Quickdraw Rage Electronic Baffles Spec Ops Training I'd like to suggest the nickname "Quickraffle" for this build.

I have a similar list: The X-MEN --------------------- Hobbie Klivian: 25 Targeting Astromech: 2 Integrated Astromech: 0 Biggs Darklighter: 25 R5 Astromech: 1 Integrated Astromech: 0 Tarn Mison: 23 R7 Astromech: 2 Integrated Astromech: 0 Rookie Pilot: 21 R2 Astromech: 1 Integrated Astromech: 0 100pts Tarn, in my experience, is the best pilot in this list. He's a terrific pilot and a late game all-star (if he survives that long!). I really want to like TA/Hobbie but haven't had much luck with him yet. Not sure if he's just lackluster or I just suck at flying him. If only he had an EPT! Biggs is just there to keep fire off the rest of the boys (especially Tarn and Hobbie who benefit in the late game once the enemy has been thinned out some). R5 is by no means the best astromech for Biggs, but it's cheap enough to leave you 22 points left over for... The Rookie Pilot. With a cheap R2 astromech and IA he's not a bad little filler ship. Biggs and the Rookie are there to take the heat off of Tarn and Hobbie and keep them alive till the late game (the Rookie can also be swapped for a Blue Sq Pilot if you'd rather have a B-wing). This isn't a killer Tourney list or anything (probably have trouble with U-boats, PalpAces, and Phantoms), but is a cool Fly Casual list.

Hi, I'm curious to know if any of you guys had any success with Warden or Guardian sq pilots outfitted with torpedoes/missiles and guidance chips. I know the bomber K-wings are pretty popular, but I haven't seen anybody rocking torpedo or missile armed variants. It seems to me like Concussion Missiles and Guidance chips have a natural synergy, allowing you to turn two banks to hits. Am I nuts? Is this any good? Furthermore, is it a bad idea to take, say, Plasma Torps and Concussion Missiles with Extra Munitions and Guidance Chips to have four missile/torp attacks? Or is it too many eggs in one basket?

Hi, I'm curious to know if any of you guys had any success with Warden or Guardian sq pilots outfitted with torpedoes/missiles and guidance chips. I know the bomber K-wings are pretty popular, but I haven't seen anybody rocking torpedo or missile armed variants. It seems to me like Concussion Missiles and Guidance chips have a natural synergy, allowing you to turn two banks to hits. Am I nuts? Is this any good? Furthermore, is it a bad idea to take, say, Plasma Torps and Concussion Missiles with Extra Munitions and Guidance Chips to have four missile/torp attacks? Or is it too many eggs in one basket?

Those are stellar! A round of applause for your gifted artist!

To be fair, Dash was the only YT-2400 pilot that was ever really competitive. Leebo, Eaden Vrill, and the generic Fringer were dead on arrival (doesn't help that Eaden's ability is anti-synergistic with the Outsider title). It's basically like the E-wing situation where there's one good pilot with a few viable builds and the rest is overcosted for what it does.

In my opinion, the the HWK-290 is the worst ship in the game. It has the absolute worst primary weapon in the game, it has the 2nd worst dial in the game, and it has one of the most limited action bars in the game. Also, it's durability is far too weak for a ship that can't outrun or outmaneuver its enemies. The primary weapon value of 1 is particularly egregious (what the hell were they thinking!?!). It's very nearly worthless and leaves the Hawk dependant almost entirely upon it's turret for offense. Unfortunately, the primary weapon's single dice means that most turrets are going to be largely useless on it. Ion Cannon Turret?: It's already overcosted and only does 1 damage. Might have been decent if the primary weapon threw two dice, but on the Hawk, it limits the turret to a single damaget. Also, because it's limited to range 1-2, it allows enemies to safely snipe away at it from range 3. Blaster Turret?: Oh god no. Just like the HWK, the blaster turrett is saddled with multiple horrible shortcomings for no apparent reason. The HWK already sucks, this just makes it suck worse. Autoblaster Turret?: At it's best, this is very situational and only really useful if you've got a sturdy ship with a decent primary weapon to back it up. Unfortunately the Hawk wants to be anywhere but at range 1 of enemy ships. Dorsal Turret?: This is a little better. It isn't horribly overcosted, doesn't require actions, and even gives you three dice at range 1. The only thing that really sucks about it is that it leaves the HWK nearly defenseless at range 3 (again, the single dice primary weapon really lets it down). Twin Laser Turret?: Yes, TLT may be the best option, but it's still not a particularly good option that has synergy with the ship. It's range and power are quite good on the right ship (K-wings and Y-Wings). But the HWK, has a crappy primary weapon at range 1 and it's donut hole is very vulnerable since the ship's dial is so bad. Even worse, the TLT drives up the cost of this already overcosted ship by a whopping six points. This is particularly painful on the "Aces" which have pilot abilties that are also overcosted. Jan Ors with just a TLT is 31 points, nearly 1/3 of your 100pt list. Not only does this reduce the amount of ships you can take in the list (to offset Jan's rather lackluster offense), but it also gives the opponent an easy, soft target that's worth a lot of points.

