Xizor and two Black Sun Aces

By toyship, in X-Wing Squad Lists

Hey guys, newbie to Xwing and loving it. My favored faction is scum and I was wondering if this list makes sense at all:

================= Xizor And Cronies =================

99 points Pilots ------

Prince Xizor (41) StarViper (31), Squad Leader (2), Virago (1), Autothrusters (2), Sensor Jammer (4), Inertial Dampeners (1)

Black Sun Ace (29) x 2 Kihraxz Fighter (23), Bodyguard (2), Inertial Dampeners (1), Hull Upgrade (3)

Pretty much the idea is to fly in formation, The Aces tank hits for Xizor, and boost his agility with bodyguard. Think it'd work?

Not really. Xizor really needs his action for himself, and does not want to be passing it off to others. Also, bodyguard is completely unnecessary to protect Xizor. Think about it from your opponent's perspective: he can shoot at Xizor, who has 3 green dice and possibly a focus token, or he can shoot at one of the Khiraxz, with 2 green dice each and possibly a focus token as well. Right there, the easier target is obviously the Khiraxz, but it gets even worse if Xizor is at range 3 (autothrusters kicks in). And then there is Xizor's ability: if he takes a hit or crit, he can pass it off to an ally ship in range 1. So shooting at the harder target, who is just going to pass off a damage anyway, makes no sense. So don't worry about Xizor. No one is going to shoot at him until there are no allies left in range of him.

Because of his relative immunity (while he has goons left alive to take hits for him), its always much better to build him for extreme offense. He can put all of his effort into maximizing his damage output and letting the goons do what they can. For this reason, I would suggest one of the following (all give Xizor strong offensive potential):

Veteran Instincts, virago, FCS & autothrusters = 37. The 'cheap' option. With FCS, Xizor focusses all the time and hits with TL + Focus every time he shoots, and it happens at PS9.

Push the limit, virago, advanced sensors & autothrusters = 40. This option works best with slow moving ships that have 1 straight on their dial (so not the Khiraxz or the scyk). You dial in a green move on Xizor, then use advanced sensors to take an action (focus or target lock being ideal), then you push the limit for a 2nd action. Then you reveal your dial, execute a green move and clear your stress (and you can do it again next turn, over and over until Xizor's escorts are dead....then you might have to pick non-green moves to outfly your opponent...)

Predator, virago and either adv. sensors OR sensor jammer & autothrusters = 40 or 41. This build is a little more reactive than the others because there are no downsides (FCS requires focus fire on a single target; push the limit requires planning around the stress token). So its a bit easier to fly. Sensor Jammer is gives you some nice defense, especially against twin laser turrets, but advanced sensors adds greater mobility options, allowing far more unpredictable moves (you don't care much about going over rocks or bumping into other ships, and s-loops are less risky).

Nice to haves: glitterstim and/or flechette torpedoes (if you have points left over to add them in). Inertial dampeners are less useful on the star viper because with the ability to take any 1 move and augment that with barrel roll, you can basically achieve the same effect without taking any stress, and you can do it as often as you like and it doesn't use up your illicit slot...

Edited by blade_mercurial

Body guard is unique. Can't run it on both kfighters.

blade_mercurial gave great advice concerning Xizor. I want to address his escorts.

I think he needs escorts with less agility than him and with cost efficient total hull/shields to help soak up the damage. Ships that enemies would both have an easier time hitting, and ships that could survive a point or two of damage (especially crits). Otherwise, you increase the odds of the enemy firing on Xizor, and reduce the advantage (to you) of them doing so. The only ships I think are worth it are Z95 Headhunters and Y-Wings. If you take other ships with Xizor, make sure they serve another purpose (such as a Firespray-31 for the increase in offense, or a HWK-290 for the crazy ability).

The Kihraxz Fighter in your list has the right agility and the increased offense, but you are losing out on efficiency and do not have many shields to absorb crits. You want to keep upgrades on these ships to a minimum to keep them cost efficient. I have also found that the more ships you have, the easier it is to spread the damage. Maybe you could replace one of the fighters with two Headhunters. Also, as has been mentioned by others, Bodyguard is not really useful in this list.

Thanks for the replies! I've taken some advice and altered the list a bit...

98 points
Prince Xizor (39)
StarViper (31), Veteran Instincts (1), Virago (1), Autothrusters (2), Fire-Control System (2), Glitterstim (2)
Binayre Pirate (12) x 2
Talonbane Cobra (35)
Kihraxz Fighter (28), Lone Wolf (2), Glitterstim (2), Stealth Device (3)
Xizor flies with the Pirates, doing his thing until they meet their makers
Talonbane Cobra goes off by himself to try and flank/do as much damage as possible.
I think the two aces seem pretty survivable whilst putting out a good amount of damage. Should I be running PTL over Lone Wolf on Talonbane? Is the Stealth Device worth it on him? Is he even worth it, or should I be running more support for Xizor and the Z's? Maybe more Z's or a Hwk instead? I do like the named Hwk pilots...

I would switch the Stealth Device on Cobra Commander to an Engine Upgrade if you have the card available. He wants to get into range 1 of enemies whenever possible to take advantage of his ability, and boost is a good way to achieve this. Other than that, I like this list quite a lot :D

I've recently taken Xizor to a tournament. Here is the writeup, might be worth checking out.