We had a Winter Kit tournament here in Lexington, KY this past weekend at Legendary Games. Last week I decided to put together a fun list using some of the new stuff released with the T-70's and Tie/fo's. I posted on the squad forum HERE looking for some feedback.
I went with option #1 list
Red Squadron Veteran (33) x 2
T-70 X-Wing (26), Comm Relay (3), Juke (2), Autothrusters (2)
Guardian Squadron Pilot (33)
K-Wing (25), Twin Laser Turret (6), Jan Ors (2)
The idea is that Jan Ors gives a free evade to the 2 Xwings in the first 2 turns as you slowly make your way into the fight. Then the T-70's have a way to modify every attack with Juke because Comm Relay lets them keep the evade (And I never spent the Evade unless I had to in order to keep the Xwings alive). The X-wings hit HARD with 3 attack dice + focus/TL and Juke to cancel an evade. Or if they spend their focus after Juke, that makes their attack much less potent. It's a gimmicky combo, but turns out to be really powerful. Meanwhile the K-wing just picks at you with the TLT and Slams away when necessary. A solid strength of the list is that all 3 ships are PS4 and have ways to change position (boost or SLAM), which comes in really handy against the now-common PS2 Y-wings and PS3 Obsidian swarms.
Match 1 vs. David with PalpShuttle w/ RAC & Academy Pilot TIE
Even though Juke didn't really matter against a 0 agility Decimator, I made sure to take RAC out as quickly as possible. He had a couple good blocks with the Academy Tie, but in the 2nd or 3rd round I managed to roll 3 crits with one of the X-wings. He got 2 of the crits that give him a damage if he ends up bumping into a ship or obstacle the next turn. Well, he was surrounded by my ships, so I was able to block every move, forcing him to bump me and kill his Decimator. After that, it was just cleaning up the Shuttle and then the Tie Fighter.
Win 100-0
Match 2 vs. Gordon with Crackshot Tie Swarm + Howlrunner
I was super nervous going into this matchup. Interestingly enough, we both had all ships at PS4 (except Howlrunner of course), which is extremely rare. I was at 99 points, so I chose to give him initiative. Even though I knew he would be able to potentially force me to bump, I wanted him to move first so I could have the option of boosting with my X-wings and SLAMming with my K-Wing. It ended up being the best decision because I could react to everything he did. I have to say, this was one of my most favorite games I've ever played. Gordon is a great player with tons of experience in big tournaments. The one thing that helped me win was I made the decision to split up my 3 ships so he'd be forced to swarm at one ship and I could flank with the other two. He chose to swarm after the K-Wing, which allowed me to do some good damage with the 2 Red Vets. This is where him having initiative and firing first turned out to be GREAT for me, because he'd often have to spend his focus token on the Black Squadron Pilots to push damage through, leaving him vulnerable to JUKE when I attacked him. Juke was definitely the card of the match. He killed the K-Wing, and I managed to kill everything except his last TIE/fo w/ Crackshot when time was called.
Win 82-33
Match 3 vs. Mike with 4 rebel Y-Wings with TLT & BTL-A4 title (One with R3-A2 as Stressbot, Two with R2 Astromech)
Another match where jousting would definitely not be an option! I've played against Mike with this list before. Last time was a nail-biter in the top 4 of a tournament that I barely snuck out with the win after my Poe had 8 stress on him. I knew this would be tough.
Similar to my last match, I determined in my head that I had to get him to go through the thick asteroid field and potentially separate his firing arcs (since he was using the title on all Y-Wings). I did the same thing as I did against the Crackshot Tie Swarm... split up my ships but try to still focus fire. It took us probably 5 rounds before we even started shooting. Neither of us wanted to give up on our gameplan. However, a couple boosts put me in a perfect position to focus fire on his stressbot with all 3 of my ships. My 3 ships being PS4 against his PS2 Y-wing was really big, because I managed to kill the stressbot before he even had a chance to shoot once at my Red Vet. (If I didn't kill it, it would have been a much different game). After that round he had to split up his firing arcs a bit and I managed to get in the donut hole of a couple Y-Wings. He was able to kill one of my X-wings, but my other 2 ships were able to kill the last couple Y-wings without too much issue.
Win 100-33
Match 4 vs. Joseph with RAC Decimator + Vader (EU, ATC, Title, VI)
Joseph is a good friend of mine, and we've played more X-wing games together than I can count. We know each other almost too well, and we're very evenly matched. I love playing him because he makes me better every time. I think he had a little fire in him this match because he has beaten me in casual games this month, but I've beaten him in the last 3 tournament matches we've played
He was ready to get some revenge!
He knew my last well, so he flew in with RAC and boosted in before I had the chance to get an evade token on my 2nd Red Vet. (I just wish Jan Ors wasn't limited to one ship per turn). I got a few damage through on RAC while he lit into the K-wing. I had a chance to force a bump with my K-Wing on the 2nd turn, which would have landed the Decimator on an asteroid and given my 2 Red Vets range 1 modified shots... BUT I missed it by centimeters. I was so upset with myself. Meanwhile RAC and Vader focused fire on the K-Wing while he ran away with RAC. In the next 2 rounds he very successfully arc-dodged with both of his ships while my K-Wing went down fast. There was one turn where I had both Xwing guns on RAC at range 2 and 3 and only managed to get ONE damage through. Lame. Thankfully on the next turn he barely clipped a rock that allowed the Red Vets to get great shots on him while Vader was struggling to catch up without hitting some obstacles. I managed to kill the Decimator while he took out a Red Vet with Vader. So, here we are with 10 minutes left... He's killed the K-wing and a Red Vet. I've killed RAC. I start to joust my Red Vet against his Vader. I have the advantage because my Red Vet still has the evade token from the beginning of the game for Juke, plus a Target Lock, and eventually focus. He has focus + evade, but a range 1 shot helps me strip Vader of all shields plus one hull. He decides at that point that he just can't compete with my firepower and starts running with his 5 forward, Engine Upgrade boost, plus barrel roll. I simply can't keep up with him. Time is called and the score is 66-65... Joseph wins by 1 point with 1 hull left on Vader. ARGH.
Loss 65-66
Final Record: 3-1
After the final round nobody is left undefeated but based on MOV, I sneak out with 1st place out of 10 people! I was pretty happy, especially after playing a list that I believed would be fun, but not super competitive. JUKE may be my new favorite card!
On a side note, I really love the X-Wing community here in central Kentucky. We have a lot of players in the Lexington/Frankfort/Louisville, and everyone really does fly casual. Every tournament is full of laughs and good attitudes. It makes the game even more fun than it is in the first place!