"The Force is with you... but you are not a Jedi yet"
Darth Vader on seeing my results from today
Having seen some of the power of the Force last time out, I wanted to try some of that so my list for day was:
Feel The Force
Darth Vader
- Heightened Perception
Grand Inquisitor
- Proton Rockets
Pure Sabacc
- Fifth Brother
- Outmaneuver
(Aside #1. I went through a couple of iterations of this list this week. Originally Vader and the Inquisitor both had Heightened Perception, and Sabacc had Juke and a shield upgrade. I saw a comment about Prockets in the week that made me think I should try it, and since the TIE Advanced v1 has more opportunities to get the required Focus token to fire them it made sense to put them on the Inquisitor. It would, however, have been even better if the app's ship selection screen showed that the linked-action focuses are red...)
(Aside #2. I have to say I'm finding the Empire very badly served right now by the Gunner slot with so many of the available gunners abilities being turret-based and so few Imperial ships having turrets...)
Game 1 - James Gill
Luke Skywalker
Thane Kyrell
Wedge Antilles
All with Proton Torpedoes and R3 Astromech
So if I wanted to pit Force users against each other, this would be the list to try it against... James gave me Initiative, and, apparently learning nothing at all from last time, I set up to joust. When we engaged, the Inquisitor was just out of range 2 to Luke so couldn't use his prockets - I should have boosted into range 2 and taken the linked focus action. Vader and the Inquisitor took shots at Luke and couldn't hit him, both receiving torpedoes and losing their shields in return. Thane fired a torpedo at Sabacc, with two hits and two crits. Sabacc rolled ... four blanks, and exploded. (James said he'd intended to put two damage on to break his ability. Good job...). And I must have been thrown by this as I then managed to doublethink myself into both my remaining ships doing T-rolls. The X-wings advanced 1 forwards, and suffice to say the game ended shortly afterwards.
Game 2 - Bye
Game 3 - John Cooves
Sol Sixxa
- Marksmanship
- "Genius"
- Havoc
- Proximity Mines
Genesis Red
- Marksmanship
- Proton Torpedoes
Emon Azzameen
- Andrasta
- Marksmanship
- Seismic Charges
- Boba Fett
- Proton Bombs
John had a great initial setup for his Firespray, using Boba Fett's ability to place the ship by an asteroid but facing away from me, enabling him to immediately place a seismic charge in my path. Which I fortunately was able to avoid, and Emon danced away around the rock.
I was gunning for the Scurrg, and had Vader and the Inquisitor on target (this time I was able to boost-focus the Inquisitor into a perfect position to fire the rockets), though Sabacc had to shoot at Genesis Red. The Inquisitor had the Scurrg just in the bullseye arc, and I rolled my five dice for the rockets - to get two focus results and the rest blank. Vader chipped a couple more hits off the Scurrg, but lost his shields to return fire. Next round I dialed in maneuvers to dodge Sixxa's bombs and take shots on the Firespray, but Vader still hit a proximity mine and died. However Sabacc punched out the Scurrg in return. For the remainder of the game, I managed to avoid mines and seismic charges as I tried to whittle down the Firespray, and I got half-points on it before I lost my other ships.
Game 4 - Adam Snook
2 x Jakku Gunrunner
- Proton Bombs
Jakku Gunrunner
Boba Fett
- Han Solo
- Marauder
- Debris Gambit
- Perceptive Copilot
(Aside #3. Having Han Solo crewing for Boba Fett feels ... wrong)
(Aside #4. I changed all my dice over for this game...)
With 20/20 hindsight, what I should have done here was ignore the Firespray and get rid of the quadjumpers first. But I didn't. I decided that I wanted to take out Fett, and that the best way to do that was to swoop in across the front of all three quadjumpers to get my shots. So, a dumb plan and one I got punished for. (In my limited defence, not having quadjumpers I didn't know they could tractor as an action...). Vader got pushed onto a rock, the Inquisitor got pushed which blocked him and stopped him getting the Focus to fire the rockets. Sabacc blanked out again and died, and a few minutes later it was all over.
All in all, a dreadful day for me that I can only partially pin on my dire dice. But there are plenty of learning points to take away.
Heightened Perception - didn't use it once, and right now I wouldn't take it again, I'd probably look at Supernatural Reflexes instead. But as the meta shakes out, we might see lists with 2 or even 3 pilots at I6 and at that point I'd expect to see HP come in as a counter to that.
The Force generally - is good as long as you can get dice results with paint on them... The Inquisitor's ability is useful, but we had a couple of queries about it that might need to go in the FAQ: i) if he makes a Range 3 attack Range 1, he gets the bonus, but does the defender also get the bonus dice? and ii) if he makes an attack a Range 1 attack, can he use a Range 1 weapon e.g. Advanced proton torpedoes?
Outmaneuver - again, I didn't use it, but unlike HP I want to look at it again as I do think it has potential. I want to try it on another Striker (possibly Duchess), but I think the ship it could really work on is the TIE Advanced Prototype with its Boost and Barrel Roll reposition shenanigans. Maybe Baron of the Empire will be a playable pilot in 2.0?
Fifth Brother - should be the go-to gunner for Imperial lists.
All glory to the Emperor!
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