An unmodified Z-95 is: 12 points

How many points for an unmodified Firespray?

Why do I ask?

Well I'm just getting interested in roleplaying Star Wars having finally broken my GW addiction. But I'd very much like to use X-Wing as a way of playing out the battles in sky and space rather than getting too bogged down in RPG rules. Even without any books or rules, I'm starting to form ideas for kicking off the campaigns.

While I await Age of Rebellion, I'll pick up Edge of Empire and an X-Wing starter pack. This will help to learn the rules before I get well stuck into gaming.

My thinking for Edge of Empire is that I want a duo of Bounty Hunters with a Firespray who will carry out a mission, for a price, on an independent planet. Naturally, those who govern the planet will not be happy and will try to stop the Bounty Hunters. From what I have read on Wookieepedia (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Z-95_Headhunter) "It was fairly inexpensive and reliable, making it a favorite amongst........local system defense forces". This makes them a good choice for anytime I need a "local system defense force", not just for this one-off mission.

So that is why I ask: How many Z-95 for a Firespray?

Please feel free to suggest modifications to the Firespray, but remember to include the points to give an accurate picture of how many Z-95 Headhunters I would need for an equal points game.

Or if you can think of a better choice for system defenders, that are not exclusively Empire or Rebel, I'm happy to hear suggestions.

A Bounty Hunter Firespray with a PS of 3 is 33 points. So that means 3 Z-95's at 36 points would be the closest. That or 2 Z-95's with a fair amount of upgrades.

Wow, I thought the Firespray would be more points. Guess it would be if I upgraded considerably, but that is actually very encouraging. Wont need a dozen Z-95's to make it a fair fight.

But I wouldn't mind four or five. That gives room for the Bounty Hunters to pimp their ride.

Wow, I thought the Firespray would be more points. Guess it would be if I upgraded considerably, but that is actually very encouraging. Wont need a dozen Z-95's to make it a fair fight.

But I wouldn't mind four or five. That gives room for the Bounty Hunters to pimp their ride.

Four would be solid, especially if your characters will have their own pilot abilities and their ship upgraded!

Now go make a custom scheme and killer story for us all to read

Wow, I thought the Firespray would be more points. Guess it would be if I upgraded considerably, but that is actually very encouraging. Wont need a dozen Z-95's to make it a fair fight.

But I wouldn't mind four or five. That gives room for the Bounty Hunters to pimp their ride.

Four would be solid, especially if your characters will have their own pilot abilities and their ship upgraded!

Now go make a custom scheme and killer story for us all to read

Working on it.

Edit: Problem is, I'm actually creating twelve planets with their own backgrounds. The independent planet is more of a side note because I think the idea of playing Bounty Hunters is cool and it's a good way to kick off the adventures. Will post my thoughts on here, so it keeps it all together.

Yeah do it an an even 50 points. That will give you 4 Z-95s and a pretty kitted out Firespray.

Wow, I thought the Firespray would be more points.

Well that is a bare bones generic Firespray, no missiles, no extra guns, no crew, ect...

You might find this site useful for helping you figure out point values.

http://xwing-builder.co.uk/build

For a 50 point Firespray you could do something like this.

Bounty Hunter, Heavy Laser Cannon, Gunner, Shield Upgrade

Wow, I thought the Firespray would be more points.

Well that is a bare bones generic Firespray, no missiles, no extra guns, no crew, ect...

You might find this site useful for helping you figure out point values.

http://xwing-builder.co.uk/build

For a 50 point Firespray you could do something like this.

Bounty Hunter, Heavy Laser Cannon, Gunner, Shield Upgrade

I can spend hours of fun on that. Thanks for the link.

So I can arm the Z-95's with Ion Pulse Missiles. Background wise that would make sense since they would want to disable more powerful vessels. Story/campaign wise it makes sense as they may not want to cause the Firespray to explode as the planet's ruler wont want what the Bounty Hunters have stolen to be lost.

That makes 15 points each. Making for a 60 points for 4.

As for the Firespray, I've been playing about with different set ups. Though I'm just trying to get up to 60 points:

Bounty Hunter, Homing Missiles, Heavy Laser Cannon, Seismic Charges (just cos they're cool in the movie), Slave 1, Stealth Device (for added agility) and Proton Torpedoes. That comes to 54 points and I've just got to pick a Crew.

This is really fun.

Though I'm just trying to get up to 60 points:

Consider going with a named pilot, that should help fill in some points. Just because it says Boba Fett or Kath Scarlet on the card doesn't mean it really has to be them. I'd pick a pilot that has a special ability that you think fits the PC/NPC that's flying the ship.

