So this past Sunday I participated in the Store Championship at Gamer's Grove in Huntsville, TX, just a little north of Houston. What with it being a "sorta serious" tournament and all, I decided to forgo my typical zany antics of bringing guys like Graz or Porkins along and brought something absolutely competitive: Bossk! What can I say, he's literally the pilot I'm the absolute best with, you YV-666 naysayers be damned. Not only that, but he was escorted by a pair of beautiful little Khiraxzes. Here's the list, for those curious:
Bossk
Veteran Instincts
Outlaw Tech
K4 Security Droid
Engine Upgrade
Black Sun Ace
Glitterstim
Crack Shot
Black Sun Ace
Glitterstim
Crack Shot
Total: 97 points
I've run, as some folks on here are probably already aware, this list (with a few modifications) before. It's a real winner in my book, capable of pumping out some nasty damage. Throw in the 3 point bid and VI on Bossk, and I'm now a nightmare to everyone below PS10 (stupid VI Corran). Anyways, it was a solid turnout for a small town, falling just shy of the numbers need for an eight man cut after Swiss. So how did things work out for me showing up to a SC with a YV-666 and a pair of Khiraxzes?
Game One: vs. Whisper and the Mini-Swarm
I've beaten this list a couple of times before with Bossk and his escorts, so I was pretty confident going into it. I can shoot before Whisper can cloak, likely with double modifications on Bossk, and GlitterCrack Khiraxzes tend to make mince meat out of TIE Fighters (as does Bossk, to be fair). Started off with all the Imperials clustered in the middle in a tight formation, while I had Bossk diagonal in the corner (as almost always) with his escorts ready to flank out. TIEs all rushed the middle and I went for ye olde classic "pincer" attack, which looked like it was going to work beautifully. Second round of shooting, I appear to have both Khiraxzes lining up "Howlrunner" while "Whisper" has just sauntered into R1 of a TL+Focus Bossk shot. Whisper took an Evade action, fearing the worst... and Bossk, with all of his modifiers, only got three hits. Whisper chunked pair of natural evades. Frak. But hey, can shoot down Howlie, right? First shot goes through well enough, leaving her at one health... and I think "hey, hold on to CS because Howlie is the only person the other Khiraxz can shoot at!". And then it turned out she was just out of arc and lived another turn. Double frak. My anticipated alpha-strike failed miserably (part bad luck, part thinking I had an arc I didn't have). Howlrunner wouldn't survive another turn, but my luck continued to run dry in a game where I only flew Bossk well. My Khiraxzes died painfully, but I still had Bossk! And the skill to line up two more range one, double modified shots on uncloaked Whisper when she didn't have a shot back. Both of which also saw her throw two natural evades and use an evade token to avoid damage. With thrice efforts to get my four dice to bust through two (any of which would've seen a crit deal double damage to Whisper thanks to Bossk's ability), I finally succumbed. Can only dodge a bunch of TIEs for so long with a YV-666, and the dice legitimately helped seal my fate here. I could've flown better, sure, but Whisper had zero business being alive and it's a different game if Bossk isn't whiffing his (again, double modified) dice at R1 of Whisper with only two dice.
Result: Loss 100-19
Game Two: vs. Corran-Dash
Alright, so at this point I'm feeling pretty deflated. I very rarely lose with Bossk in hand, and to lose so completely with the memories of such awful dice luck in hand... it's a terrible feeling. Like, holy crap, if two of my twelve dice break through Whisper's six (plus Evade tokens), I have that one in hand. I digress, just... screw you, dice.
Anyways, second game I figure I can rebound. And then I see my opponent: talented guy from down in Houston flying Corran Horn and Dash Rendar, a classic and terrifying list, and if I have any hope of not crashing and burning in this tournament I need to pull out a W here. I set up in my corner, as is tradition, with Dash set up in the middle and VI Corran (blast!) in position to possibly joust. But I think maybe it's a trap and he's just trying to lure me to aggressively try and give chase, which turns out to be just the case. Both Corran and Dash break to the other side of the table, and I keep a safe distance from that HLC so it can't rip into my fragile Khiraxz Fighters. Still, I'm in a precarious position: Corran is threating to slip between my squad, possibly leaving the BSA's isolated between both of my opponent's big guns, and if I rush too hard with Bossk then Horn may slip behind him. Thankfully, Bossk is able to intercept and force Corran to try and starting avoid that big 180 arc while the Black Sun Aces see a chance to close in on Dash. They take a little bit of HLC fire, but nothing too serious (thanks, Glitterstim) while they start steadily pushing some damage onto Dash. Rather than waste time trying to corner Corran on his own, Bossk rushes to help his squadmates who have corralled Dash in a corner. One Khiraxz is down to 1 hull from the HLC and has beat a hasty retreat, but the other is able to comfortably get inside The Donut and plant an R1 shot on Dash. Combined with Bossk's assistance and Dash Rendar is cornered and killed. Meanwhile, an aggressive Corran Horn manages to track down the wounded Khiraxz and finish him off. So Bossk and a BSA vs a full health, R2-D2 and EU equipped Corran Horn: still scary. It's a game of cat and mouse trying to corner him, but I've learned from a previous loss in this situation so I play it cool and cautious, corralling Corran until I can bring both guns to bare on him at once. Bossk fires long range through a rock to plink off a couple shields while Corran's last ditch, desperate shot to kill the Khiraxz fails. The Black Sun Ace returns fire and Corran Horn simply can't survive a TL+Focus return shot. Holy crap, I just beat Corran-Dash with a YV-666!
