1 hour ago, NeverBetTheFett said:

Ballzy (no groups) and greedy (3 big guns)! I LOVE IT! Nice job

Thanks! It’s so fun :-)

-ryanjamal

1 hour ago, NeverBetTheFett said:

Ya, I'm so tempted to go to an Iggy list. I love the mercs so much, but you must have Iggy.

I’m toying with a Merc list that’s a lot of fun right now, but I’m going without Iggy. I’ll let you know next Regionals if it’s a good idea :-)

-ryanjamal

24 minutes ago, aermet69 said:

Iggy is solid, but I actually found that I prefer to play to "smaller" guys in most lists. In the Victory Manipulation list, I started out with Iggy - because you must have - but with him, I couldn't get Greedo and Greedo is muster have than Iggy

Greedo + Bossk felt better than Iggy and in hindsight I'd do Greedo + Shyla I think for even more control (and speed).

YES!!! Fully agree. I find Greedo just so **** good for the points. He's so versatile. I've never used him and felt like he wasn't worth it. I can't say the same about many other figures in this game. I also agree that Shyla seems better than Bossk. Although I fully admit that I would need to give him another try. I just felt like he mostly let me down.

#GIA

3 minutes ago, ryanjamal said:

I’m toying with a Merc list that’s a lot of fun right now, but I’m going without Iggy. I’ll let you know next Regionals if it’s a good idea :-)

-ryanjamal

I'm tempted to do the same. I have a merc list sans Iggy ready to go. I just worry that in this game you need a beast in your list (Han, Luke, Vader, Iggy). But I'm sure that's not 100% true.

1 minute ago, NeverBetTheFett said:

I'm tempted to do the same. I have a merc list sans Iggy ready to go. I just worry that in this game you need a beast in your list (Han, Luke, Vader, Iggy). But I'm sure that's not 100% true.

Well, two of those four can be in Merc lists, so Iggy is no requirement :-)

But yeah, it’s hard to deal with an Iggy or Vader without an equivalent.

-ryanjamal

2 minutes ago, ryanjamal said:

Well, two of those four can be in Merc lists, so Iggy is no requirement :-)

But yeah, it’s hard to deal with an Iggy or Vader without an equivalent.

-ryanjamal

True. Luke you could temp alliance into a merc list, but not Han because you can't take in his upgrade card right? And ya you could take temp alliance your fave mercs into an Vader imp list so good point.

8 minutes ago, NeverBetTheFett said:

True. Luke you could temp alliance into a merc list, but not Han because you can't take in his upgrade card right? And ya you could take temp alliance your fave mercs into an Vader imp list so good point.

I've been toying with the idea of an empire list like this...definitely a heavy hitter/alpha strike type thing. Not sure if it would be competitive at the highest levels though.

13 Vader w/ DBH

6 BT1

7 Elite Jets

6 Onar

4 Greedo

2 Imp Officer

1 Zillo

1 Temp

I ran:

Han (with Rogue Smuggler)

Jyn

E Rangers

C-3P0

Gideon

R2-D2

Alliance Smuggler

Rebel High Command

Balance of the Force

-------------------------------

With my first round bye I went 3-1

My only loss was second round to @ryanjamal - that Drokatta is a pain and I knew it would be but I lost a ranger early trying to sneak some long range damage on Drokatta early, and my Jyn got one shot by Ahsoka (super close, I think he added blitz to do it). I'd gotten like 10 damage on his Han but he ran him back to safety and brought up the other biggies. Drokatta did lots of splash damage after that. E Rangers all died so it's hard after that to pull it off.

But my two other games were a really hard fought close win against Wendy's Vader list on the crate carrying mission on the Back Alleys Round 3 - ended up having to chase her E Jets/Officers/E Riots who were dropping crates back in her deployment zone while I was running away from Vader near mine! Jyn scoring a crate in Wendy's deployment zone was the highlight of the game in my mind and Jyn stopped a couple from getting scored.

