So since FFG isn't doing streams, I'll try to provide a decent picture of what's happening at my tables.

Also, to start off... Peltas are rocking this tournament. I've seen at least 4 lists, 3 of them basically the same, 3/4 in the top 16 after day 1, and mine being the lone list with rapid launch bays. Haven't seen any other rapid launch bays at all.

Round 1:

Against Jason, bringing squadronless 2 Gunnery Team, quad laser turret, Agent Kallus, RBD, Motti ISD IIs +3 flotillas with 2 slicer tools. #*%*$&@ I played Jason at Houston Regionals pre wave V, and he had practiced against my list 2 weeks earlier, so I knew that I could easily lose here.

I had the bid, so I stuck to the old truism "Never give an ISD last/first" and took first, chose Solar Corona. We deployed on opposite corners of the board at staggered speeds so that we could turn into each other as though we were playing Hyperlane Raid. Seemed kinda dumb of me to do that, basically funneling myself into the front arcs of GT ISDs, but I had a plan. With some cleverly placed Nav commands and comm netted tokens, I punched the throttle and maneuvered my main force south so that Jason's second ISD wouldn't be all that relevant (pics to follow, if we find time to recreate the scene). And I timed the speed increase so that his relevant ISD (also his flagship), would get 2 rounds of squadron shots and a couple long ship shots before i flew past. That was the plan.

What happened: Pelta flew too close to the sun. But Yavaaris survived. And hilariously, the only time Jason used slicer tools was to change the Pelta to a Nav command, and then later in the round back to a squadron command with his second slicer tools (I had activated all but one of my squadrons by that point, and he didn't want me to avoid flying into the sun). I killed Motti and a flotilla, he killed a ton of squads, Pelta, and a flotilla. 6-5, my win. 2 ISDs with QLTs and Motti is just too much for my list to chew through without getting chewed up.

Round 2:

agianst Matt, aka @BrobaFett . He brought yet another Motti ISD with 3 flotillas and a competent fighter/bomber wing (Maarek, Jendon, Saber, Rhymer, other Geniques). He had the bid, and chose to play my fighter Ambush. I think he lost utterly in the deployment, but I won't say much beyond his ISD going right in front of the Obstacles I had placed on his side, at speed 1, and all of his fighters being deployed in a corner, out of intercepting range. Every single one of my fighters went right there, no RLB.

Using some baiting tactics and Adar/Yavaaris, Dutch killed Maarek round 1. Matt killed Jan round 2, but it didn't matter too much since he kept overlapping my fighters every move after that. The ISD went down pretty hard, our squadrons tore each other up, and it was looking like his gozantis were going to get away, except that I rammed his lifeboat flotilla to death on round 5 (overtime), and was able to shoot a scatterless one to death with the Pelta and ET the third and final one to death as a result for the Table. He scored 3 tokens to my 8, killing Rieekan, Bright Hope, and a lot of my squadrons. 308 MOV for the 10-1.

Round 3:

against Francois, a French fellow from Boston he is on the forums as a lurker, but I do not know his handle. He was rocking a 6 activation, black dice Jerjerrod on yet another ISD fleet. 2 naked Raiders, Demo with Kallus no APTs, 2 gozanti (Suppressor), and the ISD I (Avenger). Cieena/Valen. For the second time today, #*%~*#' that is a lot of hull to chew threw. And he had better anti Squadron potential than Jason from earlier.

He had the bid but chose second, knowing that I would destroy him on points with whatever objectives I had with me (he was right). So I chose solar corona, deploying in the middle of the table this time, ships facing right. I have to go back and get a picture of his deployment. It was impressive. If you could ever imagine a fleet blocking out the sun (and we were playing solar corona too!), that's what this would have been. All 6 ships lined up almost shield to shield, pointed right at my tiny fleet, blocking the solar side of the board.

I think his deployment also lost him the game, whereas he could have outmaneuvered and activated me otherwise. By placing his ships so close in like that, Goz-Demo-Rdr-ISD-Rdr-Supp, his big guns weren't able to maneuver and bring their guns to bear on my ships without running into each other. So we played a very close game where my ships split paths around the edges of his fleet and used the Yavaaris first activation advantage to kill a Rdr and Demo before they could activate and get kill shots on 2 separate turns. I killed those ships and his squadrons, and he killed my BCC, and most squadrons. It was a very narrow 6-5 in my favor, like 2 squadrons worth, and both my VCXs were left on 1 hull.

