So In my usual long winded and rambling style I thought I'd do a write up of my Yavin Open experience for you to enjoy or ignore.

Astute fans of my tourney reports (I know, who the hell am I kidding) will notice that this is the first tourney I've ever attended without my trusty defender at my side. Whilst I seriously considered bringing my store champ list of Vess, omega leader, epsilon ace and an academy tie, the waking nightmare that U-Boats presented left me too worried about Vess dying to the alpha. I know vs glittercrack brobots the only way to win was make sure they couldn't both fire at Vess in the opening. With potentially 3 ships packing that same level of damage output, that was going to be much more difficult to pull off and my chances of outright removing a boat before it shoots with only ten red dice is remote. Back on the shelf for now Vess I'm afraid.

So what to run then. Well the first lists I fell in love with when I got into this game were the tie swarms, but it's been a while since I dropped one on a 3x3 table, and with little chance to practise prior to yavin throwing a big swarm on the table was going to cause me a lot of problems adjusting back to flying it. I also felt the swarm was very good vs the boats, but so dependant on blocking to beat aces that it could be a little weak in that match up. So for my own peace of mind of flying, and to hedge my bets a little more vs aces at a little cost vs effectiveness vs boats and a huge loss in effectiveness vs swarms I finally settled on the following list;

Howlrunner - 19

Crackshot (1)

Omega Leader - 26

Juke (2)

Comms relay (3)

Zeta Leader - 25

Juke (2)

Comms Relay (3)

Black Squadron - 15

Crackshot (1)

Black Squadron - 15

Crackshot (1)

Total: 100 points

So a compact swarm but a swarm none the less. I only managed three practise games prior to the event with the list, but despite some bouts of poor flying they were all victories and the list Definitely had legs. Howlrunner really helped draw fire away from omega leader (OL) early on, and OL's early rounds were vastly helped by Howlies presence. The blacks and Zeta leader (ZL) are just horricifcally points efficient and after nuking a ship early doors generally managed to continue to help chip away with OL's practically guaranteed damage each turn.

I'm using the new damage deck just because and rather than run the smallest asteriods I went for the most awkwardly shaped ones to catch people out, so that's the little moustache, the big moustache and the one with the weird thin line that randomly sticks out about an inch from the roid (all from new core).

Whilst I can remember the majority of my opponents names, there's 1 or 2 I'm unsure of or may mix up so to avoid offending anyone I'm going to leave everyone anonymous.

So, enough pre-rambling and onto the main rambling!!

Round 1

Soontir Fel - 34

Stealth device (3)

Targeting computer (2)

Push the limit (3)

Royal guard tie (0)

The Inquisitor - 34

Tie X/1 (0)

Proton rockets (3)

Push the limit (3)

Autothrusters (2)

Omicron Group Pilot - 29

Palp (8)

Total Points: 97

He hands initiative off to me and I get the rock placement I want. My first rock is going about 3 by 3 in one of my corners. My second is going 3.5 from board edge and 2.5 for his board edge opposite my first rock. My third is my floater, and will go 3x3 in my other corner by default or be used to close lanes or deny a lane closure of needed. I followed this basic rock placement for all games so I won't restate it for every game. Two of his go central-ish and his final one goes in his other corner.

My deployment likewise was the same every game. I set up the 2 blacks out front on my deployment edge with ZL on the inside parallel to the blacks about 1/3 base length back from the blacks and with half range ruler width between them, OL the exact same on the outside and howlie squarely between and behind the blacks touching my table edge. This formation went on either extreme flank, preferably the flank my first two rocks went on but ultimately the flank with the easiest route to turn in. My formation can 2 or 3 bank in and barrel roll turn 1 to come straight into the centre avoiding my rock if needed, as well as the obvious straight ahead or turn in along my deployment zone.

This game his shuttle went in his left corner at an angle corner at a 45 degree angle which was the side my two rocks went on so I happily set up opposite. The inquisitor joined the shuttle and Fel went on his extreme right flank.

So standard plan here; fake like I'm going for the shuttle, trap and kill the inquisitor, sweep onto the shuttle and then just keep both FO's alive for the full win. Accordingly I belt forward with 5 straights and load my comm relays. His shuttle 2 banks away from the ties so he's now parallel with his own board edge whilst the inquisitor 2 forwards. Fel 3 forwards and boosts inwards. No combat.