Then in round 4 I got paired against my traveling buddy @Matsu Robun on Nal Hutta - It was a huge bummer knowing one of us would lose and likely not make the top 8 since we'd be 3/1 and 2/2. Honestly thought it would be me since he's running two sets of E Sentries with Hera for extra range and one set with Explosive Armaments for more splash damage. But I was able to put some serious pressure on one E sentry beginning of second round (after losing an E Ranger end of round 1) with a call the vanguard and then Take Initiative. He ran his sentry back and covered with 3P0 in front of it, but I was able to swing my Han around the corner for a back door shot with Element of surprise just before the end of round to use Han's End of round to kill it. And then it was just a matter of time. Matt's a great player, it just didn't happen this game. Sadly, he ended up getting 9th since only one 2/2 made it in at 8th.

At the cut I went in as 4th place but lost first round to @Brigadierblu on Jabba's Palace picking up crates mission. It was atrocious. I should have gone towards the middle of the map and never opened my door, but I thought I had an opening to open the door and shoot with a focused E Ranger and an unfocused one and take out a focused E Sentry before it went, but it lived with 1 health. They returned fire and it ran away and I lost a ranger. Iggy went and killed another. And then Blaze of Glory'd - I ran away and stalled but it was basically over. John went on to win the whole tourney - congrats @Brigadierblu !

I second what the guys have said - Sparta Games in Omaha, NE is one of my favorite stores I've ever been too. It felt like playing at a small FFG headquarters. The guys working there were really friendly and just made sure everyone had a great time! Thanks again to @ThatJakeGuy for setting up the airbnb and getting us all together to play some great games and IA!

1 hour ago, Masterchiefspiff said:

I ran:

Han (with Rogue Smuggler)

Jyn

E Rangers

C-3P0

Gideon

R2-D2

Alliance Smuggler

Rebel High Command

Balance of the Force

-------------------------------

With my first round bye I went 3-1

I second what the guys have said - Sparta Games in Omaha, NE is one of my favorite stores I've ever been too. It felt like playing at a small FFG headquarters. The guys working there were really friendly and just made sure everyone had a great time! Thanks again to @ThatJakeGuy for setting up the airbnb and getting us all together to play some great games and IA!

Sounds like it was a great trip and congrats on a great finish with a cool list. Lists like this further prove to me that this game is in a disgustingly good place right now. How did you feel Han performed?

Omaha Sparta Games, I ran:

10 Han w RS
9 Drokkatta
5 Jyn
4 Hera
3 Gideon
3 R2-D2
2 C-3PO
2 Alliance Smuggler
2 Alliance Smuggler

I felt like the 9th activation was particularly useful with Han, essentially guaranteeing him the last activation of the first round in every game. I had Card Draw, Objective control, and a little firepower with Han/Drokkatta/Jyn backed up by Hera when they came up short.

Round 1:

I played DJ on Jabba’s New Ownership. He was a relatively new player playing a Vader/Jets/Palp list. I was able to take out Palp with 2 Han attacks in round 1. He had some jet attacks come up short on accuracy, and I was able to collect some objectives and stay away from Vader. Win 1-0

Round 2:

I played Ben @GottaBadFeelingAboutThis , on the Jawa A scenario. He was running a rebels smuggler/spy list. I remember that he had Smuggler's run on Jyn, and I let him go get those points and focused on removing some other figures. By the time Jyn came back, I had control of the board and objectives. Win 2-0

Round 3:

I played against @Brigadierblu on Jawa’s B. I left Jyn exposed, and he took two focused attacks at her with some Sentries. I dodged them both. She also later dodged an IG attack, and I was about to flip the table over on his behalf and I switched to a different white dice. anyway, I was able to take out his sentries and run some crates back with my smugglers. he had his Sentries providing a shield wall to IG, but I was able to cut through them before they could activate again. I eventually was able to wear down IG and John conceded. It was the only loss on the day for the eventual Champ. I'm 3-0 at this point, and I'm happy because dice are guaranteed. Win 3-0

Round 4: @ryanjamal has a nice write up on his day, and some of my thoughts are on his thread. Our matchup on Nal Hutta Shieldsd was basically a bloodbath. We traded figures and he ended up with a hard fought 40(+) to 39 win. Loss 3-1, but I got dice.

Knockout round 1:

I got seeded second, and had a terrible draw. @seef1033 also finished 3-1 (many byes were spent) and somehow ended up in 7th. Strength of schedule is a mystery sometimes.

