Rogue Review- Hyena Bomber Guide

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

Bombs away and all that. The Hyena Bomber is a unique addition to the X-Wing world as the first ship to feature multiple pilots with drastically different upgrades and actions.  This allows the Separatists to have access to several styles of ordinance delivery with only a single chassis. For a small faction this helps give them more choices without having to wait for even more releases.

In addition to ordinance, the Hyena fills a similar roll to the V-19 for the Republic. Cheap but hefty filler ship. The Vulture are cheaper but die faster. Sometimes, the seven points for a Hyena and two more health is worth it.

Red Five Standing By

Thanks to the different upgrades, each of the pilots fills a different role in your squadrons. Because of these differences the pilots are not going to be ranked. We’ll just go through them in initiative order. 

1. DBS-404 (I4)- You can perform primary attacks at range 0. While you perform an attack at attack range 0-1, you must roll 1 additional die. After the attack hits, suffer 1 Critical damage. 
   1. Despite having the highest initiative of the bombers, and an ability that grants bonus attack dice, this pilot is priced in the middle of the pack. Self critical damage serves as a rather severe balancing factor.
   2. This gives the Separatists a cheap four dice range one attack that can also hit at range zero.
   3. It should be pointed out, that he only gives himself a crit after he makes an attack that HITs. It would really suck to kill yourself after whiffing.
2. DBS-32C (I3)- At the start of the Engagement Phase, you may spend 1 calculate token to perform a Coordinae action. You cannot coordinate ships that do not have the Networked Calculations ship ability. 
   1. This pilot is radically different than the rest as it carries no ordinance. Instead, it can take a Tactical Relay, gains a pilot ability to coordinate and has the Jam action.
   2. Outside of Palpatine crew, this pilot is the only way Separatists, currently, have to Coordinate.
   3. While he is limited to only coordinating other Network Calculation ships, the Coordinate happens at the start of Engagement, so you know where everyone is. Great for passing a barrel roll for another ship to arc dodge or get Bullseye.
3. Bombardment Drone (I3)- If you would drop a device, you may launch that device instead, using the same template. 
   1. This is your double bomb and Sensor slot carrier, therefore the only one that can take Electro-Proton Bombs or Bomblet Generator. Or lob bombs via Trajectory Simulator.
   2. Their pilot ability allows them to launch mines out their front. This makes them scary to engage in a joust as they’ll just dump a Conner Net or Prox Mine on you.
   3. Only having speed 2 K-turns and T-rolls hampers this some. Hard to get behind someone when you can’t even clear a large base ship.
4. Separatist Bomber (I3)- None
   1. This is your higher initiative generic. Has one of every ordinance slot. Good generic.
5. Baktoid Prototype (I1)– While you perform a special attack, if a friendly ship with the Networked Calculations ship ability has a lock on the defender, you may ignore the Focus, Lock or Calculate requirement of that attack.
   1. You want to take Proton Rockets or Barrage Rockets on a Hyena? This is the only one that can. Sporting double missile slots and an ability that lets it ignore the Lock/Focus/Calculate requirement of any ordinance of someone with Network Calculation has a Lock it can fire those weapons that require the unobtainable Focus token.
   2. Also has a Sensor slot so can make use of Passive Sensors to ensure they have that Lock.
6. Techno Union Bomber (I1)- None
   1. This is your cheap generic ordinance carrier.

All Wings Report In

What’s the ideal number of Hyena’s to buy? Two to six. If you’re going to fly one, you’re probably flying more. You don’t necessarily need to swarm them as much as Vultures but they can work well in big groups. 

The Reason to Buy Fully Loaded

• 3x Techno Union Bomber (Hyena)
  • Proximity Mines
  • Landing Struts
• 3x Techno Union Bomber (Hyena)
  • Conner Nets
  • Landing Struts

This list is all about finding a rock to park on and then filling the area around you with mines. You’ll want to place rocks about range 2 from each other. This ensures that if you are dropping Conner nets from each rock, there is no way for your opponent to fly between them and avoid getting hit. You’ll probably also want to land on them after a bank so you aren’t dropping mines parallel to the board edges. It’ll be harder for your opponent to avoid them that way.

Bullseye

• DBS-32C (Hyena)
  • TA-175
• 2x Baktoid Prototype (Hyena)
  • Proton Rockets
• 2x Haor Chell Prototype (Vulture)
  • None
• Captain Sear (Belbullab-22)
  • None

Need to have a target in Bullseye? DBS-32C will coordinate you a Barrel Roll at the start of engage. Your other Hyena’s can get off Procket shots. Alternatively, your Vultures can gain free actions if the ship in their Bullseye shoots someone else, helping to keep your Bombers alive longer. And Sear gives a Crackshot like ability to anyone firing primary.

Double Mods

• DBS-32C (Hyena)
  • Kraken
  • Landing Struts
• 2x Separatist Bomber (Hyena)
  • Proton Torpedo
  • Landing Struts
• 2x Precise Hunter (Vulture)
  • Energy Shell Charges
  • Grappling Struts

Similar to the last list, this one uses DBS-32C to coordinate but this time, it’s about getting precious double mods. The Vulture still try to get Bullseye so they can get a free reroll. The other Hyena’s don’t care about Bullseye for the Proton Torpedo shots. But with Kraken helping as well, they can have Calculate and Lock in one round.

Come at me Bro

• 3x Bombardment Drone (Hyena)
  • Conner Net
  • Proton Bombs
  • Delayed Fuse
• Techno Union Bomber (Hyena)
  • Proton Bombs
  • Delayed Fuse
• DBS-404 (Hyena)
  • Proton Bombs
  • Delayed Fuse

The idea is to force a joust and then use the Bombardment Drones ability to launch a Conner Net out front and immediately set it off on a target. The ion effect won’t trigger immediately but that’s what the Delayed Fuses are for. Have your other ships lay a field of Proton Bombs the round before so you your opponent will drift into them during their ion round. Alternatively, have them ion and run into DBS-404 who will hit big.

Tower Defense

Posted this one last week ago.