Rogue Review – A/SF-01 B-Wing

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

Normally with this series, by the time I get through reviewing the new ships from a wave, there is a new wave out. Due to the global pandemic there are no new X-wing ships coming out until at least September. But this can be a good thing. I’ve not had a chance to do this kind of deep dive review of the converted ships yet. There won’t be any particular order to these but I’ll probably stick to ships that have been rereleased. First up, the A/SF-01 B-Wing.

The B-Wing underwent a few small changes from 1.0 but overall kept its core as a beefy knife fighter. The B-Wing doesn’t go fast but handles slow maneuvers well. Two speed K-turns, hard one turns and one speed T-rolls allow it to  avoid moving much when it finds an area it wants to stay. This can be a liability if you can’t get behind someone because of the slow speeds.

The hallmark of the B-wing is stress. It has a lot of ways to acquire stress thanks to five red maneuvers and, with the s-foils, up to four available red actions. This can feel like a very limited dial due to the fairly generic four blue dial options. Fortunately, the named pilots lean into this stress accumulation.

An interesting change for the B-Wing from 1.o was the removal of the double torpedo slots and inclusion of double cannons. Thematically this fits the craft much better. The S-foils give you a reason to potentially equip two cannons but for the most part, the cost is just too great. Though, as long as jamming beam is zero, might as well. The torpedo slot probably also will go unused unless you want to lean into the closed side of the S-foils to reload them. I tried to come up with a good list to make use of their reload action and just couldn’t.  It was always better to spend the torpedo points on a cannon and stick with the double attack side.

It also lost the crew slot it had gained with the title. I would say a gunner slot would be more appropriate for the ship but given that gunners normally revolve around having a mobile arc they wouldn’t bring anything to the ship. But a crew would still be nice to see someday.  Nien Numb, Hera, Kanan, C-3P0, Baze, Magva would all make for interesting crew choices.

The B-Wing still comes with a Sensor slot making Advanced Sensors a viable option. Though, you’re probably better off with FCS or Passive Sensors. Advanced Sensors are too expensive now with the limitation of only one action. If they could make use of their linked abilities before moving it would be very appealing. If you’re going with the S-foils open for cannons, FCS is your best bet as you can get a reroll on the first attack. Passive Sensors is worth considering for the generic pilots as it helps ensure you have a Lock to spend for the second cannon shot.

Red Five Standing By

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

1. Gina Moonsong (I5)- At the start of the Engagement Phase, you must transfer 1 of your stress tokens to another friendly ship at range 0-2.
   1. Finally, an I5 for the B-wing. Their original pilots are great but they could use something higher than I4.
   2. Like the other pilots, Gina’s ability revolves around mitigating her stress. Unlike the others, who benefit from the stress, she just gets rid of it. And she must do so. This makes her a good wingmate for the other two B-wings who can use it.
   3. Lando makes a good wingmate option as well. Both are I5 and Lando is going to be wanting to take blue maneuvers anyways.
   4. Of the B-wings, she and Ten can get the most mileage out of Advanced Sensors. Taking an action, moving at I5, and then getting rid of a stress she picks up so she can still use AS next round.
2. Braylen Strom (I4)- While you defend or perform an attack, if you are stressed, you may reroll up to 2 of your dice.
   1. Rerolls are great. More so that he can reroll both attack and defense dice. Granted, he doesn’t have many defense dice but all the more reason to get the most use out of it.
   2. His biggest challenge will be maneuvering and balancing gaining and clearing stress. If he’s stressed and wants to remain stressed the next around either his limited to whites or he has to be able to link to a barrel roll. He would love to have a crew slot to take Hera.
   3. Of the pilots, he’s probably the one you’re least likely to want to put the S-foils on. He doesn’t need the rerolls if he’s stressed and trying to ensure he’s stressed might hinder his ability to reacquire Locks to make use of the S-foils bonus cannon attack. But then, because he gets rerolls he would also be able to modify both attacks.
3. Ten Numb (I4)- While you defend or perform an attack, you may spend 1 stress token to change all of your Focus results to Hit or Evade results.
   1. Get stressed, gain a Focus token essentially. This makes him the best candidate for the S-foils because he can use his action to Lock and then have a Focus. Will need to get good at barrel rolling and linking to a Lock or using Advanced Sensors to lock before moving.
   2. Makes a great wingmate for Gina if he has the s-foils and a cannon. Then he can take Gina’s stress and have one to fire on both attacks.
   3. Unlike in 1.o, if he doesn’t roll any Focus results, he can’t spend the Focus token. So there’s not guarantee he’ll be able to clear his stress each round.
4. Blade Squadron Pilot (I3)- None
   
   1. Cheap enough they can take the S-foils, Autoblaster, FCS and Crackshot for 50pts. That gives them one devastating bullseye attack against a ship whose front arc they manage to dodge.
   2. Only a single point more than the I2s, unlike some generic that’s a worthwhile upgrade to consider. I3 gives them a lead over most other generics you’ll see.
5. Blue Squadron Pilot (I2)- None
   1. The cheapest B-Wing they serve as great filler.
   2. Not cheap enough to bring five of them which is probably where they’ll remain.

All Wings Report In

What’s the ideal number of B-Wings to buy? Two. You can fly up to four of them but given that their signature upgrade comes in a separate box then you’d also need two sets of Hot Shots and Aces. 

Auto Blades (Extended)

• 4x Blade Squadron Pilots (B-Wing)
  • Autoblaster
  • Crack Shot
  • Fire Control System
  • Stabilized S-foils

There’s no finesse to this one. Four beefy ships that will eviscerate something if they can get behind and in bullseye.

Walk it Off (Extended)

• 3x Blue Squadron Pilot (B-Wing)
  • Ion Cannon
  • Fire Control System
  • Stabilized s-foils
• AP-5 (Sheathipede)
  • Leia Organa
  • R2-D2 (Astromech)

Get behind a ship and then just ion them off the board. Or blow them up really fast since you can shoot twice. Either way works. AP-5’s ability is perfect for B-Wings and the tendency toward stress. Leia helps as well so that when you do ion something, you can turn around and keep shooting at it.

Lando’s and the Ladies (Hyperspace)

• Lando Calrissian (Modified YT-1300)
  • Nien Numb
  • Leia Organa
• Gina Moonsong (B-Wing
  • Stabilited s-foils
  • Ion Cannon
  • Fire Control System
• Norra Wexley (Y-Wing
  • Ion Cannon Turret
  • R4 Astromech

Lando likes the ladies. Lando and Gina make a good pair thanks to him almost always taking blue maneuvers anyways; she can pass him her stress.  With the R4, Norra also can handle taking it off Gina’s hands. Lando passes around a free action to whomever needs it most, giving Gina and Norra the possibility of pre-maneuver barrel rolls. Leia fits the theme of the title but you might be better served going with K-2S0.

Four by Four (Hyperspace)

• Ten Numb (B-wing)
  • Fire Control System
  • Stabilized s-foils
  • Autoblaster
• Braylen Stram (B-Wing)
  • Autoblaster
  • Stabilized s-foils
• Dutch Vander (Y-Wing)
  • Ion Cannon Turret
• Horton Salm (Y-Wing)
  • Ion Cannon Turret

B-Wings and Y-Wings are both beefy. And they both have several good I4 pilots. They make a good pairing. Braylen, Horton get good offensive rerolls while Ten has free focuses. Dutch can help one of the B-Wings get the Locks they need for the double attack.  The disappointing part is that it’s not possible to get all of them with ion cannons. You could sacrifice the FCS to give on of the B-Wings an ion if you prefer, but not both.