X-Wing Academy Lesson #1 - Squad Building Basics

Welcome Recruits!

This is the 1st of many x-wing lecture series. New players often find this game a bit overwhelming at first. They know the basic rules and mechanics but when it comes down to playing, they find it a bit daunting. Perhaps daunting enough to discourage them from fully enjoying the game.

And hence this lecture series, in hope that it'll helped to ease your progress through the learning curve. And more importantly, encourage you to play more often. Seriously, this game needs more players.

And, yes. You’re welcome.

Without further delay, shall we begin our lesson, Padawan?

X-Wing Academy Lesson #1 - Squad Building Basics

Squad building - easily the most important aspect of the game. Also the most difficult part of the game to get right. Often, squad builds that looks good on paper, gets completely obliterated on the playing mate. When that happens, we rarely figured out the squad is flawed. I don't know about you, but when I lose I always blame the dice. Not my fault. My dice sucked.

Anyway, how to build a strong squad, you asked? Short answer is balancing defence (yin) and offence (yang).  Still don’t get it? Don’t worry. We'll run thru some basic archetypes as case studies:

4 X-Wings (4X)

Every recruit should start out playing this. In fact, I did. It rolls 12 attack dice, has 8 shields and 12 hulls, making it 1 scary list to face in a head on joust. You don't need fancy maneuvering like a TIE. Just keep doing a 1 forward, helps keep enemies in front longer, maximize your 12 attack dice power before all the ships pile up in 1 big clutter. Since all 4 ships are the same, it has the added benefit of making formation flying easier.

The most popular 4X combo involves Wedge + Biggs + 2 Rookies. Wedge/Biggs staying in close formation so that enemies have no choice but to shoot Biggs, while Wedge obliterates them. Biggs is the yin while Wedge is the yang, achieving perfect offence/defence harmony. 

Standard manuever involves charging the enemy with 2 Rookies, while Wedge/Biggs flank them, or just fly 4 ships in 1 formation, face the enemy and keep doing the easy 1 forwards.

Choice of upgrades depends on preferences: Increase offensive power by equipping Wedge with Torps for a devastating 1 time attack, or Push the Limit (PtL) to roll consistent 3 hit dice with both Target Lock (TL) and Focus. For the defensive oriented, put R2-F2 or Stealth Device on Biggs to roll an extra green dice. Some prefer to put R2-D2 to recover shields, but that is only useful IF he survives all the damage thrown at him. 

2 X-Wings + 2 B-Wings (XXBB)

Another list that’s scary to joust against. Like the 4X it rolls 12 attack dice, but with increased survivability  - B-wings are tough to take down with 5 shields and 3 hulls. Doesn’t care if you shoot first, because it can survive to shoot you back.

"Blue Thunder" is a popular list which involves 2 Blues with Heavy Laser Cannon (HLC) + 2 basic Rookies. The stats looks impressive - 14 attack dice, 14 shields and 12 hulls. The list lives and dies by how well you fly your Bs. Keep them alive as possible and tank with your Rookies. Keep moving 1 forward to maximize those HLCs, and watch your enemy burn. Where’s the yinyang balance? The Blues, of course. It’s the hardest ship to kill in the list, but also hit the hardest - forcing your opponent to either take out the Rookies first but eat the HLCs, or try taking out the Blues but risk return fire, if it survives. Like the 4X list, it’s also a beginner friendly list.

Another formidable list goes by the name of "Biggs walk the Dogs", which involves Biggs + 2 Daggers w/ Adv Sensors + 1 Rookie. Biggs keeps his “dogs” in a range 1 leash, soaking up damages. The Daggers would close in for range 1 shots and Adv Sensors would ensure they always have a target lock/ focus for added damage output. Biggs again is the yin while the Daggers are the yang. Strong list, this is, which, in fact made it to 2013 Worlds.

TIE Fighter Swarm 

Swarms are always a competition favourite. A Swarm usually fields 7 TIE fighters, overwhelming opponents with sheer numbers. Swarms were the top meta from the beginning and its standing hasn't changed in Wave 3. There's good reason. Just look at the stat - 14 attack dice and 21 hulls, and each TIE rolls 3 defence dice.

Any good swarm would run Howlrunner (the yang) as its main offensive power while keeping other ships in range 1 to benefit from her re-roll ability. To discourage your opponents to shoot Howly, throw in a Stealth Device (the yin) for an extra green dice and for your action ALWAYS take an evade token (yin, again). Once again, perfect yin/yang balance.

Falcon + 2X Escort

Falcon was the reigning meta in Wave 2 but were kicked out in the current B-Wing meta. Still, Falcon list deserves some attention. 

It comes in many flavours but the most powerful always involves Han Solo. Consider this list:

Han Solo + Marksmanship + Gunner + Chewbacca (crew)

Rookies x 2 

Also known as “Han Shoots First (HSF)” but should really be called "Han Shoots First and Never Miss". Consider the following scenario:

1. Han takes Marksmanship as an action and declares pesky Academy Pilot (AP) as target.
2. Han rolls only 1 hit. He didn’t like it and activates his ability to re-roll and gets 1 hit and 1 focus. Marksmanship changes Focus into a crit.
3. Pesky AP rolled 1 defence dice and uses evade token to avoid taking any damage.
4. Han activates Gunner to perform 2^nd attack and rolls 1 attack dice again. Didn’t like his rolls and activates his ability to re-roll, this time throwing 3 focus. Marksmanship kicks in again – total damage output is 2 hits and 1 crit.
5. Pesky AP rolls all blanks and dies.

See what Han just did there? In 1 combat round, he gets 4 shots! It’ll take some crazy dice rolls to dodge all that! And the Falcon has a 360 arc, making it easy for him to fly out of your arc but not out of his. And yin wise, the Falcon has 5 shields and 8 hulls, and Chewbacca further extends its longevity. 

Try take down HSF, will you?

Bounty Hunter (BH) + TIE Escort

BH are always difficult to deal with. They are like oversized x-wing with twice the amount of shields and hulls, making it almost as difficult to kill as a Falcon. Throw in some nimble TIEs and you’ll have a quite a formidable list.

Different folks fly different combination and the possibility is endless. My HSF list was crushed by a HLC Krassis + PtL Soontir Fel + 2 Academy Pilots during the 2013 Regionals*. Justin my long standing sparring partner did well in the 2013 Regionals with his list:

Kath Scarlet + PtL + Assault Missile

Howlrunner

Academy Pilot x 3

His modus operandi: Howlrunner + 3 AP sets up in a formation while Kath sets up elsewhere solo. Opponents who choose to attack Kath gets flanked by the TIEs and vice versa. Kath can use PtL to TL and Focus in 1 turn to launch missile (yang) or go into turtle mode by taking Evade + Focus (yin). Howlrunner gives re-rolls (yang) and always takes evade token (yin). See the yin/yang balance?

Endless Possibilties

What I discussed above is just the tip of the iceberg. The possibilities and combinations of ships, upgrades and abilities are truly endless. There's the highly maneuverable 4 Interceptors list, Missile Bombers list, A-Wing Swarm list, Twin Falcon/BH list, etc. Go ahead and take one of the template list above and give it a spin, or try experimenting a new list on your own. Whatever you choose to do, remember folks, Fly Casual.

* In my defence, I rolled around 15 blank dice in a roll. Blanks, mind you, not even a focus. If my math is correct, the odds were around 1 in 40 million.