This is a guest post, written by my friend and fellow Arch Alliance member, Matt Cary. He is one

of the best X-Wing players I know, and has been a major force behind the relative lack of grammatical

errors in my posts. He asked a few weeks ago if he could write a guest post on a subject that is near

and dear to his heart, a lament about a ship he loves. So without any further ado, here is...









The Death of a Bounty Hunter: A Lament .

Here we are. Second edition. All signs points to Thisisgreat-sville. So much power creep has been dialed back and been future-proofed. Perfect knowledge bombs and reinforce have been caged. Twin Laser Turret got lost on the way to second edition. Vader and Luke are not only playable, but are worthy of building a list around. All is well.

All is well.

Well except for the Jumpmaster 5000.

A HISTORY OF ABUSE

With a few world championships wins where it was the only ship used on the winning lists, and plenty

of top table appearances and wins at nationals under its belt, the ship definitely earned its ire. When I

hear people say that they quit X-Wing, more than likely, it was because of this ship. Deadeye

Torp-boats are the most common complaint, but the Dengaroo follow up is fairly hated as well. The

only more maligned ship that I know of is the K-Wing, and that is really not the ship but just one

frustrating pilot. And believe me, I am not going to try to drum up sympathy for Miranda Doni.

But basking in X-Wing’s spotlight did not come without its drawbacks. The nerf bat smacked the

JM5K quite a few times in first edition. The first hit it took was an indirect volley: Deadeye now only

worked on small base ships, and the R4 Agromech couldn’t be used in conjunction with spending a

focus to do an attack. This curbed the use of Contracted Scouts as low pilot skill alpha strikers since

they couldn’t reliably get off torpedoes anymore. But amidst the ashes of that nerf, the phoenix of

Dengaroo arose. Manaroo would feed Dengar’s attack with buffs from her ability while Zuckuss ran

shotgun forcing anyone with good rolls to try again at the cost of giving Dengar a stress for each

reroll. Dengar’s stress train looked like Tycho Celchu on overdrive. Despite the nerfs, Dengaroo won

Worlds 2016, proving the ship still had more than enough strong points to get the job done.

With Dengaroo bullying every list around, another set of nerfs set aim on that list and fired a salvo.

Manaroo was now limited to range 1, and the third wheel that was Zuckuss could only be used if you

are not currently stressed now. It seems that particular marriage wasn’t to be. But despite the ship

turning into the Nerfherder 5000, a Dengar and Tel Trevura combination still won out at Worlds 2017.

Something drastic had to be done to stop this ship.

Finally, in late 2017 the blow was dealt. Two more nerfs. First, directed at Scum and Villainy in

general, Attani Mindlink was now limited to two ships. Second, the true nerf. The Jumpmaster is the

first and only ship of X-wing to have upgrade slots removed. It lost not one, but two torpedo slots, and

it lost the astromech slot. No more torpedo alpha strikes. No more Unhinged Astromech giving a

phenomenally green dial. The JM5K was dethroned. With the right upgrades Dengar was still usable,

and with some shenanigans, the Contracted Scout could still do work in the hands of a good pilot.

Tel and Manaroo largely disappeared. The chassis was still good with a great dial, but it took skill to

make it work. Most didn't bother putting in the time needed. The complaints stopped.

It was at this point that I started playing X-Wing. I flew Dengar with some success, and built a list I

could call my own with Dengar, Dalan Oberos in a Kimogila, and a Jakku Gunrunner. It was both

unconventional and fun, as Scum lists should be. I loved it and looked forward to it being a stronger

build in second edition without my only consistently troubling list, Nymranda, flying around. Dalan’s

ability took a hit, so he was going to be swapped out for some other ordinance carrier, but the

Gunrunner only got better. My only true lament was the building block for my list. The Jumpmaster

was now the Junkmaster. It now sits in the corner crying, wondering why no one has any sympathy to

spare for it.

WELCOME TO SECOND EDITION, YOU ARE THE HWK NOW

All those first edition nerfs were just a precursor. With second edition in the works for the last two

years of first edition, it seems the legacy of the ship was still being considered during its redesign.

