“We’re a squadron belonging to a mechanized regiment with hardly anything mechanized, heck we’ve barely have one functional AT-ST! How are we meant to do our job without our AT-ATs?!

The success of this mission will be crucial in showing Lord Vader how important we are to The Empire and perhaps he will get us the vehicles we sorely need to do our jobs.”

– Veteran Captain Ken

In this battle report write up I’m up against Shaun’s Rebels on a urban desert battlefield! We’re both pretty keen to test out our lists and try new things!

Alpha Squadron

Commander – Darth Vader

Force Reflexes

Force Push

Saber Throw

Corps – Stormtroopers (1 Troop)

DLT-19 Stormtrooper

Impact grenades

Corps – Stormtroopers (2 Troop)

DLT-19 Stormtrooper

Concussion grenades

Corps – Stormtroopers (3 Troop)

DLT-19 Stormtrooper

Concussion grenades

Corps – Stormtroopers (4 Troop)

Corps – Stormtroopers (5 Troop)

Corps – Stormtroopers (6 Troop)

Sith Apprentice (Stand in for regular stormtrooper leader)

Heavy – AT-ST (Axel)

DW-3 Concussion Grenade Launcher

Points total: 796



Alpha Squadron, form up!

So because i suck at using speeder bikes and love the looks of the AT-ST, i built a list around optimizing objective flexibility through maxing out my corps units whilst fielding an AT-ST. My plan was to have my three naked Stormtrooper squads (4-6 Troop) hold objectives whilst my DLT-19 Grenadiers assault key positions. Vader and the AT-ST would try to provide as much distraction as possible away from my Stormtroopers whilst simultaneously dealing with any armored units we might encounter.

1st Alliance Combat Engineers

Commander – Luke Skywalker

Jedi Mind Trick

Battle Meditation

Corps – Rebel Troopers (Science Team)

Rebel Trooper

MPL-57 Ion Trooper

Impact Grenades

Corps – Rebel Troopers (Engineering Team)

Rebel Trooper

Z6 Trooper

Targeting scopes

Corps – Rebel Troopers (Assault Pioneers)

Rebel Trooper

Z6 Trooper

Grappling hooks

AT-RT

AT-RT Rotary blaster

AT-RT

AT-RT Rotary blaster

T-47 Airspeeder (The Tumbler)

Wedge Antilles

Ground Buzzer

Points total: 790



What kind of engineering corps has air support and mechanized infantry?!

Shaun’s list was built around pure enemy disruption. The points bid was designed to be able to be the Blue Player. Shaun’s plan was to be an absolute troll with the power of Blue Player, that is to get first to eliminate the best setup cards for me and leaving the most disruptive. From there, Shaun’s plan was to send in the The Tumbler flying across the river dragging a portable bridge on tow cables so…wait, i mean he said that his troopers were tanky enough to hold objectives whilst Luke, The Tumbler and the AT-RTs go in and disrupt the opponent as much as possible.

The Battlefield

We agreed that troopers on top of the building and tower were given Heavy Cover, trooper leaders in base contact with the stairs or ladders can clamber without rolling for damage. The river was difficult terrain, rock formations provided Heavy Cover and were impassable except for repulsor vehicles, hills were light cover unless you were behind the sandbags or concrete walls.

The Setup

So this was the setup draw, Shaun eliminated Clear conditions first, because of course he did. I deleted Key Positions figuring that it gave him a massive advantage with the deployments available and the terrain heavy environment we were playing on. Shaun got rid of Major Offensive next. This left me with Disarray for deployment. I figured this would be extremely poor for me without Long Range Comms or Battle Meditation, one of which Shaun had. So thats what i got rid of.

In the end we were going to be playing:

Intercept the transmissions – Hostile Environment – Long March

Deployment

Being Blue Player, Shaun chose the riverside board edge for deployment. His explanation was that he wanted a clear run towards the centre objective and that there were more positions to flank from. Fair enough. He placed the AT-RTs on each flank with The Tumbler charging up the middle, jumping across a river might i add…

As for my deployment, i strategically placed my naked stormtroopers out first to stall, i needed to know where the airspeeder was going to be so i could place the 1 Troop who had impact grenades in a position to put on the hurt! 2 and 3 Troops armed with DLT-19s and concussion grenades were going to dash to the next buildings to cover the centre objective. I had Vader deploy right in the centre of the formation so that his command range of 3 could reach the edges. Once the airspeeder was on the board, i placed 1 Troop next to Vader and the Axel up the top with the full intent of making a beeline towards the Rebel infantry lines, grenades primed!

