Rogue Review- TIE/sk Striker

Welcome to Rogue Squadron, pilot! In this series, we will be looking at the ships you can fly in Fantasy Flight Games X-Wing miniatures game. We’ll take a look at a chassis and what makes it unique along with some upgrades and squadron combos. Strap in and get ready to fly.

Lock S-Foils in Attack Position

Last time we went back to the A/SF-01 B-Wing so for this month’s review we’re switching sides and joining the Galactic Empire. Introduced in Rogue One, the TIE/sk Striker is primarily an atmospheric ship, more in line with the T-47 Snowspeeder than any other ships in X-Wing. Given that the LAAT is coming to the game, and this fact about the Striker, maybe someday we’ll see the T-47. But that’s getting off topic.

The main unique feature for the Striker is its chassis ability; Adaptive Ailerons. This gives the Striker what amounts to a free boost before moving. As anyone who has used Advanced Sensors, Supernatural Reflexes or Sabine knows, this can be very handy. Unlike those other abilities, this one is an actual maneuver, not a boost though. That allows you to perform the maneuver even if you would bump. The only downside is, unless you are flying Duchess or are stressed, it’s mandatory.

Adaptive Ailerons makes the Striker’s dial look deceptively slow.  Ailerons turns a one straight into a three straight. That means your Strikers can get around the board quickly. Because they can bank with ailerons, they can also get into unusual positions. One bank, hard 1 turn followed by barrel roll gets you close to your starting position, angled 135 degrees around.

The Striker underwent very minor changes with 2.0. The primary change was making the ailerons baked into the ship rather than an upgrade. But who flew Strikers without it? The other change was the addition of a bomb slot. After Rogue One came out, the Visual Guides highlighted the ability for Strikers to work as ground assault bombers. The 1.0 version had been designed without this detail. 2.0 corrected it and, by nature of upgrades being not printed on the cards, would be able to correct a similar problem had it been originally released in 2.0.

Bombs attached to Strikers doesn’t see a lot of play. Because bombs are all dropped during the system phase, the ailerons don’t do any particularly special for them (unless you’re Vagabond). But a Planetary Sentinel is only a few more points than the cheapest TIE Bomber. And it comes with one more attack die. If you plan to use mines, which can’t be reloaded anyways, using Strikers to deliver them rather than Bombers has advantages.

Coming with the bomb slot is a gunner slot that has very little use except in one particular case. Fifth Brother makes for a great addition to your ace striker.  Bombardier has potential if you do plan to use bombs. None of the rest of the gunners can do anything for the Striker though as they all require mobile arcs.

Overall the Striker is a fun ship to fly. Fragile, like most Imperial ships, but a blast to bank around the board.

Red Five Standing By

The Striker comes out of the box with three unique pilots and two generics. But it gains one more from the Hot Shots and Aces pack.  How do these pilots compare?

1. Duchess (I5)- You may choose not to use your Adaptive Ailerons.  You may use your Adaptive Ailerons even while stressed.
   1. Ironically, despite being the highest initiative, Duchess is the cheapest of the original named pilots.
   2. Her ability to ignore ailerons, or use them when stressed, makes her the most adaptable to fly.
   3. I5 is her main selling point, which should not be understated. Because of the choice nature of ailerons, getting to make that choice after so many other ships have moved gives you numerous advantages.
2. Pure Sabaac (I4)- While you perform an attack, if you have 1 or fewer damage cards, you may roll 1 additional attack die.
   1. Everyone loves extra attack dice. Except your opponent, probably.
   2. Loves shield upgrades. This gives him one more damage he could suffer before losing his bonus die.
      1. Alternatively, Targeting Computer is useful if you’re playing in Hyperspace. Nothing worse than rolling four or five dice and getting a bunch of blanks.
   3. He makes good bait as everyone wants to shoot at him first.
3. Countdown (I4)- While you defend, after the Neutralize Results step, if you are not stressed, you may suffer 1 Hit damage and gain 1 stress token. If you do, cancel all dice results.
   1. One on one, Countdown is going to be a pain to kill as you’ll be forced to take four rounds of fire to get him.
      1. Concentrating fire is always a good strategy, double so with Countdown.
   2. Likes Hull Upgrade as much as Shield Upgrade.
   3. Turning around becomes a risky prospect as it shuts down your ability right when you need it the most (when you are almost definitely tokenless).
4. Vagabond (I2)- After you fully execute a maneuver using your Adaptive Ailerons, if you are not stressed you may drop 1 device.
   
