Seizing Power

“Fear will keep the local systems in line.”
   –Grand Moff Tarkin, Star Wars: A New Hope

Whether the Empire is trying to tighten its grip on the Core Worlds or a criminal cartel is looking to corner the market on smuggled goods in the Outer Rim, these organizations rely on a variety of spacecraft to enforce their will across the Star Wars™ galaxy. But the pilots who fly these ships are just as valuable as the ships themselves. Now, more pilots are on their way to help you maintain power with the Hotshots and Aces Reinforcements Pack for Star Wars™: X-Wing!

Within this pack, you’ll find sixteen new ship cards to enhance your Rebel, Imperial, Scum, Resistance, and First Order squadrons, along with a suite of 31 sought-after upgrade cards that give you even more ways to use these pilots in battle. We’ve already taken a look at the pilots joining the Rebellion and Resistance. Join us today as we review the aces entering the fight for the Galactic Empire, the First Order, and the galaxy’s most notorious Scum and Villainy!

Tighten Your Grip

The Galactic Empire’s influence is felt in every corner of the galaxy. Still, the Emperor’s reign will not be secure until all traces of rebellion have been stamped out and the last vestiges of the Jedi Order have been swept out. To this end, the Empire dispatches elite agents across the galaxy to relentlessly pursue any who would dare defy the Empire.

Some of these agents, such as the Fifth Brother,  wield the power of the dark side like a hammer to crush their opponents. His hatred is so strong, in fact, that he can concentrate it into the attacks he makes with his TIE Advanced v1 to add a critical damage result. This also applies to attacks the Fifth Brother makes with missiles, making his shots with Homing Missiles even more dangerous.

"Vagabond" drops a proximity mine during the System Phase. Then, they use their ability to drop another proximity mine in the path of the incoming T-65 X-wings after using the Adaptive Ailerons ship ability! 

The dark side of the Force can be a powerful tool in the midst of battle, but it isn’t the only way an Imperial pilot can be aggressive. A TIE/sk Striker pilot like “Vagabond,” for instance, takes advantage of the ship’s natural abilities to cover a wide swath of the battlefield with devices. They can swoop in front of an enemy formation and drop one device during the System Phase and another after using Adaptive Ailerons, setting up a deadly danger zone for any oncoming enemies.

When it isn’t spreading fear through small ships like the TIE Advanced v1 or the TIE Striker, the Empire intimidates its enemies with large ships like the VT-49 Decimator. These bulky ships may lack the agility of their smaller counterparts, but a pilot like Morna Kee  excels at mitigating the damage her ship takes. Rather than removing her reinforce tokens during the End Phase, Kee can choose to keep them and flip them to her other full arc instead, freeing her to cover her entire ship with another reinforce action the following round.

Echoes of the Empire

The First Order seeks power above all else. Relegated to the Unknown Regions of the galaxy for too long, it will stop at nothing to sweep away the New Republic and build the Empire anew. It is no surprise, then, that this lust for power often extends to the pilots who fly into battle to accomplish this goal. These pilots are so relentless, in fact, that they are willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals, even if it means harming their own wingmates.  

An expert TIE/sf pilot like Lieutenant LeHuse, for example, can spend a friendly ship’s lock on a ship to reroll any number of his own results. This certainly helps him be more accurate with his primary weapons, of course, but it is especially useful when LeHuse is using missiles. In addition to helping him maintain a high level of accuracy without spending his own lock, LeHuse can also make the most of Cluster Missiles to slam two targets all at once.

While Lieutenant LeHuse is brutally efficient on offense, Captain Phasma takes a similar approach to defense. She’ll do whatever it takes to cover herself, including forcing a friendly ship to suffer damage to weaken an attack made against her. This works out especially well if Phasma is flying alongside a TIE Silencer pilot like “Rush,” who thrives on the pressure of battle.

Making Your Way

Unlike the other factions in X-Wing, the galaxy’s Scum and Villainy aren’t united in a common goal. Instead, they each look out for their own interests and make use of their own dirty tricks as they engage in ship-to-ship combat. A bounty hunter like Bossk, for instance, tends to work alone and can turn even a small Z-95-AF4 Headhunter into a fearsome opponent.

At the same time, syndicates like the Black Sun are focused on maintaining their criminal operations and can't always afford professionals like Bossk. Rather than recruit expensive, highly-skilled pilots, then, they often send droids like G4R-GOR V/M into the heart of battle to pester enemy fighters. Not only can G4R block the flight paths of better pilots, it deals a critical damage to every ship at range 0 after defending, making it particularly difficult to remove from the fight without paying a high price.

Similarly, Nom Lumb may not be the most talented pilot, but they can effectively use the size of the JumpMaster 5000 to disrupt the enemy’s plans. What’s more, Lumb quickly snaps the ship’s turret to face anyone who launches an attack against them, ensuring they will always have a shot and making them a good match for gunners like the notorious Dengar.

Build Your Empire 

Some ace pilots fly for something greater than themselves; others enter battle with their own interests in mind. Whatever cause you fight for, bolster your squadrons with the pilots in the Hotshots and Aces Reinforcements Pack!

Look for the Hotshots and Aces Reinforcements Pack (SWZ66) at your local retailer in the first quarter of 2020. You can pre-order your copies of theis expansion at your local retailer or online through our website with free shipping in the continental United States here!