This year I’m on a mission to fly everything I’ve got at least once. All the upgrades, and all the named pilots. Even Saboteur.

But today we’re talking about Ibtisam. A long-overshadowed pilot on a long-overshadowed chassis, Ibtisam doesn’t have a lot going for her other than a reroll when she’s stressed. But stressed B’s that aren’t named Keyan have a bad time ahead of them, right?

Well, I figure that doubling down on both the stress and the reroll might make for a janky good time. Hera’s here to make sure Ibtisam’s whole dial is open regardless of stress, which also makes sure Ibtisam can always get at least one reroll on both offense and defense. Linked Battery is there as a cheap and easy way to get a second offensive reroll. And Stay On Target is there to make sure that her dial is always 100% open and red so she never loses her stress regardless of whatever’s going on—and to make her tougher to block, if things get tight.

As for the rest of it: I’m trying to make sure the jank remains strong with this one. Garven can pass off a focus to Ibtisam to essentially give her double-modified dice all the time, while Flight Assist keeps him as slippery as a T-65 can be these days. Cassian is, honestly, mostly just there for the jank factor. Though I’ve heard this build is a good way to make sure he always gets a TL, BR, and 2 focuses each turn. Plus, he could pull stress off Garven if needed.

This list is so deliciously janky, I think I'm going to steal it to fly at my local League this Thursday night.

25 minutes ago, emeraldbeacon said:

This list is so deliciously janky, I think I'm going to steal it to fly at my local League this Thursday night.

Let me know how it goes! ^^ I may or may not get to try this tomorrow... otherwise probably next weekend.

I used to fly Ibtisam for fun sometimes with Tycho and others that didn't care about stress. The build was very similar to what you have going but I would just go Wired, Title, Hera and call it a day.

Stay on Target can be fun, just doesn't help all the time with PS 6. She can be a generic-hunter though. Linked Battery is interesting and will definitely make her more punchy but then you also lose some of the value to redundancy with the pilot ability.

I could see her now with a tractor beam as well. Playing around in a tight asteroid formation trying to throw aces on rocks. Even after they shoot is fine to have them roll for damage on the rock a couple times and lose their action the following turn. She'd be good in tight spots, being able to k-turn and 1 hard turn as many consecutive times as she wants. It's a fun ship just still overcosted as B-wings are sadly.

I mean, you know it's not a "good" list, but it looks like fun.

Garvin seems OK for his points.

I certainly love that U-Wing. I tend to fly it with a boring old Expertise Rey, but it does work. It's also really nice having Kanan elsewhere in the list (Cassian can then clear stress on a 2-hard, but won't get any extra focus tokens from Kyle... Kyle only works when a ship removes their own tokens).

For this list, be sure to fly with Debris Clouds. This Ibtisam can essentially ignore them, and Cassian doesn't have too many problems with them either. If he's got to Advanced Sensors/Expert Handling into a position where he'll fly over debris, don't worry about it. He'll pick up extra stress and can't do his full Jank, but he'd still easily wind up with Focus/TL or double-Focus. Even if you have to fly over a Debris twice (going in this turn, going out next), if you do it with green moves, you'll at least get Kyle's focus tokens. With an asteroid obstacle, you'd lose your shot and maybe all actions.

With Ibtisam, I can see the argument to swapping Linked Battery for a different Cannon. Her pilot ability will have at least 1 reroll covered most of the time, so the second reroll is of lower value. However it'll be your only dice mods, so there's that. With a Tractor Beam, I think I'd actually want obstacles a little bit more spread out. With tight obstacles, there's a lot more of the board which isn't close to any of them. Then the opponent can just fly around in the wide open spaces. With a loser placement, there will be fewer spots where a ship could land which aren't a boost/br away from an asteroid.

Thanks @theBitterFig! I’m pretty sure I stole that U-Wing build from you in another thread.

I can see the potential value of the tractor beam but I’m leery of giving up Ibtisam’s damage output. Also, having the second reroll could be overkill but it does a better job of simulating Target Lock if you blank out or just can’t get Garven’s focus. But, maybe 1 reroll is really enough. I might have to try it both ways if I get the opportunity.

I think the real thing that cemented the 2nd reroll was this other variation I was considering:

”Jankin’ with Ibtisam: Special Edition”

Cassian Andor (27)
Expert Handling (2)
Advanced Sensors (3)
Inspiring Recruit (1)
Kyle Katarn (3)
Experimental Interface (3)
Pivot Wing (0)

Ibtisam (28)
Adrenaline Rush (1)
Collision Detector (0)
Linked Battery (2)
Finn (5)
B-Wing/E2 (1)

Lieutenant Blount (17)
Deadeye (1)
Harpoon Missiles (4)
Vectored Thrusters (2)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

The idea is to push Ibtisam to new heights of red-dice absurdity while using Adrenaline Rush to keep her dial open for 1 move. It’s only 1 move, though, which probably kills your maneuverability. Also, Bluntman doesn’t synergize nearly as well as Garven; I’m mostly just using him because he’s cheap, can be guaranteed to hand out a Harpooned! condition, and to keep everyone at PS 6. I think the original (plus or minus a Tractor Beam) is probably stronger.

