The rebel fleet, convoying Mon Mothma on a diplomatic mission with the Salvation, the Yavaris, and the Corvette Redshirt, is ambushed by two Victory II-class Star destroyers. Panicking, the Yavaris launches its X-wing squadrons, which destroy several squadrons of TIE fighters that are already on top of the convoy- and then yaws hard to starboard and promptly glances off of the Redshirt. The Redshirt, undeterred and with more bravery than sense, charges straight into the bow turbolasers of the Dominator, and explodes without firing a shot. Enraged, the captain of the Salvation closes with the Dominator, firing all turbolasers as the B-wings off the Yavaris also close in, and he heroically rams the Dominator, destroying it but taking serious damage in the process.
Surprised by the loss of his second Star Destroyer, Admiral Screed watches as Major Rhymer and his remaining escort are decimated by Luke Skywalker and the Salvation comes around for another pass. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, he orders his carrier to jump to hyperspace, leaving the remaining Rebel ships to lick their wounds and continue on their diplomatic mission.
Yavaris + B-wings handle Fleet Ambush surprisingly well! If you can actually pull off a double B-wing activation with Yavaris, it's 8 black dice with crits enabled. It works even better if you don't ram your own ships or throw a Corvette right in front of Dominator.
Fleet Ambush seems like a really weak objective. First, you can easily sit the ambushed ships just further out than they'd normally be, basically negating it. Second, you can put slower ships forward, and bring them into play much faster. Fleet Ambush vs a Vic basically means the Vic spends an extra 1 or 2 turns shooting at you, which is less than ideal.
I just don't see how you can use it to your advantage, as the non-Ambushed player. Unlike something like Minefields, which really lets you dictate placement and movement of ships.
Friday I'm playing for the first time in a while with a 2v2, 150pts each. One of our friends has been wanting to use his corvette for ages and never has, so I made a Scum list to defend him against the Empire. I'm not that great and I could have spent the points differently, but I can at least expect A) a huge swarm of TIE Fighters and another friend to use my Decimator.
TORTUGA ASTEROID AGGRESSORS
Mercenary Escort to a stolen Corvette
The rebel fleet, convoying Mon Mothma on a diplomatic mission with the Salvation, the Yavaris, and the Corvette Redshirt, is ambushed by two Victory II-class Star destroyers. Panicking, the Yavaris launches its X-wing squadrons, which destroy several squadrons of TIE fighters that are already on top of the convoy- and then yaws hard to starboard and promptly glances off of the Redshirt. The Redshirt, undeterred and with more bravery than sense, charges straight into the bow turbolasers of the Dominator, and explodes without firing a shot. Enraged, the captain of the Salvation closes with the Dominator, firing all turbolasers as the B-wings off the Yavaris also close in, and he heroically rams the Dominator, destroying it but taking serious damage in the process.
Surprised by the loss of his second Star Destroyer, Admiral Screed watches as Major Rhymer and his remaining escort are decimated by Luke Skywalker and the Salvation comes around for another pass. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, he orders his carrier to jump to hyperspace, leaving the remaining Rebel ships to lick their wounds and continue on their diplomatic mission.
Yavaris + B-wings handle Fleet Ambush surprisingly well! If you can actually pull off a double B-wing activation with Yavaris, it's 8 black dice with crits enabled. It works even better if you don't ram your own ships or throw a Corvette right in front of Dominator.
Fleet Ambush seems like a really weak objective. First, you can easily sit the ambushed ships just further out than they'd normally be, basically negating it. Second, you can put slower ships forward, and bring them into play much faster. Fleet Ambush vs a Vic basically means the Vic spends an extra 1 or 2 turns shooting at you, which is less than ideal.
I just don't see how you can use it to your advantage, as the non-Ambushed player. Unlike something like Minefields, which really lets you dictate placement and movement of ships.
