McLennium Falcon

A pleasant drive to the club for a change, it was still light when we got there and it had been a lovely day although I spend Tuesdays at my post in the Post Office. It was an X-Wing game and I decided to try Rebels rather than my usual Imperials, I spent the morning in between the odd customer finishing off a major part of a map project, then I lazily decided to leave choosing my list until late afternoon. I tidied up some figures for Bolt Action and then at four fired up the Squad Builder, from then on until 1715 hrs I had to serve the public, one, a neighbour, asked  me why I always looked so miserable, because I should be sorting out a Rebel list for the club mate and should have done it sooner.

Enemy ahead.

I fell back on some lists I had in my saved folder, a B-Wing and Y-Wing with named pilots and a Smuggler on the Falcon. I arrived at the club expecting a four way game and it ended up a six player game, both the Rebels and Imperials had a Scum faction each. There was a hyperdrive beacon in the sector which made jumping quicker and more painless for pilots and each side wanted to control it, hence the dogfight.

The plan looks good.

Then doesn't.

I had Scum opposite me with a Hounds Tooth and two Y-Wings, we decided that our Scum (Stuart) and I would wipe them out then turn onto the beacon while Paul at the opposite end would attempt to slow up the rest of the enemy. I started too cautiously as the enemy turned away which left me with no shots for a couple of moves, meanwhile Stuart was having a hard time controlling his flight and his Firespray always seemed to find a Z95 in front of it, bump, bump. Meanwhile Paul and Andy at the far end were trading laser beams.

Hounds Tooth about to escape, while Firespray sails on.

Andy and Paul dogfight.

The action eventually started for us and the Firespray opened up, this was to be its first and last shot of the game as it sailed through the melee of starships and failed miserably to get someone in its firing arcs, yes it had two! I on the other hand did well and brought the Hounds Tooth down to two hit points but it managed at the last moment to flee and survive. I lost it a bit after that as I had to clear some asteroids and the Falcon went up in smoke as it became the primary target for most of the enemy fleet in the area. On the card it is trumpeted as a durable and manoeuvrable ship but it only has one defence die, which is of no use at all when being blasted from all sides.

The victorious Imperials.

The enemy at the end had a Tie Defender with a pilot skill of 8 within range of the beacon, they were set for a win unless we could shoot it down. Paul had the best chance with two A-Wings on its tail, but he misjudged and flew past it on the final run, no shot.

So, a big dogfight which was a lot of fun, I didn't give the beacon much thought and merely tried to quickly overwhelm my opposite number, a job I failed at while Stuart bore the brunt of the enemy and paid the price, however not shooting with the Firespray was not part of our plan.