Last weekend, 30-31st May, concluded the 2015 UK Games Expo in Birmingham. Several massive conference halls at the Hilton packed with boardgames, trade fairs, cards, miniatures, seminars and other exciting events. But the reason for attending, obviously, was the 2015 X-Wing Miniatures Nationals.

This is part one of the report. Part two is here .

TOs were David Sleet, Greg Wood and Vince Kingston.

Later in the day, Alex Davy dropped by to watch and judge the final.

Day 1 (Swiss)

I've been playing X-Wing since summer last year and had gotten together with an awesome group of lads. London doesn't have many gaming shops, but it's not far to other major cities either, so we tend to make a decent showing at events all over the south of England. We play thursday nights at the Death Star Dark Sphere, on 186 Hercules Road in London. We are 186th Squadron.

List (99pts)

I've been playing around with the Aggressor more or less since it was released, in a couple of different configurations. After some testing and tweaking the squad at different small tournaments (and two regionals) over the last few months, here's what I decided to take:

IG-88B (48pt)

Push the Limit

Advanced Sensors

Mangler Cannon

Autothrusters

IG-2000

IG-88C (51pt)

Push the Limit

Advanced Sensors

Heavy Laser Cannon

Autothrusters

IG-2000

It was going to be 6 x 60-minute swiss rounds over the saturday, followed by a Top 16 elimination bracket on the sunday. I was feeling fairly confident going in, but knew that one bad game or matchup could be make-or-break. 60-minute rounds would in particular make Large-Ship turret matchups harder to deal with. I had learned to fear the YT-2400 above all other ships.

I didn't take nearly enough photos during the day, sorry. If any of the players (or spectators) from the games below finds an error in the lists or description, please let me know - remembering everything after two days of X-Wing is hard.

Round 1

Peter Frances

Howlrunner Stealth Device

x3 Alpha Squadron Pilot

x2 Academy Pilot

First round of the Swiss; friendly chap named Peter who was flying a TIE Interceptor swarm. This game is a little bit fuzzy; it was early in the morning and the coffee was still sinking in. I forced some awkward obstacle placement on him and his ships struggled to get themselves into the fight. IG-88B, the plucky little fella, gets a thumbs up for blowing Howlrunner out of the sky in a single turn with the Mangler Cannon.

Peter did manage to bring one IG-88 down to 2 hull points, but then had to pull K-Turns to get firing arcs, and two Alpha Squadron Pilots went down fairly quickly without any defensive tokens. Disengaged with the damaged ship while applying pressure with the other, then brought both back round to pop the remaining Interceptor. Time was called. 2 x Academy Pilots and both IG-88's were left on the table.

75-0 win

Round 2

Janus Avivson

IG-88B , Push the Limit, Advanced Sensors, Mangler Cannon, Autothrusters, Intertial Dampeners

IG-88C , Push the Limit, Advanced Sensors, Mangler Cannon, Autothrusters, Intertial Dampeners

Fellow member of the 186th, I've played Janus quite a lot and it was great to see he'd also won his first game. He was previously flying a nasty Xizor and Binayre swarm list, but today had brought Aggressors. He was on 98pts, and wisely gave me the initiative. I would move and shoot first, making reacting to his moves very difficult.

This was a very tense game and I lost some shields very early on, but the deciding turn came later on when all four IG-88's flew into an asteroid cluster in the centre of the board. My ships are on the black-painted bases, having blocked his. One nasty turn of shooting later, and his IG-88B (with the Lego minifig riding shotgun!) was toastered.

In the turn that followed, I pulled a Focus + Target Lock move Forward 1 to bump and remain stationary with both of my ships. Janus planned to do the same, but chose a Right Bank 1 move, which to our shared disbelief just made it through. It was the break I needed, and he was promptly gunned down.

100-0 win

Round 3

Steve Fase

Boba Fett , Veteran Instincts, Gunner, Engine Upgrade, Intertial Dampeners

x4 Binayre Pirate

Steve is a friendly face from the London X-Wing scene and I've watched him play many times. He was flying a wonderfully painted squadron of ships that I naturally forgot to take any pictures of. We placed the obstacles in a staggered diagonal line across the middle, and deployed in opposite corners.

Steve used his Binayres in pinwheel formation with Boba following behind them, but was forced to split them and crash through the asteroids when I didn't approach as aggressively as he was likely hoping. He pulled the Inertial Dampeners early in order to prevent Boba getting shot at by both IG-88's, but was powerless to prevent the barrage in the following turn.

Very clustered, bumpy melee ensued with multiple Binayres blocking themselves over rocks. Boba got tangled up for a couple of turns too long, couldn't escape in time, and was shot down. Aggressors then methodically picked off the damaged Binayre Pirates one by one.

