Offence or defence?

By Russells teapot, in X-Wing

EDIT: UPDATED LIST IN POST #16 FOR DISCUSSION

New player, so forgive me if I'm going over old ground...

I'm currently running the following list:

Lando sings the blues:

Lando - expert handling, Nein Nunb, Chewbacca, MF upgrade

Blue squadron - FCS

Blue squadron - FCS

Lando's looking quite defensive with Chewie and an evade token. Am I better served running him with a gunner instead?

Thoughts?

(And no, I don't have any advanced sensors)

Edited by Russells teapot

If you want consistent damage output go with Gunner.

If you want to turtle up and try to outlast / go for time, having destroyed more than your opponent, then stay with the configuration as it is.

My 2 Laser Bolts

Wouldnt it be better to use Chewie as the pilot, because of his ability? No resolving criticals when you take them is important.

How about this build.

Chewie piloting the YT-1300, MF upgrade, with Push the Limit, Engine Upgrade, Nien Nunb, Recon Specialist.

By using Push the Limit, you allow for the Falcon to get an evade and two focus tokens a turn. Which both can be used in defense, but the extra focus allows for some damage output in order to drop enemy fighters. The other hand you could take a boost action and a evade token, allowing the Falcon to dodge line of fires. Then that is when Nien Nunb comes in, because he makes all the Straights green. This means the Falcon can take a 2-4 straight to get out of harms way to relieve stress and bulk up on tokens again. You could of course still add a missile onto the ship, allowing it some more damage ability.

How does that fit for a defense build? Opinions?

Edited by Arithion

Here is a build that some people in the league I play like to call "Chewbacca is a House."

Chewbacca

+Millennium Falcon

+Elusiveness

+Hull Upgrade

Dagger Squadron Pilot

+Fire Control System

x2

100 Points

All 3 ships will shoot before 50% of incoming fire, and Chewbacca is stacked defensively. Really minimizes critical possibility, as you have hit points, but only 4 (2 from each B-wing, the last would kill them) can be affected by criticals. When Tantive IV drops, I might demote the Daggers to Blues and place either R2-D2 or C3PO on Chewbacca.

Chewie is a great defensive platform! Here is my take on a build:

Chewie+DtF+Merc+Falcon

Dagger+Adv. Sensors

Dagger+Adv. Sensors

Wouldn't it be better to use Chewie as the pilot? Using him as an upgrade card that gets discarded seems like a waste. Especially since the Tantive pack will be adding C-3PO and R2-D2 as crew member choices. Given Chewie's ability to negate critical effects from straight critical hits, this seems like a better defense build. Pending when people can get the cards, and of course if you want to buy the Tantive.

Adding those two, or at least R2-D2 would make for the ship lasting alot longer. Pending you haven't taken hull damage, you can gain a shield every turn without suffering the second effect. While with your limited number of evade dice, you can get a high chance of adding an extra evade from C-3PO. Slap in an engine upgrade for the boost action to help keep your ship out of the way. Maybe slap in the shield upgrade card for a extra shield..or the hull upgrade from the new Imperial Aces kit to give it more hull points?

can

Would you say that using Expert Handling is a good option for the YT-1300 with a engine upgrade? Since you get the nice boost and roll actions? Of course you could only use one per turn.

Edited by Arithion

Thanks for the replies all. A little flamewar is always great for a pick-me-up with my cup of tea in the morning!

All of your replies are useful, so thank you.

The answer appears to be "it depends..." which is kind of what I thought, but it's worth checking if there is one answer that is obvious to other, but not to me.

Regarding Chewie in the Falcon, I've chosen Lando in order to get a kind of AdvS/PtL "lite" on one of my blues should the situation arise, as I've found that flying through asteroids is not my forte! And to get a PS7 to gain a little advantage on all the x-wing PS6 builds I keep seeing around.

I think I'm going to run gunner (having re-read the rules, I think it's stronger than I thought it was, as I was playing that if I missed with my dice it kicked in, whereas it should work after my opponent has rolled their green dice). And a dead ship doesn't shoot back!

Thanks again.

Edited by Russells teapot

I would say to go with gunner. Red dice win games in the end. Every hit you can land is one more that they have to dodge. And let's be honest green dice blanking is far worse than red dice blanking.

Also consider throwing Determination on Chewie. Then you get to completely discard any pilot critical and not even take the face down damage.

Are you building for fun or tournament? All around here it's 60 minute rounds, so if you build too defensively it's a good possibility you will win a bunch of modified wins or draws. That's why maxing offense seems to me the way to go.

My 2 cents.

Yes, it's for a tournament (my first) and that's a good point.

Now fully sold on gunner!

Thanks chaps

I tend to think that if your only running 3 models your only going to be shooting three times per turn so you better make them count. You can't afford to miss as much as a squad running 4+ models. You need to even the shots per turn difference asap. I feel that's one of the biggest flaws of the dual falcon builds (you only shoot twice). Your defense is in your hit points. Blast away and hope you kill quicker then your hit points run out.

Offence is definitly the best defence.

I think of it like Ender does in Ender's Game:

If you are going to hit someone, make sure you hit them hard enough to not only end this fight, but also every fight after this one.

They can't hit you back if they are dead.

On a side note, there is the philosophical thinking part of me that both advocates for, and is horrified by, that doctrine.

If you are going all out offensive with the YT-1300 then what about 5 dice (6 at range 1) with focus and target lock?

X-W •Garven Dreis (26pts)

YT •Chewbacca (46pts) Expose (4pts)

HWK •Jan Ors (28pts), •Nien Nunb (1pts), •Squad Leader (2pts)

Totally a glass cannon but was fun to play.

Edited by Darkheart

Thanks to the great advice I've had above the list has now changed, and the lead singer has been sacked!

Chewie sings the blues:

Chewbacca - Expert handling, Gunner, Nein Nunm, MF upgrade

Blue B Wing - FCS

Blue B Wing - FCS

That's 99 points.

Should I swap Gunner & Nein for Luke Skwalker? That takes be to 100 points, but I quite like 99 for the initiative.

Can anyone persuade me one way or t'other?

Thanks.

(Is this the correct etiquette on this forum - continuing an old post, or should I start a new one?)

Edited by Russells teapot

Drop the MF upgrade swap FCS for advanced sensors and by getting the initiative you just wasted expert handling.

I say give it a try, play some test matches to see how it will go. Sadly because Luke costs 7 points you would need to drop more in order to get him. Get a feel for the list by testing it, because you won't know how much certain items will come into play until you do. You might find that you never use Expert Handling, because you are taking an Evade Token more often.

Looks like a solid list, of course you could look into swapping Expert Handling for Elusiveness.