EDIT: Oh right, I just remembered my other doubt about the TB: if you have the TB, you want Ibtisam to shoot first if at all possible--but with Garven's ability, you really want him to shoot first. And considering how janky this is, and how Cassian will probably have a pile of tokens anyway, it feels stronger to me to be able to hand Ibtisam that focus.

Ohh, this is hilarious. I love it. That Cassian is a hoot, keep that for sure. As for Ibtisam, I like the whole build EXCEPT Stay on Target. I feel like there are better options. Wired for instance, or VI, though neither really synergizes with Garvin. You could look at a different X-Wing? Hobbie Klivian with Targeting Astromech is basically a purely offensive Defender, and is a hoot to fly.

53 minutes ago, Greebwahn said:

Ohh, this is hilarious. I love it. That Cassian is a hoot, keep that for sure. As for Ibtisam, I like the whole build EXCEPT Stay on Target. I feel like there are better options. Wired for instance, or VI, though neither really synergizes with Garvin. You could look at a different X-Wing? Hobbie Klivian with Targeting Astromech is basically a purely offensive Defender, and is a hoot to fly.

Maybe trim Ibtisam to Title + Hera, Wired, and Collision Detector... that frees up 3 points for a Plasma Torp on Cassian?

I appreciate the input on this madness. As I look at getting ready to fly it this weekend (schedules permitting), though, I keep gravitating back toward the original. SOT and Garven are absolutely not the most optimal choices in any list, but I think they'll help contribute to a fun play experience. I also like it that they help all 3 of these guys come in at the same PS, and I think they might even synergize pretty well, in their own freakish way.

If I get to play, I'll try to post a batrep!

@CoffeeMinionNo idea what janky means, but I do like this list a lot. The build on all 3 ships is excellent.

4 hours ago, westiebestie said:

@CoffeeMinionNo idea what janky means, but I do like this list a lot. The build on all 3 ships is excellent.

Jank is partly junk, but cooler. It's neat, overly complicated tricks--which wind up working better than they ought to work.

I was going to say that janky means using silly, complex combos. Which is pretty much how this flew in my test game today: silly and complex. :-p

First, a little background for the game: I ended up working a horrific round of overnight on-call support last night, and I only managed to sneak away from the family this morning for about 1.5 hours sleep, so I was majorly wrecked by the afternoon. :/ My buddy hadn't really prepped for the game, so he just grabbed 2 Y-wings and 2 A-wings and 2 TLTs and... came in at 102 points, but whatever; it wasn't the most optimized list anyway, so we chose to just play instead of dithering around.

My buddy's last-minute list (102):

Gemmer Sojan — A-Wing: 22, Chardaan Refit: -2, Ship Total: 20

Jake Farrell — A-Wing: 24, Trick Shot: 0, Chardaan Refit: -2, Ship Total: 22

"Dutch" Vander — Y-Wing: 23, Twin Laser Turret: 6, Ship Total: 29

Horton Salm — Y-Wing: 25, Twin Laser Turret: 6, Ship Total: 31

I don't have a full batrep in me right now, but I'll try to hit some high points.

First off, I felt like the synergy of my pilots' abilities was good. Not game-breakingly good, but worthy of tweaking and flying again. Sadly, Ibtisam and Garven never managed to fly similarly enough to benefit from passing the focus token, but Garven and Cassian proved to be BFFs--Cassian helped clean up after a messy situation that left Garven stressed but needing to 4K to get away, and Garven returned the favor by passing a focus back on a turn where Cassian was boxed-in by rocks and enemies and couldn't activate his whole barrel-roll-driven shenanigans.

On that note: on the turns where Cassian couldn't do his BR thing, or once he picked up 2 A-wings on his tail, or when Ibby's 2K was blocked by someone with higher PS, or after I jettisoned the droid to keep Garven in the fight... WOW did I feel like I was flying a list full of BRICKS! These guys really need help getting around! Ibby wasn't too bad, and only got blocked once that I cared about. I was tired enough to fly Garven onto a rock early on, though, which ended up costing me a plum shot and forcing me to ditch the droid to stay alive due to return fire--the contrast between FAA Garven and non-FAA Garven was unreal!

Cassian though... man, the U-wing has got ISSUES with turning around. It was hilarious when his card combo worked out, but too often it didn't due to one kind of blockage or another. There was a turn where I debated flipping Pivot Wing over and resigning myself to eating 4 TLT damage just so I could turn around the next turn, and I wish I'd just done it--he ended up taking 2 anyway, and Garven took 1 more. Having something to take that heat off Garven would've been really nice; Ibby tried by staying in close and knife-fighting, but sadly that just made her ineligible as a target.

