Answer: A lot.
Played a few games trying out the new EPT Fearlessness. I have to say, so far I am impressed.
My first team featured:
Boba Fett with Fearlessness, Engine Upgrade, Zuckuss crew and the Slave 1 title, because why not.
Old Teroch with title, Autothrusters and Adaptability
Palob with TLT and Adaptability
The basic thought-process of this list is that Boba is a monster at range 1, and Teroch and Palob act as Scum Biggs, because they’re constant ruining of action economy makes them priority targets. My goal is to have Boba be my last ship surviving.
I also brought the three biggest rocks between the two core sets, because I like covering up as much of the board with attack-depriving obstacles, and my opponents tend to not like that.
My opponent for my first game brought a version of an Atanni Mindlink squad he’s run before, but he switched out Talonbane for Fenn Rau
Fenn Rau with Mindlink
Bossk with Mindlink and Dengar crew
Zuckuss with title (and tractor beam) E-baffle, 4-LOM crew and Mindlink.
EDITED: Got the crew on Zuckuss and Bossk mixed up, fixed them.
For set-up, he put Bossk and Zuckuss in his left corner, with Fenn Rau on the other side of the left-most asteroid. I had a similar set-up, only Boba was on my left corner, with Teroch and Palob on the other-side of my left-most asteroid, so we were pretty much in opposite corners.
First turn he carefully came straight down with all his guys, while I moved Palob and Teroch at medium speeds up. Boba did a hard 2-turn and boosted straight behind Teroch and Palob.
The next round he came in fast with Bossk and Zuckuss, doing three banks, while Fenn Rau kept going straight. My Palob did a lazy bank, while Teroch hard turned towards the enemy. Boba did a one bank and then I boosted when I realized Teroch was going to get shot and Boba was too far out. I was hoping for a slower engagement, so I could get into range 1 the first round of shooting, but he went too fast and we were at a suboptimal range 3 (although 2 would have been worse, Teroch gets no bonuses at that range).
Teroch and Boba hit Bossk, getting almost no damage that round, but then Zuckuss and Bossk cut loose at Teroch, their abilities and crew taking off half his health even with the range 3 bonus die and autothrusters (although autothrusters blocked 2 damage right there, so yeah, good call that).
The next one Zuckuss comes in fast, Palob keeps slowly circling, Teroch crashes into Zuckuss but ends up touching Boba, so he can still be shot, while Bossk stops and Fenn Rau gets close enough to do stuff. Palob and Teroch strip the mindlink focuses Fenn and Zuckuss had. Teroch completely evades Fenn Rau’s range 2 shot, because it was unmodified, while Zuckuss can’t quite finish him off at range 1 because the title gives him an extra evade (and it was unmodified), so it takes Bossk to clear Teroch out, but not before he shoots back.
After Palob gets his shot in, Zuckuss and Bossk are both hurting, with Bossk having no shields left and Zuckuss having lost his shields and taking a crit. Next round Palob banks again and Zuckuss turns in, just barely catching Palob in his arc. Bossk moves forward and Boba K-turns right behind Bossk, while Fenn Rau doesn’t catch anybody.
Boba hits Bossk hard, using his ability and Fearlessness to roll 4 hits, even while stressed. Bossk rolls an evade, but Boba uses Zuckuss to make him reroll it into nothing, leaving Bossk at 2 health and in prime dying territory from Palob’s TLT shot. Unfortunately, it was not to be.
Zuckuss hits Palob with a tractor beam and drags him onto a rock for a damage. Next round, Zuckuss books it out of the furball with a 3-bank and a barrel roll, while Palob is forced to overlap the rock again with his template when he gets off of it and takes another damage. Bossk does a 1 straight, meaning the right on his butt Boba bumps with a 1 bank. Fenn Rau turns in and between Bossk and Fenn, they kill Palob. So that Tractor Beam shot not only led to Palob dying before he got to shoot, but also kept Bossk alive for several more turns.
Boba can’t hit Fenn and he’s touching Boba (the bump was expected, since he was double-stressed from the k-turn and Zuckuss, it’s not like Boba was getting actions that round anyways) but he has a long range 3 shot on a 3-health Zuckuss.
Boba, with his ability working off the nearby Bossk and Fenn, rolls 3 hits, and the poor Zuckuss, who had barrel rolled instead of focused, got 2 eyeballs and a blank and died.
So the next round had a full health Boba behind a 2 health Bossk and a full health Fenn Rau. It definitely looked like Bossk was going to die and it was going to be a close range murder-fest between the other 2, but things went differently. I managed to keep Boba right on Bossk’s tail, so Boba ended up blocking Fenn’s next maneuver. Unfortunately for Fenn, this led to him being pushed back so he was touching Bossk AND he ended up overlapping an asteroid (and took a damage, those rocks were brutal this game).
