Saturday, I had the chance to participate in the Dice Age Games regional in Vancouver, WA. I really liked the idea behind Sable's list, as it a) Wasn't a turret and b) used a freaking Proton Bomb. So I decided to give it a go.

IG88-B
- Veteran Instincts
- Heavy Laser Cannon
- Advanced Sensors
- Autothrusters
- IG-2000 Title

Boba Fett
- Veteran Instincts
- Proton Bomb
- Tactician
- Engine Upgrade
- Slave-1 Title

A few people asked, "Are you using Slave-1 just because it's free?" To which I replied, "No, I'm using Slave-1 because it's Boba Fett!" Clearly he can't fly the Andrasta!

I know the list has historically performed well, but I was still a bit concerned going into this regional due to both the quality of the competition, as well as the fact that I was going into it with probably a 2-7 record using it over the past week. And one of those wins came against an opponent who told me he needed a break to medically smoke before our match.

Round 1: Steven P.

IG88-B
- Predator
- Mangler Cannon
- Advanced Sensors
- Autothrusters
- Inertial Dampeners
- IG-2000 Title

IG88-D
- Predator
- Mangler Cannon
- Advanced Sensors
- Autothrusters
- Inertial Dampeners
- IG-2000 Title

I tried to set IG to head into the melee, while Boba set up to flank. However, I did a terrible job of estimating my placements, and ended up putting IG into R2 of both enemy droids in turn 2. Without Autothrusters, my opponent had no trouble tagging IG. He lost all of his shields during the opening engagement, while only taking 2 shields off B in return. Next turn, I tried to break him out of the fight, but ended up blocking Boba's movement. Without actions, he ended up eating four hits of his own. I kept putting Boba in positions where he would get blocked with no shots, and he died pretty easily. He did manage to put a Minor Hull Breach on one IG with his Proton Bomb, but this was a blowout. 0-200, 0-1.

Round 2: Scott R.

Rexlar Brath
- Swarm Tactics
- Heavy Laser Cannon
- Ion Pulse Missiles
- Shield Upgrade

Onyx Squadron Pilot
- Heavy Laser Cannon
- Ion Pulse Missiles
- Shield Upgrade

He set up his Defenders in-line with each other in the middle of the field. I deployed my own IG offset in the middle, and set Boba up to flank again. Second turn, my opponent tries to bank his ships away from me to avoid getting pincered, but this only allows me to shoot unmolested at his ships. Rexlar ultimately died without getting a shot off, and the Onyx only managed to chip some shields off before he also went down. 200-0, 1-1.

Round 3: Justin

Han Solo
- Marksmanship
- Gunner

Blue Squadron Pilot

Bandit Squadron Pilot x2

Justin earned early bonus points for sleeving his cards in the actual Han Solo sleeves, which is awesome because you can never have too much Harrison Ford in your life. I sent both of my ships after Han early. The initial exchange stripped some shields, while the next stuck him with a Damaged Sensor Array that he didn't care about becuase of Marksmanship. He managed to do some damage to Boba, but unfortunately he positioned himself where I was able to drop the Proton Bomb on Han, the B-Wing and one Bandit. Han took an Injured Pilot, killing his EPT and pilot ability, while the B-Wing and Bandit each took Blinded Pilots. I quickly finished Han

and the rest was mop-up. 200-0, 2-1.

Round 4: Noah

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

Corran Horn
- Veteran Instincts
- R2D2
- Fire-Control System

Despite Dash being worth more, I figured Corran was the bigger endgame threat and decided to go after him early. The initial volley resulted in no damage to either ship. The second round was more painful. Boba ate an HLC blast from Dash, followed by an attack from Corran. He managed to strip a shields off, but the double-tap finished him. IG was able to return and finished Corran, which left things to full-health Dash vs full-health IG. This was where IG's speed, initiative and Advanced Sensors all came in handy. He was able to keep Dash close enough that he could land intermittent shots, collect Target Locks whenever Dash was going to block him, and use R1 and Autothrusters to mitigate the damage from his HLC and ultimately pulled out the win. 100-51, 3-1.

