NEW X-WING STUFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!
Today I've decided to do a quick(ish) look over the new squad packs and the 3 pilots that were revealed on the Atomic Mass Games stream on Wednesday, along with some predictions/hopes for upgrades and pilots!
Phoenix Cell:
To get stuck in, we have the Phoenix Cell Squadron Pack. This is the pack I'm most excited for, but I'm always biased for B-Wings and Rebel stuff!
The paint jobs on these are gorgeous, I love the prototype B7 especially, and although I've already repainted one of my old B-Wings to look like it, I still want the official version.
As for the pilots, Hera's card has been revealed and she has been upgraded to an I6. This is a necessary increase as she is arguably one of the best (non force-sensitive) pilots in the Galaxy, up there with Wedge, Poe and Han.
As for her pilot ability, I love the feel they went for. If her I6 shows her strengths as a pilot, her ability shows her strengths as a leader. Able to pass off her tokens and locks makes her a powerful ally on the battlefield, especially as you can transfer them when needed instead of at the beginning of the round. Another bonus she has is that she will normally be shooting first so there is no risk of her giving away a token she may need later in the round, because lets be honest, one agility ships don't really need focus or evade tokens unless they're desperate!
As for the A-Wing, we can see that Sabine and Wedge have been given a spot each in the ship. I'm happy with the pilot choice as we see them as A-Wing pilots at one point or another during the Rebels show. I hope that they don't keep their normal pilot abilities, even though they are amazing abilities that would be wonderful on the A-Wing, I like having new options to play with!
Hopes For This Pack:
I think its almost certain we'll get a Prototype B-7 B-Wing title or configuration. I think it'll definitely add a gunner slot as we saw in the show with Sabine in the gunner seat.
Because of this, I think we'll see Sabine as a gunner, possibly letting us maintain extra target locks, as in the show she was responsible for maintaining the locks for the prototype.
If the title or config do not add the composite beam, I'm sure there will be a cannon upgrade for it.
On a less likely hope, I think there is a chance to see a configuration card for the RZ-1 A-Wing to either make it a two seater like we see in Rebels or be able to rotate its arc like the RZ-2 A-Wing(The picture is my custom version)
Next, I think we'll see Hera in the A-Wing, again with an I6 initiative, possibly with the same ability as the B-Wing as although the B-Wing can get evades, it's much easier on the A-Wing than the B-Wing.
Finally, I hope we'll get a Phoenix Leader command upgrade for epic to let Hera lead her squad to battle!
Skystrike Academy Squadron Pack:
I hoped for a pack like this! As you can probably tell from the Phoenix Cell Pack, I love Rebels, and to see Skystrike pilots will be amazing! Again the paint on these are wonderful, giving us official paint jobs for the cannon Tie aces we see in Rebels.
The 3 pilots we see are Vult Skerris, Gideon Hask and Cenana Ree,
Starting with Gideon, as we get to see his card, I have to say I'm sad to not see a new ability, that said it is a solid one. Rolling an additional attack dice on a 3 dice ship is amazing, it makes his damage output through the roof. This easily lets you finish off those you've already wounded, also pairing well with his slightly lower initiative. I see him like a shark, not being the most intelligent of pilots, but he's a brute that gets ferocious when he smells blood, going for the kill.
Cenana Ree is a pilot that more than deserves her I6 status, and I'm excited to see her ability and scared to face both her and Soontir together! In contrast to my normal stance on wanting to see new abilities, I'd like to see her crew ability worked into her pilot ability, as it would be an amazing ability for an ace interceptor!
Vult Skerris is the head flight instructor of Skystrike and the main cannon named pilot who's been seen flying the Tie Defender. Unlike the other pilots we've seen so far, we haven't seen him in X-Wing yet so we have no past abilities for us to use to predict his pilot ability. I love seeing him in this pack especially with it being released alongside the Phoenix Cell pack as he's the foil to Hera in the blockade brake of Lothal:
Hopes For This Pack:
I think we'll see Vult in an interceptor as we first saw him in one during Rebels
Maybe we'll see an advanced Tie Defender configuration as it was developed by Thrawn to improve the defender even further, however it was only briefly produced before the project was lost due to Governor Pryce's incompetence. This would be a limited and EXPENSIVE Defender upgrade with superior speed control and shields, which is a scary but fun idea! (The picture is my custom version)
Next I hope we get a load more Tie only upgrades as I love the design of it, especially with the amount of ships they work on.
