Named for flying one of each of the Rebellions/New Republics mainstay fighters, Alphabet Squadron is made up of a recent x-Imperial traitor(Yrica Quell, X-Wing pilot), a home sick wide eyed ace(Wyl Lark, A-Wing Pilot), a self destructive hot headed grump(Chass Na Chadic, B-Wing pilot), another Imperial turned Rebel/mercenary (Nath Tensant, Y-Wing pilot) and the quiet unknown monster (Kiros, U-Wing Pilot). This group should not function together and so far they barely have! However, I love them and the Alphabet Squad series so far, so today will be the misfit squadron and some upgrades based around their classic starfighters and unique personalities.
Be warned there will be Alphabet Squad spoilers for the first two books, and if you haven't read them I suggest you do!
Yrica Quell:
Poor Yrica, so conflicted, so broken, so lost. I loved how they portrayed her in the books, most x-Imperials seem to just go straight to killing Imps far to easily, even if they take a while to turn to the rebels. Quell shows the conflict within, struggling to kill Imperials that she once knew where her peers and friends. She also is trying far too hard to prove herself to the Republic, practically killing herself to pull her squadron together. I tired to show this in her ability and her cards:
Quells ability lets her coordinate her friends but letting her coordinate more of them the more stressed she is, showing her over determination to prove her self even at the cost to her mental and physical state.
Traitors Remorse:
Named for the New Republic shantytown built to hold imperial defectors; this card is designed to show the struggles defectors face while doing their best to prove themselves. The card makes you more effective at attacking and defending as you know the enemies patterns first hand, but you struggle to kill them as you know them so well. The Turncoat restriction is like the Dark or Light Side restrictions but showing those who have betrayed their side, like Kallus or other possible pilots like a rebel Iden Versio or First Order Tam.
D6-L:
Quell's wonderful astromech, possibly the one true friend Quell had during her time in Alphabet. D6 was so loyal and kind, willing to take blame for Quell's actions at times, wanting to protect her. I tired to show their love for her and willingness to protect her and sacrifice in the end of the first book in this card, letting you repair 2 damage when you would be destroyed.
Alphabet Leader:
The last of Quell's themed cards, Alphabet Leader lets Quell take the squad into battle in the epic format, letting her buff all her friends while in formation, again at a cost to her self.
Wyl Lark:
Another example of why A-Wing pilots are the best people! Lark is truly a gift to the galaxy, caring far more about his friends and even his enemies than himself, always concerned how they are doing and keeping them safe. Wyl is also a spectacular pilot, and I truly believe possibly up there with Anakin/Vader, Poe and Hera. He learned to fly from a young age using flying creatures from his home world, which means he still treats his ship as if it was alive, another endearing quirk of his personality.
Wyl's ability shows both altruistic behaviour and skills as a pilot. Wyl taking red tokens from others makes a lot of sense, also pairing well with Quell to destress her after she coordinates. However letting him use them to boost and barrel roll before he engages shows his pure skill, making him a real ace.
Gyrostabilisers:
The amazing feature of the RZ-2 A-Wing that defines it from the RZ-1, was actually already a feature of the original A-Wing. It had the unfortunate disadvantage of being unreliable and getting stuck in the wrong position. I tired to show this by adding in the RZ-2's mobile arc but giving you a chance of losing your rotate action.
And because these are not as stable as the RZ-2's guns the pilots of the RZ-1, they cannot perform any action and then rotate the guns like the later A-Wing. This shows how it would take a lot more effort to do this. However they are still very useful just not as efficient.
Ship Whisperer:
This Talent showing a pilot's love and connection to their ship perfectly fits with Lark, allowing him to smoothly perform boosts and barrel rolls even while stressed, however becoming concerned and caring more about his ships safety whenever hit.
Chass Na Chadic:
Chass is messed up. She has suffered a lot in her time struggling to survive, no wonder she has issues with anger and trust. That being said she's one hell of a pilot. Even in a clunky B-Wing, she can turn all things in her path to scrap tearing apart all those who dare get in her way. However she's also incredibly self destructive, constantly looking for a fight that she can martyr herself in, becoming frustrated when she can't kill some imps.
Chass' ablility works around her desire to become a martyr, being more and more ruthless as she becomes damaged, desperate to kill as much as possible before they take her out while also exposing herself to try to make it a certainty she dies. I also gave her access to lots of linked jam actions to show her music and how she liked to blast it over the comms during battle.
Gyro/Aux Control Module:
I love that the B-Wing now has its S-Foil card, but I feel it still needs to have its Gyroscopic cockpit addressed in the game as it was a massive advantage to the B-Wing over most ships. This card lets you use the ships rotation to make it easier to turn depending on what way your main foil is as the engine are now facing a different direction.
