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A Champion's Perspective: X-Wing (TM), Pt 1

An Article on Preparation by 2014 North American Champion Rick Sidebotham

As we look back on the 2014 World Championship Weekend, we finish our series of Gen Con wrap-up articles with 2014 X-Wing™ North American Champion Rick Sidebotham’s unique preparation and how it affected his results. If you plan on attending a major tournament such as Nationals or Worlds in the future, Rick’s advice can be a valuable tool toward improving your experience and your results.

Prepare to Make Your Run

Greetings X-Wing players! Because my experience at Gen Con 2014 has been covered in the past, it was really important to me to include some fresh material in this article. Therefore, I’ve decided to share how I prepared for the tournament, how that preparation (or in some cases, lack thereof) affected my performance, and the potential benefits to thinking outside of the box.

The Squadron

This squadron was not originally built to be flown in a major tournament setting, but rather for an evening of casual play shortly before a Regional Championship earlier this year. At the time, I thought it would be fun to fly a list that included a TIE Phantom, a TIE Interceptor, and a Lambda-Class Shuttle.

When I made the decision to try the list at the Kingston, ON Regional Championship, the final pilots and upgrades were based on making the squadron as competitive as possible with those three ships. While fielding a squadron that was fun to fly was my primary motivation, I at least wanted to make sure I had a fighting chance against the most likely competitive combinations I could expect to face.

   
• Whisper (32) with, Fire Control System (2), Gunner (5), Advanced Cloaking Device (4), and Veteran Instincts (1)

   
• Soontir Fel (27) with Push the Limit (3)

   
• Captain Yorr (24)

Tournament Preparation

While I believe the squadron itself is solid, I think the primary reason why I was able to have success with it at both Kingston and the North American Championship was due to my preparation. In preparing for my first-ever X-Wing tournament earlier this year I created a list of the squadron archetypes that I expected to see. Ever since that first tournament, I’ve been adding to the list along the way. So now, whenever I decide to work on a squadron for competitive play, I always refer back to my master list. An abridged version of my list prior to the North American Championship consisted of the following:

   
       
           
           
       
       
           
           
       
   

Rebel Archetypes

Imperial Archetypes

4-Ship Un-named (B-Wings/X-Wings)                 3-Ship Named (B-Wings/E-Wings/X-Wings)                 Named YT-1300 plus Support                 Named YT-1300 plus Z-95 Headhunter Mini-Swarm                 Double YT-1300                 Rebel Swarm (Z-95 Headhunter/A-Wing)                 YT-1300/B-Wing/E-Wing/X-Wing plus Z-95 Headhunter Mini-Swarm                 Biggs                 Board Control (Ion/Stress/ORS Blocking)

TIE Swarm with or without Howlrunner (TIE Fighter/TIE Bomber/TIE Interceptor)                 Double/Triple Firespray-31s                 3 Lambda-Class Shuttles plus Support/4th Shuttle                 3-4 “Push the Limit” TIE Interceptors                 Jonus plus Ordinance-Carrying TIE Bombers or HLC TIE Defenders                 TIE Bombers with Bombs                 Super Flankers (Whisper/Echo/Soontir Fel)                 Doom Shuttle (Lambda-Class Shuttle with Darth Vader Crew)                 Board Control (Stress)

 

This was my best educated guess of the potential squadrons I could face. If you decide to do some similar preparation before your next league event or tournament, I encourage you to create a list of your own based on your knowledge

and experience.

Once I had an idea of what squadrons I could expect to face, I had to get in some practice playing against them. Between work and family commitments, I was only able to get in about three or so games per week, not nearly enough time to play against everything out there. I decided there were a few steps I could take to streamline the process.

The first step was to try and figure out a way to put some of these archetypes into larger groups based on the squadron I was fielding. As an example, early in the process, I was able to develop a good general plan for opposing squadrons that came at me in a large block of ships. I generally had success if I could engage in a military pincer with Yorr securing the middle and Whisper and Soontir Fel on each flank. Now, if there was something special within that block of ships, I’d have to modify my tactics accordingly, but having a general plan to deal with a large group of archetypes was a great time-saver for me.

The next step I took was applying some priority to what I was going to practice against. I looked for archetypes that I felt I had a smaller chance of facing and then further selected ones from that group that I felt confident my squadron could handle most of the time. This allowed me to eliminate another large portion of my list from the playtest pool. For example, I looked at the Jonus archetype and didn’t think there was a good chance of facing it, and I didn’t think it would give my squadron too many problems if I did.

In further prioritizing squadrons for preparation, I looked for those that I felt would be both most difficult for my squadron to face and had a high probability of being represented. Whisper with a mini-swarm, a named YT-1300 with a Z-95 mini-swarm, and Han Solo with Veteran Instincts (making him Pilot Skill 11) plus support were the three squadrons that I playtested against the most. From there, I tried to play each of the remaining semi-unique archetypes at least once.

As my playtesting continued, I considered making some tweaks to further overcome some of the squadron’s shortfalls. In the end, I decided those tweaks caused more harm than good. With my squadron finalized, I was ready for the North American Championship!

Or so I thought.

The North American Championship

The format for the North American Championship involved two preliminary flights of up to 128 players. The top 32 of each preliminary flight would move on to the Finals to compete in five rounds of Swiss play before cutting to the top 8 to play in a single-elimination bracket. I had purchased a ticket to play in the first preliminary round and decided that I was going to give it just that one shot, so I had to finish in the top 32!

My first loss was against a squadron that consisted of Han Solo (with Veteran Instincts and other upgrades, but didn’t include Gunner or Luke) and 4 Z-95’s. This squadron fit into the archetype that I had considered my biggest challenge. I had practiced against it more than anything else and had an overall strategy and some specific in-game tactics that allowed me to win more times than I lost against it. The biggest thing for me was that I couldn’t make a mistake.

Of course, I ended up making a number of small mistakes about two thirds of the way through the round. A combination of failing to see a potential block, choosing a maneuver that limited me to one decloak location, and letting emotion cloud my judgment led to my defeat. As hard of a loss as that was, it had confirmed everything I learned in my preparation. My squadron had a very good chance of beating one of its worst matchups, even when piloted by a very skilled player. (My opponent was Matt Baxter who finished in the top 8 overall.) It also confirmed that my squadron is not forgiving.

My second loss came in the very next game. I played against a 2-ship “shield-gaining build” that included Corran with R2-D2 and Luke with R5-P9, in addition to a slew of other upgrades on each. I hadn’t playtested against anything even remotely similar, but I knew what my opponent’s general strategy was going to be. He was going to try and hit hard, and once one of his ships took a bunch of damage, break it off and let it regain shields while occupying my squadron with the other, then switching the two roles once the initial ship had regained its shields. I hoped that having two mobile ships in Soontir and Whisper would allow me to catch the damaged ship and finish it off before turning my attention to the other.

Well hats off to my opponent, Christian Bush! Even knowing in principal what he was going to try and do, I couldn’t stop it from happening. I had Corran down to one hull but failed to have a move the following turn to take him out. I wasn’t confident that I could accurately guess where he’d be in two turns, so I felt I had no choice but to switch up and go for Luke. I worked on Luke until he was down to one hull when Corran returned and killed Whisper right as time expired. This was my first game against a squadron I hadn’t prepared for, and it ended in a loss.

After a couple wins, I experienced my third loss of the day against a squad that consisted of Whisper with Veteran Instincts, Soontir Fel, and Carnor Jax, all with a number of nasty upgrades. Looking back at my list of archetypes, you won’t see anything like this there.

I knew Jax had the potential to be a huge problem. Both Soontir and Whisper rely heavily on focus and evade tokens when they are unable to arc dodge. With my opponent also having Whisper and Soontir, I was either going to lose shooting first or lose the ability to dodge arcs against two ships that were great at reacting. I felt like keeping my focus and evade actions was critical, and my on-the-spot plan was to try and create a pincer such that I could catch Jax in the middle.

As our ships maneuvered closer, I was able to engage just as I thought I had wanted, but I was unable to take Jax out. At this point, I realized there was a huge flaw with my plan; if I couldn’t take Jax out next turn, he’d be within range 1 of all three of my ships, not allowing me to take or use the tokens that are so essential to my list. Engaging that way was a huge mistake.

I failed to kill Jax the following turn and proceeded to get massacred by my opponent. If I had playtested against Jax at least once, there’s a chance I would have been able to see how devastating Jax could be if he got into the middle of my pincer and lived. I again tip my hat to my opponent, Randy Baker, for handing me my worst loss of the North American Championship.

In the end, I finished the preliminary rounds with a 4-3 record. That, combined with my strong margin of victory, allowed me to barely slide into the Finals at 28th out of 32. Not my greatest day of X-Wing, but the most interesting part as I reflect back was the squadrons I lost against and how those squadrons compared to my preparation.

Tune In to Worlds Coverage

Thanks, Rick!

Be sure to return tomorrow to read how Rick did in the Finals, including an undefeated record on the way to becoming North American Champion!

© and ™ Lucasfilm Ltd.

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Source: A Champion's Perspective: X-Wing (TM), Pt 1

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Redouble Your Focus

Seven New Age of Rebellion Specialization Decks Are Now Available

“Stretch out with your feelings.”
     –Obi-Wan Kenobi

Climb effortlessly through the ranks of the Rebel Alliance with Star Wars®: Age of Rebellion™ Specialization Decks. Seven new Specialization Decks are now available!

     
• Soldier Medic Specialization Deck
       
     
• Soldier Sharpshooter Specialization Deck
       
     
• Soldier Commando Specialization Deck
       
     
• Spy Scout Specialization Deck
       
     
• Spy Slicer Specialization Deck
       
     
• Spy Infiltrator Specialization Deck
       
     
• Force-Sensitive Emergent Specialization Deck

Available via FFG’s in-house manufacturing, these Specialization Decks each come with twenty talent cards for a single specialization, providing you with quick and easy access to the rules for the talents and abilities from the Soldier and Spy careers, as well as the universal Force-Sensitive Emergent specialization.

