It's been a while, but there was time last weekend for a little SkypeWing between myself (Kraken) and General Kas.
I've missed a good space battle; glad to be back on the mat.
Scum for me, as (mother was right) I can't get enough of the bad boys. After a long break from this game, I felt a bit lost under the weight of options again. This rather poorly optimised list was intended as a Prince Xisor with ablative rubbish, where he could use his abilities to shift wounds on to the others, but I wasn't quite sure I'd make good choices.
Broadly, the Freelancer can regenerate shields a bit whilst still hitting fairly hard. The Gunrunner is cheap crap, but might pull some clever movement stuff with the Tractor Array, helping shift my own guys about when needed.
Kas, on the other hand, has been trying to get the new Striker to perform well with negligible success so far, and this was his third list bringing it along to try and get his money's worth from it.
Yes, my first two attempts have been a disaster, but I like the look of the plucky Striker and determined to find a home for it.
Perhaps a sign of how little we'd played recently, but prior to this game, I'd been yet to try the Upsilon Shuttle. Whilst it might have been tempting to play as Kylo; Stridan's pilot ability coupled with the Coordinate action and Hux's ability made for, what I hoped was, an appealing combo.
I paired up the Striker with the Inquisitor. I've recently started watching Rebels, and have rarely played this ship, normally favouring Darth with Advanced Targeting and his double actions.
I added Squad leader for shenanigans. It was true that Duchess was not going to able to order the Inquisitor around (same pilot skill).. but she could order Stridan, who in turn (as long as not already used it) could use the coordinate action to reiterate the order to Inquisitor, and due to Stridan: at range 3. Gimmicky. Combo. I love it!
Deployment
We slapped some asteroids around on Kas's new and lovely Starkiller Base map, and then deployed.
No debris fields this time, I think that's the first time in a long time.
My plan was this - use my toughest ship, the G1A, to lure the fragile Empire ships into the dense asteroid field, then hit them with the Starviper and Quadjumper while their movement was hampered.
Mine was to head straight towards as fast as my shuttle would take me using greens, towards the nearest enemy in a path that also did not take me near asteroids, and then when ready: strike.
To this end, the G1A deployed alone, opposite the Imperials, with the others waiting in the (X)wings.
Turn one
Turn one, and the plan is intact. The Enemy swoop towards me, the G1A turns and runs towards its pals,
Agreed, intact, swooping forward.
Turn Two
Turn two, and all the trousers fall off my plan.
The G1A doesn't so much lead the enemy into the asteroids as helpfully crash into them, perhaps hoping that they'll copy it and kill themselves. The two Imperial fighters catch up and start pounding the hapless scummer, and his pals are still too far off to help. And not even inside the asteroids, in fact. Dummies.
Getting to grips with when to use the Aerilons on the Striker, and what it means to dial you need to place. My two aces, encouraged by Stridan, nip round either side of an asteroid and bring the G1A into their sights.
Turn Three
By turn three, the G1A is a smear in the ether. My guys are at last in range to retaliate, but there's only the Inquisitor to shoot at, and he's at long range. And hiding in a goddamn asteroid field. Who thought of this shitty plan?
Attention... Attention... This quadjumper is reversing... This quadjumper is reversing...
Turn 4/5/6
After this, while I'm still trying to shuffle my guys into a decent firing position, the Striker zooms in from nowhere and wipes the Quadjumper out with some flanking Proton Rockets. Poof - I'm powder, and Xizor has run out of ablatives.
Nippy little thing; and the six dice proton rockets were a nice boon.
You can guess where this goes from here, right?
That's a very odd red manoeuvre...
Turn 7/8/9
Right. We spend a few turns whisking round each other, bouncing off asteroids and generally playing it safe. When I finally get myself into a place where I can shoot anything, it's the vast shuttle, And yes, I can murder it fairly easily, but it's going to take a while.
I can't get away, you are behind me and closing. I am getting ready to do my best Tom Cruise and apply the brakes, but I need you to be closer first.
That while, I do not have. The paired TIEs pin me the minute I start chipping their precious Upsilon, and I go kerblammo in short order.
Yep, just as you get in to Goosing range of the shuttle, my TIEs have managed to also re-engage and bye bye Viper.
Airlocker Room
Wahey! That was short and appalling.Brutal.
The Upsilon shuttle is a bastard to play against, relaying bonus orders unstoppably to its minions. Both of whom were horribly effective.
Not all their fault, though. My list was a clunker, and I deployed very badly. Note to self - don't place half of your armour on the other side of the board next time. Also, if you're using Xizor, use a swarm of small, fast craft that can keep up with him, not lumbering cretins like the Quadjumper.
But I can tell you like the Quad... it is becoming a recurring presence in lists (and was even before I had one to use!)
I'm off to leaf through some net lists. I need the help! More games of this in a few weeks, though. X-wing really is one of my favourites at the moment, the mix of hard tactics with tense dice-rolling is a classic.
Absolutely, agreed with above; and for me, I get a huge amount of enjoyment in the list building too and options available with all the upgrades and pilots.
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