This meant that Boba had a range 1 shot on a 3 health Fenn Rau (who did not have the title, because my opponent didn’t have the points) with 2 re-rolls from Boba’s ability and a focus. This led to 5 hits with Fearlessness and Fenn only scored 2 evades, even with the mindlinked focus from Bossk, so he went from full health to dead in a round. Next round Bossk did a 3 straight, but Boba was able to stay right on him and blew him up then too.
Boba pulled his weight that game, killing all the enemy ships. Palob and Teroch were great too, acting in their roles as Scum Biggs, as Boba didn’t even get shot at the whole game. He was never an appealing target, not with his high health, ability and other, squishier and more annoying ships existing. I went into my next game with a lot of confidence.
His team was:
Tarn Mison with R7 and IA
Poe Dameron with VI, R2-D2 and IA
Norra Wexley with BB-8, PtL, the title and a crew of some kind, but I don’t think it came up? (spoilers, Norra died fast this game)
My opponent was very sad when he realized that my team decimated focuses, since that’s what he mostly wanted to do with his guys.
I did the same set-up, with Boba in my left corner and Palob and Teroch on the other side of the left-most rock. He set up Tarn near the right corner and Norra and Poe in my left, so they were directly facing Boba. First round I dialed in a 2-straight with Boba and Palob, then 4-straight with Teroch and boosted, so he was coming in between 2 asteroids. Tarn came in fast on his side and Norra and Poe slow-played.
Next round I actually got to keep the same maneuvers, 2-straight for Palob and Boba, 4 for Teroch. This led Teroch to being in range 1 of Norra and Poe, with Boba at range 2 and Palob out of range. Tarn was still trying to get in. Norra get hit hard by Teroch and Boba, and Teroch survived the return fire with the use of his title and the less than helpful target-locks my opponent took over focus.
Next round Palob just moved up a bit, which got him in range of a number of ships, including Tarn finally. Boba was in a bad spot, because I had wanted to K-turn with him, but Poe would have blocked the 4-k and Norra the 3-k. I wanted to tallon-roll with Teroch, because it would get him right behind Norra and looked like it would block the desired 4-k from Poe, but Boba was in the way and if he bumped…I went 3-bank with Boba.
This led to him landing just barely on an asteroid, as I feared, but Teroch did end up right behind Norra. Unfortunately, Poe’s 4-k missed Teroch by a centimeter, and he ended up at range 1 on Teroch’s flank. His unmodified attack dice failed to do any significant damage, and Teroch responded by stripping Norra to her last few hull. Instead of doing a 3-die rear arc on Teroch (who’s title would have blocked 1 hit no matter what,) Norra fired 4 dice at Palob, stripping his shield and the shot from Tarn put Palob on low-health. Palob did take some shields off Tarn with his TLT.
Next round Boba turned around the asteroid and caught Tarn at range 1, while Teroch boosted into a trying to escape Norra. Poe stayed on Teroch’s tail, but ended up finishing off Palob. Teroch responded by killing Norra and Boba got a fancy 5-hits on Tarn and popped him in pretty much one shot.
Next round Boba k-turned and Poe stayed on Teroch, finishing him off. Following that, it was an extended game of cat and mouse, as my opponent was terrified of engaging Boba close, while I was desperate to keep the pressure on, so that he didn’t undo all the damage I was trying to put in.
I did a 1-straight and then boosted to get around an asteroid, but I still wasn’t quite pointing at Poe- a 1 bank might have done it, but I would have clipped the asteroid. Fortunately, Poe had no shot either and the next round I did a one bank, catching a k-turning Poe at range 2. I rolled into three hits and Poe dodged one- he had lost one shield that he hadn’t managed to regen earlier, so I considered using Zuckuss to maybe push some damage on the hull. I decided not to, as I wanted to 3-straight and didn’t want to remain stressed.
Unfortunately, I realized that a 3-straight was a bad maneuver as it gave me no options for the next round, so I ended up doing a 1 bank. Curses! Should have Zuckuss’d! No shots the next round, he just cleared his stress and regen’d a shield. I did a 2 hard then a boost, just barely missing being in range. Next round I did a 2 hard around the asteroid and Poe was forced to joust with me at range 1, no way to avoid it, unless he sacrificed a shot, but he still would have gotten shot. He rolled 4 hits and even with Boba’s ability I only dodged one, losing my remaining shields. I returned fire with 5 hits and he went down to a single hull point (although he could still ditch R2-D2 to survive) and suffered a reduced agility crit.
We jockeyed for position for a few more turns, but I caught him with my butt gun a few rounds later. He survived with 2 evades (and I forgot to use Zuckuss again, I think this one was the worst mistake of the game, as it would have likely killed him) and as the game progressed, he continued to regen and whittle away at Boba. I did one final turn and boost to try and surprise him, but he managed to blow Boba up before I could retaliate. Good match, and I could have played better, but his familiarity with Poe and those Tallon-rolls led to an unbeatable foe.
Next game I switched things up, wanting to try out 3(!) pilots I had never played before (and one ship, the Mist-Hunter).
