Had a local spring tourney this weekend, and i decided to put my Kath & IG-88B to the test again. It was a smaller tournament only 13 people, I ended up going 3-1 and taking 2nd place again, with the most overall points destroyed. I am pleased with the build in all around aspects it hits hard & reliable, and it is quite defensive as well. My 1 lost was at the final table & against my personal friend who's list was the one i was really worried about and helped talk him into running it. but overall I was pleased.

My build:

IG-88B

-VI

-HLC

-FCS

-Autothrusters

-Inertial Dampener

Kath

-PTL

-EU

-Seismis

-K4 Droid

-Inertial Dampener

Match 1:

Hwk: Dace Bonearm: ion turret

Ywing: Syndicate: Ion Turret, Unhinged, BTL-A4 (x3)

4 ion turrets on the table against me, and alot to chew through with 3 ywings, but only out of the front arc. He set all 4 ships right up the middle, i set kath & Ig in opposite corners, he came up the middle slow, i took straight 3s and boosted up a little closer. next turn he turned all 4 ships towards the aggressor which 4 guns towards him but he can evade very easily for a large ship. his hwk was the threat against me with his pilot abilty to deal free damage after recieving an ion, so IG shot first i took a range 3 primary gun shot first dropped 1 hit which he evaded so then i gained my target lock and then took the HLC shot on him and dealt 4 hits and he took it all, then kath took a naked range 3 shot and dropped 2 hits, 1 crit, to take him off the board. his 3 ywings all fired at the IG and he took 1 hit & ion from the the last shot of his, next round IG & kath focused fired on 1 of his y wings and took it off the table. he was down to 2 y wings, kath was missing 1 shield, and ig missing 2. had to do a little chasing and get re-positioned, The unhinged on a y wing is a very good upgrade it makes them pretty fast and maneuverable. I was back into range i flew kath past his ywings which worked for me to shoot out the rear. IG finally got hit by another ion so he took a straight 1 but still had room to boost out of arc from range 1 of a y wing. Kath revealed dial & dropped her seismic right on top of a y wing, and popped her damner all at the same time, even tho i take 1 damage its a great and unexpected combo. I still had a TL on the ywing so range 1 out the rear dropped 3 hits & 2 crits, another y wing gone. 2 turns later, IG finished off his last one.

Win 100-0

Match 2:

Dash: PTL, EU, Kyle Katarn, HLC, Outrider

Eaden: HLC, Recon speacialist

This match against a close friend of mine that got me into playing Xwing, and we have flown our build against each other several times and they are always down to Dash vs IG and both have hull damage, it comes down to final rolls. This match he placed both just off center & i again placed mine angled in opposite corners, Dash is my preferred target & most threatening to me. We both went up aggressive and exchanged shots the first round, all 4 ships tooks a couple shields off, the next movement, I blocked Dash with kath so he couldnt shoot her but still had a naked rear arc shot on eaden, and eaden block my IG and couldn't clear a rock, so dash shot IG with no TL and IG evaded 3 hits thanks to autothrusters and Kath drop 3 hits on eaden to finish off his shields. Neither of us were able to focus fire on a ship as we normally do, due to both of us knowing how we fly, and particularly how each build works. eaden & Kath were in bad positions and had to do some turning around, while Dash & IG went at it, luckily i picked the right maneuver and with a boost i was able to get within range 1 of dash and deal some big damage, mean while Kath & eaden got within rang of each other and Kath took a rang 3 TL, focus shot and dealt 2 hits & 1 crit, and the crit would be a double damage to finish off eaden. IG came back up the middle fast and within range 1 of Dash and dealt 4 hits to finish dash. It was a fast and crazy game, neither of us expected the outcome, he flew great always staying at range 3 until the end, but my dice were just hateful.

Win: 100-0

Match 3:

Whisper: ACD, FCS, VI, Weapons engineer

Capain Oicunn: Mara jade, EU, Daredevil, Dauntless, (maybe 1 other)

I have flown against the combo of a build before, decimator is the bigger easier target, but Whisper is the bigger threat in damage and being hard to hit. having watch the end of my opponents previous match, i saw how mean his daredevil combo works with giving free double damage, so i knew to stay out of his path, so my first move wasnt as aggressive as normal, the next round he came in with a bank 3 and the used daredevil for the 1 turn and it put his exactly where kath was goin so she bumped & the IG bumped her, which the next turn ended up working best for me actually, and whisper came in from the side and dropped 3 hits on Kath, and IG only had the shot on the Decimator, so i dealt 3 hits. Being a Phantom player it helped knowing how the ship fly's and what i would do for the best shot. so i took kath a bank 1 which got a free TL on Whisper then boosted left, so my rear arc is nice and open to shoot where ever whisper would be, and IG went bank 1 right to hopefully block Whispers move, and it did, whisper decloaked then bumped the IG, so kath with TL and focus range 1 out the rear, dropped 4 hits & 1 crit on un-cloaked Whisper, and he dropped 2 blanks, my threat was gone and it was downhill for his decimator which was out of the fight in the corner, Kath & IG Turned around and gave short chase and just dished out the hate on it, one of the final rounds he flew past kath instead of ramming her and parked on a rock, i re-veiled my dial, dropped seismic and popped my dampener , again I took a damage from it but i saved a range 1 rear arc shot to the decimator, and then IG finished it off.