Round 5: Keith

Han Solo
- Veteran Instincts
- Gunner

Jake Farrel
- Veteran Instincts
- Proton Rockets

Prototype Pilot
- Proton Rockets

I'm stunned to be at Table 5 for this one. It was announced that this would be the final round of swiss, so a win puts me into the top 8. Sadly, I think Keith just hit a wall in this one. I had IG set out on the flank this time, with Boba in the middle. He has his A-Wings offset middle, while Han was near the opposite corner from IG. The A-Wings turn in to focus on Boba while Han slow-plays, allowing IG to zoom in and land two hits on the Prototype to strip shields. Second turn, Boba lands a Tactician shot on Han, stripping a couple of shields while IG finishes the Prototype. Third turn, Keith tried to K-turn his stressed Han, allowing me to set him to fly off the board instead, while Jake ended up eating a Proton Bomb. Keith decided to call it there. 200-0, 4-1.

I end up placing 5th and advanded to the Top 8. My notes start getting bad here, so I may be messing up an upgrade somewhere.

Top 8: Justin (different Justin)

Rear Admiral Chiraneau
- Push The Limit
- Ysanne Isard
- Rebel Captive
- Gunner
- Engine Upgrade

Soontir Fel
- Push The Limit
- Autothrusters
- Stealth Device
- Royal Guard title

Surprisingly, the first Soontir/Chiraneau list I've faced despite being a very common squad here. My green dice were insane for this match. We traded a few shots, which resulted in some damage to Chiraneau, while Boba was taking one damage per attack. Soontir also took two hits from the HLC, dropping him down to one while killing his stealth device. Soontir later died when he forgot that Boba was PS10. He turned in behind Boba to collect a R1 shot on IG's flank. I ended up dropping the Proton Bomb on my own IG88 in order to finish him, reasoning that I would probably take more damage from the R1 shot. With Soontir gone, my two ships were able to split the bounty on the Rebel Captive to advance.

Top 4: Richard

Wedge Antilles
- Draw Their Fire
- R2D2
- Shield Upgrade

Biggs Darklighter

Gold Squadron Pilot
- Ion Cannon Turret
- BTL-A4 Title
- R3A2

Bandit Squadron Pilot

Loved this squad. Richard entered as the #1 overall seed after going undefeated in Swiss. He's also one of the people I credit for actually teaching me to play the game in the first place, so facing him here was really cool.

Richard set up in his left corner, so I set IG in the middle and Boba went into the opposite corner. Boba flew out aggressively to try and get a flank going, while IG flew slowly out. Second turn saw IG execute a hard turn to try and get him to give chase while I brought Boba in to attack, but his banks allowed a number of shots on Fett, including a double-stress. I was able to lead the Y-Wing on a merry chase with my IG, keeping him limited to R3 shots with R3A2. Meanwhile, Boba was able to land several shots into Biggs, bringing him to 1 hull, and he was ultimately finished by IG. It was costly, as the ensuing shots from Wedge would ultimately bring him down to 1 hull.

The pivotal moment in this match came when the Bandit Squadron K-turned and banked while Wedge K-turned into position for a R2 shot on the blocked Fett with a Target Lock. Boba landed a hit with his rear cannons, temporarily knocking out Wedge's shields. Wedge returned fire, landing one hit, one blank and an eyeball. He spent the target lock and rerolled the two dice, only to come up with another blank and eyeball. Boba rolls his one green die, and comes up with the evades. Boba then zips out to chase down the Y-wing, leaving his Proton Bomb to deal Direct Hits to the Bandit and Wedge and giving me momentum for the first time all game. I'm fully aware of the fact that Wedge makes that shot probably 75% of the time. Instead, IG was able to swing around and finish Wedge with an HLC blast, and the rout was on. The Y-Wing was able to ultimately finish Boba off, but IG was able to put a capper in it to send me to the final table for the first time in my life.

Finals: Beau

Rear Admiral Chiraneau
- Predator
- Ysanne Isard
- Darth Vader
- Gunner
- Engine Upgrade

Soontir Fel
- Push The Limit
- Autothrusters
- Stealth Device
- Royal Guard title

I set both ships up in the middle this time, while he sets both up in the corner. He brings Chiraneau into range where I'm able to line up a R3 HLC blast with IG. I notice that I can boost Boba into range to also get an R2 hit and do some Tactician stuff, while keeping Soontir at R3 through debris, which seems like a great idea. I attack, deal moderate damage to Chiraneau, and Soontir shoots. Crit-Crit-Crit. Boba rolls one evade, taking two shields of damage. Chiraneau then attacks: Crit-Eyeball-Blank. Predator rerolls the blank: Crit. Then Chiraneau turns the eyeball into another crit. I roll to defend, and whiff. Remaining shields are gone, and Boba takes a Direct Hit. Beau decides to use Vader, who then deals another Direct Hit, for a total of 8 damage taken during the first round of shooting.