Next round I steamroll forward again with 4's. I'm now in a position to turn inside the far roid (my second asteroid) or bank past it. The shuttle drifts forward a little and the inquisitor turns into the board and boost barrel rolls away. I have a couple of range 3 obstructed shots on the inquisitor which are predictably useless. No return fire however is a blessing.

I figure he's expecting me to chase the inquisitor but if he shoots off straight and boosts I'll never catch him. If he one turns in however he'll be in a great spot if I don't give chase. I also expect the shuttle to try and turn into the action this turn otherwise he's going to get stuck in some rocks. So I turn the swarm in (which also keeps soontir honest on the other flank) except OL who I send banking round the roid incase the inquisitor does turn in. I TL the inquisitor even though I doubt he's going to be able to PRocket me this round. The inquisitor does run as expected, and the shuttle banks in as expected. Fel is making his way round towards me I get most of my ships firing on the shuttle and get in well Into hull without any return fire again.

Next round I have to self bump a few ships to keep on the shuttle but finish it off whilst fell finally arrives at the party and the inquisitor starts trying to move back round. I finish the shuttle and take a damage on a black from Fel.

Next round I'm able to sweep round onto the inquisitor and get one through on him for nothing in return before finally trapping him and killing him the next round, although it costs me howlie to the PRockets. I'm now in great shape but there's still more than half an hour on the clock. We spend a few turns repositioning whilst I'm trying to herd soontir into a bad spot and eventually I am able to engineer a situation whereby if he two banks like I assume he's going to he will have no way to escape my arcs and I'll have 2 most likely 3 ships firing on him, although I have to sacrifice some focus tokens for barrel rolls to get this position. He 2 banks in and realises his predicament after some deliberation and so just turtles up. He puts a couple damage on someone (I forget who) before I wipe him with a combined attack from OL, ZL and a black squadron who crackshots him for the kill.

Win 100 - 19

I was happy to kill soontir in the end but it was really just the icing. My aggressive opening caught him

Off guard and to was able to get Ito favourable positions to single out engage and destroy his ships one by one. My list is strong vs this match up so its a result I expected but I was happy with my MoV.

Round 2 & 3

Round 2

Poe Dameron - 36

Autothrusters (2)

Adaptability (0)

R5-P9 (3)

Keyan Farlander - 32

Push the limit (3)

Red squadron vet - 32

R2-D2 (4)

Autothrusters (2)

Adaptability (0)

I set up in my left corner, he sets up on his right. I flew pretty terribly this game which quickly descended into a massive fur all so I'm going to be pretty vague on this one I'm afraid.

I shoot forward and bank in the first two turns whilst he slow rolls up his flank. Third turn he turns in as I'm coming past the central roids. Turn 4 it all kicks off and within 3 or 4 rounds howl and the blacks are dead as is Poe and keyan is wondering where all his shields have gone. Another couple of rounds and its down to OL and the red squadron vet, both on full health. Thanks to the messiness of the fur all its taken a long time to complete activation each round and were down to about 15 mins left and he's looking certain for a mod win. With R2-D2 I have to be dealing two damage every turn for 5 turns in a row to down him, and with 5 mins left I'm no where near beating him (he has two shields still if I recall) but I have chased him into a corner. He reveals a talon roll and to my utter relief red vet flies right off the board and I get the most unlikely of wins!

Win 100 - 74

Round 3

Torkil mux - 28

TLT (6)

Recon specialist (3)

2 X

spice runner - 25

TLT (6)

Recon spec (3)

Spice runner - 22

TLT (6)

Total points: 100

4 TLT's was not something I expected to face which was probably foolish on my behalf. This would be a dice fest, but with his HWK's being more reliant on greens than Y's my crackshots would at least be pretty useful.

I get good asteroids again and go on the right after he sets up his HKWs along his board edge in pairs, each facing each other about 3 base lengths apart. The widest of each pair is about range three from either of his flanks. Mux is on my right flank with the recon-less HWK, mux being on the outside.

I rush him with 5's whilst he moves the outside HWKs 1 forward and 2 turns the inside HWK's in. Next turn his other two HWK's 2 turn in and the other HWK on my left 2 forwards whilst the recon-less one 2 banks away from my formation towards a central roid. A three bank from my formation gets two ships into range of the recon-less HWK whilst everyone else is out of range. Perfecto. I get a couple of damage on him for one in return.

