And here is the Arquitens' competitor, the Nebulon-B!
This is the second part of my Battle of the Titans, my first attempt at making a pair of epic-sized ships for my articles. I've not started small, jumping in the deep end with the Arquitens-class cruiser that I posted a couple of days ago and now we have the Nebulon-B frigate.
So let's get stuck in!
The overall design:
At first, I was very tempted to make a ship of equal power to the Arquitens, however that's not how strong the Nebulon-B is. Its a ship long past it's prime, refitted and repurposed for the hit and run warfare that the rebellion deals in! The Nebulon-B was originally designed to be an Imperial ship, however it seems to have been completely disregarded by the empire and then snapped up by smaller organisations, criminals and most importantly, the Rebellion!
I will quickly suggest a video and Youtuber, EC Henry, where he takes it upon himself to redesign the Nebulon-B to show how it would have looked during its hay-day, he gives his thoughts on what the lore to the Nebulon-B could be. Its really good, just like the rest of his videos and I may make another Nebulon showing it in its prime (as well as the rest of the amazing custom ships he makes!). Back to the article!
As I said the Nebulon-B was perfect for the Rebellion's hit and run tactics, with a solid front section that held all its weapons, allowing the Rebels to charge a target head-on dealing the most damage possible, then running away before another enemy can catch it. Its designed to not stay in long protected battles as its rear section is too weak if the ship is flanked.
As with my Arquitens, I would classify the Nebulon as a Massive Base Ships, however as there are commander cards in epic already that are restricted to Huge Base Ships only, I would say that Massive Ships can equip Huge Ship upgrades so commanders like Ozzel and Dodonna can command these larger vessels!
I said in my last article that Massive ships would follow all the same rules as Epic ships, but with one additional rule. However, I released after releasing the articles that even with that upgrades like Veteran Turret Gunner these huge and massive ships cannot perform multiple Turbolaser attacks, which I feel is a necessary ability for large capital ships. So now there are two additional rules!
Damaged, But Not Out:
If a Massive Ship has a number of damage cards equal to half of its hull value, it recovers one less shield during the end phase.
If a Massive Ship has a number of damage cards equal to three-quarters of its hull value, it cannot recover shields and recovers one less energy during the end phase.
Capital Grade Weaponry:
Massive Ships may equip multiple of the same hardpoint upgrades.
The Stats:
The Nebulon-B is big and tough, but it is not as big and tough as an Arquitens. Because of this, it's hull, shield values and recovery rates are slightly lower than Arquitens due to these being rebuilt and run down medical frigates and not purpose-built cruisers. I gave it a stronger primary attack, as the Arquitens has two primary attacks that it can perform both of, the Nebulon-B is still at a small disadvantage as its total potential damage output is slightly lower. That being said, it has a greater chance of hitting an ace with this attack compared to the Arquitens' two-three dice attacks!
This ended up with the Nebulon-B having the following stat line:
Full Front: 5
Agility: 0
Hull: 36
Shields: 18(Recovering twice per round)
Energy: 12 (Recovering thrice per round)
The Ship Ability:
Tough Head, Weak Spine accurately describes the Nebulon-B! I was torn on how to show how the flimsy spine of the Nebulon-B will affect the ship, as its a massive part of its design. But I feel the design I've hit on make the most sense, letting the Nebulon gain access to a tougher front half reinforces, but when enemy ships are in your rear half you cannot use that reinforce, letting these ships more easily cripple your Nebulon-B!
The Actions:
The Nebulon's size gives it a good reason to be able to perform three actions per round as its massive crew can easily perform multiple tasks. Like with the Arquitens and all other epic ship, the Nebulon-B gains access to the same five actions: focus, reinforce, target lock, coordinate and jam.
The Dial:
Again like the Arquitens, the Nebulon-B has a very weak dial, but this isn't reflective of the Nebulon's manoeuvrability and speed, it's more of a way to restrict a ship that ould otherwise cripple every enemy squadron on the board with its size as it swats them out of the way!
