Star Wars: X Wing: E Wing Review

Wave 4 is finally upon us with the release of 4 new ships in the Star Wars Universe.
The Original Trilogy has been mined and for wave 4 the FFG's X Wing dives completely into the  Expanded Universe for its spaceships.



This review will look at the Rebel E Wing Fighter, The high performance successor to the venerable X Wing.  In the now defunct Star Wars expanded Universe the E Wing was meant to replace the X Wing, doing everything that fighter could do and more. It had a lot of teething problems on deployment but eventually became on of the mainstays of the Rebel/Republic fleet.






The Model:

FFG again produces an excellent little model. The E Wing isn't a big ship but it's packed with detail. The weathering is subtle and not overdone.

My rant: I am NOT a fan of the E Wing design. To me it smacks of a fanboy design that doesn't compare to the Ralph McQuarrie designs of the original Trilogy. The most egregious design flaw is the silly cannon on top of the Canopy. (Be carefully ejecting out of this bad boy). They've also added an R2 unit on this ship, since it's not visible the excuse is that its buried internally. Rant over.

That said, the model looks good and is of excellent quality. I'm not not a fan of the wing markings but otherwise it looks good.

The Stats:

The E-Wing is a powerhouse, with the best stats, to date, of any Rebel Fighter.

Attack 3
Defense 3
Hull 2
Shields 3

Action bar: Focus, Target Lock, Barrel Roll, Evade
Upgrade slots include: Astromech, Torpedo and System Upgrade

It's the first ship that includes both a Astromech slot and a System Upgrade slot which allows for some neat, but expensive combinations.

The E-Wing has a little bit of everything, the maneuver dial is a little like and X wing and an A Wing. It's got a Barrel Roll like the B Wing and an Evade like a A Wing.

On to the Pilots:

Corran Horn (35 pts) Pilot Skill 8:  ignoring for a moment the fact as to why Corran Horn is not in an X Wing (Since he is, in fact, the primary lead from the "X Wing " Series books and is know for flying his own personal X Wing. Oh and where is Whistler?) His pilot ability is amazing. He gets an extra attack in the end phase in exchange for shooting the next turn.

Etahn A'Baht (32 pts) Pilot Skill 5: "When an enemy ship inside your firing arc at Range 1-3 is defending, the attacker may change 1 of its  results to a result."  Another awesome ability. This guy works in squads, changing a hit to a crit is a great boom, especially against un-shielded TIE Fighters.

Blackmoon Squadron Pilot (29 pts) Pilot Skill 3: Generic Pilot skill 3 guy. Still expensive at 29 points.

Knave Squadron Pilot (27 pts) Pilot Skill 1: Cheapest of the E-Wings, I don't think this guy is going to be off the bench very often, he's a lot of points for a Pilot Skill level of 1.

Upgrade Cards:

Flechette Torpedoes: It's a cheap ATK 3 torpedo that adds a stress token to the victim. Nothing major but kind of cool and a cheap torpedo at 2 points.

R7 Astromech: He gives you a "Reverse" target lock. If you have a target lock on the ship that is shooting at you you can use your target lock to make them re-roll their dice.

R7-T1 Astromech: Target lock an enemy at Range 1-2 and then get a free boost. Pretty cool and gives the E Wing extra maneuverability up close.

Outmaneuver: Kind of like Backstabber's ability, but results in the target getting one less defense dice. Team up with Wedge for maximum pain.

Advanced Sensors: The card that all B-Wings love. only available before in the Imperial Shuttle box. Lets you perform an action before reveling your maneuver dial.


Conclusion: I'm torn on this ship. the stats and abilities of the ship are great and open up new tactics for Rebel players. The look of the ship and some of the choices in pilots drive me crazy. I can't blame FFG for the look of the E Wing though, as they were saddled with an existing design.

Overall though the E Wing is a great addition to the game and a good counterpoint to the super-crazy TIE Defender.



I plan on doing a little modding on one of mine and create a custom ride for Corran Horn.
Check out that post here