My brother-in-law visited again this weekend. Last time he was here we played X-wing three times, and he creamed me on our last match. He also participated in a team epic that we played at the shop. So when I showed him my Imperial Raider, he was so pumped to try it out! We played Epic Tournament rules.

His squad (Imperial):

300 points

Raider-class Corvette (fore) (68)
Raider-class Corvette (50), Ion Cannon Battery (6), Sensor Team (4), Comms Booster (4), Instigator (4)

Raider-class Corvette (aft) (75)
Raider-class Corvette (50), Shield Technician (1), WED-15 Repair Droid (2), Quad Laser Cannons (6), Single Turbolasers (8), Engineering Team (4), Tibanna Gas Supplies (4)

Academy Pilot (12) x 4

Obsidian Squadron Pilot (13)

Darth Vader (37)
TIE Advanced (29), TIE/x1 (0), Predator (3), Engine Upgrade (4), Advanced Targeting Computer (5)

Kath Scarlet (59)
Firespray-31 (38), Assault Missiles (5), Heavy Laser Cannon (7), Seismic Charges (2), Lone Wolf (2), Gunner (5)

I don’t know that he had a particular strategy. I suggested he run Darth Vader like that, because he has been quite fun for me, and he ended up being mildly effective. I didn’t realize he had loaded up on Kath so much until we started, and we had already spent an hour setting up, so I didn’t want to spend more time adjusting his squad.

My squad (Rebel):

300 points

Rookie Pilot (21) x 6

GR-75 Medium Transport (42)
GR-75 Medium Transport (30), Bright Hope (5), Backup Shield Generator (3), Expanded Cargo Hold (1), EM Emitter (3)

CR90 Corvette (Fore) (82)
CR90 Corvette (50), Jaina's Light (2), Weapons Engineer (3), Single Turbolasers (8), Single Turbolasers (8), Sensor Team (4), Gunnery Team (4), Backup Shield Generator (3)

CR90 Corvette (Aft) (50)
CR90 Corvette (40), Dash Rendar (2), Engineering Team (4), Tibanna Gas Supplies (4)

The idea here is to get the transport between my CR-90 corvette and the enemy fleet, and obstruct attacks. Dash Rendar crew lets me shoot through my own EM Emitter without penalty. The Rookie Pilots are there to protect my CR-90 because it has no means of defending itself at range 1-2.

Set up

After setting out the obstacle clusters (debris and asteroids), we began to deploy ships. It started with his four Academy Pilots in two groups of two. Then I placed my X-wings opposite his TIEs. Then he placed his Obsidian in one formation, and I placed my Transport. Here’s the thing: the top left corner was wide open, and I fully expected him to place his Raider there. So I placed my GR-75 Bright Hope between the X-wings but more towards the left, and was caught off guard when he set up his Instigator in the middle of his edge. Great. If I put the CR-90 where I had planned, the Bright Hope wouldn’t be able to run interference. I had no choice but to place my CR-90, Jaina’s Light in my left corner. He then added Darth Vader to one of the TIE flight groups, and Kath Scarlett in the top left corner, where I was expecting his huge ship to go.

Round 1

His TIEs all scream forward straight 5, and my X-wings on the right take it easy at speed 2. The X-wings on the left had a rough go of it because we didn’t want to get run over by Jaina’s Light , and we managed our maneuvers well in spite of the difficult circumstances. Kath dashed forward at speed 4, hoping to close the gap, but still landed at range 3 of the CR-90. Bright Hope begins the dance of the huge ships by moving straight, followed by the Instigator , which fortunately moves slowly. And most fortunate of all, my X-wings don’t get run over by Jaina’s Light .

Combat was pretty spectacular. Kath launched her Assault Missiles at the fore section of Jaina’s Light , causing all three of my X-wings to lose a shield. Then the CR-90 pounded her with all its armaments, followed by an X-wing attack which brought her down to 1 hull remaining. Meanwhile, his Instigator dealt some damage to the lead X-wing on the other side of the field using Single Turbolasers.