The Upgrades:
The Nebulon, although deadly, is more of a support frigate, normally fitted for medical ship duties or resupplying a wing of starfighters. This gives it a much larger number of crew, team and cargo slots over the Arquitens. That being said though, it does still have a torpedo and two hardpoints slots, allowing it to keep up with the heavier firepower of more dedicated capital ships.
The Pilots:
As there are no named pilots for capital ships in X-Wing, we only have the generic you've seen, and I have included both Rebellion and Scum cards as we have seen Nebulon-B's in the possession of less than reputable factions like Jinata Security from Battlefront Two.
For the points cost, I'd say this ship would be considerably cheaper than the Arquitnes, being about 240-270.
The Upgrades:
Vanguard:
Jan Dodonna's flagship during the years before the battle of Yavin, the Vanguard was destroyed at the Battle of Atollon while protecting Pheionix Cell from Thrawn's fleet. I decided as it's Dodonna's flagship, I made Vanguard have an ability that nicely works with his ability, letting the ship retain all its focus and evade tokens, that he can then let his nearby allies spend for their attacks and defence. This makes Perceptive Copilot very useful on this ship so you can quickly build up a supply of focus tokens before entering combat.
Points wise I'd say this would be somewhat expensive at 6-10 points as its ability and linked action is very strong!
Hellion's Dare:
the Hellion's Dare is the Nebulon-B that carried Riot and Hound Squadrons into battle during the events of the Alphabet Squad Book (another very good read (the final one is distracting me as I write this very article!)) The Dare went through hell and back again until it was destroyed by Shadow Wing. This influenced its ability, letting it survive much more punishment than it really should be able to. The additional ability to store multiple small ships reflects its role as a carrier ship.
Points wise I'd say it's cheaper than Vanguard being 4-6 points as docking, although useful, isn't the most powerful ability unless it adds something to the carrier.
Redemption:
The Redemption is the most famous of all the Nebulon-B's as it's the ship we see during the end of the Empire Strike Back where Luke gains his new hand. Because of its role as a medical frigate instead of more of a combat vessel, I gave it a more defensive ability, letting it spend energy to recover additional shields on ships nearby. This makes it work well with the GR-75's ability or an R2 astromech on the Rebellions fighters! The Redemption's ability to regenerate shields makes it very valuable so I'd say its probably about 5-8 points,
Opportunity:
The only scum ship in this pack, the Opportunity was used by Leema Kai (one of the new pilots in the Fugitives and Collaborators Squadron Pack) to partake in the First Order's Project Resurrection, where children would be stolen from worlds then they would retreat away before they could be caught. I gave it an ability to reflect its hit and run nature, letting it increase or decrease the speed of its maneuvres, letting it potentially execute a speed three manoeuvre.
This is probably the weakest of the titles, however, being able to ram squadrons of fighters at faster speeds I always useful for epic ships so I'd say its about 2-5 points.
Docking Spine:
The Nebulon-B has a problem with carrying fighters. It's been constantly referred to as being able to carry a couple of squads of starfighters, however the only Nebulon-Bs we see have no hanger, and although the spine could hold a few starfighters, it couldn't be many. Because of this, I've decided to only let you only dock a hand full of starfighter on the spine of the ship, the Hellion's Dare is an exception as I imagine it having been refitted with a full-size hanger bay.
As I've said before, docking is fun and sometimes useful, however without adding extra abilities to the fighters carrier it isn't the most powerful ability, so I'd say the Docking Spine is only about 1-4 points.
Medical Frigate:
This cargo upgrade shows how Nebulon-Bs were normally refitted to become medical ships to deal with the Rebellion's high injury and casualty rates. The ability helps to keep your starfighters from being overwhelmed with stress and wounded pilots. This means while your starfighters protect the frigate from enemy pilots, they have a distinct advantage!
Being able to just strip stress tokens from your friendly ships, even if it's during the end phase, making it much more expensive so probably about 7-12 points.
Admiral Raddus:
I went back and forth on who I should make to command the Nebulon-B, and I decided as Dodonna has been done and Sato should be on a Pelta Class, so I decided on giving it to Raddus as I can't imagine him in any other ship pack (bar a Hammer Head, which I already have a commander for when I make it!). This ability reflects his ability in Armada, where he can jump in at a different point to the rest of the fleet, however, he can also jump further into the battle in a more advantageous position!
