Tournament report - Athena Games Norwich (28/02/15)

By Hedgehogmech, in X-Wing Battle Reports

Posted at
Last Saturday I attended the store championship at my one of my local games shops, Athena Games in Norwich.


I was a little nervous, although my worry wasn't that of losing, but simply of coming up against high-powered tournament lists. Flying against VI Whisper or Fat Has just isn't as much fun... While I'd played at Athena a couple of times, I had no idea what kind of lists I'd come up against.


Actually winning wasn't high on my list of priorities - my main goal was simply to have fun flying against new opponents and interesting lists!


With that in mind I decided to stick with my "Alphabet Soupdron". I'd used it at the only other X-wing tournament I'd been to - a 100% casual event for charity, which I somehow managed to win! There were only eight players there, but winning there indicated that my list wasn't completely terrible:

- Dutch + ion cannon turret & R5-K6

- Garven + hull upgrade

- Dagger + fire control system

- Prototype + chardaan refit


This list is a lot of fun to fly - the four ships all fly differently and give me varied abilities, while the combination of Dutch + Garven can give me excellent action synergy.


My usual tactic is to use the A-wing as a decoy, deploying on one side of the field. It's a rare list that doesn't have some PS 1-2 pilots, so often my opponent will set up ships facing it. I can then set up the rest of my force elsewhere.


The A-wing then acts as a disposable decoy - if my opponent goes after it with something expensive then I can use my three heavy hitters to defeat the rest of his force in detail. At least, that's the theory...


Note that most of the lists and battles are recreated from memory, and so may not be 100% accurate - if you flew against me, please feel free to correct the record!

Posted at
Game 1 - Chris


Chris flew a modification of his favourite list:

- Wedge + predator

- Blount + ion pulse

- Corran Horn + R2 D2 + PTL + FCS


Chris is an old friend who has unfortunately has never really managed to get his ships to work against me. Looking at his pilots I knew that Corran would be my #1 priority.


Despite his higher PS, Chris took my bait, setting up Wedge on my right flank ready to take on my A-wing. Corran was more towards the centre opposite my main force, with Blount on the left. The asteroids formed a bit of a wall between the right of the board and the centre.


The A-wing boosted forward into range of Wedge, who hurt but failed to kill it. Corran didn't fancy backing up Wedge so headed towards my centre force, with Blount ready to assist from the left.


The next turn, my prototype flew past Wedge - Wedge was therefore out of it for this turn thanks to the asteroids stopping him from helping out in the centre. My B turned left to face Blount, and as a backup in case Corran came ahead faster than predicted. Things didn't go well for Chris at all - Blount was too far out of position, and Corran, despite causing some damage, lost all three shields to Garven.


At this point I took a chance. Corran had two hull left, while I still had Dutch to fire at range one. I could shoot the ion cannon, and make Corran a sitting duck next turn - or I could fire my main guns and hope to kill him before he got his second shot. I took the gamble - and managed to kill Corran with three hits to only a single Evade!


In reply Blount ion'd my B, but it wasn't that much of a problem - it would simply keep it out of the fight for another turn. My B's response stripped the shields from Blount.


Next turn Wedge came slashing in from my right flank. He finished off Garven, but Dutch managed to ion him in return. Meanwhile my A scarpered - with only one hull left he didn't want to be caught in front of Wedge!


Wedge didn't really stand a chance against Dutch. Staying ahead of Wedge, Dutch ion'd him for the next two turns, while my B turned and first blocked Wedge, then k-turned behind him to finish him off. Wedge did manage to kill Dutch at the same time though.


It was now my slightly damaged B against a shield-less Blount who was returning to the fight after making a slow-ish turn around one of the right-hand asteroids. A cunning barrel roll on my part allowed the B to get into short range, and it was all over. The turn did contain on moment of silliness though - I hadn't been precise enough in my A-wing's dial, and so managed to hard-turn right onto an asteroid and blow myself up, rather than flying past it as intended!


Chris definitely did not have luck on his side - he rolled one evade on Corran in two shots - a single evade more would have kept him alive! At the same time I think he was flying something of a glass cannon list - he's got some very dangerous pilots, but they're not that tough. It was also his first time flying Blount, and I think it showed - the ion pulse missile didn't really achieve that much when fired at my B at medium range, with no dangerous asteroids ahead.


Win - 1-0.

