The date, 13th of June, had been set in my agenda for a good while, and with all things that are a distant point in the future.. they get close awfully fast. And so it was with my first Regionals (Arnhem, the Netherlands). A month before, I had set two goals for the list I'd bring:
- Firstly, bring something original. After seeing lists taken to another local Regionals event, I was convinved of the need to get something 'different'. Certainly no big turret(s) and the likes, nor double IGs. At least one rare ship.. TIE Defender, Bomber, Advanced (before fix), HWK, something like that. Not just for the sake of it, but also to give my opponents some fun opposition rather than 5 games of turrets.
- Secondly, get some experience with whatever I decided to bring. It's a premier event, so one would expect a certain level of play. The only two tournaments I'd attended before were flown with lists I'd only ever played twice and never before respectively, and spending the first two games learning how to fly isn't great. Given the first goal, I also somewhat desperately wanted to show that those rarely-flown ships aren't actually all that bad - ending the tournament on five losses wouldn't help their reputation, even if player inexperience would have been to blame!
As it turns out, I didn't play a single game of X-Wing in the weeks preceding the tournament, so I already miserably failed at my second goal. Not a single game to try whatever list I decided to take. With that, I decided Defenders, StarVipers and other ships that required some finesse were out, as they wouldn't work without at least a good few games of trial-and-error. Luckily, two recently ordered ships arrived at my doorstep two days prior to the tournament: my second and third TIE Bombers. And so, after some deliberation, I decided upon the following list:
Colonel Jendon
-Fire Control System
-ST-321
-Weapons Engineer
Scimitar Squadron Pilot
-Concussion Missiles
-Proximity Mines
Scimitar Squadron Pilot
-Concussion Missiles
-Proximity Mines
Scimitar Squadron Pilot
-Concussion Missiles
Jendon is there obviously to get the Target Locks in the first turns, pass them to the Bombers, who will almost certainly have at least one turn at range 2-3 of their designated ships to give them one hell of a headache. Last few times of running a shuttle, I've gone with a similar setup (on a regular Omicron Pilot) minus the title, just to get free locks (even when stressed) on the current target and then another ship likely to be shot at some next round. Concussion Missiles simply seemed to give the most and reasonably guaranteed damage against most ships, when focussed likely 4 hits - which would decimate Decimators and slip through the defences of even 3-agility ships. Dropped my initial idea of 3x Seismics to two Prox Mines as Seismics are too easily evaded by high-PS ships with abilities to repositions (e.g. 90% of the meta). Dropping a Proximity on a ship will at least give guaranteed potential hits, if that makes sense.
Further factors were duration and weather. Given the expected long and warm day, this list seemed relatively straightforward, with very calculated first turns and durable ships.. flyable, even without any experience of something even somewhat closely resembling it, and even after 4 rounds of Swiss, just a few hours of sleep and in an environment more suitable for camels than me.
Anyway.. on to the games.
Game 1. Something along the lines of Corran, VI, FCS, R2-D2, EU; Dash, Lone Wolf, HLC, Recon, Outrider.
Not a match-up I was looking forward to. Cracking the agility and reasonable number of hull/shields is alright with the Missiles, but there weren't enough to get both ships down. Decided to focus on Dash, as the four red dice a turn would hurt most, and I felt able to kill him completely, while Corran would probably flee and recover. Also, I absolutely despise Dash.. big ship that ignores asteroids and all that. Set-up was in diagonally opposite corners with asteroids spread out (as was the case in all games). Two missiles did a good bit of damage on Dash (I later wasn't sure if I fired my third and forgot to discard the card or actually still had it - decided against using it to ensure I'd handicap myself rather than cheat my opponent). Several bombers took some hits, but only one went down after many rounds of shooting. Donut-Hole Dash decided to flee into a corner, where I managed to block him, lining up shots with another Bomber at range 1 and the Shuttle. No actions nor re-rolls (Corran decided to get a bit too close to his buddy), and Dash went down. I now had Jendon, a severly damaged Bomber with Mine and another, undamaged Bomber who should have had a Missile to get Corran. The E-Wing of course easily outmaneuvred the Shuttle, chasing him for a few turns with no return fire.. despite spectacularily bad attacking rolls (blanks galore, even with FCS), the Shuttle eventually succumbed to the incoming shots. Not willing to run away with the Bombers, I engaged and lost the damaged one in the last turn (would have survived with a focus token, but he barrel-rolled to get a shot at Corran). Loss, 53-80 (had the Bomber survived, it would have been a surprisingly close 53-57, although I had felt the game was completely out of my control once I tried to get Corran). I think I dropped one Mine in this game, but it came up with blank and focus results.
The usual set-up. First turn: move forwards 1, get Target Locks with Jendon. Hand them out over the
subsequent two turns, when the Bombers move 1 again, while Jendon stops. Next turn, bank 2 with the
upper-right Bomber and bank 1 with the rest, staying in a nice formation with the Shuttle behind, who
now lost the stress to take (and give away) a TL to the final Bomber.
