My list: 2x Black Sun Assassins with ProTorps/FCS/Elusive; Fenn with Predator
His list: Luke with Foils/R4/ProTorps/Supernatural; Han with Clusters/Title/EU
Obstacles: 5x debris, 1x rock; four in a band at R2 of his edge, the remaining two at R2 of either edge about the midline.
Setup: I won the initiative roll, made Han move before Fenn. I dropped the two BSA’s in the middle; Luke went more or less opposite, a little to my left. Han went far left outside the obstacles; I set Fenn on my far right.
Objective: Use those ProTorps to punish Han and flank with Fenn for targets of opportunity.
Rnd1: The BSA’s left bank 1, roll left to end facing the left board edge a little more than one base-length out from my edge - slow-rolling to see where Han is going. Luke starts with Foils closed, straight 2 rolls ship left for a better angle through the debris. Han starts with turret sideways, straight 2 focus. Fenn straight 5, boost left to either flank or engage Luke.
Rnd2: The BSA’s right hard 1 focus, still waiting to see where Han will commit; now about in line with the left-most asteroid. Luke Supernaturals a boost left with Foils closed, bank left 2 focus, now facing the right board edge very nearly centered. Han straight 1 boost left between the first obstacle and the midline obstacle. Fenn left bank 3, boost left link focus to end R1 of Luke, face-to-face, Predator active. b/f/h/h/c, Predator the blank into a blank, use focus. Luke rolls one evade, drops shields and takes an inconsequential crit - Damaged Engine maybe? Han has no shot, Luke rolls b/f/h (S-Foils still closed), spends Force for two hits; Fenn rolls b/b/e/e, Concords into three evades. Sweet!
Rnd3: BSA’s right bank 2, lock Han. Luke 4k. Han bank right 1, locks the lead BSA. Fenn says it’s time to disengage, straight 5 right boost to start going around the end obstacle - already. Han doesn’t have arc on the BSA’s, Fenn obviously no shot, Luke no shot. The BSA’s pour ProTorps in to Han, who is just outside of R1 of the asteroid. First torp rolls b/h/h/c, FCS the blank into a blank; Han rolls his natty evade, loses two shields. Second torp rolls h/h/h/c; Han rolls his natty evade, loses all shields.
Rnd4: BSA’s bank right 1 focus, now facing right side of board with the rear BSA even with the asteroid. Luke opens foils ship left 2 to clear stress, locks lead BSA. Han s-loops to his left, so as to face almost directly at the BSA’s - with his turret still turned sideways. Fenn right hard 3 around the debris, boost right - now facing directly at Luke at R5 or so, and too **** close to a debris cloud directly ahead. ****. Opponent’s wife calls, leading us to forget that he has the lead BSA locked and can fire his missiles - also, opponent didn’t realize that missiles are front-arc locked and not turret-arc locked - and so Han does not shoot. Luke unloads a torp at the lead BSA, using lock and Force for b/h/h/c; BSA rolls b/b/f, Elusives a blank into a blank, drops shield, hull, takes Panicked Pilot - ouch. Lead BSA throws second torp at Han, which ends up being h/h/c/c - the crits are Direct and the Ion one; second BSA unloads his torp for only hit, Direct hit after all rerolls and defense - Han lives on one hull.
Rnd5: (things start getting hazy here) Panicked BSA right bank 1 to clear one stress, maaaaaybe block Han. Second BSA straight 1, roll right link focus. Luke bank 2 left (?) focus (?). Han straight 1, blocked by the second BSA leaving a clear shot at the Panicked leader. Fenn left hard 1, boost left link focus. Han unloads a Cluster Missile into the lead BSA and smokes him - no evades. Luke fires a torp into the remaining BSA, but only manages to take the shield; Elusive a blank into a blank again. BSA has no shot, and Fenn’s shot on Luke did nothing.
Rnd6: BSA s-loops right, in case Han rolls slow. Luke 4k’s (?). Han bank right 2, clears stress focus; clears the BSA’s arc, but ends almost on top of a debris cloud. Fenn left hard 2, barely clears Han’s rear end, focus. Han rolls and rerolls hot garbage and does no damage at R1 to the stressed BSA. Fenn unloads five dice at R1 into Han and smokes him with Direct hits. Luke rolls hot garbage into Fenn for no damage. The BSA rolls massive luck and smokes Luke.
Conclusions:
My opponent is relatively new, and had some pretty crap dice there. We talked about set-up and what Han wants to see from the obstacle spread - which in this game I was able to get set pretty optimally. We also talked about the roles his ships wanted to play, and what his target priority should be relative to my ships, particularly Han’s role as a kiting hammer and Luke’s role as closer (advice that he put to good use in the game that followed against a different fellow running triple Jedi, except that his dice remained AWFUL, and he misjudged an asteroid by just enough to get Han bumped and stuck and burned for three straight turns - but that’s another story).
My priority going in was to have the ‘Vipers hit Han with their torpedos - four dice with mods versus a single die is cherry. And it totally worked. I knew it was a risk to rely on Elusive to keep the relatively squishy ‘Vipers in the game long enough to unload their torps - green dice are notorious - and Elusive did absolutely nothing in the game. But my opponent’s dice were just cold enough to not punish me for my risky behavior. I missed the flank with Fenn, but managed through sheer luck to get him into the R1 face-off that he actually prefers. So.
I got lucky with the dice for once, and my opponent got unlucky dice. I flew...adequately, while my opponent flew with just enough inexperience to not punish my lack of brilliance.
I was looking to test the Starviper as a torpedo delivery platform, something akin to the E-Wing or the X-Wing. It has slightly better maneuverability than either of those, but is far easier to kill. Elusive in theory makes up for the lack of shielding, and allows one to take the risk of the target lock instead of a focus - in theory. In practice, if my opponent’s dice had been even average, I would have lost a ‘Viper before he could have shot. There’s also the matter of my 0 point bid - there are a lot of i3’s out there that can swarm up and eat a ‘Viper before it shoots. And Fenn is Fenn - high risk, high(?) reward. So, not a reliable list by any measure, but reasonably entertaining. Provided the dice cooperate. Do they not, and it burns.
Now, if the ‘Viper drops a few more points such that one can run two alongside an Ace of the caliber of Luke or Wedge or any of the Jedi…. Except that Scum doesn’t have any Aces answering that description. Or if all of *those* guys go up in points such that you can’t fit three such heavy hitters in a list all at the same time…. It’s still a high risk, high reward kind of list, with probably a lot of hard counters that I’m not thinking about. Ha ha.