The next turn I decide to ignore mux knowing I will mostly be at range 1 of him anyway and bank around again to chase the injured HWK who banks away again. The far two HWKS bank and turn away, so one is heading into the top left corner and the other is now centre-left from my perspective; he's trying to maximise the cross over zone for his shots. My plan works and mux can only shoot his primary this turn whilst I am able to finish off the injured HWK and load a couple of damage onto the HWK running for the corner. I lose the injured black this turn.

I decide to press on past Mux who will need to make a large move towards my board edge to clear my formation, so I can get out of range of his ability this turn and out of range of his TLT the next. I straight with some and bank with others so I can get shots on both the other HWK's if I down the injured one early, whilst his injured HWK banks around his corner roid and the the other carries on towards my left corner. Mux moves over and away from my formation as expected and is out of range for his ability. I sacrifice some focus tokens to be able to barrel roll into range 1 of some of the HWK's as this forces him to split his fire. The injured HWK lives on one hull and I take the shield off his other one. Howl limps though on one health and OL loses his shield.

The rest of the game was straight forward. I finish off his 1hp HWK the next round and I am able to carry on sweeping round to catch and kill the other a turn or two later. ZL goes down during this period. After killing his last generic my remaining three ships make short work of Mux but not before howlie takes her last HP and explodes.

Win 100 - 60

Round's 4&5

Round 4

Whisper - 39

Fire control system (2)

Advanced cloaking device (4)

Veteran instincts (1)

The Inquisitor - 31

Tie X/1 (1)

Push the limit (3)

Autothrusters (2)

Omicron Group Pilot - 30

Palp (8)

Electronic baffle (1)

Total points: 100

My opponent gets a good rock setup with rocks about a third of the board in from his side range 2-3 from the flanks. This restricts my entry point from either flank significantly. There are also rocks in the centre, both my corners (my rocks so as described game 1 setup) and the final one is in the far right corner. To make my choice of entry even more difficult, the shuttle goes smack bang in the centre. I go the right flank as despite slightly worse rocks for me it's going to be much worse for whisper than fighting on the left where it's more open. The inquisitor and whisper deploy either side of the shuttle, in fairly close to it with the inquisitor on the nearest side to my swarm and whisper is deployed angled towards my swarm. I don't remember who had initiative but it didn't have an impact.

I charge up with 5's as normal, the shuttle full stops, the inquisitor 2 banks towards me and whisper 3 forwards and doesn't cloak.

The next round any bank in will leave me facing the corner asteroid with some ships, but a three bank will mean only the blacks need to suck it up and eat it the following round so I go for it as my opponent probably expects me to cut in or go straight and around. This leaves me in a great spot after the shuttle one banks towards me and the inquisitor and whisper both just 2 forward and have no way to escape my arcs with whisper at range 3 and the inquisitor at range 2 (3 of OL), although the rock is obstructing most shots. The Inquisitor locks howlie and focuses whilst whisper just focuses. He fires both ships at howlie for one damage (from whisper). Lucky. I fire back at the inquisitor but only get him down to 1 health thanks to some more less-than-helpful red dice (more on this later). The shuttle is out of range so that's the round.

Next turn im able to block every possible green for the inquisitor thanks to the rock (he must have had initiative as howlie was stopping him clearing the rock now I think of it) so I got the bump and vaped him and put some damage into the shuttle who stopped and baffled. Whisper decloaked to her right (that's towards the centre of the board) and one turned so she's on the inside flank of my swarm who are a bit jumbled to avoid the rock and get the inquisitor block. Howlie dies to the shuttle at the end of the round and I put the shuttle down to one shield or none, I don't recall.

Now I'm in a great position to finish the shuttle, but I also see whisper has only one decloak option and can only 1 turn out of it to avoid the rocks and stay on target, and I'm in a great position to not only bump her but take away all her decloak positions the next turn too. I abandon the shuttle to trap whisper and the plan works a treat. She's blocked and in arc of all my ships other than the black who blocked, who could still shoot the shuttle. Three dice from OL (TL and juke up), four TL dice from ZL (juke up) and three from my black (with crackshot) and I can only put two damage through on whisper for a health hit on ZL (maybe 1 hull remaining). I'm not sure if the shuttle kills off a black this turn too.

