And now for an update from the galaxy far, far away...
Fantasy Flight Games recently released the wave 3 ships for their X-Wing miniatures game: the B-Wing fighter, the HWK-290, the TIE Bomber, and the
Lambda-class shuttle.
Overall impressions: the models look GREAT. Fantasy Flight has really done an outstanding job with all of the X-Wing miniatures thus far. While I'm not a huge fan of the larger ships in this game, I think the shuttle and the HWK-290 can both be used for some interesting scenario play.
So now for a run-down of each ship. Let's start with the Rebels.
B-Wing fighter:
Definitely one of the stranger-looking ships from Star Wars (and from any science fiction, really), the B-Wing didn't see much screen time in the movies. Judging from its statistics in the game, it appears to be a heavy fighter.
Attack dice: 3
Evade dice: 1
Hull points: 3
Shields: 5
As you would think for a heavy fighter, most of its turns are red maneuvers (this causes the pilot to receive a stress token, and prevents him from taking his free action for that turn). The fastest it can move is straight 4, which is a red maneuver. Interestingly, however, it is able to execute a Koiogran turn (basically a 180-degree turn) at a movement of 2; nothing else in the Rebel or Imperial inventories can do that, not even the nimble A-Wing.
Pilots included (rank in parentheses): Blue Squadron Pilot (2), Dagger Squadron Pilot (4), Ibtisam (6), and Ten Numb (
. Ibtisam's pilot ability is that when attacking or defending, if he already has a stress token, he can re-roll one die. Ten Numb's pilot ability is when attacking, one of his critical hits (if he scores any) cannot be canceled by evade dice. The B-Wing has 2 slots for proton torpedoes, and slots for close-in blasters as well.
I took the liberty of modifying one of the models; B-Wing fighters can rotate their bodies around the cockpit, so I decided to take advantage of that for a more unique looking starfighter:
Size comparison:
HWK-290:
I must admit--when I first heard about the wave 3 ships, I had no idea what the HWK-290 (known as the 'Hawk') was. This made me feel ashamed, as I am definitely a Star Wars fan! Maybe it will look familiar to some of you. The Hawk is a light freighter, and made its first appearance in the 1995 LucasArts first-person shooter "Dark Forces", a game I spent a LOT of time playing during my summers home from college.
Probably the most exciting thing for me about this ship being included in the X-Wing miniatures game is that it is the first ship to be included that is strictly from the Expanded Universe. This means, I believe, that we'll see more EU ships in future waves. Which will keep them, hopefully, from dipping into the prequels....
Attack dice: 1
Evade dice: 2
Hull points: 4
Shields: 1
Movements are fairly standard; as you would expect, some turns are red maneuvers (it is a freighter, after all). Fastest it can move is straight 4, which is a red maneuver. The Hawk is definitely a support ship, as you'll see below in the pilot abilities.
Pilots included: Rebel Operative (2), Roark Garnet (4), Kyle Katarn (6), and Jan Ors (eight). Garnet's ability is to boost any friendly ship's (within range 1-3) pilot ranking to 12 for the remainder of the turn. Katarn's ability is to assign a focus token to any friendly ship within range 1-3. And Ors can take a stress token to allow one friendly ship within range 1-3 to roll an additional attack die when attacking (as long as Ors doesn't have any stress tokens already).
Not a tough ship, but it should make for some interesting scenario play.
Size comparison:
And now for the Imperials.
TIE Bomber:
I can really only remember seeing the TIE Bomber in The Empire Stikes Back, when the
Millenium Falcon was hiding in the asteroid field from the Imperial forces. I still remember having to shoot them down when I used to play the "X-Wing" computer game. Had to kill 'em before they launched their missiles at the freighters I was escorting...
Attack dice: 2
Evade dice: 2
Hull points: 6
Shields: 0 (it is a TIE, after all)
Movement is about what you would expect from a ship designated as a bomber. Sharp turns are usually red maneuvers, however it can perform the Koiogran turn at movement 5 (still a red maneuver, though).
The real strength of this ship is in its weapons slots. Each TIE Bomber has 2 slots for missiles, 2 slots for proton torpedoes, and 1 slot for bombs. Given that the most expensive pilot is still only 26 points, you can arm these suckers to the teeth for a relatively cheap cost.
Pilots included: Scimitar Squadron Pilot (2) (I like the way that sounds!), Gamma Squadron Pilot (4), Captain Jonus (6), and Major Rhymer (7). Jonus' pilot ability is to allow any friendly ship within range 1 to re-roll two attack dice when firing a secondary weapon. This is very important, because the missiles and torpedoes are secondary weapons. Rhymer's pilot ability is to increase his secondary weapons' range by one range band (up to range 3).
The TIE Bomber also came with the Advanced Proton Torpedo card (which any ship with a slot for proton torpedoes can use): 5 attack dice, only effective in range 1 (unless Major Rhymer is using it!); up to 3 blank results can be changed to 'focus' results (and if the pilot's free action taken in that turn was 'focus', that's 3 more hits). These are the most powerful munitions in the game thus far.
Size comparison:
Lambda-class Shuttle:
This is a pretty big model. As soon as I saw it, I started thinking of all sorts of scenarios in which to use it. The wings even fold up, like we saw in Return of the Jedi:
Attack dice: 3
Evade dice: 1
Hull points: 5
Shields: 5
This is not a very fast ship, nor is it very maneuverable, as you would expect from a shuttle. Its one standout movement feature is that it can sit still--there is actually a '0' option on the maneuver dial.
Again, this is a support ship, which you'll see in the pilot abilities descriptions.
Pilots included: Omicron Group Pilot (2), Captain Yorr (4), Colonel Jendon (6), and Captain Kagi (eight). Yorr's pilot ability is to receive a stress token from a friendly ship within range 1-2 that would have received a stress token from its maneuvering (as long as Yorr has 2 or fewer stress tokens himself). Jendon's ability is to give his target lock to any friendly ship in range 1 that does not already have a target lock acquired on any target (this is especially important for secondary weapons, as they usually require a target lock to be fired). And Kagi's pilot ability is to draw target locks off other friendly ships onto his shuttle.
Size comparison:
Alright folks, there you have it--the wave 3 ships of the X-Wing miniatures game. I've not yet used any of these ships; however, my FLGS is running a month-long X-Wing league tournament in October, and I think I might give these a try and see how they do. Watch this section of the forum for battle reports as I fight my way through October.
Thanks for reading--and may the Force be with you.
