Unboxing the TIE Fighter Expansion Pack for X-Wing

I’ve resisted the TIE Fighter expansion for X-Wing for a while. In many ways, it is the least economical of the expansion, as you get not just one, but two TIE Fighters in the X-Wing miniatures base game (and many people buy multiple copies of that).

To make the TIE Fighter expansion attractive, Fantasy Flight Games added a few very cool (and often very powerful) pilots to this particular expansion.

Even today, these pilots are staples in many Imperial squadrons on the table.

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#1 – The TIE Fighter Expansion Pack

The TIE Fighter expansion is an “old” expansion for X-Wing. The contents consist mainly of the TIE Fighter itself, as well as the needed tokens and the maneuver dial.

The expansion has everything needed to play, though there is no new mission of the kind you get in the “big” boxes for Imperial Aces or big ships like the Slave 1.

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#2 – The New TIE Fighter Pilots

The main reason to buy the TIE Fighter expansion are, of course, the unique pilots. These three guys are the key difference to the (effectively cheaper) TIE Fighters in the basic game.

• “Winged Gundark” - This level 5 pilot allows you to turn one hit results into a critical result within Range 1 (10 cm). Ironically, his ability is probably more useful in mirror-matches against another Imperial Player, than against Rebels with shields.

• “Backstabber” – Backstabber is probably my favourite pilot of the three. The “D&D-Rogue”-vibe is great. Even more importantly, I think his ability to add a damage dice when shooting Rebels from behind really plays well to the games’ dog-fight theme.

• “Howlrunner” – Finally, she (yes, she’s a she) is probably the main-reason pick up this expansion. Howlrunner boosts the damage of nearby friendly ship (all of them actually, not just other TIE Fighters). She’s spawned the infamous TIE Swarms and is found in almost all Imperial squadrons. I actually think Howlrunner is a fair bit too good. Still cool to have her available for my TIE Fighters.

The expansion also gives you three more “unnamed” TIE Fighter pilots.

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#3 – The TIE Fighter Expansion Cards

There aren’t many upgrade cards in this expansion, and certainly none as popular or useful (or ubiquitous) as Push the Limit or Advanced Sensors.

Still, Swarm Tactics has some fans and opens up a trick or two with boosting the Pilot skill of a nearby ship (say, a low-pilot-skill bomber with a big payload, to name an obvious example).

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#4 – Final Thoughts?

Do You Play X-Wing the Miniatures Game?

In some ways, I wanted to dislike this expansion. It does come with the suspicion of “too-good-to-be-true” cards, notably Howlrunner, to sell the TIE Fighter expansion on top of the boxed set, where the TIE Fighter miniature is readily available.

That said, there is no denying that the pilots – Howlrunner, but also Backstabber – add new ways to fly your TIE Fighters, and new tricks to throw at the Rebels.

In that respect, the pilots are well-thought-out and well-done, and the expansion as such certainly worth a look, if you’re looking for some new twists to use your TIE Fighters.

Z.