Hi all,
I'm going to try and give a sense of the wonderful time we had during one of the side events last Sunday at the UK Nationals.
It went like this:
34 players on 16 mats with Rebels fighting the Empire; ending with a free for all once the rebels only had a couple of ships left.
It went on for more than 7 hours, up until only 4 ships were left standing (defenders and Jake). The winner was then decided by dice roll.
(And here I won my first and only side event of the day!! With 5 kills and not one shield off 
:))
:))
It probably was a bit too long and it's a shame quite a few players had to drop before the end (Argh Omega Leader: why did you have to go?!)
But it was GREAT!! Really awesome game! I think everyone truly enjoyed it: there was loads of fun, of banter, of fantastic flying and teamplay!
A special mention of Matt flying Palp: it was terribly fun! I don't think Palp has ever been more cheered and booed than during this game.
Matt kept walking along the Imperial side of the tables, checking who was in dire need of some help: it was glorious
A very big thanks to Alex from Esdevium Games for pulling this one off and offer us such a blast!!
I'm going to try and tell the story of those 34 ships, fighting together...
(By the way, I'm French, so please expect some spelling mistakes or incomprehensible sentences )
)
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This is the battle that will determine it all. This is where the Empire can successfully restore order in the galaxy and save it from the rebels’ attacks.
And it’s down to a few small ships to tip the balance one way of the other: all the big guns are gone. The Empire mighty force: Star Destroyers, Super Star Destroyers, Imperial assault carrier, all destroyed. But they took off the core of the Rebel forces: there’s no corvette or frigate that hasn’t been reduced to a pile of debris.
And here we are, a few squads to decide the way the known universe will go.
But the morale is still high: the Emperor has managed to escape his Super Star Destroyer in a Lambda-Class shuttle and his guiding the Imperial forces in our last attempt to crush the Rebels forces once and for all.
Delta Squadron Pilot 8717 is part of the group escorting the Emperor shuttle. He is probably one of the less experienced pilots, but he’s confident in his skills and his ship. His grey defender is one of the brand new ones, with upgraded manoeuvrability which, in the right hands, can make it very hard to hit. He is flying in formation with another defender, its ship painted in blood red to show his worth in past combats. The final piece of escort is no-one else than Juno Eclipse, in her Tie-Advanced.
Somewhere above his left wing, DS8717 can barely discern two other defenders engaging two X-wings. Shots are fired but it’s difficult to make anything of it from this distance.
Even further, his radar is showing dots of numerous ships engaged in a furball. Omega Leader, two interceptors, a Defender and one Tie Adv Prototype are exchanging fire with 4 A-Wings and 2 X-Wings, and from the few radio messages DS8717, it seems the battle there is getting quickly very explosive.
Imps and Rebels are getting ready to fight on this side of the system
On the other side, again too far to see, other squads are engaged in dire combat. DS8717 can’t make sense of everything he is seeing on his screen but it looks like an A-wing and an attack shuttle are cornered by two defenders and a Tie-Advanced.
But DS8717 doesn’t have time to trace down other’s battles; his attention is fully on the two A-wings going straight for the shuttle. He and his wingman thought the A-wings were directly engaging them, but this was just a feint to get a shot at the Emperor. And now, Juno is the only one in range to protect the shuttle while DS8717 is coming back full speed.
DS8717 still manages to keep an eye on the nearest furball where a Tie-Advanced (is it really Darth Vader there??) and a Defender are cornered by an A-wing, a Y-wing and a X-wing. The a-wing there looks like he may join the group attacking the shuttle if he can disengage.
Juno is going straight for the A-wings, protecting the shuttle while DS8717 and his wingman are trying to rejoin.
Shots are fired all around. Still above his left wing, space is illuminated by a deluge of laser fire that the two X-wings are pouring on the two defenders. But they juke and evade fire. At some point, one defender seems doomed, but DS8717 can sense some sort of energy going from the shuttle and reaching the defender in time to save him miraculously. The Emperor is directly using the Force to support his troops. Even more than saving this defender, this gives a great boost to the imps morale, probably also strengthening the resolve of the Rebels to get rid of Him. The return fire is more effective, and one dot on DS8717’s radar disappear as an explosion is clearly visible on the left of his cockpit: one X-Wing down.
Lone X-wing after his wingman has been shot to pieces by two defenders
Further on, a defender and Tie advanced are facing four rebel ships... But the attack shuttle is getting quickly back to focus on the Emperor
DS8717 couldn’t really keep track of the other parts of the battle, but it seemed like the Imperial forces were having the upper hand in most of the skirmishes.
More important for DS8717, he was about to engage the two a-wings harassing the shuttle.
He was aiming at the closest one, but knew it was going to be a long shot: the a-wing was too nimble and too far: DS8717’s chances of doing it any substantial damage were too thin for comfort, even with his targeting computer tracing the enemy ship.
