After so long of buying Scum ships for the upgrades (and having a third faction for my friends to play with if/when I need to share my X-Wing miniatures with them since they don't own any of the ships), I finally decided to actually try playing a Scum list. I typically play Imperials because I love the design of their ships. But I got the urge to try out the Fang Fighter in some sort of list. After all, what would have been the point of buying it? Plus, I always do enjoy trying out new squad builds. That's probably why I haven't mastered any single build of mine yet.
I'm used to flying high pilot skill aces as the Empire (I don't have Palpatine, so triple aces is my usual go-to style of play), so that my list echoed that pretty strongly. I also made this list inspired by some of the stuff I had seen around on the forums.
Fenn Rau - Protectorate Starighter
- Fearlessness
- Autothrusters
- Concord Dawn Protector
Talonbane Cobra - Kirahaz Fighter
- Attani Mindlink
- Cloaking Device
- Vectored Thrusters
Manaroo - Jumpmaster5000
- Attani Minlink
- R5-P8
- Recon Specialist
Total: 99 points
I played this list at my LFGS on Saturday when they do their all-day X-Wing. I managed to get four games in and I was incredibly pleased with the results. I won every single game.
To be fair, everyone was playing casual stuff or trying new lists out (that's what the X-Wing Saturdays at the store are for), but I thought it was a good way to test the waters with this list. I'll maybe post some battle report stuff in the appropriate forum area, but here are some of the pros and cons of the list I discovered.
Pros
- This list hits like a truck when it gets into range 1 (and in arc with Fenn). And it's not hard to make that happen In one round of attacking, I killed a full health + Hull Upgrade Dash Rendar (without any crits). And I ripped through everything else I went up against from combined fire between Fenn and Cobra Commander.
- Manaroo passing off three Focus tokens a turn is a boon.
- Opponents often have to make a choice between picking Fenn Rau or Cobra as the biggest threat. They tend to focus on Fenn, which gives Cobra the opportunity to get into range 1 and do some serious damage.
Cons
- A three ship list is probably still vulnerable to swarms. Haven't had the chance to test it out though.
- I know, I know, I know I should be running Fenn Rau as an arc-dodger and not as an "in your face" jouster". But it's been working out so well! And the games I played with him, charging up into my opponent's face when they were probably expecting me to try arc dodging seemed to work to my benefit. I was in the mindset of "they can't kill my ship if I kill their ship first".
- Cloaking Device can be a bit fickle.
- If Manaroo goes down, it hurts the list a lot. R5-P8 is there to help deter some attackers.
Considerations
- I'm torn between Push the Limit and Fearlessness on Fenn Rau. Without an evade action, stressing him for a second action doesn't feel as worth it. Especially when (at this time) I'm not arc-dodging with him as much as I probably should be.