Tuesday, August 22, 2017

A New Season Begins!

Welcome to a new season of Heroes of the Aturi Cluster!

We've upgraded a few components and completed the collection of ships, so everything looks great and we're going to have a great time!

Over last few campaigns, Tyler and I came to realize that a very few specific ships and builds were significantly more powerful than any other options (namely, B-Wing with HLC, K-Wing, and T-70 with the right PA/EPTs). While these builds were fun to play the first time around, as we got about halfway through our second campaign with another group of friends it became aparent that we were going to be building the same ships again, and we needed some additional options. We're staying focused on the Original Trilogy timeframe (3 BBY to 7 ABY), so we're leaving out the idea of things like E-wings and ARC-170s and a lot of the Wave 7+ ships. This season we're playing with a few house rules and some additional upgrades and options to help with those balance issues and open up more viable paths for mid- and end-game options. These include Pandemonium's Season 6 house rules, and a list of custom/modified cards.

We're really excited and feel this will open up a whole bunch of new options this season.


Dianoga Squadron

Lets introduce our pilots and their starting loadouts:

"Divvik" (Joel, Rebel):

A-wing, Missile: Torpedo Loadout, Torpedo: Ion Torpedo, Modification: Extra Munitions, 1XP floating

All the maneuverability and speed of an A-wing, with a couple of Ion Torpedoes jammed in there for extra punch.

"Gellbeast" (David, Rebel): (Aturi Cluster Squadron Leader)

Z-95, Title: "Recon Loadout", System: Accuracy Corrector, Illicit: Scavenger Crane, Modification: Shield Upgrade, Modification: Stealth Device, Missile: XX-23 S-Thread Tracers, 0XP floating

Built to either stay cloaked and tank with 5 green dice or decloak and push 2 hits in no matter what, this experiment is pretty heavily focused on assists with the occasional shiv in the back of a TIE. (Proxy Alert! I didn't get my Z-95 in time, so I had to proxy a T-70... ugh!)

"Rathtar" (Tyler, Scum): (Wingman)

Z-95, Title: "Heavy Loadout", Cannon: Ion Cannon, Illicit: Scavenger Crane, Modification: Overcharge Capacitors, Modification: Stealth Device, 3XP floating

An overcharged ion cannon makes for a rather serious threat, combining good damage output with the control of ion tokens, while a stealth device (complete with crane for recovery after any impacts) means this ship has both good punch and good survival.

"Gundark" (Tom, Rebel):

Y-Wing, Title: BTL-A4, Turret: Twin Laser Turret, Astromech: R4 Astromech, Modification: Vectored Thrusters

The "Warthog" build is so reliable it never gets old, and the Vectored Thrusters are a nice alternative to the unique BB-8.

And here we go!

Mission 1: Local Trouble



Turn 1: Don't split the party!

So our setup for the first round was a bit rough. Divvik tucked himself into one edge, aiming to flank up beside the main group of TIE Fighters as they were approaching, and Rathtar set up near the other edge to attempt to slice through the second group of TIEs. Gellbeast took a more central approach, hoping the TIEs would come zooming in at full speed and be in range of a Turn 1 Tracer shot, while Gundark took up a solid position between the Z-95s and the A-Wing, planning on rolling in and dropping the "BRRRT!" on some eyeballs! The TIE pilots were wise to this positioning, however, and rolled in with a (relatively) slow 3-straight advance, staying just out of range of everyone's weapons, making for an uneventful first turn.
Turn 1 - Lock S-Foils in Attack position!

Turn 2: Just passing through...

Anticipating that the main group of TIEs would turn in to close on the forward-most threat, Gellbeast swooped forward and activated his cloak for the extra defense. Divvik pushed hard up the left flank, Gundark dodged an asteroid to close up next to the invisible Z-95, and Rathtar closed on the second group of TIE Fighters. The TIEs all continued their steady forward progression, passing directly between the A-Wing and "The Two Gs", but Gundark caught one in arc and managed to clip him and send him out of formation with the others. Rathtar was the only one in a position to get off a good shot, but the blinding exchange of laser fire resulted in no damage to the TIEs and a shield dropping off the Heavy Z-95.
Turn 2 - Passing Shots

Turn 3: That was a mistake.