Dave got the stair side of Jabba's A. He had a great plan for his two alliance smugglers and ended up with multiple crates in round 1. He baited me into taking a focused shot with Drokkatta on his Han, and then played OTL, spoiling some serious blast damage to several of his figures. After that, Drokkatta bit the dust, and Dave navigated the stairs really well so he could pop out and shoot, then retreat to safety, only presenting a smuggler or R2 for me to shoot at. We were getting close to time, and I did not have a way to come back against the objective points he had stacked up, so I conceded shortly before time was called. Loss. 3-2 on the day.

I got some dice, and had a fun day.

39 minutes ago, NeverBetTheFett said:

Sounds like it was a great trip and congrats on a great finish with a cool list. Lists like this further prove to me that this game is in a disgustingly good place right now. How did you feel Han performed?

Han performed wonderfully! I don't know if it's because I played my rangers relatively badly (positioning/moving too far forward/opponents just wanted them dead) or they just had the bigger target on their heads but my Rangers were almost always the first shooting figures to get focused on and taken out. But I got a ton of work out of Han and I don't think I turtled up with with 3P0 much if at all the whole day (mainly just first round in a game to have a staging area) because I needed to extend and shoot with Han or run from Vader and 3P0 die haha.

6 hours ago, NeverBetTheFett said:

I'm tempted to do the same. I have a merc list sans Iggy ready to go. I just worry that in this game you need a beast in your list (Han, Luke, Vader, Iggy). But I'm sure that's not 100% true.

If you're so hard up to have a beast in your list, stop beating around the bush and run a Rancor already.

This was my list for the Omaha Regional:

10 Han + Rogue Smuggler
8 Elite Echo Base Troopers
5 Jyn
4 Hera
3 Gideon
3 R2-D2
2 C-3PO
2 Alliance Smuggler
2 Alliance Smuggler

1 Unshakable

As many have said, Sparta Games was the perfect spot for this tournament. They have great beers on tap and great staff---everybody wins. I was really happy to finish 5-2 in a group of such consistent and high caliber players. I lost both games on Nal Hutta- Shielded (which confirmed my suspicion that this was going to be a challenging scenario for my list---take nothing away from @ThatJakeGuy and @Brigadierblu who both outplayed me in their respective wins).

I love the IA tournament scene that continues to introduce me to some quality competitors and genuinely awesome people.

Good to hang out with all of you usual suspects @Matsu Robun , @Masterchiefspiff , @brystrom1 , @ryanjamal and to briefly meet meet a fellow Benedictine College Alum @The Archangel ---looking forward to the Manhattan Regional.

Obligatory shout out to @wannabepudge and @Fightwookies . GIA

4 hours ago, seef1033 said:

@ThatJakeGuy
@Brigadierblu

I love the IA tournament scene that continues to introduce me to some quality competitors and genuinely awesome people.

Good to hang out with all of you usual suspects @Matsu Robun , @Masterchiefspiff , @brystrom1 , @ryanjamal and to briefly meet meet a fellow Benedictine College Alum @The Archangel ---looking forward to the Manhattan Regional.

Obligatory shout out to @wannabepudge and @Fightwookies . GIA

We should have taken a picture of the group in our GIA shirts

Where/when: Omaha Regional - 1/13/18

My list: Smuggler’s Den

12 Han Solo

-2 Rogue Smuggler

15 Chewbacca

-4 Wookiee Avenger

6 Lando Calrissian

5 Jyn Odan

3 Gideon Argus

2 C-3PO

2 Alliance Smuggler

1 Balance of the Force

Command Deck:

3 Debts Repaid

3 On the Lam

2 Tools for the Job

2 Heart of Freedom

2 I Make my Own Luck

2 Run for Cover

1 Brace for Impact

1 Negation

1 Smuggled Supplies

1 Tough Luck

0 Element of Surprise

0 Officer’s Training

0 Positioning Advantage

0 Take Initiative

0 Urgency

This was also my first tournament. My goal was to make the cut for Top 8. Maybe a little lofty for a first timer and 17 players, but I wanted to get there nonetheless! I didn’t spend any time worrying about recording details, so I’m going to rely on my memory and my scoresheet to give a summary. I’m apologize if it’s a bit vague and blurry. If my opponents are reading, please feel free to correct me. Here it goes!

