Comic source: http://imgur.com/gallery/RrhbqZ9

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PORKINS' REVENGE: THE SCRUBS STRIKE BACK

Update 12/22/15: After testing different variations for the past three months, here's the final form of the list. It's really quite strong, and now that Integrated Astromech has been officially released via the T-70 expansion pack, I'm looking forward to trying it out competitively.

Jek Porkins (26)
Draw Their Fire (1)
R5-P9 (3)
Integrated Astromech (0)

Biggs Darklighter (25)
R2 Astromech (1)
Integrated Astromech (0)

Rookie Pilot (21)
R2 Astromech (1)
Integrated Astromech (0)

Rookie Pilot (21)
R2 Astromech (1)
Integrated Astromech (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

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How the list works:

0) Start the game flying in formation such that everyone stays at range 1 from everyone else. Stay in this formation until Biggs dies.

1) Until he dies, Biggs must be targeted, meaning the vast majority of the time he soaks all the opponents' shooting in the first and sometimes second or more rounds.

2) DTF is used on Porkins to eat one or more of Biggs' crits, potentially saving him from being wiped out in the first round of shooting.

3) R5-P9 is used to regen one of the shields that Porkins sacrificed to protect Biggs.

4) Not spending Porkins' focus (so it can be used for shield regen) does cut down on his efficiency somewhat until Biggs dies, but for every round you keep Biggs alive, you've got 3-4 red dice you wouldn't have otherwise.

5) Until Biggs dies, you've got 12-16 red dice of shooting per round, which with average rolling is pretty brutal no matter what you point it at.

6) After Biggs dies, you can choose to keep the formation together or spread out to create a killbox.

7) Normally Porkins becomes the next priority target, which is great because by the time he dies, the combined weight of fire has usually left a fairly easy mop-up for the two typically full-strength Rookies.

NOTE: Porkins' stress "ability" is ignored because it's silly and self-destructive. His actual value lies in that he's the least expensive T-65 pilot that can take an EPT. The fact that he's PS 7 is gravy.

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UPDATE 2/21/16:

My 11 year old son took this list to our FLGS's Winter Tourney and took 1st place, going 3-0 against a field of the most experienced X-Wing players in our town. Stoked!

Welcome to X-wing! It looks like you have a solid grasp of list building! Here are my recommendations:

Porkins is better off with Push the Limit & Integrated Astromech instead of LW & EI.

PTL and EI do the same thing in your list (you just have to activate the droid first with PTL) but you gain access to the X-wing buff and gain the option to Focus & TL when the opportunity presents itself.

LW is difficult to use consistently even for experienced players. Furthermore, a 32-point X-wing is a very juicy target and opponents will typically go after Porkins first. He can tank a bit better than generic X-wings, but he's far from invincible. I don't recommend runnking him as a solo flanker since he doesn't have the natural speed or boost to get away easily. I suggest trying to fly a formation and forcing a joust with all them lasers

I like your suggestion, thanks! Will give it a go.

EDIT: I also like how it frees up some more points, to possibly buff a couple of the Rookies with some better droids... the R7 seems like it could be a nice defensive buff?

I've tried a number of different variations of a 4 X-Wing list with Porkins as the "ace" and so far the one below is my favorite.

My thoughts in no specific order:

• Having the ability to have 3 X-Wings firing at PS 7 (via Swarm Tactics on Porkins & RSP) can be pretty good! Or two firing at PS 7 and two at PS 4.

• Integrated Astromech is proving very useful and I don't think my T-65s are ever going to leave home without it

• R3-A2 is perhaps a bold play for Porkins, but I think R5-D8 is sort of a false economy for him:
  • R5-D8 costs a lot of points, requires an action (and possibly stress if used with E.I. or PtL) and doesn't really add that much more durability.
  • When built to 32-34pts to accommodate his goofy ability (via PtL / E.I. + R5-D8), Porkins just isn't worthwhile compared to taking Wedge, Luke, etc.
  • Worse, when Porkins (or whoever) gets above 30pts cost, you are basically stuck with 3 Rookie X-Wing pilots firing at PS 2, who will often get murderized before they get to be very effective.
  • Whereas R3-A2 at least boosts Porkins offensive capabilities somewhat, and you at least have the option (situationally) of taking the risk of 1 facedown damage in exchange for putting stress on your target, removing your own stress, and getting to TL or Focus.
  • And best of all, taking Swarm Tactics on Porkins as well as Red Squadron Pilot - which is possible thanks to keeping Porkins "slim" - lets you get more X-Wings firing at higher PS, which is always a good thing IMHO.
• I definitely like R5 for the Rookies and think it's more useful than R2 from a durability / insurance standpoint.
  
