Heroes of the Rebel Alliance
A Preview of the Rebel Transport Expansion Pack for X-Wing (TM)
“I’m right with you, Red Three.”
–Jek Porkins
In an earlier preview of the upcoming Rebel Transport Expansion Pack for X-Wing™, we took a closer look at the pack’s miniature GR-75 medium transport, as well as the new rules, maneuver template, and upgrades that go with it. Today, however, we turn our attention toward the expansion pack’s second starship miniature, an X-wing escort with a variant paint scheme.
A 360-degree view of the Rebel Transport Expansion Pack’s variant X-wing
We’ll also look at the unique new X-wing pilots, new astromechs, and new torpedo that appear in the expansion, all of which will be legal for the game’s Standard Play format, as well as Cinematic and Epic Play.
Rogue Squadron
“Two fighters against a Star Destroyer?”
–Derek “Hobbie” Klivian
The GR-75 medium transports that the Rebellion used to evacuate its troops from Hoth would never have made their way through the Imperial blockade were it not for the coordinated fire of planetary ion cannons and the valiant efforts of a handful of daring X-wing pilots, many of whom were from Luke Skywalker’s Rogue Squadron.
The Rebel Transport Expansion Pack features six X-wing ship cards, including four unique pilots that are all new to X-Wing. Among these four pilots are three members of Rogue Squadron, all of whom proved themselves during the Battle of Hoth: Wes Janson, “Hobbie” Klivian, and Tarn Mison.
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The pilot with the highest pilot skill of the trio, Wes Janson will fire before his foes in most situations. Then, with his ability to remove one focus, evade, or blue target lock token from the target of his attack, Wes Janson can provoke his target to spend a focus token that he would have preferred to hold for his attack, limiting the chances that he’ll suffer damage from retaliatory fire. Alternatively, Wes Janson’s ability to remove an enemy’s blue target lock token can help safeguard your Rebel pilots from missiles and torpedoes of any sort; when a TIE bomber has Advanced Proton Torpedoes locked and loaded and ready to fire at one of your X-wings, there are few pilots you’d rather have in your squad than Wes Janson. |
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“Hobbie” Klivian is one of two X-wing pilots in the Rebel Transport Expansion Pack who can remove stress tokens without taking a green maneuver. Whenever he acquires or spends a target lock, “Hobbie” Klivian may remove one stress token from his ship. This means that he could potentially perform a stressful maneuver like the Koiogran-turn, spend a target lock during his attack, and perform a Koiogran-turn again in the next Activation phase. In this way, “Hobbie” Klivian should be not only be able to keep his foes within his firing arc, but he should be able to establish the appropriate range to line up a shot with the expansion’s new Flechette Torpedoes. |
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Meanwhile, Tarn Mison can acquire a target lock on any enemy ship that declares him the target of its attack. Thus, in a way, Tarn Mison’s ability forces your opponent into some difficult decisions, and these may be compounded by how you fly your squad. Will your opponent choose to attack one of your ships at a more distant range in order to avoid triggering Tarn Mison’s ability, or will he come in, guns blazing? So long as you can keep Tarn Mison’s X-wing intact through the exchange of fire, you’ll get a free target lock. Accordingly, if you elect to focus, then you’re likely to end up with both focus and target lock tokens – the best combination of any two tokens to have prior to your attack. How best to make use of this combination, then, is up to you. |
These new pilots and upgrades offer you a number of interesting new tactical considerations. Will you focus on baiting your opponent’s next action? Will “Hobbie” Klivian maneuver around his opponents by loading them with the stress tokens applied by his Flechette Torpedoes or R3-A2 astromech, even as he acquires and spends target locks to remove his own stress? Or will Tarn Mison equip another of the expansion’s unique astromechs, R2-D6, in order to take advantage of an elite pilot talent like Opportunist and rely upon Wes Janson’s ability to rid his target of focus and evade tokens?
Jek Porkins
“I can hold it.”
–Jek Porkins
The fourth unique ship card in the Rebel Transport Expansion Pack belongs to fan-favorite Jek Porkins.
In the original Star Wars trilogy, Jek Porkins flew under the call sign Red Six and was the first named member of the Rebel Alliance with a speaking role who perished in the Galactic Civil War.
In X-Wing, Jek Porkins is represented by a ship card with a pilot skill of “7” and an elite talent upgrade slot to accompany the X-wing’s standard astromech and torpedo upgrades. Meanwhile, he’s the second unique pilot in the Rebel Transport Expansion Pack who can remove stress tokens. Whenever he receives a stress token, he may elect to remove it and roll one attack die. On a hit result, he receives one facedown damage card, which bypasses any of his remaining shield tokens.
Like “Hobbie” Klivian, then, Jek Porkins can perform strings of Koiogran-turns to maneuver across the battlefield. However, where “Hobbie” Klivian’s ability to remove stress tokens requires a bit of advance planning, Jek Porkins can remove stress tokens at any time, though every time is a gamble.
Still, the fact that he can remove stress tokens whenever he receives them permits an astonishing range of options. As an example, Jek Porkins can perform the X-wing’s red four-speed Koiogran-turn, elect to immediately remove his stress token, and still take his action. Moreover, if he were equipped with Push the Limit, Jek Porkins could immediately take a second action and elect to remove the second stress token, as well, so that he wouldn’t then have to execute a green maneuver in order to perform an action. In fact, Jek Porkins could even find himself in position to perform two K-turns back to back!
Of course, the cost to remove those two stress tokens could potentially be two facedown damage cards. In such a case, it may pay to equip Jek Porkins with the R5-D8 astromech from the Y-Wing Expansion Pack. Then, whenever he suffers damage to remove a stress token, he can consider taking an action to roll a defense die and remove a facedown damage card on any result of 
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Strike a Blow for Galactic Freedom
Along with the GR-75 medium transport, the new X-wing ship cards and upgrades from the Rebel Transport Expansion Pack look to permit a great deal of experimentation with squad builds for all of the game’s different formats of play. Whether you fly your X-wing escort alongside the GR-75 transport in Cinematic Play or Epic Play, or you’re just looking for new strategies to employ with your tournament squad in Standard Play, the expansion’s new ship cards and upgrades are going to encourage players to look at their X-wings in a wholly new light!
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