The pair of TIE Fighters facing off against Rathtar decided to attempt a Koiogran Turn to keep him engaged but while the Z-95 successfully completed his own K-turn, one of the two T/Fs misjudged the asteroid and tore a chunk out of his solar panels, throwing him wildly out of position to support his wingmate. Rathtar capitalized on this and landed a solid Overcharged Ion Cannon shot with no effective return fire.
Overcharged Ion Shot 1 - The Pattern Begins

The main contingent of TIEs broke up formation, with some performing their own K-turn to engage the rest of the squadron while the wounded one simply limped off (probably trying to regan control of his own ship). Gundark and Gellbeast K-turned as well, keeping up the sustained fire on the wounded 'Fighter, but he managed to artfully dodge every shot.
Turn 3 - Blood in the water

Turn 4: Knife fighting in an asteroid field

The beginning of this turn saw scary and awesome events. Two TIE Interceptors entered the battle, aligning themselves perfectly behind The Two Gs and ready to wreck Divvik's lone A-wing. What they failed to realize is that Divvik doesn't fly an A-wing because he likes dodging at long range; he flys one because he likes scraping paint off of TIEs in an up-close-and-personal way. Divvik's sharp turn and boost directly into their path positioned him perfectly to cause both T/Is to bump him, leaving him an invalid target for them, limiting them to Range 3 for their only valid targets, and costing them any additional actions. This startled them so badly that they both nearly missed their shots on The G Team and caused only shield damage to Gundark's Y-wing.

I don't think that's what the wedge-shape was meant for...

Rathtar cleverly avoided incoming fire from the ionized TIE by bouncing right off his face, lining up an excellent ion cannon shot on the unfortunate astroid-loving wingman and putting him in a precarious position of nearly gliding off the board.
That's not a hug... I'm just ionizing your wingman.

Gellbeast and Gundark's sustained fire dropped one of the closing TIEs just as he pulled back around to engage the fight, and the other TIEs were totally ineffective in their fire.

Turn 5: I love the smell of Ozone in the morning...

The TIE Fighters were scrambling at this point, chaotically swooping or gliding around the board while trying to both survive and hunt down our heroes. The Interceptors were able to close in unimpeded, intent on bringing their considerable firepower to bear on the slow-moving Y-wing that had just destroyed one of their compatriots. But the heroes were clever, elusive, and vicious. Rathtar turned in to begin engaging what remained of the main team of TIEs, his own targets scattered and soon approaching their doom. Gundark K-turned again, bringing his Warthog-configuration to bear on almost the entire enemy group. Gellbeast engaged the cloaking device on his Recon Z-95, preparing for the withering hail of fire his positioning was sure to bring. And Divvik K-turned and set up for the defining moment of the night.
The setup...
The T/Is fired wildly, shields tearing off of Rathtar's ship and the shadowy shape of Gellbeast's hidden form narrowly avoiding blast after blast until the lone A-wing at the edge of the engagement zone lit off the secret weapon he'd been holding for such a perfect positioning.
... the pitch...
The Ion Torpedo caught the TIE interceptor flat-footed, his focus already exhausted trying to hit the targets in front of him. His evasiveness was little comfort, as the torpedo was nearly inside his ion engine's exhaust manifold when it detonated.
... and solid contact.
The ion energy from the detonation spilled over on to his wingman, but the distraction and psychological shock of seeing how quickly, efficiently, and ruthlessly the heroes had dealt with such a threat stunned the TIE Fighter pilots and cost them the fight. Gundark raked his fire across the field and Rathtar began shunting power back into his Overcharged Ion Cannons, preparing for another devastating blast.

Turn 6: I'm sorry, you were planning on going around that, weren't you?

TIEs closed in, turning to engage the forces of one of the Rebellion's new elite squadrons. The Interceptor's pilot stared in horror and frustration as his ionized ship gently glided into an asteroid, throwing off any chance for an attack.

With supporting fire from Divvik and Rathtar, Gellbeast decloaked and raked fire into the back of one Fighter while Gundark finished off another.
Fire from the flank!
Rotary Rebellion!


Turn 6 - Two more down

Turn 7: Reinforcements? More like "Bonus Round"

Two additional TIE Fighters entered the fray, maneuvering to block Divvik from finishing off the last Interceptor. Gundark closed in at minimum speed, his rotary laser array spinning up for another devastating volley. Rathtar locked on to the Interceptor, his Overcharged Ion Cannons glowing hot from the power being shunted into them. Gellbeast maneuvered into a support position to try and cover Divvik, one of the last of the original TIE Fighters having closed in behind him. The Interceptor had nowhere to move in the tight melee created by Gundark and Rathtar and was left scraping his tail along the asteroid, damaging his hull and denied another shot by bumping into Gundark. Rathtar's Ion Cannon roared blue bolts so bright that sun shielded cockpits turned almost black... and when they faded, the interceptor was a cloud of dust gliding slowly around Gundark's particle shields.

