Star Wars: X-Wing – Tractor Beam REVEALED!
Fantasy Flight Games shows off Tractor Beam (and it’s token effect) for Star Wars: X-Wing. Come see what this new piece of gear is capable of pulling off!
We’ve already seen the card from the previous reveal for Star Wars: X-Wing. But now we get a much closer look at the card and it’s associated token. Lets take a look:
via Fantasy Flight Games
The idea of the tractor beam has made an indelible mark on the Star Wars™ galaxy ever since the Millennium Falcon was pulled into the Death Star during A New Hope. Bringing the tractor beam to X-Wing, however, required a bit of finesse, as the game is largely about maneuvering, and it could be harmed by introducing effects that detract too heavily from that focus.
In the end, though, the Tractor Beam and the tractor beam token that it assigns to its target strike a nice balance between the weapon’s iconic utility and its implementation into the game as a powerfully disruptive, temporary effect. When the Tractor Beam successfully hits a target, it deals no damage, but the target loses a point of agility for each tractor beam token assigned to it.
Of course, the Tractor Beam works best when it is employed against a smaller ships, and if you assign a tractor beam token to your opponent’s small-base ship, you immediately get to choose one of the following effects:
- Perform a barrel roll using the straight speed “1” maneuver template. You select the direction of the barrel roll and the final position of your opponent’s ship.
- Perform a boost using the straight speed “1” maneuver template.
Forcing your opponent’s ship through this boost or barrel roll does not count as an action or a maneuver, and you can force the ship to overlap obstacles, meaning that if you catch your opponent’s ship in the right spot, you can potentially deny it the chance to fire and perform actions in the following round. Moreover, you may get as many as two points of damage out of the collisions, depending on the results of your opponent’s attack dice.
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Wow! So for the first time in Star Wars: X-Wing you’ll be able to redirect opponents ships – in to obstacles no less! Now that’s only for the first token on small ships but that can still be very damaging. Not to mention some of the nasty side effects obstacles can cause you could also shove smaller ships into a better shooting position – couple that with the negative effect on their agility dice and you’ve got a great way to setup some kill shots! I’m sure plenty of you X-Wing Aces out there will come up with some creative ways to use this new weapon. For now, I’m going to go look up some volley-ball terms because I’m sensing a lot of “Set-Spike-Score” puns incoming…
What happens to Dash Rendar when he gets thrown on an obstacle? NOTHING – he’s not a small ship! “Set-Spike-Score” THAT, Dash Rendar Haters!
