Chewie Awards, Wave Thor
With wave 5 gracing the tables of admirals around the globe, it’s time to drop some hardware. We are doing things a little differently this time around, as this wave’s winners have been determined by a pantheon of some of the finest voices in the community. I would like to personally thank Ardhaedel , Tirion , BiggsIRL , Truthiness and Shmitty for helping me out with this, collaborating with you guys was amazing.
You may remember that in the past I would not consider previous winners for a Chewie . This time around it became readily apparent that trying to stick to that rubric would lead to increasingly silly winners over time. So while we shied away from repeats some, it no longer knocked a card or ship from consideration. Please remember this does not take into account anything from wave 5. Without further ado, your winners;
Winner- Expanded Hanger Bays . Expanded Hangers have been around since the early days, and they have always been good, but they really started to shine in wave Thor. Flight Commander/Expanded Hangers Flotillas became extremely efficient and effective squadron pushers, and EHB found enjoyable synergy with Flight Coordination Teams. But as good as EHB was, this was one of the more contested categories, as our Honorable Mention Boosted Comms also garnered a ton of support, even from panelists who voted for EHB. Boosted Comms was an Honorable Mention last wave as well, showing that some cards are doomed to always be a bridesmaid.
Winner- Bomber Command Center . Not even close. I don’t even feel like I need to do a blurb here. Bomber re-rolls are amazing. Stacking bomber re-rolls are amazing. Not watching your Rhymer ball defy the odds and roll 6 blanks on 8 dice is priceless. Or I guess 8 points. Turning X-Wings into effective bombers, preventing the Luke whiff is also huge. I’ll give an Honorable Mention to Comms Net, which slots into any fleet at a nice low cost and produces value.
Winner- Skilled First Officer . Dial manipulation was one of those things where the upgrades that let you access it were rarely worth the cost. Well, not anymore. SFO was by some looked at first as a cheap method of combating Slicer Tools, but grew to carve a niche all his own. MC30’s not carrying Billy Dee Williams were suddenly command 1 ships at the most crucial point in the game. Any command 2 ship, in fact, loved this guy for the measly ONE (1) POINT investment in having the right dial at the right time. Also good on a command 3 ship, if you happen to have a spare point and haven’t filled the slot. Combine with Relentless and turn an ISD into a command 1 ship. Look, the guy just has skillz . With a Z! Honorable Mention to Flight Commander.
Winner- Toryn Farr . Look, re-rolls are great. We all love re-rolls . Toryn has the distinction of being the only card in the game that grants them to both your ships and your squadrons (within range 3). Farr and away the best candidate. Honorable Mention to Leia, who one panelist credited with hard countering Slicer Tools out of omnipresence and makes is a fine way to spend three points on a flotilla. I like to combine her with Comms Net myself, because it makes sense that all the orders come from the tiny ship with no guns. Maybe even toss an Admiral on there for added theme.
Winner- Ordinance Experts. No brainer. Honorable mentions to freaking nothing. You’ve all been outclassed, you worthless nerf-herding slime. Or I guess maybe Flight Controllers. But really, no. Just the Ordinance Sexperts , servicing your missiles all night long. Full disclosure, everything you’ve read until now is just the same blurb I used last time. I liked it then, I like it now. Although Gunnery Team actually got the Honorable Mention, not Flight Controllers, despite how great they also are . Re-rolls folks, we like ‘ em . We like ‘ em a LOT.
Winner- Fighter Coordination Teams . B-Wings. Yavaris . Flight Commander. These were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little carrier. But Professor Rieekan accidentally added an EXTRA INGREDIENT to the concocktion …FIGHTER COORDINATION TEAMS. Could be used on other ships also, I guess. If you want to do it wrong. Honorable Mention to Medical Team, which for one point is a fantastic buy on any team not otherwise engaging its support slot.
Winner - Ion Cannon Batteries . These bad boys have been around since wave 1, just waiting for the right time to make their mark. Wave Thor was that time. As more and more token tossing mechanics abound, and with the advent of the Interdictor, Ion Cannon Batteries finally have a place. A frustrating, surprisingly potent, place. Honorable Mention to last wave’s winner, Leading Shots. It might have won again but we do try to weight away from repeat winners where it isn’t bananaballs to do so.
Winner- H9 Turbolasers . F* ck you, flotillas. Also good for denying brace to anything not running ECM’s. Also strong vs. Scatter Aces on 2 blue AA platforms, such as an ISD. This one was unanimous but I’m going to give an Honorable Mention to Spinal Armaments for being a part of the Make Vic’s Great Again Movement, bringing Liberty and Salvation to all of us who just love chucking red dice.
Winner- Assault Proton Torpedoes . Another Chewie for the torps that go kablooie ! These bad boys still find themselves as the most commonly used ordinance upgrade, because for a mere 5 points they bring serious value to your list. Just a great card. Honorable Mention to Rapid Reload and Expanded Launchers, both whom saw some rise in play with the advent of Targeting Scrambler, and may see more in wave 5 depending on how often we see Damage Control officer.
