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So I am considering X-wing as my second game. But I have this odd habit from my old 40k days. I do not like to use named characters. While I know part of the appeal of the game is the ability toplay people like Vader, Han Solo, etc (and I have no issue with those who use them) but I have always preferred to use normal non named guys. So my question for the community here is is a list that has no named characters as viable fleet?

If it helps I want to play as the rebels. I am not a fan of the TIE series so the empire does not hold a lot of appeal to me.

Thanks.

I haven't played many games so I may be wrong here, but I think you would be just fine at the smaller end of the game scale with just standard pilots. However, the Rebels have a lot of synergy with their named pilots, and as the battles get bigger not picking some of those pilots becomes a real handicap as you're missing their innate special abilities and selecting any elite pilot upgrades for that extra tactical boost.

That said, I don't think it'd be enough to outright cripple a list. It'd almost certainly put you at a a disadvantage in a larger match-up with shooting after your opponent's best pilots, and particularly effective combo tactics would be unavailable to you, but I don't think you'd be doomed out of the gate for not having those pilots. You'd just be, for lack of a better word, predictable. You'd do what your ships allowed you to do, and if you played well I can still see that working out.

So in other words, it might not be the optimal way to play, but I think it'd still be viable to a certain point at least. Advanced, large-points tournaments not so much, but friendly around-the-store play you'd probably give as good as you got.

You can totally use non named characters to play. only problem is it can get a little bland as the named offer so much to the customization of the fleet. As an imperial player there are tournament builds for the Tie swarm for 8 lowlie fresh out of the academy pilots and funny enough it does pretty well. the rebels like to go a little more quality over quantity were some of your named characters really shine.

It's possible to play without the named characters and have a great game, but the others are right...you'll miss some of the more interesting abilities that they give.
On the other hand, there is a huge span of characters... not only from the movies but from the comics, novels, and games. Even if you are a huge fan, odds are good that there will be some names you don't recognize.

I also don't like using named characters from movies and such, so i just use "counts as". I mean, what's the problem of having your own imaginary character who just uses the rules of Luke or Vader. Name the card "Veteran pilot" and give him the same stats as Luke, and voila

I'm actually fine with the idea of no named characters. You are in essence trading quality for quantity, and as the Russians of WW2 pointed out, there is a Quality in quantity. 4 Red Squadron X-Wings w/ Proton Torpedos and R2 Astromechs could be pretty brutal.

Named characters in this game I find aren't quite the same as in others. There is no limit to the amount you can take... I mean they are unique, but you can make a list of completely named characters if you want to. Or you don't have to at all. There are no slots that must be filled in your lists, you do as you like.

In reality though, it is just another x-wing or tie model that has some appropriately costed extras... I mean depending how you look at it, each ship has 4 tiers, tier 1 being base pilot skill and upgrade bar, tier 2 being low/mid pilot skill and an elite skills slot in the bar, tier 3 being a mid-high/mid pilot skill with a unique trait/ability and probably a very similar upgrade bar to tier 2, Tier 4 highest PS of it's ship type, powerful unique ability, likely same card bar as 2-3.

So your choice is really more how much you want to spend per ship only, as opposed to I must have X infantry and X heavy and can only take 1 hq.

There is nothing really that makes Vader Vader other than the picture on the card, the skill that goes with the pilot is kind of arbitrary fluff wise.


Taking no named characters is perfectly possible and can be quite viable to be honest. An 8 tie swarm is complete vanilla ties (4 academy 4 black) and no upgrades and generally does quite well. I have run a few lists with various other base ships and found it to be extremely playable. The named character abilities aren't nuclear game busting things, and in general, they are all balanced out points wise.

Hum, I might have to look into this game sometime next year then. First I have to finish painting all my infinity stuff and figure out some storage stuff. But I know what type of fleet I want, the HWK-290 and some A-wings, plus an X-wing.

You can play without characters, but you're really limiting your options. All of the pilots with special abilities are named characters, so if you want more than a swarm of basic minimal/no-upgrade ships you're going to need to use characters. X-wing isn't like 40k where you have lots of customization options without getting into named characters, it's the equivalent of playing C:SM where the only non-unique HQ choice is a generic captain with power sword and bolt pistol.

I've been doing okay with my barebones X-wings. The X-wing is a quality ship on it's own, and the price for the character ships just makes them that much better.

Few people really bother to worry about my unnamed ships and they focus on the named characters, so my Red Squadron Pilots do well. I prefer unnamed lackeys with one or two named guys.