The X-Wing tournament scene is finally starting up also in Finland, and last weekend I attended a Store Championship Tournament. The attendance was rather limited – only ten players – but at is was my first X-Wing tournament it was actually nice to have a small, cozy event.
The rules were pretty standard, 100 points, four round swiss and top four scorers playing semis and final. I have been quite impressed how well X-Wing seems to suit to tournament style gaming and I felt that the event was very successful. The TO had some experience organizing different tournaments, so everything was running smoothly.
List building was interesting I had no idea whatsoever what kind of lists people tend to fly. With my friend we estimated that X-wings and TIEs are naturally present, but that was it. But then again, too much useless speculation could be more harm than benefit – and if you want to win, you have to win everybody.
I had few point how to build a list:
1) The available ships (easy to fix, of course)
2) The fleet have to be nice to fly (not too fragile ships, not so many ships, not too demanding to maneuver)
3) Possibility of ”shock and awe -effect” on opponents (You are flying what?!!??!)
4) A theme of somekind if possible
With these in mind (and some kind of an obsession with Lambda Shuttles, I do have three of them) I decided to fly the following list:
KATH´S PRISON CONVOY (100)
Kath Scarlett (42)
Veteran Instincts
Rebel Captive
2 x OGP (à 29)
Advanced Sensors
Engine Upgrade
Intelligence Agent
Kath was chosen for her high PS and her pilot ability. Boba could have been better, but without navigator his ability is not maximized – and I wanted to have the Rebel Captive, both for the theme and its annoyance.
The escorting shuttles got the standard dogfighting tools (EU, AS) and the remaining three points were spent on cheap upgrades (Intelligence agents, VI). Seismic for Kath was another option, but I have never used any bombs so I didn´t feel confident enough to start bombing runs in a tournament. High PS never hurts and Intelligence Agents were actually quite handy to carry onboard when you have possibility to have pre-maneuver boost.
Only test game was against my friend who was also attending the tournament. His list was tooled-up Interceptor aces (Turr, Soontir) supported by three academy pilots. The game was a massacre as I was unable to maneuver against super-mobile Interceptors and they blasted my ships from the space. So with this extra boost to my confidence we headed for the tournament.
1. Game
First game was against a mixed rebel fleet (XXYA) with Dutch and Garven piloting. The match-up sounded pretty good for me, but the first game of the day is always a tough one. I deployed my shuttles in the opposite corners and Kath somewhere in the middle. The rebels were facing the other shuttle line abreast. I managed to hit his flank with Kath and opposite end shuttle (with boost they are surprisingly mobile) when the other shuttle was facing the brunt of the rebel fleet. I lost a shuttle and he lost unnamed X and some damage to other ships (can´t remember which). Then I messed up my flying and I managed to lose the remaining shuttle off-board (they CAN turn but you need more space). After that, even Kath was in trouble against three rebels, and she was eventually shot down (by a very effective A-Wing) without any further kills. Bad planning, sloppy flying and a solid performance by the opponent, what can you say? Loss by elimination and a rather bad start for the tourney.
2. Game
Next was a Imperial list with AP, Tempest Squadron with Clusters, Alpha Squadron and Bounty Hunter. I put both shuttles in one corner and Kath in the middle. The enemy was quite spread out, lone interceptor facing my two shuttles and rest of the ships somewhere in the middle. The battle started well, the interceptor was blasted to bits by the shuttles. I managed to down the Advanced, losing a shuttle in the process (Clusters are nasty against AG1 ship, ouch!). The opponent´s Bounty Hunter flew off-board and the game was pretty much finished. The remaining AP also lost its bearing while being pursued by Kath and a shuttle and joined Bounty Hunter. Win, with some aid from the opponent.