Next round whisper can't decloak so stays cloaked and I get the bump again. The shuttle has to turn away and has no shot. I have a range one OL shot on whisper with the full set of tokens, and ZL on the shuttle with a TL. Despite converting three hits with OL whisper hits trip evades and palps my juked dice back to an evade for zero damage. The shuttle is knocked down to two health.

I know I've blown a huge chance to close this game these last two turns despite flying it almost perfectly so I'm a little downtrodden but not without hope. Whisper is free now but I think I can get ZL on her and out of arc. OL has no chance of getting whisper in arc and is fed up of palp being a jackass and so goes for the shuttle who is heading away from my board edge into my far right corner. Turns out I was wrong about ZL and whisper barely had him in arc, bye bye ZL thanks to palp. OL puts one damage on the shuttle leaving it on one health. Arghhhh!! Why won't these ships die!?! My patience is wearing thin.

Next round I rush the shuttle as its now right in the corner. I have to take a roid to the face to get there and obviously I lose my shield but I am behind a rock at range 2 of whisper who I still have my TL on. She shoots and gets 3 natural hits with a palp for a final crit. I roll my 4 dice for three blanks and a focus and OL goes pop.

Loss 46 - 154

Round 5

Lothian Rebel - 42

Hera (1)

Han Solo (2)

Autoblaster turret (2)

Fire control system (2)

Dash Rendar - 58

Push the limit (3)

Heavy laser cannon (7)

Outrider (5)

Kanan Jarrus (3)

Engine upgrade (4)

I don't remember the early details of this game. I think he set both ships on my right and all mine went on the left. He won the roll and took initiative.

I start by sharp turning into the board and then banking into the middle as the ghost comes at me head on an dash is heading down the right flank. The first combat round sees the ghost try for the block (expected) but only ZL goes into him. All my ships fire at dash for all his shields and I take a shield on OL from the autoblaster. Dash's fire is ineffective due to double repositioning for his actions. I have one black who can't shoot dash so he puts 3 hits on the ghost.

The next round I know the ghost has two options: 5k to get behind me or 1 forward to stay put. ZL and OL can keep on dash regardless as I guess he's going to bank in towards me to try and get past me and kite me along. Unfortunately I can't get a block on him. My blacks are alongside his ghost at this point, and a 1 turn will be perfect if the ghost 5k's, but if the ghost bumps and stays put a 3k would be better for them (but they will lose Howlies bonus). I figure that I will be able to get arc on where I think dash is going even if they bump so I dial in hard ones. The ghost bumps me and stays, and the blacks end up without arc on dash, but one can still shoot the ghost as he crashed into the back of the first black. Dash moves as predicted and I put another couple of damage on him and another 2 on the ghost. In return, howlie and OL snuff it this round to two natural 4 hit rolls!! Oh dear indeed.

I chase dash the next couple of rounds and it take longer than it should to kill him but eventually i finish him off with a range 3 obstructed black shot. Nice. I've also got the ghost into hull now too but my blacks are suffering and out of position to engage the ghost.

Over the next few rounds I lose the blacks and ZL and the ghost duke it out. After a few rounds of positioning and shooting we're both on two hull and he's behind me. I could k or sloop for unmodified shots, but I just burned my evade the round before. A three bank and a barrel roll will get me almost certainly out of arc thanks to a menacing rock but I want my evade back to engage. I gamble that a three turn will get me out of arc but he banks instead of going straight leaving me just in arc and without a barrel roll on thanks to the rock. I can only evade and hope the rock saves me. It doesn't and I die.

Loss 79 - 121

Round 6 and day one wrap up

Round 6

Chopper - 42

Autoblaster turret (2)

Fire control system (2)

Hera (1)

Dash Rendar - 58

Push the limit (3)

Heavy laser cannon (7)

Outrider (5)

Kanan Jarrus (3)

Engine upgrade (4)

Total points: 100

I win the roll for initiative and pass it to him. The rocks are fairly standard. Being the last game this one is the vaguest to me, especially having played the same list prior. I'm only just realising now I can't even remember the deployments. I follow the same plan and gun for dash, catching him on the flank early and taking him out within three turns but at the cost of all my standard ties. The ghost is also shieldless at this point. I'm feeling good as both my FO's are full health. I get him to half health for the loss of ZL's shield.

We then end up in a difficult position. We're in his deployment zone, with OL bumped into his front and ZL bumped into his rear. He keeps one forwarding and I keep greening to clear the chopper stress but not clearing him. This happens for three turns when my opponent points out its a bit of a stalemate. I happily point out that I have 51 points on the table to his 21 so if he wishes to carry on with this for the remaining 40

Minutes he's welcome to do so.

