Epic Team Battle 2

For our second epic battle, we ramped up to 150 points per player. One of my friends missed the date, so I had to play with 300 points as the Rebel (which proved quite demanding).

Teams

Rebels
Darth Messengers, CR90 escort (150 points) (played by me, JL)
- Arvel Crynyd A-Wing with Test Pilot, Intimidation, Autothrusters and Chardaan Refit (25)
- Green Squadron A-Wing with Intimidation, Autothrusters and Chardaan Refit x2 (21x2)
- Horton Salm Y-Wing with BTL-A4 title, Ion Cannon Turret, Proton Torpedoes, Extra Munitions and Munitions Failsafe (37)
- Gold Squadron Y-Wing with BTL-A4 title and Ion Cannon Turret x2 (23x2)

Darth Messengers, CR90 (150 points) (played by me, JL)
- CR90 Corvette (Fore) with Ion Cannon Battery, Sensor Team, Gunnery Team and Comms Bosster (68)
- CR90 Corvette (Aft) with Weapons Engineer, Ion Cannon Battery and Backup Shield Generator (52)
- Jan Ors HWK-290 with Ion Cannon Turret (30)


Imperials 
Rickbane (150 points) (played by Ricardo)
- Soontir Fel TIE-Interceptor with Push the Limit and Autothrusters (32)
- Shadow Squadrom Phantom with Fire Control System, Recon Specialist and Advanced Cloaking Device x2 (36x2) 
- Storm Squadron TIE-Advanced with x1 title and Accuracy Corrector x2 (23x2)

Rombic (150 points) (played by Antonio)
- Captain Jonus TIE Bomber (25)
- Omicron Group Lambda Shuttle with Heavy Laser Cannon, Sensor Jammer and Tactical Jammer (33)
- Omicron Group Lambda Shuttle with Heavy Laser Cannon (28)
- Lieutenant Colzet TIE-Advanced with x1 title, Cluster Missiles and Sensor Jammer (27)
- Delta Squadron TIE-Defender with Heavy Laser Cannon (37)

Rebel Tactics

This time I wanted to go full thematic and to create a couple squadrons that would protect the Corvette. I also wanted to try the BTL-A4 title for the Y-Wings, so I created a Y-Wing squadron with Horton Salm as leader (his ability to re-roll blanks is awesome). Because of that, I decided to try the Ion Cannon Batteries with the Corvette. As blockers I decided to use A-Wings; they are highly maneuverable and may dodge a lot of attacks, and Arvel Crynyd is the best blocker out there.

I then finished adding Jan Ors as support ship. I wanted to feel the awesomeness of rolling 6 attack dice with the Corvette! I completed the Corvette with Weapons Engineer and Sensor Team to always be able to re-roll the Corvette's dice (not having Focus as possible action is a big disadvantage).

My last points went for Comms Booster and Backup Shield Generator. I regret not having changed these for Gas Tibanna Supplies, because I always had trouble with Energy and were not able to use those two cards... so points wasted.

Imperial Tactics

In the Imperial list I saw they had gone for the nemesis of the Corvette: Heavy Laser Cannons and Phantoms... These two things are overkill against a Corvette with its 0 Agility roll. Combine the Heavy Laser Cannons with Jonus, and you are going to deal a ton of damage to low Agility ships.

I also feel the Omicron Lambda with Sensor Jammer and Tactical Jammer was annoying and very difficult to kill... You need to score 10 points against a ship with Sensor Jammer! Seeing all the ships from that squadron huddling behind the Lambda was quite fun.

The Battle

With 600 points on the table, the Epic battle started to shine! Already from the setup there were a lot of tactical decisions to make on who to flank, counter-flank, protect or not the Corvette's engine area, etc. The battle took us a bit more than 270 minutes, was intense and very fun. Also, having to manage 300 points is heavy on your concentration and I did many noobie mistakes... fortunately, I was able to whine myself out of a couple predicaments, to the annoyance of my fellow players! Double hit! :))

Here is the summary:

Starting situation; two main groups close on the Corvette; I decided to flank the group in the center with my squadrons and then try to go back on the other group; the Imperials decided (correctly, I think) to have Soontir flank my squadrons

The evil Cannoneers have the Corvette in their target locks!

Situation at the beginning of the second turn

During the combat phase of the 1st turn, the Corvette shot 6 dice with Target Lock on one of the Phantoms and failed miserably (only 2 hits that were easily evaded by the Phantom).

