YT-1300s: The Magnificent 7 (Health)

We continue this week's squadron talk with the YT-1300, the ship better known by many as the Millennium Falcon.  The Falcon and the regular make up the base and the ace, and they play VERY differently.  Let's get started!

I'm a real squadron too, I swear it!

The main thing the YT has going for it is 7 health.  Speed 2 needs the same movement boosts that the B wing does, and its anti-ship, non bomber dice means that it's not meant for attacking ships on its lonesome (50 percent of the time, it works EVERY TIME is not a good plan.  See Eric's post about TIE fighters for further explanation of this).  I admit that it took some convincing from the forums for me to initially try it out, and that's what I intend to give you all today!

The YT-1300 is the eternal guardian.  3 blue dice and Counter 1 means it wants to be attacking squadrons, protecting your bombers from being stopped in their task.  With Escort, you're going to be the one attacked in the furball (giant squadron fight.  Such a fun term!) that happens.  And with 7 health, you're going to be around and fighting for a very long time.  If you can get them into a fight, they'll be there taking hits for a very long time.  With Biggs around, they can even follow him along in a blob and provide extra hit points for him and his crew of X wings.

What I would NOT recommend they be used as is would be as your squadron defense alone.  It would SEEM to make sense that with all that health, they would be able to defend your ships from any squadron and keep alive through the fight.  The speed 2 means that it doesnt actually work that well.  Especially if you're trying to defend your MC80.  A large base is not enough room for a speed 2 ship to move around.  If you're on the front side, and the bombers strike your back? Oh, you better hope you can navigate away fast enough, as you won't be able to get there in time.  (Keep in mind that should you ever land on your YT-1300s, they are going to be out of the fight when your opponent places them on the far side of your ship, away from any ability to fight squadrons or contribute for a turn or two).  Combine THAT with a smart bomber cloud having an Intel ship (you all read my last article, right?), and as soon as your YT-1300s get locked down they STAY locked down.  Use them to attack squadrons in the furball, but keep in mind that they don't move as fast as you want them to without the previously mentioned speed boosts.

Of course, soon as you add in that speed boost, you can get them moving and murdering.  Because of their 7 health, when your opponent (Sloane) brings a bunch of squadrons and no Intel, your YT-1300s stay alive and just keep pinging squadrons with their Counter 1.  It adds up and grinds you down, which is great.  One thing that YT-1300s do well is to protect and escort B-wings. With the same speed as B-wings, you never need to worry about one of them outstripping the other.  With 3 blue dice like B-wings, you can move in your B-wings and the YT-1300s to overwhelm enemy squadrons on one turn and then bomb ships the next.  Again, with 7 health, they protect B-wings super well and ensure that the B-wings will get to go on and do their job as a bomber (that's why you brought them, right?)  Chicago's own (he lived here at the time, he's ours now, shut up!) Nathan Coda won Worlds 2018 with 3 YT-1300s protecting Ten Numb.  Ten was a significant part of his anti-squadron defense, and the YT-1300s contributed significant amounts of damage and were the main TEN NUMB defense.  As Escorts, they of course combine well with Jan Ors, who ensures their 7 health lasts even longer than you'd think.

Otherwise, the YT-1300 is rather straightforward in its job.  Get engaged and lock down as many enemy squadrons as you can, preventing them from engaging your bombers.  If you can overcome the speed deficit (you're part of the Rebellion, we have speed boosts for days!), you've got a very capable Fighter.  Just realize that overcoming that speed boost requires some additional cards - see the B-wing article for further discussions on mitigating those speed issues.

Because I was writing this on Valentine's Day: I know.

We turn now to Han Solo.  He's an entirely different beast than a standard YT-1300.  You might even go so far as to say that he's made a lot of special modifications, himself, to the Falcon.  The Falcon, for DOUBLE the cost of a standard YT-1300 has Grit and Rogue, along with a higher speed, which is great as it lets Han leave if he shoots his way out of trouble.  He loses Escort, as he wants to be off doing his own thing.  With his anti-squadron of 2 blue and 2 black, he can put a solid hurt into most squadrons if he's engaged.  But you're paying for that ability.  If desired, Han shoots first.  He can activate before LITERALLY anything else in a turn, right at the beginning of the Ship phase.  I wouldn't use this every turn, but the turns you need it it is WELL worth the points for it.  That wounded, shieldless Demolisher with 1 health left that's about to activate? Han just needs to put damage into it to kill it.  The small ship with the enemy commander that's about to escape your last attack and chance at a win?  Han can close the distance and shoot it before it can leave.

