Ghost and X-Wing Batrep

 So its been a quiet due to many reasons, but here we are with an X-Wing Battle Report. 100 pts, Rebels versus Rebels! Gav hadn't played for a while and wanted to give a K-Wing a go, and having painted up a B-Wing I just had to use it in a batrep. Heres my list!

Keyan Farlander, no upgrades.

2x Blue Squadron B-Wings with Fire Control Systems

Gemma Sojan with Chaardon Refit, and Lone Wold (I'd also taken the card that allows me to take an elite pilot talent)

Gav had taken Wedge in his X-Wing, Dutch Vander in a Y-Wing, and Esege Tuketu in the K-Wing. I forget the upgrades he chose, but there was a blaster turret and recon on the K, wedge had decoy, and I think the Ywing had a droid that gave him a free target lock when he did red moves and some photon torpedoes.

First turn we were both pretty cautious, but soon we were locked in action. 

Wedge got into range one of Keyan, and took four shields off with a torrent of fire. The K-Wing took another shield off and gave me a crit, a direct hit. Gav however rolled two blanks with Dutch and thankfully Keyan lived on for a round... but not for long. I stripped the shields of the K-Wing but no other damage. 

The next turn was just about getting out of the way ready to make another pass, although Wedge did a K-turn and finished Farlander off. Boo!

 

After a couple more K-turns and my B-Wings taking some damage the A-wing and a B-Wing took out the K-wing, then the B's swept in and took out Wedge. Needless to say with the Y-Wing out of position and three ships looking to gun him down, Gav conceded. 

So what did I think of the list? Keyan didn't get much use and its the first time I used him, my preferred B-Wing elite pilot is Ten Numb, Mangler cannon and a couple other upgrades so it maximises his ability to get those crits through. I do love Blue Squadron B-Wings though, even at pilot skill 2 they survive fire and then dish it back out, and Gemma with Lone Wolf also works well. Being in range one rerolling one blank with an extra evade dice is useful and helps her attack get some reliability too. I'm not sure what to make of the K-Wing and I'm unsure as to whether I'd get one, but they do get raved abotu so perhaps one day. 

Also, Gav being the darling that he is, picked this up for me from Firestorm Games who are based in Cardiff. I'm hoping to do an unboxing post soon, possibly in video! The cards look great though and I can't wait to use this, not only is it massive but with a native 4 firepower its gonna do some damage!

Epic Play - X-Wing Thoughts

Xwing at club has been a little underloved, so to bring the new year in our first club night of 2016 consisted of our first game of Epic. Josh and Bam both had big ships, the Raider and the Assault Carrier, and were eager to use them in a game so myself and Scott, of the Crow Valley Crusaders, took 200 points of small ships to counter this Empire threat. Scott went for quite a competitive list, 3 Bwings and lots of Headhunters,whereas I went for ships I wanted to use because I love using them. 3 prototype pilots, Han with engine upgrade, a couple of B's and an Xwing. Josh took his Raider with one of the Slave one pilots and a ti fighter, and Bam took the Assault Carrier, several tie fighters and a decimator.

First things first, I don't remember many details on the game but I want to talk more about 'Epic Play'. As we got more and more through the game it became more apparent that Bam and Josh were a little underwhlemed with the larger ships. Its possibly because myself and Scott didnt take any, although if I had one I'd have been tempted. Bam also didn't realise one of the rules which may have changed a few things but it was still an odd yet interesting game. Josh's Raider didn't seem to do much, and I think he needed to fly it more aggresively towards my ships and just try to take them out by ramming them. His weapons didn't seem to do that much either, so it would be interesting to try again and see if it was down to the dice or if Epic ships just aren't that great against a lot of smaller ships.

Playing with Scott was an eye opener too, seeing how his mind works when taking a list was intriguing as I'm not the most competitive when it comes to playing. I'm hoping a few of us will be looking towards playing a tourney or two this year so will be speaking to scott about what lists are in and doing something very different while trying to win a game or two!

The game itself went pretty much mine and Scotts way, with Scott hammer away at the ties, decimator and assault carrier where I took on the raider and its attention. Han flew up the middle, got shot at by the raider then swept back in towards the bounty hunter, giving Han the engine upgrade is just an absolute joy, especially with push the limit and the millenium falcon tile so he can get an evade every turn too. Tie fighters are jerks, the swarm still works incredibly well and I think if Bam had taken 200 points worth of them we'd have had a lot of trouble! I also still think the Slave One is a great alround ship. Throws out some good firepower, moves well too and is quite resilient.

We ended the game with the Imperials not having much left, both big ships out while we still had a decent amount of ships, but not without our own losses. Epic play is something I want to try again, and myself and my nephew Josh are going to switch sides so I can try a big ship in the near future while he gets to try rebels for the first time. 

Future releases are exciting too, I cannot wait to get the Ghost expansion, being a fan of the Rebels series. If you've not seen, THEN GO! The Inquisitors Advanced Prototype looks deadly too, Bam has mentioned his excitement for getting his grubby mitts on the ship. 

So a Question to the Xwing players out there, how competitive are you guys and how does this affect your ship choice? What are you guys looking forwarf too and anything on your wishlist of things for new expansions? I was surprised a couple more new ships weren't featured in The Force Awakens, so if we'll see many new ships is unlikely. Fingers are crossed!

Incoming updates will depend whats played over the next few weeks, but I'm pretty sure Spartacus will be featured (we had an amazing game last week of this as Morgan picked it up) and also the start of our look at Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition. We have a group of between 6-8 players and we're having our first regular night on Saturday. Exciting times!