Horton Salm launched his first missiles at the Shuttle (a noob error as he did not have Focus to counter the Sensor Jammer; on top of that, I forgot to re-roll my blank results; I whined like a pro and managed to convince the Imperials to let me roll a die for 50% chance of not launching the missiles, but I lost the toss). I scored 1 lousy hit on the Shuttle, which shot back at Horton for 4 solid hits!

Meanwhile, I decided to try to hunt Soontir with my A-Wings, as I think not putting any pressure on Soontir would be disastrous for me.

Beginning of second turn, from Imperials perspective

Situation at the end of round 3

On the bottom of the field, Soontir managed to avoid crashing into Arvel by a millimeter. We actually rolled to see 50% what happened and I lost again the toss (it would become a regular happening in this battle). I think this was the action that decided a big part of the battle, as from then on I had to keep at least two of my ships harassing Soontir every turn. At least I managed to survive his attack and my A-Wing suffered only 2 damages.

They decided to divide their main group. For me it was a good thing, because it took some heat away from the Corvette and also made Jonus's re-roll ability less powerful.

At the top, the Corvette was able to finally hit one of the Phantoms, then ionized it. It also ionized one of the TIE Advanced. It was one of its best turns, but still did not do much damage, even with all the re-rolls that the Sensor Team and Weapons Engineer allowed it.

Horton Salm ionizes the TIE Defender; the Omicron did not shoot so well this time and scored only 1 hit back

Ionized in the previous turn, all my ships focused fire on the Defender; I used this time one of my A-Wings to reduce its Agility; the Corvette scored the final hits with its primary weapon: 4 hits with one shot!

And here we see the Corvette blowing up one of the Phantoms with the Ion Cannon Batteries in the same turn. It had taken me 2 6-dice with re-roll primary weapon attacks and 2 re-roll Ion Cannon Battery attacks to destroy it: too many resources for just one ship.

In the following turn, Soontir finally manages to hunt down one of my A-Wings (I managed to harass him and survive 3 turns after his first attack!)

One of the funniest situations happened in the center. I managed to ionize one of the Lambdas and Captain Jonus. As my Corvette was in its last Hull points, I rammed the Shuttle and crippled also my front with an asteroid hit

The remaining Phantom cripples the aft part of the Corvette and destroys it. We discussed how cool would it be to have rules that would drop debris tokens on the map when a ship is blown

Captain Jonus is destroyed thanks to the focused fire of one of my Y-wings and one A-Wing

The 270 minutes had passed, and the final score was 141 points for the Imperials (the Corvette and one of the Green Squadron A-Wings) and 131 for me (Captain Jonus, the Delta Squadron TIE Defender, one Shadow Squadron Phantom and the Omicron Lambda with Sensor Jammer). A very close game, full of nice tactical and strategical decisions.

We had a bit of time and decided to play 1 more turn. I almost managed to destroy Soontir Fel (he escaped with 1 Hull point from another ambush), and the Imperials finally destroyed Horton Salm (who, by the way, never used his awesome re-roll ability...).

The surviving Shadow Phantom shoots down Horton Salm

Summary

The game ended with an Imperial minor victory... I think the deciding event was Soontir's narrow escape from my A-Wings' ambush. Half a centimeter and he would have crashed against Arvel. I would have used Jan Ors to give him an extra attack die, and I would have been able to attack him with 4 attack dice against 2 agility with no Focus (plus a second A-Wing would have had also a shot on him)... As it turned out, Soontir proved to be the best Imperial pilot and kept my ships busy for the rest of the game (and single handedly destroyed one of the A-Wings).

As for my list, I think it lacked punch power. The BTL-A4 title makes the Y-Wings a bit more competitive, but they still feel a bit sub-optimal. I completely forgot to use Horton's ability, but I guess this was compensated by the Imperial players forgetting also to use their Fire Control Systems... Having to manage 150 points (300 in my case) is very challenging.

Another thing to comment is on the Corvette. It still feels somewhat sub-optimal for its cost, though it makes the game much more interesting. In retrospect, I think my decision to also use the A-Wings for flanking their center group was not the correct one, and I should have used them for the original purpose I had in mind: to create a screen for the Corvette. As it turned out, 1 of their Phantoms and 2 of the TIE Advanced had a very easy hunt, as the Corvette is not powerful enough to fend off so many ships by itself (although it costs roughly the same amount: 120 points for the Corvette for 118 points for the two Phantoms and TIE Advanced, which were especially optimized to hunt down the Corvette because of their Pilot Skills).