All first edition primary weapon turrets justly received a nerf across the board, but the Jumpmaster is

the only one of those ships to be downgraded to a single turret arc. Thematically, that makes sense

as those other turreted ships have two turrets on them, but also thematically, the Jumpmaster has

forward facing cannons, so it would make more sense to have a similar setup to the Lancer-Class

Pursuit Craft. The JM5K takes a reasonable hit in that the barrel roll is one of the new red, stressful

actions. It’s a big ship; swinging that sucker around should take some gusto to get done.

The other significant change is the ship maneuver dial. In first edition, this was the one strength that

the chassis had going for it after all the other nerfs. It still, arguably, had a too good dial. Only two of

three turnaround maneuvers were red, and the green hards to the left were incredibly good. The

strength of the white sloop should not be understated as both the Kanan Sloop on The Force Awakens

Falcon and the K-turn on Defender can attest. But those days are gone now. Green (blue) hards for

clearing stress are out, and the white sloop has increased in speed and difficulty. The ship can move

faster now with 3 left bank and 3 straight both decreasing in difficulty to blue. The right side of the dial

is justifiably meh, both losing the right sloop altogether and increasing the turns to a stressful

maneuver. The dial needed to be toned down, but for a ship that should turn left pretty well, it only

turns left okay now. What is left leaves the ship fairly predictable.

The Jumpmaster does have one odd claim in 2E: it is one of only two turreted ships able to link a red

rotate off of an action, which is good. The bad news stapled to that is that unlike any other turret

currently, it can only rotate the turret off of that stressful action. Along with the poor dial, this really

limits what maneuvers any JM5K will do. The other ship that has the linked rotate action is the

HWK-290, but it also has a white rotate.

Any of these nerfs by themselves are not that bad. Much like the 1E HWK-290, it is a combo of a

bad dial, an ineffective attack, and poor actions that are going to hold it back. And it wouldn’t be

as evident if there wasn’t a ship coming out that fills the Jumpmaster’s role in nearly every aspect.

HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER!

Okay. Here is where I’m going to start whining. Brace yourself. Lando’s Falcon is superior to the

JM5K in nearly every way to the point of obsolescence. At launch, the Customized YT-1300 has

two more hull, one more arc, one more crew slot, and a gunner slot. It can also rotate its turret arc

and turn right without getting stressed while being decently to significantly cheaper to boot. Looking

at the pilots of the same initiative - L3-37 comes in five points cheaper than the Contracted Scout,

Lando comes in 11 points cheaper than Tel Trevura, and finally, Han Solo comes in 10 points cheaper

than Dengar. This could be merely because FFG is being cheeky and pricing the newest ship to be

cheap so we buy it. (If so, SHAME! SHAME!) But as it stands, you can run all of the named Falcon

pilots and the generic with four points to spare. If four Contracted Scouts in first edition was

ridiculous, that four Falcon list is so ludicrous it has gone plaid.

I’LL TAKE FAMOUS TITLES FOR $400, ALEX

“Well, the at least the Punishing One title has gotten cheaper,” you may say. To which I will reply

with the sexiest of statements, “I will prove you wrong with mathematics.” In second edition terms,

the old title is twenty-four points, a far sight above the new title at eight points. “Aha,” you say, “the

ew title is sixteen points cheaper, you imbecile.” First of all, rude. There is no need for name calling.

Jerk. Second, you’ll find that you are paying eight points for one additional die in one 90ish degree

arc. If you evaluate the original title, you find that you were paying six points in 2E currency for each

arc. So with the new title, you are paying two more points for a single arc. And, as a weird stipulation,

you only get that die when the turret arc is facing forward which kind of invalidates the turret-iness

of the turret if you want to utilize those eight points.

To highlight the title’s underwhelmingness, I will compare the Punishing One to a good title: the

Moldy Crow. Holy crap, FFG did it right on this title. The metered tokens stacking was a good

choice in the tuned down action economy of 2E. And adding that primary arc? Mmmmm, bellisimo!

It adds teeth to the ship, but also it compliments the abilities of nearly all the HWK-290 pilots in

both factions. All for the reasonable price of twelve points!

