Rogue Squadron- X-Wing's are Dead. Long Live the X-Wing!

X-Wing. The name of everyone’s favorite¹ game. The ship that Luke Skywalker² used to blow up a Death Star. The ship that rarely saw play in its own game. For years we’ve hoped and speculated that FFG would put out a fix for it. Integrated Astromech and Flight Assist Astromech gave it small jolts of life. When they announced Saw’s Renegades, another spark of hope emerged. Yesterday, to much surprise as it appeared there would be no new information released until Worlds, FFG dropped an article revealing some big X-wing game changers were indeed coming in the Saw’s Renegade’s pack.

The real question, though, do these cards actually fix the X-wing?

We’re going to start by looking at each card in some more detail and then building out some X-wings using the new cards and see what we can do with them.

Servomotor S-Foils

This card gives you a lot for an effective cost of nothing (it even doesn’t really cost the modification slot thanks to Renegade Refit giving you two). The open side, the side you’ll likely see the most often, gives your X-wing Talon Rolls and the Barrel Roll action. These two things alone address much of the X-wings short-comings. With a broader maneuver dial and the ability to reposition, X-wings suddenly aren’t just a jouster. Because the Talon Rolls are tied to your 3 speed turns, rather than being their own separate maneuver, they are far superior to regular T-rolls. Every X-wing now effectively has a limited version of Countess Ryad’s ability. Set a 3 speed turn and decide later if you want to shift your angle by 90 degrees or 180 degrees.

The S-Foils closed side comes with the first real cost, a reduction of your attack value by one. This is not an insignificant cost as losing one attack dice really neuters your offense. But it does give you access to two additional green maneuvers and the boost action. This side of the card will work great for escaping from danger, especially if you have R2-D2 aboard. Bank 2, regen a shield and then boost further. Not something you’ll use often but useful when you need it.

One of the most interesting aspects of this card is when you flip it. “At the Start of the Activation phase, you may flip this card”. That’s it. No cost to pay and, unlike the U-Wings Pivot Wings, you don’t have to telegraph your move the round before. Dials will be set before you have to decide which side to flip this card too.

The timing also pairs nicely with Intelligence Agent. Both trigger at the same time so you are free to resolve them in any order. Throw Intel Agent on a companion U-Wing or Sheathipede and your X-wings will know if it would be better to boost or barrel roll after they maneuver.

Renegade Refit

This card brings everything together. With a -2 point cost and by taking up the usually unused Torpedo slot, this card functions in many ways similar to the Chardaan refit. It goes far beyond Chardaan though. First, torpedoes are less valuable than missiles, if you have just the one. It also gives an extra modification slot and further reduces your overall squad point cost by reducing EPT’s by one point.

The extra modification slot will almost always be used for Integrated Astromech. It’s a free shield essentially. There are a few fringe cases where you might want to equip Engine Upgrade directly instead of making use of the Closed S-Foils. And maybe you might want to take EU and Autothrusters instead of the S-foils at all. I wouldn’t recommend that but you could do it now. At this point there really aren’t any combos of Modifications currently in the game that are better than S-Foils or work to enhance torpedoes (which you no longer have).

The EPT cost reduction is interesting. On one hand, it calls out all of the X-wing pilots who would like to have an EPT, like Garven Dreis, Hobbie and Red Squadron. But it also further gives your aces a leg up. If you have an EPT, your build is effectively three points cheaper, which is the cost of some really good EPT’s.

