The intro…
Hello there! Welcome to this week’s blog!
As you’ve probably guessed from the title, this week I’ll be covering games from the main event of STO.
Before that, though, I just need to cover off a few things! Don’t worry, I’ll try to keep it short since it likely to be a massive post!
The pre-amble
Just in case you’ve not been reading the blog over the past few months, I’ll just give a quick run down of my list.
I sort of stumbled on to this back when the update was made from the 20 point system to 50 points. I fancied trying out a Firespray (since I’ve historically not flown it all that much) and there had been talk of 3 ship lists being more viable under the new system.
Initially I had Armed and Dangerous Fenn (the superior one in my opinion) as well as AaD Dengar and the normal Boba Fett.
After a surprisingly strong few results, the little points adjustment in late November/early December meant I had to make some changes as Boba not only went up in points but lost a little loadout (which was fair given how well it was doing!).
This led me to this list:
Fenn Rau – Fang Fighter (14)
Fearless (3)
Elusive (4)
Ship Cost: 14 Loadout: (7/7) Half Points: 7 Damage Threshold: 2
Boba Fett – Firespray-class Patrol Craft (21)
Fearless (3)
The Child (9)
Seismic Charges (3)
Marauder (0)
Veteran Tail Gunner (5)
Ship Cost: 21 Loadout: (20/20) Half Points: 10 Damage Threshold: 5
Dengar (AaD) – JumpMaster 5000 (15)
R2-G8 (AaD) (0)
Synchronized Handling (AaD) (0)
Starboard Thrusters (AaD) (0)
Punishing One (0)
Ship Cost: 15 Loadout: (0) Half Points: 7 Damage Threshold: 4
Total: 50
It’s high initiative, hits hard, gets consistent damage in and can take a bit of a hit. Scenario-wise I struggled a little with Salvage but with the scenario scoring changes meaning that I would only be out scored by 4 to 2 if I was holding a box, I felt that picking up one and not worrying about shackling Fenn and Boba was fine.
In the run up to STO (and as covered a couple of weeks ago) I was doing very well with it. Alarmingly well. Possibly the best run of results I’ve had in X-Wing kind of well.
So, of course, a few weeks out from the event and AFTER mentioning that I’ve been doing well with it, I go and lose 3 games in a row with one of them being a blow-out.
Nothing like a good bit of grounding to keep the ego in check is there!
After a week in the Cumbria/Yorkshire/Lake District area with my family I was dropped off at Element games with a rather ludicrous amount of stuff since I not only brought the XWA System Open prize kit for the event but I was also hoping to palm off some spares to people heading to Worlds in order to save some postage costs.
After some ‘hello’s and ‘great to see you’s I was offered a game by ‘Mike’ (yes, I forgot to get a surname. Shame on me).
This game went… pretty well.
I had made sure to (try to) let go of any remnants of half-baked ideas on tactics that were hanging over from previous games. Mike was running a 5 ship Imperial list with two TIE Heavies, two TIE x/1’s and a Reaper.
I felt like I was approaching it ok and even when he slightly unexpectedly turned all-in on Fenn, things didn’t go too badly.
I took out one Heavy and then one of the x/1’s and with Mike not having even halved any of my ships yet he decided to call it and try a different approach against a different list.
It all worked out for him though as, I think, he went 4-1 in the main event and finished 10th in swiss!
The rest of the evening was spent chatting and catching up with people before I headed out for a curry with a bunch of Tauntauns. Then it was time for a (relatively) early night ready for the big day!
The main event…
Before I get too deep into this, I want to re-iterate something that it’s been a while since I’ve used – my tournament expectations.
I feel that it’s important to have these and to make sure you know what they are BEFORE going in because having unrealistic expectations that you fail to meet is a really great way to ruin your day.
So:
- My primary goal in a tournament is to have fun.
- My minimum expectation of myself is to be a good opponent.
- My hope is to break even.
- My dream is to make the cut (or, with no cut, win?!)
Simple enough, right?
In a room with 140 people, many of which are among the best players IN THE WORLD, I feel that my hope of making cut is slim at the very most. Given that it’s 5 rounds of swiss and breaking even isn’t possible, 2 wins would be fine, 3 wins would be nice. 4 wins would make the play-in round but like I said, there’s a lot of talent in the room.
I get unpacked and set up and wait for the player briefing to begin.
The pairings are made and we’re ready to begin!
