Today we played a Prime in Vienna and I thought to give a short report of the event.

The tournament was played at SirenGames and there were 16 hopeful Amirals from Austria, Hungary and Switzerland (shoutout to @medaloffairness ).

I played a Rebel list as I always do, and faced with the prospect of Onagers, SSDs, Moralo and MMJ, I decided to make a list that was good for some of those matchups and hope for good pairings.

Commander: Admiral Raddus

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36)
• Ezra Bridger (3)
• Cham Syndulla (5)
• External Racks (3)
= 47 Points

MC75 Ordnance Cruiser (100)
• Admiral Raddus (26)
• Bail Organa (7)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• External Racks (3)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Profundity (7)
= 159 Points

MC80 Star Cruiser (96)
• Strategic Adviser (4)
• Caitken and Shollan (6)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Heavy Ion Emplacements (9)
• Spinal Armament (9)
• XI7 Turbolasers (6)
• Mon Karren (8)
= 146 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Slicer Tools (7)
• Quantum Storm (1)
= 26 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Hondo Ohnaka (2)
• Comms Net (2)
= 22 Points

Squadrons:
= 0 Points

Total Points: 400

The goal of the list is to murder SSDs, ISDs and unwary Onagers due to the extreme threat range of the Prof Raddus drop trick, to mess with my opponents commands (especially if they run squadrons) and to hope that it doesnt run into Sloane.

Round 1

In the first round I was matched against a nice player that had visited one tournament before, but was still pretty new to the game. He played an ISD II Avenger with Screed, nicely kitted out with XI7, LS and so on, as well as a Victory I with Needa, TRC, ACM and OE. Beside that were 7 squads, 4 generics, mauler, dengar and howlrunner.

I was given first player and chose Contested Outpost. We deployed opposite the station, Turn 1 I moved Profundity in Speed 2 and my opponent moved the ISD to the station at speed 3. This, coupled with the fact that he split up his squads, allowed me a rather easy drop of the Mon Karren, in long range, forcing him to fly into me and using MonKarren for a last first on his ISD. Sadly I missed the kill by 1 damage and in an attempt to ram for the last damage with my ship's backside I just missed. I probably flew MonKarren a bit to defensively as I didnt ram him earlier to save hull points. As a result the ISD got a nice double arc into the MKs side before exploding on an asteroid.

Ezra had stolen the Station in the meantime and Profundity and MK finished off the Victory at the cost of the MonKarren who exactly died at the end to the VIC's front and some rams. This ended the game by tabling for a 9:2 my way. Between Slicer and Cham my opponent had not used a single squadron command and his squadrons had been a non-factor.

Round 2

I was put on the top table, but because the highest other score in round 1 was a 7:4, I was matched against another new player (first tournament) who won his first game.

He flew a somewhat unconventional list: A Cymoon with Thrawn and XI7, two VIC IIs with Gunnery Teams and a Gladiator with only Demolisher as Title. Apart from the fact that he was a newer player, this matchup was very nice for my list, especially since I was again given first player and we played Contested Outpost.

Deployment was again similar to the first game, opposite the station. Demolisher was deployed horizontally along the distance 3 line, the ISD in the middle, the VICs to the flank, with one slightly more to the side.

What followed was rather one sided, I was able to drop MonKarren directly in the front of this Victory, outside of the Cymoons dangerous front arc. I was able to kill first the VIC with the MK, then the ISD with Prof and the MK, and finally Demolisher that arrived a bit late to the party. Command manipulation had less impact here, but helped to keep the second VIC outside of shooting range for most of the game. The objective station was again stolen by Ezra for a wash. The result was a 10:1.

At that point I felt a bit bad for being so lucky in my matchups and my round 1 and round 2 opponents actually finished the tournament last and second to last :-(.

Round 3

The last round I was matched against my brother who I had practiced with for the tournament. He flew a Kuat with ACM, Salvo upgrade, Reeva, LS, an Onager Testbed with Varn, Veteran Gunners, Red superweapon, Cataclysm, Strategic, a Corvus Raider with Thrawn and two comms neting flotillas.

In our test games I was usually 2nd player and had won the last game. Also I was actually at a stage in the tournament where 6 points would have been enough for me to win it all, so my brother gave me first player in an attempt to make me come to him and change stuff up. We played Asteroid Tactics.

