Walking through the gaming area at Gen Con and stumbled across this battle about to begin. I have no idea what the outcome was, but wow.

20160807_104648 by bkthomson , on Flickr

I helped them get set up because they had a LOT of unboxing to do. Here's a picture from a little bit later in the match.

Looks like Rilesman and his teammate got hit pretty hard. That Lancer in front of the cruiser got destroyed before it got to shoot. I heard the Imperials lamenting how they would have liked to run it over, but they couldn't let it shoot at range 1. Do you see the six Protectorate starfighters on the far side of the Gozanti? They were largely ignored and did an excellent job of coming in on the flank. I assume scum won this one.

I wish I would have stuck around to watch the match it looked like it would have been fun to play. I think I was mostly shocked at all the Shadow Casters that were on the board.

Also do you know what the Point Total they were playing with?

Shadowcasters all have turrets pointed left. Do you get to choose your starting turret direction at deployment?

Shadowcasters all have turrets pointed left. Do you get to choose your starting turret direction at deployment?

Drat! I meant to look that up. I asked them that very question, and instead of pulling out the rules we just all assumed you could. I can look it up when I get home.

Yep, my buddy and I helped them a little bit when they first sat down and started unboxing all of this. I was wondering how their game went.

Star Wars vs. Buck Rodgers and Star Trek.

Darth Dan (Back to Dials) and Justin were the guys showing up with Wave 9. As I didn't know that was an option I missed researching some of the options and that would prove devastating.

Anyway, I built the list for Bloodwing72 and myself about 2 am based on his preference for bombing. Bloodwing72 also had only played 1 Epic game before the single tournament on Saturday so this was purely for fun. As all his ships were still alive except the Decimator and I was wiped out....he keeps pointing out I did not pull my weight. Sure. Sure.

The idea was to kill the big ships that would be stuck on each other and then let the bombers with ion torps and cluster bombs finish off the fang fighters. Therefore the 3 Defenders with Ion Cannons would take on the Fangs, keep them busy while the cluster bombs and Gozonti would wipe out the Shadow Casters. I had to change plans to keep the ShadowCasters contained and it worked but at the expense of my Defenders.

After the second activation I thought my friend was going to drop his cluster mines. I was very distracted and forgot to discuss and verify what our battle plan. Missed opportunity and missed communications on my part.

Then the UGLY happened. Rigged Cargo Chute. Well...apparently stress takes affect immediately on any ship that it is dropped upon. So Bloodwing72 had all his bombers and Deathrain dialed to a K-Turn...a red maneuver. As the ShadowCasters move first, dropped the Cargo, and all 3 bombers and Punisher were dealt a stress and then Darth Dan and Justin had the opportunity to change every maneuver dial. Well, they made sure that each ship either finished on another debris or asteroid therefore nearly the entire fleet had 2 stress tokens and facing the wrong direction.

The good thing is that the Gozanti with two Comms Boosters took care of two of them...but could not help the rest. Meanwhile the Fang fighters with their awesome damage output ripped through the Defenders which were jammed up (due to the Gozanti not able to turn because of the double stressed bombers) and then the Gozanti went down.

Then time was called. As a person who washes his hands after going to the bathroom, I could not read the final points on my hands...but it was something like 231 to 278. Of course another round or two and the fang fighters would have been on the bombers...so who knows what would have happened. Bloodwing72 never quits.

It was fun. Frustrating...but fun.

Lesson learned. With the right support the Fang Fighter is AWESOME and running over ships with a huge ship is even more FUN!!!

Wow. That does sound like a frustrating match. I looked up the rules again because I was certain that was too many large ships, but each player in team epic can field 4 of a single large-base ship, so they were definitely legal with 7 of them.

Also, I checked the rules insert, and yes, you select which arc you want your mobile firing arc pointed at during set up.

Wow. That does sound like a frustrating match. I looked up the rules again because I was certain that was too many large ships, but each player in team epic can field 4 of a single large-base ship, so they were definitely legal with 7 of them.

Also, I checked the rules insert, and yes, you select which arc you want your mobile firing arc pointed at during set up.

Yep, that's what my buddy and I thought when they first sat down with all those SCs. He mentioned the ship limitations by size to them and one of them went and checked with the FF crew to make sure they were legit. We didn't know (until that moment) that the wave 9 ships were okay for the team match else we probably would have taken our TIE/SFs out to see what they could do.

My list

Gozanti-Class Cruiser: Gozanti-Class Cruiser (40)

Optimized Generators (5)

· Grand Moff Tarkin (6)

Shield Technician (1)

· Suppressor (6)

Engineering Team (4)

Comms Booster (4)

Comms Booster (4)

Dual Laser Turret (5)

TIE Defender: Glaive Squadron Pilot (34)

Rage (1)

Ion Cannon (3)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

TIE/D (0)

TIE Defender: Glaive Squadron Pilot (34)

Rage (1)

Ion Cannon (3)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

TIE/D (0)

TIE Defender: · Colonel Vessery (35)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Assault Missiles (5)

Ion Cannon (3)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

TIE/D (0)

-- TOTAL ------- 198/200p. --

BloodWing72 List

VT-49 Decimator: · Captain Oicunn (42)

Opportunist (4)

Extra Munitions (2)

Cluster Mines (4)

Ion Projector (2)

Tactician (2)

· Mara Jade (3)

Intelligence Agent (1)

· Dauntless (2)

TIE Punisher: · "Deathrain" (26)

Extra Munitions (2)

Plasma Torpedoes (3)

Cluster Mines (4)

Proton Bombs (5)

Advanced Sensors (3)

Guidance Chips (0)

TIE Bomber: · Tomax Bren (24)

Crack Shot (1)

Extra Munitions (2)

Homing Missiles (5)

Cluster Mines (4)

Guidance Chips (0)

TIE Bomber: · "Deathfire" (17)

Extra Munitions (2)

Ion Torpedoes (5)

Cluster Mines (4)

Guidance Chips (0)

TIE Bomber: Gamma Squadron Veteran (19)

Crack Shot (1)

Extra Munitions (2)

Ion Torpedoes (5)

Cluster Mines (4)

Guidance Chips (0)

-- TOTAL ------- 200/200p. --

It was cool to see some of the neat squads people brought to Team Epic. This one was so beautiful with the Khiraxz fighters supported by Serissu in her M-3A, and the IG-2000's on the other side of the field. They were up against the Imperial squadron led by Sable Gryphon and his friend.

I just love it!

Wow, I can't even imagine how crazy that was. Looked fun, but geez, 7 shadowcasters, did they buy those to play and gift to others at home or what?

Wow, I can't even imagine how crazy that was. Looked fun, but geez, 7 shadowcasters, did they buy those to play and gift to others at home or what?

They were part of the Back to Dials crew back home and the guys that were there in the tournament. Each tournament player had a reservation and the rest were released on Saturday (I could not be there that day). As soon as time was called and points tallied, they went back into their boxes.