Round 1 – Steve Theobald
Ooh! Here’s a name I know! Steve ran a blog back in the day and, having relatively recently come back to X-Wing after a break, now runs the Tie Blue Army podcast. And we’ve never played before!
The list he was flying wasn’t too dissimilar to mine…
Boba Fett – Firespray-class Patrol Craft (21)
Savage Opress (10)
Seismic Charges (3)
Contraband Cybernetics (4)
Ablative Plating (2)
Marauder (0)
BT-1 (1)
Ship Cost: 21 Loadout: (20/20) Half Points: 10 Damage Threshold: 5
Captain Nym – Scurrg H-6 Bomber (14)
Dorsal Turret (3)
The Child (9)
Veteran Turret Gunner (6)
Seismic Charges (3)
Angled Deflectors (1)
Ship Cost: 14 Loadout: (22/22) Half Points: 7 Damage Threshold: 4
Latts Razzi – YV-666 Light Freighter (15)
Rook Kast (8)
Han Solo (Scum) (7)
Ship Cost: 15 Loadout: (15/15) Half Points: 7 Damage Threshold: 6
Total: 50
Three Scum ships with reasonable high initiative and some decent tools. Ironically I’ve not flown AGAINST this kind of thing very much and so while I stared at the ships in it I really wasn’t quite sure what to do about it.
Pre-Flight checks:
Scenario – Assault at the Satellite Array
Target/Objective Priority – Boba? Probably?
Obstacles – We both have medium and large but he has an extra medium so maybe try and put them his side of the board?
Deployment – Fenn to flank, Boba to dip in and out, Dengar to joust/trade.
I went into this game feeling ok about the matchup. I have initiative advantage and while he’s got one extra bigger base for claiming on Assault, I felt like I could take something out reasonably quickly to rebalance that.
I was incorrect.
I felt my approach was ok, bringing Fenn in to flank, teasing Boba and Dengar. At this point I felt Nym was my best target and got started there, getting a 5 dice punch in with Fenn which rolled all paint.
In exchange I lost half on Fenn. And then the bombs started.
Next turn Fenn dies here:
Range 2 obstructed shot from Latts. Ugh. I also fail to finish Nym this turn (although I did get to double tap with Boba).
Latts and Steve’s Boba then cause Dengar to bump train a few turns. I eventually do get Nym but he lives a turn longer than I wanted on 1 hull which causes a problem later as the bombs are still hanging around.
We then trade halves with Steve getting Boba while I get Latts.
Going into the last turn I’m 27-36 down. I don’t think about win condition.
I feel like the game is lost so I swing Dengar somewhere to pick up a spurious claim to make up mission points. Nym’s previously held seismic blows up and clips Dengar, giving Steve half points. Balls.
I manage to push some damage onto Steve’s Boba and, as we tot up scores, I’ve got more objectives than Steve and, well, that half points on Dengar really mattered.
Result: 41 – 45 loss
Mini conclusion…
Oof. Had you asked me at the start of that last turn I’d have been ok with the loss. Steve had played really well and I just couldn’t cope with the bombs and losing Fenn as early as I did. The 1 damage from the seismic on Dengar being the deciding facotr in the game made it a bit harder to take. Had I clocked that I’d have gone 4 straight and rolled instead of 2 hard because he hadn’t ended up shooting anyway. Oh well!
It was lovely to play Steve and we had a good time. On to the next!
Round 2 – Ewan Farr
Another person I’ve heard of but never played! Ewan has attended the Welsh Open before and I’ve heard his name on the Sith Takers podcast every so often as someone who plays in tournaments in that area.
He had brought with him some FO aces:
Major Vonreg – TIE/ba Interceptor (14)
Outmaneuver (9)
Daredevil (4)
Homing Missiles (4)
Ship Cost: 14 Loadout: (17/17) Half Points: 7 Damage Threshold: 2
“Holo” – TIE/ba Interceptor (13)
Elusive (4)
Proud Tradition (2)
Pattern Analyzer (5)
Homing Missiles (4)
Ship Cost: 13 Loadout: (15/15) Half Points: 6 Damage Threshold: 2
Kylo Ren – TIE/vn Silencer (16)
Malice (5)
Primed Thrusters (5)
Ship Cost: 16 Loadout: (10/10) Half Points: 8 Damage Threshold: 3
Lieutenant Rivas – TIE/fo Fighter (7)
Pattern Analyzer (5)
Ship Cost: 7 Loadout: (5/5) Half Points: 3 Damage Threshold: 2
Total: 50
Aces like this normally concern be but with my list operating at i6 as well I’m somewhat less concerned. I always hate facing Kylo but need to watch for being flanked/falling for fake outs as my ships (well, Dengar) don’t recover easy from turning the wrong way.
