So once again I entered the valley of death that is an Xwing Store Tournament.

After my experience during the last one I played at Dark sphere with a Defender/ mini swarm I decided to go back to basics with a list I have played far too much of…. The dreaded Palp aces.

I wanted to change it up a little and decided on Carnor Jax and Vader. The reason for Carnor was that he can be just the biggest pain in the backside around. He makes people flying Jake, Poe and Soontir really think about where they want to be with his focus/evade denying ability. He is also a killer interceptor on his own merit that is sometimes overlooked by Soonitr and finally he flies a red interceptor… what more could you want? I ran him with Push the limit to help get into range 1 when needed and still have a token for damage or defence. I also went for the shield upgrade over stealth device, this helps with crit mitigation and tbh stealth just doesn’t work for me over multiple games. Vader was a pretty standard build that I have played ALOT!! And it was rounded off by the standard Omnicron Palp shuttle.

Omicron Group Pilot - Emperor Palpatine

Carnor Jax —Push the Limit, Autothrusters, Shield Upgrade, Royal Guard TIE

Darth Vader —Veteran Instincts, Advanced Targeting Computer, Engine Upgrade, TIE/x1

With the list locked in and a couple of games of practice, I put on my Yoda socks (for extra wisdom) and headed down. The turnout was 20 on the day with a mixture of several local veterans and some new faces. The lists were a complete mixture from some standard meta builds to some interesting ideas.

My first game: Was a dreaded match against Oli Pocknell. The Nordic champ was flying his usual list that is:

Obese Han Solo — Predator, Luke Skywalker, C-3PO, Engine Upgrade, Millennium Falcon

Jake Farrell —Veteran Instincts, Proton Rockets, Push the Limit, Autothrusters, A-Wing Test Pilot

We started in opposites corners with the rocks and debris scattered across the board. We both kept our fortress (formations that stay in the same place by bumping) for a few turns goading each other to come out and play. It was a very cagey start but Han and Jake come around the top and head for my staling shuttle. They put some damage on the shuttle bringing it down to half points but it replies and strips 3 shields off Han, then they run away as Vader and Carnor flanks from behind. The next several turns involve Vader and Carnor chasing them across the board with the shuttle coming up the other side. It all kicks off in the last turn; Han kills the shuttle but not before Vader takes all the renaming shields off the scruffy nerf herder. Jake turns around and gets his prockets off in Carnor’s Face, with a roll of three hits and two crits naturally. I roll two evades, lose the shield and get dealt two crits, both major explosion!! At this point everyone was watching so I roll to resolve each one separately for suspense… blank and blank. Carnor lives to shoot and I need two damage to get half points on Han for the modified win. I roll Hit, hit, With C3PO used and no evade token Han needs one evade from two 2 dice and he gets it. The Imps lose in the tightest of games. Nice warm up haha

Loss 0-29

Second game: Robert Kane with another list I really didn’t want to see:

Soontir Fel — Push the Limit, Autothrusters, Hull Upgrade, Royal Guard TIE

"Howlrunner" — Crack Shot

Black Squadron Pilot - Crack Shot (x 2)

"Wampa" — TIE Fighter

With Wampa and crackshots, my aces are going to have a tough day. I need to get rid of Wampa and Howlrunner to stop the re rolls and allowing the Ties to get the damage through with crackshot

So I start in my bottom left corner, in the fortress position (as usual) to draw the Ties through the asteroid field. Rob deploys his Ties in a square roughly in the centre with Soontir in the diagonally opposite corner to my list. The ties come slowly into the middle and that’s when I break my aces off along my bottom edge as I see Soontir has shot off down the right side. Here I have to make a call, either turn into the ties or pin Soonitr. I send Carnor to try and catch Soontir but turn away Vader just in case his Ties go for the Dark Lord and ruin his day. This is a bad move as the entire mini swarm bank away to face Carnor and it leaves Vader not facing anything. Carnor gets behind a rock, range 3 from them all and manages to survive every shot with multiple three evades to both our surprise (phew!). The next few turns involve a lot of bumping and Vader chasing from behind, I manage to pop Howlrunner but Carnor is blocked and crack-shoted. All the while a dark force is approaching….the space cow is behind the Ties following closely. The game comes down to the last round, I’m 1 point down and Vader (having taken a battering) has had enough and leaves the fighting to old Sheev . He 5 straights and banks out of range (facing the board edge but it’s the last turn so no matter), unluckily for Rob, the Tie with two damage banks in front of the shuttle on a debris field. It escapes damage from the debris but the 4 dice with Palpatine help is too much and it pops leaving me with the win. Another really tough and close game but the empire ends victorious.