Han's ability is great at finishing off wounded ships and enemy hero squadrons, getting him out of trouble (thanks to Grit and Rogue).  Han is NOT a bomber, though, so be careful about your rolls and if you want/can reroll the blue dice with Toryn Farr.  Sato loves using Han, because if nothing else, he guarantees that one ship is getting hit with the Sato dice change.  Plus on top of all that, sometimes you just gotta fly Han Solo because he's THERE.  It's not the smartest or best answer, but it's the one most truthful to me, haha!  Just make sure, like Dash, that you don't fly into a swarm of TIEs because it'll all work out for him.  Since I'm assuming you saw Empire Strikes Back, let me inform you that Han can't go into an asteroid field if he's engaged and the TIEs don't have Heavy.  And this goes for both Han and the regular YT-1300s.  Don't overextend yourself just because you have 7 health and think you'll survive.  Caution is always a good plan, there.

Gotham City's Best D.A.

Lando is the newest entrant from Rebellion in the Rim, and designed by (again!) Chicago's own Nathan Coda.  If you bring Lando, no bringing Han, as there's only one Falcon in existence.  This ALSO means no putting Lando protecting your flagship.  I know, I'm scared too!

Lando's abilities are super nice, first being able to discard a defense token to set a dice to any side.  That double hit on the red is my personal favorite, but maybe you need a hit elsewhere to finish things off.  Fun notes about this part!

• "That die cannot be modified again." No, you CAN'T scatter the damage away.  You can brace it or redirect it (as brace is for the total number, not the individual die), but you can't scatter or evade it under Mothma.  Lando hates flotillas and will put them in the GROUND.  This ALSO means, however you don't get to spend any accuracy you change it to.  Spending an accuracy removes it from the pool of available dice, which means it's modified.  So no rolling a double on the red and then changing a blue to an accuracy.  Sadly doesn't happen.
• "While attacking." Roll your pool first, man.  Maybe you'll luck into the double you need anyways!  This is for both anti squad and anti-ship, but man, 4-6 damage guaranteed is mighty nice alright.  Toryn Farr still affects those blues, even if he isn't a bomber.
• You want Asteroid Tactics as your yellow objective.  You're welcome.  Build with that in mind.  Keep in mind that he's Rogue, so you move in, spend a token to shoot and get that double red against their ship.  You can then shoot next turn, get that double, and then move to an asteroid for a Brace back.

His second ability lets you spend a Brace to reroll as many dice as you choose.  So when you get targeted by Wedge and here comes 6 dice? Reroll ALL them hits please.  It gives you a chance of removing 1-2 damage shots and may potentially remove way more.  Notes on this!

• No double spending Brace tokens.  So after you have your opponent reroll, you don't get to then Brace that damage again.
• "Spend 1 of your defense tokens." You aren't Admonition; if it's accuracied away you don't get to spend it, and Sloane still is a jerk alright.

Nathan has said that he wanted Lando to bring back SFC and MFC groups, and that's where I'd start with him.  He's going to take out more than his share of points in opposing squadrons, and if you're lucky (slash once you kill all the opposing squadrons) you can then use him to start taking out ships as well.  You CAN put him in a full 134, too, but he's a solid basis for the start of any squad group.

How to Use Them
The Falcon is a bit easier to describe, as it's either a great distraction worth 23/26 points (which you can direct your opponent to killing), or he's a super fun Rogue Last-Plus-First where you put 2 shots into a hull zone on a ship, once at the end of a round and then again at the start of the next.  Grit away and run, of course, in order to NOT get shot and die.

This video, basically

As for the YTs themselves, they're Escort Fighters with Counter-1.  Get them into battle by speeding them up and start wailing on your opponent's squadrons repeatedly.  Again, see the B-wing article for details about speeding up your squadrons, but otherwise treat them like A-wings or X-wings and get them killing your opponent's squadrons.  If your opponent didn't bring Fighters, use Toryn Farr (like Nathan did!) to ping ships for damage.

Try out the YT-1300, you'll be pleasantly surprised at how much they can do and how much damage they can actually take!