The intro…
Welcome! No time for any more of an intro today, there’s FAR too much to talk about!
Just a quick thing though before I get started – it’s been AWESOME to see how many blogs have been posted out in the last 2/3 days following what must have been a big return to in person tournaments this weekend. Blogs from Ben Saunders, Jason Bishop, Sean Samuels and Jamie from Rogue Outpost were all great and it’s fantastic to see more being published. Long may it continue!
So strap in guys and gals, we’re in for a big one today!
If you’ve been reading my posts recently then you’ll know that I had a tournament coming up at Excelsior Comics in Bristol and the day was getting ever closer. With this being my first one where I wouldn’t already know most people going (aside from the System Opens) it felt a little different in the build up than if I was just heading over to my local store with my mates.
The journey leading up to the day was an interesting one (I mean, I think it’s interesting. You might disagree once you’ve read it…) and so I thought I’d lay it out for you, diary style.
A diary of my tournament build up
by Dylan Jones (age 41 and 11/12’s)
Monday – 5 days to go
While finishing off the blog ready for Tuesday I reflect on the game against Richard’s Imperial Beef/bomb list and how I fared against it with the Heratanni list. Is it too predictable in how it moves? Am I doing it wrong? Should I push forwards faster? Is it still any good? Do people know how to beat it? Should I pick something else?!
Does this count as a crisis?
I have a vague awareness of an alternative variant of the list so I go and look it up. Drop U-Wing, add E-Wing and sprinkle some other upgrades. Interesting. I try it in fly casual. I like it.
This is both good and bad.
Technically I am now considering 4 lists. Not ideal.
Tuesday – 4 days to go
I publish the blog. Ben Saunders (of What The Actual Zuck blog) contacts me, informing me that he is now attending too. We briefly discuss my list selection and I decide on a plan. Try 2 lists at casual night on Wednesday, pick one of them. Easy peasy.
Wednesday – 3 days to go
I take the updated Heratanni list to casual play at Firestorm. I play against Josh who has brought 3 named 7B Jedi. He jousts me. My dice are SO hot that I’m horribly embarrassed and insist we share my dice.
The game is over in 35 minutes with full destruction and all I’ve lost is 2 shields from Garven (which I could have regenned).
I feel simultaneously great and awful.
I line up for a second game, this time against his dad, Mark. He’s brought Jango and Zam. Interesting. A top meta list, one that I’ve never faced or really watched in action.
Having just smashed someone up, I deviate from the plan and keep the same list.
It goes…. Not great.
For some inexplicable reason I split Kyle off from the pack and he dies while in return I only manage to chip some shields from each ship (not enough for half on either one). Mistake from me and I’m no wiser how to beat it.
Also, I didn’t fly Dash.
After I get home I speak to Ben again, telling him that I’m no closer to picking a list. He finds it funny. In his position I would too.
Thursday – 2 days to go
I ponder my list choices and eliminate the Resistance list as an option. It worked well for me but being a Hyperspace list it may be underpowered against Extended lists. Also I forgot to borrow R6-D8.
Down to 3.
I then consider Heratanni and recent grumblings about fortressing. They were mostly aimed at Bossk lists but still, I have played the opening where it takes until turn 3 to actually move forwards with the bulk of the list (without bumping). I don’t see a problem with it personally but I know some might. I don’t eliminate it but it’s fallen down the list, behind it’s E-Wing variant.
Ponderings continue
Friday – 1 day to go
Small levels of panic begin to rise. I have not picked a list. I need to pick a list. I travel to various sites for work listening to podcasts in desperate search of inspiration. None comes.
I get home from work. I have to make a decision.
I distract myself with other tasks.
I finish the tasks.
I.have.to.decide.
I finally decide to go with the E-Wing variant of Heratanni. It doesn’t lean on stalling (so no risk of being told off), it has plenty of tokens, has function against False Transponder codes and can hit hard. I’m probably not going to win the tournament anyway and it’s more fun/less NPE than the U-Wing version. I’ll save Dash for the future since I suspect several pieces from the Heratanni list will get price hiked in the near future. This is probably my last (and first, technically) chance to try it out.
I upload the list to TTT and decide to-pack my case to remove all other ships/cards to reduce confusion. I am missing the base tile for Garven Dreis.
