It's here: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4715
The dial!
Munitions Failsafe!
Airen Cracken, which we called correctly as being the PS8 pilot!
Tala Squadron Pilot! Another one we correctly guessed.
Wingman!
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And for those who missed the photos I posted last night, Lieutenant Blount will be new to you!
Thanks for that 
Munitions Failsafe is very nice. Makes taking secondary weapons a lot more cost effective. Get a bad roll and keep the weapon.
Also digging Airen, a bit like a built in Squad Leader only a bit more restricted. Will allow at least one ship to fire off secondaries with a TL+F.
Dial is interesting, almost the same as the X-Wing. Expect...
White 1 banks instead of the green banks on a X-Wing.
Green 2 banks vs the white banks on the X-Wing.
3 K-Turn vs the 4 K-Turn on the X-Wing.
It has 1 more green then the X-Wing does, and is slightly better at mid speed maneuvers with the green 2 banks vs white 1 banks.
Edited by VanorDMWell,
That is a nice dial they have and Cracken with "Wingman" and maybe a Hull Upgrade for survivability is one of the best support ships in the game.
Wingman will also be cool on Lando or Chewie as well......
will Blount be the new green awing? a flanking Blount is NOT to be ignored
wow, just wow. Things are really going to change a lot with this new wave.
Wingman is going to make Jan Ors even better!
13 pts for the PS4? Cool!
Thanks for sharing!
Forgot the Tala Squadron pilot. It's interesting that you can have a 13 pt PS 4 pilot. I guess it makes sense, in that it mirrors the Academy to Obsidian squadron pilot. I wonder if other ships will have such cheap PS updates. The Tala will definitely be a preferred option with the Phantom lurking out there.
Dial isn't as bad as I feared. I think between Munitions Failsafe and Blount, swarms are really going to have to worry about Assault Missiles. I like Wingman. It opens up a lot of synergy possibilities. It will help prevent some of the stress inducing options that are now available. Plus, it can make doing a white maneuver while stressed less painful. Still lose your action, but you still shred your stress.
Airen has some fun possibilities. Toss a Squad Leader on him, and you are tossing out a bunch of actions for your friends. A couple Z-95's with Target Lock and Focus for their Missile strike, perhaps. Fun ship.
Wingman is going to make Jan Ors even better!
She still can't give 2 attacks, so it's not that much better really.
Interesting how the article talks Craken + Wingman, that's quite clever.
I really like all of that preview. Nice simple dial too.
And now I want more Z95s than I was planning, if only for the Wingman card.
Wingman is going to make Jan Ors even better!
She still can't give 2 attacks, so it's not that much better really.
Well, range considerations aside, you could certainly use it to step up the effectiveness of the extra die--from 0.5 hits to 0.75, or from 0.75 to 0.94. But I think putting Cracken's effect in terms of teamwork with Jan is burying the lede, because he's got so many applications.
Think of Biggs Walks the Dogs, for instance:
He's no more expensive than the Rookie, but now he's a giant pain for your opponent. He makes Biggs' life longer by handing out focus tokens, or makes your Dagger with the perfect shot more effective by stacking up actions, and he also helps make the Daggers even more maneuverable by relieving them of stress. And once Biggs is gone, you probably want to hit him next, although you'd really rather start in on the B-wings.
The counter, of course, is that Wingman, Cracken, and Biggs all specify Range 1--and now you have Assault Missiles + Blount and Assault Missiles + Munitions Failsafe floating around the metagame.
Edited by Vorpal SwordSo, you can combine Airen with say... Tycho... to get a pseudo Turr out of it. I like it
Wingman is going to make Jan Ors even better!
She still can't give 2 attacks, so it's not that much better really.
Well, range considerations aside, you could certainly use it to step up the effectiveness of the extra die--from 0.5 hits to 0.75, or from 0.75 to 0.94. But I think putting Cracken's effect in terms of teamwork with Jan is burying the lede, because he's got so many applications.
Think of Biggs Walks the Dogs, for instance:
My principal problem with Advanced Sensors is that, as fantastic as they are, I so often have to choose between (e.g.) barrel roll or Target Lock. And of course Biggs is so much better with an extra Focus token. But there's lots of room in here for Cracken:
- Biggs Darklighter (25)
- Rookie Pilot (21)
- Dagger Squadron Pilot (24) + Advanced Sensors (3)
- Dagger Squadron Pilot (24) + Advanced Sensors (3)
(EDIT: Alternately, Cracken + Squad Leader, or Cracken + Swarm Tactics. Lots of options for Mister Support, here...)