Generally, I will play in a more relaxed manner at home (ie, be more apt to remind an opponent of something), but will play more competitively at a tourney (I expect you to play your A-game). I am more likely to cut a newb some slack however, if he is obviously not good or has an uncompetitive build. That may even involve some teachable moments. For the most part, though, I think being overly generous leads to bad habits. You get better as a player when you suffer the consequences of those mistakes. I find that the best time to offer advice is when the other player has already committed to an unwise course of action. It allows him to learn from it, but also to feel the effects of his own decisions.

I may be in the minority, but I think the E-wing is actually think it's *worse* than the pre-fix TIE Advance. The generics are laughably bad for the points... they were conceived with the overcosted T-65 as a baseline and then overcosted again for he improvements. It's a shame, because they have such nice upgrade bars, but you can't afford to put anything on them without driving the cost I to the realm of utter absurdity. Corran being the sole exception, of course. His ability is solid, but it's really the combination of his high PS, VI, and R2-D2 that make him a superstar. I would also say that the HWK-290 was a pretty big failure. There was absolutely no reason in the world that it needed a primary weapon value of 1 AND the worst dial in the game. The TLT gives the HWK a decent turret option (though it's at a hefty cost!) and the new damage deck has made it impossible to lose the turret; both of these give it a bit of help. But it's still kinda crappy. I'm hoping it gets a little love at some point.

Am I the only one who thinks integrated astromech should have been allowed on E-wings too? It wouldn't have been a complete fix, but it would've helped Etahn and the generics suck less. And yes, I know that would make Corran even *more* powerful with R2D2, but that could easily be remedied with something that restricted it to 3 point or less astromech.

Fantasy Flight, if you're reading this...please please please go down this route! I need that Rule Book. It's worse than that really. Not only do you need the ridiculously overpriced main rule book, but you also need the rule books for each army (over a dozen!) jut to know what your opponents armies can do. This means that you will spend a few hundred bucks just to get the rules for each faction. Try playing without all the rules and you'll get curbstomped because you must know what each enemy unit is capable of. You must have someone idea of what you will do if you co e across any given enemy unit type. And to make matters worse, the editio s change every five years with the individual army books spread out across that release. So the meta is always changing and the Army that you worked so hard on May be useless by the time you get it fully assembled, painted, converted etc

I consider X-wing to be quite a bargain compared to some of the other games I've played. As a former 40k and Warhammer Fantasy player, X-wing is nothing compared to the level of time and money GW games demand. Also, Fantasy Flight Games treats the players (and the game itself). In comparison, I felt like I was being backstabbed by GW by their ruthless price hikes and never ending rules releases that resulted in entire armies being made irrelevant overnight or catapulted into brokenness with every rules release. I still have a great deal of love for 40k and Fantasy, but I loathe GWs business policies that make it impossible to enjoy the game the way they want you to play it. As a gamer I expect to shell out a fair amount for a well designed game. X-wing is a great value to me for the dollars I spend. It's not cheap, but I feel that it provides a gaming experience that cheap games cannot match. I still enjoy cheap games too, but Xwing is the game I play when I want a really rich, satisfying game experience where skill matters more than luck.

Vader is known one of the few pilots that can actually use it effectively. It's rarely worth it on anybody else.

Any Jar-Jar card must gave a mechanic that requires a player to physically destroy the card upon activation (rip it in half, burn it, etc).

This is awesome. I love A-wings already anyhow, but anything that makes them better is made of pure win.

