Need help. I love the little feller. Want to get him into a competitive HST / EXT list. No one is biting in the squad building subtopic.

Put him where he belongs: with Poe. Add Black One title and primed thrusters, then start familiarizing yourself with all the possible shenanigans.

Have fun.

He also like Spare Parts Canister as well.

Poe w/Heroic, BB-8, Spare Parts Canister, S-foils, and HLC = 85pts

An extra pre-move boost is really nice, or use spare parts get the old 1.0 lock dropper Poe back in the game.

Poe is a good place to start. It doesn't interact that well with his ability without primed thrusters, so you can't fly him stressed all the time.

Check out the latest mission debriefing from Echo Base, with Kevin Leintz flying a heavy Poe with 3 a-wing :

Or you could take Nien Nunb. His ability doesn't interact with BB-8, but he shouldn't be stressed, so you can actually use it. The difference between doing a talon roll+boost and barrel roll+1 bank makes him really unpredictable.

I think it's hard to go wrong when list building for resistance with the x-wing and a-wing. Most of the pilots have merit. If you can fit in Nien or Poe with BB-8 in a 4-ship list you're probably not too far off.

He's amazing in quick build events, too - you can take him on Rey in a 5 threat build.... free loops or boosts on a large base YT-1300 is awesome and with Rey's Millenium Falcon title you can do a segnor's loop, then a blue move to clear stress and still get a pre-move boost from BB-8, turning the blue bank into an effective hard turn.

I mean, you can put him on Poe, too. That works. Since you know he's doing a blue move (or BB-8 wouldn't trigger) you can boost/roll, red focus, move and clear stress, then do whatever else is appropriate - getting double-modified torpedoes off at initiative 6 without stressing yourself is a very tasty ability, for example.

I find BB8 Poe really hard to use, giving up an action to do a boost/roll the following turn seems bad. And if you buy Primed Thrusters you only have maximum 3 uses anyway. Tricky one.

38 minutes ago, ayedubbleyoo said:

I find BB8 Poe really hard to use, giving up an action to do a boost/roll the following turn seems bad. And if you buy Primed Thrusters you only have maximum 3 uses anyway. Tricky one.

You use BB8 the turn you initially engage with Poe, that way you can dodge the majority of the initial jousters arcs and get focus target lock stress free. Leaving you open to BB8 next turn or do a turn around. BB8 is fine guys, just stick with Poe and you're good to go.

3 hours ago, ayedubbleyoo said:

I find BB8 Poe really hard to use, giving up an action to do a boost/roll the following turn seems bad. And if you buy Primed Thrusters you only have maximum 3 uses anyway. Tricky one.

The trick is saving those 3 uses for when you really need them. It’s the same principle as using Black One title- you don’t use it all the time, you wait for that one key turn when you can catch your opponent off guard with an unexpected move, and with Poe moving at I6 that’s usually not hard to do.

Some things I’ve done with BB-8 + Black One Poe before:

(Paired with Old Man Han, deploy Han off to the side and Poe across to joust, and opponent turns to fire at Han) BB-8 pre-move boost, link to focus, 3-straight to clear stress, SLAM into another 3 straight to cover 10 ship lengths in the opening engagement and still have a modded shot. Next turn, when your opponent thinks they know where Poe will be, use BB-8 to boost and/or BR before the ion maneuver to end up somewhere else and still get your focus action during the perform action step.

Kylo comes around and nestled up close at Poe’s 5:00. BB-8 boost to the right + 3 hard turn + SLAM into a 3 Tallon-Roll to end up behind Kylo with a Range 1 Bullseye-Arc shot. Next turn, (again) use BB-8 to BR or Boost before executing the ion-maneuver

2 minutes ago, Herowannabe said:

BB-8 pre-move boost, link to focus, 3-straight to clear stress, SLAM into another 3 straight to cover 10 ship lengths in the opening engagement and still have a modded shot. Next turn, when your opponent thinks they know where Poe will be, use BB-8 to boost and/or BR before the ion maneuver to end up somewhere else and still get your focus action during the perform action step.

Kylo comes around and nestled up close at Poe’s 5:00. BB-8 boost to the right + 3 hard turn + SLAM into a 3 Tallon-Roll to end up behind Kylo with a Range 1 Bullseye-Arc shot. Next turn, (again) use BB-8 to BR or Boost before executing the ion-maneuver

Didn't know you could BB-8 off ion maneuver... nice.

Just now, Cloaker said:

Didn't know you could BB-8 off ion maneuver... nice.

Yup. Ion maneuver specifies that you are limited to focus actions “during your perform action step,” so actions outside of the perform action step are fair game. A big loophole if you ask me, but that hole is the exact same shape as BB-8 so whatcha gonna do?

Doesn't BB-8 require you to reveal a dial anymore?

Edit: Hmm, no it doesn't, that's interesting.

1 hour ago, Cloaker said:

Didn't know you could BB-8 off ion maneuver... nice.

Ion maneuver's a 1-straight blue in 2.0. It actually allows for some interesting interactions!

Yep, unlike Advanced Sensors which triggers b̶e̶f̶o̶r̶e̶{after} you reveal your dial, the BB Astros (including BB-8) trigger before executing a blue maneuver, as in no dial necessary.

