club night in hamilton, nz

By The_Brown_Bomber, in X-Wing Battle Reports

two matches were played, both 100pts

match1. (my 5 ship swarm vs his Lando & Friends)

howlrunner/swarm + soontir/swarm + turr/veteren instincts + 2 adcaemy pilot

versus

Lando/Nien Nim + garven + dutch/ion cannon turret

… he setsup to fly down my left flank, i punch up the middle trying to keep howlrunner at range 1 of everything else (hothie style setup… sortof). he gets his synergy rolling passing focus tokens a free target locks out like crazy. i focus fire hard on his x-wing and my swarm takes it out about round two. i suffer a little damage to my academy ties, losing one early, lando picks off the damaged one. I concentrate on his y-wing and take it out but lose soontir. howlrunner and turr now both wounded chase down lando and harry him towards the edge of the board… he turns … but slightly too late flying off the board. was going to be a coin flip if hed made that turn.

match2. (my vader, BH + howlrunner vs his Lando & new friends)

vader/assault missiles/engine upgrade/swarm + howlrunner/squad leader + Bounty Hunter/seismic charge/assault missiles

versus

Lando/Title/gunner? + biggs/r2f2 + rookie x-wing

… i setup howlrunner next to BH in centre and vader off to the right. my plan is to move in a get some missiles away early. i realise that biggs HAS to be the target but im hoping for some splash damage on his other ships. he sets up falcon in between rookie + biggs. i get my missiles away, target locked&focused attacks, both aimed at biggs. 1st one fizzles, he evades a weak attack roll (two hits i think), 2nd missile its taking out both shields and a shield from Lando too (thats more like it). after a few rounds of cat and mouse i get enough hits in one biggs to take him out. focused attacks from both BH + vader (with target locks) do the trick. Heres where my problems start. vader gets isolated from the battle and lands on an asteroid (if he had of k-turned things would have worked for me). my BH is earning its pay masterfully unleashing focus fire from its rear firing arc while plodding along towards the far right side of the board. Vader makes it back into the fray and gets in 3 hits on the falcon. i make a crucial error at this time and elect to stress vader and attack at close range instead of playing defensively and running to gain a better position. this error costs be badly as lando unleashes 4 damage at close range into my shieldless Vader… ****. BH does manage to take out the X-wing rookie but i lose Howlrunner in the bargain. Its now head to head. Bounty Hunter (6 hull) versus his heavily damaged Falcon (3 hull). Its very close. His evade is working superbly and i just cant get in the final damage i need. Low pilot skill at this stage is not goo. I drop a seismic chage and get in another hit. Two more to go. HIs 360 firing arc is just too good and i try a risky move that lands me on an asteroid. He shoots and destroys me winning a very close game.

Great games Tim. really enjoyed them.

lessons i learnt:

* vader with boost is crazy good. he has pretty solid firepower when he uses focus+target lock too. at close range he is gr8. you need to play smart with him and use his extra action to stay alive till the endgame where his boost tricks really shine and let him outmanouvre most other ships.

** Bounty Hunter on its own is really good. when u focus fire or target lock then fire he is worth it. keeping him at medium range works well as he is vulnerable to getting blindsided by ships in his bling spot.

*** assault missiles r good. like all missiles its a gamble whether they pay of a deliver on their points investment. some games they will, some games they wont.

Thanks for the reports TBB, two very exciting games! Was a great time.

The rebel list for the first game was Lando/Nien Nunb/Falcon + Garven + Dutch/Ion Cannon

Nice to pass target locks, focuses, extra actions around so that all three ships usually had a focus and a lock at the same time. Losing Garven trun two was a spanner in the works though!

Second game was Lando/Nien Nunb/Squad Leader/Falcon + Biggs/R2F2/Stealth device + Rookie Pilot

Ended game with a single hull point left. Whew! Didn't ever use Squad Leader, as the Falcon always needed the action for itself.

Look forward to next time.