As you might have guessed, I lost--or conceded after we ran out of time. It was a pretty nail-biting and fun game, though! That was the biggest win; next biggest was feeling good about Ibby's performance. Overall I think there's potential in this list, but I think I'm going to have to put Engine Upgrade (or at least Leebo) on Cassian for my own sanity's sake. It's one thing having Barrel Roll as an option on a large ship if circumstances allow you to take advantage of it (e.g., with the JM5K/Bumpmaster); it's quite another when a ship's whole schtick relies on consistently pulling off a large-ship BR to proc some crazy combo just to keep its head above water. I guess that sounds more negative than I felt, though; this struck me as a fun and interesting start of something, though not its Final Form. The U-wing pulled its weight when I could keep things in front of it.

Final Verdict: 6/10, needs boost on the U-wing but I would gladly jank this again.

‘S been a while. I’ve been doing some reading about current jank hotness with Ten Numb, and my kid twisted my arm into (finally) picking up the Yellow Tie Fighter, and my despair with the U-wing grows by the day. I’m still rather taken with the idea of Making Ibtisam Great Again, but it might be time to drop down to a more sensible “diet” build:

Jankin’ 2: Ol’ Dirrty Bistan

Ibtisam (28)
Wired (1)
Collision Detector (0)
Hera Syndulla (1)
B-Wing/E2 (1)

Ten Numb (31)
A Score to Settle (0)
Advanced Sensors (3)
Tractor Beam (1)
Bistan (2)
B-Wing/E2 (1)

Captain Rex (14)

Tala Squadron Pilot (13)
Harpoon Missiles (4)
Guidance Chips (0)

Total: 100

This keeps the suggestion from way back about a tractor beam, but shifts it up a couple PS. It gives Ibby just the tools she needs to cause trouble if she sticks to red maneuvers. Ten Numb has two potential ways of landing dat unblockable crit. Then Rex and the Tala are there to cause annoyance and/or disrupt targeting priorities. Also, why Tala not Bandit? —Because then both it and Rex move at the same time, which is usually fun. Also, if I can shave a couple points off, I’m within arms reach of being able to get initiative on Rho boats.

I might try to run this this week. Comments/suggestions/thrown fruit welcome!

You really don't need ASTS AND Bistan. I would just use Bistan. Ibtisam can really excel with Ezra crew, methinks. Ezra, Collision Detector, LB, some free/cheap EPT.

I don't really dig Rex and Tala in the mix. I'd just use one better something. Heck, for 31 points, you could get a respectable Wedge or Wes!

1 hour ago, Greebwahn said:

You really don't need ASTS AND Bistan. I would just use Bistan. Ibtisam can really excel with Ezra crew, methinks. Ezra, Collision Detector, LB, some free/cheap EPT.

I don't really dig Rex and Tala in the mix. I'd just use one better something. Heck, for 31 points, you could get a respectable Wedge or Wes!

Interesting, interesting...

Good point about Bistan and ASTS; it's overkill. I'll have to see what else I can make room for with his EPT.

I'm not sure about Ezra on Ibtisam, though. I guess it's like always packing a soft-focus effect? I like that in concept, but Hera opens up your whole dial all the time. Heck, if I was going that way, could I just move ASTS to Ibtisam and save the point from Wired?

I think the trick with giving them "one better something" is finding the something. I'm tempted to look into a stressbug or stressmule or stressBraylen to keep the stress theme going, though that's probably not optimal.

Though truth be told I'm already pretty far down the road toward "not optimal."

Stressbot carrier is ALWAYS a hoot!

Fair point about Hera

Much as I thought that last list idea could be fun, I still haven't had a chance to test it. I'm starting to prep for a possible game this weekend and am gravitating back a little more toward the U-wing after finding some interesting builds on the forum--specifically, one that might let me check the box on having used Saboteur!

Jankin' 2: Electric Saboteur

Heff Tobber (24)

Enhanced Scopes (1)
"Zeb" Orrelios (1)
Saboteur (2)
Anti-Pursuit Lasers (2)
Pivot Wing (0)

Ibtisam (28)
Wired (1)
Collision Detector (0)
Hera Syndulla (1)
B-Wing/E2 (1)

Ten Numb (31)
Adaptability (0)
Advanced Sensors (3)
Linked Battery (2)
Bistan (2)
B-Wing/E2 (1)

Total: 100

A couple notes:

• This Heff is silly but should be a functional and irritating blocker. The main goal here is to check off using Heff and Saboteur and not have it be a total ****-show (still a decent-sized ****-show; just not a total one). I'd probably rather run Collision Detector than Enhanced Scopes, but I only have one CD and it's going on Ibtisam for budgetary reasons. Plus then I can check off using ES. Woot. :-p
• I haven't run this Ibtisam yet. But after my last game with her--and after seeing some discussion on here--I feel pretty sure that this offers a good balance of budget and capability, even if she's still probably a bit overcosted.
• I still like the sound of Ten Numb + Bistan. I would like the sound of running this guy with VI and at least a 1-point bid even better. But I'm hesitant to run him without some kind of insurance policy around actions & modification; hence why LB and AS are on here. I'd loved to be talked out of this, though...

