Just got home from a Store Championship. We had a total of 10 players. I played a total of 6 games. This was my first tournament.

I ran

IG-88 B

IG-88 C

both with same load out of

IG-2000

Autothrusters

Advanced Sensors

Push the Limit

Mangler Cannon

Inertial Dampners

98 pts total

I didn't run a Seismic Charge on purpose. I wanted to get initiative if I faced another 88 list. Plus, if I'm able to use a Seismic Charge, I'm in the wrong place anyway.

1st game

This was my opponent's first tournament as well. I was a bit nervous, and I think he was too. The game speed started out really slow, so we didn't get to do as many turns as I think we we should have. He was running Vader in a Tie Advanced, A Saber Interceptor, and two Tie Bombers. Asteroids were placed spread out mostly in the middle. I ran down one side and he flew into them a bit. I would take two actions (always including a boost if I could) with Advanced Sensors and Push the Limit, then clear it with one of many green maneuvers. If I didn't want to boost I would take the Evade. This is something I did throughout the entire tournament. Evade Evade Evade.

I took out the Interceptor, regrouped, then went for the rest. I almost got Vader, but combat had gotten to close for comfort. I was only able to do a few hits to him and one of the Bombers before time was called. Over the course of the game I took a couple of shields, but never lost a hull.

I took out 26 points, lost none.

1 - 0

2nd game

My opponent ran Whisper and a PS 6 Decimator (Kenkirk, I believe). Asteroids were again more so in the middle, but we both navigated well. I tried to start off down one side, but he wasn't going to commit to the asteroids. We danced around for an hour. When time was called I had no hull damage to either ship, Whisper had lost 1 shield, and the Decimator had taken off all shields and had several damage to the hull. He threw out Mara Jade, Ysanne, and Moff himself to keep from loosing to many abilities from crits. I kept up with Whisper, dodging almost as good but making up for it by staying at range three. The Decimator didn't stand a chance against the 88s. Evasion is my business, and business is good.

I took 0 points, lost 0 points. I really wish this game had gone longer.

1 - 0 - 1

3rd game

My opponent ran Kavil, The unnamed Merc Pilot in the Firespray, and two Z-95s. Asteroids were same as before. I always wanted asteroids in a large group in the middle. I was figuring out at this point I was probably not going to be able to bring down big ships under normal circumstances, so I took this into mind in this and subsequent matches. Again I tried to divide and conquer via the asteroids. It took several turns for me to get into an offensive position, but I finally managed to kill a Z. The other bolted across the field. The Firespray showed me what a rear arc could do. I ate 3 or 4 shots in one turn from him. IG-88 B decided he didn't want anymore of that. I moved them both back out to distance and passively went after the other Z. I managed to know out the other Z within a turn or two. Time was called, and I had taken more damage that previous, but still no hull damage. Evade and autothrusters make everything groovy.

I took out 26 points, lost 0.

2 - 0 - 1

4th game

My opponent ran BBBZ. It was Farlander with the rest base pilots. This game played very fast, as my opponent was my best friend who I play with a lot. We were very comfortable and so were able to play several rounds. I'd guess 10, give or take. I placed the asteroids again in a large group in the middle. (At this point all my opponents were still placing all their asteroids more so in the middle, going right along with my plan). He started off in a formation with the 3 Bs, but they slowly lost cohesion. By turn 4 or 5 the Z was a memory and the Bs had a unified facing. After that, I started to focus fire a B with both 88s while dodging the others arcs and evading. Still hadn't lost a hull at this point if I remember correctly.

I took out 100 points, lost 0.

3 - 0 - 1

5th game

My opponent flew Han (without C3PO) and two Rookie Pilots. I knew this game was going to be scary. I hadn't killed a large ship, and I was going to have to fight the mother tank. Again I stuck with my asteroids in a large group. He placed his Rookies towards the middle. I placed both 88s to one side. Then he placed his Han facing me. I was hoping to get at those Rookies before Han got in the picture, but oh well. We went head to head. He under estimated auto thrusters out of his arc initially. This allowed me to take out a Rookie. As I went after the other Rookie, he had greatly wised up and was keeping me close in his front arc with some great flying. He was running a Luke as a crew. It got to the point where I would minimize the damage to one point so as to avoid another barrage. I managed to kill the other Rookie, but I was hurting. I had taken my first hull damage of the tournament and it was not looking good. I danced around and evaded, but one 88 had a direct hit and the other had 3 damage. Time was called and he got to take one last shot. I got to take my full armament of focus and evade tokens at range 3, so I was able to withstand 4 attack rolls.

I took out 42 points, lost 0. I am glad this ended. I was going to die a terrible death in the very near future.

4 - 0 - 1

6th game

The final

I knew my opponent was running a Tie swarm. I was a bit nervous because he won the last store tournament with a swarm. I assumed he was running Howlrunner and I was going to face a lot of red dice. When I saw his list he was running Soontir Fel and 4 PS 3 Ties. No Howlrunner. He had built his list to handle PS 2 ships and a Phantom. I was neither.

He placed his asteroids at the corners and I shifted my crescent of asteroids closer to his side of the board. We started at opposite corners. When I got to the other side of the board I took a left to head towards him. When he got to the other side of the board he K - turned and headed back to me. I got in range 3 of the outer most Tie and got to shoot first. Vaporized. A Mangler with a built in Gunner is painful. I think the next move by that 88 was an Inertial Dampner.

