Vader and elite Imperial pilots vs elite Rebels AAR

Brought X-wing down to the club so that David could take Darth Vader for a spin with my newly purchased Tie-Advanced. We both ran lists with elite pilots and maxed out our points into skills and equipment for the ships.

Imperial force:

TIE ADVANCED
- Darth Vader, swarm tactics and cluster missiles

TIE FIGHTERS
- Howlrunner, expert handling
- Black Squadron fighter, expert handling

TIE INTERCEPTOR
- Turr Phennir, elusiveness

Rebel Force:
X-WING
Wedge Antilles, R2-F2 astromech, Proton torpedo's

Y-WING
Gold Squadron pilot, R2-D2, Ion cannon turret, proton torpedo's

A-WING
Arvel Crynd, Homing missiles

To test out Vader we simply ran a regular dogfight. This started out very badly for the Rebels, as Darth Vader used swarm tactics to destroy the rebel A-wing pilot in the opening shots with the help of a nearby Tie-Fighter. This instantly put the rebels as a 4vs2 disadvantage. Still Wedge Antilles and the Y-wing blasting its Ion cannon and firing rockets managed to wear down the some of the enemy fighter, Wedge just ran out of luck as soon as he managed to destroy a Tie fighter (he was hit by critical damage drawing double damage cards in the return fire.

The lone Y-wing was now fighting a 3 vs 1 fight, but through sheer luck, Ion cannons and using its slow speed of all things it managed to evade the remaining Empire fighters and actually destroy everyone except for Darth Vader. Vader himself had trouble chasing the Y-wing as he kept bumping into it, the fight ended with Vader making a bad plotting decision which brought him off table - unable to turn fast enough to remain on it!

The fight ended as another "noob beats pro's" story, though for a change it was a newbie Y-wing pilot beating the Imperials rather than a newbie Tie-fighter pilot beating the rebels.

The battle proved how dangerous Vader can be, swarm tactics with such a high pilot rating can be devastating, and Vader/the Tie-Advanced being able to target lock and fire missiles is also a deadly change of dynamics in a X-wing battle.  I really look forward to playing another fight with Vader or any other Tie Advanced based pilot on the table.