The gents and I got together yesterday for our monthly X-Wing day. Double-D had just picked up a Raider, and MTV had long been wanting to field his. None of us had any experience flying Huge ships, or flying against them. So we just jumped in. Double-D took the Double Raider side - I didn't make any notes on the builds, except that one was kitted out a little more close-in and regen, and the other was a little more long-range-focused. MTV converted a list he used at Regionals; adding a bomber Miranda to Rey/Norra. I'd had an idea for a Scum list featuring cannons and TLT's, so the Rebels hired some mercenaries to help break up a blockade. Edit: Oh, yeah. 300 points/side.
Turn 0. MTV and I attempted a small degree of coordination, but having no experience was definitely a detriment. A few turns of play will demonstrate just how bad this initial deployment was. A Mangler Scyk and an HLC Scyk sit on the far end next to Rey, and Miranda and the TLT Thugs occupy the middle. HLC Moralo is nearest. The nearer Raider is the close combat regenner.
Turn 1. Moralo moves to begin flanking the Raider. The two Thugs slow-roll in case Double-D gets frisky with Raider and decides to ram. Miranda blows out hard to start dropping bombs and clogging lanes for the far Raider. The Scyks set up for a flanking/strafing run. And Rey and Norra just sort of faff about.
Turn 2. Mistakes begin to become evident here. Miranda has dropped her first mine, but is all out on her own. She takes two sets of main cannon fire and is down to four hull. Moralo also takes two sets of main cannon fire and loses all his shields. Everyone else is still trying to get into position. Double-D is still playing the Raiders very cautiously - my fears of battering rams appear to be unfounded. Tragically so.
Turn 3. Moralo slow rolls into Range 2; the TLT Thugs finally get into firing range. Miranda SLAMs to GTFO, and Rey and Norra continue to just sort of piddle about. The two Scyks get set up, but the leader, the Mangler Scyk, is millimeters in range of the forward batteries. Moralo's HLC and the Thugs's TLT's strip the forward shields off the nearer Raider and start to chew into the hull; Double-D retaliates with two main cannon shots and an ion battery into Moralo.... Poof! And the Mangler Scyk takes two main cannon shots from the farther Raider. Fully tokened, but red dice beat green dice, and the Scyk evaporates under a barrage of Direct Hits.
Turn 4. The Raiders have just been slow-rolling, regaining energy and shields, not really worried at all about anything. The Thugs set up for a strafing run - I'm worried about those ion batteries, though. MTV's forces finally begin to engage and the last Scyk sets up for his strafing run. TLT's chew into the regenerated forward shields of the near Raider, the leader losing his shields in return. The HLC Scyk strips a few shields off the forward section of the farther Raider, who continues to try to kill Miranda.
Turn 5. The Thugs switch target priority and start hammering the rear section of their Raider. All four of the other rebelling ships hammer the rear of their Raider, eating into hull. Thug Leader, Doug (because he's got number 42), takes an ion battery hit, and Miranda continues to be the focus of the farther Raider's ire.
Turn 6. Thug Leader manages to get another round of shooting! He and Thug 2, Bob (Strange Brew, anyone?) start eating into hull. Doug strips the final shields off the rear, and Bob takes a Range 1 primary for hit/hit/crit - the crit being the one that damages the forward section, too! Sweet! Near-side Raider ions Doug again.... Far-side Raider arc-dodges the Scyk! But the rear section takes a hammering from MTV's massed ships. I think Miranda and Norra both take hits this turn? But not to any real effect. "Bloody Rebel regen!" the Imperials cry. The Rebel shots cripple the rear section of the Far-side Raider, who drops Cluster Bombs before he goes, hitting Norra and the Scyk.
Turn 7. The Raiders begin to run. The final Scyk switches targets, and the final Thug k-turns behind the Raider. MTV's forces continue circling the middle of the map, seeking opportunity. Thug and Scyk only manage to put another three points into the rear section of the near-side Raider. Miranda plinks away at the regenerated shields of teh rear section of the far-side Raider. Norra continues to have no shots, and I think Rey hit the forward shields of the near-side Raider? The Raiders continue to try to kill Miranda, whoa as a result is back down to hull.
Turn 8. The tide has turned. Energy management has finally caught up with Double-D, and the Raiders are running scared. Rey targets the rear section of the near-side Raider and cripples it. Unfortunately, that leaves the Scyk without a shot. Norra kills the forward shields, and Miranda starts chewing on the forward shields of the far-side Raider. The TLT Thug barely has a shot on the forward section of the near-side Raider and puts a couple more damage in . Near-side Raider only has Miranda in arc - again. And Miranda's recently regenerated shields are gone - again. While far-side Raider has no shots in arc - the rear section and all its guns are wrecked.
Turn 9. Far-side Raider hits a debris field, taking a Direct Hit crit, and only narrowly avoiding flying its butt off the map. Near-side Raider gets finished off by a Range 3 Norra. No shots from him as a result, and the far-sider still has no arc.
Turn 10 saw all remaining Rebellion ships engaging the remaining Raider, who finally put a shot onto Rey - her first of the game Miranda dropped her second Proximity Mine, to no effect. And Turn 11 killed the final Raider before it could shoot, a Proton Bomb from Miranda dropping another Direct Hit on the forward section followed by a fully modified shot from Rey.
From set-up to clean-up, six hours, with four and a half or five hours of that being actual play. I know I've missed some of the shooting from the Raiders in here, as the Scyk ended on one hull, the Thug on three. Norra ended at full health, but definitely regenned her shields completely at one point, and Miranda finished with full shields but two damage cards. I personally put 27 points of damage onto the near-side Raider - it kind of stings that I wasn't the one to take it out at the end, ha ha.
Thoughts coming out of it all: I almost completely mismanaged Turn 0 with my forces. I should have had the Scyks and the YV flying together. I had intended to get behind the Raiders as fast as possible, but grossly underestimated the sheer volume of firepower they possess in the early game. Ouch! MTV and I should have been a bit more careful about coordinating our efforts earlier on in the match. I think Miranda as a bomber is not so good - or MTV was too cautious with her to make her a truly effective bomber. I flew perhaps too aggressively from the start, and I think MTV was much more cautious than he absolutely needed to be - while his ships were in great shape at the end, I bet we could have finished up at least two turns (an hour or so) earlier. Double-D played very well for his first time with Huge ships, although he said he would much rather have been flying one Raider and an escort flight - which would likely be more fun and more thematic anyhow. And finally, Epic ships can haul @$$, arc-dodging much more effectively than one would expect from something that big. Especially once a crippled section becomes a giant, twisted, metal shield.
All in all, it was fantastically fun, and leaves me totally stoked to try it again. Especially now that we all have a little better idea of what we're doing, ha ha.
Edited by Kleeg005