Star Wars X-Wing: Poe Unleashed
Poe Dameron is THE T-70 X-Wing Ace. How can we push this card to it’s limits? Let’s get to work!
Hey BoLS Readers and X-Wing Aces! AdamHarry back with another crazy theme list idea. I admit, I’ve been slacking on my rebel brothers-in-arms. The lure of all that glitterstim from the Scum & Villainy was hard to resist. Plus I learned a few fun things. But I’m back now and I’m clean off the glitterstim. I may have a nervous twitch now, but it happens when you’re moving that fast for too long. One of the things that brought me back was the sirens call of the latest Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer. There is some pretty awesome looking dog fighting above what appears to be a lake or ocean. Go watch the trailer – it’s awesome.
Anyhow, we get a glimpse of some hawt T-70 X-Wing vs TIE/fo action and it got me thinking: “AdamHarry, how have you not made a T-70 list?” I don’t know! But here we go!
Naturally, I want to start with the “best” pilot of the bunch. Why? Because taking 4 of the cheapest Blue Squadron Pilots (while somewhat effective) is incredibly boring. But here is that list in case you’re just dying to see it in print:
Blue Squadron Target Practice: 100 points
Blue Squadron Novice – T-70 X-Wing – 25 points
- R2 Astromech
Blue Squadron Novice – T-70 X-Wing – 25 points
- R2 Astromech
Blue Squadron Novice – T-70 X-Wing – 25 points
- R2 Astromech
Blue Squadron Novice – T-70 X-Wing – 25 points
- R2 Astromech
Yep. 24 hits to chew through, 3 attack dice per ship and they can move at speeds 1 and 2 with impunity. Exciting I know. But this actually does bring up a good point: What exactly does the T-70 offer that the other older, cheaper X-Wing can’t already do? Well – lets compare really quick:
For 3 more points you’re getting and extra shield (normally a 4 point upgrade), the new “tech” upgrade (which we can’t really take advantage of yet), and (most importantly) you’re getting Boost on your action bar. That’s not a bad trade off! And Boost is actually what got me most excited about the T-70 X-Wing. Why? Well there is this list going around that can be fairly annoying. It uses Turrets. And one of the biggest weakeness of turrets is Autothrusters.
Now, this may not single-handedly save your ship. In fact, statistically it won’t. Not if you take all 8 shots to the face. If you’re lucky, you may be able to shave off a hit or two but that’s still going to kill a T-70 X-Wing. So you need to strike first and kill one of those Y-Wings out right. If you can do that, shaving off 1-2 hits out of 6 possible damage starts to look really attractive.
Now…back to my original starting point. “I want to start with the “best” pilot of the bunch,” and in this case let tap our latest Rebel Hero Poe Dameron for this task. Having only seen the trailer I have no idea if he’s going to be the next Wedge Antilles or if he’s going to pull a Porkins. BUT he’s still got a neat ability.
While attacking or defending, if you have a focus token, you may change 1 of your (focus) results to (hit) or (evade) result.
Not bad! Notice it doesn’t say you have to spend the token, just that you have to have it. And because you can choose the order in which the effects of your dice are resolved*, you can still spend that focus to flip more to the ones you need. It’s not that big of a deal if you rolled (hit) (focus) (focus) – you could just spend the focus token to flip both to a hit. However, if you combined the new tech card Weapon Guidance it gets a little bit more awesome.
Lets say you rolled (hit) (focus) (blank). As the attacker you get to choose the order those resolve. Well, lets use Poe’s Ability to flip the Focus to a hit and then with Weapon Guidance we can “spend” that focus to change that (blank) to a hit.
Are you with me? Alright – lets move on to some of the other options. With Boost already on his action bar I want to make Poe as squirrely as possible. The defensive boost from Autothrusters is good but I really want a way to give him a barrel roll.
Sweet. Now Poe is one heck of an arc dodger! “But arc dodging doesn’t help vs turrets” – yes I know, but you’re not fighting 4 Y-wings with TLT’s all the time, are you? You are? Wow – that must get old really quick…But for the rest of us having the ability to play the arc dodging game is very important.
At this point, he’s got some solid maneuverability, defense and damage output. Now, I’m looking at that Elite Pilot talent and running through my check list. Does Predator fit? It’s not a terrible option – but Poe’s got Weapon Guidance already so that seems like a waste. What about Expose? Well that would certainly push his damage potential up – lets put that one on ice for a sec. Marksmanship? Again, not a bad option but it’s an action and you need to spend you action on focus. I need more actions! Hello old buddy:
There we go! I think Poe Dameron is set at this point. He’s also 40 points. Ouch. But I think in the right hands he’ll be able to put those points to work! On to the wingmen.
Now, as this is a theme list and because I was inspired by the Force Awakens trailer, I want to stick with the new T-70 X-Wing. The first thing I’ll do is to see how many I can fit with my left over points!
If I go super cheap I’ll be able to squeeze in…2 Blue Squadron Novices. Eh, they are PS 2 and will go at the same step as those annoying TLT Y-wing…Plus people with Predator will eat them up. Okay, lets go up a step.
Hmm…I can still only fit in 2 but I’ll have 4 points in upgrades to play with and they will shoot before those stinkin’ Y-Wings…I can work with this.
Well, I want to add the Autothrusters in because it’s good all around defense. That leaves two more points per ship. I could drop those and go with Predator! Not bad, what about Push the Limit? No way to really dump stress however…Unless we run R2 Astromechs!
Not too shabby! Boosting + Target Lock/focus every turn could be pretty mean. And with the R2 helping add green to that dial you can really get around. Decisions, decisions…
Poe Dameron Unleashed v1a – 100 points
Poe Dameron – T-70 X-Wing, 40 points
- BB-8
- Autothrusters
- Weapons Guidance
- Push the Limit
Red Squadron Veteran, T-70 X-Wing, 30 points
- R2 Astromech
- Push the Limit
Red Squadron Veteran, T-70 X-Wing, 30 points
- R2 Astromech
- Push the Limit
Poe Dameron Unleashed v1b – 100 point
Poe Dameron – T-70 X-Wing, 40 points
- BB-8
- Autothrusters
- Weapons Guidance
- Push the Limit
Red Squadron Veteran, T-70 X-Wing, 30 points
- R2 Astromech
- Calculation
- Autothrusters
Red Squadron Veteran, T-70 X-Wing, 30 points
- R2 Astromech
- Calculation
- Autothrusters
I liked the idea of Autothrusters on the T-70. I think that because they have the built in boost it’s worth taking for the extra durability. Calculation or Crack Shot were the two 1 point upgrades I was going back-and-forth between. I settled for Calculation because it’s a focus for a crit. And you don’t discard it after one use.
If everything goes alright for the first two turns I think that this list can actually put a dent in the 4 TLT Y-wing list. I was even looking at running Intimidation in there somewhere to act as a speed bump to those Y-Wings. However, while I used that particular list to justify some of the decisions, I also want to go back to the theme and finally the “fun” factor.
I think both of these lists are fairly well balanced and tougher than they look. A skilled pilot could really take these and do a number on other 100 point lists. But most importantly, to me, I think these lists would be a lot of fun to fly!
The Force Awakens is in theaters this December – but I can’t wait until we see some MORE ships from the ‘new’ Star Wars! It’s going to be a whole new ball game…
*For more info on how dice resolution works read pages 11 & 12 in the rule book – it’s free online.
