It's the end of the season, so I figured I'd write up a couple of reports for the store championships I attended in Colorado.

The first store champ of the season for me was a short day. I had to work in the evening, but I still wanted to get in a few games of X-Wing; so I played an 89-point Corran and Wedge list, so that I wouldn't feel too bad if I took some MoV from people who were actually going to be able to make the cut. I surprised myself by going 2-2 before dipping out.

For the next tournament, I decided to fly Echo and RAC, since it was one of the few competitive lists that I had dug up in a few months that was also fun for me to fly (although maybe not to fly against . . . ****, Kylo's a ****). This one's a little foggy, but I think I went 3-1 and made Top 8, losing one game after putting Echo on a debris (testament to my inexperience with the list). I did the same thing in the Top 8 match, but didn't really mind too much--we were both pretty tired, and I was fine with heading home at that point.

Anyway, onto the important ones--the two I actually remember (relatively) clearly.

Haunted Games (Fort Collins)

A couple of weeks before this tournament, I was scrolling through the store champs thread and went "huh . . . four ship Rebels really are back, aren't they?" The Jess+Rex+Brayeln combo had been finishing really well in a lot of places, with the only question being what to fill the last 26 points with. The basic answer is Biggs, but I didn't really want to fly him for a few reasons, the biggest one being that he's a different PS from everyone else, which cuts down on a few maneuvering options. I considered Tarn with M9-G8 (who's actually really solid, if you haven't tried him out), but decided against it because of how crappy he is when he has to turn around. At this point in the game, I feel like having just one K-turn is a pretty hefty drawback, as is not getting an action afterward. So I ended up going with Roark, because someone else did well with it (I think they won a store champ?).

The list, then, was Braylen (R3-A2, Gunner, Title), Rex, Jess Pava (R2-D6, TRICK SHOT!!!, Integrated Astromech, Pattern Analyzer), Roark Garnet (TLT, Inspiring Recruit). Only had a few practice games with this variant, but I wasn't too worried. Four-ship Rebels are my best squad; it's like riding a bike. Never forget.

I brought debris clouds--why fly well when you can YOLO it? In seriousness, rocks are just too punishing for a list like this in a tournament; losing one shot can be pretty devastating if you're up against arc-dodgers, or even if it just denies you the kill. Oh, also tractor beams. They'll ******* wreck any small-ship list with asteroids. And to be honest, while I'm pretty comfortable maneuvering around rocks, most of my opponents are, too. In the case that there's a big enough skill differential where the other guy is hitting rocks and I'm not, I should be able to beat him anyway.

You'll have to bear with me a bit; my memories are a little foggy at this point, a month or so later.

Game One

I was up against a Dengar Nym build. Obstacles were pretty well spread out, with a bit of a cluster on the lefthand side. I deployed in the right. Braylen goes in the top right so that he's in the back when I turn in (lets me bump him to keep arc) and I think I ended up putting Rex on the outside, too. He deployed on my left. The approach was pretty straightforward; we moved up, turned in, and jousted. The first round didn't go well for him; I popped Rex up to PS 12 to shoot Dengar, so he used the revenge shot on Rex, and then did his normal shot on someone else. With no focused fire, none of my ships went down; and to add insult to injury, I managed to bring Dengar down on the first turn of shooting. After that, Nym was dead; he managed to put a few bombs out, but I took him down pretty quick. He may have gotten Rex, but I'm not sure on that one. Also pretty sure I hit a debris for a crit during this game.

Game Two

I got to play Dan, the guy I drove up with. He was flying Vessery (Juke, X7), Quickdraw (Expertise, LWF, FCS, title, some tech), and Omega Leader (Juke and Comm, duh), a list he'd totally stolen from another local fella (except the original had Ryad, not Vess).

