YT-1300 Light Freighter

YT-1300 Light Freighter

One of the most iconic ships in all of Star Wars and it's at your fingertips. Mostly used as a freighter, the YT-1300 has also been seen as a smuggler's craft. The most notable was Han Solo's Millennium Falcon, which was present at the destruction of both Death Stars.

In-game it is an interesting ship.

Some interesting features off the bat: Speed 2 is terribly slow so make sure to bring Fighter Coordination Teams or Wedge Officer. 7 hull makes them stick around for a very long time, add in counter, and anyone who dares crack this beast is getting shot back. Their armament is pretty okay, nothing special. Escort is the main draw here. 13 points mean these are the same price as the other rebel escorts: X-Wings. So for the same price, the difference is YTs have no bomber, 1 less anti-squad die, speed 2, and blue ship die. YTs lose out, but they gain 2 more hull and counter 1 making them superior dedicated escorts, but less versatile. There's an argument for taking them with a Biggs-ball to soak up even more damage, but overall I think you need a very good reason to take YT-1300s over X-wings as escorts.

BUT, the unique squads are some of the best in the game.

HAN SOLO BABAYYYY. The Galaxy's second coolest Millennium Falcon Pilot... Han is a very interesting squad. Starting off with 3 speed is a bit... slow? It's not too bad, I'm glad it did not keep speed 2. 2b2k is a really nice spread for squadron die and 1b1k is super nice for ship die. Grit is nice for Han to fly around, and Rogue is huge to be able to do his own thing. His ability is kinda cool? It's useful to start plinking a ship you plan on attacking early on in the round or good for getting the final blow on a ship you just couldn't quite pop last round, but those are such fringe cases that I honestly don't know if its worth 26 points.

L A N D O Calrissian SON! The coolest Millennium Falcon pilot in the galaxy and probably the coolest pilot period. 23 points are 3 points cheaper than Han, which doesn't sound huge, but when paired with how good Lando is it makes a huge difference. Same keywords, speed, and tokens. His dice are interesting but good. 1r 2b 1k is super fun against squads. The higher likelihood for accuracy and higher potential damage output is nice. 1r 1b against ships is also really nice. His ability is where he truly shines through. "While attacking, you may discard a defense token to set 1 die to any face. That die cannot be modified again." This allows you to discard a token to set that red to a double. The key being "it cannot be modified again, meaning no scatter and no evade. Opponent got a pesky flotilla running around? Drop 2 damage into it twice and it's a goner. Howlrunner giving you trouble? If you roll 2 ACCs and one natural damage on either the black, set that red to a double and bye-bye Howl. "While defending you may spend 1 of your defense tokens to force the attacker to reroll 1 or more dice of your choice." this is a solid way to mitigate damage, however since you must spend a brace for this it becomes a bit of a wash. I've found most of the time it's simply better to just brace the damage.

The generic YT-1300 is lacking, but the chassis makes up for it with Han and Lando who can both fit in just about any fleet, and do a good job there.