Edited by Hedgehogmech
Posted at
Game 2 - Josh


Josh flew:

- Wedge

- Biggs

- Cracken

- Hobbie + R3 A2


I didn't know Josh, so had no idea exactly how his XXXZ list would perform. Asteroids were set up mostly on his side of the board, with some corridors for use.


Josh declined my A-wing bait, instead setting up in a 2*2 formation more reminiscent of a TIE swarm on the right side of the board. I started to get a bit worried at this point - I much prefer it when my opponents react to me, rather than vice-versa! I set my ships on my left, woping to use the A to get ahead and break up his formation.


We approached each other through the asteroids on his side of the board. Josh's tight formation helped him avoid collisions, while my looser ships got one or two bumps.


At the key turn, my A boosted forward, hoping to block the formation and cause a lot of action loss - but I misjudged! Instead my b-wing found itself facing all four enemy ships at range one - uh-oh... One bumper round of hits and one dead B-wing later, and I'd only hurt Biggs, without even ioning him.


The next turn also failed to go well, as the lower PS Hobbie and Biggs managed to block Dutch, while still allowing all four of his ships a shot. Garven saw a opportunitic k-turn alongside his formation, but failed to do any damage. Josh's formation was broken, but the concentrated fire of all four ships too out Dutch.


At this point I knew I didn't have much chance of winning, so the goal instead became to kill the ever-annoying Biggs. After all - "In victory - magnanimity, in defeat - vengeance!"


To this end Garven, badly out of position, sacrificed himself to distract Wedge and Hobbie. Meanwhile my A (which had done a complete loop around a rock) went speeding after the now-friendless Biggs. An extremely lucky shot managed to just take off Biggs's last hull point, moments before my prototype died under the fire of the rest of Josh's ships!

I had been defeated, and badly, but had at least avoided the ignominy of a 100-0 defeat.


Josh was an extremely dangerous opponent. He had a game plan and stuck to it, ignoring all distractions. Both his flying and his target priority were top-notch, and he didn't make a single exploitable mistake in the entire game. Yes, the dice also favoured him, but it didn't really matter - he's have easily beaten me anyway, because his flying was just that good! He was also a great sport about it, and I can only hope I'm half as nice to my opponent when I'm winning...


Loss - 1-1.

Edited by Hedgehogmech
Posted at
Game 3 - Sam


Sam used:

- Kyle + Recon specialist + Moldy Crow + blaster turret + elusiveness

- Cracken + concussion missiles

- Tala squadron

- Jake Farrell + PTL + proton rockets


Sam had a very deceptive list. The HWK is hardly the ship to strike fear into an opponent, and Zs and As are usually regarded as lacking in firepower. But the missiles and Prockets add some punch, the Moldy Crow hands out focuses like Candy, and Jake is extremely slippery!


My primary target was going to be Jake - he's just too dangerous to be allowed to live, and effectively impossible to kill in the end-game.


Like Josh, Sam refused my A-wing bait, setting up all four ships in the far-right corner. I set-up in the middle, approaching him at an angle. The asteroids were mostly out of the way on the far-left side and didn't affect the game much.


I eschewed my usual approach through the asteroids, knowing that getting to grips with the Crow was important to limit the stock of focus tokens. I also didn't want to give Jake time to sneak up behind me!


My A-wing boosted ahead to try and distract/disrupt as usual, while my main core force came up behind. At this point I was faced with a choice. Icould keep going directly for his force, but risk being flanked by Jake on the right from the table edge. Or I could Turn right, but get hit by the Zs from the table middle. I chose to spilt the difference, sending Garven and the B to the right, with the Dutch taking on the Zs.


It turned out I'd predicted correctly, sending the Zs in a turn towards Dutch, while Jake came in from my right flank. However, it wouldn't go as planned for me!


Sam had cunningly realised that Kyle passing a focus to Jake would trigger his free boost or barrel roll. With this he was able to hit Garven with Prockets while still dodging out of his arc. Cracken also helped out with his concussion missile taking Garven down to two hull.


My B behind Garven had a range two shot at Jake, but A-wings are tough targets and I only did a single point of damage. Meanwhile in the centre Dutch had engaged the Zs, ioning the Tala, and my A completed a turn behind Kyle, causing no damage - elusiveness really proved it's worth.


The battle was now moving back towards the centre, Jake was still active, and Garven was facing the wrong way! I had no real option but to K-turn both him and the B-wing, leaving Dutch to face the fire from Cracken and Jake. This hurt him badly, and a crit reduced his agility to 0! In return I only peppered Kyle with a little damage from my k-turning ships (elusiveness once again preventing more hits), and ion'd the Tala again.


