Ok, so as I understand it, there are some items coming with the Wookiee Gunship that people are concerned may be OP with Biggs. Here's my theory: There is a planned Biggs errata, that will be released when the Gunship comes out, based on the Rieekan nerf in Armada. Biggs' ability would be "Once per round, you may..". Basically, Biggs swings over and takes shots for you once per round, kinda like in the trench. Thoughts?

FULL DISCLOSURE: I have no actual knowledge, this is simply a theory come up with out of thin air.

Tons of people have already talked about the idea of making Biggs "once per round". It's not nearly as much of a nerf as it first appears. After your first ship shoots at Biggs, it is often in your best interest to keep shooting at Biggs anyway, to try to finish him off as fast as possible. If you've got a two-ship or three-ship list, and you shoot Biggs with one ship and someone else with the rest, you're splitting your fire and actually helping your opponent live longer, especially if the not-Biggs ship has regen. The only time you would really benefit from Biggs being limited to once per round is if your list can quickly take down one of the other enemy ships despite wasting one of its shots on Biggs (e.g. you have a swarm of 6 or 7 TIEs, so losing one shot to Biggs is fine if the other 5 or 6 can wail on Miranda/Poe/Corran/Whoever and kill them).

was basically gonna post exactly what Edge said

concentrating fire is paramount to winning x-wing

1 minute ago, ficklegreendice said:

was basically gonna post exactly what Edge said

concentrating fire is paramount to winning x-wing

Yea but killing Corran early is more paramounter.

90% of the time hes only protecting 1 ship anyway, since its kinda difficult to have him guard 2 intentionally in most lists.

Just now, Vineheart01 said:

90% of the time hes only protecting 1 ship anyway, since its kinda difficult to have him guard 2 intentionally in most lists.

Really? I've seen plenty of matches where Biggs is in formation with 2 or even 3 other ships. For example, Biggs/Jess/Braylen/Rex flown in a block formation is a thing.

Yeah, I'm in the camp that a "rest of the story" nerf will drop very soon with the other constant meta toppers on it; Biggs, Sabine, Jumpmaster, Mindlink, whatever. But the release of the Scrugg has me questioning Sabine now as Cad Bane would then be top Bombing crew if she is reduced. However, I think Biggs will see a nerf with the new Wookie Ship dropping as that cannot be coincidence. I've heard from unnamable sources that FFG has been planning the Biggs reduction plan for quite a while, but that certain things needed to occur; this must be it. I don't think that it will be "once per round" though; I'm thinking it will be a proximity thing.

2 minutes ago, clanofwolves said:

I don't think that it will be "once per round" though; I'm thinking it will be a proximity thing.

Biggs is already limited to Range 1 of friendly ships, and the attacker has to be at Range 1-3 of Biggs (or else they wouldn't be able to shoot him instead). How much more range-restricted could he be? Or do you mean something else by "proximity thing"?

I'm not opposed to a Biggs nerf, but it will be sad if it results in the last T-65 vanishing into the annals of history.

31 minutes ago, EdgeOfDreams said:

Biggs is already limited to Range 1 of friendly ships, and the attacker has to be at Range 1-3 of Biggs (or else they wouldn't be able to shoot him instead). How much more range-restricted could he be? Or do you mean something else by "proximity thing"?

My group thinks it will be thematic; his ability only procs if he's "closer to the attacking ship" kinda thing.

Maybe his ability will change to ''your ship obstructs attacks. Once per round, the first enemy attack that is obstructed by your ship must target you if able.''

3 minutes ago, clanofwolves said:

My group thinks it will be thematic; his ability only procs if he's "closer to the attacking ship" kinda thing.

Ok, great, but what is the actual nerf you're talking about? Are you saying Biggs would have to be at Range 1 of the friendly ship AND at Range 1 (or Range 1-2) of the enemy ship?

31 minutes ago, Sekac said:

I'm not opposed to a Biggs nerf, but it will be sad if it results in the last T-65 vanishing into the annals of history.

I think T-65s can then get a nice bump; like the Kiraxeraxeraxes are ?

Just now, EdgeOfDreams said:

Ok, great, but what is the actual nerf you're talking about? Are you saying Biggs would have to be at Range 1 of the friendly ship AND at Range 1 (or Range 1-2) of the enemy ship?

No, he'll have to be within rage 1 of the ship he's protecting, but closer to the attacker than the ship he's protecting is. You know, doing what he did in the movies, get out between the attacker and the ship that needs protecting, play the hero he was in cannon ?

4 minutes ago, clanofwolves said:

No, he'll have to be within rage 1 of the ship he's protecting, but closer to the attacker than the ship he's protecting is. You know, doing what he did in the movies, get out between the attacker and the ship that needs protecting, play the hero he was in cannon ?

Ah, ok. That would have some interesting implications for formation and maneuver choices. I actually really like this sort of idea, because it becomes a skill-based thing.

Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to actually make this a rule because X-Wing doesn't have a meaningful way to determine which ship is closer in a lot of scenarios. You'd have to break out measuring tapes to decide if Biggs can use his ability or not. Or you word it so that Biggs has to be in a different range band than the allied ship (i.e. if the allied ship is at range 3 of the attacker, Biggs must be at range 2 of the attacker, if ally is at range 2, biggs must be at range 1, and if ally is at range 1, biggs just doesn't work at all), but I think that's a bigger nerf than we want.

