A small warning - I've managed to splurge nearly 2700 words here. Best proceed armed with a hot beverage of your choice...
May 7th saw the Warboar Spring Kit tournament in Bromley, London, which seemed a fine time for me to attend my third tournament. This time it was thirty-odd players taking part (as opposed to the fifty-odd at the two SCs this year) and the event happened the same day as both the Cardiff Regional and a tournament in Basingstoke, splitting the top-table players and giving us mid-tablers/beginners a little more hope of a good showing 
Firstly, this report begins with a confession. Anyone who’s read either of my two SC reports will have noticed that I’m both a huge Firespray fan and a committed Imperial player, and my lists so far have been an attempt to reconcile the two. However, I also have (possibly deluded!) thoughts about actually doing better, and since Wave 8 the diversity of the UK scene has been somewhat obscured by the bulky shadow of the Jumpmaster 5000. So, to my eternal shame, I dropped the Firespray, thinking it would be ordnanced off the board in short order, and went with the following list:
Darth Vader - Veteran Instincts, Engine Upgrade, Tie/x1, Advanced Targeting Computer
Omega Leader - Juke, Comm Relay
Sienar Test Pilot - Autothrusters, Tie/v1
Sienar Test Pilot - Autothrusters, Tie/v1
99 points
I kept Darth, as he’s my hard counter to the other meta-list du jour - Palp aces. Omega Leader is in instead of Zeta for his ability as it makes a nice counter to both the ordnance and the turrets if he can get the target lock, and I’m slowly coming round to the idea that the 19pt Sienar might be the best blocker in the game. The general idea was to get in the way as much as possible with the Sienars, which would hopefully allow shots on actionless ships with Vader and El Presidente. The list also comes in at 99 points, meaning that I get to place the first asteroid against anyone at 100. Although with U-boats now coming in at anything down to 96 points to claim initiative in mirror matches I wasn’t sure how useful this would be.
I’d played a grand total of zero games with this precise list (a couple of practice games led to some alterations) so my main aims for the day were to get used to flying it and get better at blocking, an area I feel is a bit of an obstacle to me actually getting near the cut in any tourney. This also marks the first time I’ve explicitly tried to make a meta-list, so I was intrigued to see how right my guesses were…
Looking around the tables before the first game I saw an awful lot of Jumpmasters, mostly either triple Uboats or double Uboats and something else. There were a few Palp aces (various configurations), a couple of TIE miniswarms, and a good jumble of random stuff.
Game 1
Omicron Pilot - Palpatine
Whisper - Veteran Instincts, Advanced Cloaking Device, Fire Control System
Inquisitor - Push the Limit, Autothrusters, Tie/v1
The first game’s always a bit of a nervy one, so I was quite glad to see the list opposite me. VI Vader’s just a hard counter to this sort of list so I fancied my chances. My opponent helped a bit by deploying Whisper in one corner and the Inquisitor and the Shuttle in the other, so I blasted everything towards the Phantom with the aim of getting it off the board first and then clearing up the rest. However, the dice weren’t quite good enough and Whisper was left on one hull, allowing her to disengage and then circle back in. I managed to park a Sienar at range one of the Shuttle (d’oh) and it duly got blasted out of the sky, and I lost the other Sienar and Omega Leader whilst I killed the Inquisitor and plinked some damage onto the Shuttle, but Whisper coming back allowed me to shoot around the Advanced Cloaking Device with Vader and finally take her down. I then started chasing the Shuttle but had spent too much time trying to kill the Phantom, meaning that I could only get it to half health before time was called.
84 - 64 win.
Happy with that, although another turn and I would have probably got the Shuttle as well. My list seemed to work okay, although I was aware that this wasn’t the toughest test, meta-wise. There seemed to be Uboats all around me, surely they’d be next?
Game 2
Kyle Katarn - Dorsal Turret, Moldy Crow, Jan Ors
Garven Dreis - R2-D2, Shield Upgrade
Red Ace - R5-P9, Autothrusters, Comm Relay
Nope! By far and away the most interesting squad I faced, this was a piece of list-building that won our game before I’d deployed. I’d never seen or played against anything like it, and by the time I figured out how it worked it was too late. Good flying by my opponent meant that I couldn’t concentrate fire in the first couple of rounds, ending up plinking some shields from the X-wings that were easily regen-ed. I managed some blocks but these were of limited value once the great focus token merry-go-round started, and I figured out I needed to focus down the HWK too late. I eventually got Kyle, but for the loss of Omega and a Sienar, and then time was called.