I knew the next turn would be key. Without any agility Dutch was the #1 target for Sam and almost certainly dead, however I had my B, A and Garven closing from the rear. Unfortunately my firing was less than stellar - Dutch duly went down without getting to dire, while I hurt Kyle but failed ot kill him as I had hoped.


Over the next few turns the battle evolved into a knife-fight in the centre, which saw my B going down for the loss both the Tala and finally Kyle.


At this point we were two ships down each with Sam just scraping a win when time was called. We could finish the round, and I desperately tried to keep my remaining ships alive, with little chance of taking out Jake or the undamaged Cracken. but Jake's actions allowed him to get a range one shot on Garven, still with two hull remaining. He got two hits - and I rolled no evades! This handed Sam a solid victory, though at least I'd done some damage an avoided being wiped out!


Sam was a fantastic opponent, epitomising the "fly casual" attitude at its best. We had a lot of fun, and such a close match made for an excellent game. His list was deceptively good, and he'd obviously thought carefully about how he could use it's synergies to best effect.


Loss - 1-2
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Game 4 - Jonathan


Jonathan's list was:

- Kyle + Moldy Cro + recon specialist + blaster turret

- Dutch + ion turret

- Tarn + R7


Aother game, another rebel list, and another HWK! Looking at Jonathan's list I could synergies similar to mine, with a free focus and a free TL available every turn. I also knew that Tarn could be a real monster without focussed fire.


The battlefield had scatterd asteroids, but with several along the right-hand edge creating a corridor between them and the edge of the battlefield.


Jonathan set up his ships on the far-right, facing the right edge of the battlefield - the obvious intention was to delay his approach as much as possible to build up a stock of tokens on the Crow. In response I decided to avoid the oblique approach, and go head-to-head where I should have the jousting advantage, and could put pressure on the Kyle's Focus stock.


I took a slightly slower approacvh for the first couple of turns, figuring allowing a few more focuses to build up on the Crow was worth letting my A to get ahead as a distraction. This paid off when Tarn went after him - now it was just Jonathan's Dutch and Kyle versus all three of my heavy hitters!


Jonaathan meanwhile was hading a bad day, with several unlucky bumps between Dutch and Kyle depriving him of actions.


My A-wing, having successfully distracted Tarn, hard-turned back to my main group to tuck in behind them. In the joust, my superior firepower paid off, and I killed Kyle fairly quickly after running him out of defensive focuses, at the cost of damage to Dutch.


Once we'd passed Tarn came slashing on from the flank, having decided not to chase my A. Focussed fire killed Dutch, but I was now in a better position with close-range shots on Tarn from the B and Garven, and even his R7 unit couldn't protect him. Meanwhile my A had been unable to find a good way to contribute to the firefight, and had turned around (a low PS ship at the back with a furball in front doesn't really help).


Jonathan's Dutch, with Garven and a B behind him and asteroids to the side, had less maneouvering to do. At this point, with Jonathan only able to do a single ion damage per turn, things were pretty much over. I wore through Dutch's shields and hull without losing anything else.


Jonathan was pretty unlucky during this game - it was pretty much where I'd been with my second game, simply coming up against a force works well against you. He was pretty unlucky with some early bumps, but took it very graciously, and at least managed to kill one of my ships to prevent a total wipeout!


Win - 2-2

Edited by Hedgehogmech
Posted at
Game 5 - Ross


Ross's list was:

Dash + Outrider + Engine upgrade + PTL + HLC

3 x Tala


Ross was flying something I'd been worried about - a tooled turret backed by a swarm. I didn't know a lot about how the Outrider handled, but the combination of a boost & barrel roll on a large-base turreted ship could cause me huge problems!


The asteroids were set up in a scatter across the battlefield, but only a couple on the far left would matter. My side of the battlefield was pretty clear. Ross deployed all of his ships on the far left - in response I put mine on the right. I knew he wasn't really worried by asteroids, so I wanted clear space in which to fight so in the first turn I turned my main group left, while Ross moved forwards with the outrider in front. Meanwhile my A sped ahead diagonally across the battlefield, hoping to distract the Talas.