In the heat of battle, deep in the heart of the Empire, and in the presence of the dark side, these Specialization Decks and their cards allow you to focus your efforts more fully on the challenges at hand. Take aim, press forward with your mission, and draw strength from the power of the Force.

Clarity in the Heat of Battle

The Rebellion relies upon its Soldiers to take up arms and face death while fighting for the cause. Across the galaxy, the Rebellion’s Soldiers take the fight to the Empire on countless battlefields. While many millions of troops simply serve in the rank and file, your Player Character serves a role that’s deeper and more varied, and the Specialization Decks for the Soldier career can help you keep your cool, even as blaster fire erupts all around you.

     
• Commandos are specialists trained to strike the enemy from unexpected directions to do the most damage in the most vulnerable locations. A Commando knows how to find a target, attack it, disable it, survive the aftermath, and find his way home.
     
• Many think Medics are inherent pacifists. While a Medic might prefer to save a life rather than take it, most realize the necessity of fighting and violence for a greater cause, and are more than ready to strike down an enemy in order to save a comrade.
     
• When a firefight erupts, the Sharpshooter maintains his composure, takes careful aim, and eliminates threats with ruthless efficiency and lightning speed. Sharpshooters are, simply, the masters of personal-scale ranged combat.

The Right Place at the Right Time

Spies are Soldiers of a different type. Spies don’t meet the enemy on the battlefield so much as seek out the enemy’s secrets, undo the enemy’s plans, and hinder the enemy’s ability to battle effectively. In the right place at the right moment, a single Spy can save (or destroy) many thousands of lives. Specialization Decks for the Spy career help you simplify your tasks so that you can focus better on performing each one as carefully as possible; after all, everything hinges upon a single, well-timed action.

     
• The Rebellion’s Scouts are experts at slipping into and out of systems unnoticed to provide the Alliance the information it needs to commit its forces to action. They determine where the enemy is, what the enemy is doing, and what the conditions of the area of operations are like.
     
• Slicers are warriors who go to battle with codes, data packets, lightning-quick programming skills, and the ability to rewire communication networks to unmake the enemy’s plans and reduce its technology to heaps of useless metal, plastic, and wires.
     
• Infiltrators perform the tasks that most people imagine when they hear the word, “spy.” They excel at placing themselves in the very den of the beast, sneaking and lying to enter undetected. There, they work without backup in the very worst of circumstances to gather valuable intelligence about the enemy and their plans.

My Ally Is the Force

As Force users have been among those persecuted by the Empire, many of them have come to sympathize with the Rebellion and its goals. Within the ranks of Rebel organizations, Force-sensitive individuals are relatively safe from the Empire and have access to one of the few remaining societies in the galaxy that openly acknowledges and encourages an understanding of the light side of the Force.

Still, the galaxy is at war, and even those Force-sensitives who have joined with the Rebellion will likely find themselves drawn into battles with Stormtroopers or other foes. In such situations, the Force-Sensitive Emergent Specialization Deck helps you clear your mind and reach out with your feelings to touch the Force.

Hone Your Talents

The Galactic Civil War will claim many lives. If you want to be among those who survive and fight to make a difference, you’ll want to give yourself every advantage. In dire situations, you need to be able to trust your talents, your gear, and your companions. You can’t let worries distract you from taking your shot or getting your job done.

Hone your talents and tend to your equipment with seven new Specialization Decks for the Soldier and Spy careers, as well as the universal Force-Sensitive Emergent specialization. These Age of Rebellion Specialization Decks are available now. Order yours today!

     
• Soldier Medic Specialization Deck
       
     
• Soldier Sharpshooter Specialization Deck
       
     
• Soldier Commando Specialization Deck
       
     
• Spy Scout Specialization Deck
       
     
• Spy Slicer Specialization Deck
       
     
• Spy Infiltrator Specialization Deck
       
     
• Force-Sensitive Emergent Specialization Deck

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Source: Redouble Your Focus

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System Crash

The Third Draft Pool for Android: Netrunner Is Now Available

“Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Whatever doesn’t stop your run is very likely going to kill you.”
     –g00ru

Dial the tension of Android: Netrunner up to eleven with System Crash, the third pool of cards for Android: Netrunner Draft Play! System Crash Draft Starters, Corp Draft Packs, and Runner Draft Packs for Android: Netrunner Draft Play are now available via FFG’s in-house manufacturing!

Consisting of 199 randomized cards collated from across the whole network of Android: Netrunner products, System Crash incorporates more than forty cards downloaded from the upcoming Order and Chaos deluxe expansion and SanSan Cycle. When you play System Crash drafts, you’ll be able to add these cards to your rig or HQ before they’re even released in standard LCG® products!

In addition to providing fans some sneak peeks at upcoming cards, System Crash introduces new draft play challenges for both Corps and Runners. Your servers are more porous, your rigs are less stable, and every run can result in disaster for one side or the other. Flooded with destructive effects, the System Crash card pool is all about bluffing, timing, and tension. You need to keep your opponent under pressure, but can you afford to keep pressing?

Constant Pressure

In System Crash, Corps and Runners both find themselves under constant pressure. Corps find fewer ice that end the run, but they benefit from a plethora of destructive effects that can trash the Runner’s rig… or simply trash the Runner. Meanwhile, Runners find plenty of ways to trash Corp cards, but fewer consistent breakers. The result is a uniquely harrowing Android: Netrunner experience.

     
• No Safety. With every run, Runners risk having their rigs blow up on them, or suffering massive bursts of net damage. On the other hand, Corporate servers are constantly under assault by programs and events that destroy ice or assets, or even entire servers. In System Crash, every run is full of danger for both parties, and nothing is safe.
     
• Risk and Reward. There are very few expose effects but many destructive ice, meaning that Runners assume a great deal of risk with every run. Every time, you have to ask yourself, “Is that a three-point agenda, or a trap that will kill me?”
     
• Targeted Recursion. In System Crash, everything’s constantly at risk of exploding. But for each of your programs or ice that are destroyed, there is also a way to recover it.

For more about how System Crash Draft Starters and Draft Packs allow players to participate in an alternative and exciting draft play format for Android: Netrunner, visit our Android: Netrunner Draft Play description page.

What Do I Need to Play?

Each player participating in an System Crash draft will need to bring three items: a seventeen-card Draft starter and two forty-card Draft Packs, one each for Corp and Runner. Alternatively, groups with even numbers may split so that half the players draft only Corp cards while the other half drafts only Runner cards. In such drafts, each player only needs the System Crash Draft Starter and a single Draft Booster.

Draft Starters: The System Crash Draft Starter is a fixed collection of rules and fourteen utilitarian cards that include a draft-only Corporate identity, The Shadow, and a draft-only Runner identity, The Masque.

 These “Draft format only” identities are not legal in standard play.

Apart from the identities, these cards all differ from those that appear in the Cyber War and Overdrive Draft Starters. Their agendas, icebreakers, and economy cards all place Corp and Runner at constant risk, heightening the tension of your cyberstruggles and ensuring that your System Crash games enjoy a distinctive feel. Additionally, all Draft Starter cards are clearly distinguished from both the larger Android: Netrunner card pool and the cards in the System Crash Draft Packs, allowing you to collect them after your games and prepare for your next draft. Because these Draft Starters are reusable, you only need one, no matter how many System Crash drafts you play!

 All draft cards are clearly identified by a new icon, and starter pack cards are further distinguished from draft cards by color.

Draft Packs: Randomized System Crash Draft Packs for Corp and Runner are compiled according to a custom algorithm from a card pool of 199 cards called System Crash.

To learn more about how System Crash Draft Packs are created, visit the Android: Netrunner Draft Play description page.

All cards found in System Crash draft products, except for those marked “draft format only,” are legal in standard tournament play as soon as they are tournament legal and released within the standard LCG format. Accordingly, each card from Order and Chaos and the SanSan cycle will become legal for tournament play once the LCG Data Packs in which it is contained goes on sale at retailers. However, because of variations in production color and card-stock resulting from our in-house manufacturing, players using draft cards in tournaments must sleeve their cards with opaque or art sleeves.

Running in the Face of a System Crash

How quickly can you process the myriad challenges of Android: Netrunner Draft Play? Compile your cards, advance your agendas, and launch your runs in the exciting System Crash draft pool for Android: Netrunner!

Pick up your System Crash Draft Starter, Corp Draft Pack, and Runner Draft Pack today!

Note: Android: Netrunner draft products do not serve as a replacement for the standard Android: Netrunner LCG® model. Instead, Android: Netrunner draft products allow players to enjoy the game through an additional format of play. Orders for products printed via FFG's in-house manufacturing may take 10 – 14 days to ship.

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Source: System Crash

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A New Form of Madness

Necronomicon Draft Play Is Now Available for Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game

                                         

Find Answers to Your Questions:                                                         What Is Draft Play?                                                                                      What Should I Expect from the Necronomicon Draft Pool?                               How Does Draft Play Affect the LCG® Model?                                                                                      What Do I Need to Play?                                                                                      Will There Be Cards Exclusive to Draft Play?                                                                                      When Do Draft Cards Become Legal for Tournament Play?

“Of his final death or disappearance (738 A.D.) many terrible and conflicting things are told. He is said by Ebn Khallikan (12th cent. biographer) to have been seized by an invisible monster in broad daylight and devoured horribly before a large number of fright-frozen witnesses. Of his madness many things are told.”
     –H.P. Lovecraft, History of the Necronomicon

The time has come for daring investigators to blow the dust off the world’s darkest and most forbidding tomes in order to explore their maddening mysteries more deeply than ever. Necronomicon Draft Starters and Draft Packs are now available via FFG’s in-house manufacturing!

