First Look: X-Wing Wave 9
Welcome friends, to the Command Centre of the Home One, where we have a real treat for you in the hangar! You already know what I am going to say, Admiral Ackbar is telling me something about a trap, but here we go- a short breakdown of what to expect with Wave 9 of the X-Wing Miniatures Game!
Since weâre on-board a rebel capital ship, letâs start by dragging this hunk of clone trooper scrap onto the showroom floor; the ARC-170 Starfighter. This ship may not be the most manoeuvrable with 4 red manoeuvres, only 1 koiogran turn and no talon roll of Segnor Loop so it may struggle to return to the fight, but it hits HARD.
The upgrade cards available for the ARC are varied, one of which is the effective âTail Gunnerâ which will be very useful for ships with a rear firing arc such as the Ghost or Firespray. The game changer will be âSeismic Torpedoesâ in that this little parcel of asteroid-exploding goodness can permanently take out asteroids and debris. More familiar are the âVectored Thrustersâ card will give barrel roll to ships lacking this useful repositioning tool while the âR3 Astromechâ will allow you to gain an evade out of a rolled focus result when youâre in a pinch. The ship has a lot of damage output in that it rolls many attack die with the âAlliance Overhaulâ card, adding a ship that can fire 3 from the front and 2 from the rear with its new rear firing arc. This ship will find a nice home in the docking bays of many a prospective Admiral for sure!
It took us a while to capture one of these intact, but we managed it for your viewing pleasure; presenting the Special Forces TIE fighter. Similar to the ARC-170 in that it shares a rear firing arc, the SF TIE has a dial reminiscent of the standard TIE fighter without a 5 straight, any koiogran turns and cannot evade. However, the ship retains its high level of mobility even though loses out on the classic speed we expect from a TIE by having access to the always impressive Segnor Loop on a 3 speed. Coupled with a mighty 3 hull and 3 shields, this TIE is looking a lot more potent than its lesser comrades. (Iâm looking at you, Howlrunner). The ship shares the rear firing arc and has a mirror upgrade to the Arc-170 in Special Ops training. This allows 1 additional die to be rolled from the front arc or a second shot from the rear arc.
A new card in âSensor Clusterâ will allow the changing of a blank die result to an evade while defending, at the cost of a focus token, which can help mitigate those pesky blank rolls. Overall, I believe this ship will leave more of an impact on the game than the ARC-170 will, simply because it is an Imperial vessel and has massive potential in the field (not that Iâm biased or anything).
Now what ship decided to fly straight at us for a dog fight?! It didnât last long; tractor beams will do that to you. I told you it wasnât a trap Ackbar!
Anyway, moving onto the newest Scum ship; the Protectorate Starfighter. Now this ship doesnât come with many upgrade cards but it makes up for that in sheer firepower and jousting capability. With no shields, the ship may look fragile, but it makes up for this with its pilots. Fenn Rau gets to roll an additional die at range 1 on top of his range 1 bonus! Thatâs 5 dice at range 1 with no upgrades (insane). But the one we never stop hearing about over the comm is Old Teroch. Soontir Fel, better keep his eyes open because Teroch has the power to strip an enemy ship at range 1 of all focus and evade tokens. Finally, we have a Scum ace pilot who can really go the distance. Even though the ship has a low HP, their title allows them to gain an automatic evade result when it is in arc, and at range 1 of the enemy with the boost action allowing for arc dodging shenanigans. Overall, this ship will make waves in fleets, with scum getting a true ace that can fly up there with the best of them.
Finally, we come to the mighty flying saucer itself; the Shadow Caster. This ship comes with many new mechanisms to the game, many never seen before. Starting with the ability to use the Cargo Chute upgrade to, literally, launch last nights curry takeaway out its rear to create a pretty big debris field. It also has access to a 3rd firing arc known as the mobile firing arc, with an action allowing you to change which of the 4 sides of the ship you want it pointing at. Now, being a large ship it isnât the most agile, but it does have a 5 koiogran turn (its only red manoeuvre) and a whole host of green ones too. It has a high HP total of 10, 2 evade for a large ship and 3 attack. The ship joins the Scum faction with another large ship with high expectations.
All three of the named pilots share abilities that trigger based on the position of the mobile firing arc: from adding focus results, to placing tractor beam tokens, this new system looks to be great fun in game, and thematic too!
In terms of upgrade cards, the ship brings us a lot of previously released cards but one of note is the Black Market Slicer Tools. For an action allowing you to take a stress off an enemy ship and possibly dealing it damage cards. This ship shows much promise and I cannot wait to fly it alongside some other big Scum ships.
So, that brings us to the end of this Home One communiquÃĐ. Remember that many Bothans were lost to bring you this information so I hope that this has been helpful to you. Iâm now going to go and lay a few lobster traps in Ackbarâs quarters for laughs, so until next time, farewell.
Remember to pull up, stay on target, and never let Porkins into the commissary!
If you are interested in starting to play Star Wars X-Wing we recommend that you check out the two starter sets - Star Wars X-Wing Core Set & The Force Awakens Core Set
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