Hi everyone,

TLDR : are headhunters any good and are any good resources on rebel ships and builds out there? 😀

I'm a long time Star Wars fan trying to get into X-Wing with some friends. I’ve bought up some thematic old style rebel stuff (2Xs, 1Y, 1A & the Falcon). Struggling with list building so far against empire/first order squads which seem to be so much more efficient (e.g. midnight and Vader are amazing). May have opportunity to pick up 3 headhunters cheap but not sure if they’re any good - wondering if a bunch of these cheap ships as a first attack wave with others coming in behind would be a good idea.

Any pointers to good resources/blogs on rebel stuff very much appreciated!

They are good for cheap fillers to your list or as blockers. I own 4 of them and use them time to time. Plus you can use them for Scum if you happen to go to that faction.

By themselves, Z's are tough to fly effectively, but as part of a larger squad they can block, distract, fire missiles, etc.

One option if you have an E-Wing is to fly several with Gavin Darklighter. He lets your friendly ships turn hits into crits. While this does not let them hit any more accurately, it lets them hit harder when they connect and you can fit a lot of them in the squad to really multiply the Gavin's ability.

Both of the Z aces have good abilities and are very cheap. Blount (30pts) gets an extra red dice while a friendly ship is in close to your enemies so send in some blockers and he effectively becomes a cheap X-Wing. Cracken (36) has 5 Initiative and after he attacks can give a friendly a red action. This can be used by a low Init pilot to gain a lock for a torpedo strike, or let a high init plolt like Wedge to barrel roll out of an arc after shooting but before taking return fire. Or someone can just snag an important focus token for offense of defense.

Throw 2-3 in along with other ships and they are very effective, but they lack a diversity of good abilities like Ties do so they are not as good at swarming 6-8 of them the way you can with Ties.

Thanks guys. No E-Wing as yet but like the idea of using them with X-Wings and/or Y-Wings.

I’d say it’s worth having a Z. Blount can punch above his weight class, and sometimes you just need a cheap generic to fill out a list.

Is it worth having three? Depends if you want to run lists with three Zs. With a faction like Empire or FO, I could see wanting to run massed hordes of TIEs; it makes sense thematically, and it’s supported by how the faction actually plays. But for the most part, I don’t see horde-Rebels becoming a thing unless you find that you really enjoy it. My buddy who plays Rebels recently bought into an A-swarm with Cluster Missiles, but he’s enjoyed flying As for a long time, and I was looking to get rid of mine.

They’re decent enough little ships, but it’s easy to overbuy.

airen cracken with cluster missiles. gives you good action economy because he has a high ps value so can fire twice

to give 2 friendly ships the ability to take actions before their shots.

1 hour ago, bobafett1228 said:

airen cracken with cluster missiles. gives you good action economy because he has a high ps value so can fire twice

to give 2 friendly ships the ability to take actions before their shots.

This sounds pretty neat, I would never of thought of the double effect with the missiles triggering the pilots ability again...

Blount is solid filler in 4-5 ship lists that jam up the board. Don't weigh him down with upgrades (maybe Crack Shot if you're feeling yourself) and let him be a cheap X-wing.

At some point I intend to try a mixed list of Bandit Zs and Phoenix As with Intimidation, but even then I'm reserving room for Wedge so I can actually kill stuff.