Again, the following account is rather long and does not contain pictures. My apologies.
Each fall, a local private school hosts a weekend-long gaming tournament as a fund raiser. This is the second year they had an X-wing event. Actually, they had two, one standard and one epic, but I did not participate in the latter. It was a smaller tournament, four rounds, no cut, 10-players. The unusual part of the event is that the squad limit was raised to 120-points, minimum 3-ships.
I had been developing a tournament-specific 120-point squad using some of the new Wave 7 upgrades. However, the arrival of these ships north of the 60th parallel has been slow.
As of weekend before the tournament, it did not look like anything was going to arrive in time. So, it looked at what I had for other lists that could be expanded/contracted to 120 points. The only thing that seemed to really work was a variation of the Scum Hawk/bug-zapper swarm that I expectantly won an escalation tournament a couple of weeks ago. Tempting as a swarm of 8 bug-zappers was, the list only really works with Mux. So I added another Z and moved some ordinance around. In the past, I ran ordinance on all of the Z’s, a mixture of prockets and concussion missiles. I have found that, particularly with the concussion missiles, I spend too much time trying to TL and then focus the next round trying to push through high-agility large ships. Most of the time, I only spent half of them, so I took the extra Z that the 12-points of ordinance afforded.
With the exception of the Raider, only a handful of ships had trickled into Barnes & Noble late this week, with the local comic/game venues not expecting anything to arrive until next week. I think they got 8 ships. They were gone almost immediately. I did get a Punisher and a K-wing, which left me with a conundrum. I had been running an ion on turret on Mux, but never really liked it as it only gave one ion token to large ships, requiring two hits to get the effect. I am still wary of how efficient TLT is, especially against higher agility ships, but Torkhil rarely has a focus left to use a Blaster turret and I did not have the points to spare for Moldy Crow or Recon. Spec., so I thought I would give TLT a try. My final list was as follows:
- Torkhil Mux W/TLT
- 6X Binayre Pirates w/FBA; 2 with Concussion Missiles, and one with Prockets.
The plan was as before: try to line up the obstacles along one edge of the board, 3-4 in a line, and then lump the other two near-by, then have two lines of 3-Z’s on the opposite corner, prockets in front, missiles in back. Torkhil generally lines up range 1-2 from the swarm, towards the middle. As I almost always place first, what this to do is cause the opponent to place most or all of his ships in the opposite corner, not wanting to joust an open microwave. I then scream forward out of the gate, full speed, trying to get around the lone obstacle that is left near the swarm-edge of the board, near the middle. I do not know what this is, but one always winds up there. The second round I start to bank towards the opponent, trying to suck him through the rocks. If he does it slowly, the next bank is slower, usually a 1, and I push Torkhil past the swarm, and usually past where the opponent is turning in.
The theory goes that swarms do not like densely-spaced obstacles. This is not the case with these. I drop the two concussion missiles back to TL, then focus next round to fire, while taking the other four full forward, clogging up the lanes in the asteroids so the opponent cannot get out. Torkhil flanks from the left or right, depending on where I can get him. While he can plink away with his turret, he is actually the field general, declaring the most dangerous opponent ship as PS 0 such that fire can be focused and hopefully take it out before he can fire back. My opponent is usually left with a quandary. Take out Torkhil, knowing that 12 modified red dice plus another 4-6 regular are coming, or try to kill 1 or 2 of the missile-hauling Z’s. Any remaining ships get balled-up in the rocks at R1 with six other ships, unable to perform actions. As they get stuck and their HP whittled down, they get zapped.
Round 1: Ty
I have played a similar list against Ty before in the last tournament, so he was familiar with what he was up against. He brought:
- IG88 B & C each with title, mangler cannon, AT, sensor jammer
- Kavil with blaster turret
The rock line was on the right, a fifth rock was center, R2 from my edge, and the last was R1 on my side from the center of the board, along left edge. I put the swarm in the lower left corner, and Mux just to the right of the left most obstacle. I can only assume that he recalled the last time I clogged him in the rocks, and chose to line the two IG’s up in the center of the board, with Kavil to my right. I blast forward 4 with the swarm, 3 with the Hawk. He banks the IG’s to my left towards direct engagement, and moves Kavil straight as to try to flank. The rock is far enough forward, I cannot bank all of the ships around the far side on the next round to engage. I 3-bank the left 5 Z’s to clear, but cut the back right short. Mux puts forward 1 or 2 to set up. The IG’s move forward and initial range 3- engagement does not account for much. Kavil 3-banks and takes a stress. The missile Z’s TL the front one.
The next round I move the swarm up to try to block the lead IG, fanning one of the missile Z’s to the outside and cutting the two right Z’s to the inside of the rock to help block with Mux bumping into the back of them. I thought I had him, but he did a beautiful left sloop to the right of the rock, aimed back at the majority of the swarm, and out of half of their arcs (including the missiles). The other IG came forward facing the front of the swarm at R2 or so. Kavil was still dashing in from the right, not shedding the stress from the 3-bank. I do not recall who Mux made go last, the sloop IG was down to near hull, and the other one took some damage. My lead Z taken out with fire from both IG’s. Kavil shot at something with is primary weapon and missed.
