X-Wing Wave IV: A New Hope
It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from their hidden base have won their first victory against the evil Galactic TIE Swarm… Or have they?
Hi Guys,
Today I wanted to cover my thoughts on the possible shift in the meta with the up coming Wave 4 release for X-Wing: Miniatures Game.
From chatting to a few people in my local scene and reading up on the internet there seems to be a belief that FFG’s goal with this release was to open up new builds for Imperial players by giving them new elite options that can mix it with the Rebel X-Wings. More importantly for this article is that it gives the Alliance players more tools to “Hard Counter” the TIE swarm.
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| Lieutenant Blount – The Answer to every TIE Swarm Related Question? |
With combos like Blount and Assault Missiles you can guarantee a spread of damage across a large amount of the Swarm and his always counting as a hit is the bane of Stealth Devices that Howlrunner often wears.
The Amazingly cheap Bandit Squadron Pilot with Assault Missiles comes in at a bargain of 17 Squad Points, throw on Munitions Fail Safe to make sure you are getting the most out of your Assault Missiles and you are still 3 points cheaper than a Rookie X-Wing.
Here is a sample list for the Anti TIE Swarm;
Lieutenant Blount (22)
Z-95 Headhunter (17), Assault Missiles (5)
Airen Cracken (27)
Z-95 Headhunter (19), Assault Missiles (5), Swarm Tactics (2), Munitions Failsafe (1)
Bandit Squadron Pilot (18)
Z-95 Headhunter (12), Assault Missiles (5), Munitions Failsafe (1)
“Dutch” Vander (33)
Y-Wing (23), Flechette Torpedo (2), Flechette Torpedo (2), Ion Cannon Turret (5), Munitions Failsafe (1)
That comes in at 100 Squad Points and gives you an exceptional Alpha Strike against any swarm with some good control after the initial engagement provided by the Y-Wing
Dutch and Cracken’s card text adds some extra actions to the list to give you focused missiles to maximize damage potential.
So, with this type of list available to the Rebels is the meta going to shift away from the TIE swarm in the long term?
In my opinion: no…
I feel that the good players will come up with more formations and rather than some of the tried and tested clumped set ups it will force the Imp’s to fly their Eyeballs with even more finesse.
Whilst it is a relatively hard counter to the 6-8 TIE swarms that we see, I feel this type of list will suffer against other Rebel lists and could be hurt very badly by the new Phantom lists that people are talking about running.
So it comes back to a Paper, Scissors, Stone scenario where there may be a fall of of Swarm dominance early but as hard counters to this type of list come to the fore the ever present TIE Swarm will be ready as the Imperial Academy will keep pumping out these 12 point pilots…
I hope you guys like the article and please leave comments and check out my blog at The Dice Hate Me ~ Cheers Kris
So what do you guys think, is this type of list going to see use? How many eyeballs do you think you could vape with with one volley from the Z-95’s?
