So the Fireball... How are people running it?

By urbanyeti, in X-Wing

Hey everyone-

I love the mechanics behind the Fireball and both Kaz and Yeager are really compelling. I am having a little trouble finding a way to run them that I like. Kaz becomes a 50 point ship really quickly, and Yeager, while cool, keeps leaving me thinking I could have taken an A-Wing. Besides naked colossus mechanics at large, en masse, how are people using the Fireball?

Also, does the scale of it feel weird to anyone else? It's bigger than a T-70. But it looks cool!

I like R1-J5 with title and contraband cybernetics. It's decent mobility and hull plus always choosing which damage card I expose for 33 points. Not game changing but it's fun.

Edited by Skitch_

If you’re cagey with Kaz, he punches up really well, and can be a frustrating evasion tank.

I feel like Advanced SLAM, Kaz’s Fireball, and Heroic are practically necessary (for Kazuda; I’ve run him a lot, but haven’t tried other pilots). Hull Upgrade is a strong choice.

R1-J5, R5 Astromech, Contraband Cybernetics, and Coaxium Hyperfuel are some of the other things I like to try with him, but they can get pricey. R1-J5 and Cybernetics are probably my favorite combo, if I can spare the points.

He’s a really fantastic flanker, and a great decoy, often both at once. If you run him up a flank alone, and the opponent bites and goes after him, you hit the gas and SLAM away. If the opponent ignores him, you’re able to throw a ton of dice, so just swooping in from behind with a SLAM and laying into them is awesome.

Heroic/R5 Kaz is a solid ship. Kind of a plain jouster, about equivalent to a T-70, but with solid Initiative, more highroll potential, and a great bait ship to flee with once he's taken a hit or two. I'm inclined to keep him light: tricks are cool, but can go bad fast since these things aren't all that tough, aren't that absurd at arc dodging, and don't pack a lot of firepower.

26 point Mechanics look like thoroughly reasonable filler. Again, I'd be inclined to avoid tricks.

I tried 7 Generics with Deadmans switch. It was a lot of fun, but sadly my attacks only did slightly more damage than my dead man's switches. Partly because my attacks were awful, and partly because I had some effective placements of my exploding ships.

16 hours ago, Skitch_ said:

R1-J5 with contraband cybernetics

This irks me flavor-wise. He's already a robot, right?

Anyway, not a Resistance player, but Kaz seems solid from games where I've seen him on the table (keep him light). Colossus Station Mechanics with no upgrades should also be solid filler.

Kaz with Adv SLAM, Title, Lone Wolf, Stealth Device and either R4 or R5. Pricey and relies on staying away from allies (isn't that very hard with his speed and a company of RZ-2s and T70s), but 4agi with Focus and a re-roll makes it hard to land that first blow. After that though he tends to fall apart.

One annoying thing I have found about Kaz: Advanced SLAM doesn’t work fantastically well with R1-J5. Advanced SLAM only lets you perform actions *on your action bar*, meaning you can’t use R1 on the same turn as a SLAM. So just... watch for that, if you use those upgrades.

Edited by Cpt ObVus

I’ve been running bucket with C3P0 And sometimes cybernetics as a cheap, squirrelly, i1 coordinator. He’s been great to partner with a 42 pt Finn to keep feeding the focuses to Finn.

These were solid, only played them in hyperspace though.

  • Poe + 5 Fireball
  • Poe Zizi Nien Yeager
  • Nien B1 + Zizi Optics + Kaz Title + Cova Leia R4
17 minutes ago, Boom Owl said:
  • Poe + 5

This is easily one of the most fun lists to play,and I highly recommend everyone at least try it.

Great suggestions everyone! That bucket/c3p0 combo is very fun. What are thoughts on r4/adv slam/heroic jerek? He more than has the dial with r4 to be dealing with the stress, and at i5, he can be a lot of places for 39 points.