Composite Beam:
I designed this as a weaker but more versatile version of the original composite beam Quarrie put on the B-7 Prototype B-Wing, similar to the beam we have in Star Wars Squadrons. Its similar to the Turbolaser Battery for epic, if the attack hits it will tear through a ship no matter the size, however its less effective against a more agile ship.
Death Wish:
Based around Chass' self-destructive thoughts, letting you get off 1 last shot if you're destroyed, at the cost of your friends mental health.
Nath Tensent:
Although another x-Imperial Nath left the empire long before Quell and before the battle of Yavin, he was caught taking bribes and so deserted with his entire squadron. Although he seemed a selfish rogue (not wanting revenge for his squadron only only changing his mind for money) he was fiercely loyal to his new squad, and his more selfish ways was just him knowing when to save his own skin.
Nath's ability is based around his sort of mentor role to the rest of the squadron, especially to Wyl and Chass. This let him pass off his locks to his friends, incredibly useful for any of the squad, but Chass and the B-Wings configuration would love this. He would also pair well with the new Weapons Systems Officer gunner, so both he and his allies can use the lock.
T5:
Although T5 has a much worse personality compared to D6-L, T5 is just as loyal and skilled, even flying Nath's Y-Wing at one point so well that Wyl didn't even notice it wasn't Nath. To simulate this I let T5 just give you a calculate token while just in an astromech role. However, T5 can take control, restricting your ability to fly, going slower than normal and not being as good
at defending, but it lets you have a permanent focus token when attacking, making you very precise against your opponents.
Escape Module:
The escape module of the Y and K Wings is one of it's great benefits, letting pilots survive even when the bulk of the craft is destroyed. This is especially useful on a ship with large quantities of easily triggered explosives. The design for the card lets you eject quickly, spending all your munitions as you leave them behind and recovering to just one hull.
However this only works if you can escape your exploding ship in the first place, so if you fail the boost, you don't survive.
Autoblaster Turret:
A redesign of the 1.0 card of the same name, I decided to make something a little different to the standard autoblaster cannon. This makes it easier to get a result that will hit the defender, but at the cost of dice modification, range and the number of dice.
Kairos:
Currently Kairos is a bit of a mystery, we know little about her, but hopefully we will know more with the third book in March. The little we do know is that she's an absolute beast in battle, killing efficiently and even terrifying her squad mate Chass, however she seems to be very sensitive as well, giving Quell a chance where all others would not.
Kairos ability is based around the fear she strikes into her opponents and even allies, giving out stress to another ship if she's hit them. This could be another enemy or an ally, but it could be useful for someone like Quells ability.
Repeating Ion Blaster Gunner:
This crew/mod card is to simulate the U-Wings mounted gun points, (I know that you'd have to have the doors open in the vacuum of space so I imagine their all wearing spacesuits inside :D) letting you gain a side turret to simulate you have only one gun but it can be moved to the other side. It works like an ion cannon except it does no damage to the ship, an it also allows you to hit ships at range 0.
Caern Adan:
A former journalist turned New Republic intelligence officer, Adan was a broken man, suffering after his imprisonment. He formed Alphabet to help aid him in his mission to convince the New Republic that precision of the Intelligence Service is better than the blunt force of the military. His crew ability is designed to show this, letting him force an enemy to reposition into the obstacle field to show how he's caught them off guard.
IT-O:
A reprogramed Imperial interrogation droid turned therapist is Adan's long term ally and friend, helping him to escape his capture. IT-O also aided Quell a lot, helping her heal mentally as much as possible while helping assess her for the New Republic. IT-O's ability is a combination of its old and new programming, letting it pass off your stress to another ship, both relaxing his "patient" and causing his opponent stress.
General Hera Syndulla:
Finally is a redo of Hera's crew card, I feel she deserves a new crew card for the epic commanders as she's become one of the Republics main generals and I want to show her growth (and my fiancée would kill me if I don't give her a new card soon!). Unlike most generals Hera knows what it's like to be a pilot in the thick of it, letting her sympathise and be more effective. This lets her increase the initiative value of all small base ships around her. I decided to allow her on any crew carrier instead of just a epic ship to show her willingness to get stuck in with the troops.
Conclusion:
Alphabet is a mess of a squadron, but god I love them!
I tired my hardest to try to make them all feel like they fit together without needing each other too much so they can function as individual pilots. As I see it, a good round with Alphabet would go as follows:
Quell, stressed would coordinate most of the squad, Wyl would take a squad members red tokens away and boost/roll into a good position to attack. Nath would pass his lock to Chass to let her either use the S-Foil card or buff the second attack. Then Kairos would give another enemy ship or quell a stress so she can coordinate more effectively the next round.
It seems a little chaotic and stressful, but in its way, that is how Alphabet operate. They barely hold together, but are still able to get the job done.
As normal feel free to use these cards in friendly games!
Watcher Leader out!