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)