Hey guys, Macar here with my season two battle report!

We had a good amount of players show up today. I was rather impressed and excited. We had expected around 6 but got 9 by the time we started.

The squad I was running is as follows

Howlrunner w/ Determination

Mauler Mithel

Backstabber

Saber Squadron with PTL

Saber Squadron with PTL

Match #1

-I was paired against someone who I had never played before, I apologize in advance for not writing down his name. He and his bud had not done tournament play before but had been playing for about a month.

I was facing

Wedge w/ r2d2

B-wing w/ APT, FCS, PT, and something else I think

Rookie X-wing with r2 astromec

Upfront the squad seemed scarey however it was quick to see that my opponent didn't have a lot of playtime with wedge. Setup put the b-wing about distance 3 from wedge and the x-wing distance 2 from him. Mysetup was farthest away from the b-wing putting me closest to wedge.

Turns 1-2 were slow advances up the field until I boosted PTL focus into position. Backstabber had taken the high road coming in around the back flank. Unable to shoot this turn I put 3 damage on wedge with my sabers shooting (lucky) and received 1 damaged hull in return.

Turn 3 resulted in a dead wedge, and most of my fighters going after the rookie pilot. Wedge died failing to put damage on (unlucky blanks/focus roll w/ denied action) and the rookie did well surviving with multiple evade rolls.

Turn 4 the Rookie kturned forcing me to split my forces to finish the rookie off or focus on the incoming b-wing who had a TL on mauler. I turned my saber squad, boosted, and barrel rolled as close to the x-wing as possible, then backstabber did a hard 1 left and ran into my saber but gave me range 1 on the x-wing.

Mauler did a 4 flip behind the b-wing as my other saber went to engage it head on.

The x-wing was destroyed by backstabber, and mauler/saber finished off the b-wing before it could fire its ordinance.

My opponent learned the value of keeping your formations tighter and never to put wedge out in front like he had. I'm not sure how he did in the later rounds but i'm sure he played better.

I won without loosing a ship that game and was happy with the results, Regardless of playing against a new player or not, the amount of damage that was dealt consistently reinforced how well my squad build seemed.

Game 2

My next opponent had done massive damage in the previous game and was running a fantastic combination of:

Jan w/ Recon Spec + Blaster Turret

Roark w/ Recon Spec + Moldy Crow + Ion Turret

B-wing w/ Ion Cannon +APT +FCS

This squad had done some major damage to an imperial squad earlier and i was a little worried about the damage potential that I could be facing. I knew my main target was the B-wing followed by Jan followed by Roark.

Setup is directly accross form one another and this time I waist no time boosting forward. My setup line is Backstabber-----Saber--Saber----------Howl-----Mauler.

Backstabber and howl/mauler were outside two asteroids that the sabers would feed their line through.

His b-wing does a forward 3, I burn forward 5, boost 1 straight with both of my sabers /ptl to focus. All my other ships move forward 5 and his hwk move forward 2. Shots exchange at a range, he shoots first with bonus from Roark+Jan however no damage comes. My sabers put 3 damage on his shields.

Round two was my most beautiful move of the day. The b-wing moves forward 2 and my interceptors move forward 3. I barrel roll backwards, PTL to boost bank 1 right and end up outside his firing arc (the exact reason I love these little guys).

After movement our ships are staring down eachother. He shoots at howl with the b-wing and does 2 damage. My ships eat the b-wing alive and begin to tear into jan.

The following round spells the end of jan after jan tries to take shots at howl and fails.

Roark is stubborn and kills howl, while continuing to evade my less than average attack rolls at that point. Eventually I am able to take out the ship after a couple of weird maneuvers. Since I couldn't move 1 I was having issues moving around the ship without colliding.

The match ends with me loosing just Howl.

Overall I was happy at how easily I was able to eat the b-wing, especially with that ordinance staring me at the face. Mauler/Sabers at range 1 are giving me 4 dice, while backstabber (usually at 2) giving me my 3 shots with him + howl throwing pot shots into the mix.

Game 3 (finals)

Unfortunately I went against my ever so usual opponent Macabre (Anthony). Now I play with this guy at least 4-5 times a week, squeezing in 2/3 games on those days.

He was running

Bounty Hunter w/ Gunner

Bounty Hunter w/ Gunner

Academy Pilot

Academy Pilot

This squad, even though i'm used to versing it, causes trouble ever time. The firing arcs and good amount of hull, plus gunner on both ships really likes to eat up my ships quick.

Turn 1 is simple placement so i'll ignore it.

Turn 2 I boost my sabers outside of his front BH firing arc, my other ties bank in and focus. The exchanging fire isn't as good as I would like as an asteroid is between my sabers and the closest point, giving him that extra die. The BH survives but with only 2 hull left. His other BH puts a pilot skill 0 on one of my sabers and 1 damage goes on backstabber.

Turn 3, I was a little gridlocked with my ability to maneuver around two large bases and two academy ties (probably the worst part about the who squad is the amount of board space it takes up once close) The firing exchange costs me backstabber and one saber(all blank defense dice) but I destroy his BH and damage an academy.

Turn 4/5 are uneventful with only 1 or two damage being thrown around however it is at this point where time is called (we had very short rounds) and I walk away with a modified win

I had killed his BH )38 Points, and a TIE 12 pts 60 Total

He had killed my Saber)24 Pts and Backstabber 16 40 Total

We play out the game regardless since it's no fun and the store had a little longer it was going to stay open.