I set up the exact same way, bottom right. He set up top left, and sent his fellas in at different angles. The Defender went fast to wrap around and flank, QD went head-on, and OL came in from above. I really mucked up the approach; I needed to either be more ballsy or more cautious, but I ended up hem-hawing into range of all his guys, with a very annoying QuickDraw at Range 2ish (blocking any K-turns and so on next round). I put Braylen to 12, thinking that shutting off QuickDraw's Expertise would be pretty much like Rex shoooting. Two problems there: the first, QuickDraw took a focus for her action. The second . . . when Rex shoots, you want to kill him. That's good for me. When Bralyen shoots, you try to kill him, and he did in fact drop on the first round of shooting.

After that, I mucked it up proper. Jess had at least one or two turns with no shots, and he killed Rex real fast. Roark couldn't keep TLT range once they focused on him, so he went down too, although I managed to take down QuickDraw at some point before losing Mr. Garnet. Jess was just cleanup. Oh, and I know I hit at least one debris for a crit this game.

Game Three

I believe this was against Chiraneau and Intensity Vessery. Chirpy had Isard, Dauntless, Expose, and some other things. To be honest, though, I was really happy to see this list. Last time I was flying four-ship Rebels (successfully) was during the era of fat turrets, and I managed second (so close!!!) at a regional with that. I know how Decis fly.

He brought rocks, so I put most of them at the top of the board, far away from me. There were only a couple of debris clouds on my end, both toward the corners. I deployed as I had, bottom right. He put Chiraneau in the middle, angled to come straight at me, with Vess off to one side. He was, however, smarter than I might've hoped, and immediately turned Chiraneau away instead of jousting. Vessery also turned tail, and I trailed down the edge of the board. I banked in, and Chirpy did a four-straight that put him out of range of my guys, and somewhere pretty close to the bottom board edge. This was the big turn: he could either three-hard away and run, or three-hard in and get behind me. That gave me two options: bank in, so that I'd have arc if he ran, or turn in hard, so that I'd have arc if he tried to get past me. In the end, it wasn't too tough. Vess was still caught up in rocks, so he wouldn't be a problem; and I was pretty confident that RAC would turn in, since getting chased down with four ships on your tail isn't exactly a win. Plus, even if he did turn away, my TLT would have range; worst case, we trade damage.

My wager paid off, though; I turned in hard and so did he, landing himself right in all my arcs, without a place to boost. I Rex'd him and stressed him and all that good stuff. Next round I bumped Braylen into Jess and I think I bumped Jess into Roark, too, so that I could keep my arcs no matter where he went--actionless shots are better than no shots. In fact, I'm pretty sure I bumped Rex, too, for the same reason. And then Roark blocked, because that's what HWKs do. And then, just to add insult to injury, his Exposed Deci rolled five dice and came up with five focus--just when he didn't have an action!

It took me a round or two to polish off Chiraneau. By the time Vessery was in the fight, it was already over. After that, Braylen's stress, a bump or two and that good ol' TLT polished off the Defender in no time. I don't think I even lost Rex.

Game Four

This was against an interesting Boba Manaroo list. Manaroo had the title, R4-B11 (reroll your greens droid), Bodyguard, and . . . Engine maybe? Boba had Engine (I think) along with Cluster Missiles, K4, VI, Glitterstim, and some other odds and ends. Funnily enough, the guy I was playing turned out to be from around the same area as me; he's now been stopping by our Tuesday night league.

Anyway, I did my same old setup. Obstacles were loose, mostly in the corners, with a bit of a clump in the middle. There was one annoying debris cloud that was Range 3 or 4 from my board edge, too. I went bottom right again, he went top left again. He moved his guys in, Boba a bit in front. I almost lost my nerve at one point and turned over the debris, but then I reminded myself to think of what he would do, not what he could. Yes, Boba could do a three-hard and boost and get range, but he wouldn't. He wants his free target lock, and Manaroo for support. And sure enough he did the one-bank, so we ended up engaging under pretty favorable circumstances; my guys at Range 2 of a boosting Boba, and Manaroo without any decent shots. He popped Glitterstim, which was gravy, and target locked either Braylen or Jess. So I popped Rex to 12 and gave him suppressing fire. He ended up shooting the missiles anyway, which was a bit of a mistake; two attacks at two dice isn't all that scary. I put a decent amount of hurt out in return, although with his rerolls and stims, not much went through.