Win: 100-0

Match 4: Final table

8 Bandit z-95 swarm, 1 of them had ion missile.

Again another personal friend of mine, and helped talked him into running it, we had both wanted to see it or run it in a tourney but never had the practice time with it, but he finally dropped it on the table. This is the one build i was worried about, numbers vs 2 big guns. We both flew up and exchanged shots, the first wave of firing he focused hard on Kath but she dodge very good but still lost 4 shields, and i took 2 ships off the table, the next move he put 3 z95 behind kath so i dropped my seismic right on top of them, but i had picked a straight 2 instead of a 3 which didnt allow me to clear out so i took damage and got caught in the cluster of range 1 shots from 4 z95, I was only able to managed taking off 1 more z-95 before the started firing, and kath did not survive 4 range 1 shots. It was the first time i lost a ship that day, but he had the numbers to keep dishing it out, Several rounds of my IG dancing around and Evading shots like a pro, i got another z95 off the table but it was still 4 on 1 and i was down to hull, so we exchanged shots again & again, but the IG was slowing taking 1 damage a round and finally went down. So i wouldn't take the win but with my margin of victory from the other 3 matches, 2nd place was locked. I wanted to win but at least it was to a friend so the loss wasn't too bad to handle.

loss: 52-100

This was my 2nd tourney running this exact build, and the outcome was the same, 3-1, second place and largest margin of victory/points destroyed. For a 2 big ship list I really like the way this flies, they are maneuverable for big ships & defensive and hit very hard, I have flown dual aggressors but with Kath in there and the dual firing arc it has proved to e very hateful & powerful, and have flown against a variety of builds, from swarms, dual aggressors, fat han builds, & super dash. It has worked against them, granted there are always those matches where you don't fly spot on or your dice take a turn to the blank side. I have some more practice flying to do, but there are 2 regional events both about 2 1/2 hours from my area and I am hoping to attend both, to see how well i can do and mostly for the experience, I would gain from it.

Hope you enjoy and if you have any critiques by all means share them.

Thanks for taking the time to write it all up! I appreciate it. I've not used either Scum ship yet, but would like to one day.

Good stuff. Been flying boba/IG-B and I love the two ships but the damage output just isn't there. Might try the Kath version sometime thanks to your report!

Yea ive thought about running boba, having same pilot skill would be beneficial in movement and have skill over super dash with both ships, but the damage from kaths rear arc has been crucial in my matches, that last match of mine would've been the one time i preferred boba.

Yeah, with Boba I kind of need to take VI to deal with Whisper/Soontir, since it's not always possible to block them with the IG or get through their 3-4 agility with focus/evade tokens. with kath, since getting to PS9 is nice, PTL on her is just too amazing with the K4 Droid.

Agreed the PTL & K4 Droid on Kath is amazing and super powerful, i tempted bumping her up to a 9 but shes more powerful with her 2 actions & free TL. Phantoms are just too big of a threat in damaged to big ships that why i knew i had to go after it, especially being a phantom player myself & knowing what they are capable of. Luckily that match I had I knew what move he was going to do and got in the way and let Kath drop 5 dice on Whisper. I let my IG handle Soontier with his HLC, I have flown against 2 builds w/ Soontier and it didnt go in his favor, especially range 1 from Kaths rear arc.

Yeah, and Kath can turtle up a little with the free TL from K4, a focus and an evade. It's pretty amazing. I'm a phantom player myself, though the most frustrating thing is when shooting at them cloaked and they roll no blanks over and over again (and Whisper has that focus).

Still debating my IG build. I like Mangler a lot (which also hurts Soontir, since he has to decide whether to let a crit through or trigger gunner). It's less "raw power of dice" but more hurts you to let one through. Also really hurts big turret ships like Decimators and Falcons. HLC for me is a hit or miss. When the dice luck is not going well, it just does nothing for 7 points. When it's great, it absolutely destroys.

Finally, I'm still debating FCS vs AdS. FCS is great for IG-B, but that AdS to help movement has been golden, especially against swarms, which seems to be the issue for your list. Swarms have a hard time blocking me because of the pre-movement boost shinanigans, or even bumping them on purpose and still taking a focus or TL on the ship I want to shoot while reducing the number of ships shooting me. It's been gold for me every time I use AdS and when I use FCS, I find myself trapped quite often by opponents with more than 4 ships.