Anyway, another great X-Wing game. It was very fun and tactically exciting. I even managed to whine my way out of a couple of tough spots... My apologies to the Imperials... well, not really... :P


Well, now comes the time for a well deserved vacation! The problem is that my friends' vacation won't coordinate too well with mine, so I think we won't be able to play our next Epic battle until late August... Until then, keep flying!

(cut scene)

(Soontir is surrounded by 3 enemy fighters)

Arvel: Well done, boys! We have him right where we wanted; he cannot escape now!

Soontir: focus, focus, focus, veer to the right... and full throttle to the left!

Arvel: Where did he go? He disappeared from my sights!

Green One: Help! I have him at my 7!
Soontir: focus focus focus (laser cannon sounds) (A-wing explodes)

Soontir: for the Emperor!
(yes, he is so frightening as a Terminator Space Marine)

Epic Team Battle 1

For our first trial, we decided to go for teams with 120 points per player.

Teams

Rebels
Rombic (120 points) (played by Antonio)
- Jake Farrel A-Wing with Test Pilot, Assault Missiles, Push the Limit and Autothrusters (34)
- Blue Squadron B-Wing with Ion Torpedoes (27)
- Gold Squadron Y-Wing with Ion Cannon Turret (23)
- Rookie X-Wing (21)
- Prototype A-Wing with Chardaan Refit (15)  

Darth Messengers (119 points) (played by me, JL)
- CR90 Corvette (Fore) with Dodonna's Pride, Single Turbolasers, Engineering Team and Comms Booster (70)
- CR90 Corvette (Aft) with Quad Laser Cannons and Backup Shield Generator (49)


Imperials 
Rickbane (120 points) (played by Ricardo)
- Soontir Fel TIE-Interceptor with Push the Limit and Autothrusters (32)
- Colonel Vessery TIE- Defender with Adrenaline Rush (36)
- Sigma Squadrom Phantom with Fire Control System and Stygium Particle Accelerator (29) 
- Lieutenant Colzet TIE-Advanced with x1 title and Fire Control System (23)

Tardis (120 points) (played by Beni)
- Rear Admiral Chiraneau Decimator with Determination, Proximity Mines, Mercenary Copilot, Gunner, Ysanne Isard and Engine Upgrade (65)
- Krassis Trelix Firespray-31 with Heavy Laser Cannon, Proximity Mines, Gunner and Engine Upgrade (55)

Rebel Tactics

Our main idea was to combine the Comms Booster of the CR90 with Jake Farrell's power, to give him a lot of maneuverability. We added also a couple of blast missiles to our lists to have some sort of swarm control. Finally, the 4 non-unique ships would be assigned to the protection of the aft section of the Corvette, its weakest point.

Imperial Tactics

From their list, the ship I feared the most was Krassis Trelix with his Heavy Laser Cannon. This sort of weapon can be very dangerous for the Corvette (especially when coupled with Krassis ability that allows him to re-roll 1 die for free when using secondary weapons).
In that sense, the Phantom also seemed a big threat for the Corvette, because of its 4-dice attack.
The other nice combo was to have so many FCs coupled with Colonel Vessery's ability.
The proximity mines look scary on paper, but they are difficult to deploy (I have already some experience with them), so they did not worry me so much,

The Battle

Even though there were 479 points on the table, as we played with a 90x180cm field, it looked a bit empty. The battle felt more like a big skirmish, as there were not many possibilities of flanking strategies (not enough points for that, compared with the next battle as you'll see in my next post).

Still, the feeling of fielding so many ships at once was very exhilararing, and there were plenty of good and fun moments.

The Imperial patrol catches sight on a poor lonely Rebel Corvette and approaches it with evil intentions...

The Corvette is protected by a small group of Rebel fighters lead by the valerous Jake Farrel

A detailed view of the Rebels

Krassis closes as fast as he can on the Corvette with the intention of using his Heavy Laser Cannon; meanwhile, the Corvette starts firing on Chirenau's Decimator

A miscommunication problem caused some trouble in the Rebel escort ships...

