Well, this past saturday, I participated in my first Regional Tournament (Chicago). It was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot. The following is what I brought:
100 Pts.
Syndicate Thug x2
Ion cannon turret
Unhinged astromech
BTL-A4 Title
Black Sun Soldier x4
I had run this squad 5 times in the prior couple of weeks and had not lost with it. I was getting pretty decent at blocking with the z's so that everything else could get range 1 and two shots. My starting tactic was to divide them up into two groups of 1Y and 2Z's, and set them into pinwheel formations. Then depending on the starting location of my opponent, I pick one target to focus on and slow move the closest group. Then I angle in the other group at a faster pace so both groups can converge on the chosen target at the same time. I had an hour and a half drive to get to the event and left early enough that I was over an hour early. So I had some breakfast and tried to calm my nerves. I have only been playing X-wing since last December, so I fully expected to get my ass handed to me at my first big event.
My first round was against 3 Ewings. All of them were pilot skill 1 and had a fire control system. Each of them were equipped with a different astromech. One had R2-D2. I chose that as my first target since I didn't like the idea of regenerating shields. He brought two at me together (one of which was R2) and the third moved to flank. Two rounds after contact I had removed R2 and his wingman. The flanking Ewing had taken one Z down to 1 hull. I ran away with that Z expecting the E to chase it down. For some reason, instead of chasing the damaged Z, he decided to Kturn the E and face the rest of my squad head on. That was the last turn. Win 100-0
Round two put me against a Chewie Leebo build. I don't remember much of this match, but I focused on Chewie first and he went down surprisingly fast. With the Z's blocking, Leebo was soon cornered and went the way of Chewie, but not before taking out one Z. Win 100-13
Round three was vs. Brobots B and C. I think he tried to joust with one of them and I just piled up everyone in front of him, bumping my own guys so he had no where to move. He took two ions, and was left with only two hull. I had two ships peel off toward the other IG, while the two Y's and two Z's K turned behind the damaged/ioned one and finished it off. I lost a Z in that exchange and took some damage on a Y. The other IG took out my damaged Y before I finished him off. Win 100-37
Round 4 put me against Boba (with tactician) and IG-B with FCS and Heavy Laser Cannon. This is the matchup I was expecting, not the build, but the butt kicking I had been waiting for. Boba set up on the right side of the map, and IG on the left. I figured Boba was the bigger threat and opted to take him on first. I brought one group straight at Boba and arced the other in from the side, as IG came in from behind my flanking group. My tactic of blocking and getting range 1 shots played right into Boba's ability and allowed him to reroll attack and defense rolls. Unlike the previous games, my dice went cold, and I could not land much damage on Boba over several turns. Meanwhile, Boba was dropping Z's quickly, while IG with his gunner ability and Heavy Laser Cannon was making mincemeat of my Y's. Yup, I got tabled. I think I would have done better if I had tried to take on IG first, but I'm not sure about that. My opponent eventually made the top four. Loss 0-100
Round 5 I faced IGB and 2 basic starvipers. At this point I'm getting tired of looking at Aggressors, and I have never faced a starviper, so I didn't know how they played. I placed my two groups on the left and center of the mat. He placed IG on the side directly across from one of my groups. His vipers were placed next to IG but facing perpendicular to it. I moved my ships forward and arced the center group in to meet IG. He moved IG one forward, and his starvipers moved one away from IG. IG and my groups met and exchanged fire, as the vipers turned hard into the field to try and flank. I took down IG's shields and gave him one ion while he took shots on my Y. I turned my entire group into the vipers to block them, while IG K turned behind me. The Vipers and IG took out a Y while I burned down one starviper and ioned the other. I turned the Z's into the Viper and K turned my last Y, he moved the IG after my Y. My Z's finished off the Starviper. I don't remember how the last couple of turns went, but he finished off my Y and my Z's finished off IG. Win 100-48
Going into the last round of Swiss, I was in 12th place at 4-1. I was ecstatic about this, and very surprised. My last match was vs. Dash and Corran. I had never played against this build but I figured that I would go for Dash first. I'm a little frustrated as my opponent takes an inordinate amount of time deciding on actions. And he does this every turn. I went straight for dash and he was much more maneuverable then I thought. But then I thought I had him. After a few rounds of maneuvering and barrel rolling, He turned into the center and I moved both Y's in to block his hard 1 turns, a z bumped each other directly in front of Dash to block his one and two forwards. My last two Z's moved in to block both his three arcs. I was ready to burn him down with multiple range one shots. What does he move? 4 straight! Dash moves right past the two blockers directly in front of him. But I have two Z's out further, I'm positive will block him...but The large base barely fits right between the two Z's. No bump and barely a 16th of an inch of clearance from each of the Z's. He escaped the trap I had laid and what I thought was a surefire death for Dash. I only get a single range one shot on him with a Z. Throughout this and the next few turns, I get Dash down to 3 hull, but I'm losing Z's fast. Every other round, Corran is double tapping a Z into dust. At the end, I am not able to chase down Dash fast enough and time is called before I can get him. I've lost all the Z's and haven't taken either of his ships out. Loss 0-52. I am very frustrated by this match as his slow play meant we lost several more turns that could have allowed me to finish off Dash. Although Dash's elaborate escape of my well placed trap was the probably the deciding moment of who won this match. I have no doubt that Dash would have been done in that moment and I would have had my entire force to face Corran. It was a great maneuver choice on his part and it won it for him.
All in all, I finished 4-2 and in 19th place from a field of 90. I had a great time and am very pleased with my results. I can't wait for the next one.