With Necronomicon Draft Starters and Draft Packs, you and your friends can enjoy the exciting and unique challenges of Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game Draft Play, a new, alternate play format now available for Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game.

What Is Draft Play?

Draft play is like a parallel universe, close to the world of standard Call of Cthulhu game play, but separated by a thin veil. When you enter its reality, though, Call of Cthulhu Draft Play introduces a unique set of challenges, forcing you to build a deck from cards that you select one at a time from a limited number, without full knowledge of the available card pool. Accordingly, you’ll develop strategies for how to select your cards and build your deck. Furthermore, you’ll stretch and adapt to the format’s challenges as you and your friends test your mettle against each other with draft-built decks.

For more about how Necronomicon products allow players to participate in an alternative and exciting draft play format for Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game visit our Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game Draft Play description page.

What Should I Expect from the Necronomicon Draft Pool?

Lead Developer Damon Stone offers this introduction to the Necronomicon draft experience:

“The Necronomicon draft pool is an environment in which deep powers long asleep grow restless, as do their monstrous supporters, while at the same time mortal associations marshal their forces to regain control of human destiny.

“Within the 240-card draft pool, each faction gains a subset of cards that present numerous interactions with each other, as well as a strong core of utilitarian cards which highlight the faction’s strengths.

“Day and Night mechanics are also available, as well as a number of cards from the Dreamlands cycle that interact with them, and these can help create an interesting tug of war.

“Two new story cards are included in the Draft Starter, unique to this draft pool, which will help round out a cherry-picked story deck. A Crack in the Ice allows you to remove a troublesome card from the game, potentially changing the game’s whole complexion.
 

 

"Rampaging Shaggoth has an ability similar to several other story cards, forcing each player to discard a won story card… However, unlike the past the story cards that featured similar effects, the effect of Rampaging Shaggoth has an important “if able” clause that gives its winner the opportunity to create a one-sided story loss, making this story even more valuable for come-from-behind efforts and increasing its usefulness.
 

 

“Finally, since Call of Cthulhu Draft Play features no restrictions on the number of cards you can include by title, and no restricted list, deck-building takes on an entirely new dimension.”

What Do I Need to Play?

If you want to start a Necronomicon draft with your friends, each player will need to bring two items: a fixed, twenty-card Draft Starter and a randomized Draft Pack.

Draft Starters: The Necronomicon Draft Starter is a fixed collection of necessary cards that can be reused any number of times, so you only need to purchase this item once to participate in any number of Necronomicon drafts. Draft Starters contain rules for draft play, some utilitarian neutral cards, and a unique Necronomicon story deck that introduces two new story cards designed specifically for the Call of Cthulhu Draft Play experience.

These cards are clearly distinguished from both the larger Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game LCG card pool and the cards in the Necronomicon Draft Packs, allowing you to collect and sort them after each of your games. No matter how many Necronomicon drafts you play, you’ll only ever need one Draft Starter.

Draft Packs: The heart of each Necronomicon draft are its Necronomicon Draft Packs, each of which is an unique collection of fifty randomized cards, carefully compiled from a 240-card set called Necronomicon.

 All draft cards are clearly identified by a new icon, and starter pack cards are further distinguished from draft cards.

To learn more about how Necronomicon Draft Packs are created, visit the Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game Draft Play description page.

All cards in Necronomicon draft products, excepting the stories, are legal in standard Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game tournament play. However, because of variations in production color and card-stock resulting from our in-house manufacturing, players using draft cards in tournaments must sleeve their cards with opaque or art sleeves.

Begin Your Investigations

The portals have opened. The Ancient Ones begin to stir from their eons of slumber. Draft play has arrived to Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game!

Explore new options and face new challenges in the face of utter insanity. Pick up your Necronomicon Draft Starter and Draft Pack today!

Note: Necronomicon draft products do not serve as a replacement for the standard Call of Cthulhu LCG model. Instead, Necronomicon products allow players to enjoy the game through an additional format of play.

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Source: A New Form of Madness

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Maximum Firepower

Announcing the STAR WARS (TM): Armada Dice Pack

“Intensify forward firepower!”

    –Admiral Piett

Don’t wait until it’s too late to intensify your firepower.

The enemy fleet approaches firing range. Squadrons of starfighters race into position. Star Destroyers, corvettes, and frigates raise their shields and ready their weapons. The massive battles of Star Wars™: Armada are soon to begin.

As you prepare for the upcoming conflict, you’ll want to make sure your strategy is sound, your ships are in good repair, and you have all the ammunition you need. With the Star Wars™: Armada Dice Pack, you can better concentrate your fire, raining destruction upon your foes.

Plan for Every Contingency

In Armada, you need to learn how to plan ahead. Capital ships are massive war machines that measure hundreds of meters long and can boast crews that number in the thousands. They can’t dart nimbly about the battlefield like the starfighters that accompany them, and successful fleet admirals need to adjust their plans to the realities of their ships.

Even so, one of the best ways to ensure that your strategy meets as few impediments as possible is to plan for every possible contingency. While you’re commanding multiple capital ships and directing numerous starfighter squadrons, you don’t need additional surprises or distractions.

The nine custom dice in the Armada Dice Pack ensure that you’ll be ready for every eventuality. With its three blue, three black, and three red attack dice, you’ll focus less on rolling and more on finding the best possible shot.

Fully Armed and Operational

As your gunners take their stations, make sure your turbolaser batteries and your quad laser cannons are fully armed. With the Star Wars: Armada Dice Pack, you’ll have all the firepower you need to defeat any foe.

The Star Wars: Armada Dice Pack is scheduled for release in early 2015, at the same time as the Armada Core Set and the Wave One starship and squadron expansions.

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Source: Maximum Firepower

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Expand Your Fleet

Announcing the First Wave of Expansions for STAR WARS (TM): Armada

“The fleet will be here any moment.”
     –Leia Organa

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the upcoming release of the first wave of Star Wars™: Armada expansion packs!

     
• Victory-class Star Destroyer Expansion Pack
     
• CR90 Corellian Corvette Expansion Pack
     
• Nebulon-B Frigate Expansion Pack
     
• Assault Frigate Mark II Expansion Pack
     
• Gladiator-class Star Destroyer Expansion Pack
     
• Rebel Fighter Squadrons Expansion Pack
     
• Imperial Fighter Squadrons Expansion Pack

As you launch into Armada and its tactical fleet battles, these expansion packs allow you to customize and expand your fleet. Five of them introduce carefully detailed and pre-painted capital ships, each of which comes with its command dials, ship cards, an array of upgrade cards, and all the tokens and other components you need to deploy it into battle. Meanwhile, the fighter squadron expansion packs each come with eight sculpted squadrons, representing four different types of fighters. You’ll also find eight squadron cards, including one unique card for each type of squadron.

Use these expansions to grow your fleet or to tailor it around your favorite strategy. Either way, these ships, squadrons, and upgrades allow you to explore a vast range of tactics and strategies that reach beyond those available in the Core Set.

Victory-class Star Destroyer Expansion Pack

The largest and most powerful of the starships from the Armada Core Set, the Victory-class Star Destroyer formed the core of the Imperial Navy at the outset of the Galactic Civil War. These ships measure roughly nine-hundred meters in length, sport crews numbering over five-thousand, and feature a dagger-shaped design that allows them to concentrate nearly all their weapons on their forward firing arcs.

The Victory-class Star Destroyer Expansion Pack bolsters your fleet with one sculpted and pre-painted miniature Star Destroyer identical to the Star Destroyer miniature from the Core Set. It also comes with all requisite tokens and command dials, as well as more than a dozen ship and upgrade cards. The expansion’s two ship cards allow you to outfit your Star Destroyer as either a Victory I or Victory II, and its fourteen upgrades open a wide range of strategic possibilities as they allow you to upgrade your armament, your crew, and even your Star Destroyers themselves.

CR90 Corellian Corvette Expansion Pack

The first starship to appear in the classic Star Wars trilogy, the CR90 Corellian corvette is a small capital ship of roughly 150 meters that featured prominently in the Rebellion, largely due to its versatility. Often referred to as “blockade runners,” CR90 corvettes can be outfitted to slip through Imperial blockades, haul cargo, serve as trooper carriers, or engage Imperial ships in battle.

You can add one of these versatile starships to your Rebel fleet with the CR90 Corellian Corvette Expansion Pack. The expansion comes with one pre-painted miniature CR90 corvette, one command dial, all requisite tokens, and ship cards for both the CR90a and CR90b configurations. Additionally, eight upgrades allow you to equip your corvette for battle, including the commander card, Mon Mothma, and the Tantive IV title card.

Nebulon-B Frigate Expansion Pack

The Nebulon-B frigate was designed for the Imperial Navy by Kuat Drive Yards as a warship that could protect convoys from Rebel starfighters, but it was, ironically, a much more impactful ship within the Rebel fleet. At three-hundred meters long, a single Nebulon-B could boast twelve turbolasters and twelve laser cannons.

The showpiece of the Nebulon-B Expansion Pack is its detailed and pre-painted Nebulon-B frigate miniature, and the expansion then enhances this ship by supplying all the command dials and tokens you need to fly it, along with ship cards that allow you to build it into your fleet as a fighter escort or as a powerful support ship. Additionally, the expansion’s eight upgrade cards, which include two unique title cards, allow you to further customize your frigate’s role within your fleet.

Assault Frigate Mark II Expansion Pack

The largest and most heavily armed of the Rebellion’s first Armada starships, the Assault Frigate Mark II is a light warship seven-hundred meters long that sports a crew just under five-thousand and features a considerable armament of fifteen turbolaser batteries, fifteen laser cannons, and twenty quad laser cannons. Designed in secret by Rebel engineers, the Assault Frigate Mark II frequently surprises Imperial admirals with its speed.

