Saw’s Renegades came unto X-Wing like a beautiful beacon of hope, finally giving X-Wing players what we had clamored for since… well, basically since Wave 4: the X-Wing fix. Renegade Refit provided the points reduction to bring them in line with the efficiency curve of other generic ships, and Servomotor S-Foils finally provided X-Wings with maneuverability to stay in the fight. Just like everyone else, I jumped right in and started playing with the new toys! From this experimentation came a list. A powerful, flexible meta contender that I will boldly claim is the most fun list I will ever play in First Edition X-Wing: “Crack Dealers.”

Genesis

Like everyone else, I started with the basics: Five X-Wings! Specifically, either 5 Rookie Pilots with the fix cards and Flight Assist, or five Cavern Angel Zealots with no Astromech and Crack Shot. Very quickly, I learned two very important things:

Crack Shot on X-Wings is insanely good. X-Wings need an Astromech for survivability, and Flight Assist Astromech (FAA) is the best choice by no contest.

Since five Cavern Angels gave me Crack Shot but no mech, and five Rookies gave me mechs but no Crack Shot, it was time to abandon five and figure out how I could fit both in a good list!

I started with four Zealots. This affords you the option to use one final ship as filler, and there are several good options. Z-95 Headhunters with either XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (Lieutenant Blount is an excellent choice for this) or loaded with Harpoons are safe and effective, if squishy, bets. They don’t really bring anything exciting to the list, but they definitely increase its power.

Other options include Rebel mini-supports, such as TIE Fighters and Sheathipedes. Captain Rex is an excellent option as filler, and so is AP-5. In fact, AP-5 with Flight Assist Astromech slots exactly in for an even 100-point list, and affords excellent maneuverability and flexibility – but I realized I could take this to an even higher level. To understand where this list evolved, I’d like to give you some background on some of my favorite lists.

First, we have Snap, Crackle, Pop! the powerhouse with 5 A-Wings loaded with Snap Shot and Crack Shot. I have written extensively about this list and I adore the maneuverability of the A-Wings and the superb firepower that Snap Shot provides, especially when massed. Unfortunately, it came about right in the window of Dengaroo and /x7 TIE Defenders: two archetypes that have extremely good matchups against this one. Because of this, it never really saw its day.

I was then introduced to Operations Specialist when the TIE Aggressor came out and I began flying TIE Bomber swarms with Unguided Rockets. Typically, I would fly 4x Scimitars with Unguided Rockets and Lightweight Frame, and a TIE Shuttle bomber with Ops Spec and sometimes Intel Agent. This list gave me an appreciation not just for the power of massed 3-die attacks, but also for the action efficiency of Operations Specialist and how effective a beefier, slower-moving squadron can be.

I was excited, therefore, by the possibilities of Operations Specialist in AP-5’s crew slot. Adding those three points required me to drop FAA and find two more points elsewhere. Because of my experience and love for the Snap/Crack A-Wing, two of those filled the 20-point holes nicely. Along with the core of two Crack Shot/FAA Cavern Angels, and some creative naming by Back to Dials fan Glenn Morgan, “Crack Dealers” was born!

The List

Crack Dealers – 100 pts

High-Level Overview

Design

Crack Dealers excels at combined-arms style play. It does so in the same way that the TIE swarm with Howlrunner support is better than naked TIEs, and the final evolution of this (The “Pattiswarm”) incorporates Howlrunner, Black Squadron Pilots with Crack Shots, and the ever-present Academy Pilot. The Pattiswarm takes the base archetype and includes action efficiency and offensive consistency with Howlrunner, spike damage with Crack Shot, and blockers with Academy Pilots. Crack Dealers is similar in that AP-5 and Ops Spec provide action efficiency and flexibility while Crack Shot provides spike damage, and the whole list combines for very consistent offensive output. Additionally, each different ship provides flexibility in maneuvering options to conquer any situation. Where a homogeneous swarm does one thing extremely well, it also doubles down on a single ship’s weaknesses. By incorporating combined arms design, it becomes more reactive and able to offer more to the skilled pilot.

The obvious synergy in the list is Operations Specialist, energizing the action economy. For each missed attack, a Focus token is generated – and this can trigger off of Snap Shot as well! For each miss, the list begins a cycle where the next attack will be more effective. X-Wings can reliably fire with Target Locks and Focus every turn if you are feeling bold and setting up good Snap Shots to spew focuses when they miss. Of course, in the case of a hit – damage gets through, and the game inches one step closer to being won.

