Rogue Review- TIE/rb Heavy “Brute”

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

When this TIE appeared in Solo, I didn’t think it was any bigger than a TIE Bomber. Just a standard TIE with an extra section added. When the TIE/rb inevitably was announced for X-wing I was quite surprised to learn it was a Medium base. And then on release to find it significantly dwarfed the already chunky TIE Punisher left me thinking this would just be an ungainly model. Turns out, it is huge but still looks good. The rotatable cannon is a nice touch as well. Those kind of things have been one of the best features of 2.0.

The ship’s chassis ability is nothing new, essentially the TIE/sf but for cannons instead of missiles and it only has the mobile arc like the RZ-2 A-Wing. Unlike either of those ships, its ability to rotate its arc is far more limited. It can only rotate into a red calculate (or white with the targeting assist config). This keeps the brute from operating on the same level as those two ships in terms of time on target. The two configurations serve to compensate you though.

As is becoming more and more common, the configurations for the Brute come at a cost. But you do get some nice additions from either of the two available configurations and the chassis itself can be cheaper overall. The two point Maneuver Assist MGK-300 improves the Brute’s dial significantly by adding three additional blue maneuvers, all at speed three, increasing your chance to fly past a target and rotate your guns to shoot behind you. It also adds the option to barrel roll without stress or barrel roll into a red calculate so you can reposition without sacrificing mods.  Meanwhile, the slightly more expensive Target-Assist MGK-300 adds a very nice rotate into white calculate, reminiscent of the TIE/sf. Additionally, you gain a powerful ability to gain calculate tokens if you engage without any tokens. This frees you up to spend tokens defensively and still get something later when you attack. Both configurations have their role to play on the board.

Besides the expected dual cannon slot (they’re a prime source and platform for Synced Laser Cannons), they also tout dual modification slots. As they have a chunky eight hull protected by one defense die, this makes many of the modifications affordable. Hull and shield combined only come out to seven points (the cost of a hull on a 3 agility ship) and make it a beefy ten health ship. As a medium ship, they can consider Ablative Plating if they’re flying escort to some Bombers or Punishers. With their eight health, they can consider Electronic Baffles for some unexpected stress clearing.

Red Five Standing By

The TIE Heavy comes out of the box with the old classic two unique pilots and two generics.  How do these pilots compare?

1. Rampage (I4)– After you execute a speed 3-4 maneuver, you may choose a ship in your mobile arc at range 0-1. If you do, that ship gains 1 strain token, or 2 strain tokens if you are damaged.
   1. Free strain delivered right to your opponent’s door.
   2. You are not required to Fully complete the maneuver meaning he can bump right into someone and pass off a strain.
   3. Or two strain as with one defense die, he’ll be damaged quite easily.
   4. He’ll usually prefer the Maneuver Assist config so he can maintain his speed three maneuvers and still clear the stress from the hard turns or T-rolls.
2. Lyttan Dree (I3)– While a friendly ship at range 0-2 performs an attack, if you are in the defender’s side arc, the attacker may reroll 1 attack die. 
   1. Say hello to the new, cheaper Howlrunner.
   2. No, seriously, seven points cheaper than Howlrunner and you can fly in a looser formation as the ability works out to range 2.
   3. Also, unlike Howlrunner or Captain Jonus, the reroll is on any attack, not primary or missile/torpedo only.
   4. The little caveat about needing to be in the target’s side arc is a bit of a troublemaker though. But this will be easier to pull off than it seems. It is either side arc and says nothing about being out of firing arc or solely in the side arc or anything like that. More often than you’d think, especially as she’s a medium base, a ship that is coming at her with a front arc attack will also have her in some of the side arc.
   5. Big bases and turret ships are going to hate her as they love to fly around ships shooting out of their side.
3. Onyx Squadron Sentry (I3)- None 
   1. Nothing fancy about these guys except they are I3 which matches Lyttan.
   2. They also have a Talent slot which Lyttan Dree lacks.
4. Carida Academy Cadet (I1)- None
   1. Nothing fancy here except for being cheap enough to field five of them with a few upgrades.