   1. One of the few ways to drop bombs after the system phase.
   2. More importantly, he can move before dropping. This allows him to assess where everyone is, and then bank as needed to put a mine in another ship’s path.
   3. At I2, he’s not going to have much more luck with bombs than anyone else.
   4. Bombardier comes in handy for him as it increases your mine placement options.
5. Planetary Sentinel (I1)- None
   1. The cheapest Striker, you can take six of them with points to spare. Six three dice attacks is nothing to sneeze at.
   2. Works great as a filler for any number of other lists.
6. Black Squadron Scout (I3)– None
   1. Useful when you want to use the Talent slot but don’t want to pay the extra 8-10pts for a named pilot.
   2. I3 also lets you init kill some targets.

All Wings Report In

What’s the ideal number of Strikers to buy? Three. You can fly up to six of them but there are several combos of three that fit with other lists. And three Strikers and three Interceptors still nets you a six ship/three dice list.

No Rules (Extended)

• Duchess (TIE Striker)
  • Fifth Brother
  • Targeting Computer
• Countess Ryad (TIE Defender)
  • Fire Control System
• Echo (TIE Phantom)
  • Collision Detector
  • Targeting Computer

This list takes three ships that just don’t like following the normal rules for maneuvering. Duchess leads at I5 with her ability to ignore the normal aileron rules. Ryad can make any straight maneuver into a K-turn. And Echo can decloak anywhere he wants with the bank maneuvers and collision detector to let him ignore obstacles a few times.

Vagabomb (Hyperspace)

• Vagabond (TIE Striker)
  • Cluster Mine
• 4x Planetary Sentinel (TIE Striker)
  • Cluster Mine

Spread your Strikers out and mine all of your opponents’ exits from an area of the map. Then chew them up with five ships.

Duke of TIE (Hyperspace)

• Duchess (TIE Striker)
  • Ruthless
• 7x Academy Pilot (TIE Fighter)

An eight ship swarm that includes an I5 ace.  Best of both worlds. Overwhelm them with TIE Fighters and let Duchess dance around like only Strikers can do.

A Bit Dodgy (Extended)

• 3x Black Squadron Scout (TIE Striker)
• 2x Alpha Squadron Pilot (TIE Interceptor)
• Saber Squadron Ace (TIE Interceptor)

You can do a list of six Strikers. But mixing them up with Interceptors also leads to a fun, dodgy list. You have some I1 Interceptors for blocking. Three I3 Strikers for pouncing on generics. And an I4 Interceptor to give yourself a little more initiative options. All six ships have three attack dice and good maneuverability options. A blast to fly.

If you like the idea of six three dice attack ships but want to stick to Hyperspace you could give this one a try.

Ailerons All Around

• Vizier (TIE Reaper)
• 5x Planetary Sentinel (TIE Striker)

Ruthless Four (Hyperspace)

• Major Vermeil (TIE Reaper)
  • Hull Upgrade
  • Ruthless
• Ved Foslo (TIE Advanced x1)
  • Ruthless
  • Fire Control System
• Pure Sabaac (TIE Striker)
  • Hull Upgrade
  • Ruthless
• Countdown (TIE Striker)
  • Hull Upgrade
  • Ruthless

This is an aggressive use of the Striker named pilots.  They use Ruthless with ruthless abandon. There is enough hull spread around the list that they can afford to use ruthless when it earns them good damage on their opponent. Pure Sabaac would prefer Extended and a shield upgrade but since they’re all I4, fire with him first and pass damage on to him only after he’s lost his ability.