Next round he made a great move, a four-straight that gave him rear arc shots while dodging most or all of my arcs. I ended up shooting Manaroo instead, with Braylen putting some stress out. After that, Boba had to circle back to the fight; and I went about the slow business of chasing Manaroo down. Fortunately, once she got stressed, she was fairly predictable; and the TLT, along with Jess's ability and Gunner on Braylen, meant that I was able to burn her down as Boba was getting back to the fight. Manaroo had at least brought down the TIE fighter, though; and I knew MOV would be tight. I was angled through the asteroids, toward the upper board edge by now; Boba was parallel to the board edge, with the options of turning in or running to get rear arc shots. He chose the latter, which was fine by me. He got one or two shots, but took several stress; and then he was stuck in the corner, trying to clear it and turn around. That gave me a few free rounds of shooting and positioning, and I'm pretty sure I killed him off by putting Jess at 12.

After all that, I ended up making Top 4 at 2nd seed, I think, which meant I got to face Tyson.

Top 4

Tyson was flying Miranda and Nym, both decked out with missiles, TLTs, bombs . . . the works. I did the same deployment (if it ain't broke, don't fix it); and, if you'll imagine it, he deployed top left. I immediately messed up, though, by breaking the "ain't broke/don't fix" motto. Instead of doing a two-straight and THEN a two-bank, I opened with a two-bank . . . not a big deal, really, but it put a debris between me and him. First round of combat, things were looking pretty good for him. Miranda was obstructed, with a target lock on Rex, and Nym had done a four-straight and TL'ed Rex as well for the Cruise Missile shot. I bumped Rex to 12 since I figured I may as well get one shot in with him; even spent my focus on offense, because why the **** not, and put through two shields on Miranda. Nym's five-dice cruise missile then rolled and rerolled into three hits, one of which I dodged; and Miranda's four-dice homing missile rolled and rerolled into two hits, both of which Rex dodged.

I just looked up and said "sorry." Rex was dead to rights, but that's the dice sometimes. Miranda bombed Roark next round and Sabine'd the last damage onto Rex, killing him; Jess banked to face Nym (who Advanced Sensored and arc-dodged), and Braylen took a crit rolling over a debris cloud to get arc on Miranda, who had one hull left. Roark made Braylen a 12, and, even though I needed the Gunner shot, I managed to kill off Miranda. Nym did . . . something. I don't know. TLT'd Braylen I guess. After that, my guys broke up a bit, trying to hunt down Nym. He did a bit of damage with bomblets, and I think I took another crit or two from debris. Pretty sure it was three total this game. Nym and Roark traded some TLT shots, with Roark's dice making him the winner by far in that exchange; and he plinked some shields off of Braylen. Jess and the ARC slowly closed in on him, while I turned Roark away; I just needed him to be a support ship. In the end, Nym landed at Range 2 of Jess. Roark made her a 12, and she finished off the pirate captain.

Championship

This was against Dan again! Same list obviously, Quickdraw, Vess, and Omega. This time I made sure there was a big ol' jousting lane in the middle; most of the debris clouds were clustered toward the top. I did my same deployment; Dan put his guys in the far corner. He made good use of the debris clouds, using them as cover for Omega and Quickdraw (Omega went center, Quickdraw right, and Vessery raced down the flanks). I banked in, facing toward Omega, who barrel rolled out. Quickdraw and Jess traded shots, which went very favorably for me; I stripped two shields on one shot, while he stripped one shield on two.

