their best, and good Scum expansions tend to be more expensive than Rebel or Imperial expansions. I expanded the budget to $180 for Scum, but there are some more affordable options.

Important errata in FAQ v4.3.0: Manaroo's ability now only works at Range 1.

($130) Budget Scum Jank: Either Core Set ($40), Most Wanted ($40), HWK-290 ($15), Mist Hunter ($15), K-Wing ($20)

($150) Budget Manaroo Aces: Either Core Set ($40), Punishing One x2 ($60), Protectorate Starfighter x2 ($30), StarViper ($20)
(Note: After the FAQ, this list has become much harder to fly. It's still powerful in the hands of a good player.)

($155) Budget Asajj + 2 TLT: Either Core Set ($40), Shadow Caster ($40), Most Wanted ($40), HWK-290 ($15), K-Wing ($20)

($165) Budget Dengar Bossk: Either Core Set ($40), Punishing One ($30), Hound's Tooth ($40), Most Wanted ($40), A-Wing ($15)

($175) Paratanni: Either Core Set ($40), Punishing One x2 ($60), Protectorate Starfighter ($15), Shadow Caster ($40), StarViper ($20)
(Note: named after "OldPara", its creator. Don't be fooled by its simplicity, this is not a budget list. Before the Manaroo errata, this was maybe the strongest list in the game and it won several large tournaments. Many people think it's still strong after the errata.)

($180) Budget Brobots: Either Core Set ($40), IG-2000 x2 ($60), Imperial Aces ($30), StarViper ($20), TIE Phantom ($15), B-Wing ($15)

($180) Budget Dengar Asajj: Either Core Set ($40), Punishing One ($30), Shadow Caster ($40), Most Wanted ($40), Imperial Aces ($30)

(Note: You'll want to drop the Illicit upgrades for Engine Upgrade on Dengar ASAP.)

Expansion Plans

If you're a new player, you'd do OK stopping here and playing a few games with your chosen list(s) first. You'll have a better sense of what you want after playing a few games.

When you begin expanding your collection, keep in mind you can always build towards other lists above. You may have noticed there's a lot of overlap in those lists. It'll be much cheaper to add options when you have that starting point.

Besides getting new ships you want to fly, I suggest getting these for their important upgrades:

• Millennium Falcon (Veteran Instincts, Engine Upgrade): Very popular upgrades. You can instead substitute the Slave 1 or Shadowcaster for Veteran Instincts and Hound's Tooth for Engine Upgrade.
• Imperial Aces (2x Push the Limit): Very popular upgrades
• StarViper (2x Autothrusters): If you want to play aces
• K-Wing (2x Twin Laser Turret): If you want to play ships with turret upgrade slots
• YT-2400 Freighter or Slave 1 (Gunner): If you want to play big ships

I'll list some other expansions to consider below.

If you're playing Rebels:

• The YT-2400 Freighter lets you run Dash Rendar (1, 2) if you like nimble big ships.
• The Blue Core Set gives you PS8 Poe, my favorite Rebel ace.
• Another ace option is the E-Wing for Corran Horn (1, 2).
• If you want to run either type of X-Wing, you'll need copies of Integrated Astromech found in the Heroes of the Resistance expansion and the T-70 X-Wing expansion. (T-70 X-Wing aces can use Autothrusters instead.)
• If you like 1-agility Rebel ships, you might want to buy a C-3PO crew card on the "Star Wars Miniatures Swap and Sell" Facebook group for around $10. This is one of the rare examples where buying the card individually is worthwhile.
• At some point, you should consider getting the Rebel Transport epic ship (hopefully on sale) for the R3-A2 upgrade, the R5-P9 upgrade, and Wes Janson pilot.
• If you like bombs, get a K-Wing and a Ghost for the Sabine Wren crew. You should get up to 3 K-Wings if you really love bombs, but those other K-Wings don't have much use outside this one list.
• If you like the Ghost, you should pick up Most Wanted for the Autoblaster Turret.