Result: Win 26-100
Game Three: vs. Skinny Han Solo, Dutch Vander, and a generic T-70
This list scared me: add it up folks, that's a lot of health to chew through, even for my list which I pride in being able to dole out some serious hurt. He's a newer player, but it's evident early on that he's got a natural knack for this game. We set up on opposite corners, and I set up my typical "maybe flank, maybe pincer, probably both" approach while he sent Dutch and the T-70 into the middle with Han looking to circle around the back. T-70 came screaming up to me so I tried to obliterate it... and once again, there's those AWFUL DICE!!! With all three pilots firing, including, yes, another R1 double modified shot from Bossk, I manage to take two shields off of the X-Wing. Not a good start. Bossk takes a small dusting of fire and I decide to cut my losses: Dutch isn't super maneuverable and he's right there. I sent my BSA's on a long, soft banking intercept course while I rocket Bossk ahead, keeping him out of Han's reach and blasting past the X-Wing. The block works and Dutch is left defenseless. Close range shots from a BSA and Bossk quickly remove him from the equation, which makes me feel sad because I love Dutch myself. From here I beat a hasty retreat to the other side of the board and start scrambling back into a unified formation, turning Bossk as hard as I can around a rock while I use those beautiful 5Ks on the Khiraxzes. My opponent does similar, bringing the T-70 right in front of Han in a tight formation. As we do Joust 2.0 I manage to finish the T-70 off with Bossk (even without Calculation, I'm still getting a healthy dose of crits to use to pump out more damage), but Han is still at full health and is ripping into both Bossk and a Khiraxz. I see a chance to set up a "kill box" though and bring all three guns onto Han. Bossk one shots off his shields (HOLY CRAP FIVE DAMAGE, BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!), and the Khiraxzes pump through a crit each with some more damage on top. One of my Khiraxz, however, is now sitting on three stress after K-Turning onto Debris then popping Glitterstim. He already had a Direct Hit! from Han, so I figured the K onto the cloud was realistically his only chance to do any more damage before dying. As (poor) luck would have it, he was barely in position that he had no choice but to bump the cloud again to try and get off. Dice comes up crit... and a second Direct Hit!. Down to one Khiraxz and a limping Bossk against a bloodied Han Solo. Thankfully, before he died? That other Khiraxz delivered a "Major Hull Breach" to Han Solo. With some good blocks and my opponent aggressively taking whites after a K-Turn and unable to clear that crit, I got my opportunity: R1 with Bossk on Han. Ever see a ship take five damage and all of it come face up? Han went up like a Christmas Tree, his return fire doing little more than starting Bossk.
Result: Win 49-100
Game Four: vs. Palp-Oicunn, Lt. Colzet, and Wampa
This had been a really interesting list to watch throughout the day, and now I was going to serve as it's next test. Not only was it an interesting list, but the player behind it was a rarity: a woman! Apparently her husband got her addicted and now she was trouncing him and everyone else that dared oppose here Imperial death squad. But me? I had Bossk, and surely between the now infamous "Whisper Incident" and that first attempt on the T-70's life, my run with cold dice vs. hot dice was over today.
Right?
... right?
Anyways, to the game. She set up in the center with both TIEs facing towards the Decimator on either side. Interesting set up, and honestly I didn't know what to think of it. Still, my set-up was... well, basically identical to all the previous ones. Only this time, I had used the obstacles to try and build something of a "shield" in the middle on my side where I tend to try and slip my Khiraxzes. I started off as slow as I possibly could, slowly bringing the BSA's into said shield while Bossk, opening with a one forward, then boosted to his right (towards the edge of the board, leaving him parallel with it) as he saw the TIEs both take up a tight position behind the Decimator. Oicunn kept slowly rolling to the other side of the board, trying to flank but being slowed by navigating those rocks. Meanwhile, Bossk launched himself forward with a three straight, using the K4 to snag a TL on Wampa and get his usual Focus. Heck, the BSA's ALSO got a R3 TL on Wampa, who had been left just in reach of all three of my ships.
