I am a huge fan of cruise missiles.

The constant risk reward of diving in at speed to fire and not over-committing from the wrong angle is exactly the kind of gameplay I enjoy. Straight jousts with Cruise missiles usually end just as badly for the ships launching them as the player defending against them. Opponents can counter it with careful range control and often there are super tense moments in the game were each players "movement guess" can change basically everything about the outcome. Faints where you "pretend" to commit to lining up a cruise shot and then save them for a later round after the dogfight has started are interesting to. K-Turns and Sloops suddenly take on an entire new terrifying meaning.

Best of all it puts the fear of god in high health low agility turret ships. Sure when 10 fully modified red dice hit their target it can be sad for whoever loses a ship, but there are a # of alpha-defense lists or multiple ship lists to manage that. And again Cruise Missiles make everyone work for it. Often once they are spent if Aces fired them you have to rely on a bunch of skill to solo whats left of a list. Dont get me wrong here, Cruise Missiles aren't rocket science...i.e. they arent that high skill...but they take just enough extra set up to feel very rewarding.

So if I even have a point I guess its just this.....cruise missiles are a fun and interesting challenge and I haven't dropped them from my lists yet even though I probably should. I know harpoons are of course better and usually worth the extra 1 pt. Still my favorite part about cruise missiles is the more experience I get with them the more flexibility it gives the rest of my list with a couple extra pts free for a bid or a 3rd ship. I am usually only running 2 in a list with a 3rd ship doing something else to distract, so once the cruise missiles do their thing the game boils down to out playing whatever is left.

So.......does anyone else still consider themselves a Cruise Missile Ninja in training? Or have we mostly embraced Harpoons and just moved on?

If anyone has been avoiding trying them because they look risky.......consider this:

Applies to just about everything in X-Wing.

Happy Random Post Wednesday.

I really like them. They are super powerful, but they aren’t broken due to the challenge of the set up. I feel far more comfortable using them than harpoons. What good cruise missile lists are people using?

I've loved them since they dropped and have used them to devastating effect. But they can be hard to launch at times. Here's a list I used in a tournament recently.

================================
Kihraxz Fighter: Talonbane Cobra (28 + 3)
+ Veteran Instincts (0)
+ Harpoon Missiles (3)
+ Vaksai (0)
+ Guidance Chips (0)
+ Munitions Failsafe (0)
Scurrg H-6 Bomber: Captain Nym (30 + 13)
+ Veteran Instincts (1)
+ Autoblaster Turret (2)
+ Harpoon Missiles (4)
+ Dengar (3)
+ Bomblet Generator (3)
+ Guidance Chips (0)
Kihraxz Fighter: Captain Jostero (24 + 2)
+ Deadeye (0)
+ Cruise Missiles (2)
+ Inertial Dampeners (0)
+ Vaksai (0)
+ Guidance Chips (0)
+ Munitions Failsafe (0)

Ideally, Talonbane fires harpoon, followed by Nyms harpoon at the same ship. Splashs to another ship, Jostero follows up with a 5 dice (hopefully) cruise missile. 4 games, this happened only once but God it was awesome. Nym was usually my closer. Actually, the game this happened I lost, went 3-1.

10 hours ago, Boom Owl said:

Dont get me wrong here, Cruise Missiles aren't rocket science...

Errrrrr, ummmm. Eh, carry on.

Played against them a lot, but never had a change to play with them because I've never had any copies.

Do want to give them a try, though.

I'm always at my happiest with 5-ship lists (like my TIE Strikers) and I think a heavy swarm might suit these things too - because it's hard to manage range against multiple threat axes - so maybe a Seinar Test Pilot squad with cruise missiles might be just the ticket to get my head around them?

10 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Played against them a lot, but never had a change to play with them because I've never had any copies.

Do want to give them a try, though.

I'm always at my happiest with 5-ship lists (like my TIE Strikers) and I think a heavy swarm might suit these things too - because it's hard to manage range against multiple threat axes - so maybe a Seinar Test Pilot squad with cruise missiles might be just the ticket to get my head around them?

40pt Quickdraw - swarm leader, fcs, targeting synch, cruise missile, chips

3x 20pt sienar test pilot (ps 2 advanced prototype) - cruise missiles, chips, title

Quickdraw is nice, but if you've got Swarm Leader you can generate a 5-dice attack 'on spec' and don't really need the missiles - which means you might as well pack Lightweight Frame and....maybe XX-23s?

Besides which, whilst I've used both Empire and First Order stuff I don't like mixing eras (or even really ship types) - that's a personal thing but I'd rather a squad I like the look of that's not as good as a more effective one which makes my inner fluff nerd twitch.

1 hour ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Played against them a lot, but never had a change to play with them because I've never had any copies.

Do want to give them a try, though.

I'm always at my happiest with 5-ship lists (like my TIE Strikers) and I think a heavy swarm might suit these things too - because it's hard to manage range against multiple threat axes - so maybe a Seinar Test Pilot squad with cruise missiles might be just the ticket to get my head around them?

3 Deltas Defenders with CG and Cruises for teh lulz! (one with /D and a 1 point cannon)

4K and 5 dice missile!

This list was used against me in a fun tournament recently. I didn’t give enough respect to the cruise missle and it blasted my TLT Y-wing and then Nym took it out the next round. You can just imagine the look on my face. Lol

Scummy (99)

•Captain Nym (45) -
Veteran Instincts, Autoblaster Turret, Extra Munitions, •Bomblet Generator, •Havoc, Engine Upgrade, Accuracy Corrector, •"Genius"

•Fenn Rau (31) -
Adaptability, Concord Dawn Protector, Autothrusters

•N'Dru Suhlak (23) -
Veteran Instincts, Cruise Missiles, Scavenger Crane, Guidance Chips

I one shot Quickdraw with a single Cruise Missile from Jake Farrell on Monday and it was one of the most satisfying things that's ever happened for me in X-wing.

Actual cruise missile vs harpoon missile gameplay footage: