I've been playing X-wing for a couple of months now, and I'm fully hooked. I'd only had the chance to play against 2 or 3 different friends and finally found some time to sign up for my first tournament. I have really enjoyed reading others' battle reports on here, and I thought I'd attempt to return the favour with one of my own. It's not super detailed, but I hope you get the gist of it. 18 people showed up at Duelling Grounds and it seemed like everyone had a great time. The employee even agreed to stay late in order to let us finish the final round. Big thanks to Josh as well for organizing the tournament, and for being very welcoming and helpful to a newb like me!
The list I brought was:
Corran Horn + PTL + FCS + R2D2
Wedge + Predator
Bandit x2
First round I faced off against Conor, running:
Vader + Hull
Rhymer + Proton bomb
Rexler Brath
Conor was by far the youngest and most enthusastic player at the tournament! He had a lot of fun running his list, especially doing his signature move - the 4 white K-turn with Rexler. He also did a Darth Vader impression every time he moved his tie advance. I set up in a Box formation with my bandts forming the left side of the box, and Corran top right, Wedge bottom right. Conor set up directly opposite me for the joust. We exchanged fire from range three in the second round without much effect, and then he dropped his proton bomb in the third round. Unfortunately for him I saw it coming and was able to block Vader so that he was the only one in radius of the blast. A couple of turns later Vader blew up on an asteroid, one of my bandits succombed to his Defender; then Corran double tapped the somewhat predictable white K turns of Rexler and it was game over. Watch out for Conor in the future, a star in the making! I won 100-12.
Round 2 (Victor):
Wedge + Swarm
Roark + Ion Cannon Turret
Blue Squadraon + Fire control system
Rookie Pilot
We set up in opposite corners with a jumble of asteroids in the middle. 3 turns in and it was a huge mess, with almost every ship bumbing one another, forming basically a horizontal line through the asteroid field. I decided to try and take out what I thought was his most dangerous threat, wedge. I had 2 range 1 shots with my Bandits, and Corran + Wedge had range 2 shots, none of them obstructed by asteroids. 0 damage. Not a single shield even. ugh. He focus fired on my Corran and dealt him 4 damage + ionized him. I decided to use my second attack with Corran since I figured he wouldn't be around much longer (with Wedge swarming the blue, and Roark giving his PS 12 to the rookie Corran would be shooting 3rd next round!); I abandoned the evade-rolling Wedge and used my second attack on the rookie pilot, dealing him 3 damage. Next turn Corran died and so did his rookie; and he managed to ionize my wedge and peel off his shields. The following turn my wedge died, but I was able to take out his wedge as well. After that it was just clean up duties for him, with my 2 bandits facing off against his turret + undamaged B-wing, I didn't have much hope. He won 100-52.
Round 3 (Gary):
Soontir + Push the Limit
Rexler + Predator
Captain Yorr + Ion Cannon + Rebel Captive
I felt like this would be a good test for my list, as I had no idea how I'd fare against an arc-dodging freak like Soontir Fel. We set up in opposite corners again, but Soontir set up right in the middle. First few turns I slow played with 1 forward for all my guys, trying to feel out where exactly Soontir was going to go + that massive shuttle. Soontir shot 5 ahead, trying to shoot through the asteroid field to flank me. I believe he pushed the limit on the first turn with a barrel roll + boost to maximize his distance, however that limited how far he could move the second turn. I turned by squad in towards the asteroid field when I was exactly halfway down the map, at this point his shuttle (who'd been moving quite agressively with 2 and 3 forward moves) and defender had caught up with Soontir. His shuttle moved aggressively again turning into meet me. Gary made a mistake with his dial and turned soontir right into the shuttle, presenting his backside to me. Rexler hung back, but I was able to barrell roll with Corran to get him into my firing arc. I had 3 shots on Soontir, and managed to destroy him with Wedge and fire from the 2 bandits. I did one attack on the Defender, peeling 2 of his shields and took no damage in return. His Shuttle was able to fire a range one shot at one of my bandits and left it with 1 health. With his Soontir dead so early it did not look good for him. I k-turned behind his shuttle with Wedge and one of the bandits, leaving the 1 health warrior out front to block him. I guessed correctly that Rexler woudl do a 4 k turn, and was able to get him in my sights with Corran, while being out of his firing arc. My bandit did his job dying, and the shuttle took some heavy damage from Wedge + the other full health bandit. I double tapped Rexler and with some poor defense dice he went down as well. After that it was just clean up of the not-so-maneuverable shuttle, which never got another shot off. I won, 100-12.
Round 4 (James):
Etahn
Ten Nub + Veteran Instincts
3 Bandits
This was a scar list! James set up and flew in beautiful formation, keeping all 4 of his ships in Etahn's arc and dealing crits like a mad man. We set up in opposite corners and both slow-played our way towards a meeting in the middle of the asteroid field. He had a bit harder time negotiating his way in with 5 ships as opposed to my 4 and ended up doing a bit of bumping and action losing, but nothing major. We exchanged bandits on the first pass, and then all hell broke lose with the 7 remaning ships clustered in the asteroids. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I do remember frequently evading Ten's attacks, only to reminded that I couldn't cancel his first crit (generously provided to him by Etahn) aaaah! What synergy! A great list really. I had hard time deciding if I should focus on Etahn or Ten, and ultimately I tried to take down Ten first. He focused in on my Wedge and manged to kill him while I only Peeled Ten's shields off. At this piont I had a 1 health bandit who I flew away to try and de-stress and regroup + a stressed Corran from pushing the limit. Man, the E-wing does not have a lot of green maneuvers! It took a while for me to clear Corran's stress and get him back in the fight. I was able to barrel roll effetively several times out of arc, but Corran was slowing being knocked down, to the point where he only had 1 health left. My 1 health bandit was ultimately taken out at long range by one of his bandits and it came down to the final turn. Time was called, but we played it out, to give James a chance to earn a full win. He had Etahn and Ten on my butt and I was facing the wrong way with Corran. Rather than running and turtling, I did a 1 turn and barrelled rolled backwards, hoping that Ten would overshoot me. Success!! Just barely! James was very generous in his ruling, but we did agree after much laser pointer-ing that Ten was barely in my range. I managed to double tap him out of the sky, and rolled some lucky defense dice to let Corran survive. I lost, but at least I managed to do some damage. I lost 56 - 44.
Round 5 (Andrew):
Han Solo + C3PO + Veteran Instincts
Blue + Advance sensors x 2
After 4 hours of play I was matched up against my brother in law, and a list I had played against many times. We practiced many times against one another, and it was actually in playing against this list that I developed my own. He set up his Blues in one corner, and I set up directly opposite him for the Joust. Han set up in the middle, planning to blast through the asteroids and get behind me with that turret of his. 2 turns in and we were all within range of one another. His Han did a little damage to a Bandit, but then my list took over. Corran throwing three attack dice at a b-wing's 1 defense wasn't pretty. Wedge throwing 3 dice + 2 predator re-rolls + the blue didn't get to roll a defense (wedge's ability), it was deadly. I destroyed a B-wing in the first round of fire, and one more in the second round, while he only managed to kill 1 Bandit. After that it was just me focusing in on the falcon with 3 full health ships, one of them getting constant target locks and shooting twice every other round. It didn't take long and ultimately Andrew conceded. I won, 100-12.
So I went 3-2 and was pretty excited that I actually won a few games. I was pretty happy that even in the games I lost I managed to destroy a significant portion of my opponent's lists as well. I was totally caught off guard when it was announced that I had finished 4th overall! Of all the 3-2 players (5 of us) I had the largest margin of victory! Very exciting and encouraging for my first tournament ever. Everyone was very friendly and helpful, and I can't wait for another tournament to find its way downtown Toronto.