Maybe a Skystrike talent to show the special training these pilots gained from going to the academy.
I'd like to see a interceptor pilot cards for Lieutenant Grimm(from the Thrawn book), Wedge, Hobby and Rake Gahree(from the Escape from Skystrike Academy Rebels episode) as they are all known Skystrike cadets, which would make sense for a pack based around the academy.
Again on a less likely hope, maybe we'll get Vader in the Defender, an even more terrifying idea than a Tie Defender Elite!
Fugitives And Collaborators Squadron Pack:
This is the pack I can tell the least about as the image we got is much more blurry, however, a pair of scum Y-Wings will always be welcome, and a new HWK is neat!
I'm glad they took the first cannon appearance of the HWK in the Kanan comics and used it to theme the paint jobs, as it looks amazing on the HWK and cool on the Y-Wings!
The only pilot we know about for definite in this pack is Kanan himself (sorry for the blurry image, its the only one I could find!). Again I would have rather had a new ability for him, especially as he's on a different faction. However that being said this ability works quite nicely, and I can imagine a hellish list with Kanan with Maul (oh the irony) and Palob Godalhi, letting you stealing focus tokens then denying attack dice to your opponents. This would be amazing for keeping another more deadly ship like Fenn or Boba safe from concentrated fire!
I believe the other pilots seen on the first image can be made out to be:
Gamut Key in the HWK. Someone from the Kanan comics, he tired to capture and hand young Kanan to the empire after he caught him sealing from him.
Arliz Hadrassian in a Y-Wing. A First Order collaborator and former TIE pilot that ran a militia against the New Republic as a pre-emptive strike for the First Order to soften up the NR.
Leema Kai in the other Y-Wing. They were a Jinata Security officer and commander who led Project Resurrection operations, another attempt to prepare the galaxy for the First Orders emergence.
Hopes For This Pack:
With Kanan's appearance I'm almost sure that his friend and scum mentor Janus Kasmir will be in the pack, maybe as a pilot but definitely as a crew. And if he appears, I'm sure that Kleeve (another "friend") could also appear as either as well.
More turret upgrades! I know that TLT is a taboo in the community but if remade correctly it could be an effective and not broken card.
Rinnrivin Di could make an appearance as a crew card. A crime boss from the Bloodline book, he was part of a First Order plot run by Arliz Hadrassian to help soften up the New Republic for invasion.
Some light side force upgrades that are weakened when used on scum ships, to show how uncomfortable the Jedi hiding amongst the Scum and Villainy were. Struggling to deal with the seedy side of society they are living with.
Maybe some new illicit upgrade could be of use, they are a fun way to define the scum and villainy of X-Wing, and we're still missing some of the 1.0 cards I'd like to see make it into 2.0!
Conclusions:
This is either a strong start for AMG or an amazing parting gift from FFG!
I'm sure most of us would have preferred completely new ships (**COUGH COUGH RAZOR CREST COUGH COUGH**), but the veterans of 1.0 have to remember that newer pilots may want a quick and relatively cheap way to collect ships to build their squadrons. And even though we already have these ships, we're gaining access to a good collection of amazing pilots and upgrades for these ships, expanding them and making them even more interesting and fun.
Another thing I'm seeing different with these Squadron Packs over the 1.0 Ace packs is that this doesn't feel like fixes to these ships, just expansions, which shows the health of 2.0 compared to 1.0!
I'm very excited for all of these (even though my wallet and fiancée aren't (well except for the Hera part)) and I'm looking forward to X-Wing's future with AMG, and I give thanks to FFG for the years of fun and the friends I've made along the way because of it!
Watcher Leader out.
Comments