I go though all my of my X-Wing stuff.
ALL OF IT.
TWICE.
It isn’t there.
I despair a little.
I contact my squad mates who are attending but have slim hope because I’ve never seen either of them fly Rebels.
I contact Ben. I know he’s going. I know he flys Rebels. He says he’ll pack it.
Relief.
So the final version of the list is:
Kyle Katarn (31)
Jyn Erso (2)
Moldy Crow (16)
Ship total: 49 Half Points: 25 Threshold: 3
Hera Syndulla (A-Wing) (42)
Ship total: 42 Half Points: 21 Threshold: 2
Rogue Squadron Escort (51)
Fire-Control System (2)
R3 Astromech (3)
Ship total: 56 Half Points: 28 Threshold: 3
Garven Dreis (X-Wing) (46)
R2 Astromech (5)
Servomotor S-Foils (0)
Ship total: 51 Half Points: 26 Threshold: 3
Total: 198
View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0: https://raithos.github.io/?f=Rebel%20Alliance&d=v8ZsZ200Z48XWW40WWW156Y451XWWWY23XW113WW4WY6XWW2WW142&sn=Heratanni%20-%20evolved&obs=yt2400debris0,yt2400debris1,yt2400debris2
Ok, I think I’m ready. Bring on the tournament!
Saturday – game day
Cai and I were picked up by Hammerhead/fellow Exile Mark Beor who was passing us the way to Bristol and we arrived in the store and were warmly welcomed by TO Richard Greenaway.
We headed upstairs, said hello to a few people that we know and started unpacking our bags.
Cai had opted to stick with the list he’d flown at Duke’s Gaming in June:
104th Battalion Pilot (42)
Hull Upgrade (3)
Ship total: 45 Half Points: 23 Threshold: 5
Squad Seven Veteran (44)
Hull Upgrade (3)
Ship total: 47 Half Points: 24 Threshold: 5
Jedi Knight (37)
Delta-7B (12)
Ship total: 49 Half Points: 25 Threshold: 3
“Warthog” (54)
XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (2)
Ship total: 56 Half Points: 28 Threshold: 5
Total: 197
View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0: https://raithos.github.io/?f=Galactic%20Republic&d=v8ZsZ200Z341XWWWW164Y340XWWWWW164Y277XWW201WY414X332WWWWWW&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron&obs=core2asteroid0,core2asteroid2,gascloud6
While I suspect the main reason he brought it is because we couldn’t be bothered to repack his case, he’s getting more confident with it and has a plan on what to do with it.
Richard is keen to keep things on time so the first round is drawn soon after we arrive.
Let’s get started!
The batreps… (JARGON ALERT!!)
With there being 5 games to cover I won’t go through pre-flight checks in detail for each one, nor a full turn by turn report on them because:
a) that’s a LOT of writing/reading (for an already huge post!)
b) I didn’t take pictures after each turn of each game
c) I’ve slept since then and with each passing hour, my memory loses more details
With everyone ready to Richard draws the first round..
Round 1 – Ben Lee
Ok, now I have to admit I wasn’t especially expecting to come across someone from the infamous 186th in round 1 of a small-ish store tournament. Particularly when it’s someone who I later found out has won a European championship and several regional/Hyperspace level events.
Ok, well, my aim for the day over 5 rounds is to try and get 2 wins, looks like I’m off to a tough start!
Ben’s flying a strong Republic salad list:
Obi-Wan Kenobi (Eta-2) (49)
Marksmanship (1)
Autoblasters (3)
R7-A7 (3)
Ship total: 56 Half Points: 28 Threshold: 2
Plo Koon (45)
Sense (5)
Calibrated Laser Targeting (4)
Ship total: 54 Half Points: 27 Threshold: 2
Ric Olié (45)
Daredevil (2)
Ship total: 47 Half Points: 24 Threshold: 3
“Odd Ball” (30)
Marksmanship (1)
Proton Rockets (5)
Ship total: 36 Half Points: 18 Threshold: 3
Total: 193
View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0: https://raithos.github.io/?f=Galactic%20Republic&d=v8ZsZ200Z440XW125W232W364WY312X75WW200WY333X117WWWY316X125W102W&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron&obs=core2asteroid0,core2asteroid2,gascloud6
Yikes. Auto-crit Obi-Wan with an Odd-Ball and Plo combo that could put double modded prockets into one of my ships. And Ric ‘can’t damage me’ Olié.
