So I got in my first play with the Tantive IV last night at the club with some interesting observations. I messed up a ton of things on the tactical side, despite knowing better, but overall I came away with some good points to build on.
For the match we were playing 100 points each player with 3 Imperial Navy players and 3 Rebel players. I took the Tantive, the second Rebel player took a transport, and the third player took some X and A wings.
The Imperials took all TIE fighters, a squadron of TIE bombers, and a shuttle to throw in some token support.
First mistake- where was the screening force for the Rebels?
I learned this when the transport first came out- as tough as it is, it needs ships to screen and stop the bomber runs or TIE spam spitting out attack dice. It needs a chance to regenerate shields with the energy before it starts loosing hull.
We should have dropped the transport and spent the points on more X/A Wings, but the other rebel player wanted to get the transport on the table.
Second is deployment- which is where I dropped the ball. I played the Tantive conservative, rather than aggressive, especially with a lack of fighters against a fast moving TIE swarm and bomber pack. I deployed to the left, with the intention of slowly working up and around to the center of the table so I could always build up energy by moving slow.
Wrong.
I should have been in the middle of the table, pushing forward, shooting, and trying to ram the TIE packs since they needed to together for the free target locks and re-rolls being handed out like candy. The physical footprint of the model should have been a weapon- with the transport behind it. Deployment is deployment though, and there is no do-over once the ship is down.
Thoughts on the ship?
It’s faster than it looks, especially if you only take upgrades like the turbo-lasers and plan on spending your energy on that alone. Shooting 5 out was kind of fun, and only scary to the Imperials the first time ,but against fast moving TIE packs that range is quickly closed and they are shooting at you. Quad laser cannon strafing along the side are another story and can be quite scary.
Which leads to the cost of the ship itself- for the game I only had 100 points to spend, which means next to nothing on upgrades, crew or titles. It’s like I really want 150-200 points to get the flavor and full threat of the ship on the table.
But then what about a fighter screen.
200 points on the Tantive and 200 points of TIE fighters and bombers, and I still don’t feel confident I could stop them. 300 points- 100 on a fighter screen and 200 on the Tantive and I still don’t know.
Thoughts?
Obviously I need more than a few more games in with it, and first impressions on the table are just that, but I do need to figure out a good balance point as soon as possible since out group tends to play big games with a few dozen fighters on each side.
Plus I love the model, and can see myself all heroic on the command deck looking out, and that alone is worth the price of admission.