Interestingly because i deployed my stormtroopers stacking up behind the buildings, the Rebels couldn’t actually see much from their point of view!



“We can do it boys!” – Rebel Science Team

Turn 1

1st ACE: Standing Orders (T-47 Airspeeder) *Won Priority*

Alpha Squadron: Standing Orders (AT-ST)

Shaun pretty much advanced his infantry line forward to claim the objective whilst hugging the available terrain. The troopers on the northern flank took a dodge token in preparation of some AT-ST fire.

Wary, of the pain AT-RT Rotary Blasters can do to troopers in the open, i held back on moving up 3 Troop and 4 Troop on the southern flank and got them to wait it out behind the building. 1, 2 and 6 Troop dashed towards the centre most building with Vader and stacked up. The Tumbler hadn’t gone yet and i needed it to commit to the centre towards the impact grenades and Vader, so i clambered 5 Troop up on the building closest to my objective hoping to bait in the The Tumbler for a free shot.



“C’mon i want you to hit me, c’mon hit me, hit me, hit me!”

Shaun took the bait, sort of? He committed The Tumbler up the centre but on it’s last action took a dodge token. I imagined it was barrel rolling after getting “Get out of there Wedge! It’s a trap!” over the cockpit comms.

My last activiation unsurprisingly was Axel, with full intent of charging the Rebel lines, i discovered something amazing after moving full forward with my first action.



“Gunner, change of plans! New target!” – Axel Commander

The Tumbler was in DW-3 Concussion Grenade Launcher range! It’s immune blast but if i can soften it up then why not?! Axel unleashed both its primary and secondary weapons on the The Tumbler scoring a natural critical and 4 hits, dodge and cover 1 reduced it to 2 hits which were changed to criticals due to Impact 3. Shaun failed all 3 saves which put 3 damage on The Tumbler.

A great start for Alpha Squadron! But can we keep up the momentum? This was the board state at the end of the turn.

Turn 2

1st ACE: The Force is my ally (Science Team, Luke Skywalker)

Alpha Squadron: Assault (Vader, Axel, 1 Troop)

I’m not sure why, but Shaun opted not to give the The Tumbler orders, instead chose to The Force is my ally to giving his troopers staying power against Axel and lure me into shooting Luke so he could deflect shots back. With priority, he drew from the stack hoping to get The Tumbler, but alas he drew a support and activated the southern AT-RT which moved up and took shots at 5 Troop. 5 Troop took cover and made all their saves, losing no bodies but were now suppressed.

Surprising to no one, I activated Axel first, aimed and fired on the Tumbler with all weapons scoring 4 criticals after rerolls and Impact modifications. Wedge must have pulled off some ace stunts because he rolled 3 saves!

I took a harder look at the situation and something horrific dawned upon me. Initally i had planned to ambush The Tumbler once it moved into the plaza with 1 Troop and Vader.



“Get ready 1 Troop!” – Darth Vader

A fantastic plan on paper, but if The Tumbler activated first, Shaun could compulsory move in, pivot and blast up 1 Troop from the front and use the ground buzzer on 5 Troop. So here I was, hoping by The Force that Shaun would not draw a Heavy token from his command bag.

Instead, Shaun took the opportunity activate the Science Team, move forward and attack Axel hoping to score some damage and an ion token. He rolled an amazing 7 hits, but with only Impact 1 could only force 1 save for Axel. I failed the save, taking 1 damage and an ion token. This was seriously annoying because on the next activation Axel would have one less action!

This was it! Time to take a risk before The Tumbler activates! 1 Troop activated next and moved as close as it could towards The Tumbler. Thank the force because they managed to get within Range 1!



“1 Troop, Impact Grenades, go!” – 1 Troop leader

1 Troop opened up with the DLT-19 and 4 Impact Grenades for a total of 5 hits! Obscured and Cover 1 negated 2 of the hits, but having a total of Impact 4, the rest were turned to crits forcing 3 saves. Shaun failed on all saves, which was just enough to bring The Tumbler down.

I imagined Wedge pulling hard on the eject handle as he watched a grenade get sucked into one of the airspeeder’s intakes. If The Tumbler didn’t come in black before, it definitely was now being a burning wreck and all.



“CLEAR!” – 1 Troop

In the next activation, Shaun moved up Luke close towards the centre trying to bait shots. In response I got 3 and 4 Troops into the barricade closest to my objective and put shots on the southern AT-RT doing 1 damage after saves. Shaun moved up the Assault Pioneers to the next building, ready for them to use their Grappling Hooks to clamber up the building. 5 Troop wasn’t able to rally and used its one action to return fire on the southern AT-RT scoring 1 lucky critical which Shaun failed to save. Vader moved into the plaza throwing his light saber at the AT-RT as well scoring 3 damage, giving the AT-RT a damaged status token.

This was the board state at the end of Turn 2.

This scored me 2 Victory Tokens whilst Shaun got 1 Victory Token.

Turn 3

1st ACE: Push (Southern AT-RT, Assault Pioneers) [1 VP]

Alpha Squadron: Master of Evil (Vader, 1 Troop, Axel) [2 VP]

Once again Shaun had priority and wanted to get some use out of his southern AT-RT before its inevitable downfall. He activated it and managed to roll a shield of the damage roll so he had both it’s actions available, which he promptly used to aim and shoot at 1 Troop scoring only an abysmal 2 hits! Sadly, 1 Troop still took a casualty and a suppression token.

Axel activated next before it got ion’d again. With its one action it opened up on the Science Team scoring 3 hits of which 2 were saved.

The Assault Pioneers used their grappling hooks to climb up the building and opened fire on 3 Troop. Now when Z6’s roll hot, they roll bloody hot! The entire unit rolled 6 criticals! I could only save the leader and the DLT-19 trooper whilst they got suppressed.

I activated 1 Troop next, still high from their previous success, they rallied and used their two actions to perform a fighting withdrawal. They put down return fire on the southern AT-RT which finished it off and withdrew back behind the building. I did this to keep them out of Luke’s charge/blaster range that i thought was coming!

Shaun activated the Science Team next who failed the rally step. Surprisingly Shaun decided to recover with their 1 action, clearing the suppression and untapping the Ion Trooper.

6 Troop went next to stack up behind 1 Troop who were hugging the building, i had a feeling that northern AT-RT was going to try move and get shots onto them. My prediction was right, because despite my efforts, Shaun managed to move the AT-RT in such a way to get LOS onto 1 Troop and fired the rotary blaster killing a trooper.

2 Troop clambered up the building and fired for effect on the Science Team to at least put another suppression token on them. Which is exactly what happened, just that. Luke danced under the watch tower and dodged.

I activated Vader next, i was hoping to have Luke move into range at this point so i could put 3 suppression on him along with the Assault Pioneers but it wasnt to be. So only the Assault Pioneers took 3 suppression, and another one after Vader threw his lightsaber at them, killing one. 3, 4 and 5 Troops fired for effect on the Assault Pioneers achieving nothing but suppressing them further.

The rest of our forces moved forward to secure fighting positions for the next turn. Here’s the board state at the end of Turn 3.

Turn 4

1st ACE: Ambush (AT-RT) [1 VP]

Alpha Squadron: Push (Vader, Axel) [2 VP]

Shaun did aim & shoot with the AT-RT and got shots on 2 Troop on top of the building. Despite the Heavy Cover they lost a man and took a suppression token. In retaliation 2 Troop managed to rally and aimed & shot at the Engineering Team out in the open before they could fire their god damn Z6. They scored 5 hits after rerolls and Shaun rolled zero saves!



Engineering Failure

The Assault Pioneers activated next and managed to rally 2/5 suppression tokens off and were still in Range 3 of Luke. They poured fire into what was left of 3 Troop and polished them off. It was then i realised they had Concussion Grenades which i could’ve used previously instead of a staying in firefight. Karabast!

Axel unloaded on the AT-RT leaving it on 1 after saves. The Science Team attacked Axel hoping to put another Ion token on it, they managed to get 1 critical after modifications but the shot merely scratched the paint work as Axel made the save (phew!).

1 Troop broke from cover and split fire on the AT-RT and the Science Team, finishing off the AT-RT. 6 Troop followed suit and put suppressing fire on the Science Team also, dwindling them down to a 2 man team. 4 and 5 Troops continued the suppressing fire on the Assault Pioneers, picking off another member of the team.

