So I have a small store tournament this weekend (my first tournament) and I wanted to get some practice in with my list to make sure I knew what I was doing with it. I figured I might actually learn more if I wrote down my thoughts, as opposed to what I normally do which is forget what happened and learn nothing!
My list was something I came up with in an attempt to use some of my favourite ships: the Scum HWKs. I posted my list on the Squad Building forum and got a lot of great suggestions as to how to switch it up, but I actually didn't get chance to test out the variations that were suggested so I am sticking with my original one for now.
100 points.
Torkil Mux, Ion Cannon Turret (24)
Palob Godalhi, Ion Cannon Turret, Recon Specialist (28)
Kath Scarlet, Engine Upgrade, Push The Limit, K4 Security Droid (48)
The idea of the list is that between Torkil and Palobs abilities (as well as the Ion Cannons) they cannot be ignored and have to be taken down. However Kath hits hard, especially with the rear cannon, so while the opponent is concentrating on the HWKs, Kath is dealing out the damage.
Game 1
Han Solo, Leebo, Millenium Falcon, C3PO, Lone Wolf
Coran Horn, VI, FCS, R2D2, Engine Upgrade
This is exactly the kind of list I wanted to play against as I had not tried my list out against any 'meta' lists yet. That being said, I felt that this game didn't tell me much about my build as my opponent had absolutely terrible luck. Han just couldn't land a hit and all I could do was hit! I almost ioned Han off the board, only a last minute guess with C3PO and a 1 hard turn saved him by millimeters. Meanwhile, Kath did a tonne of damage to Coran who couldn't regen his shields fast enough. At one point I had a choice to 5 dice Han or 4 dice Coran with a target lock to finish Coran's final two hull points. I chose to get rid of Coran and then it was easy to team all my ships up on Han. He managed to get Palob before the end, but really Palob should have gone down several rounds earlier if it wasn't for my opponents terrible dice.
It was a fun game but I wasn't sure what to take from it as my opponents luck had been so bad. I couldn't tell if mine was a really good build or I had just been lucky. I do think I flew well but when the dice are that skewed its hard to learn from it.
Game 2
Darth Vader, Title, Engine Upgrade, PTL, Advanced Targeting Computer
3 x Tempest Squadron with Title and Accuracy Corrector
This was against the same guy I had just flown again but he had just got his hands on a new Raider and wanted to try out the Advanceds. This game was brutal, I just couldn't handle the 3 accuracy correctors and the free crit every turn! With the Advanceds only having 2 attack dice anyway, it was just horrible to watch my opponent throw 2 blanks or a blank and a focus and just say '2 hits'. Not only that but they evade amazingly with 3 green dice plus the evade action (who needs to focus or TL when you are getting 2 hits every turn anyway!). My opponent flew really well, concentrating on one ship at a time and stripping tokens fast before laying on the damage. I also think I flew quite poorly, one turn in particular I flew over an asteroid with Torkil, crashed with Palob and forgot to de-stress Kath. I did manage to kill Darth Vader after a few turns but not before he had basically destroyed my HWKs. After that Kath just couldn't cope with 3 Advanceds on her own as my opponent skillfully blocked me every turn while ensuring the other 2 ships could whittle me down. In the end he killed Kath with two of his ships down to 1 hull and the other down to 2 hull.
From this game I learned that the fixed TIE Advanceds really have been fixed! I'm not sure about the named pilots as I haven't seen them flown, but for 21 points a Tempest Squadron with the title and Accuracy Corrector is amazing! As for my list, it really suffers against a lot of high agility targets where my special abilities have no effect and I can't make the Ion Cannons stick. I think this could be one of my worst match ups and I am scared of seeing it this weekend, especially if people are keen to test out their new toys! If I have to play them again though, I think I will be a lot more conservative, flying around the edge of the board and trying to not let them come at me head on. I also think I got too fixated on Darth Vader as he was the only named pilot there, sacrificing better shots to concentrate on him. I will try to think about who I am shooting at next time!
Game 3
IG-88B, PTL, Advanced Sensors, Autothrusters, Heavy Laser Cannon
IG-88C, PTL, Advanced Sensors, Autothrusters, Mangler Cannon
Ah the dreaded Brobots. I have never done well against these, the people in my club who fly them are all extremely skilled pilots and I find it very hard to deal with the maneuverability, fire power and evasiveness of them. My plan was to block with my low PS HWKs and then deal out the damage with Kath (whose PS is higher than theirs). With that in mind I opened very aggressively and shot forward towards them (we had both deployed in the middle). My plan went well and I manged to block B several times, which caused C to crash. This also allowed me to Ion each of them once and let Kath deal out some damage. After a few turns B was down to just a couple of Hull points but Palob was suffering under several crits, including having lost his Ion Cannon, and was eventually killed off. Torkil managed to get one more Ion token through on C but then was destroyed so it didn't come to anything. By now, B was down to one Hull and C was shieldless (mostly thanks to my opponent landing on 2 asteroids and taking both hits) and also out of position. This allowed Kath to finish off B while C re-positioned. We jousted a few times and Kath's extra arc, higher PS, and the free TL from the K4 overwhelmed the lone Aggressor and finished it off.
I was really pleased with my flying this game, I had a plan and stuck to it and it worked out well for me. I think I usually formulate a plan but then throw it out the window as soon as the first dial is revealed so I was glad I stuck to it this time. I learned that the HWKs really don't like Crits so deal with any Mangler toting ships first, and that the K4's synergy with PTL is great if used correctly. Green move for TL then Focus/Evade makes for a formidable Kath!
Game 4
This was a rematch against my first opponent. We both wanted to see what happened if the dice were more 'normal'. That was exactly what we got, with no particularly unexpected results either way. This time my opponent went after Kath first in a big way, getting her into hull very quickly. However, that left the HWKs to Ion Han out of position at the same time that Coran was swinging back around. I switched my priority over to Coran and managed to Ion him twice in a row, giving him no shots. From the position of the ships, I knew Coran would have to make his Ion move directly behind Kath so I flew a HWK in front of Kath to bump on purpose. This meant that Coran would be in range 1 of my rear arc and because I bumped with a green move I got a free TL on him too. 5 dice later Coran was off the board. I then had all 3 of my ships on Han, although he still took Kath down to 2 hull with a damaged sensor array that I couldn't fix despite 4 turns of trying. Got him in the end though!
From this I learned a very important lesson: Kath is the most important ship in my list. Generally my opponents concentrated on the HWKs becuase of their controlling abilities, but take out Kath and I have virtually no damage output. I hadn't seen this myself either as I had also gotten fixated on my HWKs abilities. The issue with this is you have to have ships that can afford to ignore the abilities while taking down Kath, but if you do then I am toast! That is definitely the most important lesson I learnt in this practice session. I think I will have to either be a bit more conservative with Kath or more aggressive with the HWKs to make my opponent concentrate on them.
Overall I learnt a lot tonight had 4 great games and realised what my list will do well against and what it will suffer with.
Good against: Elite ships, especially 2 ship builds that rely on actions/high PS.
Bad against: Generic pilots, multiple high-agility ships.
I am very much looking forward to the tournament this weekend and I will try to do a write up of how that goes too. Thanks for reading!
Edited by Popeslob