I haven't played X-Wing regularly since, well, wave 5. As an Imperial player I didn't like the entire Scum waves coming up and basically dominating the game every expansion wave. The TIE Punisher/Interdictor helped my decision to jump ship to Armada, where I've been ever since, running with Star Destroyers.

But recently I had cause to be at my local FLGS and happened to notice some players assembling for X-Wing. For nostalgia's sake, I brought my material, and decided rather than proxy the new Imperial Veterans pack... I'd pull out the old list I won the Kessel Run with near the dawn of the game's history:

Howlrunner // Swarm Tactics

Winged Gundark

5x Obsidian Squadron Pilot

I didn't catch all of my opponent's upgrades, but it was many on 3x TIE Bombers running Jonus and a couple of PS5 generics. Extra munitions, Deadeye, S-Trackers, guidance chips, and a few other toys were in there as well while he threw Protons and Concussion missiles at his last opponent. Flichette Torps I think was his most exotic ordnance. It was a modern list designed to shoot down big and heavy ships around these days like brobots and U-boats, and accordingly lacked assault missiles to deal with a list like this.

In retrospect it's probably no surprise that a TIE Swarm would resort to the old tactics of bumpage and attack saturation to win out over just three ships. I'm told TIE Swarms are still effective, and probably for the same reasons I won this battle.

But for me personally I haven't flown with these old friends for a while, and even this list had been kind of sidelined near the end of my regular X-Wing sessions. The dice performed as they typically did... many shots were duds and the reason I did as well as I did was only because I could out-manuver and collision-force my opponent to prevent him from using his missiles more often. I don't think this marks any kind of permanent return to X-Wing (Not until FFG releases the TIE Avenger and/or Assault Gunboat, I feel), but it was nice to trot the old war-horses out from the barn and get them to run on the table once again.

If I do play with these regulars once more, I kind of feel like just running old lists using only equipment out of wave 1-5. If indeed lists can still be competitive all this time, I'd like to see it before my eyes. As much as I'd like to build a TIE/FO swarm for "The Next Generation", I don't have the funds to really upgrade my set as much of it is going to Armada, which I find far less frustrating with the dice.

But it was fun to get back into X-Wing for even just one more game. Maybe I'll do it again soon.

Winged Gundark won something?? Ever?

Yeah your opponents will post on here tonight or tomorrow "I GUESS BOMBERS ARE BROKEN? I LOST TO A WAVE 5 LIST FLOWN BY SOME NOOB!"

I wish there were not just more room for but also more structure for running certain wave lists. I wish that every squad generator made it easy to create a "wave 1" or "up to wave 6" list, and people could kind of toy around with that stuff rather than just running the most efficient stuff of the current meta. I think it would make the game more enjoyable. I also wish I could play more than 1 game a week at most, so maybe that's where most of my frustration stems from !

Winged Gundark won something?? Ever?

Also yeah, they just errata'd WG out of the game entirely, along with Fel's Crash. They say they'll bring them back for XW2.0 but it's slated for 20xx.

Nah, my opponent was pretty reasonable about his defeat. It wasn't like it was a surprise in coming either since, again, his list was configured to fight brobots and other heavy ship lists that are currently running around the meta evidently. He couldn't get enough high-powered attacks off often enough to kill my ships. He agreed to the game because he wanted to see how an experienced swarm pilot will fly a list, and in spite of being away from the game for so long I didn't cause any collisions I didn't intend to have happen.

Winged Gundark managed to kick off at least once. The original purpose behind the list was to use all of the (at the time) canonical obsidian-squadron pilots in a list, which Winged Gundark is one of (Nightbeast could have been used, but I liked that WG was just a little more offensive). Poor Howlrunner didnt make it past turn 2.. since those bombers were designed with maximum firepower she was the first target. Fortunately it took two of my opponent's three attacks to finish her off. After that, it was collision and bump-denial city.

