So this weekend I went to not one, but TWO store championships. My first two of the year, and likely my last as it doesn't look like I can attend the next two in my area over the coming weeks.

These were also my first store championships in well over two years because of the timing change by FFG combined with not attending any of the 2016 ones because of my son being born at the same time.

My goals for the weekend were to make top 8 at a minimum, ideally make top 4 at least once, and *hopefully* make top 2 as that would be a new high for me as the best I've ever done is top 4 at a SC.

My list was:
Bossk, K4, DTF, 4LOM - 40
Mando Merc, Dengar, Stims, Fearless, Slave One, LRS - 41
Ka'ato, Cruise Missiles, Deadeye, Chips - 19
List Total - 100

I had 9 practice games with this on vassal prior to this weekend and went 7-2 with it. I also had 44 practice games (all but one or two on vassal) with a list that was 95% the same where I went 26-18 with. For a total combined of 33-20. So decent but not amazing I guess. It's a very strong list, but only tier 2 obviously.

Now as for the games themselves.

Saturday
Game 1 vs Matt G or Timothy W (played them both, can't remember which was which)
Their List to the best of my memory:
Tycho, Test Pilot, Cruise Missiles, AT, Deadeye, PTL - 35
Jake, Test Pilot, Cruise Missiles, AT, Deadeye, Trickshot - 30
Lowhrick, Jyn, Kanan - 33
Total - 98 (I think the real total was 100, I know the wookiee had an EPT, but something isn't adding up somewhere)

We setup to joust and combat happened after the 2nd round of movement. My opponent made two big mistakes trying to get off his cruise missiles. He had jake flying at an angle and he went too far and hit a debris. Then tycho hit the back of his auzituck for no actions either. This gave me an easy kill of tycho plus some damage on the auzituck as well. Got off the 5 dice cruise missile as well. Didn't take much damage in return so after that I killed the auzituck not long after and got some damage in on jake. Even without PTL it took some round of ring around the asteroids before I could pin him down and finish him off.

Win 100-0, 1-0 record, 200 MOV

Game 2 vs James T
Their List:
Omega L, Comm, Juke - 26
Sabacc, Ailerons, LWF, VI - 25
Countdown, Ailerons - 20
Omicron, Palp, Collision - 29
Total - 100

I setup in one corner and he spread his forces out along the edge. He flew them all towards the opposite corner while I flew towards him. First round of combat I made one small mistake with the merc, played him safe so instead of all 3 of my ships having a shot on lockdown, just my other two did. Bossk had range 1 or 2 but only did 1 damage because of his ability. Had a 4 dice cruise missile from kaato that could have possibly killed him, but only got 3 hits instead of 4, and the palp evade plus a natural evade meant only 1 more damage. Merc did 3 shields to the palpmobile though, and in return I don't think I took significant damage. After that it's a blur what happened the next few rounds. I made another small mistake when I could have did a Bossk K4 on Omega Leader, but I thought she was going to target lock me that round so I didn't want to waste it and put it on another ship. Omega either bumped or took a different action, so I tried shooting anyways but did no damage. Eventually we were at a point where kaato and palp mobile were dead, both strikers were at 2 hull, and my two large ships were a little over half health each. It's at this point I made the biggest mistake of this game and probably the whole weekend. I put bossk in a position to have a shot which he did, but also put me close to the board edge. Part of it was the fact it was the opposite edge of me so distance was harder to judge, and part of it was the fact that we had two mats on top of each other so the edge looked a little further than it actually was. Either way I probably shouldn't have done the move as I went off the board next turn, aided by one of the strikers blocking me though I'm pretty sure I would have gone off anyways. After that I knew I was probably done for, but on a slight positive I managed to take down both strikers with me, but Omega remained unscathed.