If you're playing Imperials:

• You can continue collecting the aces in those lists.
• The TIE Interceptor pack has the premier ace Soontir Fel (Stealth Device is optional), although the prevalence of stress control and automatic damage means he isn't as strong today as he once was.
• You may also want to look at the Lambda-Class Shuttle and the VT-49 Decimator for their different playstyles.
• Eventually, you should think about the Emperor Palpatine upgrade card (hopefully when the Imperial Raider epic ship is on sale). It'll be expensive, but it's very strong if you like aces. The FAQ v4.3.0 nerfed Emperor Palpatine so you have to use him before rolling dice. He's still strong, but probably not as strong as he used to be.
• If you like flying TIE Swarms, you should pick up more copies of Crack Shot.
• You'll need more TIE Fighters (not TIE/fo Fighters). You should consider getting an Imperial Assault Carrier epic ship (hopefully on sale) for its two TIE Fighter models and unique pilots.

If you're playing Scum:

• I'd continue expanding the collection of ships listed above.
• Scum is known for their strong crew, including Dengar (Punishing One), Zuckuss and 4-LOM (Mist Hunter), and K4 Security Droid (Most Wanted). These are good ships to pick up for their upgrades.
• If you want to run an Attanni Mindlink list, you should pick up two copies of the Punishing One expansion. You can also try picking up two copies of Attanni Mindlink on the secondary market if you don't think you'll ever use the second Jumpmaster 5000.
• After you have Most Wanted, you can consider getting a Slave 1 expansion. They're not fantastic, but unlike the Imperial pilots, the Scum pilots can be useful. I have some example builds here.
• The "Heavy Scyk" errata means you may want to give the M3-A Interceptor a look.

Beginner's Guide to First Purchases (Wave 9)

If you're getting into X-Wing, the number of options can be pretty daunting. Maybe you want to join your local X-Wing group, or maybe you want variety beyond what the core sets can give you. If so, this guide can help you make your first purchases. Keep in mind there's many good ways of starting your X-Wing collection, and you don't have to listen to me :).

If you're feeling overwhelmed and just want a list of ships you should consider, read below! I'll suggest expansions which have at least one strong option that's useful in several lists. Beyond that, I'll group the recommendations so you can create competitive (although probably not top-tier) squads that'll give you a fighting chance against most opponents. I try to avoid duplicate expansions. The recommendations are roughly in descending order based on my opinion.

Proxies

I'll assume you can proxy or borrow upgrade cards, but you need to own the ships and the ship bases. Most public play groups let you to proxy or borrow upgrade cards in casual games (be sure to ask first!). You can use a squad builder like this or this and print out the list. Some casual groups may ban the use of proxies, but you can probably have fun with almost any list in these groups. Regardless, try to match the strength of your list to the strength of your group's lists.

If you play against people with large collections without proxies, things get more complicated. You should take a look at the Beginner's Guide to Budget Lists Without Proxies.

Core Sets

I recommend getting both the Original (Red) Core Set and the Force Awakens (Blue) Core Set just for the full set of dice and the extra range ruler (cut one into a range 1 and range 2 ruler). On the other hand, you might want to get only one of these when you're first starting out so you can spend more of your money on other ships.

If you only buy one, I'd suggest the Blue Core Set for the updated damage deck alone.

Rebels

Rebel ships tend to be more consistent and plug-and-play. Look at 2a) and 2b) if you want small ships, 3) if you want the Millennium Falcon, and 4) if you want the Ghost from Star Wars Rebels.

1) I strongly suggest the Blue Core Set for Poe Dameron.

2a) Get 1-2 of these small ship expansions: Rebel Aces (Keyan Farlander), K-Wing (Miranda Doni), ARC-170 (Norra Wexley), Heroes of the Resistance (Nien Nunb, premium Poe), E-Wing (Corran Horn), second ARC-170 (Shara Bey, Braylen Stramm).

2b) Pick up a blocker/support ship: Rebel Aces (blocker A-Wing), Red Core Set (Biggs Darklighter), Y-Wing (stress control or consistent damage), Z-95 (blocker), A-Wing (blocker)

3) Or grab one of these large ship expansions: Heroes of the Resistance (Rey), Millennium Falcon (Han Solo or Chewbacca).

4) Or grab the Ghost. It's best paired with Biggs Darklighter from the Red Core Set.

Imperials

Imperials are known for their strong aces, but they're hard to fly. Pair them with a forgiving option in 2a) to ease the learning curve. If you want to fly a TIE swarm, 3) will give you enough ships to do it.