Cool.
We’ve no crossover of initiative and as obstacles go down my quickly improvised plan is to basically ignore Ric and Obi-Wan unless they get right in my face. The Torrent is dangerous on first pass if I allow it to get bullseye (so don’t) and Plo will be close by so I’ll aim to hit those two first.
We start off REAL cagey. We spend a good few turns jockeying for position while it seems that everyone around us is rolling dice. Ben splits Obi and Ric off to go flank while it looks like Plo and Odd Ball want to come in.
Once I see that Ben has sent Obi and Ric the far side of the cornered obstable I decide I have time and opportunity to dive in at the others.
With Plo’s help Odd Ball does manage to land his bullseye on the E-Wing but, with Hera’s help, only 2 hits get past his green dice.
In response my three 3 dice ships all fire on Plo who is only obstructed for one of those shots and I manage to get 2 hits on, halving him.
In the following turn Ben’s cavalry arrives but I’ve already started to bug out and turn around. Plo takes a 4 straight which would block Hera somewhere pretty bad but then boosts which means that she clears. Phew!
I manage to get some damage onto Odd Ball and half him but he lives on 1 health while Ben’s ships seem unable to do any significant damage to mine except for getting the 1 hit needed to halve my E-Wing.
Time is called and as we enter the last turn I check the game state. I’ve halved both Plo and OddBall in exchange for half of the E-Wing. I just need to not lose any more points and I’m fine.
I decide to go full defensive mode, getting everyone out of the way as far as possible.
Kyle 3 banks towards the board edge and takes an evade with Jyn to add to his focus. The E-Wing 5 straights and boosts while Garven takes a…wait… What?! I thought I’d dialled in a 3 bank only to flip the dial and see a 4 straight. It’s not disastrous though since Obi-Wan did a systems phase boost which clears the space for him. He closes wings, moves and boosts to a focus, just to be safe.
Ben starts to move ships into positions that don’t appear to make much sense to me and while he’s verbally musing what repositions to make, he mentions that he’s in front. I point out that I’ve halved Plo. He’d forgotten. He finishes moving ships before I move Hera into some empty space and take a focus which now appears unnecessary.
He’s got two shots into Kyle but both are at range and unmodded (and one is gas cloud obstructed) and with Kyle fully tokened, do no damage.
Did that just happen?! I won!!?
Result: 45 – 28 win
Mini conclusion
That was a nail biter! It was a great tactical, super close game which was quite intense but also fun. I’m happy with how I played overall and while my Hera move and Garven mis-dial could have been disastrous, they weren’t. A great start (especially given the calibre of my opponent!) and I’m excited for the next round!
Round 2 – Dan ‘Eggs’ Xuereb
Typical! In a room of 18 people, I’m paired with one of the 3 squad mates for round two!
Worse than that, he’s flying a Bossk list that I flew against a few weeks ago and I have NO idea how to deal with.
Bossk (60)
Gamut Key (6)
4-LOM (2)
Greedo (1)
Ship total: 69 Half Points: 35 Threshold: 6
Dengar (53)
Cutthroat (1)
Proton Torpedoes (12)
Autoblasters (3)
Zam Wesell (4)
Han Solo (Scum) (10)
False Transponder Codes (2)
Ship total: 85 Half Points: 43 Threshold: 5
Constable Zuvio (29)
Intimidation (3)
Protectorate Gleb (2)
Proximity Mines (6)
Cloaking Device (4)
Ship total: 44 Half Points: 22 Threshold: 3
Total: 198
View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0: https://raithos.github.io/?f=Scum%20and%20Villainy&d=v8ZsZ200Z153XWWW386W31W83WWWY115X375W136W232W336W85W369WWY140X122WW388W70W91W&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron&obs=
This list is just gross. In the last game I tried to avoid Dengar and pile into Bossk but ended up not quite halving Dengar and was just short of killing Bossk. That was with my Dash list though. This list is a bit less mobile and doesn’t swing haymakers in the the same way.