All Wings Report In

What’s the ideal number of TIE/rb’s to buy? One to five. These ships will work great as a support vessel added to your squad or a chunky filler. But five wouldn’t be terrible either if you like that kind of list.

CAC CAC (Hyperspace)

• 5x Carida Academy Cadet (TIE/rb)
  • Synced Laser Cannon

This is simple and straightforward. Lots of hull for your opponent to chew through. And you’re tossing fifteen dice back at them.

Not Howlrunner TIE Swarm (Extended)

• Lyttan Dree (TIE/rb)
  • Tractor Beam
  • Hull Upgrade
  • Maneuver-Assist MGK-300
• 7x Academy Pilot (TIE/ln Fighter)

As we saw, Lyttan can serve as a force multiplier like Howlrunner but for cheaper. Granted, you could technically fit Howlrunner now into this same list, sans any upgrades. Lyttan is beefier and works better flanking, as opposed to staying in formation. This gives her an advantage of your enemy needing to turn and choose a target. She also has a three die attack with the Tractor Beam potentially sheering off defense die for those TIE’s. You could drop the Hull Upgrade and take a Synced Laser Cannon instead if you prefer Lyttan to do more damage.

You could also take five Alpha’s/Planetary Sentinels if you wanted more attack die per ship.

Rampaging Aces (Extended)

• Rampage (TIE/rb)
  • Ion Cannon
  • Intimidation
  • Maneuver-Assist MGK-300
• Darth Vader (TIE Advanced x1)
  • Passive Sensors
  • Hate
  • Afterburners
• Soontir Fel (TIE Interceptor)
  • Crackshot
  • Targeting Computer
  • Stealth Device

Rampage plays interference for your aces. He draws fire and tries to either pass on some strain or bump and reduce green dice that way. The ships he’s paired with can be modded to taste. Vader has passive so you don’t have to worry as much about a bid but there are plenty of upgrades to trim down if you want one.

Imperial Heavies (Extended)

• 2x Onyx Squadron Sentry (TIE/rb)
  • Shield Upgrade
  • Synced Laser Cannons
  • Target-Assist MGK-300
• 2x Cutlass Squadron Pilot
  • Passive Sensors
  • Proton Torpedoes
  • Ion Mission/XX-23 Threadtracer
  • Munitions Failsafe

Get a bunch of beefy ships onto the board. They can all hit hard. They all take some concentrated fire to kill.

TIE Specialist (Extended)

• Major Rhymer (TIE/sa Bomber)
  • Advanced Proton Torpedoes
  • Cluster Missiles
• Lieutenant Kestal (TIE/ag Aggressor)
  • Ion Cannon Turret
  • Barrage Rockets
• Deathrain (TIE/ca Punisher)
  • Trajectory Simulator
  • Thermal Detonator
  • Seismic Charge
  • Delayed Fuse
  • Barrage Rockets
• Rampage (TIE/rb Heavy)
  • Synced Laser Cannons
  • Maneuver-Assist MGK-300

This isn’t necessarily a good list. But it is fun to throw all of the specialty TIE’s together, all at I4, and cause some mayhem. They all have something special going on with their abilities and weapons. Deathrain hangs in the back, lobbing concussion bombs and then reloading with his free action and stopping so he doesn’t run into them. Or lobbing them, getting a focus to use his barrage rockets, and then stopping. He loves stopping. Kestal flits along on the edges, trying to ion someone into a delayed fuse bomb or barrage rocket someone. With his ability he’ll be focusing all the time and have good odds of messing up someone’s defense roll. Rampage gets up close and passes out strain. Rhymer is the heavy hitter, throwing out Cluster Missiles on approach at range 1-3 and up close with those Advanced Proton Torpedoes at range 0-2. He’ll want to follow up on Rampage’s strain and dish out the pain before breaking off and reloading.

You can trim a Barrage Rocket off Kestal or Deathrain if you want to give Rampage Ablative Plating. He will be wanting to get up close to the enemy where Deathrain will be lobbing bombs.