At this point, I pretty much had to commit to someone. Vess was going to turn in, as was Quickdraw; and Omega would either bank in or do a hard turn away. I guessed the latter was pretty unlikely, though, knowing Dan; it could juke me out, but it could also put his ship out of the fight for half the game. So I did a very non-committal sort of committing and went two-straight toward Omega. Sure enough, she banked in, as did the other two. I didn't have a great round of combat; I think perhaps I took a shot or two at Quickdraw to take her shields down, and between Jess and Braylen I also put a shield and some stress on Omega, as well as stripping her evade. This time, I decided NOT to pull a stupid K-turn with Jess and instead just banked her away, setting up for the next round. Omega rolled over a debris, and Braylen ended up with a Range 1 obstructed shot on her. I made him a 12 and he delivered, dropping four natural hits--didn't even need to spend my focus. Omega was happy to oblige with zero evades, and died before she could shoot. Rex went down, though, and Braylen was bleeding. He limped away; Jess Trolled, Roark slowly turned around, Vessery K-Turned behind my squad, and QuickDraw turned away rather than getting shot a bunch. Braylen put a couple of stress on the Defender, and even managed to survive the return shot. He held on for another round, shooting at 12. Jess sidled into Range 1 of Vessery, Roark supplied some TLT shots, and Dan's dice were once again a little less than kind. The Defender popped, Braylen popped, and a turn or two later, Quickdraw popped. It was a win.

So there you have it. Took some luck to get there, but I still got there. Also racked up a really impressive tally of debris cloud crits. I know it was at least five, maybe six? I may have flown over a few, but I know it was nowhere near forty! Anyway, I got some classy plastic and a funny little giftcard that says Regional Championship Bye on it.

Another quicker batrep coming right up.

Last tourney of the season was down in Denver. I already had my good finish out of the way for the season, so I brought something goofy and a ton of fun:

Kylo Ren (VI, Kylo Ren's Shuttle, Pattern Analyzer, Engine, Palpatine, FCS) and Dormitz (Engine, PA, FCS, Gunner, Vader). These guys bring a whole new meaning to the term "doomshuttle," and if you want to play a fun list that really isn't too shabby, you've gotta try it out. Seriously, I was something like 10-3 in practice games with this list, and that included three Dash lists (all of which were wins, although that probably had something to do with none of them having Engine Upgrade). Funnily enough, the list it really struggles against is Fat Falcons, for whatever reason.

Round 1

My opponent brought Vader, Quickdraw, and a TLT Agressor. As soon as she saw my list, she said she regretted NOT bringing her alpha strike cruise missiles list, which would've wiped one of my guys off the table Round 1.

We both had debris, which I tried to keep spread out--I want at least one decent jousting lane in the middle, and I want the rocks on my side to be not QUITE in the corner. That's because of the weird little setup I've developed with this list. You put Dormitz in the corner, angled to go straight down the middle lane. Then, using his ability, you put Kylo at the same angle at the edge of Range 2 from Dormitz, halfway down the side of the playmat. It's weird. It throws people off, and I love that.

I put my guys like that on the righthand side. She put Vader midright, Quickdraw far right, and the Agressor far left. On the first round, I did a three bank right with Kylo and a boost, putting me immediately into range of Quickdraw. Dormitz did a three straight and bank boost. Quickdraw, caught off guard, did a three-straight that put her in a terrible position: in my arc at Range 1, without arc on me, and millimeters away from having a barrel roll. It was a stroke of bad luck which I capitalized on. Five dice with Palp and some subpar greens meant QuickDraw lost her shields with no retaliation. Next round I banked in with Dormitz while Kylo banked around the edge of the map, running up on the TLT. QuickDraw and Vader both shot Dormitz, with Vader firing his Cruise Missiles and taking four or five shields. QuickDraw, though, blanked against Dormitz, and used the title to double-tap Kylo for one damage. Dormitz then killed Quickdraw without even needing Vader crew, and the TLT went down that round or the round after.

At that point, it was Vader against two shuttles, and let me tell you, it was pretty nerve-racking for me. Double-repositioning ships really suck for this list, and it took ages for me to get any sort of shots. Meanwhile, he ground Dormitz down. Finally, I managed to bait Vader into shooting Kylo (and I actually Palped to a blank on evade, just to be sure he'd hit), and slapped a Damaged Cockpit on Show You the Dark Side. A few rounds after that, a costly mistake let me get a shot on Vader and push that crit through. Once he was at zero, lining up that final shot was child's play. It was some luck, but I managed to win against this one.

