The game of choice was X-Wing. To this end, Rob and I played a couple of games of the campaign for the CR-90 corvette (Tantive IV).... aka "the big ship"!
In the first mission it would the the CR-90 trying to escape after being pounced on by a number of Imperial Tie Fighters.
The campaign rules specified the list build of the CR-90 vs. 6 Tie Fighters (one of whom would have to be Howlrunner).
A quick read of the upgrades the CR-90 was to take looked good. Until I realised most of its weapons had a range of 3 - 5.... uh oh.
To win, I would just have to survive 6 turns..... how hard could that be?
We kicked off and the Tie Fighters started to swarm in. The CR-90's engines lit up and moved forward quickly. I needed to gain energy (I need energy for secondary weapons and to replenish shields)!
And then the Tie Fighters get real close... not what I wanted!
Only my aft quad lasers are really able to target anything, so I continue to move and build energy each turn. Shooting proves to be pretty ineffective on my part with the Tie's agility negating what hits I do get.
I do have plenty of energy though. This I use to replace my shields to some slight annoyance for Rob :)
But then the Tie's start getting a little too close...
And the crashing begins. But crashing into huge ships it not a good thing.... it causes damage.
As do the asteroids that are floating around...
But when big ships move through little ships... then there is no hope. The little ship gets destroyed. My first Tie kill :)
We're getting through the turns pretty quickly. I keep replenishing my shields, so the CR-90 hasn't even had the paint scratched yet. The Imperials pull off some very lucky maneuvers. Very lucky...
But that's the last the Tie Fighters see of the CR-90 as she breaks through the swarm and past the asteroid field into open space....
I'd made it through to turn 6 unharmed. So victory to the Rebels.
With that we decided to play the next mission in the campaign...
This time a larger Imperial force has caught the CR-90 refueling after her escape. At least I would have some help to defend the CR-90 this time....
2 X-Wing and 2 Headhunter were on patrol in the area. But 3 damaged Tie's from the previous encounter closed in supported by an additional Tie and 3 Tie Interceptors!
I'd have to ensure the CR-90 escaped off the board to win. But I was low on fuel!? Do I just risk it and go for it or fuel up and then make a break? Decisions... decisions...
We set-up:
This didn't look good for the Rebel's! I split my forces and hoped the weaker Headhunters could knock out the damaged Tie's and left the X-Wing's to face the rest....
But shooting proved ineffective as the Imperial forces proved to be aces at dodging any potential hits... so the swarm just kept on closing in.
The CR-90 has taken a bit of a pummeling by now and I've lost all shields on the fore section and am taking damage. But because I'm still fueling (and low on fuel), I can't generate any energy to replenish shields!
I had at least destroyed one of the Tie Interceptors with some point blank fire by an X-Wing by now.
This can't keep up though. I need to move and I need to move now. Downside is that since I'm not fully fueled, I'm not going to generate much energy (if I can generate any at all). Better than sitting here getting destroyed though!
So, the CR-90 powers up her engines and moves forward catching the Imperials off guard as she runs through one of the Tie's..
But close range fire from one of the Interceptors hits the fore section of the CR-90 and it's enough. That section is now crippled giving the Imperials victory in this one.
A good game and the missions are definitely good fun.
I think my mistake was delaying the departure of the CR-90. I'd hoped to hold off for a bit to get some fuel to generate energy later in the game. The game was never going to last long though. I reckon the better tactic would have been to just get her moving. That and use one of the upgrade cards she had.... that would have given me 3 fuel! D'oh.
I'd also got the X-Wings into a bad position due to being worried about the CR-90 crashing into them, so they weren't shooting as much as they should have been. That meant Rob wasn't under a lot of pressure from them and could just use his numbers and swarm the CR-90 with focused fire to win the game.
That ended X-Wing for the day. Phil had King of New York. So we rolled out a couple of games of that.
I chose to be Captain Fish. Turned out to be a bad choice as I died in both games... :)
Then it was the beach for a cool down and swim since it was far too hot and stuffy.
We'll have to see if we can play the last 2 missions in the CR-90 campaign next weekend.
Thanks for reading! :)
Nice write up Will. I haven't played any X-Wing with the really big ships yet. It looks like they add another new dynamic to the game, and they certainly look good on the table!
ReplyDeleteThanks Paul. They definitely make things interesting! :)
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