The Lists: Played a mini swarm game last night @ 60pts
Imperials : 5 TIE Academy Pilots
vs.
Rebels : Wedge + R2-F2 (the one that gives you +1 Agility for a round)+ Determination (I had a point to burn) and a Rookie with a Torpedo and the R5-K6 that gives you a potential free target lock when you use a target lock.
Set up: Imps 5 TIEs all in a row right on the line of his deployment zone. Rebs Rookie on the line with Wedge behind and to the right of the Rookie.
He aggressively moved full speed right at me while I cautiously move forward putting the TIEs right inside range band three for my Rookie who target locked one and Immediately fired his torpedo which scored a critical right off the bat. Not bad but not spectacular. 4 of the TIEs are in range and return fire dropping a single shield.
Then my son began what was a beautifully choreographed yet poorly timed maneuver… His three TIEs in the middle pulled Koiogran turns while the TIEs on the ends banked inward. I moved both my ships forward 1. He was banking on my moving faster and in the end placed 3 TIEs right in front of my Xs at range band 1 with their backs turned to us. So what was meant to entrap us, just set him up for a pummeling. However, he was lucky and I was only able to score a pair of hits on two different TIEs.
My son continued to run with his elegant maneuvers despite his trap not coming off quite as well as he planned. The three TIEs in the middle took off in three different directions with green maneuvers to clear the stress tokens while the end TIEs koiogran turned. Which turned out to be perfect. The rookie banked just a bit to the left while Wedge banked after the TIE that went Right. This put the Rookie right in front of the two end TIEs in range band 1. It was a beautiful move. The rookie lost his shields, took a hit and a critical: Minor Hull Breach. The X's both clipped a little more off the TIEs they could reach, but most everything was range 2 or 3 so not much effect.
The three TIEs that scattered then pulled a new Koiogran bringing them back into the fight. While the two that were tailing the Rookie continued to harass him, he went after the Left most TIE and killed him. Not being able to make Red moves safely, He spent the next couple turns just coming back around. But some how my son wasn't able to finish him off. Wedge on the other hand koiograned and came back liberally zapping his way through the TIEs and taking enough return fire to lose his shields and take a hit to his hull. But by the time Wedge and the Rookie regrouped it was down to 3 TIEs, two of which were badly damaged. The game ended with all TIEs destroyed and the Rookie's ship had broken up when he chanced a Koiogran with his weakened hull toward the end of the game.
Aftermath : I LOVE R2-F2!!! If I could give that droid to more than one ship in my list I would. Wedge survived a heck of a lot of fire that he probably shouldn't have because of that little guy. I wasn't too disappointed with the proton torpedoes. The one use this game was effective if not decisive. Rookie X Pilots are all you really need against Academy TIE swarms. You move after and shoot before them, so swarm vs. swarm lists shouldn't feel too over whelming for the Rebels. And 2 Xs can actually stand up to a wall of TIEs and have a good chance of coming out alive. Had my son's trap worked or if he had just moved straight and kept us in his cross hairs while taking evade actions, I don't think I wouldn't have had much left to fight with by turn 3.
My son's maneuvers after the opening pass seem to be his weak point. I admit I'm a little at a loss once the hairball in the middle starts up, but it really mixes him up. When I play Imperials against him he does all his damage in the first pass too, so that might be why he keeps losing. We'll have to help him figure out what to do once things get messy in the middle.
-DavicusPrime