We had 36 pilots from 3 states and 5 cities who played 4 preliminary rounds before a cut to a top 8. I will post the results soon along with the the top 8 lists.
Farmageddon II: The Revengence
Bellevue/Omaha Store Championship
The Game Shoppe- Bellevue Nebraska
Top 8 Builds
1 st Jim Blakley – Lincoln Nebraska
-Rookie Pilot
-Rookie Pilot
-Gold Squadron Pilot
-Gold Squadron Pilot
-Blue Squadron Pilot
2 nd Sean Esser - Iowa
-Blue Squadron Pilot
Fire Control System
- Blue Squadron Pilot
Fire Control System
-Lando
Push the limit
Recon Specialist
Nien Nunb
Millennium Falcon
3 rd Patrick Wilcox – Lincoln Nebraska
-Academy Squadron Pilot
-Academy Squadron Pilot
-Academy Squadron Pilot
-Obsidian Squadron Pilot
-Obsidian Squadron Pilot
-Night Beast
-Howlrunner
Swarm Tactics
Stealth Device
4 th Mike Russell – Omaha Nebraska
-Chewbacca the Wookie
Gunner
Expert Handling
-Lando Calrissian
Gunner
Expert Handling
5 th Johnathan Reinig – Kansas City
-Academy Pilot
-Academy Pilot
-Omicron Group Pilot
Darth Vader
-Mauler Mithel
-Soontir Fel
Push the Limit
Stealth Device
6 th Greg Duncan – Kansas City
-Outer Rim Smuggler
Gunner
Millennium Falcon
- Blue Squadron Pilot
- Blue Squadron Pilot
- Blue Squadron Pilot
7 th Patrick McDonald – Omaha Nebraska
-Chewbacca the Wookie
Gunner
Expert Handling
-Lando Calrissian
Gunner
Expert handling
8 th Nate Collins – Omaha Nebraska
-Alpha Squadron Pilot
-Alpha Squadron Pilot
-Night Beast
-Boba Fett
Recon Specialist
Push the Limit
Engine Upgrade
Edited by timewalker03Good Faction balance! Decent squad balance too (little falcon heavy).
Not terribly falcon heavy, it is the home of all things VOY after all.
There were 6 YT-1300s out of 5 rebel lists... there were also 6 B-Wings, 2 Y and 2 X. I would say that's a pretty stark shift in lists from tournaments past. This is the exact same expansion presence at worlds, and there was only 1 YT and lots of X-Wings.
Patrick, you are correct. Just remember that Dancing Falcons really hit our meta over the last month. I could see that fade a bit now that the store championship is over.
Rakky was at Omaha and I didn't know. That's a missed opportunity.
I'll be doing a battle report for Slap Fight (aka protovoy, aka tickle fight).
I'll give you the tldr version.
It's freaking awesome
First of all I want to thank Sean for an extremely efficient tournament. Our car had 5 rounds of Xwing with a dinner break, a 3 and a half hour long drive and still managed to get home at 10:30. That's amazing. This was probably the most well run tournament I have seen. I especially liked the touch of printing everyone's list in Voidstate so you could hand your opponent a sheet and they could view it quickly.
I had an idea that I wanted to go to Omaha with a convoy list. The thought was to take the store championship using the enemy's own weapons against them. I began playing a list revolving around a mobile Outer Rim Smuggler and 3 Rookies. I eventually ran upon a list that had 4 Prototype pilots and an Outer Rim Smuggler with gunner. The list played like crazy and hyper aggression had a baby. It doesn't block. It tackles.
I went 3-1 and finished in 11th place missing out on the bracket by 3 spots, other than being a swiss statistic away from the top 8 I'd say it was a absolute success.
Round 1
Opponent: Aaron Bonar
List:
Turr Phenir w/ Push the Limit
5x Academies
Sigh... This match was 3 rounds early. Aaron is one of the 5 best Xwing players on the planet earth in my opinion and I'm supposed to play him late to win the tournament with fireworks shooting off in the background while metal music plays and I scream in celebration of my victory in slow motion. Instead we get to put each other potentially out of the tournament. He and I both countered his list from Farmageddon 1 and he just so happens to have one extra ship and a bigger gun than me.