Round 1: Tim on Jabba’s Palace (New Ownership) List: Palp, eJets w/Cross Training x2, eClawdite, Greedo, rOfficers x2, Temp Alliance (missing 1 point somewhere)

This was a close match. I believe he started with initiative. I got the red deployment zone and was happy about that because I had practiced from that zone more. This was really the tale of two battles on different parts of the map and objective play. I threw my Alliance Smug into the pit to hold that objective while he sent one eJet to the top of the map to hold that one. The first battle consisted of Greedo & Palp vs. Lando and Han in the red hallway. His Greedo really shined as he rolled 3 dodges. He used those Greedo shots and Palp’s command/Lightning to take out Han and Lando. I believe Lando finally got Greedo before going down. He also Comms Distrupted my Debts Repaid when I tried to play it. I lost that battle. However, in the blue hallway, Chewie was able to soak some minor damage before he and Jyn took out 3 eJets and the Clawdite. The Wookiee also held the middle objective for me in rounds 2 & 3. I got to 40 points on mission objectives right at the time call.

1-0

Round 2: Jake @ThatJakeGuy on Mos Eisley Back Alleys (Stashed Away) List: IG-88 w/Focused on the Kill, eQuays x2, Greedo, eJawa, Gideon, C-3PO, Temp Alliance, Black Market

Another super close match. Jake won initiative and I once again got the red deployment zone. I got to play Debts Repaid after IG-88 blew away Jyn in the main crossroad. I charged Chewie right next to IG-88 despite the droid still having 12 health or so. However, with Chewie focused from Jyn’s death, I played Tools and rolled 5 dice. IG-88 went down on Chewie’s free Slam. My victory was short lived as the Wookiee was left surrounded by 4 eQuays and didn’t last very long. Jake then set his sights on Han in the main hallway. I wasn’t worried as I had On the Lam in my hand. I made a newbie mistake and missed my window to play it, so Han took a hard hit from an augmented first eQuay shot. I didn’t miss Lam on the second eQuay shot and was able to move him back with 3PO. Jake and I continued to exchange blows as I picked off an eQuay and the Jawa with Lando and a focused Alliance Smuggler while he took out Han. Time was dwindling and we both turned our attention to objective control. Time was called, but I was able to defeat his Gideon and play Urgency to get my Gideon in close range to pick off a second eQuay to seal the win.

2-0

Round 3: Ryan Jamal @ryanjamal on Mos Eisley Back Alleys (Concealed Treasures) List: Rogue Han, Drokatta, Ahsoka, Hera, Gideon, C-3PO, Alliance Smug and Rebel High Command

Hard to forget this match because it was a slaughter. I misplayed round one terribly and left a shooting gallery. My intention was to grab about 2, possibly 3 crates early with Chewie, Han and Lando covering the main hallway. However, I cracked a door too early and Chewie and Gideon were fried by his Han and Ahsoka by the end of the round one. Jyn and Lando followed quickly in round two. He also rolled a dodge with Ahsoka on my only really good shot attempt with my Han. I played it out to get any points possible. I got one crate home at the tail end, but it was over long before that. I felt I let him down a bit and apologized for not giving him a better game because he was excited to see what Han and Chewie could do on the table together. If only we could’ve gotten the same level of excitement as my other games. Maybe over Vassal, my friend!

2-1

Round 4: Kurt on Nal Hutta Swamps (Shielded) List: Rogue Han, Drokatta, Ko-Tun, Jyn, Hera, Chopper, C-3PO.

This was probably my favorite match. I formulated a plan and executed it the best out of all my matches. It’s also sadly the blurriest one. Kurt won initiative, but chose the red deployment zone leaving me with the coveted blue zone. He centralized his units primarily around his terminal. I spread out and contested the two wing terminals with my Alliance Smuggler and Jyn. After I first moved the Smug to the “cliff” shield, he took a very long shot with Ko-Tun and missed due to the Smug's Slippery and the shield. Chewie and Lando took cover in the middle lane. He proceeded to move Drokatta to the middle shield and Demolish to do some damage and slow me down. Jyn got the “pond” shield. This is the blurry part. I think it was the final activations, so he moved over his Han to pick her off, but she survived by one health point. I proceeded to move my focused Han over and shoot down the lane. He must’ve dodged this shot because our Hans have a crazy exchange later. I don’t remember us using our Return Fires, end of round shots or me using Jyn’s Hair Trigger next round though. Kinda weird, but oh well. Round two was a brawl in which a lot of damage was done, but not many figures fell. He got his Han over to 3PO near his terminal. I moved up 3PO as fodder to cover Chewie and Lando from Drokatta. He proceeded to kill the droid and played Celebration. I moved my Han and shot at his Han who Returned Fire, then I Returned Fire from that. Chewie moved up to contest the terminal and Slammed Drokatta off it. My Han was in prime position to blow away Drokatta, so he Rammed up Chopper as blocking fodder and got destroyed. Round 3 saw me get aggressive with Chewie. He elected to retreat Drokatta back to his terminal. I followed with my Wookiee and Slammed his Han to finish him off along the way. I made the mistake of going after Drokatta who was exhausted instead of a readied Hera. He focused Hera and she took down Chewie. He tried to recover more points by moving his Jyn to the middle shield, but my Lando killed her and claimed the shield. With me still holding 2 shields and most of his team exhauseted, Kurt conceded as time was called.