The Assault Frigate Mark II Expansion Pack introduces one fully pre-painted Assault Frigate Mark II starship miniature, along with all the command dials and tokens that you need to bring it to battle. Two ship cards allow you to configure your Assault Frigate Mark II to better fit your fleet, and fourteen upgrade cards allow you to further refine its role within your fleet as you select your crew, upgrade your armament, and assign your commander.

Gladiator-class Star Destroyer Expansion Pack

Originally designed as an escort for larger Star Destroyers, the smaller Gladiator-class Star Destroyer measures roughly five-hundred meters and proved most effective as a long-range patrol ship deployed to the fringes of the galaxy. There, its brutal armament of turbolasers, concussion missiles, laser cannons, and TIE squadrons allowed it to quickly subjugate any local opposition to the Galactic Empire.

The Gladiator-class Star Destroyer Expansion Pack introduces one detailed and pre-painted miniature that the expansion’s two ship cards allow you to add to your fleet as either a Gladiator I or Gladiator II. You’ll also find all the command dials and tokens that you need to bring your Star Destroyer to battle, along with ten upgrade cards that can enhance its attacks, allow it to move between attacks, and improve its accuracy.

Rebel Fighter Squadrons Expansion Pack

Even in the largest of battles, a single pilot can sometimes prove the difference between victory and defeat. Some of the most pivotal battles of the Galactic Civil War have been decided by the Rebellion’s courageous starfighter pilots.

Squadrons play an important role in the tactical fleet battles of Star Wars: Armada. Though they’re dwarfed by the capital ships they accompany, squadrons are not to be ignored; swarms of them can take down even the largest of ships. By adding eight squadrons of A-wings, B-wings, X-wings, and Y-wings to your fleet, including unique squadrons led by such aces as Wedge Antilles and Tycho Celchu, the Rebel Fighter Squadrons Expansion Pack helps to tip the scales in your favor.

Imperial Fighter Squadrons Expansion Pack

In battle, the Empire deployed swarms of TIEs to neutralize enemy squadrons and safeguard its larger Star Destroyers and their superior firepower. These easily recognizable starfighters were designed for speed and maneuverability, rather than durability, and the aces who flew them through many battles quickly earned intimidating reputations for their combat skill and fanatical loyalty.

The Imperial Fighter Squadrons Expansion Pack introduces an array of eight starfighter squadrons, evenly split between four different types of fighters. By adding these TIE advanced, TIE interceptor, TIE bomber, and TIE fighter squadrons to your fleet, you’ll be able to swarm your foes, protect your capital ships, and send the Rebellion’s hopes down in flames.

A Fleet to Fit Your Tactics

Build your fleet, refine your tactics, and expand your Armada battles beyond the Core Set and its myriad possibilities with this first wave of expansion packs. All seven are scheduled to release in early 2015, at the same time as the Armada Core Set. Until then, keep your eyes open for more Armada previews, including previews of its fleet-building rules and the different tactical options presented by the Core Set and Wave One upgrades!

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Source: Expand Your Fleet

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A Champion's Perspective: X-Wing (TM), Pt 2

An Article on Preparation by 2014 North American Champion Rick Sidebotham

Today, we continue Rick’s Gen Con 2014 tournament report and hear what squads and situations he ran up against on his way to becoming Champion. If you missed yesterday’s article, be sure to read it first!

The Finals

After barely making it through the preliminary round, I was hoping for some better success in the Finals. As fate would have it, I was able to go 5-0, earning the top seed after five rounds of Swiss, and finish on top in each of my three single-elimination games. Here’s the list of the archetypes I faced during the Finals:

     
• Round 1: Double YT-1300 (Han Solo & Chewbacca)
     
• Round 2: TIE Swarm (Howlrunner with empty TIE Bombers)
     
• Round 3: Soontir Fel, Vessery, Lambda-Class Shuttle with Vader Crew
     
• Round 4: TIE Swarm (Howlrunner with TIE Fighters)
     
• Round 5: 3 Lambda-Class Shuttles with Bounty Hunter
     
• Top 8: 3 Lambda-Class Shuttles with Bounty Hunter
     
• Top 4: TIE Swarm (Howlrunner with TIE Fighters)
     
• Finals: Double YT-1300 (Lando & Chewbacca)

When looking back at these matchups, the first thing that jumps out at me is that I prepared fairly well for almost all of the archetypes represented. Every player I faced in the Finals was extremely talented, so again, I credit my preparation for much of the success I had.

Three of the eight games were against Howlrunner TIE Fighter or TIE Bomber swarms. During my playtesting, I found the pincer to be very effective against these types of swarms. Additionally, I was able to develop a pretty reliable approach path with Whisper that put my opponents in a difficult position. They have to decide to either turn and face him or head toward one of my other two ships. If they turn to face him, I can usually skirt around the edge at range 2-3 with 4 agility, 1 focus, and 1 evade token (very difficult to penetrate with multiple 2-dice attacks) while Yorr and Soontir inflict heavy damage from the flank. If they decide to ignore Whisper, he can easily get to within range 1 of Howlrunner while being outside of most, if not all, enemy arcs. All three of those games went pretty much according to plan.

I also had to play two games, back-to-back, against the same opponent fielding 3 Shuttles with a Bounty Hunter. This is a very deadly list in the hands of someone who knows how to use it (which my opponent, Dominic Cairo, definitely did); however, there was one thing I noticed about the list during tournament preparation. The shuttles need to get into proper position early in the game in order to control the board and dominate. Since they typically have a low Pilot Skill and deploy early, multi-Shuttle players learn how to deploy in ways that allow them to react to their opponents’ deployment and early moves so they can gain that critical positioning.

After realizing this, I developed a plan for asteroid placement that I feel greatly limits their ability to do so. I used this same asteroid placement in both my games, and I believe it was key in keeping my opponent from positioning his ships as he wanted early in the games. Our first game was very close, with me needing to eliminate a ship on the last turn of the game to get the win. In the second game, I altered some of my in-game tactics, allowing for a slightly greater margin of victory. But again, both games were very close, and I feel that without the asteroid placement I had developed during my preparation I could have been in big trouble.

While I didn’t practice against anything too similar to the squadron fielded by my round 3 opponent, it looked familiar. His shuttle and my Soontir chased each other around the board while our other ships mixed it up. I had some really hot attack dice early that limited what my opponent could do with Vessery. On a critical turn, I was able to pull a Koigran turn with Whisper (and Yorr taking the stress) that put him in position to eliminate my opponent’s Soontir. The game was pretty much over from there.

My first and last games of the day were both against double YT-1300 builds. They definitely had their differences, with the first one being offensive and the second being defensive, but during my playtesting I was able to come up with some pretty simple conclusions that greatly helped me in how I deal with double YT-1300 builds.

Both Whisper (with a focus and an evade token) and Soontir (with two focus and one evade) can on average take two three-dice attacks a turn and typically come out unscathed. It doesn’t matter if those sets come from two different ships or one of the ships with Luke or Gunner, as long as the three-dice attacks don’t become four dice at range 1 or grow into three or four attacks by taking shots from both ships with at least one having Luke or Gunner. There are going to be times when I roll more blanks than normal, but with no opportunity to dodge arcs against turreted ships, I just try to put my ships in the best position I can based on the math. That math pretty much held up in both games.

In the first game, I made a mistake that may have ended up helping me in the long run. I had put Whisper within range 1 of Chewbacca and range 2 of Han with Gunner and Marksmanship, but also barely overlapped Yorr with Soontir leaving Soontir without any focus or evade tokens. It took both Han and Chewbacca to kill a defenseless Soontir, but this allowed Whisper to remain safe even though he was too close. The next turn, Chewbacca went down and Han followed a few turns later.

In the last match of the day, I didn’t have Gunner/Luke to contend with so I was comfortable getting a lot closer. Once close in, I was able to use a tactic learned in my preparation that involves intentionally bumping Whisper into one of the YT-1300’s so long as I had a shot at the second YT-1300. This tactic works out great as it actually denies my opponent one four-dice attack in exchange for my action (which is typically evade.) I’ll take that trade any day.

Looking at the rest of the top 8 finishers, there were definitely some pretty tough lists I didn’t have to face. Any squadron that includes Han Solo with Veteran Instincts is a very tough matchup for my squadron. However, as I went through playtesting, I really felt like these lists could struggle in matchups where using the Elite Pilot Talent (EPT) slot on Veteran Instincts was a waste. By not taking Predator, Push the Limit, Draw Their Fire, or any of the other great EPTs out there I hoped the field would help me weed out all the Pilot Skill 11 Han Solo lists, and it did!

Thinking Outside of the Box

While this article focused mostly on my tournament preparation and the North American Championship, I want to close with this final thought: When deciding what to bring to your next tournament, think outside the box.

Most players put in some level of preparation prior to participating in a tournament. The bigger the tournament the greater amount of overall preparation put in by the participants. Out of the 14 games I played at the Championship only two of them were against lists that I hadn’t prepared for, and I lost both of them.
 The rest of the top 4 consisted of:

     
• Jeff Berling’s synergetic and defensive double YT-1300 build with Chewbacca and Lando. Creative, unexpected, and very effective in timed tournament games.
     
• Nick Jones’ classic Wave 1 Howlrunner with TIE Fighter Swarm. With many believing that this and similar builds are no longer effective, Nick was able to show the ability to adapt to and overcome new releases and tactics.
     
• Paul Heaver’s Han with Veteran Instincts, Biggs, and Tala Squadron Pilot. Successfully combining two squad archetypes and brutal on-the-table tactics to be able to take on just about anything.

I think each of these players fielded squadrons that were outside of what many other participants expected to see, and that, to at least some extent, contributed to their success. I wonder how many participants had prepared to face a squadron consisting of Whisper, Soontir Fel, and Yorr?

