Running Scum and Villainy Squadrons: Star Wars X-Wing

Four ship squadron based on the Khiraxz

My boys and I meet up with local X-Wing enthusiasts every Wednesday at the Hobby Chest in Jacksonville.  Attendance is on and off, but I've recently been working on two new Scum squadrons, one a four ship based on the Khiraxz and the other based on the Jumpmaster (Punishing One).

Khiraxz, Scyk and 2x Z-95s:  100 pts

I played this against my son running a Ghost with an A Wing and B-Wing and started in a linear formation, focusing on the Ghost with my assault and concussion missiles.

The Khiraxz and Scyk maneuver on to the remaining rebel ships after splashing the Ghost.

My Z-95s then broke off to engage the B and A wing with the Khiraxz amd Scyk and focusing on the Ghost.  While I lost one Z-95 almost immediately to the B-Wing, the Khiraxz and Scyk joined the fight after dispatching the Ghost.




With the A-Wing now a flaming ball of twisted wreckage, the Scyk and Khiraxz double-team
the lone B-Wing.

I focused fires on the A-Wing, leaving the slow-moving B-Wing for last, splashing it with my three remaining ships.  I found that the key to this squadron was staying in formation for the initial engagement and focusing on the large ship.  I was able to get all my missiles off in the first two turns, leaving none of those cards on the board.  The Z-95's were expendable, but kept the B and A-Wing busy while my stronger ships with higher pilot skills concentrated on the Ghost.  I've had little success with the Scyk in the past, but I find that launching missiles at range 2 and then bugging out to get onto an opposing ships' flank or rear is the way to go, with that light armored fighter.


Moving on to a second game, I picked up the Jumpmaster (Punishing One) for the Scum faction.  I've seen a lot of people running this ship and after playing it, I can see why

The Punishing One is about to execute a micro jump to join the Khiraxz in attacking the Ghost.

My squadron was based around the Jumpmaster, piloted by Dengar, supported by a Khiraxz.  One of the interesting capabilities of the Jumpmaster is its ability to conduct micro hyperspace jumps and leap around the board.  This I did on my second move to focus both my ships on my son's Ghost, again firing missiles immediately. 

The primary weapon turret and ability to counterattack are key for the Punishing One. 

A close call:  liberal use of the Segnor's Loop maneuver allowed me to keep
enemy ships in my primary firing arc, thereby allowing me to use my counterattack
special skill.

Having a gunner and/or R4-B11 attached and a loadout of two missiles as secondary weapons didn't hurt either.  Even though my son deployed his Phantom, it was easily destroyed based on some less than optimal evade rolls.

The rebel Z-95 maneuvers for the Khiraxz, only to explode in a hail of fire. 

All in all, I love fielding the Punishing One (it is 2 for 2 in the win column), but I'm starting to wonder how the ship will change the metagame.  It seems too powerful...




Assault missiles end the Ghost's misery

X-Wing: The HWK-90, or, Why Boba Fett should not own a police scanner.

My son received the HWK-90 blister pack for the Fantasy Flight X-Wing game this past Christmas.  So, of course, we broke out the TIE fighters to test it out.  The scenario involved two smugglers (the Millennium Falcon and its consort, the HWK-90) that trip sensors, thereby alerting a nearby Imperial garrison. 

Two sections of TIE fighters scrambled to intercept the smugglers, which quickly escalated into a dogfight.  The HWK-90 as a fighter is a poor ship.  It is not fast, nor is it maneuverable nor powerful.

It redeeming quality is the fact that it is a combat multiplier for the ship to which it is attached.  My son was able to effect multiple rerolls with the Falcon.  Considering the Falcon's 360 degree firing act with turrets.  This made it a hard bird to take down, with two TIEs splitting off to harass the HWK-90.

Very quickly I lost one TIE to the falcon, but by turn 5 Boba Fett came on the scene in the SLAVE-I.  Having listened to the Imperial chatter on his Type-I, Mod-2 Corellian Police Scanner, Fett heard the description of the ships involved in the action and joined in...much to his disadvantage, however.

Tight maneuvering brought the SLAVE-1 in close to the Falcon and sadly, Fett collided with the larger ship, sustaining significant damage to his hull, now that his shields were gone. 

To add insult to injury, in turn 7, a lone Incom X-Wing came on the scene, piloted by Cdr Skywalker.   The section on the HWK-90 pulled off to engage the X-Wing...about the same time that the Slave-1 and a second TIE were left dead in the water.

By turn 8, I was down to one TIE, which bugged out. I have no idea what explanation he would have for his squadron commander upon his return to base.

So, in the end, the HWK-90 should under no circumstance be your go to ship if you need a fighter.  As a consort, however, it is a valuable addition to a squadron, able to augment the attacks and saves of its sister ships.  

Millenium Falcon, Slave I, A Wing and a new ship release teaser...

A close shave

      We finally picked up the new X-Wing models from Fantasy Flight Games.  My son added the Millenium Falcon (YT-1300) and an A-Wing to his Rebel squadron and I added the Slave I (Boba Fett's Firespray-31).  Once again, great models from Fantasy Flight and plenty of interesting upgrades.



The Falcon surrounded

     One of the great features of the Firespray is the ability to lay proximity mines.  I did this more than once while being pursued by the Falcon.  Maneuvering back to fire, I eventually overshot the Falcon and came upon its rear toward the end of the dogfight.
     Both the Falcon and the Firespray have the ability to fire in more than one direction (the falcon with its two quad-laser cannons.

