Bombs Away: A Resistance Faction Review, Part 2

Captain Canady would be the first to tell you, were he still with us: The Resistance Bomber is too dangerous to be ignored.

Thus is the paradox of the ship: Opponents will target the bomber and burn it down quickly. And every point sunk into the ship will go up in smoke in its inevitable fiery death. But to deny it upgrades is to starve the beast! And I’m not devoting an entire post to this ship, just to tell you that one lean bomber is a nice third piece in a list (though it is).

Building a Better Bossk

Bomber builds were promised in Part 1, and I’ve got a big wall full of them, blinking red, ready to drop on your head. If you’re like me, and enjoy building lists almost as much as flying them, you appreciate this:

The YV-666 not converting one of its crew slots to a gunner slot in second edition seemed like a huge missed opportunity (along with a thematic fail, since now Bossk and Dengar can’t ride on the party bus). Lando/Chewie/Han is, ironically, a combo a little too good for a two-die Millennium Falcon.

Now, finally, us party-bus heads get an even spicier double-gunner/crew upgrade bar on a three-die ship with a wide firing arc and a bad dial and it’s…the Resistance bomber?

The B/SF-17/MG-100 StarFortressBombingPlatform 9000 was unlike any other ship in first edition. Now it’s even unlike itself. In its original iteration, the bomber was a high-health platform for Trajectory Simulator. The ship took up space and—in the case of Crimson Specialist (now Finch Dallow), the guy who drops bombs adjacent to his base—that was a feature.

Now these low-calorie blockers have become pricey wrecking balls. In first edition, FFG opted not to give the obviously well-manned StarFortress a crew slot to prevent Sabine Wren synergy. Now, the entire Resistance can fit on this ship, end-of-Last-Jedi-style.

So how much would you pay for a party bus with Trajectory Simulator? There’s no doubting the destructive capabilities of these technological terrors. But do they justify their price? Are they secretly not bombers at all, rather attack platforms masquerading as bombers, like the TIE Punisher (and TIE Bomber)?

This is where we have to consider the six pilots (five named). Three have bombing abilities (Finch, Edon, and Ben), one has an offensive ability (Cat), and one has a defensive ability (Vennie). They all are worth a look.

Bring the Bombs

Finch Dallow—aka Crimson Specialist, aka “Bob”—remains the coolest of the bunch. In second edition, his ability has thematic synergy with his in-movie gunner, Paige Tico, who can drop bombs after attacking or dying.

Seven points for Paige may seem steep, especially when, for one more point, Veteran Turret Gunner allows the bomber to take a two-die shot after its three-die primary shot. (Amusingly, Paige and VTG have good synergy, as she can move the bowtie arc to ensure the second shot after firing with the primary weapon. At fifteen points, though, not even I can co-sign this build.) But Paige and Finch together deny a lot of board space. You can have two bombs on opposite corners of your base!

Or—since your opponent has knowledge of the bomb you drop in the activation phase, but not the one you drop in the following System Phase—you can play mind games, and drop two bombs in the same spot. If your opponent is resigned to not escaping and chooses to just eat the one they can see, you can really make them pay.

Thanks to his ability, Finch doesn’t NEED Trajectory Simulator the way the other ships do. Some ingenious list-builders ran him with Collision Detector in first edition to capitalize on his area-denial. I think that idea is even better now, given the insane buffs to Collision Detector and Seismic Charges:

Finch Dallow — MG-100 StarFortress	70
Collision Detector	5
Paige Tico	7
Proton Bombs	5
Seismic Charges	3
Ablative Plating	4
Ship Total: 94
Half Points: 47 Threshold: 6

Paige ensures that even without Trajectory Simulator, those first four bombs, at the very least, will get dropped no matter what (fluff!).

Edon Kappehl has a fun old-Scum-Nym ability of dropping a bomb after executing a non-red maneuver. Important: His ability does not work with Trajectory Simulator, which now specifies the System Phase. I think at initiative three, his ability is still less useful than Finch’s.

Ben Teene assigns the “Rattled” condition to a ship he attacks, which causes that ship to suffer an extra critical damage when a bomb hits them. I found this condition underrated in 1.0 and think it’s even better with Fuel Leak lurking.

Ultimately, when it comes to actually bombing, I think Finch, for max shenanigans, or the generic Crimson Squadron Bomber, for points efficiency, will be the most popular platforms. But these ships are more than just explosive couriers now. And it’s worth considering their full offensive potential too.

Begin the Priming Sequence

OK here’s the jank. You’ve probably already seen this online—I’m not the first to point it out:

Cat — MG-100 StarFortress	64
Trajectory Simulator	3
Rose Tico	9
Veteran Turret Gunner	8
Proton Bombs	5
Seismic Charges	3
Ablative Plating	4
Ship Total: 96
Half Points: 48 Threshold: 6
Finch Dallow — MG-100 StarFortress	70
Trajectory Simulator	3
Veteran Turret Gunner	8
Paige Tico	7
Proton Bombs	5
Seismic Charges	3
Ablative Plating	4
Ship Total: 100
Half Points: 50 Threshold: 6

Finch shoots with three dice, Paige drops bomb, Finch shoots with two dice, Cat shoots with four dice at enemy near Paige’s bomb, Cat shoots with three dice at enemy near Paige’s bomb.

The Aristocrats!

The Resistance has one of the best gunners in the game in Rey. And one of the most interesting crew in C-3PO (red arm). Do these guys have a place on this ship?

Vennie — MG-100 StarFortress	67
Advanced Sensors	8
C-3PO (Resistance)	6
Rey	14
Ship Total: 95
Half Points: 48 Threshold: 6

As far as tanky coordinate platforms go, you could do worse. The inability to equip Tactical Officer, however, probably makes this a job better suited to the Falcon.

Last Man Standing

Sadly, I fear the two-ship bomber list, or the double-bomber-plus-A-wing list, has a ceiling. The ability to run Poe cheaply probably makes something like this doable:

Finch Dallow — MG-100 StarFortress	70
Trajectory Simulator	3
Paige Tico	7
Seismic Charges	3
Proton Bombs	5
Ablative Plating	4
Ship Total: 92
Half Points: 46 Threshold: 6
Tallissan Lintra — RZ-2 A-Wing	35
Trick Shot	1
Crack Shot	1
Ship Total: 37
Half Points: 19 Threshold: 2
Poe Dameron — T-70 X-Wing	68
Heroic	1
R4 Astromech	2
Integrated S-Foils	0
Ship Total: 71
Half Points: 36 Threshold: 4

My opponent HAS to deal with Finch, but in the process they leave two aces to contend with in the mid-to-late- game. And hopefully, in the process, I don’t bomb my aces too much.

I own two of these things, however, and I want them on the table together. I’m going to keep plugging away. Because of its insane upgrade bar, this ship will likely get better and better as more cards become available to the Resistance.

If you have a good bomber list, let me know. In part three: everyone else in the Resistance.