I’ve begun playing the Hoth campaign which comes with the Rebel Transport and I thought that I would share the results of the matches here. I am not the most experienced player, but there were lots of interesting twists and turns, so enjoy!

P.S.: I had to play against myself because:

1. I don’t know anyone else in Montreal who has the time, patience and passion (bordering on insanity) to play such a long match over several days.
2. In case that I ever found someone to play with, I’d want the extra edge by learning of the scenarios myself first, hehe.

(I do my best not to overthink my manoeuvers according to what my opponent would do since I’m playing against myself)

Building the squads

Miniature wise, I had 1 unit of every expansion up to wave 3 in addition to the Imperial Aces. I also had an extra A-Wing (because they were so hard to get so when I caved and ordered it online, I ordered 2). Because I only have 3 ties, I cannot field a true swarm, hence why I focused on other strategies.

I first started building the Imperial squad for each mission and since no named unit can appear in two missions, I had to carefully pick who would go where according to my predictions as to how the battle would go. There was also an important factor: the victory on the third mission is the one that really matters, so I had to keep my best assets for that mission (which I’m not sure I did yet).

The rebel squad was faster to build, bust just as hard. Only unique rebel pilots can field upgrades and only a surviving pilot can get additional “freebee” points to fine tune their ships between missions (which can mean 10 extra squad points if you survive up to mission 3). Losing a battle could also mean losing a reserve pilot, which could be catastrophic. As such, I focused a lot on named pilots, which could have been a problem later on.

The one constant element of my fleet, the GR-75, was configured as follows:

• GR-75 (0)
• Combat retrofit (0)
• Bright hope (5)
• Repair droid (2)
• Comms booster (4)
• Backup generator (3)
• Shield projector (4)

Bright hope was therefore configured as a tank, supporting and covering its escort when able. I left one personnel seat empty on purpose, preferring to be able to field more points with my squad. That meant that for every mission, 18 squad points would be taken for the transport.

Resources carried by the GR-75 included (a wide range to fill gaps during each mission):

• Flechette torpedoes
• Hull upgrade
• Shield upgrade
• Stealth device
• Assault missile
• Concussion missile
• Advanced proton torpedoes
• Proton torpedoes

Mission 1

Rebels:

• GR-75 (with upgrades)
• Wedge (push the limit, R2) : added proton torpedoes through resources
• Luke (expert handling, R2-D2)
• Ibtisam (expert handling, advanced sensor) : added flechette torpedoes through resources

Imperials:

• Dark curse
• Night beast
• Lieutenant Lorrin
• Winged Gundark
• Carnor Jax (push the limit, targeting computer)

Fleet composition:

If you include the transport in the equation, the rebels nearly outgun the imperials by 50% in terms of points. There was, in my mind, no way that the Imperial army would destroy both transport and escort in a straight out fight, not with these odds. I needed an army that could therefore be mobile and hopefully ****** away control of the mines from the rebels (with ships with pilot ranking 5 or higher counting as two ships). Higher grade ships could also be replaced with reinforcements when destroyed, which I thought would play in my favor. Carnor was chosen for his ability to disrupt focuses, but that ability never came into play.

I realized I had a problem with my rebel army as soon as I tried to assemble my squad: most of my ships cost a little over 30 points, which meant I could only field 3 in this mission. The mission guidelines said I could downgrade a named pilot to a generic one, but I figured I would try my luck and see if I could pull it off with 3 ships. Luke would be going solo to capture the mines while Wedge and Ibtisam would focus on taking out enemies.

Bright Hope started in the corner (exactly like the map on the mission), with Luke on the left and Wedge and Ibtisam on the right. Night Beast, Lieutenant Lornir and winged Gundark were at the bottom of the map while Carnor Jax and Dark Curse approached from the right. Coming in from the same direction would have been problematic, allowing the transport to show its reinforced front forward.

Round 1:

Bright Hope did a careful 2 forward while its escorts moved to capture the two nearby mines. The Imperials moved forward, staying out of range. At the end of the round, the first mine was activated, forcing the transport to back up by 1. Not the most efficient mine, but I felt it would not be the most useful one anyway.

