Hey guys, Macar here with my first ever regional battle report.
There were many builds among the 40 players but standing out were a multitude of dual falcon lists. 3 notable tie swarms, various mini swarms, new rebel builds, and dangerous imperial builds made this tournament epic in its own right. 6 Rounds swiss and a cut to top 8 (3 more rounds) was the path to victory everyone attempted to take!
I ended up going 9-0 taking the title of Regional Champion, which I was very proud of given a multitude of tough fights and overcoming my enemies by out maneuvering, and out playing my opponents.
To start my squad list consisted of
Soontir Fel, PTL, TC
Carnor Jax, PTL
Tetran Cowall, PTL
Academy Pilot
100 pts
Given my high pilot skill I truly didn't care who had initative for most of the games though I do believe I won the init most of the time (or it was given to me). The squad was a high risk, high reward squad and it payed off. I had tremendous maneuverability against my opponents, a wide threat range of ships including a blocker. Playing a squad that can loose a ship in 1 shot might sound terrifying, however, I have been playing interceptors (different variations) for some time and wanted to put my skills to the ultimate test.
Fel is my main threat for most squads, gaining consistent damage and staying out of firing arcs is his strong suit. Great for range 3 shots then closing in to range 1 the following turn.
Carnor is an aggro ship. Meant to move in during a heavy fire situation, the threat changes from soontir to Carnor, leaving soontir around for later game engagement and making him extremely hard to deal with. Shutting down my opponents evade/focus helped in many matches including TIE swarm lists.
Tetran is my go-to. Originally I had not given tetran a high rating in usefulness. However his cheap cost combined with PS and his "free" ability make him very much worthwhile. Ahead of most ships at PS7, i was getting almost all my shots off before a return fire. His ability to Kturn almost never triggered but would on occasion and was extremely useful to stay in the fights.
Academy is a blocker...what else can I say. Easily ignored and a great follow up to add a damage or 2.
Round 1- TIE Swarm
Opponent Squad
Academy Pilot x7
Dark Curse
100 PTS
A bold build by my opponent and scary for a first round pairing. Not having faced a full swarm with my squad I had no idea how it would go. My opponent starting in two different 2x2 blocks. Thanks to carnor and fel flanking from the side with tetran and the academy as bait in the middle, i was able to slowly pick of ships 1 or 2 at a time. I lost tetran after a bump but that was the only ship I lost that game.
Result: Win
Round 2- Rebel 3 Ship
Wes
Lando, Opportunist
Rookie, r3-a2
100 PTS
This squad was again against me in favor. Being reliant on actions and removing stress this squad did the two things that hurt me most. The combo was dangerously efficient and early good rolls got me into a position i was comfortable. Round 2 put my interceptors in a firing cone targeting wes. Soontir and Carnor together 2 shot wes with unlucky evade dice at range 3. Tetran put damage on the rookie but was 1 shot by lando who rolled 4 crits after using opportunist. The following round lost carnor to lando after I underestimated my 2 forward (should have done a 3 to bump) but not after damage was put on lando and the rookie was taken down to 1 health. The rookie began to take himself out of the fight and soontir began the chase on lando. After landing a crit that took away his only agility and evading every attack with a focus/evade (The TL was very effective) lando went down 3 turns later. He did however take the academy with a lucky range 3 shot. The battle came down to Soontir and a rookie with the stress droid and soontir was able to turn/boost back into firing position. PTL to Target lock and focus causing 3 hits @ range 2 killing the rookie. This opponent took the most points out from me the entire day and what a match it was.
Result: Win
Round 3- Rebel 3 Build
Chewbacca (a few upgrades don't remember what)
Green Squadron, PTL, Homing Missile x2
100 PTS
Another squad that could easily wreck me since I couldn't spend evade tokens on those missiles. Fortunately for me my opponent tried to get me to chase the a-wings leaving chewie at range 1 of soontir, carnor, and cowall. It only took 2 rounds of shooting to kill chewie. The a-wings put up a fight but couldn't overcome Carnor jax and Cowall who survived to the end to mop up everyone else. Jax shut the a-wings down causing the death of one and forcing the direction of the other. Once chewie was dead there wasn't much my opponent can do. Soontir was killed by a homing missile but the other a-wing died before being able to use his.
Result: Win
Round 4-Mirror Match
Soontir, PTL, TC
Royal Guard, PTL
Royal Guard, PTL
Alpha Pilot
100 PTS
This squad I was more neutral about playing, our squads both had our weaknesses against each other. If I rolled poorly he would use his tokens on the return fire. Both our squads could one shot a ship and the tide could turn quickly in either direction. My opponent manoeuvred very well, but rolled less than 5 evades the entire game. I was able to chew through the ships quickly. I lost only the academy pilot to a range 1 from soontir but the damage was done and the battle ended shortly after. It was upsetting because, besides the dice, the battle was very good and our maneuvers were the only things between us and defeat.
Result: Win
Round 5-Dual Falcons
Chewie, Recon Specialist, Flacon Title, DTF, APL
Lando, PTL, Recon Specialist, Nien,
100 PTS
Soontir, PTL, TC
Royal Guard, PTL
Royal Guard, PTL
Alpha Pilot
100 PTS
Unfortunately, my opponents dice went about the same as the last game. Cowal taking a killing blow on a royal range 3 through an asteroid. Jax made a much larger impression this game as opposed to the last one. Since we jousted, i was able to shut down soontir fel and land a hit (direct hit) taking him out of the game. Down to just 1 saber and 1 alpha, I was able to whittle down his ships a few turns later.
Result: Win
Round 2 (Semi Finals) Mini Swarm w/ Shuttle
Academy x 4
Omni, AS, EU, (another upgrade..I forget)
Howl, Swarm Tacts
This squad was very similar in play style to a squad I had build earlier in the season. I knew the shuttle had to die first, I couldn't have that ship tearing me apart. Round 2 put enough damage to have the shuttle down to 1 hull. However my being tired began to show. I was making silly mistakes only being forgave by my dice. I lost carnor for the shuttle (points in my favor) but had an uphill battle from there. Down an interceptor with damage on fel after the next round I began to sweat. The academy was able to distract and survive drawing fire away from my INTS for a a few different rounds. I pick my maneuvering back up after I was able to take out 2 acads with damage spread to howl. I fought and clawed my way back, tetran with no damage was my safe card and began to maneuver around for the final kill. Soontir maneuvered around killing off howl (who was 2nd last to dead) and finished off the remaining academy after it kturned.
Result: Win
Round 3 (Final match) Rematch with Round 5
Chewie, Recon Specialist, Flacon Title, DTF, APL
Lando, PTL, Recon Specialist, Nien,
100 PTS
The game lasted just like the previous one. Though it was soontir that was one shot this time. Killing chewie first again I trapped lando a few turns while keeping jax on his rear. The academy was used a few times to block and shoot in this game as opposed to just blocking in the first one. I rolled extremely high on my hits (no blanks for most of my shots). Always having a focus I was doing near maximum damage very turn and since Carnor shut down recon specialist (6 poitns between the two) and the falcon title. The squads came to 92-100 pts while jax stayed on target. I was able to finish lando off a few rounds after disengaging from bumping. It was a great battle and a great opponent to play for the final match.
I learned a lot from this tournament, the ideas and thoughts I have I will post later after some much needed sleep. The Employees of EPIC loot will post the final squad build results later today. Thanks again to them for hosting the event!
