Rebels (203 points) (played by JL)
- CR90 Corvette Fore with 2 Single Turbolasers, Gunnery Team and Sensor Team (74 points)
- CR90 Corvette Aft with Quad Laser Cannons, Engineering Team and Tibanna Gas Supplies (54 points)
- 2x Gold Squadron with Ion Cannon Turret (23x2=46 points)
- Prototype A-Wing (17 points)
- Bandit Z-95 (12 points)
Imperials (145 points) (played by Beni)
- Soontir Fel with Push the Limit (30 points)
- Omicron Lambda-Class Shuttle with Engine Upgrade (25 points)
- 2x Scimitar TIE Bomber with 2x Cluster Missiles (2x24= 48 points)
- 3x Black Squadron TIE Fighters (3x14 = 54 points)
The goal for the Imperials is to cripple one section of the Corvette before it escapes the refueling station. The Corvette starts refueling and impaired, as it will get less energy than normal.
This time I did switch the flash from my smartphone to automatic, so the photos were much better!
Setup and first maneuvers
I started by placing the Corvette within range 2 of the border and centered. Then Beni placed three Black Squadron TIEs coming perpendicular to the Corvette and Soontir Fel with the rest of his ships from the front part of the Corvette. I decided to run a screen with my ships against the two TIE Bombers, as they seemed to be the most dangerous to me.In retrospect, I think I should have set up one of my ships (the Z-95 or the A-Wing) to screen a bit against the TIE Fighters to make it more difficult for Beni to destroy the Cargo Container used by the Corvette to refuel.
Another thing I realized while writing the blog is that I could have placed the Corvette closer to my side of the board, as the scenario instructs to place the Corvette within (and not "at") range 2... This would have given me 1 more turn to refuel.
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| Setup: the Imperials find the Corvette in a very favorable situation for them! |
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| Soontir Fel, the best Imperial pilot, is ready to show some of his ace skills! |
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| Keep the Bombers in your sights! |
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| Full Throttle to attack the Cargo Container |
Turn 1
On the first turn I decided to keep the Corvette docked and launch my other ships into a screen formation.
The result of the screen was mixed... I blocked the Bombers from easily reaching the Corvette, but I could not seriously damage any of them in the first two turns, because Beni maneuvered really well and did not give me easy ion cannon shots against his Bombers.
On the other side of the battle, two of the TIE Fighters were able to shoot at the Cargo Container from turn 1 and scored already two hits... the dice were falling in the Imperial side this time!
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| I placed my A-Wing to try to annoy the Bombers as much as possible and left the Y-Wings behind |
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| The TIE Fighters approach the container at full speed... |
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| The TIE Bombers advance slowly, placing themselves just outside the reach of the Ion Cannon Turrets... Meanwhile, the Shuttle advances at full speed toward the Corvette, and Soontir Fel pulls a crazy stunt to place himself at range 1 from one of the Y-Wings and obtaining a 4-hit attack |
Turn 2
In the second turn of the battle I wanted to activate the Corvette, but realized that the rules of the scenario say that the CR90 would activate normally in the following Activation phase... This means I would have to wait until turn 3 to escape the exploding Container!
On the other hand, my screen worked a bit better and I blocked the Bombers at range 4 from the Corvette.
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| The big melee with my four ships, Soontir Fel and the two TIE Bombers |
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| The TIE Fighters get closer to the Cargo Container while the Shuttle avoids the Corvette |
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| The Corvette shoots its primary weapon against one of the Bombers... |
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| And scores a good hit... unfortunately not enough to take the Bomber down |
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| The Bomber's pilot became stunned |
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| The TIE Fighters blow the container on the second round... Beni rolled three more hits with the exploding container and that, together with a previous shot from the Shuttle wiped all the Corvette's shields... Again, dice were falling on the Imperial side. |
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| This turn I managed to ionize one of the Bombers and Soontir Fel! |
Turn 3
Things were looking bleak for the Rebellion... The Corvette was being hit both in its front and aft sections, and one of my Y-Wings would move out of range of the other ships for the rest of the game.On the other hand, I had a good chance to shoot either Soontir or one of the Bombers down, but was not able to do it, yet.
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| The TIE Fighters move closer to the Corvette |
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| Meanwhile, my ships concentrate on Soontir Fel and damaged him again |
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| The Bombers cross the scree and get ready to shoot their deadly ordnance |
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| And the Corvette finally starts its movement and finishes one of the TIE Fighters with its Quad Laser Cannons |
Turn 4
Although I had been able to ionize one of Beni's Bombers the previous turn, the other one was free and Beni placed her in a very good situation to attack the Corvette. |
| The Corvette blows a second TIE Fighter |
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| The Y-Wing that had been almost destroyed by Soontir Fel (he had score 7 hits on the ship) shoots him down and scores the only Rebel achievement of the day! |
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| The Bomber in position shoots its Cluster Missiles... 4 hits in two attacks of 3 and cripples the Corvette!... The Dark Side shines with a special dark bright today! |
Summary
Another brilliant X-Wing mission with the Corvette. This one is much more balanced than T1, specially considering that I could have set up the Corvette much better if I had read the rules a bit more attentively.Beni obtained a well deserved victory. The dice also helped him today (he rolled better than average on almost every attack roll he made, specially against the Corvette), but the bigger part of the victory was due to his very adept maneuvering that prevented me from easily focusing fire on his Bombers... At the end, it was one of the Bombers that scored the final hit on the fore part of the Corvette.
To show the damage evolution on the Corvette:
Turn 1 (fore reinforced): fore section suffers 2 damage from Shuttle.
Turn 2 (back reinforced): fore and aft sections suffer 3 damage each from container's explosion; fore suffers extra 2 from TIE Fighter.
Turn 3 (fore reinforced): aft section suffers 4 hits from TIE Fighters.
Turn 4 (back reinforced): aft section suffers 1 hit from TIE Fighters. Fore section suffers 2 hits from Soontir Fel (1crit) and 4 final hits from Bomber's Cluster Missiles.
One thing that makes the scenario very interesting is that you'll have almost no energy for the Corvette. This reduces its survivability as it won't be able to easily recover shields... Also, being attached to a ticking bomb (the Container) is a big handicap for the Rebels.
One possibility for the Rebels (pointed by Beni) would have been to detach the Corvette already on turn 1, so that you can move from turn 2 and avoid the Container blast, but I'm not so sure. Waiting two turns gave me the 3 points of Energy that I used to add 1 die to my attack on a Bomber and to shoot the Quad Laser Cannons twice (destroying two TIE Fighters), and I could have obtained even more if I had gone straight in turn two and maybe regain some Shields...
I also did not play my best. I did not read the mission special rules properly and I could have made a much better screen. I had two options in my mind and finally decided for this one, but now I'm convinced that I should have annoyed the TIE Fighters much more to prevent them from easily destroying the Container.
Anyway, a memorable mission. It's complex, fun and with lot of tactical possibilities... I really cannot wait to play the next scenario. Unfortunately, a weird combination of work and vacation could mean that it will take us several weeks to play again.
