Tournament time again! I’m heading to the Raleigh Regionals and need some practice. I love my Thursday gaming group, but they don’t play the meta. To me, that’s fantastic, but it doesn’t help when I want to go to a big event somewhere as I just don’t have any practice vs. the nasty lists. So, I thought I’d head up to the Spring Tournament at the Wyvern’s Tale in Asheville, NC. I carpooled with AJ, who used to be my nemesis at events as he’s a good player who has beaten me out of the top spot before. I think my Tie Bomber list at the Store Championship got us even, though.

My thoughts on lists are covered in this thread:

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/174818-list-testing-for-regionals/

I PMed and read the thoughts of betes and nurglez on these forums who ran similar lists. I decided to drop my Torkhil Mux for 2 more Z-95’s. I went with FCS for Xizor. I added a Flechette Torpedo for all those high agility ships that I knew would be out there. Oh…..and the locals at the Wyvern’s Tale ended up naming my list with such a great name, I had to keep it:

Prince and the New Power Generation

Xizor w/ VI, Virago, FCS, Inertial Dampeners, Autothrusters, and Flechette Torpedo

5 x Binayre Pirates

The event was in Asheville, NC, which is nestled in the Appalachian Mountains, for those that don’t know. It’s an awesome town and always in the top 5 places to retire to in the US. It is also a college town, too. It was my first time going to the place and only a 2 hour drive, so that was pretty good.

The store was in an old house and was really cool. The downstairs was the store and the upstairs had different gaming rooms. We took over 2 of the rooms and had a total of 15 players. That meant that one had to sit out. I’ll try to see if the event was posted to List Juggler. There were people from Tenn. who came over and some from Virginia, so it was a tri-state event! There were a couple of new guys and a few tournament vets. I believe some of them went down to Atlanta in the past and reached top tables, if not won it outright. Everyone was great, though, and it was good to meet some of the people I’d been chatting with online.

Overall, there were a lot of Decimator w/ Soontir Fel. I think either 3-4 lists like that. Other lists that I saw were a Tie Defender and a bunch of Tie Fighters. A Rebel Swarm with something like 6 ships. ZZZZZAA? My co-pilot on the way up took BBBBZ. There were two dual YT lists and a single bro bot list.

I’ll go ahead and list the lists that I can recall. I won’t remember it all and I’ll just post what I do recall. The points will surely not line up so, please don’t crucify me for not getting all the details.

Game 1 vs Rebel Scum

Biggs w/ Proton Torpedo

Red Squadron w/ Ion Torpedo

Green Squadron w/ VI and Homing Missile

My opponent was pretty new and part of a father/son pair that showed up. They were both great guys. I was not looking forward to the Ion Torpedo and not sure how to face it. With my Tie Bombers, I knew how mean those ordnance could be. Setup had most asteroids on my left and the right clear. I set up in my right corner and he set up with X’s in the middle and A on my far left. We went towards the middle and the A went around the board edge to come in from behind. I tried to figure out a clever way to be just outside R3 and then jump in and failed. He ionized all but one ship as we traded fire. Biggs fired his torpedo and managed to get 2 hits and a crit, but he should’ve fired at a Z as I evaded one, shunted the crit off, and lost a shield.

In two rounds, I lost a Z, but after Ionizing me, he drifted forward to trade shots. With Xizor and the New Power Generation firing at short range, Biggs died fast, but that other X-wing evaded the damage. The A was taking too long to circle around and was getting close as the X-wing K-turned. I did my turns as well.

I took out the X-wing and then concentrated fire on the A-wing with all I had left. It didn’t last long and the game was mine! I think my opponent took too long with the A-wing out of it. As he could’ve used the firepower to take down more Z’s faster. Also, the Homing Missile could’ve smoked another Z. Bigg’s Proton Torpedo could’ve smoked a Z on its own, as well.

Game Two vs. Rebel Pancakes

Fat Han w/ C-3PO, Recon Specialist, Falcon, and stuff

Leebo w/ HLC, Jan Ors, and Outrider

Right side of the table had asteroids and debris. I set up in left corner while he set up on opposite side. He moved along table edge and I moved slowly towards the middle. I know these big ships like to entice you towards the center and then zip off the edge of things to lead you on a merry chase…while the turrets blast you. I didn’t want to fall for it and tried to be cautions. Leebo moved up and I moved forward as fast as the little Z’s could go.

We traded fire and his green dice were just not friendly to him. I managed to take down a lot of his shields, if not all. At this point, I knew where his Outrider was going to go and set up for it. I ignored the debris field for some guys as I’d rather take a stress, but have a shot than to bump and do nothing. One of the reasons I’m liking debris fields.