I think you're picking it with a brawler fleet on the theory that you'll either get another brawler fleet, split it in half and shoot more (it's fine if their Vic gets to shoot an extra round if you have two Vics shooting an extra round), or you'll get an objective fleet and your brawler fleet will eat them with your extra rounds of engagement.
But it is pretty easy to slip out of the trap with fast ships I think.
It looks like they have Wave 2 models on display, but there were no announcements of new product yet. I'm assuming they'll wait until Wave 2 is actually released.
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
So I know I'm talking to enthusiasts here, but, if pressed, would you be able to have a good time with JUST a single core? I'm looking at picking this up for game nights, but my friends and I already play netrunner, and that is as much as we are willing to collect. This looks great, just making sure I'm not setting myself up for another installment plan game.
Yeah, I just split one and we're having a blast. I'd get a second, since it's just 100 you're dropping down, but 1 is serving us fine while we wait for the flgs to get another.
Since your name means "swedish" in swedish, I just assumed you were, ya know, swedish.
So I know I'm talking to enthusiasts here, but, if pressed, would you be able to have a good time with JUST a single core? I'm looking at picking this up for game nights, but my friends and I already play netrunner, and that is as much as we are willing to collect. This looks great, just making sure I'm not setting myself up for another installment plan game.
I think you'll feel constrained with just the core, but if you don't want perpetual purchases you can certainly just buy a handful of expansions and call it a day. I think at the very least you'd want the snub fighters for each faction, plus a few more big ships.
If you can, get the upcoming Imperial Star Destroyer and Home One expansions, since those ships are so iconic and you'll be happy always having them available. If you want to go cheaper, buy an Assault Frigate MkII and a Gladiator.
Played against my friend on my table that happens to be exactly the right dimensions, and we had a great time. The navigation for capital ships really adds a strategic layer. For instance, he accidentally careened right off the map with his big potato-ship after trying to run from my lumbering Victory-class. Then his little corvette actually rammed directly into the Victory.
I won because he eventually had to end a move with the Corvette directly next to my Guardian, and I had an admiral that could spend dice to change anything to a crit face. That's a lot of damage with Close Range dice.
It was also a heck of a lot faster than I expected it to be. Very intuitive rules, and you're rarely spending time just idling.
I find it a little weird though that it is both faster and more maneuverable than the Victory Star Destroyers. Seems like it outclasses them in every way. Yeah I noticed the point cost, but still...
The two main reasons that battleships got faster were that longer ships are easier to push through the water and that the power/weight ratio of the powerplants improved as higher temperatures became more possible. It's certainly true that a larger battleship was likely to outclass a smaller one in every way except for cost and access to harbors, canals and repair facilities.
I think the movies are a bit inconsistent in that Star Destroyers started out fast enough to catch a corvette or even the Falcon but later on seemed slower. I don't know, it's been a while.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Mechanics wise, I'm not to worried about the ISD completely replacing the VSD- even at 400 points it's going to be hard to cram more than one of those big boogers in your fleet.
The ISD is better in pretty much every way except points, yes, but there are a few things that balance it. They still only get two attacks, so (for roughly the same point cost) 2 ISDs get 4 attacks and 3 VSDs get 6. Similarly, more expensive ships means fewer ships, means less flexibility in setup and activation order. Their bases are much bigger, which makes it easier to get multiple arcs on them. Except maybe at speed 3, their large base size means bombers can stick to them and attack every round without needing activations. While their speed is good, they aren't terribly manoeuvrable. Their firepower is in their front arc, which makes their speed less useful than in the AF which can use its speed to circle a target.
Don't get me wrong, they look incredible and I'll be buying at least 2, but their size does come with drawbacks that could see the Vic still useful.
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Casually HardcoreOnce an Asshole. Trying to be better.Registered Userregular
Cannon wise, the Victory Star Destroyers were, for the most part, a big joke. Those things were sloppily engineered and had a reputation of randomly electrocuting people in their bunks.