Round 2

The right-hand element

Vader’s group banks to get my X-wings, and predicted correctly that we would circle around the asteroids to come upon the rear of the Instigator . Unfortunately for him, Vader and an Academy Pilot landed on the rocks and couldn’t shoot. My other X-wings successfully blocked Kath, and his Obsidian-led group came in to attack those X-wings on the left. His Imperial Raider corrected his past mistake of moving slowly by zooming ahead at speed 4. Bright Hope banks to set up an intercept course on Instigator .

Kath did one measly damage to Jaina’s Light with the Heavy Laser Cannon. Suspecting that my Rookie would be able to finish her off (the Bright Hope coordinated to allow the Rookie to target lock), I had Jaina’s Light attack the Academy Pilots – and it killed them both! I was surprised. I used Single Turbolasers in conjunction with Gunnery Team to destroy one, and then used my other Singel Turbolasers and finally a primary attack with target lock to destroy the other. It was impressive! Sure enough, the Rookie finished off Kath, and my other Rookies were able to avoid damage from the Instigator .

Close up of the Kath action

Round 3

Time to spring the trap! I maneuver my GR-75 straight 4, clipping a debris field, and taking a face-up damage card. It forces me to put Expanded Cargo Hold under it, but I’m rolling in energy, and get the card back in the energy step next round. No worries. My CR-90 maneuvers forward to get lots of energy thanks to Engineering Team. His Raider also moves forward, coming dangerously close to the GR-75. Unfortunately, Jaina’s Light is not protected from the Instigator’s attacks because the Bright Hope isn’t far enough forward. Drat!

On the right there is a furball, while on the left my X-wings begin coming around on approach to the Instigator .

Combat sees Rookie 11 (far right) heavily damaged, and Rookie 37 (in the front) barely hanging on. Meanwhile, my Jaina's Light gets free attacks on the Instigator because we're at range 5.

Round 4

My Rookies on the right try to hold it, but Rookie 11 can’t shake those TIEs. He goes down in a ball of flame. Rookie 37 had a great shot on the Instigator’s aft because of his straight 3 maneuver, but ultimately dies before getting his shot off. Those Quad Laser Cannons can be effective. Jaina’s Light continues to pummel the Instigator. One damage was critical from the Ion Cannon Battery, preventing me from coordinating (not that Jaina’s Light cared about that anyway). His TIE fighter also strips the shields off the aft section. Ouch!

Round 5

That Obsidian Squadron Pilot needs to go, so I send a Rookie down to dispatch him. The Bright Hope collides headlong into the Instigator , resulting in a face-up damage card for both of us. Fortunately, I got my Expanded Cargo Hold back, and only draw face-up damage cards from the aft section, because they are much less detrimental to my strategy. It then uses coordinate to add a Target Lock to the Rookie's Focus to hunt the Obsidian Squadron Pilot (hiding behind the CR-90's engine block in the picture). I believe the CR-90 chose to regain the three aft shields rather than reinforce.

The other Rookie performed a Koiogran turn behind the fore section of the Instigator . The Bright Hope keeps the Instigator pinned, dealing another face-up damage card to each ship. My critical hit was Command Pod Failure, which is pretty neat. I choose a friendly ship to receive a stress token, and then my opponent gets to assign a stress token to one of my ships. This represents the confusion of losing the main bridge of the GR-75, and I found it very thematic. Jaina’s Light suffered the effect of ion, reducing its gained energy to 2, so it only got to fire its primaries.

FINALLY we are able to take advantage of EM emitter, and it works wonders, resulting in 0-1 damage from every attack from the Raider.

After the Obsidian fires at the aft section of Jaina's Light , dealing more damage, the Rookie destroys him.

Vader and friends cleaned up the rest of my right element of X-wings, which was sad. But Rookie 1, who was trapped between my huge ships the whole time has FINALLY made it out to participate in the battle (or at least get in position to do so).

Round 6

I lack a picture, but there were two big changes: 1) the Instigator decided it had had enough, and banked away from the GR-75; 2) we finally destroyed the fore-section!