The obstacles were placed in a central cluster, I deployed slightly to the side of it, the ISD centrally opposite the cluster with the Onager next to the ISD further away from Profundity. Corvus was placed in an intercept course to Slicer Tools but somewhat close to the action. With the range of the Profundity-Raddus drop trick I could either go around the ISD or across towards the raider with MK. Turn 1 I charged Profundity speed 3 forward to force the issue. Both the Onager and ISD turned hard towards the Profundity and Corvus went speed 4 towards Slicer tools. This allowed a Prof-Raddus drop below and across the obstacle field, and outside the ignition arc. Mk threatened both Corvus and the Onager in medium range. My brother correctly chose to save Corvus, allowing a heavy attack into the Onagers side arc, I moved MK into its front side double arc as Profundity was at Extreme range in the ignition arc, the Onager plinked some damage around and due to its nice nav chart was able to escape the MKs front, but ended in between the Hammerheads side, the MKs side and the Profundity's side. Critically, the ISD managed to end the round with Profundity in close range double arc. I could have maybe killed the onager that next turn by delaying the Profundity activation, eating the ISDs double arc and the ignition attack at long range forcing the onager into Profundity's close range side arc, but since I only needed a 6:5 I ran away with Profundity doing marginal damage to the Onagers front at long range, the Hammerhead shot 4 blacks at the Onager from its side doing 5 damage and pursued Corvus while the MK plinked some more damage at the Onager from long range and went for a Gozanti that ultimately escaped due to lack of accuracies. In the end the Onager managed to escape on 2 hull, but I killed Corvus at the cost of my Comms Net Flotilla, ending the game 6:5 my way.

Resume:

I was in fact very lucky in my matchups and fortunate with my opponents. I do not feel like I earned the win really, but as they say, a win is a win is a win. I really enjoy my list, its incredibly fun to play as long as you dont run into heavy Sloane-y squadrons or Moralo garbage.

Shoutout to @NebulonB who could not make the tournament :-(.

Thanks for writing this up! I enjoyed the read.

@sasska

As one of the Hungarian players, I'd really like to thanks for the event. The people were great, we had a great time, totally worth the long trip

Absolutely agree with @Rimsen ! It was a lot of fun, can't wait for the next tournament! Also you guys were super nice and we had some nice chats about builds and ideas and the meta here in Hungary and there in Wien. Thank you all!

Great write up, thanks for sharing!!

20 hours ago, Rimsen said:

@sasska

As one of the Hungarian players, I'd really like to thanks for the event. The people were great, we had a great time, totally worth the long trip

3 hours ago, sasska said:

Absolutely agree with @Rimsen ! It was a lot of fun, can't wait for the next tournament! Also you guys were super nice and we had some nice chats about builds and ideas and the meta here in Hungary and there in Wien. Thank you all!

You guys should also write a short report of your games. We didnt play sadly, but it would be great to read.

9 minutes ago, RapidReload said:

You guys should also write a short report of your games. We didnt play sadly, but it would be great to read.

I wanted to, maybe I'll do it tomorrow. BTW I did play a game with your brother it was a cool & close one (4 MoV for me :D)

Ah right, I watched towards the end a bit, you flew a cool list.

ATN strategic ISD2
Author: Rimsen

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 399/400

Commander: Moff Jerjerrod

Assault Objective: Most Wanted
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
Navigation Objective: Salvage Run

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
= 23 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
- Comms Net ( 2 points)
= 25 total ship cost

Arquitens-class Light Cruiser (54 points)
- Captain Needa ( 2 points)
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)
= 63 total ship cost

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
- Moff Jerjerrod ( 23 points)
- Intel Officer ( 7 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Advanced Transponder Net ( 5 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- XI7 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
= 179 total ship cost

3 VT-49 Decimators ( 66 points)
1 Dengar ( 20 points)
1 Lambda-class Shuttle ( 15 points)
1 TIE Fighter Squadron ( 8 points)
= 109 total squadron cost

It was a quite exciting event for us, we've met a lot of great and friendly players. We had an absolute blast on Saturday!
I guessed that we'll see Onagers, as it's the new stuff and I included for Needa because of this. I almost put it onto the ISD, but I felt I lack the damage, hence moved it to the Arquittens. But boy, I wasn't prepared for that! Barring my fleet, the Sloane and 2 rebels, everyone flew Onager and I even played against a double! I was really afraid of more squadron fleets, but with my 109 points I had the second biggest squadron group as I saw. Well, 5 point wasted (looking at you ATN).
First match was against az ISD2, Onager SD and VSD2. He had 400 points, 0 squadrons, so I took first and chose hyperspace assault. He deployed the Onager across my Gozanti and squadrons and set up the ISD on my left, so I put mine on the right to flank the Onager. I was failry sure, he will deploy the Harrow behind the ISD, so I put the Arquittens at the back, where I can shoot it when it appears. The other tokens were on my left, so I could have just run away from the Harrow. We excahnged fire, I got 1 heavy shot from the composite beam, but the Onager coulnd't withstand the fire if the ISD and decimators so it fell. Not much after the Harrow too. I landed on the station after an asteroid (to avoid the superweapon's arc) and I planned to move away with 2 hulls left. Unfortunately the ISD had his side arc on my back with 2 reds, and he rolled 3 damage, so my brace didn't saved it. 6-5 for me, with a MoV of 11.