So my friend has bought basically two of everything, including a second Victory class!
So that means we're upgrading to 400 point fights. Which means I have my new fleet concept. The key element is a Gladiator-II with Demolisher, Engine Techs, Gunnery Team, Weapons Liason, and Expanded Magazines. Then, one Victory-I and one Victory-II. The Victory-I is a Warlord with XX-9 Turbolasers, and the Victory-II is a Dominator with H9 Turbolasers and Leading Shots. Then I've got Darth Vader, Soontir Fel, "Mauler" Mithel and a TIE Interceptor squadron. Also, Grand Moff Tarkin.
So basically, the Victory-class vessels are, combined, an enormous number of guns you don't want pointed directly at you. The Dominator at close-medium can basically guarantee a bunch of hits, because Leading Shots combined with Dominator means it can fire a heck of a lot and reroll whatever doesn't hit. The Warlord is less capable, but it can bat a bit of cleanup and put some crits on whatever it gets close enough to with the XX-9s.
But the Guardian can shoot from the impressive front battery, then move to some other ship and shoot the impressive front battery, then move again to re-position. Five black dice plus two red means it can punch through some of the weaker rebel ships in conceivably a single volley. And it can essentially move at speed 4 thanks to Engine Techs, meaning it can catch up with basically anyone.
The squadrons stay in a tight group around the Victory-class ships, with everyone but Mauler able to be activated to engage the likely reasonably small number of rebel squadrons. Then, when they've had their fun, Mauler can move in and deal 1 damage to everyone he engages, finishing some squadrons off entirely if I'm lucky enough. Plus, Vader escorting means that people have to shoot him, then get damaged by Soontir.
And this whole time, I've got Tarkin providing tokens every danged turn.
So far, I've won every time my friend and I have played. Even when he accidentally gave his danged Corvette 4 rear shields the first two engagements!
I'm really having a lot of fun with this, lots of fun things to consider building and deploying fleets.
I won handily, getting two Nebulon B's and almost ALMOST getting the assault with Darth Vader in the literal last second possible, but alas I got a rare blank on a black die.
We're both definitely getting better at maneuvering, though. He managed to avoid ramming me until he wanted to, which is actually part of how he killed one of the Victory-class Star Destroyers.
It was harder than I expected to make full use of the Gladiator. Even with vastly increased maneuverability, it has very restrictive firing arcs, so on two separate turns I had a single broadside against a ship and I just couldn't manage to drag it around for the second shot with the front guns. BUT, wow does Demolisher work wonders, what a ship. I'd love to do two of these with a long-range Victory for support and a bunch of squadrons. Fire, move, fire is so strong.
I think my plan is to try doing a squadron-heavy build next time to change things up. I'm starting to get how to threaten the capital ships with them a bit more, and I want to try seeing if I can effectively use bombers.
I may be close to breaking the spirit of the guy I'm playing against.
This time it was all on Squadrons. We were playing the objective where one objective ship for the first player can fire twice at the same ship, and one objective ship for the second player can fire twice at the same target.
He almost immediately destroyed my poor Gladiator, getting it with 2 Nebulons and his Assault Craft... but then I activated 4 squadrons, Major Rhymer, a TIE Bomber, Darth Vader, and a Tie Advanced. Brought all of them to bear right next to his Assault, which was worth double points by the rules. Next turn he runs, hits some asteroids running. I have another squadron activation, and Rhymer means I can set them up in a nice cover zone so his whole turn radius for getting back into the battle would involve being hit by 4 black die at least 3 times. Doesn't matter though, after a single volley from the TIEs brings it down to 1 health, and he runs and repairs to just 2 health, my Victory 2 gets it with two volleys to the rear. After that, it's essentially mop-up, which is made a hell of a lot easier by the fact that a combination of Dominator and the Ion cannons that let you exhaust all defense tokens on a crit AND the ability to fire at the same hull twice mean I legit destroy his Corvette in a single turn with a single Star Destroyer, then sweep up the last remaining Nebulon with the TIEs, having caught the other one in the front arc of my Victory-I.