• The bottom line: unless I'm mistaken, this is the only way you can get a list with 4 X-Wings in which up to 3 of them have the ability to fire at PS 7 and keep Integrated Astromech for all of them.

Would appreciate C&C. The main goal of this exercise is to build a competitive list with four T-65s. Because reasons!

Jek Porkins (26)
Swarm Tactics (2)
R3-A2 (2)
Integrated Astromech (0)

Red Squadron Pilot (23)
R2-D6 (1)
Swarm Tactics (2)
Integrated Astromech (0)

Rookie Pilot (21)
R5 Astromech (1)
Integrated Astromech (0)

Rookie Pilot (21)
R5 Astromech (1)
Integrated Astromech (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

What about a 4X squadron with Gavin instead of Porkins?

ARE there any viable 4X squadron at all?

Depends. 4 Red Squadron Pilots with R2 Astromechs and Integrated Astromech probably isn't bad - it should certainly make a nice mess of twin laser turret mobs and less maneuvrable big ships.

Biggs and Garven are a nice pairing - pass a second focus token to help keep biggs alive.

Rookie Pilot - R2 Astromech, Integrated Astromech

Rookie Pilot - R2 Astromech, Integrated Astromech

Biggs Darklighter - R4-D6, Integrated Astromech

Garven Dreis - R2-D6, Veteran Instincts, Integrated Astromech, Flechette Torpedoes

Also, not that it's quite what you were asking for:

Blue Squadron Novice - R2 Astromech, Integrated Astromech x 4

That's some serious toughness - you're effectively 1 shield shy of 4 B-wings but have a much faster dial and agility 2.

My favorite XXXX build is:

Rookie with R7

Tarn Mison with R7

Red Squadron with R7

Biggs with R7

Once integrated astromech comes out it's a straight buff to the list. The idea is to fly what are essentially 4 Tarn Misons.

• R3-A2 is perhaps a bold play for Porkins

I agree that keeping Porkins cheap is a good thing. I also agree that Experimental Interface is not the best way to use Porkins.

I do disagree that R5-D8 is a bad option, though. The chances of removing stress taking damage, and then using that action you have to try to remove the new damage and failing is only 11%. That means if you K-turn and try to remove the damage, you have only an 11% chance you will still have that damage after you K-turn. You might use your action to remove the damage, but you won't be stressed. If you use PTL and take the hit, you can use that 2nd action to remove the damage. That would be the same 11% of having the damage there at the end of the turn. Of course, you won't get that 2nd action that you had planned on and you are really just rolling dice to get back to where you started, but the chance of taking the damage in the first place are only 3/8. So, it's a good gamble that you end up using PTL with no side effects (stress).

R5-D8 can also be used to heal damage that wasn't caused by Porkins' ability. I've often had it where he's hurt and fly him off for a few turns to get his hull back. That's why I'd rather have Hull Upgrade on him over EI.

ARE there any viable 4X squadron at all?

I think you need to have a high PS pilot to deal with Phantoms and Soontir Fel. There have been a lot more Phantoms in my area since most people don't play Fat Turrets anymore. I think they will become difficult to deal with. That's why I think VI is the best EPT on Porkins. It bumps him to PS 9.

Porkins w/ Int. Astromech, VI, and R3-A2

3 x Rookie w/ w/ Int. Astromech and R7

98 pts

Leaves you 2 for the Initiative bid. If you can go before Soontir Fel in movement than you are doing great. If you can fire before Whisper with R3-A2 then you win.

I just had 4 x Red Squadron Pilots w/ IA get taken out by Whisper so hard last night. I think my VI Porkins list can give it a run for it's money. My only complaint is how it will deal with TLT's. I also played 2 games with the list that had TLT's last night and got beat twice in a row. At least the 2nd time I made him work for it.

biggest problem with your Porkins is this:

Wedge with BB-8 and PTL (and integrated!) costs the exact same amount of points

and I'd say he outperforms Porkins in every conceivable scenario

the rest is fine actually really looking forward to seeing 4 X-wings in a game of ...X-wing miniatures

Wedge is the only reason I'd ever use an X-Wing.

Still working on iterations of this list.... it's been a great learning experience for X-Wing list building, to be sure!

Based on lots of trial and (occassionally painful) error, I've learned firsthand that the wisdom about a > 30pt Porkins is spot-on, he's just not worth buffing significantly compared to other pilots. His unique "ability" is more often a detriment than a benefit to his overall usefulness. All he really offers is PS 7 and an EPT, IMHO it's best just to ignore his ability unless it's a "finishing blow" type of situation where you can be really (and I mean really, really) confident it's worth the potential hit.