Howl and The saber do a poor job on taking out the bounty hunter. However Anthony made a great move that cost me howl, since I couldn't move my saber out of the way howl was targetable by him. Howl dies and now my saber and his bh are off to the race. His BH had a crit were all hards are red and is nearing the edge of the board. (Hothie sound somewhat familiar???)

I'm currently in a position where my saber can barrel roll in (already boosted) but if he does, he will be able to be shot by the BH, I should have let the turn pass since regardless of what he does I could do a hard left 1 and be ok, instead i barrel roll and stress myself out. The BH receives a damage and a stress token crit, that in fact would have won me the game since his bh could no longer make a turn to avoid going off the edge. However gunner ruined my saber after rolling natural 3 evade dices, I roll 2 blanks and a focus. against his 3 hits. (rolling 3 hits w/ tl on the first attack). While I lost the hypothetical match, I probably wouldn't have been so gutsy had that still been a legal part of the match.

What I have found I liked about my squad:

High Damage output up close, my squad can really pack a punch and take out a big ship nearly 1 per turn.

In fact with Backstabber and Mauler Flanking from the sides I can do 16 Attack dice vs 4 defense (4 shots) on a falcon, w/ crits included its very possible to take out a falcon in one turn.

Great survivability and a flux of targets to deal with. My tanks (sabers) hit the front line but are the most boosted defense, Mauler and Backstabber come in at weird angles making chasing hard to do.

5 is the magic number: I have found that having 5 ship builds with the empire are giving me the most success. While I may loose one or two ships, I still have a good amount of firepower coming at you even 1 man down. Loosing 1/5 my firepower is much better than loosing 1/4 or 1/3.

My PS are above average. Having 4+ Pilot skill has meant a lot in the games I have played. Having an edge on everything BH and below really means that I can secure survivability by eliminating high threat targets like the b-wings in my first two matches. This is great because there is then no threat of firing back.

Great reports! I've gotta start hitting the interceptors. Sounds like great fun!

That barrel roll backwards + boost against the B-wing sounds splendid. Definitely want to try something like that with my Sabers.

I agree with your thoughts on 5 ship builds for the empire. With heavier Imp ships coming out and more ordnance on the board, those type of squads are getting very competitive.

What I have found I liked about my squad:

High Damage output up close, my squad can really pack a punch and take out a big ship nearly 1 per turn.

In fact with Backstabber and Mauler Flanking from the sides I can do 16 Attack dice vs 4 defense (4 shots) on a falcon, w/ crits included its very possible to take out a falcon in one turn.

Great survivability and a flux of targets to deal with. My tanks (sabers) hit the front line but are the most boosted defense, Mauler and Backstabber come in at weird angles making chasing hard to do.

5 is the magic number: I have found that having 5 ship builds with the empire are giving me the most success. While I may loose one or two ships, I still have a good amount of firepower coming at you even 1 man down. Loosing 1/5 my firepower is much better than loosing 1/4 or 1/3.

My PS are above average. Having 4+ Pilot skill has meant a lot in the games I have played. Having an edge on everything BH and below really means that I can secure survivability by eliminating high threat targets like the b-wings in my first two matches. This is great because there is then no threat of firing back.

i like ur sqd. its got a good mix of firepower and agility. how good was PTL for u? worth it? what did u primarily select as ur two actions? target lock and focus or boost then barrel roll?

What I have found I liked about my squad:

High Damage output up close, my squad can really pack a punch and take out a big ship nearly 1 per turn.

In fact with Backstabber and Mauler Flanking from the sides I can do 16 Attack dice vs 4 defense (4 shots) on a falcon, w/ crits included its very possible to take out a falcon in one turn.

Great survivability and a flux of targets to deal with. My tanks (sabers) hit the front line but are the most boosted defense, Mauler and Backstabber come in at weird angles making chasing hard to do.

5 is the magic number: I have found that having 5 ship builds with the empire are giving me the most success. While I may loose one or two ships, I still have a good amount of firepower coming at you even 1 man down. Loosing 1/5 my firepower is much better than loosing 1/4 or 1/3.

My PS are above average. Having 4+ Pilot skill has meant a lot in the games I have played. Having an edge on everything BH and below really means that I can secure survivability by eliminating high threat targets like the b-wings in my first two matches. This is great because there is then no threat of firing back.

i like ur sqd. its got a good mix of firepower and agility. how good was PTL for u? worth it? what did u primarily select as ur two actions? target lock and focus or boost then barrel roll?

It all Depends on what is going on. Most pf the time I would say I barrel rolled or boosted and focused. If I needed a range 1 decoy I focus and evaded. If I wanted to get outside the arc I boosted then rolled.

PTL on my two most nimble ships made a huge difference and at the sane time I never felt my squad was limited on movement

Great reports! I've gotta start hitting the interceptors. Sounds like great fun!

That barrel roll backwards + boost against the B-wing sounds splendid. Definitely want to try something like that with my Sabers.

Got video of the move ill post when I get home. It performed like I wanted it to

Yes, yes it does sound familiar. Sticking with a PS4+ swarm, that's gonna be a tough list to crack in a month. Unless of course, there are bombers with Assault missiles coming your way... See you then for that rematch...

Im noy really worried about assault missoles this time around. Backstabber needs to atay oit of arc anyway, mauler has to be at range one, and my sabers are hard to hit. Ill give up the rerolls of it means I avoid missile splash