One of our better pilots decided on a whim to put together a team for the UKTC, and I thought why not? Not having played much since the Open I put the Gunboats back in my case. Pete did similar, putting his twin ups and kylo into the fray, and Mark, our third, went with Vennie, L’ulo and a t-70 of some hue. We weren’t expecting much, which was quite lucky, but it’s a nice way to wind down the competitive season.
Game One, Ani-Mace and two gold Torrents.
I lost this one, he took init and tried to block with his Torrents which failed. I tried to kill mace which also failed. He ran and regenned but the damage was done with a Gunboat dead and one on half points vs a dead Torrent. The team lost 2-1 overall.
Game Two, Handbrake Han
the meta bad guy! I’m on record saying that this isn’t overpowered so I was nervous for my first encounter lest I be forced to eat my words. I sent the Gunboats after Jake hoping for a mistake from my opponent which was not forthcoming, however he took himself out of the fight and allowed me to position for a trap on Han. A couple of Ion missile hits later Han was blocked on a debris field and two Advance Proton torpedos left him in a world of hurt, but sadly not dead. Jake streaked in to help, but didn’t manage much, a reloaded APT finished Han. Team win 2-1 too. The fight back begins!
Game three, Resistance A-wings.
The team championship format is an interesting one. If there is a list we will struggle against we can pick our weak link and pair them to improve our odds for a team win. To this end I got the swarm. Accepting a probable loss I was surprised to kill L’ulo without loss on the first pass, but it went south from there. My inability to roll greens and my opponents ability to roll hits without modifications saw a Gunboat downed and Whisper and another Nu smoking for the return of one ps-1 a-Wing, still, Whisper is a force to be reckoned with right? One Ps-1 unmodified shot with crackshot scoring three hits to my blanks ends that dream in a hurry.
Dont know about you lot, but I always find it worse to lose a match which you thought you’d already lost, but started to turn around and find a path to victory being cruelly snatched away! Just two A-wings left, but all the Gunboats were out of action
team loss 2-1.
Game four. Rexlar, onyx, Gideon
Brilliant game, but exactly the kind of match the gunboats like. Three shots on a defender to strip the tokens and the fourth Ion goes through. Rinse. Repeat. Team win 3-0!
Game five, Mace, Ani, two golds.
Back to where I started the day, and a chance to redeem myself. I knew it was possible to win it as my first defeat was far from crushing! He hung the goldies back in an attempt to get behind and harass me while the 7bs charged for a hit and run, it was largely inconclusive but mace was out of force and Ani out of shields. Sending one Gunboat to try and tie up the Golds I charged everything else after Mace and managed to bring him down. We were close to time, and with a half pointed Gunboat and both Whisper and another Nu one damage away from half points it was close and my opponent asked to speed up a bit. Did my best, and secured a Gold and half points on another in exchange for half points in another gunboat, but another turn or two and Ani might have done horrible things! Team win 2-1.
So, the Gunboats went 3-2 matching their score for the Open. There is definately something missing from the list but I still can’t decide what. Oh well, I’ll figure it out and they’ll be back even scarier than before for the next Extended event I go to! The team matched my score, going 3-2 and taking 13th. Only about 130 MoV separated us from the top 8, although the only difference would be bragging rights in this event!
A big thank you to all my opponents, you were all awesome. Hope to cross paths again soon.