The other thing I've learned is that Biggs is a helluva drug.

He's appropriate for almost any X-Wing list, especially if you can do things to help him survive longer.

Soo.... here's what I'm liking currently for a Porkins -centric 4X list.

EDIT: I switched out the R5s on Biggs & the Rookies for R2s after finally deciding the R5 ability just wasn't that helpful compared to the extra greens of R2, at least on an X-Wing.

Jek Porkins (26)
Draw Their Fire (1)
R5-P9 (3)
Integrated Astromech (0)

Biggs Darklighter (25)
R2 Astromech (1)
Integrated Astromech (0)

Rookie Pilot (21)
R2 Astromech (1)
Integrated Astromech (0)

Rookie Pilot (21)
R2 Astromech (1)
Integrated Astromech (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Switched out the R5 for R2. Really liking this list and have been having very good luck with it so far (it's undefeated in about 10 games versus opponents who were beating the other iterations of the list).

EDIT: Relevant to this thread:

http://imgur.com/gallery/RrhbqZ9

biggest problem with your Porkins is this:

Wedge with BB-8 and PTL (and integrated!) costs the exact same amount of points

and I'd say he outperforms Porkins in every conceivable scenario

the rest is fine actually really looking forward to seeing 4 X-wings in a game of ...X-wing miniatures

The biggest problem with Wedge + BB-8 + PTL + IA is that he's 34pts and therefore you can't bring 4 X-Wings unless you take 3 Rookies along.

But without Biggs, Wedge is going to get wrecked in a 4 X-Wing list because he'll be focused down in no time, even with BB-8 to help his maneuverability.

So... I think the Porkins approach here is actually kind of appealing. PS 7 shooing isn't great, but R5-P9 shield regen plus Draw Their Fire to eat Biggs' crits is actually pretty durable, especially when backed with Integrated Astromech..

Switched out the R5 for R2. Really liking this list and have been having very good luck with it so far (it's undefeated in about 10 games versus opponents who were beating the other iterations of the list).

So, what types of lists have you fought against? I brought out a XXXX list and had fun vs. some lists, but as soon as I hit Phantoms, it crumbled. I only had 4 Red Squadron pilots, so that explains it. Still, I'm curious what you might do for the arc dodgers and such. It's been ages since I flew Rebels, let alone X-wings.

I could see just giving Porkins VI, as well, though I see how you can keep Biggs alive longer with that. I've always wanted to try Expert Handling on him, though.

Last night I played two back-to-back games vs a 3 Phantom list (Whipser and two generics with SPA) and won both. Afterwards I played a game against a Jax / Royal Guard / Palpmobile with Mangler and won as well. Obviously lots of variables to account for and my results may not be typical, but my opponent has been playing X-Wing for at least a year and loves TIE Phantoms, for whatever that's worth.

I definitely tried VI on Porkins (along with Swarm Tactics and a few other ideas), but Draw Their Fire with R5-P9 is proving better for the squad's durability as a whole. Four X-Wings have a lot of firepower so long as you can keep them alive for a few turns and this combo of Porkins and Biggs seems good for that.

How do you handle the Phantoms? What's your advice?

How do you handle the Phantoms? What's your advice?

Lock the door and hope they don't have blasters?

On a more serious note:

I want to make it clear that I'm very new to X-Wing and only been playing about 6 weeks. I live in a relatively small town in coastal Southern California where tabletop wargaming is a extremely niche activity amidst the backdrop of year-round outdoor pastimes (aka "the beach and the mountains"). There are just a couple of comic book stores in town that provide an (extremely limited) amount of support for gaming. (Mostly they focus on comics and CCGs)

I play mainly with my children (ages 8 & 10) and a local game group that meets at a private residence. X-Wing is popular with the group and I get regular games with opponents who bring (and seem to know how to play) reasonably strong lists... but I want to make it clear that what works for me, works in my particular set of circumstances and probably won't apply universally. Aka "my local meta" etc etc.

I understand these facts and that knowledge calibrates my enthusiasm for this list... i.e. I know that I won't really know if the list is reasonable or not until it gets more playtime with a broader array of opponents. I have no doubt that strong hard counters exist for it, and possibly Phantoms could be that.

So with that said:

1) I pay a lot of attention to asteroid setup and, since my Rookies are almost always going to be deployed first (and especially so when facing Phantoms), I study the final layout of the rocks and come up with two separate lines of attack based on where I think my opponent will most likely deploy.

