Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition – Nimbus-class V-Wing Expansion Pack

Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition – Nimbus-class V-Wing Expansion Pack

The Galactic Republic deploys a dizzying array of starfighters to protect itself from the Separatist threat, from heavy ARC-170s and BTL-B Y-wings to light and nimble Delta-7 Aethersprites and Naboo Royal N-1 Starfighters. In the waning days of the Clone Wars, aspects of many of these designs were synthesized into a single starfighter: The Nimbus -class V-wing.

This expansion adds a beautifully detailed, pre-painted Nimbus-class V-Wing to your X-Wing collection, along with all the components you need to prepare it for battle. First, six ship cards invite you to choose from the Republic’s best clone and non-clone pilots. In addition to selecting a pilot, seven upgrade cards give you the freedom to customize your V-wing with distinct configurations, astromechs, and more.

Form Up

Despite its great speed, the Nimbus-class V-wing is much more than a mere interceptor. Instead, this speed is but one tool pilots have at their disposal to use the V-wing in a variety of ways. At its simplest, pilots like the Republic’s Loyalist Volunteers or Shadow Squadron Escorts can use the inexpensive chassis to overwhelm opponents with superior numbers.

But the V-wing is also highly customizable, and two configurations allow it to be modified to play even more specific roles in combat. The Alpha-3B “Besh” version of the starfighter increases the ship’s offensive potential, allowing it to spend a lock to change a focus result to a hit result. More than that, though, this configuration also adds the payload upgrade slot, turning the V-wing into a light and fast bomber.

Carrying a payload adds new dimensions to the V-wing’s speed, allowing it to move in for swift bombing runs that leave an array of deadly devices in the enemy’s path. Of all the options, though, leaving a trail of Thermal Detonators could have the greatest impact. With these equipped, the V-wing can drop a total of two Thermal Detonators using different templates, each of which will force a ship at range 0–1 to roll an attack die and gain a strain token for every focus result or suffer a hit or critical hit for every matching result upon detonation.

Alternatively, the V-wing also makes an exceptional pursuit craft, especially if it is in its Alpha-3E “Esk” configuration. In this form, the ship’s critical results inflict ion tokens instead of damage, helping it slow down enemy ships before moving in for the kill. It’s not always easy to get critical results, of course, but equipping your 3E with R7-A7 makes it a bit easier by giving you three opportunities to upgrade a hit result to a critical hit.

“Odd Ball” drops two Thermal Detonators in the path of the oncoming Droid Tri-Fighters!

Beyond its configurations, the V-wing is made even more flexible by the fact that, as a precursor to the Empire’s iconic TIE line of starfighters, it can ignore the “TIE” ship restriction on upgrade cards. This gives pilots even more options, such as performing an Ion Limiter Override to perform a barrel roll after fully executing a red maneuver. This can be particularly useful for a pilot like “Odd Ball” who can use the barrel roll as a chance to line up a target in his bullseye arc.

Similarly, a pilot can take advantage of the ship’s Precision Ion Engines to alter their flight path and gain the upper hand on their opponents. The pinpoint control these upgrades give pilots could bring them close to obstacles, which is why many V-wing pilots prefer to fly into battle with a Q7 Astromech to help them navigate. These droids give them a larger margin of error when moving close to obstacles, making it possible for them to overlap or move through and overlap them while a barrel rolling or boosting.

With so many tools at their disposal, skilled V-wing pilots can threaten enemy squadrons working in a variety of ways. A crack clone pilot like “Contrail,” for instance, has the initiative to get the upper hand on his opponents. But he truly pushes his advantage when the bearing of his revealed maneuver matches that of the enemy ship’s while he attacks or defends by denying them one of their focus results. At the same time, V-wing pilots can reap many benefits by working closely with one another, such as when an aspiring admiral like Wilhuff Tarkin helps “Klick” acquire the lock he needs to prevent a ship from applying range bonuses.

Complete the Mission

As clone and non-clone pilots step forward to defend the Republic, they unite in the Nimbus-class V-wing. Launch your own missions and unite the galaxy!