In the last of the Wave 12 previews, we’ve got the Phantom II from Rebels in the Coordinate Your Attack article. While this was met with an initially very “meh” response when it was first previewed, I suspect this may be the sleeper hit of the wave, as the Sheathipede shuttle looks like it’s going to be a cheap and effective support ship, in a faction that can really make good use of it.
The Ship
Coming in with baseline stats of 2 attack, 2 agility, 4 hull, and 1 shield, the Sheathipede clearly isn’t designed for serious damage output or staying power. That said, its got an auxiliary rear firing arc, which will make it easier to get and keep targets in arc when needed. Action-wise, it’s Focus, Target Lock, Co-ordinate on its bar – pretty standard, apart from Co-ordinate which is what really sets it apart as a support ship. Only the second ship in the game to feature the Co-ordinate action, the Sheathipede can take an action to grant a free action to another ship at Range 1-2. This has advantages at both low and high Pilot Skill, making the presence of both a PS 1 and PS 9 pilot for the Phantom II a very useful feature.
On the Upgrade bar there’s the Crew and Astromech upgrade slots, both of which give the Sheathipede a lot of options. We’ve already seen some of the interesting combos this can result in from ARC-170, and it gives the Sheathipede even more ways of supporting members of the squad or filling another role if needed.
The Dial
There’s basically no information on the dial in this article, other than the fact we can see a white 3 bank to the right in the expansion spread. I’m assuming something roughly along the lines of an X-Wing or Z-95, possibly with more red given the relatively cheap points cost and auxiliary arc. Given the rear auxiliary arc and the support role of this ship, it doesn’t on the surface seem like it’s going to be hugely dial dependant. It definitely wants a K-turn, just so it can stay in rough formation with the ships it’s supporting, and ideally a white 4 forward so it’s got a decent turn of speed.
Having said all of that, the better the greens are, the better the Sheathipede will be able to do quite a few of its tricks. AP-5, Ezra, and Fenn Rau will all want to remove stress on a fairly regular basis, so good native green moves would be a huge benefit (although this can be helped a long way with the addition of an R2 Astromech). Push the Limit is also likely to be handy to have on this ship (where you’ve got both an EPT slot and a pilot ability that can support it, which is basically just Ezra) so you can Co-ordinate an ally and still take an action of your own. Best case scenario is we get a dial like the ARC-170 or U-Wing, which would give the Sheathipede a lot of flexibility.
The Titles
The Sheathipede comes with the Phantom II title for itself, and a new version of the Ghost title for the VCX-100. The new Ghost title is identical to the old one, other than referencing the Phantom II rather than Phantom title. But the new title is something a bit different…
Phantom II
While you are docked, the Ghost can perform primary weapon attacks from its special firing arc.
While you are docked, at the end of the Activation phase, the Ghost may perform a free coordinate action.
Both the Phantom and the Phantom II let the Ghost use its primary weapon from the rear special firing arc. However, rather than the Phantom letting you make an additional turret attack, the Phantom II gives you an end of Activation phase free coordinate action. That’s quite significant, letting one of your ships take an action after everyone else has moved and acted. That’s effectively PS 13 repositioning for starters, or acquiring target locks based on the final position of every ship on the board. It’s a very strong support ability, and could let you lend some real flexibility to another valuable ship in your squadron.
Of course, the big question will always be “is this better than an extra attack”? The Ghost with a docked Phantom II doesn’t come cheap, coming in at an absolute minimum of 50 points before you put any upgrades on either ship. That’s a minimum of half of your squad, and more realistically you’re going to be looking at 55-60 points by the time you’re done kitting the Ghost and Phantom II out with a sensible minimum loadout. That remaining 40-45 points is going to have to do a lot of work! I think it would also be a closer call if Twin Laser Turret wasn’t quite so good. Getting effectively two extra attacks at the end of the turn is a big deal, particularly with the Ghost’s ability to take a Fire Control System or Accuracy Corrector to improve your dice modification into the mix.
It’s going to need some table time to see how this plays out, but my gut instinct is that we’re going to see a lot of title-free Sheathipedes being flown as independent support ships rather than docked to the Ghost, and the Ghost will stick with the original Attack Shuttle when it wants something docked. That said, I may well be underestimating just how powerful a free end of Activation coordinate might be!
Pilots
Like the original Phantom, the Sheathipede comes with four unique named pilots and no generics. That seems pretty setting appropriate, and all four of the pilots have decent abilities to go alongside the Sheathipede.
AP-5
First up is the sardonic logistics droid, AP-5. He’s the cheapest of the Sheathipede pilots, costing 15 points and starting things off at PS 1 and a pilot ability that befits his tactical perspecive.
When you perform the coordinate action, after you choose a friendly ship and before it performs a free action, you may receive 2 stress tokens to remove 1 stress token from it.
Low PS may actually be an advantage when you’re coordinating your allies, letting you potentially catch up with speedier ships and allow them to act before anything else on the board has a chance to move. His pilot ability makes it easier to guarantee getting your coordinate action to work, and potentially opens up the dial of friendly ships to do unexpected red moves that your opponent may not have planned for. Of course, you’re going to want to make sure you can then get rid of the stress you’ve just given yourself, making Inspiring Recruit a likely pick for the crew slot, and quite possibly an R2 Astromech in the astromech dock.