3-1

Round 5: Rematch with Jake on Jabba’s Palace (Spoils of Crime) List: IG-88 w/Focused on the Kill, eQuays x2, Greedo, eJawa, Gideon, C-3PO, Temp Alliance, Black Market

This match was decided pretty quickly after beginning moves as I made a couple of critical miscalculations. I sent Jyn and Chewie into the “hitless box” in front of the Jabba statue. I forgot however that it’s only hitless in round one with 4-speed characters. With Greedo and a Gideon-moved IG-88, Chewie and Jyn were sitting ducks. Jyn was fried first and fast. This did allow me to play Debts Repaid on Chewie and the two titans exchanged blows. He played Blaze of Glory to in an attempt to finish Chewie, but I played On the Lam to get him outta there and I killed the droid on the first activation next round. I consider this my second mistake. I moved Han out aggressively in round one to the blue hallway entrance to kill Greedo, which he did (Han shot first! Woot!). I was planning to reserve Lam for Han though because I knew he would be exposed. I didn’t remember my plan when I played Lam on my already badly injured Chewie. Jake took full advantage. Han was quickly shot down expertly by a set of eQuays as he played Element of Surprise, Wild Attack, and Heightened Reflexes on one of the focused eQuay shots. Not much will survive that. I had Make My Own Luck in my hand to take initiative in round 3 too, which made my Lam mistake hurt a bit more. I tried to pull Chewie back and do damage control, but he and Lando were efficiently disposed of. I had no attackers left, so it was academic to concede.

3-2 and elimination

How I played my list/observations: The primary strategy for every match was to contest objectives hard by having Jyn out front to control corners and be expendable for Chewie who would be in striking distance for DR. I originally focused Jyn so she could Hair Trigger with 3 dice. My first two opponents worked around it easily, so I started focusing Lando for a 3 dice attack with his abilities and put him up with Jyn and Chewie. I wanted to save Han for last as much as possible of course to pick people off and keep him next to 3PO. Gideon and 3PO were obviously my focusers and terminal sitters. The Alliance Smug was there solely for objective running.

My plan wasn’t terrible as Chewie was my best figure all day. He did some major work taking down a lot of figures. DR is still a hassle to pull off well, but Chewie is a monster and I loved running him. However, I played Jyn and Han too aggressively. Activating Jyn early meant working around Hair Trigger was too easy and she couldn't freeze opponents. I did not keep Han back with 3PO and put him in bad spots, which spelt doom for him in most of my games. I also forgot Return Fire most of the day and did not get many end of round shots. One strategy I also didn’t pursue was the use of Stun. Four of these figures can dish it and that can really cripple an opponent. Maybe worth some future practice runs. I definitely enjoyed running this list though and feel I could do better with it given more time and practice. I would certainly encourage anyone to give it a try if just for thematic purposes! Having both Han and Chewie on the table is really satisfying.

I had a ton of fun in my first tournament and super stoked I reached my goal of making Top 8! It was awesome to meet so many of you in person and I look forward to matching up again soon!

12 hours ago, Fightwookies said:

I played DJ, who was a relatively new player playing a Vader/Jets/Palp list. I was able to take out Palp with 2 Han attacks in round 1. He had some jet attacks come up short on accuracy, and I was able to collect some objectives and stay away from Vader. Win 1-0

well theres the problem, you should never miss on ACC 2 spaces away lol

16 hours ago, NeverBetTheFett said:

I'm tempted to do the same. I have a merc list sans Iggy ready to go. I just worry that in this game you need a beast in your list (Han, Luke, Vader, Iggy). But I'm sure that's not 100% true.

