Rogue Squadron- Five Finger Discount

Welcome to Rogue Squadron, pilot! In this series we will be looking at different squadrons you can fly in Fantasy Flight Games X-Wing miniatures game. We give you the squad, what expansion pack all of the upgrades come from and then give you the low down on how best to fly it. Strap in and get ready to fly…

All Wings Report In

Starviper “Guri” (Starviper Expansion) (41 pts) (PS 5)

At the start of the Combat phase, if you are at Range 1 of an enemy ship, you may assign 1 focus token to your ship.

Elite Pilot Talent- Lone Wolf (YT-2400/Hound’s Tooth Expansions): When attacking or defending, if there are no other friendly ships at Range 1-2, you may reroll 1 of your blank results.
Title- Virago (Starviper Expansion): Your upgrade bar gains the System and Illicit upgrade icons. You cannot equip this card if your pilot skill value is “3” or lower.
System- Sensor Jammer (Lambda Shuttle Expansion): When defending, you may change 1 of the attacker’s results into a Focus result. The attacker cannot reroll the die with the changed result.
Illicit- Dead Man’s Switch (IG-2000 Expansion): When you are destroyed, each ship at Range 1 suffers 1 damage.
Modification- Autothrusters (Starviper Expansion): When defending, if you are beyond Range 2 or outside the attacker’s firing arc, you may change 1 of your blank results to an Evade result. You can equip this card only if you have the Boost action icon.

Y-Wing “Drea Renthal” (Most Wanted Expansion) (31 pts) (PS 5)

After you spend a target lock, you may receive 1 stress token to acquire a target lock.

Turret- Twin Laser Turret (K-Wing Expansion): Attack (3, Range 2-3): Perform this attack twice (even against a ship outside your firing arc). Each time this attack hits, the defender suffers 1 damage. Then cancel all dice results.
Salvaged Astromech- R4-B11 (Most Wanted Expansion): When attacking, if you have a target lock on the defender, you may spend the target lock to choose any or all defense dice. The defender must reroll the chosen dice.

HWK-290 “Palob Godalhi” (Most Wanted Expansion) (28pts) (PS 5)

At the start of the Combat phase, you may remove 1 focus or evade token from an enemy ship at Range 1-2 and assign it to yourself.

Turret- Twin Laser Turret (K-Wing Expansion): Attack (3, Range 2-3): Perform this attack twice (even against a ship outside your firing arc). Each time this attack hits, the defender suffers 1 damage. Then cancel all dice results.
Illicit- Dead Man’s Switch (IG-2000 Expansion): When you are destroyed, each ship at Range 1 suffers 1 damage.

Lock S-Foils in Attack Position

Awhile ago I started having some fun with list’s that were all based around a single Pilot Skill (Elite Eight, Magnificent Seven, Sinister Six). I wanted to keep going and naturally I leaned toward Scum for PS 5 since they have such a strong showing. But I couldn’t really come up with a good list. Then I saw someone talking about Drea Renthal and R4-B11 over on Reddit and this list just kind of fell into place.

At first glance Drea Renthal looks to have a pretty subpar pilot ability. Regaining a target lock by stressing yourself is less that exciting on a Y-wing since it is so hard to shred stress. But when you pair it with Twin Laser Turret and recognize that you don’t have to reacquire the target lock on the same target it suddenly looks a lot better. Throw R4-B11 into the mix and it becomes downright nasty.

Drea starts by target locking. This will be the last action she ever takes for the game. She then spends the TL on her first TLT attack. Reacquires for a stress. Spends the TL again to force her target to reroll any evades. Reacquires for a stress. Repeats for the second TLT shot. By the end, she now has four stress and has likely done her maximum two damage.

What brought this list together was the idea that in order for Drea to not lose her TL you really want all your ships firing at the same pilot skill. If the ship Drea has a TL on has only two health left, she should fire first and try to kill it. After spending the TL for the last time to make the target reroll its defense die, she acquires the TL on a different ship.

Having all ships firing at the same PS gives you maximum flexibility for when you want her firing and switching targets. If you have two vulnerable ships, have Guri fire on the one that is not target locked. If it survives, Drea targets that one after dropping her target and kills it next round.

As for the rest of the list, Guri is a fairly standard build. With Sensor Jammer, Autothrusters and Lone Wolf she’s pretty defensive to an opposing TLT. I’ve actually seen Guri solo four TLT Y-wings without ever taking a damage.

Why Palob instead of another Y-wing with TLT? Two reasons. One, his Focus stealing ability works great as an added protection for Guri. If the enemy Focuses, he risks Palob stealing it. If he doesn’t Focus, he loses a damage when attacking the Sensor Jammer. Additionally, Palob gains a second Focus to use on his two TLT attacks.

The benefit of a HWK over a Y is the Illicit slot. Deadman’s Switch is a perfect upgrade for a TLT carrier. Your opponent wants to get into your vulnerable range one donut hole. But he also has to balance out that if he does, and then destroys the HWK, all his ships will suffer some damage. Likewise, Guri loves to get to range one of an opponent. If she dies while doing it she’ll be dishing out a final damage.

Because of the threat of Deadman’s, your opponent will most likely focus on the Y-wing first. Y-wings are used to sustained fire and can hold up for a round or two, unlike a HWK. This gives the others a chance to continue causing trouble, stealing tokens and hitting for heavy damage.

Plus, Drea is the last ship you want in the end game. Even with all ships flying at PS 5, the chances that she’ll lose her target lock are quite high. And once she loses it, she’s just a super stressed generic Y-wing. Best to use her and then lose her first.

This list is great against other TLT carriers and three ship aces. Even though they are PS5 and can be out maneuvered by an ace, because you want to fly your ships so spread out it becomes quite difficult to outmaneuver them all. And an ace doesn’t like Guri’s defenses, Palob’s token stealing or Drea forcing him to reroll defense dice. Swarms will be your biggest threat.

Variations

The most obvious change is to drop Deadman’s switch on Guri in exchange for Glitterstim. It’s a great illicit upgrade and will help her survive a round if she ever becomes the center of attention. In reality, it’s probably the better of the two choices for most match ups.

Another option is to take Inertial Dampeners, which is only one point, and upgrade Lone Wolf to Predator. You lose some defensive utility but gain the ability to always use the reroll, even when protecting the TLT’s donut hole.

Trading both Deadman’s Switch’s could get you Predator on both Guri and Palob which is another strong option. A reroll, and potentially a Focus as well, makes Palob’s TLT almost as effective as Drea’s.