Well here come the big guns...
Today's ship pack is something a little different than normal. The B-Wing MK II, although an official Star Wars ship, has little to no information on what it looks like and what it can do. The only information we do have is that it exists, it's not the Resistance B-Wing we saw in the Rise Of Skywalker, and its cockpit is the same as the cockpit on the Resistance Transport and Resistance Transport Pod!
However, the amazing EC Henry made his own version of what he thinks this B-Wing could look like, taking the cockpit and working from that to make what I feel is possibly one of the best looking starfighter designs in all of Star Wars! I suggest watching the video he made on it if you haven't already!
So lets stuck in!
The Overall Design:
EC Henry's design for the B-Wing MK II is for it to lose any pretence of it being a dogfighter, and going full in on being a heavy bomber that wreaks anything unfortunate enough to get into its path! This means in X-Wing it'll have to be tougher, slower and less manurable than the current rebel A/SF-01 B-Wing, which is hard as its already a tough, slow and un-manoeuvrable ship in the game.
The stats:
Firstly the MK II has gone up a size, EC Henry increased the length of the already long B-Wing from seventeen meters wide to twenty-two meters wide, this gives it a good reason to move the medium base.
Next, I decided to take a note form the T-70 X-Wing and increase the MK II's shields by one from its predecessor to show how the tech has improved! I did the same with the hull value, however, this is to show its increase in size as much as its improved hull platting!
As I've already said the MK II is not an agile ship, it has one job and one job only, to wreak havoc on anything in its path. It doesn't need manoeuvrability, so I gave it one agility like its predecessor.
For weapons, the MK II should be unparalleled for firepower compared to ships of similar size, especially as the A/SF-01 B-Wing was already meant to be one of the most deadly ships of its time, so its predecessor should be even more powerful! This gives it a front attack of four, putting it on par with the VCX-100 and Upsilon shuttle, however, EC Henry also gave it a rear gunner station on the back of the cockpit to help deter opponents from chasing the slower and less manurable ship.
This ends up with the MK II having the following stat line:
Front: 4
Rear: 2
Agility: 1
Hull: 5
Shields: 5
This makes it a lot like a slightly heavier ARC-170 with a powerful front attack and weaker, but still useful, rear attack.
The Ship Ability:
Giving the MK II the YT-2400's Sensor Blindspot ship ability is solely to help counter the strength of its attacks as otherwise, it would be far too expensive to realistically run in a list. The biggest problem it gives to the MK II is that it's already weak rear gun is now practically useless at range one!
The Dial:
The MK II's dial one of the worst dials in the game, as bad as the Lambda's and Resistance Transport Pod (which is especially bad as its just its cockpit!).
The Upgrades:
The MK II can hold a lot of upgrades, especially as EC Henry let there be space inside the cockpit for a pilot, crew and gunner! This with the modification, configuration (for the S-foils), sensors, tech, cannon and a pair of torpedoes give its nine slots, ten if you have a talent slot as well, so this ship can be heavily customised.
I did remove cannon slots from being the priority as EC Henry pushed the fact this ship could hold a LOT of torpedoes, which makes sense as the Rebellion wouldn't have had access to a large number of torpedoes so depended more on the original B-Wings cannons, where the New Republic would have the finances to keep MK IIs fully stocked.
The Actions:
The MK II has a similar set of actions to the A/SF-01 B-Wing, however, I did give it access to a red reinforce action to both make up for its lost agility and a red reload action to help it recover its payload of torpedoes.
Blade Wing S-foils:
The B-Wings S-foils are an integral part of the MK II, just as most other configurations are integral to any other ship that has them. Starting with the open side, I wanted to give the MK II an ability very similar to the original B-Wing, however letting it use its torpedo attacks instead. This makes it a little worse than the original B-Wing's S-foils as unlike
cannons, you can run out of torpedoes. To counter this I removed the requirement to spend the lock and let you spread your fire to another target if you wanted to. The closed side is a massive improvement over the closed side of most S-foils as it gives you an additional defensive bonus rather than just removing some of your attack dice and giving you some meh actions. This is rather useful on the MK II as it takes a while to turn round to like up more shots with its heavier weapons, so during that time, having a better reinforce can make all the difference!
