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Given that there is a precedent for non-movie stuff in the X-Wing miniatures game, it would be cool to see the Assault Gunboat (from the LucasArts Tie Fighter game) make an appearance at some point.

Here's a pic for anyone who hasn't come across it before...



It would probably be less manoeuvrable than the other Imperial Fighters, but would have more hull points and of course, shields. Basically, it's the Empire's B Wing.

Anyone heard whether this is being considered? I always thought it looked like it belonged to the Star Wars universe.

EDIT - Looking around, it seems others have considered it too...

I thought about this myself. I played X-Wing and Tie Fighter back in the day on my old 486. I'd love to see a Tie Avenger and Tie Defender as well; they'd have to be priced pretty high in points...the Tie Defender is quite over the top in capabilities.

I don't know if I'd give it 2 evade like an X-Wing. Maybe a 1...similar to the slower B-Wing and Y-Wing.

I don't know about the turret, maybe a forward heavy gun like the B-Wing.

I'd increase it's payload. Maybe 2 missiles and 2 torpedoes. It's load-out is similar to the Tie Bomber

Yeah definitely needs 1 evade. I'd give it a similar weapons loadout to the Lambda shuttle, 5 shields and 5 hull, access to torpedoes. I used to play the LucasArts game too but I was never a fan of the gunboat design with it's big missile racks, just seems kind of uninspired but I like it better than the tie defender, which just looks dumb.

My favorite TIE design is the Avenger, and also the TIE droid fighter.

When ever I see Gunboat discussions I am always surprised when I see people say they are slow. I have always remembered them from the X-wing and Tie Figther games as fast maneuverable fighters. In X-wing, they always gave the A-wings a run for their money and in Tie Fighter they never seemed that slow compared to the Ties (Avenger and defender aside).
I am not trolling, just giving my two cents, maybe I am remember the games wrong, or something else.
But if they are made, I will buy a couple as they are my favorite Imperial fighter.

I thought they were slower, but I may well be wrong. The only thing I do remember for certain was that they had Ion Cannons and Shields.

Even if they are fast that does not necessarily mean evade 2. B-wings have evade 1, and the millennium falcon is supposed to be super fast but still evade 1... because it is a big ship, big target.

 guardpiper wrote:
When ever I see Gunboat discussions I am always surprised when I see people say they are slow. I have always remembered them from the X-wing and Tie Figther games as fast maneuverable fighters. In X-wing, they always gave the A-wings a run for their money and in Tie Fighter they never seemed that slow compared to the Ties (Avenger and defender aside).
I am not trolling, just giving my two cents, maybe I am remember the games wrong, or something else.
But if they are made, I will buy a couple as they are my favorite Imperial fighter.

I think you may be remembering the Missile Boat, which was way OP regardless. The gunboats were definitely pretty slow.

I would put Gunboat stats at something like:

A2 (maybe 3)
E1
H4
S4

Y-Wing maneuver dial

Focus, Target lock

Options: Cannon, 2 torp, 2 Missile, and maybe a systems upgrade

It would be awesome to see Assault Gunboats added to the game. Seems like it could fill a niche that the Imperial ships don't currently have an option for.

I think you're all being a little too harsh on the poor gunboat agility-wise. In the video games it was pretty much an imperial version of the x-wing, not a slow b-wing equivalent. It only seemed to have poor agility because it was always next to the impressively fast and agile TIEs. And it should certainly be able to match the 2-agility TIE bomber!

As for the rest, before you can set stats and upgrades you have to ask what role is waiting to be filled. IMO the imperial side has two appropriate gaps for the gunboat:

1) A cannon platform that doesn't require you to build your list around it. The Firespray is great, but it's so expensive that your entire list is going to revolve around it. And since you're already paying so much for the hull you pretty much have to buy the HLC instead of wasting points on an ion cannon. Contrast this with the b-wing, where you can get one with a HLC and fire control or advanced sensors for less than a naked bounty hunter. That gives you a lot more freedom to design the rest of your list. The shuttle kind of fills this role in theory, but its poor maneuver dial makes it too easy for it to fly out of the fight and never return.

2) A "brawler" ship that can fly into the mid-table melee and still fight effectively. TIEs (at least the ones above the academy pilot) are indisputably based around maneuvering and actions, you need to flank the battle, avoid arcs, and absolutely avoid losing your action and having to rely on your 3 HP to take hits. An x-wing or b-wing, on the other hand, has the HP to take a few shots if it means getting a good shot of its own in, good stats that don't absolutely depend on actions, and the all-important three red dice to make it count when you get a good shot at something.

However, we don't want to just make a copy of an existing ship. So, avoid:

1) A TIE bomber with a different model and shields. The bomber already covers the role of cheap missile spam and "take whatever warheads you want". The gunboat needs some kind of missile or torpedo option, but it shouldn't get both and absolutely shouldn't get bombs. And it should be at least a bit more expensive so you can't spam it as easily.

2) A literal copy of the x-wing or b-wing. This is kind of hard since it's going to end up with a fairly similar role. IMO this is where the upgrades come in. You could make it have two attack dice and have its point cost reflect an ion cannon tax (with the HLC or autoblaster option if you want it) and give it missiles instead of torpedoes, but that turns it into a "float around the edge of the table and HLC stuff" ship with no motivation to get in close. But I'm not sure how to give it three attack dice without making it too close to the x-wing. Maybe being in the other faction and not having all those easy greens from a cheap R2 is enough? Or, give the base PS 1 version two attack dice like the YT-1300 and have the higher-skill versions get three?


So, my rough draft:

A3 (potentially 2)
E2
H3
S3 (IMO needs a little more durability than an x-wing to justify the expensive guns)
Cannon, missile, missile, sensor (imperials really want a small-ship option here)
Focus, target lock, barrel roll? (seems fluffy, but might overlap the b-wing too much)

Maneuver dial:
1: turn (white), bank (green), straight (green)
2: turn (red), bank (white), straight (white)
3: bank (red), straight (white), k-turn (red)
4: straight (red)

So, great slow-speed maneuverability but it's going to punish you even more than a b-wing if you try to go fast. And you certainly aren't going to win a maneuvering match with an R2 x-wing.

Pilots:

PS 1 generic
PS 3 generic
PS 5 ion support (when attacking with an ion cannon your uncanceled {crit} results give the target two ionization tokens)
PS 6-7 missiles (when attacking with a missile weapon at range 1-2 you may turn one {eye} into a {hit}), EPT
PS 8-9 "ace" (when attacking at range 1 you may receive a stress token to roll one additional attack die), EPT