Here is a battle report/review of my
first game of epic. Generally speaking I think that epic is now my
preferred format for X-Wing. It feels much more interesting, both
tactically and thematically The only advantage the competitive
format has is that it takes less time to play. While moving the ships
has been made very quick, thanks to the wing tool, there are a lot
more dice rolls and squadron/card management (not so bad really). In
this report I had to proxy some ship cards (interceptors) and ships
(TIE bomber for a gunboat). The battle report is 500 points a side
straight up fight, no mission. In this battle the Empire have found
a rebel resupply location and jumped-in to intercept them. The C-ROC
is on the side of the rebels. The board was about 4 feet by 5 feet.
The Empire deployed with the intent of jousting the C-ROC. The rebels deployed as a group except the X-Wing squadron on their flank, their primary target was either going to be the decimator or imperial cruiser (the decimator was the most points). Interestingly with the CROC set up along its friendly edge banking one right makes it fish tail off the board (we didn't remove it and let it dangle for a turn).
Turn 1. The rebels move slowly
forward with the Empire sending the interceptors after the X-Wings
and the squadron of gunboats quickly slamming up the other flank.
Turn 2. The interceptors (they
moved before the X-Wings) continued to advance too quickly. At the
end of the movement phase they were stressed and at range three of
the X-Wings, which resulted in three proton torpedoes into their
their leader Soontir, who was saved because of his veteran wing
leader ability. That ability probably saved all of the aces on both
sides, but also revealed a huge opportunities for concussion missiles
(in epic concussion missiles might be better than proton torpedoes).
On the other flank the imperial gunboats slammed though the asteroid
field showing great manoeuvrability. The wing rules allow the
wing-men to effectively fly over obstacles with no effect. Sadly,
they also out-paced their support ships leaving them to face the
first shots from the C-ROC alone. The CROC build allows 4 shots at
range three with only spending one energy and one calculate... seems
very good for the 115 points.
Turn 3. After their initial
joust both the X-Wings and interceptors flew past each other to
engage their intended targets. The X-Wing would be out of range but
the interceptors managed to target the Arc killing it by turn 4. The
rest of the ships smashed away at each other with the imperial
cruiser taking a huge beating, and unable to return much fire, I
messed up with my manoeuvre and was still not close enough for the
point defense battery My intent was to use the title to add free
“eye” results and then convert them to hits with calculates and
focus. This didn't work because once the cruiser started taking
damage its green tokens were routinely stripped away.
Turn 4. Was the heart of the
fur ball with all ships getting into range with each other. The
gunboats had totally missed their approach on the CROC and that
cruiser only took minimal damage. The same could not be said for the
imperial cruiser who was badly damaged by the collective bombardment
of the rebels, notably the remaining proton torpedoes on the X-Wings.
Turn 5. Interestingly the
fur-ball thinned out pretty quick and did not become a parking lot.
One interceptor was run over by the CROC but wasn't destroyed and the
Imperial Cruiser was finished off before it had a chance to fire that
turn.
Turn 6. was played but not much
happened and the Imperials conceded to the rebels. I didn't have a
watch but the game took probably two hours once set up was complete.
Conclusion. I think the Imperial plan
was executed poorly. Both of its wings that it was going to flank
with missed their lines or misjudged their ranges. Played again I
think it could easily have gone the other way. Veteran wing leader
is the upgrade with the best value for cost. But the most fun part
about epic is commanding the huge ships. The huge ships play very
differently from little fighters, as you would expect. Managing
their systems seems thematically correct and adds a whole new layer
to the game. However, it does seem the most powerful element is the
wing. I suspect multiple 3 ship wings led by aces with veteran
leader and swarm tactics will prove to be the optimal build.