My current standing is at 14, with 22 points. Tied with 5 others. So if I 10-1 and 8-3 in my next 2 rounds, I'll stand a decent chance of making top 4. At this level of play, probably not gonna happen, but one can hope.

More to follow.

Nice report. Looking forward to more.

you say "yet another Motti ISD", while they probably thought "darn, yet another Rieekan aces list" (I assume that's what you're playing???)

nice write-up though!

9 minutes ago, Sybreed said:

you say "yet another Motti ISD", while they probably thought "darn, yet another Rieekan aces list" (I assume that's what you're playing???)

Just out of interest, what are you running Parkdaddy?

I'm guessing a command pelta, with yavaris, 3 gr75's and squads.

3 hours ago, Palanthas said:

I'm guessing a command pelta, with yavaris, 3 gr75's and squads.

if 6 Engine tech Corvettes ramfest lists are cancer, than this list is AIDS xD

Great report. I wish everyone would share his/her memories about the matches.

Round 4:
Against... ?
I have forgotten my opponent's name, and even going back through the rankings none of the names are jogging my memory. I feel really bad, but this was 24 hours ago and right before my hardest match of the tourney. Maybe Doug, Randy, or Daniel. Pretty sure he made top 32 (as did the rest of my opponents).

I saw his list and immediately thought it was a variant of the Tarkin Anti-squad demo list that won a regional. But thankfully it wasn't. Typical Demo, 2 arqs, and a Gozanti with Jerjerrod at the helm and a butt load of Decimators and Dengar. Glad I brought Ten Numb for this one. He had the bid, chose first, and took my Salvage run. I'll say now that I got all the tokens for a free 80 points.

What happened: I almost killed Demo round 1. Going second with my 5 activations to his 4, meant that I got to activate Phoenix home and Yavaaris after Demo. I talked with him afterwards, and he said that he really didn't expect me to send the Pelta all in right off the bat. But there was a dust field right between Demo and where the Pelta landed, so I pretty comfortably got in close range with an ET maneuver and deployed Gold, Nora, and Ten just past the field and just in range of Demo. Activated all three and untapped Ten since I only had one relay in range for a Yavaaris double tap. The Decimators and Dengar moved up to engage in the squad Phase, but it wasn't enough. The damage had already been done.

Second round, he made the mistake which I believe cost him the game. Demo was going to die with my first activation, but he chose to activate one of the Arqs instead. It got a really good shot into Yavaaris' side, but then Yavaaris activated and Demo was no more. To his credit, he didn't lose any more ships after that, despite my best efforts. The Decimators were too much of a threat to my ships, killing Yavaaris and Bright Hope, and had to be dealt with. Ten was a definite powerhouse, and the MVP against those things, though one managed to escape. Dutch also helped, a lot. It came down to an 8-3, my win.

Round 3:
Against Dong, running a Gallant Haven Rieekan Aces List with Bs. He had the initiative and chose second player, so I took his Fighter Ambush. It was that or Solar corona and just hope to outplay him. But with fighter Ambush, I was hoping that he would deploy at least some of his fighters out of Gallant Haven range so that I could get an Alpha strike. He did, but not by much.

What happened: I discarded AFFM immediately to get the Alpha strike. Dutch, Luke, and a VCX were able to hit Ten immediately with a Pelta first activation. It was a gamble, but I forgot to untap Dutch with Adar Talon. Missed opportunity. Mistake that probably cost me the game. Regardless, his first activation was Gallant Haven, moving to get Ten back into safe range. From there, I still thought I had a chance. But I forgot that his Yavaaris had flight Commander and Fighter Coordination Teams. And his boosted comms flotilla had Adar Talon (though he also forgot to use Adar, missed opportunities for us both). And Ten moved onto the station to recover (being obstructed, thus not engaged and FCT applied). And he killed my Luke round 1. It was a long round 1. Like at least 45 minutes. We barely made it to round 4.