The recent Dutch Nationals were won by a list without any of of those figures ...

16 hours ago, cleardave said:

If you're so hard up to have a beast in your list, stop beating around the bush and run a Rancor already.

LMAO! Well you've seen my new list. Let's just say there are a few creature comforts!

6 hours ago, DerBaer said:

The recent Dutch Nationals were won by a list without any of of those figures ...

Wins like this blow this game right open. Any faction can win and like you point out, you don't necessarily need a "beast". LOVIN' THIS!

10 hours ago, Masterchiefspiff said:

We should have taken a picture of the group in our GIA shirts

UMMMMM! What? How does one get one of these shirts???

I too was at the Omaha regional

Han Solo [10]
Ahsoka Tano [8]
Jyn Odan [5]
Hera Syndulla [4]
R2-D2 [3]
Gideon Argus [3]
Alliance Smuggler [2]
C-3P0 [2]
Rebel High Command [2]
Unshakable [1]

I unfortunately don't have the great story that the other posts have had haha. Well we can't all be top 8. I went 2-2 which given the level of competition, I'm not too upset with and I should have another chance at die soon!

I was unfortunately matched up with @brystrom1 round one. Unfortunate because I see/play against him in all the local Kansas City area store tourney's, and also because he's good haha. Bryce was running Han, Luke, Jyn with some other support. Due to some unexpected LOS and an annoying placement of his Jyn (annoying for me), Ahsoka was wiped out before being able to get any attacks or benefit at all. After that it was an up hill battle that quickly turned into a blood bath. Needless to say, Bryce was 1-0, and I was 0-1 before long.

Round two I was matched against a Palp, Clawdite, Greedo, and 2x eJets list. We were on the Jawa map scenario A. I had the red deployment zone and setup in box formation in front of the door to the main hallway. I sent Ahsoka up through the other door to contest/destroy a eJet he had there. Palp was able to do some damage, but the box mitigated most of the eJet attacks. He moved his clawdite out too far so Han was able to take it out round 2. Palp also got hit pretty hard by Han and Jyn and I was able to defeat him before he could lightening away the box (exact damage, so big sigh of relief). After that it was pretty easy to pick off a few more jets for the win. 1-1

Round 3 was another unfortunate match up as I was matched up against @Matsu Robun . I've never managed to beat him the couple of times we've played, and he was running 2x murder bots in a scum list that I was quite worried about. We were playing on Jawa scenario B, and I had the Blue zone this time. The bots scared me enough that I setup behind the door to the main room, but kept it closed round 1. I also chose not to open it at the end of round 1, which proved to be a good idea. My big mistake was running Ahsoka up to the top of the map, where i thought she would be more hidden, but with the help of his gideon, a bot was able to attack and stay out of LOS for Han or Jyn if i opened my door. Ahsoka was able to put 5 damage on Hera early round 2, but all in all died needlessly since hera hide at the top the rest of the game. End of round 2 Matt has 8-10 pts from Ahsoka and a smuggler, and I have zero. Things were looking bad. End of round 2 i opened my door and i think i was able to get a han attack and setup Jyn for a Hair trigger attack in round 3. Round 3 i take out 3 bots and the clawdite for 19. Matt takes out my Hera and returns a crate, so we are at 19-19. I was hopeful to pull off the win by an end of round attack with han, but matt was smart enough to gode me into an area where he could move everyone out of LOS. Matt followed this by Black Marketing for 1 pts for the win. This was the most intense chess match I've ever played, and in the end my Ahsoka play is what ultimately lost it for me. That said, Matt for sure out played me and deserved the win! 1-2

Round 4 was a match against a Vader, 2x eJet, eRiot, 2x IO list. It was Nall Hutta Shielded so I really wasn't sure how it was going to go. I had the blue zone and sent ahsoka to the shield to the left (terminal side). She managed to sit up there for 3 rounds uncontested. I sent my smuggler to the opposite side to contest the shield with an eJet. My other figures went to the 4 square nook in the middle section just below the shield, aka box formation. From here I was able to Hair trigger, Return Fire, and Han end of round on top of all other normal attacks. In short order I wiped out the riots before they could activate, and took out 2 jets as they came to Vader's aid. Vader didn't advance until round 3 so I managed to keep all my figures around long enough to gain the generator pts and defeat jets. I was lucky enough to stun a jet and Vader before they were going to drop the hammer with a few CCs, which I know helped my cause. 2-2

Didn't pull off top 8 as @brystrom1 was the only 2-2 to pull it off (his schedule was quite rough haha). That said, the vanilla bean nitro stout on tap was a solid consolation prize!

