Some info from the Regionals in Halifax, Canada last weekend.

6 players, 3 rebel / 3 imperial

3 rounds swiss and top 2 elimination

First place was my imperial list made up of the following ships:

ISD-2

GSD - 2 (x2)

Raider - 1

Screed as admiral and no squadrons.

Second was an ackbar list with the following:

MC-80 assault

AF2

CR-90

Han and YT-2400 as only squadrons

Third was another ackbar list with the exact same ships but more squadrons.

Not sure on the rest. The community is pretty small here (obviously) and everyone is pretty new to the game so there isn't any meta established. I think I was the newest player there as I had only played 4 games prior to the tourney. Not sure if a no-squadron list would work in a rhymerball meta.

Which is partly why I find the Top 4 data more interesting than the data about the winners.

If there is a single question I am trying to answer in gathering this data it would be "If we compare the fleets at the top tables to the total fleets that show up what trends appear?"

This data won't tell a person what will win a tournament, but might instruct them as to the types of fleets that they should be prepared to face.

I'm also looking strongly at the top 4 instead of the winners strictly speaking. On the whole, the best fleets and players will tend to rise to the top, but variance in opponents could mean that a player earns 24 points on one day and 27 on another. They're still a strong player with a good showing in each tournament, but they likely place very differently depending upon how large and how competitive the environment was.

And yes, I think the metagame information is probably the most instructive about this exercise.

I took 10th at the Michigan regional with:

Screed

ISD 2

Glad 1 (Demo)

Raider 1

Howlrunner

Tie Interceptor x 4

Dengar

Halifax is plugged in there now and I appreciate everyone else who keeps chipping in with more lists.

I think the trends are worrying.

explanation: the imperials are not winning with something that needs nerf, i.e. "ship X has one too many attack dice". they are winning through shenanigans that break, AS INTENDED, core things in the game.

squadrons largely bypass defense tokens due to the nature of "death by a thousand cuts"... with bomber keyword, they typicaly deal more damage than equal-points capital ships. to compensate, they have low range so you can engage them. OR DO THEY?(rhymer).

black dice deal tremendous damage, especialy with upgrades such as screed/ordnance experts. to compensate, they have low threat range since they are low range AND you shoot before you move... OR DO YOU?(demolisher).

indeed, think about this: if an mc30 title cost 30-40 points and allowed you to shoot after you move, wouldn't it add so much threat range that it'd make the ship assymetricaly powerful, hence logical upgrade even with 30-40 cost? why does the demolisher upgrade cost much, much less?

...ok, lets say demolisher is fair and balanced, lets say rebels can play around other things-say, squadrons.

if Independence allowed you to move 4 then shoot distance 1 immediately, wouldn't it be so powerful? certainly.

...only, rhymer squadrons can move then shoot a total distance actualy GREATER than that. imperials get to do that, rebels don't.

it is important that rebels have zero such tools. their upgrades largely give them +x to what they already have", they don't break core rules . except Intel, which Imps get too.

this situation is extremely hard to balance. there is even the possibility of Imps getting even more powerful with wave 3, when rhymerball gets bomber command center rerolling all those black bomber dice and rebels get "just the same" to build a poorman's rhymerball- I mean, if you wanna play with squadrons, why not take imperials? what do rebels have that imperials don't?

Nym? why bother with enemy tokens in a squadron-full list?

Luke? why penetrate shields when your other squadrons will need to hit them anyway?(he especialy is a worthless character... utterly worthless, idk what FFG was thinking)

where's the bomber support?... across the whole faction?

the only actualy good squadron support for the rebels is yavaris, and that's mostly situational.

this creates a situation where rebels cant realy build around squadrons, since they'd be better off just building imperial lists for that.

personaly, even though localy few people build extreme lists and I win more than I lose, I find the regionals trends worrying, and the fact that rebels in wave 3 don't get anything that helps against these threats is even more worrying (lets be honest, flotillas are most excellent for the squadron game, where imperials just have such better tools)

Shmitty here is the Colorado regional data, I take no credit for it. I am just reposting a link I found on Facebook.

https://stoneforgestudio.wordpress.com/

Shmitty here is the Colorado regional data, I take no credit for it. I am just reposting a link I found on Facebook.

https://stoneforgestudio.wordpress.com/

Now THAT is interesting Data. Only 1 Imperial list in the top 8 of a 24 player event, and it's 4 VSDs and NO Rhymer? At 4th place?

-edit- AND YV-666!?

That one dude in colorado swept both regionals. Bet he was riding high that night!

I think the trends are worrying.

explanation: the imperials are not winning with something that needs nerf, i.e. "ship X has one too many attack dice". they are winning through shenanigans that break, AS INTENDED, core things in the game.

squadrons largely bypass defense tokens due to the nature of "death by a thousand cuts"... with bomber keyword, they typicaly deal more damage than equal-points capital ships. to compensate, they have low range so you can engage them. OR DO THEY?(rhymer).

black dice deal tremendous damage, especialy with upgrades such as screed/ordnance experts. to compensate, they have low threat range since they are low range AND you shoot before you move... OR DO YOU?(demolisher).

indeed, think about this: if an mc30 title cost 30-40 points and allowed you to shoot after you move, wouldn't it add so much threat range that it'd make the ship assymetricaly powerful, hence logical upgrade even with 30-40 cost? why does the demolisher upgrade cost much, much less?

...ok, lets say demolisher is fair and balanced, lets say rebels can play around other things-say, squadrons.

if Independence allowed you to move 4 then shoot distance 1 immediately, wouldn't it be so powerful? certainly.

