Two lists for Epic with two Huge Ships each

By Stefan, in X-Wing Squad Lists

Hi guys,

did two lists to fly against each other. First attempt at Epic, so criticism is welcome. I'm aware that flying two Huge Ships isn't terribly efficient, but goddamn I want to see them on the table.

REBEL PATROL GROUP

300 points


PILOTS

Gemmer Sojan (28)
A-Wing (22), A-Wing Test Pilot (0), Proton Rockets (3), Autothrusters (2), Crack Shot (1)

CR90 Corvette (Aft) (59)
CR90 Corvette (40), Gunner (5), Ion Cannon Battery (6), Engineering Team (4), Frequency Jammer (4)

CR90 Corvette (Fore) (82)
CR90 Corvette (50), Construction Droid (3), Quad Laser Cannons (6), Quad Laser Cannons (6), Ordnance Experts (5), Gunnery Team (4), EM Emitter (3), Optimised Generators (5)

GR-75 Medium Transport (59)
GR-75 Medium Transport (30), Bright Hope (5), Raymus Antilles (6), Jan Dodonna (6), Slicer Tools (7), Automated Protocols (5)

Gold Squadron Pilot (24)
Y-Wing (18), Twin Laser Turret (6)

Rookie Pilot (24) x 2
X-Wing (21), Plasma Torpedoes (3), Guidance Chips (0)

The idea is that the A-Wing goes for maximum survivability and irritability, while the Y-Wing supports the destruction of enemy big ships. The two X-Wings can release their load at a single dangerous enemy before breaking off and doing their thing.

EMPEROR'S RETINUE

300 points


PILOTS

Gozanti-class Cruiser (50)
Gozanti-Class Cruiser (40), Intelligence Agent (1), Dual Laser Turret (5), Gunnery Team (4)

Raider-class Corvette (aft) (85)
Raider-class Corvette (50), Emperor Palpatine (8), Quad Laser Cannons (6), Single Turbolasers (8), Gunnery Team (4), Engineering Team (4), Optimised Generators (5)

Raider-class Corvette (fore) (65)
Raider-class Corvette (50), Quad Laser Cannons (6), Ordnance Experts (5), Comms Booster (4)

Royal Guard Pilot (28) x 2
TIE Interceptor (22), Crack Shot (1), Royal Guard TIE (0), Autothrusters (2), Stealth Device (3)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (22) x 2
TIE Bomber (16), Proton Torpedoes (4), Extra Munitions (2), Guidance Chips (0)

The idea here is that the TIE Interceptors try to kill enemy fighters as kind of a mini-swarm, while the bombers start docked to the Gozanti for an Alpha Strike.

Interesting builds. 4 fighters each. Very non-standard builds. I don't see anything that's going to fall on it's face and make it a lopsided battle. Not sure the Rebel Transport is going to be all that effective in it's current build format - but depending on how you use it and could work.

One thought... Frequency Jammer on the corvette is an odd choice. You can't use it there. The corvette doesn't have a jam action so it can't use frequency jammer. It's a wasted 4 points.

Yes, have fun with them.

In my (not that extensive) experience, the Raider is best kitted out to kill bombers and lower agility fighters and the CR90 can make a very effective huge ship killer.

I'd drop the gunner on the corvette, weapons engineer is much better. And WED-15 is better than the construction droid. Huge ship criticals are very nasty, so fixing them can be the difference between winning and losing.

Better?

