I've been meaning to post this for a while, but it takes so long to write up battle reports, I hadn't gotten around to it. Tack on the fact i was playing with roughly 2 hours of sleep / night (I was running the 1am to 5am shift for Privateer Press's Iron Arena Thursday night and Friday night, and then up early for tournaments) I don't remember the games all that well. So, instead of posting detailed battle reports, I'm going to cover my squad, and then a rough idea of what I played against and a highlight or two of the game. I may have the rounds out of order as well - its pretty hazy at this point, lol

My list was:

Wedge w/ expert handling, R2 unit, Stealth device

Green Squadron w/ Push the Limits, Concussion missile

Green Squadron w/ Push the Limits

Prototype A-Wing

General plan was to use PtL to either Target lock + focus on targets if I didn't think I would get shot, or Focus + evade if I though I would take fire. The Prototype was there to block movement, and wedge was there to be a solid damage dealer. Expert Handling was there to break target locks more than anything in the planning phase, but I ended up using to get good lines of fire more than anything else.

Round 1

Played against Imperials with a list something like this:

Vader + Concussion Missile

Soontir Fel w/ upgrades (not sure which ones)

3x Academy Pilots

Highlights

Very early in the game first volley (?), Vader fired his concussion missile (all hits) and aced the green squadron without the missile. I in turn killed Soontir with a concussion missile. Much maneuvering ensured , but eventually Wedge was able to barrel roll into a range 1 shot on Vader and kill him. We went to time and I won.

Round 2

Played against

Lando w/ Draw their fire, Gunner

Chewie w/ Draw their fire, Gunner

There may have been other upgrades, I don't really remember (I think the falcon was there on one of the two)

Highlights

He rolled lights out - almost every attack was all hits. Instead of hanging back like I should have I pushed in and got chewed up. Also, I rolled quite a few crits this game, which really worked against me. I dealt 3 damage cards to lando, but to do it ended up chewing through all of the shields on chewie solely based on draw their fire.

Round 3

Played against

Vader w/ concussion missile

Soontir

Turr Phennir w/ Veteran Instincts

There were lots of upgrades on this list that I'm not listing - I know there were steath devices and i think an engine upgrade on vader, etc, but I don't really remember what they all were. This game started off kind of on the bad foot as well, as my opponent was telling me about how he won the past 15 games in a row with the squad and how he was going to crush me. Somehow I ended up with initiative as well, and I'm still not clear how that happened.

Highlights

A Wing concussion missile kills Turr Phennir on turn 2. Vader and wedge go head to head and I roll all evades against the concussion missile (still take 1 damage) and wedge shreds vader for 4 damage. Game ends with him tabled and me still rolling with both Green Squadron undamaged.

At this point, I dropped the event as I had a party to go to, and I figured I was out of the running since i had a loss. Turns out I may have had a chance to qualify for the final tournament had I kept playing, but chalk it up to not understanding how fantasy flight was running the event. Overall, I quite enjoyed the tournament and will be sure to play in (and finish) the next Gen Con X-Wing event.

At this point, I dropped the event as I had a party to go to, and I figured I was out of the running since i had a loss. Turns out I may have had a chance to qualify for the final tournament had I kept playing, but chalk it up to not understanding how fantasy flight was running the event. Overall, I quite enjoyed the tournament and will be sure to play in (and finish) the next Gen Con X-Wing event.

Ha! Add insult to injury... you beat him and then drop, hurting his Strength of Schedule score. Though karma bit the opponent pretty bad on this one, I wonder if I should start trying that... "I've won the last 18 matches with this squad*. Prepare to be crushed." *I don't have to tell the opponent that the matches were all solo right? ;-)

What were your general thoughts about the tourney, competition, schedule, etc? In your opinion, which builds were better suited for tournament play?

Thoughts on the event management:

I wish they had been a touch more organized and started on time. The paper print outs for pairing were alright, but a projector shooting against a wall would have been better.

Thoughts on opponents.

2 of my opponents were on the ball with maneuvers, target selection, etc. The other... not so much, and we went to time. Looking around at some of the other matches, I really feel the maneuver phase could use a timer - maybe 3 minutes? After 3 minutes, if you haven't selected a maneuver for a ship, it gains an ion token? That would help keep the event moving and prevent any kind of stalling.

Thoughts on competition

In general the games were well played, though the dice swung so far in favor of my opponent in the double falcon game that I can't say what the competition level there would have been otherwise - it IS a tough list.

Schedule:

If things had started on time and the rounds got posted faster we probably could have done the whole event, excluding the championship 16 man event in a decent time frame without a break for lunch. It probably would have been better if the Saturday event has been a qualifier for a Sunday championship game - then the poor souls who were playing in that could have gotten some sleep!

Tournament builds

For most players,I think fewer ships are probably better builds for keeping the event moving. I won't deny that a tie swarm can be powerful, but it certainly doesn't fit well in a tournament if the player running it isn't well practiced. Here is where I'd suggest that maneuver timer again, which would probably help discourage those who are unqualified from taking the swarm for a spin.

I have seen suggestions for timing the planning phase before. My problem with that is that I think it might actually make it go slower. If a player look and sees they have 1:30 left to plan many would use it up to make sure they had thought it through as much as possible.

I've played against slow players in tournaments and while it can be a test of patience, I'm not sure that there is a better way myself, than polite encouragement to make the selections and move on.

I'm really in disagreement with a maneuver timer. This isn't something that could easily be controlled like in a you-go-I-go game and punishes many ship squad builds. It will take longer as magadizer said not just because of the timer nature but the adjudicating of when to apply the penalty. Also logistically, I get 3 minutes total for my squad? or 3 minutes per ship?

Honestly, if you had a problem with your opponent taking too long to set dials, politely let them know. If it gets to be a major issue, call the TO over there to evaluate. I was really agonizing over a turn and my opponent politely asked me to move it along. I was wrapped up in the game and didn't realize I was taking so long so I made sure to make my decisions quicker in all the subsequent rounds. It worked very well and neither of us had an issue with the results. Games are going to go to time in this format, there is no getting around it. Sometimes that will burn you and I was on both sides of a called time game (win and a loss). It happens even when no one was taking long decisions on dial selections. Dice, play style, squad style all factor into a game wrapping in 75 minutes or getting called to time. Penalizing builds that happen to use the maximum number of ships is not the answer.

Regarding scheduling and organization, I think the FFG team was spot on. I think there was one hiccup that caused a slight delay? In an 84 person tourney, that is totally acceptable, especially with so many players dropping- which is usually causes the most TO work to refit the field for the next round. They should (and I think they will) split the swiss rounds and finals into two different days. They were up front with people that they needed lists in but the start was at 10a. Likely that should have been printed in the description but that time gave the TO and team to set things up properly and not feel rushed.

I'm really in disagreement with a maneuver timer. This isn't something that could easily be controlled like in a you-go-I-go game and punishes many ship squad builds. It will take longer as magadizer said not just because of the timer nature but the adjudicating of when to apply the penalty. Also logistically, I get 3 minutes total for my squad? or 3 minutes per ship?

I would say 3 minutes total for all ships, maybe less. I enjoy time limits on my games to prevent abuse / stalling / or just plain sloppy play.

If you want to see a tournament well managed, check out Privateer Press' Hardcore event at Gen Con. I believe we had around 100 players, started on time, the 7 minute turns kept things in check, and the software used for the pairings was projected onto a screen allowing people to find out where to go and get there very quickly. The Fantasy Flight team did pretty well, but I think I've been spoiled by the way Privateer runs things.

I really dig how well Privateer Press can run things. Keeping a tourney moving along at a decent clip is next to impossible for some groups.