Agreed. I do prefer HLC over mangler tho, those 4 dice with TL & focus almost always hit, and if you roll crits after using your TL those crits do stick they dont turn to hits like the first drop. With the 4 dice it does give even the phantoms are hard time dodging it all. I've seen AdS used on the IG and it does work great with the big ship, i used it alot when i first started playing, but i have grown to prefer FCS over it, especially on ships with a gunner type ability the the IG-88B, One of my favorites now it my first shot usually a range 3, i take with my primary 3 dice, and i drop 1-2 hits and they get the extra defense die and usually block it so now i have TL and fire right back with HLC, its a beautiful combo.

I do see where AdS would work well on the swarms, i have flown this against a 7 z-95 scum swarm, and 8 z-95 rebel swarm. the scum swarm i really torn through with out issues, kath had taken a couple damage cards & the IG was untouched,the Swarms always focus on Kath first, she is easier for them to hit. 1 round of firing in particular, after kath was gone, he had 5 z95 left and all 5 shot at the IG with TL &/or focus, range 1-2, and in all that dice only 1 hit got thru on my IG,

I totally see how great TL+Focus is for HLC, but it gets mostly shut down when you bump and lose your action and/or can't shoot at the person you have the TL on. You'll have no modifiers at all for that shot if the prey moves out of your arc. Worse is when people are at R1, and you fire your primary with no gunner effect if that unmodified attack misses horribly.

It definitely is hard against swarms and Kath just has to really fly with a completely defensive mentality and see if you can lure them to chase you while IG follows behind. That's kind of when Boba is good because of the occassional rerolls. Of course, focus+Evade should help quite a bit against Z's if they're not in R1 of Kath (and shouldn't ever be since she moves later than them)

Yea I do loose the gunner ability at R1, so far i have had good luck with my first R1 shot, only a couple times i have missed but i still had a random ship at range 2-3 and ill take my free shot, and it works, i got lucky once and dropped 2 hits & 1 crit on a SD interceptor and he dropped 2 blank & 2 focus but had no focus, i was like ok that works too. Again good builds always come down to how you fly them and there will be those occasional bad days, I've had those, i don't think any build would've help if you know what i mean.

I do plan on practice flying my build with boba instead of Kath a couple time to see how it does & even a Kath/boba build, before regional next month.

Nice write-up, and I agree with all the discussion around Kath/Boba, HLC/Mangler, Adv/FCS. Always hard choices, but they each have their own pros and cons. I'm getting really comfortable with Firespray/IG but I'm always wary how well it will do in a large event such as Regionals. BBBBZ, swarms, Rebel Control are good counters to this build, and I would expect to see a lot of people playing them at Regionals.

congrats. gr8 to see u have success with firespray + Iggy list.

Yea i expect to see some really good players at regionals. I have never been to a large event like that, i have watched them online. There are 2 regional events both about 2 1/2 hours away from me so i figured why not go and give it a try, and at least get some great experience out of it, and gain some knowledge. Myself and a friend both plan to go, and we are trying alot of different builds to fly and practice against our builds, we figured that was a good start, find some weaknesses of our builds and see how the other builds fly and learn what they can do.

Yea i expect to see some really good players at regionals. I have never been to a large event like that, i have watched them online. There are 2 regional events both about 2 1/2 hours away from me so i figured why not go and give it a try, and at least get some great experience out of it, and gain some knowledge. Myself and a friend both plan to go, and we are trying alot of different builds to fly and practice against our builds, we figured that was a good start, find some weaknesses of our builds and see how the other builds fly and learn what they can do.

good plan. i attend 2 or 3 tournaments per year. the largest only about 25plyrs. although x-wings popularity has taken off since last yr in my area so i wouldnt be surprised to so 40 players at my regionals this year.

imo double IG-88 lists are popular and will be expected. people will have experience playing against them so imo bring something a bit different. Firespray and IG-88 together gives u more options but perhaps a bit less firepower although u seem to have found a nice balance with Kath in there. I was playing Boba and IG-88 but found the damage output not good enough vs top lists. Good luck at those tournaments and let us know on these forums how u get on. im not sure what list ill run at regionals yet. still tinkering and trolling the forums for inspiration. i think the much maligned shuttle has been largely forgotten about which makes me think it might be time to dust of and upgrade an old imperial list i used to fly that used Kath and a shuttle with either soontir for finisher or tie fighters for blocking. i even think a shuttle list with two tricked out intercepters would be decent, if im brave enough to go that way!

Thanks for the input & support. Yea the 1st regional in my area is early next month, i need to get some practice in. I have considered putting Boba in there but your right the firepower i gain from kath is a big factor in my wins.

I have been seeing a few shuttles pop up in my local tourneys here as well, they do have the firepower its just lick flying a brick. I ran imperial Kath in a fun match a while back with mangler & gunner, that was a fun combo, shoot first with mangler they block it they gain stress and you shoot right back.