The Outrider made the turn to joust with my ships parallel to my table edge (me on the right), causing heavy damage to my B at long range. Meanwhile the Zs had taken the bait - hopefully I could keep them tied up with my A for a while! The A survived his pass with the Zs - one was out of arc, one collided with the A, and the last did one damage for two in return.

The next turn would see the outrider close with me. I knew with it's boost/barrel roll combo it would arc-dodge very effectively, so I left Garven facing forward while my B made a bank to the right (towards his table edge).


Ross had anticipated this, and instead took a right bank towards my edge. However he was so keen to get out of arc entirely that he then boosted - and was facing my table edge with only a few cm to spare! The cannon caused more damage to my B, but the B in turn was facing the Talas and caused the lead one damage.


My A didn't fare so well however, as I mistakenly boosted forward, allowing all three Talas to take him down. He'd done his job though!


Just in case Dash stayed on the edge, I k-turned Garven and kept Dutch in range, while my B headed for the oncoming Talas - it was already too late to disengage there and come around with my other ships as backup.


My fears were unfounded as the Outrider slid off the table, even a hard turn failing to keep it in play. The Talas retaliated by killing by my B, but it was looking grim for them, facing an undamaged Dutch and Garven.


Over the next few turned I turned and fought them on the far side of the battlefield, eventually taking all three down with damage but no further loss.


I felt really sorry for Ross, seeing his best ship simply vanish without really contributing beyond hurting my B-wing. I got the impression that it was a fairly new ship, and perhaps he was still trying to figure out how to fly a large base with interceptor-like handling...


Despite winning, I regret not facing this list properly. I strongly suspect I wouldn't have been able to take down the Outrider before the Talas arrived and made mincemeat of my ships - but we'll never know now!


Win 3-2

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Game 6 - Dave


Dave was using:

- Wedge + engine upgrade

- 3x Blue


The last round of the Swiss paring saw me up against Dave, a really nice guy I'd played before. His squad had me seriously worried - three B-wings is a tough proposition under any circumstances, and being backed up by Wedge only makes things worse! However I would have the equipment and ability advantage - in particular I could see Dutch's ion cannon being incredibly useful...


The asteroids were all set up on Dave's side of the field - the large one was on the far right, with a corridor running towards the middle-left. The reason became clear as Dave decided to play a waiting game, continually k-turning and waiting for me to come to him.


In response I decided to make my approach down the corridor towards the large asteroid near his table edge on the right. I figured that if he came to meet me he'd be confined by the asteroids, while I'd have room to turn between them and his table edge.


As I approached, Dave decided to come and meet me in the corridor, turning his Blues and Wedge in. I clipped a couple of asteroids on the way in taking minor damage on Dutch, while Dave's Blues found themselves slightly out of position as he had to turn at different times to avoid the asteroids.


Wedge and the Blues behind him caused some damage to my Dagger, but I was able to cause some damage back. Critically though I managed to ion Wedge - no k-turn for him next turn!


At this point maneouvering was getting tight, and with nowhere to go we combined to create a huge pile-up in the centre of the corridor. Luckily, one of Dave's Blues had k-turned back towards his table edge in anticipation of my leading Dagger overflying him, and so was stressed without a target when I hard-turned right instead. Another had turned out of the corridor towards my table edge, also avoiding the pile-up but putting himself out of arc.


The ensuing firefight killed Garven, but Wedge was again ion'd with no easy k-turn the turn after, and the sole Blue in position was badly hurt.


I decided to capitalise on Wedge's absence, and tore into the Blues, starting with the damaged one which went down that turn. The one heading towards Dave's board edge has to do a green to de-stress, but the one coming towards my edge k-turned and added his firepower - luckily the lack of a TL or focus made him ineffective.


Wedge had to make a long loop all the way to the left-hand board edge, there being no good paths through the asteroids for him. This gave me time to take down another Blue using my Dagger and A (looping around the large asteroid), with Dutch continually ioning one which was stressed after a k-turn. This firefight eventually cost me my Dagger though.


When Wedge finally made it back, the last Blue was k-turning back towards his board edge. I decided that Wedge had to die, and with only two hull left that was certainly doable. I managed to sandwich him between Dutch in front and my A k-turning behind (with the A having a free TL from Dutch). Dutch took some damage but managed an ion hit - and my A finished Wedge off!


For the first time in the game I had the advantage - and I had it with an ion cannon. I ruthlessly exploited this, continually hitting the Blue until it walked off the edge - the first time I'd ever been able to do that! Dutch and my A were left holding the field.


