Just got home from a Game Night Tournament. Had a great time with some Scum. They released this Wednesday and I haven't had an opportunity to try them. I knew beforehand that it would be a pretty small tournament so I figured what the ****, I might as well try them. So I brought the following:

IG-88B

- PtL

- HLC

- FCS

- Autothrusters

- IG-2000

IG-88C

- PtL

- HLC

- FCS

- Autothrusters

- IG-2000

Felt it was really simple to just have two identical ships, and they form a strong combo as you can boost to get in arc, get an evade and then you Focus. If you flunk the first shot without any modification to the dice you just fire again with TL.

Before I start recapping the battles I have to say this: Autothrusters, are, AMAZING. I must've evaded somewhere in the vicinity of 15-20 hits in three games from Autothrusters alone. It allows you to save the Evade tokens for the heavy-hitters. 2-attack ships at Range 3 can barely touch you.

Anyways, it was decided that there'd be 4 rounds of swiss to determine the winner. We were 7 contestants in total, so 3 would've been enough but we went for 4 rounds anyway.

Round 1

I was the only one with Scum there, so it was a bit sad that I recieved the bye in the first round. =/

Aw well, scouted the field and checked the lists while the others were playing.

Round 2

Got to face the list I least of all wished to face

Soontir Fel

- PtL

Whisper

- VI

- ACD

Vader

- PR

- Adrenaline Rush

All PS 9, just what I needed with my PS 6s. I placed one of my IGs halfway from the middle towards the right side and the other on the left side in similar fashion. He then placed Soontir in his left corner and Whisper just to his left of the center and Vader opposite to my left IG. I advance with my right IG going 1 straight and then Boosting 1 forward just to get the hang of how they travel when boosting as I have limited experience with large ships. The left IG turn right and Boost to catch up to the right one. Soontir goes straight forward, Whisper surprises me with a 4 straight and then cloaking. Usually Phantoms tend to slow roll the first round or two. Vader goes 4 straight as well, heading towards the void left by my IG. No shots.

Next turn I bank my forward IG out towards the edge and manage to block Soontir and the other banked up to get a Range 3 shot. Vader was trying to catch up and Whisper got a shot on the blocker. I don't remember how much damage I took that game, but I managed to keep it spread between the ships, so none of them were in any danger. Whisper stayed in the general area, Vader tried to reach Range 1 with a 3 bank towards the IG he'd been chasing, but my IG was long since gone with a 3 bank and boost. Soontir fled into the middle while my other swung around the corner. Whisper had barrel rolled in front of an asteroid to get a shot, so the next round I set a maneuver to end up blocking her decloak to the left, her only option as the other options would lever her on or moving across an asteroid. So she made a 1 turn across the asteroid, remaining cloaked, ending up right in front of the ship that blocked her. She passed the asteroid without damage, but I stripped her shields with a Range 1 shot. Vader turned away to reposition and chase after the ship he'd ben after all along which was cutting through the middle to come around for another run. I ran across the asteroid after shooting Whisper and then k-turned to get all but Vader in arc, and destroyed Soontir. Whisper decided to decloak in front of an asteroid and fly over it, taking one damage. She got a shot off and then was destroyed by an HLC. So, two Aggressors chasing after Vader. He got his PR off in the end, dealing 2 damage, but he took some damage in that round and was easily destroyed the next.

Victory 100-0

Round 3

Faced the guy who'd go on and be the winner. He brought:

Han Solo

- Predator

- Luke Skywalker

- Chewbacca

- Millennium Falcon

3x Tala Squadron

The asteroids were set up on two straight lines, creating a big lane in the middle, which in hindsight was a horrible setup as he could fly all his ships on a wide line. I wanted to slow roll one of my IGs and flank with the other. He rushed my slow rolling IG. I managed to take something like two shields on Han and 2 shields and 1 hull on a Z as my flanker didn't get Han in arc. There isn't really that much to say about this game except that it was a blockfest. His Z-95s and Han was always in the way. After just four turns he had reduced one of the IGs to 2 Hull left and then he went after the other. When I didn't have a shot on Han I went for the Zs and killed the damaged one and hurt another one down to 1 Hull. By then he had both my ships at 1 Hull each. Didn't look good at all. In the end he had 5 Hull left on Han and a Z with 1 Hull and one undamaged.

Note to self: Always kill the escort first.

Loss 13-100

Round 4

Well well, an empire version of the last list.

Oicunn

- Rebel Captive

- Ysanne Isard

- Expose

- Experimental Interface

Howlrunner

2x Academy Pilot

He set his TIEs in the corner and Oicunn right next to them. I set my ships side by side in the middle. We move forward and then I bank to face him and he takes a sharp turn in. I wanted to take the TIEs first to not reapeat the last game. Only one of the ships had range on the TIEs so I decided to have both shoot Oicunn dealing a total of 6 damage an he took one of my shields. The next round was a major pileup where everyone crashed. Even Howlie ran into one of her own TIEs, so I destroyed her with a Range 1 primary and a Range 2 HLC. Much better. One of the TIEs k-turned and the other turned and attempted to block my lead IG. I flew past it and headed up into the corner where he deployed and the other IG did a Segnor's and destroyed the k-turned TIE. Then he went after the Decimator for a turn, but ended up in Range 1 behind him. Autothrusters or not, I do not want 5 dice tossed against me. So after that run I broke off and turned around an asteroid to get a bit more distance between us. Meanwhile the TIE gave chase to the other IG, but did not stand a chance at hitting at range 3 when I had autothrusters and an evade token. So he broke off and headed for the Decimator when I turned in the IG he had chased and blew him apart. Now there was only the Decimator left, and he was easily destroyed in the next round or two. In the end I had taken a total of 7 hits, where 6 of them were shields, so I was in good condition the whole game.

Victory 100-0

Ended up in second place, the only one who'd gone 3-1. I must say everything went much better than expected. I normally fly A-wings and these Aggressors is what I'd call Fat A-wings. They are pretty fast, especially with their native Boost action. They work really well both individually and together, depending on what the situation demands. The only thing that can be difficult is turning around and getting a shot back at high mobility targets. Which is why in the first game I was switching around quite a lot. When one had to turn around the other one went in and made a mess of things, and then he broke off to clear stress and turn, and then the other one got back into the fight.