First, here’s the squad I flew: http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/317555/dash-poe-etahn-jake-warden-200-pt-build

So I certainly took flavors of strong, popular ships (SuperDash, and DodgyPoe which is becoming a thing), but I added some other non-standard stuff like PTL/Outmaneuver Jake, Etahn, and a lightly loaded K-Wing. The general idea going in was to move in slowly with Jake/Etahn/Warden while flanking wide with Jake, and flanking on the near side with Dash.

The unique point and ship rules created an environment of a bunch of fully loaded, high-PS pilots, as you would expect. Surprisingly though, nobody flew more than 1 large ship per side.

Game 1:

Opponent had 4 ships: Chiraneau, Deathrain, Major Rhymer, and Rexler. All armed to the teeth of course. He put Squad Leader on Rexler, because I think he hadn’t fully read the upgrade. I had to correct him multiple times when he attempted to hand free actions to his other PS8 and 9 ships (Rhymer had VI), and when he tried giving Deathrain an action beyond Range 2. Opponent got seething-angry, and snapped at me after 6 minutes of trying to decide what action to use on Rexler, finally opting for a simple target lock, staring me down, and saying “is THAT legal?” As if it was my fault he didn’t understand the Squad Leader card. I wasn’t a jerk about anything, and I will happily be lenient when it comes to slight timing miscues and such, but I can’t allow him to do something the card doesn’t actually allow. He then sternly demanded that I "keep my dice on my side of the table," and "not throw them at him like last time because that really pissed me off." For the record, "last time" was 3 months ago, and a couple times I accidentally tossed my dice a little too hard and they bounced over by his edge of the table for which I of course apologized. But, SERIOUSLY??

Anyway, the turns took so long from a lot of new-ship-and-upgrade (and old upgrade) confusion, that I think we each only killed 1 or 2 of each others’ ships, and in the end he won with an 11-point difference. So really it was almost even in a 200-point match. He also rolled an extra defense die for R3 against Dash’s HLC a couple times, but I wasn’t about to call him on that after he freaked out about Squad Leader etc. So I not only barely lost, but it left a bitter taste in my mouth for the rest of the tournament because he was so salty and toxic.

Result: Minor Loss

Game 2:

Opponent traditionally sticks to squads of small Imperial ships and a Decimator, and he held to that tradition this game. He had Chiraneau, Turr Phenir, Mauler, Vader, and Rhymer. I quickly picked apart Mauler and Turr, and went to work on the Deci after that. Eventually, he killed Poe, but I cleaned him out after that (he conceded when only Vader was left, and my Warden opened activation by SLAMming in front of him and dropping a Conner Net right on him).

Result: Major Win

Game 3:

Opponent fielded a squad somewhat similar to mine: Chewie, Poe, Esege (PS6 K), Dutch, and Biggs. He played well early on, flying fairly tight and shedding crits off of Biggs with Draw Their Fire on Chewie – which is effective against an Etahn-buffed squad. I took down Biggs, then worked on Chewie and his K-Wing mainly. I lost Etahn and my K, and he lost Dutch and his K around the same time. I then had Chewie pretty low, and had been pecking at his Poe, but he had R2D2 on Poe and kept recovering some health. Eventually it came down to my Poe, Jake, and a very crippled Dash against his Poe and very crippled Chewie on the last round. He ended up turning Chewie towards Poe, and Poe bumped him and couldn’t attack. He wiped out Dash with his Poe, and Jake couldn’t push enough damage through on Chewie. He won because Chewie survived by blocking Poe – otherwise he was toast. This last turn actually decided him as the tourney winner and I ended up in second by a very small margin.

Result: Minor Loss

Tourney Result: 2^nd place of 4

So a few notes:

- I realized that through all 3 games, Jake never died. Never even took 3 damage – might have taken 2 one game, from a bomb and one hit. I also forgot to use Outmaneuver all day. Would have been better off with VI and a couple points elsewhere. But point being, he managed to remain a non-priority target and pecked away successfully from behind the enemy’s main forces.

- Poe with BB-8 + PTL just floored all 3 of my opponents. I tried explaining the combo step by step to all of them, and each time they couldn’t follow and called the TO over – who of course has read the forums and knows how it works. It worked really well in the last game, and also fairly well in the other games. I definitely think he’ll be showing up in some big games – he’s awesome.

- Dash was Dash – huge damage output and action economy, and was often an early target. I should have been more liberal in using Jan Ors on the Warden to give him an evade token (plus he gets a focus anyway from Kyle Katarn most of the time). Poe survived in the last game and for a long time in Game 1, but he was a new ship so people wanted him dead. Etahn, once my opponents realized how effective he was, became a priority target. He was a menace to the 2 Decimator players, especially. And lastly, the Warden was great. He got off Conner Nets in all 3 games, and the TLT did work when he wasn’t SLAMming. I can see how a swarm of TLTs would be an utter nightmare.

- Lastly, to reiterate a bit: Etahn WAS awesome in this build – when you get lots of strong ships around him, and keep him with an eye on most of the enemy ships, all those crits are big. It took a lot to convince myself to fly this Rebel squad, but I’ve never flown Rebels in tournament form and I’ve won 1^st at this place before, so I figured this was the best time to do it before going back to my dear Scum.

Cheers!