Yesterday was Adam's birthday, and he asked for his first Epic game. He'd just purchased another player's collection and wanted a learning experience. Whoops. In an effort to keep things relatively short and easy, we played at 300 points on a single mat. No Scenarios, as that adds layer upon layer of complication. And, no, Adam is not some poor little kid of whom I took advantage - he's a grown-*** man with a lot of experience in tabletop wargaming other than X-Wing. No mercy!
Adam's list: Blackout (naked), First Order Test Pilot (naked), Raider with Bombardment Specs, Damage Control Team, Ordnance Tubes, AdvProTorp, Targeting Battery, PerCop, and a five point bid...for reasons? He gave me the initiative.
My list: Torani with Snap Shot, Dalan with Expert Handling, Graz with Afterburners and Shield, 2x C-ROC with BomSpecs and Ion Cannon Battery = 300 points.
Turn Zero : We discussed lists and what the upgrades did and what to expect from movement. What happens when a huge ship overlaps things. Et cetera. My C-ROCs dropped first, of course, and I wanted them to clog up the middle, ready to react to whatever, whenever. Adam dropped his Raider in one corner. My list went down on the corner opposite Adam's Raider - anticipating that wherever he dropped his list, they'd be able to intercept the Silencers before they tore into my C-ROCs. Although in hindsight, I should have put Graz in a position to get behind the Raider and punish it. Wasn't thinking clearly. The Silencers obliged me by dropping directly opposite my Kimo's.
Turn One: Dalan and Torani both moved Straight 1, with Graz Hard 1 into the bump, because I'm rusty with medium bases. The Test Pilot (FOTP) went Straight 5, focus-roll, while Blackout went Bank 3 boost. My C-ROCs Banked 0, and the Raider moved Bank 1. The FOTP tried to tag Dalan to no effect; Dalan and Torani combined to take one shield from the FOTP, while the left C-ROC managed to take the last shield and Ionized the poor bugger. The right C-ROC and the Raider traded some Range 4 obstructed shots to zero effect. This is where I relaized that I had completely mishandled Graz in Turn 0, and that I would likely never get to use his pilot ability. Oh well; next time.
Turn Two : Dalan Banked and rolled to get the block on the Ionized FOTP. Graz went Straight 3 (I think) with the intent of Afterburning and rolling to try to eventually get behind the Silencers, but once again the medium base caught me flat and the boost wasn't going to fit. So Torani's Bank bumped. However, Blackout bumped the bumped FOTP - hurrah for expert Handling! The left C-ROC moved Straight 1 and attempted to lock the Raider - Range 4, so he locked the FOTP again and reinforced the fore in anticipation of the Raider coming in. The right C-ROC Banked 0 again - and here's a thing: two Zero-speed banks do NOT put your ship back in exactly the same position. I tagged that debris cloud by the narrowest of margins. Woof. Attempted to lock the Raider, but again just out at Range 4 so locked the cloud and reinforced the fore again. And the Raider decided to Bank 1 away???? Okay. Blackout stripped Dalan's shields with a Range 1 shot. Torani and Graz took the FOTP down to one hull. The FOTP knocked a shield off the C-ROC, and Dalan had no shot. The right C-ROC whiffed his primary on the FOTP, but the crit from the ICB took him out. The left C-ROC took a Range 4 obstructed potshot at the Raider and managed to drop two ion tokens on him. The Raider responded by taking a shield off the left C-ROC.
Turn Three : I thought that Blackout would turn in hard on the C-ROCs, so I sent Graz to block that avenue - with the idea that maybe, eventually, he might sneak up behind the Raider and do his thing. I sent Dalan Straight 1 in anticipation of the Raider coming in hot, with Torani following. Blackout tricked me with a talon roll, but therefor no shots. The green C-ROC went Straight 1 to try to get closer to the Raider, and the right Smuggler went Bank 1. Only the right was finally able to lock the Raider, which again surprised by moving Bank 1, once again away from the combat zone. So. No shots from any of the non-Huge ships. The C-ROCs knocked a bunch of shields off the Raider and dropped on more ion token on the poo bugger. In return, it poked at the green C-ROC for little effect.
Turn Four : I forgot to take a picture. Dalan leap-frogged the asteroid with a Straight 2, hoping to activate his pilot ability on the Raider. Torani Banked 2 to follow up with the same intent. Graz turned Hard 1 to get behind the Silencer - in theory. But Blackout moved Hard 2 to clear stress, then focus-boosted to snug right up behind Torani. Both C-ROC's moved Straight 1 and locked the Raider. The Raider AGAIN surprised me by Banking 1 away from combat towards the board edge. Start of combat, Dalan stripped a shield from the Raider. Blackout dropped Torani's shields. Torani and Dalan stripped the Raider's shields and dropped a crit onto it - something semi-inconsequential. Graz tagged Blackout for I think a single shield. The C-ROCs opened up on the Raider, but the dice were merciful to him - one facedown damage and two more crits from the ICB, plus a total of EIGHT ion tokens. But those crits: Ruptured Hull meant every damage card would do an equal number of damage to the total face-up damages already on the ship; and the crit that says reduce your energy recovery during the end phase. The Raider in return hit Dalan with everything it had: a Range 2 primary, the Targeting Battery (for zero damage) and then spent the calculate to extend the range of his AdvProTorp to 2. Ouch. Dalan survived on one hull with a couple crits doing I don't recall what.
Turn Five : Dalan moved Straight 1 and rolled to make room for Torani, who moved Straight 2 to leapfrog the asteroid. Graz continued to ineffectually meander about. Blackout again surprised and Banked 2 onto the debris cloud. What? Both C-ROCs Banked 1 and locked the Raider. And the Raider...that poor Raider - it made its ion maneuver and did the focus action and just sat there waiting for the end. Dalan's pilot ability triggered one more time before Blackout deleted him. Torani stripped the last regenerated shield off the Raider, then the C-ROCs opened up. Between primaries and ICB shots, and combined with that wicked Ruptured Hull crit, they laid SIXTEEN damage cards onto the Raider - the Ruptured Hull counted for something like ten of those.... And the Raider went *poof* before it could fire. Adam called it there.
Aftermath : We discussed how swarms of light fighters are more effective in Epic matches - and how they are definitely more difficult to deal with for a beginner. We also discussed how the Raider wants to be used: Battering Ram, baby. Even though his maneuvering kept me from most effectively focusing on the bugger by keeping me largely out of range. There was a general acknowledgement of the awful destructive power of crits on Huge ships, especially combined with Ionization. Yikes. So, a hellacious introduction to Huge ships and Epic play, but Adam bore it with good grace - much better in fact than I would have. I **think** he'll be back. If nothing else, he has the experience of GW games, which I understand can be fairly unbalanced leading to similar blow-outs.
I really like this barebones C-ROC build. It can be downright brutal. And Torani and Dalan can be bullies, if somewhat squishy. Graz, I believe, does have potential, but I need to get a lot smarter about using him And in a 300 point list, maybe something else would be better? I'm sure that an equivalent points worth of Scyks replacing the Kimo's and Graz would have been better in the long run, especially in a Wing - but I wanted fewer ships one the board given the constraints of the time allowed and the inexperience of my opponent. From set-up to tear-down, 1.5 hours. Even with lots of teaching moments. I even had time to put in a quick standard game against another very patient fellow, who watched with great interest as he hasn't yet picked up any Huge ships himself.
God, I love this format.