This has been fun and enlightening (for me) so far. The next two ships are personal favourites, but can suffer from short table life in full X Wing. Both can have very strong, tactically biased builds (the ultimate arc dodger and the in-your-face alpha striker), which tends to make them quite different in that form of the game.

In BB, things calm down a little. Ironically, the simpler format tends to make both craft more generic, so less possibly less predictable.

Points;

FF 20 to 28 (34 max) vs 18 to 27 (27 max) Int

Immediately a point of divergence. The Interceptor is cheap enough to field 5, still with an ace pilot or a strong 4 ace build. The Fang is either a 3 ship squad with torps or no ordnance and a support ship (three Concord Dawn pilots and a Firespray-31 Mandalorian Merc are a strong squad).

Base Stats;

FF 3 3 4 0 vs 3 3 3 0 Int

Very similar. The extra hull of the Fang, considering the Interceptor has no Ordnance option, nor many offensive biased pilots, almost guarantees them single shot survival.

Actions;

FF Focus, Lock, Boost, Roll vs Focus, Boost, Roll, Evade Int

Again a divergence. The Fang can lock, prioritising their Torpedo attack, the Interceptor has the best action arc dodging bar in BB, being the only ship with all three manoeuvre actions.

Upgrades (BB style);

FF Torpedoes vs nada Int

The Fang is an intercepting alpha striker, the Interceptor is an arc dodger. The Fang is the best ship in BB for Advanced Proton Torps, due to Pilot options and dial, in BB (even more exaggerated in full 1e).

Moves;

FF 8 White, 6 Green vs 7 White, 7 Green Int

FF Speed 5, 4/K-Turn vs Speed 5, 5 & 3/K-Turn Int

The Fang is a more conventional ship, with more white than green moves and a single K-Turn. The Interceptor is making up some for it’s lack of upgrades, with 2 K-Turns and 2 more green moves. The Interceptor is meant to arc dodge and the extra greens help with that.

Pilots;

FF 6 (5 Elite) vs 11 (6 Elite) Int

The secret of the Interceptor lies in it’s pilot options. Various abilities from extra manoeuvres to stripping enemy ships of tokens etc make it a fun squad to build, even without upgrades in BB. The Fang has some good pilots (3 without talents), but tends to fall into the same tactical paradigm of range one attacks. When kitted out with title and EPT’s this tends to go berserk, emphasising head on range 1 clashes, but in BB it is more of a strong lean towards close fighting.

The Fang pilots, all but one sporting an EPT slot are all spoiling for “Fearless”, which further emphasises their up close and personal feel. Mix it up a bit though.

Summary;

Very similar on paper, but quite different in application. The swarm of 4-5 Interceptors, buzzing around like angry Hornets is a very different dynamic to the close in, knife fighting alpha striker. The Fang is crucial to the Scum faction offering the only true interceptor option. The Interceptor is more of an elite Tie Fighter.

A favourite?

I cannot split these two. Fenn vs Soontir? Too hard. The Interceptor makes the most sense (1 or 2 more ships), but the lure of the perfect Advanced Proton strike is also strong.