Our FLGS has started our second Corellian Conflict campaign. Our first campaign was a landslide victory for the Empire - the rebels scarcely got points on the board, possibly due to my own undefeated record playing as Sloane. We've reshuffled our players around the team (leading to me playing on the Rebel side this time), and we've got six players ready to take another stab at it. Our lineup is as follows (I'm flying as Mon Mothma):
Imperial Forces:
Vader's MSU Fleet . The Dark Lord himself commands a fleet of two Raiders, a Gladiator and a Quasar from his command Arquitens. As a fighter escort, Vader has five squadrons of TIE Phantoms, coordinated by Whisper.
Tarkin's Mixed Nuts. Tarkin commands his fleet from a Cymoon ISD, alongside a VSD II and a Gladiator. For quadrons, he commands a swarm of TIE fighters and has purchased the loyalty of Gar Saxxon and some extra mandalorian muscle.
Thrawns? Flying Bricks. Thrawn commands an intimidating fleet of an ISD backed by two Victory-class destroyers. While he has minimal fighter support, he aims to obliterate his opponents with imperial might alone.
Rebel Forces:
Ackbars Ceasar Salad. Ackbar commands a mon cala fleet consisting of am MC-75 and -80 cruiser, alongside a CR-90 for away missions. His fighters are an alphabet soup, provided flexibility at the cost of raw power.
Rieekan's Rapid Mobility Fleet. Rieekan commands an intimidating fleet of dual MC-30 frigates and an MC-75 cruiser, alongside a few squadrons.
Mon Mothma's MSU Fleet. Mon Mothma's diplomacy has yielded her small donor ships from across the galaxy, including two MC-30 frigates, four CR-90 corvettes and a pair of A-wing squadrons led by Shara Bey.
Campaign Turn 1:
Tarkin Vs Ackbar over unoccupied Crash's Drift.
Tarkin and Ackbar met inside a Nebula in the opening moves of the Conflict. Tarkin foolishly played into Ackbar's Advanced Gunnery objectives, giving his MC-80 cruiser a blistering 9 dice salvo out its broadsides. The battle was well fought on both sides, with Tarkin's iron grip and rapid orders playing a strong part in the battle, but ultimately Ackbars superior firepower carried the day, at the cost of all but his MC-80 and some escorting squadrons.
Rieekan Vs Thrawn among the shipyards of the Saberhing Asteroid Belt.
Rieekan's confidence in his own speed proved to be his undoing. Intending to blast past Thrawn's formation and take it out from behind. Thrawn's gunnery teams, among the finest in the Imperial Navy, blasted the ships apart before they could even fire. Thrawn lost some minimal fighter cover, while Rieekan's fleet was annihilated.
Vader Vs Mon Mothma in orbit over Corellia itself.
MSU clashed against MSU in a quick and confusing battle. Mothma quickly eliminated the Quasar as a threat, recognising the devastating effect well coordinated Phantoms could be put to. As Mon Mothma's ships became heavily damaged, they used their superior speed, numbers and agility to fly away from the fight rather than be destroyed. In the end, Mon Mothma lost her A-wing squadrons to massed Phantom fire and had to track down a CR-90 corvette that had fled the field of battle heavily damaged, while Vader lost his entire fleet, bar his Gladiator, Whisper and three phantom squadrons.
Campaign Results.
The Empire lost Corellia to the Rebellion, who has begun construction of a new base, but they did manage to hold onto the critical Saberhing shipyards. The Empire ends the round on 1 campaign point, while the Reebellin has triple that amount. The empire gains 111 resource points after losing 40 at Corellia, while the Rebellion has 143 after investing in a new base at Corellia.
Thoughts so far .
Well, it wasn't a turn 1 steamroll, but it was close. Two of the victories were pretty decisive, with Mothma and Thrawn both taking negligible losses. Thankfully, these victories were on opposite sides. The Imperials really needed more upgrades to make their ships shine, and that'll be coming next week.
Mon Mothma, in a fleet consisting entirely of ships with double evade tokens and speed 4 ships, is amazing. Her ability probably prevented 30 damage throughout the game, which would have been 3-4 more dead ships on my side. Liberal use of turbolaser reroute circuits on all the CR-90s was also quite clutch, allowing the CR-90s to be a large threat with even a single die attack, while the ability to first-last Vader with my MC-30s and take minimal damage in return was amazing. We'll have to see how Mon Mothma's MSU goes next week against Tarkin's gunnery teams Cymoon...