Blue Squadron Pilots

Thematically I like running pairs of non-uniques, and Blue Squadron Pilots are my favourites among the Rebels. While in the current meta they don't see a lot of play, I painted two of my B-wings to match their squadron.

Even if the shading is pretty heavy, I like the original paintjob, so for this quick one I just added some Blue and did my best to cover it up in equal amounts of shade to hide the difference. I also spruced up the engines a bit, gave them a dark red similar to the one in the movies.

The Epic Tournament Experience - Imperial Version

So I got to attend two Epic tournaments while I was in the Netherlands, both were Team events. We had to bring 2 150pts lists for each teammate. My girlfriend was keen to participate in a team event so I went with her. I picked Imperial side, and went for a TIE swarm. Not being specifically well-versed in Epic, I decided to neglect the low PS problem, since it meant I had more ships on the board. Howlrunner + 7 APs, Echo (more maneuvrable than Whisper, can theoretically stay out of high-PS-ships' arc), Captain Kagi to lure away the Assault Missiles and two Assault Missile dispensers of our own with Captain Jonus to make sure they hit.

There were 8 teams at the tournament, 4 Imperial 4 Rebel, with a total of one Rebel Transport.

Our first game was against a similar list, but with Assault Missiles on Bombers. They also had Jendon with Weapons Engineer and STS-321, which meant they could target lock everything! Sure, the first target lock was on Kagi, but the second could be on anything, essentially negating Kagi's use. While we made sure their Assault missiles didn't fire by thinning out target-locked Ties and getting them in range 1 of the Bombers, we failed to hit with our own Assault Missiles because of .. dice. 4 dice with 3 rerolls (2 from Jonus, 1 from Krassis) was not enough to hit a Tie Fighter. Oh well. The game ended up being a slugfest with nothing else interesting happening, with our side losing by a small margin. Lesson learned: Assault Missiles take great work and care to hit and splash on the right targets.

 The second game was against the only team that actually brought an Epic ship. They had no clue how to play it however, and despite me insisting that we check out the rules before we play, we started placing asteroids not according to the rules because they wouldn't have it any other way. Fly casual has its limits, but I let it go and started playing. The Rebel tranport was unequipped, they also had Han Solo, Luke, X-wings, Y-wings, A-wings. It started out pretty ok, but in the first round of engagement 4 Ties were one-shotted. Even with their A-wings out of the fight for 3 turns (they decided to turn around towards their edge of the board, then come back) and with Luke and R2-D2 biting the dust from being hit by the Rebel Transport, we were only barely able to recover and reach point parity. Then the A-wings swooped in and finished off one of the Firesprays, securing them the victory. They lost a Y-wing and 3 X-wings, while we lost 8 TIE Fighters. Lesson learned: PS is much more important than I anticipated.

 Our third game speaks plenty of tiredness. 2h30 for each game is quite long, so both us and the opponents setup in front of each other and played chicken. We lost again, by a few points.  Lesson learned: Bring bigger guns.

 I saw this tournament as a clear list-building error on my part. The errors were made very clear from the first game: PS too low on too many front-line ships. Other ships too well equipped for how much damage they actually do etc. Unfortunately, we had to go in the following matches knowing it will be an uphill battle.

In the end, the guys with the Rebel transport won the whole thing. A nice indicator that everybody had something to learn that day.

Netherlands National X-wing Tournament 2014

On September the 7th 2014 I was lucky enough to participate in the Netherlands Nationals, held in De Tafelridder, Leiden.  It's a small shop on the side of a canal, with just enough room for 20 X-wing games. Turnout was of about 36 people. Start was at 10:30 and we finished at about 22:00.

First of all, I came in as a foreigner, not knowing anybody and never playing anyone from there. I also have played only three other people aside from my friends and relatives (what I can say, we had a small Regional in Romania).

I had two lists prepared for this tournament:

Soontir Fel + TC + PtL, Vessery + HLC, OGP + Vader + FCS

This list is similar to a list I saw in top 8 US nationals (The only one with a defender), and I think I saw a variation of this list in the actual tournament. FCS on OGP is an odd choice, but in most of my games OGP seems to survive and fire a lot (I use Vader sparringly, on shieldless targets), so 3-4 rounds with FCS seems to be worth it. I also keep the target lock even if I stress the shuttle with a hard 2, which is a big plus.
I didn't take this list because I played with it in a small store championship one day before the big tournament and I lost as soon as I got tired. It's not a forgiving list, each pilot must give his very best, you must be a bit lucky to not have Soontir die in one shot, etc.

I also heard in the small store championship that Falcons with C-3PO might not be so popular, so I was encouraged to play a Phantom list. I took an Echo mini-swarm, which is a list I'm very comfortable with and have lots of fun playing. I prefer Echo over Whisper because of the added maneuverability.