100-0 win

Round 4

Siggi Gunn

Han Solo , Lone Wolf, C-3PO, R2-D2, Millennium Falcon, Engine Upgrade

Wild Space Fringer , Mangler Cannon, Outrider, Intelligence Agent

Got a little starstruck when Siggi from Outer Rim Smugglers walked over and place his ships on the table, having travelled from Iceland to have a go. We chatted for a bit, placed asteroids down into in a spread-out fashion and then got down to business.

Han, in ultra-defensive mode, was able to ignore me almost completely on the opening engagement. Meanwhile, the Fringer was getting into position to block every single turn, scaring me off from using K-Turns. I decided to switch tactics about five turns in, and rapidly focus-fired the Fringer down while Focus+Evade turtling Han's shots. Without the Gunner crew, he wasn't throwing out enough damage to make a dent.

Eventually, we're down to around 8-10mins remaining and Han has 2 Hull points remaining with both of my ships alive and well. Siggi briefly appears to consider running away for the remaining time, but decides to concede like a total gentleman so my MOV for the match won't be totally screwed.

100-0 win

Round 5

Paul Westwood

"Leebo" , Predator, Recon Specialist, Mangler Cannon, Outrider

Chewbacca , Predator, Jan Ors, C-3PO, Millennium Falcon

This was going to be a brutal, defensive slugging-match either way, with all four Large Ships on the table able to get a Focus + Evade stack (or equivalent) each turn. Paul could easily have gone for the slow-play strategy here, but to his credit he swiftly placed and revealed dials. Perhaps he realised that he too had a significant amount of shooting he needed to do.

Asteroids got placed in a tight group in the middle, and we skirted around the outside. Knowing that negating my Autothrusters would be key, he went for a brave K-Turn on my side of the table in order to charge straight at me. Unfortunately, I came towards him far too fast and was able to knock Leebo's shields off while he had no defensive tokens. Rest of the game was cat and mouse, four ships moving slowly in a line. Chewbacca up front, blocking and taking no shots from one IG, the other IG popping 1 shield off Chewie each turn, and Leebo coming up behind (on one hull point). We did half a lap of the board like this.

However, he just couldn't punch through with only two 3-dice guns and Autothrusters active. Eventually he guessed the wrong direction with Chewbacca, taking a Hard 1 turn towards the middle, while the previously blocked Aggressor pulled an S-Loop through a debris field towards the edge of the board. Nailed the killing blow on both ships, and the game was over in 31minutes.

100-0 win

Round 6

Nathan Hoyle

Dash Rendar , Push the Limit, Kyle Katarn, Heavy Laser Cannon, Outrider, Engine Upgrade

Corran Horn , Veteran Instincts, Fire Control System, R2-D2

This was the one matchup I was utterly dreading. Dash, flown well, is more than happy to dance rings around Aggressors and Corran has a nasty habit of one-shotting ships at close range. But, I had also practiced Dash matchups for three weeks straight, so I was nervous but determined going in.

Aggressors went adjacent to each in the left corner, while Nathan deployed Dash straight opposite and Corran somewhere in the centre. I didn't think he would be stupid enough to joust me, and did Hard Right 2 turns towards the middle, didn't do any actions, and prepared myself to bank inwards.

Of course, Nathan had seen right through me, and launched Dash 4 Forwards, boosted and barrel-rolled forwards. Suddenly he had a Range 3 shot and knocked a couple of shields off an IG, punishing me for my mistake. He needed to clear the stress however, so both Aggressors Hard 1 turned towards Dash in order to catch his forward or bank inwards. Instead, Nathan banks right and boosts left, just a few hairwidths from the board edge and dodging my arcs completely! I lose more shields for my foolishness. Corran is slowly approaching from the corner of an asteroid field. This is it.

At this point, I decided enough was enough. Dash was in the left corner of my board edge, it was Turn 3, and S-Looped both Aggressors. Dash didn't have anywhere to escape to, but Nathan threw Corran forwards into Range 1 and the combined fire from him and Dash put IG-88B down to 2 hull. In response, combined firepower from my two ships drops Dash down to 4 hull with the Damaged Cockpit (PS 0) critical. Corran double-taps and removes one IG-88B from the table.

Next couple of turns, while Corran is unable to fire and turns around, IG-88C promptly kills Dash. It's now a 30-minute joust between a full-health Corran and full-health IG-88C (with HLC). We take turns to K-Turn, pull a green to clear stress and bump each other, repeat. We're both down to 1-2 hull, there's 3 minutes left, and I spot the opportunity for an S-Loop. Corran guesses the wrong direction, and pulls a Hard 3 to get out of where he thought I would be. It's off the board by a few millimetres. Ouch!

100-51 win

Swiss Results

At the end of six rounds of Swiss, the results come in. I've finished the day on 6-0 with a healthy MoV of 1127, losing one ship (in the last game).

