X Wing Musings

The points are dead, long live the points! Last week’s XWA Post Adeptacon Points Adjustment has landed and the excitement is palpable! Not only do we have changes to the points of existing ships, but the Legends and Relics expansion is offering a load of new content, including (for the first time in a while) “build your own” ships for all factions and new upgrades. It’s XWing Christmas! So let’s work out who gets the orange and who gets the coal in their stocking…

Scanning across the expansion, there’s a lot to take in: 8 new pilots and 25 new cards, including crew cards, secondary weapons, modifications, tech and system cards. There’s even a couple of new configs, which is a pretty rare treat. Let’s start by taking a look at the ones that are catching my eye:

New Hotness

Ahsoka Tano.

Yes, it’s not like Rebels need another force crew, but this is new and amazing. For 10 points, it’s not just that she gives a force charge, but being able to be almost a permanent Collision Detector is very good. What’s even crazier is that she also gives a bonus target lock if you line it up right – giving a target lock to a ship at R1 in your front arc! Really solid and would especially suit Dash Rendar, since he can shoot even if you still end up on the rock! I think she’d also be really good on a HWK, since it’s better odds they would benefit from the target lock buff… and maybe add Marg Sabi Closure to seal the deal? The only downside is that only Roark Garnet has the loadout to load for this… but that’s not a bad thing. I think she might see some play in any given Rebel list… if we see many of them out there (more on this later).

Fennec Shand

A different ability to the slot seen on Standard Loadout Boba Fett, but still looks pretty decent. The ability to grab a target lock and strain a target is strong… but there are a few caveats! First, she needs to go on a high PS pilot… otherwise there is a strong chance the opposing ship could do a blue move away, binning the strain. Also, there are only 2 charges – sounds like you really need to make the 2 chances count! At 6 loadout points, this feels a little pricey, but could potentially go really well on a Friespray, Mando in the Razor Crest (especially with the barrel roll) or on Cad Bane in the Rogue / Xanadu Blood. Whilst Mando has the higher PS, Cad Bane has the best options, being able to boost as well. The big issue is that for 6 points, there are maybe better options in Scum out there – Gamut Key, for example, is seeing play (locally at least) and nearly gives a very strong effect for 1 point less. I think given the 2 charge limit, 5 points would make sense… but that’s for the next points adjustment!

Targeting Matrix

This is a card that sounds dangerous! Effectively it rewards failure… if you don’t land a shot and need to save your focus (or don’t have one), you can drop a Strain token on your opponent. The only issue being that to make the best of it, the next shot has to hit. It’s 4 points, but that’s not bad – lots of ships (especially generics) have 4 points of loadout. I think this will definitely make swarm lists (or at least lists with multiple generics) a little spicier, and will combo really nicely with certain upgrades in Scum (Notorious! Gar Saxon! R4-B11!)… in fact, if you can squeeze it onto Captain Nym with Veteran Turret Gunner, it sounds really strong! I think this will see a lot of play and it might well end up being on the restricted list soon…

…and speaking of the restricted list…

Seeker Missiles

These look genuinely powerful. The ability to mod a 3 dice attack at ranges 2/3 OR have 4 bites of the cherry when currently the best is 3 (Concussion Missiles) is strong. The fact that they are NOT limited (yet!) is a mystery – I guess making them 10 loadout points is a barrier to entry, but just look at how many pilots or chassis can take them! They will go well everywhere, but most notably on imperial generics (and if you consider the Colonel Jendon in the Lamba is on their side, that’s a scary option) – in fact I faced a list with them yesterday… more on that later! I think these missiles will really spice things up in the near future.

So now onto the… less useful.

The Also Rans…

T-SJ1A Targeting Computer

So… this is really niche. It’s for FO. It costs 4 points. It only has 1 non-recurring charge. It requires that the opponent has no green tokens. It requires you to have rolled a crit. It only works on Tuesdays. It only works if your first name begins with “K” and your last name begins with “G”… etc etc.

