Custom Ship Pack: Resistance B-Wing

Here comes the last of the Resistance's Alphabet ships!

Now we have the Resistance Y-Wing, my mind has turned to the mysterious Resistance B-Wing Fighter.

We know very little about this starfighter other than it’s a successor to the A/SF-01 B-Wing and a different ship to the even more mysterious B-Wing MK II.

The little we do know combined with what we see in the Rise of Skywalker shows a very different B-Wing from what we know.

This seems to be a ship built more as a precise bomber over a devastating one. I drew these conclusions from the fact it only makes use of basic primary lasers and proton bombs and no torpedoes or missiles. This combined with the more sleek and streamlined look makes me think this ship is much weaker than the Rebellion's B-Wing, which makes sense as this is a ship built by the more pacifist New Republic who stripped back other newer ships like the BTA-NR2 Y-Wing.

Before we begin I’m also going to call this ship the A/SF-NR2 B-Wing Fighter as this is only referred to as the B-Wing Fighter at the moment and I feel like that’s just a placeholder name until someone comes along and fleshes out the ship more.

So with that all worked out, let's begin!

The Stats:

Working on the idea that this is a weaker B-Wing, I’ve actually made this ship quite bad… every aspect of the Resistance B-Wing is worse than its predecessor, except for its agility and shields where it stays the same.

This gives the A/SF-NR2 B-Wing Fighter the stat line of:

Front Arc: 2

Agility: 1

Hull: 3

Shields 4

The Actions:

Again the Resistance B-Wing doesn’t come out too well in the action department, however, it does gain an amazing white focus to white roll linked to action to show the advantage the B-Wing’s rotating cockpit gives its pilots and a red reinforce to help it survive.

The Dial:

This is where this B-Wing starts to get better, it has an identical set of manoeuvres to the original B-Wing, except where its talons are replaced with sloops of the same speed, but most of its basic red manoeuvres have been made white to reflect the slightly more manoeuvrable look of the newer B-Wing!

The Ship Ability:

This just keeps getting better and better! I felt with the new First Order’s bomber’s ship ability’s success, it would be nice to give the resistance access to a similar ability only using a barrel roll instead of a boost, and the B-Wing makes the most sense thanks to its rotating cockpit!

The Upgrades:

Unfortunately, this is where it starts to get worse for the new B-Wing again, with it losing access to its cannon and torpedoes. However, it does gain access to a pair of device slots and a tech slot. This gives the A/SF-NR2 B-Wing Fighter the following upgrade slots:

Sensor

Tech

Device

Device

Modification

Configuration

I will admit I’m a little tempted to give it a torpedo or missile slot, but I’m not certain that it is a good idea.

The Configuration:

Finally, this ship will start to make some more sense!

The configuration for the A/SF-NR2 B-Wing Fighter is what makes this ship work, giving you the ability to gain access to an additional attack die when your S-Foils are open and an additional defence die when your S-Foils are closed.

This combined with the additional white versions of action on the action bar plus a linked red roll, would help to make this B-Wing be even more of a hit and run starfighter. This combines well with the A/SF-NR2 B-Wing Fighter's design to be an effective bomb dropper as you will spend a large amount of time running away from your own bombs, so the extra defence dice will make all the difference.

The Pilots:

Pattros Navesh

Starting with the squadron leader of the group of 3 A/SF-NR2 B-Wing Fighters we see in episode 9, Pattros Navesh leads many hit and run attacks on First Order capital ships, hoping to one day take down a Resurgent-class Star Destroyer.

Because of this hope he had, I gave him the ability to perform an action to celebrate if he can put damage onto an enemy ship via his attacks or a friendly bomb going off!

This is rather powerful coupled with his high initiative, letting him use his normal action to get mods for his attack, then this action to reinforce for defence or barrel roll to escape, so I restricted him to do this once per round.

Enanan Supa:

Next, we have Enanan Supa, possibly my favourite pilot in this pack, Enanan was once a Starfortress pilot who transferred to flying B-Wings. She was known for making bulky and ungainly craft seem graceful, so it makes sense to give her access to superior options for her barrel rolls on this ship.