5 hours ago, urbanyeti said:

Great suggestions everyone! That bucket/c3p0 combo is very fun. What are thoughts on r4/adv slam/heroic jerek? He more than has the dial with r4 to be dealing with the stress, and at i5, he can be a lot of places for 39 points.

I keep wanting to try the other three pilots; I just love Kaz’s text too much. The extra die on attack OR defense against anything with initiative > the number of damage cards he carries is a beautiful mechanic, and actually terribly powerful.

2 hours ago, Cpt ObVus said:

I keep wanting to try the other three pilots; I just love Kaz’s text too much. The extra die on attack OR defense against anything with initiative > the number of damage cards he carries is a beautiful mechanic, and actually terribly powerful.

No doubt, Kaz is really neat. TheY effectively gave him a different stat line than the rest of the pilots with a mechanic that is interesting and fun.

He is hard to say no to. Yeager I think shows off a different part of the ship. He, at i5 has better board knowledge, and is considerably cheaper. He takes advantage of slam arguable better than kaz, and a fully loaded Yeager costs as much as a naked kaz. I love the design on the ship.

Kaz’s ability is like a game mechanic reflection of endless self confidence. So cool.

44 minutes ago, urbanyeti said:

Kaz’s ability is like a game mechanic reflection of endless self confidence. So cool.

That flags when injured against less capable foes.

Yeah, I’ve said it before: The article on Fireball’s design is what got me to give X-Wing a go. The flavor is perfect, the abilities are balanced and surprisingly cool. The whole “leverage damage for benefit” mechanic is so well done, and shows off a lot of strategic depth.

Edited by Cpt ObVus

The fireball is the ship I bought with excitement for its zany design... and then the virus-that-must-not-be-named-because-it-can-scry-the-position-of-anyone-speaking-its-name happened and I didn't get to give it any table time. I should probably give it a chance in TTS or something, because every time I'm reminded of it, it sounds like a lot of fun.

I think Resistance is my least-used faction and that's worth fixing.

7 hours ago, Wazat said:

The fireball is the ship I bought with excitement for its zany design... and then the virus-that-must-not-be-named-because-it-can-scry-the-position-of-anyone-speaking-its-name happened and I didn't get to give it any table time. I should probably give it a chance in TTS or something, because every time I'm reminded of it, it sounds like a lot of fun.

I think Resistance is my least-used faction and that's worth fixing.

I’m right there with you, mang. I picked up the Fireball and Vonreg literally the day before my area went on lockdown. My ST factions need some table love!

(And to make matters worse, I’ve availed myself of some Amazon Warehouse Deals since then...)

But to get back on topic: I look forward to trying Kaz + R5 as a pseudo-3/3, and lots of variations on Bucket pilot + Resistance crew of choice. IMO one of the more fun things in 2.0 listbuilding is when you get astro-droid pilots like Bucket & BTL-B R2D2 that let you stick a crew slot where you otherwise wouldn’t have one!

1 hour ago, CoffeeMinion said:

But to get back on topic: I look forward to trying Kaz + R5 as a pseudo-3/3, and lots of variations on Bucket pilot + Resistance crew of choice. IMO one of the more fun things in 2.0 listbuilding is when you get astro-droid pilots like Bucket & BTL-B R2D2 that let you stick a crew slot where you otherwise wouldn’t have one!

Strong agree: I love how different each of the pilots feels in this ship. Bucket is a cheap but nimble crew carrier, Kaz is a mid initiative 3 attack, 3 agility slugger, yeager is as high initiative ace with crazy maneuverability, and the generic is a super cheap filler.

Been running Kaz with R5 Astromech and Heroic, at a nice 45 points. Too many cards is a trap I think. Yeager is someone I want to fly but Kaz is too much fun. Bucket is getting my interest with some possible crew options like C3PO and Holdo.

I really like the ship, I actually enjoyed a little what Resistance showed and was the only one at my shop that cared about the ship, everyone else was excited for vonreg.