I consider facing off with Dengar, jousting him with all my ships but those Proton Torps make me think twice, especially when he could fire both in one turn and wipe something out.
I need to try and get behind Bossk. Somehow.
I win the roll-off and give Dan first player so my i4’s can maybe arc dodge but Bossk’s 180 degree arc and Dengar moving after them anyway makes it all feel a little pointless.
I start my ships central and turn away from Dan’s list to try and drag him through the rocks. Those big base ships close up the space really fast though. We trade a few long range shots (which strip Garven’s shields) before trying to turn in from the left hand board edge and regenning Garven.
It is an unmitigated disaster.
In all my years playing this game, I have NEVER managed to bump EVERY ONE OF MY OWN SHIPS….INTO MY OWN SHIPS. Until today.
Kyle bumps into Hera, Garven’s 3 hard bumps the E-Wing whose 1 hard turn no longer fits, resulting in Hera bumping into him.
I’m a massive idiot.
And I pay the price as Dengar puts a second Proton Torp into Garven’s blanking greens and Bossk one-shots Hera at range 1.
Ouch.
It does improve for me slightly as Kyle blocks Bossk and puts some pain into Dengar and also survives the double tap while the Rogue Escort dodges a Prox mine by the slimmest margin
Zuvio then goes over his own mine (comedy!) but it only takes 1 damage.
Kyle’s luck runs out as a 3 bank lands him on a debris and his lack of action means that Dengar can rotate his arc and finish him at range 1.
With the last remaining minutes the E-Wing runs like hell to try and preserve some MoV and what’s left of my dignity.
Result: 0-142 loss
Mini conclusion
Ouch. Like, big ouch. I know it’s happened but I’m trying desperately to recall a game where I a) made such a huge mistake with position/dials and b) scored zero points. It underlines that I have no idea how to take on this list and while I do expect the points to be hiked on several parts of it to make it unplayable, the same goes for the list I’m flying too. I need a plan.
At this point we break for lunch so I’ve got a little bit of time to clear my head and bounce back!
Game 3 – Ian James
I was a little bit later than I probably should have been getting back from lunch so went into this game a little flustered and under prepared.
I had been paired with Ian who was flying an interesting looking Imperial squad…
Major Vynder (40)
Disciplined (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Proton Torpedoes (12)
Concussion Missiles (6)
Advanced SLAM (3)
Os-1 Arsenal Loadout (0)
Adv. Proton Torpedoes (5)
Ship total: 69 Half Points: 35 Threshold: 4
Seyn Marana (29)
Disciplined (1)
Ship total: 30 Half Points: 15 Threshold: 2
Del Meeko (29)
Disciplined (1)
Ship total: 30 Half Points: 15 Threshold: 2
Gideon Hask (29)
Disciplined (1)
Ship total: 30 Half Points: 15 Threshold: 2
Iden Versio (40)
Disciplined (1)
Ship total: 41 Half Points: 21 Threshold: 2
Total: 200
View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0: https://raithos.github.io/?f=Galactic%20Empire&d=v8ZsZ200Z161X381W113W136W99W104W139W134WY224X381WY222X381WY223X381WY218X381W&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron&obs=
Now that is a loaded up Gunboat!
Everyone is i4 and I have the bid so I opt to give Ian first player and give myself the opportunity to arc dodge with Garven and the Rogue Escort.
We set up and Ian lines up by turning his TIE’s at me while Vynder splits to go the other side of the obstacle.
I decide, for some reason, that a joust is in order. On reflection, this was probably* not correct.
*definitely
Hera does no damage with her long-ish range shot but Seyn’s return shot brings up a crit which Ian spends to put a damage card on Hera. Oh.
Vynder hits Kyle with a Proton Torp which takes out his shields while the TIE’s hammer Garven at close range, taking him down to just 2 hull.
Garven fires range 1 at Del and gets 2 hits on which Ian decides to use his Iden charge on. That turns out to not be the right call as the E-Wing one-shots Gideon. Nice.
The turn around gets messy as Kyle banks in to try and block but fails to do so. The E-Wing sloops (JARGON ALERT!!) while Garven runs and regens his shields and Hera, trying to get out, bumps a TIE.