REBEL PATROL GROUP

298 points


PILOTS

Gemmer Sojan (28)
A-Wing (22), A-Wing Test Pilot (0), Proton Rockets (3), Autothrusters (2), Crack Shot (1)

Rookie Pilot (24) x 2
X-Wing (21), Plasma Torpedoes (3), Guidance Chips (0)

Gold Squadron Pilot (26)
Y-Wing (18), R3-A2 (2), Twin Laser Turret (6)

CR90 Corvette (Aft) (56)
CR90 Corvette (40), WED-15 Repair Droid (2), Ion Cannon Battery (6), Engineering Team (4), Tibanna Gas Supplies (4)

CR90 Corvette (Fore) (81)
CR90 Corvette (50), Single Turbolasers (8), Quad Laser Cannons (6), Gunnery Team (4), Ordnance Experts (5), EM Emitter (3), Optimised Generators (5)

GR-75 Medium Transport (59)
GR-75 Medium Transport (30), Bright Hope (5), Jan Dodonna (6), Raymus Antilles (6), Slicer Tools (7), Automated Protocols (5)


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The list encountered some problems in the late game, so I overhauled it. The Imperial list worked well enough, but the Rebels really went down once the Raider had slipped under Range 3 of the CR90 and the Proton torpedoes were spent.

REBEL PATROL GROUP

300 points


PILOTS

Gemmer Sojan (28)
A-Wing (22), A-Wing Test Pilot (0), Proton Rockets (3), Autothrusters (2), Crack Shot (1)

Gold Squadron Pilot (26)
Y-Wing (18), R3-A2 (2), Twin Laser Turret (6)

CR90 Corvette (Aft) (56)
CR90 Corvette (40), Jan Ors (2), Quad Laser Cannons (6), Engineering Team (4), Tibanna Gas Supplies (4)

CR90 Corvette (Fore) (78)
CR90 Corvette (50), Bodhi Rook (1), Single Turbolasers (8), Ion Cannon Battery (6), Gunnery Team (4), Tibanna Gas Supplies (4), Optimised Generators (5)

GR-75 Medium Transport (43)
GR-75 Medium Transport (30), Raymus Antilles (6), Slicer Tools (7)

Blue Squadron Pilot (37)
B-Wing (22), Fire-Control System (2), Heavy Laser Cannon (7), Proton Torpedoes (4), Extra Munitions (2), Guidance Chips (0)

Wes Janson (32)
X-Wing (29), BB-8 (2), Crack Shot (1), Integrated Astromech (0)


Edited by Stefan

You've kind of used nearly every upgrade on your ships. For instance, that B-wing is going to be the first thing I kill (and it will die in the first round of combat, hands down), so all the torpedoes are wasted on it, as is the HLC, probably. Gemmer is nice, but its a one-trick pony - once the Prockets are gone, she's next to useless (basically a TIE fighter). The Y-wing and Wes are great, but you might want to add the BTL-A4 title to the Y-wing so you can double-stress an enemy ace in a turn. As for the Huge ships:

Tantive IV:

134 points all up, with 24 total health, AGI 0 and four moderately strong attacks per round. In its current form, it isn't doing anything that four B-wings (or four TIE Interceptors) can't do better and cheaper. Your crew upgrades are a strange choice - if you're taking Bodhi, why not use Ordnance tubes and homing missiles for some heavier firepower? Jan Ors is fine, but kind of superfluous on a Huge ship as it can reinforce instead. Nice choice with Tibanna gas on both ships though - this is definitely a range 4-5 monster, so long as your opponent can't get any closer.

Rebel Transport:

43 points for a ship whose sole purpose is to stress 1 (or maybe 2-3) ships per turn? I'd swap Raymus for Toryn Farr in order to counter every PTL ace in existence, and add the Quantum Storm title for that extra energy efficiency. I'd also consider swapping Slicer Tools for an Ionisation Reactor, in order to utterly mess with swarms.

I'm severely hindered in taking in these suggestions because I simply don't have enough ships. I need to get around the physical limitations. Plus, the list is intended to basically fly against the Imperial list above, so that's a bit less of an issue. I have expanded my wish list to accomodate for more rebel ships, so more options like the ones you mentioned come up, but right now, I only have one B-Wing and one A-Wing, for example, so Aces are a natural fit. And of course, the CR90 has more effective health thanks to the Recover-Action and the Reinforce-Action. If I'm not mistaken, the Carrier can even sacrifice some survivability and Coordinate the CR90, so it can Reinforce and Recover in the same round (not sure about that one though). But I definitely see the wisdom of your list choices against normal Epic compositions.