Now, compare that to the Punishing One. Twelve points for a three die primary that also can use

the turret in a different arc versus eight points for a one die buff in one arc that, if used, negates

the idea of a turret. Dengar would love the Moldy Crow title as both the primary and the token stack

of focuses compliment his ability. In contrast to the synergy of the HWK’s pilot abilities, the

Punishing One compliments only Dengar and only conditionally.

The Punishing One does have one additional caveat to help or hinder; it trades a crew slot for

an astromech slot. This could be seen as a positive, but with the current set of astromechs, I’d

rather take a crew in most cases. For the astromechs, the regen and repair options of R2’s and

R5’s are decent, and they open up an odd strategy for Tel to be destroyed, respawn away from

everyone and repair two more damage before engaging again. “Gonk” would accomplish a similar

effect for slightly cheaper cost than the title and the astromech. R3 is a decent choice for any

munitions carrier, and would shine on Dengar a bit as a revenge shot proton torpedo sounds scary.

R4 would be phenomenal for the Jumpmaster, returning most of the original dial back, but it is

small ship only, restricted to the Y-wing for the Scum faction. Genius does nothing. R5-TK is for

edge cases only. R5-P8 is in most cases is inferior than R3 but is costed higher. For both Manaroo

and Dengar, I’d rather have 0-0-0, IG88-D, or Perceptive Copilot.

All in all, it’s not a make it or break it nuance to the title, but it might be worth it on Dengar who

would be the one flying with the title anyway. Perhaps, as more astromechs come out, something

will slot in well.

I’M GONNA BE A PILOT, BEST IN THE GALAXY

I started to get mildly positive there, so let’s evaluate the individual pilots to bring me back to a sulk.

The Contracted Scout

Formerly known as the Bumpmaster, the Scout was wonderful at jamming up maneuvers with its

large base and barrel roll. But without all the trickiness of Anti-Pursuit Lasers, Ion Projector,

Intelligence Agent, or the Snap Shot/Operations Specialists combo, it will only just gum up the

works; A job better done, unsurprisingly, by its Falcon counterpart. At a six points cheaper, the

Freighter Captain’s I1 serves for better blocking. Additionally, you can fit four of the Captains in

with 16 points to spare, which the Scout can no longer do since it increased in cost by two points.

The loss of the talent slot also eliminates the potential of a Scout with Intimidation, as well.

The other role it served was as a Torp-boat. With the Scout’s low initiative and no access to the

2E equivalent to Deadeye, the force powered Instinctive Aim, the torpedo slot seems a bit useless.

It could potentially have slooped and done a second round torpedo shot, but as the white sloop no

longer exists, it is not an option. With no inbuilt ability akin to the E-Wing and no Colonel Jendon

permitting long range locks, I don’t see any reason to put a torpedo on one of these guys. My only

solution is Contraband Cybernetics to make a second engagement torpedo strike. But that is

another five points on top of the nine from Proton Torpedoes - fourteen points to make the ship

workable.

The continued loss of triple Scout Torp-boats is not really a loss since it was so off-putting in 1E,

but without either role as Bumpmaster or Torp-boat, I struggle to find a use for it.

Manaroo

This poor girl. If being married to the homely Dengar isn’t bad enough, she has been nerfed again.

One would think that the nerf to Manaroo’s ability in 1E was strong enough, but 2E comes around

and restricts the blue-skinned babe’s token tossing to only green tokens. No more throwing a target

lock onto someone out of arc which was a slightly harder task given the range 1 nerf anyway.

I find the continued range 0-1 restriction on her curious with so much token sharing available in 2E

that is greater than range 1. Kyle Katarn can sling a focus to anyone in arc. Esege Tekutu lets

anyone range 0-2 spend his focus. If Garven Dreis spends a focus he can pass it to anyone at

range 1-3. Benthic Two-Tubes can toss his focus to anyone at range 1-2. Without any way to

pass more than focus or calculate tokens (currently), the continued restriction to her ability

seems harsh when compared with these gentlemen’s abilities.

She costs two points more for whatever reason, too.

Tel Trevura

Tel is at the same price, and his ability is still just okay. His fake death now takes him out of the

action and places him at range one on his starting edge, which could be good, or it could be bad.