Day 2 (Top 16)

We arrive early the next day to find our matchups and opponents. I see a few familiar names in the Top 16. Notably former UK National champions Keith Wilson and Craig Reed, Tom Reed who knocked me out of the Top 8 at a UK Regional three weeks earlier, and Dominic Wai - fellow 186th squadmate!



Round 7

Kyle Turley

Soontir Fel , Push the Limit, Autothrusters
Whisper , Veteran Instincts, Advanced Sensors, Recon Specialist, Advanced Cloaking Device
Omicron Group Pilot , Darth Vader

Kyle and I both felt a little worse for wear, the result of a late night in the hotel bar. We cracked a couple of jokes, scattered a some asteroids about and shook hands. This was going to be tough for us both.

Clocks were started and Kyle's ships screamed forward; the Shuttle doing a 3 Bank straight at me with both Soontir and Whisper hurtling aggressively towards a central asteroid field. I had hard-turned inwards from the corner, expecting him to approach from that angle but certainly not at that speed. Next turn, I self-bumped with the rear Aggressor to give me a little room to breathe, while the other banked inwards. Soontir had nowhere to go.

But he didn't try. Instead, the Shuttle banked in towards the asteroids, Whisper decloaked straight forwards for a Range 3 shot and Soontir powered ahead and turtled up. It was a ballsy move. However, it didn't pay off, with only some shield damage being inflicted on me. In return, both of the Aggressors pummeled Soontir, knocking him down to 1 Hull and unable to perform actions.



This picture was during the activation phase on Turn 3. IG-88C focus/evades and banks in slowly, while IG-88B takes a focus and target lock on Whisper. Soontir bumps, and is promptly destroyed. Whisper takes an ineffectual shot through the asteroid with no tokens, and the Shuttle landed on the asteroid.

We dance around for a few more turns, doing no damage to each other, before Whisper finally sinks IG-88B and it's at this point I decide that shooting Whisper isn't even worth at. Not with a single ship at PS6. So, I begin to turtle up each turn and begin to circle the asteroids, waiting for the opportunity to pounce.

With 5 minutes to go, I screech forward with a boost, K-Turn and blast the Shuttle out of the sky from the corner of the board. Whisper moves forward next turn, but time has been called, and is unable to do enough damage to destroy me. We count up points destroyed and I'm ahead by 6pts, for a modified win.

54-48 win

Round 8

Grant Rennie

x4 Bandit Squadron Pilot
x4 Tala Squadron Pilot

I was paying close attention when Grant slowly, methodically began to take eight ships out of his case and place them on the table in a tight, careful formation. Asteroid placement was a little all over the place, Grant placing widely to give himself room and me attempting to block passages off to split him up.

He opened large, with Hard 3 turns to group up his two formations before bringing them both through the centre. This was smart. I pulled a couple of stalling moves to give myself time to think and formulate a plan, before deciding to pull back and use Hard 1 + Boost moves to angle myself in along my edge. Eight small ships came rushing through the asteroids.

I failed to do enough damage on the first engagement, not killing anything, but also didn't get hurt in response. But it was at this point I split the two IGs up, moving in opposite directions. I decided that in order to get myself into a better position for the next few turns, I had to least weather 2 turns at Range 1. Using the asteroids as cover and the Z-95's as speed bumps, I hunkered down and ate laser for two turns. Due to obstacle placement, he had to either bump or crash through rocks to get closer, so after two turns I was down to 3 hull with one and 1 shield on the other, I think.

I had killed one Bandit in response, however, and with 20 minutes left on the clock I just booked it. Grant had spent several turns pushing his swarm through the asteroid field to get better and closer shots, and as a result had left a gap for me to Bank 3 into. I made a series of wide, sweeping movements to evade before K-Turning at his edge of the board. He had also turned around, and was slowly angling to come towards me head-on. There was 3 minutes left.

It came down to a choice. He guessed in which direction I would turn, at what speed, and swung his entire remaining swarm towards it. He guessed the right direction, but instead of 1 Bank I revealed a 3 Bank, and was able to safely boost past every single arc but one. Killed one more Bandit on the last shot, winning 24-0 as time was called.

Round 9

Tom Reed

Dash Rendar , Predator, Recon Specialist, Heavy Laser Cannon, Outrider
Chewbacca , Predator, Millennium Falcon

I had been wondering through the whole tournament if this matchup would occur. At the Milton Keynes regionals three weeks earlier, my only loss (twice!) was to Tom and his heavyweight list. Once in the swiss rounds, then knocking me out in the Top 8. Consequently, I had been practicing against Dash quite a bit in anticipation of a grudge rematch. We got it!

