With bare Bones 1e X Wing* cementing itself as a favourite, I thought it time to analyse the factions more closely.

The Empire;

The overall feel for the Empire is swarms, elite killers and brutes. They tend to be fast and fragile, slow and intimidating, or ideally a mix of the two. Imperial squads rely less on upgrades (No Droids, fewest Crew, limited Ordnance options) and more on swarm tactic synergies. They work well with pack tactics, with or without support and have a few surprises available to break the monotony.

The Tie Fighter

The classic Tie. No other ship offers a faster, more agile and cheap package. EPT’s and Mods are usually the only options for Tie fighters, so without them, they rely on their variety of pilot skills to pack a punch, in a bunch.

Strengths; Pilot variety, numbers, manoeuvrability, swarm synergy.

Weaknesses; Fragile, weak attack.

The Tie Interceptor

A personal favourite, the Interceptor can be unstoppable force when fully realised in full X Wing, but in Bare Bones it becomes simply a “super Tie”. Usually relying on Mods and EPT’s to make them near un-killable, in their Bare Bones form, the best action bar in the game and some brilliant Pilots are their edge.

Strengths; The only ship with Boost + Barrel Roll + Evade, Pilots, fun to fly.

Weaknesses; Fragile.

The Tie Advanced

One of the most maligned ships in X Wing, the Tie Advanced is the Empires X Wing (made to give Darth Vader a superior ride to the base Tie). If you strip it back to it’s core and align it with it’s peers (the closest thing they have to an X Wing or Khiraxz), it is a pretty solid ship. It is especially good at leading Tie swarms or as a finisher.

Strengths; Pilots (Vader is very strong- arguably the strongest Pilot without EPT’s), Missile + Target Lock.

Weaknesses; Weak primary attack.

Tie Prototype

Similar to the Advanced, but with better close in manoeuvring, the Prototype offers an alternative, with some neat pilots. Purchased as a 2e ship with S/H 1e cards, I only have 2 Pilot options and use it as a unique ship.

Strengths; Manoeuvre and speed, Missiles + Target Lock, fun to fly.

Weaknesses; Unique.

Tie Aggressor

The Aggressor was a popular ship in it’s day. Not because it was a liked ship, but because it packed some brutal, even game breaking upgrades (Twin Laser Turret and Proton Rockets). The only small ship in the Empire fleet with a turret and 2 missile upgrade slots, it is quite useful in BB as a solid escort/striker, much more so than full 1e.

Strengths; Ordnance, Jack of all trades.

Weaknesses; Jack of all trades….

Tie Bomber

The bomber is a ship that has had it’s moments in the sun, then deep shade and towards the end of 1e, with the Imperial Veterans pack, maybe returned to “dappled shade”. If you go down the ordnance/swarm path in X Wing, these can be strong, or they can eat up points and die early. They look tough on paper, but 6 hull with no shields, is not as strong as it looks.

Strengths; Cheap weapons platform, varied personalities.

Weaknesses; Can be a points sink, not fun to fly.

Tie Punisher

The Punisher is a “super” Tie Bomber, adding even more ordnance and some shields. One of the clumsiest ships in the full game, it does offer Boost and some good tricks (one Pilot adding Barrel Roll). The addition of a Systems slot, does offer more Ordnance efficiency than the Bomber and in BB it will not be facing as many untouchable opponents.

Strengths; Systems + Ordnance, toughness, Pilots.

Weaknesses; see Tie Bomber and add “more expensive”.

Lambda Shuttle

The Lambda is slow, predictable and frankly not fun to fly, but it’s support role is well known with some Crew + Systems combinations it can be a strong support ship and packs a decent punch up front. It can also be slow to kill.

Strengths; Crew + System, tough.

Weaknesses: Slow, boring, can be expensive, defines a squad.

Tie Defender

The Defender is one of the most balanced and iconic Imperial ships in the X Wing game. Fast, manoeuvrable, tough and hard hitting, the Defender was considered too dear, so two Title upgrades were introduced to balance it. Without these in BB, it is still expensive, but also still potent and a standout. It offers two strong ways to play it. The first is a bare three ship “ultra” interceptor squad, the second is as a hard hitting, super fast Ordnance based squad. The only ship with a white K Manoeuvre, it offers an interesting “Fly through” tactic (oops, I went and spoiled it).

Strengths; Balance, versatility, very fun to fly, white K4 turn.

Weaknesses: Expensive.

Tie Phantom

The Phantom brings the only real package of dirty tricks to the Empire, Cloaking. Without it’s Title, cloaking is a bit less potent, but never the less, this ship packs a 4d primary weapon (one of only 2 in BB), Crew + Systems upgrades and good manoeuvrability.

Strengths; Cloaking +System + Crew, Primary Weapon.

Weaknesses; Hard to fly well, Glass Cannon.

Decimator

The Decimator is one of the few ships in 1e with a built in Turret Primary. Turrets in 1e are very powerful, offering an any direction attack with no real draw backs, but making flying them a bit ho-hum. Something missing from BB is the ability to reduce turret effectiveness, making turreted ships a little more powerful. Thankfully they are rare.

Strengths; Crew options, Turret, very tough (second toughest in BB), intimidating.

Weaknesses; Two dimensional, predictable, expensive, damage magnet.

The Raider

A late inclusion, the Raider adds an entirely different dynamic to the BB game.The full Huge ship rule package is a little cumbersome in 1e, but I like the feeling of a clumsy, intimidating monster on the table. It adds to the Empire’s fleet that “X” factor and heavy handed brute feel they need. The Decimator is a strong ship (one of the strongest in BB, including the other Huge options), but he Raider is in a class above.

The Raider allows for a mini Death Star dynamic of the big bad vs the motley fleet of desperate Rebel or Scum mosquitoes.

There is no doubt when the Raider is on the table, that the game is all about it, but that is exactly how it should be.

Strengths; Just look at it! More Hard points, more Crew, more Hull, more Shields = more fear.

Weaknesses; Defines the game, 100+ points, weak to the rear (which is what escorts are for).

The Striker and Reaper are the right time line, but from the later movies and the Tie/fo, Tie/sf and Upsilon COME FROM A DIFFERENT TIME IN THE STAR WARS UNIVERSE (and are clearly separated in 2e for that reason) so they are not included.

*Bare Bones uses original movie or early extended universe ships (what were available before the new movies), with inherent Pilot skills, basic Ordnance and Crew load-outs, with Illicit, Droid, Salvaged Droid and System upgrades as a point of difference. There are deliberately no title, Modification, Tech (TFA era) or Elite Pilot Talents.

The reasons for this are two fold. EPT’s especially “break” the game, add too many layers of synergy for casual players and too much advantage to more experienced ones, make some classic ships sub-par and rob the game (in my view) of it’s natural balance and feel. The excluded upgrades, I feel, are game based, not simulation based.