Hi, I can't decide which list to take for a store champ tomorrow. I just got notified today that I can join after being on the waiting list, so now I need a list.

The meta and tournament:
24 players, should be 7 imperial, 7 scum, 10 rebels. No wave 11 allowed yet.
I'm pretty sure that there will be 2 DashMirandas, 1 Fairshiprebels v1, 2 DengarTel, 1 DengarAsajj, and 3 imperial lists with Vessery and QD/Backdraft/OL/something. The rest could be anything, really.
Between a third and half of the lists will have one or more turrets, and most lists will be at 100pts, if past tournaments are any indication.

My favorite playstyle:
Fast nimble arcdodgers or swarms. I suck at flying large base ships. I'm also somehow bad at straight up jousting with few ships, for example with the Defender. So A-Wings, Interceptors, Strikers, that kind of ship is exactly what I like.
Jake is my most frequently flown pilot, and Jake+Stresshog+X (soon Poetensity) is a reliable go-to for me. But I also reliably punt, so maybe it's time to wait for Intensity before I fly that again? Hence my question: Which of the 5 imperial lists would you choose, and then which one between that and the rebel list?

My list options:
1. Jake, Stresshog, Norra (100pt)
Jake (33pt) normal with prockets (or ion pulse? Might be worth to consider?), Stresshog (26pt) without title (single stress is better than not having arc when I mess it up), Norra (41pt) with R2D2, PTL, KyleKatarn, Title, VT.

2. Quickdraw plus a combination of Vader, Vessery, PureSabacc or OL.
Vessery with x7 & Juke, Vader with Juke (and EU if I have the points), PureSabacc with LoneWolf/Title/LWF. OL is standard, and Quickdraw can have Expertise or ASTS, depending on wingmen, but always FCS and LWF. Generally I think Vader without Intensity is not that great
There are 5 versions that I consider:
1. QD/Vessery/Vader. Strong TL synergy for Vessery, but disadvantage of the Defender dial and the lack of AT on Vader
2. QD/Vessery/Sabacc. TL less reliable, but should be ok due to FCS. Has a striker, which is nice.
3. QD/Vessery/OL. I guess that's the best of the 5, but I like it least. OL never works out for me, and I have problems flying a defender.
4. QD/Vader/Sabacc. My favorite of them, fast, nimble, packs a punch. And dies quickly.
5. QD/Vader/OL. There's no reason to fly them together other than that the points fit.

So what arguments do you have for or against one of these 6 lists?

I'm leaning towards QD/Vessery/Vader, with LW on Vader who usually flanks in a bit anyway. I never got enough from Juke when I used it, and it would be nice to have some mods on him when he k-turns.

• QD - ASTS, FCS, LWF, SOT, Primed Thrusters (34)
• Vader - LW, TIE/x1, ATC, TIE MkII (33)
• Vess - Trick Shot, TIE/x7 (33)

For me it's either that or Faan Langelaan's Cad Bane Triple Scouts.

1 hour ago, SOTL said:

I'm leaning towards QD/Vessery/Vader, with LW on Vader who usually flanks in a bit anyway. I never got enough from Juke when I used it, and it would be nice to have some mods on him when he k-turns.

• QD - ASTS, FCS, LWF, SOT, Primed Thrusters (34)
• Vader - LW, TIE/x1, ATC, TIE MkII (33)
• Vess - Trick Shot, TIE/x7 (33)

For me it's either that or Faan Langelaan's Cad Bane Triple Scouts.

I like it. Switching Juke for LW on Vader is a good idea.

But rather primed+MkII than Juke? Personally, I've never missed the tech on Quickdraw. And I can see the benefit of MkII. But then again Juke on an x7Defender is really useful. Especially if he shoots after Vader and QD, with a focus token very likely being spent. So Vessery gets fully modified attack plus Juke - that's guaranteed 2hits, very likely (75%) even 3 on every shot.

I would agree for EU, but MkII and PrimedThrusters never gave me that much benefit.

They're definitely up for discussion! I can see the value of Juke but I guess I prefer more options for keeping my ships on target. Player choice - the other 98pts are really solid though!

I think I'll give Juke a try. Anyway it will be better than 4 A-Wings. And my flying and decision making is not on a high enough level where these last two points make a large difference.

I'll update in 24h, hopefully I'll make top8

Get set up for your attack run!

32 minutes ago, Stay On The Leader said:

Get set up for your attack run!

Roger that!

One more question though, considering I haven't flown a Defender in roughly a year...

Which obstacles? I would normally take the large rocks. But the Defender has a more difficult dial and doesn't like much lateral movement, so I think 3 small ones at 2/2 might be much better for someone who played many games exclusively with a green hard 2?

I was taking large rocks when I played the list up to now, but I'm thinking Nym and FSR may change me to small. I need options to avoid bomblets, and I don't think FSR is ever going to be sucked into the rocks and I'll need the clearest route to chase them.

To make a short story even shorter: I realized 10min before start that I did not have the /SF cardboard with the auxiliary arc. Never happened to me before, so I had to improvise with what else I hade with me.

