Rogue Review – HMP Gunship

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

I always loved the design of these droid ships.  They have a tough armored dorsal shell and they are loaded with weapons. They look like a threat, unlike the battle droids that always looked goofy. Their first action in Clone Wars cartoon backed up this look, wrecking havoc on Saw. They come to X-Wing with a flexible 180 weapon arc to represent their wide angled guns. Their impressive missiles aren’t built in but come from the Multi-Missile Pod, which can be used by anything with double missile slots. This gives them flexibility of what type of weapons they want to bring to battle. Ironically, they are not a good carrier for Multi-Mission Pods due to their built-in 180 arc. Other ships will gain that 180 arc which will be a benefit. For the HMP, they would be paying eight points for a few bonus dice at range 2 in the forward arc only.

Their offense is boosted by their chassis ability. Network Aim is essentially a built in Fire Control System with the added benefit of being able to reroll more dice the more locks are on your target. But there’s more to it than just more rerolls. The gunship doesn’t even need a Lock, it gets rerolls from any friendly lock. If your swarm of gunships all lock a different target, they’ll all have locks against any of them.

As fun as Network Aim is, the most unique aspect for the gunship comes from its configuration, Repulsorlift Stabilizers. This dual sided card gives the gunship two options for improving their maneuverability. The inactive side reduces the difficulty of straight maneuvers, which clears out those pesky red 4’s and 5’s. The active side adds in the unique Sideslip ability. Sideslip allows you to effectively rotate around a target. Combined with the 180 degree weapon arc this gives your gunships excellent time on target.

Sideslip has a few downsides, First, you have to telegraph your intentions ahead of time by flipping the card the round before. This proved the death knell for 1.0 U-Wings and their pivot. Fortunately, the 180 arc gives you lots of gun coverage and with the multiple choices of how you Sideslip means your opponent can still guess wrong when trying to take advantage of their knowledge. You can also flip the card a few turns ahead of time if you’re only planning to go straight for awhile, as it doesn’t trigger on straight maneuvers.

The biggest downside to sideslipping is the 3 point cost of the configuration. Unlike the S-foils which are free or landing struts which are practically free, the Repulsorlift Stabilizers are a whopping three points. This ability feels like something that should be baked into the cost of the ship, rather than a 3point discount option.

Red Five Standing By

The HMP Gunships comes out of the box with two unique pilots, two dual pilots and two generics.  How do these pilots compare now?

1. *DGS-286 (I3)– Before you engage, you may choose another friendly ship at range 0-1. That ship transfers one calculate token to you.
   1. The timing on this ability is great. When you engage you can gain a calculate from someone who has already fired this round. As many of the gunships are I3 this makes it easy.
   2. Additionally, as this is before you engage, you gain the token in time to fire off any weapons that require you to be calculating.
   3. Combined with the gunships innate ability you have high odds of being able to double mod every shot.
2. *DGS-047 (I1)– After you perform an attack if the defender is in your Forward Arc, you may acquire a lock on it. Then, if the defender is in your Bullseye Arc it gains one strain token.
   1. This guy essentially has old school FCS. Gain locks after shooting for use next round.
   2. Even better is the combo with Network Aim and any I1 gunships who gain a reroll from your lock.
3. **Onderon Oppressor (I3)- After your barrel roll or sideslip, if you are stressed gain one Calculate token.
   1. These guys are the best type to sideslip with, as two of the best sideslip maneuvers are red. This allows them to still end up with dice mods after maneuvering.
   2. Seasoned Navigator is something to consider for these guys. With their ability, they aren’t as adversely affected by the navigator turning their white maneuvers red. There will be entire games were its unused on an I3 but other games where its an option every turn. With sideslipping being able to change which direction you go, or turn a bank into a turn, is very handy.
4. **Geonosian Prototype (I2)- While you perform a cannon or missile attack, you may remove 1 tractor token from the defender to reroll up to two of your attack dice.
   1. This guy ability appears completely pointless. They have a built in ability to gain dice rerolls. Removing a tractor token gives you some more but also gives them back a lost defense die. That’s not worth the cost.
   2. It is the only I2. That gives it a place if you want to align with other I2’s.
   3. The only version with the cannon slot. This is their real purpose in the group.
5. Separatist Predator (I3)– None
   1. These pair nicely with several of the other more limited pilots who are I3.
6. Baktoid Drone (I1)- None
   1. These pair nicely with the common I1 droid swarms or DGS-047.

All Wings Report In

What’s the ideal number of HMP Gunships to buy? Two. Many of the limited pilots come in a pair which works nicely with other ships. That said, with their 180 arc and good health, a full five ship swarm is nothing to sneeze at. 

