I played in the Chartres, France regional this past Sunday, 22 players. I played a 9 activation Han/Rangers list, which went undefeated throughout the day.

List:

• Elite Alliance Rangers (12)
• Han Solo with Rogue Smuggler (10)
• Hera (4)
• Gideon (3)
• R2-D2 (3)
• C-3PO (2)
• 3x Regular Alliance Smuggler (6)

Command cards:

• On the Lam (3)
• Assassinate (3)
• Heightened Reflexes (2)
• Call the Vanguard (2)
• I Make My Own Luck (2)
• Tough Luck (1)
• Concentrated Fire (1)
• Negation (1)
• Take Initiative (0)
• Positioning Advantage (0)
• Planning (0)
• Ready Weapons (0)
• Stimulants (0)
• Element of Surprise (0)
• Officer's Training (0)

It was a really fun tournament, with a strong turnout from the Paris area and nearby communities (and delicious crêpes!)

Round 1
I ended up with a bye because another player had used their bye from a store championship. It didn't count, but we ended up playing just for fun anyway. He was playing IG-88, Weequays, Onar, Vinto, Greedo, and the RCP, and the mission was Raining Freight. I had the advantage with the Ranger's long range on Nal Hutta and was able to snipe a focused Weequay at the end of the first round. Over the next couple rounds I was able to snipe IG with the help of some command cards while my smugglers ran after crates. He scored some objectives and killed a couple alliance smugglers, but wasn't able overcome the loss of firepower.

Round 2
I played against an 8 activation Smuggler box list on the Jawa map mission where you don't pick up the crates. I don't remember the details all that well, but I remember it being a close match, with 3 dodges rolled in a row on our Hans! In the end though the activation advantage, I Make My Own Luck, and a fortuitous dodge let me come out on top.

Round 3
I was paired with the guy I played against for fun during our first round byes, this time on the Jabba crate mission. It was a great, close game with a lot of focus on the objectives. He opened his door before I did, so I took the opportunity to build a C3PO box with a wall of body blocking smugglers in front of my door, and then opened it, running a smuggler into the pit. He took some shots with IG, I think killed a smuggler, and then moved him out of line of sight. I activated my rangers and wiped out both of his Weequays, which hadn't activated. He ran Greedo into the pit, which was probably the right thing to do since if I started getting a points income from objectives, I could just turtle up. I grabbed some objectives with my remaining smugglers and tried to move them back towards my deployment zone. Over the next few rounds, he picked off my crate-carrying smugglers and picked up the pit crates with Greedo, so he was passively getting more points than me, and the game was close. He played Blaze of Glory and got my Han down to 2 health. On the last round I ran a focused ranger into the pit, killed Greedo with Element of Surprise, grabbed a crate with Hera, and managed to shield Han with Hera and R2, which was enough for the win.

Round 4
I played against the champion of the Orléans regional, who brought Vader, Palpatine, Elite Jets, Terro, 2x Officer, and Zillo. The mission was Jabba stashes. This game also revolved heavily around the objectives. Doors were opened, I took out a Jet Trooper with the combined attacks of all 3 rangers, one of them focused (dam* Zillo)! He played conservatively with Vader, force choking my figures, and eventually moving towards the statue area. I hit the other Jet Trooper with Hera for 4 damage, so he ran away into the pit and killed one of my smugglers that was down there. I ended up sending 3 more figures down into the pit after him (a smuggler, giving up 2 points to prevent a 4 point swing, a ranger with 6 damage who finished him off and then was killed by Palpatine, and then Gideon to grab the objective on the last turn). On the final turn I moved Han up next to Palpatine and Vader to contest the middle objective; I had On the Lam in hand and my opponent was one damage short of being able to kill him with unblockable damage. I managed to win, but it was very close.

Round 5
I played against an 8 activation Han/Chewie list. It was very similar to my list, just swap the Rangers and a Smuggler for Chewie, Balance of the Force, and Rebel High Command. The map was Shielded on Nal Hutta. I quickly fell behind, and he was able to knock me off of the objectives with Chewie. I had to play around Chewie's card, and decided to take out a smuggler while Chewie was still far from my Rangers and Han. This did however give him the last activation of the round, which he used to dominate the objectives. By the last round, I was down almost 20 points, though I'd brought both his Han and Chewie down to about 4 health each, with each of us having already played On the Lam. His figures were hiding behind terrain, and my Han was 6 spaces away from where he needed to be to see them. With my second to last activation, I moved my Han out into the open with Gideon. My opponent tried to finish him once and for all with his Han (my Han had 5 or 6 health left), but I survived with 2 health. I ran Han up, shot and killed his Han, and then killed Chewie with the end-of-round attack. Since it was the last round, I think my opponent would have won if he'd double moved Han away from me, since killing Chewie alone would not have been enough to secure the win for me.

