Fantasy Flight Games has given us a preview of the Phantom II shuttle that is coming in the Wave XII release for Star Wars: X-wing!
The Phantom II is a Sheathipede-class shuttle introduces the coordinate action to the Rebel faction’s standard play options. It has two attack, two agility, four hull, and one shield. The shuttle is a subpar fighter but its coordinate action and its pilots’ unique pilot abilities ensure it will have plenty to offer the rest of your squad. when your Sheathipede-class shuttle performs the coordinate action, it immediate grants a free action to one of your other ships at Range 1–2. This doesn’t allow a ship to perform the same action more than once, but that ship is notably not limited only to the ship’s action bar or its Action upgrades.
This impacts your squad in two ways. First of all, your most powerful ships can stack even more actions for the turns they need them most. Secondly, it allows the ships you target to perform their actions during your Sheathipede-class shuttle’s activation, creating powerful opportunities to react to your opponent’s maneuvers or disrupt them. While the coordinate action can prove valuable at the highest pilot skill values, when you’re most likely to take your actions with perfect knowledge of your opponent’s final positions, it can also prove valuable at lower pilot skill values. If your Sheathipede pilot has a low enough pilot skill, you could even use your coordinate action to barrel roll or boost another ship into position to block your enemy before that same ship later moves away from the enemy in order to claim a shot.
The Phantom II Expansion Pack comes with a half-dozen upgrades to further round out your squad building options. The new Ghost and Phantom II Title cards come in this expansion. The second of these is, of course, the expansion’s namesake, and allows your Ghost to perform a free coordinate action at the end of the Activation phase. All the ships on the table have executed their maneuvers and performed their actions. In addition to the Title upgrades, you’ll find a number of crew cards inspired by Star Wars Rebels. Crew cards such as Maul and Ezra Bridger have great synergy with other crew and they work great in tandem with each other.
These crew cards and others are explained in greater detail here. The Phantom II Expansion Pack for Wave XII is full of options in terms of coordination, combos, and points costs that are considered a bargain. While the shuttle may not look like and perform as a fighter, it is ready for battle and will strengthen your squad as a whole.
Phantom II Expansion Pack: $14.95
The Phantom II is a Sheathipede-class transport shuttle that the Spectres recovered from a Clone Wars-era military base and modified with weapons and a custom docking system. It makes its X-Wing™ debut in the Phantom II Expansion Pack as an attack-ready vessel that comes with four ship cards and six upgrades. These include new astromechs, crew upgrades, and Title upgrades that incorporate more of Star Wars Rebels in your space battles and add depth to the shuttle’s ability to perform the coordinate action.
The Phantom II Expansion Pack is available now to pre-order on-line or at your FLGS.
For more on this fighter, Wave XII, and Star Wars: X-wing, visit Fantasy Flight Games!