Based on your suggestions, I changed the list:

CR90 Corvette (Aft) (40)
Jan Ors (2)
Quad Laser Cannons (6)
Tibanna Gas Supplies (4)
Optimized Generators (5)

CR90 Corvette (Fore) (50)
Bodhi Rook (1)
Homing Missiles (5)
Single Turbolasers (8)
Gunnery Team (4)
Tibanna Gas Supplies (4)
Ordnance Tubes (5)

Gemmer Sojan (22)
Proton Rockets (3)
Crack Shot (1)
Autothrusters (2)
A-Wing Test Pilot (0)

Blue Squadron Pilot (22)
Fire-Control System (2)
Heavy Laser Cannon (7)
Proton Torpedoes (4)
Extra Munitions (2)
Guidance Chips (0)

Wes Janson (29)
Crack Shot (1)
BB-8 (2)
Integrated Astromech (0)

GR-75 Medium Transport (30)
Toryn Farr (6)
Slicer Tools (7)
Quantum Storm (4)

Gold Squadron Pilot (18)
Autoblaster Turret (2)
R3-A2 (2)
BTL-A4 Y-Wing (0)

Total: 300

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Idea is to use A-Wing and X-Wing to shield the B-Wing. The Transporter will prevent K-Turns (or penalize them) in his vicinity, keeping close to three fighters. Torryn strips enemy ships of tokens, further making them vulnerable against the three fighters. The CR90 comes in behind, firing at long range and trying to stay that way.

---

I also updated the Imperial list a bit.

Raider-class Corvette (Aft) (50)
Emperor Palpatine (8)
Cluster Missiles (4)
Single Turbolasers (8)
Ordnance Experts (5)
Engineering Team (4)
Ordnance Tubes (5)

Raider-class Corvette (Fore) (50)
Quad Laser Cannons (6)
Gunnery Team (4)
Optimized Generators (5)

Gozanti-class Cruiser (40)
Intelligence Agent (1)
Intelligence Agent (1)
Dual Laser Turret (5)
Gunnery Team (4)
Docking Clamps (0)

Royal Guard Pilot (22)
Crack Shot (1)
Autothrusters (2)
Stealth Device (3)
Royal Guard TIE (0)

Royal Guard Pilot (22)
Crack Shot (1)
Autothrusters (2)
Stealth Device (3)
Royal Guard TIE (0)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)
Proton Torpedoes (4)
Extra Munitions (2)
Guidance Chips (0)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)
Proton Torpedoes (4)
Extra Munitions (2)
Guidance Chips (0)

Total: 300

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Edited by Stefan

Nice. I like the changes. And if you're going to have your two lists against each other, you needn't worry about making a "perfect" epic list. I feel your pain in not having enough ships - I'm over a year in, buying about a ship per week, and I still struggle with building a swarm.

Unless the X-wing's name is biggs (Still not as good as Wes for other reasons, though), you can't "Shield" the B-wing. If I have a shot at it, I'll just shoot it instead.

That's where I plan to use Jan Ors and her Evade token to mitigate this a bit. I could perhaps shift some points around, give the B-Wing a crew slot and let C3PO fly with him for added resilience.

I'm severely hindered in taking in these suggestions because I simply don't have enough ships. I need to get around the physical limitations. Plus, the list is intended to basically fly against the Imperial list above, so that's a bit less of an issue. I have expanded my wish list to accomodate for more rebel ships, so more options like the ones you mentioned come up, but right now, I only have one B-Wing and one A-Wing, for example, so Aces are a natural fit. And of course, the CR90 has more effective health thanks to the Recover-Action and the Reinforce-Action. If I'm not mistaken, the Carrier can even sacrifice some survivability and Coordinate the CR90, so it can Reinforce and Recover in the same round (not sure about that one though). But I definitely see the wisdom of your list choices against normal Epic compositions.

