First, my apologies if this is supposed to go into the list building sub-forums. This isn't a list though, just a possible build that I'm wondering about.

It was inspired by the recent X-Wing thread, but I didn't want to clutter that up with list builds. In that thread, it is generally asserted that the X-Wing's primary issue is durability. This makes sense, to a point, but I've always felt that the strength of the X-Wing was its ability to shoot first and kill things before they are able to shoot back. I don't mean to revisit that debate, but I did some tinkering in order to come up with an extra "killy" X-Wing without breaking the bank. What do we think of this:

Hobbie
-R2-D6

-Opportunist

It comes out at 30 points, slightly less than a third of your points and offers a particularly hard hitting attacker that doesn't need to worry about the stress cost due to his ability. Attacking with PS 5 is low enough to ensure that most tokes are spent, especially if paired with Wedge or Wes. He also could synergize especially well with token passers like Garven and Dutch.

So what do you think? Does this have merit? I hope to try it out in my next game, but that's not for a week.

Try to pair him with Wes and Dutch. Wes strip the token to help Opportunist trigger, and Dutch gives Hobbie the TL for a focus+TL attack. Or, wait and watch your opponent face when you'll do a K-Turn with Hobbie and then use Dutch to give him a TL and clear the stress, effectively making the maneuver a white k-turn. Priceless.

Actually Hobbie is one if my favorite X-wings, (Tarn being my Favorite). I have run your Hobbie build alongside Wes to some success. I have found that without Wes to strip tokens, Opportunist isn't really worth its points. Most players will keep tokens on the ships you are likely to shoot, and while token denial is nice, its usually not worth the 4 pts the skill costs.

If you run Dutch with Hobbie, you can take advantage of a lot of the lesser used skills that incur a stress such as Expert Handling or Daredevil. It really makes Hobbie do things people don't expect from an X-wing.

Unless you're the kind of player that entered the PS race, Hobbie is one of the best X-Wing pilot there is (actually my personal favorite). Very versatile in the roles he can fill: hitter with opportunist, controller with R3-A2, maneuvrable with Expert Handling, both a hitter and maneuvrable with PtL and Engine Upgrade, sneaky with Dutch for the white k-turn.

He's definetly one of the most neglected pilot of the game.

Love hobbies ability! Definitely try it and see what kind of results you get!

I got a couple ideas.

1. Phantom hunter Luke, vi, engine, r3a2. 35 points

2 . Hobbie with hero bot and opportunist at 30.

3. Bandit 12.

4. Cracken. Vi and hull.

It's 100 points and you could keep them all as a group or have Luke be your flanker and keep cracken with Hobbie and the bandit.

Looks good in a 3-ship build, with two higher PS pilots to strip tokens.

However....

I'm now tempted by the idea of Wedge, Hobbie (with R2-D6 & PtL) & two Rookies. Wedge is Wedge. Hobbie would enjoy Target Lock & Focus every turn, without having to rely on greens to clear stress.

PtL is often overkill on X-Wings without Engine Upgrade, but in this instance could be interesting...

When he first came out, I enjoyed playing him with R3A2 and Flechette Torps, protected by Biggs. The best part was that they were both PS5, so I could move Hobbie first, and keep Biggs in the back for protection. The Flechettes coupled well with the R3-A2 to pop a double stress (while leaving Hobbie stress free!) on a target.

Might have to give this a try.

Clog Dancing

Thanks for all the thoughts. I'm glad to see that I'm not totally crazy in trying to exploit the good lieutenant.

Actually Hobbie is one if my favorite X-wings, (Tarn being my Favorite). I have run your Hobbie build alongside Wes to some success. I have found that without Wes to strip tokens, Opportunist isn't really worth its points. Most players will keep tokens on the ships you are likely to shoot, and while token denial is nice, its usually not worth the 4 pts the skill costs.

If you run Dutch with Hobbie, you can take advantage of a lot of the lesser used skills that incur a stress such as Expert Handling or Daredevil. It really makes Hobbie do things people don't expect from an X-wing.

These are some really good points. Wes is my favorite X-Wing so I will be running him in my next firefight, although I had considered leaving him out and relying on the lower PS to disperse the tokens but...I think you're right. Better safe than sorry, yes? And Wes always gives one the opportunity to say, "Yub-yub, Commander." Everyone wins.