The last of the Engineering Team fell back to claim objective closest to Shaun and Luke made his way to the northern flank. I moved in Vader to capture the middle objective and got a saber throw onto Luke doing 1 dmg to him.

Here’s the board state at the end of Turn 4.

Turn 5

1st ACE: Son of Skywalker (Luke Skywalker) [2 VP]

Alpha Squadron: Standing Orders (Axel) [4 VP]

Now, I know what you are thinking, why on Earth did i do standing orders? Simply because I’ve only got New Ways to Motivate and Implacable left in my hand, and lets face it we all knew Shaun was going to get initiative and pull Son of Skywalker to get first hit. The question was, who/what was Luke going to target?

1 Troop, he chose to move and charge 1 Troop and double attack them. Needless to say the entire troop got carved up. I imagined Luke seeking revenge for downfall of his wing man Wedge Antilles going down in The Tumbler at the hands of 1 Troop.

2 Troop went next and finished off the rest of the Science Team before they could pull off any more ion trooper tricks. Shaun activated the sole survivor of the Engineering Team who took a cheeky shot at Vader, who although unphased, failed the save and took the wound. ugh.

I drew another corps token from the stack and activated 6 Troop to move into melee with Luke. I deduced i had better chances to hit than standing and shooting him!



“He’s done, get him!”

The Sith Apprentice and his bodyguards managed to get 4 hits on! But Shaun rolled all shields on the saves. God damn it!

Interestingly, because Luke had moved so far away, when the Assault Pioneers activated they were panicked and couldnt remove enough suppression on their rally. Forcing them to rappel off the building on their grappling hooks.



“No transmissions are worth this!”

I finally drew Vader from the stack, got him to move up and use Force Push (pull) to pull Luke out of combat and into range of Vader and Axel.



“I have you now!” – Darth Vader

I decided to end the shenanigans and just go ahead and move/relentless/attack into Luke doing a whopping 5, from which Shaun rolled 5 saves. Seriously.

The rest was all me so, i commited Axel to the fight. Attempting to step on Luke, it scored 3 hits, 2 of which were saved. Jees what does it take to bring him down?!

Here’s the board state at the end of turn 5.

Turn 6

1st ACE: Return of the Jedi (Luke, Assault Pioneers, Engineering Team) [2 VP]

Alpha Squadron: Implacable (Vader) [4 VP]

Well, its about damn time that i got priority! Naturally Vader activated gaining a dodge token from Force Reflexes and with two actions used aim & attack on Luke, scoring a massive 6 hits! Luke responded in kind by rolling 6 saves…WHY?! WHY CANT YOU JUST DIE!?

Vader took a wound for Implacable to get his token back in the stack. Shaun activates Luke of course and attacks Vader back for 4 hits, only 2 of which i managed to save. Karabast, how do i come out of that combat worse off?!

2 Troop went next and sniped the last of the Engineering Team, preventing Shaun from intercepting any transmissions this turn (double VPs too!). 6 Troop piled into the melee once again and scored 3 hits on Luke. Shaun manages to continue his god tier rolling and made 2 saves, leaving Luke on 4 HP left.

Axel activated with a aim & attack on Luke, dealing 4 hits, which Shaun fails on 3 of them. FINALLY.



“WILL YOU JUST DIE ALREADY?!”

The Assault Pioneers fail to rally and run towards to board edge, the rest of the troopers move up to claim the middle objective and then finally, i draw Vader from the stack. He attacks Luke for 6 hits again! Woo!

Shaun rolls his dice, all 6 dice have markings on them….but one is a surge! YES! That 1 damage was just enough to take him down, finally!

End of game

1st ACE: 2 Victory Points

Alpha Squadron: 8 Victory Points *Winner*

Conclusion

I feel a lot of things went right for me purely because I essentially chose an objective and deployment that favored me more than it did for Shaun. Also had i’d been on the riverside rather than the urban side i believe things would have been a lot more different!

Also i’m not sure if Shaun got the most out of his Rebel Troopers, i know his plan was to send inthe AT-RTs and the T47 in to disrupt my force maneuvers, but instead it gave me targets to focus on.

I really hope Luke isn’t going to be this hard to take down every game, because damn…

It’s still early days for Alpha Squadron, so let’s see how the next one goes!

Veteran Captain Ken