Review Details

Star Wars: X-Wing - TIE Fighter Expansion Pack (Last Chance)

Product Review (submitted on September 30, 2015):

The Imperial Tie fighter is one of the first two ships released for X-Wing, having 2 models available in the core set. The Tie Fighter Expansion gives you another Tie with some new pilots and upgrade options. The game is currently in its 8th wave of expansions, and the tie fighter is still a very capable ship. As Darth Vader would say, "Most impressive".

Tie fighters are amongst the cheapest ships in the game, meaning you will typically fly them in a swarm formation. How big of a swarm you want to fly is up to you. Some players chose to use up to 7 ties in their swarm. Some chose to use less as support for other more expensive ships. Regardless of how you want to play your ties, if you plan on fielding them in any sort of formation (recommended) you'll want to get this expansion. It contains a few really great highlights:

Howlrunner: This expansion contains a named pilot, "Howlrunner". Howlrunner is the equivalent to a tie commander, and allows all ships in close range to reroll some of their attack dice. This works in perfect synergy with running a tie swarm, which typically stays in a tight formation, allowing all ties to benefit from Howlrunner's ability.

Swarm Tactics upgrade: In X-wing, ships take turns shooting each other in order of highest pilot skill to lowest pilot skills. This upgrade allows a ship with a higher pilot skill grant a ally in close range their pilot skill for the purpose of an attack. In simpler terms, it allows a ship that usually shoots last to shoot sooner. Again, this ties in with the Tie Fighter swarm synergy, allowing you to get the most out of your cheap ties.

The model looks great, and that's good, because after trying out the tie swarm, you'll probably decide you want to own a handful of these little guys.