In September 2012, Fantasy Flight games announced the second wave of expansions for X-Wing. And between December 14th and 16th, 2012 Kessel Run Preview Events were held around the world. This offered the very first opportunity for players to access a very limited amount of Wave 2 ships.
Six ships were provided to stores, four going to the top four players at the tournament and two going to the event organizer (what they did with them, who knows).
Then on February 28, 2013, just over five months after announcement, the next four expansions were officially released.
Wave Expansions
- Millennium Falcon Expansion Pack
- Slave I Expansion Pack
- A-Wing Expansion Pack
- TIE Interceptor Expansion Pack
Wave Meta
Notes/Comments
The first list I could find using Wave 2 ships was posted by Pilgrim here just a few days after the official release. His list was:
First Wave 2 (100)
Kath Scarlet — Firespray-31 38
Ion Cannon 3
Proximity Mines 3
Weapons Engineer 3
Proton Torpedoes 4
Engine Upgrade 4
Slave I 0
Ship Total: 55
Soontir Fel — TIE Interceptor 27
Marksmanship 3
Stealth Device 3
Ship Total: 33
Academy Pilot — TIE Fighter 12
Ship Total: 12
Fantasy Flight, with the help from the 2012 World Champion, released an article discussing some of the new cards and potential list ideas for the upcoming regional season. Doug Kinney predicted somethings that did come into play through out the Wave 2 season. He guess that the top Rebel list would be the “Han Shoots First” list. The list is:
Han Shoots First (100)
Han Solo — YT-1300 46
Marksmanship 3
Gunner 5
Chewbacca 4
Ship Total: 58
Rookie Pilot — X-Wing 21
Ship Total: 21
Rookie Pilot — X-Wing 21
Ship Total: 21
He mentions other lists as well for the Rebel faction. On the Imperial side, he sees the Firespray playing the biggest role along side higher pilot skill TIE fighters. One of the more interesting ideas was a Firespray and four TIEs.
The major US tournament of the Wave 2 meta was the Gen Con 2013 X-Wing. Team Covenant, again, has videos posted here of the semi finals and finals. In the videos we see a three X-Wing list against two Firesprays and Howlrunner in game 4.1 and two TIE Swarms going head to head in game 4.2. The top four lists were as follows:
GenCon 2013 FS Howl (100)
“Howlrunner” — TIE Fighter 18
Swarm Tactics 2
Ship Total: 20
Bounty Hunter — Firespray-31 33
Heavy Laser Cannon 7
Ship Total: 40
Bounty Hunter — Firespray-31 33
Heavy Laser Cannon 7
Ship Total: 40
GenCon 2013 Swarm Obsidian (99)
“Howlrunner” — TIE Fighter 18
Stealth Device 3
Ship Total: 21
Black Squadron Pilot — TIE Fighter 14
Draw Their Fire 1
Ship Total: 15
Obsidian Squadron Pilot — TIE Fighter 13
Ship Total: 13
Obsidian Squadron Pilot — TIE Fighter 13
Ship Total: 13
Obsidian Squadron Pilot — TIE Fighter 13
Ship Total: 13
Academy Pilot — TIE Fighter 12
Ship Total: 12
Academy Pilot — TIE Fighter 12
Ship Total: 12
GenCon 2013 Runner Up (99)
Wedge Antilles — X-Wing 29
Shield Upgrade 4
Ship Total: 33
Luke Skywalker — X-Wing 28
Draw Their Fire 1
R2-D2 4
Shield Upgrade 4
Ship Total: 37
Biggs Darklighter — X-Wing 25
Shield Upgrade 4
Ship Total: 29
GenCon 2013 Swarm Champ (98)
“Howlrunner” — TIE Fighter 18
Ship Total: 18
“Backstabber” — TIE Fighter 16
Ship Total: 16
“Dark Curse” — TIE Fighter 16
Ship Total: 16
Academy Pilot — TIE Fighter 12
Ship Total: 12
Academy Pilot — TIE Fighter 12
Ship Total: 12
Academy Pilot — TIE Fighter 12
Ship Total: 12
Academy Pilot — TIE Fighter 12
Ship Total: 12
While the three of the top four were similar to previous lists, Toby on the Team Covenant site talks about some of the other list archetypes that showed up. He highlights that the A-Wing had little impact compared with the other three expansions. Toby also concurred that the “Han Shoots First” list played a major role.
However, despite the additions, the TIE Swarm continued to reign over the other lists. As Doug (from So Cal) noted, “Everyone [believed] that the TIE Swarm was a broken.”
Do you have any other feedback about Wave 2? Share them below.
Images courtesy of: Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc. & Lucasfilm Ltd.
xwingstories 