Dave was an excellent opponent - I was a little worried he'd simply stall for time, but he certainly didn't and came after me as soon as he saw I was committed to my path. I think in hindsight he should have focussed on Dutch first - the ion cannon turret was the key to my victory, preventing his ships from ever concentrating fire on one of mine after the first head-to-head. The asteroid placement near Dave's board edge also eventually worked against him, firstly by preventing Wedge from joining back in quickly, and then by having him fight near his edge against an ion cannon!


However I will also admit I was lucky - I certainly managed a lot better then in my second game against similar firepower!


Win 4-2

Edited by Hedgehogmech
Posted at
Final position 12th


Overall I had an excellent series of games. Athena has also just moved into newer premises, and we were all impressed by the amount of space there! We could have actually fitted in even more players space-wise than the 40+ who made it along - however six rounds of Swiss already made for a loooong day!


12th place was much better than I expected, and I also didn't face any of the super 'meta' lists that I'd feared. My only slight disappointment was that I only flew against rebels. No scum was allowed, and combined with a greater number of rebel lists and the luck of the draw meant I didn't see so much as a TIE fighter opposite me!


Looking back with hindsight, I think I managed a win whenever my A-wing 'bait' worked - and lost whenever my opponent ignored and implemented their own plan instead (apart from against Dave in the final match). While this was pretty successful overall, I don't think I can rely on something like this in future - especially now I've clearly stated my tactic here...


All my opponents were great, and meeting them and flying against some very interesting lists is what really made my day though. :)

Edited by Hedgehogmech
Posted at

I'm glad you had a good store championship, and that last match we had was **** good fun. You are pretty much right about everything and blimey that is some power of recollection you have there I struggle to keep hold of all my opponents names after a day like that.

My game plan was to stall until I could draw you into that narrow funnel through the asteroids creating a killbox for the focused fire from my B's and wedge and hopefully costing you some actions/shields along the way, targeting priority for me was going after your Dagger then Garven as they both shoot before my Blues with primary weapon 3 attacks. As ever I always underestimated the Y-Wing which turned my well timed and planned ambush into a farce!

Posted at

Thanks for the report! I'd love to go to a 40+ event. Funny that you only faced Rebels. Were there even Imperials there that day? Lots of great lists! My friends use a lot of HWKs and I've flown against them. They make the game interesting.

Posted at

I'm glad you had a good store championship, and that last match we had was **** good fun. You are pretty much right about everything and blimey that is some power of recollection you have there I struggle to keep hold of all my opponents names after a day like that.

My game plan was to stall until I could draw you into that narrow funnel through the asteroids creating a killbox for the focused fire from my B's and wedge and hopefully costing you some actions/shields along the way, targeting priority for me was going after your Dagger then Garven as they both shoot before my Blues with primary weapon 3 attacks. As ever I always underestimated the Y-Wing which turned my well timed and planned ambush into a farce!

It was a fantastic game!

My first reaction on seeing your list was *Gulp!* - you had a lot of hit points and excellent firepower. Your battle plan was very good, and you also avoided being distracted by my A-wing. You so very nearly succeeded - you were ahead for the majority of the match - and I think I was pretty lucky to take away the win in the end. It was only Dutch that let me succeed - definitely man of the match!

And I'm surprised that I managed to remember everything myself!

Thanks for the report! I'd love to go to a 40+ event. Funny that you only faced Rebels. Were there even Imperials there that day? Lots of great lists! My friends use a lot of HWKs and I've flown against them. They make the game interesting.

I'm pretty sure Rebels were more common than Imperials, but there were definitely Imps there, including a couple of my friends - they went 3-3 with Firespray + interceptors, and 2-4 with a TIE swarm + interceptor support.

Worth noting there were no Scum - they'd only been released two days beforehand, and the organisers decided (rightly I think) not to allow them. In the end I think it's just the preponderance of Rebels combined with sheer luck that saw me only face the Rebels :)

The HWKs were good to see - I've got two myself (though I've only fielded one at a time to date) - I'll definitely be using them more, with ideas from my opponents and the possibilities provided by Scum.

Posted at

I flew against imperials in all 3 of my matches so they were definitely there. From memory it was Fel/Jax/Delta in round 1, Deci+Echo in R2, and a proper schooling from a TIE swarm in R3. I dropped at 1-2 as I had a long drive back.

It was a great tourney though; well run and with a friendly bunch of players.