Thanks for reading. Fly-casual, and don’t be afraid to think outside the box!

Thanks, Rick!
 

That wraps up our look back at the X-Wing™ 2014 North American Championship. We hope to see you at next year's Gen Con for the 2015 North American Championship or early next year for our Store Championships!

© and ™ Lucasfilm Ltd.

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Source: A Champion's Perspective: X-Wing (TM), Pt 2

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Monsters of Primal Myth

Preview an Ancient One and the Adventures of Mountains of Madness

The things once rearing and dwelling in this frightful masonry in the age of dinosaurs were not indeed dinosaurs, but far worse… They were the makers and enslavers of that life, and above all doubt the originals of the fiendish elder myths which things like the Pnakotic Manuscripts and the Necronomicon affrightedly hint about.
   –H. P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness

 

Eons ago, sentient life forms stronger and more ruthless than mankind ruled the earth. These Elder Things enslaved other species and built a civilization far more advanced than our own. But as earth’s climate changed, the Elder Things lost their power and withdrew to what is now Antarctica, waiting out the millennia for a time when they might rise again. In the Mountains of Madness expansion for Eldritch Horror, that time has come. The Elder Things are awakening, and you must prevent them from retaking control of the world.

Today’s preview focuses on the Rise of the Elder Things, one of the two Ancient Ones that you can combat in Mountains of Madness. We will also look at the expansion’s Adventures, which guide your Antarctic expedition and reward you for braving the continent’s terrible conditions and terrifying horrors.

The Rise of the Elder Things

When Professor Lake and the other members of the Miskatonic University expedition found star-shaped, tentacled, and winged creatures in the Antarctic ice, they understood the monumental significance of their discovery, but not the monumental threat these creatures posed. They thought they had found frozen fossils, but instead found living, vicious, and enraged Elder Things. Since then, the Elder Things have only become stronger. There are even reports of them venturing beyond Antarctica. Your struggle against them may therefore take place on multiple fronts: in Antarctica, Arkham, the Heart of Africa, or even in Other Worlds.

Because the Elder Things are pernicious and persistent creatures, and because the necessary Antarctic journey is an immense undertaking, a larger Mythos deck grants you and your fellow investigators more time to defeat them. To fight their brainwashed Cultists, you must test your knowledge of arcane lore. If you manage to break the power that the Elder Things hold over a Cultist, however, he will join you as an Ally and aid you in your investigation.

To quell the Elder Things you must solve four mysteries, one more than is necessary to defeat other Ancient Ones. Your search for answers will certainly lead you south to Antarctica, where you will follow in the footsteps of Professor Lake and his colleagues. You may have to visit the Miskatonic Outpost and defeat a Crazed Elder Thing, so horrifying that seeing it can instantly wreck an investigator’s sanity. To kill it, you’ll need a weapon created by the Elder Things’ ancient enemies, the alien Mi-Go.

You may seek clues in the prehistoric City of the Elder Things beyond the Snowy Mountains, fight brainwashed Cultists at Lake Camp, or enter an Other World from Shanghai only to exit it on the icy, transdimensional Plateau of Leng. Or you may end up investigating an international string of mysterious disappearances in cities across the globe, tracking down a rumoured human trafficking circle or investigating a quaint inn where travelers check in, but never leave. If allowed to run free, the Elder Things will use their speed, strength, and vast intelligence to subjugate humans as they have countless other species. By solving their mysteries, you can save the human race.

The Path of a Doomed Expedition

If you are fighting the Rise of the Elder Things as your Ancient One, it is inevitable that some investigator on your team will undertake a journey to Antarctica. Yet such an expedition is still a worthwhile undertaking even if you are fighting Azathoth, Yig, or Cthulhu. If you choose to play with the Antarctica side board, but are battling an Ancient One other than the Rise of the Elder Things, Adventures guide your Antarctic expedition. They compose a three part story, assigning your team of investigators specific tasks and offering substantial rewards for success.

At the beginning of the game, you’ll draw an Antarctica I Adventure which will lay the groundwork for your journey to Antarctica. Raising Funds for an Expedition, for example, compels you to go to Arkham and test your influence in order to gain a funding condition and retreat Doom by one. Once the preliminary step is completed, you’ll draw an Antarctica II adventure guiding you on the early stages of your expedition. If you draw Excavating the Elder Things, you'll have to visit Lake Camp and encounter the horrors that Professor Lake unearthed there. Once you’ve performed your research there, an Antarctica III adventure may take you to the City of the Elder Things in order to defeat the Rampaging Shoggoth monster that dwells deep within the ruins. Killing it allows you to advance the active mystery– that could involve placing a clue or Eldritch token on the mystery, or dealing damage to a more fearsome Epic Monster.

Face What You Fear

The cruel and cunning Elder Things will not be satisfied with slaughtering explorers and ravaging outposts. They have global ambitions, and their awakening deep in the ice has global repercussions, from gates opening in the Amazon to cult-related abductions in London. Whether you spearhead a worldwide fight against their rise, or undertake an Antarctic expedition within your struggle against Azathoth or Shug-Niggurath, in Mountains of Madness you must confront the horrors awakened by the Miskatonic University expedition… or else watch as humanity falls under their control.

Our next preview will feature the other Ancient One introduced in this expansion, as well as the Prelude cards that introduce a unique starting setup to each game of Eldritch Horror.

Pre-order Mountains of Madness from your local retailer today.

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Source: Monsters of Primal Myth

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Fantasy Flight Games to Merge into the Asmodee Group (TM)

A Press Release and Q&A on the Merger

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce an upcoming merger with the Asmodee Group™! Please read below for a press release and a short Q&A on the subject of the merger.

FANTASY FLIGHT GAMES® TO MERGE INTO ASMODEE GROUP™

Paris, France; Roseville MN, November 17th, 2014. Today, Asmodee – a leading international publisher and distributor – and Fantasy Flight Games – a worldwide recognized hobby games publisher – proudly announced the pending merger of the two companies. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Asmodee Group of game companies will gain access to Fantasy Flight Games’ strong sales, operational and marketing infrastructure in North America, as well as Fantasy Flight Games’ almost-20 years of expertise in game development and multi-language game manufacturing.

Fantasy Flight Games will benefit from Asmodee’s impressive distribution and marketing reach in Europe, greatly improving its product placement and organized play initiatives across the continent.

“I am delighted to welcome Christian and his team to the Asmodee Group,” said Stéphane Carville, CEO of Asmodee Group. “Fantasy Flight Games is a highly reputed publisher within the gaming community. It has demonstrated its ability to create great games and to establish fantastic relationships within the hobby games market and large entertainment companies. Together, we will continue to bring unique, innovative and high-quality games to gamers worldwide.”

“Fantasy Flight Games has enjoyed tremendous growth over the last 10 years,” said Christian T. Petersen, CEO and founder of Fantasy Flight Games. “By joining forces with Asmodee, we’ll be able to continue that growth, expand our international marketing capabilities, and create additional career opportunities for our terrific staff. Most importantly, we can do this while staying true to our vision of creating great products for the global hobby games market.”

Fantasy Flight Games will continue to operate out of its Roseville, MN headquarters, where its hardworking creative teams will keep creating those ambitious and narrative hobby games experiences for which Fantasy Flight Games has become known. Christian T. Petersen will continue as the CEO of Fantasy Flight Games while also becoming a significant shareholder of the combined entity. No staffing changes are anticipated.

Asmodee and Fantasy Flight Games Merger Q&A

A few questions related to the Asmodee and Fantasy Flight Games (“FFG”) merger have been anticipated below.

How will FFG’s and Asmodee’s product lines be affected?

FFG’s new and existing product lines will continue to be developed by FFG and sold under the FFG logo. FFG will stay a fully independent publisher in the Asmodee Group, and intends to keep creating the best games possible. A few of FFG’s products, whose identity may be deemed a better fit under a different Asmodee Group brand, may transition within the group.

Similarly, Asmodee’s existing and new products will continue to be developed by Asmodee’s creative staff and/or affiliate studios, and published under the Asmodee, or the independent studios’, logo. Those Asmodee games deemed a great fit for FFG may transition to FFG’s catalog.

The Asmodee Group has close business ties with a number of important board game publishers, such as Repos, Matagot, Ystari and others. How will the merger impact those relationships?

The union gives Asmodee and its partners access to FFG’s strong logistical and operational presence in North America, as well as access to FFG’s proprietary development tools and manufacturing infrastructure. Beyond those advantages, the identity, product development, marketing (such as website and convention presence) and sales representation of Asmodee’s close publishing partners will be unaffected.

FFG has many important intellectual property licenses. How will these be affected, and will other Asmodee partners and affiliates be able to take advantage of those licenses?

FFG expects to retain all of its licensing relationships, and will work with both Asmodee and its licensors to extend licensing potential to those parts of the Asmodee Group that makes sense for the overall product strategy and the individual license.

How will North American hobby market retailers and distributors be affected by this merger?

There are no immediate plans to change any of FFG’s or Asmodee’s hobby market retailer or distributor relationships in North America.

Most game retailers outside the U.S.A purchase FFG’s product from international distributors, many of whom translate and publish FFG’s product in their local languages. How will these distributors work with the combined entity?

For the foreseeable future, it is anticipated that current and upcoming FFG products will continue to be localized and sold by FFG’s existing international partners. Asmodee intends to work with those same distributors to broaden product availability, marketing presence, and organized play support where possible.

When should international players expect to see improvements to FFG’s organized play programs?

While incremental progress will happen sooner, players should expect that it will take more than a year for all intended improvements to be implemented.

