So with two weeks to go to a 250+ person event which I’m flying Firesprays at I may have got distracted. Last week at ibuywargames’ bank holiday Monday tournament I saw Henry Westcott flying a rather tasty Poe which got me thinking about intensity. A few days later the thoughts turned into a list and the list decided it needed trying and so I had to bench the firesprays and try out some untested jank this week because I am a somewhat compulsive human being. Practicing the firesprays should be the order of the day, but I want to do silly things with boosts and barrel rolls!

Henry’s Poe build has been stolen without shame. He flies him very well with Rey, but I think it is safe to say that I won’t be flying a falcon anytime soon, and certainly won’t be flying Rey. Which means I’m looking at other rebel ships to fly that make me happy.

Poe Dameron (PS9) – 41 Points

Intensity

BB-8

Primed Thrusters

Black One

Autothrusters

I am somewhat limited for options as there aren’t really that many rebels I actually enjoy flying. As much as I want the T65 to put me in a happy space it just doesn’t in game terms. But T70s… they kinda do, they make me happy. If they had 3 agility then I’d be even happier.

The theme I’m going for is as much Intensity as possible so I’m looking at ships that will work well with it and in the T70 the second best candidate after Poe is definitely Mr “Snap” Wexley. I looked at him when I was flying all kinds on nonsense with Daredevil, and that build was really entertaining. Free boost to flip intensity on a range 2,3 or 4 move? It’d be rude not to right?

So I looked at what I can do to make him work better. Initially I went for Comm Relay, take an evade early on and save it, it’s a legitimate choice, but it restricts his options once the dog-fighting begins. Talon Rolls are a thing y’know.

Next I looked at Primed Thrusters, Poe is running it so why not on both? Well, Snap can boost if he’s stressed which helps but then he can’t do an action after his free action because of the stress. Which means that option isn’t one I’m goingt to pursue.

Pattern Analyzer though, now you’re talking. He can Talon/K then perform a free boost, flip intensity for a token, then take an action before getting stressed. At last we have a winner on the tech slot.

Points are going to be an issue with a 41 point Poe and a currently 34 point Snap. The astromech has to be an economical choice and the very useful generic R2 is hard to fault. He’s going to be K/Taloning a fair bit so it gives plenty of choices for clearing stress. As I think I have said before if you can take Autothrusters, you should take Autothrusters, they are an unbelievable economical upgrade.

“Snap” Wexley – 35 points

Intensity

R2

Pattern Analyzer

Autothrusters

The list now has 2 ships that are each essentially doing 3 actions a turn without getting stressed and weighs in at 76 points. In my head there is only one ship that can fit in with this crazy action economy and points cost in the Rebel stable that I can see and that is everyone’s favourite Mandalorian: Sabine Wren.

I used to run this Sabine with Push the Limit but it required having crew like Kanan around to clear any stress she might incur.

Taking Intensity on Sabine is an obvious choice, the Attack Shuttle is too expensive to put any decent upgrades on with this list, as much as I’d love those three red dice, so I’m going for my favourite version, the one in the stolen Tie Fighter. Everyone knows that tokenless Tie Fighters die really fast, so that is going to be the first obstacle to overcome, Recon Spec to give two focus tokens, an evade from the barrel roll or boost so she should be good with 3 tokens.

I debated taking Rey crew because she’s cheaper than a Recon Specialist but too often I have seen her run out of focus tokens at the most inopportune time. Having to spend a focus to flip Intensity and have another one to put on Rey for the next turn just means that plan is doomed, she is going to spend tokens staying alive every turn!

Rec Spec is more expensive but more consistent in this build. The final upgrade is a stealth device to give a better chance for survival against all the big turrets going on in the world right now. Sure it won’t help against Nym but everything else (that’s not a bomb) it could be pretty useful against.

Sabine Wren – 24 points

Intensity

Sabine’s Masterpiece

Stealth Device

Recon Specialist

All this gives us three ships that can all perform multiple actions every turn without getting stressed, but no initiative bid for Poe unfortunately. The only options I really have that can be changed are the Stealth Device or the Rec Spec and I don’t want to do that…

Jake is an option for this list too but once the Prockets have gone his primary weapons are largely reserved for scratching paint work, but he does this at considerably more cost than Sabine does.

Poe Dameron (PS9) “Snap” Wexley Sabine Wren (TIE) Black One R2 Intensity BB-8 Intensity Recon Specialist Intensity Autothrusters Stealth Device Autothrusters Patter Analyzer Sabine’s Master Piece Primed Thrusters

The tournament at ibuywargames could have been called the “Dale Cromwell Cup”… With three of the fourteen lists bearing a striking resemblance to the one he did so well at the French Nationals last week with. If it features in the same strength at UK nationals there could be over 50 high PS alpha striking imperial lists at the event… ouch.

The truly shocking thing is that there were only 2 Rebel and 3 Scum lists. Where the hell has the meta gone? It was just plain weird. 9 Imperial lists out of 14… Imperials are rubbish right?

It’s important that before reporting a 0-4 performance I do emphasise how much fun this list is! The movement options are staggering, if you like FLYING ships rather than playing cards then I recommend having a go with it. If only all the ships were PS11 then it would be most ridiculous list I have ever come up with.

Unfortunately they’re not all PS11 and there are some issues with the build, which come more from the current game state than the actual ships I’m flying. Of the four games I played 3 were straight up dogfights against Imperials which featured a generally higher pilot skill, which mean that no matter how unpredictable my flying was there were barrel rolls everywhere to leave my firing arcs devoid of things to shoot at. But every single one of these games was a bit of a thrill to play and hugely thematic.

The other game I played was against everyone’s “favourite” petulant brat, the totally not unbalanced Kylo Ren. I knew the second it was announced that Vader and Kylo were my second game I was going to lose it. I had a good go, I killed the Sith Lord (eventually) but just couldn’t over come the PS10 battering ram of ruthless efficiency that is RAC. The presence of a PS10 Kylo, Gunner and Hotshot Co-pilot is really not a good combination for Intensity and 2 agility ships…

There were some dice, some moments when I should have evaded and some fantastic dogfighting which was great fun, but here is my problem with intensity:

NO TARGET LOCKS

You have to token up to keep the Intensity flipping, especially with lower PS that your opponents, so taking locks is generally never done. The only ship I would really rate it on is Sabine (with the rec spec) but she comes equipped with a primary paint scratcher. Poe and Snap would probably have fared better with Push the Limit, but then they wouldn’t have had evades and would have died faster!

For the most part I enjoyed the games because I loved what I was flying, but it was the final nail in the coffin of any ambitions to take the X-Wing to Nationals in two weeks time. (still time to buy a ticket!)

Away from the games, the dice and the pinch of salt there was a great day had with a really high standard of gamer present.

During the week I got a deliver the most exquisite alt art card I have ever seen. Sure I’ve a soft spot for gamer bling in general but this is a different level of absolutely beautiful:

It’s (limited edition) available from All-Wings who you can follow on Instagram (@all-wings) and Facebook. If you want to see some serious talent and lovely artwork then I’d recommend checking them out. Their limited run cards aren’t cheap but they are bloody gorgeous! (Kath please!)

While we’re on the topic of artistic talent: I was left with a severe “hhhnnnnnngg” moment at seeing George Dellapina’s Boba paint job this week.

And finally, if you haven’t seen the second trailer for Rebels Season 4 then you should probably go and do that… unless you haven’t seen seasons 1-3, then you should definitely go and watch that first.

THE FIRESPRAYS WILL RETURN!

(baring any distractions that appear)