This round saw the Outrider go down. I took some damage on a few Z’s. At this point, I was happy to get one, but wasn’t really set up for the next turn. I wasn’t sure how to block the Falcon and get my guys turned around. I think I bumped one of my ships, too, which didn’t help.

We traded a few shots. I’d strip his defense with Xizor and need the Z’s to do the damage, but I was facing away too much. I did hit his shields some.

Another ugly round of trying to turn around. Han got a Z down. Xizor stripped the defense and a couple Z’s got some hits in. Now at this point, I was still trying to turn around! Some of my guys got too far out front. The Falcon did the slow roll and fire at some ships from a distance as I chased, which is what it is good at. I knew it was coming, but I was in range and couldn’t bug out. Xizor bumped like an idiot on the S-loop and too many of my guys were still too far back. One more Z down.

I went wide with Xizor and really got slow with the rest of the Z’s. He got one more, so I was down to 2 Z’s. I had a number of them damaged from the first encounter, so it was pretty easy for Han to mop up on those guys. I finally got my guys together and was able to give a proper chase. Xizor’s Fire Control System really shined here and I was getting a bit of damage through his amazing defense and having the Z’s fire in. I had a good round of firing, but he rolled some green and he had one hull point left!

I had him in a corner and there was no where he could go. I just needed one more hull point….and we were told that last round had been called and it was game over? What? Dang…..heh….good game. It was a really fun game. I lost 36 and he lost 48. It was a modified win to me!

We broke for lunch and tried to eat quickly. Some of the guys seemed surprised that I won that game. The one that seemed the most surprised was my next opponent!

Game Three vs. Rebel Pancakes II

Chewbacca w/ gunner and stuff to be 50 pts

Leebo w/ HLC, Outrider and stuff to be 50 pts

This player was a good guy and an experienced tournament player. He had the cool dice from Regionals last year in Atlanta. Asteroids set up on the left and me on the right. He set up looking to joust, but was not surprised when both took a hard right turn. Now, most rebel pancakes want to pull you through the asteroids and use their superior movement to rip you apart a couple ships at a time. I didn’t want to fall for that and just turned hard left and flew in a conga line towards the middle. I figured he had to turn at some point. I’d rather wait for that then to be baited. Well, Chewie turned into the middle and took a shot at one of my guys. I then figured it was time to face him. Now…I know the best thing a YT can do is bait you and then zip away while you give merry chase. So, I took a gamble and flew one of my Z’s with a hard 2 right. It would place me in between some asteroids as an escape round facing nothing. If I’m wrong, I just screwed myself with that ship, but if I’m right, the Falcon should bump and be in killing range.

I shot up the Falcon some, but lost a Z that turn. I flew one Z on the far left towards Leebo thinking I might get lucky with another block and the rest chased Han. Leebo had turned right, though, and I didn’t bump. I did get some R1 shots on him, though. The rest chased Chewie down and I was able to do damage, especially with FCS. I did lose another Z, though.

I got him here, but lost another Z.

Leebo turned up and I went to hide behind the asteroid vs. that HLC. He got my last Z and I continued around the asteroid. He chased me and tried to barrel roll backwards to force a bump. If I had 1 turned, it would’ve been a bump, but I wasn’t sure if he was going to break right or left, so I did a 2 turn.

I did hit him hard with the FCS shots and he was down to 1-2 hull points. My autothrusters were doing great and saving a lot of damage. At this point, he could’ve zipped ahead fast to get away and turn towards me to put me in firing arc (to negate autothrusters), but he decided to be unpredictable and turn hard left around the asteroid again. I did do a sharp 1 this time and found I could barrel roll back behind it and be in R1 of him with no asteroid.

This turn really did it and I finished him off. It was a tough game and I was losing a Z every round, but Xizor in the late game was really nasty. If I can get behind something, it’s just a matter of time. It was a good game and I think that my gamble of a block is what got me the win.

Game 4 vs. Bro Bots

IG-88 A w/ HLC, autoincludes, inertial dampeners, stuff

IG-88 B w/ manger, autoincludes, and stuff

Now…my opponent is a good gamer. He was the only one who was undefeated at this point. The guy I came with had played him before and stated that he was just a good player and he had lost to him early on. We talked about it at lunch. The idea is that one of the bad matches for the bro-bots is swarms. A is a nice counter to swarms! So, that idea is really rather brilliant. With my mini-swarm, I was not happy about facing A. It also had the HLC.

