Let it never be said that I am a blogger who ignores reader feedback:

After confessing my love for Alden Ehrenreich in the spice freighter, I tried out your suggestions. On Saturday, we had our first X-Wing Second Edition event in NYC, a casual tournament during which players could switch their lists between rounds. In all four games, I flew Han with 0-0-0 crew (and BT-1 gunner). So, Dr. u/Klivian1, consider this my check-up.

0-0-0 was very effective! I’m still not at the point where I can’t imagine the ship without him, a la first edition Asajj and Latts Razzi, or the new Darth Vader and Fire Control System. But the ability to force a tough decision for your opponent at Range 1 is nice when you run out of rocks to hide behind. (0-0-0 may be better with another Falcon pilot, however, one mentioned at the end of the post—no spoilers!)

The working list of upgrades for Han breaks down as:

Stapled to the pilot card

Trick Shot

Engine Upgrade

Lando’s Millennium Falcon title

Lando Escape Craft

Strong but not irreplaceable

0-0-0

BT-1

On the bubble

Outmaneuver

Rigged Cargo Chute (seems essential, but haven’t dropped it once in seven games)

Greedo

I also had Tobias Beckett riding shotgun with 0-0-0 in three out of four of my games Saturday (L3-37 was used once). All three of my Beckett match-ups were against some variant of TIE Swarm, and he proved terrific for board control. It has since been pointed out to me, however, that crew with one-off universal effects like Beckett can be stashed on the Escape Craft, freeing up that seat on the Falcon. (Update: Or maybe not? Apparently this is an open question.)

Without getting too deep into batreps, here are the three lists I tried:

Han/Emon

Han Solo (Scum) — YT-1300 (Scum) 54 Trick Shot 1 0-0-0 3 L3-37 4 BT-1 2 Rigged Cargo Chute 4 Lando’s Millennium Falcon 6 Ship Total: 74 Emon Azzameen — Firespray-31 76 Elusive 3 Cad Bane 4 Proximity Mines 6 Andrasta 6 Proton Bombs 5 Ship Total: 100 Lando Calrissian (Scum) (Escape Craft) — Escape Craft 26 Ship Total: 26

Han/Asajj

Han Solo (Scum) — YT-1300 (Scum) 54 Trick Shot 1 0-0-0 3 Tobias Beckett 2 BT-1 2 Rigged Cargo Chute 4 Engine Upgrade * Lando’s Millennium Falcon 6 Ship Total: 81 Lando Calrissian (Scum) (Escape Craft) — Escape Craft 26 Ship Total: 26 Asajj Ventress — Lancer-Class Pursuit Craft 84 Latts Razzi 7 Ship Total: 91

This is an exciting pairing, as Asajj and 0-0-0 both stress enemy ships, activating the Lando title, BT-1, and Latts Razzi. This list pulled out a close game against Soontir and a mini swarm.

With the Lancer side arc now only providing two dice, I mostly kept Asajj’s turret forward and 5-K-turned pretty liberally. Han started skirting the rocks but quickly got in the mix, as I basically traded him for Soontir and (I think) Howlrunner. Without Howlrunner to provide rerolls, the other TIE fighters had trouble pushing damage through on Asajj, who had Latts, evade token, and force token pretty much every turn.

Since Han relies on Asajj to set up his shots in this build, losing him first was probably ideal. Asajj closes more easily with more consistent offense and defense both in terms of dice rolled and modifiers. Does this mean Han should just be thrown into the fight? Maybe, and that’s why I’m not as fond of this list as I am…

Han/Guri!

Han Solo (Scum) — YT-1300 (Scum) 54 Trick Shot 1 0-0-0 3 Tobias Beckett 2 BT-1 2 Rigged Cargo Chute 4 Engine Upgrade * Lando’s Millennium Falcon 6 Ship Total: 81 Lando Calrissian (Scum) (Escape Craft) — Escape Craft 26 Ship Total: 26 Guri — StarViper 62 Outmaneuver 6 Advanced Sensors 8 Hull Upgrade * Virago 10 Ship Total: 93

After two games with her, can I say Second Edition Guri is the best Scum ace? Sorry, Fenn Rau. Finally, a Starviper pilot that lives up to the full promise of the bendy barrel roll. I faced a TIE swarm and a Decimator and then a straight TIE swarm. In both games, Guri deked the entire swarm with an Advanced Sensors sashay:

Guri kind of derailed my evaluation of Han. She was so good, the only real conclusion I took from those games was, Wow, Guri is so good. I don’t remember a single thing Han did in those matches except blow up to a TIE Swarm. Had Guri aced the audition to be Han’s wingmate or had Han suddenly failed the audition to be Guri’s?

I’m sticking with the Falcon as I think there’s still untapped potential. The Lando ability is too essential to Han’s offense to hand the Escape Craft duties to the Outer Rim Pioneer, but more rock shenanigans would be nice.

Maybe that means Qi’ra’s return. Or maybe that means Lando wins his ship back…and a few droids to go with it…

Next time: