My LGS had their first X-Wing tournament today. We had 6 players (5 plus the TO). It was very interesting to see the builds that other people put together.

My build was:

Turr Phennir TIE Interceptor w/ VI and Shield Upgrade

Rexler Brath TIE Defender w/ Predator

"Night Beast" TIE Fighter

"Winged Gundark" TIE Fighter

100 pts total

Was going to try using the HLC on the Defender but in the end decided I wanted survivability on the Interceptor and upgraded the Fighters.

First round was against a Phantom, Vader, and 2 Fighters. The Vader had swarm tactics to boost the low-level pilots and the Phantom was intended as a flanker. He set up the TIE/LNs and Vader on his right and the Phantom on his left side. I put all my ships on my right, his left, wanting to NOT engage Vader and co on his terms. Turn 2 he moved the Phantom a little aggressively thinking I was going to do the same and I played a bit more conservatively and thus had all 4 ships with a shot on the Phantom, several at range 1...The Defender iced the Phantom before it got a shot off.

Meanwhile Vader and Co moved around the planet obstacle in the center of the board. Some maneuvering and shooting later, the Interceptor downed one of Vader's wingmen and the Defender accounted for Vader and the other Fighter. I lost both my TIE/LNs.

Second round had me facing off against the TO and his all X-Wing build. He had Luke with R2-D2 and some other stuff and three basic rookie pilots. He set up all on his right and I set up all on my right. Luke and one of the rookies turned toward my ships early while the other 2 moved down further, trying to go around and flank me. I lost one of the TIE/LNs early but then tagged the rookie with Luke as well as getting some good hits in on Luke. The Defender finished off Luke and I maneuvered my ships on the last two rookies. Again, I lost both my basic TIE Fighters but killed the entire enemy force.

That brought the Defender up to 5 kills, the Interceptor 2 (and 3 assists lol) and one of the TIE/LNs 1.

Third round had me facing off against the only other undefeated player and a B-Wing, A-Wing, YT (Han) squad. I hadn't fought against the larger base ships before (nor have I played the ones I have lol) and it was interesting. I probably made a big mistake in set up by trying to go opposite him and he drove hard and the YT covers a lot of ground when it wants lol. We were down to knife-fighting range quickly. The Defender tagged the A-Wing and the rest started to whittle down the shields on Han, figuring that my more maneuverable TIEs can save the lumbering B-Wing for last. Eventually, I lost the Defender to Han's shooting and the Swarm Tactics'd B-Wing's combined firepower...and a severe lack of positive rolls on my defense dice lol.

The Interceptor went next...in the end, I lost all my ships...but I was wondering about the Han combo he was using, which involved an R5 that removes a face down damage card. I thought that was WAY powerful (I effectively killed the YT twice) and when I inspected the Han card, the YT doesn't have a droid slot and his build was illegal. The TO scored it a forfeit and I was given the victory, which in my 20 years of TO experience was the right call, and not just because it benefited me, so I applaud the TO for that. I wish we would've been able to finished the game correctly with the TIE/LN finishing off the YT and then having my two basic TIEs squaring off against the B-Wing. I am confident my TIEs had the job covered. I hate to win by calling the other guy on an illegal build, but it was a very abusive combo. The guy didn't do it on purpose...he built his squad in a hurry and didn't realize it was not legal.

In the end, it was a fun and interesting day. Only the TO and myself did not use either the YT or Phantom. We have another one next month...I'm not sure if I will be able to go, but I'm hoping I can rearrange my schedule to do so and work on a new build for the event.

Chris