Have you found that Expert Handling or Daredevil are worth their cost on Hobbie? I quite like the idea of a knife fighting X-Wing, though I worry that his need to stay nearish Dutch would limit the advantages of the additional maneuverability.

Love hobbies ability! Definitely try it and see what kind of results you get!

I got a couple ideas.
1. Phantom hunter Luke, vi, engine, r3a2. 35 points
2 . Hobbie with hero bot and opportunist at 30.
3. Bandit 12.
4. Cracken. Vi and hull.

It's 100 points and you could keep them all as a group or have Luke be your flanker and keep cracken with Hobbie and the bandit.

That's a pretty sweet group, although I'd worry about the lack of Wes. Maybe swap him in for Luke and drop the hull from Cracken? That gives us two points to play with. Maybe a flechette on Wes?

Looks good in a 3-ship build, with two higher PS pilots to strip tokens.

However....

I'm now tempted by the idea of Wedge, Hobbie (with R2-D6 & PtL) & two Rookies. Wedge is Wedge. Hobbie would enjoy Target Lock & Focus every turn, without having to rely on greens to clear stress.

PtL is often overkill on X-Wings without Engine Upgrade, but in this instance could be interesting...

Very interesting. I only own three X-Wings, but would love to try this. I agree that PTL often feels like a waste on the X, but here we're essentially getting a PS5 Vader for 4 points. Not half bad.

Might have to give this a try.

Clog Dancing

"Hobbie" Klivian (25)

R3-A2 (2)

"Dutch" Vander (23)

Ion Cannon Turret (5)

BTL-A4 Y-Wing (0)

Blue Squadron Pilot (22) X2

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Not sure what to do with that last point.

Y's and X's have the same dial with a few extra reds on the Y-Wing so Hobbie and Dutch can be best buds while the twin blues go off and be B-wings. Might be even more fun to drop the B's and toss in three Prototype pilots...

This is part of why I'm getting interested in Hobbie. He's so cheap that you can still pack a beefy squadron, even if it's a little low down the PS food chain.

Actually, I might not use Dutch with the BTL because of the PS concerns. A turret, even the smaller one, can be really effective Phantom control.

Might have to give this a try.

Clog Dancing

"Hobbie" Klivian (25)

R3-A2 (2)

"Dutch" Vander (23)

Ion Cannon Turret (5)

BTL-A4 Y-Wing (0)

Blue Squadron Pilot (22) X2

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Not sure what to do with that last point.

Y's and X's have the same dial with a few extra reds on the Y-Wing so Hobbie and Dutch can be best buds while the twin blues go off and be B-wings. Might be even more fun to drop the B's and toss in three Prototype pilots...

I played this team a couple of time and I always liked how it performs. I used the last point for a R2 unit on Dutch to have more greens on his dial.

Next thing I want to try is replacing the 2 Blue and R2 unit for a Rookie an 2 Z. I think it could work great to add one more body.

Yeah, no BTL on Dutch, he needs to turn around and keep in range of Hobbie to give him the TL.

The problem with basing a 3rd of you list on an X-Wing is that it makes a prime first target. It isn't unlikely for two sets of three incoming red dice to knock it off the table in the first round of shooting.

It is too risky, so I can't imagine it performing consistently.

Control...control! You must learn control!

...

Control...control! You must learn control!

Substitute recon spec for tactician and then you got yourself a build!

No way. Rec spec makes any two agility ship that much more survive able and is always useful! Tactician is great, but exceptionally so so on a turret ship with such horrid maneuvers.

It's not new, it's been around since Rebel Transport. It's fairly nifty though. You can also use PTL if you want to focus and target lock every turn.

I for one am intrigued as to what you could make using Experimental Interface.

I for one am intrigued as to what you could make using Experimental Interface.

I thought about it and what came to mind is:

Hobbie+R2-D6+Expert Handling+Experimental Interface=31pts

Dutch Vander+Ion turret=28pts

41pts left

Move with Hobbie at PS5, do a focus, use experimental Interface to do a barrel roll and gain 2 stress, move with Dutch do a TL action and give one to Hobbie, clear first stress, Shoot with Hobbie in a better position thanks to barrel roll and focus+TL thanks to Dutch, clear second stress.