Which didn't matter too much. Bossk fired a long range shot and got a crit hit hit. Wampa blanked out, and Palpatine gave him one Evade... which didn't help too much, since Bossk turned that crit into a double hit. Boom, Wampa one shotted at R3. Long range shots through the rocks didn't touch the BSAs, and one of them managed to tag Colzett for a pair of his shields. The Khiraxzes both pulled themselves out of the asteroid field right behind Colzett with Bossk also quickly joining in the pursuit. The TIE Advanced went down quickly, with Oicunn still struggling to squeeze fire through the rocks at a distance. Soon, it was the Decimator against all three of my ships at full health.
From here, it was a simple task of chasing the Decimator down, though with PTL, Ysanne, and a EU, it was easier said than done. In fact the grey pancake managed to stay afloat long enough to kill a BSA.
Meanwhile, Bossk twice chunked three blank dice. Thankfully, this time all my double-modifying insanity worked out and he was able to actually get more out of it. And with a health amount of crits, Bossk quickly burned down Oicunn and I walked away feeling pretty confident about my next step in the tournament...
Result: Win 26-100
.... a confidence which, it turned out, wasn't well founded as the slightly too small turnout and MoV meant I juuuuuuuust didn't make the cut. Like, if my dice hadn't whiffed on Whisper? Maybe I could've finished Oicunn before losing a Khiraxz? Yup, I make the top four and play on. Instead I have to settle for top 8, which I'm still happy with: get my C-3P0 card, got that beautiful arctic blue range ruler, got a nice little chunk of store credit (which I put to good use and helped pre-order my Wave 8 goodies with!), and I honestly walked away feeling like I did a **** fine job. I felt competitive, and with a list of ships that a lot of people tend to poop on without a second thought.
Instead, I was a bit of a talk around the tables: absolutely everyone seemed to not only love seeing a YV-666 present, but more than a few folks told me how much fun it was to see how I flew it. Even the one guy I lost to today (only my third Bossk loss... sigh) said he was impressed I was the one getting Bossk behind Whisper.
Final thoughts:
- I walked away feeling competitive here, which I'm happy with. Did I win and blow a bunch of minds on here? No. But I was in right there in it, and if a thing or two goes differently then this is a very different story. It's the toughest environment I've brought Bossk to so far and he didn't really disappoint. The Khiraxzes... eh, I'm still not great at flying them, but they mostly pulled their weight. Still curious to what other escorts I might try moving forward when I re-visit Grandmaster B.
- My record with Bossk is now around 20-3. "Not competitive" they said, bah. My one loss came from Whisper having the silliest of silly luck, cause three Academy TIEs aren't splashing Bossk.
- I really, really wish I had 4-L0M. I originally anticipated having him for this tournament, but Wave 8 is apparently lost at sea. But if I had him? Oh noes, an ion token so WHISPER CAN'T USE THAT EVADE TOKEN! EAT TWO DAMAGE A SHOT, WHISPER!!! Instead I just went with the three point bid.
- VI vs Calculation: this is one that's gonna drive me mad. There were times where I missed Calculation, either because VI was useless and/or because it meant Bossk was guaranteed his extra damage. Then again, being able to move after Dash and Han was huge, and shooting before Whisper should've been as well. Didn't get to test it out against Fel, which is really what I wanted, as the only Fel player there didn't fare too well.
- Where my scum at? There were three Scum lists present: myself, Bro-Bots, and the eventual winner, who flew Kavil and a pair of HWKs (I really wanted to fly against it, I have to think my list would present a challenge here).
- I had a silly amount of fun. One of the best tournaments I've ever been to, and I'm happy to have been a part of it. The dice in the game against Whisper n' friends will haunt me for a good while, but overall it was a great day and Bossk did what he always does and flew well.
- Only one obstacle smacked today, and it was intentional on that K-Turn with a Khiraxz. If I ever needed proof I'm getting better at this game, it's that I can fly a YV-666, bring three large obstacles, and not once touch one with it.
- Seriously, three R1 shots with TL+Focus on two dice+Evade should still be a dead Whisper, not one at 100% health. Argh.
I run him exactly like OP but prefer mostly calculation over VI. but that's probably very meta dependent. The trouble I keep finding myself in is what to fly him with... anyway, thanks for the nice read and I'm happy to see Scum has other (more or less) competitive options than just Brobots. Can't wait for Wave 8 and 4-LOM crew! 