...only, rhymer squadrons can move then shoot a total distance actualy GREATER than that. imperials get to do that, rebels don't.

it is important that rebels have zero such tools. their upgrades largely give them +x to what they already have", they don't break core rules . except Intel, which Imps get too.

this situation is extremely hard to balance. there is even the possibility of Imps getting even more powerful with wave 3, when rhymerball gets bomber command center rerolling all those black bomber dice and rebels get "just the same" to build a poorman's rhymerball- I mean, if you wanna play with squadrons, why not take imperials? what do rebels have that imperials don't?

Nym? why bother with enemy tokens in a squadron-full list?

Luke? why penetrate shields when your other squadrons will need to hit them anyway?(he especialy is a worthless character... utterly worthless, idk what FFG was thinking)

where's the bomber support?... across the whole faction?

the only actualy good squadron support for the rebels is yavaris, and that's mostly situational.

this creates a situation where rebels cant realy build around squadrons, since they'd be better off just building imperial lists for that.

personaly, even though localy few people build extreme lists and I win more than I lose, I find the regionals trends worrying, and the fact that rebels in wave 3 don't get anything that helps against these threats is even more worrying (lets be honest, flotillas are most excellent for the squadron game, where imperials just have such better tools)

You're taking things in isolation. Rebel squadrons are perfectly viable. If Independence allowed speed 4 movement and shooting, it would be broken as ****. B-Wings would be unstoppable death machines. They are just as good at anti-squadron as A-Wings, while being the most lethal bomber in the game. They can also sit in the middle of a Rhymerball, lock it down, and still execute bombing runs since they're not Heavy. If you add speed 4 to that threat radius, they would be far more dangerous than a Rhymerball or a Demolisher. As it stands, they're still fantastic when you pair them with Independence and Yavaris. It took me a while to finally get the technique right, but I've been winning tournaments with my B-Wing madness for quite some time now.

Colorado data is now in there. Thanks to Dorrin314 for the link!

Rebels just crushed that tournament. Lots of XI7s and TRCs, relatively fewer Rhymer and Yavaris builds.

That one dude in colorado swept both regionals. Bet he was riding high that night!

Same guys that won Worlds last year?

I have no idea. Reinig was last name?

If so I guess I found the sole downside to living in the great state of colorado

Woah, I think that is the guy who won worlds.

https://teamcovenant.com/video/jonathan-reinig-armada-interview-ffg-worlds-2015

Would love to know what the rest of his fleet was. That is definetely not the whole thing. One cr90 and defiance, and a single yt2400? Nope no way.

Yeah, that was odd

His full fleet was 2 TRC 90's one of them had Ackbar, Defiance and 8 YT-2400's. Don't remember what all upgrades he had on the ships.

His full fleet was 2 TRC 90's one of them had Ackbar, Defiance and 8 YT-2400's. Don't remember what all upgrades he had on the ships.

Thanks, that's what I need to know.

So just an ackbar and rogue enhanced variant on his worlds list. Ackbar swirl with a cloud of yt's does have a heck of a lot of pop.

More upgrade heavy though, if the info from the facebook post is that is there is accurate.

Edit: The facebook upgrades are either wrong, or Dorrin is misremembering part of the fleet. Running the combination of the two sets of info on warlords puts the fleet at 411.

His full fleet was 2 TRC 90's one of them had Ackbar, Defiance and 8 YT-2400's. Don't remember what all upgrades he had on the ships.

He would be 11 points over if he had the list described on the website and another TRC 90 and 8 YT2400. There has to be either a mistake in the upgrades or the number of YT 2400's. We are 12 points off of the 399 he is said to of had.

That one dude in colorado swept both regionals. Bet he was riding high that night!

Same guys that won Worlds last year?

Probably.

Unless there are two Jonathan Reinig playing Armada at a fairly high level.

That one dude in colorado swept both regionals. Bet he was riding high that night!

Same guys that won Worlds last year?

Probably.

Unless there are two Jonathan Reinig playing Armada at a fairly high level.

And X-Wing.

I'm pretty sure I played Jonathan in an x-wing Store championship last year...

I took the Martinsburg, WV regionals with my Rieekan Squadrons. 30 man tourney, so it was 4 rounds plus a cut. I lost my first game, but managed to claw my way back up to make the top 2 cut. Biggsy boy and I squared off on the top table in one hell of a close game. I'll have more info when I have time to write it all out. This is generally what I remember:

First: Me with Rieekan Squadrons

Second: Biggs with Dodonna Squadrons (yes really, and he was dominating the day until the final)

Third: Ackbar triple AFIIs with lots of YT-2400s

Fourth: ???

Fifth: Mon Mothma 4x TRC90s, 1x MC30, and a bunch of YT-2400s

Biggs' First Loser Martinsburg list:

CR90A

- Gen Dodonna

- Jaina's Light

- TRC

AF2B

- Raymus Antilles

- Expanded Hanger

- Flight Controllers

NebBSup

- Salvation

- TRC

CR90A

- TRC

Squadrons:

- Jan Ors

- B-Wing x3

- YT-1300

- YT-2400 x2

- HWK-290

Objectives:

Most Wanted

Contested Outpost

Superior Positions

Writeup will follow at a later date.

I took the Martinsburg, WV regionals with my Rieekan Squadrons. 30 man tourney, so it was 4 rounds plus a cut. I lost my first game, but managed to claw my way back up to make the top 2 cut. Biggsy boy and I squared off on the top table in one hell of a close game. I'll have more info when I have time to write it all out. This is generally what I remember:

First: Me with Rieekan Squadrons

Second: Biggs with Dodonna Squadrons (yes really, and he was dominating the day until the final)

Third: Ackbar triple AFIIs with lots of YT-2400s

Fourth: ???

Fifth: Mon Mothma 4x TRC90s, 1x MC30, and a bunch of YT-2400s

I took 4th with this list.