Hotshots & Aces II Separatist Overview

SWZ97 Hotshots & Aces II

“I never ask for permission to do anything.” –Aurra Sing™, Star Wars: The Clone Wars™

The Separatists receive five additional pilots in the Hotshots and Aces II Reinforcements Pack for Star Wars™: X-Wing™. These are all new pilots from a variety of sources, ready to add new strategies to the faction of droids, bounty hunters, and Sith.

Two of the pilots have taken droid ships and modified them for organic pilots. What this means is that the “Networked Calculations” ability of the ship has been removed, replaced by “Modified for Organics”. They can ignore the Standardized restriction, so, for example, you can equip Independent Calculations to your droid pilots, and your organic ones won’t have to equip a useless upgrade. Their maneuver dial has been changed somewhat. Their 2 and 3 speed banks are less difficult, while the 3-speed turn (but not the 2!) is more difficult.

Volan Das has taken a Tri-fighter and modified it for his use. As a high initiative fragile ace, Volan will want to be placed late in setup and flank his opponent. He doesn’t have a lot of tricks to stay alive if multiple ships point his way, so try to give him options to avoid unfavorable dogfights. One on one, he shines with his ability. Tri-fighters have a lot of red maneuver options: 1 speed Tallon rolls, or 3 and 5 speed Koiogran turns. If he avoids getting blocked, you can continue to do these red maneuvers while straining your opponent and taking an action. If you misread your opponent’s plans, however, Volan might end up bumped against a weak ship or stressed and outside of range of opposing ships.

The other modified ship is the Kelrodo-Ai Holdouts in their modified Vultures. They have a limit of three in a squad, and if you want to run any, you should consider running the full amount. This is because their ability hands their tokens to other Holdouts when they are destroyed. This means you are less likely to waste a target lock or other token if you can hand it out to another ship to use. These lowly Vultures aren’t likely to win a game by themselves, but they are able to help ace-heavy squads win valuable scenario points.

Another Vulture in the pack is the Iron Assembler. This droid needs to be a part of squads that make use of Grappling or Landing Struts. For droids using that upgrade, while they stand on an asteroid or debris cloud, the nearby Iron Assembler can repair their damage. If your opponent fails to finish off a wounded Hyena or Vulture, the Iron Assembler can buy it a little more time in the fight. As a result, it tends to attract a lot of attention, so try to make sure it’s near friendly ships but not an optimal target. You can use the ability on yourself in a pinch!

One of the aces in this pack is Durge, who is in both this and the Scum faction. Durge is a new high initiative pilot option for the Rogue-class Starfighter, higher than any other Rogue pilot in the faction. In addition, his ability makes him difficult to destroy. Once per game, when he would be destroyed, he can reveal all his damage cards, discard each Pilot and Direct Hit, and then flip the remaining face down again. If he now has fewer damage cards than hull, he gets to stay on the board. His ability ends up being worth an additional two hull or so in most cases, but it’s very dependent on damage card luck! Durge wants to be paired with other aces, so that he can draw some attention away from them and line up his bullseye.

The final pilot in the pack is Aurra Sing in a Firespray. Like most Firesprays, she’s capable of multiple roles and unlikely to be defeated quickly. With a force point each turn, Aurra gets some extra dice modification that other Firesprays lack without spending loadout on force crew. She won’t often use her ability, but when she does, it can be devastating. It works best with a tractor token on an enemy ship, since you can then boost or barrel roll the newly tractored ship in time for Aurra’s shot. Other good ships to target with her ability include anything she blocks that performs the red focus action. Finally, if you target lock a ship that is no longer your best option to shoot, just move the lock to a better target.

That’s all of the Separatist pilots coming in the Hotshots and Aces II Reinforcements Pack! Look for it at your local game store in November. Pre-order your copy at your local game store or through the webstore today!