Game 2. IG88-D, VI, Mangler, FCS, Dampeners; Serissu, Wingman, Heavy Scyk, Flechette Cannon; Kavil, Ion Turret, Unhinged.
While the Y-Wing looked like a tasty target for a good Concussioning, I decided to throw one Lock (and thus, hopefully, a Missile) at Serissu, as any hits saved by her ability would otherwise feel unneccesary. Wasn't happy with facing the Mangler either, theoretically Bombers don't really like Crits, and I wasn't looking forward to finding if the practice matched the theory. Both forces started moving slowly, but the Scum then sped up and turned in near my board edge, while I had started turning just under halfway along the edge. Serissu moved over a stone, losing a shield. As we got in firing range, some hits landed on my Bomber Squadron, but nothing too serious.. aside from an annoying Ion, not only resulting in my Bomber flying on an asteroid next turn, but also meaning it wasn't - as planned - able to do a nice three turn and lob a Mine on (or just in front of) Kavil that next round. Jendon tried to hit Serissu to take her Evade token away, but failed to hit. This turned out not to be a major issue, as the Missile did a tidy 4 hits (probably rolling 2 hits, a focus and a blank), Serissu evaded 1, took two damage (after Evade token) and died. With the evasive re-rolls gone, the other Bombers fired at Kavil (one Missile, the other was in range 1 I believe), but only stripped his shields and did 2 hull damage or so - the aforementioned asteroid blocking some hits. As Kavil wheeled around and the IG bumbed into the Shuttle, the Y-Wing landed another Ion hit, meaning yet another Bomber would land on a stone. The Shuttle got no further shots, the IG got no further shots, the Ion Turret did little damage and the Bombers were too slow to turn to get many shots, ending the game with just Serissu and a single Bomber gone. Win, 26-23. The remaining Bombers as well as the Shuttle were mainly unharmed, if anything, I would have expected Kavil to finally go down soon.. but in an untimed game, I would then have struggled against the IG. Little one can do with 2-attack ships against reasonably durable, high Agility ships that are also certainly more maneuverable.
TIE Bombers. Aren't they lovely?
Game 3. Han Solo, PtL, EU, Kyle, Nien, Falcon; Green Squadron, VI, Refit, Test Pilot, Determination; Red Squadron Pilot
An A-Wing. An X-Wing. And a beautiful target for Concussion Missiles in the form of Han. I was happy. My list was somewhat designed to take down low-agility high-health ships, so this would hopefully be a blast in a rather literal sense. Set up and asteroids as before, opponent had the A-Wing in the far corner, Han nearer to the centre and the X-Wing between them. With some space in the centre of the board, I once more turned in with the Bombers and the Shuttle behind them. Han got close.. and faced a tough choice. Staying would result in 2-3 Concussion Missiles coming his way (I may have had 1 locked on the Red Squadron), boosting forward would give range 1 shots instead (and 1 Missile). Han boosted. Combined fire of a Shuttle, a Concussion Missile and 2 x 3 Attack dice stripped him of the Shields and brought him down to 5 hull (have to add, all his green dice ended up blanks if I'm not mistaken.. may have been a single focus in there). Next turn, 1 Bomber flew just past him (straight 4) and landed a Mine on his head. His colleague behind him wouldn't make it, instead turning 3, leaving another present. A total of 5 hits showed up on the two rolls of 3 dice. Dead Falcon. Shuttle and two bombers went straight at the X-Wing, killing him quickly with the last Missile. I slowly reformed my little group of bulky ships, and eventually got the A-Wing in my sights. It took a fair few shots to get through the 3 Agility, and the A-Wing almost survived for another round when the last shot gave him a crit.. but alas, Determination wouldn't save him, and the Bombers had their biggest victory yet. Win, 100-0.
Not too important after the first few rounds, but still gets the occasional hard-hitting shot, and at least
secures 34 points remaining on the table. If the opponent focusses fire on him, at least the Bombers
have time to get back into the fray.
Game 4. Dash (nooooo...), PtL, Mangler (ouch), EU, Kyle, Outrider; Keyan, PtL, HLC, Advanced Sensors, Hull upgrade.
Another tough choice of targets. Bombers neither like Manglers nor HLCs (well, I suppose that's true for most ships). Dash's agility would be tough to get through with just primary weapons, but Keyan could go down quickly with two Missiles thrown at him. Decided to get two locks on the latter, saving the third for Dash. Keyan and my force turned in near the centre of the board, while Dash skirted further towards my board edge. Keyan hard-turned 1, but was unable to lose the stress as we weren't quite in firing range yet. Next turn, he had little choice but to enter a Debris field, removing (green move) but giving (debris) stress. While able to use it offensively, he now faced the full might of the Empire (sort of), having been unable to barrel-roll out of an arc or two. Jendon did some damage, and the following two Concussion Missiles all-but finished him.. they would have, if it wasn't for the pesky Hull Upgrade! The remaining Bomber shot with his primary, and finished the job. All against Dash now. What followed was a game of many maneuvres and very few shots. With Dash's speed and unpredictability (especially with boost and/or barrel roll), I felt uneasy about doing hard-turns on speed 2 (stressful, leaving me with no defensive focus), and three turns as well as the 5-koiograns often required more space than I had available (especially when wanting to evade debris fields, for yet more stress, or table edges, for obvious reasons). There was a little blocking by the Shuttle, but only a single Bomber nearby to swoop in. Many turns of flying and evading later, with the time limit closing in, my opponent gentlemanly agreed to approach Jendon and give him one final shot, as the Shuttle hadn't been able to do anything since his shot at Keyan nearly a game ago. Scored a hit or two as well, I believe, but none of it mattered. Tough ships had once again prevailed, with only a single Bomber lost in the process. Win, 45-23.