Top 4
I played against Vader, Palpatine, Terro, 0-0-0, 3x Officer, Zillo, Rule by Fear on the Jawa crate mission. My opponent got really unlucky because I started the game with Assassinate, Heightened Reflexes, and Ready Weapons. He scored a crate with Terro in the first round, and I started focusing my rangers, opened one of my doors, and got the ball rolling with the Smugglers going after the crates in the middle of the map. He started moving Vader up, and I laid into him with two focused Rangers with power tokens. Between the two of them, Heightened Reflexes, and Assassinate, I managed to push 12 damage onto him! He moved Vader out of line of sight, but at the end of the round I was able to shoot him with Han after opening my other door. I Make My Own Luck let me kill Vader at the beginning of round 2. From there my smugglers scored another 12 points and it was more or less over.

Final
I played a rematch against the Chewie-Han list I faced in the 5th round of Swiss, again, on Shielded. I left a focused ranger out where his focused Chewie could see him, which was a mistake. However the dice gods were in my favor; it was a long shot, so he had to use both Hera and a surge for the accuracy, and with the help of C3PO, the ranger survived with one health. Chewie was now exposed, albeit within 2 spaces of a generator, so my three rangers were able to bring him down to 4 health. He body blocked with a smuggler, controlling the middle generator as well. I could kill the smuggler to try and get to Chewie, but then Chewie would become focused and reactivate (and my opponent would get the last activation of the round and initiative in the following round). Instead I started moving my smugglers to the outer generators since it looked like my opponent was committing his main figures to the central area. During the next round our Hans exchanged some shots; I forgot to do my counterattack to his counterattack, but I still came out slightly on top because I was able to use Tough Luck to make his attack fall short on accuracy. I finished Han off with my rangers, using Heightened Reflexes to remove his dodge, which of course brought Chewie's wrath. I didn't have any damage dealing activations left, so he could move out with impunity. He did, killing Hera in one blow; I had On the Lam, but held onto it for Han. Han didn't have LOS to anyone at the end of the round, and after objective scoring we were tied 20-20. The following round, I played Call the Vanguard, which would have finished Chewie, but instead forced out On the Lam. He slammed and killed my injured ranger, played Tools for the Job, and rolled 5 dice against Han. On the Lam saved his life, though he couldn't get a counterattack, and Chewie ran and hid in my deployment zone. I focused Han, double moved so he was next to Chewie, and finished him off at the end of the round. It was one of the tensest games I've ever played, and very close until the very end.

Many thanks to the TO and all of my opponents for the excellent tournament and games! I am very happy with the current state of the meta; there are viable, competitive lists in all of the factions, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, though I look forward to when Nal Hutta rotates out . Almost all of my games revolved around the objectives and the pressure I could put on my opponent by trying to rush them, which was a refreshing change from the pure firefights that seemed to dominate the Scum hunter meta. I had a hard time deciding whether to include Tools for the Job or I Make My Own Luck, but I think I made the right choice; I played it in most of my games, and it was always impactful; I feel it caught a lot of people off guard, especially when they had Negation in hand and expected to have the initiative. Having 9 activations was also very useful, given how many 8 activation lists I faced, and I never felt like the third smuggler had nothing worthwhile to do, even if it was just shielding my other figures. I loved moving Han out into the open on the last activation, getting two back to back attacks, stealing the initiative, attacking again, moving back into cover, and then with the last activation of the round, focusing him and moving him back out with Gideon to get another end-of-round attack.

Congrats! I’ve been enjoying my lists with the 2x Alliance Smuggler. How important was the third Smuggler to your success?

Amazing! Congrats. That list is obviously competitive as you proved, but it always sounds like it would be extremely fun!

17 hours ago, Fightwookies said:

How important was the third Smuggler to your success?

In my case, I think he was extremely important, especially against the 8 activation Rebel lists. Without the third smuggler, I think I would have lost the 5th round of Swiss for sure, and quite possibly the final. It was my luck to win initiative in most of my games, so if I'd only had 8 activations, I wouldn't have had the last activation round 1. Han dies really, really easily, so it's super important for him to go last, get some good attacks in at the end of the round, and ideally attack and move to safety at the start of the next round.

The Smugglers also let me rush objectives, which forced my opponents to engage me on my terms, lest I just take all the objective points.

Finally, they're great for blocking LOS to more important figures. When your opponent spends an attack on one, they will sometimes fall short on accuracy, or have to move closer than they'd like in order to kill them, because of Slippery. Other times, you get a lucky dodge and your opponent just wasted an entire attack. I like to create boxes with them placed at diagonals from one another, so that another figure can shoot from behind them, drawing LOS from the central point; this is great for denying an enemy Han extra attacks.