It will totally depend on the situation. As mentioned before, it would be entertaining to sacrifice

him early and then set him up as far away from the action as possible, and “gonk” him back up to

half health to get full points for him. Pure shenanigans that likely won’t happen, but worth at least

looking into.

Dengar

Dengar. How the mighty have fallen. When people talk about the I6 pilots in 2E, you aren’t brought

up at all. Not from spite, but because you have already been written off so much that people don’t

even remember you are I6. On a positive note, Dengar is cheaper by two points, but that is still

ten points more than Han. You could say that his ability might be ten points better than Han’s, but

that might be a stretch. While having the chance to get a second attack is always good, without

Manaroo or Attanni focus stack for him and without Expertise or K4 Security Droid supplying mods,

his ability has a good chance of hitting like a wet noodle. Torpedoes and R3 seem the best option

to make use of his ability, but that requires eight points for the title, three for the astromech, and a

t least six for the munition; you’re running 81 points just to be viable. Once he fires both torpedoes,

he is back to just a situational three die attack. R5-P8 is worth considering for modding his revenge

shots, but with only three charges, rerolling one die, and the chance of self-harm, I’d rather take

R3 for one less point.

When it comes down to it, Dengar can be built to function, but like the HWK-290 in 1E, it feels

like trying to make a broke ship work. I see no good reason not to take the powerhouse of I5 Guri

over I6 Dengar.

SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL / A MODEST PROPOSAL

I know inviting people to pity to the JM5K isn’t exactly a popular thought, but I am of the line of

thinking that every ship should be viable to fly, no matter what hard feelings it evokes. To not be a

complete curmudgeon with only complaints, I will put forward a proposal or two to bring the ship

up to par. I’d like to work within the bounds of not changing text on a card as much as possible, so

most of my proposals will try to work within that parameter.

My first suggestion to is the inclusion of the Targeting Astromech from 1E which acquires a lock

after a red maneuver. Since the astromech can only be on the unique Punishing One, it wouldn’t

enable three Scouts with proton torpedoes to sloop and “beta” strike, but would allow one JM5K

to do something with its poor dial. I suggest also adding the clause that has been showing up on

several 2E cards, “after you fully execute a red maneuver” to add more skill to it. The 1E astromech

wasn’t over powered, and with the exception of maybe on Luke “I’m super good now, anyway, as I

should be” Skywalker, I don’t see it being overpowered in 2E.

My second suggestion is also astromech based: the Unhinged Astromech. It was incredibly good on

Scum Y-wings in 1E, and completely broken on the Jumpmaster.in conjunction with K4 Security

Droid handing out target locks for every green maneuver. But with no K4, it wouldn’t be broken.

Have it reduce 3-speed maneuvers by one difficulty, and the JM5K only gets the 3-bank right

turned blue and the sloop turned white. It would need to be restricted to Scum as it would be

too good on an X-wing and fantastically good on an E-wing. A Havoc-titled Scurrg would get

some nifty white tallon-rolls, but without munitions, it wouldn’t be out of this world great. You

could also add a charge system to it to reduce its usefulness: either three charges non-recurring,

or two to three charge recurring, but you must spend all charges to reduce the difficulty of the

maneuver.

The third suggestion is by far the easiest and one of the best considerations of new edition. Adjust

the cost. Bring the Scout and Manaroo down at least two points to match their 1E cost. The nerf

to Manaroo’s ability warrants maybe even dropping another point beyond that. Tel and Dengar

may be costed decently, we’ll see, but when compared to the Falcon, they certainly look overpriced.

But if I was feeling frisky and wanted to get into the realm of altering cards, I would add a two-die

front arc at least. I would change the Punishing One title to make the turret three dice in whatever

direction, not just forward. And lastly, I would change Manaroo’s ability to range 1 and range 1-3 in

arc. It would expand her ability but keep it at least somewhat restricted.

MOVING FORWARD

So what do you think? Are you fine with this ship being condemned to the hell it came from, or did

I garner a little sympathy for the devil? Are there any simple fixes that you think are better? Do you

think it’s flyable as is, or is it the Junkmaster I make it out to be?