Pups?

I have barely used my X-wings since my early days. Whatever job I need doing, someone does it better and they are just so fragile that trying to have them as a jack of all trades doesn't seem to do much good. Same with my group, they just don't get used except by the guys first coming into the game, I really want to see at least one from time to time though so;

Biggs Darklighter. 28pts

R2F2

Airen Cracken 24pts

VI

Cluster Missiles

3x Bandits with Cluster Missiles 16pts each.

I'm thinking Biggs takes the agility as his action and does the whole range three thing to roll 4 greens as much as possible. The lack of dice modification is mitigated by VI Cracken quickly allowing him to take a focus.

Biggs will go down as quickly as ever to any focus fire of course but with Bandits initially blocking to deny actions and spread the incoming fire a little, the hope is that he lives long enough for the Headhunters to get off their missiles. If not then the usual trouble of gaining a TL at ps2 is helped helped by Cracken if the Bandit can survive to get its shot off.

Next tournament dominating list.. Well no, but it looks like fun. Without going away from the general idea of the list, what are people's thoughts?

My thoughts are to drop R2F2, keep Biggs cheap as he's there only for cover.

Use the 3 points to upgrade the Bandits to Talas. That PS4 will help you get the ordnance off before most swarms can fire on you.

Then, consider swapping the Clusters to Concussions on everyone but Cracken. The Cluster works better for him as it lets him pass 2 actions. But the Concussions have a built-in mini-TL (turn a blank to a hit) and you can fire them off at range 3 initially, then send the Bandits in for blocking work.

I would change r2f2 into hull upgrade and then you're not dependent on cracken to keep him alive. Cracken's actions can then be used to get TL right away. I agree on concussions over clusters for bandits

I also agree with upgrading the bandits to talias. I was faced with the same decision so I went and looked at all the lists from the last local Regional Tournament. Because of the prevalence of 'predator' and mini swarms, Talia would have been the better choice by a big margin. Have alook for yourself and see if would be the same in your area.

Biggs + head hunters is a weird one (so is Cracken with headhunters, he works better off of more powerful ships because he only gives one free actions; as opposed to howlie who buffs everyone)

mainly, you use Biggs in a swarm to discourage other swarms. Your Z-95s can hang out at range 2 and enjoy shooting at that range while the enemy gets to eat **** and Biggs' range 3 agility.

But you don't see many swarms anymore, not with all the 2-ships running around. When said 2-ships start farting out their highly modified attacks that X-wing agility and focus really don't do much against, you start caring less if a crappy Z bites it because, at that point, Biggs is actually more valuable by virtue of having basically the same defensive stats and putting out more damage.

Now, Biggs has some tech with R4-D6 in that he'll eat 3 HLCs instead of just 2 and that buys you enough time for things like B-wings to do their dirty work, but Z-95s are just not as reliable (especially not on unmodified cluster missiles) and they're real finnicky (low PS target-locks required, and then plenty of hope that the target will remain in arc while you remain within range of Biggs)

so basically, with Z-95s being a.) numerous and unwieldy (formation flying is hell, never mind with cluster missiles and b.) kinda supposed to be foddered off anyway, I don't think the list will work out too well.

I did run something sorta similar back in Wave 5, when I was trying to make Stress Wes (V.I, R3-A2, EU) the hard counter to the Whisper + Cheri non-sense that was basically an organized religion at that time (Whisper was Peter, and Cheri was Jesus because he rose again in the next wave). But as the X-wing is just so **** frail (Apart from Luke and Tarn), he needed Biggs to chaperone him and 3 bandits to block/make a nuisance of themselves. It worked out pretty well, but **** is it a hassle to manage four ships without boost/rolls while maintaining formation.

Stress Wes could still work pretty well in this meta, double-stressing PTLs and limiting the maneuverability of PWTs all the while slapping off the excess foci/evades/TLs even if his attack completely whiffs. But he'll need Biggs. An X-wing just has such a sh*tty defensive profile that it'll get slapped around even by unmodified attacks. You'd rather that X-wing be Biggs.

Talas aren't worth it other than against the Blues that appear but the area I play in doesn't have an established meta other than mostly being 2 to 4 ships. Only thing we don't really see is swarms, closest being 4B but that's just one guy who is more likely to run RAC Fel/Whisper when its tourney time.

Main benefit to Talas would be the anti-predator benefit as that card does see a lot of play.

I'm going to take advice on the missiles, makes plenty of sense, maybe mull over the 3 points for R2 F2. Try with it and with the Talas instead, see how they pan out differently.

Chances are, I won't run this in our upcoming tourney but it will probably see an outing in our league that requires a variety of lists.

So taking off R2F2 for R4D6 frees up two points.

Can't see any upgrade at 2pts that's worth taking for this list. Worth changing VI for a different talent

Iike Predator?

So taking off R2F2 for R4D6 frees up two points.

Can't see any upgrade at 2pts that's worth taking for this list. Worth changing VI for a different talent

Iike Predator?

On Cracken? I don't think so, although it helps the clusters do more damage, its more beneficial to be moving & shooting at PS10. I still think hull on biggs is your best choice. It lets biggs live 1 more turn (most of the time). R4-D6 is nice, but mainly against 4 dice attacks. And taking it leaves you only 2 pts, which, as you have noted, doesn't offer any good options for this list

Biggs Darklighter — X-Wing 25

Hull Upgrade 3

Ship Total: 28

Airen Cracken — Z-95 Headhunter 19

Veteran Instincts 1

Cluster Missiles 4

Ship Total: 24

Bandit Squadron Pilot — Z-95 Headhunter 12

Concussion Missiles 4

Ship Total: 16

Bandit Squadron Pilot — Z-95 Headhunter 12

Concussion Missiles 4

Ship Total: 16

Bandit Squadron Pilot — Z-95 Headhunter 12

Concussion Missiles 4

Ship Total: 16

100pts

Think I'm settled on this version.