Echo + VI + FCS + Gunner + ACD
Howlrunner + Stealth
3 Academy Ties

Echo's load-out is specifically made to deal with high-agility targets and to mitigate any disastrous rolls.  I also use Gunner to make long-range shots possible, shooting with the Phantom from far away, preferably from behind an asteroid as well. I apply this tactic whenever I expect return fire (especially return fire from high PS) and it gives me the additional green dice to survive a lot of the times. Echo doesn't die prematurely this way.


Round 1 was a bye from the Regionals. I thought it would give me time to take some pictures, see the lists, be less tired   when it counted, etc. In the end, I don't think it was such a good idea. A bye is 150 points, which in a tournament with no elimination rounds means you don't make *any* cut or tie-breaker.

1-0

Round 2 was against the player that had to take a bye as well because of me. Sorry man.

Chewbacca + Ptl + Gunner + NN + MF
Gold Squadron Pilot + ICT
Rookie Pilot + R2-D2

The first game was rather bumpy. We set up asteroids on a diagonal of 4, with 2 in opposing corners (think % sign). I take my left corner with my Ties, Phantom middle left, he takes the opposite one. I'm betting for him to go forward, so I turn in with all Ties towards him and try to cross the asteroid belt with the Phantom. He tells me he's a new player, and I immediately start making mistakes (either I relaxed or I instinctively "went easy"). Second round of movement I bank my fighters and the first one bumps a bit on the phantom such that they all bump. His fighters were still away, Chewie going straight and the Rookie with the Y-wing slowly banking. Of course Echo is good with navigating asteroid fields, but she still missed the next turn of shooting. Asteroid placement further delays Echo's voyage. I exchange fire with only my Ties, not taking much damage but slowly chipping away at his ships. After 2-3 rounds of shooting in open space left by the diagonal, he's at 1hull with the Rookie and no shields on the Gold pilot, Chewie untouched. His Rookie is facing away from the battle. I lost no ships until this point so I'm feeling confident and I bring in the Phantom closer (usually it was out of range of the Ion Cannon).

At this point they call 15 minutes and I realize I've been wasting a lot of time, either casually talking to my opponent or taking my time to do my actions. I proceed to go for Chewbacca, because the Rookie was too far away already and the Gold squadron alone wouldn't be enough to win if he destroyed one my damaged Ties. Then the worst thing happened: I bumped the Phantom into his Chewbacca. No shooting, no cloak! He proceeds to take out Howlrunner. Next turn, I bump again (not having the space to K-turn the Phantom). He takes out an Academy. I use Echo to take out the Gold squadron, but I still can't shoot Chewie. I don't even think Chewbacca and Echo ever exchanged fire, but he was on low hp due to constant fire from the Academies. They call again for time, 2 minutes. At this point, I have to give him credit. All he wanted to do was play the game. I did too, but as casually as I had played that game, I still wanted to win if possible. His rookie re-entered the fight, and this time I had a shot on him with Echo. I took him out, it was the last game round.  I won by 15 points. Chewbacca still had 4-5 HP.

2-0

I had two wins, but I felt as if I had lost two games. My next opponent had a Whisper mini-swarm

Whisper + VI + RC + ACD
5x Academy Pilots

He had 100 points. I lost this game before we even placed ships. I chose to give him initiative. I don't know what I was thinking, I never had any swarm vs. swarm games. My motivation was that I could see what his swarm was doing and make small adjustments with barrel roll, but this wasn't the case. Having actions is immensely more important in the first range 1 exchange.

He set up in the middle with the Ties, his Whisper in the left, while I was 1in the middle with my Echo and on the right with my Ties. My plan was to avoid Whisper's firing arc with Echo as much as possible, and taking out Ties. I would also take whatever chance I had at shooting at Whisper, preferrably with Howlrunner before Echo. I would not take stress on Echo no matter what.

We met in the middle and he couldn't engage anything with Whisper for a while. Because my Ties were bumping and his were not, my formation lost coherence and I couldn't get concentrated shots on anything. Howlrunner dropped quickly. Echo was shooting from range 3 (his side basically) at Ties, doing 1 damage every time, not triggering Gunner at all. I only managed to kill one Tie when time was called, he killed enough for a full win in the final minutes (Echo + 2 Ties, previously he had only killed Howlrunner, 21-12 would have been a modified win).


2-1

I was pretty demoralized after this loss, I did my best but my original mistake cost me too much. I was 2-1, but no real victories. So I wasn't looking forward to my next game, which was

Han Solo + PtL + NN + Gunner + EU + MF
3x Tala Squadron Pilot

Every Phantom player's nightmare. Similar asteroid set-up, but not because of me. I set myself up the same, he deploys the Falcon in opposite corner, Talas in the middle. This time I position properly and on the second round the Ties cross paths with the Phantom perfectly, as it goes to shoot the Talas. My plan is to keep the Talas occupied with the Phantom (hopefully out of Han's range, or at least at range 3 behind an asteroid).

