This last Friday saw the arrival of the brand new Star Wars: X-Wing - The Force Awakens Core set.
This new box was somewhat of a surprise to the X-Wing community. Coming hot on the heels of both Wave 7 and the new large Imperial ship expansion the Force Awakens core set adds some minor rules tweaks and clarifications, two new ships, a new damage deck and more to the game we all know and love.
In this post will concentrate on the real reason to pick up this set, the new ships!
The Ships
Incom T-70 X-Wing: For a spaceship guy like myself this was the major draw for me. The original X-Wing resides at my number 2 spot of favorite Spaceships of all time list and the this version doesn't disappoint.
A subtle update of the classic T-65 X-Wing from the original Star Wars Trilogy. It's pretty obvious that someone on Episode 7 has been studying the original Ralph McQuarrie X wing Concept artwork.
The T-70 X-Wing does have a neat "double" split wing design that serves as one of the major design differences when compared to the original. The new X-Wing is a little sleeker, has bigger engines and looks just right for the Star Wars universe.
The model itself is a beauty. FFG has greatly improved their painting over the original release. And While the original X-Wings in the core set were by no means terrible there was room for improvement. Markings and heavy handed washes were my biggest complaints.
the new model has great, and from what I can tell accurate, markings. The weathering is spot on with no excessive wash.
While normally I'm a big fan of re-paints and touch ups I'm going to leave these ships as is for now.
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| For Reference the Ralph McQuarrie Concept X-Wing |
T-70 X-Wing: In Game Stats
The new X-Wing is not just a new model but a whole new design for the game.
Base stats are
Attack: 3
Defense: 2
Hull: 3
Shields 3
Focus, Target lock, Boost
Torpedoes, Astromech, Tech Upgrade
The maneuver dial is pretty similar to the classic X-Wing but does add one new twist, the Talon Roll, which is basically a combo of a Sharp 3 turn Korigan flip and a Barrel roll.
Pilots:
Poe Dameron: Pilot Skill 8- 31 points
Skill: While attacking or defending, if you have a focus token, you may change 1 of your (Focus) results to a (Hit) or (Evade) result.
This is a pretty sweet skill. Poe can in effect save his Focus and still change a hit or evade. He's pricey though, at 31 points he's 2 points more than Wedge. while he will be powerful he eats a third of your points, though he's still the best of the best when it comes to the T-70. Note: He is the only "Named" Character in the new Starter box.
Blue Ace: Pilot Skill 5 -27 Points
A Mid range pilot. Not sure how popular he will be considering that he doesn't have a EPT slot.
Red Squadron Veteran: Pilot Skill 4 - 26 Points
An oddity, Pilot skill 4 but comes with an EPT slot.
Blue Squadron Novice: Pilot Skill 2 - 24 Points
Not bad at 24 points, it means you can squeeze 4 of these in at 100 points with 4 points to spare. Will it replace 4 B-Wings? No, but still might be fun to fly.
TIE/fo Fighter: Physically the TIE/fo is an even more subtle update of the classic original. The glaring difference it the new paint job. While the new X-Wing is a win in my book I'm not sold on the TIE/fo's new paint scheme. While I can see why they went with this scheme, the First Order seems pretty monochromatic as a whole so it figures their spaceships would follow that scheme,
Stats:
Attack: 2
Defense: 3
Hull: 3
Shields 1
Focus, Target lock, Barrel Roll, Evade
Tech Upgrade
The TIE/fo does have some healthy Stats bonuses. It picks up a very useful shield and adds Target Lock to it's already impressive list of Actions. The Ability to take a Tech Upgrade is nice but perhaps a pricey risk to put on such a fragile fighter.
Maneuver wise the TIE/fo picks up a few new Green maneuvers plus the new Seginor(sp?) loop.
While the new ships are very nice and bring some new options to the game they don't invalidate the original X-Wing and TIE. Especially the named Pilots like Luke, Biggs and Wedge will still perform well while flying their trusty T-65s.
On the Empire side the classic TIE is still viable, the Academy Pilot swarm and Howlrunner will still be a viable options.
Omega Ace: Pilot Skill 7 - 20 Points
When attacking, you may spend a focus token and a target lock you have on the defender to change all your results to (hit) Results
This is a unique Pilot with a rather generic name. No Howlrunners or Backstabbers to be found in the new box set. Probably due to licensing or just a lack of fluff with The Force Awakens these TIE Pilots will, for now, remain safely anonymous.
Omega Ace's Skill is pretty good but might be hard to implement. If both Target locked and a focus you can change all your dice to hits. Could you accomplish the same thing by actually Spending the TL and Focus to Modify your dice? Probably, but his skill takes the randomness out of the equation.
Epsilon Leader: Pilot Skill 6 - 19 points
At the start of the Combat phase, remove 1 stress token from each friendly ship at Range 1.
Another unique Pilot. Unlike Omega Ace I think his guy will see a lot of action. Being able to remove Stress Tokens for everyone at Range Band 1. Having Epsilon Leader at the heart of a TIE Swarm might become popular. His lack of EPT is concerning but his native ability is so helpful I can still see him being used
Zeta Ace: Pilot Skill 5 - 18 Points
When performing a barrel roll, you may use the [ Forward 2] instead of the [Forward 1] template)
Last of the unique pilots. King of the Barrel Roll. It's a neat skill however since most TIEs are usually flown in a swarm having one TIE with this ability might not be that helpful. Could be good as a Flanker. Maybe slap Predator on him for more fun.
Omega Squadron Pilot: Pilot Skill 4 - 17 Points
the Highest Skilled generic pilot. 17 points is pricey for a stock TIE.
Zeta Squadron Pilot: Pilot Skill 3 - 16 Points
This is you stop if you need to get the cheapest pilot that can still activate first against the mass of Pilot Skill 2 Rebels.
Epsilon Squadron Pilot: Pilot Skill 2 - 15 Points
Cheapest TIE/FO you can get.6 of these in 100 points and still have 10 points left for Tech upgrades (or upgrade one to "Epsilon Leader").
Tech Upgrade
An example of this Upgrade is the new "Weapons Guidance" A handy card if you have a focus but fail to roll any "eyeballs" you can turn a "Blank "result into a "Hit!". spiffy.
right now Weapons Guidance is the only option for this upgrade slot but I'm sure that future expansions will
Overall the new core set seems to hit all the right notes. They are not re-inventing the game, The new models look fantastic, the rules have been cleaned up but the X-ing experience is still the same.
For a detailed look at the T-70 X-Wing and comparisons with the older X-Wing please see our youtube video review.
Thanks for reading
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