Normally redeploying closer to your opponents is dangerous and risky, however, being able to do it when your allies have had time to distract and confuse your opponent means that you can use it much more to your advantage, like with GA-97, making him a similar price at about 6-8 points.
Caitken and Shollan:
These two Mon Calamari were the aids of Raddus during the Battle of Scarif and helped him in coordinating the ragtag fleet in their successful mission to gain the Death Star plans. Their ability, like with Raddus's is inspired by their ability in the Armada game and the Gunnery Specialists team, making them a cheap (in terms of energy) way to reroll attack dice and get constant hits against an enemy ship!
This is a very strong ability making it expensive, much more than the Gunnery Specialists team, however, I feel that team is currently overpriced, so I'll say its about the same as them currently at 8-10 points.
Fighter Screen:
Like with the Arquitens, I have made command upgrades, more dedicated to showing how the capital ships are acting during the battle, the first of these is Fighter Screen. This is something capital ships need to keep themselves alive, as the starfighters can distract enemy ships and sometimes even take fire to keep their command ship safe!
This ability is especially strong as we have seen with Selfless for the rest of the Rebellion, except you can choose any friendly ship in range, this makes it about 5-7 points.
All Fighters Follow Me!:
This is an upgrade taken directly from Armada again (I really should get back into that game!). In Armada it allows friendly ships to increase their speed before they move. This is very similar, letting your command ship encourage your allies to move at speed towards your enemy to engage them at the same time as your capital ships.
Points wise I'd say it's about 5-9 points as it can be very useful to drag up your slow bombers to combat range so they cant be picked off at long-range but your opponents capital ships!
The Example List:
Medical Frigate Defenders:
Massassi Group Esscort (250) Blue Squadron Escort (38)
Point-Defense Battery (9) Veteran Wing Leader (2)
Jan Dodonna (4) Blue Squadron Escort (38)
Lando Calrissian (2) Servomotor S-foils (0)
Jyn Erso (2) Blue Squadron Escort (38)
Perceptive Copilot (8) Servomotor S-foils (0)
Medical Frigate (7) Blue Squadron Escort (38)
Optimized Power Core (6) Servomotor S-foils (0)
Tibanna Reserves (3) Blue Squadron Escort (38)
Vanguard (6) Servomotor S-foils (0)
Total: 500
The design of this list is purely for squadron defence, giving the Nebulon a terrifying amount of attacks at range one-two while also allowing it to pass around a large number of focus and evade tokens to defend their fighter squadron.
Lando, Perceptive and Jyn all let you gain the most focus and evade tokens possible and then Vanguard lets you retain these tokens each round for later use. Jan then lets your escort X-Wings use these tokens to defend themselves or perform attacks more effectively!
It is nowhere near as complicated as the Arquitens list I made in my last article, however, its simplicity is its advantage. With your X-Wing's protected at close range, they can more effectively take on enemy fighters then move on to your opponents capital ships when the coast is clear!
Conclusion:
Like I said in my Arquitens article, I never really expect there to be an official Arquitens or Nebulon-B as the inclusion of ships like these would be very ambitious for AMG to do as Epic is less popular than the standard game, and the current epic ships are massively expensive to buy, let alone something that would be twice the size.
I'm happy with the way both the Nebulon-B and the upgrade all work, they feel much more Rebel. Where the Arquitens and its upgrades where all about pure power and tactical superiority, the Nebulon is about how you can defend your allies and how they can defend you! Because of this, the Nebulon seems more like a safe haven for fighters to gather around while it brings them close to the enemy where they can then swarm out and cause the most damage possible, which makes sense with the Rebellions heavier dependence on superior starfighters!
Like I've said before, I'm planning to run a game with the Nebulon-B and Arquitens. I'm currently working on how it would run and how to actually have the two massive ships on Tabletop Simulator. I will probably announce it and how to join up for it next week so look out for it on my Reddit or Instagram!
As normal feel free to use the cards in friendly games to show the rest of the X-Wing community that here comes the power of the Tiny Titans!
Thank you all for reading,
Watcher Leader out.
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