Greetings all,

I've casually played X-Wing since I first saw Target clearance the Core Sets a few years back. I'm not well versed in all the cards, strategies, or the meta of the game nor is my post concerning those things. My friend and I have not had the chance to play for several months and we agreed to meet up and change things up with 200 point squads. I have access to all the ships through my friend although am not necessarily familiar with how they fly and what the upgrades do. I have started making a list based on things I own that I have either used in the past or have seen used in games online.

Biggs Darklighter [33 points]

• R2-D2
• Shield Upgrade

Rookie Pilot (x3) [66 points]

• R2 Astromech
• Integrated Astromech

Han Solo (original) [62 points]

• Predator
• Engine Upgrade
• Gunner
• C-3PO
• Millennium Falcon (evade)

This leaves me 39 points to work with. The plan is to fly Biggs/Rookie Flight in a pinwheel formation to focus fire on the enemies while Biggs draws fire away from the Rookies and regenerates shields as needed. I've used that squad before in 100 point games to great success. I've never wanted to spend over half my points on one ship in a 100 point game so must admit to never having used a Fat Han before. I've seen it used in games on YouTube and the above build is what I came up with reading card descriptions on the X-Wing Squadron Builder App. I'm not sure how effective it would be so if anything sticks out to you that could improve it let me know. What type of ship(s) would you use the extra 39 points for? I was originally thinking Luke Skywalker but now am considering Poe Dameron as the T-70 looks a lot of fun to fly. Or I could just throw some Talas in there. Or I could replace the three Rookie pilots with Talas and use the points saved for an even more expensive unit(s).

I don't know. Thoughts?

Biggs might last long enough in a 200 point game to make R2-D2 worthwhile. There is just too much incoming fire (twice as many ships as in a 100 point game!) to survive long enough to really regenerate. The standard Biggs of R4-D6 and Integrated Astromech is probably the best in most situations, if only because of cheapness at 26 points. Another old partner for cheap X-Wings was Luke with R2-D2 (+IA) and Draw Their Fire (33 points). An Auzituck like Lowhhrick probably does the job better these days, or a Red Squadron Vet T-70 is cheaper than Luke by 2 points, but I'll stick with Luke just because, well, Luke and the list has a very "Original Trilogy" vibe to it. Let's consider Luke an upgrade from one of the Rookies, so you'll still be at 4 X-Wings (Biggs (26), Luke (33), 2x Rookie (44)--103 total).

Han is pretty solid. Personally, I might swap Predator for Expertise. Han's ability grants a full reroll, so Predator doesn't necessarily add much when trying to increase damage. Predator is better at reducing your attack to force a Gunner shot, but worse at making sure a gunner shot actually hits hard. I'd also consider swapping C-3P0 for Hot Shot Copilot, which works about as well defensively (your opponent won't have focus tokens to spend offensively). That's more a personal style thing (and 2 points more expensive), rather than a "strictly stronger build." Both versions work fine.

For the last ship, I might consider an A-Wing. It's not super sturdy, but it can be a playmaker if it makes it to the flank. A classic Jake Farrel build is 33 points (Veteran Instincts, Push the Limit, Proton Rockets, Autothrusters, A-Wing Test Pilot). That'd fit in with an Expertise/HSCP Han Solo. If you wanted to stick with Predator/C-3PO (or skip Luke for a RSV T-70 with R2-D2, IA, and Draw Their Fire), Tycho Celchu is a fun option. Rage, PTL, Cruise Missile, Autothrusters, AWTP is a really fun build at 35 points, and you'll build a literal mountain of stress. I was playing against a friend with this a month or so back, and he ended with well over 40 stress (so perhaps use some spare d10 to keep track).

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If you really want to try out Poe, I'd keep the original list the same, drop Biggs down to the 26 point version, and then you'd have 46 points to work with. The common Poe builds these days typically start with the PS9 version with Black One, Intensity, Autothrusters. A droid (R2-D2 or BB-8) and a Tech upgrade (Primed Thrusters or Comm Relay) is typically added. These range from 41 to 45 points. The basic premise is that you can get Focus or Evade tokens from Intensity, and since Poe's ability allows him to never spend his focus token, he'll be able to spend it to flip Intensity back at the end of the turn. Comm Relay banks an evade, which is almost like an extra shield. With R2-D2, this makes Poe fairly tanky to bring down, but less nimble and without huge offensive power. He'll be pulling green moves and either focusing, or boosting to Intensity a focus token. R2-D2 Poe has trouble refreshing the evade frequently, so it should mostly be used to save hull damage. With BB-8, you'll get a free Barrel Roll a lot of the time, which can allow you to have both an Evade and a Focus (so you can spend the evade freely), or perhaps a Focus/Target Lock when you won't have too much incoming fire. Comm Relay is still good here, it'll allow you to Target Lock or Boost if you didn't need to Evade last turn, but Primed Thrusters are really pretty neat here. You'll be able to pull a K-Turn or Tallon Roll to turn around, then you can still take a Boost action, and get a focus token from Intensity. Primed Thrusters will also let you to a Barrel Roll on BB-8 if you're starting the turn stressed. Normally, you won't be able to, since you can't perform free actions while stressed and you won't have cleared the stress until after you move. I'd probably go with the BB-8 version since with the weight of incoming fire in a double-points game, I'd rather be more nimble. R2-D2 would have trouble keeping up with increased firepower.

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I should add: a great way to fill a few points is to upgrade the Rookie Pilots to Blue Squadron Novice T-70. They're 25 points instead of 22 (if keeping R2 Astromech), but the extra shield, Tallon Rolls, and the boost action are well worth it. You could even just build the squad as cheap-Biggs, Fat Han, and 4x T-70. Here, you might want to go Red Squadron Veterans. Equip all of them with either R2 Astromech, IA, and Crack Shot (pushing through an extra hit is quite handy), or else Targeting Astromech (free target locks after red moves), IA, and either Trick Shot (an extra attack die when obstructed is good, but doesn't always happen) or Adaptability, so they can all be PS5 like Biggs.

Thanks for the info. I didn't consider R2 on Biggs in a 200 point squad as a waste but I see what you're saying.

I was nervous taking this squad against a potential swarm and felt like I needed more guns on the table. My friend and I exchanged lists so he can get all the components ready and I'm glad I went with this new list. He's running a 14 TIE Swarm with Howlrunner. Here's my final list:

T-70 X-Wing: Red Squadron Veteran (26)
Push The Limit (3)
R2 Astromech (1)
Vectored Thrusters (2)
Pattern Analyzer (2)
T-70 X-Wing: Red Squadron Veteran (26)
Push The Limit (3)
R2 Astromech (1)
Vectored Thrusters (2)
Pattern Analyzer (2)
T-70 X-Wing: Red Squadron Veteran (26)
Push The Limit (3)
R2 Astromech (1)
Vectored Thrusters (2)
Pattern Analyzer (2)
X-Wing: Red Squadron Pilot (23)
R2 Astromech (1)
Integrated Astromech (0)
X-Wing: Red Squadron Pilot (23)
R2 Astromech (1)
Integrated Astromech (0)
X-Wing: Red Squadron Pilot (23)
R2 Astromech (1)
Integrated Astromech (0)
X-Wing: · Biggs Darklighter (25)
· R2-D6 (1)
Integrated Astromech (0)
Adaptability (Decrease) (0)
-- TOTAL ------- 200p. --