Bounty hunters. We don't need that scum.

This week I was up against Rob, and I was itching to try the "Preystalker" mission that came with the Firespray-31 / Slave 1 model. Giving Rob the option of choosing a faction, his decision revolved entirely along me having no A-Wings in my collection and he went with Imperials. He had 90 points to use, selecting the following:

• Bounty hunter in a Firespay-31
• Mauler Mithel (Tie Fighter)
• Dark Curse (Tie Fighter)
• 2 x Academy pilots (Tie Fighter)

I had to choose one of my pilots  to be the bounty. His base cost doubles, but he gains an additional elite pilot talent and an additional up to 10 points discount to all of his upgrades. I had 150 points to play with, not easy with my paltry collection of a Millenium Falcon, two Y-Wings and three X-Wings. I wanted to be competitive and so ignored the Y-Wings. My eventual list was:

• Luke Skywalker as the bounty, in an X-Wing with Marksmanship, Determination and R2-D2.
• Han Solo in the Millenium Falcon with Draw Their Fire
• Two Rookie Pilots in X-Wings (possibly with droid upgrades, I forget)

(apologies for the awful lighting, the Imperials were jamming our signal)Deployment saw Han and Luke in the middle, with a Rookie Pilot covering on each wing. Rob deployed heavily to port.

Turn one saw everyone light up their afterburners. Han ploughed ahead while Luke broke left seeking the relatively Imperial-free left side of the mat. The right Rookie raced ahead to engage the entire Imperial squadron on his own, while the left Rookie turned toward the rest of the game. 80% of the Imperials raced toward the Rookie opposite them, blasting him to pieces, while Dark Curse sped towards the Millenium Falcon and Luke.

The Falcon broke right to engage the Imperials while Luke and the remaining Rookie both locked on to Dark Curse but battled to anticipate his moves and bring him into their firing arc. The Imperial Ties banked right, headed for the remaing three Rebel ships, while the bounty hunter broke left, anticipating Han not remembering that they have aft-facing weapons too...

Disaster strikes! The Falcon, having weathered a lot of hits, finally succumbs to Imperial fire and is blown to bits. Only having one evade die has really hamstrung Han's wagon. Two remaining X-Wings have the huge task of destroying the five Imperial ships.

Forming up in line abreast, the X-Wings surge towards the bounty hunter and his Mauler Tie escort, pursued by an Academy pilot and Dark Curse who's still lit up by their target locks like a Christmas tree. The X-Wings blow an Academy pilot out of the sky.

But the pursuing Tie's and the bounty hunter's sneaky rear weapons gun down the remaining Rookie, and Luke is on his own!

At this point I'd like to remind readers that the Imperial objective has always been to kill the bounty, ie Luke. Keen-eyed followers will note that Rob has killed everything except the bounty. His defence was the Falcon was just too vulnerable to pass up. I'm just saying.

Luke lights up his engines, the bounty is in hot pursuit of the bounty hunter, both straying dangerously close to the table edge and the ignoble death that awaits should they cross it. There are some long shots from the remaining Tie's but Luke's ability to always change one focus defence die into an evade buys him  a lot of time. Luke keeps hammering away at the bounty hunter's shields and inflicts some damage.

Air traffic control rears its ugly head and disaster strikes, again. For the Imperials this time, as the bounty hunter misjudges his turning circle and departs from the table counting as destroyed. He also earns six points on his licence and is banned from flying for three months. Luke celebrates until he realises his pursuit has brought him dangerously close to the same edge-shaped death and he's in a ride with no reverse gear.

Slamming the engine down into granny gear he begins the slow process of sharp turns back to the playing area, while a gaggle of Tie's descend upon him.

After several agonising game turns involving slow turns Luke races off with the Ties in hot pursuit, green pew-pew death chasing him all the way.

 Sneakily flinging his ship around 180 degrees, Luke hammers into the Ties with guns blazing, causing damage but no losses. He is finally able to make use of the target lock he got on Dark Curse in turn 1!

Though he's able to evade the firing arcs of two of the fighters, one Tie pilot scores an amazing string of hits and Luke is blown to bits. Victory for the Imperials!

I'm not quite sure why I'm having no luck with what is supposed to be a very easy list, Han Solo and some X-Wings. Luke lasted much longer than I expected, and I put that down to his ability to always turn a focus defence die into an evade. I'm trying not to think about how my +-120 points of Rebels were so bested by 90 points of Imperials...