Perhaps not as sleek as Interceptors, but these truly are the stars of the show. Tough and reliable.
Game 5. Soontir, PtL, Autothrusters; Howlrunner, Swarm; 4 x Academy.
A match-up I dreaded more than all other alternatives bar double IG. I would be very unlikely to get a Missile on Soontir, and they were somewhat wasted against lowly Academy Pilots. Nonetheless, I locked onto two of them (third on Howlrunner) and went for it. It was slowly dawning on me that, with 3 wins and a loss, this game could actually get me in the top 4. A prospect that, while glamorous, was not actually that appealing to be entirely honest, as temperatures were stifling. My Bombers once more turned in about a third up the board length, while the enemy TIEs rushed forward and turned near my board edge. Shuttle had to cross the length of the board to avoid asteroids and jousting with a TIE swarm, something bound to end badly for him, turning at the upper corner.. and meeting Soontir there, who had started at a 90 degree angle and quickly sped out of his arc. Speed of maneuvres meant that the first engagement of Bomber vs. Fighter was just with 1 vs 2 ships at the very edge of range 3, meaning few missiles would be likely the next round, with the Fighters probably rushing forwards to close the gap (as indeed they did). Got my projectile on Howlrunner (who was nearer to the back, and thus at range 2), but she actually evaded. Taking a good few hits, I turned away and nearly got a bomb on Howly, but it just missed her, instead killing a damaged TIE next to her. The many TIE shots were slowly crippling the Bombers, not least as there were surprisingly many crits among them. While I laughed at Injured Pilot, getting Stunned Pilot against a TIE swarm isn't great. In the final rounds, the Shuttle had finally gotten back into the game, having some choice shots at a turtled-up Soontir and Howlrunner, the latter of which he eventually managed to destroy. The single Bomber left alive at this point (very slowly getting back into the game, nearly unable to turn, perform red maneuvres or whatever other crits he'd taken) was hunted down by two TIEs and eventually Soontir, and went down in the final turn. Loss, 32-66. In one of the last turns, the Shuttle somehow managed to get into a position where he was out of the arcs of two or three TIEs aiming at him. Arc-dodging Shuttles, why not.
And so it endeth. Three wins and two losses, ranking 11th out of 29 players. By far my best tournament result, with a list I've never flown before. With TIE Bombers, of all things. All positive results due to ordnance, of all things. Had a lot of fun, in all games. As it turned out, my opponent in the last game (who then started with identical tournament points: 1 loss, 3 wins, one of them a marginal) did indeed get into the top 4 cut. I, instead, went home, happy and with my first earned acrylic tokens.
Some other observations:
- There was rather a good variety of lists at this event. Yes, the expected meta was present (although I didn't face a Decimator, there even was a list consisting of two of those space-hippos), other things were available. Scum with 2 HWKs. In the first game, both the table to the left as the one to the right of me had a Shuttle. I saw a fleet with, I believe, 4 Tansarii Point Veterans with Manglers and VI.
- No idea where the latter ended, but I do know that various Turret+something builds ended well below my now-beloved Bombers. That'll teach them. Hopefully.
- Looks of surprise had a habbit of turning into shocked expressions as those Concussion Missiles did their job. Casually throwing those 4 dice and more-often-than-not turning them into 4 hits is fun. Real good fun.
- Given that the list is certainly unusual, I guess many opponents would approach it very differently a second time. Advancing quickly can stop my ships getting the required Target Locks in time. An interesting aspect is the choice of targets - sometimes, X-Wing can be a matter of shooting at whatever you happen to have in arc. Here, I plan my prime target in the first turn of the game, and somewhat have to stick to it. I feared opposing two-ship lists may actually keep the main target out of range for a while, forcing me to get normal shots on the other ship, or switch full attention to the less appealing Missile target. However, I reckon most two-ship builds can't afford to lose the firepower of half their list in this manner, by keeping one pilot out of the game. Especially since...
- This list if tough. 18 hull with two agility, another 5 hull/5 shields on the shuttle. That is a lot to chew through in 70 minutes, certainly once 1 of your ships explodes after the missile bombardment. At no point did I lose all my ships, and the single or several ships remaining tended to be at full health. Definitely not a bad list for MOV considerations.
I you somehow managed to read through a reasonable part of the above.. wow. It became lengthier than expected. Please leave a comment, so that I know somebody read it.
TL;DR. Bombers are lovely. And don't let anybody tell you otherwise.
Edited by Coenus Scaldingus