1) I slightly prefer the Red Core Set for the ships (generic TIE Fighters), but I prefer the Blue Core Set for the updated damage deck if you're using aces.

2a) Get either Imperial Veterans + TIE Defender (use the TIE/x7 title), or the VT-49 Decimator (any Pilot, use Gunner and Darth Vader) as your forgiving ships.

2b) Pair it with one of these aces: TIE Interceptor (Soontir Fel), Inquisitor's TIE (The Inquisitor), TIE Phantom (Whisper), or Imperial Aces (Carnor Jax).

3) Or if you want to fly a TIE swarm, get the Red Core Set, Blue Core Set, TIE Fighter (Howlrunner), and TIE/fo Fighter.

Scum

Overall, I don't suggest starting with Scum as your first faction. Scum doesn't have a lot of good small ships, so it's the faction of big ships and crazy combos. If you want to run two big ships, look at 2). If you want to run three mixed small/large ships, look at 3).

1) I prefer the Blue Core Set for the new damage deck (no Scum ships in either Core Set). I do not suggest the Most Wanted expansion at this point; it's not really cost-efficient until you build out your collection.

2) Get 2 of these ships: Punishing One (Dengar, Manaroo), Shadow Caster (Asajj Ventress), IG-2000 (IG-88B), Hound's Tooth (Bossk), second IG-2000 (IG-88C)

3) Or get 3 of these ships: Protectorate Starfighter (Fenn Rau), Punishing One (generic, Manaroo), Hound's Tooth (generic), Mist Hunter (generic, Zuckuss, 4-LOM), second Protectorate Starfighter (Old Teroch), second Punishing One (generic)

Weak ships to avoid (for now)

It's hard to go wrong by just buying ships you like, but there are a few ships which have no good use right now. If you care about the effectiveness of the ships you buy, I'd suggest avoiding these until you need their upgrade cards. Keep in mind the designers will probably release buffs to these ships at some point.

• TIE Punisher
• Slave 1 (Imperial; you can get this with Most Wanted for the Scum pilots)
• Kihraxz Fighter
• StarViper

What about epic ships?

Since you can't fly the epic ships in normal games, they're not cost-effective when you're just starting out. I don't recommend them until you begin collecting upgrade cards.

[List] TIE/D Vessery and Deathfire

In my last post, I introduced my rules of listbuilding. In this post, I'll show you how I used these rules to build a fun and effective list around Colonel Vessery and Deathfire. Don't expect this list to show up at big tournaments, but it's strong in casual games and has the potential to win small store tournaments.

   

TIE/x7 and Countess Ryad are the strongest additions in Imperial Veterans, but I was most excited for the TIE/D title and Deathfire. I'm pretty fond of double-tap abilities and I love Conner Nets after running into one (literally) in one of my first games.

I decided to build a list around Colonel Vessery with the TIE/D title and Deathfire with Conner Net. It started with this core:

• (38pts) TIE Defender, Colonel Vessery: Ion Cannon, TIE/D
• (23pts) TIE Bomber, "Deathfire": Conner Net, Extra Munitions, Long-Range Scanners
• 39 points unspent

I used my rules of listbuilding to flesh out the rest of this build.

• Do I have enough damage? While TIE/D lets Colonel Vessery function as two 3-dice attacks, I should include another ship with at least decent damage output with my 39 points.
• What's the obvious first target in this list? TIE/D Defenders are almost always a good first target, and Vessery is no exception. Right now, losing Deathfire is also bad because that turns off Vessery's ability.
• Are there ships that give this list a hard time? Stress is a potential concern. Vessery can function with stress, but he doesn't have a lot of green maneuvers and he's squishier without the focus token. It also stops Deathfire from dropping bombs.
  Wes Janson counters the tractor beam synergy in this list, but it doesn't hurt the list too badly. After I made the list, the Black One title is an even better counter to Vessery. Thankfully, that can be shut down with ion.
• Can this list handle strong jousters? The core should be able to joust most squads. It might have trouble against better jousting squads since neither ship is that maneuverable.
• Can this list handle arc-dodgers? I'm not worried. Vessery's white K-Turn is hard to arc-dodge (clarification: arc-dodging the K-Turn isn't too hard but it makes the end-game against an arc-dodger a lot stronger), and Deathfire feasts on bombing arc-dodgers.
• Can this list handle evasive ships? Yup. The double-tap and bombs are good against evasive ships, if I add a third ship with a good attack.
• Can this list handle high-HP ships? Yup. I chose the Ion Cannon over the Tractor Beam to better deal with large ships with 0 agility.

