A friend of mine sold me the idea of going to the Yavin Systems Open, and the two of us made the trip from Halmstad, on the west coast of Sweden, to Birmingham, UK. We found affordable plane tickets and hotel accomodation, so much in fact that we were able to arrive a day in advance to check out the local brewery scene (I am in the beer making business myself) and a quick visit (and a warm up game) at the Birmingham FLGS.

A long time miniature gamer, I got into the game of X-Wing a few years ago, between waves 5 and 6, but started playing competitively around this time last year. I went to the Naboo Open in Copenhagen, which was the most awesome gaming experience I had ever had. Until now.

Arriving at the venue of Yavin I had set the goal for myself to at least make it to day 2 (which I had just barely managed at Naboo). This time, however, the bar was set at 5 wins out of 7 games, and since I had no idea what level of competition to expect I wasn't sure if it would be possible for a guy that has never won any tournament bigger than a summer kit.

Last season, I pretty much changed lists between each tournament. But early December I started experimenting with Attanni Mindlink, immediately fell in love and have been playing it ever since. I made minor changes to the list a few times, but I eventually landed on this:

Fenn Rau - Attanni Mindlink, Concord Dawn Protector and Autothrusters

Kavil - Attanni Mindlink, Twin Laser Turret, Vectored Thrusters and Unhinged Astromech

Manaroo - Attanni Mindlink, Feedback Array, Anti-pursuit Lasers and Intelligence Agent

It's a typical "toolbox list" that combines three very different elements to be able to take on pretty much anything. Well, that's the theory anyway.

So, on to the tournament itself. Looking around the room after registering I saw numerous Parattannis. No one plays that list in my local meta, so I knew I was in for a rough ride having never played against one, although I had read about the theory behind it since I knew it was one of the things to look out for.

[My games will be added in individual posts]

First Game - Mishary Al-Faris flying Parattanni

At Naboo last year I had the pleasure of facing players from no less than 6 different countries, but this was the first time playing against someone from Kuwait.

Anyway, we set up with both of our squads facing each other on my left side of the board. I turned into the loose asteroid field in the middle with Manaroo and Kvail while I sent Fenn to flank right. I managed to make them all converge on his squad in the middle on turn 3, putting some damage on his Manaroo and forcing him to commit his Fenn. I then made a risky move by k-turning my Fenn over both his Manaroo and Fenn at the same time as my Manaroo target-locked his Fenn. I was worried that the target lock was going to give my plan away, but fortunately it went home. My Fenn landed behind his, received the TL from Manaroo and blasted away with 5 dice. 3 damage went through and a Feedback Array from Manaroo sealed the deal. The same turn, however (or the turn after, I can't remember), he destroyed my Kavil and as he had already brought my Manaroo down to half I knew I was after on points. I either had to destroy his Manaroo or bring Assajj down to half to win. I went with the latter, and despite that irritating little Latts Razzi I succeeded, while still keeping my Manaroo alive.

Time was called just as we were setting the dials. Had there been one more turn he would have probably killed my Manaroo.

We added up the points and it turned out to be a 52 - 50 win for me. A super close game that really could have gone either way.

Second Game - Steve Donn flying rebel ARCs and U-Wing

Steve was, if I remember correctly, from South Africa, which added another exotic nationality (for me, at least) to my list of opponents. He was flying Norra Wexley with Push the Limit, Alliance Overhaul, BB-8 and Nien Numb, Shara Bey with Adaptability, Alliance Overhaul, M9-G8 and Weapons Engineer and Bodhi Rook with Pivot Wing, Anti-pursuit Lasers, Enhanced Scopes, Hera Syndulla and Cassian Andor. A really cool list that didn't look so dangerous on paper, until you felt its sting.

I made the mistake of committing Fenn Rau too early in an attempt to draw his list into a favorable position for me. Fenn put some damage on one of the ARCs, but was eventually blocked and killed. The plan to disrupt his formation had worked, though, and I was able to maneuver Kavil around him, stacking damage with his TLT while continually dodging arcs (no pun intended) with his Vectored Thrusters. In the end, both Norra and Shara went down and I had managed to avoid the wrath of his U-Wing.

A win for me with 84 - 48, numbers that don't really reflect how close this game felt.

Third Game - Luke Townsend flying Old Man Fenn

Luke had another popular list based on Attanni Mindlink; Fenn Rau and Old Teroch, both with Mindlink, title and Autothrusters and a Manaroo with Mindlink, K4 Security Droid, R5-P8 and APL. A tough matchup made even worse by his list being only 98 points. He naturally gave away initiative, allowing Old Teroch to strip tokens after my Manaroo had had the opportunity to do her thing, and also giving his Fenn an easier time to outmaneuver mine.

To begin with, my head was not really in the game. I made a few unnecessary mistakes (like forgetting to use Intelligence Agent on two consecutive turns) that put me in a dire position, with a dead Kavil and three damage onto my Fenn. To make matters worse, I was pushed up against the side of the board, with very little room to maneuver. Despite that, I managed to predict his movements enough to put my Fenn behind Old Teroch twice and blow him up. After that, he T-rolled his Fenn to finish mine while I chased him, seeing my only chance in putting my faith in the dice. We had a Fenn-off at range 1, my dice were hotter than his and suddenly the match had turned.

Now I had a severely damaged Manaroo, so much that I did not dare to shoot at his and risking revenge from R5-P8, and a Fenn with only one hull point left. There was only a few minutes left on the clock, so I tried my best to survive but he was able to corner my Manaroo and kill her. His Manaroo still had one shield left and we were down to the last minute. He moved in aggressively, going for the block, but I anticipated it and was able to put Fenn at range one. I took a TL, scored 4 hits and put three damage through. Time was called, and now I only had to survive the revenge bot and Manaroo's return fire. R5-P8 came up a hit, and Fenn was dead.