To give the long version, I went with this:

Poe Dameron (PS9) (33)
Push the Limit (3)
R2-D2 (4)
Primed Thrusters (1)
Autothrusters (2)
Black One (1)

Jake Farrell (24)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Chardaan Refit (-2)
Push the Limit (3)
Autothrusters (2)
A-Wing Test Pilot (0)

Gold Squadron Pilot (18)
Twin Laser Turret (6)
R3-A2 (2)

Total: 98

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

1. Game was amazing and looked to be quite close in the beginning, against OldFennaroo. But then my fullhealth Poe got one-shot by Fenn after he pulled of a great block that I thought he would never try due to obstacles. 30-100
2. Game was against a Backdraft+RAClo who killed Poe through his shields. My idea here was to take out RAC, keep him stressed (after debris for double stress!) to prevent Kylo and stay at range 3. Well, I switched targets after halfing RAC, which was a mistake, and I was in range 2 way too often. Also PTL and rebelcaptive do not like each other. Even less if I forget during the game about rebel captive. Twice. I could keep RAC stressed or out of the game for quite some time, but as soon as my Y-Wing was gone and RAC came back he just killed Poe in 3 rounds. 33-100
3. Game against a scum mindlink alphastrike list with Fenn, Tel and Ndru. I made the exact same mistake again, not expecting the block due to obstacles, which led to two range 1 shots by Fenn on Poe. Fool me twice, I can't get fooled again, right? Right?! I also misjudged how fast PTLFenn is, even though I should know better because I fly Jake. 24-100
4. Game against DengarTel, but flown by a little boy. 100-0

last two games were not official part of the tournament, but the non-cut players could still compete for some more prices, which was a great idea
5. Game against QD/Vessery/Sabacc. Quickly got Sabacc, then QD down to 1 hull. And then my things died and I still managed to punt. 25-100
6. Game against Corran/Dash. He was super tired so he made a couple of mistakes that I could capitalize on. 100-0

Overall I did not play well after the first game. Wrong calls, wrong strategies and target priorities. First game was lost because he did a great move and I made the mistake not to think he would. Second game was lost because I did not properly take his list into account. Ignore or focus down RAC, but I half-assed it- Third game was lost because I again did not think he would dare the block. The game was pretty even to that point. Fourth and sixth games don't really count. And number five came down to 3 wrong movements, as I again thought we both know the obvious movement and so I can take the risk. Wrong call!

My main take-aways:

• If a movement is obvious, then take it into account. He might still pick it, so don't take an unnecessary risk
• That includes blocks! A 9health ship can basically ignore an obstacle to block
• Stick to your plan. Might be bad, but spreading damage is worse
• And do not forget about crucial list components of your opponent!

I went 2-2 at my store champs, though the two wins were very comfortable and the two losses were VERY close (1 hull and 4 MOV on the last roll of the dice).

Rnd 1 - Moralo/Unkar/Fenn (100-34 win) I felt pretty confident going in but rapidly realised Unkar was going to be an absolute nightmare and I spent a couple of turns tied up in knots until I finally got him off the table. Once he was gone the rest was pretty simple.

Rnd 2 - Dengar/Fenn (100-33 win) Dengar/Fenn is my nemesis list, but I am my opponent's nemesis - we must have played a dozen times with all sorts of squads and I don't think he's ever beaten me. So it proved again, he flew Dengar in through a tight asteroid field which game me the opportunity to strand him on an asteroid with a crafty block from Vader while Vessery and Quickdraw did the bizzle. It took a long time to chase Fenn down but it was done.

Rnd 3 - QD/Vess/OL (74-100 loss) We're the two local Imperial players and as such we've both helped each other out with lists/strategy and met across the table in some really close games as our squads are so well matched. I had a bad rub of dice in the initial engagement despite better positioning and had to scrap HARD to get back to an even footing and make it a narrow loss. He ended the game with 1 hull on Omega Leader

Rnd 4 - Dengar/Fenn (67-63 loss) We played very cagily to begin with until I managed to force him to come and engage me. He won the first engage and I was in bad shape but when I feinted to chase Fenn he was forced to split his forces and left me 3 ships to gang up on Dengar, who went down in exchange for Quickdraw. I could have played for time and made sure I won but I did the sporting thing and tried to fight to a finish, which ultimately cost me the game as he destroyed Vessery with the last throw of the dice before time was called, leaving 33pts of Vader across the table from 34pts of Fenn and a 3pt bid. If it had been nationals not a store champ I win this game by just refusing to give him the shot.

So 2-2 was disappointing, but when you dig under that scoreline I was very happy with a lot of things.

• I still enjoy playing the squad and actually trying to get arc. I had much better results against Dengar than I've managed in the past.
• Lone Wolf was much worse than it had been in practice. Think I rerolled two dice all day, to no effect. Vader is still tough as an old boot, though, and the right ship for the squad because you can't get PTL Ryad in without 101pts. His loadout should change - I may try Adaptability/Proton Rockets/GC.
• Trick Shot on Vessery only triggered once, but killed Fenn when it did. I was chasing the dream 5 dice range 1 trick shot in round 4 when Vessery died on the last roll.
• The hard-1 turn on the Defender is amazing and nobody expects it. It was the hard 1 that killed Dengar in the 4th round, and Vessery then ran stressed for like 5 turns until a straight was the right move to dial. Twin Ion Engines would have been nice, but probably wouldn't have changed the outcome.
• Primed Thrusters did very little. Once it let me hard 1 and barrel for position through asteroids, not sure that's worth the point.