Critical Hit Summer Tournament Battle Report
My list - 98pts
Kath Scarlet
HLC
K4 Security Droid
Veteran Insticts
Inertial Dampeners
Binayre Pirate x4
Initial thoughts
After some practice games this week, I was feeling pretty confident heading into the tournament. I know this list is extremely effective against lists with low ship counts or low agility. One of my biggest concerns was facing off against dual IG-88 as I just wasn’t sure if my Z-95s were even going to be able to damage them. There were 24 attendees for the day so we ended up in 5 rounds of swiss and a cut to top 4.
Round 1 - Nick
IG-88 B and C
The meta list I was most worried about and of course it’s my first pairing! Nick was running a symmetrical IG-88 list with (I think) Mangler, advanced sensors, VI, autothrusters, dampeners, and prox mines. I started in the bottom right with my Zs ready to turn into a pinwheel formation and Kath set to do a 4 forward toward the right board edge. During the first 2 turns, the Z’s pinwheel and then advance while Kath drives toward the edge and turns up on turn 2. So for turn 3, the Zs should be able to turn in and face off against the enemy while Kath can (hopefully) do a 1 bank in to get a free TL from the K4 and then focus herself for some range 3 HLC action. After that the fight turned into a swirling melee culminating in Kath getting hit for 4 damage by prox mines and me having 1 Z left on the board vs a 1 hull IG-88B. Then Nick set a 4 K turn after he was already stressed giving me the opportunity to take a range 1 shot with the surviving Z on the last turn. I somehow managed to roll well enough to take him down for a 100 - 86 victory. By far, my closest game of the day.
Round 2 - Kyle
IG-88 B and C
Great, more IGs! I’ve played against Kyle before and was pretty worried about this matchup. Kyle was running asymmetrical IGs, one with HLC, advanced sensors, VI, and glitterstim and the other with Mangler, FCS, crack shot, and glitterstim (I think). I made a quick judgment and decided to change my opening by moving Kath closer to the Zs so she could turn up the field on turn 1. This did not go well. Instead of having a Z screen for Kath to hide behind, she ended up in front of the Z swarm. Couple that with me setting the dials in the wrong direction on one of my Z maneuvers and this game ended quickly 0 - 100.
Round 3 - Carl
Corran, Biggs, 2 Bandits
This is something I like to see across the table. Lots of 2 agility ships. I wasn’t sure how much of an impact Biggs was going to have so I decided to make sure to hit him hard, early, and on purpose. After the blundered opening in the last match I went back to my original opening. I set up in my corner and Carl set up directly opposite me lining up for a joust. This suited me just fine as I was able to slow roll my Zs and get shots at Corran because they were out of range on Biggs. The next turn my front Zs went 4 forward and the back Zs went 2 and I managed to block Biggs and the Bandits while Corran drove forward on the outside. HLC and 2 Z shots later and Biggs is gone.Then my Zs turned and ran to cut of Corran when he came back upfield and turned Kath around to go chase Corran. Corran got vaporized by Kath and I flew a wounded Z off the board. Then it was just mop up on the remaining Zs. 100 - 12
Round 4 - Damian
Vader and 3 AC Tempests
I’ve played against Damian before as well and was not looking forward to this matchup. I was fortunate with the asteroid placement as it limited him about as much as it limited me. His Vader had VI, EU, ATC, and the new title and the Tempests just had accuracy corrector. He deployed the Tempests in the corner opposite me and Vader straight ahead facing the Tempests. I ran my Zs pretty fast up the board in case Vader turned back in and then turned into the asteroid field on turn 3 to get into the fight. We both danced through the rocks and keeping my Zs focused was definitely the difference between life and death for most of them and Damian’s green dice were not helping him out too much. A couple solid hits from Kath and 2 of the Zs and Vader was off the board. After that it was Kath hunting down the remaining Tempests with the HLC. 100 - 24
Round 5 - Mike (I think)
Rear Admiral Chireneau and Vader
RAC had the Emperor Palpatine, rebel captive, EU, and predator while Vader had the new title, ATC, EU and VI. This is my ideal matchup. Low agility does not fare well against the swarm and Kath uses the HLC to hammer Vader into oblivion. He set up in the corner opposite me and used EU to run the deci forward fast. Vader cut up the middle and I had to turn my Zs in and follow Vader toward my side of the board to catch RAC. I kept doing greens with Kath to get TL from K4 and clear the stress from rebel captive. Finally Kath had to turn or fly off the board so she didn’t get a shot that turn but the Zs were able to finish RAC. That left a wounded Vader who was able to consistently dodge Kath’s arecs and the Zs just couldn’t get anything through Vader’s defense dice. Finally managed to just catch Vader in arc to finish the job 100 - 36
I was shocked to find that I made the top 4! That put me into the eliminations rounds. I was super excited. This was my 3rd tournament and my first time making the elimination rounds. I’d flown my Zs really well all day, avoiding obstacles and getting some really good blocks. I was feeling pretty confident about my top 4 rounds until I saw my first opponent.
Elimination Round 1 - Kyle
Rematch! I’d already lost badly to this list before but this time I’d be using my opening correctly. IG-88 B came across the Kyle’s side of the map while C cut through the center. On turn 2 I scattered my front 2 Zs with a 4 forward and a 3 bank to try to cut down his lanes of attack while back 2 came on a little slower to set up some shots. Kyle used a boost and a 4 K turn to block Kath’s 2 forward and keep me from shooting on turn 1. I lost a Z in the first engagement but got a hit or 2 through with the Zs on B. Next turn I ended up with a range 1 rear arc shot on C which really dropped some punishment on him. Things kind of got tangled up at that point and Kath and the 3 surviving Zs finished off IG-88C. I lost another Z in the hunt for B, but managed to mop up and take the victory. I was going to the top table! This was a first for me and absolutely exhilarating.
Elimination Round 2 - Tim
Tim was 6-0 going into the final game, and the only player to finish 5-0 in swiss. He was flying 4 Y-wings with unhinged astromechs, 3 with twin laser turrets and BTL-A4 titles and 1 with an autoblaster turret and engine upgrade. This was a list that played pretty similarly to mine, with a bit more long range damage output. I set up in my corner and he set up near the center of the map closer to the corner opposite me. We both rolled in and got into a firefight. The TLTs were absolutely brutal. I lost 1 Z in the first engagement and I may have gotten a couple shields off a Y-wing. The following round was pretty similar and in the end I managed to knock out 2 Y-wings before I got tabled.
Conclusion
What a day! The tournament started at 1PM and we finally left at around midnight. I played several excellent opponents and had a great day of play. Special thanks to Critical Hit Games in St. Petersburg, FL for hosting this event. A great time was had by all. Thanks for reading!