Winner- X-Wings . Wow. Remember when you opened your core set and were just completely underwhelmed by X-Wings? And what a shame it was that they were just so middling? Good News Everyone! The most iconic fighter in Star Wars has assumed its rightful throne. With the advents of Jan Orrs , Bomber Command Center and Toryn “The Best Thing to Happen to Blue Fighter Dice by” Farr these guys are just bestial. Plus, as the fighter options have been fleshed out, Escort has proven to actually be something not only worth taking, but a more or less necessary inclusion in any fighter list. Honorable Mentions to Y-Wings and TIE Bombers, as specialized single black die bombers saw a resurgence (in the case of the Y-Wings) or continued widespread use (TIE Bombers)
Winner- Baller Mithel . Baller Mithel just loves balls (of fighters). He loves to drop in on those big balls and give them all a little dink. He is also very protective of his own balls, and you will often find him close by, ready to protect his balls at a moment’s notice. He wants to help his balls get where they want to go, and he does a great job of it. If you aren’t careful, you may find his balls right up in your face. Or maybe at medium range of your face, extending their potent black dice your way. Paired with his well wrapped friend, Dengar , he’s the gift that keeps on giving, ensuring your bombers are able to unleash their payload right across your opponent’s aft. Honorable Mention to Major Rhymer. It was actually a split vote across the panel between the two, but I’m writing this and I voted for Mithel .
Winner- GR75 Transport . The GR75 transport is all over the place. It’s in pretty much every single rebel list out there. It’s iconic as all get out, because it’s in every single rebel fleet from Scariff to Endor . The GR75 enables you to play those big Calamari cruisers without being hilariously and woefully out activated simply by virtue of running a large based ship. They allow small base fleets to run something that can push fighters competently. They pass tokens, they make your bombers better, they change your opponent’s commands at crucial times…they fill you up with Bright Hope for the future. It does all these things and more for the low, low buy in of 18 points! Honorable Mention to the MC30 Torpedo Frigate for being really good at killing flotillas.
Winner- Demolisher . With the no repeat rule dead in the water, Demolisher is just the best title, period. Thankfully, the surge of squadrons and flotillas has toned down the omnipresence of the black dice toting monster some, but the ability to move and then unload black dice from downtown still makes this the best Imperial title in the game. Also began to show up as an anti-squad platform when slapped on a GSD-2, which is a role in which it can be incredibly effective.
Winner- Yavaris . FINALLY ! Yavaris ’ time has come! The Flight Commander, Fighter Coordination Team Yavaris towing B-Wings and benefiting from BCC and *gasp* Torryn Farr is perhaps the most powerful anti-ship activation in the game. It’s also a great way to ruin friendships. Also a great way to ensure you win the fighter war, especially when combined with some of the harder hitting aces such as Dutch/Wedge, or the Han “Can’t do it” Solo–Triple Tap. Looking forward to combining this with Ten Numb as well, for the same reason I love Baller Mithel . Honorable Mentions to Bright Hope (but f* ck flotillas, right?) and Admonition, which won last time.
Winner- Motti . Ugh, I hate typing this , because he’s so boring . Not much to write about here with him. He makes your ships shippier . Ship big, no go boom-boom , much hp. Shoot y- shoot y live- live. Motti win! And now he’s won this category twice in a row! Thank god for Jerjerrod and the Arq kittens in wave 5. This clown needs to go down.
Winner- General Jan Dodonna - You know when you take a crit and you just pray that this ONE CARD that could totally mess you up doesn’t show? I’ll live if there’s no Structural Damage. I’ll be fine so long as I don’t take a Comm Noise. Well…Jan is sort of a middle finger to your hopes and dreams. In any game where randomness plays a part, the ability to manipulate that chance is powerful, (its why we like re-rolls so much) and Jan does not mess around. Plus he's cheap and works with every type of list and some asteroids. Honorable Mentions to General Rieekan and the Snackbar , who has had a tremendous showing in the regional season.
Winner- H9’s- Pretty much for the reasons stated when they won the turbolaser category. These things were pretty fringe before wave thor , and now they are all over the place as the need to guarantee an accuracy result has skyrocketed.
“Winner”- XI7 Turbolasers - This isn’t a knock on what is still a perfectly valid, strong upgrade card. XI7’s are still awesome. But where the hell did they go? It used to be that you could pretty much count on your redirect token being useless because everything was bringing XI7’s, but in wave thor they were just way less prevalent. Which is doubly sad because they just got that sweet alt art!
“Winner”- Repair Crews- God these things suck. Just use your flotillas to pass command tokens if you want to help repair stuff. It’s cheaper , more versatile and only moderately less effective. The short distance requirement and weird timing make these very difficult to use with any kind of efficacy. These crews should be spaced. Oh wait, they are in space. Someone close the airlock!
Edited by Madaghmire