I think for the cost, you’d be better loading up with a Targeting Matrix (you might hear this a lot…). For me, this is a 1 or 2 point upgrade, so at 4 points it’s DOA. There’s going to be a lot better options out there.

Captive

On paper, this is pretty cool. Very useful for mitigating damage on a big ship with low greens (hint hint.. Decimators, Upsilons). It only takes a single crew slot and allows you to dish out a deplete once per turn. Nice!

But then you see the cost. 8 points. For the same, you can get so many other better upgrades – Commandoes! Jerjerrod! Hux! Phasma! Even Perceptive Co-pilot! All very desirable and at the same cost or less. This feels a little to little for the cost – maybe this is a 4-5 point upgrade, but not 8 points.

Thweek

Considering this was spoiled and that Thweek was GREAT in X-Wing V1, it’s a real shame that this version of events is so…. meh. At 12 squad points, this is very expensive compared to, well, virtually any other Scum ace out there – same points as Old Teroch… 2 points more than the Mandolorian in the N1 (more on that later!). There’s virtually no reason to fly Thweek considering that there are such better options – even just looking at Dalen Oberon in the Starviper (same chassis, same initiative), Thweek comes off second best. The ability to be able to move all over the board is fun and all, but Thweek should have been a higher initiative to allow a chance at getting rid of the Tractor Token (which is balanced by having the Deplete part of the ability) or be at least 2 squad point cheaper. I think we might see Thweek out there for a few weeks as a trial, but I’ll be surprised if anyone takes it until she comes down in price.

Finally, here’s some that might not be as good as you think…

DIS-L9B2

An I6 Tri Fighter! Nice!!!

Oh… bit it doesn’t stay I6 unless it keeps an enemy ship out of bullseye. That’s not good – it locks out a number of upgrades you might want to use (e.g. Predator! Marksmanship! Deadeye Shot!). Plus it’s 11 points of ship… when there’s up to 2 alternates at I5 for a point less WITHOUT the “become I1” restriction. Also, the Networked Calculation ability isn’t great for an I6 arc dodger… you tend to be out on your own a lot. Independent Calculations can help, but with only 11 loadout, that eats into an already limited budget. CIS are not the most popular faction, and this feels like a token I6 Tri Fighter like this shouldn’t really be limited by such an annoying restriction.

Carnor Jax

Wow! A TIE Interceptor with Force! Sign me up!

Oh wait… Carnor only has 4 loadout… and is 12 points. Empire currently has a LOT of good options at 12 points and with 4 loadout, you can’t buy in additional health (Hull / Shield upgrade) and because there’s no talent slot, you can’t even buy in useful upgrades like Elusive, Predator, or Lone Wolf. You CAN buy in Targeting Matrix, but that’s about it. The Carnor ability is very strong, but very limited – one use per turn and the interceptor chassis is flimsy – I think it’s more likely players trying Carnor will just be evading the whole game, which impacts the damage output and usability of an I5 Interceptor. Force is strong, but Vult Skerris and Ciena Rae are both cheaper and have more loadout. Soontir is 1 point more and more consistent. I think Carnor will see some play to start with, but might fade quite quickly unless he gets more loadout!

I think this is a good card, don’t get me wrong, but it feels like it’s slightly overcosted. It’s a card that seems to have come back from V1, but I’m struggling to see any major advantage to it. There are a lot of ships that could benefit from this (Arcs! YWings! XWings! KWings! Kimogilas! Scurrgs! N1s! Even Jumpmasters! But adding blues (or dropping reds to whites) to the speed 3 line means you have to run fast to get rid of stress. In some ways, R4s are a better bet, although R4s are limited to small ships, but the Unhinged is 3 points. I think there’s very few situations where you would want to pay 3 points for a slightly better dial for speed 3 maneuvers. 2, maybe, but 3 is a bit too much.

Next time I’m going to cover the points for existing ships and I have a tournament report. Until next time…!