Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Taking Vader and an ISD out for a stroll.

Life has been busy since the Massing at Sullust tournaments, but Monday afternoon I finally had the chance to take my ISD out for a spin.  My buddy Chad stopped by for a game and we opted to go for a 400 point match to try out the new Wave 2 models.  I typically play rebels and he usually runs with Imperials, but in this case we swapped sides to try out the new ships.
 I was eager to give the ISD a try having played both of my Sullust finals with Rebels.  I also hadn't used tractor beams yet and wanted to give them a try as well.  My fleet consisted of:
ISD II
  • Vader
  • NK-7 Ion Cannons
  • ECM
  • Tractor Beams
  • Needa
  • Gunnery Team
VSD II
  • Tractor Beams
Gladiator I
8 TIE Fighters


The Rebels had:

MC-80 Command
  • Ackbar
  • Home One
  • ECM
  • Leading Shots
Assault Frigate MK IIb
  • Gunnery Team
MC-30
  • Gunnery Team
  • Turbolaser Reroute Circuits
3x A-Wings
3x Y-Wings
X-Wing

He setup his ships in a staggered line heading towards my left.  I stacked up my sips and tried to maneuver to cut him off with the ISD.  I left the VSD behind the ISD to catch anything that tried to sneak passed and left the GSD as a trailer to mop up any survivors.


He extended along the board edge with the MC-80, so that I ended up crashing into his line with the ISD.  This worked out fine as it was in the front arc of the MC-30 and MKIIb.
 

My son, Desmond was on hand to roll dice for us.


In the end, the ISD and VSD were able to crush the the lighter Rebel ships, while the MC-80 ended up out of position and only got off long range shots.

He had some funny rolling with his squadrons.  The A-wings pretty much whiffed entirely, while the Y-wings never missed and just murdered the TIEs.

Some quick thoughts:
  • Tractor Beams are good, but I was left with a few instances where I could use them, but couldn't see an obvious benefit.  I think they will actually be at their best with squadrons.  They are a great way to slow down fast moving ships that the squadrons can then swarm.
  • Vader is awesome.  Those re-rolls really won me this game.  It kept my damage output consistently high and allowed me to overwhelm his defenses,
  • ECM really is a must on the big ships.
  • The blob of 8 TIE Fighters was pretty effective.  I used the VSD to give them squadron commands and it definitely paid off.  Not overwhelming, but a good value for the points investment. 
  • The GSD was in a good position to clean up any stragglers, but the ISD and VSD had killed everything.  Not a bad problem to have.

4 comments:

  1. Interesting formation.... and scaring, as a mainly rebel player myself such apparent easiness at breaking the line gives me shivers

    BTW unpainted squadrons....you have no hearth..

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    Replies
    1. I have a 1-year-old. It's hard to find time to paint squadrons, even though I would like to.

      As a primarily Rebel player, I too thought it was pretty crazy how easily the ISD could wedge itself into the Rebel line.

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  2. How much damage did the ISD take? Was it close to destruction after Home One had given it a battering?

    I also find it quite interesting that the number of ships doesn't seem to increase at 400pts, just the firepower! With all the upgrades to make the ISD or MC80 sing, they are at least 140+admiral.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The ISD had taken some damage cards, including a pair of crits, but I had planned ahead and was pretty much only using Engineering commands. which prevented the worst of it.

      I think that fleet sizes will grow some at 400 eventually. Right now, everyone that has them just wants to play with all the new toys.

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