I'm really excited to be participating in the Epic Dogfight Tournament on Saturday, August 6th at GenCon Indy. However, I see that out of 30 slots only 13 people have signed up. At first I thought people must really not like Epic play that much. But then I saw that there are 45 people (out of 100) signed up for Team Epic on Sunday. Is this directly related to the fact that the graduated cut of the North American Championship is on Saturday? I mean, I'm decent at this game, but I have no illusion that I'll actually make the cut, so I decided to sign up for the epic event on Saturday anyway.

Anybody else excited for this event? There are so many squads to try, I can't wait to see what people bring!

Oooh I can't wait to see the results and what list wins! So what do you think the meta will be?

• 2 huge Imperial Ships w/ escorts
• 1 huge Imperial ship w/ Imperial squadron
• Imperial Starfighter wing
• 2 huge Rebel Ships w/ escorts
• 1 huge Rebel Ship w/ Rebel squadron
• Rebel Starfighter Wing
• Scum & Villainy Starfighter wing

I am going to make a prediction. We will have 2 ship list will be more double transport/carrier lists as those ships tend to do better against swarm tactics of Starfighter wings. However the single Raider/CR-90 list will kill transports and carriers but those list will die to the Starfighter wings. As for Starfighter wings the best will be the Scum & Villainy with the IG-8000 list.

I'm really excited to be participating in the Epic Dogfight Tournament on Saturday, August 6th at GenCon Indy. However, I see that out of 30 slots only 13 people have signed up. At first I thought people must really not like Epic play that much. But then I saw that there are 45 people (out of 100) signed up for Team Epic on Sunday. Is this directly related to the fact that the graduated cut of the North American Championship is on Saturday? I mean, I'm decent at this game, but I have no illusion that I'll actually make the cut, so I decided to sign up for the epic event on Saturday anyway.

Anybody else excited for this event? There are so many squads to try, I can't wait to see what people bring!

I think Epic (or rather, Cinematic play since Epic uses only 300 points and those silly Epic points) is enjoyed more by the sort of people who don't have a lot of interest in attending a tournament. On a Venn diagram, there wouldn't be a lot of cross-over, IMO.

I like tournaments and I like epic. I'm just a gamer that loves Star Wars. Yes, I signed up for the epic dogfight on Saturday and the team epic dogfight on the Sunday. Disappointed that it isn't with epic huge ships but oh well... My homing missile raider tasted blood again last night so I'm sated for now.

Quad Aggressors and Triple JumpMasters. pew pew!

...good luck, btw.

Despite having just bought the Gozanti, if I were to attend tgat tournament, I think I would buy 2 more Aggressors and fly Scum. I'm not sure what to do with remaining 100 points, though. I'd probably pu in some control like Palob or Tacticians on a Firespray-31 and YV-666. Manaroo could bev good, too. Just keep her out of the battle with a Recon specialist and have her support the inevitably blocked IG.

In any case, I really wish I could go to that tournament.

I like tournaments and I like epic. I'm just a gamer that loves Star Wars. Yes, I signed up for the epic dogfight on Saturday and the team epic dogfight on the Sunday. Disappointed that it isn't with epic huge ships but oh well... My homing missile raider tasted blood again last night so I'm sated for now.

Epic dogfights do include Huge ships, so start practicing! I know I am.

That's good to hear but I do feel a little overwhelmed by the thought of massive fighter swarms on an epic vessel... Might take some thought.

@Mariealver: I have been thinking a lot about the meta. I like Epic because there isn't a established 'meta,' but I still need to think about what people could bring, and be prepared for it. I do think Contracted Scouts + Brobots could be quite effective, and I'm trying to come up with a good Imperial list to deal with it.

One of the tricky things I've come up against when squad building is initiative. Especially if you have a Huge ship in a support role, one that gives or takes tokens away when it activates, you have to really think about 1) if you activate first, the opponent may be able to undo your token antics, and 2) is initiative important enough to you that you want to cut points out of your squad to make sure you can have your pick of initiative. In my experience, choosing whether your small and large ships move first is less important because there is such a wide array of pilot skills...unless of course your strategy is to block up the opponent with PS 1 ships -- then you really do need to move first so you don't get blocked by enemy PS 1 ships. I mean, if PS 1 ships are even a thing in epic, right? Nobody really knows what to expect. It's awesome!

