Hello, everyone! I took plenty of pictures but am having some trouble uploading them from my work computer 
I'll try to upload 'em later! Enjoy the report -- it was a ton of fun to play and be around the Zama guys.
Zama Tournament Battle Report 01/30/2016
About three months ago I attended my first tournament at Camp Zama in Japan. At the time I had to rely on the trains to get me back home (I live about 2 ½ hours away), so I couldn’t finish out all my games. I recently leased a car, though, meaning I could stay for the entire tournament – and I’m quite glad I did! It was a Winter Kit since we can’t get Store Championships out here, and I had a blast.
Before going into detail, a huge shout out and thank you to the A-Z Gaming Club at Camp Zama for running one of the smoothest events I’ve had the pleasure of attending. While it was a bit smaller, the TOs were also helping run a Netrunner and Warhammer tournament taking place in the adjacent room – no small task, for sure. It’s always enjoyable with this group of players.
The list I ran was a great deal of fun and something I’ve been playing for a while now:
Darth Vader (35)
- Veteran Instincts
- Engine Upgrade
- TIE/x1
- Advanced Targeting Computer
Juno Eclipse (35)
- Push the Limit
- TIE Mk/II
- Proton Rockets
- TIE/x1
- Sensor Jammer
Omicron Group Pilot (30)
- Enhanced Scopes
- Emperor Palpatine
I took Enhanced Scopes on Palpatine for two reasons: using it instead of Sensor Jammer allowed me to put Proton Rockets on Juno, and it would enable me to block swarms. At a tournament I attended in the States during Winter Vacation, swarms played slowly enough against a slightly different version of this list to prevent me from getting a full win in a crucial round. Swarmy lists were also quite popular in Zama at the October tournament. I figured a block with Palpatine would send any swarms crashing into one another and allow Vader / Juno to mop up the poor saps.
Enhanced Scopes proved worthless the whole day as the Omicron Group Pilot was always the lowest PS on the table. At least it’s a short wait until Electronic Baffle is available!
Anyway, onto the games.
Game 1: Roman
Roman was flying a list that was unlike anything I’d ever seen: Kaptain Kagi and Rear Admiral Chiraneau.
Kagi was equipped with Sensor Jammer, Intelligence Agent and Heavy Laser Cannon, while Chiraneau was kitted out with Ruthlessness, the Dauntless title, Mercenary Copilot, and Emperor Palpatine. I wasn’t too worried about the list because he had initiative, meaning my pilots could adjust to any maneuver he chose.
I placed my Lambda, and Roman set up in the opposite corner, placing his ships parallel to the board edge to fly horizontally across the mat. I went in immediately for Chiraneau and Kagi just barely squeezed into range 3 of Vader, meaning I had to Target Lock the Shuttle. While this didn’t alter the course of the game much, it was certainly an interesting idea to disrupt future Target Lock-lovin’ lists.
After a few turns, Roman’s list was caught up in a far corner. Our Shuttles made sweet love while Juno and Vader brought down Chiraneau in fiery passion, delaying the inevitable only by an extra turn or two for Kagi. The game ended with Palpatine at 1 shield remaining and full health for Vader and Juno. 100-0.
Game 2: Tatsuya
If I remember correctly, Tatsuya had won another tournament held by the A-Z gaming group… or another tournament they all played in, anyway. I knew he was a good player and had yet to put ships on the board against him. He was flying IG-88B and Boba Fett. IG-88 was rockin’ a Heavy Laser Cannon, Inertial Dampeners, Veteran Instincts and Fire Control System. Boba was Pushing the Limit, carrying a Recon Specialist and also slapped on an Engine Upgrade and Inertial Dampeners for good measure.