Win 49 – 35

Third Game: After Lunch we head into game three. I’m against John Hollingworth with a very similar Palp ace list:

Omicron Group Pilot — Sensor Jammer, Emperor Palpatine

Carnor Jax —Push the Limit, Stealth Device.

Soontir Fel —Push the Limit, Stealth Device, Autothrusters, Royal Guard TIE

Two Emperors on the board, but who is the imposter? I give the initiative to John (So my Carnor can move after his) and setup as usual in my left corner. The opponent’s shuttle goes directly across from mine with the two interceptors in the middle. The shuttle comes chugging along towards me and the interceptors sweep into the centre. I hold tight until I see a chance to breakout, the shuttles then trade blows pretty evenly. I bank Vader right and target lock to get a shot on the interceptors and deals a Crit to Carnor (direct hit) but completely blanks on evades to Soontir’s fire and loses shields. The two Royal guards run rings around each other but my Vader blanks again on those pesky green dice and is dealt a hit and Crit (damaged engine) before slinking off to survive. The shuttles pass each other like ships in the night with his coming very close to the edge of the board. This is where things turn in my favour, some slight mistakes on John’s part has the white space bison stall to try catch my Carnor zooming past and in arc, it doesn’t work and now being stressed it can’t perform the 2 hard to stay on the board and is off next turn. My shuttle up the other end is ganged up on by his Carnor and Soontir and goes down in a blaze of glory. However the Dark Lord Vader has managed to sneak back in the fight and is on the heels of the 1 hull Carnor. I manage to K turn behind and without old wrinkly to help on the defence I land the last hit and finish the game with yet another hard fought win.

Win 65-29

With two victories under my belt there is a decent chance I can make top 8 for the coveted range ruler and maybe even a slim chance of top 4 depending on what the MOV is looking like

Fourth and Last game: Steve Neller

"Whisper" —Decoy, Fire-Control System, Mara Jade, Advanced Cloaking Device

"Epsilon Ace" —Comm Relay, Shield Upgrade

Zeta Squadron Pilot

Omega Squadron Pilot

I really Liked Steve’s list and had often thought about the Phantom, decoy and Epsilon Ace combo to keep that phantom shooting first, it’s one of the few things that top trumps my PS11 Vader.

Once again I start in the bottom left in the same formation. I don’t think Steve had seen this before and was slightly perplexed with what I was doing! The Ties come down the middle in a line and Whisper down the right; I timed my exit almost perfectly and got both Carnor and Vader in range one of the Zeta and out of all Arcs….it wasn’t long for this world and a direct hit sent him packing. Steve performed the sloop on the Ties and I managed again to keep Vader and Carnor on target of the Omega squad and that then soon disappeared with some back up shuttle fire. To give Steve credit he said he hadn’t played the Phantom much before and especially after a long day it can really mess with your brain, so when it landed on the debris field, received stress and therefore couldn’t cloak the game wasn’t almost over. Epsilon Ace took the damage to stop the PS12 shenanigans and then it was just wrap up. Steve was a very gracious opponent in defeat and I wish him to continue with this list as it has great chops and can really mess with Aces.

Win 100-0

Any games that resulted in a 100-0 victory got some left over prizes from a winter kit. I got my hands on the alt art gunner and falcon dice bag. Then it was time for the results in which sadly I was pushed out the top 4 to 6th place by MOV. I was happy with my showing, I got the C3PO and the range ruler I wanted and got some great games in (plus I got to go home early). All my opponents where great players and I must thank Kris for organising it all and making it run smoothly. I believe the full results are on List Juggler for people to check out the top 4 and the variety seen on the day.

I will continue with this list in the future and hone it even more, but with the advent of Wave 8 I will def be adding some variety to see how it plays.

Fly casual – Jamie