Aaron set up Tur opposite 5 academies. I set up standard sideways and attempted to cause as much asteroid problems as possible. I basically caused none other than delaying Turr. Aaron did a great job of barely avoiding a block and getting full shots in. He didn't kill any of my ships but he wounded me enough that I couldn't play as aggressively as I would have liked. He managed to kill an A pretty quickly. Eventually I power Turr down while he kills another A wing. Generally I flew well mid game with good blocks but missed out just enough times and he got just enough damage in to kill a third A wing. The second to last round I managed to kill a tie because the gunner card on my ORS is doing work. He has killed 51 points of me and I have killed 40 points of him. We make it to the last turn. All i need to kill is a one of two 2 hp tie fighters with two of my ships left on the board not dying. Aaron has 5 ties left. My ORS had 4 hp and had a rough decision; Take the easy route and likely take enough damage to die and lose or attempt a turn through the asteroids and hitting a rock but being out of arc and surviving. I chose the hard path and caught the edge of the base on a rock. My range 1 prototype shot isn't enough and his ties kill and my Smuggler of course still dies anyway. Great game and great last round. But this ends my chances at winning the tournament and I don't even know it yet.
Round 2
Opponent: Jim Hobbs
List:
Omicron Group Pilot w/Gunner, engine upgrade
Black Squadron w/Draw their fire
Black Squadron w/Swarm
Howlrunner w/Swarm
Mauler Mithel w/Swarm
Jim and I have played many close games and I have a karma game coming from him that I will deserve every moment of. This game was not a game he deserved though. He was unlucky enough to spend 19 points on shooting before a PS 1 list, he was behind before we rolled dice. I set up sideways and Jim set up on the same side as me. I raced to the other side of the asteroids and caught Howlrunner off guard as the miniswarm tried to navigate in formation through the asteroids. Through focus fire I killed her and the game basically carpet rolled from there. The second turn I got Mauler Mithel. His Lambda had to take a very bad angle and when it finally started getting into arcs I began blocking. It was a slow certain victory. Eventually he did kill an A wing but not before I slowly mopped up the win.
Round 3
Opponent: Mike Buell
List:
Soontir Fel w/ Daredevi, Shield Upgrade
Academy Pilot x2
Mauler Mithe w/Veteran Instincts, Stealth Device
Tempest Squadron Pilot
Once again I set up an asteroid ball and placed my ships sideways in a corner. He set up Soontire opposite my ships and places the rest of his squad opposite corner of me.
I turned my ORS in to fight Soontir and the rest of my squad towards his 4 other ships. I managed to get good blocks in. He hurt my A's a bit but they lived. The ORS managed to whittle Soontir a little. From there he got several potshots in at the ORS. I got a lucky kill in on Mauler and he hurt the ORS more as it chased Soontir. Eventually He caught the ORS as I caught Soontir and an Academy. From there my 4 A wings closed out the deal on the Academies. I will note that Mike was prone to running his ships away instead of K turning to get more shots in. I believe he had at least another A wing dead in his list.
Round 4
Opponent: Caleb
List:
Mauler Mithel w/Veteran Instincts
Turr Phennir w/Veteran Instincts
Soontir Fel w/ Push the Limit, Stealth Device
"Fel's Wrath"
I set up my normal sideways set up and he set up his 4 ships set up on both sides I hard turned to split his squad through the asteroids and tried to split his fire. We spend a good half our missing each other as I tried to kill Soontir and he tried to finish off an A wing. He finally got one and I killed Soontir. I'd like to note that Soontir managed to live half of the game with 3 target locks on him constantly. It was really frustrating. I got Mauler and He got another A wing. This was going to be a hard time winning for Caleb when he spent 25 points to shoot first but he really managed to fly well and keep it close. The last round could have gone either way but I managed to kill Turr and avoid his onslaught with evades.
