A day long remembered...

Had a fantastic time at the club this week. We played Fantasy Flight's Star Wars: X-Wing Fighter, with generous assistance from member Stephen71, who kindly donated all the ships, tokens &c. needed for a group of 5 to field several ships each. The game's fairly simple to pick up and provides a lot of entertainment for the money. All that, plus pre-painted minis (always a bonus for those under time constraints) and, well, the unbridled joy manoeuvring TIE fighters or X-wings around the board, makes for one very enjoyable evening.

Firemonkeyboy has banged together a fine post concerning the game, its rules and his wing of TIE fighters; so I'll stick to describing some of the fun I had commanding the rest of the Empire's space craft.

I fielded 5 ships: two TIE fighters, nothing special; two TIE Interceptors, extra speedy and shooty; and one TIE Advanced x1, piloted by the Dark Lord of the Sith himself, Vader!

On the prowl for rebel scum...

The way the board was set up, I would be squaring off against a pair of B-wings, which meant that the Rebel pilots would be out numbered 2 to 1. Then again, the B-wings are heavily shielded and carry a serious payload in comparison to TIE fighters.

The B-wings course correct to intercept the Imperials
and lock S-foils in attack position.

I flew Vader off to add a little more fire power to Firemonkeyboy's squadron, he was facing off against two separate waves of Rebel Alliance fighters. One of these ships was piloted by some young upstart from Tatooine, name of Skywalker. So, y'know, pitting Luke against Vader was pretty much a foregone conclusion.

Lord Vader heads off for a family reunion.

Despite the relative simplicity of the game's mechanics, it allows for decent tactical play while making sure that one false move on a player's part won't cost them the match. As my pilots (Vader excluded) would be facing superior firepower but less manoeuvrable ships, I decided to bait the B-wings with my TIEs while flanking them with my TIE Interceptors.

The Interceptors whiz past the B-wings as the Rebels target lock the TIE fighters.

Formations flying is made quite easy by utilizing similar banks & turns with different distances covered by individual flyers. In no time my Interceptors were closing in on the B-wings from behind.

Back door...good idea!

On the other side of the battlefield, Vader and Firemonkeyboy's TIEs made quick work of that hotshot Skywalker, who found himself outnumbered and outgunned. Poor Biggs went down a short while later.

Run, Luke, Run!!!

By the time the B-wings realized that they'd need to change tactics, the TIEs were swarming all over them. With some crafty piloting, my Imperial fly boys were able to keep out of the B-wings' LoF and began taking potshots at the heavily shielded Rebel craft.

TIEs weave in and around the banking B-wings.

After several rounds of firing at the heavily shielded B-wings, the TIEs managed to down one and began to concentrate on the remaining Rebel pilot.

And then there was one.

It seems the Force wasn't with the Alliance on this occasion because the B-wing pilot just couldn't keep the TIEs in his sight, and while he was busy trying to get a lock on them, Vader returned to his wing men and sealed the lone B-wing's fate.

There would be no escape for the prince...er... B-wing this time!

Elsewhere on the board, Firemonkeyboy's TIE's had taken care of the remaining X-wing fighter and an ion cannon sporting Y-wing that joined the fight a little late. And as the Rebel battle plan collapsed, Vader rolled all hits on his damage dice, space-dusting the B-wing and bringing an end to both the game and any lingering doubt as to his continued status as the chosen one.

The Die is strong with this one!

Needless to say, there's a bunch of us looking forward to the next session of Star Wars: X-Wing at the club. And rightly so, where else can you hum refrains from John Williams while sitting across from someone doing the very same thing.