I know not every one likes the Resistance TV show, but I found it to be quite an enjoyable little show and I loved the designs of the ace's starfighter. So when I saw a Reddit post a couple of days ago about wanting an Aces squadron pack, I was inspired!
Then I remembered I'd started to make each pilot back when I first started to post on Instagram and just never finished...
So here is my take on how the Colossus Aces could be brought into the game and how it could also add in a new game mode for X-Wing 2.0 Racing!
So, ready, set, lets get started:
The Overall Design:
I did consider making each ship a new ship type. However it would be a little tricky, especially as most of them would only have one pilot, maybe two if you included the astromechs.
Because of this, and the complexity of making five new ships and putting them into one article, I decided to use the Fireball as the starting point with their titles giving the ship new ship abilities.
This means the theoretical Squadron Pack would come with only Fireball class ships, but different models for each of the different pilots.
Ok with that sorted, this article will be much shorter that it could have been, but still VERY long, so I won't go into as much depth with each card. Instead it will be more about how each pilot, title and astromechs work together.
Hype Fazon, Green Ace and R4-G77:
First up we have the cocky but skilled Hype Fazon. As we see in season two, Hype is not a good combat pilot, stealing other pilots' kills as he treats flying as a contest not a life or death situation. Because of this, his ability, along with his title and astromech, allows him to swoop in and perform an attack even while disarmed. This combined with his high initiative makes him one hell of a pilot, if a little annoying for your allies.
Torra Doza, Blue Ace and R23-X9:
Next is Torra, the daughter of the Colossus' captain, and the next best ace in this pack. Torra can boost multiple times in a round, making her an amazing ace and a hard to catch pilot. Her astromech allows you to still perform attacks while disarmed, and the title allows you to either more heavily damage the defender or ionize them. These combined allows Torra to constantly perform primary ion attacks while disarmed!
Freya Fenris, Red Ace and T3-K10:
Freya and her ship/astromech allow her to keep her speed up while still performing attacks. This means that she doesn't feel the lost of her Explosion with Wings ship ability as much as the others as she doesn't depend on other upgrades or allies to perform attacks. So even though she has to hope for good roles, it makes her a good ace.
Griff Halloran, Black Ace and R5-G9:
Now we have the ex-Imperial. Griff's ability is somewhat reminiscent of the Ruthless Imperial talent only flipping it, so he hurts himself to help a friendly ship. His title turns this ship into a TIE and increases the agility thanks to his three ion engines, and R5 combines well with the Precision Ion Engines modification to make your talon rolls much more flexible.
Bo Keevil, Yellow Ace and SC-X2
As the daredevil, Bo and his title help him pull off weird and wacky manoeuvres making him one of the most flexible pilots in the game, beating even the StarViper for manoeuvrability. But this comes with a cost of potential damage, however, his astromech can help with that as it holds spare breathing masks for Bo. To show this, it can help to prevent some pilot damage from getting through to Bo when his chaotic flying hurts him.
Yeager's Racer:
Although we've already got Yeager in the Fireball it would be nice to have his racer in the game as well, so his title works well with his already existing pilot card. This lets him move his stress tokens to other ships that he moves through when moving or SLAMing, taking advantage of both his pilot ability and the Coaxium Hyperfuel.
Ace Squadron Leader:
Now we have the the ace's wing upgrade for epic games, allowing them to race into battle and then quickly split apart to take on different targets. This combined with Hype's high initiative is a great way to react to your opponents movements. It does leave your squadron leader less protected than other wings as the aces aren't as used to working together.
Sky Ring Racer/Sky Ring:
Lastly we have a new talent that lets these racers bring a Sky Ring remote into the battle.
The design of these Sky Rings would be a rectangle, a little wider and a little thinner than a small base ship. There would be a pair of arcs, facing the wider edges, not as angled as normal ship arcs. Passing through both these arcs, you can use the Sky Rings to let you gain a free boost, although hard to pull off too often, it could be rather useful if set up in the right place.
Now This Is Podracing!
