Rogue Squadron- Emperor Wampa

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

TIE Advanced “Darth Vader” (TIE Advanced Expansion) (31 pts) (PS 11)

During your “Perform Action” step, you may perform 2 actions.

Elite Pilot Talent- Veteran Instincts (Slave-1/Millenium Falcon Expansions): Increase your pilot skill value by 2.
Title- TIE/x1 (Imperial Raider Expansion): Your upgrade bar gains the upgrade icon. If you equip an upgrade, its squad point cost is reduced by 4 (to a minimum of 0).
System- Advanced Targeting Computer (Imperial Raider Expansion): When attacking with your primary weapon, if you have a target lock on the defender, you may add 1 Crit result to your roll. If you do, you cannot spend target locks during this attack.

TIE Fighter “Wampa” (Imperial Assault Carrier Expansion) (17 pts) (PS 4)

When attacking, you may cancel all die results. If you cancel a result, deal 1 facedown Damage card to the defender.

Modification- Stealth Device (Slave-1/M3-A Expansions): Increase your agility value by 1. If you are hit by an attack, discard this card.

TIE Advanced “Lt. Colzet” (Imperial Raider Expansion) (23pts) (PS 3)

At the start of the End phase, you may spend a target lock you have on an enemy ship to flip 1 random facedown Damage card assigned to it faceup.

Title- TIE/x1 (Imperial Raider Expansion): Your upgrade bar gains the upgrade icon. If you equip a upgrade, its squad point cost is reduced by 4 (to a minimum of 0).
System- Fire Control System (B-Wing/TIE Phantom Expansions): After you perform an attack, you may acquire a target lock on the defender.

Lambda Shuttle “Omicron Group Pilot” (Lambda Shuttle Expansion) (29 pts) (PS 2)

None

Crew x2- Emperor Palpatine (Imperial Raider Expansion): Once per round, you may change a friendly ship’s die result to any other die result. That die result cannot be modified again.

Lock S-Foils in Attack Position

This is a list I am thinking about taking to the first Store Championship game of the season this Saturday. It has got its weaknesses but it is a lot of fun and has a lot of different tricks to throw at your enemy. The combo of Wampa, Palpatine and Colzet can really mess up a two hull ship, anything that’s really hard to hit, anything with a ton of shields or shield regeneration. Wampa firing at range 3, through an asteroid, at Corran Horn equipped with a Stealth Device would be throwing two dice against six. You’re probably not going to hit. But if he rolls a Crit, or Palpatine gives him one, then Corran loses one of his two hull. If Colzet has a target lock on Corran then come the end of the round that card gets flipped over. You get lucky with a Direct Hit crit and Corran’s dead without ever technically being hit. Alternatively, just pushing any damage through a ship that can regenerate shields is useful. Hull damage doesn’t go away.

Unfortunately, this combo can be difficult to pull off. You need all three of those ships alive and since all of them are PS4 or lower there is a fair chance at losing one before it ever gets to fire. That’s the purpose of the stealth device on Wampa though. No single ship becomes the obvious first target for your opponent. If he shoots at the shuttle, it will take a round of two to bring down. If he shoots at Colzet, he’s got three agility and five health to chew through so will take several attacks. Wampa might drop in a single shot but with the stealth and an Evade token he’s pretty slippery.

Meanwhile, Vader is hanging out being ignored and waiting for the endgame where he’ll excel. He’ll want to get into a flanking position while the other ships hang out being tempting and then deliver heavy damage with his ATC. Palpatine should primarily be used on defense unless you need him to help Wampa on an ideal target.

Your biggest threat with his list are TLT heavy lists and swarms. You’ve got Vader to counter arc dodgers so they will threaten your shuttle but can be accounted for. But the TLT will come with a lot of hull that you need to chew through giving your opponent plenty of time to knock out your more frail ships. Swarms won’t care too much about your trick with Wampa and Colzet as each individual ship drops easy enough already.

Variations

For this list you have about four points to play around with. You could just throw an Engine Upgrade on Vader instead of the Stealth and VI. Vader loves having an EU equipped as he can really dance around the board some. But then you lose his almost guaranteed first shot and Wampa is more vulnerable.

Alternatively, you can give Vader something like Predator and gain a 1pt Initiative bid. Or give the two Advanced the TIE Mk 2 modification so that they have access to more green maneuvers. Then you could also give Vader Juke which is a very nice option for him. Firing at PS9 he’ll usually have that Evade token available to make his hits go through better and still be able to use the evade for defense later.

You could also tweak the system upgrades on the two Advanced. Vader loves ATC but Sensor Jammer would also make him pretty annoying to shoot at, especially if you go against Twin Laser Turrets. Likewise, giving them Accuracy Correctors means you can always go defensive on them as you’re guaranteed two hits on your two dice attacks. For Colzet, it would cost you your FCS which is ideal for his ability, so it is a trade off there.