45 - 29 loss.
This was an awesome game, a really tight dogfight that seemed to mainly consist of T-rolls, K-turns and S-loops. Experience cost me, as I didn’t know what I was looking at on the table until it started to kill me, but I wasn’t the only one who got too distracted by the meta and was blindsided by this list. On the plus side, my list was proving incredibly hard to kill and both my games had gone to time. I was aware that I would need to win everything from here to have a chance now, as the cut was top four and my MOV was clearly going to be dreadful... Hopefully the next game would be something I stood a chance of killing.
Game 3
Trandoshan Slaver - Dengar, Boba Fett, Greedo
Contracted Scout - Deadeye, Plasma Torpedoes, Extra Munitions, Guidance Chips, R4 Agromech, 4-LOM
Contracted Scout - Deadeye, Plasma Torpedoes, Extra Munitions, Guidance Chips, Overclocked R4
Hmmm… seems unlikely. I finally saw some Uboats, in conjunction with a Slaver that I hadn’t anticipated, and was slightly worried that I could conceivably be tabled in about twenty minutes if the initial engagement didn’t go my way. Time for the acid test!
First thing to note was that his list was 100 points, meaning I got to place two big asteroids! This was the only game where this was important...
My opponent slow-rolled to begin, trying to keep his lanes of fire open. I probably should have also played a slow opening (need to get better at that!), but my natural impatience got the better of me and I blasted the Sienars towards the Slaver whilst trying to flank with Vader and Omega. The TAPs were worth their weight in gold this game, allowing me to tank the first Plasma torpedo volley without any losses, then I allocated one to each Uboat and just flew them to block as much as possible whilst I dealt with the Slaver first. I got Vader and Omega behind, meaning I could kill it without too much trouble, but then I managed one of those bone-headed moves. You know the type, where you flip a dial and time freezes as you realise that all your plans will come to naught and your descendants will live with mocking laughter because such stupidity can’t be confined to just one generation… I’d carefully mapped out a bunch of moves and then flipped the wrong Sienar dial first. This meant all my ships bumping into each other, leaving what can only have been a mortified Vader to be erased from the board before his embarrassment meant he had to force choke the rest of my list. Bugger… I then lost a Sienar shortly afterwards as an extra reminder to take more care.
The game was now on, as I realised I needed to get both Uboats down to half health without losing anything for the win and time was running short (noticing a theme yet?) Things actually went pretty well, with me managing to whittle down a couple of health so that I only needed to do one damage to one of them for the win. I got the shot with a tokened up Omega Leader after time had been called, and just needed one evade on three dice to avoid the return fire for the win. Naturally it was three blanks, and a hard-fought loss instead.
80 - 67 loss
I can’t lie, this one hurt. Had I not gratuitously killed Vader then I think the win would’ve been mine, although I would still have struggled to actually kill a Jumpmaster within time. The Sienars did exactly what I had hoped, tanking torpedo shots and allowing me to block a Uboat away from the action for a couple of turns and focus on the other, and Omega proved his worth after Vader had gone, last turn be damned. After all the theorycrafting I was happy with how my list performed against a list like this, and especially smug that I think he only got two torpedo shots all game 
Game 4
Mauler Mithel - Veteran Instincts
Howlrunner - Swarm Tactics
Carnor Jax - Targeting Computer, Push the Limit
Epsilon Squadron Pilot
Epsilon Squadron Pilot
I was now 1-2, meaning all thoughts of the cut were now gone but I really wanted to win the two remaining games so that I at least finished with a winning record. I’ve played very few games against Tie swarms, mini or otherwise, and all of those were with a Firespray list so I wasn’t hugely sure what my approach should be with my current squad. My opponent set up with everything in formation, so I decided to sacrifice a Sienar early by flying him directly towards them, hoping this would slow things down enough to be able to flank with everything else and take out Jax first. Much to my surprise this worked like a dream, with the Sienar dying in short order but my other three ships all getting shots on Jax to remove him in the first engagement. We were then dancing around in a furball, which allowed me to kill Howlrunner and an Epsilon for the loss of Omega Leader. I then blasted Mauler, and chased down the last Epsilon with Vader and a Sienar for the win.
100 - 45 win.