Loss 74 - 100, 1-1 Record, 274 MOV

Game 3 vs Matt G or Timothy W
Their List
Poe (PS8), R5P9, PA, VI, IA - 37
Norra, PTL, BB8, Nien, AO - 35
Jess, M9G8, IA - 28
Total - 100

We setup across from each other, but he started going along his edge to avoid the joust. He then brought Poe in hoping flank me if I kept going straight forward but I instead turned towards him and stripped him of his shields (got 1 back with regen). Next round I caused Poe to bump which left him range 1 of bossk and in range of a 5 dice cruise missile. By pure luck bossk killed him outright thanks to using his abilty with a crit and poe not getting an evades. I was then able to shoot the cruise and merc's shot at norra giving her heavy damage. At this point I was way up so the game was mine. I made one mistake though trying to end it once it was down to jess at low health. For two straight rounds I guessed the wrong move she'd take and took consecutive range 1 shots into ka'ato which cost me 19 MOV points I shouldn't have lost.

Win 100 - 39, Record 2-1, 435 MOV

Game 4 vs Adam N
Their List:
Dash, HLC, Outrider, Rey, LW - 52
Gold Squad, BTL, Ion Turret X 2 (one with stressbot) - 48
Total - 100

I setup across from his two y's to joust, dash setup in the middle. First round of combat between bossk range 1, merc range 2, and a 5 dice cruise missile I killed his stressbot Y before it even fired. Took minimal damage from dash and his other Y. Next few rounds saw me kill his other Y and get dash down to 4 hull including a PS0 crit in return for having Ka'ato at 1 hull, merc at 3 or 4 hull, and bossk at over half health. At this point we both thought the game was probably mine, especially because of the PS0 crit. However it was not to be. I had back to back to back crits going over debris, the first of which took the last hit point on ka'ato when he would have had a range 1 shot on dash otherwise. My other two ships got a combined 4-5 shots on dash the rest of the game, but he only took 1 more damage as he rolled great on defense with focus and LW and my attacks couldn't seem to get more than 2 hits most of the time. Most frustrating loss of the weekend as I played the game pretty much perfectly and should have had the win but couldn't pull it out.

Loss 74 - 100, Record 2-2, 509 MOV

So that record and MOV got me 9th out of 22. I thought I might make top 8 since my MOV was ridiculously high for a 2-2 record, it was actually higher than many of the 3-1 records. But one 2-2 guy had even higher MOV (537) than me, and even if I hadn't lost Ka'ato the one game I still would have been 9 MOV behind him.

Sunday
Game 1 vs Adam N
Their List:
Dengar, P1, Engine, K4, Unhinged, V1 - 54
Quinn, Heavy, Ion Pulse, Deadeye, Chips - 24
Inaldra, Heavy, Ion Cannon, Pulse Shield, Score to Settle - 22
Total - 100

A rematch against Adam from yesterday (and someone I played with regularly at my LGS). This game went much better, partly because his list wasn't quite as competitive as the day before. We setup in opposite corners I think and start coming towards each other sort of diagonally. The first round of combat was huge for me. Bossk and merc stripped the shields off dengar, maybe a hull damage too. Then ka'ato got a 5 dice cruise missile off on inalda. Got 5/5 hits and crits and she rolled all blanks. Used her ability to spend a shield and reroll. Got an evade and a focus which she had but wasn't enough to save her. So no shot for her, Quinn was out of range to shoot, and dengar's shot and revenge shot didn't do significant damage to me. After that it was just a matter of finishing off dengar and then taking down Quinn. I lucked out as I setup ka'ato to be ioned off the board but he didn't think I'd be pointed that way so he went after a different ship instead.

