Actis Aces vs 6 Hyenas (Struts & Shells + 2 Tri-Fighters)
This time I wanted to try Aayla Secura instead of Shaak Ti. As much as I enjoyed flying Shaak Ti with Juke, I think she can run out of force pretty quick because of her ability, sense and IC (intuitive controls).
Anakin Skywalker (56)
Brilliant Evasion (2)
Predator (2)
Stealth Device (8)
Obi-Wan Kenobi (49)
Sense (5)
Predator (2)
Stealth Device (8)
Aayla Secura (51)
Brilliant Evasion (2)
Predator (2)
Stealth Device (8)
Total: 195
View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0
The good thing here is that Obi-Wan can equip Sense. With 3 force charges he's the right pilot for this card.
Aayla is I5 as well which is pretty strong. I really like her ability. It's similiar to Concordia Faceoff. If an enemy ship is in her front arc at range 0-1, the defender can change a blank to a focus result. Having the force available you'll pretty much get an evade. The cool thing is that it works on other friendly ships as well (more on that later).
I also added Brilliant Evasion (never played it before but it's now "only" 2 points) which works well with Aaylas ability. An example: You have an evade token and roll 4 dice. The dice show blank, blank, focus, evade. If Aalyas ability triggers you change one blank to a focus. Then use Brilliant Evasion and spend the evade for 4 evades.
Setup: The Tri-Fighters had this strange, new Slam upgrade card euipped. Playing against Grappling Struts I usually place the rocks on the opponents side of the board. The Gas Clouds were in perfect position as well to cover my ships.
No Slam in the first round. Aayla will now turn again while Ani + Obi are trying to get a shot.
The red Tri slammed. Aalya was pretty happy about that. Anakin missed.
Now red is stressed and doesn't have many options. So Aayla can perform a purple tallon roll. Ani and Obi will stay defensive hiding behind the clouds.
The purple Tallon roll can be really strong as you can see here. Aayla boosted afterwards. She gets the bullseye and Cloud protection against yellow.
The Hyeanas can go straight or turn left to engage Aayla. My strategy remained the same. Use the clouds as a shield.
I forgot taking the picture of the upcoming round...
The Bombers turned. Aayla and Obi are finally in good flanking positions while Anakin is defensive.
This pciture shows the strength of IC. Without IC Aaylas position for the upcoming round is bad because all bombers can turn towards her. Having IC means she can boost to the left which could even block green, followed by a 5 straight to get behind the enemy formation and avoid incoming fire. Anakin will boost + 5 straight as well because I was afraid the Tri Fighter will k-turn. Obi will move 2 straight.
Obi bumped and activated his ability...half points on green.
Now I was really sure my opponent will follow Anakin. Because the yellow tri fighter will turn in and Obi has a lock on him, the Jedi will 1 turn to the right trying to deal some damage to it.
Surprise! The formation k-turned. Obi landed next to the cloud and took the evade. Obi attacked and I forgot using the lock . In this picture you can see the benefit of Aaylas ability: The blue Hyena is at range 1 of her. This means that Obi (while defending against blue) can change one blank to one focus result. I really like this ability because it's Aayla doesn't need to spend a force point to use is.
Obi dodged all the incoming fire.
Aayla will IC to barrel roll and then turn left. Obi will barrel roll left trying to block something and disengage later. I used Sense on the Tri-Fighter which dialed in a 2 bank to the right. This information helped Anakin who dialed in a 2 bank to the left. Now I used IC boosting him forward to arcdodge the Tri-Fighter later.
The last round: Anakin barrel rolled and arcdodged yellow while Aayla halved blue and has cloud protection against the incoming fire. Again Aaylas ability kicked in: Anakin would have been able to change a blank to a focus while defending against blue. Win 68-0
Conclusion:
- I never played such a defensive list. You have to fly these guys really careful, disengage more often than you like.
- I will probably never win 200-x with this list. The lack of firepower is a problem... If you lose a ship early, it'll be nearly impossible to win this uphill battle.
- The list felt good. Never missed Shaak Ti. Because Sense is so important I think Obi is the right canditate for it. He has 3 force charges and the same initiative as Aayla.
- Aaylas ablity is pretty strong I suppose. Despite I never used it because my opponents dice didn't show any paint, I think it can really help keeping these 3 hull ships alive.
- As I first read about IC I wasn't sure what to think about it. Because I'm so used to double reposition after executing a maneuver I first thought that IC will be bad. After (just) 2 games playing the ETA, I think IC is really great. It makes the ETA one of the best disengagers and also one to the best knife fighters (if you want to knife fight with it
) in the game.
I don't know which list is better. I appreciate any thoughts on that
Looking forward to the tournament this evening.
Edited by Ryuneke