I finished 11th in the tournament due to strength of schedule. I did learn that Slap Fight is a legitimately good list in the hands of a pilot who understands action denial and hitpoint management. It is single handedly the most annoying list I've ever flown because you can tackle any ship. All you need to do is lure your prey into a bad position. Basically it's my dream list.
Edited by Kelvan
As the champion of this tournament. I felt I should report a few things. First a shout out to Sean Dorcy for running the smoothest xwing tournament I've ever seen. The two games to give mention to, is my one loss in the prelims and my final game for the title vs Sean Esser.
Third round of prelims I'm on the top table vs. Jonathan Reinig. Everything but soontir is lined up across from my squad and we move into each other. He brings a y wing to one hull and when it's finally my turn to fire, everyone lays into the shuttle and I drop it in one turn. I immediately hard turn on soontir coming at my side. Soontir does Soontir things and goes totally defensive and my squad gives chase. The game then became the game of whiffs. I took down one other tie and he whittled my force down. In the closing minutes his mithel laid a kill shot on my y wing and sealed the game in his favor.
The final match was a doozy . Sean squared his squad right across from me along the edge and I thought it was party time. We move to engage and I only manage to do 3 damage to lando with all 5 ships firing. At this point I have init and move to point blank range. I cannot drop a b in one turn, it takes two per b wing. After finally dropping his second b, I have a full y, a full x and an x with one hull left giving chase to lando. I slow rolled to get them all more or less moving together but lando was killer and I was rolling blanks. He kills both xs and I only got 1 hull down on him. Its y vs. Lando. I hit him big for three damage, then he hits me down to one hull. I need a miracle. Im target locked and roll blanks. Reroll into two crits. The entire audience leans in as he pulls a direct hit and the crit that knocks your pilot skill to zero. We each have one hull left and now I shoot first. He turns hard trying to make me collide but not enough. Range one shot on lando and the game is Y wing for the win.
Edited by thestggrwngThose crits were the most amazing pull in X wing.
Great write ups!
I'm hoping that the rumor of some of the Nebraska folks coming out to Wisconsin on the 22nd comes to fruition.
Man, I'm really bummed that I couldn't make it. RL can really suck at times.
Congrats on the win Jim! It's truly deserved. Having played with him for the past year, he's one of the guys who really makes league night fun to be at every week. Especially since he seems to be content to let me win every time we play each other.
I'm hoping that the rumor of some of the Nebraska folks coming out to Wisconsin on the 22nd comes to fruition.
From what they're saying it sounds like there might be a couple going. And they may bring a surprise guest along.
Great write ups!
I'm hoping that the rumor of some of the Nebraska folks coming out to Wisconsin on the 22nd comes to fruition.
If I can get a second person at least, I will be coming. Not really into an 8 hourish drive by myself though. We will see.
Chrome, the point is to leave an air of mystery about me. Like matt Damon in good will hunting a savant at the game. Now I look like a fool who can barely calculate percentages in my head and is always secretly hoping someone behind me will whisper the proper strategy and I can copy them and do that. Now the mystery is all ruined...
Edited by thestggrwng
May I ask about any more specifics people can share about what made Sean's work as TO such a great experience for the players? As someone about to run a Store Championship this weekend, I'm on the lookout for any tips I can glean
May I ask about any more specifics people can share about what made Sean's work as TO such a great experience for the players? As someone about to run a Store Championship this weekend, I'm on the lookout for any tips I can glean
1) Sean prepares a lot ahead. He tries to have rough numbers for attendance, and makes sure that he has help (in this weekend's case: his son) to doubly make things go smooth. He knew how he was going to have folks register, pay, receive their promo, and report games.
2) He doesn't do anything crazy or out of the norm. There isn't some obtuse rule or expectation he imposes on the players. (this seems odd to mention, but it always worries me when TOs announce the number of rounds before they know the number of players as that causes confusion and issues...)