...And he carries on doing it! I'm bored now and confident of the win regardless. I let ZL bump and OL 5's past and is a hairs width out of autoblaster range. Result. He can no longer carry on bumping so 5 k's. I sloop OL and move ZL in and they finish him of the round after this one.

Win 151 - 49

So I made the 4 - 2 I needed even if I left it late in the day to secure my place in day 2. Overall I was happy, especially seems as the perpetual headache i'd had all day turned into a full blown bug by round three and I was not doing well physically. Big thanks to my round 4 and 5 opponents who gracefully allowed me several bathroom breaks as I lost control of most bodily functions! Did this effect my play? Possibly but I'm not going to let it factor into my analysis.

My red dice were appalling all day. Every single game of the day my first shot of each game was from howlie and every time (no exaggeration) she rolled double blanks. I probably converted less than 20% of my howlie rerolls all day too. I even managed to do one damage to the ghost in game 6 with 4 TL dice from ZL and 3 TL dice from OL. It was bad. The only saving grace was that I had lots of dice to throw to make up for it. The only time my dice seemed to be rolling well was when I went over debris fields. I managed to take three crits from a total of five debris overlaps!!

Other than round two my flying was pretty good. Excluding that game is say I made less than three manoeuvring errors all day. One of those errors was definitely not K turning my blacks in round 5. I would have had three extra dice one that ghost that round. If two of them had converted I could had that ghost dead. Similarly I shouldn't have turned with ZL in the final round being greedy trying to recharge my comms relay. That game was definitely a loss based on errors.

My round 4 loss however I don't see what I could have done differently. Maybe I should have opened up on whisper in the first round knowing I could block the inquisitor the following round a most likely kill him in one turn that round. Looking back I still don't know which option would have been correct. Having three rounds of range one shooting with actions on a blocked whisper with both my heavy hitters should, at least in my eyes, have done a lot more damage than it did but again my reds let me down, even the 4 TL dice from ZL twice just could get me more than two hits and even with juke on and no token whisper still evaded everything. The three natural evades v OL followed by the natural 3 hit vs 4 blanks shot just summed up the game. Play it out another 9 times and I think I win that one all nine of those times.

Still, I'm through to day 2, and I'm still alive (barely). Time to make the 2 hour drive home to get at least a few hours kip before registration at 8am the next day.

Rounds 7 & 8

Round 7

Lothian Rebel - 42

Hera (1)

Han Solo (2)

Autoblaster turret (2)

Fire control system (2)

Dash Rendar - 58

Push the limit (3)

Heavy laser cannon (7)

Outrider (5)

Kanan Jarrus (3)

Engine upgrade (4)

Yay!! Ghost dash again!!! Joy!! At least I'm well practised now.

I give him initiative again and his debris are pretty central whilst the rocks are in my standard deployment.

He deploys right centre facing each other I believe. I'm on the right. Same plan, ignore the ghost, kill dash and then rely on my higher ps to finish the ghost.

I fly up the right flank with 5's and he self bumps. I bank in next round with twos and he breaks out, dash heading to my left and the ghost right at me. It's a hard path through the roids for me to turn on dash trying to go past so he assumes I won't take it. Screw that, I go straight for him regardless of the rocks and catch him out when he lands exactly where I suspected he would. He has to double reposition to dodge one arc and get out of range one of my big hitters and the ghost is way out and has range 3 on one black. I blast dash and despite him getting 4 dice against most my attacks almost every damage goes through thanks to jukes and cracks and he's into hull after the first round. The ghost does no damage.

Next turn I guess him perfectly again and once again he double repositions to avoid the worst of it. It's no use and dash goes down and howlie takes a hit. Is mop up from here as I reposition on the ghost and strip it's shields for nothing in return. Two turns later the ghost is dead and I've not lost a ship.

Win 200 - 0

Round 8

IG88-B - 48

Mangler cannon (4)

IG2000 (0)

Autothrusters (2)

Push the limit (3)

Advanced sensors (3)

IG88-C - 52

Heavy laser cannon (7)

Tractor Beam (1)

IG2000 (0)

Autothrusters (2)

Push the limit (3)

Advanced sensors (3)

Total points: 100

I forget who took initiative but with no pilot skill ties it's not relevant to the outcome. We have corner rocks in my bottom and top left and in the top right. There's one smack bang centre, one central my side and one somewhere over his side. I deploy on the left whilst he deploys off centre to the right facing each other. C is facing into the table centre and B towards the right table edge.