Personally I love the ps 1 TIE fighter and interceptor ball hitting the rebel force just as the Raider hits range 3. Blocks, mass firing and individual TIE losses mean nothing for the sake of victory.

Scared me for a second with the no huge ship comment.

The Scum lists have the upper hand with all the missile boats, but I believe Epic should have a huge ship to call it Epic lose I may but I will have one Huge Ship at least.

I have been playing Rebels and comfortable with that build and my tactics but really considering going Imperial since my Team person only has Imperial Epic ships and the Defender is really teasing me.

Do wish more were willing to play but as mentioned others will mostly hold out for making the cut. I will not make the cut as a slightly less than average player.

The solution is simple. If I make the cut by some freakish miracle I don't show for epic and I don't shed a tear. This way I have xwing to play Saturday win or lose.

Now I'm fumbling with lists again trying to streamline my list. I've wanted to fly rebels, but I keep flying that raider instead of the corvette. No practice. Decisions, decisions...

By the by, still looking for a partner in team epic on Sunday...

I would like to discuss squad ideas and archetypes, but I don't want to give away too much to my opponents. On the other hand, I haven't even decided what squad to fly, so it's not like I can give anything away

I did want to point out that I feel very strongly that squad composition won't matter as much as approach. For example, a TLT spam squad seems strong, but if it's split up and they don't all reach the target(s) at the same time, it could be easily taken out piecemeal. I think with a 6x3 flight area, maneuvering and planning/executing your approach will be as important - if not more important - than squad composition.

Also, I hope those poor guys who make the cut and lose in the first round get to come by and see some of the awesome action of Huge ships slugging it out on the tables. That would make them feel better for sure.

If I can make it (probably 10% chance) I will bring an untitled TIE Defender flight, packing HLCs, supported by Jonus.

I would like to discuss squad ideas and archetypes, but I don't want to give away too much to my opponents. On the other hand, I haven't even decided what squad to fly, so it's not like I can give anything away

I did want to point out that I feel very strongly that squad composition won't matter as much as approach. For example, a TLT spam squad seems strong, but if it's split up and they don't all reach the target(s) at the same time, it could be easily taken out piecemeal. I think with a 6x3 flight area, maneuvering and planning/executing your approach will be as important - if not more important - than squad composition.

Also, I hope those poor guys who make the cut and lose in the first round get to come by and see some of the awesome action of Huge ships slugging it out on the tables. That would make them feel better for sure.

I think this is another reason why Initiative is important. If your opponent has initiative, you can react better to their ship placement. This is especially true of the larger huge ship placement since they have the same pilot skill. It's also important for any ships you have the same PS for because, for example, you can see where their PS1 swarm is going before you place your own. Granted, this principle is true for any format, but the large size of the playing field gives even more power to this aspect, in my opinion.

I remember a team epic game where our Imperial forces were kinda spread across our side of the table. Then the Rebel players placed all their ships in one area to take out one part of our list before the rest of our fleet (especially the Raider) could get in range. It was a tough lesson to learn.

I would like to discuss squad ideas and archetypes, but I don't want to give away too much to my opponents. On the other hand, I haven't even decided what squad to fly, so it's not like I can give anything away

I did want to point out that I feel very strongly that squad composition won't matter as much as approach. For example, a TLT spam squad seems strong, but if it's split up and they don't all reach the target(s) at the same time, it could be easily taken out piecemeal. I think with a 6x3 flight area, maneuvering and planning/executing your approach will be as important - if not more important - than squad composition.

Also, I hope those poor guys who make the cut and lose in the first round get to come by and see some of the awesome action of Huge ships slugging it out on the tables. That would make them feel better for sure.

Well the meta hasn't been felt out so we don't have the specific meta archtypes such as Vader Raider or Double Transports in the same way that Standard has U-boats and Fat Han. But huge ships does add for a different gameplay strategy much like squadrons in in Armada. As for now the archtypes are base upon how many huge ships are brought and what faction.

