Today I'm writing this review for the upcoming Millennium Falcon. I know some of us were lucky enough to win one this past weekend (myself included), and here's my thoughts on what is probably one of the most recognizable ships in history. I'll be going over everything new in this set based my experiences after playing a hand full of games with her. Everything from 60 points up to 150. So lets get this started.

First up is the model itself. Scale is spot on at 12.7 by 9.5. Very nice details such as the Quad guns and the dish (which even moves up and down). As far as the paint job goes, it is quite stunning, especially considering this is pre-painted mass produced piece. My only gripe is the engine strip is just plain grey plastic, gonna have to break out some blue paint at some point.

On to the maneuver dial. The YT 1300's able to execute all speed one and two maneuvers, 3 straight and bank, 4 straight and 3 and 4 K-Turns. Combined with the large base and this hunk of junk really can move around the battlefield. While being small enough to move through the required 1 range between obstacles, there isn't much room for error. All of the maneuvers combined with the 360 turret means you virtually never have to do a K-turn, and can move almost randomly and still get shots off. I don't think anyone will be disappointed in the maneuverability of the Falcon.

So there are 4 Pilots included. The one big difference here is that the single generic pilot has a stat reduction. Han and co. are all rocking a pretty decent 3/1/8/5, while the Outer Rim Smuggler is 2/1/6/4. All of the pilots have Focus, Target Lock and 2 Crew upgrades. The three named also have Elite Talent and Missile upgrades.

Han Solo clocks in at a whopping 46 points. But that's for a skill 9 pilot with a good amount of options and an interesting ability. While it's worded
a little funny, it's great for the times when the dice gods decide to look the other way. Is he worth roughly half of your fleet before upgrades? I'm not too sure just yet.

The owner of the Falcon before Han, Lando is just 2 points cheaper and 2 pilot skill less. His ability requires Green maneuvers, and gives a free action to another ally in Range 1. A very handy ability when combined with some of the other rebel pilots. For games over 100 points, Lando really shines, because of the synergy combos the Rebels can come up with.

Now onto my favorite of the Unique pilots, Chewbacca. Cost is still pricey at 42 and he is only skill 5, but he ignores Critical damage. Completely. Now granted the Falcon only has 1 Agility die, but with Hull and shields combined at 13 and the maneuverability Chewie can be quite a tank.

Lastly we have the outer Rim Smuggler. With the hit ti stats and upgrades, being Pilot Skill 1 and costing 27 points I don't think he'll make too many
appearances.

This expansion comes with a slew of upgrade cards. 14 total, the only previously released is Concussion missiles. You also get 2 copies each of the
Shield and Engine Upgrade cards.

Draw Their Fire is a cheap way to move a crit onto the upgraded ship. Great on Chewie since he ignores crits or Luke with R2 D2 to have his shields soak up the damage.

Elusiveness trades a stress token to force your opponent to re-roll an Attack die. While I can see some use for this, I prefer to not stress my ships if I
can avoid it.

Veteran Instincts increases your Pilot skill value by 2. For 1 point. Very handy in just about any list, and did I mention its only 1 flippin point?

Assault Missiles can be nasty against TIE Swarms. If Howlrunner is on the table, You'll most likely be putting a point of damage on most of your opponents ships. Do be careful as it can hit your own ships as well.

Chewbacca's Crew card ignores one damage card and gives you a shield back. Since it's one use only, best saved for that nasty Direct Hit or killing shot.

Luke Skywalker can certainly get cocky here folks. The one thing is an attack that doesn't hit is AFTER your opponent rolls agility. Plus his can change one focus die, and it can be against a different target. Combine with Han solo's Ability and Cluster missiles and you may get 2 attacks a turn.

Nein Nunb makes all straights Green. Good combined with Lando, but otherwise the point could be spent elsewhere as there really is no reason to see a stress token on the Falcon.

Weapons Engineer could be useful with Luke and Han as described above, or on his own as a single action giving two Target Locks on two ships saves you an action at a later time. Not sure if he's worth the 3 points though.

Engine upgrade is possibly one of my favorite cards. Boost is amazing. Especially on the Falcon. Expect lots of shenanigans with this card.

Shield Upgrade gives you an extra shield. For 4 points. Not too bad, but with the other upgrade cards I see it as the least usedl out of the three.

Lastly we have the Millennium Falcon Title card. Adds Evade to the action bar. My opinion is this is an auto include due to only having 1 Agility die
and it's cost of 1 point. So very helpful, just need to use it properly.



So there you have it folks. I have to say I am very pleased with this ship and I'm sure most of you will be too. It's not perfect, but she's got it where it counts…

nice review Q. i also own a falcon courtesy of a friend winning it for me

the speed of the larger ships is surprising as is the manouvrability of the falcon. in terms of tournament play, the jury is out on whether its going to make the cut for rebel teams. you can be sure that ppl will try it! avoiding overlapping bases is very hard with the falcons base. interstingly it losing its action isnt that bad when it can still shoot 360 degrees. i wonder when they will introduce a weapon thats powerful enough to destroy asteroids? moving this hunk of junk through an asteroid field is hard.

Qapla187 said:

To put it another way, compare the Outer Rim Smuggler to a Gold Squadron Pilot with an Ion Cannon. The ORS is 4 points more expensive, so what does it bring along?

• The ORS has a lower pilot skill, but only by 1. That isn't going to change its position much in the firing order, but does allow it to be effectively used to block movement and actions for almost any ship in the game--which is worth something.
• The ORS has one fewer attack dice than the ion cannon, but unlike the ions it can fire at Range 3 and gains a bonus die at Range 1. It can't ionize the target, but it can deal multiple points of damage, so we'll call that a wash.
• The ORS has one more hull point and one more point of shields than the Y-wing. The fighter could mount a Shield Upgrade--but now it's the same cost as the ORS, and still short one hull point.