Round 2:

The Imperials moved forward, coming within range and acquiring focuses. Carnor Jax acquired a target lock on Ibtisam in the process. Not liking how outnumbered they were, Wedge surged forward, acquired a target lock on Dark Curse and pushed the limit to get a focus (for defense). A lucky roll resulted in four hits against only 1 dodge, destroying it in a single shot. A tie would spawn at the “end corner” at the end of the turn. Meanwhile, Luke moved aggressively towards Night beast, acquired a target lock and then barrel rolled out of its firing arc. The GR-75 removed Luke’s stress and added a focus using its comms booster (doing an improved version of push the limit). Luke unleashed a salvo, but Night beast had both a focus and evade on and received no damage.

Ibtisam could not fire on anyone, but had moved out of Carnor’s reach. The rest of the Ties only had a line of fire on the transport, but it had reinforced its fore section, negating all of their attacks in the process. Carnor would have needed 3 hits to even scratch it and the dices were not in his favor.

Round 3:

Ibtisam and Wedged fell upon Carnor, forcing him in a mad retreat while taking some damage. Meanwhile, Night Beast and Winged Gundark tried to fly past Luke and get on the transport’s starboard side. One of them succeeded, but the other miscalculated, ending its course right in front of it. It did not get any damage from the collision, but the following move from the transport itself crushed it to pieces. Lieutenant Lorrin meanwhile snuck in on the port side, using his unique barrel roll to get an unexpected firing angle. The Tie fighter replacing Dark Curse tried to catch up to the battle.

Unfortunately, the enemy now only had firing angles on the rear of the ship, allowing the transport to reinforce it while passing a focus to Luke again. Some damage was made to its shields, but the backup shield generator was already doing its job. One Tie tried to attack Ibtisam, but the transport extended its shields and took the hit, negating the damage.

Then something unexpected happened. Winged Gundark (which has always been useless in my book) had come in range 1 of the mine which was currently under the transport. Since his pilot skill was 5 (counting as two ships) vs the transport (3), it stole the control of the mine away, which was at a terrific range 1!

The Imperial part of me was thrilled at the success, but then noticed how poorly I had chosen my mine: it was one that added 3 stress to any enemy pilots (some damage to the transport would have been better). Not knowing what to do, I added all 3 stress to Wedge, bringing him to 4 stress.

“Wedge, the last hit killed your puppy!” came the unexpected transmission, stressing him out to no end.

The Imperial part of myself felt good… until I realized that the comm’s booster would take all that stress away next round in a single shot. Dang those rebels.

Following rounds:

I’ll skip the play by play, but Imperial pilots died one at a time. The influx of tie replacements was appreciated, but their timing was horrible considering the distance that they had to travel. Lieutenant Lorrin made some brilliant manoeuvers, going from one end of the transport to the other and being a general pain to catch up to without risking a collision with the transport itself. Eventually, however, it became clear that Ties alone were no match for the transport and the remaining Imperial forces turned their attention to trying to kill an escort fighter. This ended up being Luke because of his positioning.

Luke’s shields collapsed and his X-wing suffered a lot of damage, but R2-D2 remained true to the cause and kept him in the air while Wedge swooped in at the last moment, destroying the Interceptor on his tail. In the end, only one Tie remained as the transport escaped into hyperspace, its hull unscathed. The rebel fighters followed a second later, leaving none of their own behind.

The surviving Tie pilot and the commander in charge of the battle did not survive their meeting with Darth Vader…

Wedge was rewarded with a free engine upgrade, to give him the same mobility as Luke should the need be present. After playing such a key role, the crew of the Bright Hope made sure that his survival was their top priority.

Conclusion:

Bright Hope, equipped with backup shield generator, is a beast against standard Tie fighters, negating all of their damage as long as its forward section is presented. Never approach it from the front as a single miscalculation can cost you a lot of ships. Also… I should have sent my entire army against Wedge… always kill Wedge first.