A loss for me, 80 - 100, but the most awesome game of X-Wing I have ever played. It turned around twice and literally came down to the last die roll.

Despite the loss, I was on cloud nine. I had had three super exciting games that were all close fought and all went to time. And all of my opponents were excellent guys and a pleasure to play against.

Fourth Game - Ben Walker flying Vessery, Ryad and Carnor Jax

Both defenders had Juke, x/7 and TIE mkII. Carnor had Veteran Instincts and Autothrusters.

Finally a type of list that I am familiar flying against. Defenders are, quite naturally, very popular around here and the addition of an ace instead of a palpshuttle or a third defender is not uncommon. Carnor Jax, however, is one of the few things that can shut down an Attanni Mindlink list completely. Normally, I laugh at Juke since I usually have enough focus tokens to shrug it off, but if I can't use them then that's another story.

I deployed Manaroo and Kavil to my left and Fenn to my far right, opposite his entire squad. Using Fenn as a bait, I drew him into the center of the board where I blocked him up with Manaroo and let Kavil roll his 8 dice a turn safely behind her. Fenn then reentered the fight, came up behind a blocked Carnor and blew him up. After that, it was mostly cleaning up. With Manaroo in the way, the defenders had a hard time getting to Kavil.

Ben probably made a mistake of chasing after Fenn early on, but I have to admit that the dice favored me slightly during the crucial turns of the game.

A solid victory, 100 - 16, for me. And a quick breather, since it was my first game that didn't go to time.

Fifth Game - Shane Hibberd flying Parattanni

Another Parattanni. This time, however, I felt a little bit more confident than going up against it in round 1.

Shane played his Fenn more aggressively than the Fenns I had faced before, and I managed to take advantage of it. My Fenn came in with a fast maneuver from the side as our two squads converged in the center. A boost put me in range 1 of his, and outside his arc. I scored 5 hits and he only rolled one evade, which meant a dead Fenn. After that, I was able to control the pace of the game and although I couldn't prevent him from killing Kavil I was able to burn down his Manaroo before I started chasing after Assajj. My Manaroo survived (barely) and I was able to put in enough damage on Assajj to get through the Latts Razzi evades.

A 100 - 50 win for me, and the first acrylic target lock secured.

Sixth Game - Michal Paluch flying Commonwealth defenders

Michal was one of the many polish players that had come to Birmingham for the event, and flew the now classic Commonwealth defenders. It's a really tough matchup for me, since Palpatine makes it really hard to push damage through.

My plan was to eliminate the shuttle first, as is the common wisdom nowadays. He castled in a corner, while I approached through the asteroid field with all three ships. Once he broke out of the corner, I raced Fenn past his defenders to go for the shuttle and turned out of the asteroids with Manaroo and Kavil, trying to draw him with me. He sent Vessery after them, concentrating on Kavil, and turned around to chase Fenn with Ryad. Fenn shaved the shields off the shuttle in one attack, but suffered damage in return (2 hits and a stunned pilot crit). I k-turned Fenn around the shuttle and continued to harass it, with Ryad in pursuit of me. He k-turned her behind the shuttle as well and barrel-rolled to block Fenn's escape, but the roll actually cleared his way and he was able to slip away. The turn after that the shuttle blew up (can't remember if it was Kavil or Manaroo that took it down, though), and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, Vessery chased after Kavil, suffering damage but finally catching him in range 1 and killing him. Fortunately for me, that also landed him in range 1 of Manaroo with only 1 hull point left, and her Feedback Array finished him off. Michal switched targets and went after Manaroo, who was already down to half. I was able to keep her alive, though, and on the last turn of the game (time was called) Fenn scored a hit that took Ryad off.

100 - 50 to me after another really hard fought game. I guess at this level, there are no easy wins.

Seventh Game - Maciej Przygorzewski flying rebel TLT spam

Another polish player, but a very different list compared to last game. He had Miranda with Twin Laser Turret, Extra Munitions, Conner Net, Cluster Mines, Thermal Detonators, Sabine and Advanced SLAM, plus two Gold Squadron pilots equipped with TLTs. I was really scared of lists like this, since both Kavil and Manaroo dies horribly to multiple TLTs and Fenn is really sensitive to bombs.

My plan was to take out the Y-Wings as quickly as possible using Fenn and have Manaroo survive long enough so that I could use her in the endgame to block Miranda. It worked perfectly. Maciej quite naturally targeted Kavil first, and he went down pretty fast but did inflict some damage. But as soon as Fenn started boosting into range 1 and rolling his 5 dice the Golds melted quickly.

Fenn And Manaroo against Miranda was still no walk in the park, but I was able to predict her movements (Intelligence Agent helps) enough to block her and deny her the opportunity to drop bombs. There was one crucial turn where Fenn was coming in from Miranda's left and she could do a 2 hard and slam to bomb him (which would have killed him). I could have blocked that 2 hard with Manaroo, but I saw Maciej measure for it (quite visibly) and, thinking it was a ruse, I instead moved Manaroo into position to block his other alternatives. My gamble paid off, Miranda bumped into Manaroo, Fenn swept into range 1 and Maciej conceeded.

A win with 100 - 34 for me.

Adding up the results of the day, I was 6 - 1, which was far beyond any expectations I had had. My goal of going 5 - 2, which I had not really known if it was realistic or not, had been surpassed and checking the standings I found myself ranked 19th after day 1. Mentally, I was completely exhausted, though, and my feet were killing me. But what a day it had been.