So, my roommate and I got our first official HotAC mission played last night. I am pleased to report that the mission was a decisive victory for the rebellion with all enemy contacts destroyed and no losses.

Local Trouble played; composition was thus:

Aegis squadron

Me - Evinn Dast (y-wing) two TIE kills (7xp)

Zek Sunrider (y-wing) two TIE kills (9xp)

My roommate - Rell Draylen (x-wing) two TIE kills (11xp)

Lyra Kelen (x-wing) one TIE kill, two Interceptor kills (11xp)

Opposition was obviously a grand total of 7 TIEs and 2 interceptors. It was a target rich environment.

Takeaway:

Suffice to say, the x-wings were throwing blaster fire all over the place as their xp tally demonstrates. Several of the kills the y-wing pilots were able to get were on TIEs the x-wings had chewed up.

The y-wings were fielding twin laser turrets, which I must say I found extremely useful, doing a fair bit of damage and stripping tokens from the opposition. I had them mounted in BTL-A4s, but since the mission was so populated, I rarely lost shots do to positioning. Being able to land three attacks on something at range 2-3 in arc worked about as well as I expected. The poor primary attack and troubled movement economy of the y-wing being the greatest challenge to their effectiveness. I don't think I landed a single primary hit all game. But those TLTs got a workout.

The surprise performance was Lyra, whom we've determined to be our rebel ace in the making. She apparently does not see what all the fuss about squints is. Both squints had the misfortune of deploying pretty much directly ahead of the x-wings. One of the two got erased by Lyra almost as soon as he arrived. The other only got one shot off at Evinn (which could have been disastrous if Rell hadn't stripped its focus token), before Lyra hunted it down and plucked its wings. She was spooky good at max damage short range volleys.

In the end, Rell was down to 2 hull, Zek had no shields, Evinn was down to 4 hull (and had spent nearly the entire sortie surrounded by TIEs), and deadly-scary Lyra lost a single shield. The y-wings tanked a lot of shots, as intended, and the x-wings shot all the things (also as expected, my roommate adores his engine upgrade).

Fun was had, the Empire's nose was bloodied, and everyone made it back to the barn in (mostly) one piece.

We look forward to our next mission.

(man that was a lot of TIE fighters)

How hard was it to set up the game? Buying the cardboard etc.

How difficult is the game? Co-op mode? Is it incredibly easy for hardened players? Good for middling or new players?

How hard was it to set up the game? Buying the cardboard etc.

How difficult is the game? Co-op mode? Is it incredibly easy for hardened players? Good for middling or new players?

I've (for the moment only) just been printing on demand what we need on card stock and cutting components out with scissors. I plan to get a professional laminated print job done some time soonish.

Setup wasn't too bad since you pretty much just pick out what you would for a competitive game, even a bit less with the Empire since you don't need maneuver dials or ship cards (the Aturi statcards are all you really need). Just mount them on bases with the appropriate placards. For our mission at least, we just had out the typical components you'd expect of an x-wing match.

Difficulty, from our experience with the mission and one test-game before, is pretty tight and satisfying. We mopped the floor with the Empire, but a good deal of that was do to hot dice and good teamwork. There were plenty of times where things could have gone very south at a moments notice.

For instance, the one shot the squints got off on Evinn could have been devastating if Rell hadn't stripped its focus token by shooting at it. It had a clean four focus attack roll on a stressed, defenseless Evinn (who had an R7 droid, but had a different target locked). He would have been one hit away from doom had it landed.

Zek got shot at by **** near everything (it's frankly a bit of a miracle he survived), and had two turns trying his damndest to kill a one hitpoint TIE that just WOULD NOT DIE. Rell was down to two hull and had at least twice when he was in imminent danger of being smoked, but again, smart token stripping saved his bacon (thank you TLTs).

The only one who seemed above it all was Lyra, who just danced around butchering things and hardly taking an errant shot. She's a scary lady. If not for her, the squints would have been a real threat as they arrived ahead of the x-wings, but right on the tail of the y-wings. They had my pilots worried, but Lyra wasn't impressed with the Empire's tiny gun-bunny.

But yeah, we've found the AI to be worryingly good, and it makes strong use of the strengths of the TIE ships. It can turn things around on you in the blink of an eye (like when the two TIEs Zek was chasing - including the gimp he was trying to finish off - k-turned right onto to his porch and dropped a six attack dice on his face - bye bye 3 shields and 1 hull).

We've been well satisfied. My roommate, who is a very exacting critic, said he's enjoying the campaign and the AI more than anything else we've done with X-Wing. The intelligence of its maneuver options, coupled with the random factor, means you're never quite sure you're safe no matter how you fly. And the fact that death and loss are real possibilities for your pilots keeps things tense (getting shot down in hostile territory is bad juju).

The campaign is a lot of fun. I'm glad to see it get mentioned a lot on these forums.

How hard was it to set up the game? Buying the cardboard etc.

How difficult is the game? Co-op mode? Is it incredibly easy for hardened players? Good for middling or new players?

If you get the book printed in black & white, wire bound, with covers, plus the rest printed in color on cardstock, it will run $25-35 depending on the print shop you use. I used Staples online printing. It cost about $30. Be sure to give them a copy of the print release. (I printed the book in B&W because I have a tablet in case I need to refer to a color copy. Generally B&W is sufficient.)

It is a fully co-op game. Local Trouble is a good mission to ease you into learning the AI and setup. The regular missions are a bit harder. My group didn't get a win until our third mission. If you are a regular X-Wing player and have good teamwork skills, it will be easier for you.

Standard 100 point + 6 rocks games are dull to me. Missions are better. A fully co-op campaign with tons of terrain features? AWESOME!

BTW: Watch out for those TIE Defenders with HLCs. Those will wreck a player in a hurry.

You can also go ultra cheap if you have a tablet, laptop, or phone that can hold the rule book. Then, you only need to print out the terrain and cards.

You can also go ultra cheap if you have a tablet, laptop, or phone that can hold the rule book. Then, you only need to print out the terrain and cards.

That's how I'm doing it

Though, I must declare my unwavering hatred for Adobe Reader.

The best thing that someone should do is find a friend or family member that works in an office. Have them print it all out for them. Even if your parents live in another city, it would still be cheaper for them to print it and mail to you than you doing it on your own.

The best thing that someone should do is find a friend or family member that works in an office. Have them print it all out for them. Even if your parents live in another city, it would still be cheaper for them to print it and mail to you than you doing it on your own.

When I was a young boy that actually was a thing. My dad had full access to classroom and office supplies for his job and would do things like that for me.

That's a bygone era. Now I'm an adult and have to (shudder) pay for things.

Truly a travesty.

Me and a friend just played HOTAC for the first time recently. I ran a Y wing with engine upgrade and auto blaster turret, so much fun! Arc dodging in a Y wing and then shooting dice the enemy can't evade is a special experience.

The best thing that someone should do is find a friend or family member that works in an office. Have them print it all out for them. Even if your parents live in another city, it would still be cheaper for them to print it and mail to you than you doing it on your own.

You know, it's coincidental you say this, because I just got my components printed at my local Staples today. Much to my surprise (I was unaware of this), the young man running the copy center is a kinda-nephew of mine (it's complicated). So, because of him, I got a $30-50 print/laminate job done for $3 and change.

I did all the cutting myself at their cutting table.

Stuff looks good!