This last weekend, I was able to attend another store championship this year, I caught a break on locations, I had 3 within decent driving distance. For this tournament I decided to run the Ghost and support, i was able to practice with it Thursday night and had a blast flying it and its capabilities. But the build i decided to run, I had not played it at all, so it was risky. The tournament was set to start @ 11am, run 6 rounds then cut to top 8. There were 44 players present so it was a full house. My list.
100pts
Poe- VI, R2-D2, autothrusters 38pts
Hera- FCS. EU, Chopper, Nien Nunb, Autoblaster Turret 49pts
Tala Sq. Z-94 13pts.
Round 1. VS Poe- predator, r5p9, Integrated astro
Ello- R2-D2, Integrated astro, predator
Ezra shuttle- marksmanship (i cant recall the crew)
This was a good list, and I really like the Ezra pilot, my advantage in this was Poe @ a ps10, and having his Ello move before Hero so i can change my dial around as needed. I went in agressive with Poe & Hera, straight 4 and boost, so i could shot the opening movement, and Ello was off on its own with Poe & Ezra behind. The next move my oppent accidently selected a talon roll instead of a normal hard 3, and park Ello directly infront of Hera, my straight 1 cleared and gave me a TL & Focus Range 1 from Hera and Poe was next to it Range 1. Pow rolled 1 hit 3 focus, i spent my focus seeing only 1 range 3 shot coming in from the shuttle, and then Hera laid waste landing hit/crits on all 5 dice into Ello(who did land 3 damage range 1 into Hera) and ship gone. the next movement I decided to 5K the ghost and planted me right next to his Poe(luckily he only did a straight 1, so no primary shot from me), but Ezra was trapped in the middle, range 1 from poe & range 2 from Hera, and Range 1 from the Z95, all 3 fired at ezra and destroyed, the next turn i finished off his poe.
Win 100-0
Rd. 2 vs. (Bryan) z95 Pirate & (3) Gand Findsman-FCS, Adaptability, Inertial Dampner
I was paired up against 1 of my local that i practice with on a regular basis, happened at the last SC also, Bryan loves the G-1A and flys them great. I new the key for me was hitting 1 og the g1a hard and hopefully avoiding at least shots from all 4 of his the 1st salvo. The 1st move, went up aggressive but out of range, and the next move i was able to get Hera range 1 TL of 1 of his G-1A and Poe & range 2, Poe landed all 3 hits, and hera landed all 5 of her dice and took it off the table before it ever shot which was huge for me. the next exchange i took a G down to 2 hull, and Poe lost a Shield, My z95 lost both shields, then i finished of the 2nd G-1A, and I lost my z. I then took a risky k turn with poe but it paid off and actually kept me out of arcs and still had a shot, I was able to finish off the last G1A then the Z, I did end up losing half of the Ghost.
Win 100-37
Rd. 3 vs Josh running Worlds Poe yyz stress build.
I have played Josh several times always good and close games, he was really worried about the Ghost. I set up directly across from him and set up for a joust, my primary target was the stresshog, hoping to take it off before it shot. I was very close, Poe & Hera shot at the hog and took it down to 2 hull, and the z landed 2 hits, but he evaded one, so i was going to deliver some stress out, and lucky enough it went to the ghost for primary and then TLT to my z95,and his other TLT was able to drop y z95. the next round i finished off the stress bot and put some damage on his z95, and my poe & his poe were in a bump contest no actions but i got a range 1 shot on his poe after I did a 4k with my poe and dropped his shields. and the ghost finished off his z95. Then the chase started, my Poe chased his regenerating poe, i was able to get shots,and his TLT y was way out of shots to Hera went after the TLT, and i was able to pull a move and then boost into range 1 of his Y(Hera had 1 hull left) and put 5 hits into it, and the next move, i finished it off with a range 1 TL & focus. and Josh talon rolled his poe and I took a gentle 3 which put me range 1, i took the TL and dropped poe.