Ties only have a chance of scoring damage if they come in from port or starboard, preventing the enemy from reinforcing a specific section against damage. Do not underestimate the power of the first few mines, especially if you can sneak in a ship and steal the control away from the transport itself. Finally, chose which mine goes where carefully.

Mission 2

Rebels:

• GR-75 (with upgrades)
• Wedge (push the limit, R2, free engine upgrade)
• Luke (expert handling, R2-D2)
• Garven Dreis (R5-P9)
• Arvel : upgraded with stealth device from resources.

Imperial:

• Initial: Omicron Lambda shuttle, Kir Kanos (targeting computer, stealth device)
• Group A: Boba Fett (expert handling, gunner)
• Group B: Back stabber, Mauler Mithel
• Group C: 2x Royal Guard Interceptor (opportunist)
• Group D: Tie Interceptor Alpha

Fleet composition

Heading into an area with intense turbo laser and ion cannon fire, the Rebel fleet, now with more points to field, decided to give Ibtisam a break and field Garven instead. Arvel was added for crowd control, something that I felt could be important in this mission.

The Imperial army had a whopping 200 points to field, but reinforcements arrived in waves. Success therefore did not depend on deadliness, but rather on keeping ships alive while more arrived, gradually overwhelming the rebels.

Group A would spawn from the left, B from the right, C from the top (behind the transport) and D a little under A (on the left).

Round 1-2: Initial wave

Garven and Luke, both with shield recovery capability, were deployed against the Lambda shuttle while Wedge and Arvel went against Kir. Kir aggressively moved forward and then boosted, flying past Wedge and Arvel’s firing arcs, but the transport, its forward shields reinforced, intercepted the attack meant for Garven. The Lambda shuttle took some hits, but its though shield allowed it to hold and fire back at Garven. The damage was, however, easily recovered from. The Imperials prepared a turbo laser salvo, hopefully cutting off wedge and Arvel from the fight.

During the second round, Wedge managed to fly and boost past the turbo fire battery (being very grateful for the free upgrade), catching up to Kir and damaging him. Arvel tried to twist away from the incoming fire, but underestimated the wide firing arc and lost his shields. The Lambda shuttle was destroyed before it could fire again, torn to pieces by Luke and Garven who had moved into range 1.

Boba Fett entered the fray at the end of the turn, his entrance followed by a second salvo of turbo lasers.

Round 3-4: Wave A, Boba Fett.

With numbers clearly not favoring him, Boba Fett flew past the X-wings which were scrambling to get out of the way of the turbo laser fire, using his expert handling to maneuver out of firing arcs. The plan had worked, scrambling the Rebels out of formation, but there was little time. With no clear advantage at targeting the transport, Boba fired a few shots at Garven from his rear guns, weakening his shields even as he flew towards the upper left corner.

The transport, having not much else to do, scrambled Boba’s communications, stressing him out and denying him any future fancy manoeuver. Kir was destroyed by Luke and then he, Garven and Arvel closed in on Boba, joining him in the upper left corner. In the meantime, Wedge had to turn around slowly, having been split from the main force because of turbo laser fire.

Round 5-6: Back stabber and Mauler Mithel.

Coming in from the right side of the map, Back Stabber and Mauler Mithel surged forward at high speed, closing in on the fighters pursuing Boba Fett. Their attacks did destroy the elusive Arvel, however, and Wedge started unleashing salvos from a distance, damaging them.

Meanwhile, Boba Fett struggled, his shields weakening, but never truly giving away. Luke decided to help Arvel, disengaging from Slave 1 and twisting towards the Ties, destroying one of them. The entire battle had now reached the upper left corner… exactly as planned.

Round 7: Royal Guards

Although it had maneuvered slowly since the begging while carefully managing its energy, the Rebel transport had moved some distance from the edge from which it had started. This meant nothing to the Royal Guard interceptors which joined the battle, their engines screaming as they moved a full 5 forward and then pushed them 1 beyond, landing them within range 1 of the transport. Wedge tried to intercept them, but underestimated the distance that they would travel and flew past them.

