Everyone always says "when you have 12 points left to fill in your list, it's better to take a z-95/TIE fighter than to tack on 12 points of upgrades." You can now say the same thing if you're scum flying the YV-666 when you have 6 points remaining.

The enemy can focus down your YV first, allowing the rest of your list to do what it wants, and end up with another Z to kill along with them. Or they can save the YV for last knowing that after it dies they have 4 more HP to claw through and it's going to have its choice of approach angle when it emerges.

This is a thought process I've had before. "Sure, I could throw in some of these upgrades instead... but what do they really do for me? Are they really a better choice than the Pup?" And often times, yeah, they might be, but not always. I think, even on the YV-666 itself, there's going to be times that those six points of other upgrades are of dubious value and are only serving to add more points to it when it dies. At least with the Pup, you'll get something for those points when the big brown block bites it.

With that said, I still whole-heartedly support changing the MoV ruling on it, and maybe the wording to keep at least a EPT (and maybe one crewmember, if for no other reason than I love the idea of having a K4 or Outlaw Tech riding shotgun!).

Really though, the MoV change alone would be enough to give it actual competitive value.

I'd also like to point out that this thread reminds me that I really, really wish that FFG would actually comment on their own forums. Because I hate that The Hound's Tooth is probably the most unused of all the unique titles. Even Slave-1 is finally sorta useful thanks to Extra Munitions.

My main problem with the Nashtah's Pup is that it doesn't really serve much of a purpose (competitively at least).

It's just too easy to ignore a single Z95. And if it doesn't hold even its own worth of MoV points, then it's more of a burden than anything.

IMO Nashtah's Pup should hold at least 6 points. Ideally 12. Half of the YV-666 points is too much. Thematically a lot of those points are coming from crew and upgrades which don't carry over. Furthermore, it would turn the Pup into a massive points reservoir that people would just run away with. Annoyingness aside, I feel like that goes against the spirit of X-wing.

I played a friendly match yesterday with a Trandoshan Slaver [bossk, Gunner, Tactician, Title]. Without the title, that's a relatively inexpensive YV-666 build that comes out to 38 points. But with the title.... 44 points was really tough to come back from.

If the Pup was worth 12 points for MoV scoring, the breakdown for (1) YV-666 half health, (2) YV-666 no health and (3) Nashtah's Pup no health would be 16/16/12.

That's far better than 22/22/0.

For a 49-point Bossk [Greedo, Marksmanship, EU, title] build it would be 13/14/12 instead of 24/25/0....

Furthermore, this would give players a pretty good incentive for taking the title - you lower the amount of points awarded for killing the YV-666 because your pilot has an escape pod and will survive. Which makes it an investment, not a burden. Thematically, that makes sense.

And even further! It makes sense because you wouldn't want to shoot at a ship that you know has an escape pod. Bossk/Moralo/Latts is gonna survive the explosion anyway! This is far better than the existing mechanic which actually incentivizes opponents to shoot a ship with an escape pod.

My 2 cents.

I'd also be happier if winning with nothing-but-the-Pup was actually considered a full win.

A full win happens when you have ships on the table and the enemy doesn't, right? You've got a ship on the table.

They ruled it one way, then changed their minds and nerfed the Pup even harder when they swung the other. I still remain baffled as to why.

Yes we'd all rather have a full win than a modified with a ship left on the table.

But, as I said, the Pup is a 'last-ditch' ship. The way it can win you the match reflects that for me.Yes you won, but at what cost?

I've never actually flown the YV-666 myself, but I've flown against it several times at this point. All have been friendly matches, no tournament rules involved, and so far, the Pup has proven an invaluable upgrade for my opponent. It's gotten him the win a couple times against various different lists, and on the occasions where I've defeated him, it tended to come down to one of my ships with low health against a full health Z-95, and the games could've easily swayed either way.

So basically, outside of competitive play, I say the Hound's Tooth title is a fantastic card, and is more than worth its six point investment. The Pup has given me a fair share of trouble each time I've taken out the YV-666, especially when it carries over Bossk's pilot skill level and ability.