Pilot Spotlight - Blackbird
Lt. Sophia Saleh is a young orphaned girl from the Ace world. Even though she is the youngest on the team, she is motivated with vengeance against the seaplane pirates that destroyed her home, the Marauders. Don’t let her age fool you, she makes up for it in rage.
[Sophia gained her callsign, Blackbird, after completing a solo night raid mission which involved her destroying an airstrip and stealing a Resurgence airplane]
Sophia’s Ability:
At the start of an Attack action:
If the defending Fighter has more Hit Points remaining than you, your Active Battle card gains PROFICIENT.
Aerodome is a game with a finite resource, your hit points. In the game, there are very few ways to recover these hit points and when they are gone, so are you. But some of the more aggressive pilots do relish the idea of taking damage. Sophia is one of those pilots becoming more accurate if she has suffered more damage than her opponent.
Sophia’s signature card is called “Blackbird Strikes (RH1147)” This card creates a way for Sophia to inflict self damage in order to gain a boost, this comes with a risk of losing your hit points early on but grants your fighter the ability to gain BURST 1 and PIERCE, which can turn the tides easily with a 3 or 4 die attack action. Blackbird Strikes makes her a very strong opening salvo pilot, as she can suffer the damage to instantly have lower hit points than her opponent.
Other cards that work well with Sophia:
But there are other cards that Sophia can use effectively for the opening salvo of an attack, and even though Blackbird Strikes is a 7 initiative, having more choices is never a bad thing. Utilizing any card that inflicts self damage helps set Sophia apart from other pilots by benefiting her pilot ability. Cards like Sharp Immelmann (RH1144) that allow you to choose to take damage to gain a bonus can help her end up with a Proficient, Lucky 2 and Pierce Attack action while cards like Helpful Straight (RH1005) also utilize a similar mechanic to Sophia’s ability.