Gellbeast's fire distracted the newly-arrived pair of TIEs enough that they caused no damage to Divvik, and while the TIE behind Gellbeast had lined up a perfect shot, the last flicker of his cloaking and stealth systems left Gelldark unscathed as the whithering bolts of green flew past.
This is not that day!

Turn 7: You latecomers might want to rethink this...

Turn 8: Bright Red Lights

The last two TIEs from the original force were shaken by what they had seen, but gathered their (small) wits about them and began lining up a final attack pass. The latest reinforcements sought to engage our forces directly, the one Gellbeast wounded last turn turning to engage the Heavy Z-95 and the other K-turning to line up a better shot on Divvik. The heroes closed ranks on these newcomers and while the combined firepower of Gellbeast and Rathtar wrecked the Fighter who was drawing a bead on Divvik, Gundark wielded his rotary blasters like a surgeon with a knife and expertly excised the TIE caught in the middle of the group.
Melee (n): "a confused fight, skirmish, or scuffle."

Zs of Fury!!

Precision BRRT!

Turn 8: 2+2-2 = 2

Turn 9: Someone tell the nice singing lady she's up next.

At this point, it's just a clean-up operation. The two remaining TIEs (still from the original groups, amazingly enough) turned to close in and try some last-ditch effort at vengeance for their fellow eyeball-jockies. Divvik sliced out to engage one, The G Team closed on the other, and Rathtar rolled a K-turn to line up some a finishing shot. Divvik managed to land some damage and stress on his, while Rathtar's Ion Cannon (even with a regular charge) was enough to finish off the other T/F, leaving another static-charged husk floating through space.
Locked and Loaded
That's gonna sting
Blue Bolts
Turn 9 - That's a lot of red tokens...

Turn 10: BRRRRRT!!

Only one final action remained. Only one that mattered. And while the last Fighter dodged nimbly around A-wings and Z-95s, the calm and inexorable advance of a Y-wing finally brought an end to this fight.

And the Y-wing finishes it all up.


Overall this was a great start to our new campaign, and we're really excited to continue! Stay tuned for more!

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

X-Wing Miniatures: Heroes of the Aturi Cluster Co-op Campaign - Mission 3: Tread Softly (again)

Preface

This weekend was the Extra Life charity event, and as one of our many games of the day, we decided to get in an extra round of our X-Wing campaign. 
This time our friend Lawrence was able to join us, and he chose to jump into a Y-Wing, while Tyler took out a B-Wing for the first time, and they both turned out to be great assets. We gave Lawrence his starting XP plus our lowest total gained XP, so he was a little closer to our average than a brand-new pilot would have been.
We ended up pulling the Tread Softly mission again, so we decided to jump right back in for round 2 and it worked out pretty well, and it's amazing how much better this mission goes with player-appropriate opposition!! 
There are a lot more action shots in this update, and so a lot more individual photos as well. Let me know in the comments if you like this style, or if I should stick with the summary "Start-Activation-Combat-End" photos.

Players & Pilots

Dave: PS3 (5) X-Wing with BB-8, Stealth Device, and Veteran Instincts (3 XP floating from previous missions)
Josh: PS3 X-Wing with BB-8 and Stealth Device (9 XP floating from previous missions)
Martin: PS2 Y-Wing with BB-8, Ion Torpedo x2, Extra Munitions, Twin Laser Turret, and BTL-A4 (4 XP floating from previous missions)
Lawrence: PS2 Y-Wing with BB-8, Ion Torpedo, Extra Munitions, Twin Laser Turret, and BTL-A4 (4 XP floating)
Tyler: PS4 (6) B-Wing with Heavy Laser Cannon, Veteran Instincts, Experimental Interface, and Squad Leader (0XP floating from previous missions)

The Game

Setup

As before, this encounter consists of 3 minefields per player (so 15 this time) spread across the field, with a unit of 3 TIE Bombers as a Mine-Layer squadron (again, proxied with an Advanced and an Interceptor, more on that at the end) on the far board edge, and a unit of 3 TIE Fighters on the right board edge.
This time we learned from our lesson last go-around, and all focused our deployment and firepower on the TIE Fighters first, with me on the right board edge, Tyler right next to me, Lawrence and Martin staggered next to him, and Josh covering our left flank near the middle of the board edge.

