Rogue Squadron – Four by Five

Welcome to Rogue Squadron, pilot! In this series, we will be looking at different squadrons you can fly in Fantasy Flight Games X-Wing miniatures game. We give you the squad, what expansion pack all of the upgrades come from and then give you the lowdown on how best to fly it. Strap in and get ready to fly.

All Wings Report In

T-65 X-Wing “Luke Skywalker” (Core Set) (62ts) (I5)

After you become the defender (before dice are rolled), you may recover 1 Force.

• Configuration- Servomotor S-Foils (Wave 1): 
  • Closed: Adds Boost, Focus –>Red Boost. While you perform a primary attack, roll 1 fewer attack dice. Before you activate, you may flip this card.
  • Open: Before you activate, you may flip this card.

T-65 X-Wing “Thane Kyrell” (Wave 1) (48ts) (I5)

While you perform an attack, you may spend 1 Focus, Hit, or Crit result to look at the defender’s facedown damage cards, choose 1, and expose it.

• Configuration- Servomotor S-Foils (Wave 1): 
  • Closed: Adds Boost, Focus –>Red Boost. While you perform a primary attack, roll 1 fewer attack dice. Before you activate, you may flip this card.
  • Open: Before you activate, you may flip this card.

BTL-A4 Y-Wing “Norra Wexley” (Wave 1) (46ts) (I5)

While you defend, if there is an enemy ship at range 0-1, add 1 Evade result to your dice results.

• Turret- Ion Cannon Turret (Wave 1): Adds Rotate. Attack (Range 1-2, 3 Attack): If this attack hits, spend 1 Hit or Crit result to cause the defender to suffer 1 damage. All remaining Hit/Crit results inflict ion tokens instead of damage.

Attack Fighter “Hera Syndulla” (Rebel Conversion Kit) (44ts) (I5)

After you reveal a red or blue maneuver, you may set your dial to another maneuver of the same difficulty.

Locked and Loaded: While you are docked, after your carrier ship performs a primary Forward Arc or  Mobile Arc attack, it may perform a bonus primary Rear Arc attack.

• Turret- Ion Cannon Turret (Wave 1): Adds Rotate. Attack (Range 1-2, 3 Attack): If this attack hits, spend 1 Hit or Crit result to cause the defender to suffer 1 damage. All remaining Hit/Crit results inflict ion tokens instead of damage.

Lock S-Foils in Attack Position

I wanted to fly some X-Wings at a recent local tournament. First instinct was Luke. I considered Wedge but I also wanted to give Thane a chance. He is an I5 after all. From there I pondered if I could get two more I5’s into the list. Norra was an easy choice. For the final one, Jan Ors was a strong candidate but with the Moldy Crow title too expensive. Corran likewise was too expensive. As were all of the large/med base ships. A, B, U, K all cap out at 4. I didn’t want a Z-95. Fortunately, Hera in the attack shuttle is sub-40 points. I was left with just enough points for two ion turrets.

This list is nice and simple. No crazy shenanigans. Very few upgrades. Pilot abilities, S-Foils, and turret arcs are all you need to worry about on top of the usual maneuvering game. Health is a modest 24 so not really Rebel Beef levels. But Norra and Luke both can prove quite tanky.

The mix of turrets and forward arc give you a few different approach options. Swinging the shuttle and Norra out to the side to hit with Ion attacks while Luke and Thane try to get behind. That 180 coverage from the turrets gives you freedom. Especially for the shuttle as you really don’t mind which weapon you fire with.

I didn’t face any meta-defining lists so can’t say how it would handle Nantex shenanigans or a true TIE/CIS swarm. It ate up double Decimator. Boba and Fenn were a tough match up that was a close game. I lost because in the final maneuver I dropped Luke, with three health and a Fuel Leak, onto a debris field and naturally rolled a crit which turned into a Direct Hit, plus Fuel Leaks extra damage. Might have still lost if I’d taken a different maneuver as I needed to kill Boba with my last shot.

It’s a fun list to play. Very core X-Wing play.

Variations

You could switch out the Ion Cannon Turrets for Dorsals and have four points to play with. You could bid with it. Or get a cheap crew options onto the shuttle. Or Foresight onto Luke.