As we know with the star viper, bendy barrel rolls are an ace's dream, so the addition of hard barrel rolls makes Enanan possibly an amazing ace especially combined with the system phase barrel roll! Her only real downside is that she’s an I4, however, this is only to keep her from being FAR too powerful. That being said, with the upcoming removal of initiative bids, I4s may become more viable aces.

Ramkin Remana:

I could have sworn Aftab Ackbar was a B-Wing pilot, but I was wrong, so I’ve had to make up a new pilot, so here is Ramkin Remana, a pilot of my own design and mashing of both mine and my wife's names, and her majesty in the tag line is referring to our beloved cat.

The pilot ability is meant to work around aiding friendly ships with their device dropping, most of the time allowing you to launch a device instead of dropping it. However, working in conjunction with the Trajectory Simulator, an upgrade you can take on this ship, you could also use this ability to drop a device with a 5 straight template. This as you can see is rather useful for making your devices more versatile, so it's restricted to being a once every 3 rounds sort of thing. They are also the only unique pilot in this pack to not have a talent slot, but this helps to make them a little cheaper.

The Generics:

As normal here are a pair of generics for the ship, with the normal difference of the higher initiative Omega Squadron getting a talent slot and the Resistance Recruit getting no talent slot.

The Upgrades:

S-Foils To Attack Position:

Based off the line in a New Hope, this card gives all S-Foil based ships the ability to open their S-Foils to attack position during the engagement phase. This makes it harder for your opponent to surprise you with your S-Foils closed, or allows you to take advantage of your closed side until you need to attack. This card would be odd in the fact its points would increase the lower the pilot's initiative.

Drift Compensator:

This card is very similar to Trajectory Simulator as it lets you drop your devices more flexibly, although the power on this is much lower. The main advantage is that you get to position your device more precisely allowing you to increase your chances of hitting your opponents with the device, especially if it's a mine, and even more especially if it's the next upgrade:

Self Propelled Mines:

This new device allows you to place a mine that is VERY hard to evade, especially if you're using the Drift Compensator as it can be relocated after it is placed. I’d say it's the same size as all the bombs we currently have, only with additional guides on the opposite side to its normal guides. The reason for spending 2 charges on the mine is to allow you to reload it without it being broken.

For detonation I’d say it works like this:

After a ship overlaps or moves through this device, it detonates, with the ship rolling 1 attack die and suffering the damage on the die.

The Example List:

Zorii Bliss (40)

Dorsal Turret (2)

R4 Astromech (2)

Wartime Loadout (4)

Proton Torpedoes (12)

Poe Dameron (61)

R4 Astromech (2)

Integrated S-Foils (0)

Proton Torpedoes (12)

Pattros Navesh (52)

Trajectory Simulator (6)

Concussion Bombs (4)

Seismic Charges (3)

Total 200

This list is a redesign of my current favourite list that uses Poe, Zorii and the HoH Snap Wexley for 3 fully modded torpedo attacks!

This version swaps Snap for Pattros Navesh with him being 52 points, letting you fling a concussion bomb in front of you to hopefully damage your opponent and get a bonus action for your attack. As I am not sure if this B-Wing should have torps, if they did I would strip back the pilot's upgrades so you could have torps on all 3 of them.

Zorii Bliss (40)

Wartime Loadout (4)

Proton Torpedoes (12)

Poe Dameron (61)

R4 Astromech (2)

Integrated S-Foils (0)

Plasma Torpedoes (7)

Pattros Navesh (52)

Trajectory Simulator (6)

Concussion Bombs (4)

Proton Torpedoes (12)

Total 200

The Conclusion:

The Resistance B-Wing is definitely one of the more lore-light ships in Star Wars at the moment, so I can see why FFG/AMG refrained from making one yet. But I feel it would have been a nice counterpart to the amazing First Order Bomber we now have, with both factions gaining access to a new and manoeuvrable bomber.

To be honest, my design of the Resistance B-Wing may be completely off with future lore, however, the existence of the mysterious B-Wing MK II makes me think the B-Wing design was taken in two very different directions by the New Republic. The MK II going for a completely devastating design and the Resistance B-Wing going for a more precise and nimble design.

Either way, I’m happy with what I’ve made and I look forward to how it compares with what we’ll get one day, but until then, feel free to use my cards in friendly games to show the rest of the X-Wing community what's yet to come!

Thank you all for reading,

Watcher Leader out.