X-Wing: Rogue Squadron Through The Ages (Part 3)
Bringing one of the most iconic starfighter squadrons to the X-Wing table as accurately as possible, as powerful as possible. Now with 50% less Wedge!
Oh, Wedge, you sort of selfish monster. One of the problems with the Rogue Squadron series is that it can get kind of tiring to see the four main characters – Wedge Antilles, Wes Janson, Corran Horn and Tycho Celchu – bounce off of each other all the time, no matter how good their chemistry is. It’s a long series, with a great supporting cast, but so much focus is put on these primary characters that it feels kind of tiring sometimes. Wedge was even so omniprescent that he was in most of the Wraith Squadron books, for crying out loud.
So, while this is cheating a little, we’re going to adapt a Wraith Squadron book in the hopes that we’ll escape those main characters for once in a while. Thankfully, however, the book that we’re adapting this time doesn’t feature Wedge in a primary role (although he’s still there!). Instead, someone else comes in to take over command of the galaxy’s deadliest starfighter wing. Which obscure character will finally get a day in the limelight? Garrick? Elassa Targon? Gavin Darklig-
-…oh. Well, it’s a change of pace, at least. Once again, we find ourselves limited to a very small amount of ships to represent an entire squadron, especially with a large-based involved. Unless…
…HRM. Well, there’s no harm going completely insane, is there?
Let’s put Wraith Squadron together for epic play!
- General Han Solo – 61 points
- No introduction required
- Push the Limit, Chewbacca, C-3PO, Millenium Falcon title, Engine Upgrade.
- A fairly standard “Fat Han” build, substituting a Gunner for Chewbacca for flavor reasons and even more survivability. Tried, tested, proven to work.
- Wedge Antilles, Wraith Leader – 32 points
- The man, the legend
- Swarm Tactics, R2 Astromech
- Mostly used to raise the pilot skill of a nearby Wraith Squadron member to 9, Wedge is still the familiar beatstick we remember from other articles thanks to his powerful innate ability.
- Garik “Face” Loran, “Wraith One” – represented by Jake Farrell – 32 points
- Former child star and the man who only bought an X-Wing for ‘variety’, and continued to fly his A-Wing for most of his career.
- A-Wing Test Pilot, Push the Limit, Outmaneuver, Autothrusters
- I love this Jake build. It’s not exactly the best build in the world per se, but it’s a lot of fun, and represents Garik’s personality pretty well.
- Gara Petothel/Lara Notsil, “Wraith Two” – represented by Tarn Mison – 25 points
- Spy and notorious for switching names, eventually settled down with Myn Donos under another new one.
- R7 Astromech, Stealth Device
- She’s always been described as rather evasive, so the traditional Tarn build of him+R7 should do the trick. The Stealth Device just makes her even more frustrating to shoot down.
- Myn Donos, “Wraith Three” – represented by Biggs Darklighter – 30 points
- Surviving member of Talon Squadron
- R7 Astromech, Hull Upgrade
- Another tank, this time based around blocking incoming fire. The R7 is a simple way to boost his survive ability.
- Tyria Sarkin, “Wraith Four” – represented by Red Squadron Pilot – 24 points
- Mild force sensitive and eventual Jedi
- She’s not a main character, and I was starting to run out of points, so she got the shaft a little here. Nothing but an R2 Astromech
- Kell Tainer, “Wraith Five” – represented by Garven Dreis – 27 points
- Mechanic and commando, reluctantly shoved into a starfighter cockpit.
- It’s not strictly how mechanics work, but it’s keeping him a buff-based ship, so Dreis receives no upgrades beyond the humble R2.
- Dia Passik, “Wraith Seven” – represented by Dagger Squadron Pilot – 30 points
- Posed as a pirate captain. Kind of hates herself.
- Ion Cannon, B-Wing/E2, Tactician
- While Dia isn’t necessarily a B-Wing pilot, the list needed some variety, so a sacrifice had to be made. Use her Ion Cannon to lock down particularly annoying enemy ships for Wedge or Han to focus fire on them.
- Flight Officer Voort “Piggy” saBinring, “Wraith 8” – represented by Jek Porkins – 36 points
- The ‘Gamorrean Who Became a Fighter Pilot’, inspirational story to children everywhere. They don’t believe it.
- R5-D8, Push the Limit, Engine Upgrade
- Fly fast and reckless, using R5-D8 to attempt to repair any damage caused by Jek’s ability as you mitigate your Push the Limit boosts+focus actions. It’s not every day an X-Wing flies like an interceptor!
Well, that took some time. I’d like to remind you that these lists are not meant to win any tournaments, because even by my standards this isn’t exactly competitive. It is, however, a lot of fun – in the one game I played with it against a friend’s ‘Infinite TIE Fighter’ epic play list, luck was on my side and Voort pulled off some fairly insane K-Turn into PTL Boost+Focus actions, but naturally I was eventually cut down through sheer volume of firepower and Howlrunner shenanigans.
Any ideas for how you would have done this on a smaller scale? Any preferences for which squadron/book to adapt next? Leave a comment below!
