When Do I Take Actions Again? (5 Ship Unique Swarm)

By FrozenPhyro, in X-Wing Squad Lists

Really weird list incoming, so on with the show.

Fenn Rau (Sheathipede) (20)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Inspiring Recruit (1)
Flight-Assist Astromech (1)

Ezra Bridger (Sheathipede) (17)
Snap Shot (2)
Hera Syndulla (1)
R3-A2 (2)

AP-5 (15)
Inspiring Recruit (1)
R2 Astromech (1)

Ahsoka Tano (17)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Captured TIE (1)

Airen Cracken (19)
Adaptability (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

So the question with this list is when are the actions going to be taken.

P.S. list is just an experiment only and not to be competitive at all. So what does the forum think?

I think it'd probably be really funny, but 2 red dice just kills it. Also, only one of the ships has a baseline reposition action. Coordinate is probably at its most powerful when you can grant someone a free boost or barrel roll. Only Ahsoka has the Barrel Roll action.

Indeed.

  • 2 dice attacks can work, but they generally need a gimmick of some kind to work (note - another ship blocking the target and leaving them with no tokens can be considered an effective gimmick - which is why multiple academy pilots can work well. Sometimes.)
  • Whilst you can daisy-chain actions around the squad all day, you're not actually generating actions aside from Airen Cracken. Multiple co-ordinates to concentrate actions and bonus dice so one ship has focus/target lock/expose/jan ors/whatever in some horrific concentrated laserbeam of death is viable, but there's only so much a 2-dice attack can do, no matter how many tokens you pump through it.
  • As to the squad:
    • Fenn Rau is worth having. His ability essentially lets you turn one ship into Omega Leader/Dark Curse for the turn, which goes a long way to keeping fragile ships alive. As noted by @theBitterFig , though, his PS only really matters if he's either (a) using co-ordinate to let someone boost or barrel roll at high PS, or using Hotshot Copilot to strip their focus token before they fire. In this squad, he's essentially a wide-area-effect, once-per-turn serissu, protecting the rest of the swarm.
      • Veteran Instincts isn't really needed. Trick shot or crack shot are always good, cheap options for a 2-dice attack ship, and since he's likely to stress himself before he's shot at, Wired isn't a bad call either.
      • Inspiring Recruit isn't a bad call. Two inspiring recruits in one squad feels like overkill, though, especially with AP-5. I'm not convinced AP'5 is worth having in a swarm, though, so I'd probably let Fenn keep his.
      • Flight Assist Astromech vs R2 Astromech? Fenn has two arcs of fire, which means that once you get up close and personal it's going to be hard to find a move where Flight Assist is going to be relevant. He should be using his ability every turn, so I'd like to make sure he can clear off the stress every turn. In a Fenn-plus-ace/big ship squad, where Fenn is hiding at the back of the board, Flight Assist is better. If he's in the middle of the action, I'd rather have R2.
    • Ezra is probably the single most useful asset in this squad. He's a cheap stress-thrower with forward and aft arcs of fire.
      • I'm not sure if I'd stick to Hera, or try and find the points for Baze Malbus to let him stress two targets a turn.
    • AP-5 essentially lets you remove stress from one ship and give it an action in return for stressing your own ship and giving up your action. If any of the other ships in the squad were detectably more powerful in combat - say, there was an X-wing or B-wing or something - fair enough. This is a swarm of little guys, though, so I'd pick someone else.
    • Ahsoka doesn't really provide you with anything you desperately need. Her PS - even with veteran instincts - is the same as Fenn's, and PS9 isn't that rare so Captured TIE is only so much use. Again, she can hand out a free action - but only by giving up her own. Her ability to barrel roll at the start of the combat phase does make her quite good in a knife-fight, but you are paying 19 points for it
      • She's not bad, but could really use a means to get extra focus tokens. Sabine's Masterpiece and Rey is about the cheapest way to achieve this.
    • Airen Cracken is good. He genuinely is producing a 'free' action that you can use on anything without giving up anything first.
      • The problem is that....not all that many ships in the squad can use a second action; Ezra's probably stressed, Fenn might well be stressed, and even if Ahsoka's started shooting she doesn't have Target Lock so there's only so much she can do once she's already focused that turn.

A rebel unique swarm should be able to work. But you'll need a bit of deviousness:

  • You lack cheap generics with elite upgrades and a howlrunner analogue, so no crack shot spam like TIE fighters.
  • You lack massed missile upgrades and multiple illicits, so no cruise missile spam like Z-95s
  • What you can do is produce an irritatingly tough swarm.
    • R2 Fenn, Rex, R3-A2 Ezra gives you three ships all capable of seriously messing with people's firepower.

  • Fenn Rau
    • Wired
    • R2 Astromech
    • Inspiring Recruit
  • Sabine Wren (TIE Fighter)
    • Push The Limit
  • Ezra Bridger (Sheathipede)
    • Snap Shot
    • R3-A2
    • Hera Syndulla
  • Captain Rex
    • Sabine's Masterpiece
    • Tactician
  • Zeb Orrelios (Attack Shuttle)
    • Autoblaster Turret
    • Courier Droid