- Biggs Darklighter (25)
- Airen Cracken (19) + Wingman (2)
- Dagger Squadron Pilot (24) + Advanced Sensors (3)
- Dagger Squadron Pilot (24) + Advanced Sensors (3)
He's no more expensive than the Rookie, but now he's a giant pain for your opponent. He makes Biggs' life longer by handing out focus tokens, or makes your Dagger with the perfect shot more effective by stacking up actions, and he also helps make the Daggers even more maneuverable by relieving them of stress. And once Biggs is gone, you probably want to hit him next, although you'd really rather start in on the B-wings.
The counter, of course, is that Wingman, Cracken, and Biggs all specify Range 1--and now you have Assault Missiles + Blount and Assault Missiles + Munitions Failsafe floating around the metagame.
Vorpal, this is why I love your brain.
Wingman is going to make Jan Ors even better!
She still can't give 2 attacks, so it's not that much better really.
Well, range considerations aside, you could certainly use it to step up the effectiveness of the extra die--from 0.5 hits to 0.75, or from 0.75 to 0.94. But I think putting Cracken's effect in terms of teamwork with Jan is burying the lede, because he's got so many applications.
Think of Biggs Walks the Dogs, for instance:
My principal problem with Advanced Sensors is that, as fantastic as they are, I so often have to choose between (e.g.) barrel roll or Target Lock. And of course Biggs is so much better with an extra Focus token. But there's lots of room in here for Cracken:
- Biggs Darklighter (25)
- Rookie Pilot (21)
- Dagger Squadron Pilot (24) + Advanced Sensors (3)
- Dagger Squadron Pilot (24) + Advanced Sensors (3)
(EDIT: Alternately, Cracken + Squad Leader, or Cracken + Swarm Tactics. Lots of options for Mister Support, here...)
- Biggs Darklighter (25)
- Airen Cracken (19) + Wingman (2)
- Dagger Squadron Pilot (24) + Advanced Sensors (3)
- Dagger Squadron Pilot (24) + Advanced Sensors (3)
He's no more expensive than the Rookie, but now he's a giant pain for your opponent. He makes Biggs' life longer by handing out focus tokens, or makes your Dagger with the perfect shot more effective by stacking up actions, and he also helps make the Daggers even more maneuverable by relieving them of stress. And once Biggs is gone, you probably want to hit him next, although you'd really rather start in on the B-wings.
The counter, of course, is that Wingman, Cracken, and Biggs all specify Range 1--and now you have Assault Missiles + Blount and Assault Missiles + Munitions Failsafe floating around the metagame.
I still fail to see how this specifically makes Jan any more useful. Yes, she can now shred stress if she stays R1 from a Z95 so she doesn't have to do a green. But besides that, and the occasional double stress due to flechette / kath, I don't see how she benefits from wingman. It's not that it doesn't help her, but rather I just don't see how it helps her more than anyone else.
The fact that Blount can simply point his guns at a ship with a stealth mod and it goes poof makes him worth his weight.
I was thinking on getting just two Z's as filler for other lists, but these pilots are quite awesome. Four Z's it is then!!
Upgrades are great too!! I don't care much for multiple of those since in our group we mostly play casually so no one cares if we have 4 advanced sensors cards or just one assigned to four ships...
Love the dial - straight forward and simple!
And let's remember that this is actually a huge boost to the Empire:
* A lot of the complaints about R3-A2 and other stress effects are handled ably by Wingman, and Black Squadron Pilot has the cheapest Wingman user in the game. (BSP + Wingman with Captain Yorr?)
* Munitions Failsafe is a huge boon for the TIE Bomber, which is much more likely to carry multiple bits of ordnance than any other ship.
* Kath Scarlet + Proton Torpedoes + Munitions Failsafe: you're very likely to crit. If you miss, your target picks up a stress, and you can keep it around for another shot.
* For that matter, anybody with Flechette Torpedoes + Munitions Failsafe: if you miss, you can keep the torpedoes. We are all R3-A2 now.
Lt. Blount w/ Assault Missile and Squad Leader (24)
Bandit Squadron Pilot w/ Assault Missile and Munitions Failsafe (18) x 4 = 72
TOTAL: 96 points
Anti-swarm squad, right there
Edited by DanthraxThe dial isn't as bad as I thought. It looks like they want you to fly in close formation with the Cracken and Wingman cards, but they've given you the ability to really hurt people if you do with Blount and Assault missiles. Interesting...
So much for Stealth Device as a viable upgrade when faced with Blount.. I don't mind when they create abilities to counter other cards and abilities, but new abilities that completely NERF upgrades are just dumb..
Umm, Munitions Failsafe is worthless on Blount, since he always "hits".
And the Stealth Device is not dead. Fel and Turr are going to eat Blount alive.
Edited by SithborgAnd, holy crap, http://xwing-builder.co.uk/build has it all loaded already. Colour me impressed.