OK....after thinking about it, here's what I like for Imperials:

Storm Squadron Pilot (23)

Cluster Missiles (4)

Accuracy Corrector (0)

Guidance Chips (0)

TIE/x1 (0)

Storm Squadron Pilot (23)

Cluster Missiles (4)

Accuracy Corrector (0)

Guidance Chips (0)

TIE/x1 (0)

"Chaser" (14)

"Night Beast" (15)

"Dark Curse" (16)

Total: 99

This list has two ships that I love, the Tie Advanced and the Tie Fighter - both Wave 1 ships. I don't feel like I've gotten my fill of Tie Adv. after the fix. I first just threw in the generics with no missiles and figured that they can save their actions for defense and just fire away at the satellites. Their high Agility combined with the Shields should help them get to the target. I had points left over and threw in the Cluster Missiles, because....why not! Threw on GC for free.

As for the Tie Fighters, they get some action economy with Chaser and Night Beast. I figure they can do an Evade or something to help keep them alive. Dark Curse is in a class all his own, so he stays alive. I figure having some ships with better chances of living would be good.

Need to think of some Rebel lists...

Thought about putting anything on the Black squadron pilots? I think you can give them EPTs. Adaptability, if nothing else, is a good buy.

OK....so we ran this last week. I should go ahead and post it up. Here is the list that I ran:

So...I am going to be playing this mission tonight and I need to have some thoughts on it. I should've done this a lot sooner!

Mission T3b: "Punch It!"

With the CR90's hyperdrive badly damaged, the crew scrambles to make repairs. A group of Rebel fighters arrive, announcing that they have intercepted an Imperial transmission that contains information vital to the survival of the Rebellion. Suddenly, an Imperial ambush springs into action! To protect this information, the Rebels beam the transmission to the CR90 - just as the Imperials engage!"

Mission Setup

Rebel: CR90, 80 squad points; the Rebel player cannot field more than one unique ship, any large ships or unique Upgrade cards.

• Incoming Waves: At the end of Round 2, the Imperial player chooses one of the scope tokens. Then, he chooses one of his remaining groups and places its ships at Range 1 of the chosen scope token. Then he removes that scope token. At the end of Round 4, the Imperial player places the ships from his remaining group at Range 1 of the remaining scope token. Then, he removes the final scope token.
• Hyperdrive:The hyperdrive card has an energy limit of "5". During the "Allocate Energy" step, the Rebel player may allocate up to four energy tokens from the aft section of the CR90 to the hyperdrive card. At the start of the End phase, the Rebel player takes one attack die for each energy token and for each hyperdrive token on the hyperdrive card, and he rolls those attack dice. For every two Hit results rolled, he places one hyperdrive token on the hyperdrive card. For every two Focus results rolled, he removes one energy token from the hyperdrive card.
• Unstable Engines: When the CR90 is dealt a faceup Damage card, the Rebel player removes one energy token from the hyperdrive card.

Mission Objectives

So....the first question....can you spend squad points to give upgrades to the named pilots? I wouldn't think so. The last mission stated that you could spend squad points to give the 4 Black Squad Pilots an EPT. If it doesn't say you can give further upgrades to ships, then I don't think you can. That makes it...interesting.

What do you guys think?

Seems really hard for the rebels. Does the 80 squad points include upgrades for the CR-90?

I was thinking Y wings with bombs to lay a minefield between the imperials and the CR-90. But with 80 points you don't get much.

3 rookie X wings and a Tala?

Yeah, the Rebels always seem to have a really bad time in all these missions. The CR-90 and all it's upgrades don't count in the 80 points you get. I have to admit it's pretty hard to think about what the Rebels would want to bring. You want cheap, but you need stuff that can do damage. Maybe a Z-95 missile swarm? Four Ordnance Z-95's might be OK. I'm not sure, though, as the Imperials have so many ships. I don't think it would be a good idea, unless they were Assault Missiles.

X-wings wouldn't be a bad idea, but you can't get 4 of them for 80 points. Three X-wings and then 1 Z-95?

As for the Imperials, I need to come up with a good idea. I will probably go thematic instead of utterly nasty.