As for what has a bigger meta impact I can tell you no matter how many huge ships are there Aces like soontir fel don't last long in Epic. There is just too many red dice on the table and Aces don't get more green dice with more ships.

As for what has a bigger meta impact I can tell you no matter how many huge ships are there Aces like soontir fel don't last long in Epic. There is just too many red dice on the table and Aces don't get more green dice with more ships.

Perhaps. Although I can tell you that IHaveBadLuck brought an interesting Double Gozanti squad in which one was loaded with Soontir and Carnor, and the other had Major Rhymer. The rest of his ships (2 TIE defenders, I believe) tore into my fleet with the ordnance cruisers, hoping to inflict enough damage that Soontir could clean up in the end game. I was surprised how effective that was, but I didn't have a very high ship count either (3 TIE advanced, Howlrunner, Jendon, and 4 Alpha Sq. Pilots on the TIE carrier). I think Epic dogfight has enough points that playing coy with Soontir Fel won't cost you much, and is actually a decent strategy to keep a strong endgame pilot in reserve. Still, things like the Jam action may keep action-dependent "aces" in check.

However the single Raider/CR-90 list will kill transports and carriers but those list will die to the Starfighter wings. As for Starfighter wings the best will be the Scum & Villainy with the IG-8000 list.

List with transports is a Starfighter list. Transport cost ~45 points and leave a lot of place for small ships. Also Rebel Transport is perfect weapon against huge ships. Transport murders them (with starfighters help of course).

I am playing a local epic league with Rebel transport + 13 small ships. Won so far 6/6 games.

I played against:

- Rocket Tantive + z-95 and a-wings with missles;

- Tantive + some starfighters;

- Raider + 3 phantoms and 3-4 advanced;

- Gozanthi + TIE-Fighter/FO aces + Redline + Vader;

- 4xIG + 3xScouts;

- 4xIG + 4xTLT.

When you smash IG with transport, you instant kill ship that costs more than transport

15 Alpha Squadron TIE Interceptors with Autothrusters! LOL!

Yes, there are SO many good options, this list sounds like fun.

I have run the 2 Transports, Targeting Coordinators, Engine Boost and I think that was it, with lots of Zs or Xs with ordinance. It works well and ramming with the Transports is always "fun".

EDIT: Oh wait, you can only take 10 (lol!) of a ship, right?

EDIT #2: 10 Royal Guard, with title, SD, AT and PL, 30 pts, 10 of them, 300 pts and BAM!!!!!!!!

15 Alpha Squadron TIE Interceptors with Autothrusters! LOL!

Actually, the max is 12. No joke: I just talked with my brother about bringing 4 Alphas, 4 Sabers and 4 Royal Guards. Definitely brutal, but probably not very fun to fly against.

Couple photos to motivate play epic:

Gods wish I could watch. :/

I'm loving playing cinematic lately with about 120-150pts allowing epics. A Gozanti spitting an ace out mid-late game is so effective it almost feels like cheating.

I'll be honest though, a good friend and I have often talked about playing team epic at a tournament, but neither of us are particularly keen on solo epic at tourneys. It's just a tad too much to keep track of for consecutive engagements... just the set up/pack down issues would put me off.

Couple photos to motivate play epic: [snip]

Drool! I want to go home and play right now! Alas, I have to give the third-to-last talk at my conference, so I'm stuck here another day. August 6th can't come fast enough!!! On the other hand, it would be nice to have some time to practice some squads.

When I think of squads I am terrified of, the ones that come to mind are 1) Slicer Tools and 2) Toryn Farr. She's brutal! I think Torpedo Scouts are probably pretty scary, too.

I was looking at Toryn Farr. I only hesitate due to the action and high energy requirements... More the latter on a corvette.

Wow, it's been some time since I've read the Epic Dogfight tournament rules, and I found something I hadn't noticed before regarding Biggs Darklighter. I knew that he couldn't protect huge ships with his ability, only friendly large and small ships. However, I did not know that, "huge ships treat Biggs Darklighter's card text as blank when attacking." So if you're TIE fighters can't gun down Biggs fast enough to get to Wedge, don't sweat it: just have the Raider bypass Biggs and shoot directly at Wedge with its awesome primary weapon attack. Good to know.