About Fantasy Flight Games and the Asmodee Group

Fantasy Flight Games is a leading hobby games market publisher in the board, card, roleplaying, and miniature game categories. Fantasy Flight Games’ best-known titles include games based on licenses such as Battlestar Galactica, The Lord of the Rings, Sid Meier’s Civilization, and Star Wars, as well as proprietary titles such as Arkham Horror and Descent: Journeys in the Dark. Fantasy Flight Games’ principal executive offices are located at 1995 County Road B-2 West, St. Paul, MN 55113, United States of America.

Asmodee Group is a leading international games publisher and distributor with operations located in Europe, the United States, and China. Asmodee’s best known titles, either published or distributed on behalf of key publishing partners, include Ticket to Ride, Splendor, 7 Wonders, Dixit, Takenoko, Abyss, Timeline, Dobble, Jungle Speed, and Werewolves of Millers Hollow. In some European countries, Asmodee also distributes trading card games such as Pokemon, Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh!. Asmodee’s head office is located at 18 rue Jacqueline Auriol, 78041 Guyancourt France.

 

Asmodee Contact:
CICOMMUNICATION, Marion Felix
felix@cicommunication.com
(33) 1 47 23 90 48

 

 

 

Fantasy Flight Games Contact:
Stephen Horvath, SVP of Marketing and Communications
shorvath@fantasyflightgames.com
 

 

 

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Source: Fantasy Flight Games to Merge into the Asmodee Group (TM)

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Bounty Hunters and Monsters

Preview the Mercenary Faction in Imperial Assault

“Mos Eisley spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.”
   –Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars: A New Hope

Command the massed forces of the Galactic Empire in Imperial Assault, an upcoming miniatures game of Star Wars adventure and combat for two to five players. When you play as the Imperial player, you must crush the upstart Rebellion that plagues the galaxy, and to do that, you can hire the galaxy’s least savory beings to finish the job.

Imperial Assault invites you to experience your battles and adventures in two complete games. The campaign game allows you to explore an expanding story, weaving an engaging narrative with story missions and side missions as every character gains new skills and abilities. The skirmish game, on the other hand, offers two players the chance to muster unique armies before doing battle over conflicting objectives in a test of tactical acumen.

In past previews, we’ve looked at the might of the Empire in the campaign game. We previewed the Imperial figures and we explored the threat, Class cards, and agendas that the Imperial player can take advantage of. Today, we turn to those who will fight alongside the Empire if the price is right – the Mercenary figures in Imperial Assault!

Deadly Hunters

The Mercenaries of Imperial Assault find skilled fighters in the Trandoshan Hunters. Trandoshans are specially gifted as bounty hunters and brawlers, and many campaign missions find them fighting alongside Stormtroopers and other soldiers of the Empire.

Trandoshan Hunters feature a variety of surge abilities that can be triggered during combat. Like the nexu, they can spend a surge to inflict the Bleeding condition on the target of their attack, and they can also use surges to pierce their opponent’s armor and ignore blocks rolled against their attack. Elite Trandoshan Hunters are well-accustomed to the hunt, and they can spend a surge to become Focused, granting an extra green die to their next attack.

The Trandoshan Hunters’ other abilities reflect their preference for close combat. The Relentless ability lets them inflict a strain when they attack any figure within three spaces, giving you a way to reduce the heroes’ options for movement and triggering special abilities. Trandoshan Hunters are also equipped with Scatterguns. This ability allows them to apply an additional damage when they attack an adjacent figure. Elite Trandoshan Hunters feature an improved version of this ability with the ACP Scattergun, which applies two extra damage to attacks against adjacent figures.

Ferocious Monsters

Native to the planet Cholganna, the nexu is one of the most feared carnivores in the galaxy. With razor claws, a whipping tail, spines running down its back, and a mouth filled with fangs, the nexu is the consummate predator. In the Imperial Assault campaign game, some of these deadly creatures have been tamed by the Mercenary faction, and they are now used as attack beasts, defending key locations from Rebel spies or other intruders.

In battle, nexu are fast and deadly melee combatants with an array of keywords and abilities. All nexu share the Mobile keyword, reflecting their natural agility and familiarity with the wilderness. The Mobile keyword enables a nexu to bypass the movement restrictions of terrain, including allowing entrance to impassible or blocking terrain and ignoring extra movement costs from difficult terrain or spaces containing hostile figures. Nexu also bear the Bleed keyword, meaning that whenever a nexu’s attack causes damage, it inflicts the Bleeding condition. As long as a figure is Bleeding, he must suffer one strain after resolving an action until he uses an action to remove the condition. Nexu also have a variety of ways to increase the amount of damage they deal. They can spend surges to pierce armor or increase damage, and they also have the capability to cleave other targets. If you use the Cleave ability, you may deal the listed amount of damage to another figure adjacent to the nexu. Elite nexu can even cleave two damage without spending a surge!

Nexu also offer a variety of special abilities that can be triggered outside of combat. The Pounce ability allows you to place the nexu in any empty space within three spaces and immediately perform an attack. This ability gives you tremendous power to traverse the battlefield and suddenly attack a Rebel hero who may have thought himself safe from harm. Nexu are also difficult to pin down with an attack. The Cunning ability grants them an extra block for each evade result they roll on the defense die. Since a nexu rolls the white defense die, it will gain an extra block on half of the attacks made against it. Finally, although nexu are dangerous in combat, they are not truly sentient. The Non-Sentient ability prevents a nexu from interacting with terminals, doors, or other objects in any mission, inviting you to focus them completely on rending your opponents apart.

A Mechanical Foe

In Imperial Assault, the Trandoshan Hunters and the nexu are joined by a Droid even more dangerous than them – IG-88, an Assassin Droid. IG-88 is one of the galaxy’s most feared bounty hunters, and any Rebel unfortunate enough to face this Droid in a mission may simply choose to turn and flee.

In battle, IG-88 possesses a variety of unique surge abilities provided by his armor, weapons, and programming. First, he applies a constant additional block to every defense and two additional accuracy to every attack, allowing him to shake off more damage and make successful attacks from further away. He can also spend a surge to recover three damage as his internal machinery repairs any damage. Finally, he can unleash the full power of his specialized weaponry by spending a surge to deal two additional damage.

IG-88 also offers a variety of powerful abilities in combat. IG-88 can choose any combination of two attack dice for his attack pool with the Arsenal ability. This ability offers IG-88 the opportunity to specifically alter his attack pool based on how close his target is. Two blue dice gives an attack maximum possible range, but you may choose to use two red dice against closer targets to cause the maximum amount of possible damage. IG-88 also bears the Relentless ability, like the Trandoshan Hunters. With this ability, IG-88 will inflict a strain on his target whenever he declares an attack against a nearby figure. Finally, IG-88 has the Assault ability, which lets him make multiple attacks during each activation. Most of the Imperial player’s figures are limited to one attack per activation, but when you command IG-88, you can unleash an unending hail of destruction against your foes.

Hire the Mercenaries

No matter what mission you command the Mercenaries of the galaxy in, they’ll undoubtedly prove to be a potent asset for the Imperial player. Gather your best hunters, and prepare to exterminate the Rebels forever!

In our previews so far, we’ve focused exclusively on the Imperial Assault campaign game. In our next preview, however, we turn to the tense, tactical missions that make up the skirmish game. Check back for our first preview of the Imperial Assault skirmish game and pre-order Imperial Assault at your local retailer today!

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Source: Bounty Hunters and Monsters

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STAR WARS (R): Force and Destiny (TM) Beta Update 10

News From the Developers of the Force and Destiny Beta

Hello Force and Destiny™ beta testers,

This week’s playtesting update (pdf, 326 KB) is fairly light. Our primary focus is on some changes to starships and vehicles. Some of these changes are to make some of the ships more durable, while, in one case, the goal is to ensure cross-compatibility with the other Star Wars RPG game lines. As we look forward to the next round of updates, we are interested in hearing more feedback about our new starships and vehicles, especially those with which the PCs can start their games, such as the Pathfinder and G9 Rigger.

Make Sure Your Voice Is Heard

By now, it’s probably no surprise that we’re nearing the end of our beta testing process for Force and Destiny. At this stage, we want to encourage anyone with urgent or important feedback to submit it to us as soon as possible. Your time for offering feedback is now limited, and we want you to make sure your voice is heard as we continue refining the Force and Destiny Core Rulebook to make it the best possible system for playing as Force-users in the Star Wars universe.

We will not have a beta update next week; instead we will spend the next two weeks accumulating feedback from beta testers on any issues you have found in your playtesting that have not yet been addressed.

As we wrap up this beta test, we just want to thank you all one more time for all the hard work you’ve put into this. The current version of Force and Destiny is much improved over the version we started testing back in August, and that’s thanks to your diligent efforts. Great work, everyone!

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Source: STAR WARS (R): Force and Destiny (TM) Beta Update 10

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Android: Archived Memories

Insights from the Developers of the Android Universe

Archived Memories is a periodic series of articles in which the developers of the Android universe look at the challenges, processes, and rewards unique to the development of a constantly evolving world set in the far future and deeply rooted in human motives and ambitions.

In our last run into Archived Memories, we accessed an interview with Matt Zeilinger, one of the most influential artists working with Android: Netrunner. During his interview, Matt discussed his enthusiasm for getting to work with the game’s very human Runners,  who just happen to have some quirks and talents that make them extraordinary. Today, Dan Clark, co-designer of the Android universe, takes another look at what makes these Runners tick.

Developer Dan Clark on the Android: Netrunner Core Set Runners

Early in the design of Android: Netrunner, the runner factions were called “classes,” they had names like “Brute,” “Infector,” and “Ghost,” and they focused on the different ways that runners overcame the challenges before them. The problem was these were thematically too narrow. They begged for new classes, and the game couldn’t support an unlimited expansion of factions. They were all relatively flavorful and could inspire some compelling characters, but they didn’t give us the range we wanted.

