Its rare that i get a chance to play x-wing much however my mate was who was running the tournament talked me into playing.
So i rocked up with a few different lists in my head. A triple defender list, a triple shuttle fel list, a fel 5 tie mini swarm or a fel 4 fo mini swarm.
I had only played fel with 4 Zeta fo once before and I was scratchy because it had been so long since i played. I decided with my limited experience with the fo I would give them a try. All i was hoping for was a win or two.
First match i was up against Rebels. A vi han, a blue novice t-70 with r2-d2 and a blue squadron b-wing with fire control.
I set up the fo on a flank with fel and dragging his squadron through the asteroids the fo swarm focused down han quickly and fel tore apart his blue squad b-wing. The blue novice with r2-d2 fought hard and was able to take down 3 tie fo while regerating meaning it took time but eventually fel finished off the blue novice.
I was surprised but 100-48 was a nice start to the day.
The second game i found myself playing a friend who is new to the game. A scum list with boba with mangler cannon and lone wolf, serissu with mangler cannon and kavil with autoblaster turret and vi.
I was able to engage serssu and bring him down to one sheild early. This was and put some damage on boba. Serissu had to disengage and in doing so flew over an asteroid and lost his last hull as a result. I somehow was able to get lucky and keep most of my fighters out of arc of boba while I sat at range 2 of kavil and took him down quickly...
This left boba being chased by fel and 4 fo. Despite having mutiple re rolls from bobas ability he fell rather quickly rolling blanks and re rolling blanks. I felt bad for my mate as the dice gods had left him.
So 100-0 win and i was amazed. But as the TO reminded me. I am reknown for starting strong and once i hit third round its all down hill for me normally.
In the third game i played a guy from out of town. Vernon was his name and he was a good player. Running rebels he took a dash with hlc, outrider, recon speciality and miranda with tlt bombadier sesimic charge conner net and adv slam.
I was intimidated by the list and knew i had to be careful. Dash and Miranda are 2 rebel ships i respect and the first half hour of the game saw no combat as we tried to get behind each other. Vernon dragged dash a little too close and fel pounched on him while the tie fo went initially for miranda at the same time. Despite the hlc my soontir just didnt want to be hit. An FO was conner netted and i left it behind to die as i swarmed dash .
I was able to corner dash so he couldnt escape and wore him down quickly by then miranda had come back down and it was fel and 3 fo against her. The weight of fire dragged her down quickly.
I walked away in this game with 100-16 mov but it was the toughest game I had played and I realised then that I was playing out of my skin.
So that left me and another person undefeated after three rounds. I knew the person well he was a young enthusiatic player who had won 3 games in 4 tournaments prior to this so i was glad to see him winning and enjoyibg himself. He was running Imperials with Capt Oricunn with mara jade and tactical jammer, 2 zeta tie FO and a tempest adv tie.
I lured the decimator into a joust with my 4 tie fo straight on through the asteroid feild while fel harrased his 2 tie fo. His tie adv hit an asteroid for the intial engagement. The fo stripped the sheilds. My oppenent then thought he saw his chance to ram my fo. However I 2 sloop out of the way with all 4 and they ended up all at range 1 of the devimator stripping it down to three hull remaining.
The next turn i was able to finish the devimator with 2 fo while the other two killed one of his fo. While fel due to arc stripped the last sheild off the tie adv (it lost its first sheild thanks to an asteroid.).
I then lost one fo but killed his second fo leaving a tie adv with one hull. My luck with dice then evaded me as the tie adv at range 3 poped a tie fo. However fel and the two tie fo eventually were able to chase him down although didnt get to kill it as it died going through an asteriod.
So i walked away with 100-32 win. I was gobsmacked.
The final round for the day saw me against a scum list. It was an interesting list with kavil with blaster turret, unhinged and opportunist, a thug with tlt and unhinged and 3 z95 pirates with dead man switches.
We basically set up to joust and with fel and my zetas my only worry was kavil as the rest of my squadron would shoot first and from experince i fear kavil and he was my number one target. Thanks to a blunder from my opponent he bumped kavil into his thug not being able to get a focus for blaster turret goodness. I then shot everything i had at him. Giving him blinded pilot crit was well as leaving him with 2 hull left. Everyone was crammed into the middle and 2 of my tie fo took damage. The next round with some tight moves i was able to finish off kavil.
I then lost one FO. Fel then started to chase the tlt thug. While the other fo jousted with the 3 z95s with. I lost an fo while he lost a z95.
Time was called on the game. My opponent had 2 z-95s left with 1 hull and the thug with 2 hull. I still had the 2 tie fo and fel with 2 hull left each (fel lost a hull through an asteroid).
So I walked away with a modified win of 47-32. A game my opponent conceded i would have won outright if it went a couple of turns longer.
So first tournament in a long time and i walked away with 4 outright wins and a modified win. I couldnt believe and all the people i played were a joy to play with.
All my close friends were impressed and they all knew i was capable. But truth be told i dodnt think i could do that.
I have to say i had flown FO once before today and they are a packet full of surprises. Their dial is beautiful and that sheild just makes them that little bit hardervfor people to take down. All my opponents will tell you that Fel was mvp but those FO were my mvp.