3. Game
TIE Swarm. As I´m quite new to the game, I have never actually seen a proper swarm flying. Howlrunner with swarm tactics, Backstabber and five APs. The swarm deployed in one corner in a very neat formation (playing swarm is definately not my cup of tea, too demanding), Backstabber flying solo somewhere in the middle. I took the far corner from the swarm, hoping to force him to break the formation and/or take some collision damage in the asteroid field. It worked, and the battle developed into a confused dogfight in the middle of the asteroids. Backstabber was first to go after some badly timed asteroid collision, and Kath´s firing. I lost a shuttle while downing a lot of TIEs. When time was up only one AP was remaining. Advanced sensors and 0-speed maneuver proved their worth in a close range asteroid field fight. Win, opponent taking maybe 4-5 points and at least one crit from the asteroids.
4. Game
Rebels, with three HLC/FCS B-Wings. Their firepower was frightening, but then again, it was only three ships with agility one, and all my three ships sported 2 HPs more each. One of the B´s had also APT for some odd reason, and they were PS 2 all. Not bad. I put one shuttle each corner and B´s deployed line abreast facing the other one. Kath was again in the middle. Closing maneuvers went quite good, my other shuttle had to face all three B´s but the other one flanked rebels perfectly and Kath closing in as a second wave. I downed one B, my ”sacrificial” shuttle took some damage but survived (four dice unfocused roll with TL – no hits, reroll – no hits). Kath joined in, wounded shuttle tried to take some distance but was eventually shot down. I downed another B and things started to look grim for the criminal terrorists. Kath´s prisoner plus ability combined with B-Wing turned out to be a good thing for the galactic law and order, but then I got greedy. The remaining shuttle was nearing the edge of the space and I tried to maximize the turning by boosting before turn (turn is red for Lambda). A rookie mistake, the corner of the base clipped the edge and the shuttle was out. It didn´t change the outcome as Kath had no problems whatsoever to hunt down the last B-Wing. Win.
After the four rounds the points were calculated, and turns out that I was easily in top four – I was really surprised as I was hoping to get one win, not three. It was time for the semifinals then.
Semifinal
A swarm again, but this time with six named pilots. A very nice list, but definately not a beginner´s choice with so many different PS. I put the shuttles in the corners again, tilting 45 degrees inward. TIEs were in two groups of three, a tad off the centerline. Kath went to the more distant corner from the TIEs. I started to circle around the field, trying to get flanking shots. Large ships are generally fast, and even Lambdas relocate very fast with engine upgrade. Plan worked, and opening shots were fired by a shuttle at Backstabber. No damage, though, and actually Backstabber was the only undamaged ship at the and of the game. After my ineffective start, the battle turned into a chaotic dogfight and quite fast I lost a shuttle. The TIEs were also suffering, but I was unable to properly concentrate the damage, so downed only two. Luckily the other one was Howlrunner, so I was leading in points. That changed after the time was up as the last fire downed the remaining shuttle. Close, so close. Loss, but the game was very entertaining.
Victory of the tournament went to a well-flown XXBB list, unfortunately I don´t remember the details.
Some thoughts:
My list performed well. It was partly because of the surprise effect as many of the players – myself included – were fairly new to X-Wing. Against more experienced opponents I would probably have been just blasted from the sky. Lambda has a lot of weaknesses to exploit, but this time the (un)capabilities were clearly not well known to some of the opponents. The EU/AS combination makes highly mobile ship – if you have enough space to roam aroud.
Kath´s ability triggered maybe two or three times, but Rebel Captive was very useful. I lost Kath only in one game, and I think it was partly because people went first for the shuttles for easy kills, and to avoid extra stress. That worked well, because naturally I wanted to have Kath in the endgame. Kath should have been no. 1 target as without her the shuttles are easy pickings.
All in all, a good day of gaming, and the fancy range ruler is nice to have to impress other players in the future. And naturally I forgot to bring a camera, so no action pics this time, but I took pictures of my fleet afterwards to show of my repaints.
) consisted of Dagger Squadron Pilot + Advanced Sensors, Dagger Squadron Pilot + Fire-Control System and two Red Squadron Pilots, totaling 99 squadron points.