Setup

Turn 1 - Blood in the minefields

The TIE Fighters jumped forward to engage us, but chose a 3-bank maneuver instead of a tighter turn, anticipating our maneuvering towards the middle of the board
Turn 1 - TIE Fighters on the move to engage the players
The TIE Bombers pushed forward with a 4-straight, looking to get Josh in range, but falling just short.
Turn 1 - TIE Bombers rushing forward
Tyler and I rushed forward with our fastest straight advances, while Josh, Lawrence and Martin were much more tame and BB-8-rolled into a tight formation.
Turn 1 - We leap into the fray
Tyler used his Squad Leader to great effect throughout the game, and opened up on Turn 1 with Martin picking up a Focus action to go with his Target Lock on the lead TIE Fighter.
Turn 1 - Squad Leader for fun and profit
Tyler and I put a small amount of hurt on the flanking TIE Fighters, but their Evade actions kept our effectiveness down.
Turn 1 - Shots fired!
Josh engaged the minefields quickly, remembering that we barely touched our mission objectives last time.
Turn 1 - Josh versus the Minefields
Lawrence had a great first turn, finishing off a minefield and damaging another.
Turn 1 - Lawrence kills a minefield...
Turn 1 - ... and TLT's another
And then Martin let the first of his Ion Torpedoes off the hook.
Turn 1 - Ion Torpedo Away!
The hit didn't kill the lead TIE (due to its Evade token), but thanks to the Focus action Tyler had Squad Leader'd onto Martin, we got a hit and ionized the whole group of TIE Fighters.
Turn 1 - Martin likes Ion tokens. I'm serious.
Just wait. You'll see.

Turn 2 - Ionization is a good thing!

The ionized TIE Fighters had no choice but to drift forward, targets ripe for the plucking.
Turn 2 - TIE Fighters drift forward
The TIE Bombers were rightfully intimidated by this opening round, and chose to cruise in on a slow 2-straight maneuver...
Turn 2 - TIE Bombers cruise forward...
...which they followed up with a Barrel Roll action to get long-range shots on Josh.
Turn 2 - ... and barrel-rolling to get a shot
Tyler decided that it worked well the first round, and granted the already-focused Martin a free Target Lock on the newly-in-arc TIE Bombers. I bet you can see where this is going!
Turn 2 - Love that Squad Leader!
The wrath of a B-Wing knows no range bracket, and even at long range Tyler's Heavy Laser Cannon ripped into the trailing TIE Fighter and blew him out of space.
Turn 2 - Tyler's cannons fell a TIE Fighter
My higher-than-normal-speed maneuvering got me into a perfect range 1 shot of the flanking TIE Fighter, and he fell to my guns shortly after his buddy.
Turn 2 - TIE Fighter #2 falls to Dave
Josh managed to wipe out a minefield in a single hit, clearing more of those dangerous mission objectives from the board.
Turn 2 - Josh one-rounds a minefield
Lawrence cleared the minefield he had damaged earlier, and then used his TLT to finish off the last TIE Fighter.
Turn 2 - Lawrence clears another minefield,
and the last TIE Fighter too!
And Martin, in what was to become an epic fusillade of ion-y goodness, launched Ion Torpedo #2 into the TIE Bombers that had been so gracious to barrel roll into arc...
Turn 2 - Ion Torpedo Away, into the TIE Bombers!
Resulting in another fully ionized enemy squadron.
Turn 2 - I told you about that Ion thing, right?

Turn 3 - You get an Ion token! You get an Ion token! ...in fact, Everybody gets Ion Tokens!!!