The next round I inched the Z’s forward 1-2 to try to block IG that had just slooped. The trailing Z moved forward and bumped the IG, and Mux bumped into the Z. Kavil 1- or 2-banked to clear the stress and line up for the fight. That IG zoomed forward to clear the melee and made it past. The second IG also tried to left-sloop, but bumped into either the Z or Mux and was stuck on the asteroid. I focus fired on the stuck IG until it was gone, and then focused on Kavil who died the following round. It was then a matter of chasing down the injured IG and the match was over.
Win: 226-14.
Round 2: Tyson
Tyson had managed to get some of the Wave 7 ships before the tournament. I cannot fully remember all of his upgrades, but most of his list included:
- Doni loaded up w/blaster turret, extra munitions, plasma torps, ion missiles, Dash, prox. mines
- Farlander w/HLC, opportunist and some other things
- Kyle Katarn w/autoblaster turret
Tyson brought debris. There was the usual scraggly line of 2 rocks and 2 debris down the right-hand side of the board. The big rock was square in the middle, and some more debris about R1.5 to the left and towards me from the big rock. I put the swarm in the lower left corner, Mux just to the right of it. Tyson put all three ships in the upper right corner between the edge of the board and the line of obstacles, Doni on the inside, Katarn on the outside.
I am always concerned about B-wings, especially with HLC, but Doni was also a major threat. The choice of Debris over asteroids was a good one, but with Dash on board the K-Wing, rocks were not going to be as much of a problem for him either, but at least it would limit his Advanced SLAM actions and slow him down. One of the two would be my first target depending upon which presented first.
I did the usual blast out of the gate followed by a gentle 3-bank towards the middle, pulling Mux in behind. He moved slowly the first two turns, but it was clear he was going to have to engage in round 3. I 3-banked to square up the swarm, but now the 2x3 was leading narrow-edge first with the prockets in the back. I pulled Mux wide between the swarm the other side of the board. He moved Doni slowly forward again, but Farlander had 1-turned turned in behind him and I think bumped. Katarn moved straight along the edge.
The problem here was the big rock directly in front of my two columns of Z’s and Mux the farthest away of all of them. He was moving into the rocks too slowly, so I sent the top front Z 4-straight to try to clog up the upper lane, and make it beyond the rock… but was a few mm’s short and landed on the rock. The two behind it moved up just short of the rock. The lead two Z’s on the lower column had the missiles and had to 1-straight to set-up TL’s, but blocked the third one from moving full ahead as 3-bank would have planted it in debris. Mux, left, away from me to block Farlander if he tried to bank away. Tyson countered with Doni moving forward somehow landing behind the rock, but more towards my edge of the board. Farlander moved ahead 1 and missed bumping by a mm or less. Katarn finally turned to face the fight.
I decided Doni was more of a threat than the B-wing, she got to go last. Farlander unloaded into the rock-stuck Z, but did not quite kill it. Katarn finished it off. Doni got two hits from the TLT and both concussion missiles, and was finished off. The remainder of the Z’s fired at Farlander with mediocre results.
The next round, took the now front Z and 1-banked it left to aim at the empty lane to the right of Farlander, and back Z and 3-banked it left to block lane setting up the prockets. The now spent concussion Z’s banked right to cut of the other lane behind the rock, and the back Z moved forward to block the middle. Mux 2-turned back towards Farlander and hit the blocking Z square in the side. Tyson did as I predicted and banked Farlander right and hit the blocking Z on the other side opposite Mux, and right in front of the prockets. Katarn moved ahead, maybe banked. Farlander got Mux’ed, but Katarn hit the procket Z with his autoblaster. The Z returned fire with prockets into Farlander which hurt him pretty badly, but he was just within arc of the B and was taken out by Farlander. Mux hit Katarn with TLT. Somewhere in all of this, the farthest behind Z, behind the rock, got killed, but I do not remember how.
Farlander jetted past my ships the next turn, and was out of position. Mux hit Katarn with the TLT again, and the two empty concussion Z’s zapped him away. Farlander started a long sweeping turn behind Mux and the three Z’s, but was eventually hunted down.
Win: 194-46, 2-0, MOV 420
Round 3: Tim
Tim is one of the top players in the area, and was fortunate enough to get some of the new Wave 7 ships prior to the tournament. He had the large rock and two debris obsticles. I am 99% sure his list was:
- Xizor w/title, VI, AT, AS, and glitterstim
- Talonbane Cobra w/engine, crack shot, and glitterstim
- Latts Razzi (YV-666) w/mangler, Gunner, and Bossk
The line of four obstacles was placed along the left side. There was one rock towards the center, and some debris on the upper right side. I set up the Z’s in the lower right corner, with Mux on the outside edge this time. Tim set up Xizor in the opposite corner with Razzi right next to him to clear the line of rocks. The Cobra was set up across from the Z’s in jousting position.
