X-Wing Miniatures Wave 4: The TIE Phantom

Fantasy Flight Games revealed the 4th wave of X-Wing Miniatures. They are scheduled for the second Quarter of 2014, though delays are not unknown with these miniatures.

Unlike the majority of previous X-Wing miniatures, the new ships all come from the Star Wars Extended Universe. Even so, it’s a surprise it took so long for the evil guys to get cloaking technology. It’s not a complete space-combat game, unless the villains can be invisible!

Enter the TIE Phantom…

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#1 – Origins of the TIE Phantom

Like the TIE Defender, the TIE Phantom is originally from a 1990s computer game, specifically from Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire.

A fun bit of trivia I found is that the design of the TIE Phantom was based on some older, discarded pieces of concept art for the Lambda Shuttle of the movies (and they still share the three-wing-silhouette).

However, changes were made in developing the TIE Phantom for the video game, most notably to make it look more in-line with the TIE Fighter and its other successors and variants.

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#2 – The Tie Phantom in the X-Wing Game

I believe it is fair to say that the TIE Phantom is the big “mystery-miniature” in the Wave 4 release. It’s a bit of a curve ball to the game, and I don’t really know where it’ll go.

• First, it obviously has a cloaking ability (you can see a rules-expansion card to the very left above). What will it do? Impossible to say, though it appears you can turn it on/off, judging from the Stygium Particle Accelerator upgrade, which – eagle-eyed observers claim – adds a free evade action when the TIE Phantom either decloaks or perform a cloak action.

• It’s not the most durable ship (without cloak). As “tough” as an A-Wing (2 Hull, 2 Shields), but less agility. It’ll die quickly to concentrated fire.

• It comes with 4 attack dice by default (yes, 4!), as well as the ability to carry crew (incl. a Gunner) and System Upgrades (e.g. Advanced Sensors).

The TIE Phantom partly seems to be a Spec. Ops ship, similar the HWK-290, than a dog fighter. Given it’s origins based on a Lambda-Shuttle sketch, that is certainly fitting. It’s a “mini-Shuttle” (i.e. with the ability to take crew) with added stealth (cloak), but also some serious (4 Attack dice!!) firepower.

The great respect of the FFG game designers to the original concepts and the “shuttle-origins” really shines through in the TIE Phantom.

Unlike the HWK-290, it does pack a nasty 4-attack-dice bite (hear all the TIE Interceptors cry), which it may (or must) unleash from hiding, using sneaky tactics, not skillful flying, to stay alive.

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#3 – Will the TIE Phantom Be Fun?

A fragile, invisible black-ops ship that jumps the opponent out of nothing.

The concept is pure gold, and I’m sure to pick up a TIE Phantom just to give it a try.

It is, however, also a concept with lots of grief-potential at the table. If the TIE Phantom’s Cloak-and-4-Attack-Dice-combination is too good, the games will be incredibly boring for the opponent. If it is not good enough, the TIE Phantom will be shot down first thing by any sane opponent, long before those 4 attack dice really get into the game.

I am very interested to see how Fantasy Flight Games implement this one into the game. This is rules-design on a razor’s edge.

Z.