Previously on X-Wing in Japan…

Location: Camp Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture

Date: 24/10/15
Players: 14
Rounds: 4 (Swiss).
Time Limit: 75 Minutes.
Software: Cryodex!

Suns with a Gun

Black Sun Ace (Crack Shot)X 2
Hired Gun (Twin Laser Turret)
Black Sun Soldier X 2

A Scum mini-swarm with some of my newly acquired Wave 7 toys. I was worried enough about Twin Laser Turret Y-Wings to go for the higher pilot skill generics of each ship type (along with a TLT and a couple of Crackshots to hopefully drop any Fels or Phantoms I have to face). Flying all five in formation is a bit awkward with the mix of pilot skill, and the lack of a one forwards on the Khiraxz, so I thought it was best to deploy the aces off to one side while the Zs move in front of the Y and interfere with anything that tries to get into the deadzone of its TLT.

Match One vs Ryan

Kath Scarlet (Opportunist, Greedo)

Palob Godahli (Opportunist, Blaster Turret, Moldy Crow)

Black Sun Soldier x 2

Ryan setup Palob opposite the Aces on my left with Kath and his two Zs in the center. On turn two I banked my Aces in while the Y-Wing broke off to skirt around the inevitable furball.

Some dodgy positioning left my Aces without a shot on Palob, while Kath dealt a range one blast to my Y-Wing as she came into the fight. The following turn I was able to remove Palob with a lucky Direct Hit, in exchange for a Khiraxz that K-Turned into a rear arc, opportunist shot from Kath.

Greedo worked against Kath in the final rounds and I was able to destroy her and a Black Sun Soldier by the end of the match, but not before my other Khiraxz was turned into space dust.

Result: 87/48 win.

Match Two vs James

IG-88 B (Push the Limit, Heavy Laser Cannon, Advanced Sensors, Inertial Dampeners, IG-2000)

IG-88 C (Push the Limit, Heavy Laser Cannon, Advanced Sensors, Inertial Dampeners, IG-2000)

James deployed his Bots at an angle and moved straight towards my squadron as I cautiously moved up the right side of the board. It was at the start of the second turn that I realised he had the advantage and had positioned his ships so that if I tried to close he could pop his Inertial Dampeners and stay still or boost into range if I tried to move slowly. Either way I was stuck eating HLC shots from range three and he was able to drop an Ace down to one hull.

Crucially I was then able to block one of the IGs onto a rock and block the S-Loop of another. My wounded Ace was still at range one of the stressed IG but miraculously survived the attack.

From this point the IGs were stuck facing away from my squad as I turned them around and began to give chase. However, even though I only lost a single Z I just couldn't kill either IG before time was called. Conveniently, this tournament was using the new rule that gives a player half points for reducing an opposing large ship below half health, which was enough to secure me the win.

Result: 50/13 win (If we'd been playing under the old rules, this would have been a 0/13 loss)

(from this point in the day it started getting dark and the pictures I took on my phone get a lot worse, sorry)

Match Three vs Keisuke
Darth Vader (Predator, Tie X1, Advanced Targeting Computer, Engine Upgrade)
Tempest Squadron (Tie X1, Accuracy Corrector) x3

The champion of my previous tournament report was flying a scary-looking list. An ace and lots of agility dice to soak up my shots. Moving towards my squadron his pinwheel formation of Tie Advanceds looked menacing.

Unfortunately for Keisuke, on the turn our squadrons engaged a possibly over-eager Vader bumped into the back of his formation, leaving the Dark Lord of the Sith exposed. I took the chance to take him down and focused fire on Vader, leaving him with only two hull remaining. In exchange the Tempests destroyed one of my Zs.

A damaged Vader broke off from the fight with a hard three turn to the right, leaving me to concentrate on his escort.

The soon to be obsolete damage deck we were using dealt The Y-Wing the one crit that I didn't want: Munitions Failure (and a Direct Hit).

Vader finally returned to the fight and finished off the crippled Y-Wing, but only one of his wingmen remained and my aces were able to kill both of them just before time was called.

Result: 100/39 win

Match Four vs Tom
Rear Admiral Chiraneau (Expose, Darth Vader, Mercenary Copilot, Gunner, Experimental Interface)
Academy Pilot x3

A potentially devastating combination of upgrades on the Decimator. 4-5 dice attacks with additional crits from Vader could stomp all over my squadron.

It was important to control range and move all of my ships into range for the first round of shooting, however I pushed one of the Aces just far enough that it was alone at range three of Chiraneau and took four damage from the Expose/Vader combo.

I moved my Zs in to block Chiraneau while the Y did its usual thing of moving off to the fringes. Chiraneau hit one of the Zs, but was still able to finish off the already damaged Khiraxz. I focused everything onto the Decimator and brought it down by the end of the thrid round of shooting, leaving my remaining four ships against Tom's three Academies.

Possibly disheartened by the loss of the Rear Admiral, the TIEs just couldn't roll evades and two of them dropped shortly after. The last Academy remained elusive until the end.

Result: 87/24 win.

4-0 and my first tournament win. Really happy with how the squad performed. Crack Shot is insanely good. Being able to cancel evade tokens is absolutely worth the single point and the extra points of damage made a difference in every match.

(I'll insert a link to the list juggler results from the tournament when they are posted)

Thanks to James Keller, Brandon Bergeron, Dave Derrick and the Camp Zama Warrior Zone staff for a great tournament. It was nice to see the organizers not just running the tournament, but also providing ships and lists for newer players to get involved. It was my first time on a US military base and I look forward to future events.

Would You Like to Know More?

Wargamers in Japan Facebook (for X-Wing/Wargaming future events)

JIGG Meetup Group (regular game days in Tokyo)

Nice report, thanks for sharing - the pictures certainly add a lot

Anyone got the time to get a few games in tomorrow or the day after? I'll be visiting Tokyo (shinjuku area) for a few days. Would love to get some games in!

Wow, so nice see a tournament report from Japan

Have my house for sale and hoping to move the family to osaka

Nice report, thanks for sharing - the pictures certainly add a lot

Cheers, I didn't make a lot of notes on the day so they helped a lot.

Wow, so nice see a tournament report from Japan

Have my house for sale and hoping to move the family to osaka

Nice! I don't know much about what's going on in that part of Japan, but I see that there's a JIGG group for Kansai. Looks like they do Game Days in Osaka.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/JIGGkansai/

https://boardgamegeek.com/guild/752

Thanks for the report, great job!

Thanks for the report. I liked the build you did, so I built it and took it to my local game night. It performed well in a three way battle, pulling off a modified win against a 4 A-Wing build.