Asteroids set up on right and middle. His B went down his table edge to peek in mid-table. A went fast down the far flank and zipped in towards the middle. I slow rolled and didn’t take any bait. I knew that most people consider B the threat with the Gunner ability. So, B is often used as bait while the HLC other guy comes up behind. As we approached, I decided to gun hard for A, as it was the real threat to me. Well, gun forward as far as my little Z’s can bank.

It was perfect as even a 1 forward would put him in killing range for my entire list. I know I needed to take one down fast. My opponent….used Inertial Dampeners! What? Crap! It meant that half my list was out of range and the rest were at R3. Quite clever. He blew up one Z and then the other 3 couldn’t get damage through R3 with Autothrusters.

Next turn I moved forward to try to force a bump, as he was stressed. I managed it and was able to get the shots in that I needed.

My shots….were ineffective. I’d either roll bad (3 dice at R1 and get one hit) or get good hits, but he would roll 3 evade! I did damage him, but my dice weren’t kind. My dice weren’t horrible, just not well enough. So, I’m utterly flustered at this point as I just couldn’t get damage through on him. I thought I set up perfectly, but just failed. I was flustered and not really sure how to deal with the turn around. I ended up bumping a lot and trying to K-turn around. I knew that he would S-loop and I didn’t have any way to block him without using Xizor on a gamble to one side with no protection. I ended up S-looping with Xizor. It was comical my bumping and I was easily blasted. At one point, I did flip around and get Xizor at R1 of IG-88A, who had no shields. So….4 dice with TL, and I only get like 1 damage through. He fires at Xizor and I flub my dice. I take a lot of damage. Next turn I try to run, but forget that I’m stressed and can’t boost further out of the way. Doh! Xizor down. I call game at this point as it was a mess.

I thought I had the approach well enough, but his stopping really messed with me. Then, I couldn’t get lucky on the turn that I really needed it. I was in a bad place after that round, but then I just bump everything. I do terrible with my flying and lose the game. I think it was close to being over at that point, though, because even if I flipped all my guys without bumping, I was in a bad way and both IG’s were coming at me. I hadn’t done enough damage. Good game to a great player. He was good.

Now, I had thought of firing my Flechette Torpedoes that turn after he stopped. I could’ve stressed out the bro bot, but at that point, I know I needed to do damage. So, I’m not really sad I didn’t use it.

Overall, I came in 4^th. The modified win vs. Han hurt me in the end as that player came in 2^nd.

1. Casey Waters – bro bots
2. Ritchie Gibbs – Han & Fringer
3. Eric Maynard – 5 Talas and 2 Greens
4. Jim Chadwick – me

We talked about going to Final Four, but we were fine without it. It was 6pm and if I left then, I could see my son before he went to bed. I made top 4, so I was happy. I don’t think anyone really cared to push it.

I was really happy with how Xizor and the New Power Generation did. I think it has a lot of potential. One thing I need to work on is the turn around. If I am in a spot where I just want to K-turn, I usually mess it all up. I have to get better at that or find a better way. There were 2 games that I messed that up and it cost me. Overall, though, I liked the list. Knowing how YT’s fly and how to not fall into their traps is important. Blocking them is a great tactic. I am part of that camp that thinks you should give half points for big based ships. I think the current system favors them too much. That’s another story, though.

I never used the flechette torpedoes, but I also never faced any of the many Soontir lists, either. I still like it in the list and think it will have uses, but just didn’t need it against all those big, turreted ships.

In the end, it was great to head up to Asheville and meet new players. I’d been on their Facebook group for a bit and they were all really nice guys. That’s important to me as I’d rather have fun than win.

Good write up, pretty sure 12 points difference is a full win not modified.

I find with this list Xizor either hammers damage in or manages to strip tokens and then the Z's hav eto Hammer it home, if Z's fail or Xizor fails it becomes incredibly tough to push damage through, especially if its something tank like Rec Spec + Jan ors combo, or even just rec spec in general.

Be glad you didn't have to face the dreaded HLC + Rec Spec + Predator combo.

I believe it's 15 pts or less for a modified win.

I did face off vs. enough HLC's, Recon Specialists, and Predator. Maybe not all in one kit, but enough combos of at least 2 of them. Yeah, they are rough. I think I was lucky in my 3rd game where Leebo had to cut out of the fight and give me some breathing room to take out Chewbacca. There was a crucial turn or two that he either couldn't fire or rolled really badly to let me finish the wookie off.

Yeah, it takes the combo of Xizor and the Z's. I usually stripped the tokens with Xizor and let the Z's do damage. It didn't work in that one round with the IG-88's, though. That one round really helped kill me.

One problem I have found with this list is Brobots, 2 red dice just arent great vs 3 agilty, especially with 4 shields and 4 hull to fall back on. Its the main reason I threw in the flechette torp, as it lets you either stress one out and block it the next turn, or wait til it sloops or k turns and if you predict right get him double stressed, but you still need to break through 3 green dice.

its 12 points difference for a full win, 11 points and less is a modified.

Good write up, pretty sure 12 points difference is a full win not modified.

its 12 points difference for a full win, 11 points and less is a modified.

A hazy memory just crept back in. I recall someone saying it was an 8 pt difference in the game. My head hurt and I didn't want to actually do math and that stood out to me as a thankful comment from someone. So, maybe it was 36 pts vs 44 pts? That sounds right.

One problem I have found with this list is Brobots, 2 red dice just arent great vs 3 agilty, especially with 4 shields and 4 hull to fall back on. Its the main reason I threw in the flechette torp, as it lets you either stress one out and block it the next turn, or wait til it sloops or k turns and if you predict right get him double stressed, but you still need to break through 3 green dice.

Yeah....we need a group think-tank on this. I need to figure out how to do it and I need to figure out how to turn around better. I think if the dice rolls were average, I should've killed that one Iggy with my Z's and Xizor. Mine were low and his were high. Not crazy, but bad enough.

The thing is, it doesnt matter about averages, it matters about what gets rolled. 3 dice always has the potential for 3 evades, even if the IG has 8 stress and is on a roid. I find that vs brobots I end up using Xizor as bait more often then not, as focused fire will kill a z per turn. It's all about hammering them with fire and hoping that after enough rolls some shots will make it through.

The thing is, it doesnt matter about averages, it matters about what gets rolled. 3 dice always has the potential for 3 evades, even if the IG has 8 stress and is on a roid. I find that vs brobots I end up using Xizor as bait more often then not, as focused fire will kill a z per turn. It's all about hammering them with fire and hoping that after enough rolls some shots will make it through.

Unfortunately, that's the truth! I just meant I wish my dice had been a bit better. Hot would've been amazing, but I only wanted average rolls.

How do you use Xizor as bait? Stick him out of cover? Or without a Focus?

I do think that when I face bro bots again, I want to cluster my obstacles in the middle to try to force a side.

Leave him focusless (take a target lock as your action or barrel roll/boost). I also parked on a debris field then used inertial dampeners to stay at range 1 of an IG for the low low cost of 3 stress tokens. During that game my opponent knew to shoot my z's first but kept shooting xizor, when he finally went for z's he popped 3 over 2 turns.

Excellent write up and I enjoyed meeting you Sat.

Your round 2 was 8pts, modified which did obviously hurt you in the end. I love the list and hope you stick with it. I was the one who threw that name out there so I'm glad it's sticking, lol. I would have loved to have watched the Brobots match but I was busy trying to chase down my second Chiraneau/Soontir opponent of the day with my 4Tala/2Green swarm (I won both, yay!). I'm probably sticking with... some sort of swarm for Regionals so I need to get some serious practice against the 'Bots.

I had a great time and was glad that I was able to get home to see my son that night (and not do the final four).

I think our game was the most fun of the day. Laughing, playing stupid sound effects, and all that. I actually get a great story for the "...almost got Han" moment.

The final bro bot game got me good. I thought I played perfect....but it just didn't pan out. Well, perfect until that round of fumbling. Still, I felt it was just a conclusion at that point. I thought it went according to plan, but I just didn't pin the damage on Iggy A.

OH, and thanks for the name! It's hysterical. Looking forward to Raleigh. AJ and I are going. I'll crash at my in-laws for free, but we should find the time for a beer afterwards.

Do you think people at your store were surprised seeing Xizor brought? Do you think they were surprised at seeing him do well?

I had a great time and was glad that I was able to get home to see my son that night (and not do the final four).

I think our game was the most fun of the day. Laughing, playing stupid sound effects, and all that. I actually get a great story for the "...almost got Han" moment.

The final bro bot game got me good. I thought I played perfect....but it just didn't pan out. Well, perfect until that round of fumbling. Still, I felt it was just a conclusion at that point. I thought it went according to plan, but I just didn't pin the damage on Iggy A.

OH, and thanks for the name! It's hysterical. Looking forward to Raleigh. AJ and I are going. I'll crash at my in-laws for free, but we should find the time for a beer afterwards.

Do you think people at your store were surprised seeing Xizor brought? Do you think they were surprised at seeing him do well?