Garven, Luke and Arvel had to do some hard turns just to get in the right direction while Boba Fett flew out of the melee, leaving them behind and turning his full attention to the transport. Both interceptors fired, taking the stress from “opportunist” and launching a 5 dices each, combined with Boba’s 3 dices. Not even the Bright Hope’s reinforced shields could handle this and they collapsed in an instant, laser bolts tearing off chunks of armor and even laying a critical hit.

Final round: the Tie Interceptor Alpha

Wedge did a k-turn, but ended up out of range, Luke, Arvel and Garven tried to refocus their fire, but Luke did not manage to kill one of the Royal Guard and while Garven did score a kill, the fact that both had the same pilot skill meant that the royal guard could still fire. The transport moved forward and dumped all of its energy reserves into its shields, expecting the worst… it came.

Combined fire from Boba and both Royal guards collapsed its shields again and left it at a single hull point. For a second, it seemed the transport would escape, but the last Imperial reinforcements came in the form of a line Alpha Tie Interceptor which closed the distance with a focus. It unleashed a full barrage of laser fire, tearing right through the rear of the transport.

Instead of firing at the passenger section, the Interceptor looped in from underneath it and shot at the cargo containers, destroying the Rebel’s stealth upgrade and collection of Proton torpedoes. The transport then miraculously limped into hyperspace, followed by its escort.

The Imperials had won and Boba Fett was well compensated for his strategy in the battle. Meanwhile, Rebel engineers worked overtime on the transport, hoping to repair most of the damage before exiting hyperspace. Having survived his second battle, Wedge’s X-Wing was upgraded with a free assault missile EDIT: not sure what yet, made a typo there. Whatever the next battle would bring, the Rebels would need to buy some time… fast…

Conclusions:

The Rebel Transport, especially Bright Hope, is weakest when attacked from the rear. Tie Interceptor with Opportunist were surprisingly effective and turned the tide of the battle. If I were to fight this battle again, I would probably unleash Boba Fett in the very first round, but facing away from the Rebels, leading them on a merry chase until reinforcements arrived. I would definitely keep wave C in a similar configuration and again, spawning behind the transport. The special turbo laser icons for this battle have a far wider firing arc than standard fighters, which is something to keep in mind when scrambling away. Speed is definitely of the essence in this fight, for both parties. The Rebels cannot easily use their ion cannons because of the risk of hitting their own ships, but the Imperials can more easily use it at the beginning to screw up enemy formations.

Mission 3: coming soon (when I have a few hours, not too tired and the kitchen table available, lol)

^{Mission 3}

^{Rebels :}

• ^{GR-75 (with upgrades)}
• ^{Wedge (push the limit, R2, engine boost, proton torpedoes)}
• ^{Luke (expert handling, R2-D2)}
• ^{Ibtisam (expert handling, advanced sensor): advanced proton torpedoes added from resources}

^{Imperials :}

• ^{Vader (swarm tactics, concussion missiles)}
• ^{Colonel Jendon ( ST 321, heavy laser cannon)}
• ^{3 x Tie Academy pilots}
• ^{1 x Alpha Tie interceptor}

^{Fleet composition}

^{For the rebels, the third and final mission suffered the same problem as the first mission: the composition of my fleet was just too **** high in points, preventing me from fielding 4 ships. You get four special upgrades, but one of them requires a pilot to sacrifice his action phase to use (which is a big deal when you only have 3 ships). This is when a Z-95, even a plain vanilla one, would have been really useful.}

^{I should have never fielded a B-Wing on that mission since it lacked the maneuverability to quickly get around the transport (more on that later). Biggs would have also been priceless in that mission to protect the transport itself (which comes under heavy fire right away).}

^{The Imperial army composition is one that I find interesting when I play against myself. Vader usually has a high alpha strike capability with a high survivability factor as long as he’s not stressed. Colonel Jendon was just added for kicks.}

^{At this point, I’d like to remind everyone that I had to plan all 3 Imperial missions without reusing any named pilots and trying to guess the true powers / weaknesses of the rebel transport. So while the Imperial army was not the best pick, it was the one that I was most comfortable with at the time.}