We tried a handful of solutions to this conundrum before settling on the motivation-based factions that are in the game today. The Anarch, Criminal, and Shaper factions are broad tents, relatively comprehensive, and each capable of hosting a wide variety of interesting runner identities. We were pleased with what the factions offered us, so from there, we had to choose which characters to use as our first entries into each faction.

Ji “Noise” Reilly

         

Noise first appeared as a murder suspect in the board game, Android.

Noise is a Heinlein-born g-mod who has been on the wrong side of the law many times, although the charges never seem to stick. He’s young, reasonably handsome, incredibly intelligent, and from a wealthy, respected family. His parent’s weren’t risties, but they were rich enough to afford a brighter future for their child. He should by all rights be living the life of a well-compensated corp tech, programmer, or financier. Instead, he has turned to a life of cybercrime. It’s difficult to tell what motivates someone like Noise, whose mind is enhanced to the point where he may literally be too smart for everyday people to understand. But he does seem to be angry about something, and perhaps his actions are a rebellion against the life his parents and the corporate system chose for him.

Created by designer and producer Kevin Wilson, art director Zoë Robinson, and artist Julie Dillon, Noise first appeared in the Android board game as one of the murder suspects. Kevin’s direction for Noise (and for all the suspects) was that he should seem untrustworthy, like someone whom the audience could easily believe was the murderer. He was conceived as a post-punk punk and computer hacker. In short, he was the quintessential runner, before we had any idea that we’d be developing Android: Netrunner.

Later, once we started to work on the game, it seemed obvious and inevitable that Noise would return. With his dangerous but unpredictable intellect, not to mention his fashion sense, Noise seemed like a natural fit as the first Runner identity for the Anarch faction.

Noise from the Android: Netrunner Core Set (left) and the 2014 North American Championship Tournament prize kit (right).

Gabriel Correa Santiago

Born in New Angeles and raised off-grid, Gabriel Correa Santiago never had a future as a normal, law-abiding citizen. Disenfrancistos in the undercity of New Angeles, like Gabriel once was, have no obvious path out. With no official IDs, they can’t easily get government assistance or education, not to mention jobs. The jobs they can find are difficult or dangerous, usually illegal, and the pay is awful. Things have only gotten worse with the rise of androids driving wages down. So the fact that Gabriel turned to a life of crime isn’t surprising; what is surprising is that he found he was very good at it.

When he first appeared in Infiltration, Gabriel Correa Santiago was the “tech expert.”

Gabriel got his start in chip-ripping and PAD-cracking, but it didn’t take him long to start learning the trade and moving on to bigger and better things. He never received formal schooling, but he received a top class education in running from years of on-the-job training and a series of increasingly learned and sinister mentors in both meatspace and on the shadow net. Now Gabriel is one of the most accomplished cybercriminals you’ll find anywhere – not just in New Angeles, but in the solar system. And all this time, he’s never forgotten his first rule: look out for yourself, ‘cuz no one else will.

Gabriel Correa Santiago was originally created for Donald X. Vaccarino’s Android: Infiltration card game. I worked on Gabriel with producer Frank Mark Darden, art director Zoë Robinson, and artist Kelley Harris. In that game, each of the criminals had a flavorful role. Mr. White was “the Brains,” for example, and Monica Singh was “the Assassin.” Gabriel was the “Tech Expert,” and at the time that was all he was intended to be. But as our plans for Android: Netrunner took shape, and we realized that we wanted to bring back Noise, it seemed like bringing back Gabe would also make a lot of sense.

Once the Criminal faction was finalized, and we realized how perfect and emblematic an example of that faction Gabriel could be, the decision was final. Gabriel got his promotion from “Tech Expert” to world-class runner. That meant that two of our three Core Set Runner identities were recurring characters from prior games. We decided to do something different for our third runner.

Gabriel Santiago as he appears in the Android: Netrunner Core Set (left) and on the alternate art card that was distributed during the Plugged-in Tour.

Kate “Mac” McCaffrey

         

Mac was born and raised in BosWash, the daughter of a single father who more or less raised her in his garage working on increasingly outdated automobiles. He bragged he was the only man in a hundred klicks who could repair a combustion engine, but when Mac tried to follow in his footsteps he told her not to. “This is guy stuff, sweetie,” he said. So began Mac’s lifelong habit of doing everything she was told she couldn’t or shouldn’t do. She rebuilt combustion engines. She played hockey. She modded electronics. She took boxing lessons. She wrote her own code. Anytime some suggested she was too young, or too small, or too female to do something, she threw herself wholeheartedly into it. Somehow, along the way, she became one of the world’s premier cybercriminals and builders of illegal hardware and software.               It’s a life that agrees with her, and it lets her meet like-minded friends and explore her own abilities and desires. She probably could use her talents to go legit, but people keep saying that their servers are impenetrable, or that she should watch out because the NAPD might catch her, and Mac is nothing if not stubborn…

         

Kate “Mac” McCaffrey is the only one of the three Core Set Runners to make her first appearance in Android: Netrunner. She received an alternate art treatment for the 2013 Season Two Game Night Kit.

Kate “Mac” McCaffrey was the only Core Set runner created solely for Android: Netrunner. We already had two male runners in Gabriel Santiago and Noise, so we knew we wanted our third runner to be a woman. Given that Noise was a g-mod (genetically modified) and Gabe was a cyborg, we also wanted our third runner to be a “natural,” a normal, unmodified human. From there, we brainstormed a bunch of fun character concepts, trying to find the one that both best encapsulated the Shaper philosophy and would have strong and broad appeal for our audience. One of these other concepts, by the way, later became Chaos Theory, the second Shaper runner.

I created Mac with Android: Netrunner designer Lukas Litzsinger, art director Andrew Navaro, and artist Ralph Beisner. She was designed to offer a more hands-on, “earthy” approach to technology, and also an approach that was more joyful. She definitely evokes a mechanic with her toolbelt and goggles, and her name is an homage to classic science-fiction author Anne McCaffrey and modern geek pop culture icons Mac (from Veronica Mars) and Kaylee Fry (from Firefly). Her name was initially Katie McCaffrey, but the design team ultimately decided that it made her sound too young and secondary to her co-stars Noise and Gabriel Santiago, so she now goes by Kate.

Thanks, Dan!

The Android universe continues to grow with each new Data Pack and deluxe expansion for Android: Netrunner, and its growth, in turn, inspires new cards, including new Corp and Runner identities. In fact, in a future installment of Archived Memories, designer Lukas Litzsinger will look at some of the ways that the personalities of the Android universe inspire and shape the direction of Android: Netrunner.

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Source: Android: Archived Memories

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The Hunt Begins

The Howl of Blackmane Is Now Available for Warhammer 40,000: Conquest

The deadly conflicts and tactical considerations of the Warlord cycle begin with The Howl of Blackmane, now available at your local retailer!

With this War Pack for Warhammer 40,000: Conquest, you can start the hunt for your opponent’s warlord across the planets and battlefields of the Traxis sector. This expansion introduces sixty new cards, including a new warlord for the Space Marines, his signature squad, and three copies each of seventeen other cards. As we explored in the announcement, you now have the chance to embark on a wild hunt with Ragnar Blackmane and his Space Wolves, stalking your opponent’s warlord wherever he may hide until all enemies of the Emperor are destroyed.

Of course, you’ll find support for every other faction in this War Pack as well. You may perform noble deeds with the Astra Militarum, or devote yourself to the pestilence of Nurgle with the Death Guard. Eldar Harlequins, Tau Ethereals, and Ork Boyz each join the struggle for the Traxis sector in The Howl of Blackmane.

Alternatively, if you’re already planning the tortures that await your prisoners, you may turn to the Dark Eldar in search of the tools you need to conquer.

A Truly Invigorating Death

You’ll find plenty of cruel Dark Eldar tactics in The Howl of Blackmane, beginning with Visions of Agony (The Howl of Blackmane, 14). This Torture event can be played anytime as an Action, and it allows you to look at your opponent’s hand, immediately giving you vital information concerning what may await your armies in the Traxis sector. Not only that, but you can choose and discard any one card from your opponent’s hand, negating the most potent threat to your plans! A well-timed Visions of Agony can remove a powerful event like Exterminatus (Core Set, 26) or Doom (Core Set, 141) from your opponent’s hand. Or, you could remove a card with a large amount of shields, clearing the way for a punishing attack against your opponent’s warlord.

The Dark Eldar also gain a heavy-hitting Elite unit with the Uber Grotesque (The Howl of Blackmane, 13). This Creature features a high HP, promising your opponent will have to work to destroy this unit. It also bears the text, “Reaction: After you play a Torture event card, this unit gets +3 ATK until the end of the phase. (Limit once per phase.)” By playing a Torture event like Visions of Agony or Power from Pain (Core Set, 116), you can turn your Uber Grotesque into a monstrous attacker, able to bloody warlords like Captain Cato Sicarius (Core Set, 1) or Zarathur, High Sorcerer (Core Set, 4) in a single blow.

In Warhammer 40,000: Conquest, winning command struggles at planets is your most efficient way of gaining new resources and cards. One way to deny your opponent the spoils of victory is to deploy units with more command icons to the contested planet, or commit your warlord to that planet. Archon’s Palace (The Howl of Blackmane, 15) gives the Dark Eldar another tool to strangle your opponent’s resources or card draw. By exhausting this support when your opponent wins a command struggle, you can cancel either the card bonus or the resource bonus of the planet this round! If the planet, like Osus IV or Barlus, only provides a resource bonus or a card bonus, you can keep your opponent from gaining anything by using Archon’s Palace.

Join the Hunt

The Howl of Blackmane gives you the chance to hunt for your opponent’s warlord in entirely new ways. Whether you charge into battle with Ragnar Blackmane or undermine your opponent’s plans with the Dark Eldar, you’ll find the cards to vanquish your opponent and claim the Traxis sector in this War Pack.