Lambda Group = Bunch of Tie Fighters? They would work well with the Lambda. Maybe some V1's? The titles give them some defense mixed with their offense and the Lambda will be hard to kill.

Tie Group = definitely want to go with some Tie Fighters here. Probably just some Black Squadron w/ Crackshot to get through Reinforce. Or some mix up to 50. Maybe try to get them as a flanker?

Turr Phennir Group = Hard to not want to go with Interceptors. Could always do some generic ones with Auto Thrusters to help stay alive. Don't require PTL. Kind of want to do it without PTL as it's overplayed. I'm also wondering if maybe this group would be good as some Tie Bombers? Need to blast the ship before it gets away. Tie Bombers at the end might come in and push it over the edge. Smash that section that needs it. It might be too much, though.

You can't give the unique pilots upgrades, no.

The problem with trying to lay a minefield is that the Imperials come from 3 directions, and as you say you're at a severe point deficit.

This scenario is actually a little tougher for the imperials than you might expect. If the rebels put the hyperdrive card on the front section, they can turn away from the side and rear attack groups and make it hard for the imperials to line up their shots. Biggs is key to prolonging the CR90's survival. If you hold out long enough and keep the imperials from getting enough shots on the front section, this becomes a close game from what I've seen in testing so far.

So my analysis so far is that this is easy to screw up as the Imperials. Make sure you are ready to attack from all angles. If you can't hit the front section, burn down the rear so that you can deny reinforce actions on the front, and make sure you angle for a good attack on the front.

As the Rebels, put the hyperdrive on the front section, and deny shots as long as possible to buy time for your hyperdrive fix. Max out the hyperdrive's energy as soon as possible. Use biggs to give the CR90 a few more turns.

As for the Imperials, I need to come up with a good idea. I will probably go thematic instead of utterly nasty.

This would definitely have my support.

As the Rebels, put the hyperdrive on the front section, and deny shots as long as possible to buy time for your hyperdrive fix. Max out the hyperdrive's energy as soon as possible. Use biggs to give the CR90 a few more turns.

What would you consider to be a good list to use for Rebels? J-bot might just take any suggestion.

Hmm....thinking of what Phil said about the challenge...and the idea of Biggs, I'm tempted by this list:

SQUAD 1

My standard answer to everything... Prototype with proton rockets and guidance chip. Okay, you won't beat the hoarde but you can get to the Imperials fast and maybe cause some havoc and buy time for the corvette.

Maybe.

I don't think 80 points can slow down the Imperials long.

I played this last week with the above list (not the optional at the bottom). If you want to hear the podcast episode with this (complete with dramatic reading of background) go here:

http://shuttletydirium.podbean.com/e/episode-32-1480992848/

J-boat happened to take something like this:

Time to finish this! I think J-bot won one of them. So, he gets at least one free upgrade for the CR-90. I'm sure he'll take a modification. I would.

Mission T4: Minefield

Having joined forces with the Alliance, the CR90 must navigate an Imperial mining operation to deliver the transmissions and Tibanna gas to the Rebel base.

Mission Setup

Rebel: CR90, 100 squad points; the Rebel player may equip the CR90 with one free upgrade for each mission he won

• Explosive Charges: At the start of the End phase, the Imperial player may choose and reveal one active charge token. For each ship at Range 1 of that token's asteroid, he rolls three attack dice. That ship suffers all damage (Hit) and critical damage (Critical Hit) rolled. Then, the Imperial player removes the chosen charge token and its asteroid.
• Probing the Field: If a small or large Rebel ship overlaps an asteroid, reveal and remove the charge token assigned to it from the play area. If it is a dud charge token, there is no effect. If it is an active charge token, the asteroid is also removed and the Imperial player rolls three attack dice. The overlapping ship suffers all damage (Hit) and critical damage (Critical Hit) rolled.
• Blockade: At the start of the End phase of Rounds 1, 3, and 5, the Imperial player takes the unplaced group that costs the fewest squad points and places its ships at Range 1 of any scope token. Then he removes that scope token from the play area. If there are no scope tokens remaining when a group must be placed, the Imperial player places the group at Range 1 of the Imperial edge.