Pre-Flight checks:
Scenario – Chance Engagement
Target/Objective Priority – Kylo. Always Kylo
Obstacles – Ewan’s agile aces won’t much care about lanes so I need space to move in.
Deployment – Boba in the middle, Dengar wherever I get the best approach and Fenn off to one side once I know where things are.
This game ends up being decided by two things. ROAD and dice. Ok, well one thing I guess, if you look at it that way.
Things start out ok but I instantly regret where Fenn is.
Kylo on his own I’d approach but both of the i5’s leaves Fenn more at risk than I’d like. I decide to turn him in but my approach worked in as much as I scared Kylo and Holo from committing in too hard.
The bonus? Fenn gets a range 3 shot into Rivas which halves him. Bad greens for Ewan. Statistically unlikely but I’ll take it.
Rivas then goes for a block on Fenn/Dengar but I see it coming and Rivas is gone. That same turn I get range and arc on Vonreg from Boba and he gets halved. Ewan is yet to roll an actual evade on his greens and, since Rivas is dead and Ewan has nobody else in range 2 of the middle, I’m suddenly 20-2 up.
Ewan mounts a comeback in the next few turns, halving Dengar and Fenn and then subsequently taking the Fang out. I’ve halved Kylo so I’m still ahead but it’s now 36-27 and I’m feeling a bit twitchy.
I get a pretty decent bomb drop to start chipping away at Holo but Dengar is taking damage.
As we get into turn 8 it’s tight and all of a sudden many things happen at once.
Dengar bumps into Vonreg while Holo turned in behind. Boba had dropped his second seismic and turned off while Kylo (on 2 hull) had tried escaping.
Ewan WILL get Dengar this turn, there’s no doubt on that. I think I’m still going to end up ahead as Boba is in range of the middle and isn’t likely to get shot.
The seismic goes off, clips Dengar and Holo, hlaving Holo.
Despite Dengar clearly dying to Holo’s incoming shot, Vonreg shoots Dengar at range 0. No damage.
Dengar gets to take the revenge shot, range 0 with 2 dice, gets 2 hits and Vonreg blanks out and dies.
Ok, wow.
Holo shoots Dengar and Dengar does, in fact, die.
Then Boba takes a range 3 pot shot at Kylo out of the back arc, getting 1 reroll and with 1 Force. I end up with 3 hits. Kylo rolls…and blanks out and dies.
Result: 62 – 39 win
Mini conclusion…
Ok, wow. Fair play to Ewan for bringing that back from the early lead I took and in all honesty, knowing how fickle dice can be, it was almost equally ask likely that I failed to score 15 of those points int that last turn. It feels a bit harsh.
The list did what it does though, decent damage output and tanking damage. On to the next!
Round 3 – Ben Ponroy
Another person I’ve never played! I’m on a roll here!
Ben, if you haven’t guessed from the photo, is one of several players over from France and he’s brought a Republic list:
“Odd Ball” – ARC-170 Starfighter (11)
Dedicated (2)
Bo-Katan Kryze (Republic/Separatist) (6)
Ship Cost: 11 Loadout: (8/8) Half Points: 5 Damage Threshold: 4
“Sinker” – ARC-170 Starfighter (11)
C-3PO (Republic) (6)
Ship Cost: 11 Loadout: (6/6) Half Points: 5 Damage Threshold: 4
Ric Olié – Naboo Royal N-1 Starfighter (11)
Composure (1)
Plasma Torpedoes (7)
Passive Sensors (5)
R2-C4 (3)
Ship Cost: 11 Loadout: (16/16) Half Points: 5 Damage Threshold: 2
“Broadside” – BTL-B Y-wing (9)
Ion Cannon Turret (6)
Ion Bombs (4)
Ship Cost: 9 Loadout: (10/10) Half Points: 4 Damage Threshold: 4
“Stub” – Clone Z-95 Headhunter (8)
Shield Upgrade (10)
Ship Cost: 8 Loadout: (10/10) Half Points: 4 Damage Threshold: 2
Total: 50
Three ships with lots of health could make this interesting…
Pre-Flight checks:
Scenario – Scramble the Transmissions
Target/Objective Priority – Arcs
Obstacles – More on Ben’s side than mine ideally
Deployment – Depends on Ben’s deployment.
