Rogue Squadron- Launch Vipers - Final 1.0 Tournament List

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) (43 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- Push the Limits (A-Wing/Imperial Aces Expansion): Once per round, after you perform an action, you may perform 1 free action shown in your action bar. Then receive 1 stress token.
Illicit- Inertial Dampeners (IG-2000/StarViper Expansions): When you reveal your maneuver, you may discard this card to instead perform a white stop maneuver. Then receive 1 stress token.
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.
System- Advanced Sensors (E-Wing/Lambda Expansions): Immediately before you reveal your maneuver, you may perform 1 free action. If you use this ability, you must skip your “Perform Action” step during this round.
Title- Starviper Mk II (Guns for Hire Expansion): StarViper only. You may equip up to 2 different title Upgrades. When performing a barrel roll action, you must use the bank 1 template instead of the 1 straight template.
Title- Virago (StarViper Expansion): StarViper only. Your upgrade bar gains the System and Illicit upgrade icons. You cannot equip this card if your pilot skill value is “3” or lower.
Torpedo- Advanced Proton Torpedo (Multiple Expansions)- Attack (TL, 5, Range 1): Spend your target lock and discard this card to perform this attack. You may change up to 3 of your blank results to Focus results.

Starviper “Black Sun Assassin” (Guns for Hire Expansion) (30 pts) (PS 5)

None

Elite Pilot Talent- Push the Limits (A-Wing/Imperial Aces Expansion): Once per round, after you perform an action, you may perform 1 free action shown in your action bar. Then receive 1 stress token.
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.
Title- StarViper Mk II (Guns for Hire Expansion): StarViper only. You may equip up to 2 different title Upgrades. When performing a barrel roll action, you must use the bank 1 template instead of the 1 straight template.

Starviper “Thweek” (Guns for Hire Expansion) (27 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.

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

Lock S-Foils in Attack Position

The eve of X-Wing 2.0 is upon us. Tomorrow will see the wide release of second edition into the wild. But before we go all 2.0 all the time, here is the last 1.0 squadron I flew at a tournament.

I considered taking a more broken list to my final 1.0 tournament. Something with regen, Sabine bombs, reinforce, etc. But while those are powerful and broken, they aren’t quite as much fun overall to play. And triple StarVipers are a lot of fun. They will still be a lot of fun in 2.0, however, this was my last chance to fly them with Push the Limits and Autothrusters.

My first match was against Rey/Lowie team up. I decided to steal Rey’s ability with Thweek and boy did that prove effective. Thweek was able to full make use of reposition so that he always had a shot. And thanks to Rey, he always had rerolls on attack and defense. The Vipers made short work of these Rebels.

Next, I faced an old school classic, Whisper and a mini Howlrunner swarm. No StarViper wants to get shot by four TIE’s or allow Whisper to get off a range one shot. It proved a little tricky out maneuvering all of that. But I did manage to deny Whisper anything but range 3 shots. I couldn’t kill Whisper in the time allotted but did take out the TIE’s without losing a ship.

In round three I came up against Fenn, Talonbane and Torkil. Thanks to Torkil’s I almost opted to steal Fenn’s ability instead of Talonbane (PS 11) pilot skill on Thweek. The way the round played out, it wouldn’t have mattered much. Thweek never got a range one shot nor did his going last prove impactful. I managed to swarm Fenn in the first engagement and drop Guri’s torpedo into him. That proved decisive. The Black Sun ran around with Talonbane’s Harpoon stuck in him for the rest of the game but he never managed to land a crit to finish him off. Torkil dropped pretty fast next and then Talonbane just couldn’t deal with three.

My final game proved just how things can swing. I faced Maarek Steele in a Defender with escorting Reapers, one carrying Palpatine, one carrying Krennic. These things are tanks with their eight health. And zippy. I never managed to get all three Vipers on any one ship. I messed up the initial engagement which cost Thweek his life pretty early. It was downhill from there. Lesson, I think, is to not go fast against Reapers. They have to double move with Ailerons which means you’re not going to escape them. If I had gone slow, I could have avoided them a little better.

I ended up getting no kills on this final round and missed the cut by a handful of points. But it was a fun final outing for 1.0 though. Bring on the next stage of X-wing!

Variations

You could have taken two Black Sun Assassins instead of Thweek by dropping Advanced Proton Torpedoes. You could also take Dalan instead of the Black Sun for that too.