The tables seemingly turned, the Falcon is on the run.

      This ended up being my undoing.  Although I had my son's rebels dead to rights and on the run, a lucky shot from young Skywalker at the Falcon's turret disabled the Firespray.  My TIE-A pilot prudently chose to flee from the 3:1 odds.

      ...And the teaser:  Fantasy Flight is coming out with a new series of support ships!

Katarn's HWK-290, Lambda Class Shuttle, TIE-B, and B-Wing

X-Wing Tournament, Expansion and the 100 Point Squadron Dilemma

TIE (A) and Grey Squadron Y-Wings

          We went to The Game Vault a week ago for their Saturday night X-Wing tournament.  My son picked up two of the Y-Wing expansion packs and I picked up the TIE Advanced.  They are nice models and add interesting features to the game.  Having Darth Vader as a character is a force multiplier...no pun intended.

Two one-hundred point squadrons.

        The TIE (A) and Y-Wing cards/upgrades significantly changed gameplay, with additional weapons (Concussion Missiles, Ion Cannons) as well as modifers and additional Astromech Droids (repair/reduce damage to Rebel Alliance Ships in flight).

        One of the contestants had the Millienium Falcon that he won during the December Kessel Run Tournament at the store.  Nice Modeling, but with the 100 point squadron limit, if you're going to play the Falcon with Han and Luke...that's going to be the only ship in your squadron.  Need to figure out a way to speed up game play and increase squadron size.

Despite initially successful maneuvers, the dogfight did not go Darth's way.

       At the end of the tournament, my son has disabled two of my TIEs with his ION cannons.  The Y-Wings are slow and not very maneuverable, but tough.  They can take a lot of damage, which despite the fact that I had better pilots, allowed him to win the dogfight.  In the end he came in 4th in the tournament...so Dad's happy.  As suspected, the one dogfight took over an hour to play.

Star Wars X-Wing: Fantasy Flight Games

    So, as I grew up with Star Wars (which is not to suggest that I ever grew up), I had to buy my son the X-Wing Miniatures game from Fantasy Flight Games as soon as I saw it on the shelf at the toy store.  What are sons for, if not to use as an excuse to buy toys at which your wife would otherwise raise an eyebrow?

     In any event, he enjoys the game-and I did too.  Its a ready to play (pop out a few cardboard pieces, read the instructions and go) tactical dog-fight game (two-dimensional).  The fighters (two TIE Fighters and one X-Wing) are pre-painted and they did a decent job.  It certainly makes the game more marketable to a larger audience, that being said, if you are a habitual modeler/wargamer, it is disappointing.  Don't worry, there's a solution to that.  The set also comes with maneuver tracks, upgrade cards, character cards, etc.

     There are expansion packs that come with additional cards, tokens, spacecraft etc.  A bit pricey at $14.99 (X-Wing, Y-Wing, TIE Fighter TIE Advanced). 

     There are new expansion packs that were due out in December, but I've not seen them readily Available.  The Millenium Falcon and Slave I weigh in at $29.99, with the TIE-Interceptor and A-Wing at the comparatively spendthrift $14.99.  What, no B-Wing?

     In any event, we bought a second base set (this was one $39.99), which at the price gets us three more ships and another set of dice ($51 if bought separately as expansion sets).

    Movement  is determined by each player, in the blind on dials (which depict maneuvers).  Combat is determined by D8 rolls (There's an app for that).  Easy day.

      Here's what's good about the game:

1)  Its Star Wars.  What's not to like?
2)  Game play is simple and moves reasonably fast with the three pieces.
3)  My ten and six year-olds understood it and liked it.
4)  It can be played by more than two players (My six year old and I controlled the TIEs against the ten-year old Luke Skywalker).

      Here's what's bad about it:

1) The price and limited nature of expansion packs.
     Solution 1:  I have a bunch of Star Wars plastic models (Star Destroyer Interceptor, Correllian Corvette, Rebel Transport, Millenium Falcon, Slave I, Naboo Fighters, etc. that I plan to repaint and craft my own rules for them).  The only problem is that sanctioned gaming events, such as the Kessel Run: Dec 2012 do not allow prototype models.  I'll have to go to the Outer Rim with my Correllian Corvette.

2)  There are only Rebel and Imperial Ships: No other factions (i.e. Naboo, Trade Federation, Mandalorian, Pirates... (See Solution 1:  With the plethora of memorabilia out there and the increasing Clone Wars stuff-the possibilities are endless, but again, you can't use them in sanctioned games).

3.  Game play will slow down as more space craft are added to the mix.  It is supposed to be played at a 100 point fleet value (you don't get much for 100 points).
     (Solution 3:  Section/Squadron rules.  Real fighters don't operate individually, but fight as sections,  flights, squadrons, etc.  Having the option to execute the same maneuver for two ships in a section makes sense tactically at times, and is realistic.)

4.  Luke Skywalker is nearly impossible to beat.  I suspect Darth Vader, Han Solo, and Boba Fett will be as well.  No surprise, but that does create a serious imbalance.

5.  I've been playing this and have only finished painting two Texian artillery crews over the Christmas holiday.

    All in all, it is a fun game to play.  I recommend it.  If your willing to make your own models and scenery (i.e. space junk, asteroids, moons...the approach trench for Death Star 1 or the guts to Death Star II) the possibilities are endless!