Whatever the case, AP-5 helps to keep your cheap support ship cheap, and brings the potential advantage of low PS into the mix. He can really act as a force multiplier for your other ships, and let you control the flow of stress around your squad at vial moments. Honestly, he seems like a bit of a bargain!
“Zeb” Orrelios
A familiar face from the Rebels crew, Zeb return with his usual pilot ability and PS 3 for 16 points.
When defending, you may cancel (crit) results before (hit) results.
Only an point more than AP-5, Zeb makes for a slightly tankier Sheathipede. With only 1 shield and 5 hull, his pilot ability is probably at its most useful here, and may let you avoid some potentially crippling critical hits. That said, AP-5 is probably a better fit for a dedicated support ship, leaving Zeb probably the weakest of the Sheathipede pilots. This isn’t to say he’s bad by any stretch of the imagination, rather just “good” when compared with the other Sheathipede pilots’ “great”.
Ezra Bridger
Another returning Rebels crew member, Ezra gets a bump in pilot skill to PS 5 from his Attack Shuttle incarnation. He’s the first of the Sheathipede pilots with an EPT slot, and doesn’t pay much for the privilege, coming in at 17 points.
When defending, if you are stressed, you may change up to 2 of your (focus) results to (evade) results.
On a 5 health, 2 agility ship, Ezra’s ability is quite worthwhile, making him notably tankier and leaving his actions free for other things. If you want to do a Push the Limit Co-ordinate build, Ezra is without doubt the way to go and is a very reasonable 20 points for a support ship that can Co-ordinate while still taking an action of its own and getting a defensive buff in the process.
Alternatively, you can fit him with R3-A2 and Gunner for a very reasonable 24 points, giving you something close to the classic “stress hog” Y-Wing build but with an auxiliary arc and a pilot ability that makes the stress you’re going to stack up an advantage. I can see this being a very popular build, although you’re definitely turning your back on ever being likely to use the Sheathipede’s Co-ordinate action if you go this route.
Ezra’s ability feels a little more at home on the Sheathipede than the Attack Shuttle for the most part. The extra point of health makes a big difference, and taking his focus away from damage to support or stressing your opponent makes the defensive boost probably more useful. That said, you want to make sure that Ezra is being annoying enough to draw some fire from your opponent early game, as I suspect he’s not going to be a strong late game ship…
Fenn Rau
Last of all, Fenn Rau makes the jump from Scum to Rebel. He keeps his PS 9 but gains a new pilot ability more in keeping with his new ride.
When an enemy ship inside your firing arc at Range 1-3 becomes the active ship during the Combat phase, if you are not stressed, you may receive 1 stress token. If you do, that ship cannot spend tokens to modify its dice when attacking this round.
At 20 points, he’s significantly more costly than the other Sheathipede pilots, but both his ability and high PS may well be worth it. With both front and rear firing arcs and high PS, it shouldn’t be too tricky to get Fenn Rau lined up to use this ability, and stopping token spends on attacks could make a huge difference. Unmodified dice are notoriously unreliable, and stopping someone with a range 1 shot from spending their target lock and focus could easily make the difference between a dead ship and a barely scratched one. It doesn’t help against non-token modifications (Expertise, Predator, Guidance Chips, and so on), but it’s still got the potential to be a really significant hit to your opponent’s offence.
Fenn’s native PS 9 is also a big deal. Put Veteran Instincts on him, and you’ll be able to Co-ordinate actions to your allies at PS 11, giving you an edge over almost anything in the game. All of this said, you probably don’t want to invest too many points into him – at a base 20 points for a 2 attack, 2 agility, 5 health ship, Fenn isn’t going to be doing much damage or potentially living that long himself. He also needs to avoid getting stressed, and to be able to shed stress easily, which may in turn limit some of his build options. Veteran Instincts, an R2 Astromech, and a cheap crew (something like Rey, Tactician, or Tail Gunner) for around 24 points seems about the right spot for Fenn.
Upgrades
All of the upgrades in the Sheathipede pack are new to the game, and they’ve all been spoiled here. Other than the two title cards I’ve already discussed above, we’ve got two new crew and two new astromech cards. Interestingly, no EPTs in the pack, despite the fact two of the pilots have an EPT slot.
Chopper
Action: Discard 1 other equipped Upgrade card to recover 1 shield.
1 point
The grumpiest astromech of all, Chopper finally makes an appearance in the astromech rather than crew slot. At 1 point, he offers a very cheap shield regeneration option, although it comes at the very Chopper cost of discarding an upgrade as he cannibalises bits of your ship to keep it flying. It also takes an action to do, possibly limiting his usefulness on the Sheathipede itself – with Co-ordinate available to you, you’re like to want your action free for that more often than not.
