Yesterday I played some more X-Wing at
Wycombe Warband.
I'd put together a slightly less expendable Imperial force than
last time:
Soontir Fel / TIE Interceptor
Push the Limit
Royal Guard TIE
Shield Upgrade
Hull Upgrade
Whisper / TIE Phantom
Veteran Instincts
Fire-Control System
Advanced Cloaking Device
Academy Pilot / TIE Fighter
Academy Pilot / TIE Fighter
going up against a two-ship Rebel force. I didn't get the full
details, but it was a YT-2400 with Outrider and Heavy lasers, plus an
E-Wing with a Sensor Jammer and R2-D2.
The TIEs moved in quickly, and we were soon in a furball, with the
Phantom getting left behind a little.
The enemy forces split up, and so did we at first.
But the heavier Imperial fighters combined fire on the freighter.
The Phantom took a long move out to get better aim.
The TIEs got mixed up with the E-Wing.
Not to their benefit. I don't think they got in any hits at all.
But the Phantom was able to finish off the freighter. At this point it
was two against one, and I thought I was in with a chance. But the
problem was scoring enough hits at once against the E-Wing's
regenerating shields (and sensor jammer, meaning it could ignore one
hit out of any volley).
So we chased him round…
And round…
And round…
There was a point at which I was in with a chance, having eliminated
all his shields and all but one hull point, but I wasn't able to
sustain the damage.
Then the Phantom swung in at just the wrong moment, and took enough
hits to kill it.
And since it was getting late and I didn't think I had a chance at a
win, I went for a last head-on pass – and died.
That combination of ignoring the first hit and regenerating shields is
really rather nasty. I could blame dice luck, but we both made a lot
of rolls and it probably evened out in the end; if I'd managed to stay
on target better I probably could have won it. I do like the Phantom,
but I found the Interceptor a bit underwhelming by comparison even
with all its upgrades, and I'll probably drop the Academy Pilots from
the build completely in favour of something a bit more interesting.
Two TIEs do not a swarm make.
- Posted by Owen Smith at
02:13pm on
20 February 2015
The point of the TIE is a large swarm of expendable crap. This includes the pilots. I'd expect about 10 TIEs against two rebel fighters, those are the odds the TIE was designed for. If the game does not allow that then it isn't reflecting the films.
- Posted by Ashley R Pollard at
02:18pm on
20 February 2015
Sounds like quite a frustrating game.
- Posted by RogerBW at
02:30pm on
20 February 2015
Owen: the canonical match-up in the basic box is one X-Wing vs two TIEs. The "TIE Swarm" (typically around six ships, you could in theory go up to eight) is an acknowledged tactic; it's tricky to counter, but not impossible. (I gather Assault Missiles are popular for this.)
Ashley: the latter section, chasing the E-Wing, was less fun than it could have been. R2-D2 means it'll eventually regenerate anything short of actual hull damage, so you need to keep pounding at it every turn.
At least this time I was a bit better at avoiding accidental collisions.
- Posted by Phil P at
08:00am on
21 February 2015
Both ships also had Push the limit and Engine Upgrade - one of the reasons the E-Wing lasted so long. Extra boost stopped you being in Range 1 most of the time, plus E-Wing can do a Green turn 2 and R2D2 regenerating.
The last part of the game probably won't happen in a tournament as the game would time out, we played for nearly 2.5 hours
Tournament result would have been a win to you, as you had 50ish points off me while I'd only managed 24 points for the Acadamy Pilots.
Good test - I'd suggest dropping the Tie fighters for another Interceptor
Remember your strongest ability with this build is being Pilot Skill 9, move second - shoot first, plus Phantom needs to cloak before anyone can see him!
- Posted by RogerBW at
09:04am on
21 February 2015
Thanks for the thoughts. Yeah, that's exactly why I stuck Veteran Instincts on Whisper: an un-cloaked Phantom isn't all that impressive. I just need to remember to account for the decloak move.
A single Interceptor gives you three attack dice and three hull points - two TIEs give you four attack dice and four hull points, so in theory they should last longer and do more damage. (Especially with big weapons on the table, because you need to do two separate two-point attacks.) Still, pilot skill 1 doesn't help.
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