I felt like this was going to be a tricky matchup. The Arcs have good firepower and if he can bring all the ships in range together I feel like I’m going to take a bit of a beating.
I deploy in the diagonally opposite corner, hoping to drag Ben’s ships through the middle while Fenn flanks left.
Clearly that would have been a better plan had there been more rocks in the middle but then again, no rocks in the middle isn’t awful for me.
Ben starts strong, getting blocks on Dengar and halving him while Fenn falls 1 paint short of one-shotting Stub.
The next turn is a little catastrophic with Boba halved and Dengar lost. I have managed to hlave both Broadside and Odd-Ball but Ben still has all 5 guns on the table while I’ve lost a double tapping ship. Ouch.
Then this happens:
I get FOUR of Ben’s ships with a single seismic! FOUR!!
That kills Stub and Fenn follows that up by taking out Odd Ball to bring me back to 8 points behind.
Boba is alive on 2 hull and takes Ric from 2 shields down to dead for 11 points while Fenn halves Sinker.
All the while Ben is outscoring me 4 to 0 on objectives which isn’t really helping.
We get to an end game state where it’s 45-41 for me, Ben has objectives and I don’t. Boba is on 2 hull, Sinker is on 2 and Broadside on 2.
Sinker 4-k‘s (JARGON ALERT!!) while Broadside banks in at Boba. Boba goes 3 straight to clear stress and takes a lock.
Annoyingly, Fenn’s 2 hard doesn’t get arc on Broadside. This is very much in the balance.
Fenn plinks 1 damage onto Sinker. Not dead. Oh boy.
Boba rolls 4 dice into Broadside. Somehow (and I can’t exactly remember how), he does NOT die.
Oh boy.
Boba takes the Vet Tail shot at Sinker and does kill him.
The question now – can Broadside kill Boba?
NO HE CAN’T! Boba lives and I scrape the win
Result: 51 – 45 win
Mini conclusion…
Wow, that was CLOSE. The early turns where I was doing damage but not taking guns off the board were tough and I didn’t think I was going to manage it. Ben played a great game, in the end the dice in the last turn swung it my way.
At this point I’m 2-1. Maybe I can still make the cut?!
Round 4 – Josh Kalmouni
Aaaaand maybe not.
Josh is an American over in the UK for a holiday (sorry, vacation!) which he has book-ended with System Open events! Josh attended and went on to win the Tartan Tusken System Open at the end of January and so I knew I was in for a really tough game here.
He is still flying his 3 ship Imperial list from the Scottish event:
Darth Vader – TIE/d Defender (22)
Predictive Shot (1)
Malice (5)
Afterburners (8)
Ship Cost: 22 Loadout: (14/14) Half Points: 11 Damage Threshold: 3
Soontir Fel (BoE) – TIE/in Interceptor (14)
Apex Predator (BoE) (0)
No Escape (BoE) (0)
Blank Signature (BoE) (0)
Feedback Emitter (BoE) (0)
Ship Cost: 14 Loadout: (0) Half Points: 7 Damage Threshold: 1
“Deathrain” – TIE/ca Punisher (13)
Expert Handling (2)
Trajectory Simulator (10)
Thermal Detonators (6)
Ion Bombs (4)
Delayed Fuses (1)
Ship Cost: 13 Loadout: (23/24) Half Points: 6 Damage Threshold: 4
Total: 49
I actually watch the final on stream and remember thinking ‘how would I approach this list?’. Sadly I never drew any real conclusions. Who knew that would be helpful eh?
Pre-Flight checks:
Scenario – Ancient Knowledge
Target/Objective Priority – I genuinely don’t know. More on this in a moment.
Obstacles –
Deployment –
I’m at less of a disadvantage than some considering I do have 2 i6 ships but his are more manoeuvrable than mine and ROAD is going to be HUGE here.
We set up for the game and I spend the whole time second guessing myself. In the end I make choice which is, well, sub-optimal. If we’re being kind.
My thinking here was to threaten Deathrain but allow myself the space to blast past him into Vader. Unfortunately I misjudged the distance meaning I needed an extra turn to get Dengar into the spot between those rocks.
Not only that, but I misjudged Josh’s moves and ended up like this:
As you can imagine, Dengar took a beating. Then next turn he gets blocked onto the top right rock while trying to sloop (JARGON ALERT!!) left and it’s just bad. All bad.
Did I manage to redeem anything from this game? Not really, no. I did get Deathrain in the end but it cost me half on Fenn and at that point Josh played the rest of the game out on objectives as the very deserved winner.
