[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.

[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.

[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!