I played in the Corsec open on the weekend. It was a very well run event with a great prize pool and played in one of the most beautiful settings, even the marque we were in was very Star Wars-esque. We had 32 players. And the ages between the oldest and Youngest (they played in the last round) must have been 60 years?? (hope I don't embarrass anyone!!)
Because of light restrictions we played 5 rounds of swiss with each match 60 minutes. 2 rounds then lunch and then 3 rounds in the afternoon. the competition had some restrictions - Only 1 big based ship, No Palps and only 2 of any upgrade card in a list.
I have been flying Attani Old Fennaroo for a while now but with the restrictions I found the changes I made (vi on Teroch, PTL on Fenn) made the list feel different to an extent that I decided to take a different list (also I did not want to play Ben Lee with it lmao!! He turned up with a decimator list!!). I had seen a few Kanan, Biggs lists and decided on that.
My list was :-
Kanan Jarrus (VCX-100) - title, fire control system, zeb, recon specialist, tactical jammer, autoblaster turret.
Biggs Darklighter (X-wing T-65) - R7 Astromech, Integrated Astromech)
Hera Syndulla (Attack Shuttle) - Nien Nunb, Auto blast turret, Veteran Instincts, Title)
The thoughts were that the list could keep Biggs alive for as long as possible but also put out some decent damage and then release Hera to tidy up (worked once). The plan was to go for the Oppositions most dangerous ship and take it off the board. Looking around the restrictions had made a major change to the list builds. Lot's of Ghost, K-wings, Millenium falcons, Decimators with the odd triple/double imp aces lists. Apologies if I can't quite remember the exact upgrades but will try..................
Round 1 - Sam Page - Miranda Doni (K-wing) - Bombs, bombs and more bombs, advanced slam, Sabine etc.. Poe Dameron (x-wing T-70) - R2-D2, Black one title and others..
Not really what I wanted to see first off but I thought if I could take Poe out early I would have a shot. Early on it was noticable that Sam had also thought this and slow rolled Poe with Miranda racing forward. In the second movement stage I managed to stress Kanan and that stuck for 3 rounds meaning no actions and a lot of trouble. I managed to do a fair amount of damage to Miranda getting her into Hull but taking alot of damage into the Ghost as Biggs was too far away.
The next few rounds I found my stressed ghost chasing Miranda being proton bombed and sabined while Poe was relatively safe at Range 2-3 out of arc. Biggs eventually went down and I launched the shuttle to try and get some pressure on Poe. The Ghost went down and then I changed focus to take Miranda down before I went good buy. I range one shot was enough but Poe finished Hera off shortly after.
Loss 52-100
Thoughts - stick to the plan!! If you need to slow down and wait then wait. The first 3-4 rounds may have cost me this game. With no focus tokens I had no kanan and no way to change my own attacks. Tactical jammer is not worth the 1 point.
Round 2 - Neil Bowen - Chopper (VCX-100) title, dorsal turret, zeb, hera, Biggs Darklighter (X-wing T-65) R4-D6 and Zeb (Attack Shuttle).
Mirror Match. Looking at Neil's list I was feeling mine matched up favourably. We started with a fully on charge towards each other and I managed to take his Biggs off the board in the first round of shooting (no green dice love for Niel). His reds were no better with my biggs brushing all the incoming shots off.
After that it was an easy mop up. Biggs eventually went down but with Kanan and Hera I was able to finish the round fairly quickly.
Win 100-27 (Lunch)
Thoughts - this is how ghost games can go, quick efficient killing. Shame the green dice gods deserted Neil early doors and was a gracious opponent.
Round 3 - David Montgomery - Vessery (TIE Defender) X7, Countess Ryad (TIE Defender) - X7, and Tomax Bren (TIE Bomber) - shuttle, system officer etc...
