33 Point Flying Aces Tournament

By paradox23, in X-Wing Battle Reports

I was thinking it could be fun to do a 33 point 1-on-1 style dogfight tournament.

  • 2'x2' play area
  • 6 asteroids following the usual rules except that they must be placed at least range 1 away from any side edge and range 2 away from a player's edge.
  • 1 pilot per side
  • No large ships
  • In the case of equal piloting skill and even build points, the simultaneous damage rules would extend to the critical damage as well. Otherwise, initiative works as normal.
  • 30 minute matches

Why 33 points instead of let's say 45 points?

  • Makes builds other than just Wedge, Luke, and Vader, and Maarek viable.
  • Makes missiles usable, but an expensive gamble.
  • Reduces the chance of horrific mismatches against and/or never-ending mirror matches involving let's say Luke + R2 + Shield Upgrade + Ellusiveness.

Thoughts?

I really like this idea… even Y wings would be competitive with their compulsory ion cannon.

Totally. A well placed Ion token could mean the match.

The only ship that seems truly underwhelming to me in this format is the humble TIE Fighter.

I agree, a single TIE doesn't have the "filler options". So a two TIE fighter build seems to be the only viable option. The good thing with a one on one match up is that a Pilot Skill of 1 or 2 is as good as a Skill of 6 or 7 if your opponent is running a Pilot Skill of 8+. This makes a Gold Squadron Y wing good if it is maxed out with lots of upgrades.

Soontir Fel, Push the Limit, Stealth Device

Vader, Stealth Device, Veteran Instincts

Wedge, R2 unit, Push the Limit.

Horton Salm, Ion Turret, R2 unit

They would be my choices, in that order.

If I had to field a TIE fighter, it would probably be "Mauler Mithel" (Engine Upgrade, Push the Limit). Hopefully that would let him get some good Range 1 shots in with a Focus to boot. Of course, then he's just an expensive TIE interceptor mostly…Turr Fennir without the cool Pilot Ability.

My top picks:

Vader, Veteran Instincts, Stealth Device

Soontir Fell, Push the Limit, Stealth Device

Maarek, Homing Missile, Veteran Instincts

Gold Squadron Pilot, Proton Torpedoes, Proton Torpedoes, Ion Cannon, R5-K6

  • (maybe trade out a torpedo for R3-D2 or more shields)

Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, Veteran Instincts

Wedge, R2 Astromech, Push the Limit

paradox23 said:

I was thinking it could be fun to do a 33 point 1-on-1 style dogfight tournament.

  • 2'x2' play area
  • 6 asteroids following the usual rules except that they must be placed at least range 1 away from any side edge and range 2 away from a player's edge.
  • 1 pilot per side
  • No large ships
  • In the case of equal piloting skill and even build points, the simultaneous damage rules would extend to the critical damage as well. Otherwise, initiative works as normal.
  • 30 minute matches

Why 33 points instead of let's say 45 points?

  • Makes builds other than just Wedge, Luke, and Vader, and Maarek viable.
  • Makes missiles usable, but an expensive gamble.
  • Reduces the chance of horrific mismatches against and/or never-ending mirror matches involving let's say Luke + R2 + Shield Upgrade + Ellusiveness.

Thoughts?

I am running a X-Wing group (Copenhagen X-Wings) and we simply love the idea. We will most likely run a side tournament with the outlines that you've made; we have made the following additions:

Each player comes with 4 list each containing 1 named pilot, max 33 points worth

The list must contain both Rebel and Imperial pilots (1Reb/3Imps,3Reb/1Imp or 2 of each)

The starting rounds will be Swiss style, and for the first 4 matches a list can only be used once

Only players with surviving lists moves on to the next round of elimination matches.

In the elimination matches the player with the highest number of surviving list is paired with the one having fewest lists.

Eliminations goes on until only 1 pilot remains.

We call it "There Can Be Only One!!"

Thx for the idea/inspiration

The Ywing would be pretty near **** unbeatable thanks to its ion cannons.

why not try 55 points?

Duraham said:

why not try 55 points?

55 could work if it was just Rebel builds. Max Empirial build is 42, but many of those would be wasted points. If you drop it down to 40, it makes A-Wings and Interceptors pointless. At 35 Vader gets Veteran Instincts and a Homing Missile, which is pretty much an tough to keep up with.

