HELLO LOYAL READERS!

That’s right, I’m finally back! Due to some unfortunate legal trouble with my former game company, which I will not go into for now, much of my time has been tied up, and posts over the next few months may still be sporadic unfortunately. THAT BEING SAID, I am overjoyed to return to you with volumes and volumes of news and tactics on all your favorite Star Wars miniatures games!

Now, you read the title right – Co-Op X-Wing!

Josh Derksen over at Docking Bay 416 has been working on this fan supplement for months now, and the TLC shows not only in the quality of the gameplay, but in the quality of the components. Released about a week ago now, it’s only in beta stage and looks and plays beautifully. Without further ado, let’s look into it a bit shall we?

RPG-Lite X-Wing?

Yes, that’s the best way to describe Heroes of the Aturi Cluster. Each player picks either an X-Wing or Y-Wing to start (with the ability to switch to a B-Wing, A-Wing, or HWK-290 later on), with a small amount of XP to spend on upgrades. Players then gain XP by damaging and destroying enemy ships, gaining more XP the tougher the enemy. Yes, you’re seeing that card right – as players increase their Pilot Skill value,they gain access to new Elite Pilot Talents and Modification slots. That’s right, an X-Wing with Push the Limit, Predator, R2 astromech, Lone Wolf, and Veteran Instincts (to beat out those pesky Elite enemies) is possible! not to mention Engine upgrade and 3 Shield Upgrades!

Ontop of all that though, players can pick up the pilot abilities of any any rebel pilot in the game. an X-Wing with PTL and Tycho’s ability? thank you very much. One of my squadmates has been building towards a B-Wing with Nera Dantels and Tarn Mison, so not only can he target lock someone attacking him, he can then spit retaliatory torpedoes their way regardless of if they’re in arc!

But if everyone’s playing rebels, who do you fly against?

Meet the AI!

AI in X-Wing isn’t an entirely new concept, but Josh Derksen’s rendition of it is (in my personal opinion) the best rendition to date. Despite some level of predictability (I’ve been known to troll tie squadrons into flying off the board), the AI has impressive depth to it, and every once in a while does something completely unexpected, catching you and your squad off-guard.

The majority of your opponents will be hordes and hordes of Academy Pilot Ties, punctuated here and there with a squadron of Interceptors (bane of my existence) or a single Elite TIE variant (Phantoms are scary). Every once in a while you’ll also see Shuttles, and in a single mission you’ll see the Decimator – and when you see it, you’ll be glad it’s only in one mission! The AI breaks the rules of the game a bit to make up for the fact that there’s only so much it can account for, and this often means the AI will get two actions when on a non-basic TIE, even more on Elite variants. The Decimator actually gets two separate attacks, on top of a free target lock and a possible focus action!

What are Elites, you ask? Every time a non-standard TIE or shuttle enters the field, you pull from a deck of Pilot cards to determine the equipment of that ship or squadron, and tuck it under the AI sheet, showing only it’s basic equipment. When an Elite ship enters the field, however, you reveal more of the card, increasing the PS of the ship and adding more equipment and abilities. In addition, the higher the PS level of the rebel players, the more abilities and PS the Elite enemies get. One example is a TIE phantom, who at max level has access to Sensor Jammer, Elusiveness (which it doesn’t gain a stress for, because the AI hates you), and DARK CURSE’S PILOT ABILITY, among other things.

The Briefing Room

One of the coolest things about the campaign system is the mission setup and scaling. Players play through several story arcs, not necessarily in any order, each comprised of 3+ missions. These can range from guiding a Transport through an imperial minefield, to fighting TIE Phantoms to attempt to remove them from the sector overall, to raiding an imperial refueling station. The mission setups alone are fantastic and engaging, a wonderful break from the 100pt skirmish grinds we’ve all come to love so much, but the best piece of design is in the mission scaling.

Missions scale on two factors: The first is the number of players. anywhere from 1-6 players can play the campaign (that’s right – you can play solo!), but no matter how many people are playing, you’ll always have a balanced setup. Every additional player brings more TIEs into the mix, and can also bring in more non-standard ships, or increase the defense of an objective ship. The second factor is the average PS of the squad. The higher in level the players get, the more likely enemies will become more deadly. In the mission pictured above, at higher PS, some of the standard TIEs get replaced with Interceptors. In other missions, the replacement is random, with the possibility of adding a Phantom, Defender, Bomber, Shuttle, Etc.

The scaling design also allows for drop-in/drop-out play, so if someone can’t make it for a week, despite missing out on the XP for a week they’re still in an excellent spot. A lower PS player not only reduces the PS average of the squad (reducing the chance of scary enemies), but also gets clean shots at enemies whose tokens have been stripped by the higher PS players, giving them a better chance at gaining more XP via kills.

The TIEcing on top (going to hell for that…)

Heroes of the Aturi Cluster is already a wonderful, professional-level supplement that I think every X-wing player and Star Wars fan in general should try, but the coolest thing to me is the concept of further expanding the game. What about adding new mission arcs for you and your local buddies to enjoy? Building up to a run on the Death Star, or fighting off an Imperial landing force as your base is attacked (AT-AT’s anyone?), or how about attacking an Imperial Raider on patrol? In addition, players in my playgroups have asked about flying an E-Wing, K-Wing, or the upcoming T-70 X-Wing, and who am I to deny them their fun? Not to mention, Scum and Villainy haven’t seen any love in Co-Op yet, and we’re seeing new imperial/first order ships quite a lot in these months. Heroes of the Aturi Cluster has lots of room for expansion (and hey, am I the only one wanting an Imperial version?) and I’m looking forward to playing lots more of it in the future!

You can get Heroes of the Aturi Cluster here

Glad to be back in the writer’s chair, it feels good!

Until next time, Play More Games!

NOTE: Capital ship will be moving soon! What does this mean for you? We will be keeping our .org title and will be moving to an independent host rather than WordPress, in order to save some money and add more functionality to the site. Watch this space for updates, and please bear with us through this transition! -Phasertech