Win 100-37
Rd 4 vs Torkil- TLT, Bossk, (2) spice runners -TLT, 1 of them had 4-LOM, (2) Pirate Z95- feedback array
This one for me was simple Torkil needs to die and die fast preferably range 3. but it did not go well at all to start, I got greedy with Hera & that 5 dice range 1 and with her ability changed my straight 1 to a straight 2, and this caused Poe to bump and get no actions, my opponent took at right move and made Hera a 0, and then i watched his TLT & z95 vaporize poor Poe. That exchange hurt, The next move i selected a hard 1 with Hera, knowing i can change to a 5k if i need, my z got caught up and bumped, and then Hera went to move and i went with the 5k, and finished off Torkil, both his z95 used feedback on my z and took the shields, then next movement is where it clicked for me(the HWK cant kturn) so i selected my green d 1 so i can change my path if they started to turn. my z was in a bad spot, focused, but no shots, and a TLT coming in and still in range of both of his Feedback, so the only chance my z had was to take off on his z95 and hop i can dodge TLT, I fired range 2 and a z and landed 3 hits and a crit, he stopped 2 of them but the hit took and shield and the crit was double damge so 1 z gone, but TLT did its job and finished off my z. So now i have Hera(only missing 3 shields) vs 2 healthy hwks & a z95 missing 1 shields. He flipped the z around to start shooting and the hwks only moved up 2, so i changed my green 1 to a green 2 to get in range 1 of the hwks and took a tl on the z, and finished it, the hwks then started to turn and tray and run to get shots, i had selected a hard 1 back towards the middle, but changed it to a 5k, and then using Chopper I took off a shield and took a soft boost towards them and got in range one, unmodified i dropped 1 hit & 4 focus hwk 1 survives, the next turn i am TL focus range 1, and land all 5, and hwk is gone, a couple moves later still staying in range 1 of his hwk i finish it off. Hera managed to stay at full points.
Win 100-51
Rd 5 vs Tie swarm Youngster- rage, Epsilon Leader, Wampa, Black sq-crackshot, (2) Omega sq -crackshot
This was a list i did not want to face, tie swarm vs low agility and crackshot just for an extra kick. My focus was first on youngster then Epsilon, i did take down youngster the first exchange but Hera was hurting bad, luckily he still had stress from Rage and i was able to safely k turn all my ships around and coome back in for some fights, i was able to drop 1 more tie before i lost hera, and then Poe and my z laid in some heavy hits and took out another 2 ties, but poe took som major hits, i was down to 1 hull on Poe and my z was healthy, and he had 1 health tie with crackshot left & 1 Omega with 2 hull left, i pulled Poe out straight 3 and start regening then try and come back in. my z was able to get a TL range 1 shot on the omega and finished it , so his last tie went chasing Poe who juust k turned after regening 2 shields and Poe finished the tie off with a range 1.
Win 100-49
Rd 6 vs Scott flying IG-88 B&D, Crackshot, title, HLC, FCS, Autothrusters, Glitterstims
This is the last round before the cut, I am the last undefeated, Scott is also from my local area, whom i practice with regularly. I need to Drop B fast, so he was my primary target, and I got too aggressive with Poe, i had Hera at range 1 TL and Pow in Range 1 of both of his IGs and I took a TL with Poe, his IG popped glitterstim, and my 9 dice into b, only took a shield, and i again watched Poe get wasted. At this point i am in big trouble, he has alot of dice attack/defense i did some moving around and took alot of hits, and circled back around, and he was coming in for the killB had 5 hits remaining, and i manage a range 1 TL focus shot and get everything to hit, and was able to drop him. but I then lost my z. hera now was in bad positioning and no good shots, he pulled an s loop with c and landed on a debris for a 2nd stress(this would later be my saving point) no i have c punching HLC in hera as im trying to get away enough to turn around and my hull is dwindling. I make a hard 2 around a debris and then boost, c landed on the debris and just barely had a shot, i have 3 hull left, he only managed 2 hits, so i am hanging in there, and now i can get back on the offensive, C is stress double stressed and turned back inside instead of following me around and i and able to hard turn in and take a range 2 thru debris, i land 2 hits 2 crits, a huge dice drop, and i clear shields on the ig, and now i am chasing him, the next range 1, he uses glitterstim but i manage to get 1 hit & 1 crit thru. he turns in to finish me off(i have had 1 hull left for a few turns) i had a green 1 selected but changed it to a gentle 2, putting Hera right in his front arc, and i focus, no primary shot but he has 2 hull left & i have autoblaster, i roll 1 hit 1 crit( since he can stop the crit i TL it and it comes up focus, and spend focus for the hit and end the game.
Win 100-75
Cut to top 8. 1st elimination, i get paired up againstthe Crack swarm i had played earlier, so decided to stick with a similar game plan, and drop one of his aces as fast as i could. I went in aggressive as I have been doing all day, and this time, it went south real quick for me, I was only able to drop Epsilon leader before i lost the ghost, I just couldnt get the hits to land, like before, and i picked a poor manuever with the ghost and turned him in towards the corner instead of taking a hard 3 and get out and the kill circle, and then 5 ties went to town, Poe was not evading or hitting very well, I was only able to drop 3 Ties total, before he finished off Poe and then my z.
I was a little disappointed i had played strong all day untill the end, but it was a good build and he flew the swarm very effectively, All 3 Ghost builds that showed up saturday made the top 8, I went down first of eliminations, and the other 2 ghost builds went at it in the finals: a Chopper/Dash combo & Kanan/Chewy, Chopper Dash took the Win. Overall it was a great day, finished 5th overall, a lot of great compilation, and a wide, wide, variety of builds.