Wave 10 Ultra-Biggs

By Astech, in X-Wing Squad Lists

Super Biggs has been a thing ever since Kanan Jarrus hit the scene in wave 8. His pilot ability decreases the amount of attack dice coming towards Biggs, Tactical Jammer gives him another agility and the Ghost itself dished out serious punishment. It could do serious work, especially against ATT 2 opponents.

There was just one problem: a tokenless Biggs. Under normal Super Biggs circumstances, all Biggs actually had to defend himself was a single Focus token, which melts in the face of sustained, focused fire. This led to an easy counter to Biggs, just as it had always been - focus fire, then move on. With the spoilers from wave 10 - particularly the U-wing - Super Biggs gets an upgrade (to Ultra-Biggs, if you will):

Kanan Jarrus (38)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

Recon Specialist (3)

Tactical Jammer (1)

Ghost (0)

Collision Detector (0)

Biggs Darklighter (25)

R5-P9 (3)

Integrated Astromech (0)

Sabine Wren (21)

Jyn Erso (2)

Crack Shot (1)

Phantom (0)

Total: 100 points.

The idea here is to fly Kanan and Biggs like they've always done, but have Sabine with her super-maneuverability give Biggs 3 focus tokens a turn. This means that Biggs will normally have a focus for each enemy ship firing at him, with AGI 3 (thanks to tactical jammer) and the potential for shield regeneration at the end of each turn. All 3 ships are PS 5 which helps with maneuvering well, and gives you the advantage over Crack Shot Swarms, Manaroo and Contracted Scouts. You have 2 decent 3 die attacks and Kanan to really bring the hurt.

Edit: R5-P9 is the shield - regen droid. R5-P8 is the retaliation droid. Check your cards.

Edited by Astech

Maybe I'm missing something, but why wouldn't you put Jyn Orso on Kanan (maybe with Experimental Interface instead of the Jammer)? The title doesn't work while Sabine is flying around, and the crew on Sabine doesn't work while it is docked.

It could work, I'm just not seeing it yet.

If you start relying on Kanan for double actions, the clear path is to just block him - list ruined. That's always been the path to defeating Super Biggs. The benefit of using Sabine is that all your eggs are not in one basket and none of your ships rely on a stress mechanic. In this list, you might as well treat Sabine as an entirely separate ship, where the titles are just a benefit that can be used on occasion.

If you were to put experimental interface on Kanan, you'd have to find 2 points somewhere, like downgrading R5-P9 to R4-D6, or Sabine to Zeb. No matter which way I slice it it just doesn't seem worth it. Also consider that one Biggs dies Experimental interface is pretty worthless.

no rey crew :(?

also the jank synergy isn't going to work with Sabine phantom inside the ghost (literally won't work because you can't use jyn and you have to deploy sabine out the butt). Honestly, you're probably better off ditching the TLT for autoblasters and getting a more useful third ship

like a U-wing :D (once we know more about that dial, ofc, but we can guess the cheapest will be 23 points at ps 2)

the general lack of offense (re: FCS; no third ship while ghost/phantom is up) makes the list pretty toothless even with mega biggs running interference

Edited by ficklegreendice

If you are worried about Kanan getting blocked, then we get in the territory of advanced Sensors. A few more points to scrounge, but there is a way to make this work.

Edit: You also have a salvaged astromech on Biggs? I figure you want R4-D6 who is only one point, giving some wiggle room.

Double Edit: You can't put R5-P9 on Biggs, Salvaged Astromech is a different slot, currently only on the jumpmaster and scum version y-wing.

Edited by AEIllingworth

You could work Advanced sensors in - maybe - by either dropping Sabine down to Zeb or dropping R5-P9 down to R4-D6 and ditching crack shot. Howeve,r there simply aren't any points left to give Kanan Experimental Interface. Plus, you then have an entirely useless third ship, rather than a semi-helpful third ship (and 18 points is really hard to make good). If you can find a way to scrounge the points without compromising the rest of the lit I'm interested.

Ficklegreendice: I'll reiterate here. As I was thinking of this list I didn't care about double ghost shots, all I was thinking about was finding a good, cheap Jyn carrier who could point its arc the right way, every time. This led me to Sabine (you could actually use Sabine's TIE, but that's a little fragile for my taste), and I built around having Sabine out in the open from the start of the game. Adding the Ghost and Phantom title was an afterthought in case I encountered a list that needed a double-shot TLT to give it an edge.

Edited by Astech

That makes a lot of sense, I think the titles being there and the way I've seen Biggs/Kanan flew threw me off.

On the note of Sabine's TIE, if the Captured TIE (or whatever it is called) works like the current theory (can't be shot by lower PS until it attacks) that could work well here. Or, oddly, Kyle Katarn flying a Hwk? There are options here, I'm just not seeing it yet.

Edit: Kyle doesn't work, but oddly a Rebel Operative Hwk with TLT gets you that second TLT shot and a Jyn carrier with 2 points to spare (but getting arc will suck). I'm not giving up.

Edited by AEIllingworth

If you are worried about Kanan getting blocked, then we get in the territory of advanced Sensors. A few more points to scrounge, but there is a way to make this work.