The Pilots:
As we have no named pilots for the MK II I've gone with making my own, with small backstories for each of them!:
Spintop:
The first is Spintop, an ex-Imperial that use to fly experimental TIE variants like the TIE/gl Glider. Spintop never fully left the Empire, however, disliked what it turned into with the warlords then First Order so when the FO invaded they joined up with the Resistance. Their flying style was erratic and they loved to use their rotating cockpit to make even this sluggish ship much more manurable. Their ability is especially useful to get the most action efficiency possible, this is especially good if your S-foils are closed as you can:
Roll into red reinforce, flip S-foils, execute a blue manoeuvre, then finally perform another action!
All of this makes them a slippery pilot that can put the otherwise slow MK II to good use and makes them about 62-65 points.
Virgillia:
Named after the Resistance's Free Virgillia-class Bunkerbuster, Virgillia gets her name from her reckless use of her torpedoes to crack enemy capital ships and their fighter escorts, being seen as a one-woman Bunkerbuster. However, she could be a pain to her allies who would some times also get caught in her destructive path.
Her ability lets her use an additional charge from one of her torpedo's to create a shock wave that worsens any damage on a nearby ship very similar to Concussion Missiles only in a much wider area.
Because of her deadly area damage, but expensive torpedo cost, I'd say she's about 59-62 points.
Apis:
Leader of the Resistances only six scavenged and piecemeal MK II's, Apis was three of only a handful of Geonosians still alive in the galaxy. As a mini hive mind Apis was able to communicate in their little team incredibly efficiently, letting them coordinate between their squadron with great efficiency, which is especially useful when each ship has three crew members.
Apis' ability is very similar to Targeting Synchronizer, however letting the ability work both ways but in a smaller range. This lets Apis be a solid centre to a group of heavy starfighters like the B-Wing MK II and T-70 X-Wing. As Apis gives you a better version of Targeting Synchronizer I'd say their cost would be about an additional 6 points from the ace generic, at about 55-58 points.
Eesea Henrye:
A Mon Calamari engineer who had spent some time working on the MK II for the New Republic, however when the NR cancelled the project, he took possession of three of the MK IIs while he desperately tried to convince the NR to change their mind about his beloved MK II. However a couple of months after the destruction of Hosnian Prime he snuck his few ships to the Resistance and aided them in rebuilding three additional MK IIs out of scavenged parts and scrap.
His ability reflects his knowledge of the MK II, making it next to impossible to critically damage the ship while it's reinforced, making it an even tougher ship to crack.
I'd say Eesea is about as expensive as the generic ace MK II as he has a lower initiative and I'd say he's the only unique pilot without a talent slot, so he's about 50-53 points.
The Generics:
As per normal there are a pair of generics, with the Hive Squadron Ace being the more expensive with its talent slot at 49-52 points and the Boneyard Scavenger being only about 47-51 points. This means you could potentially have four of these generics in a list with little to no upgrades!
The Upgrades:
Gyro/Aux Control Module:
This is an upgrade I made before for my Alphabet Squadron pack. This upgrade drastically improves any B-Wings dial, as it lets you use the leverage your rotating cockpit gives you, to aid you in manoeuvring your ship. You have to imagine, every time you barrel roll, you're rotating your ship to a different side of your cockpit. I'd say as it is designed to become integral to all the B-Wing designs, it would be about 1-3 points as the pilot's costs would be adjusted for its cost.
Syndulla Slam:
I was inspired to make this card a while ago when I was re-watching Rebels and saw Hera use the Ghost to slap a smaller ship out the sky. I like this idea of larger ships either intimidating a smaller ship to move or that ship sits still and suffers the consequences. This card price would be dependent on either ship size or if you already have a barrel roll action. For ships with barrel rolls I'd say is 6 points for a medium ship and 8 for a large ship and for ships without barrel rolls I'd say is 10 points for a medium ship and 12 for a large ship.