This game was the closest of any I played on the day. A 5-dice Proton Rocket shot from Juno onto IG-88B only punched through one damage. Vader rolled multiple 4-hit attacks (thanks to Palpatine / Advanced Targeting Computer) for no damage, and even Boba managed to avoid some range 1 3-dice hits thanks to Push the Limit allowing him to Evade and Recon Specialist giving him extra Focus tokens. Tatsuya’s dice started out strong, and Palpatine quickly melted under their combined efforts. But not before I was able to harass Boba / IG with the Shuttle for a few turns.
However, the dice changed to my favor shortly after the Sith Lord careened into space. Some tricky maneuvering on both of our parts ensued, and a 1-health IG-88B maneuvered over an asteroid to take a fatal damage. The exact details are honestly lost on me because I was so focused on the game. At a few points Vader and Juno were facing the board edge and had to turn around – Juno doing so with her fantastic ability to change a Hard-2 into a Hard-1. I narrowly avoided firing arcs on some of the last few turns, and one bad roll really could have cost me the game.
Boba was down to 2 hull on the final turn. I Barrel Rolled out of arc with Juno while bumping with Vader. Time was called as we placed our dials. I really didn’t mean to bump with Vader – I was trying to get into range 1 without Boosting to deliver a 4-hit attack that could have killed Boba outright. His Boba did Boost however; I really thought he would turtle up, meaning my Hard-3 plowed me right into his plastic.
A 74-30 win for me, which could have been much closer if it weren’t for some well-timed lucky rolls on my part. Sensor Jammer played a huge role in keeping Juno alive – Boba took a Damaged Engine crit just before he was forced into doing a hard turn, meaning his re-rolls were no use against my Evade token and hit-cancelling ability.
Game 3: Ben
I met Ben when we were waiting outside the base to be signed in as guests. He told me he was running a 3 X-Wing list, and I was excited to see it! He ended up with a first round bye, blew his opponent out of the water in Round 2 and here we were going against each other at the top table. When he revealed his list, I was overcome with excitement – Wes, Wedge and Luke. My best friend back in the States played this list for the better part of a month or two, and I knew exactly how to beat it into space pulp.
We deployed on opposite corners of the map with a strange, shallow U-shaped asteroid field. I set up a feint with Vader on the far end while Juno and the Shuttle moseyed through the denser parts of the space rocks. His X-Wings turned in Hard 3. I had anticipated a Hard 2; Hard 3 had him shooting through the rocks and forced Ben into some less-than-desirable maneuvers the next turn.
The brunt of his attacks went to Juno, who once again was saved by Sensor Jammer, Evade tokens and Palpatine. Ben had elected to Target Lock on the first turn of combat, meaning I could reliably cancel at least one damage from every attack. Wes stripped tokens, Wedge used Opportunist and Luke fired, but all that could be mustered was a shield from Juno. Luke took a Proton Rocket attack to the face only to be mopped up by Palpatine in the same turn, Vader engaged Wes at Range 1 and Wedge died wedged between the two Advanceds. A quick 100-0 win. Ben certainly didn’t play poorly or make bad moves. Rather, the fact that I had played against essentially the same list for the better part of two months enabled me to make quick work of it and advance to 3-0 on the day. Also, he definitely had an abnormal amount of horrendous (see: all blank) evade rolls while my attack rolls (and Papa Palpatine) were hot.
Game 4: Dave
Dave actually was a TO of the previous Zama tournament, so I never got a chance to play against him. Remember that best friend back home I mentioned who used 3 X-Wings? Well, that same friend used a variant of Dave’s list to crush my current tournament list at an event in December.
Bossk with 2x TLTs scared me, because it’s a lot of dice coming my way, and eventually green dice will fail. This is exactly why I put Sensor Jammer on Juno. There was a caveat to Dave’s list, though: it had Kavil. Kavil, after the initial pass, could always throw more attack dice than I could evade without taking the Evade action, which would have forced me to play extremely defensively until I could turn around and get into Range 1.
