X-Wing: Rogue Squadron Through the Ages (Part 2)
The second in a multi-part series bringing one of the most iconic starfighter squadrons to the X-Wing table as accurately as possible, as powerful as possible.
When we last left off, we had just covered the very first version of Rogue Squadron and their ill-fated mission to rescue their comrade, Ten Numb. We’re going to skip over the earlier comics iterations of the squadron to focus on the vastly more popular novels slightly ahead in the timeline, following the re-forming of Rogue Squadron following the Battle of Mindor due to incredibly high casualties.
The first novel introduced what many people have joked to be the ‘real’ hero of the Rogue Squadron books, Corran Horn. Minor nerd nitpick of how Corran Horn absolutely adored his X-Wing and would never be caught dead in an E-Wing aside, I really like him both as a character and as a pilot in the game, fitting in nicely with my ‘alpha strike then regroup’ playstyle. Also introduced – although not a major character – is Gavin Darklighter, younger cousin of Biggs Darklighter. He features in the list mostly to stop all of these from getting repetitive, and also to cover as many of the squadron’s familiar faces as possible over the course of the series. Since Gavin doesn’t have his own pilot card yet, he is proxied by Biggs – looks like it’ll take him a while to get out of his cousin’s shadow after all!
From the previous list, personal favorite Tycho Celchu is currently under house arrest by the Rebels under suspicion of being an Imperial spy – a suspicion tied to his temporary capture by the Empire during the time period where the Rogues were disbanded, while Wes Janson has retired from frontline combat duty by the end of the comics and become an instructor, later appearing in the Wraith Squadron series and stepping back into active duty during the Yuuzhan Vong war. Our eternal Rogue Leader, now that Luke has officially gone off to recreate the Jedi Order, is none other than Wedge Antilles – one of the best pilots in his generation, if not the best.
Rogue Squadron, Generation Two
- Rogue Leader, Wedge Antilles with Predator (32 points)
- Rogue Nine, Corran Horn with R7-T1, Fire-Control System and Wingman (42 points)
- Rogue Five, Gavin(Biggs) Darklighter with R4-D6 (26 points)
The main strategy of this list is a little more straightforward than the original Rogue Squadron – Gavin Darklighter absorbs fire for Wedge and Horn (mitigating the worst of the damage with R4-D6, whose stress tokens are removed by Horn’s Wingman) and then Wedge and Horn hopefully obliterate whatever they’re shooting at. Fire-Control System will give Horn a target lock to use on his second attack at the end of the turn, while R7-T1 will help him get up in people’s faces while making his attacks even more accurate. Wedge, of course, is just as deadly as he was in the original list – now with added Predator.
Pilot Breakdown
Wedge Antilles, there when Rogue Squadron was formed and he’ll be damned if he’s not there when it ends, is one of the most celebrated pilots in galactic history. The only pilot to have flown against both Death Stars and survived, he has out flown even force sensitives and both Soontir Fel and Han Solo have considered him one of the greatest pilots of the age. In this list, he serves much the same function as he did in the last – insane damage dealer. This time, his survivability is amped a bit thanks to Gavin Darklighter, making him a little bit less of a fire magnet (if not by choice).
Future Jedi and ace pilot Corran Horn is only recently out of the academy, having spent more of his time as a coresec investigator on Corellia, by the events of Rogue Squadron, and is originally arrogant and all-around kind of an ass. After he almost dies and has to be rescued by the smuggler’s ship Pulsar Skate in the climax of the novel, his ego winds down significantly and he becomes a much more respectable person in general, eventually becoming one of Luke’s most trusted students. Corran’s arrogance and skill is reflected in his ability, firing twice a turn but leaving himself open the next. With Fire-Control System to make the most of that one turn and R7-T1 to get him into as good a position as possible, Corran should hopefully shoot first and leave nothing to shoot back at him while he re-aligns himself for another pass next turn.
Gavin Darklighter, younger cousin of Biggs Darklighter wanted nothing more than to escape his brother’s shadow. Joining the Squadron not that long into the original comics, he’s become more of a background character than anything in the novels – always there, always reliable and always having his wingmen’s backs. Ironically, this makes his cousin’s card doubly appropriate – not only is he family, his ability reflects Gavin’s relative naivete and willingness to protect his squad-mates at the cost of his own life. In this list, the Biggs card follows its normal role of protecting the heavy hitters of the list as much as it can – and thanks to R4-D6, it should be able to keep doing so for a long while.
Obviously, the main weakness of this list is its need to fly in formation with Gavin for maximum effectiveness – after the first alpha strike, it’s entirely possible that you will be forced to split apart, at which point your opponent can pick off your ships one by one. Make that first pass count.
This team was a force to be reckoned with, and thanks to their actions the Republic could make their boldest move – the conquest of Coruscant, capital of the Empire and the stronghold of Imperial power.
