Rogue Squadron- Ace Hunters

Welcome to Rogue Squadron, pilot! In this series, we will be looking at different squadrons you can fly in Fantasy Flight Games X-Wing miniatures game. We give you the squad, what expansion pack all of the upgrades come from and then give you the lowdown on how best to fly it. Strap in and get ready to fly.

All Wings Report In

T-70 X-Wing “Poe Dameron” (Resistance Conversion Kit) (73ts) (I6)

After you perform an action, you may spend 1 Charge to perform a white action, treating it as red.

• Astromech- R4 Astromech (Wave 1):Decrease the difficulty of your speed 1-2 basic maneuvers.
• Configuration- Integrated S-foils (Wave 2):
  • Closed: Adds Barrel Roll, Focus-> Red Barrel Roll
    While you perform a primary attack, if the defender is not in your Bullseye, roll 1 fewer attack die.  Before you activate, you may flip this card.
  • Open: Before you activate, you may flip this card.
• Talent- Heroic (Wave 2):While you defend or perform an attack, if you have only blank results and have 2 or more results, you may reroll any number of your dice.
• Title- Black One (Wave 2): Charge: 1. Adds SLAM. After you perform a SLAM action, lose 1 Charge. Then you may gain 1 ion token to remove 1 disarm token. If your Charge is inactive, you cannot perform the SLAM action.

Fireball “Kazuda Xiono” (Fireball Expansion) (50ts) (I4)

While you defend or perform a primary attack, if the enemy ship’s initiative is higher than the number of damage cards you have, you may roll 1 additional die. 

Explosion with Wings: You are dealt 1 facedown damage card. After you perform a SLAM action, you may expose 1 damage card to remove 1 disarm token.

• Astromech- R5 Astromech (Wave 1): Charge: 2
  • Action: Spend 1 Charge to repair 1 facedown damage card.
  • Action: Repair 1 faceup Ship damage card.
• Illicit– Contraband Cybernetics (Wave 1): Charge: 2. Before you activate, you may spend 1 Charge. If you do, until the end of the round, you can perform actions and execute red maneuvers, even while stressed.
• Modification- Advanced SLAM (Wave1): After you perform a SLAM action, if you fully executed the maneuver, you may perform a white action on your action bar, treating that action as red.
• Talent- Heroic (Wave 2): While you defend or perform an attack, if you have only blank results and have 2 or more results, you may reroll any number of your dice.

Fireball “R1-J5” (Fireball Expansion) (39ts) (I1)

Before you expose 1 of your damage cards, you may look at your facedown damage cards, choose 1 and expose that card instead. 

Explosion with Wings: You are dealt 1 facedown damage card. After you perform a SLAM action, you may expose 1 damage card to remove 1 disarm token.

• Crew- Informant (Wave 1): Setup: After placing forces, choose 1 enemy ship and assign the Listening Device condition to it.
  • Listening Device– During the System Phase, if an enemy ship with the Informant upgrade is at range 0-2, flip your dial faceup.
• Illicit– Coaxium Hyperfuel (Wave 6): You can perform the SLAM action even while stressed. If you do, you suffer 1 Critical damage unless you expose 1 of your damage cards. After you partially execute a maneuver, you may expose 1 of your damage cards or suffer 1 Critical damage to perform a SLAM action.
• Modification- Advanced SLAM (Wave1): After you perform a SLAM action, if you fully executed the maneuver, you may perform a white action on your action bar, treating that action as red.

Resistance Transport Pod “Vi Moradi” (Resistance Transport Expansion) (37pts) (I1)

Setup: After placing forces, assign the Compromising Intel condition to 1 enemy ship.

• Crew- Kaydel Connix (Wave 4): After you reveal your dial, you may set your dial to a basic maneuver of the next higher speed. While you execute that maneuver, increase its’ difficulty.
• Tech- Primed Thrusters (Wave 2): While you have 2 or fewer stress tokens, you can perform Boost and Barrel Roll actions even while stressed.

Lock S-Foils in Attack Position

This is a janky list to try out the Fireball. You have two performing two very different roles. R1-J5 is there to bump and generally get in everyone’s way. Moving at I1, with information from Informant and Vi Moradi to aid him, and with the ability to SLAM and barrel roll, he has a lot of power to end up wherever your opponent’s ships are going to be. Vi can help with this bumping too thanks to Connix letting her change her dial slightly.

Poe and Kaz are your offense. Poe and his two actions are accurate and deadly. We all know what he’s about. Kaz is an odd duck. This list is intended to hunt aces and he does that well. His bonus attack/defense dice will last him the whole game against an I6 ace and most of the game against an I5. You’ll want to use Explosions with Wings sparingly, mostly SLAMing for position and escape, rather than to get a shot.  Would suck to flip a Direct Hit on a SLAM and cost yourself a die during the attack.

You’ll want to spread this list out and try for an envelopment. Vi and R1-J5 will want to head toward your opponent most directly but be careful not to let them get into range to use their abilities if your hitters aren’t in range to take advantage of it. Either of them can pop quickly if you make a bad move.

Variations

There’s a few places you and trim if you want a bid. Coaxium/Contraband Cybernetics and Advanced SLAM are luxuries on the two Fireballs. They can do a lot but are a way to save ten points. Primed Thrusters on Vi is another place you could cut.

If you weren’t interested in a bid, you could use those 15pts to further outfit Kaz and Poe. If you’re not sticking to Hyperspace, Kaz wouldn’t say no to a shield or stealth device. Or a Targeting Computer with a missile. Poe and Primed Thrusters is fun too.