Ion tokens can be a real downer, and those TIE Bombers got no respite from their effects, drifting forward right into our sights.
Turn 3 - Drifting TIE Bombers
Our maneuvering worked well for getting everyone in position to engage the TIE Bombers... except for whatever the heck Josh is doing here...
Turn 3 - Maneuvering to engage.
Tyler's HLC downed the damaged lead TIE Bomber...
Turn 3 - More Heavy Laser Cannon goodness
And I got a nice Direct Hit critical on his wingman.
Turn 3 - Dave scores a nice critical hit
Josh's crazy maneuvering turned out to not be signs of Space Sickness, and he kept up a strong trend of damaging and clearing those mission objective minefields.
Turn 3 - Josh's strange maneuvering turns out great,
and he scores some damage on the minefield
in the corner behind us
While Lawrence engaged more minefields, Martin just couldn't let go of his new favorite button, and popped yet another Ion Torpedo into the TIE Bombers. I think at this point they should have just comm'd us to surrender... Oh, wait, their radios were down too. Crap. Sorry, man.
Turn 3 - Is that...? Yes, it's more Ion Torpedoes!
I love the smell of Ions in the morning.
Turn 3 - I bet those TIE Bombers are starting to
smell like bacon on the inside...
Turn 3 ended with us in pretty good position: the TIE Fighters were already down, one third of the minelayer squad was gone and the other two were feeling the hurt (and ionized, did I mention the ion stuff?), and we already had a nice clear space in the minefields to maneuver within. Go team!
Turn 3 - End of a round, not bad for the first 3rd of the game

Turn 4 - Bye, Bye Bombers

The TIE Bomber pilots were probably not the most comfortable of folks, dancing spontaneous Irish jigs in their cockpits, but they drifted forward none-the-less.
Turn 4 - TIE Bombers on ionized auto-pilot
We had made the decision not to try for another round of ionization and closed in to finish them off.
Turn 4 - Closing in for the kill
Tyler's B-Wing once again put some serious heat on heavy targets at long range...
Turn 4 - "...I've seen TIE Bombers on fire off
the shoulder of Orion..."
... and I managed to finish off the close one with a sharp quad-linked blast to the back of the engines.
Turn 4 - Death to the TIE Bombers!
Josh cleared yet another minefield...
Turn 4 - Josh clears the corner minefield
... and the Y-Wing Duo cleaned up the last of the Mine-Layer squad. One bonus mission objective complete!
Turn 4 - The Y-Wings clean up shop!
At the end of Turn 4, we had a TIE-free board... but that wouldn't last long.
Turn 4 - End of the turn with a TIE-free board!

Turn 5 - Papa Bear ain't happy

Turn 5 saw the Elite Bomber appear from our right board edge, and he locked on to Tyler and closed in to follow him.
Turn 5 - An Elite arrives...
We were caught a little out of position, and didn't have a lot of great options, so we ended up a little out of position for this turn.
Turn 5 - Well those maneuvers turned out... awkward.
Tyler wasn't able to get around to engage the Elite, so he tore into a minefield instead...
Turn 5 - A minefield falls to the HLC might!
...And then his Threat Acquisition alert went blaring, as the new Elite threat launched an Assault Missile at him.
Turn 5 - An Assault Missile is launched!
Tyler lost a shield to the hit, but he had been able to maneuver out away from the crumpled-up pile of Y-Wings and X-Wing that was half our squadron, so his sacrifice caused the missile to have minimal effect.
Turn 5 - Deft maneuvering results in
zero collateral damage
The Y-Wings removed more minefields, while the X-Wings maneuvered for better firing solutions.
Turn 5 - More minefields go down!
At the end of Turn 5, we had already killed enough mines to count this as a victory, but we wanted not just revival from our previous failure, we wanted absolution... we wanted revenge...
Turn 5 - End, with victory already complete: The
rest is just icing on the Experience Point cake...

Turn 6 - An indictment of our dice rolling

The Y-Wings chose to close up in formation, and maneuvered to continue to clear the minefields
Turn 6 - Y-Wings in close formation
I pulled in a tight turn and brought my quad-linked laser cannons to bear on the Elite...
Turn 6 - Dave turns in to target the Elite
...Tyler executed a timely Koiogran Turn (which we still have no idea how to pronounce), lining up his Heavy Laser Cannons on the Elite...
Turn 6 - 2-length Koiogran Turns are awesome!
... and Josh closed in to begin following the Elite to its doom!!
Turn 6 - Target in sight!
Our Y-Wings, at least, were effective at dealing with several of the minefields.
Turn 6 - There were a lot of mines in this one...
But other than that, all of our combined firepower barely scratched Papa Bear.
Turn 6 - Mine! No, Mine!

Turn 7 - Like moths to a flame...