So 33, makes every fighter-sized ship other than the standard TIE viable.

Forensicus said:

I am running a X-Wing group (Copenhagen X-Wings) and we simply love the idea. We will most likely run a side tournament with the outlines that you've made; we have made the following additions:

That sounds awesome! I'm looking forwatd to the battle report.

I like it, but I wouldn't have the restriction on the number of ships. That way a 2 ship TIE Fighter build is viable.

Could also be done with 31 points, and has the advantage that new people who have just a core set can get involved.

Actually, we're planning a 66 pt 2v2 teams tournament at my flgs.

I was wondering - how did the event go, and what were the top fighters?

I was thinking it could be fun to do a 33 point 1-on-1 style dogfight tournament.

  • 2'x2' play area
  • 6 asteroids following the usual rules except that they must be placed at least range 1 away from any side edge and range 2 away from a player's edge.
  • 1 pilot per side
  • No large ships
  • In the case of equal piloting skill and even build points, the simultaneous damage rules would extend to the critical damage as well. Otherwise, initiative works as normal.
  • 30 minute matches

Why 33 points instead of let's say 45 points?

  • Makes builds other than just Wedge, Luke, and Vader, and Maarek viable.
  • Makes missiles usable, but an expensive gamble.
  • Reduces the chance of horrific mismatches against and/or never-ending mirror matches involving let's say Luke + R2 + Shield Upgrade + Ellusiveness.

Thoughts?

interesting idea. why the one pilot limit? let imperials play two ships if they want to imo.

Luke/Wedge + R2D2 =32/33 would be very good (U still have a pt for determination or veteran instincts on luke)

Vader + engine upgrade =33pts would be another good option. even without missiles hes a handful

Played in an interesting variant of this today - it was a pair of 5 person free-for-alls on a standard 3x3 playing surface. Pilots could purchase one additional elite skill than normal. Each ship had a maximum value of 33 points.

The winner of the first game was flying Soontir Fel with push the limit and veteran instincts. The other pilots were Horton Salm with an ion cannon and marksmanship, Turr Phenir with Push the Limit, Expert Handling, and a Stealth Device, Luke with R2D2 and veteran instincts, and Luke with an R2, Push the limit, and veteran instincts.

The second game was won by Luke with an R2D2 and veteran instincts. The other pilots were Vader with expert handling and veteran instincts, Tycho with push the limit and daredevil, Horton Salm with an ion cannon, determination, and an R2, and Arvel with a concussion missile, stealth device and push the limit.

Sounds like fun! How long was each match?

We started shortly after noon, and finished at around three. The first game was definitely shorter than the second (something about me piloting Tycho with Daredevil and Push the Limit), but I'd say around an hour, or an hour and fifteen minutes per match?

We could have moved through the games faster, but we were having a good time (for the record, I hate Vader w/ Expert Handling...)

It certainly proved that a Stealth Device isn't worth it in a free-for-all match.

Turr with stealth, PTL, and anything else has to be a tough match up.

Soontir Fel all the way. Unless fighting a Y-Wing, I would never get shot at even one time.

Yeah, in a free-for-all it's really just about making yourself the least appealing target for as long as possible. 3 evade to start, plus focus and evade would certainly seem to do that better than any other option I can think of.

Phenir in the first round had a rough go because all of the pilots had a higher PS.

The Y-Wing in the first game was the second ship eliminated (one of the Xwings died due to being a target of opportunity...). In the second game theY-Wing died second again - after it took out Crynyd.

Due to the nature of the format, I think Phenir is less optimal - even with veteran instincts - because pilots like Vader, Luke, Wedge, and Fel all want to either move last or shoot first, depending.

If you only had one upgrade slot, that might change.

id pick with carnor jax + stealth device + push the limit 32 points

I definitely like the idea of not limiting ship #s. Thay way you can run combo tie fighters like Dark Curse and Backstabber. I'd hate to make 1 unit unable to participate, especially one as iconic as the tie fighter. Though, there's good and bad with both options. I knowI just REALLY like taking 2 tie fighters and trying to outplay, say, an Advances Sensor B wing. THAT option makes the game type sound really fun!

At my local game store we play with this point scale. HOWEVER it is all fighters on the same mat, Everyman for themselves.

Tons of fun.