With this in mind, how would you spend that last 39 points?

...

...

I decided to spend my last 39 points to 1) add more priority targets, 2) add another source of target lock, and 3) shore up my weakness to strong jousters.

First, I spent 5 points putting Homing Missiles on Deathfire. Homing Missiles is the best missile/torpedo for Deathfire because shooting the torpedo doesn't require spending the target lock. I can take a target lock on turn 1 and shoot with 4 dice modified by both focus and target lock for a very consistent 3-4 hits. This small investment changes Deathfire from an annoying control ship into a strong damage threat. It improves my joust and gives my opponents another priority target. The downside is it encourages me to spend Deathfire's target lock, and getting it back with Long Range Scanners isn't easy after the fight's engaged.

I spent another 31 points to add the standard Inquisitor (Push the Limit, TIE/v1, Autothrusters) to my squad. The Inquisitor wants to target lock every turn, taking the pressure off Deathfire. It's a strong closer, making it another priority target. It also improves my matchup against joust lists as a flanking threat.

Using the Inquisitor as my other target lock source requires spending 1 point on Veteran Instincts for Colonel Vessery so he can shoot first. I ended up with two points left. PS 8 is quite popular, but I didn't need the bid too badly. I spent one more point to add Twin Ion Engines Mk. II on Vessery to give him more options when stressed.

The final list looks like this:

• (40pts) TIE Defender, Colonel Vessery: Veteran Instincts, Ion Cannon, TIE/D, Twin Ion Engines Mk. II
• (28pts) TIE Bomber, "Deathfire": Extra Munitions, Homing Missiles, Conner Net, Long-Range Scanners
• (31pts) TIE Adv. Prototype, The Inquisitor: Push the Limit, TIE/v1, Autothrusters
• 1 point unspent

This list gives opponents hard choices on target selection. If he targets Vessery first (probably still the best choice), Vessery is tanky enough to usually survive a round of shooting. Deathfire gets to do his thing and the Inquisitor gets harder to take down the longer the game goes. Deathfire is reasonably squishy and is a good first target, but that leaves the teeth of my list alive. Targeting the Inquisitor first can be tricky, plus it means I get to play with my fun ships longer (I highly encourage including an efficient meta ship or two in fun lists for precisely this reason).

I think the list flies best with Deathfire and Vessery together on one board edge and the Inquisitor either flanking against a lower-PS list or with them against a higher-PS list. It's very important Deathfire gets a good approach and does not get flanked.

I've had good success with this on VASSAL, including a game where Deathfire clutched it out against a TLT HWK with his primary attack! (protip: if you need a target lock and have Long Range Scanners, go slow :p) I've played three games with this list in person, two of which were some of the most enjoyable games I've ever played.

In one game, I got my opponent into this hilariously awkward situation (roughly recreated; he did not have Hera crew on his Ghost):

(The stress was caused by a Thrust Control Fire critical hit.)

In the other game, a Conner Net and an overzealous 3-turn led to this result for my opponent's loaded Tomax Bren (we were playing on the mat, not the painted wood below):

This happened shortly after the first Conner Net took the last hull off my opponent's Vessery.

This list concept is extremely flexible and can be built from the core in many different ways. How would you build this list? I look forward to seeing your ideas in the comments and on Reddit!

My Rules of Listbuilding

List-building can be daunting for new players, and even experienced players often have trouble with it. I'm not great at it either, but I want to share two rules I follow when building lists. Hopefully, this article will complement some of the existing list-building guides for readers, and I'll learn something new from the discussions :).

Rule 1: Have enough damage output

Killing your opponent's ships is how you win the game. If you don't have enough damage output, you could outfly your opponent and still never scratch their 3-agility ship with focus and evade. Damage output can also be the difference between rolling over to a hard counter ship and taking it out before it cripples you.

