With Wave 5 giving us the re-release of the JumpMaster 5000, I thought it would be nice to revisit my analysis of the ship. The original dump I took on the ship can be found here: Death of a Bounty Hunter: A Lament. You can also find some more notes in the Scum points change article, but most of those thoughts will be rehashed here.

The Punished One

The JumpMaster 5000 had a well-earned resentment in First Edition. From Triple Deadeye Torp Boats to the World’s winning Dengaroo to the World’s winning Dengar/Tel, the ship had a good two years of dominant play that soured many to X-Wing itself. And reasonably, FFG nerfed the JumpMaster into relative obscurity. I began playing just after the last nerf to the JM5K, and with the exception of a few people playing the triple Bumpmaster build, the ship had outlived its prime.

But then when 2nd Edition rolled around, the JumpMaster was brought even lower by largely two factors: an abysmal dial and a single arc, two die turret that must take stress to rotate. The Punishing One title can be taken to up the turret to a 3 die arc while only in the front arc, but doing so costs 8 points and any chance you have at mitigating the poor dial with L3-37 by removing the crew slot.

The loss of the crew slot is particularly crippling for Dengar as he would love to take either IG-88D crew, Maul crew, or Perceptive Copilot to take full advantage of being able to double tap a single target. But if he wants any of those crew members, he must drop his primary back down to a 2 die pea shooter.

The Better Choice

The JM5K’s faults I think are evident, but comparing them to other ships makes them stand out. The Customized YT-1300 has the most in common with the JM5K: they are both large-base, 2-die turret ships. Yet despite the better dial, more hull, and a second turret arc, I6 Han costs 4 less than I6 Dengar, and I4 Lando cost 1 less than I4 Tel. Manaroo and the Scout cost the same as L3-37 and the Captain even though the only thing that might be considered better for them is initiative level and a green die.

But an even better ship has come along to to make the JumpMaster look silly: the Sith Infiltrator. Darth Maul feels like an I5 version of what Dengar could be. Certainly Maul has one less green die and is lower in initiative, but he has more shields, possibly the best big base dial (the YT-2400 being the contender), and will likely always have force if he takes Hate. The force also gives Maul a light version of the JM5K’s white 2 Segnor loop, which Dooku also can enjoy. Yet Dengar taking the title to pump up his front arc to 3 dice makes him cost 1 more point than Maul.

Reconfigured and Repaired

So how do we fix this mess of a ship? The points drop from the January 2019 change was helpful, but we can’t just keep dropping points until the ship becomes usable. Ironically dropping the points until they are usable would make them too good as a filler ship. Making new astromechs or new crew could create unforeseen consequences down the line on a new ship or with a new pilot, even if those upgrade were locked to the Scum faction. The current title has anti-synergy with anything that would help the ship out, and is unique so would only be able fix one ship (which it doesn’t). So here is my solution:

Configurations.

S-foils configurations reinvigorated the T-65 X-Wing in First Edition and continues to do so on both the T-65 and T-70 in Second Edition. Grappling Struts offer an interesting (if mildly over-costed) tactic for the Vulture and Hyena droids. But the style I’m most interested in is the Os-1 and Xg-1 configurations that the Alpha Class Star Wing employs. Both are static configurations that change up how the ship plays, allowing for two different styles of play for the same ship. With the addition of pilot cards packs mentioned by FFG, they could stuff a few configuration cards in with any JM5K pilots they might bring in.

What I’m proposing are two configurations that will attempt to heal the two most gaping wounds of the JumpMaster that I mentioned earlier: the dial and the 2-die primary. Both would be static like the Star Wing configurations.

This configuration mitigates the turd-tastic right side of the dial and balances the dial giving it the dial of a IG-2000 Aggressor minus the right side Segnor. It also adds a two die primary to accompany the laser cannons that are clearly on the front of the model and the artwork. That should help alleviate some of the poor damage output that two die turrets have. It synergizes decently with the Punishing One title allowing for one Jumpmaster per list to have an always on three die primary. It would also allow for the ship to take advantage of talents like Fearless and Outmaneuver now that the ship has a front arc.

This second configuration essentially returns the old dial back to the JumpMaster 5000, making the left side slightly better than its First Edition dial while leaving the right side slightly worse than its First Edition dial. While this new dial may start to raise the hackles of those who lived through the torment of the pre-nerf JumpMasters, they need only to note that this ship will still only have a two die turret and cannot link actions off of the white barrel roll that is also added with this configuration. Positioning sacrifices firepower, as it should.

The white Segnor isn’t as powerful without the 360 turret of First Edition or the two die primary of the other proposed configuration. You may still need to rotate your arc, which can only be done through a linked action – meaning you would still be stressed, albeit with a focus or a lock. But it’s still just a single-modded two die shot without the Punishing One title, which isn’t much to get worked up over.

Both of these configurations add something to the JM5K while holding well back to not step on the toes of those who still have PTSD from First Edition. What do you think of my proposed fixes? Do they go too far or is the ship still doomed to never be effective? Can you think of better ways to make the ship playable without making it overpowered again?