The hotshots and aces pack rebel pilots. They were a neat thing to have but does anyone really fly them?

I am so interested by gina and her ability. Could her and K2 be the next Cassian and Braylen?

Blue Squad

(46) K-2SO [UT-60D U-wing]
(0) Pivot Wing
Points: 46

(50) Gina Moonsong [A/SF-01 B-wing]
(3) Autoblasters
(2) Stabilized S-Foils
(1) Marksmanship
Points: 56

(48) Thane Kyrell [T-65 X-wing]
(0) Servomotor S-foils
Points: 48

(41) Norra Wexley [BTL-A4 Y-wing]
(2) R4 Astromech
(5) Ion Cannon Turret
Points: 48

Total points: 198

Gotta fly leia with a title like that... 😜

I do fly Leia. And I have to say, Gina and K-2S0 never occurred to me... That's a brilliant synergy. Although I would probably slap her with FCS for the last remaining 2 points. Gives you at least some mod on the initial primary shot.

1. Leia Organa: Kanan Jarrus, Agile Gunner
2. Gina Moonsong: FCS, B-Foils, Autoblasters, Jamming Beam
3. K-2S0: FCS, Intimidation

Because K-2S0 is a droid with a Talent... I mean... Seems solid. Kanan opens up some of the U-Wing Dial. You have three very tanky, very supportive ships. I give it to Gina, she is more of a Pew Pew Dakka Dakka, but she can throw U-Wing into double mods. And Leia is just amazing.

So here's my problem with Gina, even in this list that works with some solid synergy.

What does Gina's ability get you? In this list it gets you a Calculate token and effectively a white focus into white barrel roll or white barrel roll into white lock. You end up with one ship stressed, one ship with a focus or lock and one ship with a calculate token.

For two points less, you get Ten Numb.

Ten Numb will give you one ship with effectively a focus and lock or two focuses and no stress at the other end. Yes, the stress removal isn't guaranteed, but it's still more likely to go completely off the board by the end of the round than the Gina setup.

Gina does basically nothing for herself except open her dial up. She cannot get any dice mods for herself after performing a red maneuver because of the timing of her ability.

All she does here is spread a little action economy around by giving another ship a free calculate.

But double stacking dice mods on one ship is better than sharing single mods around a list because focuses work with re-rolls to greatly improve the expected damage on that roll. Even if that wasn't the case, or even if you assume K-2SO will take a lock to get 1.5 mods himself, the simple fact is that a focus token is better than a calculate. A setup where one ship gets a focus and lock vs a setup where one ship gets a calculate lock is obviously better in the former case.

Unless you really need I5 for some reason, I just don't see why you'd ever take Gina over Ten.

The K-2SO synergy is nice, and him getting solid dice economy is alright. But he already has a built in means for list wide action economy - the red co-ordinate. He's in a support ship. Getting a calculate after doing a supporting action is where you should be looking.

And if you want K-2SO to be able to shoot with double mods, you're way better off bringing him with Dutch Vander. Co-ordinate Dutch, get a calculate for taking a stress, Dutch locks with his co-ordinated action and passes the extra lock to K-2SO. Or Dutch can focus with the co-ordinated action and lock with his own, as he's a higher Initiative.

1 hour ago, GuacCousteau said:

So here's my problem with Gina, even in this list that works with some solid synergy.

What does Gina's ability get you? In this list it gets you a Calculate token and effectively a white focus into white barrel roll or white barrel roll into white lock. You end up with one ship stressed, one ship with a focus or lock and one ship with a calculate token.

For two points less, you get Ten Numb.

Ten Numb will give you one ship with effectively a focus and lock or two focuses and no stress at the other end. Yes, the stress removal isn't guaranteed, but it's still more likely to go completely off the board by the end of the round than the Gina setup.

Gina does basically nothing for herself except open her dial up. She cannot get any dice mods for herself after performing a red maneuver because of the timing of her ability.

All she does here is spread a little action economy around by giving another ship a free calculate.

But double stacking dice mods on one ship is better than sharing single mods around a list because focuses work with re-rolls to greatly improve the expected damage on that roll. Even if that wasn't the case, or even if you assume K-2SO will take a lock to get 1.5 mods himself, the simple fact is that a focus token is better than a calculate. A setup where one ship gets a focus and lock vs a setup where one ship gets a calculate lock is obviously better in the former case.

Unless you really need I5 for some reason, I just don't see why you'd ever take Gina over Ten.