Fenn Rau with Fearlessness, Title and AT
4-LOM with FCS, Zuckuss and Adaptability
Manaroo with Recon Spec, EU, Unhinged Astro and PtL
If I had a second Fang Fighter, I might have gone with Teroch instead of 4-Lom, but I wasn’t unhappy with the robot. I figured Manaroo would let me fly Fenn aggressively and make use of Fearlessness, over a more action providing EPT, like PtL or Atanni Mindlink, while 4-Lom would be self-sufficient with Zuckuss and FCS that I wouldn’t have to give him tokens.
My opponent fielded:
Shara Bey with Title, Targeting Astromech and Weapons Engineer
Tala with Guidance Chips and Concussion Missile (it was going to be a bandit, but he had 1 point left over so hey, promotion!)
2x Gold Squadron Pilots with Proton Torpedo, Extra Munitions and Guidance Chips
I set up Manaroo on my right corner, with Fenn Rau and 4-LOM on the other side of the asteroid. He put Shara across from Fenn and 4-LOM, while his ordnance carrying trio went on the other side of that lane. I booked Manaroo up with a 4-straight and a boost, while Fenn and 4-LOM were more conservative. His units all moved a little bit down, I think 1-straights.
Next turn Manaroo did a hard-1 and a barrel roll back, although Shara still caught her at range 3. 4-LOM moved up and Fenn did a hard turn and a boost to come around the rock and maybe flank the y-wings next round, who had done 3-banks. Shara managed to punch 3 hits through Manaroo, with me blanking on all 3 dice, and Manaroo only took 1 shield off, so I was already scared of losing one of my ships to an upcoming alpha strike.
Manaroo did a bank to come up between Fenn and 4-LOM, but she couldn’t squeeze through them with a boost, so she just double-focused (and held on to it for the upcoming murder rolls). 4-LOM came up far enough to shoot while the Y-wings moved slowly, trying to keep ships in range 3. His Tala crashed into a Y-wing and ended up overlapping an asteroid unfortunately, taking a point of damage. Fenn Rau came up right on the Y-wings flanks (and would have been in range of a concussion missile from the Tala, but yay asteroid).
Fenn went first, rolling six (!) hits with Fearlessness on a Y-wing, bringing it down to 2 hull in one shot. 4-LOM was able to catch the same Y-wing and managed to blow it up before the poor thing even got to shoot. 1 torpedo went off, as did Shara’s primary, taking 2 shields off 4-LOM and putting some hull damage in on Manaroo.
Next round the surviving Y-wing banked again, straightening out, while the Tala k-turned, overlapping the asteroid again and taking another hit, now having no shields. Manaroo did a 3-bank, barrel roll and boost to get out of dodge, but somehow Shara’s 1-bank was able to catch her in arc (range 3 though). 4-LOM 4-k’d and ended up on the Y-wing’s side, while Fenn’s 2-hard caught the Y-wing’s rear, but put him in range 1 of the Tala.
Fenn rolled his second six hits of the night on the Y-wing, and again 4-LOM finished it off. With a target lock on 4-LOM and rolling against less agility, my opponent took the shot on him with the concussion missile and punched 4-LOM down to 3 health.
Shara actually had all of my ships in her arcs- Manaroo in the front and Fenn and 4-LOM in the back- he considered shooting 4-LOM, but figured the extra attack on a token-less Manaroo would be better. He hit her, but only managed to punch 1 damage through, leaving her at 3 health. Manaroo then retaliated with 2 hits on the Tala, who, having no focuses, of course rolled eyeballs. 2 ships gone in one round.
Next turn Manaroo skittered up the side of the board and double-focused, this time passing it to Fenn. 4-LOM went straight, catching Shara long range, while Fenn turned around the asteroid and boosted into range 1 of Shara.
He only rolled 5 hits this time, but 4-LOM was able to finish the job again, leaving me with a 3 health 4-LOM, 3 health Manaroo and an undamaged and absurdly damaging Fenn.
This was a really fun team, and I plan on running it (and variations switching 4-LOM out for Zuckuss, or Teroch) a few more times at least. Manaroo was surprisingly unhelpful, but I think that’s just because I wasn’t flying her properly and Fearlessness on Fenn Rau is absurd- nothing’s walking unscathed from 6 hits, and being able to do it turn after turn is amazing.
Hilariously enough, I realized I didn’t get a chance to use anything on 4-LOM, not even FCS as he killed everything he shot. I could have switched to a generic and done the same! (But that was just that game, I could have very easily seen things go differently and I would have been very glad to have the tools he provided.)
I would love to run a team with Boba and Fenn with Fearlessness on both of them, but I’m not sure what to do with the rest of the points- I’d have around 28 points if I kitted out Fenn and Boba the way I like, but I think Fenn would be too squishy without any way to generate extra actions- either I’d sacrifice tokens for range or vice versa, so it’ll have to remain an unfinished list for now.
Thanks again to my foe-pponents for the awesome matches, you guys are great!
Edited by GameError