Chris Brown equips BB-8 to his Poe, as you trade a bit of stress-clearing ease for some unblockability. Although it requires the user to be a tad more restrained with the ability, it makes the ionization aspect of Black One far less restrictive.

I can't quite understand why BB-8 is the most expensive astromech (8 pts) given the restrictions on use (blue moves) and the 2 charges. He seems pretty expensive for that maneuverability, when you consider that the repair droids (4 pts each) are giving you a buff equivalent to 2x Hull Upgrade (5) and 2x Shield Upgrade (6).

But then there's a lot about this game I don't understand.

8 minutes ago, redxavier said:

I can't quite understand why BB-8 is the most expensive astromech (8 pts) given the restrictions on use (blue moves) and the 2 charges. He seems pretty expensive for that maneuverability, when you consider that the repair droids (4 pts each) are giving you a buff equivalent to 2x Hull Upgrade (5) and 2x Shield Upgrade (6).

But then there's a lot about this game I don't understand.

In my experience BB-8 is actually a lot easier to trigger than the repair astros. Or at least most of the time using repair Astros isn’t worth the lost action/attack. It’s not uncommon for me to use both of BB-8s charges in a game, but I don’t think I’ve ever used all of the charges from one of the repair Astros. Often times I don’t use any.

7 minutes ago, redxavier said:

I can't quite understand why BB-8 is the most expensive astromech (8 pts) given the restrictions on use (blue moves) and the 2 charges. He seems pretty expensive for that maneuverability, when you consider that the repair droids (4 pts each) are giving you a buff equivalent to 2x Hull Upgrade (5) and 2x Shield Upgrade (6).

But then there's a lot about this game I don't understand.

Consider what supernatural reflexes costs on an I6 pilot. And how often you may use that (hint: not very if you’re doing it right). And the cost is a force token instead of a charge.

8 points seems fair really. Pre maneuver reposition is supremely powerful. I’ll pay 16 points for it on an I4, use it twice in a game, and feel it was totally worth it. 8 is a bargain.

9 hours ago, Cloaker said:

I fly Poe pretty conservatively anyways, so this plays more into my style. Less "Trigger Happy Flyboy" (TLJ  commanders just totally dismiss all of his prior accomplishments obviously because he's not part of the female empowerment brigade) and more TFA " best pilot in the Resistance on board ."

Can you just... not? Please?

Tinfoil hats aside, this thread has been really enlightening. I've pretty much stapled R4 to Poe for the blue hard 2s, but I'm beginning to see the light shining through the BB-8 -shaped stained glass.

On 4/2/2019 at 9:28 PM, Herowannabe said:

Put him where he belongs: with Poe. Add Black One title and primed thrusters, then start familiarizing yourself with all the possible shenanigans.

Have fun.

Give him to Poe, and he’s BB-GR8!

10 hours ago, StriderZessei said:

Going to just do it up right and put him on Black One Heroic Spare Parts Cannister Poe.

Next up, what teammates? Obviously A-Wings.... Or is it?

2 hours ago, Cloaker said:

Going to just do it up right and put him on Black One Heroic Spare Parts Cannister Poe.

Next up, what teammates? Obviously A-Wings.... Or is it?

If you were to skip the Spare Parts, you could fit Heroic Ello and Heroic Pattern Analyzer Nien for 197 points.

39 minutes ago, StriderZessei said:

If you were to skip the Spare Parts, you could fit Heroic Ello and Heroic Pattern Analyzer Nien for 197 points.

Or go for insane action economy on Poe and put the Pattern Analyzer on him. I just riffed on this list in Squad Builder - take a look.

T-70 X-wing - •Ello Asty - 57
•Ello Asty - Born to Ill (56)
Marksmanship (1)
Integrated S-foils (Closed) (0)

T-70 X-wing - •Nien Nunb - 58
•Nien Nunb - Sarcastic Survivor (55)
Crack Shot (1)
R4 Astromech (2)
Integrated S-foils (Closed) (0)

T-70 X-wing - •Poe Dameron - 84
•Poe Dameron - Trigger-Happy Flyboy (68)
Heroic (1)
•BB-8 (8)
• Black One (2)
Integrated S-foils (Closed) (0)
Pattern Analyzer (5)

Total: 199/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

I know this list isn't good---but I bet it might be fun as **** to fly. Prockets Tali vs. big low AG targets, Clusters Lu'lo for swarms, both can start with their arcs facing backward, pass and get locks to rotate or boost out of arc. Poe for Aces, squirrely bait and endgame. 8 point bid. Again, fun I think. The A-Wings would have to be respected a whole lot more on offense....

BB-Gr8Aces

Tallissan Lintra (49)
Trick Shot (2)
Heroic (1)
Proton Rockets (7)
Advanced Optics (4)

L’ulo L’ampar (50)
Trick Shot (2)
Heroic (1)
Cluster Missiles (5)
Advanced Optics (4)

Poe Dameron (93)
Heroic (1)
BB-8 (8)
Spare Parts Canisters (4)
Integrated S-Foils (0)
Primed Thrusters (10)
Black One (2)
Total: 192

22 hours ago, nitrobenz said:

Yep, unlike Advanced Sensors which triggers before you reveal your dial, the BB Astros (including BB-8) trigger before executing a blue maneuver, as in no dial necessary.

Actually, Advanced Sensors triggers after the dial reveal but before the execute maneuver stage.