The utility of Snap Shot goes far beyond a generator for Focus tokens. Since it triggers before any actions are taken, it presents the potential for extra damage, especially against ships that rely on token stacking to be effective, and against high-health staples that absorb a lot of firepower. The effect that this threat of being Snapped has on the opponent, though, is its hidden strength that allows you to influence the flow of battle. Even if Snap Shot never fires a single red die, it influences your opponent’s flight patterns in ways you can capitalize on.

Flight-Assist Astromech is universally praised for good reason, but its utility goes beyond the basic addition of maneuverability. It allows you to fine-tune and set up your opening but, as the game progresses, it has far reduced utility as a maneuvering tool when your list is fully engaged. Why is this a strength? Because when you pop it off with Integrated Astromech, you sacrifice less. The fact that you often don’t need it late-game makes it easy to make that decision when you don’t need it any more.

Strengths

All of this feeds in to generating consistent damage from multiple ships every turn. Action stacking, extra shots, and forcing the opponent into suboptimal engagements is one of the great hidden strengths of Crack Dealers.

The list excels at board control and dominates the midgame. The entire list resides at PS 1-3, which in most cases allows it to perform all of its maneuvers and actions before the opponent has a chance to act. In combination with AP-5’s coordinate, Crack Dealers can set up an engagement for which the opponent has no answer. Smart use of Tallon Rolls and Koiogran Turns allow you to create overlapping fields of fire with no clear escape vector. By using the A-Wings to block or threaten Snap Shots, you can force opponents to fly into situations in which you have the upper hand: at Range 1 of TL/Focused X-Wings, for example, or simply forcing a fragile power piece to stay clear of the fight.

In the opening, you can remain patient and present an innocuous outward appearance, then suddenly pivot to an aggressive offense. Additionally, because of the maneuvering options of each ship, you can easily retain formation cohesion, even through dense asteroid fields. In fact, proper utilization of the asteroids is key to setting up your engagements.

Speaking on a metagame level, it can be effective against things that dominate at this moment: With several ships, it can overcome the shenanigans of archetypes like Ghost/Fenn and destroy high-health staples such as Auzitucks and Lambdas with overwhelming firepower. Integrated Astromech gives you insurance against the odd Proton Bomb, and as a whole the list is fairly resilient. Against Reapers, and ISB Slicers specifically, your weight of actions thanks to Operations Specialist can swiftly overcome the evil tricks of the Empire, and your firepower can quickly bring down the offending TIE. Against aces, too, your blocking potential and ability to set up overlapping fields of fire can bring down even the squirreliest of pilots. As long as you develop and execute a plan of attack for each matchup, even if you do it on the fly, and intelligently select target priority to minimize risks to your list as the game goes on, I wager that it can emerge favorably against just about anything.

Finally, this list can be surprisingly good at preserving MOV for a win on time. As long as three ships remain, you can win out against most small-base ships. Even two will do it against most ships that aren’t kitted out for an endgame win on time, such as Miranda, Poe Dameron or Kylo Ren. Two ships – usually 40 points combined – will prevail on time against any large-base ship if you get half points.

Weaknesses

Anything typically good against swarms can have a strong play against Crack Dealers. Dash Rendar, for example, with his Heavy Laser Cannon and maneuverability, can pop ships quickly. However, you do have counterplay by controlling the center of the board and forcing Dash into a corner where his maneuverability is negated. Harpoon Missiles, too, can be a thorn in the side of this list, especially en masse.

While Crack Dealers can excel in midgame, its power drops off dramatically as ships die and you approach an endgame situation. It’s not unwinnable but none of these ships are dramatically strong on their own. This creates situations that your opponent can escape once your overlapping arcs of fire are destroyed. There are absolutely situations in which you must win a damage race in order to be in a position to win out in the endgame, and unfortunately many top meta lists are simply far more consistent. You can find yourself relying on a little dice luck sometimes to come out on top.

Specifically, ships with Advanced Sensors (such as Kylo Ren) can be a thorn in your side, being more difficult to Snap and block. Additionally, Miranda/Nym variants with Ion Bombs can sling a well-placed bomb into the middle of your formation and rob you of your all-important maneuverability. Poe Dameron’s consistent defense and regeneration can be an issue if he gets away and has the ability to run into the endgame.

Turn Zero

Obstacles

Read up on general obstacle placement tips here!

Intelligent obstacle placement can make or break your opening and empower this list to perform to its full potential.

I like to have a mix of small and large asteroids on the field in order to create favorable formations. For Store Championships in Colorado, I generally can expect my opponents to bring large obstacles, and so I will bring small asteroids. It’s a local meta call – for a larger tournament I will probably bring a mix myself. I choose asteroids because often the stress from hitting debris can be the far more damaging option – after all, you can always Coordinate your action after hitting a rock, and flying through one is always a case of risk vs. reward.

