Was the name of this list
Jan Ors-recon specialist, moldy crow, blaster turret, veteran instincts
Wedge-predator
Wes Janson-veteran instincts, r3a2.
which I took to a tournament last night at Art of War Games in Cincinnati. I had never played at Art of War before, but found the tournament experience to be well organized and pleasant. If any of you are ever in town I recommend you stop in and buy something.
My idea with the list was that x-wing is a game about killing your opponent, and only that. Survivor units are useful for taking objectives, which don't exist in this game, and not dying. However, paying a premium for not getting killed is often not worth it if those points could go into simply killing your opponent quicker.
I have better quality shots than most people, and will be outnumbered. Which is ironic, because I ended up playing 2 lists of 3 ships, and 2 lists of 2 ships. But The Prodigy is a good band, so whatever.
Round 1
I got paired up against Denson who was running
Corrann Horrnn-r2d2, fcs, push the limit
Han Solo with a bunch of stuff
Denson and me set up across from each other and went for the joust, with his Han set off to my side. He lost Corrann in 2 turns, but managed to knock Jan down to 1 hull. The next 2 turns consisted of Wedge and Wes chasing Han around while Han tried to kill Jan. I kept rolling enough eyeballs and evades to dodge his attacks, and he conceded when Han had 4 hull points left.
Round 2
Jeff. With one of the weirdest, and potentially most frustrating lists I have ever seen.
Whisper-vet instincts, adv cloaking, sensor jammer, recon specialist
Carnor Jax-stealth device, tie guard title, hull upgrade, push the limit
Dark Curse-stealth device
Really wasn't looking forward to playing against this nastiness, and Jeff has won our previous 3 engagements pretty soundly.
He deployed to try and joust me, as I believe he felt if he spread out I would just pick his fleet apart ship by ship. I moved up 4 straights, and turn 2 we met head to head, with Wedge and Wes in range 1 of Carnor, target locking him, and Jan off to the side where she could still use her blaster turret.
Wes knocked the focus and evade off Carnor, but his stealth device still held for 0 damage. Where I messed up was having Jan shoot Whisper, taking a shield away. Wedge firing on Carnor left him with 1 hull point left, but most importantly, put the injured pilot card on Carnor. This was critical, as he was not able to deny me focus or Jan her turret. However, he had 1 hp left, and Wes got erased for his trouble.
Next turn I finished off Carnor, and Jan managed to roll 3 hits against Whisper, with the result of 2 blanks on evade. Dark Curse was able to hunt down and kill Jan before Wedge finished him off.
Lesson Learned: Next time always go for overkill if it means they definitely won't get to shoot at all. If I hadn't gotten that particular crit through on Carnor, I would have lost the game I think.
Round 3
In the third round I played against Ron, who was running another 3 ship rebel build.
Ten Numb-veteran instincts
Wedge-predator
Etahn-r2d2, something else
We traded my Wes for his Wedge on the initial joust, and the next turn his Ten Numb got an injured pilot crit through on Wedge, turning him into a high skill rookie. The irony, the horrible irony of this. After that, we just tried to avoid each other while vying for shots. He killed Jan, I got Ten, and then Etahn finished off Wedge. Really a tough game, probably went 20-25 turns.
Lesson Learned: Play at the top of your game in mirror matches, I got sloppy this game and lost for it.
Round 4
Last round, I played against James N. James was the only 3-0 player in the tournament at this point. After a narrow loss last game, I was out for blood. James mentioned he went 6-0 with this list at Gencon. Playing the only undefeated player meant I had to be on top of my game. Most importantly:
James was wearing a Cincinnati Bengals hat. I was wearing my Baltimore Ravens hat.
Honor demanded I get 100 pts.
Etahn-predator, shield upgrade, r2d2
Chewbacca-creepio, luke gunner, engine upgrade, draw their fire.
Tough list, very, very survivable. and can force through crits. The draw their fire+regen made me think that he wanted people to think Etahn was the easier target, and shoot him first. I wasn't falling for that, I was running Chewie long before the internet started talking about him, I know what he can do in the late game.
He deployed on the far left edge of the table (from my perspective), I deployed Wes right up against the left edge, and Wedge/Jan were in a conga line going down the asteroids. We both moved up 1 straights. Next turn I moved up 2s, he did hard turns towards the center of the map. I crept up slowly again, with chewie doing a lazy 3+boost to get almost beside Wedge/Jan.
First rounding shooting I took a few shields off Chewie in exchange for light damage to Jan. Next round Wedge k turned back around, Jan moved up a lazy 1, and Wes did a lazy 3 over. Wedge and Jan knocked quite a bit of health off Chewie, He did some damage to Jan, and Etahn, who was behind Wedge at this point, wiffed.
The way we were positioned, Chewbacca was heading right for my bottom right corner, Wedge and Wes were in a great spot to corner him and he couldn't get out of our arcs. I moved Jan up, knowing she would either be behind Etahn if he gave chase. Or, if Etahn went after he, he would be horribly out of position to help Chewie.
Chewie was taken out quick, and Etahn went after Jan, killing her. From here though, he had Etahn vs 2 full health X-wing aces. Those E-wings are slippery, but I played slow and steady and took him out.
Lesson Learned: Predator is better than PTL unless you are an interceptor or a-wing. Those 3 turns where wedge k turned, and then did a 4 straight, followed by a lazy 3 to hound Chewie meant he at least got a re roll to use.
Results
I ended up going 3-1, as did my last round opponent, and 2nd round opponent. My buddy James C, who I drove down with, also went 3-1. Tie breakers were determined by strength of schedule, which meant I ended up in 3rd place. James N got 1st, James C got 2nd, and Jeff got 4th. Both of the James got Rebel Aces packs. James C offered to give me his, since he picked one up at Gencon, but I figured I can just borrow his Farlander card if I want to run a death star laser. Told him to get 2 z-95s instead and run Han swarm, since that list is the ****.
I got the sweet alternative art card for Biggs Darklighter, which is great. I have mostly ran 3 ship rebels since I started playing, so I use Biggs often.
This was the first tournament that I didn't bring B-wings to, and stuck with what I know. And I had a great showing, beating 2 top contenders, losing a very close near mirror match, and winning against 2 fat falcons and a whisper.
Todays Lesson
Play what you enjoy, and get good at it kids.
Edited by Breaking The Law
