Along the lines of the hotly anticipated Wave 9 X-Wing ships release, we are cooking up ideas in the Spikey Bits beats lab, come see!
Lately we have been focusing on the Shadow Caster expansion and what new tricks it can bring to the table! Let’s get started!
The Shadow Caster is a Lancer-Class Pursuit Craft that 3 attack, 2 agility, and a healthy 7 hull and 3 shields. Most interestingly is the fact that the Shadow Caster has a forward firing arc, but comes with a brand new firing system: the mobile firing arc. As and action, you can rotate your firing arc from any of the four sides of its base utilizing a special token. This allows you to keep your sights on the enemy like a turret, but allows you to keep them in firing arc; essentially negating Autothrusters from those pesky arc dodgers.
Another interesting addition to this ship is that it features 2 Illicit slots for its upgrades. “Hot Shot” Blaster might not be the best since you have a pseudo turret already, but could come in handy if you are caught off guard by a ship with higher pilot skill. Inertial Dampeners is always a nice surprise for your enemy to set up those perfect Range 1 shots.
Glitterstim helps when you absolutely have to destroy your target, dodge all the return fire, and get a hit of your favorite recreational drug all in one! But the newest illicit featured in this expansion is the “Rigged Cargo” Illicit that can just barely be seen in the preview picture. It allows you to drop a debris token as a bomb token of sorts! How cool would it be to drop your cargo right in the face of those Imperials as you blast off to hyperspace!
Lets get into the pilots of this strange new ship. So far we have seen Ketsu Onyo and Sabine Wren. Ketsu Onyo’s ability allows you to assign a tractor beam token to an enemy ships that is inside your primary and mobile firing arc at Range 1.
This is a lot to line up at once, but it will allow you to reduce a ship’s agility by 1 just before you fire upon him, at Range 1! That’s a big hurting in one round of fire.
Sabine is up next:
Sabine Wren in the Shadow Caster allows you to add 1 focus result to your roll. If you roll 2 dice at range 2 while defending, you could potentially roll 2 focus results. Add the 1 you add to your result and if you have a focus token, could spend it for 3 evade results! This is important for damage mitigation as the Shadow Caster is light on the shields. Recon Specialist would be an awesome crew upgrade for Sabine, allowing a focus token for offense and defense.
That’s it for now squadron leaders. We will bring you more tips and tactics once more word comes in about these new ships.
Keep flying and try new stuff out, and as always, have fun!
About the Author: Barclay Montgomery