I define "enough damage output" as:

• Three ships with 3 attack
• Two ships with 4 attack
• Five ships with 2 attack and Crack Shot

Gunner effects count as two 3-attack ships if you can modify both attacks (although Twin Laser Turret counts as one 3-attack ship). Abilities which can consistently negate evades effectively bump up the ship's attack by 1 (e.g. Omega Leader with Juke and Comm Relay, Tomax Bren with Crack Shot, Zuckuss crew).

Ordnance is tricky to fit into this framework, but you could replace a 3-attack ship with a ship that has can reliably shoot and get 4 hits with a torpedo/missile. A ship with bombs might also replace a 3-dice attack ship if you can reliably drop them on enemy ships (e.g. K-Wing with Advanced Slam or Deathfire).

This isn't a hard rule since there are successful lists with less offense. There's also some nuance to this since you need enough survivability to go along with the damage output (see pre-buff Scyks) along with dice modification to improve your attack. Still, I think it's a useful heuristic which gives me a good starting point for listbuilding.

Rule 2: Build to a plan

Having a plan is the key to success in most miniatures games, and X-Wing is no exception. Building to a plan lets you avoid some common list-building mistakes. It'll also help you fly the list you built.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when building a list:

1. If you were facing your list, which ship would you kill first? Would losing that ship cripple your list? If so, your options include removing/downgrading your lynchpin ship, adding more self-sufficient and efficient ships, adding more threatening ships to draw fire, placing asteroids and deploying to hide the lynchpin ship, or adding a defensive upgrade to that ship (usually not recommended; it's often expensive and doesn't do enough).
2. Are there ships which give your list a hard time? Can you reliably kill those ships before it's too late? If you can't reliably deal with them, you might consider adding more offense to kill those ships quickly or adding more redundancy in your list. In severe cases, you might have to swap to ships which are harder to counter.
   (An alternative strategy is to hope you won't get matched up against those ships and have a solid plan for other matchups. This is a good idea if you don't expect many people to fly those ships which counter your list.)
3. Do you have a plan to deal with efficient jousting lists? You can either joust them back if you're better at it, bait with one ship and flank with your other ships, outmaneuver them and make it difficult for them to shoot you, and/or pull them through asteroids to break up their formation. If you can't reliably do this, you might need to add more efficient or maneuverable ships to your list.
4. Do you have a plan to deal with arc-dodging ships? These ships have high Pilot Skill and use boost and/or barrel roll actions to avoid being shot by your ships. If not, you might want to add a control element, a high Pilot Skill ship, or more ships to your list. Keep in mind these ships can often avoid being shot early, so you'll need to deal with them with only part of your list remaining.
5. Do you have a plan to deal with evasive ships that can consistently avoid two or more damage a round? You can deal with these ships with control, auto-damage effects, or overwhelming firepower (ships that can consistently get 3 hits, and ideally multiple). These ships are often arc-dodging ships, so you need a way to deal with them with only part of your list remaining.
6. Do you have a plan to deal with high-HP ships? This usually isn't a problem, but sometimes a list goes overboard in countering the evasive ships with small amounts of damage which is hard to evade. These lists might not have enough raw damage output to deal with high-HP ships. You might want to add something with a good attack value to offset this, or have maneuverable ships that can avoid being shot long enough to whittle them down.

This becomes even more important if you're preparing for a tournament. You should have a plan for each of the common lists you're likely to face.

------------------------------

In a future post, I'll give some examples of lists I've built in line with these principles. These lists probably aren't strong enough to take to Regionals, but should be capable of doing well in casual play and in local store tournaments.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Do you follow these principles when you build lists? Do you often have success with low-offense lists? What other situations should we plan for when list-building?

Useful articles on list-building:

Back To Dial's List Building for Beginners

Jafar's Building for the Planning and Activation Phases

Blue Five's Alternative Look at Arc-Dodgers and Jousters
Midwest Wargaming's Fly Casual But Also Fly Smart

Support Theory

[THIS POST CONTAINS WORLDS 2016 SPOILERS]


Most of you are familiar with the Dengaroo list; for those who aren't, Taking the Sith has a good post describing how it works. In short, it's one of those two-monster bosses. Dengar's the big one with the threatening claws, and Manaroo is the small thing that's secretly the heart for both monsters. It was never a well-regarded list, and fresh complaints popped up on Reddit after it won Worlds 2016. I think the list of complaints can be summed up to three things:

1. Dengar deals and soaks enough damage to joust most lists by himself.
2. It's tough to disrupt Dengar.
3. Manaroo can support Dengar from unlimited range, which makes it harder to kill her.