I don't think there will be a YT-1300 in every list, but I think there's space for an Outer Rim Smuggler any time you might consider a Y-wing. It brings more durability and more effective blocking, and keeps the massive advantage of the 360 arc. Don't underestimate it because it's not as flashy or famous as the Falcon!

Vorpal Sword said:

I was thinking the same thing when I read the quote. 27 points isn't bad at all for a 360 degree firing arc.

i played a game tonight with a full decked out falcon and rebel fleet against a fully decked out slave 1 and imp fleet at 200pts. falcon got slammed by everything and did next to no damage at all whilst my slave one annihalated everything in its path. in my opinion, the Falcon is waaaaaay too over pointed for what it can do

I have played 3 games with the Falcon thus far, I am finding it of little to no value as a centerpiece. I want to try it as an addition to the list rather then "the" list. I will report back.

Theterrainstudio said:

Theterrainstudio, in the last several days I have been thinking quite a bit about those kinds of lists (thanks in no small part to Vorpal Sword's own contribution to this very thread).

What do you think about a list like this?

Wedge w/ R2-D2 and Swarm Tactics (35 points), Biggs w/ R2-F2 and Stealth Device (31 points), and an Outer Rim Smuggler w/ Gunner and Millennium Falcon title (33 points) [99 point total].

It sounds like you're currently playing out some Falcon builds. If you have a chance to play a build similar to the one above, it would be cool to hear how it fared. (I probably won't get a chance to play with any Falcon lists until after wave-2 is released.) I submitted a blog on this build (and a ton of my thoughts on its strengths and weaknesses and how to best play it) over on Team Covenant. I'd be happy to give a link if people are interested in reading my thoughts (I think the blog is too long to reproduce here), but I'm new to this message board and I don't want to come across as someone who just joined to spam. (I just joined because I've just recently gotten bit by the X-Wing miniature bug.)

Also, in relation to sock's comment, I've been wondering if the Falcon isn't a bit unfairly priced in comparison to Slave-1. Looking just at the generic pilots, the YT-1300 is 27 points to the Firespray-31's 33. But it strikes me that you get an awful lot for those 6 points (and certain rebel lists would probably love to be able to pay that 6 points for similar benefits). Both ships have 6 hull and 4 shield. The Firespray-31 has the evade action (which one YT-1300 per list can get for one point for the Falcon title upgrade). The Firespray-31 has 2 extra pilot skill. The YT-1300 cannot upgrade its pilot skill, but some ships can for a 1 point upgrade. So, is one extra attack, one extra agility, a bomb upgrade slot, a heavy laser upgrade slot, a missile upgrade slot worth 4 points (of course you also give up one copilot slot and a 360 degree firing arc for a 180 degree firing arc)? As someone considering fielding an Outer Rim Smuggler in Rebel lists, I'd love to be able to pay 6 points for those perks. Alternatively, for 27 points should the Outer Rim Smuggler come with more? Would either attack 3 OR agility 2 have been too much for 27 points?

red_2 said:

imo the Outer Rim Smuggler will see lots of play. id probably add Chewie for extra defense as well.

I agree with you that the Outer Rim Smuggler will see play. (In fact, the very list I suggest includes an Outer Rim Smuggler). It's just that as a Rebel sympathizer, I (perhaps unfairly) want a stronger Outer Rim Smuggler.

sock said:

You know it's great to see that after one game, at a inflated point level, and featuring really suspect results (ships of realtively equal offensive abilities having a completely differing offensive impact) that you are willing to make that proclimation.

It's really that type of unbacked, half tested, knee jerk reaction that is the lifeblood of these forums.

But really, you played a game. I don't think that would warrent calling the Falcon overcosted. Particularly when there is no reason for Slave 1 to have killed everything possible and the Falcon to have done so little when the Falcon has a much easier time applying its offense.

red_2 said:

Looking at just the generic pilots is a bit of an unfair comparisson to make as the Falcon not only gains abilities/pilot skill when taking name pilots, but raw stats and upgrade slots.

Also, the 360 arc is likely coming at a huge point cost to the YT-1300, even over the dual arc of the Firespray. Being able to always have a shot is a huge benefit.

The ORS with 3 attack at 27pts would have been far too good.

You may be right that having the bigger firing arc is what fairly balances these two ships' point and ability differences. I'll concede that I may have a case of grass-is-greeneritis when I think about wanting to field the generic Falcon and think of my opponent's ability to take the generic Slave-1 (I'm primarily a Rebel player).

However, I don't see how it is unfair to compare these two generic ships. True, the comparision of the generic ships might not impact whether or not the named ships were fair on a point perspecitive. But (to clarify) I only meant to question the points spent compared to what you get for them when it comes to the generic version of these ships.

ScottieATF said:

I had the same exact reaction. I feel like the game stops working properly after 100-points, anyways, but that's just an opinion. You start cramming more ships into a tighter space, or play on a bigger board to accommodate…and that also changes a major variable dynamic in the maneuvering aspect. I don't know how FFG playtests this game, but I'd say they don't test it in what amounts to a 'scenario'. The Falcon is just fine at 100-points.

I haven't played with the firespray yet, but I have played several games with the YT-1300 always Han Solo with two x-wings (rookies) flying escort. The falcon is usually pretty tooled up usually with the Luke upgrade and the falcon title. I have one every battle I fought. I love the falcon.