Spoilers for the Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2, so read with caution:
Today is another of my X-Wing Miniatures Custom Ship Pack where I take a group of both my custom cards and official cards to make a new ship pack for the Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures 2.0 game, explaining my creations and the designs along the way!
Today's pack will be the Outland Tie Fighter first seen in the Mandalorian chapter 7 as a part of Moff Gideon's Imperial Remnant.
The Overall Design:
As a relatively new ship in Star Wars there is little known about the Outland Tie Fighter at the moment, so I will be making educated guesses for some of its overall features to make it different from other Tie models.
I see the Outland as the stepping stone between the Tie/ln and Tie/fo where the Imperial Remnants could not afford to maintain and replace the constant losses of flimsy models of Tie/ln Fighters but also couldn't easily produce the more advanced Ties like Interceptors or Defenders. Because of this, I feel it would make sense for the Imperial Remnants to repurpose their Tie/ln Fighters with heavier armour for survivability and S-Foil wings to allow them to land in more inhospitable places compared to the other Tie series.
The Stats:
From what we see, the Outland Tie Fighter is practically the same size as the standard Tie/ln so it remains a small base ship. For the rest of the ship stats, I decided upon a similar set to the Tie/ln with 2 attack, 3 agility and a slight increase to its hull at 4. This keeps it as close to the half way point between the Tie/ln and Tie/fo as you can get.
The Actions:
Again keeping it as close to a half way point between the Imperial and First Order standard Ties, I gave the Outland the FO's action bar but increasing the difficulty of the target lock.
The Ability:
I decided because of the time period that we canonically see the Outland in is a few years after the events of Return Of The Jedi I feel its fitting for the Imperial Remnant to gain access to more advanced tech. The Outland should have a Tech slot, especially as we know that the T-70 X wing was created around this time period. However I like the idea of this tech having teething problems, so gain a stress token form using your tech seems fitting.
The Dial:
As you will see going forward, I'm going to use a configuration card to differentiate the Outland from the standard Tie, however because of this the Dial for the Outland is a little weak and slow for a non heavy Tie, similar to the Tie/sk Striker, but trust me it will all become clear.
The Modifications:
As I've already said the Outland should have access to the Tech slot and a Configuration slot. I also think like most ships, the Outland should be able to equip a Modification as most ships outside of specific ace's should have access to it.
The Pilots:
Moff Gideon:
As the only the only named pilot we know few the Outland and the main villain the Mandalorian so far (If you don't count the punchy scout trooper) Moff Gideon was a must include for this pack. For his ability I decided to go on what we know about his character as a brutal leader, who despite his harsh tactics has convinced some Imperials to stay with him long after the collapse of the empire. Because of this, I decided to make his ability around hurting his allies but still allowing them to perform bonus attacks in his place making him more of a support ship.
I kept his initiative low and did not give him a talent as he's a Moff, not a pilot, and I feel when he flew the ship in the show, it was more of a stunt to show off rather than his preferred method of transport.
Dragonfly:
This is the first of the high initiative aces of this pack. Strange the good old agile Empire only has 2 initiative 6 pilots now, which seems strange for some reason, so I think its time for them to get another. Dragonfly is made to have inbuilt Afterburners letting you use this ship in an even more ace role than the rest of the pilots in this pack.
They defiantly deserve a talent slot, maybe even two to show their skill.
Spintop:
This dizzy ace uses the new side slip manoeuvres to their advantage, letting you essentially perform even larger barrel rolls to escape and strain the battle field. However it is even better with the upcoming configuration card for the Outlander Tie, letting you make these manoeuvres even more flexible than normal, and making him almost as much of an ace as Dragonfly before him.
As an ace I thinks he's more than skilled enough for a Talent slot.
Remnant Scout and Outland Test Pilot:
As with pretty much all ships, there must be some good old generics to fill out the ranks, and the Outlander is no exception. I'd say that the Remnant Scout deserves a talent slot as the remnant would need highly skilled pilots for their scout as they cant afford any losses of equipment.
The Upgrades:
Landing S-Foils:
My central design for the Outland is based around this configuration card. Although all we know about the S-Foil wings of the Outland its that it's for landing, I can imagine a clever pilot could use this to their advantage, letting them slow the ships speed at a moments notice as you put it into landing mode.
The card forces you to go 1 faster or slower than the speed set, even being able to take your speed down to a 0 stop and even letting you pivot on the spot, similar to the U-Wing. The main advantage however is that you can do it on the fly, when needed. It also works especially well with Spintop, who can reduce or increase the speed of your sideslip manoeuvre.
Stay On Target:
A redesign of the 1.0 card of the same name, I kept it similar in design, however requiring a target lock to work. The idea is to keep your ship on target by letting you change manoeuvre last second if your current target suddenly passes you in a direction you weren't expecting. This paired with the S-Foils lets you keep the Outland almost always on target.
For The Empire:
This Talent is based around the Imperial Remnant's members dedication to an organisation that is already long dead. This lets your commanding officers force their dying comrades to crash into their opponents for 1 final victory. This pairs really well with Gideon not only in character but also with his ability to damage friendly ships.
Accuracy Corrector:
Another redesigned 1.0 card, I decided to make it a tech upgrade instead. I decided to make it reward preparedness with a more accurate attack, although it is very different form the 1.0 card. I personally feel something that always lets you roll well doesn't fit as will in 2.0.
Durable Hull Plating:
This Tie only upgrade is to show the resilience of the Outlander that we see in the show, with it able to mostly survive small explosive charges, where other Ties are seen to be no better than paper.
I also let all ties have access to this upgrade, as I see most Tie parts as modular and easily able to be fitted to any other Tie series ship.
Well Maintained Craft:
Even with the empire in tatters, from what we see, Moff Gideon's remnant was still well maintained, keeping their armour and craft in good shape so they function to the best of their abilities on the battle field. This card show this care that the Empire and then the First Order holds for their craft, letting your ship just shrug off the stresses and strains of early combat.
Conclusion:
Over all in this pack I've tired to capture both the essence of the Imperial factions mix between swarm and high skill aces, as well as the feeling of the ship we saw in the show despite how little of it we saw. I'm sure, like with the Razor Crest, that this ship will be made for X-Wing soon enough, but I hope in the mean time that these custom creations will bide you over. Feel free to use them in friendly games to show the rest of the X-Wing community that the empire is still alive and kicking, and it means more to us than they'll ever know.
Watcher Leader out.