The K-2SO synergy is nice, and him getting solid dice economy is alright. But he already has a built in means for list wide action economy - the red co-ordinate. He's in a support ship. Getting a calculate after doing a supporting action is where you should be looking.

And if you want K-2SO to be able to shoot with double mods, you're way better off bringing him with Dutch Vander. Co-ordinate Dutch, get a calculate for taking a stress, Dutch locks with his co-ordinated action and passes the extra lock to K-2SO. Or Dutch can focus with the co-ordinated action and lock with his own, as he's a higher Initiative.

I mean... Don't get me wrong, Gina is absolutely terrible as a B-Wing pilot. Compared to Braylen Stramm and even Ten Numb, she is just so mediocre. I tried very hard to make Gina work somehow, but she just doesn't. It's a very bulky, slow moving, not very agile platform, that will at best have one mod on its own. You have to build a second support ship around Gina to engage her double mods. In the same place you can have an I4 Ten Numb who is 2 points cheaper and just outperforms her in terms of action economy. Or pay the bonus 2 points for Braylen Stramm and have a monster when it comes to double tapping shots.

From the Hotshots Pack the best pilots are hands down Leia Organa and K-2S0. I haven't flown Alexsandr Kallus, but he seems like a very tanky VCX-100. Gina Moonsong just seems like a big pile of... Nothing really. She is a generic with I5 and able to throw Stress onto another ship.

The best I could have think of in terms of using her Stress Distribution for something useful, was Nora Wexley with Exra Bridger (Gunner) in an I5 Rebel Beef list. Otherwise she is just meh all around.

I agree completely with the Ten numb point above. Ten is so solid. The one thing Gina gets you, and it didn't occur to me until flying against her is that she does not have to be stressed every turn. Simple as that. Braylen needs that stress to engage monster mode. Ten likes to do red moves or roll link lock all the time. Gina is just content to take a lock and double tap. Or coordinate her a focus link to a roll and then do a blue move and wind up unstressed. Her ability is a sometimes kind of thing where as the other B wings are an all the time kind of deal. I fly a lot of B wings and they are my favorite ship, and it took me a lot of head scratching and looking at Gina to figure out what she is even good for, and maybe she is overcosted, maybe she isn't that great, but she is a fun new puzzle and better than a lot of people think. She is really good at making sure marksmanship triggers though.

Isn't Ten a good wingman for Gina? He can even benefit from having an extra stress token as a modifier if you use him aggressively and doesn't suffer that much if that stress is not used next round. In the end, someone is going to shoot at him or he gets a shot to spend that stress.

I think there’s some fun to be had with Gina.

Gina gets stressed and passes it to Braylen who can use it. Gina takes a shot with the jamming beam to soften up the target before shooting again with the ion cannon. Braylen does his shenanigans with the stress token and double-tap. Cassian is there to help out with the target locks and/or stress strip from Braylen. The Z-95 keeps everybody honest.

A/SF-01 B-wing - Gina Moonsong - 58
•Gina Moonsong - Insubordinate Ace (50)
Ion Cannon (6)
Jamming Beam (0)
Stabilized S-foils (Open) (2)

A/SF-01 B-wing - •Braylen Stramm - 57
•Braylen Stramm - Blade Leader (52)
Autoblasters (3)
Stabilized S-foils (Open) (2)

UT-60D U-wing - •Cassian Andor - 57
•Cassian Andor - Raised by the Rebellion (51)
Tactical Officer (6)

Z-95-AF4 Headhunter - Bandit Squadron Pilot - 28
Bandit Squadron Pilot - (22)
Mag-Pulse Warheads (6)

Total: 200/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

9 hours ago, Minimono said:

Isn't Ten a good wingman for Gina? He can even benefit from having an extra stress token as a modifier if you use him aggressively and doesn't suffer that much if that stress is not used next round. In the end, someone is going to shoot at him or he gets a shot to spend that stress.

He can stress himself with the B-Foils for a Lock and Stress as mods. Unless you pack him with Autoblasters and FCS, you have no/few option to spend the second stress.

I have flown him with the double tap and very often it happens, that you cannot even spend his own stress, which forces you into blue moves.

If you had Cassian in the team, it might be worth a shot. But otherwise Ten is good as he is with just his own Stress.

I was thinking with autblasters and FCS. I know it is not a «good» strategy, but stressing Ten us not that hurtful as stressing other ships, as he can at least use it for something good.

Sometimes I had Ten blocked and left unstressed, Gina could actually help him have mods at least