I exchange fire Han-Ties and Echo-Talas. Minor damage on the Ties, 3 shields off Han and 2 shields off a Tala. Han's against an asteroid wall and I know he wants to start shooting the phantom, so he's likely to go 3-4 forward to go over my Ties. I 3-bank with one Tie to block that and proceed head-first with the rest. It's not as potent as with a full-swarm, since out of 4 ties, 1 is facing another direction, 1 is bumped into Han, and I'm left with shooting Howlrunner and an Academy (albeit at range 1). Echo was tucked behind an asteroid at range 3, shooting at Talas, so Han decided to go for the range 1 attack. 3 Hits. I roll 1 evade two focus. Should I evade Gunner by taking two damage? Seems abrupt. I use the focus, he kills Howlrunner with the Gunner extra attack. The Tala only takes one critical (so much for using my Gunner): Stunned pilot, he'll be dead on the next round.

The following round I 4k and 3k with my two Ties and go forward with my out-of-formation blocker (blocking the Tala so he dies). Han banks to go for Echo, then boosts. Echo is moving further away, range 3 behind asteroid, Han is starting to take damage. The next round Han manages a range 2 attack through an asteroid, and he strips only one shield (which I could evade, but I didn't want to trigger Gunner, a no-brainer). Return fire is not so great for him, he takes a Damaged Sensor Array (no action bar - including EU and MF). He's also on 2 HP, but his Talas are trying to mop up the ties (the blocker Tie has agility -1) I disengage Echo and end up taking out the Tala which had range 1 shot on my Ties. The third Tala also drops that round and he concedes.

3-1

The previous game gave me confidence and personal satisfaction, I could have gone home that instant and be happy that I won against a Han Solo + 3 Tala, which I wasn't confident that I could do. I was facing

Ibtisam + SW
Roark Garnet + Blaster Turret + Recon Specialist
2x Blue Squadron Pilots

This list was straightforward, but dangerous. Two ships shooting at PS12 is no laughing matter. We deployed in opposite corners with all our ships and met in the center. Roark was further away, but Echo was in formation. I thought I could spare one frontal attack before I starting flanking with Echo.

I lost one shield, but a B-wing dropped that turn. The next turn all his B-wings bumped (no place for K-turning) and I was where I am most comfortable, behind an asteroid shooting Echo at range 3. The next turn his B-wings went after Echo. Two of my Ties turned, the other two (with Howlrunner) went after Roark. Echo disengaged and ended up behind the B-wings, facing away, shooting at Roark at range 3. Roark went down in a single round of shooting from Echo, Howlrunner and a range 1 Academy Pilot, then every ship turned to face the B-wings. One of his B-wings was on an asteroid, but that hardly mattered, because I was at almost full HP on my ships, what followed was a botched mop-up (I forgot not one, but TWO dials in one turn), but I took the full win.

4-1

My next opponent had a double Phantom.

Whisper + VI + FCS + ACD
Echo + VI + IA + ACD
2 Academy Pilots

I had no idea what to expect from a list like this, or what weakness I could exploit with an inferior-PS phantom and Tie Fighters. The asteroids left an open space in the middle, where we met. He had set up in the middle, I on the right side. I avoided his Whisper with my Echo like crazy, but since I had initiative he had to avoid my Echo with his Echo as well.

I started blocking decloak paths for Whisper, so that he couldn't get good shots at Echo. I lost Howlrunner in the round she successfully blocked a decloak path of Whisper. Karma i guess. We continued dancing around, me trying my best to avoid Whisper fire, him trying to get me, all around our academy pilots.

He made one mistake (1 hard right instead of 1 hard left) with his Echo, and he chose to barrel roll out of range of my Echo, towards the edge of the map. He exchanged a round of fire for another, because the next turn he could only 1 hard right to not get off the map, and I was at range 1 again. He took evade (don't know why not cloak - maybe fearing the green dice?). I rolled 2 eyes, but used Gunner to attack again. 5 hits. He rolled 2 more evades. I took two shields off.  He made another bank maneuver the following round, and tried to escape, but couldn't barrel roll out of my firing arc because of an asteroid, so he evaded again. Time was called, this was the last round. I had a vague notion that time was almost up, so I was going after Echo with persistence, while keeping his Whisper occupied by blocking decloaks with my remaining two Ties. He was apparently not aware of the time limitation, so it caught him off-guard.

I took Echo out, but he still had a range 1 shot on one of my Academy pilots with one of his. He rolled three focus (he had a focus token). I had one damage. I had to roll two natural evades. I got none. The game ended with me getting a modified win by 3 points. This was a list that would have been very difficult for me to kill outright, but I won on time. This is a new notion for me, since this was only my third tournament.