Builds

Wedge Antilles (29) + Flight Assist Astromech (1) + Veteran Instincts (1-1=0) + Renegade Refit (-2) + Servomotor (0) + Integrated Astromech (0) = 28 points
- For one point less than Wedge’s base cost, you can get a PS 11 version with loads of reposition options and an extra health.
Wedge Antilles (29) + R2 Astromech (1) + Push the Limits (3-1=2) + Renegade Refit (-2) + Servomotor (0) + Integrated Astromech (0) = 30 points
- Slightly more expensive, this Wedge gains multiple actions and has lots of choices of clearing the PTL stress.
Tarn Mison (23) + M9-G8 (3) + Renegade Refit (-2) + Servomotor (0) + Integrated Astromech (0) = 24 points
- A great ship to slip into a four ship squad, Tarn will be a pain to shoot thanks to his ability allowing you to force your attacker to reroll an attack die.
Biggs Darklighter (25) + R2-D6 (1) + Determination (1-1=0) + Renegade Refit (-2) + Servomotor (0) + Integrated Astromech (0) = 24 points
- Biggs just got cheaper. Sure, he can only be used once but he’s cheaper. With Determination and IA, when you take a crit you can see if it’s a Pilot crit, which you can ignore, or a ship crit, which you can use IA to ignore and lose nothing.
Hobbie Klivian (25) + Targeting Astromech (2) + Renegade Refit (-2) + Servomotor (0) + Integrated Astromech (0) = 25 points
- Another good fit for a four ship list, Hobbie can get a lot of mileage out of those T-rolls. He effectively has three white turn around maneuvers that give him a free target lock and his action to barrel roll or focus with.
Leevan Tenza (25) + R7-T1 (3) + Juke (2-1 = 1) + Renegade Refit (-2) + Servomotor (0) + Integrated Astromech (0) = 27 points
- With Leevan, you can give yourself a free evade after boosting. You can get the boost action for free if your s-foils are closed, but then you’re rolling less attack dice. By giving yourself boost through R7-T1 you don’t have to sacrifice your offense. This will allow you to make use of Juke to really hammer your target.
Leevan Tenza (25) + R7-T1 (3) + Intensity (2-1 = 1) + Renegade Refit (-2) + Servomotor (0) + Integrated Astromech (0) = 27 point
- Instead of Juke, this build gives you more consistent attack dice. Use R7-T1 to get a boost and a target lock, which allows you to use your pilot ability and Intensity to get a focus and evade. Four actions for the price of one. And if you take Garven Dreis as a squadmate you can get an extra focus token to use for flipping Intensity back.
Jek Porkins (26) + R5-D8 (3) + Expertise (4-1 = 3) + Renegade Refit (-2) + Servomotor (0) + Integrated Astromech (0) = 30 points
- And you thought a good Porkins build was impossible. You’re probably still right. But with this setup, your Porkins doesn’t care about Strezra’s or Tacticians or K-turns/T-rolls shutting down his Expertise. Thanks to Expertise, he can also, potentially, recover health without sacrificing too much with his lost action. And for only 30 points it’s not a bad price point.
Kullbee Sperado (26) + BB-8 (2) + Push the Limits (3-1=2) + Renegade Refit (-2) + Servomotor (0) + Integrated Astromech (0) = 28 points
- Set your S-foils to Closed and your dial to a 2-bank. Barrel roll with BB-8, trigger push to focus/target lock, maneuver and clear stress, boost and flip s-foils to open and have your full attack available. Three actions, no stress.
Wes Jansen (29) + R3-A2 (2) + Veteran Instincts (1-1 = 0) + Renegade Refit (-2) + Servomotor (0) + Integrated Astromech (0) = 29 points
- PS 10 Wes gains reposition and stress delivery all for his base cost.
Luke Skywalker (28) + R2-D2 (4) + Lone Wolf (2-1 = 1) + Renegade Refit (-2) + Servomotor (0) + Integrated Astromech (0) = 31 points
- This could be a very annoying Luke to fight. He gets rerolls on attack and defense, can regenerate shields and has his free focus to evade.

Summary

I’m looking forward to these new cards. It will make the X-wing interesting to fly again³. Will it make the X-wing competitive? Hard to say, there are so many things that go into a meta shift. But even if it doesn’t rock the meta, you will be able to throw X-wings on the table and not be handicapping yourself.

(1) Search your feelings. You know it to be true.

(2) He also seems to enjoy submerging them in water.

(3) Again? Don’t you mean finally?