Anyone else pick up the recent onslaught of x-wing releases?
In the last couple of weeks they have released the following:
- Imperial Raider complete with the fix for the Tie Advance
- Wave 7 (K-wing, Tie Punisher, Kir*** something, and the Houndstooth)
- The Force Awakens core set with new X-wings and tie fighters
As well as the recent announcement of the Rebels inspired wave 8 that's a lot of X-wing in a little time.
I've been lucky enough to get all of the new ships in play at least once, been pretty fun.
My thoughts so far-
The Force Awakens Core Set
The new core set is fantastic.
Important updates it comes with for me:
- New templates (same as the old actually just with the new maneuvers printed on them as well)
- A new more evenly balanced damage deck that takes out cards that only damage specific builds or factions (looking at you astromech critical) and instead evenly hit all lists. Some of them more lightly than previously but at least even across the board.
- New ships from the new movies! Love the new ships
- Introduction of the Talon Roll that the new X-wing can do.
- New upgrade (tech upgrade) that I think will add a lot of versatility to the builds you can come up with.
- Updated rulebook with the rules reference the way FFG has been printing rule books. I like this change, it's a much improved way to do rule books. Oddly enough it doesn't have all the new stuff in it from wave VII which I find strange. For instance no mention of the Slam maneuver.
Overall I think they did a good job with the new core set. There are still two unaccounted for expansions which I presume will be the individual releases of the X-wing the Tie fighter from the force awakens. But we also know there are other new options available from the new movie. Should be interesting to see what route they choose to go.
Wave VII
I thought wave VII looked interesting mechanics wise but didn't love the look of the ships, and I have to say I think I ended up being right on. The Punisher still looks pretty stupid to me, but it looks better than I expected. The K-wing looks much better than I expected.
- Both are really fun mechanics wise. I love the slam action. And the new bombs and mines are money, and really make taking a bomber much more worthwhile. Saw both of these ships have a lot of success with heavy weapons load outs in a couple of games this last week.
- The houndstooth is as cool as I expected. It has a unique firing arc which I appreciate, and the Z-95 escape mechanism is interesting. Big fan of it.
- The new fighter (khirax or whatever it is called, stupid name) is kind of "meh." It isn't bad, but it isn't amazing. It feels a lot like the old x-wing except without the nostalgia. It has one amazing pilot though which will make it hit the table. I hate it's pain job though. Seriously. Hate it.
And I already said what I thought about the Raider and the new Tie Advance fixes.
This is about to become an epically long post, but I played a couple of really good games with Wave VII and the new core set this weekend. My opponent and I decided to play a couple of missions for a change of pace (a good choice I think, they ended up being really fun) and we tried to use all of the new ships we could and as few repeats as possible (except the tie fighters) which ended up making it really varied on the playing field.
The first mission was from the houndstooth box set. The scum faction with the houndstooth has to take out four satellites spread in the four corners of the play area, while the rebels have to take out the houndstooth and the pup (the Z-95 which escapes from it). Really this was much more fun than I expected.
My opponent took:
- Moralo Eval Houndstooth loaded with a heavy laser cannon and the pup (can shoot cannons out the auxiliary arc- great power BTW) w/ gliterism
- Talonbane Cobra in the Kihraxz (double range combat bonuses) with gliterism
- An M3-A Interceptor
- Star Viper with autothrusters
- Kavil in a Y-wing (attacking outside your firing arc roll additional attack die) with twin laser turrets
My rebel list:
Group 1-
- Miranda Doni in a K-wing fully loaded with extra munitions and conner net, cluster mines, advanced homing missiles, plasma torpedoes, advanced slam and bombardier (turns out that was waaaay too much ordinance)
- B-wing with advanced sensors
Group 2-
- A-wing
- Luke Skywalker in an X-wing with predator
- Knave squadron pilot E-wing
The scum start in the middle, rebels on the outskirts in two separate waves. It was going pretty well for me, my K-wing was following the Houndstooth and giving it a beating but the houndstooth had one crazy hit on my K-wing and managed to knock it out early giving the scum a round with only a slow moving B-wing as opposition.
I really found the Slam mechanism to be quite incredible. And some of the new ordnance was a real game changer. Plasma torpedoes jut melted the shields down to nothing in no time.
My K-wing in close pursuit of the Houndstooth, doing a number on it before taking a beating.
At the end of the third round my reinforcements arrived and luckily I had picked very quick ships so they were able to quickly catch up with the houndstooth and eliminate it. But the pup ejected out the front and raced for the final satellite which needed to be destroyed. In pursuit with my entire group including a speedy A-wing and E-wing I thought I had my opponent dead to rights but the pup managed to destroy the last satellite with 1 hull left before I could take him out.
The final race towards the last satellite.
Great mission, great game. Really came down to the wire.
Next mission was from the new core set. I played the Rebels/Resistance, my opponent the Empire/First Order.
Rebel list:
- Poe Dameron in the T-70 X-wing with BB-8 (If Poe has a focus he turns one eye result into a hit and an evade, BB-8 lets you barrel roll for free after a green move) with predator and the new tech (turn a focus in to make a blank result a hit).
- Tycho in an A-wing (can do actions while stressed) with A-wing test pilot title (can use two elite talents), push the limit (2 actions per turn but you take a stress), wired (if you are stressed you can re-roll an eye result), chardarian refit, and autothrusters. This is my new default a-wing go to. And it is incredible.
- A basic K-wing with a conners net and advance slam.
Imperial list:
- Deathrain in a Tie punisher (can drop bombs out the front) with cluster mines, extra munitions, advanced sensors (can do action before moving) and advanced homing missiles.
- 4 epsilon fighters in the new First Order Tie fighters.
The mission was simple, I have a downed squadmate that needs to leave the battle. It moves 2 forward every turn (or 1 bank) and the imperials need to stop said squadmate and they get tie reinforcements every time a tie died.
This mission really brought out the best in ordnance and in the Slam action. Right away my A-wing went to protect the Squadmate as it was the fastest it was on the scene first and used one of its actions to give an evade to the squadmate every turn (one of the special rules of the mission). My X-wing and K-wing went at the enemy tie fighters largely ignoring the punisher as a heavier target (this almost cost me).
My K-wing managed to get a perfect slam though in then dropped the connors net directly behind and knocked a tie fighter out of commission early.
My K-wing perfectly fitting into place to drop the net behind and damage the FO/Tie.
But things got dicey. Not once, but twice the punisher got right behind my squadmate and dropped cluster mines directly in front of the punisher to deal severe damage to the squadmate. 6 dice one time (with no ability to roll defense dice) and 4 the next. Sure one time it took out its own tie fighter as well, but who cares they reinforce every turn anyways. Despite that, and hitting an asteroid that dealt one damage to the squadmate it managed to flee to the edge of the map with miraculous rolling and a close A-wing escort with 1 hull left. It was quite the nail-biting finish.
The second to last turn when the second set of cluster mines was dropped straight on the squadmate causing serious damage and almost finishing the job.
I love the new ordnance. I've said it before but paired with the new heavy bombers and the extra munitions cards they put some serious damage down on the board and really change the way I have thought about ordnance.
I also really am a fan of the new X-wings and Tie Fighters. They really have some cool new maneuvers but I like that they are still different enough from the old Tie Fighters and X-wing that they don't replace them anymore than other ships already have. Well done by FFG keeping the game fresh without wiping out the past.