I hadn't had a chance to play for awhile and had just gotten my wave 8 stuff in, so I just threw my 4 new TAPs together for the Store Championship. Figured that I would just use the tourney to get some practice and get the feel of flying some arc dodgers. So I had no expectations at all going in.

100 points

Baron of the Empire, Title, PTL, Autothrusters x4

It ended up being a very small showing with only 8 players. So there would be only 3 rounds with no cut.

Round 1

Miranda w/ chewbacca, Horton, base Y...all with TLT

I was actually happy to see this matchup as I knew the Barons were built to withstand TLTs. Rebels started coming down the left side as I went down the middle and banked over to intercept. The base Y tried to turn toward me while Horton and Miranda continued down the left edge. After two rounds of firing, the Y was out and one TAP had lost it's shields. TAPs turned sharp and intercepted Miranda and Horton at the corner of the mat. Horton was gone two rounds later while one Baron was gone the round after that. The remaining Barons gave chase to Miranda while taking pot shots at her. Several Barons had taken one or two shield hits, but no hull was breached. When time was called, I had only been able to strip Miranda of her shields. However, 3 Barons were alive and well.

Both Y's gone, one TAP gone

Win 61-25

Round 2

Poe w/R2-D2, Han w/gunner, title, engine upgrade, C-3P0

I was a little worried about this one, as I knew Poe to be a formidable ace, and Han is just a pile of health to chew through. Poe led Han, and both came at me down the middle while two TAPs went down the middle ready to joust them. The other two Barons went full speed down right side to flank Poe. After the initial round of firing, I had Poe caught in a kill box. He got blocked, and went down after the second round of fire, while Han took shields off one Baron. That was also the last round that Han was able to take an action until the end of the game. The Barons were excellent at being able to block Han's movements. This allowed me to whittle down that massive pile of shield/hull bit by bit. Han kept getting only 2 hits per attack which the Barons were able to easily shrug off with the evades and autothrusters. When time was called, we were about to start firing for our last round. I had all 4 TAPs (one with two hull, three at full health). Han was finally was able to make a 4 hit range one shot and take out the wounded TAP, but the other Barons finished off Han with the final shot fired.

Win 100-25

Round 3

Fel, Vader, Inquisitor

We were the only two players with no losses. This ended up being a battle of positioning, and the TAPs were champs at it. Even though my opponent had the higher PS, The TAPs were great at sharp maneuvering with the green hard 1 turns. Every time my opponent was about to get caught in a fur ball, he did 5 straights to get away. I chased down the inquisitor and near the end of the game, finally caught him with a block. The same turn left Vader in close fire arc of my other three TAPs. One finished off the Inquisitor with a range 1 shot, while Vader's shields were stripped. the next round, Fel was still turning around from one of his refusals to engage in close quarters. Vader ended up not being able to get far enough away and was left with one hull. Next round was the last round, and I moved a TAP to try and block vader, so I didn't use a green, leaving him stressed. the other three TAPs spread out to cover as much area as possible with their fire arcs. All had Target Locks on Vader. Vader ended up passing my blocker and barrel rolled, parking himself behind an asteroid. Fel swooped in and took out the TAP that hadn't gotten any actions. My only shot on Vader was evaded, barely.

Win 31-25

Take aways:

All the matches went to time, or were finished on the last round when time was called. The 2 die attack of the TAP made these games long. It definitely needs more punch. Although the target lock did make the most of those 2 dice on multiple occasions. All of my opponents were very frustrated that they could not get enough hits through to take these guys out. They turned out to be very sturdy ships with the title's evade, ptl's focus, and autothrusters. I only lost one ship in each match. Having all my ships with the same PS was key in allowing me to decide who to move first when the fur balls began. The green hard 1 turns were also key in the matches. Probably half of my moves were the hard 1s. Having the option of barrel roll AND boost really allowed them to position for my opponents anticipated movements. It also played a huge part in giving me the options for blocking positions without blocking my own ships. I think I'm going to try swapping out one Baron for the Inquisitor and dropping one to a Seinar Test Pilot. Inquisitor would help add the extra attack, but not having the same PS for the fur balls seems like it might be hindering.

I ended up winning the tourney, but I wish there had been more people. It almost seems cheap to have only played 3 games. One of my TAPs broke off the peg holder at the base of the model during the second game. I was very dissappointed that it was that fragile after playing less than two games, and with no rough handling. Will be contacting FFG about that one. One of the players had trip Uboats, and went 1-2. I would have liked to have played against that build, but I heard his red dice were rolling blanks all night. Overall, I had a good time and learned a lot about flying arc Dodgers. Have fun and fly casual.

Well done on the wins, regardless of the number of players you did a great job and it's an impressive list I think that went toe to toe with the other competition. Great job!

Thanks for report. Interesting list indeed. It is too easy as an imperial player to jump straight to the aces and overlook the lower PS stuff. I like the alternative for a change.