So I did my first store championship yesterday at the Board Game Barrister in Bayshore Wisconsin. We had 18 players participating in three rounds of play. I went 2-1 and ended up in 5th place. More info below.

My Squad (mentioned on this forum before)

Wedge + Swarm = 31

Roark + Blaster + Recon = 26

Blue = 22

Rookie = 21

Total = 100

Game 1 Opponent

Chewie + Luke + Weapons Engineer + DTF = 53

Roark + Blaster + Recon = 26

Rookie = 22

Total = 100

My first opponent had only played 3 games before, so that put extra pressure on me to win as I figured it might be the easiest opponent I could face that day. I'd say his squad was decent for probably one of his first builds. He had trouble flying initially, especially with the falcon, which caused a lot of missed actions from him crashing into his own ships. I almost won with the loss of only one ship (roark), but he took down my bwing right before I finished him off.

Final score: 100 - 48

Game 2 Opponent

Howl = 18

Backstabber = 16

Black + DTF = 15

Academy x 4 = 48

Total = 97

My second opponent was the gencon2013 national champion jake. I had only played him once before and it was with a squad I never flew before so I lost that game pretty bad. I knew going into this game I would almost definitely lose but I gave it my best shot. I think I played about as good as I could, surprisingly I only crashed into his ties once the whole game. The first round of attacks is what did me in. I had wedge and the rookie target lock one academy tie, and the bwing another one. I figured wedge and rookie should be able to take down the one together, and hopefully the blue could damage the other enough for roark to finish him off. Or worse case roark goes for whichever tie gets the most damage. Well I did get the worse case scenario as my first three attacks didn't kill anyone, and even worse roark's attack didn't either. I lost roark that round so I was already in a huge hole. Next round I took down one tie finally with wedge but it was too late by then, needed to kill at least one or two more. I then lost wedge as well so that was the game pretty much. I give him a lot of credit for flying perfectly and positioning well, but I do feel robbed that 4 3-attack ships could only destroy one tie the whole game. And I think my defensive rolls were pretty shoddy too if I remember right.

Final score: 12-100

Game 3 Opponent

Jendon + ST321 + Weapons engineer + ion cannon = 32

Howl = 18 + swarm = 20

Mauler = 17

Black + swarm = 16

Academy = 12

Total = 100

My final opponent is a regular at the store I play at every Saturday, but oddly I had never played him before this match. His squad was a bit odd. The ps bid was a strong idea, he ideally would shoot 8, 8, 8, 7, 6 which is very strong. However he was going against my ps bid of 12, 9, 9, 4 which put him at a disadvantage. But his main problem was he had the normal decked out jendon, but it was a waste since he could only give target locks to ties who with their standard 2 dice attack is kinda worthless (especially while howl is still alive). Also I don't think he ever used the ion cannon the whole game. He had a few flying problems early on like my first opponent, and unlike the previous game my focused fire was able to take down his ships one by one, with me only losing my rookie very late in the game.

Final score: 100 - 21

So my 2-1 record for the day featured a combined score of 212-169. I was surprised I got 5th. Losing to Jake who finished 2nd before the extra rounds helped me I think, as the opponents I beat had a combined 1-5 record and one of them finished dead last.

Overall it was a fun day even though I just barely missed out on top 4. I'll probably do the championship at my store in two weeks, though with the several elite players in the area like jake it will be hard to ever crack the top 4.

Thanks for writing this up!

I had hopes for ya! If only you didn't get matched against a swarm! Thanks for the write up. What squad ended up the victor?

Jake's seven tie swarm. When people were turning in their squad lists and I was double checking points I called him dirty. His tight formation flying won him the day.

You were also right about your strength of schedule. It kept you and some others out the top four.

I don't think he will be at the event on the eighth. Something about playing in a different event where he used to go to school.

Also Tom flew extremely well having not played since worlds. His chewie Biggs and a blue was hard to beat.

Your list is solid. I think you just need to fly it more.

Mark,

You should be pleased with your performance. Three of the Top 4 players were tournament veterans, so placing 5th is no small accomplishment. Your squad is also very strong, so I recommend that you keep flying with it. I could see you easily making Top 4 at either the March 8th Board Game Barrister Store Championship, or the March 15th Games Universe Store Championship in Greenfield. I certainly won't be at the March 8th Championship. I hope you go and if you do, I'll root for you. Ryan will be the guy to watch out for then. It would be a good idea to practice against swarms on Vassal if you can. Let me know if you want to get a game in or two before then.

He would be better off practicing against Han lists. Just saying.

Congrats Jake! Well done. Nice list.

Thanks, Gabe

So I did my second store championship this past Saturday. Went 3-0 with the same squad to finish second and get that sweet range ruler! Unfortunately I was paired up in the first final round with the lone tie swarm present (not Jake again, but another 7 tie swarm). Just like the other match I only took down one academy again with a few hits to a couple other ties.

The 7 tie swarm is truly my bane now. I probably just need to fly against it more. Unfortunately the two times I've played it at the championships is probably about 50% of the total times I've played against tie swarms. I play a ton on vassal but have only done 1 or 2 games on there against a swarm, and one other time at my game store.

As much as I like this squad it's not really the best for a swarm. I need a bomb or assault missile to do some splash damage to multiple ships at once, or at least cause them to spread out more. Even then it's pretty unlucky that both times I could only take down one tie with all the firepower I have plus the fact I shoot most of my ships first each round.

But since I had almost no interest in going to regionals its probably better I didn't advance any further. My goal was to make a top 4 for the range ruler and I did that, so overall I am happy.

Good Job Marcsoul! I know how disheartened you were in the beginning, but you made it to 2nd place in your second tournament.

P.S. I still have that saved game of ours for whenever I am on Vassal.

Marrkcsoul

It was a rough event. I've noticed in the last month that the level of play has increased significantly at the two stores and it's not always a win for the high caliber players, of which you are one. The one thing your list allows a swarm to do is focus fire on which ever ship it wants. Just a thought.