Managed to get two games last night. I had three Fearless Skulls and Nom Lumb with Autoblasters/Contrabands/Dengar. He had two Heroic Red Vets, Jess, and a fat Kaz (title/Stealth Device/AdvSLAM/the droid/Coaxium Hyperfuel). I forgot to take pictures, and so my recall is imperfect.
First game was a strong win for me. My targeting priority was to clear the Vets first, then Pava, and finally Kaz. My opponent went all in on Nom Lumb, which meant the Skulls were allowed to go nuts. Dengar was the business - he did almost as much damage as Lumb's little popgun. Six obstacles, all large Debris Fields - four in a diagonal line from my near left to my far right, one cornered on my near right and the final going on a three-corner on his tight. I set Lumb down on my right to make the best of the left-leaning dial. Having the one-point bid, I gave him initiative. He set the X-Wings in formation on his right with Kaz flanking on the far left side as much opposite Lumb as he could get. I placed with Fangs more or less centrally. I sent Lumb ahead hard, to turn into the debris and either flank or muck up his formation. I sent the Fangs slow-rolling with hard 1 turns and boosts/rolls for a little while to see where my opponent was going. He came in relatively hard, with 3-straight/boosts to get into the debris field, while Kaz SLAMmed along that far edge looking to flank. Lumb came into the center of the map, with the T-70's turning in hard on him. The Fangs came around and boosted to get the X-Wings in arc, and Kaz continued to dawdle around. The SLAM didn't take him where my opponent thought it would, and he was concerned about my turning in and focusing the Fireball down. I put one of the Vets to one hull here, I think, while Lumb took a total of seven damage from the three X-Wing shots. Next turn saw the T-70's bumping hard onto some debris clouds while attempted a formation of talon rolls. Oh, that was sweet. The Fangs poured pure hate into the poor bastards. I *think* Kaz finally got into the action here? If he did, he didn't do anything memorable. I think there were just two more rounds of mopping up after this; he managed to get one Skull to half along with Lumb, but it was never in question and the game was over in under an hour, 200-50.
Second game, my opponent learned from his mistake, and some of the weaknesses of my list were exposed. He ignored Lumb completely. The Skulls got so many of their favorite jousty, Fearless Concordia engagements, but dice will be dice. I lost one Fang, and two more were halved by the end; while he lost one Vet and the other Vet and Pava were on one hull apiece. I just couldn't force the damage through, even while getting Pava isolated. And Lumb - well, Dengar can't trigger if no on shoots at him. And that little popgun doesn't do a whole lot on its own, especially when it's only single-modded. Lost that one at time something like 89-100. If it hadn't been getting late and we'd played it all the way out, I think I might have taken it. Maybe. Three Fangs is solid, but I remained unconvinced that any iteration of the JM5K is competitive. That dial, man. That g.d. dial!
This was my first exposure to the Explosion With Wings - as well as being my opponent's first use. He is moderately experienced with SLAM mechanics, occasionally playing both K-Wings and Starwings. He still struggled a little getting Kaz to contribute. And because I made a point of focusing Jess's wingmates down in a hurry, she got less mileage out her ability than she might otherwise. I can see where Kaz, and the Fireball in general, could really do some work, though. It still doesn't appeal to me - too many triggers to remember. Yeesh! And speaking of dice being dice, an unmodified range three obstructed shot popped the Stealth Device in game two. Whiiiiiiich I just realized that the Explosion With Wings trait would have popped the Stealth Device before the game even started. *sad trombone*