I can spend hours of fun on that. Thanks for the link.

I figured it was going to be better/easier for you to use the builder to get what you wanted then us offering suggestions.

Though I'm just trying to get up to 60 points:

Consider going with a named pilot, that should help fill in some points. Just because it says Boba Fett or Kath Scarlet on the card doesn't mean it really has to be them. I'd pick a pilot that has a special ability that you think fits the PC/NPC that's flying the ship.

That is very true. Once I've created the two RPG characters, I'll take a look at each X-Wing pilot to see which is a good fit. Boba Fett is a likely candidate.

Might try to make my own character cards with the rules and points from the original.

The one thing I might say, if you have 4 Z-95's with Ion Pulse Missiles, they will basically lock down the BH the entire time. As such, it won't really be that fun or balanced, even if the points come out to say it's balanced. Maybe 1 or 2 for thematic reasons.

Yeah 4 'nekid' Z-95's vs a loaded Firespray could be a good fight, but give 4 of them ion pulse and it's really going to be a one sided fight.

The one thing I might say, if you have 4 Z-95's with Ion Pulse Missiles, they will basically lock down the BH the entire time. As such, it won't really be that fun or balanced, even if the points come out to say it's balanced. Maybe 1 or 2 for thematic reasons.

Fun is the important point. This is not a "win at all costs" idea it is a "let's have an awesome game that will leave us feeling wow that was fun". Don't want it to be easy for the Firespray to escape, but don't want it to be impossible either.

I can see I am going to love playing X-Wing.

Yeah 4 'nekid' Z-95's vs a loaded Firespray could be a good fight, but give 4 of them ion pulse and it's really going to be a one sided fight.

Reading the forums gave the impression that the Firespray was rock hard while the Z-95 was cannon fodder. Now I know that Z-95's can be scary.

Be afraid. Very afraid.

Don't want it to be easy for the Firespray to escape, but don't want it to be impossible either.

Here's the thing with the 4 Ion Pulse's. Each one will lock down the Firespray for 1 turn. Which means it can only go 1 straight. But it does get to preform actions and shoot and all the rest. But it's still a bit of a sitting duck. And it will be that way for 3-4 turns, odds of getting at least 1 hit is pretty good.

If you want, maybe give 1 or two of the Z's Ion Pulse, that way they have to chose when is best to use them.

Reading the forums gave the impression that the Firespray was rock hard while the Z-95 was cannon fodder. Now I know that Z-95's can be scary.

Well the Firespray is a great ship, and Z-95's are not going to be killer ships, not a single Z-95 anyway.

But in X-Wing focus fire is a huge thing. So it's not that a single Z-95 is killer, but 4 of them vs 1 Firespray is going to be a interesting fight. The Firespray with a Heavy Laser Cannon can at best kill 1 Z per round... But that's pretty unlikely to happen.

The 4 Z's however will be rolling 2 or 3 attack dice per ship, per turn vs the 2 defense dice the Firespray has. So you're likely to see around 2 damage per turn done to the Firespray. That means it has 5 turns to kill all 4 Z-95's... If each one of them have a ion pulse and can lock down the Firespray for 4 turns...

Awesome!

After what you've said I'm thinking that a 60 points Firespray VS 5 Z-95's without any upgrades might be a fun match.

I can always lose a Z-95 or two in order to give some Ions.

I wouldn't give the z's 4 ion pulses. Maybe only 2 of them get missiles.

Alternately you could load the firespray up like so:
BH + heavy laser + Shield upgrade + hull upgrade + recon specialist/gunner

2 modifications for RPG purposes. 50pt firespray with recon or 52 with gunner... gives the thing 12hp and with recon double focus you should be pretty dang tough to bring down even in a 1 vs 4+ missiles.

I just say throw 3 at them, two with Ion Pulse. Give them the Heavy Laser Cannon and Recon Specialist. That way they'll be Ionized a maximum of two times while still having a very good chance of fighting off the Bandits without them getting a huge advantage. If you want to make things a little larger and more interesting, side the Firespray with the HWK-290 with an ion cannon turret as something of an escort. That way you don't have to feel as bad about throwing 4 or 5 units at them for their first challenge! :3

I'd like the Firespray to be alone, but I intend getting a HWK at some point since I like the miniature so will try that too.

Here is a link to the first draft of my Bounty Hunters mission:

http://knightsofboanerges.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/bounty-hunters.html

It still needs work, people need names for a start, but it might help to explain a little more about what's behind my idea for this battle. Got a brain full of ideas.