I'm Eric, the guy who played the Tala/Green swarm. Ritchie, my cousin, was who you played with the Han/Fringer list. Yeah, hearing your sound effects from the phone was great! We both aren't actually from the Asheville store but we've played with Casey, Bobby, Patrick and those guys since last fall in several tournaments. I'm from Kingsport, TN and he lives in Wythville, VA. We'll both be driving down the morning of the Raleigh Regional. I do think that, in general, people are surprised that the Prince list is good. You see that in the forum comments, even after the Tulsa, showing. So I don't think that it'll catch on with a lot of people and I think that's great, you still can surprise them. I've never played the list but combining him with 5 Zs was one of the first things I thought of way back when Scum was first previewed.

I'm Eric, the guy who played the Tala/Green swarm. Ritchie, my cousin, was who you played with the Han/Fringer list. Yeah, hearing your sound effects from the phone was great! We both aren't actually from the Asheville store but we've played with Casey, Bobby, Patrick and those guys since last fall in several tournaments. I'm from Kingsport, TN and he lives in Wythville, VA. We'll both be driving down the morning of the Raleigh Regional. I do think that, in general, people are surprised that the Prince list is good. You see that in the forum comments, even after the Tulsa, showing. So I don't think that it'll catch on with a lot of people and I think that's great, you still can surprise them. I've never played the list but combining him with 5 Zs was one of the first things I thought of way back when Scum was first previewed.

Ahhh.....being the new guy, it was hard to keep everyone apart. How far is it to Charlotte for you guys? If we have an event, I might be able to offer a spare room and inflatable mattress for someone (Mrs. permitting).

AJ said his list didn't have much of a chance vs. yours. BBBBZ just melted to the fire and the higher PS. He talked a lot about your game on the way home and said he didn't think he had a chance at all. So, good part on you! It is a crazy list. If you want to post any of your games here, that would be great.

Yeah, I told him when the game was almost over that I kinda built the list to deal with all the Bs in the meta If I get decent attack rolls it'll always be pretty difficult for 4BZ to beat it.

It's about 4 hours to Charlotte from Kingsport. I'd def. be up for visiting your meta down there at some point. Just an FYI, we're probably going to be doing the Kessel Run again this fall so I'll keep you guys updated when I start putting some info together. It's a 3 tournament series and this year we may spread it out over Kingsport, Asheville, and Greenville, SC (we play often with that group down there as well).

Back to the event. Like I said, I would've loved to watch your match against the Brobots. I'm getting more comfortable against turrets with swarm but the possibility of facing list after list of Brobots with a bunch of 2 dice guns is kinda.... not what I want

Greenville is only 1 hour and 45 min from my house. I can make that. Do they have a Facebook page? Are they active? Charlotte is scattered through a few game stores and hard to get them all together for one event. The scene has really been growing in the past few months as I've tried to sucker new guys into the game.

Greenville is only 1 hour and 45 min from my house. I can make that. Do they have a Facebook page? Are they active? Charlotte is scattered through a few game stores and hard to get them all together for one event. The scene has really been growing in the past few months as I've tried to sucker new guys into the game.

Added you to their group pending admin approval. There are some really good guys down their, Eric Jolley foremost, he runs a lot of their events.

Nice work! Looks like you played to the strengths of the list pretty well. Brobots is a tough matchup for this list, but I have always managed to squeak out the victory at time. It can be very hard to get through their 3 AGI barrier, though. I love finishing a game with Xizor dueling a YT. Done it several times. Autothrusters makes him hard to hit and FCS means 3-4 hits most of the time. Like you said, get Xizor behind them and they're done, especially if you can get him at range one.

I've really strugged vs well flown Brobots. on saturday I faced all 4 brobots at a tournament and won 2, lost 2. It's the reason I've added a flechette torp in, as denying an IG adv sensors and stressing it out make it much easier to block, allowing for a few rounds of fire vs a tokenless IG, but even then I've struggled sometimes.

I need to be more proactive with my Flechette Torps. I also wonder how much the outcome in that last match was bad dice. I was sure I would've done more damage when at R1. It's not like I didn't do any, but I didn't get past shields.

How do you guys deal with turning around, as well? Do you just do the slow hard turns? Or do you K-turn?

depends on the situation really, with regarding to k turning or hard turns. I play it by ear.

I think for me the hardest part is when jousting with a IG-88. I would normally think after the first pass that a big ship would be dead, but it's not turning out that way. They get the S-loop, so I'm not finding a good way to turn around and be effective.

The key with jousting against the IGs is to spread your ships out a bit so that your front line can K turn behind them while your back line (or just Xizor) is far enough back to deny them the K turn. Ideally, you want to have 1 Z in contact with the IG after bumping and as many of the others as possible with range 1 shots. You have to be able to deny them the K turn and Sloop while maintaining as much focused fire as possible.