As mentioned Sparta Games is an amazing store and the tournament was executed flawlessly. Despite an undesired outcome, it was a great tourney and was great to be a part of a amazing group of players! If nothing else, Ahsoka won't be so worthless going forward haha.

I second what @seef1033 said:

17 hours ago, seef1033 said:

I love the IA tournament scene that continues to introduce me to some quality competitors and genuinely awesome people.

Good to hang out with all of you usual suspects @Matsu Robun , @Masterchiefspiff , @brystrom1 , @ryanjamal and to briefly meet meet a fellow Benedictine College Alum @The Archangel ---looking forward to the Manhattan Regional.

Obligatory shout out to @wannabepudge @seef1033 and @Fightwookies . GIA

@The Archangel props on a first tourney top 8 finish! A very impressive showing!

2 hours ago, NeverBetTheFett said:

UMMMMM! What? How does one get one of these shirts???

Unfortunately for you it was a one time order. I designed something pretty simple that a family friend, who runs a local t-shirt print business from her basement, printed for me and a couple others from my play group.

43 minutes ago, wannabepudge said:

Unfortunately for you it was a one time order. I designed something pretty simple that a family friend, who runs a local t-shirt print business from her basement, printed for me and a couple others from my play group.

Dang! Well I may follow suit. I'd love to where a GIA shirt to IA events. He's often in my squad.

2 hours ago, NeverBetTheFett said:

Dang! Well I may follow suit. I'd love to where a GIA shirt to IA events. He's often in my squad.

It would be fun to see other interpretations on a GIA shirt!

On ‎1‎/‎17‎/‎2018 at 10:24 AM, wannabepudge said:

@The Archangel props on a first tourney top 8 finish! A very impressive showing!

Thanks! I really appreciate it! No pressure for future tournaments, right? It was pleasure to meet you and I hope we get a match sometime down the road!

On ‎1‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 5:03 PM, seef1033 said:

Great to hang out...and briefly meet meet a fellow Benedictine College Alum @The Archangel

It was great to meet you too! I didn't want to distract you too much cause you were prepping for your match. Always cool to run into other BC alum! Congrats on getting to the final!

I took a list to the Omaha regionals -- played a few of the guys who've made notes here already.

List Build: Rebel Spies. Basically wanted to key in to the Spy and Force User keywords being on Ahsoka in order to rehabilitate an old build. With the current maps, I added in Obi-Wan for objective control and focused some other utility points on speed, figuring there were enough points on the board to try for some chaotic, objective-heavy wins. I wanted a build where the "huge single roll" meta wouldn't be able to pull ten points out of my deck, and built for cautious, objective-oriented play. I threw in "Smuggler's Run" on Jyn Odan to give opponents one more thing to worry about. Not sure how much it mattered.

List:

Ahsoka Tano
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Gideon
3PO
Jyn w/ Smuggler's Run
Hera Syndulla
Mak Eshka'Rey
ERebel Saboteurs

Command Deck
Comm Disruption
Slippery Target x2
Smuggled Supplies
Stimulants
Element of Surprise
Force Rush
Force Surge
Pummel
Celebration
Officer's Training
Heart of Freedom
Negation
Intelligence Leak

Round One:

I drew the "lucky" bye point, since we had 17 players in Omaha. I wound up scrimmaging on Jabba's Palace with Brett, who'd used a Store Championship Bye from last August. I'd actually taken second place to him in that tournament, so it was nice to have a rematch with no stakes. He was playing Jedi Luke with multiple sets of Equays. Since we both already had our points, I decided to experiment a bit, which led to over-extending Hera while looking for a turn-one Smuggler's Run score. That seemed to psych him out into keeping his door closed a while, but once he opened it a lot of hurt came out, and he played activation economy well such that I never got a swing off with Obi-Wan. Hera died early; I scored Smuggler's Run on Jyn. He Equay swarmed Obi-Wan early in the second round and I didn't pull Comm Disruption in time to stop Son of Skywalker. It was nice to get the game in, and reminded me to play more cautiously for the day; I was glad to already have the point!