Pick up your copy of The Howl of Blackmane at your local retailer today!

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Source: The Hunt Begins

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Start Your Quest

The Witcher Adventure Game Is Now Available

Sharpen your blades and prepare your spells: The Witcher Adventure Game is now available at your local retailer and online through our webstore!

Enter the Northern Kingdoms and fight to become the most renowned hero in the realm in The Witcher Adventure Game, a board game of crucial quests and desperate battles in the world of The Witcher. In every game, two to four players take on the roles of iconic characters: Geralt of Rivia, Triss Merigold, Dandelion, or Yarpen Zigrin. Only by completing quests, developing your skills, and battling monsters can you gain the renown you need to establish your name and shape the history of the Northern Kingdoms!

An Epic Journey

In past previews, we’ve explored various aspects of The Witcher Adventure Game. Our first preview focused on the actions that you take each turn, which allow you to experience the world of The Witcher. You’ll need to move to follow your quests, but moving can prove dangerous. You can also choose to develop your character and improve your skills or investigate the land around you, discovering helpful information or suffering deadly setbacks. Evil circumstances may even force you to rest from your travels, taking time to recover from your wounds.

The second preview examined the way you pursue victory. You must complete quests to win The Witcher Adventure Game, using your military might, your knowledge of magic, or your diplomatic aplomb. Of course, a quest is far more complicated than just a simple objective. Side quests give you other opportunities to earn victory points by completing other tasks, such as spending money, traveling the realm, or slaying monsters. Support quests, on the other hand, give you the chance to temporarily work together with your opponents, granting victory points to both players.

We also delved deep into the daunting obstacles that stand in your way as you travel throughout the realm. Monsters spill into the Northern Kingdoms from other spheres, and only the greatest of heroes can dispatch them. While fighting a battle, you must roll the battle dice and your hero dice, attempting to slay the beast while protecting yourself from harm. You must use your resources carefully if you wish to successfully attain both goals. Other ills may also befall you as you journey throughout the land. You may be forced to draw a Foul Fate card, which may cause you to become poisoned, or waylaid by bandits!

Our final two previews explored the four heroes you may play in The Witcher Adventure Game: Geralt the Witcher, Triss the sorceress, Dandelion the bard, and Yarpen the dwarven warrior. Each hero has a distinct style of play and different skills to help him along the way. Geralt, for instance, is a master of combat, whereas Dandelion survives by his wits and his silver tongue. Triss Merigold’s magical skill is unmatched, and Yarpen can command the aid of his dwarven kin. Each of these heroes must complete different quests to achieve victory, making every game of The Witcher Adventure Game unique.

The Adventure Begins

Your quests in the Northern Kingdoms are about to begin! Learn more by downloading the rules for The Witcher Adventure Game from the support page, and watch the game’s video tutorial on YouTube. Gather renown and prepare for an adventure that will shake the world!

Pick up your copy of The Witcher Adventure Game at your local retailer today!

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Source: Start Your Quest

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Wave V Is Now Available

Blast into Action With Two Large New X-Wing (TM) Starships

Fly at full throttle. Blast through asteroids and debris fields. Pummel your foes with big guns. The fifth wave of X-Wing™ starship expansions has arrived!

Now available at retailers everywhere, X-Wing Wave V consists of the Rebel YT-2400 Freighter Expansion Pack and the Imperial VT-49 Decimator Expansion Pack.

Altogether, Wave V introduces two large-base ships, six unique pilots, and a war chest’s worth of new upgrades that include such notable crew members as Dash Rendar, Lando Calrissian, Mara Jade, and Moff Jerjerrod. Additionally, Wave V marks the arrival of the game’s first World Champion cards, Dash Rendar and Stay on Target, and both of its ships come with punishing turret weapons that are bound to obliterate many smaller starfighters in battles across the galaxy!

A New Imperial Tactic

In several ways, the VT-49 Decimator flies in the face of standard Imperial tactics. It is the first Imperial starship to feature a turret weapon capable of firing in a full 360-degree arc, and where most Imperial starships feature little or no shielding, but demand that their pilots make good use of their tremendous agility, the Decimator has absolutely zero agility. Instead, it features a whopping four shields and twelve hull.

Naturally, the result of such a unique ship design is the potential for unique, new squadron designs, and the introduction of the VT-49 Decimator may single-handedly herald the introduction of a new Imperial archetype.

A 360-degree view of the VT-49 Decimator

The standard by which Imperial squadrons have long been judged is the TIE swarm, a venerable and perennially successful X-Wing squadron archetype whose origins date back to the release of the Core Set and TIE Fighter Expansion Pack. Indeed, it may be the game’s single most important archetype to-date, and it relies upon the same numerical superiority and efficient starfighters that first drew the Empire toward swarm tactics.

Apart from “Howlrunner,” who enhances all her wingmates, TIE swarms don’t rely upon famous pilots and their unique abilities. You can just take any non-unique pilot, even one fresh out of the Academy, and sit them in the cockpit. From there, you let the TIE’s natural efficiency take over. With their two attack dice, three agility, and three hull, TIE fighters piloted by Academy Pilots are right near (or at) the top of X-Wing efficiency.

They are also extremely limited in their versatility and prone to one-shot obliteration. TIE swarms also tend to get picked apart once skillful players whittle down their numbers and force them to split their fire between multiple targets. When you face a TIE swarm, you more or less know what sort of tricks and tactics you’re going to see over the course of a game.

By contrast, the VT-49 Decimator offers an immense amount of customization, both among its pilots and with its upgrades. The abilities of the Decimator’s pilots suggest wildly different tactics. Whereas Rear Admiral Chiraneau gains performs best while keeping his foes at a distance, Captain Oicunn prefers to slam straight into them.

Similarly, the expansion’s crew members do everything from helping to keep the ship from exploding, like Moff Jerjerrod and Ysanne Isard, to encouraging you to engage multiple foes at Range 1 at the same time, like Mara Jade.

Indeed, the Decimator benefits from a vast array of options permitted by its three crew slots, its ability to equip a torpedo and a bomb, and the talents of its three unique pilots, as well as any elite pilot talents they can utilize. Altogether, they mean there’s absolutely no reason that any two Decimators should ever need to pursue the same course of action. Like the TIE phantom, whose pilots have inspired fear in squadrons who may never even face them, the VT-49 Decimator is bound to shake up the X-Wing metagame. It’s not just a powerful, resilient, hard-hitting starship; it’s a threat that the Empire can now wield like a club.

For more information about the VT-49 Decimator and its upgrades, you can read our preview article, “Ruthlessness and Intimidation.”

Fly Where You Want

The YT-2400 is a remarkable addition to X-Wing and the Rebel fleet for two key reasons:

• It’s the game’s first large-base ship to feature the barrel roll action.
     
• When equipped with the Outrider Title, the YT-2400 can wield a turret-mounted cannon, but then it becomes the first starship that cannot perform attacks with its primary weapon.

A 360-degree view of the YT-2400

Naturally, these two key component’s of the ship’s identity play off of each other, and they go a long ways toward describing its personality. Piloted most famously by the renowned smuggler Dash Rendar, the YT-2400 is a highly maneuverable vessel that excels at getting safely out of tight places. Its maneuver dial is loaded with banks and turns, including two three-speed turns that it can use to race out of an opponent’s path.

         

The YT-2400's maneuver dial.

It makes sense that a smuggler would want to get out of harm’s way, but X-Wing is a game of skirmishes in which you’ll want to get your ships into battle. Here, the YT-2400’s maneuverability and barrel roll make it a fantastic flanker, especially if you equip it with an Engine Upgrade. In such circumstances, the YT-2400 can start on the opposite edge of the table from the rest of your squadron but still rush to their aid when the shots start flying. Meanwhile, if you give your YT-2400 the Outrider upgrade, it can attack with a Heavy Laser Cannon for no fewer than four dice from as far out as Range “3,” and your opponent won’t benefit from any additional defense dice.

Of course, as soon as your opponent realizes that his ships are bound to suffer four-dice attacks from your Outrider, he’s likely to send his ships toward it. In fact, anytime you run the Outrider Title your opponent is likely going to aim to get within Range “1” of your YT-2400 so that his attacks will gain extra dice, and yours won’t be able to attack at all.

This is where the YT-2400’s barrel roll comes in truly handy. Even with the new barrel roll rules for large ships that the YT-2400 Freight Expansion Pack introduces to the game, a large-base ship like the Outrider can perform a barrel roll to move one complete range increment laterally and nearly half a range increment backward or forward.

Use your barrel rolls wisely, and your opponent may soon decide to turn his ships back toward the rest of your fleet!

Meanwhile, even though its YT-2400 miniature and Outrider Title are the main highlights of the YT-2400 Expansion Pack, there’s plenty more in the box to strengthen your Rebel fleet (or even your Imperial fleet)!

• Dash Rendar makes his first appearance in X-Wing as a pilot.
     
• He also makes his appearance as a unique crew member, designed by 2012 World Champion Doug Kinney.
     
• The elite pilot talent Stay on Target, designed by 2013 World Champion Paul Heaver, pushes the game further in the direction of unique pilots with high pilot skill values and powerful pilot abilities.
     
• A handful of other upgrades are also destined to serve as the basis for creative, new squadron designs: Lando Calrissian, Experimental Interface, and Lone Wolf.

For more information about the YT-2400 Freighter Expansion Pack, you can read our previews, “Stay on Target,” “Dash Rendar,” and “Blast into Action.”

Go to Battle, Guns Blazing!

Conquer the battlefields of X-Wing by harnessing the new ships, tactics, and technology introduced by the YT-2400 Freighter Expansion Pack and VT-49 Decimator Expansion Pack. Be sure to get your copies. Head to your local retailer today!

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Source: Wave V Is Now Available