So I won like 550 to 100. Super fun game, going to need to consider bringing cookies to the next one to keep Rebel spirits up.
I decided to take it all the way in the direction of Squadrons, and just played two Victory-IIs, then eight squadrons, including all of my named ones.
Turns out, there's a limit to squadron usefulness! I definitely destroyed the heck out of his paltry 3 squadrons, and his Assault Craft, but then I was left with 4 dedicated anti-squadron squadrons doing jack all the rest of the turns. That's like, 70 points that were just not in the game for the majority of play. And bombers are amazing, but they kind of need a dedicated squadron command every single turn, and with only 2 capital ships I just didn't have the option.
Agh. It was still VERY close, came down to literally a single damage point on a single roll, but dangit I finally got too cocky.
I decided to take it all the way in the direction of Squadrons, and just played two Victory-IIs, then eight squadrons, including all of my named ones.
Turns out, there's a limit to squadron usefulness! I definitely destroyed the heck out of his paltry 3 squadrons, and his Assault Craft, but then I was left with 4 dedicated anti-squadron squadrons doing jack all the rest of the turns. That's like, 70 points that were just not in the game for the majority of play. And bombers are amazing, but they kind of need a dedicated squadron command every single turn, and with only 2 capital ships I just didn't have the option.
Agh. It was still VERY close, came down to literally a single damage point on a single roll, but dangit I finally got too cocky.
I've found Grand Moff Tarkin very useful, since it lets those victory's essentially choose an action on the fly every round, rather than always being behind 2 rounds.
50% off...
On the other hand, I need to save money for Christmas and some car repairs on the horizon
But 50% off...
You're a monster.
Indeed I am! Technically I can't afford it right now either, as I've done some house work and am in the middle of building a kegerator. I did email my wife though with the suggestion it would make a great Christmas present. I can't control if she buys it or not, right?
I find it a little weird though that it is both faster and more maneuverable than the Victory Star Destroyers. Seems like it outclasses them in every way. Yeah I noticed the point cost, but still...
One of the weirder real life notes is for a long time the fastest ship in the US navy was the USS enterprise which is an aircraft carrier. Sometimes being huge means you can pack some huge engines and a lot of power.
Posts
Fleet Ambush seems like a really weak objective. First, you can easily sit the ambushed ships just further out than they'd normally be, basically negating it. Second, you can put slower ships forward, and bring them into play much faster. Fleet Ambush vs a Vic basically means the Vic spends an extra 1 or 2 turns shooting at you, which is less than ideal.
I just don't see how you can use it to your advantage, as the non-Ambushed player. Unlike something like Minefields, which really lets you dictate placement and movement of ships.
Mercenary Escort to a stolen Corvette
150 points
PILOTS
Emon Azzameen [“Mangler” Cannon, Seismic Charges, Gunner, “Hot Shot” Blaster, Tactical Jammer] (51)
Guri [Calculation, Ion Torpedoes, Autothrusters] (38)
Syndicate Thug [Ion Cannon Turret, Unhinged Astromech, BTL-A4 Y-Wing, Shield Upgrade] (28)
Binayre Pirate [Assault Missiles, Dead Man's Switch] (19)
Binayre Pirate [Dead Man's Switch] (14)
I think you're picking it with a brawler fleet on the theory that you'll either get another brawler fleet, split it in half and shoot more (it's fine if their Vic gets to shoot an extra round if you have two Vics shooting an extra round), or you'll get an objective fleet and your brawler fleet will eat them with your extra rounds of engagement.