Round 7

Because of that bank, the Instigator has exposed its aft section to the wrath of the Bright Hope . More face-up damage cards are dealt. Vader chases another Rookie, while an Academy Pilot lands on an asteroid, receiving the Stunned Pilot crit. Next round it has to hit the rock again, and receives a damage from Stunned Pilot and from the attack roll, ultimately sacrificing itself to the asteroid. Jaina’s Light is powered up and ready to fight, unleashing upon the aft section…

…demolishing the Instigator !

Round 8

Clean up. Rookie tries to outmaneuver Vader by turning towards the edge, but it backfires: Vader barrel rolls in. Even if Vader hadn’t killed the Rookie, the poor X-wing pilot would have no where to go, and would have fled the battle. Vader instead dealt 2 hits and 2 crits, putting him out of his misery. The Bright Hope moves up and performs a Jam action on Vader, so he won’t be able to escape next round. But there is no next round: Jaina’s Light uses its Single Turbolasers and its boosted primary weapon to finish off the Sith Lord. With one Academy left, we called that a victory for the Rebels.

My opponent said, “I completely underestimated that transport. I should have taken it out early with all my ships.” Indeed, he was correct. I could tell he wasn’t concerned about it, and in fact I only used Reinforce once on that ship. Against an opponent who does not underestimate the GR-75, I think the Bright Hope title will be instrumental in staying in the game to both protect the CR-90 and ram the opposing fleet, especially the enemy huge ship.

Expanded Cargo Hold was, in my opinion, an all-star card. For only 1 point I was able to avoid any Direct Hit and a lot of the awful crits simply by drawing from the aft deck. Other GR-75 builds may have a different opinion of the damage deck, but the way mine was kitted out I just didn’t care about any of the aft damage cards.

EM Emitter was interesting. I struggled to obstruct enemy attacks, but when I did it really cut down on incoming damage. The key is giving your opponent no real reason to shoot your GR-75, so keep it pretty light, but survivable. When Imperials get the Gozanti cruiser, I could see running one of those with EM Emitter to protect the Assailer . That definitely has possibilities.

Backup Shield Generator was a waste on the CR-90. Energy was at a premium, and even if I had one leftover, I probably wouldn’t spend it on a shield, instead choosing to save it for the following round. On the GR-75 it would have been great if I was being shot at, but it didn’t help at all when I was just receiving face-up damage cards that bypassed shields. I’d keep it on the GR-75 in this squad.

Gunnery Team is a card I used to despise, and I finally know why. I had previously loaded up all weapons emplacements on my CR-90, so I never had energy leftover. With only two emplacements (and Engineering Team) I was able to gain enough energy to fire both Single Turbolasers and my primary, OR fire one Single Turbolasers with Gunnery Team and one primary weapon with the bonus attack die from the ship’s ability. Gunnery Team was made for Single Turbolasers. So often I would roll [hit] [hit] [blank] [focus], which would end up 4 hits at the cost of one energy. I think that’s a fair trade. Then I could save my Target Lock for the Primary Weapon attack. I also liked having all weapons on the same section so I could better concentrate fire.

Rookie Pilot . Groan! These guys were so stiff! So many times I had to avoid some ship or obstacle, and would be horribly out of position for next round. Having the Boost action would do wonders for these guys! I’m considering running A-wings next time instead, but I’m not digging the lack of firepower. I’ll have to think about it. I did really like having six of them, but the PS 2 was kind of a bummer. Vader with Predator was able to walk all over them, and the Raider could destroy them before they got to shoot.

Awesome writeup! I really enjoyed this.

Oops! Thank you, I may avoid a big mistake on Thursday thanks to your report. I'm expecting to face a transport/corvette combo with my Raider and likely would have ignored the transport as well. I'm expecting a similar counter measures setup, my opponent loves it. I'll also have to watch for the ram.

Looks like fun!

Awesome battle report! Congrats on a great win! I love the pictures. I'll have to start taking more for my battle reports.

The EM-Emitter on the GR-75 .. didnt it disrupt the attacks from the CR-90 as well?

Nope. That's the insane brilliance of Dash on the CR-90.

Nope. That's the insane brilliance of Dash on the CR-90.

Oh.. for two points .. that is a bargain...

I now know what to do with the dash crew card now thanks