Win 100 - 40, Record 1-0, 160 MOV

Game 2 vs Bob (I think)
Their List:
Quickdraw, LWF, Rage, Baffles, SOT - 33
Omega L, Comm, Juke - 26
Stridan, Hux, Inspiring Recruit, Adv Sensors, - 41
Total - 100

By "luck" I got paired with an 0-1 player due to their being an odd number of 1-0 players. I setup in one corner. He had his shuttle in the opposite corner, omega in the middle, and quickdraw jousting me. When combat started I tried to get as many shots on OL as I could. I did get a shield and a blinded pilot crit on her. Unfortunately my 5 dice cruise missile on QD only got 2 shields off him instead of all like I hoped. In the next round or two I lost ka'ato but got QD down to 1 hull and a few shields off stridan. Bossk and merc were both around half health. It's at this point I had a tough choice to make, and it ended up being the wrong one. Bossk had a range 2 shot on OL. I got 2 hits and a crit and she only had focus for defense. If I 4lom the focus, I kill her for sure unless she rolls all 3 evades, but I had one ion already from 4lom so if I do I'm fully ioned and in a bad position for stridan and QD to get behind me. If I save 4LOM OL might still die as she only needs to roll one blank out of 3, but if she lives I might regret it later. I went with 4lom and she only dodged one so it was a waste. The next round went as I feared and bossk was finished off. Now it's merc at I think 8 health vs QD at 1 hull and stridan and over half health. I knew I needed to kill QD soon and then all I have to do is get behind stridan and I'll win. Well things didn't go exactly as planned but I did heavily damage stridan and kill QD. It then came down to the last 2 rounds of shooting. We had range 3 shots on each other. I had 2 hull left and stridan had 3 with a focus. I knew I wouldn't kill him unless he rolled double blanks or I got lucky crits in, so I took an evade hoping I could last one more round. I got one damage on stridan in, and his shot unfortunately got all 4 hits after focus. Luckily I rolled 2/3 evades and with token I took one damage to still have 1 hull left. Next round I finished him off. Definitely the closest ending of the weekend for me.

Win 100-79, 2-0, 281 MOV

Game 3 vs Nathan Eide (yes THAT Nathan Eide)
Their List:
Corran, R2D2, Engine, PTL, FCS - 48
Ahsoka, Sabine, Seismic, Scav Crane, VI, Title, Captured TIE - 26
Biggs, R4D6, IA - 26

So even though he's in my area and I've been playing for well over 3 years now. I think this might have been the first time I've ever played against Nathan. I knew it would be a tough match regardless, but unfortunately he was running a very strong list, and worse one that's a very bad matchup for mine. Plus it utilized regen which has been, is , and probably forever will be my most hated aspect of x-wing. I actually would have had a much better matchup against the list he ran the day before, but unfortunately he didn't run it again.

I don't want to say much about the game as it really wasn't much of a game. I killed biggs who never even tried to shoot at me. Ahsoka only took one damage from one of her own bombs as I couldn't shoot her all game. She got off two bombs before crane died that did 5 total damage thanks to sabine. I did have one encounter go badly that might have turned the tide otherwise. I had kaato at range 1 of corran due to doing a 4 forward to get a max dice cruise missile on biggs. He took focus and TL obviously, then I also had ahsoka behind him at range 1 as well with a focus. If ahsoka shoots him, he has to hope his corran shot after will kill ka'ato, because if he doesn't not only does he live, and if extra lucky still have a focus to shoot his missile, but it also leaves ahsoka exposed for attacks (I think bossk might have had her in arc that round). Ka'ato had stolen an evade from merc as well. I'm not positive on the math for surviving that. But I felt that I had decent odds to survive, but Nathan didn't agree. I knew his 4 dice TL and focus attack is very likely to get 4/4 hits and crits (though there's always the chance of a blank rerolling into a blank). Ahsoka's 3 dice with focus is more likely to get 2, but 3 is obviously very doable. For me I'm rolling 4 total dice with a focus and an evade. If he gets his expected 6/7 hits, I only need to roll 2/4 evades, or an evade and a focus to survive (preferably the former so I can shoot my missle). Unfortunately ahsoka got 3/3, and then corran got his 4/4 as expected. I rolled 1 focus and 3 blanks, so only dodged two and took 5 damage. I still feel that the most likely result in that situation is kaato at 1 hull but whatever.