Round 2

This was against Miranda and Nym, which was going to be pretty rough. With SLAM and Advanced Sensors, it would be really hard to get shots; Gunner and Vader are largely wasted; and TLTs are pretty nasty. Oh, and also Cruise Missiles. I knew that to have a chance at this one, I'd need to get a Damaged Cockpit on Nym; otherwise, he would bump or dodge me every round.

I set up on the left side, angled in; he set up on the right, one guy facing into the board, the other at ninety degrees. I pretty much went forward full throttle: three-straight and boost with Dormitz and a three-bank with Kylo. He turned one fellow in so that they were both heading down the right board edge. Next round I did a couple of three-banks and boosts and ended up with Range on both. Miranda turned in and landed in both arcs, then SLAMed to avoid one; Nym was at Range 3 of both, and hit Kylo with his TLTs. I sighed in relief and put down the Damaged Cockpit, Palped to a crit, and pushed it through. Next round was nasty, with Miranda dropping a Conner Net on Dormitz as both of my ships did hard stops. Nym, moreover, boosted and flew right out of arc, putting me in a nasty spot; but the Upsilons had a couple of tricks up their sleeves. Kylo had a Target Lock from FCS already; so Dormitz did a zero stop (before the Conner Net, for those who are keeping track), used Pattern Analyzer to Coordinate, and gave Kylo a focus. Then Kylo zero stopped and used Pattern Analyzer to boost with a one-bank, setting up a Range 1 shot with focus, target lock, and Palp against Nym. He straggled away with one hull, and thanks to a misplay on my next turn (one straight instead of two-banking in), he managed to stay out of my arcs for several more rounds, TLTing away. Miranda's bombs weren't helping either, especially the Thermal Detonators.

Eventually I regrouped and came back in. I vaped Nym quickly, and then went after Miranda. She ended up in the top left corner, where I came crashing through a few debris clouds after her, stacking up plenty of stress and a crit (man, do those clouds hate me). I decided to be bold after stripping her shields and Vader'd an extra crit through, killing off Dormitz; he would've died next round anyway, and this way she'd shoot Kylo, so that I could use his pilot ability. Anyway, that crit was the luckiest of the game: Damaged Sensor Array. No actions. That meant she couldn't SLAM away. As it was, she was facing the corner, so she had to two-hard one direction or the other; and a two-bank from me would get me arc either way. Sure enough, I managed it, even though I clipped another debris, putting me up to three stress on Kylo and making this a real now-or-never moment. I fired with TL and Palp and punched through the last couple of damage, ending it for all. That said, this game made very clear one glaring weakness of this list: it absolutely bleeds MoV. I think it was 76-100 or something like that. At that point, I had no illusions of making the cut. I'd pretty much have to go undefeated, and there was no way that I would manage that, especially as the day drew on and I started to forget all my triggers. My goal was Top 8, just for pride.

Round 3

This was against the best list I faced all day: Intensity BB-8 Poe, Intensity Jake, and Green Squadron A=Wing with Cruise Missiles, Deadeye, and Chips.

I set up on the right side, and he set up on the left. It didn't take long for him to get the better of me. Jake turned in to flank on my right, while Poe headed straight on. Both of them had so much repositional ability that my only real chance was to go after the Green Squadron; unfortunately, he saw that one coming, and buggered out of there with him. On the first round of combat, I got one shot, which did one damage to Poe. The next round also went badly. I knew I had to get back in the fight quick, so I did a couple of maneuvers meant to put me over debris clouds and out of the way. Unfortunately I missed my mark by a couple of millimters on each ship; neither completely cleared the debris could. Not only could they not use Pattern Analyzer to boost off (the template would overlap), but they would run over it again next round, giving me another stress. The A-Wing dodged away again, and his guys were now properly in my blind spot. I pretty much had to go all-in if I wanted a shot at this point, so I did a couple more hard turns over debris, resigned to being stressed for the rest of the game; but there was just no way to pin down Jake or Poe. They were too dodgy, and he was very cautious with all of his ships. When he brought Dormitz down, I called the game; there was no way to win the way it was going. I'd been flat-out outplayed, which was kinda okay; I was alright with losing to a cool list that was flown well, rather than, say, fairship Rebels.