Would say that the Kihraxz dial is better than the x-wing dial. The 1 forward is nice, but so is that 5 K-turn. Having two K-turn options and an extra green maneuver is really nice. Likewise, I think the hard 1 turns are amazing, and more useful than the hard 3s. I would also say that the astromech slot is not as good for generic X-wings as the Illicit slot is for generic Khirax pilots. Yes, there are a few very nice named astromechs, but they are largely wasted on generic pilots. And none of the generic astromechs has any real synergy with the x wing. I do like integrated astromech a lot and I think it's a significant step in the right direction. But I dont think the x wing is quite fixed yet. For that matter, I don't think the Khiraxz is quite where it needs to be either. Like the X-wing, I think it suffers from a squad cost that is too high and thus it suffers against things like PWTs and Arc Dodgers that can simply do more for their points. Unfortunately, scum is behind in both ships and ship fixes, so it may take even longer for the Khiraxz, Scyk, and Starviper to find their niche in the metagame. I am devoutly hoping that future ship fixes do not come packaged in Epic ships when they could be done more affordably in Aces expansions.

Has anybody considered either of the following: R3 Astromech (1pt) -Your action bar gains the Barrel Roll icon. If your action bar already has the Barrel Roll icon, it gains the Boost icon instead. Or R6 Astromech (1pt) -Your action bar gains the Evade action. The R3 is intended to augment the X-wing's bland action bar and give them an option for maneuverability. This will mostly be used with Integrated Astromech to make generics decent (though some aces might like it too). As a secondary benefit, this also helps generic E-wings a bit. Aces will still probably want unique bots, but at least this gives generics access to autothrusters. Of course, if it proves to be too good, you could have it *replace* barrel roll, if the ship already has it. The R6 astromech is designed to give the X-wing a little more survivability to enhance its role as a jouster. If, after testing this proves to make Y-wings too good, you could add a clause that says it only works on ships with at least 2 agility or somesuch. Both of these bots are designed to augment the crappy action bars of the X-wing (I am of the opinion that all fighter craft should have at least 3 actions on their bar). They also fulfill a need for a generic astromech that has good synergy with the X-wing (R2 is okay, but only truly shines on the Y-Wing, R5 is worthless on every ship, and R7 is only really good on Tarn).

Really? I think it's one of the best looking ships in the game. I don't own any yet (scrum is my least used faction thus far), but I am definitely I intrigued by these sexy little ships.

I have been using a cardboard mat. I went to Hobbytown and found a presentation board (the sort you see at science fairs) that measures 4x3 and folds to 2x3. It basically has two outer flaps that fold in from both sides to reduce the width by half. I sliced one flap off and now have a 3x3 board that folds to 2x3. I also got a second 4x3 board that I have kept at full size. This is for larger games. These cost about 8$ or so and have served me well for home games. They also transport passable well as long as the vehicle has enough room. I do plan on getting a proper game mat soon because I'd like a mat I can roll up, but I have been primarily been building my fleets for a year before starting to look at mats.