5 minutes ago, EdgeOfDreams said:

Ah, ok. That would have some interesting implications for formation and maneuver choices. I actually really like this sort of idea, because it becomes a skill-based thing.

Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to actually make this a rule because X-Wing doesn't have a meaningful way to determine which ship is closer in a lot of scenarios. You'd have to break out measuring tapes to decide if Biggs can use his ability or not. Or you word it so that Biggs has to be in a different range band than the allied ship (i.e. if the allied ship is at range 3 of the attacker, Biggs must be at range 2 of the attacker, if ally is at range 2, biggs must be at range 1, and if ally is at range 1, biggs just doesn't work at all), but I think that's a bigger nerf than we want.

You wouldn't need a measuring tape. You measure range to the ship you want to target, see where on the range ruler they're at, then measure range to biggs and compare.

I really liked Stay On Target podcast's suggestion, only letting Biggs absorb shots from ships outside his arc. Thematically, he was shot from behind, game-play-wise this also encourages enemies to joust with the Rebel list, which is cool because X-Wing is lacking in good jousts!

1 hour ago, clanofwolves said:

I think T-65s can then get a nice bump; like the Kiraxeraxeraxes are ?

Perhaps. But FFG has for whatever reason been pretty unsuccessful at bumping weak rebel ships. Scum and imperials have tended to have the most heavy-handed fixes (as well as the most brutal nerfs).

The A-wing is the most successful one by far.

But the rebel transport, T-70, and ARC-170 all contained "bumps" for T-65s, and while integrated astromech is auto-include good, it hasn't given the ship any real staying power. Just brief flashes in the pan from time to time.

54 minutes ago, ObiWonka said:

I really liked Stay On Target podcast's suggestion, only letting Biggs absorb shots from ships outside his arc. Thematically, he was shot from behind, game-play-wise this also encourages enemies to joust with the Rebel list, which is cool because X-Wing is lacking in good jousts!

Now this is an idea I can support! It's easy to adjudicate, it's skill and positioning based, and it creates interesting choices and trade-offs. Might be too much of a nerf, given that it makes him only really a tool against arc dodgers and flankers. Swarms, alpha strikes, and heavy jousters can mostly counter this version, unless the Biggs player is really canny with turning him away from the fight.

20 minutes ago, EdgeOfDreams said:

Now this is an idea I can support! It's easy to adjudicate, it's skill and positioning based, and it creates interesting choices and trade-offs. Might be too much of a nerf, given that it makes him only really a tool against arc dodgers and flankers. Swarms, alpha strikes, and heavy jousters can mostly counter this version, unless the Biggs player is really canny with turning him away from the fight.

Biggs K-turning would be such a staple

4 hours ago, ObiWonka said:

I really liked Stay On Target podcast's suggestion, only letting Biggs absorb shots from ships outside his arc. Thematically, he was shot from behind, game-play-wise this also encourages enemies to joust with the Rebel list, which is cool because X-Wing is lacking in good jousts!

I love this. K-turn first round of combat, then 1-forward into a self-bump and leapfrog with the trailing ship. Two rounds of coverage, and then Biggs wanders off to regroup and your opponent ends up splitting their fire as your obnoxious regen ace refuses to die.

On the other hand, it means Biggs isn't going to be attacking. A three dice attack is still a three dice attack, and losing it on the opening joust would hurt.

4 hours ago, fhdz said:

I love this. K-turn first round of combat, then 1-forward into a self-bump and leapfrog with the trailing ship. Two rounds of coverage, and then Biggs wanders off to regroup and your opponent ends up splitting their fire as your obnoxious regen ace refuses to die.

On the other hand, it means Biggs isn't going to be attacking. A three dice attack is still a three dice attack, and losing it on the opening joust would hurt.

And would rather neatly set the X-wing up for, say, a solid jousting-firepower boost, while leaving Biggs in something of a dilemma.

10 hours ago, ObiWonka said:

I really liked Stay On Target podcast's suggestion, only letting Biggs absorb shots from ships outside his arc. Thematically, he was shot from behind, game-play-wise this also encourages enemies to joust with the Rebel list, which is cool because X-Wing is lacking in good jousts!

Ask yourself a question: would you really consider bringing Biggs after that? Because I wouldn't. And FFG does not like killing ships with nerfs- the point is to make them balanced, not useless.

The whole point of biggs is enabling your list to joust despite your damage dealers being glass cannons. A big part of what makes Biggs good is the fact he still brings a 3-dice primary for his cost.

14 hours ago, Sekac said:

I'm not opposed to a Biggs nerf, but it will be sad if it results in the last T-65 vanishing into the annals of history.

Yeah, kinda what will happen to the TIE/LN if they nerf Rex and Ahoska. ?

15 hours ago, Sekac said:

I'm not opposed to a Biggs nerf, but it will be sad if it results in the last T-65 vanishing into the annals of history.

Well that's better than vanishing into the anals of history.