In deploying asteroids, you have two goals:

Create favorable engagement areas Utilize “pivot rocks” on the entrances to those areas to funnel your opponent and limit their avenues of escape.

Usually, I deploy large rocks in my opponent’s corners, although sometimes if my opponent is deploying on my edge, I will move those corner rocks toward me out to Range 3 of my opponent’s edge, in order to crunch the engagements toward the center. These corner rocks serve as the outer pivots and outer bounds of your engagement zones.

Next, I will look to deploy my third rock to create a jousting lane by setting it up on the side I now expect to enter from as a “pivot” – that is, I expect to wheel the X-Wings around this rock as I prepare to engage. Pivot rocks also limit your opponent’s options for avenues of disengagement.

Deployment

Deployment of Crack Dealers has a couple goals in mind to set up your opening:

AP-5 in position to reliably hand out Focus tokens, so he must be at Range 1-2 of a majority of the list Engage at multiple angles with the A-Wings funneling my opponent

To this end, I find that a two-row box formation in one corner of the board works extremely well. It gives me flexibility to use the A-Wings as flankers, and keep the X-Wings close or spread out as necessary as I move to engage. I have also experimented with putting AP-5 in front rather than behind. This has its pros and cons: Front-placed AP-5 can be closer to the A-Wings in the opening engagement, providing great opportunity to trigger Ops Spec off of Snap Shot. However, he is closer to the action and more vulnerable, and his relative lack of mobility compared to the X-Wing behind him can prove a detriment in the opening maneuvers.

Finally, it has the added advantage of looking innocuous and simple! An opponent who is unfamiliar with the way this list flies can be taken off guard when such a simple and classic formation explodes and drops all facsimile of classical formation maneuvering.

Feel free to add other tricks such as a Korriban Cross opening with the A-Wings to confound your opponent and tempt them into a mistake, especially against aggressive opponents. A Finger Five (An extension of the Finger Four) with AP-5 at the center can be a fun way to open and provide a little more flexibility for the trailing X-Wing as well as result in more staggered arcs with less fancy movement, although it can sometimes be difficult to pull the A-Wings around the outside for the opening.

Oh, and deploy your S-Foils locked in Attack Position!

Opening

Patience. Patience is absolutely key. Whichever opening you choose, this is not a list that rushes in aggressively. Your opening consists of two steps:

Feel out your opponent and pick your lane while separating A-Wings into flanking position Pivot your formation and catch your target in multiple arcs

Usually I open with a 2-straight from the X-Wings and AP-5, and a 3-Straight from the A-Wings. This allows me to be ready for aggressive maneuvering on my opponent’s part while not committing too much. Depending on the opponent’s maneuvering, you will move lazily up the side of the board for a few turns. A-Wings should be going a little faster, though, slowly separating from the pack.

This is the part of the game where you play a mental game with your opponent of where you are going to engage and who will commit first. You have to sense when, and to which lane, your opponent will commit to an engagement and meet them there.

Let them come to you! You are using your board edge, and the asteroids you placed earlier, to entice your opponent to an engagement usually near the top corner of the board. Turn in and commit too early and you leave yourself vulnerable to a flank performed upon you and getting bypassed and caught out of position. Use Flight-Assist Astromech to barrel roll or boost and control the range and your formation cohesiveness. Your goal, as the A-Wings come around the top of the board, is to create a “crescent” with your target at its center, punishing it from all directions.

Your pivot rock will be essential. All this time you have been feeling out your opponent it can look like you are reacting to them while in reality you are predicting two turns ahead when they will come into range and selecting the maneuvers that will take the X-Wings around this rock and into the center, with the A-Wings rounding the top. What can look reactionary is actually a premeditated turn into a lane you picked at deployment. By placing these rocks at your rear-side, too, you make it more difficult for your opponent to bait and switch and leave you hanging.

This list doesn’t bank in. When the time is right, Crack Dealers comes in hard and fast. Usually using 2- and 3-Hard turns from the X-Wings and fast, slashing straight maneuvers from the A-Wings to suddenly catch your opponent off guard and set up your engagement. Position AP-5 so that he is at Range 1-2 of as many ships as possible, although it’s not essential to get close to the A-Wings on the opening engagement if their positioning is otherwise favorable.

This list doesn’t have an especially strong opening or alpha strike. Rather, your opening sets you up for the midgame. While you won’t win on the opening salvo, you certainly can lose if you botch it. Keep your head on straight and really think about the ramifications of your maneuvers. Be patient!