I do also wish that some formats could be adjusted for earlier waves... though that also nixes a lot of the fixes that have come to patch some glaring problems (Outrider HLCs without autothrusters anyone?). There's one friend I have out there who rebuilt a collection but doesn't like non-canon fighters. I find it's a welcome change to limit myself to a certain older selection of craft and not just fly the bleeding edge.

And besides, if I go back to my FLGS and play with an older list, any wins I get are that much more awesome for using antiquated and little-used cards these days. What's the harm in trying?

Tie Swarm is still one of the best lists. Having no crack shot on it wasn't that big of a deal cuz the bombers had two agility. If he brought assault missiles I think he'd have more of a chance. I just started running a swarm and I guess you can call it a Wave 8 swarm lol. 5 Omega's with Weapons Guidance and Crack. Heard about it on a podcast and it's the first swarm I think I could run. Not more than 5 ships and I don't rely on Howlrunner.

To be honest I have no clue what Winged Gundark does haha.

Eh I mean bombers are still bombers, and only 3 of them in a list is. . .well it's never been great and still isn't.

My opinion is using only stuff from wave 1-5 and nothing else is going to struggle against more up to date lists.

Uboats, dengar, poe, tlt, bro bots, ghosts etc.

Not to say they'll do terrible, but I think if your going to limit yourself to ships and upgrades from 3 wave ago only, you may find it frustrating.

Tie bombers are still just that tie bombers. Really imo, they have gotten better, but are still lacking in other departments when compared to what else is available

Great to get back into xwing, but don't set yourself up for disappointment. Now I maybe wring, and is only my opinion, but when you start facing off against dengar, or kanan, you may find less success vs a bomber list.

Winged Gundark won something?? Ever?

Also yeah, they just errata'd WG out of the game entirely, along with Fel's Crash. They say they'll bring them back for XW2.0 but it's slated for 20xx.

Is this a joke, or are you serious?

Winged Gundark won something?? Ever?

Also yeah, they just errata'd WG out of the game entirely, along with Fel's Crash. They say they'll bring them back for XW2.0 but it's slated for 20xx.

Is this a joke, or are you serious?

You just gave Hammer an Internet.

Winged Gundark won something?? Ever?

Also yeah, they just errata'd WG out of the game entirely, along with Fel's Crash. They say they'll bring them back for XW2.0 but it's slated for 20xx.

Winged Gundark won something?? Ever?

Also yeah, they just errata'd WG out of the game entirely, along with Fel's Crash. They say they'll bring them back for XW2.0 but it's slated for 20xx.

Don't you mean 2xxx?

How lewd.

I do also wish that some formats could be adjusted for earlier waves... though that also nixes a lot of the fixes that have come to patch some glaring problems (Outrider HLCs without autothrusters anyone?). There's one friend I have out there who rebuilt a collection but doesn't like non-canon fighters. I find it's a welcome change to limit myself to a certain older selection of craft and not just fly the bleeding edge.

Hey, it's not entirely earlier wave but I limit myself too. I started with X-Wing when shortly before TFA (the movie, not the starter set) and then decided I only want to play Resistence. So I am now quite skilled in flying T-70 X-Wing and you can hardly immagine how much I look forward to the Heroes of the Resistence.

Solid list!

Winged Gundark is the only thing even slightly odd, to be honest... and even he's not that bad.

Yeah your opponents will post on here tonight or tomorrow "I GUESS BOMBERS ARE BROKEN? I LOST TO A WAVE 5 LIST FLOWN BY SOME NOOB!"

I wish there were not just more room for but also more structure for running certain wave lists. I wish that every squad generator made it easy to create a "wave 1" or "up to wave 6" list, and people could kind of toy around with that stuff rather than just running the most efficient stuff of the current meta. I think it would make the game more enjoyable. I also wish I could play more than 1 game a week at most, so maybe that's where most of my frustration stems from !

This looks exactly like my son's and my opinions as of late! So to get back into XWing we have started playing the missions from the beginning with the given builds!

...running with Star Destroyers.

I'm picturing Kevin Costner - in a space-suit.