Round 1 he self bumps and I 5 forward. The next round He bumps and stays put again. I three turn into the table with everyone save OL who 3 banks in instead. Next turn he bumps C an gain but B breaks out with a 3 bank + boost in to get right out on the flank and around the corner roid. I two forward all my ships.

I now have two options. Rush across the board for B or cut back into C. C may rush forward and boost rather than turning in not giving me the best shots. I guess he's going to bate with C and cut in with B so I dial in 5 forwards despite it meaning blacks will take a rock. OL two banks in again incase C does cut in. If he doesn't OL is in a good spot to speed forward and join the fight on B with no reprisal from C. As it turns out he only 1 turns with B and boosts so he's in range of only 2 ships. C also one turns in and boosts, leaving OL range 1 on his flank but with him at range 3 of my swarm. Luckily howlie is just out of range of both of them. After trading shots I do nothing to B at all but OL does work on C at point blank and strips 3 shields. In return black 6 takes a crit (stress maybe) and black 7 takes 2 damage. I think one of those cards came from the rock.

Next turn I move a black into the gap to B's right between the corner and central roids. This cuts off any banks and turns this way but more importantly cuts out an advanced sensors boost. Accordingly I can safely predict he's going straight or left and move accordingly to make sure there's no escape of my arcs. B banks left and boosts for a token and better options next turn and focuses. I have three ships on him. OL kind knows that C is most likely going to advanced sensors boost right and sloop right to end up out on my extreme left flank. I could 1 turn OL and a barrel roll would get him back in arc but I opt for a 2 bank instead. This leaves me right in front of him without a shot, but I have the full token stack (TL on C) and as he's now stressed I'm blocking almost all his 2 and 3 speed moves into the fight for next turn. Everyone else is also out of range so he only has OL to shoot. C fires at OL for nothing (hehe) and I take 3 shields off B for a damage on howlie (another useless crit I don't remember, maybe no straight moves?)

Now it gets a bit blurry. I think next round C's 3 bank just clears OL and OL goes into the back of him (shoulda 3 banked, another mistake) my swarm k's and tight turns to try and keep on B who wriggles as best he can to avoid fire. I get a couple shots on him but no damage. C finishes off the heavily injured black.

I now have a great shot at catching C who pushed so is stressed and can't advanced sensors. I get the block right and have all other three ships at range 1 with howlie support. B runs for my left corner, heading around the rock there. I light up C and ruin him completely with the last of my cracks (Howlies first shot with any hits on it this game!) and that combined with the two jukes means C only gets one actual evade. I'm super happy at this point as I have 4 ships left, B is on one shield and running away giving me a chance to regroup.

The next turn I do regroup and B comes back round the roid for another pass. The next few rounds we engage and B goes down to 1 health for the loss of howlie. B now goes on a running mission and I'm chasing him with the leaders and my last black. I get a few shots but not the ones I want. We finish a round and 20 seconds remaining gets called. I throw my OL dial down; 5 forward. It takes me through a rock (I still have my shield) but will guarantee me at least a range 3 shot. My other two ships have no hope at all of getting in, but I position them anyway incase he makes a mistake. He doesn't and one banks, putting him in the furthest possible position from my ships (he's in the corner at this point. OL has a range 3 shot with no focus and he's got focus/evade so I can't burn the target lock I have. I get one hit and he can only pull one evade, which I juke and finish him off claiming that last bit of extra MoV.

Win 166 - 34

Round 9 and wrap up.

Round 9

Chewbacca - 52

Engine upgrade (4)

Predator (3)

C3P0 (3)

Corran Horn - 48

Shield upgrade (4)

Push the limit (3)

Fire control system (2)

R2-D2 (4)

Again initiative is irrelevant. The roids however are not. There's three in a cluster spread from the far left corner (my number 2 roid) towards one in the centre (his first). My first roid is in the bottom left, there's one in my bottom right and one somewhere in the far right quadrant which ends up being irrelevant. I set up on the right. He sets up chewie right centre, facing the left board edge (away from my swarm) and corran sets up facing the same direction centre left (so further away from the swarm).