Tractored Friends (Extended)

• Geonosian Prototype (HMP Gunship)
  • Synced Laser Cannons
  • Repulsorlift Stabilizer
• Geonosian Prototype (HMP Gunship)
  • Synced Laser Cannons
  • Repulsorlift Stabilizer
  • Kalani
• Chertek (Nantex)
  • Ensnare
  • Crackshot
• Gorgol (Nantex)
  • Ensnare

Everybody loves Nantex’s right? This is a bit different function than their usual spam. Here you’re doing normal annoying tractor things with Ensnare with the added benefit that when you succeed, you’re also granting rerolls to your two gunships. Likewise, they are offering assistance to the Nantex who succeed in getting a bullseye as Kalani can pass out some Locks to a ship that normally can’t get a lock. This too aids the gunships with their Networked Aim. Gorgol, being I2, has a place with the fellow I2 HMP’s but you could drop Crackshot to make him an Petranaki Ace.

Gunship Friends (Hyperspace)

• Geonosian Prototype (HMP Gunship)
  • Synced Laser Cannons
  • Repulsorlift Stabilizer
• Geonosian Prototype (HMP Gunship)
  • Synced Laser Cannons
  • Repulsorlift Stabilizer
  • Kalani
• 5x Trade Federation Drone (Vulture Droid)
  • Grappling Struts

If you’re into cannons but not a fan of Nantex, especially a measly two, you can instead fly five Vultures. You have the heft of a droid swarm with the added advantage of some heavy wide angle guns from the HMP’s.

Carpet Bombing (Hyperspace)

• 5x Baktoid Drone (HMP Gunship)
  • Concussion Bombs
  • Repulsorlift Stabilizers

Five ships with 180 arc and eight health is going to be a chore to chew through. Add on the ability to sideslip and drop down a trail of bombs and you’ve got yourself some work ahead of you.  You could switch a few Concussion bombs out for Seismic as they are the same points. But Concussion bombs bypass shields so that’s nice.

Critical Exposure (Hyperspace)

• 2x Separatist Predator (HMP Gunship)
  • Concussion Missile
  • Concussion Bomb
  • Repulsorlift Stabilziers
• 2x Stalgasin Hive Guard (Nantex)
  • Deadeye Shot
• Skakoan Ace (Belbulsar-22)
  • Deadeye Shot
  • Kalani

Concussion Bombs, Deadeye Shot, Concussion Missile. This list wants to make sure you do not have any unexposed damage cards. As crits can be quite devastating this can wreck a ship up.

Baktoid’s Share the Love (Extended)

• DGS-047 (HMP Gunship)
  • Repulsorlift Stabilizers
• 2x Baktoid Drone (HMP Gunship)
  • Energy Shell Charges
  • Repulsorlift Stabilizers
• 2x Baktoid Prototype (Hyena Bomber)
  • Passive Sensors
  • Multi-Missile Pods
  • Landing Struts

This list provides five ships with 180 arcs without needing five gunships. The two Hyena’s work great plopping down on a rock and covering half the map with potential fire. They also can use passive sensors to get a lock on the ship everyone wants to fire on, sharing rerolls to the gunships with the Networked Aim. DGS-047 works similarly with his ability to get a lock after attacking. He shoots first and then the other two gunships get a reroll against that target. They have Energy Shell Charges for period three dice attacks on top of multiple rerolls.

You could trade one Baktoid Drone for two Trade Federation Drones if you wanted a six ship group with a full sampling of available droid ships.

Force Droids (Extended)

• Onderon Oppressor (HMP Gunship)
  • Count Dooku
  • Discord Missile
  • Repulsorlift Stabilizers
• Onderon Oppressor (HMP Gunship)
  • Chancellor Palpatine
  • Discord Missile
  • Repulsorlift Stabilizers
• Darth Maul (Sith Infiltrator)
  • Kraken
  • Scimitar

The crew slot on the gunship was an unexpected addition. This list aims to take advantage of that by taking the two Force wielding crew available to the Separatists. It pairs them up with Darth Maul so everyone has Force. The Onderon Oppressors make a good Discord carrier because even if they need to barrel roll or Sideslip to get into the perfect launch position, they still get a Calculate token to use to launch. Dooku works to mess with your opponents die or just a modification for yours. Palpatine can pass out stress if he is going to be a target but also works well as coordination support for Maul to help him recover his force. You could also knock the Oppressors down to Separatist Predators if you’d rather gain Hate on Maul.

You get a calculate and you get a calculate (Hyperspace)

• DGS-286 (HMP Gunship)
  • General Grievous
  • Repulsorlift Stabilizers
  • TA-175
• DBS-32C (Hyena Bomber)
  • Landing Struts
• DFS-081 (Vulture Droid)
  • Grappling Struts
• 3x Precise Hunter (Vulture Droid)
  • Grappling Struts

Separatists love sharing calculate tokens. This list doubles down on that idea. First, all the ships can share their calculates. The gunship can only steal one but there should be plenty to go around. Then there’s TA-175 giving out bonus tokens if anyone dies. Finally, you have several ships with extra ways to spend those calculates. DFS-081 can help prevent crits from getting through. DBS-32C can also coordinate before engagement starts, allowing a timely barrel roll or bonus lock.