Loss 26-100, 2-1 Record, 307 MOV

Game 4 vs Zack Mathews (THE Zack Mathews)
Their List:
Miranda, TLT, Concussion, Bomblet, Rey, Chips - 44
Lowhrick, Selfless, Commandoes - 30
Gold Squad, TLT, R3A2, BTL - 26
Total - 100

So I got to have back to back games against two of the better players in the country. Awesome. Zack I've played several times before at least, and have beaten before too. He was the TO but decided to play so we didn't have an odd number of players.

We setup in opposite corners to joust. I had my setup perfectly after the 2nd round of movement. I had both bossk and merc range 1 of Miranda, plus ka'ato had done a 4 forward to have a 5 dice cruise missile possibility. He TLed ka'ato with mirand to do a 5 dice concussion as I expected so I had ka'ato steal an evade from merc. Just like the previous game dice luck didn't go the way I hoped for. I knew between focus and chips he had a good chance to get all 5 hits/crits, unless he rolled 3 or more blanks. I just needed him to get a crit I could DTF to bossk, or just roll a natural evade to save my focus. Unfortunately he didn't get any crits, and I rolled double focus so I had to spend to survive which meant no missile. Bossk and merc hit hard though. Between bossk's ability and fearlessness on merc it was like having 10 hits/crits. Miranda dodged a couple and lowhrick burned selflessness. But it still cost him all 3 shields and 1 hull on lowhrick, and 3-4 shields on Miranda. Unfortunately ka'ato's primary shot didn't hit her, and then he died from his ywing so his missile never got to get used.

After that I tried to keep the pressure on Miranda with merc while whittling down the other two ships with bossk. Bomblets were used 3 times I think for a total of 4 damage between my two ships. Miranda came SUPER close to going off the board one turn but hung on by a hair. She might have been off but I bumped her a bit while trying to move her for Zack so it's hard to say. Bossk finally killed Miranda later thanks to rolling hit hit crit and 4loming her focus to finish her off. But unfortunately it was too late in the game as bossk was heavily damaged and in a bad spot, he died next turn after getting the ywing down to 2 hull, same as lowhrick at that point.

Loss 44-100, 2-2 Record, 351 MOV

My record and MOV got me 8th out of the 14 players we had. So I got the range ruler, but it felt a bit hollow as I wasn't even in the top half of the players that day. Though the 7th place person was only ahead of me by less than 5 MOV I think.

So I went 2-2 both days and barely got top 8 one of the days. Definitely not what I was hoping for, and continued the trend from my last two SC's in 2015 where I went 2-2 at both as well even after months of practicing with my list for those too.

Overall I felt I flew very well and played to my squad's strengths. I made a few mistakes which I guess is ok as it's hard to have 8 perfect games. While some were kinda bad they didn't have much effect in the grand scheme of things. I basically just needed one more thing to go my way in most of the losses as they were all very close but the one against Nathan.

Probably the only "lesson" I learned was that if Bossk can K4 a priority target, even if I think it's not likely I'll have a shot on them that round, take it just to be sure. There was two times as I mentioned where I didn't and it cost me a high quality shot on them since they ended up being in arc after all.

Good write-up and props for flying something I haven't seen before. I too don't get out near as often as I'd like to. It is your opponent as much as what/how your flying. Nathan's Corran list is a beast.

I was your round 3 opponent on day one. A very generous summary of.my poor flying. Fun game for a fairly new player. Bossk really tore me up in that engagement.

On ‎7‎/‎25‎/‎2017 at 9:45 PM, Feanor79 said:

I was your round 3 opponent on day one. A very generous summary of.my poor flying. Fun game for a fairly new player. Bossk really tore me up in that engagement.

I still feel bad that the game ended so quickly without you having much of a chance once poe went down in flames. I think I said it then, but if poe had gotten away it's a much different game. He lives, although norra probably dies much sooner.