Kyle takes more damage (but lives!) while I manage to strip shields from Vynder.
Over the next few turns Hera speeds out of the melee to follow Garven but Vynder chases while Kyle tried his best to be a blocking nuisance and the E-Wing tries to blow up TIE’s.
Then I make a mistake. Assuming Vynder will turn and SLAM after Hera, I go slow with Garven but turn the opposite way with Hera, looking to hard turn and roll. But it’s too close to the board edge and she flees. What an idiot. 42 points of Hera lost for no reason.
As we enter the last turn I’ve managed to delete Seyn and the Gunboat down to 2 hull and feel good about how things look, even with the loss of Hera. Garve is behind Vynder (who moves first) but for possibly the first time this game, it doesn’t SLAM and Garven bumps in behind. Oh dear.
Kyle and the Rogue Escort face off with the remaining TIE’s and Kyle forces a bump on Iden while the E-Wing sloops, holding a lock from a previous turn and is passed a focus from Kyle.
He stylishly one-shots Iden whose greens abandon her with the final rolls of the dice in what turns out to be a game winning kill.
Wow.
Result: 136 – 116 win
Mini Conclusion
I have to say that when I lined up against this list, I underestimated it. I planned to take out the Gunboat first and hunt down TIE’s after but the Seyn crit converted to a card under shields on Hera spooked me and put me a little on tilt. The turn with Hera which put her off the board was a classic case of overthinking and, obviously, unnecessary. On a positive side I’m happy with how I flew Kyle and the E-Wing against the TIE’s. Other than that, I got away pretty lightly on this one.
This puts me at 2 wins, hopeful expectation met!
Round 4 – Tim ‘Timinator’ Greenaway
The next round put me up against Tim, son of our TO Richard. He had brought FO ‘aces’ (sort of) which it seems he’d done pretty well with at the Sith Taken Open a few weeks previously.
Kylo Ren (76)
Extreme Maneuvers (4)
Ship total: 80 Half Points: 40 Threshold: 3
“Rush” (57)
Automated Target Priority (1)
Ship total: 58 Half Points: 29 Threshold: 3
Major Vonreg (55)
Daredevil (2)
Ship total: 57 Half Points: 29 Threshold: 2
Total: 195
View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0: https://raithos.github.io/?f=First%20Order&d=v8ZsZ200Z236X341WWWWY386X348WWWY381X117WWW&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron&obs=
He was also rocking a 5 point bid which of course meant that I’d be moving Hera before Vonreg.
We both started out very patiently as Tim danced his nimble ships towards me and then turned away for a number of turns. I slowly advanced towards the middle, trying to keep my options open for turning in around the obstacles when Tim brought Rush just a little too close and got halved by the Rogue Escort. Harsh.
Tim then turned away with Rush while bringing in Kylo and Vonreg to drop the hammer.
Sadly for Tim, his dice (and mine) had other plans.
In exchange for 2 shields on my list, Vonreg died and Kylo lost a shield.
Things continued in this vein as Rush burned down the following turn. Tim was yet to roll a single natural evade on his dice.
Super harsh.
To his huge credit, Tim continued to play out the game, not moaning about dice, just valiantly playing on.
For some reason the E-Wing thought he’d take Kylo on himself and split from the pack, only to be halved for his efforts.
Once the others had regrouped Kylo was chipped down to 2 health as we entered the last turn.
For a shot at a last hurrah in a true ‘death or glory’ move, Kylo dived in and shot at Garven, taking a shield at the cost of his last Force charge.
Kylo, now on just 1 hull, just needed to survive a 2 dice range 3 gas cloud obstructed shot from Kyle.
Kyle rolled 2 natural hits.
Kylo rolled blank and eyeball and exploded in a ball of disappointment.
Result: 200 – 28
Mini Conclusion
Wow. I felt really bad for Tim after this. I don’t think he played badly at all. In the turns when he took a risk his dice failed him while mine were red hot. He took it really well and while it could have been the kind of game to ruin someone’s day, he didn’t let it and I credit him for that attitude.
For my part, obviously it went well in terms of the result. I’m relatively happy with how I played it and, aside from my decision to go all kamikaze with the Rogue Escort, I’m pretty pleased.
