X-Wing: Wave 8 Announcement Review
GenCon time again and FFG have announced Wave 8 introducing ships from the Rebels TV Show. Now we see ships like the Ghost and the TIE Advanced Prototype moving from my lego shelf in to my X-Wing gaming…
Hi all,
Still living a hectic life at the moment but needed to take time out to show off some of the Wave 8 goodness that is being announced.
I know I have not covered Wave 7 or the Imperial Raider yet and I will once they hit the shelves but lets look at some of the stand out cards that have been spoiled.
First up is the VCX-100 that is a two ship pack featuring the Ghost and the Phantom which looks to be an interesting combination but first check out the size of that beast!!!
Its bigger than the VT-49, comes in with 10 Hull, 6 Shields and 0 Evade and a whopping 4 attack base! Whilst I can see its dial being a little lack luster but it adds a new dynamic to the Rebel squad that keeps me impressed with FFG and their design philosophy.
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The extra ship is the Attack Shuttle that comes with an impressive attack value of 3, 2 evades on top of 2 Hull and 2 Shields, the interplay that the two titles allow really excites me and whilst i can see the base cost for running this combo coming in at around the 50 point mark I cant wait to get more info and mess around with some builds.
Next up we have the Inquisitors ship, the TIE Advanced Prototype, what excites me the most about this ship is the built in Boost AND Barrel Roll, its a powerful combination in the right hands and when those hands are this guys’s then watch out…
3 Attacks all the time and denying your opponent the Range 3 benefit is a little good, throw on Push the Limit and the TIE/v1 title that looks like it reads ‘After you acquire a target lock, you may perform a free evade action.’ and you can have quite a few options to play with for an impressive 29 points.
The XX-23 missile also comes in the TIE Adv. Prototype pack, and I really like some of the possibilities it opens up. Only Costing 1 point and not requiring a Target Lock to fire makes it an excellent enabler for an ordinance based list which Wave 7 went some way towards trying to establish. Only time will tell how viable it will be but I am excited to try this list;
Blount with 3 Bandits and a Warden Squadron pilot.
Gives you a good Alpha that is really easy to set up which should worry any 0 or 1 evade ships, even with the damage fall off of an ordnance based list.
The TIE Advanced Prototype was not the only love for the Imps that GenCon gave us, they also announced the Imperial Assault Carrier, evening up the Epic Score on Huge Ships!
There was only a little bit actually revealed from this pack so not too much to talk about but it looks to add in more interesting dynamics to the Epic side of the game. More life being breathed in to the TIE fighters will be good, even if I cant see a massive resurgens in TIE swarms any time soon. (I hope I have to eat my words on this.)
The two card that have been spoiled are one of the TIE Pilots, Scourge who whilst I can’t see him taking the place of Dark Curse or Back Stabber as the 7th Ship in a TIE Swarm, he is certainly nothing to be sniffed at and you can do some interesting things with him and Backstabber as your flankers as a couple of 3 attack TIE’s is something that has to be dealt with.
Agent Kallus I like on a Phantom as that should maximise his impact both offensively and defensively, but throwing him on Rear Admiral Chiraneau could be interesting to give him almost a full focus on attack every round.
All you Bounty Hunters need not worry as Scum and Villainy were not forgotten in this wave either!
Continuing the pattern of wave 7, giving them 2 releases to the 1 each of the other factions, Scum get a new small based ship, the G-1A Transport.
3 Attack, 1 Evade and 4 Hull and Shields with Focus, Target Lock and Evade as the actions it is a nice package that I think can be compared fairly well with the B-Wing, my worry is that Red 3 bank that is shown on the dial which makes me worry about just how HWK like its dial may be…
The Tractor beam gives me hope for some buff to help my Beloved TIE Defender but until we know what it actually does there is not much else to say.
The Cloaking Device is a perfect addition to Scum and I know exactly where I want to try it first, Prince Xizor, VI, Virago, Advanced Sensors, Auto Thrusters and Cloaking Device is 40 points of piloting Joy that I cant wait to get on the table!
The JumpMaster 5000 gives the Scum their first Large Based Turret, 2 Attack, 2 Evade, 5 Hull and 4 Shields is a nice package and should bring it in around the same points level as the YT-2400.
I love what FFG have done with the title for this ship, as i have been preaching that this is how the YT-1300 and Falcon upgrade should have gone. The talk of an Asymmetric dial on this ship is interesting and I think I see a White S-Loop on the picture which could be crazy good fun.
All in all, I am looking forward to this wave and cant wait for the next batch of spoilers for FFG!
If you have spotted anything I have missed in this brief look at the spoilers than leave a comment and lets delve in to it!
Thanks
Kris
