X-Wing: The Scum Swiss Army Knife
It’s time to talk about the amazing new Torpedo Boat for X-Wing – The JumpMaster 5000!
Hey BoLS Readers and X-Wing Pilots, AdamHarry back again and this time I wanted to talk about the ship that sounds like it should be sold on late night TV: The JumpMaster 5000. I’ve already talked about how awesome Dengar is – he’s a game changer for sure. But today I wanted to give some attention to another version of this ship that has also been buzzing around and that is the basic Contracted Scout:
It’s a simple ship but it’s got some great things going for it – the first thing is that it’s only 25 points. Theoretically you could run just run 4 of these in a 100 point list. They would each have a 2 die turret and 9 HPs to chew through. That by itself isn’t bad…it’s a lot of beef that can consistently put out damage. The damage isn’t amazing and these ships don’t have any gimmicks (or a theme) – it’s a little bland for my taste. However, I think it would clog-up the board and give a few builds (like swarms) some trouble.
But lets look at the rest of the ship. It’s got two torpedo slots and an EPT! Along with the Crew & Salvaged Astromech slot (and the Illicit upgrade) it’s got a WORLD of options!…all for only 25 points. Now that is a deal!
I’ve been poking at different load-outs all week and while I don’t want to get into ALL the different iterations there were a few things I wanted to point out. My goal here is to point you into the right direction and let you mod-the-crap out of the base ship and make it your own. Think of it like this: You’re looking to become a new smuggler/trader/bounty hunter and so you stop by the JumpMaster Dealership. You tell the salesman, “Hey, I’m looking for something that’s tough, reliable, and will let me customize the ship when I get my big score – I want the base model now and the option for options later!” He would say, “I got the one for you, follow me!” This is that build.
The Starter: JumpMaster 5000 – 30 points
Contracted Scout – JumpMaster 5000
- Plasma Torpedoes
- Extra Muntions
- Guidance Chips
I really like Plasma Torpedoes in this boat. Why? Because it’s a 4 dice attack with the extra option to drop a shield (that’s a total of 5 damage). With Extra Munitions, you get a 2nd shot for a point less. “Oh and on the new ‘Starter’ model Guidance Chips come standard!” Thanks JumpMaster 5000 Dealership guy. There are TONS of other torpedo options and they all have their uses (mostly) – but these are cheap, effective and you can swap them out as needed. It’s your call but lets just stick with these for now.
So now, if you were to run 3 of these “Starter” ship you’d have 10 points to spend on the rest of the upgrades. That’s not a lot to work with…but again, we’ve got options. One thing you can do is load-up on crew members. There are quite a few solid choices. I like 4-LOM, Boba Fett, or Zuckuss. If you really wanted to spend some points on one ship you could also grab the K4 Security Droid (more on this one later). I like the 1 point crew for their cheap and effective ability to mess with the target. 4-LOM seems particularly effective. Why? Because the JumpMaster is a large ship. 1 ion token does…nothing. And you can stop them from spending a focus or evade on the defense. That’s going to be important to ensure those torpedoes hit.
Now you’re not going to be able to run 3 more 4-LOMs because he’s unique. So you’re going to need to do something with those other two ships. Again, I’m only here to point you in the right direction. It’s your call what you do next. Personally, I was tempted by running some Glitterstim – it’s a dirty habit I’ve been trying to kick. But I wanted to throw that out there just so you know it’s a thing.
The Unhinged Astromech is a perfect fit as well. Turning all your 3’s into green seems good! Having at least 1 right maneuver turn become green will be useful! For only a point it’s a good buy. He also opens up lots of options when combined with K4 Security Droid I mentioned earlier.
Speaking of those 3 point upgrades lets talk about the Recon Specialist really quick. Letting you generate an extra focus seems like it would be useful, you might not be spending points on Push The Limit but having a second focus is basically like getting another action for free. Now how can we take advantage of that? I’m glad you asked!
Now if you were going to fire at a ship that you already had a target lock on, you’ve got the option of spending a focus and still using the TL or the other focus (but don’t forget the Guidance chips will score you at least 1 auto hit).
And because I brought this one up, I like the PTL plus Unhinged Astromech combo. Now you can TL and Focus. Or take advantage of that sweet Barrel Roll action I haven’t mentioned yet…you see, OPTIONS!
I hope at this point you are at least starting to see the potential of the JumpMaster 5000. You can really go nuts because of all the upgrade slots – and by go nuts, I mean go crazy thinking about all the iterations (like I mentioned above… I’ve been staring at different builds all week…I’m going a little crazy at this point).
So lets stop the insanity and just put a list together!
The List: Triple JumpMaster 5000 v247b – 100 points
Contracted Scout – JumpMaster 5000 – 34
- Plasma Torpedoes
- Extra Munitions
- Guidance Chips
- K4 Security Droid
- Unhinged Astromech
Contracted Scout – JumpMaster 5000 – 34
- Plasma Torpedoes
- Extra Munitions
- Guidance Chips
- Recon Specialist
- Deadeye
Contracted Scout – JumpMaster 5000 – 32
- Plasma Torpedoes
- Extra Munitions
- Guidance Chips
- 4-LOM
- Unhinged Astromech
Is this my final list? No…There are many, many, more ways to load this out. One option is to just build three identical 33 point ships and then throw Boba Fett on one. But I want to show the different builds off. But here’s an extra list just because…
The List: Why Can’t I Stop Using Glitterstim?! – Triple JumpMaster 5000 v1 – 100 Points.
Contracted Scout – JumpMaster 5000 – 33
- Plasma Torpedoes
- Extra Munitions
- Guidance Chips
- Unhinged Astromech
- Glitterstim
Contracted Scout – JumpMaster 5000 – 33
- Plasma Torpedoes
- Extra Munitions
- Guidance Chips
- Unhinged Astromech
- Glitterstim
Contracted Scout – JumpMaster 5000 – 34
- Plasma Torpedoes
- Extra Munitions
- Guidance Chips
- Unhinged Astromech
- Glitterstim
- Boba Fett
At the end of the day I think the JumpMaster 5000 has got lots of ways to effectively fire torpedoes into targets. I didn’t even mention dropping Guidance Chips for Munitions Failsafe…There are LOTS of things I’m not going to mention at this point. For the sake of my sanity I’m going to cut myself off now. But that doesn’t mean we’re done here. Oh no…I’ve got a challenge for you!
Throw together a 30-35 point JumpMaster build starting with the Contracted Scout. I want you to experiment with the ship. You’ll see how quickly things can escalate with the basic ship – and that’s what I’m really trying to drive home. Take that build and post it in the comments below because I want to see your crazy ideas, too. Just post the single ship – you don’t have to post a full 100 point list! You don’t have to stick with a torpedo boat either! Just let me know what you come up with.
800 Cash – that’s a helluva deal!