My fleet dashes forward as usual. Razzi moves 0. Xizor 1-turns in front of Razzi to set up a potential fortified corner where through a series of short moves and barrel rolls, Razzi effectively gets blocked into staying near the corner. The Cobra 1-turns towards Xizor and the YV-666.
I 3-banked again, and brought Mux underneath with a 1-bank. The Cobra ran towards Razzi and Xizor at full speed who both moved forward slowly; Xizor to the right, and the YV away from the far edge of the board, behind the line of rocks. Not wanting to get two conga lines going again like the last round, I slowed the front Z with a 1-forward, and with a series of 2-and 3-forwards, brought the others into a line of four aimed at his collection of ships in the far left corner, the two concussion Z’s right behind. Mux banked long (2-3) to get in front of the Z’s, but off to the side of the action. Tim turned the YV through the first two rocks with I think a 1-turn, moved the price forward with a 2-bank to, and K-turned the Cobra behind the rock in the upper left corner.
At this point, I went for the full trap. The left front 2 Z’s 3-banked towards Razzi for the block. The right front moved 3 or 4 straight to block Xizor. The concussion Z’s 1-banked and TL’ed on Razzi. Razzi got blocked, Xizor used advanced sensors to BR left before 1- or 2-banking, having only one of the Z’s in range. The cobra 1-banked into the action to clear the stress.
Razzi shoots last.
Xizor took a shield or two off the procket Z, the only one he had a shot at. The cobra did the same, but I think missed. Razzi then got 2 concussion missiles, shots from 2 more Z’s and FBA from the front blocker, leaving him with 4 hull. Mux and the other Z took the shield off the Cobra.
The front Z’s did 1-forward to keep up the blocking. The back two and the one with prockets moved forward to take up space, and the far right one in front of Xizor banked towards the Cobra. Mux 1-banked towards Razzi. Razzi was stuck, the cobra tried to bank in, but got stuck, and Xizor tried to sloop into the action, but did not have a good shot at much. I elected to make the Cobra go last as it was going to be dumping 5-dice into somebody. Razzi HLC’ed the procket Z off the map. Xizor shot at another Z, but did little damage. The cobra got TLT’ed and two R1 shots from Z’s and was gone. Another Z got Razzi down to two hull, so the front two Z’s zapped him away.
From there, it took 30-40 minutes to chase Xizor down. I lost one more Z going over a rock, but the match ended in a win.
Win, 209-31, 3-0, MOV 629
Round 4: Stephen
Stephen is also a very experienced player and is one of the ones who helps setting up local tournaments. He was running a more traditional list:
- Wes Janson w/R2-D2 and VI
- Wedge Antilles w/R2 astromech and opportunist
- Keyan Farlander w/AS, opportunist, E2, Kycle Katarn
- Bandit Squadron Pilot, naked.
Once again, a line of 4 rocks along the left side of the board, with the other two towards the middle, a little towards my edge. I lined up on the right side, with Mux on the inside. Stephen put the two X-Wings and the B in the left corner behind the rocks, and the Z on the lane immediately to their right.
I sprung out as usual, and Stephen shot the Z forward quickly, but the others lagged a bit. He was moving forward a little faster than the others this day, so I banked the Z’s slowly in the third round to allow Mux to shoot past such that he was on the opposite side of the swarm from me. By the time the swarm was facing the left side of the board and Stephen’s ships were facing the opposite direction, the Z was in the middle. He lost a shield or two. As the Z-swarm came crashing into the rocks to engage, the Z dashed out towards the bottom of the board to run-away.
Mux slid past Farlander and Wedge while the Z’s blocked and got the X and B wings blocked. AS much as I wanted to take out Farlander first, Wes was the tiger for the squad, so he went down first. Farlander HLC’ed one of the lead Z’s off the map with some help from Wedge. The next round, Wedge was still blocked, and Farlander could not barrel roll out of the mess and was still blocked. The concussion missiles did Farlander in while wedge took some damage. The Z continues to run to the lower right corner of the board, out of the way.
The next round, Wedge tried to jet out of there, but was blocked onto a rock, and that was it for him. I chased the Z down two rounds later.
Win, 226-14, 4-0, MOV 885.
A couple of us had a discussion about this list after the tournament. I am 15 and 1 with it and have not found a good counter other than two YT-1300’s. I am still not sold on the TLT. At 6-points, it is expensive. Moreover, I cannot count the number of groans I had rolling crit-crit-hit, or hit-crit on low agility ships, only to cancel all of them to get one damage through. Still, a blaster turret with either Recon. Spec. or title card is more expensive. In the 100-point version of this squat, I just run him with an autoblaster turret and use him for his ability.
I have tried running similar lists with Rebel Z’s, but the ability to force the ship you want to focus fire on last cannot be under-appreciated. I am messing around with a K-wing version, but have not gotten comfortable with it yet.
Thanks for reading.