Edit: You also have a salvaged astromech on Biggs? I figure you want R4-D6 who is only one point, giving some wiggle room.

Double Edit: You can't put R5-P9 on Biggs, Salvaged Astromech is a different slot, currently only on the jumpmaster and scum version y-wing.

You're confusing R5-P8 and R5-P9, two completely different droids from different factions.

HUE HUE HUE NEVER DIE
100 points

PILOTS

Kanan Jarrus (46)
VCX-100 (38), Fire-Control System (2), Rey (2), Recon Specialist (3), Tactical Jammer (1)

Biggs Darklighter (26)
X-Wing (25), R4-D6 (1), Integrated Astromech (0)

Thane Kyrell (28)
ARC-170 (26), Jyn Erso (2), Alliance Overhaul (0)

had the same idea, I feel this is an improvement.

Shooting Biggs will trigger Thane Kyrell if in arc, activating Jyn even in a crash.

Kanan can reduce up to three attacks a turn with Rey. Biggs can have up to four focus tokens.

It does rely on Biggs not blanking out, however. Quite gimmicky.

Edited by Darth Ruin

HUE HUE HUE NEVER DIE...

I like it. By sacrificing the TLT you can get some pretty cool stuff into a list. The drawbacks I can think of are:

1. Thane is awful at keeping things in arc, especially with the ARC-170 dial and lack of repositioning. I'm not sure his extra actions are worth it when all he can do is focus, target lock and Jyn.

2. Kanan without a TLT is super vulnerable - All it takes is a single ace in his blindside(s) and he's done for.

With that in mind, here's a revision:

Kanan Jarrus (38)

Recon Specialist (3)

Fire Control System (2)

Autoblaster Turret (2)

Tactical Jammer (1)

Ghost (0)

Biggs Darklighter (25)

R5-P9 (3)

Integrated Astromech (0)

Sabine Wren (21)

Jyn Erso (2)

Push The Limit (3)

Phantom (0)

Total: 100 points.

This version sacrifices the TLT in favour of a FCS, Autoblster turret and PTL on Sabine, so she can't have the Jyn action blocked. Kanan becomes both mre and less offensively focused, as the loss of TLT is only made up for if you can keep enemy ships in arc. Sabine becomes an end-game monster, capable of taking up to 3 focus tokens, barrel roll/boost and evade a turn.

Sabine is essentially Thane, but with better positioning power and less health. I'm certain the U-wing itself will present a better - or at least viable - alternative.

Edited by Astech

I'm not sure Thane is bad at keeping things in arc, because he has literally twice the arc area. Aside from that, I think this is the direction to try.

Ficklegreendice: I'll reiterate here. As I was thinking of this list I didn't care about double ghost shots, all I was thinking about was finding a good, cheap Jyn carrier who could point its arc the right way, every time. This led me to Sabine (you could actually use Sabine's TIE, but that's a little fragile for my taste), and I built around having Sabine out in the open from the start of the game. Adding the Ghost and Phantom title was an afterthought in case I encountered a list that needed a double-shot TLT to give it an edge.

you have to be careful with the "afterthought" because the title, if you take it, isn't optional (re: the docking of the shuttle)

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you can always deploy it after the first maneuver, but it could be a wild pain in the ass

Edited by ficklegreendice

Fair points, although regen on Biggs is generally a waste of time.

Just pop Rey crew onto Kanan, the spare focus to nerf attacks is nearly as good as regenerating a shield.

With Biggs there's not much of a point docking the shuttle, just drop the title.

Quite new here. But why wouldnt you use R2D2 to gain sheilds back on biggs?

Because biggs drops like a rock, often in a single round, and those 4 poinys go to waste

Though a kanan super biggs list would be the only exception, since the whole point is to protect biggs

R2-D2 is 1 more point of expense, but its not just that. Biggs will have 4 focuses (foci?) on him a turn, and even if he's attacked 5 times by ATT 3 weapons, he probably won't spend all of them. Therefore, R5-P9 gives him an (almost) equal shield regeneration capacity for 1 less point. Also, since Biggs needs to keep up with Kanan, hit green moves are severely restrictive, so using R5-P9 gives him more maneuvering freedon, even to do K-turns if necessary.

Imagine this Biggs as a Defender (equal health+AGI 3) with a bottomless focus toke supply. That alone is excruciating to deal with. Then add id Kanan's ability to decrease high-strength opponent's chances of dong damage. After adding in Shield Regen, its possible for you to go whole tournament games without losing a single ship, on account of how elusive this guy is.

Breaking the math down here: Biggs with bottomless focus tokens rolls 1.25 evades at AGI 2 and almost 2 evades at AGI 3. That means that a TIE fighter shooting at Biggs through Kanan has virtually no chance f doing damage, and crack shot will only push through 1. Contracted scout proton torpedo shots can punch through about 2 damage onto Biggs so he could die in a turn there, but that's before considering Kanan's ability, in which case Biggs will get off on 2 hull remaining (and recover a shield). Party buses are a worry, but Sabine can take one of them single-handedly.

Edited by Astech