Targetting Astro has it's moments, but i really don't think it's as usable as an R2 Astro. Naturally, X-Wings don't really like red maneuvers because it removes it's offensive capabilities, and, yes, TA is great for those moments, and especially better on a T-70 because it has 3 reds, all of which go in different directions. However, let's compare it to an R2 Astro, arguably the best generic astromech you can use. The R2 Astro adds 4 greens to a T-70s dial, making it largely less effected by stress control. TA relies solely on you performing red maneuvers, which, to be frank, are generally not going to happen as much in a game as you will execute, say, a 2 turn. TA preserves action economy, and this is generally a good thing, but to really get the worth out of it, you have to perform a lot of reds in a game. This generally means you'll probably be spending a decent amount of time stressed, and, as such, be putting yourself at incredible risk when going up against stress control lists. All it takes is one additional stress token on you to turn your astromech into 2 points of dead weight for the next 2 turns. And, in this meta where stresshogs are extremely prevalent, i generally wouldn't suggest TA as a legitimate competitive option. Don't get me wrong, you can use TA smartly if you really know how to build lists. What does come to mind is Cool Hand and TA, perhaps. Crackshot works too. But, given the amount of generally better, more flexible options you can choose, i'm not sure i'd pick TA unless something really, REALLY synergizes with it. I left TA out of the main article namely because i wanted to focus on what the better options are for the T-70, and to leave these kinds of individual responses to the comments section of the thread. It allows me a general freedom to discuss TA and other things in a vacuum, without worrying about straying off-topic in the OP. It's also worth pointing out that not everything i say is gospal law. Except for the part about T-70s hating to joust, that part is. But a lot of things i talk about are merely suggestions. If you think you know better than me, and trust your own judgment, that's perfectly legitimate. I don't know your local meta, maybe there are combos that work for you that i wouldn't consider because i'm not you. Anyways, i appreciate the question. Hobbie LOVES Targeting Astromech. His ability removes a stress token any time he gains or uses a target lock. And targeting astromech gives him a free target lock every time he executes a red maneuver. Effectively, any time he takes a K-turn, the stress evaporates and becomes a target lock. So instead of getting stressed when he k-turns, he is rewarded with a target lock. He is then free to take another action (focus in most cases). This makes it easy to get the "holy grail" shot (4 dice, TL, Focus) if you can get him into a joust. And you can keep doing it over and over again. For fun, I've been playing with this list: Jake Farrel (PTL,CR) 25pts Hobbie Klivian (Targetig Astromech,IA) 27pts Tarn Mison (R7 Astromech, IA) 25pts And one of the following: Blue Sq Pilot 22pts (99pts) Gold Sq Pilot (ICT and maybe title) 23pts (100pts) 2 Bandit Sq Pilots 24pts (101pts) This obviously isn't a tier 1 list, but it can be a lot of fun.

These are neat! The HWK got screwed over three ways; a primary weapon with 1 die (what were they thinking!?), bad survivability (1 shield, 4 hull, 2 agility), and the worst maneuver dial in the game (why was this necessary!?). The lackluster action bar doesn't help either. The elite pilots have some really nice abilities, but the Hawk goes down fast if your enemy decide to kill it. The low survivability is a real problem considering that the aces cost 1/3 of your points (well Roarke is 1|4), and is a fat chunk of easy points. At least if it was faster or had boost it could maybe evade enemies coming after it, but with red 4s, it can't outrun anything. I'm really hoping that a fix for the HWK addresses at least a few of these deficiencies.

This was a great article! Thanks a lot for sharing that with us!

Am I the only one that thinks the Tractor Beam is too good for one point?

Some of these are great and some are... not so great. I dislike "Traitor" for Epsilon Ace. It just doesn't fit. He doesn't betray your squad, he just shrinks down to his normal size after the first hit. Others have suggested Charlatain and Blowhard and I think these are much better suited to his personality. I'm also fond of Boxcars. While I'm at it, I will also suggest Changeling or Doppelganger for your consideration. "Sideslip" isn't awful for Zeta Ace, but Slider is so much better and rolls off the tongue easier too. I like "Zen" for Epsilon Leader. It works and it's short and to the point. I detest "Starslinger" for Omega Ace. I get the joke, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Critter (while not great) was much better. I don't hate "High Roller" for Zeta Leader, but I think there is probably something better. I love "Lockdown" on Omega Leader. That's a keeper for sure.

It doesn't need a buff, per se, because it's already an efficient cluster. What it needs is some fun pilots or upgrades because its one of the most boring ships in the game. Compare the Z95 to the TIE fighter. The TIE has three actions (and one of them is a VERY useful repositioning action). The Z-95 has two actions (both boring), and no repositioning. The TIE has about a dozen really cool unique pilots. The Z95 has two. Blount is a one-trick pony (that's only really useful for *one* shot) and Cracken has a great support ability on a ship that is too fragile and unmaneuverable to survive long enough to be really useful. Both Z95 pilots are pricey and both have overly specificity abilities that make them worthless unless the list is built around them. TIE aces come in a wide variety of prices and tend to have abilities that are self-supporting and useful in a much broader array of lists. TIEs also have generic pilots with an EPT slot. Z95s do not. Which is sad because it would make the Z95 a much more versatile ship for a broader array of roles. As a result, generic Bandit squadron pilots are taken almost exclusively while the others are ignored. They may be ruthlessly efficient but they're also really boring. I'd like to see Z95s get a fraction of the love that TIEs have gotten to remedy that situation.