From Fantasy Flight:
Recently, we took a closer look at the Millennium Falcon Expansion Pack for X-Wing. Today, we continue our exploration of the second wave of expansions for X-Wing with a spotlight on another legendary starship…
While the Millennium Falcon is arguably the most iconic starship from the original Star Wars galaxy, it’s certainly not the only one that’s become a household name. Nor is it the only Star Wars starship that’s been tricked out with a load of special modifications. After all, Star Wars is an epic story of good versus evil, and there are two sides to its conflicts. Where the Falcon aided those who followed the light side, the forces of the dark side benefited from the services of the infamous bounty hunter, Boba Fett, and his dangerous Firespray patrol craft, Slave I.
The Firespray-31
Slave I is a heavily customized Firespray-31, a type of patrol craft originally intended as a prisoner transport. However, the Firespray’s versatile weapons array and heavy armor plating appealed to another, unintended audience as well, and the ship quickly became a favorite of some of the galaxy’s most notorious pirates and bounty hunters.
Accordingly, X-Wing delivers a Firespray-31 that players can load up with all sorts of tricks and armaments. The Slave I Expansion Pack comes with thirteen upgrades, and each of its four ship cards features at least four icons in its upgrade bar. Furthermore, the Slave I title is, itself, an upgrade card that adds yet another icon to your Firespray’s upgrade bar. Altogether, this may lead you to surmise that the Slave I Expansion Pack is all about upgrades, surprises, and dirty tricks. If so, you wouldn’t be far off base!
Even before it’s loaded with upgrades, the base Firespray-31 is a beast with four shields, six hull, three attack for its primary weapon, and two agility. But then you have to consider all the goodies that you can add: one set of missiles, one cannon, one crew member, and one set of bombs. The questions become more difficult. Homing Missiles or Assault Missiles? Ion Cannon or Heavy Laser Cannon? A Mercenary Copilot or a Gunner? Seismic Charges or Proximity Mines? And don’t forget that you can add modification upgrades like a Stealth Device…
Do you see yet why a bounty hunter like Boba Fett would be happy to fly a Firespray-31? His opponents may know the ship, but they’ll never know what tricks it carries. Every game is a chance to test a new tactical load-out.
Infamous
Of course, Boba Fett didn’t become feared throughout the galaxy just because of his starship. His skills are legendary. One of the three unique pilots among the expansion’s four ship cards, Boba Fett can swiftly alter his course, meaning he’ll stand an amazing chance each turn of ending up in just the right place at just the right time.
In the above example, Boba Fett uses his ability to change his heading after revealing his maneuver.
He banks right instead of left and takes an unsuspecting Rebel X-wing pilot by surprise!
The expansion’s other unique pilots include a cunning pirate and a slaver considered a crazy man by his colleagues, but respected for his skills. Whether or not they can make as much of their Firesprays as Fett did of Slave I remains to be seen when the Slave I Expansion Pack becomes available. Until then, keep your eyes peeled for previews of the TIE Interceptor and A-Wing Expansion Packs.
You can expect Slave I to make as big an impact on the battles of X-Wing as it did upon the imaginations of Star Wars fans worldwide!