Just a heads up - can't use coordinate from one epic ship to give another epic ship actions... They can't accept free actions. Automated Protocols is the only way to give them an additional action, at the cost of an energy.

I'm also going to agree with Astech for different reasons in regards to the B-Wing being a target. Rebels have beefier ships than the Imperials, but that low agility makes them easier to crush with the big ship. At range 4 and 5 the B-Wing and Y-Wing are going to be at a severe disadvantage. Tactically, you're going to have to move quickly to strike - OR - I rather liked replacing the B-Wing with the second X-Wing myself. Admittedly, I'm biased on that part as I've personally had more success with an X-Wing than a B-Wing... Seems I'm a rarity in that regard. Jan Ors may help negate some of the damage to the B-Wing. You'll likely lose some offense due to lack of focus in this case but being alive is much better than being dead.

Keeping the transport close to the fighters is VERY tough to do in practice. That said, you've got a pretty streamlined transport that looks to be nicely suited for getting into range 1-2 of the enemy. I like the build. I'm stuck in the Bright Hope trap to get the extra durability, but the extra energy generation on Quantum Storm for use with Toryn Farr is very nice. Think you can shift 5 points around to give it Automated Protocols? I think you'll find the transport comes alive with that second action.

Overall, I like the changes though. The ships are pretty built up for a starter epic fleet, but there aren't too many ships to get lost in. I'm thinking this is a pretty fair fight, and will come down to tactics. Imperials might get an early edge if they can pick off a heavy fighter at range early, but I can see ways for both sides to win.

If I...

1) Really wanted to use two rebel epic ships and

2) I knew my opponent had at least one epic ship

I would probably configure the rebel transport this way:

Bright Hope

WED repair droid

backup shield generator

Automated protocols

(45 points)

With the capacity to heavily reinforce the front and recover up to 2 shield/hull per round, this becomes a "battering ram" that can deal some neasty crit to an opponent's huge and hopefully keep the Rebel corvette at long range where it excels.

It's not my type of play (I never field more than one huge), but if you want to try something fun then this would work.

And another thing to remember: there's only 1 modification slot per ship. At least one squadbuilder program treats each half as a separate ship so adds a slot to each half

So that revised Raider needs to lose one of its modifications.

I'm severely hindered in taking in these suggestions because I simply don't have enough ships. I need to get around the physical limitations. Plus, the list is intended to basically fly against the Imperial list above, so that's a bit less of an issue. I have expanded my wish list to accomodate for more rebel ships, so more options like the ones you mentioned come up, but right now, I only have one B-Wing and one A-Wing, for example, so Aces are a natural fit. And of course, the CR90 has more effective health thanks to the Recover-Action and the Reinforce-Action. If I'm not mistaken, the Carrier can even sacrifice some survivability and Coordinate the CR90, so it can Reinforce and Recover in the same round (not sure about that one though). But I definitely see the wisdom of your list choices against normal Epic compositions.

Just a heads up - can't use coordinate from one epic ship to give another epic ship actions... They can't accept free actions. Automated Protocols is the only way to give them an additional action, at the cost of an energy.

I'm also going to agree with Astech for different reasons in regards to the B-Wing being a target. Rebels have beefier ships than the Imperials, but that low agility makes them easier to crush with the big ship. At range 4 and 5 the B-Wing and Y-Wing are going to be at a severe disadvantage. Tactically, you're going to have to move quickly to strike - OR - I rather liked replacing the B-Wing with the second X-Wing myself. Admittedly, I'm biased on that part as I've personally had more success with an X-Wing than a B-Wing... Seems I'm a rarity in that regard. Jan Ors may help negate some of the damage to the B-Wing. You'll likely lose some offense due to lack of focus in this case but being alive is much better than being dead.

