So this past Sunday was a Winter kit tourney at my FLGS. As usual I was waffling over lists and what to bring as I was determined not to bring my old standby of Brobots. Rebel regen, TLT, Palpmobile, Swarms, Aces all vied for flight time and in the end, my family ended up deciding my list for the most part. The wife asked if I was going to be using any of the new ships I got for Christmas in the tournament (Raider and TIE/FO) and the daughter wanted to know if she would be “pewing the bad guys for daddy”, as she has a purple TIE fighter I painted up for her. Knowing I now had to bring some combination of TIE Advanced and TIE Fighters, I came up with the list:
Darth Vader: Juke, Title, ATC, Engine
Howlrunner: Crackshot
3x Black Squadron: Crackshot
I know Ace and mini-swarm isn’t groundbreaking, but I haven’t seen Juke used by Vader, and Crackshot swarm is usually 6 strong, so I can delude myself into thinking I came up with a decent list on my own instead of a netlist clone.
We have about 12 people show up so we do 4 rounds, no cut. People are throwing lists together on the fly, and being peer pressured into changing their plans minutes before things hit the table, so I can tell I’m not in for a “serious” tournament.
Round 1 I get paired off against Aaron, a strong pilot from another nearby shop. Last time we met was in the finals of that stores more recent tourney, and Aaron got the better of me then. He puts down his list and my heart sinks, Regen Poe and a Stressbot, my two least favorite set ups in the game, and this time he’s swapped out Jake for a regenning Red Ace. Joy. Knowing I can’t let the stressbot load up Vader with stress or he’ll be a sitting duck, I deploy with the swarm in a joust position on the side and have Vader lurking on the opposite side. My hope is to pincer the Y between the two on the same turn and kill it off before it ever fires a shot. Alas, the dice gods laugh at my plan and even with Howlrunner rerolls, focuses, and ATC I’m only able to bring the Y to 2 hull. Howlrunner gets stressed into oblivion and Rec Ace finishes her off next turn. I am able to finish off the Y, but now its Vader and 3 Ties against 2 Regen ships. I manage to get through both ships shields, but Aaron is doing a nice job of preventing me from staying on target long enough to get the kill. He bags a few more TIES and I now have a shieldless Vader against 2 Xwings with hull and shields. Sensing the writing on the wall, I try to turtle up, run away, and preserve the MOV. 30 minutes of chasing and eventually my greens fail me enough to put Vader down for the count. 0-1, 26 MOV
Round 2 I am greeted by Mike who is flying a classic Dash/Corran list. Knowing my TIEs can eat through Dash, my plan is to focus on Corran first with all my crackshots, and get him off the board fast. I set up similar to last game, with the Swarm on 1 flank and Vader on the other. I slow roll it first turn and he reveals his plan as both Dash and Corran make a beeline for Vader. Vader is able to push a damage through on Corran with Juke at range 3 and soak the return fire. Next turn he dives Dash in to block Vader, which he does, but in doing so, he misjudges the width of Dash’s base and Corran bumps Dash as well. Corran does some shield damage, but Vader and the Ties pounce, eliminating Corran before the double tap can happen. The game ends shortly after as Dash cannot survive for long against 10+ evade removing red dice. I feel better after this one, and didn’t lose a TIE, which will really help my MOV. 1-1, 226 MOV
Round 3 sees me fighting Josh?Jack? Honestly I can’t remember, for which I am sorry. He is a new player running Brobots with Title, HLC, FCS, Dampeners, and Stealth Device. He tells me upfront he wishes he had different upgrades, like autothrusters, but he can’t find a Starviper anywhere. I tell him he could have asked to borrow some for the day and he’ll remember that for next time. Unfortunately, this was not a fun game on either side. I know exactly what the Brobots do, so I am able to send 1 TIE in to bump him, while the others barrel roll out of his eventual arcs. He takes maybe 3 shots all game, and between Juke and Crackshot, his Aggressors are not long for this world. It’s nice to win, but I could tell he wasn’t enjoying the game, which sours my taste for it as well. It’s one thing to lose if you feel involved, rolling dice, doing actions, playing the game, and it’s another to not make your opponent need a damage deck the entire game. 2-1, 426 MOV
Final round and I’m playing Dave, the winner from our stores escalation tourney. Dave is trying some shenanigans, running Keyan with Interface and Expose, Horton with EPT droid, Marksmanship, and TLT, and Tycho with PTL, Expert handling, Title, and I think Autothrusters. I set up in my usual formation, and his plan is to try and lure me through the rocks. The TIES use their speed and circle the asteroid field at max speed and we manage to get to them before they are fully covered by the astroids. We hit Keyan with everything we can, but not before he and Horton vape a Black squadon. This allows Keyan to live with 1 HP and make it to the next turn. The remaining 2 Blacks form a line in his K-turn line forcing him to bump, while Vader and Howlrunner peel off to intercept Horton. The Black not touching Keyan lives long enough to push through the final damage and we begin to swarm over the Y. Horton is able to finish off the wounded Black squadron before Howlrunner ends his run as well. It’s now 3 on 1 against Tycho, and while he puts forth a valiant effort to try and kill off another TIE, Vader is eventually able to get into range 1 and end the merry chase. 3-1 and a respectable 596 MOV.
Aaron, my round 1 opponent would end up winning the tournament, while my MOV puts me at the top of the 3-1’s for second. A neat Boba and 4 Z Scum list rounds out the top 3, which amuses me that each faction has 1 representative in the top 3. A good tournament, and fun for the most part. It reaffirms my dislike of Rebel Regen lists though, as I had done like 10+ damage to the Xwings and had nothing to show for it. Regen should be limited somehow ,starting shield #, point cost of the droid, something. Infinite health is lame, but I could just be salty 