The Cantina: Themed Squads (Original Trilogy Era)

It's no secret that one of my my favorite parts of Star Wars: X-Wing is Stars Wars. And X-Wings! I'm excited to see the thematic, just-for-fun elements of this game brought to the fore with the upcoming Battle Packs from AMG. True, building a list based on characters, ships, and scenarios from the movies probably isn't going to win you a major X-Wing tournament, but it's often a fun way to exercise your list-building skills and will give you a fun squad to play casually and to introduce new players to the game.

Last week's entry in this little miniseries covered the prequel era so let's move on the the Original Trilogy! MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!

Solo: A Star Wars Story

Okay, so I had a bit of trouble with this one due to a lack of options so we're getting off to a rough start. I promise it gets better.

I thought about just doubling the Brute-2 TIEs squad that chase the Falcon through the Maelstrom, but instead I drew from the deleted scenes and the companion comic for a Carida Academy and Onyx Squadron Brute squad. Probably not great but maybe fun, this list boasts some big guns, lots of hull, and fun abilities.

Okay, so this one also required a few compromises as we don't see many of our characters actually fly other than Han. I could have done a separate Falcon for each pilot (definitely considered that) but I decided to go add Maul in the Gauntlet just for fun. We get a glimpse of the Lord of the Shadow Collective (and Crimson Dawn) at the end of the film so he can be in the list, coordinating and pulling the strings. Quinn Jast is in there as a generic criminal lackey for Maul to coordinate and when Han releases the Autopilot Drone Maul can use it as a Coordinate relay to get instructions to the Millennium Falcon. Sure, Q'ira should probably be on Han because the abilities synergize better, but oh well. You could also downgrade Han to Lando with Han gunner so that Maul's Coordinate ability works better, but you'd be sacrificing Han's boosted offense.

Andor

As of right now I don't think we've seen enough ships to build a squad. Maybe that will change!

Star Wars: Rebels

Here we go! Some classic characters from the show and a hard-hitting Ghost with plenty of support. I'd definitely give this a try on the table. The combo of Ezra, Hera, and Fenn will help Kallus keep that big gun on target and the Sabine-Ahsoka tag team can't be ignored. Possible variation: downgrade Fenn to Ezra in the TIE to upgrade Sabine to Hera, then reorganize the Ghost's crew.

This is just a variation on a few popular Defender Vader lists. Now, I know Vult Skerris is the Defender pilot in the show, but we swapped Vader in to anchor the list a bit better.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Points costs made this one difficult but 4U is a known list archetype that's easy enough to use and hits hard.

These TIE squads are split between the battle on the surface of Scarif and the fight above the shield gate. If your opponent ignores Vagabond he can dart right through their list and drop all of his Concussion Bombs in just two rounds.

A New Hope

This list could sure use the Millennium Falcon but we'll save it for the next movie. Instead we have a straightforward Rebel torpedo strike list consisting of pilots who attacked the Death Star. Throw those locks out with Dutch and make sure everyone spends all their torpedo charges. I'm sure we'll have a better version of this when the Battle Pack releases.

...and here's the other side of the Battle of Yavin. Iden was canonically on the Death Star and survived the battle. We have to wait for the Battle Pack to get the correct wingmen for Vader and I put the BSA in for theme but an ISB Jingoist would probably be a more competitive choice.

The Empire Strikes Back

Here are most of the Rebel characters who we see fly in some capacity during the film. Of course, we don't have the T-47 airspeeder and I, personally, hope we don't see it in this game.

Had to get a bit creative with this one but I'm honestly pretty proud of it. We manage to fit all of the bounty hunters from Vader's lineup on the Executor in this list with just a couple of artistic liberties. Yes, I know technically we saw IG-88B and not -D. Also, in order to fit all of our buddies we'll need to imagine that Latts (known associate of Bossk and Boba) and Manaroo (known lover of Dengar) flew the Hound's Tooth and Punishing One and were waiting for Bossk and Dengar down in the hangar.

Return of the Jedi

Somebody must have told them about Lando's little maneuver at the Battle of Tanaab. Here come the heroes of the Battle of Endor! Cracken was added because I need another 3-pointer and he was on board the Falcon during the battle in a deleted scene, with the added bonus that he can help someone out with an extra action.

This list is headlined by another blink-and-you'll-miss it character from the film as we don't really see any of our main antagonists flying ships in RoTJ. Rear Admiral Chiraneau is seen standing at attention for Lord Vader on the Second Death Star so we can assume that his VT-49 was in a hangar bay nearby. He'll be supported by the best cheap Interceptors I can find and a few TIEs.

The Mandalorian/The Book of Boba Fett

Another case where I'm proud of how many characters from the show(s) we managed to fit in the list, here's another one that I'd be tempted to try. IG-11 probably isn't the best choice for Cad's crew slot but I'm always looking for excuses to try that card since it sounds like a lot of fun.

Would you try any of these squads? Do you have a favorite thematic list from this era?