Note on Inertial Dampner: When I started the tournament, I don't think I used one in the first game. Maybe one in the second. But by the last two games, I was using them both. They were clutch every time. I was able to place a risky move on the dial, then if they low pilot skill guys didn't go like I wanted, I would pull the dampener. Or if I knew their dial was limited, I'd slam on breaks and catch them broadside or looking up their tail pipe. I thought at first that they were a silly "only under the perfect circumstances trick", but I quickly adapted my movements to have a little more risk when I knew I had it to rely on. So it affected closer to 40% of my movement. So much so, that when I went to set dials I would look to see if I had an inertial dampener ALMOST EVERY TIME before I placed my dial.

We danced a lot. I put a crit on Soontir who kept flying into me. I managed to kill one other Tie and was working on another when the damage I had taken was starting to pile up. I lost all shields on one 88 and was down to one on the other. It was getting close for time to be called and I knew 88 B couldn't take another barrage like the one he had already taken. I had at one point double stressed to use a dampener. I don't recommend double stressing, as it makes for a deep hole to dig out of, but I had a good shot and evaded 2-3 arcs because of it. (I didn't think I could double stress with Inertial Dampener, but when I asked my opponent he said I could, so I went for it) I pulled back to range three and shook off all stress. He turned around and was reforming to face me. Time was called and we had one final round. I set my dials and did what any good bounty hunter with a pocket full of money would do. I ran for the hills. With full tokens and range 3 I was safe. He shot and i Evaded Evaded Evaded.

I took out 26 points, and lost 0.

5 - 0 - 1

No 88s were killed in the making of this report.

Sounds great, well done.

I believe it's correct that Inertial Dampeners can be used while stressed: it is not allowed to do a red move, but this counts as a white one (which then gives you stress).

Anything you would change to the list?

Thanks for the report. I see that most of the games were called on time, what was the time limit you were using?

I've used a similar list using FCS instead of AS, HLC instead of Mangler and no Inertial Dampeners. None of the games went to time. 3 out of 4 games ended 100 - 0 to me, one of them ended 13-100 to my opponent, which was before I realized that you always take out the support before you go for the flagship. Bumping is your worst nightmare when it comes to Aggressors, and B is an expert at going after chaff, you will deal damage every combat phase when you shoot chaff, especially when you have TL on the second attack.

We were playing 60 minute rounds. Most games were called by time. The time limit was frustrating, but I just played with the time in mind. I adjusted my strategy and used it to my advantage. It worked very well for my list.

It took a lot of personal convincing to run this list. I am normally an aggressive pilot, but I could not be aggressive with this list. I had to exercise extreme patience, put evasion first, and take my shots where I could.

At first, I wanted to switch out Push the Limit for Predator, But PTL allowed for a free extra action. Boosting with a free evade and taking a focus before revealing a green maneuver was my biggest advantage, so there really wasn't anything I could take out. I also initially thought Inertial Dampeners were a waste. Wrong. Very wrong. Huge help.

So there isn't anything I could afford to change out. I could really only choose to spend the last 2 points. I was in a position to use a Seismic Charge maybe one time in the final match. I'm not even certain it would have caught anyone. I think if I were going to spend the last 2 points I would probably have used it to buy a flechette cannon for IG88C. IG88B is already the #1 target, so anything that pulls attention away from him is a bonus. The fact that I could have used it to stress Whisper or Soontir Fel or any of those high performance ships would have been a big help.

FCS is an offensive change that would have not went well with my build. You went in the complete other direction by adding that and Heavy Laser Cannons. You played Aggressors. I played Harrassers.

I also wonder about the PtL/Predator dilemma. I love Predator, especially since you have a built-in gunner with IG88B. It also works regardless of some of the stress tech that´s out there these days. The BBBBZ list also seems to be very prominent all over the place, Predator is basically an auto target lock against that build. My tough choice at the moment is whether to choose C or D to go with B (which everyone seems to agree is awesome).

When it comes to stress inducers I've played against a Decimator with Rebel Captive. What I did was just staying out of the Decimator's arc and focusing down his escort first, then I made sure to just take one action with the ship that was in the best position and attacking with it first. Tacticians can be a bit tougher, but with 2 HLCs you can focus down such ships pretty quickly as you mostly see them on B-wings, Lambdas or FIresprays. So I don't think stress is very dangerous for Aggressors, not at all as dangerous as it is for Interceptors or A-wings.

Thanks for the insight. Your list happened to be exactly what I was planning myself; possibly switching Autothrusters to Stealth Device in friendly games (where I rarely come across turrets) - better to learn from another person's mistakes than having to make those myself first.

I think Autothrusters are far superior to Stealth Device.

A) It changes a blank into an Evade, where SD only allows another dice to be rolled. So more likely to get an Evade. And if you double action like I tried to do every turn, you get a Focus and an Evade and you are guaranteed at least one Evade at Range 3.

B) After taking a hit, SD goes away. Autothrusters never go away.

C) Autothrusters aren't just good against Turrets. They are good against anything at range 3. With this build you should always try to be at range 3 as that is where the Mangler Cannon has MUCH better dice than any primary weapon. (No increased number of defense dice like a primary would at range 3, and they improve a hit to a crit)

D) When you do run into turrets, you are ready.

Great report, it seems you've how to run the Iggles down pat.

What do you do, however, in those elimination matches with no time limit?