With rounds coming thick and fast, I had very little time to process what was happening in terms of results and the positions in the tournament. This was purely 5 rounds of Swiss with no cut to worry about and to be honest, given my round 2 loss that I was nowhere near as I expected there to be at least two, maybe even 3 players undefeated.
As it turns out there was just one. And of course, given my rich and glorious history of being paired up by TTT, guess who I was to play…
Round 5 – Ben Barber
Yes, Ben Barber! Now, at no point during the game was I aware that Ben was undefeated. He said nothing about about it and I hadn’t checked the TTT page.
As we set up Ben reminded me that we’d played before. Now, before you go accusing me of being a bad person for not remembering, I’d like to point out that out of the 3 Bens at the tournament, Mr Barber was the only one who had been referred to as simply ‘Ben’ (i.e. no surname mentioned) AND I’ll add that the game that we’d played was online so I’d never seen his face.
Ok, defence over. Now, what was he flying? Oh no….
Asajj Ventress (68)
0-0-0 (5)
Contraband Cybernetics (3)
False Transponder Codes (2)
Shadow Caster (1)
Ship total: 79 Half Points: 40 Threshold: 5
Lando Calrissian (Scum) (42)
Cutthroat (1)
Jabba the Hutt (6)
False Transponder Codes (2)
Lando’s Millennium Falcon (3)
Ship total: 54 Half Points: 27 Threshold: 6
Bossk (60)
Zam Wesell (4)
Greedo (1)
False Transponder Codes (2)
Ship total: 67 Half Points: 34 Threshold: 6
Total: 200
View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0: https://raithos.github.io/?f=Scum%20and%20Villainy&d=v8ZsZ200Z125XW63W92W369WW160Y90X375WW39WWW369WW152Y153XWWW336WW83W369WW&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron&obs=
MORE BOSSK! Worse than that, it’s 3 large base ships with tons of health, recharging FTC (with Jabba crew) and Asajj with stress and tractor nonsense.
Now at this point a very strange thing happened. I wouldn’t say that I resigned myself to losing because that sounds like it was really negative. No, it was more acceptance that I was very likely to get smashed up because I have absolutely no plan.
And if I’m about to get smashed up then I might as well set my expectation and attitude correctly and have as much fun as possible while doing it.
Pressure = off. Let’s go!
After we place obstacles I set down Kyle in the left hand corner and Ben places all his 3 enormous ships directly opposite. Great. I just stare at it for a minute wondering what on earth it’s possible for me to do here.
I decide to put the i4’s the middle and then Hera off to the right, thinking to turn in and joust.
The second it’s too late, I immediately change my mind and set everyone to turn away from the Scum ships.
Two turns in it’s very obvious that with the speed that the big bases can catch me up, it’s already too late for Kyle to catch up with his squadmates.
Maybe it’s time to think outside the box.
While his cowardly colleagues badly try to position themselves in the corner, Kyle turns in to face the oncoming ‘wall of death’ (as we called it).
He succeeds with a block on Asajj but is still left with facing shots from Bossk and Lando.
Against all odds, he survives (on one hull!) and chips one hit into Bossk who rolls an evade with his single green die.
While his mates are still faffing about in the corner (and the E-Wing repeated locking ships to try and burn down the FTC/Jabba charges!), Kyle takes a red stop and the entire fleet cruises past him.
I got behind! Moral victory!
Using an absolutely disgusting combination of Bossk’s pilot ability and Greedo crew (Greedo to make a hit to a crit, once defence dice rolled, turn that uncancelled crit to a hit for 2 damage. YUCK), Ben manages to burn down Garven in fairly short order. Not even time to regen. Sad times.
With Garven down and Kyle limping, Ben shoots at Hera with Bossk at range 3 and chips a shield off.
In exchange I’ve scored….. half points on Bossk. Cool.
With time running out I get a few shots into Bossk but it feel like Ben has packed a green die which has those little squiggles on all 8 sides as he rolls evade after evade after evade (becoming ever more hilarious!) and Bossk simply refuses to lay down and die.
