My single player game: XXEE vs Phantoms & Vader

By mazz0, in X-Wing

I wanted to improve my E-Wing flying skills, so thought I'd play a single player game. As I was doing so, I figured I might as well practice my Phantom flying skills too.

I'm a genius when it comes to forgetting what movement I assigned to my ships, so single player isn't a problem for me :P

Here are my squads (130pt):

Rebel

Hobbie Klivian
R2-D6
Push the Limit
Etahn A'baht
R2 Astromech
Push the Limit
Garven Dreis
Corran Horn
R2 Astromech
Push the Limit
Empire

Sigma Squadron Pilot

Stigium Particle Accelerator
Echo
Fire-control System
Stigium Particle Accelerator
Whisper
Advanced Cloaking Device
Darth Vader
Engine Upgrade
My thinking for the rebels was obviously lots of actions for Hobbie, with his free destressing, the R2s and PTL on the E-Wings for the same thing, and Garven so that Corran can have a focus for his second shot.
For the Empire, I just wanted to try different combos on the Phantoms (I'm actually thinking Engine Upgrade might be a good one, instead of either of their cloaking related ones - what do people think? Would make it even harder to predict where they'll end up, and even easier to stay out of arcs), and threw Vader in there as he's one of my favourites to fly, and I figured since I wasn't likely to be flying in formation then a ship that's good and shooting around on its own would fit in well.
So here's what I found: I played three games and the Empire crushed the Rebellion completely in two of them. Some of this was dice luck, some of it was because I made the mistake of ending up with my whole rebel squad in the middle of the game, totally surrounded, and when your opponents have a Primary Attack of 4 you don't want many of them shooting at you at once. Still, the Rebels were able to focus fire on the Empire just as much as the Empire did on the Rebels for several turns, the Rebels just seemed to die faster. Is this what people would expect?
In the third game the Rebels caught one of the Phantoms on his own away at the side of the board and killed him instantly, without taking any damage, but then when the rest of the Empire's ships engaged it got much closed, with the Rebels coming out on top but only by one, shields down, ship.
So, what do people think of these two squads (remember they're 130, which I find is a nice limit for playing with several expensive ships)? They were fun to play, but what struck me was that, in addition to the Phantoms having a strong chance to not be in anybody's arc, they also seem to win most direct conflicts, pretty much thanks to the 4 attack. Corran's ability didn't come in to it much, as when I could have used it I was without any tokens, even with Garven nearby, so I figured I'd be better firing with tokens next turn. Ethan's ability would probably have been handier against large ships.
I could have tried to split my Rebels ships up and avoid letting the Phantoms focus fire, after all Corran's ability doesn't rely on your being close to him, but I find it's harder to focus fire yourself unless you fly in formation. How would you guys fly these squads?
Edited by mazz0

I thought I was the only person on here playing with well... myself really... ;)

It's really improved my flying skills.

I have wondered how many people use hobbie, I been eyeballing him since I picked up the X wing expansion.

Edited by Dagger Squadron

He seems like good value to me. It's should be pretty easy to trigger his ability, which gives you a Tycho/Vader in an XWing :) My problem has been I aquir his target lock on the ship on which I intend to focus fire, then by the time it's his turn to shoot its already dead, so he doesn't get to spend his target lock and get rid of his stress. But if you work out the odds of the people shooting first taking out that ship you should be able to avoid that happening too often.

Also, there are ways to give him free target locks, so he could use Push The Limit to focus and boost (using Engine Upgrade) or Barrel Roll (using Expert Handling). I'm not sure how handy his ability is if you're not using Push The Limit; so you could acquire a target lock one turn, do a K Turn, spend your target lock and the benefit is you now don't need to do a green manoeuvre. Handy, but not amazing. You couldn't keep doing it as you wouldn't have a turn to take the target lock action.

Interesting. I just looked at Tarn and couldn't believe I didn't see it before, give him a R7 And He Becomes A Tuff Nut To crack.

For 1 shot. R7 only triggers once a turn. It's sort of like C3PO. Looks amazing, but ends up being good, but not game breaking.

For 1 shot. R7 only triggers once a turn. It's sort of like C3PO. Looks amazing, but ends up being good, but not game breaking.

I wonder why they specified that. It's quite hard to have multiple target locks, why not allow them all to be used?

For 1 shot. R7 only triggers once a turn. It's sort of like C3PO. Looks amazing, but ends up being good, but not game breaking.

I wonder why they specified that. It's quite hard to have multiple target locks, why not allow them all to be used?

Because of Tarn. It would basically be an auto include with his ability. Though they designed them both at the same time, they could have changed Tarn to say "after defending, you may acquire a TL on the attacker."

Good to know it's only once but it still seems solid. Wait until they get a solid attack roll then force them to re roll it is always fun.

Like you said, not game breaking.