I refuse to talk you out of it, because I dig it

On 2/15/2018 at 8:29 AM, Greebwahn said:

I refuse to talk you out of it, because I dig it

I’m glad you didn’t! I flew this today as-is and had a blast. Definitely one of the tensest and most fun games of X-Wing I’ve ever played. I lost at the end when it came down to two wounded ships chasing my buddy’s bomblet-dropping Nym, but even then we had to play it out to the bitter end because it wasn’t over until it was over. I just got unlucky on my last shot, and he kept playing the attrition strategy against me. Attrition ground me down just slightly faster than I could fancy-fly on him.

The real big win, though, was feeling like my builds were pretty functional, and like things I would consider taking again. I could see continuing to tweak the U and maybe Ten Numb but they weren’t bad per se. Well, the U is kinda “bad” by definition, but it didn’t feel terrible this time out.

My buddy’s list:

Troll Squadron

Captain Nym (Rebel) (30)
Selflessness (1)
Bombardier (1)
Bomblet Generator (3)

Sabine Wren (TIE Fighter) (15)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Courier Droid (0)
EMP Device (2)
Captured TIE (1)
Sabine's Masterpiece (1)

Ezra Bridger (Sheathipede) (17)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Maul (3)
Flight-Assist Astromech (1)

Lieutenant Blount (17)
Deadeye (1)
Harpoon Missiles (4)
Guidance Chips (0)

Total: 99

Some high points:

• There was agreement on both sides of the table that this was a really strong Ibtisam build. Yes, sometimes I wished I had a way to just put focus/evade tokens on her and be done with it. Yes, she isn’t super high-PS and sometimes that’s not great. But time and again, she just got in there and did work! I felt pretty satisfied with the B’s dial thanks to Hera, and between Wired &her ability, I don’t think there was ever a die that I couldn’t reroll if I wanted to. She was even going strong into the late game, when what ultimately did her in was chasing the bomblet-dropper. I shouldn’t have gotten myself into that situation, and should’ve disengaged & come back around instead. That was just a learning thing with facing bombs in general (and bomblets in particular—those things are nasty!)
• Okay, so on the one hand this Ten Numb is just plain more expensive than you wanna pay for him. But on the other hand, he was the frickin’ apex predator of our game. My buddy made him priority number one, and I still managed to trade most of my buddy’s list for him. It’s not that he was super survivable; he actually melted kind of fast once my buddy managed to catch him with most of his list’s guns all at once. But none of Ten Numb’s upgrades felt excessive in the end. Advanced Sensors let him dance around rocks & other people’s ships, or at least gave him a focus before charging into the fray. Linked Battery gave him some key rerolls. And last but not least, Ol’ Dirrty Bistan himself earned his keep on many a shot. I’m not 100% sure if this is better than Mangler and I might want to keep testing it, but getting dat extra die at R1 sure feels good.
• Heff was surprisingly not-terrible. Granted, that’s the faintest of praise with which I could **** him. But I felt good about keeping him cheap and using him as a supporter/blocker. Sadly I only managed one actual block all game, but I did at least get to proc the APL-Heff-Saboteur combo. Yes you heard me correctly: I proc’d Saboteur!! It even flipped a card faceup!
• ...and that card was the one that suddenly made Nym PS0, which was absolutely the worst possible thing that could’ve happened since he couldn suddenly move before Heff rather than letting Heff get out in front and/or set up blocking shenanigans. Honestly this was the most hilarious thing in the whole game. My entire plan imploded in the endgame because I successfully proc’d one of the jankiest combos in the game. LOLs were shared; Saboteurs were booted out of airlocks.
• Man, that Scurrg is a beast even without a turret. It’s that 3 green; it makes him way more slippery than you think at any given moment.
• Harpoon Blount, and the avoidance thereof, greatly dictated the course of the first several turns. Then once he got it off (against Ten Numb of course), he quickly MVP’d by proving to be excessively, absurdly, and obscenely difficult to kill. I got him in the end, but my buddy clearly had The Mad Dice.
• Ezra did some annoying chip damage. He wasn’t super impressive but I could see him fitting in somewhere.
• Sabine was fast at flanking. Also, frickin’ Captured TIE! Gotta hate it when half the flanking comes by virtue of just flying right past key pieces of my list.