But just as he was going to press the trigger, he saw the a-wing shift laterally towards an asteroid. This was a very strange move for the rebel pilot to perform and, more importantly, something that the small aircraft shouldn’t have been able to pull off!
And then, DS8717 understood: the a-wing was being tractor beamed right in front of him, into an asteroid field. Between the tractor beam of the shuttle and the asteroids, the rebel pilot manoeuvrability was greatly impaired and, when DS8717 finally activated his lasers, there was nothing that could prevent his fire to make a direct hit on the rebel ship.
The explosion blinded him shortly, but DS8717 was smiling. With the help of the shuttle’s pilot, he just had reduced the threat against the Emperor. It was his first kill today, but the battle was still going on!
One A-wing is going to go on a asteroid to get killed by the grey PS1 Tie-Defender
Just as DS8717 was thinking this, he felt again the Force being used and an interceptor barely escaping hits thanks to the renewed help of the Emperor.
Closest to home, DS8717 and Juno had taken too much time to get rid of the second A-wing: another a-wing saw them entangled and went straight after the shuttle. And in a bad tactical decision, the other defenders had left to help Vader deal with another a-wing and a y-wing.
The Emperor was in dire danger! As soon as DS8717 and Juno had dispatched the last a-wing from the first wave, they got back full speed on the trail of the shuttle. But the a-wing was in full speed and they weren’t able to reach the shuttle before the a-wing had put some damage on the shuttle. At last, they managed to cover the distance and engage the rebel pilot.
But their combined fire did nothing at first to damage the ship which was still fully committed on destroying the shuttle. At some point, DS8717 was sure the shuttle was going to go down. The a-wing was priming his torpedoes and seemed in distance of an inevitable shot. But it didn't fire, probably just short of the required distance; and DS8717’s squad managed to kill the a-wing before the torpedoes were shot! Still, the shuttle was already badly damaged, limping with no shields, and with heavy damages on the hull that DS8717 could directly see from his cockpit.
And, as soon as this threat was dealt with and the a-wing was destroyed, DS8717 could see another one fleeing from the battle on his left straight to the shuttle and an attack shuttle was doing the same thing from the right, firing madly its twin laser turrets to any ships on its path.
The Emperor is fleeing... towards an a-wing. The escort is going to try and get rid of the shuttle
DS8717 could only watch as Juno pulled stunning manoeuvres, one after the other in desperate attempts to protect the Emperor. But, in the end, the ace’s skill and DS8717 own firepower were not enough to take out the attack shuttle before it was too late. With a sinking sense of defeat DS8717 saw the shuttle disintegrate just in front of his eyes. The Emperor was no more!
The death of the Emperor made such an impact on the Force that it was deeply felt by everyone in the system. Time seemed to stop for a moment. There was a second or two of intense bewilderment and the pilots were submerged by the ripple of this explosion from the Force.
And then, brutally, this instant of calm and quiet stopped… and the imperial pilots went wild. The rage that held them together as one was like nothing they had felt before. DS8717 wasn’t concerned anymore by the tide of the battle or any other tactic or strategic aspect of the combat. It was now done to killing the most possible of those filthy rebels who had killed their Emperor. Revenge was all and everything. It was a blood bath. Rebels were probably still cheering their victory and Palpatine’s death while their ships were destroyed, annihilated by a torrent of laser fire that symbolised the remnant of the Empire’s wrath.
Quickly, there were only two or three a-wings left.
The universe is shrinking!
The game is called "chasing the last a-wings"... But it's a difficult one!
The victory was at hand. Even the death of the Emperor should not have robbed them of the delight of victory.
But it did! And more troubling than that, once they had had some time to assimilate the shock, Palpatine’s death left nothing but emptiness in the imperial pilots. Any sense of purpose or of duty was destroyed by the hole felt through the Force.
DS8717 couldn’t have said which ship started, but it became quickly evident: the imperial were turning against each other! Their despair was such that they had become feral beasts, with only one purpose: to kill, any and everything. Nothing in the universe was good or noble enough to survive their Emperor!
And DS8717 was no exception. He had a moment of hesitation just before squeezing the trigger when Juno passed straight into his sight. She had just saved his life several times since the beginning of the battle and had been the best at protecting their dear Emperor.
He felt his soul tore down when his lasers brought her ship down, in a vivid explosion. But really, there was nothing he could do.
And it went like this for what seemed like ages; pilots shooting at their former comrades and sometime friends. Tie advanced and defenders exploding into flames, one after the other. The frenzy that took them could only stop with death for each of them.
Last man standing, DS8717 had a brief moment of bewilderment. Alone, he had nothing else to kill. No purpose, no mission, no reason at all to go on. It was easy to see how to rig his computer into believing it was going to hyperspace and, instead, provoking an explosion that would liberate him, at last.
The grey Tie Defender briefly shone like a small sun, alone in space, before the darkness covered it all.
Last round of shooting: DS8717 is going to kill one of the red defenders, leaving only four ships remaining