Well Oiled Team:
This is a Talent that does not just show the skill of a single pilot, but how they work well with their team. It lets them put off red and orange tokens for a round, which is VERY useful especially with the reload action, but it then comes back to you double the next round. So this is wonderful if you NEED to get that action or shot this round but can probably afford to go without it the next. Points wise I'd say its 3-6 points as it's only a twice per game upgrade.
Wedge Antilles:
Good old Wedge, he can't escape the war. I decided to let him appear here as I don't imagine him making it into any other pack, bar another new Falcon pack. His ability reflects the fact he's no longer a pilot, but an instructor, increasing the speed at which your allies can get their shots off. However, he's still skilled and can use his expert skills behind a turret to suppress an opponent's shot for an initiative. I'd say this is about the same points as swarm tactics at about 3-5 points.
Flechette Torpedoes:
This is another first edition card I've converted to second edition. The first edition version gave a ship a stress token depending if its hull value was low or not, but I decided to go in a different direction. To show the Flechettes area damage as it spits shards of metal when it explodes, this torpedo has a chance to stain ships in a range one bubble, as those ships attempt to escape. Points wise I'd say it is only about 4-6 points as its only two attack dice.
Assault Proton Torpedoes:
These are a capital ships version of the basic Proton Torpedoes, capable of piercing enemy ships shields to cause horrific amounts of damage, these torpedoes where normally only equipped to capital ships, but due to the MK II's size, it could use these torpedoes. The only downside is that they take twice as long to reload compared to smaller torpedoes. Because of this, I'd say its about the same price as the Proton Torpedoes at 12-15 points.
The Example List:
Hive Squadron Ace (50)
Well Oiled Team (4)
Gyro/Aux Control Module (2)
Assault Proton Torpedoes (13)
Blade Wing S-foils (0) Ship total: 74 Half Points: 37
Lieutenant Bastian (47)
Ship total: 51 Half Points: 26
Hive Squadron Ace (50)
Well Oiled Team (4)
Gyro/Aux Control Module (2)
Assault Proton Torpedoes (13)
Blade Wing S-foils (0)
Ship total: 74 Half Points: 37
Total: 199
This squad is relatively basic in pay, the two MK IIs reinforce each round for defence, or focus/lock if you are feeling risky/are certain your opponent couldn't destroy you, Bastian then always focuses each round. Then during combat, the two MK IIs make primary attacks, and hopefully hit their opponent and put damage cards on them. This then means that Bastian can then lock them, and then your B-Wings can use that lock for their bonus torpedo attack, thanks to the Targeting Synchronizer!
The Advanced Proton Torpedoes make up for the MK IIs problems at range one keeping them much more deadly and scary at all ranges!
Conclusion:
The B-Wing has been my favourite Star Wars ship since I won a mission in the old Rogue Squadron game by crashing one into the bridge of a Star Destroyer Arvel Crynyd style after I ran out of torpedoes! So when I found EC Henry's B-Wing MK II I loved it instantly!
And although I know it'll never become canon unless EC Henry gets a well-deserved place being a Star War creator, I will always consider this to be the MK II's design.
I'm happy with the balance I struck with the MK II cards I've made as ships with four attack dice are a dangerous thing to create as they can easily become broken or so expensive you can't make it work in a list!
I feel with it being 50ish points for the generics, one agility, having one of the worse dials in the game and its ship ability keeps it both playable but not too broken, especially as most of the torpedo upgrades it needs to be VERY deadly are VERY expensive!
This means although you could fit four MK IIs in a list, they are so easy to escape their main guns I'd expect it would normally be better to have two to three well-equipped ones that would need to kill their opponents before they get behind them.
As normal feel free to use the cards in friendly games to show the rest of the X-Wing community that B-Wing is the bees knees!
Thank you all for reading,
Watcher Leader out.