I suspect Chopper will see the most use on Y-Wings. They’ve got a lot of slots you can fill up with upgrades for very little points, and a Twin Laser Turret Y-Wing doesn’t need its action a huge amount. Throw on Bomb Loadout, Guidance Chips, and possibly the BTL-A4 title, and you’ve got the potential for an extra three shields. I’ve seen some discussion on adding on Extra Munitions for additional regen options, but at that point you may as well pay 3 points for R5-P9 instead and just use your action to focus. The key to making Chopper work for you is to keep whatever he’s on as cheap as possible. 0 point upgrade are the way to go, and the options on this front have just expanded…
Courier Droid
At the start of the “Place Forces” step, you may choose to treat your pilot skill value as “0” or “8” until the end of the step.
0 points
The hapless Courier Droid, long-time nemesis of Chopper. For 0 points, you get a bit of deployment flexibility which may come in handy. This is well-costed at 0 points, as you’re already paying a price by giving up the usually much in demand crew slot for this. Needless to say, this is excellent fuel for Chopper, who is pictured lurking in the background on the artwork of this card.
Other than that, I can’t see this card getting much use other than the odd occasion when you’ve got a crew slot going spare. That’ll mostly be on multi-crew ships, and in particular the Decimator may be able to find a space for this droid alongside Moff Jerjerrod to help keep those critical hits under control. Importantly, this card is Limited, so you can’t just fill up all of your crew slots with these little guys just to be discarded!
Flight-Assist Astromech
You cannot attack ships outside your firing arc.
After you execute a maneuver, if you did not overlap a ship or obstacle and there are no enemy ships inside your firing arc at Range 1-3, you may perform a free boost or barrel roll action.
1 point
A brand new generic astromech, and one that will be welcomed by the Rebel fleet. At only 1 point, the Flight-Assist Astromech offers a lot of value for a cheap price. Yes, it’s quite conditional when you can use it, but it helps with both your initial approach and when you need to break off and re-engage. It’s also not a bad option on higher PS aces, who can get themselves back on target.
This gives the T-65 X-Wing some repositioning it desperately needs, and isn’t bad at all on a BTL-A4 Y-Wing either. I suspect both the ARC-170 and E-Wing will have better uses for their astromech slot (the ARC in particular finding it more difficult to meet the conditions of using the Flight-Assist Astromech due to the auxiliary rear arc). I’m personally looking forward to giving it a try on Blue Ace in the T-70, as being able to do 1 turn boosts with this seems both big and clever.
Is the Flight-Assist Astromech going to fundamentally change the role of any ship that can equip it? No, but it does give two of the Rebelion’s workhorse ships a bit more maneuverability, which can’t be a bad thing for 1 point.
Maul
Scum only. Ignore this restriction if your squad contains “Ezra Bridger.”
When attacking, if you are not stressed, you may receive any number of stress tokens to reroll that many attack dice.
After performing an attack that hits, you may remove 1 of your stress tokens.
3 points
Last of all, we’ve got Maul. Note, not Darth Maul, this is very much the Clone Wars and Rebels version of the character, hence his Scum affiliation. They’ve done a neat bit of design with the restriction as well, letting Rebel squadrons take him as long as his “apprentice” Ezra is present in the squad.
And, to be honest, it’s going to be Rebel squads that use him. His ability is quite nice, giving you action-free attack modification and the ability to potentially remove some of the stress you cause yourself in the process. That’s great for Rebels, who lack much in the way of attack modifying crew. It’s less good for Scum, who have both Dengar and the K4 Security Droid giving much the same benefit in notably less restrictive ways. There might be a corner case for using him in Scum squads when you’ve already got Dengar in play as a pilot and don’t have the greens to support the K4 droid, but if you’ve not got the greens for K4 you probably also don’t want to be stressing yourself either…
Maul is a different prospect in Epic, that said. As Epic ships don’t keep stress tokens, you can freely reroll all of your dice for every attack each turn if Maul’s crewing an Epic ship. That’s not bad on the C-ROC, and amazing on the CR-90 with its potential for four attacks a turn. I strongly suspect we’ll see something done to address both Maul and Zuckuss crew for Epic if we ever see another Epic FAQ produced.
All told, Maul isn’t a bad option at all, it’s just Scum already have some truly amazing crew along similar lines at the same points cost. Rebels will find a place for him without a doubt though. Just probably not on the Sheathipede itself, as two attack dice don’t really warrant this kind of investment in offence.
Final Thoughts
The Sheathipede has been expected for a while, and is a welcome addition to the game for me. A cheap support ship is something that the Rebels can always find use for (as shown by the popularity of Captain Rex and Ahsoka in the stolen TIE Fighter has shown), and the Sheathipede really delivers on this with the Co-ordinate action and a selection of neat pilot abilities. All of the pilots seem useful and well costed for what they offer, much like the ARC-170.
The upgrades are a decent selection as well. I suspect Flight-Assist Astromech is likely to be the only one that people are going to try to get multiple copies of, so I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see that crop up in another expansion some time in the not too distant future.
I’m pretty hyped for this ship, and overall I suspect it may be the one that has the largest effect on the competitive meta of anything in Wave 12. Roll on December!
Dice Tales 