Don’t expect to deal a knockout blow in the opening unless your opponent hands one to you on a silver platter. There’s still a lot of game to go…

Midgame

There is no catch-all strategy, or even preplanned sequence to your success in the midgame. It depends entirely on all the factors that go into playing X-Wing: predicting maneuvers, making intelligent targeting choices, controlling the board and rolling dice! With that in mind, I present a few central tenets to guide your gameplay:

Control the Engagement by blocking and creating no-go zones with Snap Shot. Stay tight. Try to limit each engagement to a small, bloody, intense area of the board. This list does not excel in a chasing battle but rather in an engagement where you can stay close and put a lot of red dice on target while limiting your opponent’s options. Use the lateral movement of Tallon Rolls to keep your X-Wings on target and in the fight while following the action. By using T-Rolls and K-turns with some ships and turning to chase with others, you stay tight and follow the battle on the sides as well. Stay on Target… Focus fire! don’t let your target get away. Keep your target in your firing arcs and pin it between your list and the edge of the board so it has nowhere to run. Rarely is it a good idea to switch targets, unless your opening doesn’t catch your primary objective. Flank. This doesn’t have to be dramatic, coming in from 90 or 180 degrees. Often this just means one X-Wing coming at your opponent straight on, while the other banks slightly. While both arcs point at the target, you maintain two different angles of approach and leave yourself with options for the next turn. One can K-Turn or Tallon Roll while the other simply hard-turns or goes for the block. Then next turn they can switch goals.One of my favorite maneuvers is to Coordinate a Barrel Roll with the X-Wings, and then hard-turn in to chase or block. Maintain multiple angles. Tying back into the previous point, always be thinking of ways you can put multiple arcs on target, from different directions. face your arcs where your opponent will be, and don’t be afraid to utilize red maneuvers to maintain cohesion and multiple arcs. Using AP-5 to coordinate actions before a K-Turn is powerful. AP-5 must stay close. His Coordinate, as well as Ops Spec, are powerful in achieving all your other goals.

Your midgame will be tense and it can be bloody. Be prepared to make trades of ship-for-ship, and do your best to ensure they are favorable. Trading one of your 20-point ships for their 40-point ship, for example, can put you ahead of the damage race. Manage your Crack Shot to spike critical damage through, but don’t waste it on regenerating ships or low-agility targets when there are other, high-agility ships on the board.

With respect to S-Foils, mostly I find that they remain Locked in Attack Position! In the intense scrum, Barrel Roll is more valuable than boost, and especially it is more essential to keep your primary weapons on target. The most useful thing about closed S-Foils is gaining green 2-banks to exit a K-Turn or Tallon Roll in good position if your target is trying to get away.

Once you and your opponent have traded a few ships, and things start to break out of your initial zone, you have reached the endgame.

Endgame

Honestly, there is not a lot to say about the endgame of this list, as it’s not a list that excels in an open-board, chasing situation against powerful ships. Key to success in late game will be your preservation of the right ships:

Against aces, I would recommend at least 1 A-Wing and 1 X-Wing to have any real chance. Snap Shot can be vital to pulling out a tense victory.

Against fat ships with low agility like VCXs, Falcons, Miranda, etc., preserving two X-Wings is essential to put constant damage in.

I mention Miranda, as she is a special case. Regeneration and the ability to simply run requires you to have a lot of tools to deal with her. You need to put damage on while still controlling the engagement; that is, she is an endgame ship that must be approached like you are still fighting in the midgame.

When you sense yourself moving to an endgame, chasing scenario, offer up AP-5 as a juicy target to keep your X-Wings and A-Wings alive. His utility drops off swiftly if he can’t keep up, and when the battle starts to spread out and you begin to lose ships, Operations Specialist becomes less useful. AP-5’s piddly gun can be useful to generate a Focus for an X-Wing, and to be clear I am not advocating for throwing AP-5 away. Rather, offer your opponent the choice. After seeing AP-5 boost your list significantly in the midgame, often opponents will try to smoke that sucker and secretly leave you with more powerful ships to close the battle.

Conclusions

Now, I don’t profess this to be the strongest X-Wing list ever conceived, nor does it have particularly excellent matchups against anything. Much like flying Snap, Crackle, Pop!, it can be an uphill battle from Turn 1 as you struggle to fly perfectly in the face of overwhelming firepower. In large part it is down to how each list is flown, which is absolutely how I believe X-Wing should be. If nothing else, in the trailing days of First Edition, it is the most fun list I have ever played.

This is a list that requires your brain to be on for every round. This does not play rote like other meta lists. The maneuvers you can pull can leave your opponent with no answer, but if you mess it up, you can find yourself with little recourse.

I love this list because of what it offers, but also because of the implicit theme: a cadre of X-Wings flying alongside their A-Wing escorts, with the command shuttle providing direction to guide your operation. So own it, fly your pants off and have fun. Ring out First Edition with fun ships, fun lists, and fun games!