Other than that, other options that might be good is R2-F2 for a third defense dice, R5-D8 to repair your hull, R7-T1 for a boost and TL at the same time (same result than the barrel roll except it is a boost instead and leave you with only one stress, but is more situational since you need to be in firing arc of an enemy at range 2), Squad Leader if you're going with some grunts... of those, R7-T1 might actually be good and worth a try.

How funny -- just this last Saturday I played in my first X-wing tourney, a store championship. I ran:

Wes Janson

Predator

Garven Dreis

Hobbie Klivian

R2-D6, Opportunist

Bandit

100 pts

It was a lot of fun, and my poor placing had more to do with my own ineptitude than the list's, I believe. Wes Focuses, shoots (with Predator re-roll) & strips a token afterward, often after forcing the defender to spend one to defend. Garven shoots with Focus, then gives it to Hobbie. Hobbie Target Locks, then shoots with Opportunist/Focus/TL. A couple times my formation was at range one & Hobbie finished someone off with 5 dice F&TL. Was great fun.

Wes was the primary target, and usually went down first. Garven stuck around the longest of the four.

Man, I love X-wings. I'm working on a 3-ship Push the Limit/Engine Upgrade build that's probably gonna get obliterated, but it'll be way fun to fly.

Hey All,

I came across this thread as I just got my hands on a Hobbie and really want to use him - I see a lot of people here using an EPT with Hobbie, but he doesn't have the slot. Am I missing something?

R2-D6 Astro gives you the EPT slot.

Personally I go with Targeting astro for stress free K turns :-)

Cheers

R2-D6 Astro gives you the EPT slot.

Personally I go with Targeting astro for stress free K turns :-)

Cheers

Woo! This is why forum browsing at 1:37am isn't always the greatest idea - you miss things.

Would it be useful to run R2-F2 and experimental interface? No evade action can be somewhat offset and help keep him around, can still focus on his turn and can take the usual Dutch escort to generate the TL.

Hobbie

-R2-D6

-Opportunist

It's a good one. Opportunist is an expensive Elite Upgrade, but it's no more expensive than a missile or cannon.

You can get Integrated Astromech as a side benefit (since Hobbie needs R2-D6 to get it).

The weakness is that - instead of needing to target lock - you need to have an opponent with no tokens, and you need to stress yourself.

I'd agree that Dutch is a good pairing. He lets you get a target lock, which clears off Hobbie's stress and means you've got a target locked 4-dice attack at a target with no tokens (this is a good thing).

Ditto Wes. Of course, you have another option now; in the fom of Hotshot Copilot. It means anything with a crew slot can be used to chew off focus tokens.....and since we're trying to turn Hobbie into a 'big stick', you ight get some mileage out of Jan Ors..

Yes, I know Jan's primary weapon is a joke. But it's a primary weapon attack. Meaning Hotshot Copilot forces you to spend your focus token. And then, she can hand Hobbie another attack die, taking him up to 5.

Another version I've seen of this list was a 'Rogue Squadron' squad:

• Wes Janson - Veteran Instincts, R2-D2, Integrated Astromech
• Wedge Antilles - Opportunist, R2 Astromech, Integrated Astromech
• Hobbie Klivian - Opportunist, R2-D6, Integrated Astromech

I like R3-A2 on him. Take a TL as your action, then shoot cause stress, use your TL, shed stress. Rinse repeat.

Double post

R2-D6 Astro gives you the EPT slot.

Personally I go with Targeting astro for stress free K turns :-)

Cheers

Woo! This is why forum browsing at 1:37am isn't always the greatest idea - you miss things.

Would it be useful to run R2-F2 and experimental interface? No evade action can be somewhat offset and help keep him around, can still focus on his turn and can take the usual Dutch escort to generate the TL.

It is never useful to run R2-F2. Unfortunately, a lot of the Trashtromechs from wave 1 are just hot garbage. Wasting three points and and an action for an extra green die is worse than simply taking a focus action. Your odds of rolling an eye on two green dice is better than rolling an evade on the extra die.