Round 1 and everyone 2 turns for me. Both his ships 1 forward. Next round his both 2 turn and Chewie is now coming directly up the centre and corran is coming around the top left roid. My whole fleet 3 forwards along my edge.

Round 3, I two turn in and now occupy the centre quite close to my edge. Corran 2 banks in and chewie 2 forwards and I can't believe my eyes. Chewie is now too close to the centre rock, which is right in front of him a little to his left, to be able to pull any moves to the left at all without eating rock. All his straights are out as he risks my blacks blocking him onto the roid, which he also risks if he try's to fast bank left over it too. His one turn and bank right will put him on the same rock so he has either a two turn or a 2-3 bank right as his only moves. The two turn makes corran's life hell who's coming in that way between 2 rocks also so he can only really bank into the space between the centre roid and the third roid of the Custer I mentioned. Well guess what, I can put a black squadron right there with a 3 bank, so I do. My other black 2 banks and is in a position now blocking every straight or left manoeuvre for chewie that would clear the roid. Everyone else banks or straights as fast as they can to avoid bumping my blocker but trying go get in close. I was right and he 3 banks chewie into the gap, bumping my black and landing on the rock and then corran goes into the back of chewie. Best possible result. I unload at corran mostly at range 2 with a bit of range 1 and he's toast even leaving me with a range one black on chewie who uses his crackshot to put three damage through. Corran shot howlie and whiffed.

Now because of ships and rocks chewie can only try to escape through the gap in my left corner rock and the middle left rock. I k my black who blocked him behind, move my other black into the only gap he has and I get the block again. Everyone else 1 turns to stay on him and I light him up again and drop him deep into hull. Chewie puts 2 on howlie in return.

Next round I K the black who blocked him last round. 1 turn the other keeping my stress. Chewie 1 forwards, clearly getting annoyed at this point. I follow slowly with ZL and quickly with howlie, getting her To bump into the back like I want, can't be shot and all except 1 black in her bubble. OL crashes into the back of howlie to make sure he can shoot. I open up and chewie goes down but does put 1 damage on a black first.

Win 200 - 0

Wrap up

So that's that. 2 gruelling days of incredibly tough games and I ended up 7 - 2. I know without the MoV wipe Hoth had I have no chance of making the top 8 thanks to my day 1 results but I was hoping my second day's blistering performance would put me in the top 16. In the end I was 13th and a good 150 mov away from 8th place, the only 7-2 player to qualify. Fair to say I was more than happy with my final position. I was also made up I'd made it to the end given how seriously I was considering dropping at round 3 (big shout out to the boys who talked me into riding it out). I mean of all the weekends to fall ill...

I was incredibly pleased with the squads performance. It surprised me beating the brobots, but I am very please I avoided a bigger swarm as that was my biggest worry. I dodged jumpmaster all day which was nice but I really wanted to see how the list does vs them to help me decide if this is my regional list. My theory is sound as I can almost guarantee I can either kill one or force the token to be spent on the opening (mistakes not considered), OL can TL a different one meaning he won't die to the one final torp. All I need to do is get to a 1-1 endgame with OL and a jump and it's game. Like I say. Theory.

I will say zeta leader is an absolute beast. Love this guy. First time flying him in a list and certainly will be considered highly in all list making processes moving forward. He may not be as consistent as OL but my god that's one hell of a haymaker, and unlike mauler ZL can TL those shots too. Speaking of omega leader, boy that guy sure likes howlrunner on his side. Firstly, that initial engagement is so much better for him and secondly he just got his very own Biggs! Everyone went for howlie which whilst I can see why left themselves with a difficult endgame where I could use blacks to block and smash stuff hard with my fo's and with their comms relay they get real hard to hurt later on.

Do I think I could have placed better? Possibly. Poor dice certainly cost me game 4 but I lucked out game two when red vet flew off the board and I win despite poor flying so we're carbon neutral there. Game 5 where I made more poor decisions than my opponent is where I threw away my chances and that was all my bad so there's certainly room for me to improve with the list.

Will I take this list to regionals? Well that depends on whether ffg decide to give us vets by then. In terms of tweaks I did miss having an academy blocker. I could drop a black to an academy and up the other to Scourge. More early punch vs other swarms and a better blocker but less dice before boats fire and one less crackshot. I dunno, it'd need testing.