Looking over at double defenders was not great. It seems David had not been playing that long and even though I had given him a copy of my list some of it obviously did not register or he did not know how it worked. Round one of shooting Ryad had parked range one of the ghost in arc with biggs guns on her at range 2. Biggs managed to strip the evade and a shield and then the ghost did ghostly things to take her off the board!! Vessery did not have shots and Tomax was a 2 dice shuttle and biggs shrugged it off. Next round Vessery no shots again by a whisker and I can't remember if I did any damage to him (maybe a shield)
Next round I had the ghost plod 1 forward and biggs follow up 2 forward. some how David managed to 3 turn Vessery into the tiniest gap between Biggs and Kanan!! Impossible situation (11 dice coming his way) with biggs target locked and kanan double focus. Dead Vessery!!
I flew the ghost sway launched the shuttle and Biggs and Hera downed the shuttle 2 turns later.
Win 100-0 (2-1)
Thoughts - even though I have only been playing for 8-9 months I had much more experience than David. he was basically learning as he went. the hard way. Not much to take from this apart from the thoughts on which is better FCS and Accuracy corrector started to come up.
Round 4 - Will H - Whisper (TIE Phantom), Turr Phennir (TIE Interceptor) and Delta Squadron pilot (TIE Defender)- X/7
Once again I though I needed to get the easy target off first which would be the interceptor. Again Will being the experienced player set up with the Defender to semi-joust and fly the interceptor around the rocks with the phantom.
Keeping it simple I decided to run everything at the Defender and see how it went. It went pretty well. Got him down to 2 hull left and this is where FCS let me down. I had the kill shot twice on the ghost both times BC, re-roll BC. Accuracy corrector would have been a dead defender and a win. But then the defender ran away and I had to change target to the interceptor.
Will did a good job of keeping the phantom and Interceptor range 2-3 and I decided it was time to launch the shuttle and use biggs to block and come back round to try take out the defender. The ghost was on it's last legs and console fire finished it off.
Time was called as our dials went down. Biggs would have a range 1 shot on a target locked Interceptor with 2 hull and a focus. The attack shuttle range 1 of the defender with 2 hull left. I knew that i had to take both off to win. Biggs did his job but the Defender with an evade and focus managed to survive and that was that!
Loss 29-47
Thoughts - I think I actually played ok in this game. With a bit more dice love the result would have been very different. The 3 rounds shooting the defender cost me the match but I had nothing else to shoot. With Accuracy corrector instead of FCS the defender would have been dead and then it would have been a different game. I flew really well and Will was a great opponent.
Round 5 - Paul S - Jake Farrell (A-wing) - Procket's etc..., Norra Wexley (ARC-170) - BB8, PTL etc.. and Biggs Darklighter (x-wing T-65)
Paul's list looked scary. Not a lot of re-gen but could be big damage output. It actually started well. Paul had a bad movement phase and managed to park biggs range 1 of the ghost and Biggs with no shots of his own of any note. biggs went bye bye and after that it went south. Paul flew his pair really well and whittle the Ghost down as I struggled to keep Biggs close. I decided in desperation to launch the Shuttle and second round managed to park her between Jake and Norra and no more shuttle (Biggs had already gone the round before).
With kanan on 6 hull and Norra pretty much ok I shook Paul's hand.
Loss - 26-100
Thoughts - Paul flew well , I did not. I would like to blame the fact it was the first time I had played so many games in a day. But I just flew poorly with biggs.
Thought on the day
Performance - Fairly pleased. My first 5 game tournament. 2 games I made a few too many mistakes to be competitive, 2 games I won were fairly one-sided and the other game if I had not changed my list I probably would have won but 2-3 will do. I came 19th out of 32.
The others - Every one I played was great, I would like to tahnk Sam for the Zeb card I managed to miss out of my bag!! and all my other opponents for some friendly pew-pew. The lootz were amazing (alt-art Corran, sabine, attani mind-link, predator, a set of Locked on target lock tokens and a stainless steel range ruler). And the organisation was great, thanks to the guys running the tournament and hope to see you next Christmas or maybe sooner!
