B-Wing: · Ten Numb (31)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Autoblaster (5)

Advanced Sensors (3)

Engine Upgrade (4)

ARC-170: · Norra Wexley (29)

Expertise (4)

· M9-G8 (3)

Weapons Engineer (3)

Alliance Overhaul (0)

Z-95 Headhunter: Tala Squadron Pilot (13)

Hull Upgrade (3)

-- TOTAL ------- 99/100p. --

The Premise: I recently stumbled on a Scum Boba build that made him an unholy terror against Arc-Dodgers and other ships that rely on green dice.

This idea intrigued me, so I sought to find a place for this build Rebel side. Obviously, there are flaws here, but I do feel really good about this build.

The Breakdown: Ten Numb with an Autoblaster, for all the limitations, is incredibly effective for pushing damage through. Giving him Adv Sens, VI, and an Engine Upgrade means he will be far less predictable against anyone wishing to avoid his terrible R1 wrath. The downside to the maneuvering is that, of course, no modifiers. This is where Norra comes in.

Norra is a pretty strong piece herself, but the big reason she's here is for the M9 / Weapons Engineer combo, allowing her to TL both Ten Numb and an enemy target. This allows Ten a means of modifying his attack dice if he used his action for a maneuver. Of course, Norra is not a defensive player, and while higher PS pilots will still suffer M9s reroll, her ability combined with Expertise will mean that she will automatically score a hit on top of her other dice. The ARC has a fair spread of green moves, and a rear arc for chasers, so I felt confident that it would be simple enough to keep Norra stress-free enough to make use of Expertise.

In case it wasn't obvious, the Tala is there for filler. Adjust last 17 points to taste. Maybe a Greenie with Chardaan and Triple 0s?

The Ugly: So few green dice. Anyone throwing three or more dice on the attack is gonna eat Ten and Norra up. The B and the ARC are beafy, and each scary in their own right, but neither can survive sustained fire for too long, especially not with good attack rolls.

Conclusion: It's niche. At least it feels niche. Norra's added attack die and rear arc might make up for Ten's average preformance beyond R1. But I do feel there is a real case to be made for this combo, and M9's ability is way too nice.

So I'd suggest switching Norra to Shera Bey. Also trade up to R2-D2. Here's the thought process. Ten can use Shera's TL if he needs to, giving him better mods than with Norra. You can keep weapons engineer, so she can attack another ship if desired, or even better, slot a Bandit with Homing Missiles in that 17 points. He can just focus, and when it comes his shot, Homing Missile with Chips on whoever Shera has locked. Nasty little buggers those Z's.

If they focus on Shera, it gives Ten time to do his thing. If they focus on Ten, Shera has regen and a rear arc. Once Missiles are spent, the Bandit makes a nice blocker as well, so he can switch and try to block to set up better shots for one of the other two.

I do like that idea quite a bit. Giving the Bandit a one-time punch would make up for some of the damage lost over time from shifting away from Norra. And using R2 instead of M9 gives the ARC infinitely more tank. There is a bit of a leash to that, but Range 2 is forgiving enough to make it work, hopefully.

One downside that I can see is that M9 targets an enemy as well, meaning even if they aren't attacking Norra, which could be clutch against Ten or even the Third Wheel, but that's far out-weighed by R2's regen and natural synergy with Expertise.

My only real fear is that by shifting away from M9, Ten will have to spend Bey's TL in order to get the modifier, whereas M9's is a MUST condition, without requiring spending a TL. I don't know if it'll end up making the difference, but the idea of having Bey TL every time Ten might need to mod his dice feels... clunky? Inefficient? Ten would still need to rely on either Bey or Norra to make the difference in his dice, so it might just end up being six of one, half a dozen on the other; but I like the security of M9's MUST condition, and it's board-wide reach, over a TL that needs to be constantly refreshed, with a (fairly forgiving) leash of Range 2.

I see where you are coming from, but I think the issue is more the range 2 for the ability rather than having to take a TL. Her actions are limited to Focus and Target Lock. If she has Expertise for permafocus (and there's really no reason to take focus for defense on a 1 agility ship) then the only action that makes sense every turn is to Target Lock, which with the engineer gives her two. Perhaps you could keep M9 on there. Gives you flexibility to fly far from Ten of the situation calls for it and still give him a mod, or if he's close, you could technically keep two enemies locked, force them to reroll to increase your longevity, and still be able to use a TL for full mods when you're close by. Loses regen, but gives you some flexibility in how you fly.

That would actually work quite well, too. Provide the benefits of both M9 and Bey. It occurs to me that Shara would actually serve even better with M9 anyways, because of her lower PS giving her free reign to spend the Lock for her own attack, and still forcing the higher PS aces to suffer M9's effect, getting more out of the card than Norra would... Hm. Yeah. The more I look at it the more I like it.

Norra was initially introduced for her firepower at range, but Shara with M9 would only get better as the match went on.

Yeah, thank you for the feedback. That is actually a really nice idea.

PS: Amusingly, Shara with M9 and Bandit with Homing still leaves a 1 point bid for initiative, just in case(?)