The asteroids are clustered together in the center, leaving a ton of room on the right side, which is where I place my Shuttle. He sets up his entire list to joust with Palpatine, so I set Juno and Vader slightly off to the side to come in and flank. Priority #1 is Kavil – once he’s dead, I can get behind Bossk and stay at R1 of the Hired Thug no problem.
The first two turns are slow rolling. The Shuttle goes one forward, as does his entire list. Juno and Vader are conservative with straight maneuvers and some barrel-rolling. The next turn his list does another set of 1-forwards, but this time I scream in with my entire list. Three-forward with the shuttle, 5s for Vader and Juno. Some Barrel Rolling and Boosting puts me at R1 of his entire list, but with initiative and PS advantage that’s okay.
Vader plinks a single shield off Kavil, Juno delivers a debilitating Proton Rocket blast that drops shields, puts a damage and lands a Direct Hit. Dave’s list had Target Locked the Shuttle only, so he focus fires Palpatine into just a few hull remaining. Palpatine fires back, not yet having been used since I knew he would die quickly anyway. Three hits, Kavil blanks the Evade and goes down on turn 2. Problem solved.
The next turn I set up a block with the Shuttle, K-Turn with Juno and Vader has enough room to go 2-forward for another Range 1 shot on Bossk. Palpatine goes down from the other TLT, and at this point it’s just chasing Bossk around and through asteroids to finish him off. I get a great approach with Juno and Vader, coming in broadside of Bossk then able to stay behind him. The Sensor Jammer and some uncanny Evade rolls ensure I only lose a shield or two from the Hired Thug before Bossk goes down, then I quickly bring down the Y-Wing.
I improved to 4-0 on the day, having only ever lost the Shuttle in any of my games. I was able to walk away with the beautiful Alternate Art Disco Vader, Extra Munitions acrylics, the sweet dice bag, a signed poster from the Camp Zama A-Z Gaming Club, and some insane Death Star ice cube tray thing. But none of that compared to the Slave-1 Medal, my primary goal. I now have a medal for all three factions! =D
The event was fantastic (winning helps, of course) and the playgroup is a lot of fun. We all learned a lot about our lists, what we like to fly, etc. and I think the X-Wing community in and around Zama is really going to flourish.
A huge thank you to FFG for sending a tournament kit to support the area… now figure out licensing so we can get some Store Championships and Regionals in Japan!
BONUS GAME
Alas, I didn’t go undefeated on the entire day. After the tournament, Yannis, who came with Ben, and I decided to play a game with our tournament lists. His list looked fascinating and I was sort of hoping to play it – but now I’m glad I only played it afterwards.
The exact details are lost on me, but it was Horton, Poe and Jake. Horton went down quickly, but not before Poe and Jake were ready to obliterate Palpatine. Juno got into Range 1 of Jake, but the Proton Rocket assault only plinked off a shield. Some poor maneuvering with Vader in the corner meant Poe took a few shots at him, but what really brought down my main source of firepower after Palpatine died was Jake’s Juke. I had entirely forgotten about it when a one-hull Vader K-turned to get back in the fight. Jake had taken an Evade, fired at me for one hit and Juked my only Evade result – down goes Vader.
If I remember correctly, Juno did take out Jake, leaving just PS10 Poe versus Juno on the board – a match unwinnable no matter any amount of maneuvering shenanigans on Juno’s part. I think my greatest mistake was not focusing on Poe when I had the chance.
The Shuttle was at Range 1 of Poe, and a different move by Vader would have also put him at range 1 of Poe, while Juno had a shot at Range 2. Juno also had a Range 1 shot on Jake, though, which I used to go for the Proton Rockets (which unfortunately failed), while Vader needed Palpatine's help to finish off Horton that turn. I was thinking if I took out Jake and Horton, then Vader and Juno would be able to handle Poe on their own. The dice were against me, though, and Sensor Jammer is effectively worthless against Poe. Yannis also flew excellently and really knew his list! It was a very fun match and a great way to end the day.