Eventually he does give up the ghost but not before wiping our Hera (who dived in to range 1 for a failed kill shot BECAUSE OF THAT DAMNED 8 SIDED EVADE DIE!!) using the filthy Bossk/Greedo thing. Frustratingly Kyle finally succumbs from a 2 dice rear arc obstructed pot shot from Lando and blanks out to lose his last hull point.
It’s my Rogue Escort versus Asajj and Lando. With about 10 minutes to go.
My ‘little E-Wing that could’ tried it’s very best to avoid getting shot while also getting shots (helped by getting multiple locks at once with R3 Astromech) but he doesn’t quite manage to get Asajj to half before time is called.
Result: 67 – 142 loss
Mini Conclusion
What could (or arguably should) have been the most pressured and tense game of the day, turned out to be probably the most relaxed and fun one. It’s funny how setting your attitude can affect that!
I know I didn’t play great in this game but I also don’t really feel bad about it because it was so much fun. I am pleased that I got Kyle in behind and actually, had Bossk died to Hera and Kyle survived… I’d still have been losing but at least a comeback would have been on the cards!
The conclusion…
I want to start by saying some thank yous.
Thanks to Richard Greenaway for running a great tournament. We were on schedule all day (I think?!) and the whole thing ran really smoothly.
I want to thank Excelsior Comics for hosting and also the fantastic prize support. The bottom 4 players all got 1.0 release ships(!) as well as some cards and the bottom player (sadly, our fellow Exile and lift for the day Mark Beor!) got store credit to go and buy some new dice! There were cards and FO dial/base tile packs for everyone, nobody left empty handed.
I also want to thank all my opponents during the day. You were all a pleasure to play against and I had a fantastic day thanks to all of you!
I also want to give a quick shout out to Ben Saunders (again!). We’d never met in person before and I wish we’d had a bit more time to sit and chat. Hopefully next time we will! Also, thanks for bringing your Garven base tile for me!
It was a great day!
Now for the post-match analysis I suppose!
Overall, I’m happy with my list. I dropped Selfless from Garven to gain the bid and it did make a difference in a couple of games. In terms of the upgrades I kept, I don’t think I got the 5 points of value out of R2 Astromech that I would have liked. The wisdom of when to disengage and regen isn’t quite a part of my arsenal yet it seems!
The thing is, I’m not quite sure what else I would do with those points. An extra 5 points of bid seems unnecessary but maybe I’m wrong there.
In terms of strategy and tactics, that’s an interesting one. Overall I’m quite happy with how I played. The game against Ian’s Inferno gave me quite the scare but I know I’d go differently against it next time. There is an issue though.
Bossk.
I’m still no wiser in how to approach this sort of list with my Rebels. It seems that every ship (from Ben’s list and from Dan’s) has so many tricks and mods that if feels pretty impossible to match it. What’s striking is that the two lists are quite different, aside from having Bossk, Zam, Greedo and FTC. Scum definitely has a LOT of strong options at the moment with Bossk slap bang in the middle of it all.
If anyone has any tips (or videos!) on how to beat this sort of list then I’d appreciate any info I can get!
Interestingly, Ben and Dan played each other in game 3 and drew 113-113 with Ben winning on final salvo. It was Dan’s only loss of the day.
Crazy!
I finished with a 3-2 record for the day with both my losses to Bossk lists AND having faced all of the top 3 finishers.
My MoV took a serious hit in those two losses though and as a result I finished as the 5th 3-2 player, 8th overall. If you’re interested in final standings and lists, this is the TTT link for the event.
I’m pretty happy with my placing overall. I went into the day hoping for 2 wins and got 3. I’ll take that!
In case anyone is wondering, Cai didn’t quite fare so well, going 1-4 but while he might have been disappointed with his results, I certainly wasn’t when I got these messages over Instagram:
There is nothing that makes me as proud of my kids as hearing that they are nice people, especially when I’m not directly involved in the conversations and it’s just as easy not to be AND while he’s losing games and it’s easy to lose your cool and get snarky.
He doesn’t generally read these blogs but I want it known in case he ever does, that I’m SUPER proud of him and of his character.
Thank you Shane for taking the time to let me know!
Alright, I’ve clearly gone on for FAR too long already so I’ll just sign off here. What will next week bring? Well, that’s a mystery for now. Even for me!
The outro…
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