On Sunday January 31 was A Muse n Games Store Championship in Winnipeg, Canada. There were 27 players in attendance.

The day before I still wasn't sure what to play. I had it narrowed down to Brobots, a list with Whisper, or a list with Poe. However, since I've seen what TLTs can do to Whisper, and Poe can be hot or cold, I eventually decided on Crackbots. Besides, I hadn't run them in an event yet so I figured they would be fun.

After I was able to get a practice game in with my friend Alan beforehand, I wasn't really sold on Crackbots. They lost to Boba and two TLT Y-wings, even though both Ys went down and Fett had just a few hull remaining. So following the game I was trying to see if I could come up with anything to improve it. One major weakness I noticed was mobility. There was at least a few turns that I was spending turning around and not shooting at anything and if I had a couple of more shots things may have been different.

Since Crackshot wasn't really doing anything for me (I basically used it to punch one damage through and the other Aggressor never used it), I switched it out for Adrenaline Rush. I had no clue if that was the right move or not, but I didn't know what else to do.

First match I played against Scott who was also running Brobots but these ones were B & D and had Manglers, Bombs (I think proximity...the ones that can do three damage), VI, and Advanced Sensors. Okay, so he's going to be shooting first, but I have more firepower and Glitterstims, so I think I have a slight edge. We keep trading a shield here, and a shield there, and then he hit me with both bombs which had me a bit concerned. Fortunately, the first only did one damage and the second whiffed. That was close. Still, with his Advanced Sensors and hard S-Loops, I was having a hard time keeping up with him. I eventually killed one of his, then he killed one of mine, then with about 5 minutes left I landed a lucky shot and killed his other one. My C had three hull remaining. 1-0

Second match I had to face Braden's double phantoms with the usual stuff except Whisper had Kallus and Sensor Jammer, Echo also had Sensor Jammer, and Dark Curse was thrown in for good measure. This match had me even more worried than my last one because one phantom is tough enough, but two? Ugh. Anyway, since he didn't have FCS, I think that's what turned the tables in my favor. My gunner shots took out Whisper on turn 3, Echo a few turns later, then it was just a matter of time to hunt down DC. I think one of my aggressors lost all its shields, but that's it. 2-0

Round three: I faced Chris' interceptor strike team composed of Soontir with PTL, AT, and shield upgrade; Carnor with PTL and Stealth; and I believe Turr with PTL and Stealth. After the phantom dogfight, I was feeling pretty good about this match-up. I came up the middle, and Chris sent all three interceptors up together down his right side -- pretty much in a joust. Needless to say those interceptors dropped like flies and then I had a 35 minute break. I lost two shields I think. 3-0

By this point, I was getting tired, but was kind of amazed how well Adrenaline Rush was working. Hopefully I would be able to make Top 8 at least and get the range ruler.

Final match of Swiss: I was playing Ryan, the usual champ around here. He was running a triple K-wing list with TLTs and Tactician that Jeff (another friend of mine) used to great effect by totally owning me in the last event.

Anyway, Ryan had a strange asteroid setup so he could basically stay in one corner and play ring around the rosy and force me to come to him. I deployed on the other side of the board and was just going back and forth, back and forth, until I realized what he wanted me to do.

At this point, I figured he's not coming my way anyway so I decided to go after him. If I could kill one quickly then 2 K-wings should be easier to deal with. I dropped one after a few rounds of shooting, but C had like 5 stress thanks to Tactician and Glitter. Surprisingly, he took very little damage in the exchange, just losing one or two shields. I kept TL-ing with FCS and Adrenaline Rush was key in making my moves unpredictable at key moments and keeping him in arc. I dropped the other warden, then Miranda. One of my aggressors lost all shields, the other only lost a couple. 4-0

My first round of Top 4 was against Andy. This time I was looking at Guri and two Black Sun Aces (with shield upgrades) and all had Glitterstim and Crackshot. I must admit I was stunned that a Starviper and two Kihraz made it this far, but they DID make it this far so it was best not to underestimate them. So we start off jousting. I end up dropping one BS, although they were a nuisance to take down with an extra shield and Glitter. Then another drops. That's just left Guri, and I just needed to hunt her down and then that was game. I'm not sure of my shield count this time. I know one IG-88 was pretty well full still. 5-0

Now on to the finals. I had to play Ryan and those K-wings again. Sigh, just what I needed. My dice were pretty hot the first time around so I really wasn't looking forward to a rematch. But, I did get it done once, so maybe I could do it again.

Same setup. He was doing wheelies in the corner, but this time I just timed things better and slow rolled it and turned and went straight after him. Only one of my aggressors got within range of just one K so I didn't even bother with GS. He lost a few shields, I lost nothing. I moved in and eventually killed that K, and my dice were hot again. Another K went down, and then another. B was limping at the end of the game, however, but C still had three shields. 6-0!

So it was a great time and a great win. Adrenaline Rush was definitely my MVP. They made me so unpredictable and helped me just when I needed it most. Not to mention that it's also pretty funny having 'stim junkie droids Point Break-ing all over the place. I have now nicknamed IG-88 B Bodhi and C Johnny Utah.

Big thanks to Brian, Scotia, and Jeremiah for running the event and of course to everyone who came out to play. We have an awesome group of players and it was so nice to see such a wide variety of squad lists and ships like the Starviper do particularly well. :-)

So adrenaline rush still gives you the stress right?

Would you change your list in any way?

Can you post your full list please?

What advice would you give for one with little experience with this ships? I think I want to give them a try.

I'm fairly sure the whole list is there;

B&C

HLC

Adrenaline Rush

FCS

Glitterstim

Autotrusters

Nice report and congrats on not o my bagging your range rules but a regional bye too!!

So adrenaline rush still gives you the stress right?

Would you change your list in any way?

Can you post your full list please?

What advice would you give for one with little experience with this ships? I think I want to give them a try.

You can discard Adrenaline Rush to change your revealed red maneuver to white so you can do an S-Loop or K-Turn and still boost or focus, or do those maneuvers while you are already stressed. If you do the latter, you would still have the stress from before, however. Of course, it's a one-shot deal, but at the right time it can be very effective.

I was pretty happy with the list, but I may try Tractor Beams instead of Adrenaline Rush when they are released.

The list was B&C, IG-2000, HLC, Adrenaline Rush, FCS, Glitterstim, and Autothrusters.

Aggressors can be played a few ways, so my advice would be to try a few different builds to see what works for you. For example, while B is pretty much a must-have, you may find that A or D works better for you than C. Or maybe you'd find the crits of Manglers better than HLCs. Crackshots and Veteran Instincts are working for some players, too. IG-88s are pretty adaptable to any play style, it just takes a couple of goes to find the best options for you.