But it is pretty easy to slip out of the trap with fast ships I think.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Those look great! Maybe hit them with a coat of Matte clear coat to tone down the shiny, and keep the marker from rubbing off.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
eNozN1RVNTYwUDVRNVUzUjOsMVQzRCON1UyApAmYbQZRYwaRBlOqZSYA7ZUOyQ==
I think you'll feel constrained with just the core, but if you don't want perpetual purchases you can certainly just buy a handful of expansions and call it a day. I think at the very least you'd want the snub fighters for each faction, plus a few more big ships.
If you can, get the upcoming Imperial Star Destroyer and Home One expansions, since those ships are so iconic and you'll be happy always having them available. If you want to go cheaper, buy an Assault Frigate MkII and a Gladiator.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
D3: HexDex#1281, PSN: DireOtter, Live: DireOtter
Played against my friend on my table that happens to be exactly the right dimensions, and we had a great time. The navigation for capital ships really adds a strategic layer. For instance, he accidentally careened right off the map with his big potato-ship after trying to run from my lumbering Victory-class. Then his little corvette actually rammed directly into the Victory.
I won because he eventually had to end a move with the Corvette directly next to my Guardian, and I had an admiral that could spend dice to change anything to a crit face. That's a lot of damage with Close Range dice.
It was also a heck of a lot faster than I expected it to be. Very intuitive rules, and you're rarely spending time just idling.
https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2015/9/2/rule-through-fear/
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
I find it a little weird though that it is both faster and more maneuverable than the Victory Star Destroyers. Seems like it outclasses them in every way. Yeah I noticed the point cost, but still...
eNozN1RVNTYwUDVRNVUzUjOsMVQzRCON1UyApAmYbQZRYwaRBlOqZSYA7ZUOyQ==
I think the movies are a bit inconsistent in that Star Destroyers started out fast enough to catch a corvette or even the Falcon but later on seemed slower. I don't know, it's been a while.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Don't get me wrong, they look incredible and I'll be buying at least 2, but their size does come with drawbacks that could see the Vic still useful.
So that means we're upgrading to 400 point fights. Which means I have my new fleet concept. The key element is a Gladiator-II with Demolisher, Engine Techs, Gunnery Team, Weapons Liason, and Expanded Magazines. Then, one Victory-I and one Victory-II. The Victory-I is a Warlord with XX-9 Turbolasers, and the Victory-II is a Dominator with H9 Turbolasers and Leading Shots. Then I've got Darth Vader, Soontir Fel, "Mauler" Mithel and a TIE Interceptor squadron. Also, Grand Moff Tarkin.
So basically, the Victory-class vessels are, combined, an enormous number of guns you don't want pointed directly at you. The Dominator at close-medium can basically guarantee a bunch of hits, because Leading Shots combined with Dominator means it can fire a heck of a lot and reroll whatever doesn't hit. The Warlord is less capable, but it can bat a bit of cleanup and put some crits on whatever it gets close enough to with the XX-9s.
But the Guardian can shoot from the impressive front battery, then move to some other ship and shoot the impressive front battery, then move again to re-position. Five black dice plus two red means it can punch through some of the weaker rebel ships in conceivably a single volley. And it can essentially move at speed 4 thanks to Engine Techs, meaning it can catch up with basically anyone.
The squadrons stay in a tight group around the Victory-class ships, with everyone but Mauler able to be activated to engage the likely reasonably small number of rebel squadrons. Then, when they've had their fun, Mauler can move in and deal 1 damage to everyone he engages, finishing some squadrons off entirely if I'm lucky enough. Plus, Vader escorting means that people have to shoot him, then get damaged by Soontir.
And this whole time, I've got Tarkin providing tokens every danged turn.
So far, I've won every time my friend and I have played. Even when he accidentally gave his danged Corvette 4 rear shields the first two engagements!
I'm really having a lot of fun with this, lots of fun things to consider building and deploying fleets.
I've got all my friends playing X-Wing, but they're hesitant to make the jump to Armada. I find their lack of faith disturbing...