Ok, so I couldn't make a load of racers without making some new rules for a racing game mode! This makes use of the Sky Rings to let you and up to 5 opponents create a race track to fly around as fast as possible. Although any small base ship can participate, only the aces and few others could pull it off, so I don't expect any Y-Wings to join in.
Platform Classic:
Each player gets 50 points to make a list with 1 small base ship that must be marked with a unique number.
Each player brings a number of obstacles depending on the number of players:
2 Players: 3 obstacles.
3 Players: 2 obstacles.
4 Players: 2 obstacles, but the 1st and 2nd player (after determining initiative) discards 1 obstacle each.
5 Players: 2 obstacles, but every player except the 5th player (after determining initiative) discards 1 obstacle each.
6 Players: 1 obstacle.
Setup:
After determining player order, the last player picks a player edge/deployment area for all the players. This must be a range 2 by range 2 area anywhere on the board, with one of the range 2 edges touching a board edge. Mark this area out.
Players place obstacles as normal, then the players takes it in turn to place a Sky Ring, in sequence and in descending player order, until there are 6 Sky Rings on the Board. (More/less can be placed, depending on player preference)
Each Sky Ring must be placed beyond range 0 of obstacles and other Sky Rings and beyond range 3 of the last Sky Ring placed.
Game Play:
Unlike in standard X-Wing 2.0 the aim for the players is to be the first to make it through all the Sky Rings on the board in sequence.
Because of this, ships activate and engage in the opposite order to standard X-Wing 2.0 with ships activating and engaging one at a time, starting with the ship with the highest initiative
and continuing in descending order.
When a player's ship moves through the next ring in the sequence, if the Sky Ring’s ability let's that ship perform a boost action, they may place a matching ID token matching that ship on that Sky Ring’s card to show they have made it though the ring.
A Dangerous Sport:
Although discouraged by officials, all pilots know that only the most ruthless pilots can make it out on the track. Because of this, pilots can still perform attacks against other opponents (but not Sky Rings).
If a ship is destroyed or flees the play area, it is disqualified and the player is put in the last available place. If a ship is destroyed by an attack or a device, the attacker or the owner of the device gains 1 stress token.
Victory:
After each initiative value, check for victory.
A player has won if there they have a matching ID token on the final Sky Ring or if there are no other opponents ships left on the board. If there are 2 or more players with ID tokens on the final Sky Ring, the players ship in the furthest range bracket away from the final Sky Ring wins. If there is still a tie, use the standard rules for determining the winner of a tie.
Then the remaining players may play on to determine the position of each player in the race.
The Conclusion:
I'm really happy with the design of this pack and how its pilots, titles and astromechs work well together as they are designed to, but still can work well in different combinations.
The idea of a X-Wing style racing game has been around for years, but I'm quite happy with my design and I found the already existing concept of the Sky Rings very helpful to make a course that changes every time you play. My only fear is that it would just turn into an all out brawl and most ships would just be destroyed, and I can imagine a situation where slow but tough little ships win by default as all of their opponents are destroyed. But I didn't want to remove the combat from the game, so maybe I should make a stronger punishment for either destroying or even shooting a ship.
Although a pack containing six ships is almost impossible, I could imagine a pair of packs containing identical cards tokens and base plates but with different ships in each allowing the collectors among us to get hold of all six racers, but most people can still have access to the new racing game and cards for a more acceptable price.
I'd like to keep expanding upon the idea of X-Wing racing, there are at least three more ships I can see being added into the game. Vranki the Blue's Racing Droids, Marcus Speedstar's Racer and Jace Rucklin's Racer. Each of these racers would work well both in my new Platform Classic mode and standard play, so if you'd like to see them, I'll make them soon.
Also if you'd like to help test how one of these races would work, I may try running one on TTS at some point so keep an eye out!
Otherwise, as normal, feel free to use my cards in friendly games to show the rest of the X-Wing community your need for speed!
Thank you all for reading,
Watcher Leader out.
Oh wait a minute! You've made it to the end of the article, have a discount code for £2 off orders over £10 of my alt art Lego cards: Podracing
It'll be valid for 48 hours after I upload this article! Find the cards here!
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