For the next half hour, we were really bummed, because @sasska had 7 mov so we figured we can play against each other (not how we planned this trip). However we were wrong and I got a cheerful guy with 2 Onagers, BCC and 5 Firesprays. We played Contested Outpost (in hindsight, it wasn't a clever choice when I expected Onagers....) I setup my naked Gozanti across the station (expecting to get shot sooner or later), Kitten on the left out of Onager arc and ISD on the right, flanking. I took the first 2 tokens, while he sniped the Gozantis. Meanwhile the Firesprays had the first run on the Arquittens, but couldn't handle the Decimators and Dengar with the flak assistance. The ISD exchanged fire with the medium ranged Onager, but couldn't finish it off, while the other Onager sped up to avoid the returning ISD, who ended up on the station and shooting down the fleeing Bombard Command Center. Unfortunately the last turn, I overshoot a bit with the Kitten, and got shot by the back of the Onager which put her down. Got another token for another 6-5, with 47 MoV.

Lastly I got paired with Madine and his very similar fleet to mine, but with Strategic Advisor and less squadron. I knew I'm in trouble, and I'm gonna lose the Kitten here, for sure. He had 8 point bid to go first and chose my Contested Outpost. I aimed to secure the Station on the far left, so I deployed the ISD next to it, to keep my fleet together, defended. Kitten on the left, Gozantis on the right, tight formation. He had the Liberty on my right, coming at speed 4 (engine tech) and similarly the MC30 on the left. In the second turn, the MC30 was in attack range, and I knew he's gonna go last first, so I shot down his carrier transport and made a Jerry turn with the ISD, essentially facing my edge to get in the side of the Liberty. The Mc30 blew up the Kitten next turn, while the fighters took out Shara, Tycho and Wedge. Dutch ran away after the Transport went down. The Liberty flew by and the MC30 came to pound on the ISD. I was a bit careless, also had some bad dials coming up, I got into medium range and double arc for the MC30. I needed 1 damage for the Liberty, but Decimator came up 0. At the start, the MC30 had double arc on the ISD in Close Range. He had a blazing dice, I actually got 10 damage from the side arc (2 blue hit, 3 black hit/crit, APT and Structural Damage) which was just enough to finish it. I was essentially tabled, but I had this turn, since I saved a Gozanti. He repaired the Liberty and flew away, but the Decimators could finish her (although barely) to save some points to the end. 3-8 to Madine.

I had a great time through the day, lot of close matches, 1-2 more point could have gotten me up to the top8, the contenders were really close. I hope we can come back soon.

Vienna Prime Data:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pQ3jRg5PG17Er6AE7TyjoqDJ44rva2Dol4H3w-5XI0M/edit#gid=410142021

The fleet statistics in the widely accepted Truthiness format. The Sato list is not quite correct yet, but I will update as soon as I get it.

@RapidReload working on it!

Time to add my 2cents:

I‘ve attended the Prime Event in Vienna with my Sloane/Dictor/Harrow list that has been almost unchanged for now close to six months, and didn‘t take into account the new Onager during the last few weeks (never played against it until the Wednesday before the event, where it promptly tabled my 2-medium-slow-ship list without effort). So the night before the event, I tried to salvage as much as I could, changing mission objectives and trying my best to contain the damage as good as possible:

A Regional Phantom Menace (396/400)

Empire

Commander: Admiral Sloane

Objectives: Surprise Attack, Abandoned Mining Facility, Minefields

[flagship] Victory I-class Star Destroyer (73)

- Admiral Sloane (24)

- Harrow (3)

- Expanded Hangar Bay (5)

- Flight Commander (3)

- Fighter Coordination Team (3)

- Flight Controllers (6)

= 117 total points

Interdictor Suppression Refit (90)

- Interdictor (3)

- G-8 Experimental Projector (8)

- Grav Shift Reroute (2)

- Proximity Mines (4)

- Commander Gherant (2)

- Engineering Team (5)

= 114 total points

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23)

- Comms Net (2)

- Boosted Comms (4)

- Admiral Titus (2)

= 31 total points

Squadrons (134/134):

1x "Whisper" TIE Phantom Squadron (20)

3x TIE Phantom Squadron (42)

1x Maarek Stele TIE Defender Squadron (21)

1x Zertik Strom TIE Advanced Squadron (15)

1x Major Rhymer Tie Bomber Squadron (16)

1x Colonel Jendon Lambda-class Shuttle (20)

It‘s a bit of a gimmick list; I wanted to make Phantoms work by hugging the Station; using the FCT and Cloak movement to keep them at full health while hopefully dealing some damage to ships; to compensate for their swingy nature I‘ve included Maarek and Jendon for good measure; Zertik as human shield and Rhymer because who does not like close range attacks with his squads?