5-1

I ended up with 5th place because of my modified win. My only loss was against the champion, which I can easily disregard . I might even have gone different if I didn't choose initiative, at least I would have killed more than a single Tie Fighter. The biggest prize was getting good games against good opponents (excepting the bye and the first game, where I  played miserably) and holding my own. It was also very interesting to see all these new lists. I had heard of Whisper + 5, but it's a beast to see in person. The OGP + 6 was also very intimidating.

I still think my list is fun to play with Gunner and FCS, but I can understand why some people would choose a different load-out. The phantoms I played against go for the range 1 kill, but they have turns where they don't shoot anything but are shot at. If I stick at range 3 with TL+focus, I will get constant but high enough damage output and I can often risk to use a focus on attack. I am seriously considering giving Howlrunner Swarm Tactics, since I can shoot a damaged Tie that might not make it to shoot that round. Stealth Device is about 50% efficient, sometimes it doesn't really matter that you had one extra die, Howlrunner is still dead.

I'm also glad that I brought along my girlfriend to play. She had fun despite being a very tiring event. She ran:

Etahn A'baht
Blue Squadron Pilot + FCS
2 x Blue Squadron Bilot

She had a few very close games and one full win, which is very good considering this was a premiere event, people who showed up probably play much more than she has (so far :) )

More pictures in a Google+ Album

The loot included an acrylic range ruler, target lock tokens and an Alternate Art Chewbacca pilot card.
 

In the end I had lots of fun and hope to play these guys again. Fly Casual!

Romanian Regionals 2014

On the 20th of July 2014 Wargames Store in Bucharest organized the first X-wing tournament in Romania (Regional tournament). This is a retelling of events as I remember them.

 I was used to only playing 1 friend regularly who also bought in, the other were just people from our gaming group coaxed into playing :). I was excited to be able to test my skills.

One week before the tournament wave 4 arrived and we found out it was legal, so we tried the new ships. My go-to list at the time had Krassis with Heavy Laser Cannon and Howlrunner miniswarm, so I was excited to swap out Krassis with the new Phantom. I still remember flying it off the map in my first game on the second turn, because I missjudged how far a 2-bank decloak takes you. My friend went with Etahn and 3 B-wings, and we proceeded to do some training matches, which went extremely well. Echo seemed like a difficult ship to fly, but rewarding so I also spent quite some time familiarizing myself with the decloak paths. I would just drop some asteroids on the table, and decloak-move all around. Nowadays you can train with Echolocation, just pick a place on the map and try to get the best firing solution on it with a decloak and a maneuver.

The turnout for the tournament was smaller than I expected, only 9 people showed up, and I got a bye in the first round. Oh well, first tournament! The tournament was 4 rounds of swiss with a top 4 cut, so there would be plenty of games to be played. I had plenty of time to see the other lists and take lots of pictures. There was plenty of diversity, no two lists were alike. Unfortunately, I was too focused to take pictures while playing, so most of them are from the first round.

My first opponent had Soontir, Carnor and Turr Phenir. Since I had initiative, only Soontir would shoot before me. I lured him with Echo (shooting from behind an asteroid). As he approached, I moved sideways and charged with my Ties. One interceptor bumped took 3 range 1 shots, another was killed by Echo.

My second opponent was my friend with 3B's and Etahn. Turns out he was the only one who didn't outbid me on PS. We met with Ties charging on him near the edge of the map, Echo flying a bit behind, shooting from behind asteroids. I lost two ties and almost lost Echo to a mistake, but I emerged victorious.

I played my third opponent twice, once in the last swiss round and once in the top4. He had Wedge with Swarm tactics and R2-D2, a Gold squadron Ion and 2 Rookies. My plan was to take out Wedge with the Ties in a frontal assault, while Echo shot from afar or out of arc. In the first game he had a range 3 PS9 shot on Echo, in the other game he didn't. Both games played out fairly similarly, with my Ties getting a good engagement in the first round of combat. In one of the games he managed to Ion the Phantom and bring it down to 1 Hull, but he couldn't kill it.

In the finals I faced a list with Corran Horn + PtL + FCS, 2 Rookies, 1 Gold. For some reason we either rolled for Initiative or i gave him initiative, fact which I can't explain. A regrettable decision, if that was indeed the case. Perhaps I thought moving after Corran would give me a better advantage than shooting before him. I setup on a long winding path to either split his forces or flank, while Echo went in the middle as bait. The two Rookies and the Y (which had no turret) engaged the Fighters, dealing a lot of damage in the first few rounds. Meanwhile, Echo was letting Corran chase her. As the Ties weren't doing well on their own, I decided to help them with Echo. Corran was at least 1 turn away from the fight as the Ties with the help of Echo finally managed to kill the Rookies and the Gold squadron. I remember that at this point my opponent resigned.

More pictures on Google+