A full win! And my first game that didn’t go to time. This was one of those games where things just seem to go right. I got my initial engagement correct so that I could flank at the same time as baiting with the Sienar, and once I’d removed Jax I was confident of clearing the board. I’m aware that this might not have been the strongest mini-swarm, but I was happy with how it had gone. One game to go, and it’s all in the balance. A win would put me 3-2 and get me into the top 16, which was as much as I could hope for at this point.
Game 5
Howlrunner - Crackshot
Omega Leader - Juke, Comm Relay
Zeta Leader - Wired
Scourge - Crackshot
Wampa
Another miniswarm! This one looked a lot tougher, with my two favourite TIE pilots (Omega and Zeta) plus two I’ve never seen before (Scourge, Wampa). I decided to echo my previous tactics by attempting a diversion with a Sienar whilst the others flanked, with the aim of taking out Howlrunner first. Unfortunately this game was the counterweight to the previous one, with me flying less than perfectly and basically losing the game by the end of turn three through a combination of bad deployment and a worse opening. I misjudged the distance with the Sienar, meaning that the swarm killed it without taking return fire the turn before my flankers arrived. I was too eager entirely and should’ve tried a slower approach with everything, but my opponent flew his formation very well and gradually focus fired me off the board. I killed Scourge but nothing else, leaving me with my worst loss of the day. The only plus was that, once again, we were the last game playing and almost went to time.
100 - 18 loss
Yeah, I messed this one up. The only thing I can muster in my defence was that I was knackered after having played 4/5 games almost to time, which meant that I hadn’t had time for an actual lunch and had subsisted on tea and cake all day. I also pinged an asteroid across the board halfway through the game, which for me is usually a sign of fatigue Still, no excuses, I’d played against what was essentially the same opening for my last two games and simply lost a bit of concentration for this one. My opponent was also one of those annoying fellows who flies a 5 Tie swarm without any bumps or asteroid problems, and always seemed to have all five guns facing the same way. **** him...
So, a final record of 2 - 3, putting me 18th out of 30 finishers (there were some dropouts during the day). I was pretty disappointed with this, especially as I’d managed 4 - 2 last time with a list that I’m pretty certain wasn’t as good, against a bigger cohort, but I feel a lot better after a couple of days reflection. After all, this was mainly practice for the Regional in a couple of weeks.
So, what did I learn? Firstly, I think the list is viable, and it’s almost certainly better than I played it. It’s annoyingly hard to kill, with the Sienars being well worth it except in Game 5, and I think it stands a good chance of going to time with just about anything. It’s great against Palp aces, where my main fear is another VI Vader, and I think it doesn’t feel completely useless against Uboats. Swarms (whether mini, crack, or just plain swarmy) are always going to be a problem, but then that’s true for just about every list. I certainly don’t feel overawed, in any case
Secondly, that I need a lot more practice with the list, as I have no plan for some of the things that I might encounter. Getting five games in was great, but I need to play as many as possible to get the maneuvering down. I actually think I would probably have done better with my old Firespray list, purely due to my familiarity with it, but in the current meta I’m happy with my choices, I just need to get better with them!
Thirdly, the Uboat meta is very real and very here. I was surprised and a little disappointed to only face one list with them in after having spent so much time thinking about them, but there were no shortage of Uboat-based lists. Combine this with the entire top four (and five of the top eight) of the Cardiff Regional being Uboats and I think it’s fair to say that they’ve severely bent the meta. Rebel regen is a minor thing now, stresshogs have vanished overnight, and the first thing every list has to consider is how to deal with them. Imperial Veterans will no doubt help, but it’s not going to stop Rebels being an endangered species until Wave 9.
The winning list, beating a Howlrunner/Wampa TIE swarm in the final, was:
4-LOM - Mist Hunter title, Tractor Beam, Crackshot, Advanced Sensors, Tactician
Contracted Scout - Deadeye, Plasma Torpedoes, Overclocked R4, Extra Munitions, Guidance Chips
Contracted Scout - Deadeye, Proton Torpedoes, Overclocked R4, Extra Munitions, Guidance Chips, Boba Fett
Thanks as always to Jason and the Warboar Games/Paradice Gaming Cafe crew. It’s a brilliant place to get some gaming in, and the crowd they attract is the very epitome of fly casual. Now they’re licensed so there’s also the chance everyone else’s play will deteriorate as the day goes on! Bring on the Regional