The upgrades for the MC30C are incredible. I'm going to buy multiples of this sucker and blow up goddamned Gladiators all day long.
I won handily, getting two Nebulon B's and almost ALMOST getting the assault with Darth Vader in the literal last second possible, but alas I got a rare blank on a black die.
We're both definitely getting better at maneuvering, though. He managed to avoid ramming me until he wanted to, which is actually part of how he killed one of the Victory-class Star Destroyers.
It was harder than I expected to make full use of the Gladiator. Even with vastly increased maneuverability, it has very restrictive firing arcs, so on two separate turns I had a single broadside against a ship and I just couldn't manage to drag it around for the second shot with the front guns. BUT, wow does Demolisher work wonders, what a ship. I'd love to do two of these with a long-range Victory for support and a bunch of squadrons. Fire, move, fire is so strong.
I think my plan is to try doing a squadron-heavy build next time to change things up. I'm starting to get how to threaten the capital ships with them a bit more, and I want to try seeing if I can effectively use bombers.
This time it was all on Squadrons. We were playing the objective where one objective ship for the first player can fire twice at the same ship, and one objective ship for the second player can fire twice at the same target.
He almost immediately destroyed my poor Gladiator, getting it with 2 Nebulons and his Assault Craft... but then I activated 4 squadrons, Major Rhymer, a TIE Bomber, Darth Vader, and a Tie Advanced. Brought all of them to bear right next to his Assault, which was worth double points by the rules. Next turn he runs, hits some asteroids running. I have another squadron activation, and Rhymer means I can set them up in a nice cover zone so his whole turn radius for getting back into the battle would involve being hit by 4 black die at least 3 times. Doesn't matter though, after a single volley from the TIEs brings it down to 1 health, and he runs and repairs to just 2 health, my Victory 2 gets it with two volleys to the rear. After that, it's essentially mop-up, which is made a hell of a lot easier by the fact that a combination of Dominator and the Ion cannons that let you exhaust all defense tokens on a crit AND the ability to fire at the same hull twice mean I legit destroy his Corvette in a single turn with a single Star Destroyer, then sweep up the last remaining Nebulon with the TIEs, having caught the other one in the front arc of my Victory-I.
So I won like 550 to 100. Super fun game, going to need to consider bringing cookies to the next one to keep Rebel spirits up.
I decided to take it all the way in the direction of Squadrons, and just played two Victory-IIs, then eight squadrons, including all of my named ones.
Turns out, there's a limit to squadron usefulness! I definitely destroyed the heck out of his paltry 3 squadrons, and his Assault Craft, but then I was left with 4 dedicated anti-squadron squadrons doing jack all the rest of the turns. That's like, 70 points that were just not in the game for the majority of play. And bombers are amazing, but they kind of need a dedicated squadron command every single turn, and with only 2 capital ships I just didn't have the option.
Agh. It was still VERY close, came down to literally a single damage point on a single roll, but dangit I finally got too cocky.
I've found Grand Moff Tarkin very useful, since it lets those victory's essentially choose an action on the fly every round, rather than always being behind 2 rounds.
It includes some Armada stuff!
Okay, fine, I'll pick up the extra CR-90, Neb, and Vic.
Thanks, CC.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
http://www.coolstuffinc.com/p/206468
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
I choose to hear this as the Predator playing a sound bite back
50% off...
On the other hand, I need to save money for Christmas and some car repairs on the horizon
But 50% off...
You're a monster.
Indeed I am! Technically I can't afford it right now either, as I've done some house work and am in the middle of building a kegerator. I did email my wife though with the suggestion it would make a great Christmas present. I can't control if she buys it or not, right?
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
http://www.miniaturemarket.com/dailynews
https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2015/11/3/star-wars-rebellion/
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
One of the weirder real life notes is for a long time the fastest ship in the US navy was the USS enterprise which is an aircraft carrier. Sometimes being huge means you can pack some huge engines and a lot of power.