Also, if you haven't tried Intensity Jake, you should. I hadn't really realized how cool it is to focus into a barrel roll, then trigger intensity for another focus, which allows you to boost. Pretty nifty.

Round 4

This was against Vader, Quickdraw, and Sabacc, and it was quick and bloody. I was pretty tired as it was, so I had pretty much decided against putting too much thought into it. My opponent was taken aback by my setup, and took a good long minute to figure out how to approach it; and that, more than anything, won him the match. He told me that he just had to pretend like we were a few rounds into the game: round one would be the first round of shooting. So how do you approach it?

Quickdraw and Vader both moved four-straight and fired Cruise Missiles into Kylo (who did a three straight and boost). The prudent thing may have been a zero-stop, but I wasn't so sure; do a stop this round, and you can't go nearly as fast next round. If he slow-rolls, then he just wins. So I went fast, and traded Kylo for Sabacc on the first round. Dormitz put up a fight, stripping Quickdraw's shields, but he just couldn't manage against two high-PS aces. He got outmaneuvered and burned down quick.

After that, I went home. I think there was another round, but I was wiped; I'd had my fun for the day, plus I had a long drive and I was operating on five hours of sleep, which for me (unlike some mighty heroes) is not enough. Nonetheless, I certainly enjoyed the tournament; it was definitely one of the most fun lists I've ever played, just for the sheer joy of chucking five dice twice in a round, with the added bonus of making a bunch of them crits. It's good enough to win games, too, and that's just gravy.

Oh, and I definitely kept up that streak of rolling crits on debris clouds. Seriously, I rolled four in my round three match alone. I might believe it if you said I hit twelve or sixteen clouds, but thirty-two seems a little steep Not that it really mattered, of course; I'd have lost that match either way. It got to the point where I was seriously considering Palping them to blanks . . . or even to hits, just for the **** of it . . .

Anyway, thanks for reading. Fly casual!

Interesting to see. I've been wondering about using a pair of shuttles, and this sounds fun.

I'm wondering if something other than veteran instincts might help Kylo, though - PS8 isn't that high, and Expert Handling or Daredevil might help deal with the really squirrely aces?

Equally, can you find the points for Hyperwave Comm Scanners for the two of them? Being able to deploy Kylo such that you can set up after aces, well into the board, and get a co-ordinated boost, a speed 3 bank and a free focus on turn 1 could go a long way to blowing some fool to dust bunnies before they know you're there!

6 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Interesting to see. I've been wondering about using a pair of shuttles, and this sounds fun.

I'm wondering if something other than veteran instincts might help Kylo, though - PS8 isn't that high, and Expert Handling or Daredevil might help deal with the really squirrely aces?

Equally, can you find the points for Hyperwave Comm Scanners for the two of them? Being able to deploy Kylo such that you can set up after aces, well into the board, and get a co-ordinated boost, a speed 3 bank and a free focus on turn 1 could go a long way to blowing some fool to dust bunnies before they know you're there!

Weirdly enough, I had a hard time finding different ways to allocate the points. EU, VI, FCS, and Pattern Analyzer are all mandatory as far as I'm concerned, and the Vader Gunner combo is pretty much the list's answer to Fenn. I toyed with drilling the title for Daredevil, but it ended up being incredibly useful in a few spots, especially against aces; Vader and QuickDraw are a lot easier to catch when they're limited to greens. That's kinda personal preference, though, and Daredevil might still be worth trying out.

Expert Handling I don't care for, because of how badly stress can cripple you. A barrel roll at PS 6 isn't that great, and it takes away your zero stop and one turn.

VI I liked just because it opened up a few opportunites to use Blinded Pilot instead of Damaged Cockpit, and simultaneous fire is nothing to scoff at when you've just got two shuttles on the board; and moving after Dash is absolutely essential if you want to have any chance of beating him. You could drop it for Comm Scanner, which I did for a bit (and I sorta liked being able to make Dormitz a 6 to deploy after Fairship), but ultimately I prefer VI.

Nice reports, really like your unique shuttle build, seems like that could really throw someone off!