This is the last run of my A, B, & X-Wing team and this week I faced off against a three ship Scum Team.

Opposition was Guri in a Star Viper, Kavil flying his Y-Wing with a Vet Turret Gunner manning a Dorsal Turret, and finally Fenn Rau in the Fang Fighter.

Setup:

The asteroids actually formed a sort of ring structure surrounding a fairly open center. My upper left had two asteroids framing that corner. The upper right had an asteroid pulled in to the left a bit. Lower Right had two asteroids, one defining the corner and a second closer to center. Since this lower right quadrant dominated the conflict it's of some interest. My lower left corner had the single asteroid along the left frame and also 25% away from the edge.

While my opponent had initiative (I'm bidding with a team worth 191 so I get to decide) I had the low pilot skills (3 & 4).

Arvel was poised to race down the left side of the board, but I pointed Ten to the right and placed his fighter immediately behind Arvel.

My opponent set the Viper in the center of his setup area with the Y-Wing and Syck on the right side (all pointed straight).

I placed Wedge to Arvel's port side and 1 space away. (they were separated by a 1 maneuver template).

Opening Maneuvers.

Avrel raced off with a 4 straight followed with a single boost, getting ready to clear that “corner” asteroid, while Ten banked toward the center of the board in a very leisurely barrel roll to port. (Rolling with the slow go).

The opfor converged to his left and rolled slowly down the right side of the board while Guri looped to join her fellow team mates.

With a change of the oppositions disposition, Wedge barrel rolled right and ended up in line behind Arvel. It looked like I might be facing a fairly traditional Merge.

Arvel turned around his asteroid and angled in to sweep across the upper center section of the board and Ten flew at a snails pace.

Guri came back toward center to play with Arvel and Wedge, while the Fang & Y-Wing made their slow roll down the right side.

Wedge banked in, preparing to either head toward the center or the back field based on how Guri swung, and it looked like Guri was headed toward the center.

With Guri separated from her team mates and with Wedge and Arvel in the neighborhood, it looks like we're going to fight piecemeal.

What Merge?

Arvel with PS 3 isn't going to shape anything tonight. He slowed down with a 2 straight, trying to keep his arc wide for Guri and hoping that Wedge can swing back in. Wedge was off his port stern quarter and pointed toward the back lane.

Guri twirled again and swung dangerously to Arvels port . . . right on top of an asteroid. (Yay me)!

Wedge had dialed in a 2 turn to starboard, but was able to barrel roll to port to catch Guri in his firing arc. Wedge's unmodded attack cut deep and hurt Guri badly.

Arvel and Guri both flipped into sloops to face each other and Guri wiped out Arvel's shields. Wedge Disengaged and flew in to face the Y-Wing and Fang fighter just now entering the center of the board. Ten also accelerated to join the fray.

The Cauldron.

Yeah! Another one! (two weeks in a row) and also clockwise.

Wedge went face to face with the Fang Fighter & Y-Wing and while he delivered good damage he is nearly wiped off of the board, the only thing saving him is the extra shield.

Arvel punched it and dialed in a five straight and boosted to disengage from Guri. Guri flitted around again, but found herself in the crosshairs of Wedge (fresh off off a K-Turn) and Guri's Viper is reduced to scrap.

Kavil & Fenn Rau turn in to take on Ten's B-Wing and both trade salvos at long (and short) range, with Kavil taking the worst of it, and Wedge swung in to take on the Y-Wing from the rear. With the added threat of the dorsal turret Kavil is dishing tons of damage and must go NOW!

Kavil runs into trouble quickly as he races past Ten. Ten pulled a 1 Talon Roll and Wedge raced in to close range. The Y-Wing just doesn't have the power to outrace the two and with Swarm Tactics he also doesn't get a shot off as the B-Wing and X-Wing hit him with blasters & Proton Torpedoes. Scratch 1 Y-Wing.

Arvel is dangerously close to Fenn and he turns away from the conflict circling around the lower left asteroid.

Fenn has an X-Wing and Y-Wing hot on his tail and he also circles around an Asteroid, boosting with the hopes of coming around onto Wedge and Ten's aft.

Trouble is, Ten burned his stress on his attack on Kavil and both Wedge and Ten roll a K-Turn, putting both on Fenn's starboard flank as he comes around his asteroid. Fenn takes a beating but isn't finished quite yet.

Wedge and Ten both dial 1 straights as they fly between two asteroids and Fenn races to find cover from the second asteroid. He avoids the worst and avoids arcs as he boosts clockwise around the second asteroid.

Wedge and Ten follow him through and it takes two turns, with Fenn Rau using every erg possible to race around the asteroid. Wedge and Ten both took the opportunity to pick up easy target locks. They follow in an almost leisurely manner.

But those B-Wings can turn on a dime and once clear of the asteroid, Ten finds a range two shot with a target lock, focus, AND a spare proton torpedo. With outmaneuver, Fenn only has two defense dice available and with one hull left, the Syck fighter is obliterated.

AAR.

I felt pretty good walking into this fight, but in reality this was a very close match. Wedge and Ten were both knocked down to their last hull and Arvel only had his two hull left.

So end score was 200 to 96.

Arvel didn't really do anything this fight. He gave Guri an additional playmate to mess with but with the low pilot skill, Arvel couldn't keep up with Wedge and put himself anywhere useful.

The crazy thing is that Arvel seems custom made for the intimidation talent, but with his low pilot skill he's almost never where he needs to be to make that useful. Even worse, his natural pilot skills were never used during this entire month. Arvel literally NEVER collided with nor was collided into by anyone.

He might be useful if fighting ships with a lower PS than his three and he is a good complement for flying formation with X-Wings . . . if only he could deliver his missiles or inflict any damage.

Wedge and Ten were MVP's. I think they do better if they fly separate (at first) but their maneuver dials actually work pretty well with each other. In the last two fights, having Wedge and Ten approach the enemy formations from different directions and hitting at the same time was devastating. And both were sufficiently durable to take a beating.

Once past the merge, both can maneuver in concert to deliver deadly damage to the opponent and Swarm Tactics helps take out enemy units before they can return fire.

Ten's ability to spend stress like a focus token is both a blessing and bane. When he has the focus to do so, not having to spend actions on focus is great! When you don't roll any focuses, then Ten is going to have a hard time maneuvering next turn! However I've found that this ability works really well with Proton Torpedoes.

Though I have yet to pull it off well, Wedge with R3 has some interesting potential. First, I need to pack an extra target lock for him because he can hold two locks at a time. And when he burns a lock he can lock onto a new target, or keep a lock in place. I can see a lot of potential there, with or without Torpedoes.

As much as I like the thought of Wedge with the Outmaneuver talent, Swarm Tactics has been a better fit. Being able to inflict two Initiative 6 attacks has made a big difference all month in making sure opponents were removed from the board before they could counter attack. And as close as some of these battles have been, I think I'll be holding onto Swarm Tactics with Wedge.

Next month will be a new Rebels team so look forward to that set of tests. I received a lot of good advice from the local pros and next month should be very interesting.