Which is better.....

.....T-65 X-Wing or T-70 X-Wing?

.....old Tie or New Order Tie?

My Force Awakens Starter Set is on its way. When it gets here I'm going to have a battle between old and new.

I've only one X-Wing, so will kit that out to equal the points of the T70. But I've enough Ties to take on the two New Order.

But one game of each is not enough. Perhaps the old will win because its been used more.

So each will play three battles. Best out of three wins.

If you're someone who prefers to try before judging, please feel free to play your own Empire VS New Order Tie and T65 VS T70 battles and post results here.

Perhaps we can tally the results to find a conclusive answer to the question of which is best.

So today it arrived

And I wasted no time in getting in a quick game

Like I've said I'll play the three missions then get down to the business of playing old VS new.

Mission #1

Ambush

In the first turn, thanks to the way I positioned the mines, I took down the shields on both Ties. The Epsilon Squadron Pilot also took a Direct Hit critical.

After moving next to an asteroid, I boosted around it to line up with the Zeta Squadron Pilot and managed to score a hit. In return, the Zeta knocked down one of my shields.

Turn three all three ships closed to range one and Target Locked each other. By the end of the round, I'd destroyed the Zeta Squadron Pilot and lost all my shields.

(Note: I deliberately targeted the Zeta. At range one, with a Target Lock, I didn't want to waste the potential killing power. Another opportunity like that might not happen again, and the Epsilon would be destroyed with one hit anyway - Just in case you wondered why I hadn't shot at the more damaged ship)

In the final turn I koiogran turned and shot at the Epsilon Pilot. Rolled a hit. GAME OVER!

Two destroyed Tie/FO's at the cost of three shields.

That third shield proved invaluable as the game could have gone differently. During the point blank Target Lock exchange, one of the hits that took down the shields was a critical. The boost also proved very useful, getting me behind the asteroid in Turn 1 and then allowing me to round it Turn 2 to shoot at the Ties. So far I've been pleased with the performance of the T-70.

The Tie/FO's were far more durable. If in Turn 1 the mine detonated next to older Ties, one would have suffered a hit and the other would have been destroyed. Having the Targeting Computer as standard was a big help. Though I got some good evade rolls on defense, the attack dice rerolls would have caused more hits and, as already mentioned, one of the hits was a critical which was stopped by my third shield.

Next up, Mission #2: Raid

Poe Dameron with Wired, Weapons Guidance and BB-8

VS

Two Omega Squadron Pilots with Wired

(I'm only using what's in the box for trial games. Next time I'll use cheaper pilots with better upgrades)

You can't really define which is better because they play slightly different roles: the T-70 and TIE/fo have higher statlines and a few more tricks but are more expensive, meaning fewer ships or fewer upgrades.

That's the story with pretty much all X-wing ships where they're balanced.

That's the story with pretty much all X-wing ships where they're balanced.

Agreed

The Tie VS Tie/X-Wing VS X-Wing is just a bit of fun and will be equal points. Going to play Ambush today, and plan to play Rescue tomorrow. Then I'll try out the Empire VS First Order, followed by Rebellion VS Resistance.

People fill the forums with unbalanced, broken, nerf, ruined etc topics and everyone loves it. I suggest playing them against each other to see which wins and suddenly there's a barrage of criticism. Probably afraid of just what you've said: they're balanced.

Mission #2

Raid

It was a surprisingly quick game, since it took seven rounds, and though my X-Wing was never hit it was still a close game. Close because the Ties sabotaged two of the satellites early in the game. The third was spared only by a misjudging of distance as the Tie overshot it by millimeters. There was no chance to turn round and try again as the T-70 was close behind and shooting. The seventh turn ended with the fourth satellite under the base of the only surviving Tie. With a higher pilot skill, the T-70 fired and scored two hits and a critical. The already hit Tie rolled two blanks. Unless I've misread the rules, that spared the satellite.

Had the first Tie not overshot the third satellite, and the second Tie survived the combat phase on turn seven, the game would have ended in a Resistance defeat.

I forgot about Poe Dameron's ability, and the only time BB-8 would have been useful the T-70 had used a red, not green, manoeuvre. Even Weapons Guidance was used only once. Today was the day of Tallon Rolls and Wired.

In fact, the two complemented each other.

This was the best part of the game:

So the T-70 was behind one of the Ties. It had claimed one of the satellites despite having an X-Wing on its tail and firing wildly. His partner was lining up to claim his second satellite, and was behind the T-70. Koiogran turn wasn't an option, as it would have ended up in front of the Tie he was pursuing. Instead, he Tallon Rolled around a large asteroid and was now facing the other Tie. Shooting at range three while stressed still took down a shield thanks to wired.

In the following turn the T-70 scored a hit. Same turn the Tie overshot the satellite. Koiogran turn after that resulted in range one shooting that destroyed the Tie he was originally chasing while the partner made his move towards the fourth. Turn around the asteroid and a boost took the T-70 into range and the second Tie was history.

Tomorrow (I hope) I'll play the third mission: Rescue

It's 36 points again

and I've decided to stick with Poe Dameron.

Your test is fatally flawed. You simply cannot judge ship balance based on a handful of scenario games.

Try a couple dozen 100-point matches following the tournament rules against a variety of opponents.

?

These scenarios are to teach me the new ships before I put them against their older predecessors for FUN.

Balance debates full of arguments are for the rest of the forums. What I'm doing, and really starting to regret it, is to show how they perform against each other in an actual game. But for

FUN:

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/fun