Hey guys,

I've been to 2 tournaments so far, both playing 4 games. So far I've won 3 and lost 5 and to be honest I am not happy with it. I'm down with the fly casual thing but when I go to a tournament I want to do well and I don't feel I've done the best I can so far. Also my brothers have done much better than me and I cannot let that pass!

What I've worked out myself is that I put a squad together with a plan in mind but I get to the tournament and it all goes out the window, I get very gung-ho and just go all in. With that in mind I either need to go with a list that goes all in or I need to reign it in.

Thoughts?

I know winning isn't everything and the title makes it sound like Call of Duty but I want to do well, the last tournament started great but then went downhill very quickly. I will say though that do still enjoy entering, love the banter and hanging out with guys that know as much(if not more) about SW than I do.

What lists are you taking?

What are you coming up against?

What errors do you often find yourself making?

What goes wrong when executing your plan?

So far both lists have been reliant on Corran Horn doing his double tap thing, with limited success I might add.

In the second tournie(which was an escalation) I used Dash with HLC wtc, Corran, a Y and then 2 Z's. The first tournie I used Corran with 4 Z's if I recall correctly.

Coming up against a lot of howlrunner swarms, shuttles, firesprays and then B's and X's.

Mistakes wise I get caught between being aggressive and defensive and then don't do either, I also get torn between what actions to use.

The above answers the last question to I guess.

If you rely on Corran to do his thing you will want to fly him defensively until an opening reveals itself where you can steer in on preferable Range 1, but 2 will also do. You step in on someone's flank or rear, fire your shots, move out of the fray and try to set up a shot for next round. People will generally want to take out Corran as soon as they can since he hits pretty hard. That's why your bulk has to take as much attention as it can, meaning your Z's need to move in a bit ahead.

As Corran hasn't been doing it for me(which is probably my fault) I picked up a YT-2400 and have started using that instead as in my mind it's an easier ship to fly.

Have you tried getting your more casual game opponents to be really hard ass with you?

I was hoping to play in a local tounry (had to drop out do to fmaily commitments in the end) but in the weeks leading up to it i was asking all my mates to be the *worst* type of player they could to me.

Pick known 'winner' lists, hurry me up in my turn, dont let me take 'forgotten' actions'. Be a bit distracting etc.

Just to force me to take my time and really *think* about the manouvre i was chosing, to go through my force slowly (well not stalling slow) but not rush through the 'fillers' to get to the 'killers' and lose an action or two by forgetting on the way.

It really tightened up my game.

Are you also asking your opponents afterwards what opportunities you gave them, where they thought 'i have you now'.

Most gamers are happy to give a game a post mortem without gloating after they have beaten you.

even in very casual home games i'll sometimes say to the wife. 'i was worried until you did 'x' in turn three, why did you do that as it surprised me and turned the game round in my favour, if you'd have done 'y' i'd have been doomed'

As Corran hasn't been doing it for me(which is probably my fault) I picked up a YT-2400 and have started using that instead as in my mind it's an easier ship to fly.

I've found Dash with HLC, outrider and prockets (plus anything else you need to taste) to be stupidly lethal. I know that is no news there but its very forgiving and the prockets help alieviate the 'range 1 dead zone'

Pair him up with corran to provide wingman cover... or possibly a y wing flying in formation.... if you're close the Y wing blaster or ions you, if you're not dash HLCs it

A gun-ho list that goes all in you say?

Sigma Squadron pilot X 4 (100)

It's a fun list to fly, and people underestimate it. Throw all of your red dice at one thing and watch it blow up. It also does really well against low agility ships.

A gun-ho list that goes all in you say?

Sigma Squadron pilot X 4 (100)

It's a fun list to fly, and people underestimate it. Throw all of your red dice at one thing and watch it blow up. It also does really well against low agility ships.

I will direct you to my signature

First thing first.

Pick up a good list that you enjoy or that you think you will enjoy playing it.

If you need feedback on it, ask for it, but tell us what you want to play already, so we can give you some tips.

Afterwards, you need to practice the list. Over and over. And over. And after you think you had finished practicing the list, practice it a bit more so you are really comfortable with it in as many match ups as possible. In the meantime, learn to eyeguess as much as possible your possible movements, where to land, and your opponent's possibilities, etc.

Read guides (Major juggler's sticky should sort that out).

Learn maths. Yeah, it is important to know your chances of success, even if it is only by intuition to decide your actions. People who normally overcommit to either defense or offense, is normally because they can't grasp if it's worth or not, and that's just probability.

As some options with your ship list for competitive play:

Dash + Corran

Dash + 4 Z's

If you don't have a tournament soon, you can also try out lists that give you problems, by asking people to let you play them, that will help you to understand weaknesses.

A gun-ho list that goes all in you say?

Sigma Squadron pilot X 4 (100)

It's a fun list to fly, and people underestimate it. Throw all of your red dice at one thing and watch it blow up. It also does really well against low agility ships.

I will direct you to my signature

Ah my mistake. Still for about $50 you can get four.

Maybe try to get your hands on an engine upgrade or shield upgrade and you could run

Corran with R2D2 FCS PTL and either shield upgrade or EU (48)

4 Tala's (52)

I'm sure there's someone out there with 2 imp ace packs and 2 yt-1300 packs who would have no problem letting you buy or have a shield upgrade (less likely for EU)

Go "fangs out" 4 blue "Bs" + a "z"....focus fire tell everyone is Dead!!! No having to Remember special actions or abilities just line them up and pull the trigger!!!

I want to echo a lot of the thoughts expressed here. First, find a list that you like and works well for you and practice the pants off of it. Make sure to build a squad with a few things in mind, like the current meta. Swarms are still a think, can you handle that? Fat Han isn't going away, can you handle that? TIE Phantoms are making a good push back with Dash being so big, can you fly Echo well? Whisper? The 58 Point Dash build is really good out of the gate with wave 5, are you running it? should you be? Decimators are not as easy to kill as you think, can you handle them.

I strongly recommend getting a firm handle on the current meta and picking a list that matches your play style. (You can always listen to past episodes of our show to catch up on the meta, BTW!)

I hate saying this but net list a little at first. Net listing is alright if you are trying to get a handle on what works for you, as it give you a good place to start on lists that 'other people' are doing well with. This may not be true for you. Everyone will eventually put their own twist on a list to match their play style, but grab that 58 Dash build and fly it a few times. Does it work for you or not? Pick a Whisper List, a Decimator List, Fat Han and fly them. Do they work for you?

The most import part however is Practice! Practice, Practice, and when you are done, Practice some more. If you can not get in a lot of games at home or at the game store, I can not recommend Vassal enough! The ability to get in several more games a week will vastly improve your game! Also, I have found that the competition level on Vassal, generally, is much higher then my local store. As they say, you are only as sharp as the stone you sharpen with. With the high level of skill at this game on Vassal, the better player you get to be overall.

I hope this helps, please feel free to reach out if you need help getting started on Vassal.

1. Be able to fly through asteroids without hitting the rocks. This right here can be a game changer especially if you bring a big ship and can zip through the field with finesse. Some players can't do this and if they follow you they'll hit the rocks. Practice by taking every set of asteroids you have and randomly place em on a mat and fly through them with out touching.

2. Be able to visualize each maneuver template. When you're new you're kind of in the guessing phase where you really don't know 100% where your ship is gonna end up and this leads to bumping, flying off the table, parking on the rocks and all sorts of bad things. Practice maneuvering, boosting, and barrel rolling until you know where each ship ends up. Remember big ships are different so practice with both.

3. Buy a falcon, it's a solid ship with some amazing combinations which are top tier. Also you need engine upgrades and the falcon is still the only way to get them I believe.

4. Since you don't own the corvette you're gonna want to stick to running Dash and Corran. I don't want to give you specific builds since that's part of the fun coming up with those combos but both ships gain alot from engine upgrade. Also Corran with r2d2 auto cancels 2 damage a round with the evade token and regeneration then with a focus you get roll 3 green dice. Also you don't have to double tap every round. Save it for when it's necessary.

5. See how long the rounds are going to be for the tournament. 50 minutes is completely different than 75 and will affect how everyone plays. I was at a tournament monday with 50 minute rounds and because of that I decided to build tanky and brought leebo and chewie because chewie when built right is almost impossible to kill in that amount of time. I didn't need to go balls to the wall forward so I'd slow roll up and once the enemy was in the field I'd zoom in and take some good shots then jump to the other end of the field for range 3 shots while they tried to target me.

**This isn't me condoning stalling, that's a completely different thing and is truly a **** move. Wait until you come across your 1st phantom or fel player who after they kill 1 or 2 ships start taking a really long time to decide where to decloak or barrel roll and start talking out loud and making it seem like a huge conundrum.

6. Have a back up list. Be good at multiple lists. Sometimes you might walk into a tournament and see everyone bringing there anti dash gear or hear about it online so then it might be smarter to switch up the list so you avoid some hard counters.

The only way to improve is by practicing. Get your basics down. Screw the list making, that will come later. Practice your flying first. What I did when I first got into the game was place random asteroids on the table then I would fly a ship through it as you would an obstacle course. Not getting hit, not overshooting a turn and getting from point A to B in the shortest possible distance are good goals. After that I advanced to putting a ship on any point in the board and getting it in my front arc. After 2 maneuvers. It helps that Ive been playing WHFB for 12 and 4 years of 40K and judging distances was somewhat second nature to me already but it still helps.

After you get better at choosing maneuvers I would make several lists that uses 1-2 of the same ships only adding a newer one to make the list different. This allowed to to achieve two things. First I get familiar with the constant ship and I get to see the difference say an Awing to a Bwing. Second it allows me to see how a different ship added to the list creates a different synergy with regards to flying it. Avoid big ships especially with 360 firing arcs. You'll get better faster. Practicing with small ships with only a smaller forward firing arc makes you learn how to maintain someone in your arc as well as improve your own understanding of arc dodging.

Lastly as you gradually get better, bring more diverse lists in your practice games. I flied 6 different lists in 7 different tourneys I attended during my first few ones and luckily I managed to fly all of them to victory as the practice of never fielding the same list twice helped mr understand the game more.The only time I used a Falcon was during Regionals and only after then did I grew fond of it.

Again practice the basics and improve your flying! Lists will come and go. The meta will shift like waves but your ability to fly a specific ship will remain and only improve allong the way. For actions just keep focusing. Sooner or later it will come naturally when you have to choose a different action. I for example have found it almost always better to go target lock instead with a bwing if I know the target I am shooting at will most likely be alive after the first volley of focus firing. Again I cannot stress the importance of mastering your maneuvering! Keep flying and take mistakes in stride!

I think the biggest mistake some people make is creating a brand new squad for a tournament without ever playing it first. Yea it might look great, you might have all the ideas down on how to use it, but without real world game playing experience, it could very well go poorly.

As others have said, find a squad you like and get many games in with it before taking it to a tournament. You will not only be more confident with it, but more likely to do well also.

Plus like with any game, someone has to lose, whether it's all good players, all bad players, or a mix. 3-5 isn't horrible, it means you're able to win games at least, and came close to going 50/50.

A couple things I see in this:

If you think you are "prepared" but everything then falls apart at the tournament that is saying you either aren't preparing properly or you are getting flustered somehow and no executing. I know the saying that "the best plans rarely survive the first contact with the enemy" but when they do, or when the backup plans can kick in, you should be rolling.

Another thing I saw was the mention of escalation. With this type of tournament you need to really prepare because things change game to game no matter what you do. Your squad may play one way at the low point levels but as you add points thing will need to change.

I would highly suggest getting together with your twin, and practicing placing Asteroids and Ships.

This holds an astonishing amount of sway over who has advantages, and where.

Play until the first round of actual every-ship-shoots engagement, then clear and restart.

Remember that different squads and ships prefer differing placements, and figure out how to have the placements benefit you, rather than your opponent.

Orientation of the asteroid formation can also look vastly different from different sides of the table. If they're in a curved wedge, that might be a tight cluster at my opponent's end with long-lanes at mine.

Play more casual games, to créate you an style, choose the ships and pilots that you fell more confortable and know it, how it's move and the weakness and strongess of the ship, and with all this try to get more fun, if you always expect to fun you always win even the result of the game, greettings.

Have you considered an Alpha-Strike fleet?

always bring a fat han / ACD phantom. These ships are so ridiculously powerful to the extent that it is much much easier to use them and then figure out how to deal with the (mostly ineffective) counters than to try and fight against them.

case in point, if you simply paired a lonewolf yssane rebel captive kenkrik with your whisper vi acd fcs, there is pretty much no possible bad matchup. It's like bringing both scissors and paper in a rock scissors paper game. Yes, you may still lose from poor flying, questionable in-game decisions and/or amazing dice roll luck, but that's more of your own fault at that point, not the list

In the vernacular;

git gud.

Find the best X-wing player in your area and play them over and over and over again until you can give them a close game.