^{The deployment phase really advantages the Imperials because all Rebel forces are deployed first. While the Empire must field 50 points from their side of the field, the rest is free to spawn close to the transport’s weak spots (sides, rear) and more importantly, away from the ships escorting it.}

^{The transport was deployed much like the picture in the mission setup, with Wedge and Ibtisam on the port side and Luke on Starboard. Fearing an attack from the rear, Ibtisam was pointed towards the upper right corner of the map, a mistake that made him absolutely useless for the first two rounds of the game (except as a passive boost to the transport). Colonel Jendon and two academy Ties started from the Imperial line while Vader, the Tie Interceptor and remaining Tie attacked from the transport’s Starboard side (which was only protected by Luke).}

^{Round 1}

^{Wedge, his ship slightly aimed away from the transport, could not realistically cross it and help Luke, so he headed for the approaching Ties and Lambda shuttle. Luke, fearing a concentrated barrage of fire on his ship, angled to intercept Vader while staying out of reach of the Interceptor. Ibtisam was stuck simply turning in spot (useless).}

^{The Ties and Colonel Jendon moved carefully, maneuvering through the asteroids while staying out of Wedge’s range. Vader and the Tie Interceptor managed to move past Luke and towards the transport (with Vader tacking a lock and focus, but too close to use his missiles). The transport itself used the bonus action from Ibtisam (the special bonus token) combined with its own action to jam Vader (2 stress tokens) and use the repair droid to get rid of the critical damage from the last mission.}

^{Then Vader and the Tie interceptor let loose, collapsing the transport’s shields and even doing some damage to the hull (this part right here is where Biggs would have been useful). Because they were attacking from the side, the transport's reinforcement was useless. Worse yet, since they were at range 1, they could cancel 4 maneuvering choices for the transport next round (3 for Vader, 1 for the Interceptor).}

^{Naturally, all the slow manoeuvers were cut off, preventing the transport from recovering a lot of energy while also putting it in a position where it would risk ramming into Wedge should he try to come to the rescue (never mind the B-wing) while also heading for the asteroid field. This was, again, another mistake in rebel positioning (reinforcements should have been further behind the transport, allowing for easier maneuvering).}

^{Round 2}

^{Vader and the Interceptor stayed towards the back of the transport, being hard to reach for every other rebel. Luke and Wedge had no other choice but to desperately manoeuver to take on the academy pilots while avoiding being crushed by their very own transport (only Luke’s expert handling saved him while allowing him to shoot).}

^{One Tie fighter was destroyed, and the rest missed their assault on wedge. The Lambda shuttle moved in range, however, and lent its impressive firepower to Vader and the Interceptor’s efforts. The transport threw its remaining energy into its shields, but they collapsed again as more damage, and even a few criticals, started piling up.}

^{Round 3-4}

^{The last two rounds were a mess, with Ibtisam barely attacking once. All Tie fighters were destroyed, but the Lambda shuttle, while damaged, could use the asteroid fields along with its ability to stop to prevent itself from being rammed by the transport. Vader and the Interceptor finished off the transport by the end of the 4th round, and that’s despite the fact that I forgot to take into account a few effects from the critical damage that it had endured.}

^{Vader watched the transport burn and then crash against an asteroid, its crew flying into the cold void of space. Luke, feeling guilty over the loss of so many lives at the battle of Hoth, withdrew and went to Dagobah for some unknown reason before Vader could catch him. It is a sad day for the rebellion}

^Conclusion:

^{Maarek Stele would have probably been a better alternative to Vader, his ability being unaffected by stress tokens (and Vader’s concussion missile was not even used). A Lambda shuttle, while vulnerable in a clear environment against a transport, is much safer while carefully navigating the interior of an asteroid field. The mission has less to do with obliterating the rebel forces than it has to eradicating the transport as quickly as possible.}

^{Rebel ships with high maneuverability would be preferable for this mission, especially since the Imperials place their ships last. A pilot like Biggs would be very useful in warding off the initial attack (which means that if the Imperials win in either mission 1 or 2 and can kill a pilot on standby, they should target him, even above Wedge).}

