Around the Table game pub, Lynnwood WA
Freestyle Tournament
- Lists may include pilots of any faction.
- Faction restrictions on upgrades are ignored.
≈10 participants
3 rounds of Swiss, 65 minute rounds
cut to Top 2 for 1 final round
My list:
Rear Admiral Chiraneau + K4 Security Droid, Expose
Chewbacca + Lone Wolf, Darth Vader
100 pts
I'd been fiddling for a while with running two big ships. The basic plan was to start with Decimator/K4/Expose and Chewbacca/Greedo and work from there. They're both combos that ignore an upgrade's drawback. Try as I might, I lacked the points to outfit both ships with both offensive and defensive boosts. No Ysanne Isard. No Engine Upgrade. Greedo even got cut in the end to make room for Vader, who I expected I'd need.
At the 11th hour I contemplated running a Howlrunner/Serissu TIE swarm instead. I've flown swarms before, and they're strong, but A) I had trouble hitting Soontir Fel with them even before Autothrusters, B) the decloak change actually makes Phantoms harder for a swarm to block, and C) I expected to face more strong defensive combos than strong offensive ones, so I left the all-2-firepower squadron for another day.
Game 1
opposing list:
Rear Admiral Chiraneau + K4 Security Droid, Lando, Ysanne Isard, Determination
Chewbacca + Draw Their Fire
My first opponent was a veteran X-Winger who'd only played at our store once before. At first glance, it was a mirror match. At second glance it wasn't, since our upgrades were so different. At third glance, it kind of was again -- the upgrades were different but complementary. The extra die from my Expose (almost) offset his Isard, and my Vader offset the many attack crits that his DTF pulled away.
Asteroids were scattered. We both set up paired against my right side, both with Chewie against the edge. I wanted to kill his Chewie first to nullify DTF and postpone Isard, but he kept his Falcon safely back so I went after his RAC. He also went after mine. Attack dice favored him the first two rounds, but I managed a smooth flyby while he bumped during his turnin to give chase. Both Decimators went down soon after. At that point, my Chewie had taken six or eight damage already from Vadering, and his was only down two from Drawing Fire. Even with Lone Wolf on my side, I think he was up on me odds-wise, but my red dice outperformed his from there. Three turns later, I was 1-0.
Game 2
opposing list:
Leebo + Outrider, Mangler Cannon, Dash Rendar, Determination
Chewbacca + C-3PO, Falcon, Calculation, Luke Skywalker
Opponent #2 was a league regular. His list had some quirky synergy. A turreted cannon + Dash (crew) mean his target never gets bonus range or obstacle dice, and both his ships deal criticals.
I set up in my right corner again, facing forward, though this time with Chewie on the inside. My opponent deployed diagonally opposite facing sideways, with the Outrider in front. My first move was to cut left and try to come in behind him and aim for Chewie first. But Leebo broke formation and aggressively barrel rolled toward me on turn 2. I went after what was in range.
This was an odd game. To begin with, my opponent's list wasn't cross-factional. He was very casual in asteroid placement, and he alternated which of my ships he shot at when he didn't need to. He also made some unsound 3PO guesses. His Leebo + Determination worked as often as can be expected (i.e. less often than you want it to), but it did keep him alive an extra turn when he had 1 hull left and I Vadered him. (Ow.) Eventually I lost Chewie and he lost Leebo. My Decimator was ahead of his Falcon on remaining health, but lost that edge when he dealt me a "roll 0 dice on your next attack" crit, followed by a "your turns are red" crit immediately before I needed to turn hard to stay on the board. On the very last turn, I was down to 1 hull, but would kill him first if I rolled hits on all four of my attack dice. I got three. 1-1.
Game 3
opposing list:
Whisper + Adv. Cloaking Device, Veteran Instincts, K4 Security Droid, Sensor Jammer
Palob Godalhi + Ion Cannon Turret
Binayre Pirate + Feedback Array
Binayre Pirate + Feedback Array
Opponent #3 was someone I'd never met.
Asteroids were arrayed in a rough diagonal, far-left to near-right. My opponent deployed his Zs spread mid-field with Palob to my right of them, angled toward them. I set my ships in my right corner, Chewie back to being on the outside (a mistake this time). My opponent deployed Whisper on my far left.
This was a game of mistakes.
My mistake #1: going too fast forward with both ships on turn 1 and overshooting a clean cross-board path through the asteroids. #2: not persuing that cut-across anyway, which would have let me kill Whisper sooner and put asteroids between me and his Zs. #3: thinking I could sweep my Decimator behind him without Engine Upgrade and while sticking to green moves to power K4. #4: getting in my own way. In Game 1, my ships were initially spread to go around an asteroid, plus I moved the Decimator faster from the outset and banked it inward on Turn 2, so Chewie had room to 1-turn in when he needed to. In this game, I put my ships close and flew them parallel, so it took two additional turns of driving the Decimator ahead before the Falcon could cut behind it.
Mistake #5 was plotting a 3-forward for RAC to try overshooting an expected Z block. Luckily, I failed and barely moved. If I'd succeeded, Palob probably would have ionized me off the board, plus I would have moved into Whisper's arc. That was my opponent's big mistake #1: pointing Whisper where she couldn't shoot me if his block worked. With no shot, she spent her action re-cloaking and missed out on her free focus for hitting me. Which opened the door to his mistake #2: forgetting to use Sensor Jammer. Whisper was barely in Chewie's range that turn. I rolled two hits. Whisper, with no tokens, wiffed with three blanks and two focuses. I stripped her shields, then Vader critted her PS to 0.
Next turn my opponent K-turned the blocking Z off the board (his mistake #3) but got Whisper into Range 1 of Chiraneau. I had 5 hull left. She rolled 5 hits and wiped him off the board. (My mistake #6: forgetting she was PS 0 and shouldn't have shot first.) Fortunately, she was an auto-kill for Vader now. That left me with a mostly-healthy Falcon and him with a half-dead HWK. I don't need to tell you how it went from there. 2-1.
Finals
The finals were between my opponent #2 and one of the store's top league regulars flying a triple elite pilot assortment:
Soontir Fel + Push the Limit, Royal Guard, Autothrusters, Shield Upgrade
Wedge Antilles + Push the Limit, Engine Upgrade, R2 Astromech
N'dru Suhlak + Predator, Cluster Missile, Hot Shot Blaster
I missed most of the match. The end involved multiple turns of Super Fel chasing Fat Chewie with neither able to land a hit. Fel eventually emerged victorious with a Range 1 four-hit shot.
Closing Thoughts
This tournament was more fun than usual. The store is definitely thinking of doing it again at some point. Though there were noticeable trends in what players tried (big ships, K4, Biggs), no combos emerged that were any more powerful than what's already in the game.
