X-Wing Battle Report: Devasatator and Echo vs Rebel Scum

Hey folks!

Last night I got to play Xwing with my buddy Smurf.  I played a new Imperial list with a Devastator and Phantom vs his rebel list with the Falcon, a headhunter and E-wing.

My list:
Devastator- Rear Adiral Chiraneau
Engine Upgrade
Mara Jade
Isard
Rebel Captive

Phantom- Echo
Veteran Instincts
Advanced Cloaking
Intelligence Agent
Sensor Jammer

I forget exactly what Jim used, he does go over it in the video though.

Head Hunter
E-Wing with Coran Horn
Freighter with Fring Smuggler

I am still fairly new to X-wing. This was my first game with the Devastator and I had no clue what to do with it. So I reverted to what I know best... ramming my stuff down my opponent's throat.

Jim started out by dancing around with his ships, and I charged mine directly forward as far as they could go, and I boosted my Dev and cloaked Echo. I immediately regretted this though, because the Dev was right in the firing arc of all three of Jim's ships.

My tactic was to take out Horn first. So falling back on my standard 40k philosophy, I focus fired on him, continuing to shoot at him even though there may have been better shots.  I ignored his freighter and the head hunter. Horn was the threat with his burst fire ability.

In his first round of shooting, my Dev lost all the shields and suffered two crits and two hull points.  Yikes!  I dealt some shield damage to Horn.  Jim was feeling pretty good and I was thinking I was in trouble. But then we realized just how many hull points 12 is...  After that round, Isard kicked in and started giving me the free evade, eliminating one of his hits.  Then the Dev, in its hugeness, was smacked up against one of Jim's ships, eliminating that from shooting it.  Horn made his pass and fired twice, stopping it from shooting the second round.

So in the second round, the only real shots delivered were by me.  I kept Echo cloaked and passed him through the combat, and fired on Horn again with the Dev, dealing minimal damage while dishing out Stress to all of Jim's ships.

Third round, I did a K turn flip with Echo and dropped his shields.  The Dev is pretty hard to turn so I did my best, especially with the damage it had sustained. At this point it had suffered 2 crits and like 5 hull points.

My phantom released a volley at Horn from far range, delivering two hits and two crits... Horn would not survive.  This essentially sealed the game.  Even if we played it out, with Jim only getting a total of 4 shots a round at survivable ships, he would not out last me. I would shoot down the Head Hunter next, then maybe lose my Dev to his freighter, then dance around with Echo and whittle down the freighter.

We realized that we had hit the 75 minute mark which is tournament standard I believe. So we called it with me getting the win.

The telling tale in this game was the synergy of my list.

A. Devastators are beef.  With 12 hull points, 4 shields, plus Isard evading a few more damage, it takes a LOT of shots to take one down.

B. The Phantom is a great compliment to the Dev because it's evade encourages people to shoot the Dev... which is where I want the shots going.

C. Echo is better for me than Whisper. Whisper's special power relies on dice, while Echo's power is about movement. We all know that when it comes to dice, I suck.  So I prefer not to rely on dice. Whisper's power is to turn eyeballs into evades. This is great if you roll the eyeballs!  But Echo's power is to be able to use the lazy 2 turn for his decloak barrel roll, rather than the straight 2.  This gives me a HUGE amount of maneuverability option.  One of my strengths is spatial awareness, so being able to plan on and use this movement is huge for me.  It allows me to keep Echo out of trouble, and use him more effectively than I would Whisper.

D. Engine Upgrade?  From what I saw online it was the tits, but I don't see it here. I only used it that first turn, which just sped up getting shot at.  I have to believe that for my style those 4 points can be better spent.

E. Rebel Captive? Not necessary.  Mara Jade hands out Stress like skittles and giving a stress to the first ship that shoots at me is not required.

So I plan on dropping those cards, moving Intel Agent over to the Dev, adding the upgrade that lets me wound a ship I am base with, and maybe picking up a mine or something?

What do you guys think?

Here is the video: