Today's ship pack is based around the beloved ship this game is named for, the T-65 X-Wing. I've felt for a while that we should get a Resistance pack for the original X-Wing due to their cash strapped state and lack of overall resources, I can imagine the Resistance repurposing the original X-Wing to bolster their numbers.
We know of at least two confirmed T-65 pilots flying for the Resistance, Rey in good old Red Five in the Rise Of Skywalker and Venisa Doza in her heavily modified T-65 in the Resistance TV show.
So starting with these two pilots and a desire to see the X-Wing return to the resistance faction despite its age, I made this pack for the resistance to expand their small pool of ships:
The Ship Ability:
To start I decided to give the T-65 a new ship ability to help show how the ship's age is affecting them during combat, with years of wear and tear weakening their hull integrity. This ability in other words kicks you while you're down, forcing you to gain a strain after you suffer critical damage.
The Pilots:
Rey Skywalker:
I know, the name will anger a lot of people but its cannon and you can't change it, so lets just put it to one side and continue. I'm glad to give Rey a seat in a proper starfighter, as we saw her skills with the Falcon and I'd like to see how she performs in a one-man fighter compared to a freighter.
I gave Rey a new ability based around her connection to Ben Solo and their Dyad in the force. The condition allows the two ships to pass off tokens to each other, this can be done between friendly ships who have the best intentions for each other, or enemies who are doing their best to harm each other's chances at victory.
Venisa Doza:
Mother of the ace racer pilots Torra Doza, Venisa was a skilled pilot and leader during both the galactic civil war and First Order crisis. Originally flying alongside Jarek Yeager while a part of the Rebellion, she eventually met and fell in love with an Imperial officer, Imanuel Doza, and convinced him to leave the empire behind. After Leia left the New Republic Senate and formed the Resistance, Venisa would re-join the cause with her old heavily modified T-65 X-Wing and astromech Torch to became Jade Leader. For her ability, I decided to boost her attack by letting her spend her opponents red and orange tokens. This will meld well with her ship's title later in the acritical!
Luke Skywalker:
Surprised he's here? I decided to add Luke for pure fun and what if's, because although I love his portrayal in The Last Jedi and will stand behind it, it would have been fun to see a more active Luke within the Resistance. For his ability I went with a fun combination between Obi-Wan's Delta-7 and Yoda's Eta-2 abilities to show his masters' influence on him, while also having the bonus effect of making his ability be more like a Jedi masters ability. This allows him to act more like a Jedi master, training his apprentices and keeping them safe.
Norath Kev:
A Resistance spy and pilot who worked with Kaz in the Resistance TV show to provide valuable information to the Resistance about the rising First Order threat by analysing the black markets of planets. He would later appear as a member of Jade Squadron flying a T-70 X-Wing. I decided to give him a spot in the T-65 because: outside of a reinforcements pack he would otherwise probably never get a spot in a T-70, and as a spy, an old beat-up T-65 draws even less attention than the T-70 while still providing ample protection for him on his missions. His ability lets you spy on an enemy ship if your are obscured from their view, allowing you to see their dial and possibly sabotage them.
The Generics:
As normal, a solid pack needs its generic pilots! For this one I decided on showing how this ship would be almost a family heirloom. Old ace pilots of the rebellion would either take up arms again when they saw the shadows of the First Order fall across their planets, or their children taking up arms after hearing their stories for years, and wanting to follow in their parent's footsteps.
The Upgrades:
Red Five:
An upgrade I'd love to see in the game officially, Luke's trusted starfighter needs more recognition in the game, and would be an amazing way to boost Luke's strength as a pilot for both the Resistance and Rebels. This upgrade works to improve your torpedo attacks, especially if they were fired without a lock. Like with Instinctive Aim, it lets you fully recreate the trench run. It also lets Luke (and Rey) gain access to more defensive capabilities with a purple evade.
Venisa Doza's X-Wing:
For Venisa's modified X-Wing I decided on allowing her access to both a cannon and missile slot. I also gave her access to an additional attack each round if she reduces the fire power of both attacks. Both of these additions show how she heavily modified her X-Wing, making it an even more deadly weapon against both the Empire and First Order!
Jade Leader:
I decided on making Jade Leader over a Red Leader because although Red Five was a part of the Resistance, it never lead any ships. For the ability I tried to expand on Venisa's role as a leader and her title upgrade, letting her spend her enemy ship's red tokens to aid her allies in removing their own red tokens.
Torch:
Another lovable astromech and Venisa's old friend and co-pilot (I can also appreciate an orange astromech). He was specifically designed to look as old and customised as Venisa's X-Wing, so I decided to make his ability link to that X-Wing specifically, making the loss of their ion, tractor or jam tokens be a pain.
2BR-NTB:
The loyal companion of Norath Kev, 2BR is a very skittish and alert at all times, a useful trait for the droid of a spy. Because of this, I made his ability around giving you free evade tokens when you are in an enemy ship's front arc. This is especially useful for his low initiative friend Norath, who would be easier to get in your front arc than most.
Experienced Master:
This upgrade is made for Luke specifically, however could apply to Rey with Leia on the Falcon, and many others outside of the resistance. The upgrade simply increases your force recovery rate, but only once every few rounds, letting you show how experienced force users have mastered their connection to the force, letting them be more effective in combat.
Resilience:
This upgrade is a necessity for this ship, allowing you to negate a small number of critical hits at the cost of gaining a stress token. This has the benefit of also preventing the strain tokens given out by this ship's ability when your critically damaged.
Salvaged Craft:
The idea behind this card is that you acquired your ship when it is practically scrap and fully rebuilt it, making it space worthy but very fragile. Because of this, when critically hit, bits of your ship are shed and fall off your ship behind you, leaving a debris field that is hazardous to your opponents.
Conclusion:
The T-65 is a classic, both in the game and in-universe. Because of this I feel that some Resistance would have made good use of them as a symbol showing that they are descendants of the Rebellion, flying to free the galaxy in the ships their parents used before them.
I feel this could be a pack that could work as either a ship pack or card pack as most players will have the T-65 model and dial as you have to buy the core set to play X-Wing. So a small card pack would be lovely to help expand the Resistance faction without needing a whole new ship (However I'd love to see an official model for Venisa's X-Wing!).
As normal feel free to use them in friendly games to show the rest of the X-Wing community that the T-65 is here to save the day yet again!
Watcher Leader out.