Result: 27 – 44 loss
Mini conclusion…
Where the first loss was close, this one was not. I don’t know if it’s that I got in my own head about playing a system open winner or whether it was the list I was facing or what but there were many choices in this game that I would make very differently if played again.
And so, the dream of cut is over. As I’m 2-2 now, can I get myself a positive record with round 5?
Round 5 – Phill Blackmore
Well well well, it’s fellow Welsh XTC player Phill! I think we might have played a friendly training game or 2 in prep for the XTC before but we’ve not faced each other at an in person event so I think that technically counts as 5 new players in 5 games!
Phill’s got a Rebel squad which has one of my favourite ships to fly – the Gauntlet!
Ezra Bridger – Gauntlet Fighter (16)
Clan Wren Commandos (8)
Contraband Cybernetics (4)
Drop-Seat Bay (0)
Swivel Wing (0)
Nightbrother (0)
Chewbacca (3)
Ship Cost: 16 Loadout: (15/15) Half Points: 8 Damage Threshold: 5
Fenn Rau – Fang Fighter (13)
Clan Training (1)
Marksmanship (2)
Homing Torpedoes (4)
Mandalorian Optics (3)
Ship Cost: 13 Loadout: (10/10) Half Points: 6 Damage Threshold: 2
Sabine Wren – RZ-1 A-wing (8)
Clan Training (1)
Mandalorian Optics (3)
Ship Cost: 8 Loadout: (4/4) Half Points: 4 Damage Threshold: 2
Hera Syndulla – RZ-1 A-wing (12)
Swarm Tactics (7)
Elusive (4)
Homing Missiles (4)
Ship Cost: 12 Loadout: (15/15) Half Points: 6 Damage Threshold: 2
Total: 49
As well as the Gauntlet there’s high initiative nonsense here as well as some potential auto-damage int he Homing ordnance. This could be interesting!
Pre-Flight checks:
Scenario – Salvage Mission
Target/Objective Priority – Either the Gauntlet or Hera
Obstacles – A wide spread benefits us both but since I’ve got more big ships I think I prefer it
Deployment – Spread out this time and see where he focuses in.
IT’s clear from the off that Phill is planning to use Hera’s Swarm Tactics on Sabine so I’m looking at potentially taking 3 shots at i6. I send Fenn up towards teh A-Wings while Dengar and Boba will hunt down Ezra.
Now, if you’ve been playingt he game long enough then you’ll knwo that sometimes there are those games where everything just goes wrong. Dice, marginal decisions, close arc calls, they all just go, ever so slightly, against you. Well this was one of those games.
But not for me, for Phill.
In turn 2 Fenn dodges Sabine, catches Hera and halves her without taking damage in return. That same turn Ezra misses arc on Dengar and Boba, from range 2, halves Phill’s Fenn.
By the end of turn 3 I’m 26-0 up. It’s grim.
Phill eventually gets revenge by taking our Dengar (with the Super Commandos no less!) but it’s too little too late as time is called with Hera and his Fenn both dead and Sabine halved.
Result: 38 – 21
The conclusion…
Not too bad in the end! For a list that I just happened to be a bit lucky to pick up early on in this points iteration and in the absolute shark tank of a room of opponents that STO is, I think I’ve done alright here!
Given that the first game was a very close loss it sort of feels like I could have been close to making cut (although had I won that game I’d have faced different opponents all day but, you know…) and at a 140 player event that feels enough like a win for me.
In the end I finished in 65th overall. It feels a little low but I did end up towards to bottom end of the 3-2 players as I had an SOS of 1.32. Still, it was over half! If you’re interested in lists, results or the like then here’s the Longshanks link for you:
https://xwing.longshanks.org/event/31509
The day itself went very smoothly and I had a great time at the event overall, spending time chatting with people, getting food and just being able to see so many people who I rarely get to spend much time with in person.
It was epic.
There’s not all that much else for me to say I think. The Sith Takers Open is a legendary event and if you’re ever able to make it I very highly recommend you go.
As for my list, well, I think it’s time to retire this list. A points change is anticipated after Worlds at Adepticon later this month so I think maybe it’s time to just find some fun things to mess about with until that happens.
Speaking of which, if you’re attending Worlds then keep an eye out for the lovely prizes we’ve been working on. Right, that’s it for me. Sorry it’s taken me an extra week to write this up, life has been rather busy! I’ll be back (hopefully) net week to talk about the side event at STO!
The outro…
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