The rest of the match was a squadron slugfest, with me on losing side without the benefit of Gallant Haven. We both made lots of mistakes, squadrons being placed out of position and exposed, I wasn't used to facing FCTs, so he was able to lock down my squadrons quite easily after my Jan was gone. We also bumped our flotillas a lot over the course of the game, though his bumps cost him far more dearly than mine (26 points for me, versus 65 and almost another 48 for his flagship, one bump away). He racked up 5 tokens to my 0. He killed all but 1 VCX, but I also took out most key squadrons of his. We traded Yavaaris' in the final round, though towards the end when his Yavaris tried getting squadrons to double tap and kill my Yavaaris, he got 3 straight blanks with Bwings and BCC rerolls, and I thought Yavaaris might actually survive. But then he started hitting and hope was lost. It was brutal, I thought he crushed me with a 9-2, but after the tally it was surprisingly close. Without the tokens, it would have been something close to 27 MOV. 7-4, my loss to a very exacting opponent. He very easily could have been one of the players on the final tables, if he hadn't faced another Rieekan Aces list in the final round.

Conclusion, team tourney write up, and list to follow, as requested

Conclusion:
Peltas performed this past week. One list in the top 8, and I think all 4 in the top 32. I know for a fact that it was 3 of them.

I finished in 12th, my final opponent in 6th. So close to getting those acrylic range/distance rulers!!! Not going to lie, I came to win, so I was disappointed. And that's just one of my life philosophies—if you're going to do something, do it well. But going back over the rankings and remembering how I handled certain situations and the level of competition that I faced (all 5 opponents in the top 32, 2 in the top 16), I was happy. I did do pretty well. My strength of schedule was tied for the second highest with the number 1 guy at the end of 5 rounds (number 2 had the highest). And I got those sweet dice. Those alone should pay for half my trip on EBay ?

All but one of my rounds went to time, and that was round 4, which I rushed because I really had to use the bathroom but the bathrooms were all occupied before the round started. That was painful. And the length of my rounds also meant that I didn't even get to visit the prize wall before leaving with my 35 tickets.... but I've got a friend staying behind, getting me shiny stuff, and shipping it to me later.

I had a unique Rieekan list (pun intended) that I developed and managed to turn the rapid launch bays into a powerhouse tactic, regardless of Rieekan. 4 of my 5 opponents were very worried after Ian came over and officially explained how it works, and it's different from the consensus in the rules forum. With RLB, you get to place the squadrons according to how many points you have. Then you get to do a squadron command. Meaning you could place everything you have, and then activate something else. Loved it.

As far as Rieekan being OP, I believe Sloan will be the "nerf" to the Rieekan Aces. He'll still be powerful, for sure, and the players who have developed solid lists built around his ability will continue using and being really good with him, but lots of people have been theory crafting Imperial Ace lists that would tear squadron builds apart. And that's how imperial squadrons are designed to play. Auto damage and huge alpha strikes. Sloan makes 134 points of that plus support viable. I know that my biggest weakness is that kind of play. Take away my squadrons, take away my power, so I will have to change for Wave VI. (QLTs in the first round literally kept me from tabling, otherwise I could have come much closer to a tabling).

I've come a long way from my first Regional in Marietta over this past summer. I think I took 17th/33 in that one, and I've only gotten closer and closer to winning ever since. And over the past year, I've met cool people from Chicago, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Texas that I got to meet again. So I'm happy. I also haven't lost to @Vergilius , @Ardaedhel (8 MOV is still 8 MOV), or @Brikhause 's worlds lists with mine, so I've still got that going for me.

Great write-up.

I'm going to work on mine and perhaps get it up Saturday.

Comin' In Hot

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 398/400

Commander: General Rieekan

Assault Objective: Precision Strike
Defense Objective: Fighter Ambush
Navigation Objective: Salvage Run

Modified Pelta-class Command Ship (60 points)
- Phoenix Home ( 3 points)
- Flight Commander ( 3 points)
- Adar Tallon ( 10 points)
- Engine Techs ( 8 points)
- Rapid Launch Bays ( 6 points)
- All Fighters, Follow Me! ( 5 points)
= 95 total ship cost

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57 points)
- Yavaris ( 5 points)
- Skilled First Officer ( 1 points)
= 63 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- Bright Hope ( 2 points)
- Toryn Farr ( 7 points)
- Comms Net ( 2 points)
= 29 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- Bomber Command Center ( 8 points)
= 26 total ship cost

[ flagship ] GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- General Rieekan ( 30 points)
- Ahsoka Tano ( 2 points)
- Comms Net ( 2 points)
= 52 total ship cost

1 Ten Numb ( 19 points)
1 Jan Ors ( 19 points)
2 VCX-100 Freighters ( 30 points)
1 Luke Skywalker ( 20 points)
1 "Dutch" Vander ( 16 points)
1 Gold Squadron ( 12 points)
1 Norra Wexley ( 17 points)

Are you sure you saw what you thought you saw???