My friend Jeff managed to win the ISD in our local Massing at Sullust event that I had to sit out, and also took to eBay to grab an MC80. I paid the gold price for one of each also, and we decided to combine forces to make for an epic double ISD on double MC80 match. Neither one of us knew what the other would play, other than the two beasties. Jeff showed up, and we threw down!
He chose to go second, and use my "Advanced Gunnery" objective. Quick observation: That objective is not very smart in the face of MC80s, and even less smart since I already had Gunnery Teams! Sure, I could double shot out of my objective ship, but I will say this- my dice were ugly. Maybe I should've tried Vader!
Without further ado, the lists:
You guys probably know, that I straddle the fence on the effectiveness of fighters, but dammit it just isn't Star Wars without an ISD spilling fighters forth. Of course, I am lacking the iconic TIE and Jeff is lacking the iconic X-Wing, but we'll take what we can get!
TURN ONE
Because I had slightly more fighters than Jeff, and got to deploy second, I think I was able to deploy pretty well. Ideally, I want to cut off those MC80s AND stay out of their side.
*Just imagine the Imperial March right now. Go on, do it. DUN DUN DUN Du Duh Duuuhhh Du Duh Duuuuhhhh*
TURN TWO
Everything is proceeding exactly as I have foreseen.
Except for those B-Wings going there, where I am gonna run them over and break apart my fighter cover...
TURN THREE
Well, we're in it to win it now! PEW PEW PEW. Jeff's veterancy with fighters shows. Tycho jumps in to TIE up my Rhymer ball, and I run into the throng, accidentally splitting up my own fighter screen to let his B-Wings do what they will to me.
But at least I get a lot of dice...
Oh. That was pretty par for the course, to be honest. Wish I had Vader!
TURNS FOUR AND FIVE
Quite a lot of dice are flung in turn four. It's quite an epic turn. Both of our objective ships go down. My objective ship was not my flagship, but Jeff's was. The loss of Ackbar hurts, but my remaining Flagship ISD is hurting pretty bad. My strategy of cutting off his MC80s mostly works, but I still give up more broadsides than I'd like. The big base of the ISD is tough to stay in just a small front arc!
Fighters zip by, and eventually my fighters take the upper hand. His MC80 remains mostly untouched while my ISD is in pretty bad shape.
With some slightly luckier dice on Jeff's part, my ISD could've gone down, but instead the two bohemoths pass by each other. I think I ended with 9 damage on Motti's Flagship. His MC80 had no more than a few hull damage (if any? I don't remember) but his shields were holding out.
Still, in the end I scored more fleet points on his ship that went down (Losing Ackbar hurt!), and my fighters came out on top. No idea what the actual score was here, but the MOV was something like 96 from memory. 8-2 maybe?
It was a super fun, brutal game that really showcased the capabilities of these big ships! Can't wait to get them on the board more!