Mission Objectives

As the Imperial, I'll have 2 Squads to put out at the beginning. I'm thinking that one squad will probably be Tie Fighters to help be a lot of different targets for my opponent to fire on. I can engage the CR-90 or escorts as I want. I figure the Rebels might go with Ordnance Z-95's or something like that. My second squad can either be more Tie Fighters or maybe some Tie Interceptors. I'm looking at either 4 Tie Fighters or 3 Interceptors per squad.

I want one squad to be 2 Tie Bombers with ordnance. I figure maybe they come in last and are a last ditch effort to blast the heck out of things.

That leaves squad 3 as the thing to really think about. I am tempted to go with more Tie Interceptors, but wonder if maybe a Tie Defender with /D title might not be a bad idea? I could get one and an Academy.

how would Seismic Torps work (from a rebel perspective) against the Asteroids with the charge tokens on them?

obviously this limits the amount of damage ordnance the rebel gets but then can take out a massive risk of "will it kill my entire squad" or would you leave the charge token in play whilst removing the roid its on? (thematically it makes no sense but reasons!!)

Heychadwick, just go with the highest PS, Generic Phantoms, you know you want too!!

Oh, Seismic Torpedoes would be really good! The only issue is you have to have a craft that fires Torpedoes (as opposed to cheap Z-95 Missiles). That would be really interesting. I would say that the bombs also blow up for anyone in range. Maybe just one or two Torpedo ships? You might not need many to clear a path.

As for me using Tie Phantoms. I have an answer for you, but it's cloaked (if you use the white background).

Hell $@#&ing NO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, Seismic Torpedoes would be really good! The only issue is you have to have a craft that fires Torpedoes (as opposed to cheap Z-95 Missiles). That would be really interesting. I would say that the bombs also blow up for anyone in range. Maybe just one or two Torpedo ships? You might not need many to clear a path.

As for me using Tie Phantoms. I have an answer for you, but it's cloaked (if you use the white background).

Hell $@#&ing NO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if i was J bot i'd head into it with at least one of these bad boys

Maybe two depending on how i was feeling. TLT gives the Consistent damage and R2 sorts out stress by giving more greens, or Targeting astro still gives you a t/l if needed.

Failing that i'd go all Warden squad on you but i know the thematic side of it would suffer then!

As for imperials, the Tie swarm is always a favorite, but i also love the Tie D with Tractor beam just for giggles.

I'd go with Ion Cannon on the Defender for it's use on the CR-90. The Tractor Beam wouldn't do anything for that.

Personally, I'd go Targeting Astromech for the free TL, even if you bump. I'll point him towards this thread. He's seeing Rogue One now.

I forgot about ion and energy denial/drain

I don't play epic stuff much, I have seen the cr90 for £60 and am tempted with it even if it just sits looking pretty on my desk

Epic is fun. I'd recommend it. Just make the changes we recommend for the missions.

How many wins are you going to assume for the Rebels? I'm going with 1 rebel win (mission 1) and 2 Imperial wins (missions 2+3)

Rebember, you get free upgrades on the CR90 if you won missions. A big help!

We covered this in the podcast and I haven't had time over the holidays to do a type up. I can just show the results, at least.

Rebels were Biggs, Y-wing, and 2 HWKs.

Ties rush forward

bumpage

better picture

CR90 takes out a Tie!

Tie Interceptor meets Torpedo

Tie Fighter meets CR90 up close. Does a point of damage. Found out we were doing rams wrong. If a small ship hits an epic, it's just a bump.

Tie Bombers come in. They melt the front.

After melting front shields, one Bomber drops bombs out front, but gets run over.

Different side of action. Bumping Interceptors try firing at Biggs

Tie Defenders /D show up. Y-wing takes the mines instead of the CR90

Ywing not run over

Oh, it was ionized...

Black Squad leader run over

Biggs Down

Will ionized HWK hit the CR90?

With Defender be run over by CR90?

No! Both are saved by bumps, but just barely as the CR90 moves past. Also, Interceptor down.

CR90 rear section blown. That was the last section. Ship dead.

Wow, nice map!

That battle looks so one sided with all the Imperial ships. Really makes you wonder how the designers really expected the corvette fit in with its cost and relatively squishy setup.