2) I normally deploy on one flank or the other, after having identified what I think looks like the optimal line of attack.

3) I deploy in a square, the two Rookies in front, Biggs in back row on inside and Porkins on the outside (next to the table edge).

4) Depending on how my opponent deploys (directly opposite, in the center, or on the opposite flank) I'll plan my next moves accordingly. If he sets up to joust (i.e. directly opposite) then I'll plan a 4 to get into close range with my formation ASAP. If he plays the center or opposite flank I'll plan a 1 to give me time to adjust to his first moves. Ideally I'll have deployed such that even after placing a 1, I'll be able to play a 2 hard to flank along my table edge as needed (i.e. going for my 2nd attack line option instead of the first).

5) I try to use the asteroids to my advantage. The more asteroids I can make the Phantoms fly through, the better as far as I'm concerned.

6) I stay in formation and attempt to take on one Phantom at a time, going for blocking moves if I think I can get away with it. If all 4 X-Wings get to fire at one, even at long range, the sheer weight of dice will normally get me a least a hit or two.

7) I try to anticipate when I'll be flanked, and hope that it's right around the time that Biggs dies. I will normally try to "explode" my formation such that I have ships breaking off outwards (ideally with shots on the flanking targets) in all directions. If timed correctly, this sees them K-turning as the flankers make their attack runs, resulting in me having 2-3 X-Wings all pointing their noses into a kill zone in the center (where the formation used to be).

8) I use Porkins as bait and let the Rookies mop up.

Normally my games end with Biggs dying first, then Porkins, and then my two Rookies (usually at close to full strength or just missing a shield or two) finishing off the rest of the field.

Not sure what anyone else thinks of that, but it's been working for me so far.

Against phantoms, with 4 Xs i'd be taking StressWes instead of Porkins. (VI, R3-A2, stresspedos, IA). Double stress one phantom with R3-A2 and stresspedos then jump on the poor sucker next turn. Will work once reliably, youll be winging it thereafter.

Consider the following:

PILOTS

Rookie Pilot (22) x 2
X-Wing (21), R2 Astromech (1), Integrated Astromech (0)

Biggs Darklighter (28)
X-Wing (25), R5-P9 (3), Integrated Astromech (0)

Garven Dreis (28)
X-Wing (26), BB-8 (2), Integrated Astromech (0)

So as you can see, we have Biggs, yes? Garven gets free barrel rolls when he moves slow (greens) this works to his advantage, because he can slide out of arcs of pilots lower than PS6, or into R1 of Biggs, or out of potential bumps caused by enemy ships. Once Garven lands, he gets his standard focus action. Biggs should also almost always take focus.

After Garven fires, he can use his focus token regardless of whether or not you roll focus symbols on the attack. That's also why it's important to have BB-8 on him, because the barrel roll can help him get an arc, sometimes. Once Garven spends his focus token, he passes it to Biggs. Now Biggs has 2 focus tokens for defense, and any tokens that are unused can be spent to regain shields via R5-P9 on Biggs.

Once Biggs explodes due to focus fire, Garven is still in a good position to give bonus focus tokens to the Rookies, who can be either K-Turning or Target Locking, thus providing bonus action economy.

Anyway, plenty of good XXXX lists, just thought I'd toss this in there.

Against phantoms, with 4 Xs i'd be taking StressWes instead of Porkins. (VI, R3-A2, stresspedos, IA). Double stress one phantom with R3-A2 and stresspedos then jump on the poor sucker next turn. Will work once reliably, youll be winging it thereafter.

Sure, but then you've got the same problem as mentioned earlier when taking a 34pt Wedge with BB-8 & etc.: for an XXXX build, you're taking 3 Rookies, and with the 37pt Wes you describe, you won't even have enough points left over to even give them astromechs. Based on experience to date, I've found that without Biggs, you'll see Wes get prioritized and focused down pretty quick. And then you're down to three PS2 X-Wings without the benefit of IA... that sounds like a meal fit for a Phantom IMHO.

By taking Porkins with R5-P9 and Draw Their Fire, and giving Biggs and the Rookies R2 astromechs and IA, and by flying in formation where all the Range 1 stuff can happen, you're able to significantly increase the overall squad's durability.

Anyway, plenty of good XXXX lists, just thought I'd toss this in there.

That one does sound pretty good! Will keep it in mind.