We opened fairly conservatively, before I shimmy forwards and place myself right in front of him but through a bunch of asteroids. Chewbacca had moved in aggressively, but Dash finds himself in arc and range of both IG-88's, while his own shots must travel through asteroids. Tom decides to Focus/Focus instead of barrel rolling, and eats quite a bit of damage in response - leaving him with a Stunned Pilot crit. One IG-88 takes a chunk of damage in return. Next turn, the damaged IG-88 3-Banks out from the rocks while the other S-Loops to attempt the kill-shot on Dash.



Dash goes down, and Chewie is forced to tank one barely-touched IG-88B and one severely crippled IG-88C. The latter makes a series of 3 banks attempting to clear a Damaged Sensor Array away from the action (never succeeds), but Chewbacca is whittled down and destroyed before he can get over there and capitalise on it. Bitter loss for Tom, but can't commend his attitude and sportsmanship enough - have no doubt we'll meet on the tables again.

100-0 win

Round 10 (Final)

So, looking over to my right, I see Dominic who just won his own game. We're up against each other in the final! We decide to take a break, get some food, and come back in half an hour. It was easily the closest, most nerve-wracking game of X-Wing I've ever played. Absolute corker of a match and we kept it friendly throughout. It wasn't recorded, so we're both trying to source some pictures and do a joint-write up of the turns in the few days.

Spoiler alert; I won!

However, it should be noted that Dominic also took 2nd place in Star Wars Imperial Assault two days earlier - quite an achievement placing so well in both. James Dowdall and Mike Dennis (both fellow 186th) took 1st and 3rd in the Nationals Escalation tournament. It's been an awesome weekend, and I'm very much looking forward to Worlds 2015.



Swag!

great so far. I look forwards to reading the rest

Thanks for the write up. It's a good read!

Great write up. I must admit I was cheering Dom on (as I had met him, and I had to pick someone!) as we all got updates from a friend who was there watching. Sounds like it was yours all along though. Hope to meet you at Dark Sphere sometime (where you will no doubt annihilate me!)

Congratulations on your victory and thanks for the report.

Did you playtest against panic attack style lists before choosing double PTL? If so how did you plan to mitigate the stress?

Very well done. Would you change anything about the list if you had to do it again?

Congratulations on your victory and thanks for the report.

Did you playtest against panic attack style lists before choosing double PTL? If so how did you plan to mitigate the stress?

I didn't playtest specifically, but have come up against a few on the way. It's a difficult matchup. Panic Attack style lists are relatively slow, however, and the IG-88's can pull through if they rely on their speed and dial control distance. Y-Wing with R3-A2 has to disappear first. Something I do quite often is a series of long, sweeping arcs using the bank templates rather than S-Looping or K-Turning; not getting caught double-stressed is also double-important against Panic Attack style lists.

Very well done. Would you change anything about the list if you had to do it again?

Thanks! I don't think so. I definitely think asymmetry is the better build. Whilst many also prefer HLC on IG-88B, I'm pleased with how Mangler performed. I've been playing this exact list for about two months now and I'm very comfortable with flying it.

I knew the result from Janus already but you should really place the score from each match after the writeup rather than before, helps with the suspense for new readers!

I used to fly this list but dropped ptl for outmaneuver and FCS on D instead, giving enough room for dampers on both. Increases the lethality by a huge factor especially against fat falcons.

Looking forward to playing you at DS when I come back in the summer!

Congrats on the win! Do you find that Push the Limit performs considerably better than Predator on the IGs or is it marginal in your opinion?

He's very good at self blocking, so with a green move and adv sensors you can focus evade and end up with no stress. Or boost focus then pull a green for the same result.

Congrats on the win! Do you find that Push the Limit performs considerably better than Predator on the IGs or is it marginal in your opinion?

I think it really depends on what you're trying to accomplish. Predator certainly gives you an offensive edge, which is great if you play aggressively, but my primary concern with the Aggressor has never been offensive output. I prefer the flexibility that Push the Limit gives you; I don't tend to S-Loop or K-Turn my IGs that much and so for my style of play I prefer it, but I wouldn't say it's better necessarily.

Icareane, on 01 Jun 2015 - 5:33 PM, said:

Congratulations on your victory and thanks for the report.

Did you playtest against panic attack style lists before choosing double PTL? If so how did you plan to mitigate the stress?

I didn't playtest specifically, but have come up against a few on the way. It's a difficult matchup. Panic Attack style lists are relatively slow, however, and the IG-88's can pull through if they rely on their speed and dial control distance. Y-Wing with R3-A2 has to disappear first. Something I do quite often is a series of long, sweeping arcs using the bank templates rather than S-Looping or K-Turning; not getting caught double-stressed is also double-important against Panic Attack style lists.

Thanks, will try that approach today.

congrats for the win and thanks for taking the time to share the experience with us.

if you ever come to Barcelona and want to play let me know!

congrats for the win and thanks for taking the time to share the experience with us.

if you ever come to Barcelona and want to play let me know!

Thanks!