Taking a Defender to another store championship

By drjkel, in X-Wing Battle Reports

Preface: I'm not yet even average at this game (against grownups) and I had a cold, so temper your expectations ;)

I was planning on sticking to my guns of rotating factions, but a casual evening tournament with Poe, Red Ace and an A-wing showed me I'm not gelling with rebels at this point. I debated between Scum and Imperial, but since I want to bring out an Aggressor to a spring tournament, so I figured imperial was the only choice.

I was not feeling well and didn't want to try something too new so went for a small tweak on my previous Defender+FOs list (here). Plan A was to get a second Comm Relay at the store, but they were fresh out, so I figured I may as well try that stealth device on Rexler (see here)!

Rexler Brath: Predator, Heavy laser cannon, Stealth Device

Omega Leader: Juke, Comm Relay, Stealth Device

Zeta Leader: Wired

My usual setup was to pick a corner, put Rexler on the outside of the formation and Omega behind Zeta, though it varied depending on the rocks.

My plan was to keep Rexler at range 3, sniping with the HLC, I did not generally pull off my plan ;) And I didn't get to trigger his ability once :(

First match: Garrett

I played against Garrett in my first tournament in January. As the last match of the day, and one where I got a text message midway that my youngest was in the ER waiting to get his scalp stitched up, it was not as crushing a defeat as it could have been! He'd replaced Soontir with Vader this time and was running:

Scourge + Veteran Instincts
Whisper + Gunner + Fire-Control System + Advanced Cloaking Device + Veteran Instincts
Darth Vader + Veteran Instincts + Engine Upgrade + TIE/x1 + Advanced Targeting Computer

I lost 0-100, but we almost made it to time, so it wasn't a crushing defeat, just a lot of dancing around with less than average dice on my part. I surprised him a few times and removed his shields. Though Rexler was targeted early and wiped off the map, the FOs did admirable work.

Second match: Douglas

First time I've met this player, he was running a named TIE swarm, but did not fly it as a swarm:

Academy Pilot
Dark Curse
Zeta Leader + Juke + Comm Relay
Mauler Mithel + Predator
Omega Leader + Juke + Comm Relay

He split his force with the Academy, Omega and Dark Curse in the middle and Zeta and Mauler on one side. I set up in the opposite corner. I met his 3 ship swarm on his side, and shots were exchanged before his other group could come in. I "defendered" the scrum and his Omega leader was gone. With everyone in a furball, my Zeta ate it, along with his Academy pilot and then my Zeta.

I disengaged with Omega on 1 health and was left with the decision of refiling an evade token or barrel rolling behind a rock and in range three. I figured 5 green v. 2 red would do it. I was wrong. Just one evade, which was juked.

What followed was Rexler solo'ing the 3 named TIEs by not even trying to clear stress, just k-turning back and forth and doing 1 banks to change the angle here and there. Rexler finished the bloodbath with his stealth device still active, in many instances, there were no shots on him at all.

Douglas looked demolished and dropped out of the tournament, making this the worst game of the tournament for me. I get that it probably wasn't great to be wiped out this way, but point-wise, it was not that far off, so it's not like I was brilliant.

Third match: Greg

I gotta say, this is the match that had me questioning "Fly Casual." I gave him a few opportunities to take back missed opportunities (including two attacks by Red Ace) and I'm not sure that I should have.

He was running:

Blue Squadron Pilot + Fire-Control System + Heavy Laser Cannon
Blue Squadron Pilot + Fire-Control System + Heavy Laser Cannon
Red Ace + R2-D2 + Autothrusters + Comm Relay

I knew I wanted Red Ace gone first, and that Omega is very entertaining in not letting her spend her token, making her talent a bit useless. I'm also always concerned facing B-wings. I had no knowledge of them at my first tournament and paid dearly for it, so I was apprehensive.

We set up in opposite corners and danced toward the middle. I made a few bad calls and got myself stuck in a situation where Rexler was facing the Bs, Omega was alone in a corner, and Zeta was not much better off. Rexler's stealth device popped, but he survived, the Bs were dinged. I seriously misjudged a k-turn and Greg, in turn, had no idea what I'd do and took a very lucky guess (his own words), Rexler popped to the combined 9 red dice.

Then came a game of an injured Zeta and Omega hunting the B-wings. Zeta popped, so did a B-wing. Omega danced between the B and Red Ace, plinking damage here and there, barely getting shot back. Red Ace was down to 1 hull, the B to his last shield, Omega was also on 1 hull. I chased Red Ace, missed, Red Ace did not.

31-100 loss

If I'd not given him the chance to take the Red Ace shots, it would have ended very differently, and I'm still not sure where I stand on Fly Casual in store championship settings, especially since Greg has been playing for a while and I'm still somewhat new at this. I'm still happy at how long Omega solo'ed those two ships, and how close it got to Red Ace buying it.

Final game: Adam

At this point, I was really feeling the symptoms of the cold, and my wife had not sent me a text message saying she was too, and that my two other sons (the oldest was with me) were very much in hyper mode. My head was not in it at all, but I figured I may as well try it.

Gamma Squadron Pilot + Extra Munitions + Homing Missiles + Seismic Charges
Soontir Fel + Royal Guard TIE + Push the Limit + Stealth Device + Autothrusters
Darth Vader + Predator + Engine Upgrade + TIE/x1 + Advanced Targeting Computer

The short version is that I got tabled in 20-30 minutes.

The long version is that I kept self-bumping Omega, preventing him from getting his locks, and I put Rexler in exactly the wrong place and the dice god punished me for it. At least Zeta extended the game by dancing around a rock and denying Adam a quick(er) kill.

I just left after this game, too tired to care.

Closing thoughts

Out of 3 tournaments, I've gotten 3 wins (and a bye, I do not count that one). And I gotta say, they were the worst games for me. One was just so shocked that he ate an advanced sensored prox mine on Ello (hit, crit, crit) that he was not fully there for the rest of the game, the other was just having a horrible day and my trio is not meant to be nice, and then this.

I wish I could be all "YAY, I finally won something!" but that's not how it feels. I try to be happy even when losing, hopefully it comes across that I just love the game, win or lose.

Enjoying a win is hard if your opponent is clearly not having fun. All I can say is keep plugging away as it was not your intent to hamper their fun.

Think about it this way, do you hold any anger towards those that beat you when you weren't feeling your best? You don't seem to, so don't think that those you have beaten bear you any ill will.

I know for a fact my second win didn't take it personally, I've seen him since and he crushed me back ;)

I mostly play with my sons, so I take the "everyone should have fun" seriously.