Game 2 I played against Dane's 9-Act smuggler list with Drokatta. We were in Mos Eisley alleyways, and he really handled the game well. His build was fairly defensive and he kept Jyn and Han boxed with 3PO for the cunning bonus pretty effectively, adding in surge blocks and white dice with Smuggled Supplies and Stealth Tactics. I think I got decent control out of Obi-Wan in that game, and he let me run Jyn in for her points, but he had more firepower and a clearer command card build than I did. I also wasted an ESab activation early on trying to shoot and stun a smuggler (forgot about their auto-reduction to accuracy and missed the shot). He played really well and clearly knew his build inside out. I don't think I much more than scratched his troops. I noted that On the Lam was significantly better than my "Slippery Target" cards (everyone made a point of staying two away from my spies). I didn't feel too bad about the loss; he had clearly done his homework and played for a while.

Game 3 I played Kurt, who had a build including Rogue Smuggler Han and KoTun Feralo. I over-extended Jyn early on for a far-out crate objective in Mos Eisley Alleys, and he brought Han around to take her out turn one. That said, it knocked Han out of position. I used my 5-speed units and Ahsoka's Force Leap to snag four or five of the crates early on, and started running them in for points on round 2. He kept Ko-Tun back, ducking out and shooting, and there were several times he missed the opportunity to beat a Dodge roll because she was too far back, so I think he learned something there. I was up about 6 points when time was called, and thought that meant we were done, so I made a lackadaisical move with an injured Ahsoka, not realizing he still got to play through his activations. He wound up sniping her with Han for a last minute swing, and I didn't have any serious firepower left in position to get 3 or 4 points back. This loss hurt, as part of my hope for my build was that on such an objective heavy map, I'd have an edge with high speed activations and spy shutdowns.

Game 4 I played Mike on Nal Hutta, who was running Ahsoka, ERangers, and Davith Elso, with his own set of ESabs, Gideon, and 3PO. I'd tried Davith in my own build, so I wasn't too worried, knowing that his damage levels off and his 10 HP go by fast. I was more nervous about the rangers, since we were on the big map and most of my units were close range. I had practiced on this map with the idea of threatening all four objectives, and basically used activation economy to hold back. I let Obi-Wan drift forward with Gideon, gambling that his surge cancel and 3PO could keep the range down from the ERangers. Mike took his round 1 shots and did some damage, but Obi-Wan stayed up. I wound up double-moving Obi-Wan late in the round to cancel his control of an objective. He moved Ahsoka in to contest, and we wound up with all four of our Force Users scrambling over it. Meanwhile, I picked up the other three objectives.

Round two involved a lot of early shooting, and Davith got hit hard. Mike double-moved him back to his deployment zone (he had the upper-cliff side), and we later calculated that if he'd instead run Davith over my figures, the 1 point of damage would have made a decent difference. I was able to remove one ERanger with Jyn's Hair Trigger, and stun another with an ESab before their round 2 activation. The third one got a shot on Mak, but 3PO's surge cancel stopped it one damage short from lethality. Mak earned his keep with a killshot on an ERanger in Round 2, and Gideon in Round 3. I think he got his Critical Hit discard effect off once.

By the end of Round 3 Mike had to decide whether to contest a shield or run with Ahsoka. He ran, and I ran my injured Obi-Wan to cover, but as time got called I still had plenty of activations left to scamper 3PO, Hera, Obi-Wan and a Sab onto the shield generators, swinging up something like 48-25.

So I finished 2-2, pulling 11th of 17 on my first Regionals. I felt good, since I knew I was bringing an unusual list with some outdated cards. In my own build, I'm clear that On the Lam is way more potent than Slippery Target, and I feel like Drokatta was a force every time I saw her. Our tournament was pretty rebel heavy -- I saw at least 6 Rogue Smuggler Hans, and a few other rebel lists, mine included. Otherwise I think there were 2 imperial lists (one finished high before the cut) and a decent supply of rebel-peppered mercs.

Not sure who pulled the final victory!