Among the changes I‘ve added are the inclusion of Titus (to slow down Onagers), Minefields (better than Doomed Station), and Proximity Mines (to lock down a part of the board).

Fearing the worst, I‘ve entered the tournament, afraid I might not even win a flower pot with my list...

Match 1:

Somewhere, fate was pointing both hands at me, laughing cruelly and extending two middle fingers in my general direction - my first match up was basically the culmination of my fears.

Two Onagers (long range/middle range ignition)

1 Gozanti.

5 Firesprays.

I had the bid, so I took second player, hoping for my mission objectives.

Mine Fields.

I began locking down the center of his deployment zone and the setup area with asteroids, Mines and Proximity Mines; the special mission rules meant I could affect 3 obstacles at the most with Grav Shift Reroute; however, that was enough to potentially deliver an asteroid filled with an objectove Mine and a Prox Mine towards my opponent‘s ships.

My opponent decided to commit to one corner of the table; I easily outdeployed him with my squads, and bunkered down in the opposite corner. The game was basically me running away from superior firepower with slower ships, the Onagers only managed to fire two Ignition attacks in total, resulting in no casualities on my end as they maneuvered in a long arc around the minefield of death in the center, which would have put me at a 6:5 win as second player.

However, in the last turn, I had a choice to make - one of his Onagers had wandered close enough for one massive Squadron Strike! Would 8 squads be enough to take on an Onager? It was a risk worth taking, but the inevitable Firespray counterattack would take down one of my squads in return, leading to a close loss if the gamble failed.

It would come down to my Phantom rolls - „Live by the Phantom, die by the Phantom“.

I‘ve decided to take the risk, committing my Harrow-Squadron command to launch the initial wave, that... failed. Miserably. „Die by the Phantoms“ it was today, apparently.

The expected counterattack downed Zertik, leading to a close 5:6 loss.

Still, I was a bit put at ease. I could potentially defeat Onager lists with mission objective shenanigans; with a 5:6, I was still in the tournament, and what was the worst that could happen next round?

Round 2:

Well *#%+*!

Onager. ISD (Chimaera). 2 Gozanti. Valen, Ciena, 2 Ties.

How many Onagers were there in this **** tournament? (hint: a lot. Rapid Reload has the numbers)

But again, Mine Fields.

I did my usual „mine the center“, and again my opponent committed to a corner; I did the same with the opposite corner.

This time, however, I was not so lucky, the Onager took a shortcut through the mines, eating up 6 damage in total and downing its front shields with a lucky crit - but it managed to take two shots at my Gozanti, downing it (Intel Officer Onagers are nasty!). My squadron counterattack was too late; I could not capitalize on the weakened Onager due to my squads being mostly out of activation range (stupid!).

But again - no damage was done to my two capital ships, and my losses were limited to one squadron and my Gozanti. Still an easy 5:6 for me. Damage control was in full effect, and I was hoping to finally, finally play against someone who was not fielding an Onager on

Round 3:

And here it was: Ackbar was also in the tournament. Sasska described that game in his report (

-I knew his squads were trouble; Lando and Tycho could reap all sorts of havoc, and while there was no chance I could lose the squadron combat, the potential for a few well timed spanners in my works were there. Particularly Lando could easily cause some issues with my Squads (fancy talk for „his long special rules frightened me“), so I took him down first, followed by the ever-elusive Tycho. I was happy to have Zertik in a battle with Shara; he just took her attacks stoically while the rest of my squads were busy elsewhere.

-My Interdictor was in serious trouble for the first time in the tournament as the Ackbar-powered AF and MC30 unloaded into it; however, once the weakened AF went down, 6 engineering points and the station led to a speedy recovery.

-I was lucky to face an already damaged AF; otherwise, my fighters would have had no chance to destroy it in time before it could down my Interdictor.

-I was also lucky for the GR-75 to blow up on turn 1; that neutralized the first-last advantage early on.

-Confident that the Foresight would fly out of the game area, I focused my squads on the Admo, which - combined with the Expert Shield Techs - proved to be a remarkably sturdy little bugger, however I did manage to take it down in the end. Foresight slowed down to speed 0 (... who could have thought that that ship would just, you know - slow down? Me certainly not!).

My opponent‘s bad deployment gamble secured me my first win in this tournament - a 10:1 even, which resulted in me ending up in fifth place!

This tournament was a challenge from the get go; however, I actually got to play two of my games with guests from Hungary, both of which were great sports, and I very much enjoyed playing with people from outside the Pink Squadron.