Rather than being bad things, I think these are necessary for support ships to be viable. Support ships are relatively new and uncommon in X-Wing. The competitive true support ships (Emperor Palpatine, Manaroo) showed up around Waves 6 and 8. Biggs and Howlrunner are also support ships, but not of the type I'll look at here. Outside of X-Wing, they're found in all types of competitive games: class-based First-Person Shooters (e.g. Mercy and Lucio in Overwatch, the Medic in Team Fortress 2), MMORPG arenas (e.g. healers in World of Warcraft), and certain MOBAs (best example are healers in Heroes of the Storm).

If you've played Team Fortress 2, you've probably seen this comic by Penny Arcade:

This isn't an unusual strategy. Healers and support characters are often the priority target in these games. Why? Wouldn't it make more sense to kill what the support characters were supporting first, and make them useless?

Let's do a simple thought experiment. In the Red corner is two characters who specialize in dealing damage (I'll call these damage-focused characters "DPS"). In the Blue corner is a DPS and a support. How much does the support have to boost the DPS for this to be a fair fight?

The tempting answer is the support has to make the DPS twice as effective (either surviving twice as long or dealing twice as much damage), but it's easy to show this is not enough. Let's suppose the support makes the DPS twice as effective. If the Red side shoots the Blue DPS first, one DPS will die for each side at the same time. This leaves Red with a DPS that's good at killing things, and Blue with a support who's not as good at killing things on his own. That's an easy win for Red. If the DPS is tankier than the support, Red could also kill the support first and get a short 2v1 against Blue's DPS. The DPS + support team can't win unless the two-DPS team is dumb and splits their fire.

In order for support characters to be viable, they have to increase the team's effectiveness by more than what you'd get from swapping out the support for another DPS. The exact amount depends on the support's solo effectiveness. A support which can deal decent damage by himself after the DPS goes down can get away with a smaller boost. If the support is largely useless by themselves, then he has to boost the DPS by enough to almost kill both enemies.

Many of the previously-mentioned games make the support boost extremely strong, to the point where support classes are mandatory. If you've ever had the "pleasure" of playing a game of Overwatch without a healer on your team, you know what I mean. The weakness of supports is they generally die pretty quickly when focused and they generally can't support themselves as well as others on their team. Trying to chew through the DPS who are being healed is a tough task. Kill the healer first, and the DPS become much easier to clean up.

(Overwatch has 6 players on each side, and Mercy, one of the primary healers, has an ability which resurrects dead allies. You either kill Mercy 1st, or you might have to kill her 11th. Thankfully, Mercy can't heal herself and she can't resurrect when she's dead.)

With this in mind, it should be expected that Dengar can beat an entire squad by himself while being resilient to disruption with the support of Manaroo. Despite Feedback Array and the maneuverability, Manaroo can't do a lot by herself. Several players have found success by killing Manaroo first, and the numbers show Dengar's much less effective when Manaroo can't pass tokens. If Manaroo had to stay near Dengar, it'd be almost trivial to kill her first. Without these features, a 40-point support ship can't be viable in this game.

Killing Manaroo's not an easy task. She's a 9-hp 2-agility ship with Boost and Barrel Roll. Still, she has a relatively low pilot skill and she has to choose whether to keep her Focus for defense or pass it to Dengar for offense. She also can't get too close to Dengar without making him less effective. I think Manaroo's maneuverability is what makes the Dengaroo matchup skillful and interesting. It's a race to catch and kill Manaroo before the Dengar clock cripples your list.

I see Manaroo and Emperor Palpatine as X-Wing's first viable support ships, and I'd be disappointed if the support archetype is taken out of the game.

---------------------------

P.S. I think some of the negativity around Dengaroo comes more from emotions. It feels bad to be shot by Dengar and not be able to take shots back. It feels bad to roll lots of evades and reroll them to blanks. That's entirely valid, but it's also something you can control.