Keeping the transport close to the fighters is VERY tough to do in practice. That said, you've got a pretty streamlined transport that looks to be nicely suited for getting into range 1-2 of the enemy. I like the build. I'm stuck in the Bright Hope trap to get the extra durability, but the extra energy generation on Quantum Storm for use with Toryn Farr is very nice. Think you can shift 5 points around to give it Automated Protocols? I think you'll find the transport comes alive with that second action.

Overall, I like the changes though. The ships are pretty built up for a starter epic fleet, but there aren't too many ships to get lost in. I'm thinking this is a pretty fair fight, and will come down to tactics. Imperials might get an early edge if they can pick off a heavy fighter at range early, but I can see ways for both sides to win.

If the Raider is concentrating its fire on the B-Wing, I can respond with the CR90, which has superior range. Unsure how this exchange works out. If I keep the B-Wing behind the CR90 or the Transport for the initial approach, I get another green die as well, which brings me up to enough defense. I hope ^^ With a bit of luck I can try the build tomorrow.

I see where you're going at with the X-Wings, but I tried a two-X-Wing-build in the first iteration and went down once their torpedoes were fired, so I'll try this. Likely it won't work either, but at least I'll know how I shouldn't fly then ;)

And another thing to remember: there's only 1 modification slot per ship. At least one squadbuilder program treats each half as a separate ship so adds a slot to each half

So that revised Raider needs to lose one of its modifications.

Really?! That's weird :D Thanks for heads-up, going to change the builds to get rid of that problem. So here's the updated lists; I used the five additional points to grace the X-Wing with Proton Torpedoes and the Carrier with an Intelligence Agent for the Rebels and to give the TIE Bombers Proximity Mines for the Imperials:

CR90 Corvette (Aft) (40)

Jan Ors (2)

Quad Laser Cannons (6)

Tibanna Gas Supplies (4)

CR90 Corvette (Fore) (50)

Bodhi Rook (1)

Homing Missiles (5)

Single Turbolasers (8)

Gunnery Team (4)

Tibanna Gas Supplies (4)

Ordnance Tubes (5)

Gemmer Sojan (22)

Proton Rockets (3)

Crack Shot (1)

Autothrusters (2)

A-Wing Test Pilot (0)

Blue Squadron Pilot (22)

Fire-Control System (2)

Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

Proton Torpedoes (4)

Extra Munitions (2)

Guidance Chips (0)

Wes Janson (29)

Crack Shot (1)

Proton Torpedoes (4)

BB-8 (2)

Integrated Astromech (0)

GR-75 Medium Transport (30)

Toryn Farr (6)

Intelligence Agent (1)

Slicer Tools (7)

Quantum Storm (4)

Gold Squadron Pilot (18)

Autoblaster Turret (2)

R3-A2 (2)

BTL-A4 Y-Wing (0)

Total: 300

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Raider-class Corvette (Aft) (50)

Emperor Palpatine (8)

Cluster Missiles (4)

Single Turbolasers (8)

Ordnance Experts (5)

Engineering Team (4)

Ordnance Tubes (5)

Raider-class Corvette (Fore) (50)

Quad Laser Cannons (6)

Gunnery Team (4)

Gozanti-class Cruiser (40)

Intelligence Agent (1)

Dual Laser Turret (5)

Gunnery Team (4)

Docking Clamps (0)

Royal Guard Pilot (22)

Crack Shot (1)

Autothrusters (2)

Stealth Device (3)

Royal Guard TIE (0)

Royal Guard Pilot (22)

Crack Shot (1)

Autothrusters (2)

Stealth Device (3)

Royal Guard TIE (0)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)

Proton Torpedoes (4)

Extra Munitions (2)

Proximity Mines (3)

Guidance Chips (0)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)

Proton Torpedoes (4)

Extra Munitions (2)

Proximity Mines (3)

Guidance Chips (0)

Total: 300

View in Yet Another Squad Builder