Rogue Squadron - Launch Vipers!

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 “Thweek” (Guns for Hire Expansion) (32 pts) (PS 4)

During setup, before the “Place Forces” step, you may choose 1 enemy ship and assign the “Shadowed” or “Mimicked” Condition card to it.

Shadowed

“Thweek” is treated as having the pilot skill value you had after setup. The pilot skill value of “Thweek” does not change if your pilot skill value changes or you are destroyed.

Mimicked

“Thweek” is treated as having your pilot ability. “Thweek” cannot apply a Condition card by using your pilot ability. “Thweek” does not lose your pilot ability if you are destroyed.

Title- StarViper Mk II (Guns for Hire Expansion): You may equip up to 2 different title Upgrades. When performing a barrel roll action, you must use the soft 1 template instead of the straight 1 template.
Title- Virago (StarViper Expansion): Your upgrade bar gains the Illicit and System upgrade icons. You cannot equip this card if your pilot skill value is “3” or lower.
System- Fire Control System (B-Wing/TIE Phantom Expansion): After you perform an attack, you may acquire a target lock on the defender.
Illicit- Glitterstim (Hound’s Tooth/Kihraxz Expansions): At the start of the Combat phase, you may discard this card and receive 1 stress token. If you do, until the end of the round, when attacking or defending, you may change all of your Focus results to Evade or Hit results.
Modification- Autothrusters (StarViper/TIE Silencer Expansions): 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.

3x StarViper “Black Sun Enforcer” (Starviper Expansion) (22 pts) (PS 1)

None

Title- StarViper Mk II (Guns for Hire Expansion): You may equip up to 2 different title Upgrades. When performing a barrel roll action, you must use the soft 1 template instead of the straight 1 template.

Lock S-Foils in Attack Position

I picked up two copies of Guns for Hire for a number of reasons. I wanted several copies of the upgrades and I wanted to be able to fly four of the new enhanced StarVipers and Kihraxz. Unfortunately, you can’t actually fly this list unless you also buy three regular StarVipers. You could sub in a Vigo but lose your two point initiative bid. And Thweek likes initiative bids.

The idea behind this list is pretty simple. Bump and gun with your Enforcers. With their sweet, sweet barrel roll you can put yourself in a lot of positions to help ensure your opponent bumps into one. Then the others get some shots. Meanwhile, Thweek hangs out on the edges, coming in as the elusive ace that moves last. You’ll rarely want to steal a pilot ability but it’s something to consider against some opponents. Thweek stealing Captain Oicunns ability would be hilarious.

This is one of those classic X-wing style lists, even though you are flying very untraditional Star Wars ships. It’s all about maneuvering, attack dice and defense dice. No regen, no bombs, no crazy synergies. Just piloting.