I had the privilege to fly to Minneapolis and spend my birthday shooting plastic ships at other plastic ships. 8 year-old Craig would be very proud. Here's what I was running:
Where's your God now?
Author:
Caldias
Faction:
Rebel Alliance
Points:
395/400
Commander: Mon Mothma
Assault Objective:
Most Wanted
Defense Objective:
Hyperspace Assault
Navigation Objective:
Solar Corona
MC30c Torpedo Frigate
(63 points)
-
Admonition
( 8 points)
- Lando Calrissian ( 4 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Reinforced Blast Doors ( 5 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
=
95
total ship cost
MC30c Torpedo Frigate
(63 points)
-
Foresight
( 8 points)
- Major Derlin ( 7 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Reinforced Blast Doors ( 5 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
=
98
total ship cost
MC30c Torpedo Frigate
(63 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- H9 Turbolasers ( 8 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
=
80
total ship cost
[ flagship ]
GR-75 Medium Transports
(18 points)
- Mon Mothma ( 30 points)
=
48
total ship cost
GR-75 Medium Transports
(18 points)
- Comms Net ( 2 points)
=
20
total ship cost
GR-75 Medium Transports
(18 points)
- Comms Net ( 2 points)
=
20
total ship cost
GR-75 Medium Transports
(18 points)
=
18
total ship cost
1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)
I will say that all my games were against really great people who were gracious, and there were no weird, tense moments that I've seen happen in other tournaments. Everyone was a real class act. I'll keep these pretty brief.
Round 1:
This round was against a French dude who's name I have forgotten, but he was a solid player. He was running two AFMKII Ackbar with some A Wings, a naked Nebulon, a TRC90, and a commander lifeboat flotilla. I went first and picked his Most Wanted. It was a bit of a slugfest, where I took out a Nebulon and an AFMKII, and he took out a flotilla and his Most Wanted target. There was one huge mistake I made which he pointed out to me afterward: Ackbar had a card on him, and I had an MC30 side arc at medium, and he went speed 0 to avoid H9 death. I didn't bother shooting since, in my mind, I couldn't kill him, but I forgot about the Most Wanted die I could add. Oh well, still a chance I wouldn't have killed it anyway. That's what I get for not playing for over a month before Worlds!
I lost this game, a 5-6, with an MOV of 1.
Round 2:
This game was against @Naboobo2000 and IIRC he was running 3 Gladiators and 2 Gozantis. The Glads all only had APT, except one that was Demolisher, and the commander was Vader. He also had a couple Defenders and some really on-point TIEs, along with some Lamdas. He won the bid and gave me 1st player, knowing he had some really solid objectives. I picked Most Wanted and he put it on a Gozanti and Forelin. I hope I'm remembering this correctly! I killed 2-3 TIEs and some Gladiators, and I know Forelin made it.
I am fairly certain I got a 9-2 on this one. Anyway, @Naboobo2000 was such an awesome guy and a really fun opponent.
Round 3:
This one was against @CaribbeanNinja and he also had an MSU. He had 2 Arqs with IO and DTLT, 1 kitted out Demo, 1 Raider kitted to murder squadrons, and 2 Gozantis I am pretty sure. He was running Jerjerrod in a lifeboat and had two squadrons, Ciena and Valen if I remember right. I had met this guy in Atlanta last year and he is really great, awesome sense of humor and super chill. He won the bid and picked Solar Corona. Our ship game was so stressful, that we were happy to have a nice, breezy squadron phase where we just activated our token forces and kept them out of flak range. This game was back and forth, with me able to kill his flotilla-hunter Raider. Then his Demo murdered H9C30. I was able to kill an Arq. Then I knew Mon Mothma's flotilla wasn't long for this world. Demo was on the prowl, as was an Arq, and I knew she was toast. I was able to get Admonition to shoot Jerry's flotilla. Nice damage, but no accuracy. And this, my friends, is why you always comms net a concentrate fire token to the MC30. Rerolled the blue and got an accuracy. Dead Jerry.
This game was decided by a lucky reroll, and ended as a 6-5 for me, with an MOV of 20-something.
Round 4:
This was against a Mexican dude who was also a really great guy. Again, I was super lucky there. He had a Pelta, Yavaris, a CR90 lifeboat, and Bright Hope, with Rieekan and max aces. I went first and picked his Precision Strike. It was a slugfest, and he was able to take out a flotilla and H9C30 (he always dies). He told me his mistake was forgetting Tycho could move while engaged, so when he moved Jan, had a squadron command that let Tycho move to engage Nym and Keeyan. H9C30 killed Yavaris, Admonition killed the Pelta, while Foresight chased the speed 4 Rieekan boat, and was able to finally kill it on Turn 5 or 6. Really awesome that this dude let me add in the Precision Strike tokens after I turned in slips, having forgot to tally them.
I ended this game with an 8-3.
Round 5:
This was against THE Ben, @Vergilius and he has an excellent write up, so I urge you to check that out. He had a decked out Liberty with H9 and QTC, Scout MC30 with TRC, and three flotillas, with A-Wings for a screen. He won the bid and picked my Most Wanted. Knowing I needed to win big, I put it on his Liberty. His Liberty is basically built as a hard counter to flotillas, and in addition, MC30s by proxy with the double accuracies. He killed two flotillas, and I killed one and had one threatened for next turn. My 30s moved in to box in the Lib, and they were the tankier ones. Looking back, I probably should have just had Forelin go speed 4 and get in the side, but I wanted to ram it with Admo so Admo didn't have to go speed 1 to keep the trap, but looking back maybe that was a mistake. In any rate, becasue of RBD and Derlin, Foresight was alive with 1 card remaining. Vergilius has a good point that turning his ship left would have likely rammed Foresight and kept him on the table, and that's something I didn't notice either. He tried to fly his lib past Foresight and was able to land, but off the table, by mere millimeters. Had he done the ram, I definitely would have not had the MOV for 5th, and I don't remember the board placement well enough to know if I would've been able to get the liberty with my other 30 or not. Admo would've certainly had a double arc the next turn, and if H9 could've come in and fought, who knows? @Vergilius said it best himself when he said this is a game where you win by making the second to last mistake, instead of the last mistake, and he was a wonder to watch. Very skilled player, and I can of course understand him kicking himself about not realizing the solution to the ram puzzle during our game. I was also kicking myself some when I didn't take a shot on Ackbar's lifeboat in game one.
I was able to win this one 9-2.
I've got to say, this tournament was a blast and I was fortunate to play laid back people. And the level of play here is so much higher. Want to never feel nervous at a regional again? Just go to Worlds.
I don't know if I'll ever get a chance to come back, as I am likely starting a family soon, but I am glad I did, and am proud of where I ended up. Anyone in that top third could've made the cut, if things were shifted some, of course, and the entire tournament was full of high-skilled players.