Our FLGS, Eternal Games in Warren, MI, ran an Epic 3v3 300 pt vs. 300 point game for Tabletop Game Day yesterday. It was "epic" -- the game gets pretty wild with lots of ships on the board.

It was a little hard to get organized; the intent was originally 8 players with 4v4 per side, each player 75 points, so no one had Huge ships. We only had six players show, though, show we shifted to 3v3 at 100 points each.

We played on a 4x6 mat set, with 12 asteroids and 6 debris fields, and randomly matched up teams.

We ended up with an all-Imperial Team vs an Imperial-Rebel-Scum mix (I may have some upgrades wrong, below)

Imperial Fleet

5 x Alpha Squadron Interceptors w/Autothrusters

VT-49 Patrol Leader (Vader, Gunner, Tactician)

VT-49 Patrol Leader (Gunner, Rebel Captive, Tactician)

Soontir Fel (PTL, Autothrusters, Shield Upgrade, Royal Guard)

Shadow Squadron Pilot (Mara Jade, Sensor Jammer, Stealth Device - nicknamed "Can't Touch This")

Omicron Pilot Lambda (Advanced Sensors, Recon Specialist)

vs.

Imperial-Rebel-Scum

Whisper (VI, ACD, FCS, Recon Specialist)

Carnor Jax (PTL, Autothrusters)

2 x Academy TIE

Han Solo (MF Title, C3P0, R2D2, Predator, Engine Upgrade)

3 x Tala Z-95s

2 x Black Sun Enforcer Star Viper

4 x Binayre Pirate Z-95

The mixed fleet had a multi-point intiative bid. The Imperials decided to sic Vader on Whisper and the Interceptor swarm on Han; Whisper and the Fat Han crew headed for the Decimators and Lambda while the Scum faction circled the flank. As the fleets engaged, the Imperials suffered an initial blunder as the big ships collided after being blocked by the Academy TIEs and ended up in debris fields, but Vader was still able to strip down Whisper in two rounds allowing Soontir to issue the coup de gras. The Interceptor swarm inflicted heavy damage on Han, who limped away with a Blinded Pilot. The Shadow "Can't Touch This" pilot skirted the field heading in to stress the oncoming Z swarms.

The Lambda fell as the swarms collided, and Z-95s and Interceptors started to fall. Vader was soon down to one hull but had taken down additional Z-95s. Carnor then fell to the combined fire of the remaining Interceptors as the cleared the main battle area and caught him on the outskirts of the asteroid field.

The battle broke into three skirmishes with the mixed fleet having the edge 8 ships remaining to six; Shadow and Interceptor vs 2 Z's; two Interceptors and the Decimators against Han, the Star Vipers and four Zs, and Soontir and the Academy Ties. Soontir zoomed into the fray as the Z's got whittled down and the Shadow/Interceptor took care of their two Zs. The Decimators wiped out Han, but then one was lost to a critical on its last hull point as it collided with a friendly Interceptor.

At that point the tide turned fully and the Imperials started mopping up, with the remaining Decimator doing the bulk of the damage assisted by Soontir, two Alphas, and the Shadow. One Alpha fell in the cleanup and the Shadow collided with an Asteroid allowing it to be killed uncloaked, but the last mixed fleet ship fell and the Imperials were victorious with Soontir, a Decimator, and one Alpha Interceptor (one ship per player on that side) remaining at the end.

It took five hours, and getting set up and into the groove with six players on one board was pretty tough, but it looks really amazing with all those ships on the board mixed up in a furball. Fleet tactical planning takes on a new dimension as the players have to coordinate to allow continued maneuver with such a variety on the board.

Lots of fun was had by all!

awesome.

I think that these type of games are just what is needed when people get bored or aggravated by the traditional games.

to further improve the experience for next time:

What would you do differently?

What worked well?

Was the play area sufficient? Where there too many/ too little asteroids?

No pictures? Awww....

One of the other players took pictures but I don't have any.

The play area and the asteroid quantity worked pretty well for the number of ships; it would have been too small, I think, for four players per side at 100 points each (the original 4x75 per side would probably have been fine, too). Though we were a little short on space around the play mats for our stuff.

Cooperation between players makes a big difference -- our ability to focus on critical targets early while we still had most of our ships made most of the difference, I think. Both sets of teams could have one; I think ou side just coordinated better.

Hey, I know you. I was the guy flying the 5 Interceptors with Autothrusters. My idea was to beeline across the center of the map, taking tanking whatever damage I could and just keep on going. Then I would use my weakened interceptors to mop up the loose tie fighters. I only lost one Int in the approach and fat Han ended up parking infront of my Interceptors and took a lot of damage.

The Scum player bumped a lot with his swarm and arrived too late to focus me down.