So when Papa Bear radioed back that we had wiped out all of the Imperial forces in the area, apparently the local commander decided to send more fodder for us to feast on.
Turn 7 - More TIE Fighters arrive
The TIE Fighters valiantly attempted to engage our forces, screening their Elite against our most vicious fighters.
Turn 7 - The TIE Fighters advance on
our plucky heroes...
Josh decided he wanted to continue to pound away at the Elite TIE Bomber, so he took a very risky maneuver by punching straight in front of the oncoming mini-swarm.
Turn 7 - Josh punches the accelerator
The Y-Wings kept up their formation flying, continuing to engage the minefields with gusto.
Turn 7 - Y-Wings turning in formation

Tyler and I Maneuvered to split the fire of the TIE Fighters by closing in on them, forcing them to split up on targets, and relying on my Stealth Device to stay intact through the incoming fire.
Turn 7 - Tyler and Dave split their fire
I managed to land a critical hit on one of the lead TIE Fighters, damaging his stabilizers.
Turn 7 - Close range critical
Lawrence and Martin popped more Mines, Josh landed a few more hits on the Elite, and Tyler and I weathered the mini-swarm's fire quite well.
Turn 7 - End

Turn 8 - Someone make that man a Bear-skin pilot's seat!

The beginning of this turn's maneuvers showed one of the minor problems that happens when you're PS1 and the enemy is fairly close in front of you: the now-infamous PS1B, or "Pilot Skill 1 Bump", as all of the TIE Fighters piled into each other after the first bumped me on the way forward.
Turn 8 - Pilot Skill 1 Bump... the bump is real!
Our maneuvers worked well to close in our kill box, with Tyler doing his second 2-length Koiogran Turn of the game, me throwing a 4-length "K-Turn", Josh closing on the Elite TIE Bomber, Lawrence throwing out a brave 4-length K-Turn to engage the Elite, and Martin stoically continuing his mine-clearing run.
Turn 8 - Closing the kill box...
My quad-blast dropped another TIE Fighter, and Tyler landed a couple of hits on one of the flankers
Turn 8 - Another one bites the dust!
Josh dropped the Elite with a masterful hit, and Martin damaged a few more mines.
Turn 8 - Josh drops the Elite!
Josh's dogged pursuit of the Elite did have one... minor... side-effect: he took the full brunt of the remaining TIE Fighter's firepower, losing both shields and a hull to the hail of lasers.
Turn 8 - DUCK AND WEAVE!!!
This turn saw the end of an Elite, and left us with complete and total victory in sight!
Turn 8 - Ending with one last minefield

Turn 9 

While the TIE Fighters turned to anticipate Josh's maneuvers, the Y-Wings banked in to pour their considerable firepower into the fight.
Turn 9 - The Y-Wings turn back into the fight
Josh managed to avoid their clever trap, however, K-Turning to engage them head on, while Tyler and I closed in from behind.
Turn 9 - We've got 'em bracketed
Tyler's HLC cannons once again reached out to touch someone (hard, like really hard), and another TIE silhouette got marked on the side of his B-Wing...
Turn 9 - BWANG!!!
... while I dealt what was to be the last Critical Hit of the game, blinding the poor lead TIE Fighter...
Turn 9 - One final critical hit
... who never saw his buddy get gunned down by Lawrence's TLT.
Turn 9 - Y-Wing wrath!!!

With no target worthy of an Ion Torpedo (that's right, you have to earn it), Martin finished the last of the Minefields off.
Turn 9 - No more mines! Yay!
Somehow, nobody quite knows how, that one lone TIE Fighter with one remaining hull survived in to the final turn...
Turn 9 - End, and one TIE Fighter left...

Turn 10

... but he only recovered his sight long enough to see his death wrapped all around him.
Turn 10 - Wrapping it all up
He barely escaped Tyler's HLC shots, but my quad-linked laser blast caught him square in the cockpit, and the mission ended with a clear board and perfect score.
Turn 10 - And that's a clean board!!!

Final Thoughts

This mission went much better than the last one, not only because we weren't screwing up by the numbers, but because we also had our 5th player. I think we all thoroughly enjoyed the game, and we're getting really excited about this campaign rule set.
The Ion Torpedoes were amazingly awesome, and reinforced an age-old axiom: crowd-control wins crowded fights. We're definitely loading up on those, and their effectiveness definitely gives Y-Wings some serious legs in our campaign plans.
B-Wings and HLCs are very effective, mostly because they're equally effective at all 3 range brackets and because the HLC is a secondary weapon, it denies the enemy their bonus defense die at that range as well.

This should be our last game with proxy models! I had a birthday recently, and like a little kid, I spent the giftcards and money I was given on more toys, so I now have a full set of Phantoms, Defenders, Bombers, Lambdas, and all that. Yay! I'm looking forward to our next game, so stay tuned for more updates!