Trials batrep is second post HERE
First post below is a practice tourney batrep. Enjoy!
If you dont know what TIE Salad is:
Darth Vader (65)
Afterburners (6)
Major Vermeil (49)
Death Troopers (6)
“Countdown” (44)
Gideon Hask (30)
Total: 200
The squad gained popularity in the KraytCup. See match videos HERE , AND HERE to see how the list flies. But basically, the squad works by Vermeil and Countdown out front and jousting, causing damage. Gideon trails and hits the injured ship. Vader cleans up. I love me some Vader and been flying him in my most recent extended tourney so I was eager to put this on the table, as Hyperspace Trials are a week away and Im not sure what to fly.
My LGS had a hyperspace tourney so I figured this would be some good practice. I've never flown this squad, but Im well versed in flying all the ships in it. In 1.0 I was flying triple strikers and lambda shuttle for awhile. And at the Mynock Open, I flew Echo with Triple Reapers . So Im used to ailerons, that is a plus. On to the tourney.
My setup for the squad was this:
This is the setup for left corner. I liked the options it gave me. Dial in a 2 straight with Gideon and a 1 straight with vermeil. Now, Gideon can 2 straight and b-roll backwards to slow vermeil down. Or Vermeil can aileron right and 1 straight, and Gideons 2 straight lands right behind vermeil, to trail for next round. Countdown in the corner has a 3 straight dialed in, he can jet out straight, or aileron right and 3 straight without risk of hitting asteroid. Vader just 3 straights, I want him skirting edge away from early action.
So, two rounds in, it looks something like this:
Round 1 vs Partisan Uwing with Leia / Cavern Zealot Xwing / Cavern Zealot Xwing / Luke with afterburners + r2 astro
Xwings come up through middle, trailed by Uwing, Luke on far edge. I bring Countdown and Vermeil up middle and exchange some range 3 shots with an xwing, taking it to 2 hull, but xwings put 5 dmg on Vermeil both rolling natty 3 hits and I only get 1 evade. Next round Vermeil dies from Luke, Gideon takes out injured Xwing.
Vader still not in combat. I dont feel comfortable yet, but I feel like leia is being popped this turn, as the Cavern Xwing doesnt really have a choice to get a shot other than a 4k. So I hard 1 gideon to where the 4 k would land the Xwing, and hard 1 countdown. Leia does in fact get popped, and the Xwing kturns. Now gideon and countdown have range 1 shots on it, and vader has a range 3. That Xwing dies this round, meanwhile Luke full mods into countdown, and countdown does countdown stuff. But the Uwing rolls all paint and countdown doesnt, and eats it all and is a goner, ouch.
Next round, Gideon 5 straights to safety, I dont want to hard turn him to joust a Uwing, so he just flees, leaving vader to take on Luke and a Uwing. Vader banks towards the Uwing, dodging Luke and takes the shield down on the Uwing. Next round, Uwing 90 degree turn, Luke 4ks, gideon hard 1s and rolls to get Uwing in arc, and Vader lands range 1 of Uwing, rolls out of Uwings arc, and unloads 4 damage. Gideon finishes it off. Luke vs Vader and Gideon. Took some time but Vader eventually gets Luke (like it should have been in Episode IV if not for that Han Solo!!!)
Win: 200-99
Round 2 vs Double Firespray (Emon and Boba with lots of bombs)
This Firespray list is the one from PhilGCs blog about beating Ywings. I wasn't sure how to approach this. All that I knew is I wanted an open middle in the battlefield so I have room to aileron around bombs. I place all three asteroids on opponents end of table, and he places his three near my edge, so we now have an open middle. Woo hoo! Plan A accomplished.
Emon comes blazing hot towards my crew and is range 1 on second round. He gets hurt and I lose a couple shields from Vermeil. Next, Vermeil ailerons, avoids a proxy, and sloops to block Boba. Countdown turns into boba, range 1. Gideon and Vader go for Emon. Vader rolls hit, 3 eyeballs on Emon, but he pops L33t crew and I roll eyball and 3 blanks. Ugh. I didnt know he had L33t. Anyways, Gideon and Vermeil take Emon down to 2 hull left. Boba range 1 into countdown, and countdown does countdown stuff, and plinks Boba shield as well.
Emon proxies Gideon to death, bye bye Gideon! Vader 3 tallons and does another damage to Emon. Boba hops over Vermeil and they both exchange range 1 fire. Vermeil on 3 hull left and Boba now damaged, Countdown is turning around to re-engage with Emon. The next round, 1 hull Emon drops a proton bomb, Vader has to b-roll not get damaged, and ends up with no shot on Emon. Luckily Countdown is range 1. Boba hits Vermeil, and he is down to 1 hull. Countdown finishes off Emon.
Vermeil sloops to get arc on Boba, but more importantly, blocks his left turns with Slave I, forcing him right, and landing him where Vaders arc is gonna be. Vader 3 turns and is now range 1 on Boba. Boba finishes Vermeil, and Vader and Countdown to a damage each to Boba.
Countdown takes some more range 1 shots from Boba, and does Countdown stuff. Vader is hunting Boba, and I fly countdown away from battle with 1 hull left. He is just giving Boba rerolls, and I would like to preserve the points.
Vader gets some range 2 shots on Boba and finally ends the game. Man, that was tougher than the score indicates. Opponent dropped 2 proxies, and all 4 proton bombs that game. Ailerons are fantastic when needing to avoid bombs.
Win: 200-107
Round 3 vs 3 ion ywings with VTG, crackshot, proton bombs (1 with seismic) and Saw with Leia.
I feel good if I can take two ywings out and only have Vader with 20-30 minutes left in the game vs one ywing and uwing, I think I can pulls this off. It's all about first engagement. I fly my squad and position them exactly like the image above, with countdown and vermeil near each other, range 3 of two ywings and thats it. Perfect. I exchange 2 shields on ywing with 2 shields on Vermeil.
Next, I aileron vermeil away from ywings, and sloop. This puts him out of range (was hoping for range 3 though, but out of range good too). Countdown is range 1 of shieldless Y, and Gideon and Vader range 3, and they PS kill the Ywing. Countdown takes 3 damage though. Next round, Vermeil, Countdown, and Gideon are all range 1 of a Ywing. I dial in a 3 bank with Vader to dodge his ships with after burners, but seeing the field, with all my ships range 1, I can ps kill another Ywing, and b-roll vader into range 1 arc of ywing. Vader and Gideon ps kill a ywing (gideon got a direct hit), and then Vermeil and countdown drop the uwings shields. Meanwhile, Uwing kills gideon, and ywing kills countdown.
It is now Vermeil and Vader vs Ywing and Uwing. Better than I had hoped. Vermeil eventually dies, but got half points on Saw. Vader 3 tallons and afterburns and gets half points on Ywing. Last round is called, and I just afterburn and b-roll Vader to safety.
Win: 148-129. Close game.
3-0 and I win the tourney. The squad feels good and looks like a winner for Hyperspace Trials. I faced some tough lists today, and as long as I can keep Vader alive until endgame, I feel solid. Will give it a couple more tests runs this week before Trials to make my final decision.
Edited by wurms