Jake Farrel launches his Assault Missiles with great success against the Imperial leader, the dreaded Admiral Chirenau; the blast caught also the TIE Phantom. Meanwhile, the Corvette concentrates fire on Chirenau, while deflecting the shields to the front, to better protect itself against Krassis' HLC

A calculation error lands Krassis between Corvette and asteroid... The Prototype A-Wing blocked Krassis' move to his right, he turned left and landed on the asteroid, unable to use his Engine Upgrade to escape the incoming Corvette... HONK HONK (last sounds heard by Krassis)

With Krassis gone, things look dire for the Imperials; Chirenau is being shot at by the Corvette and its escorts, and the rest of the Imperial patrol is unable to focus fire

Chirenau's Decimator is destroyed under the heavy barrage

Soontir Fel manages to evade the Rebel escort screen and approaches the Corvette, but has not too much space to maneuver;
meanwhile, an intense fight erupts among the escorts of both fleets, punctuated every now and then by the barrages of the CR90s weapons!
The B-Wing is destroyed after a valiant fight!

Lieutenant Colzet's TIE Advanced blows in pieces, surrounded by Rebel fighters

The Rebels have gained the upper hand, and even Soontir has trouble connecting good attacks

The Corvette shoots down the Phantom, which had been severely damaged from previous shots

Colonel Vessery becomes the last victim of the CR90 escort

Summary

The game ended in an Imperial rout... The turning point was Krassis collision with the CR90. Also, the Rebels managed to concentrate their fire much better than the Imperials, and Jake Farrel's coordination with the Corvette's comms booster worked to perfection, as he could almost always be where he was most needed. Finally, Rombic rolls were consistently above average (apparently, some Karmic balance to an incident that happened during the very first turn and caused some trouble in his maneuvering). :))

On the Imperial side, there was not much to celebrate. Their rolls were below average and they needed more time than normal to finish the first escort (the B-Wing) on which they focused (although also with not much success). Also, Krassis's collision with the asteroid and being trampled by the CR90 meant the Corvette was completely free to harass the rest of the Imperial ships from a distance.

The game was very fun, with plenty of heroic moments, saves and deaths because of small miscalculations and lot of good-spirit mocking, bragging and joking... as usual, a pleasure to play X-Wing!

And stay tuned to our next transmission! Another Epic Team Battle, this time with 150 points per player.

(cut scene)

(Krassis drives his Firespray while listening to Bob Marley's "Bad Boys")

Krassis: CR90 reduce your speed, you are in a highly protected ecologic area. Exogorths are known to breed in the area, and the vibrations of your engine might disturb them

CR90: (pzt, brr, static) please repeat the order

Krassis: CR90, that's it, smartass. Stop the ship and prepare to be boarded for inspection and for violating order 66-2 of the Imperial Ecologic Bureau.

(a big Exogorth sticks annoyed its head out of a nearby asteroid and grapples Krassis' Firespray)Krassis: Aggh!
CR90: (pzt, brr, static) Shit! An Exogorth colony! Quickly, full throttle before they grapple us...
(crash noises)

CR90: (pzt, brr, static) Did you hear anything? Tell that metal bucket to come here and fix this comm relay.
R2D2 unit: titoo too tip

Chirenau: Oh my Emperor! They killed Krassis! You bastards! Destroy that Corvette!

Ramping up for Epic battles!

The last months have been filled with lots of activity, and a lot of X-Wing gaming.

Actually, there was so many things going on, that I decided not to publish any comments for lack of time, and also because they were mostly Tournament-style 100-points skirmishes.

Two big events happened for my X-Wing gaming: a big regional tournament in which I participated and finished 3rd out of 27 players (using a variant of the famous YT-2400 + Corran Horn (E-Wing)), and an evening tournament I organized at the gaming club I'm member of. Both of them were lots of fun, and especially the one in my club was run in a great atmosphere (plus I won it!). Before and after, I played several skirmishes to try out different lists.

The most important thing is that we finally are getting ready to fight a big Epic Team battle, and that will be the theme of the next few posts.

Now, a couple pictures of what happened with X-Wing in the last couple months:

My prize for being 3rd (I won 4 battles and lost 1) in a regional tournament

Small tournament in my club (we were 6 people; I won 3 games and lost none)

One of my battles. My version of Corran Horn (with R2D2 and FCS) proved very durable and tough to beat

A battle during the tournament using my secondary mat; this was the first time I used it; the problem is that the geometric patterns are too confusing

A tutorial I ran on Huge ships; in this case, the CR90 Corvette