The added flexibility of Garven's Range 1-2 ability is nice for the late game, whereas Porkins with DTF requires him to be at Range 1. On the flipside, for the early game you want to keep everyone close to Biggs anyways, so not much of a difference there. And with Garven firing at PS 6 and Biggs at PS 5, I have a feeling you could see Biggs focused down pretty hard before Garven would be able to share his focus. Whereas DTF on Porkins can be used each attack, though of course only for crits. I do find him using that a lot, though, and it can and often does mean the difference for Biggs losing hull points. (Sidenote: it's pretty hilarious to think that Porkins with DTF basically means that he eats crits to remove stress... lol stress eating Porkins. I know that's not actually how it works but it's still funny)

Anyways it would be interesting to see which of these was more flexible for the late game. It's probably situational and a preference thing, but I definitely see the merits of Garven's Range 1-2 being a benefit (at least for as long as he's alive).

Thanks!

Against phantoms, with 4 Xs i'd be taking StressWes instead of Porkins. (VI, R3-A2, stresspedos, IA). Double stress one phantom with R3-A2 and stresspedos then jump on the poor sucker next turn. Will work once reliably, youll be winging it thereafter.

Sure, but then you've got the same problem as mentioned earlier when taking a 34pt Wedge with BB-8 & etc.: for an XXXX build, you're taking 3 Rookies, and with the 37pt Wes you describe, you won't even have enough points left over to even give them astromechs. Based on experience to date, I've found that without Biggs, you'll see Wes get prioritized and focused down pretty quick. And then you're down to three PS2 X-Wings without the benefit of IA... that sounds like a meal fit for a Phantom IMHO.

By taking Porkins with R5-P9 and Draw Their Fire, and giving Biggs and the Rookies R2 astromechs and IA, and by flying in formation where all the Range 1 stuff can happen, you're able to significantly increase the overall squad's durability.

Except the Wes build described is 34 (29 basic, +1 for VI, +2 for R3-A2 and +2 for stresspedos, IA is free), the three rooks have got 1 point trashcans and IA in 100 points.

Yes, Wes might get focussed down, but he has a pretty good chance of either A: double stressing a cloaked phantom (ace or no) ready for next turn or B: firing first (PS10) at an uncloaked phantom and doing damage as well as adding stress, limiting the phantoms options next turn. Biggs will die as quickly as any other X wing, but wont have the damage potential (even with porkins keeping him alive longer) that Wes does.

Ah, sorry, I thought you meant something else when referring to stresspedoes - still pretty new and am learning the lingo.

I see what you're saying about your build - R3-A2 + Flechette Torpedos + PS 10 does sound pretty potent, assuming everything works out and you get a shot on the hypothetical Phantom before it can tear Wes to shreds.

Like I said, I've played a good dozen games with my Porkins/Biggs/2xRookies build so far, and it's been quite strong against everything it has faced. Even gave it to my 10yr old son last night and flew against him with a Phantom + 5 Academy swarm. He smoked me, but that's probably more down to me not knowing what I'm doing.

I like your suggestion, thanks! Will give it a go.

EDIT: I also like how it frees up some more points, to possibly buff a couple of the Rookies with some better droids... the R7 seems like it could be a nice defensive buff?

Just bumping this post with the final, and highly successful, form of Porkins' Revenge, now that Integrated Astromech has been released and people are trying to sort out how to make good use of it.

The thread above documents some of the iterations I went through over the past 3 months while trying to find a list to optimize the value of Integrated Astromech, as I wanted to be ready for when the card finally dropped. I feel that this list does a good job of maximizing its worth.

It's hard to overstate how much better IA makes the T-65 X-Wing. It's really quite good. Combined with R5-P9 and Draw Their Fire on Porkins (who is the cheapest X-Wing pilot who can take an EPT) to buff Biggs' survivability, you wind up with a pretty durable list. If Biggs' can survive to round 2 or 3, you'll have quite likely wrecked some expensive things in the process. 16 red dice at close range is no joke.

The end game usually sees a couple full strength (or nearly full strength) Rookies mopping up versus significantly weakened opposition. It's a defensive build but I've been quite successful with it in friendly games against a wide variety of opponents, including most of the prototypical boogeyman builds. I believe in it enough that I've got four T-70s on order so I can try it out in actual competition (would've been nice if they'd included > 1 IA card per T-70).

It does require some formation flying and skill, but it's a tough nut to crack. I think it makes the T-65 a lot of fun.

Jek Porkins (26)

Draw Their Fire (1)

R5-P9 (3)

Integrated Astromech (0)

Biggs Darklighter (25)

R2 Astromech (1)

Integrated Astromech (0)

Rookie Pilot (21)

R2 Astromech (1)

Integrated Astromech (0)

Rookie Pilot (21)

R2 Astromech (1)

Integrated Astromech (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder