What Do I Buy Next?
Episode 7 has brought new ships to X-Wing Miniatures. With the hype of the renewal of what has been a phenomenal movie setting also come new players. There are those out there that did not know about such an amazing game until picking up The Force Awakens Core Set. It is their first step into a larger world.
How do I get involved in larger dogfights? They may ask. I have to purchase something to get to a hundred points but what should I get? Where does the value lie?
So many options can be overwhelming. Luckily there are no bad directions to go with your purchases. Every pack has something that is great to have. Still, it can be a daunting task for some.
These are the players I want to lend assistance to.
Budget Builds: The Force Awakens Resistance Edition
**As a preface, this guide is very similar to a previous version for the original Core Set. There are minor changes that did not require a full rewrite for the builds. The largest change to each build is the Flight Summary. For convenience, I will write the Rebel build that changed drastically first and follow it up with the remixed builds after.**
You’re new. You don’t know quite what you want. You don’t want to buy everything to find out. I get that. I’ve got kids that have a habit of eating 3 meals a day. My collection is still slowly building. With that said, in the interest of savings, let’s start with builds based on a budget.
Let’s see what we have to work with. Assuming that you have only a Core set, you have a single X-Wing. The most expensive build you can make is Poe with Wired, Proton Torpedoes, Weapons Guidance and BB-8 coming in at 40 points. We have to come up with 60. How can I get a squad while not scrounging through my neighbor’s trash at dinner? In no particular order, we will get you going on a path to take down the First Order.
Budget Build 1:
Han Solo was not the original owner of the Millenium Falcon. It's had many wners and even Disney can’t erase his line that Lando Calrissian lost it to Han.
The YT-1300 is the staple of Star Wars. Until the Scum YV-666 came out, it was tied for the highest shield count at 5 to dodge some nasty Critical Hits. At 8 Hull, it’s second only to the Imperial Decimator. It can take some damage. However, it can also dish it out. The generic pilot only has 2 attack dice but the elite boys bring it up to 3 making it very worthwhile to spend a little bit more on a good pilot. 1 Agility does mean we will take some pain if out of position. Let’s see what we can add to our Core Set for $20.
Pilot: We’re going with the Falcon’s previous owner, Billy Dee Williams. For purposes of this guide, we’ll refer to him as Lando. This mustachioed man of mystery is a good friend to have. Every time he flies a green maneuver, he gives a friendly ship at Range 1 a free action off of their action bar. You might owe him a strange but profitable business venture but it will be worth it to win a game of X-Wing Minis.
Elite Pilot Talent: Pilfering the Wired card from out Force Awakens Core, Lando can now be stressed and still reroll any focus result he gets on attack or defense rolls. It’s not as guaranteed as a Focus action but it will suffice if we have to get stressed.
Missile: Why hit 1 ship, when you can hit all the ships. Assault Missiles will give you a nice roll of 4 attack dice and should you hit your target and do the resulting damage, you also do a single hit to all ships at Range 1 of the target automatically. This does include your own ships so be careful.
Crew: Nien Nunb and his dorky chuckle will really help us. He and his face flaps make all straight moves into green maneuvers. This only gives us 2 extra green on our dial but it will help Lando not let you down.
Crew: When he’s not kissing his sister, Luke is a good addition to have aboard. There are times when I’m hoping to miss with my attack roll because that’s when the farm boy makes up for his 7 points. Luke will give you a second primary weapon attack after a miss. He also boosts that attack by letting you change a focus result to a Hit. Must be all that blue milk.
Title: The Millenium Falcon title is an easy 1 point to help our defense. We can now take an Evade action and add an automatic evade result to our die roll of 1 Agility.
Pilot: Poe Dameron. What can be said about this pilot? Well until we see him on the screen for more than a second, all I can say is he’s a phenomenal stick jockey. He knows that flying is not for those that are easily distracted. That’s why we have Lando to fly with him. Lando gives him Focus, makes him stronger. When Poe has a Focus token with him, he can change 1 focus result to an Evade on defense and a focus result to a Hit on offense. If you spend that token, you cannot do this. Keep this in mind when you take Poe’s action, if you have a good shot and your opponent will have a good shot on you or multiple shots, it may be necessary to take a second Focus token. Otherwise, take advantage of Lando’s help and Target Lock or Boost. You could also perform a K-turn or the new Tallon Roll after Lando gives you a Focus token.
Elite Pilot Talent: I don’t know how experienced Poe is but we’re going to say based on his pilot ability that he has the instincts of a veteran. Veteran Instincts gives him an additional 2 to his pilot skill. At a PS of 10, few enemies will go before him even if they have this card.
Torpedo: More aggression you say? With a Proton Torpedo in the pipe, there’s two advantages we get. Of course, we can roll 4 attack dice with the ability to change a focus result to a Critical Hit to do some nice damage. But wait for a nice shot because there is a benefit to having ordinance on board. Your opponent wants to avoid taking the shot which helps determine the likelihood where they will go. Keep in mind also; the defender does not get the bonus die at Range 3 for secondary weapons.
Astromech: Poor BB-8. The internet hated him when he first appeared in the first trailer. In terms of our lovely game, he deserves only love. When Poe does a green maneuver, he can now perform a free Barrel Roll. The X-Wing normally cannot perform this action, which makes it that much more valuable. Barrel Roll gets you out of arcs and it gets bad guys in your arc. It gets you around obstacles. Even if it’s just getting a little more forward progress, it’s a nice option. And it’s free. Remember, we’re on a budget. We like free.
Tech: Weapons Guidance is very nice. That is why they had to make a whole new upgrade slot for it. So no older ships can spend a Focus token to change a blank result to a Hit. Between our free Focus, Barrel Roll, pilot ability, and this Tech upgrade we don’t have to worry about actions. We are free to fly as we deem necessary. Like a leaf on the wind.
TLDR; Resistance is futile. Get it? The new faction is the Resistance? I know it’s the wrong series but J.J. Abrams has bridged the gap.
Like all of the budget builds you should be able to put together a solid squad for just $20 after the Core.
Force Awakens Core + Millenium Falcon = about $50 (depending where you picked up your core)
Lando
-Wired
-Assault Missles
-Nien Nunb
-Millenium Falcon
-Luke Skywalker
Poe
-Veteran Instincts
-Proton Torpedo
-BB-8
-Weapons Guidance
98 points
Poe will lead the way, striking first and striking hard. We can’t rocket too far ahead of Lando. We want his bonus Focus token and we need his extra firepower. Instead, we’re going to try to hit from the sides where we can get our shot off but are not in all opposing arcs. Just remember to take it slow and don’t get separated. All of our bonuses come from easy green maneuvers.
Budget Build 2:
In the shadow of the Empire, the YT-2400 was built. As a large ship, it’s got some good speed. It has a 360 degree primary weapon which is always nice. It’s stout with 5 Hull and 5 Shields. It has a modest attack and agility of 2 and 2 respectively. It can Focus, Barrel Roll, and Target Lock.
Pilot: The Rebellion employed a number of shady characters. Dash Rendar and his gigantic shoulder pads is one of them. Are asteroids getting in the way of your movements and actions? You don’t have to be an expert player to fly with Dash and with a little practice you can take full advantage of his ability. Dash gets to ignore obstacles during the Activation and Action stages. You chart your own course now. The only thing you don’t want to do is make your final resting place on an asteroid because you still cannot attack while atop.
Elite Pilot Talent: We’re going to stock Dash’s fridge with energy drinks and get him Wired. A little stress token is nothing to get stressed out about. When we have one, Dash gets to reroll focus results for attack and defense.
Cannon: We have the points to spend on the Heavy Laser Cannon. It bumps our attacks to 4 dice. If you roll a Critical Hit initially, you have to change it to a Hit. However, more dice means more possible focus results which can be changed to a Critical Hit by Marksmanship in the modification stage. We’re Rebels after all. We find ways to circumvent the rules! It’s a cannon and that means we can only shoot it straight ahead. Or does it?
Title: Our primary weapon is 2 attack dice, our canon is 4. The Outrider title allows us to use our canon outside of our arc. What’s going to hurt us is that we can’t perform primary weapon attacks anymore. So we have this doughnut of damage potential since we cannot fire a Heavy Laser Cannon at Range 1. That’s not good.
Missile: Proton Rocket will give us a single attack at Range 1. If we’re smart about our movement dial, we can stay at Range 2 or 3. There is still the chance that the enemy can get into Range 1. Now they’ve got to make the choice to fly in and take a rocket to the face. We want to make this shot be scary. How can we do that since we have to use our Focus action just to shoot it?
Crew: Well, all that offense sounds like a bit of a gamble. Isn’t it wise to hedge our bets? That’s something Lando Calrissian would do. As an action, Lando rolls 2 green dice. Whatever you roll, you assign a token to your ship. It could be 2 Focus, it could be 2 Evade, it could be a mix. Yes, yes, it could be nothing but no gamble is a sure thing. Chances are though; you will get 1 of something.
Modification: The Experimental Interface gives us an extra action from an upgrade card at the cost of a stress token. This lets us mix defensive and offensive abilities. We can use Target Lock then take a gamble on Lando. When we get stressed, that’s actually great. Now Wired comes into play. Then we can take a green move next turn and start again.
Pilot: Well, making comedic comments without much material is difficult. Optimistic as I am, if he compares piloting a fighter to podracing…I reserve space for a harsh joke about that right here.
Elite Pilot Talent: Dash is often going to fly through obstacles and be away from us. So, without knowing who Poe is, we can dub him a Lone Wolf. When Dash gets out of Range 1 and 2 from us we can reroll a blank result on every roll. This helps our pilot ability as well in case we don’t even roll a focus result.
Torpedo: The classic armament in Star Wars, the Proton Torpedo. At Range 2-3, Poe can spend a Target Lock to roll 4 dice on his attack and change a Hit to a Critical Hit.
Astromech: The little soccer ball BB-8 is going to increase our dogfighting capabilities. X-Wing’s want to get in close but they also need stay out of enemy lines of fire. A free Barrel Roll after a green move is great for this. Adding actions to a ship increases versatility. With only 2 ships, that is important. Especially since Poe wants to Focus when possible.
Tech: Since we want to have Focus tokens, we want to spend them. The problem is you need to roll a focus result to use it to your advantage. Not with Weapons Guidance! Now we can spend it on our attack to change a blank result to a Hit. Make sure to use your pilot ability before spending this if you can.
TLDR; There has been scrolling. Have you felt it?
Dash Rendar
-Wired
-Heavy Laser Canon
-Proton Rocket
-Lando Calrissian
-Outrider
-Experimental Interface
Poe Dameron
-Lone Wolf
-BB-8
-Weapons Guidance
-Proton Torpedo
99 points
Flight Summary:
Dash and Poe are going to split up. Poe is going to fly evasively until our enemy goes for shots on Dash. With his 360 degree cannon along with his pilot ability, Dash is going to use obstacles to his advantage. Enemies can’t purse very well and you get the extra defense. Dash’s missile is effective as a deterrent and it’s a nice one time shot but keep in mind that once you use it, you are helpless at Range 1. Poe is going to flank and take Focus actions when he’s going to attack. Dash can take whatever action he needs to but use Lando 2nd when using Experimental Interface as your extra action must be from a card.
Budget Build 3:
If you’re in the mood for a squad of smaller ships, the Rebel Aces pack comes with some very nice pilots for the very fast A-Wing and the mini-tank B-Wing. You get a nice variety to go with the more middle-ground X-Wing from your Core Set. The A-Wing has 2 Attack and 3 Agility. The maneuverable dial makes it float like a mynock and sting like R2’s little taser. Only 2 Hull and 2 Shields make your piloting key. The B-Wing on the other hand has 3 Attack and only 1 Agility. However, it does have 5 Shields and 3 Hull. Both do their very different jobs well.
Pilot: We’ll build our B-Wing first. With Keyan Farlander at the controls, we no longer dislike stress. In fact, it’s really nice to have some on hand. Keyan can spend his stress when attacking to change all focus results to Hits. Being stressed is essentially a Focus action for attacks. Don’t over do it and just take stress every round. Just keep in mind that the dial is filled with red maneuvers that you might shy away from even though it would give you a great position. If it gives you a nice shot, take that stress.
Elite Pilot Talent: Some people do better when under pressure and stressed out. That’s Keyan all the way. Wired is another way we can make all those red maneuvers work for us. When stressed, we can reroll our Focus results.
Torpedo: Due to the fact that we can Target Lock a ship and wait to fire, a Proton Torpedo fits nicely as you can not only get a single focus result to a Critical Hit but Keyan can use a stress to change all other focus results to Hits. It allows you the flexibility to get the right shot even if that means doing a red maneuver or flying over a debris field.
Modification: Dogfights can be lonely. The B-Wing/E2 modification can add another seat to the cockpit. With no other great mods around, we can instead get a solid crew member.
Crew: The Evade action does not grace many Rebel ships. Yet they are often low on Agility. Jan Ors will let us give a friendly ship at Range 1-3 an Evade token rather than a Focus token at any point they’d receive one.
Pilot: I’ve liked the A-Wing since Rogue Squadron on the PC. It’s fast and Jake Ferrell has the need. Cue “Danger Zone”. Jake increases the maneuverability of the A-Wing by getting a free Boost or Barrel Roll when he gets a Focus token. This is so helpful when try to get out of firing arcs and getting enemies into yours. Action economy is very important in this game so getting free actions is always solid.
Missile: We’re gonna make sure Jake gets a big shot in at Range 1. The Proton Rocket adds his 3 Agility dice to the 2 stock dice from the missile. This little ship can pack a big punch. It’s not about the size after all; it’s what missiles you shoot out of it.
Pilot: Dameron is our go to. His Focus action is strong but remember to be careful when you use it. If you don’t have a good shot, it could be more beneficial to switch your Focus with an Evade from Keyan.
Astromech: We’ll roll along with BB-8. A free Barrel Roll when we perform a green move can speed us up, slow us down, dodge obstacles and get out of arcs. He’d be my friend if I was cast away on an island. Bee Bee!
Tech: With our Focus action we can fire, use Poe’s ability to change a focus result to a hit and then spend the token on our Weapons Guidance to change a blank to a Hit. Make sure to do it in that order unless you need that Focus for defense.
TLDR; 4/5 Rebel pilots recommend reading the guide. The fifth was Porkins.
Keyan Farlander
-Wired
-Proton Torpedo
-B-Wing/E2
-Jan Ors
Jake Ferrell
-Proton Rocket
Poe Dameron
-BB-8
-Weapons Guidance
99 points
Flight Plan:
The B-Wing is going to be the prime target of our adversary. So Keyan needs to hit hard and get his ordnance off before he goes “kablooey”. Poe and Jake are more agile, they need to flank and regroup. Fly past the enemy ships and come around to hit from behind then meet up with Keyan. Jake is going to keep this up. How much damage Keyan takes after each round dictates if we send Poe out as well or keep him nearby to soak up some shots.
Thanks for reading. I'll be doing the Imperials next.
Edited by scifighter1