Overall a great weekend. Once again every opponent was a pleasure to play (big thank you to each and every one of you) and the casual-having fun atmosphere we're all used to now was present all weekend despite the high stakes and high level competition.

Thanks for reading and sorry for the ramble. I do these things as much for myself as for you guys. As you can probably tell all reports are from memory so if I've misrepresented a game anywhere let me know.

Will I take this list to regionals? Well that depends on whether ffg decide to give us vets by then.

Great, detailed write-up, thanks! ....I learn a lot from players like you that give the details that can assist me in builds/strategies.

....and, echoing your statement on build thoughts I will, depends on whether FFG gives us Imperial Vets. Ever.

Thanks. I can normally remember the opening moves clearly but after initial engagements I just try to detail the main choices I made and why I made them. Glad you find it helpful. I'm hopeful vets is coming after the last open event next weekend. I mean, how much longer can they make us wait!!

Well done chief, you we're looking a bit ropey on the saturday, glad you stuck it out!

Yeah if I was down by myself I think I would have just bailed after round 3. Certainly glad I did stick it out!

Nice write up and nice work! I ran a very similar list to this at Store Champs this year but had to give it up because it stressed me out too much - 5 TIE fighters is not enough TIE fighters.

I also ended up playing against Dash and support all day - at one point in Day 1 I faced Dash and something for three straight games - which to be honest suited my PS8 Palp Aces very nicely.

Hehe, yeah I was worried at first but inthinknthe main thing to remember is FO's are not ties. They're so much more survivable (with comms) and the two I took punch way above thier weight too. I never felt like I didn't have enough bodies or enough firepower once, although like I said I was petrified of meeting a bigger swarm though!!

Dash was freaking everywhere wasn't he. Honestly though I much preferred fighting kanan dash than Kyle dash. I found it pretty easy to force dash to double reposition a lot. Whilst this usual meant range 3 shots or him dodgin a tie or two both his HLC and his evade dice where pretty pathetic without action support. I honestly still hate recon pred dash the most. That guy is a total jackass.

The ghost is great support for him too. I'd never played against the ghost before the open and man that thing is annoying with Hera on board. Zero agility ships and swarms generally don't mix too well however haha

Not often I can read something not only well written but also giving insight into player's strategy and decisions. Great work!

I was your dreaded round 4. From my side, it did not seem like dice decided that game. Sure I may have had above average green rolls when you caught me, but don't forget the below average I rolled with the inquisitor that had me spend all the tokens very early and ultimately lead to his premature death. You're also forgetting my bad initial shots with Whisper. But I'm not one to complain about dice.

Your 2-3 bank with the swarm was very aggressive, and definitely killed the Inquisitor, but it left you with an awful position for later. You can fly as perfectly as you want, but if you start from that position there's only so much you can do. 2 of your Crackshots were basically wasted as I remember, one died and the other had to be used on the shuttle as the carrier was about to die. Your first Whisper block was good and I should have anticipated it, but I guess I was in "obvious Whisper is obvious" mode, not thinking you would sacrifice shots on the dying shuttle to get Whisper at that point. The second block with no decloak was unavoidable, but you were preparing for something else, for my decloak and 1-turn to bump, not the non-decloak version.

I also remember popping off an evade token or two from your FOs, so you didn't always have full tokens (evade focus).

I will agree that your final 5-forward charge through the asteroid went exceptionally bad, but I think it was time already so the game was lost at that point. 3/4 hits is above average, it's your greens that were in the 15th percentile.

In any case, thanks for a great game! It was my only swarm matchup, I placed the rocks according to what I would have to fly around as a swarm player myself.

Cheers and congrats on a good run!

Yeah you too. I see you went on to finish very strong as well.

It was a great game that's for sure. If I'd have stuck to the plan and gone for the shuttle who knows but going in for whisper seemed like the best opportunity I was going to get. A gamble which in the end did not go my way. A more climatic whisper vs OL endgame would have been better suited to the intensity of the rest of the match.

Glad you enjoyed or game and I cannot wait to hopefully get to play you again! And once again thanks for the leeway on the emergency bathroom breaks! Haha

Bathroom breaks weren't even on my radar! Of all my games at Yavin, only 1 went to time, everything went very smoothly.

Not often I can read something not only well written but also giving insight into player's strategy and decisions. Great work!

Well written? Do you mock me sir!?! Haha.

Glad you enjoyed it and found it helpful. Stay tuned for similar reports from regionals!