3) The environment is conducive to hosting a tournament. There was enough space, tables were clearly and logically labeled, and there wasn't another conflicting event. (though, there was still 10-15 people playing open boardgaming, 5-10 people playing netrunner, a handful playing magic and yugioh, 2 warmahordes games and 2 games of Warhammer going on in the same area during the event)
4) He knows and uses pairing software (what exactly, I'm not 100% sure - I think it's FFG's software). I've seen some tournaments where the TOs pair by hand - which is a pain to do fairly for more than a dozen players and really extends the time between rounds. There wasn't any more than 5 minutes after the last match completed and then pairings were up.
While these seem like obvious things: they're often overlooked or sidelined when the TO is also having to run a store and/or other events.
The key is preparation and having a good plan in mind to run the event. I do a lot of preparation before any tournament. The store owner backs me up with any decision I have to make as far as preparing, and once registration begins I have the store so to speak. I prepared for a month really for the store championship. The week leading up to the registration start time I spent 10-15 hours (lost track of the time) reviewing the rules, making sure we had enough maps, working with the store owner on setup.
The night before I spent 5 hours setting up. I got to the store more than an hour before the store opened to finalize the setup and setup my "command center."
There is no secret or trick for me. I have run 13 tournaments, and I know now through trial and error what works and what doesn't. The other key is have a plan for how you register people, verify lists, then get the players settled in before any pairings posted. The other key is communicate with the players when you need to. They will need the instructions of how to register, length of rounds, how many rounds, etc. But in the end it all comes down to preparation and planning.
Sean
Email me if you have any questions
Edited by timewalker03If I can get a second person at least, I will be coming. Not really into an 8 hourish drive by myself though. We will see.Great write ups!
I'm hoping that the rumor of some of the Nebraska folks coming out to Wisconsin on the 22nd comes to fruition.
Very cool. Here's hoping that you can find some traveling companions. A couple of us guys from the Janesville group just made a 12 hour trek to and from Buffalo, NY for FrostyCon a couple weeks ago so I understand completely.
First off, big thanks to Sean for running the smoothest X-wing tournaments known to man.
I ran:
Howl with Swarm
Backstabber
BSP with DTF
X2 AP
OGP with Vader
If I was facing Imperials, Howl swarm the Doom shuttle to kill his Howl early. If I'm facing Rebels, I swarm an AP to strip shields before the shuttle shoots, so Vader can get to hull easier.
Round 1 was against LegionThree with his Wookiees Gone Wild squad
X2 ORS with Gunner and Merc
ORS with Gunner
My 99 point squad gave me init, which was big. I was able to put my AP's where he wanted to go often. I kept the fight in front of the shuttle, and just whittled down his ORS's one at a time. 1-0
Round 2 was against Chris Brown running KineticOperator's winning Store Champ squad from Game Cafe a month prior:
Howl with Swarm
Mauler with Swarm
Winged Gundark
BSP with DTF
X2 AP
This was an incredibly close game, with a lot of back and forth. My backstabber was doing well for me. I lost my Howlrunner early. He didn't shoot at my shuttle, and the game ended with the shuttle at 1 hull left (because I used vader to try and pull a Direct Hit to kill his Gundark) and an AP vs his Gundark and an AP. Last roll of the game, he gets one hit on the shuttle, I roll 1 evade, so I got the modified win. 2-0
Round 3 was against Caleb. He was running:
Soontir with PtL and Stealth
Turr with VI
Mauler with VI
Fel's Wrath
Caleb rode in the car with us from Des Moines, and we tried to talk him into a Shuttle instead of Fel's Wrath, but he stuck with his squad. I was able to kill both Fel's Wrath and fel early. I then split up a bit to focus on Turr and finished him off. I ended up not losing a ship. 3-0
Then I faced Jim Blakely, the eventual tournament winner. He was running his Top 8 at Worlds squad. And this was where my dice went cold and his stayed hot. He did focus down the shuttle, killing it completely in 4 attacks in the first combat round. I rolled a lot of blanks on both offense and defense, even with Howl rerolls, so this game was over far quicker than it should have been. I did manage to kill one Xwing and 1 Ywing, but he rolled through me pretty easily. 3-1
I finished 12th on the day out of 36 due to my round 2 modified win. Had a blast, and it's always good to see the Omaha crew. Hope to see many of you in a few weeks at Mayhem in Ames.