Rules Lawyer: Jane's Fighting Starfighters

If you’re into ships or planes at all there is a good chance you’ve heard of Jane’s. It’s an identification guide first published in 1898 for all active warships. In modern days it has been expanded to an entire collection of guides for aircraft and more. Today we’re going to expand this idea into a galaxy far, far away while we take a quick look at all of the vast ship’s available in Fantasy Flight Games’ X-wing Miniatures game. This will be a very top level guide to help you classify the roles there are in the game.

Attack

Aggressor/KSE Firespray/YV-666

An attack fighter is one that’s designed to take some punishment while it goes in and trashes the place. A real world equivalent would be the A-10 “Warthog“. The games three large base ships with fixed firing arcs fit this category nicely. They each have a pretty good number of hit points and reasonable mitigation. You use these ships to hit hard and not care about taking a few hits yourself.

These ships are usually deployed in pairs that are well decked out with upgrades or in conjunction with a mini-swarm of much cheaper ships (often Light Fighters). Due to their large base these ships are surprisingly fast.

Note: The YV-666 is an unreleased ship and it’s classification is based on speculation.

Note 2: A Y-wing with the BTL-A4 title is often referred to as a “Warthog” build, due to the A-10.

Bomber

Y-Wing/K-Wing/TIE Bomber/TIE Punisher

A bomber is a ship that carries heavy ordinance and delivers it to it’s target. Think B-17’s. They fly in, deliver their payload and then run away. They are not intended to dogfight. Their poor maneuverability often limits their ability to do that. They make up for this by being tough. These ships can take a beating and keep going.

While the K-Wing and TIE Punisher are unreleased, and therefore the final details have not yet been revealed, they suggest a sub-classification of Heavy bombers. Y-Wings and TIE Bombers can be fielded in groups of 4-5 and still carry some ordinance. K-Wings and Punishers will most likely be fielded in groups of no more then 3 and are probably best fielded singularly with fighter support.

Gunships

YT-1300/YT-2400/VT-49 Decimator

Gunships are aircraft that move into an area and saturate it with fire. Best comparison is an AC-130. They are big and the saturation is represented in X-wing via their turret. They can hit you no matter where you are. They are big and can take a beating.

These ships are best wielded like Attack ships; in pairs decked out with upgrades (often called Fat builds) or paired with a mini-swarm of smaller ships. They will make up a big chunk of your squadron points all by themselves. Due to their turret you have a lot of flexibility in how you fly them as you’ll have a shot as long as you are in range.

Heavy Fighter

Kihraxz/TIE Advanced/X-Wing

Heavy fighters are moderately expensive, moderately resilient and hit pretty hard. These are your F-15’s. They are good all-around ships but they aren’t really the best at anything. They are expensive enough that you’ll never fly more than four of them but cheap enough that you can fly three alone well decked out or three naked paired with a few more cheaper ships.

They have a wide range of pilots with good abilities but lack a lot of upgrade options. This makes them a stable choice but they lack flair. With the coming upgrades to the TIE Advanced there is hope the X-wing will see a similar boost which will give them a better place on the field.

Note: The B-Wing could be classified in this group as well.

Interceptor

A-Wing/TIE Interceptor/M3-A Scyk

These ships differ from the present day definition of an interceptor so there isn’t a real world comparison I want to make. In modern terms, Interceptors are ships that have long range and speed so can intercept enemy craft a long way out. But that means they lack maneuverability (due to needing to carry fuel, something we don’t have to worry about in this game).

These ships are fast and maneuverable. They are also fragile. They cannot take a beating but they are good at avoiding being hit, either through arc dodging or just regular defense die. These are some of the funnest ship’s to fly. Just expect them to die.

The M3-A Scyk fits here best when paired with the “Heavy Scyk” upgrade and a cannon. That brings it’s attack up to be like a TIE Interceptor.

Light Fighter

TIE Fighter/Z-95

Light fighters are cheap, maneuverable and short range. Think F-16. They are made for close in defense, like protecting a Star Destroyer, and are completely disposable. You generally don’t really care if one dies because you have another half dozen still on the board. Cheapness is their hallmark as you can carry up to eight of them, the max ships you can fit into a squadron.

With their two attack, they won’t hit very hard but they are great at overcoming the defenses of a single big target via swarming it. Most “Fat” ships can wield some incredible defenses but these tend to only work if they are taking fire from one to two ships. When they are getting fired on by six or more in a swarm, they are going to start stacking up the damage.

Superiority Fighter

B-Wing/E-Wing/Starviper/TIE Defender/TIE Phantom

Superiority fighters are the top of the line. These are your next generation F-22 Raptors. One on one they will blow any other ship away. They work great decked out as part of a two ship build. One of these flown and equipped well can handle being greatly outnumbered and still come out ahead.

That is their hallmark, lots of options for how they are equipped but also very expensive. Aside from the Defender and E-wing, while their cheapest pilot can be fielded in a four ship list, they really come into their own flown equipped with one of the top tier pilots.

Note: The B-wing is an odd beast. It’s basic pilots have a place in the game much like a Heavy Fighter but it’s named pilots kitted out fly more like a Superiority fighter.

Support

HWK-290/Lambda Shuttle

If you end up in a situation where your last ship left is one of these, you’re probably going to lose the match. Theses ships are not one-on-one fighters. They are your AWAC’s, your support craft. And they excel at squad support.

Throw one of these ships into a squad and you can turn a mundane mix into a powerhouse. While they themselves typically won’t do a lot of damage, they can multiply the damage potential of other ships. This makes them fun for coming up with interesting and unique squad combinations. But it also makes them less than competitive in most cases as they provide a big Achilles heel for the squad.