IG and Boba deal some more damage to Chiraneau, but he's able to handily finish Fett with another Vader. I'm able to finish Chirpy off, losing only a couple of shields, but now it's IG88 vs Super Soontir. My only hope in this match is to try to pull off unexpected moves to force him into giving me a few R2-R3 shots. He steadily whittles IG all the way down to one hull, but a miscalculation gives me that R3 shot I was looking for. Soontir turtles up, and I take my best shot. Soontir evades the first four-hit attack, but the second gets through and deals 2 damage. We are now in sudden death.

Unfortunately for me, that was as close as it got. Soontir was able to outmaneauver me one more time to land a R1 shot on my flank, and finishes the droid to secure himself the win.

Still, second place at this event was way, way better than I had ever hoped to achieve, especially after getting tabled in my first match. I'm very stoked for next year's regionals and hope to have the shot to push over the top.

Congrats. Top 2 is a great showing. You earned it.

Now that you've run the list extensively, what would you change, if anything?

Congrats on the 2nd place finish and I caught the end of that brutal final you described. Good work with Boba/IG! I'm leaning flying a similar but different loadout list for Regionals, even though people are trying to convince me not to. I like that it's not a turret and not a common list, but with the success over the past weekend, more people may bring it, uh oh!

Congrats. Top 2 is a great showing. You earned it.

Now that you've run the list extensively, what would you change, if anything?

That's a tough question. I experimented with things like Adrenaline Rush on IG88 instead of Veteran Instincts, because someone hit me with a stress list that just completely shut him down. That helped him with stress, but then he became vulnerable to PS6+ arc dodgers.

The Proton Bomb probably had the most variance in terms of utility. During the regional, it was clutch almost all day, especially during that Top 4 match. But I've also had matches where it just drops Damaged Engine on B-Wings who already have terrible turns, or Structural Damage on a Decimator. I can see the value in the variant floating around that replaces it with a Seismic Charge, two Inertial Dampeners and a 1-point Initiative Bid to you are able to react to Chiraneau and Corran.

the AR vs VI is a tough one for me too. I have 1 point left. AR lets you stay alive when you have to K-turn or S-Loop. I've been having many turns where if I K-turn/Sloop, that's the turn I roll all eyeballs and have no focus token. (I don't have AdS btw, I use FCS and HLC). I think if you have AdS, VI is more important since it's more of a maneuvering ship. for FCS, I think AR might have a slight edge on VI, but I'm still worried about matches against Brobots.

I'e found Autoblaster cannon to be super good against all the ChiraFel/Whisper Chiraneaus/Corrans. Being able to either stress them with Tactician or go into R1 (or use Dampners when they try to block you at R1) and then bypass their agility is huge. It definitely changes the way they fly similarly to a proton bomb. The difference is the Proton bomb only works once while the autoblaster cannon is always there (until you lose your secondary weapon )

My biggest issue is that my PS6 IG will probably die to other IGs with VI or move after me...

Hey! Another Brobot/Fett that placed second at a regionals! Slightly different build than mine but congrats!

Shows pretty good list diversity with Bounty Bros!

That Wedge list!

Nice work.

You going to Tacoma?

That Wedge list!

Richard is one of the best 4 ship Rebel players in the country.

Negative on Tacoma. It's Father's Day weekend, so I'll be hanging out with my dad and in-laws. Good luck, though! Looks like it should be a fun tourney.

I love dropping the Proton Bomb on Fel in that Top 8 round.

Word. Not a dad yet and the folks are in the Southeast.

Taking a fairly unconventional list, but I've had success with it. 4-0 so far. No turrets for me.

Great report, and congrats on your success with the list! It's a tough one to play well, in my experience.

im looking at the list and i see the proton bomb as a game changer that can swing things in ur favour. As SableG has said its the 'threat' of being able to drop it that creates a no-fly zone behind you. i wonder if a couple of seismics would do the trick. probably not. being able to deliver a random crit to anything is rather good and in timed matches getting thru an early crit can really help versus heavily shielded ships. Autoblaster is another viable option but it relies on you being at range1 and with so many turrets about that will mean taking some hefty damage urself.