^{The Tie Advanced was specifically interesting, of its 1 bank manoeuvers, which allows it to stay behind the rebel transport with relative ease (unlike the Interceptors and fighters which have a harder time putting the brakes on).}

^{Entire Campaign suggestion}

^{The entire campaign is a lot of fun, but like most things X-Wing related, half of the victory is due to proper planning, which counts triple in this campaign. You should plan your strategy from mission 3 (the one which decides who win) and then move backwards to mission 1. When planning, keep in mind the following:}

^{Mission 1: the Transport is an asset.}

^{It highly favors the rebels. While they can rush through, a slow and steady approach is more likely to play in their favor, limiting the impacts of the mines while preserving the transport and their fleet. Imperials should field a few high ranking, but hard to hit pilots like Dark Curse to steal control of the mines. Try attacking the transport from the sides.}

^{Mission 2: proper balance.}

^{Probably the most balanced of missions, this one encourages Imperials to play smart, breaking Rebel formations with turbo laser fire and leading them away on the first few turns so that reinforcements can arrive. Proper positioning of the reinforcement points is key.}

^{For the rebels, the transport is an asset at the beginning, and a liability as time drags on. Through the entire game, you should move the transport in a way so that it will not be too vulnerable when the last waves of reinforcements show up.}

^{Mission 3: all hell breaks loose.}

^{By the third mission, the rebel transport can start with up to 2 critical hits right at the beginning. Here the transport is a liability; a big bull’s eye for the Imperials. Having more ships here is key, allowing you to prevent the Imperials from reaching range 1 and therefore dedicating the possible course and energy recovery of the transport (not to mention the extra damage). Also, try to not get run over by your own transport. B-Wings might be more of a liability (unless maybe with Ion cannons? Worth investigating)}

^{The Imperial’s goal here is simple, with only 125 points instead of mission 2’s 200 points, their sole focus should be to distract the escort, but destroy the transport. I really doubt that you can do both.}

^{Final words}

^{Well, that’s all I can think of! Since the third mission is the key for the whole campaign, it is the only one worth “practicing” before you play the whole match with a buddy (especially if you play the Rebels). The entire experience is fun (if time consuming) and really teaches some of the fundamental strengths and weaknesses of the transport.}

^{Have fun out there!}

There are players in Montreal that frequent these forums. Give them a shout out.

Fun read, thanks for posting!

Great write up with good advice! I never thought about using opportunist to get the extra die against a ship that can't take any of those actions. Will definitely go for it when I fly Imperials!

Great Write ups!

I think you need Y-wing's with Ion's to make those enemies go into front of the tranport, so you can smash them. Then you can jam them with transport and Ion them. The key is to keep them stuck into simple moves.

_{Great Write ups!}

_{I think you need Y-wing's with Ion's to make those enemies go into front of the tranport, so you can smash them. Then you can jam them with transport and Ion them. The key is to keep them stuck into simple moves.}

_{I'm sure the strategy is worth exploring in mission 1 and epic game format. However, the real crux in mission 2 and 3 is that the Empire can spawn from the side or even the rear of the transport.}

_{If for example, the Tie Interceptor is coming from behind and gets ionized, it might collide with the transport (resulting in a possible 1 damage and a loss of action), however, the transport always moves last, so the Interceptor will still be able to fire (and quite possibly fire at range 1). So many possibilities to take into account}

I don't think Advanced Proton Torpedoes work well in the resources column.

They cost 6 points, and the limit specified in "2) Resolve Rebel Effects" has a maximum of five squad points. I'm not 100% sure they could be taken as a resource in in the campaign.

I don't think Advanced Proton Torpedoes work well in the resources column.

They cost 6 points, and the limit specified in "2) Resolve Rebel Effects" has a maximum of five squad points. I'm not 100% sure they could be taken as a resource in in the campaign.

You're right about it not being a good resource, but not for that reason. If you read the "resolve rebel effects", you'll see that those 5 points can include things that are not part of your resources. Resources are meant to fill the gaps before the mission begins.

The reason why advanced torpedoes does not work is that it's hard enough to get at range 1 with a target lock with the right ship. Doing so while you have a transport getting in the way is even harder