Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27029853-20170703223814/@comment-27029853-20171015204622

Had a break from X-Wing because of Thanksgiving save some super casual games that were against someone new or when I had a cold so mostly uneventful and me doing badly (one game I was really actively helping someone arc dodge me to help them learn).

I did have an  HLC  Sunny grab a Target Lock on a Tycho Celchu out of confidence she wouldn't be shot due to rock placement. She rolled 2 hits, a blank, and a focus, spent the TL to reroll the blank and focus into 2 hits which then triggered Sunny's ability. That was fun. I also rolled like 8 evades on  Cloaking Device tests. None of them were blank either, they were all evades. It was weird.

That said, I did just play in the Reddit Vassal League's last Swiss round. There's 20 people, 4 Swiss rounds, and a cut to top 4. My list is Backfire Messery, but Deathfire's Homing Missiles are  Harpoon Missiles instead. Going into round 4, I was in 3rd, having the best MOV of all the players at 2-1 (having lost 100-73, won 100-27, and winning 100-0), so a win regardless of MOV puts me in a decent place to make the cut, let alone a good MOV win.

I played against Captain Yorr with Kylo Ren and Collision Detector, Darth Vader with Engine Upgrade, Cruise Missiles, Veteran Instincts, TIE/x1, and Advanced Targeting Computer, and Quickdraw with Veteran Instincts, Cruise Missiles, Guidance Chips, and Fire Control System. <span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;">I was really worried, two Cruises could easily take out part of my list immediately!

<p style="margin:12pt0in;"><span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;">I was committed to placing Deathfire first, so I placed him in the center of my table edge so I could get the squad to veer either left or right immediately. My opponent set Vader in his left corner of his tableedge while setting up a fortressing position for QD and Yorr in the right corner. I decide to veer off to my right, partially to threaten Vader, partially to lure the fortress into coming at me, also knowing that it'd take a while for the Shuttle to get its gun into the fight. I think a crucial moment was when Vader was in the center of the board, and I was to the bottom (I started on the left and he the right), rather than than try to peel off to his right and lure me towards his fortress, he wound up continuing forward to my board edge and got caught in the corner.

<p style="margin:12pt0in;"><span style="font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;">

<p style="margin:12pt0in;">I misjudged the angle and Deathfire got rocked evidently, but that wasn't too bad in the grand scheme of things. The next turn I set up Vader for a set of Harpoons and Backdraft's rear arc. The other big mistake that decided the game was that Darth attempted to boost into range one of Deathfire to avoid being Harpooned, but I had anticipated that being an option and had made sure to deny him that. Darth then chose to Target Lock Deathfire for his attack to try to hit hard on the attack. Darth didn't roll great and so only got his Advanced Targeting Computer crit, which Deathfire shrugged off. Backdraft then stripped Darth's shields.

<p style="margin:12pt0in;">

<p style="margin:12pt0in;">Darth then took a 3-hit-1-crit Harpoon Missile, and failed to roll any evades whatsoever, taking Darth out of the game early. Had Darth had both tokens, he likely would have survived until the end of the round provided he didn't take a Direct Hit, but it is worth Deathfire had that bombing run set up.

<p style="margin:12pt0in;">The game's likely to be much easier from my point of view, but Qickdraw's still a monster I have to take out. She manages to put a Cruise Missile into Deathfire to cripple him, and her double tap takes him out. Thankfully, her decision to target lock rather than focus means she has no tokens for defense and Backdraft and Vessery can hit hard enough to take her down to one hull and ionize her before she falls to a Backdraft rear shot the next round where my opponent concedes.

<p style="margin:12pt0in;">

<p style="margin:12pt0in;">I also took part in an original trilogy touurnament this weekend!

<p style="margin:12pt0in;">The rules were that everyone had to bring both a Rebel list and an Imperial list, and all ships had to be from the original trilogy. All upgrades save TLT are allowed however. All matches are Rebel vs Imperial, if one player has played more matches with one faction than the other, they must use the lesser played faction with a die roll resolving any ties (hits/crits means the roller plays Rebels).

<p style="margin:12pt0in;">For my Rebel list I brought 4 Blue Squadron Pilots, all with FCS and one with an Ion Cannon and one with a Tractor Beam. My Imperial list was Darth Vader with Juke, Advanced Targeting Computer, TIE/x1, Cruise Missiles, and Engine Upgrade, Soontir Fel with Push The Limit, Autothrusters, Royal Guard TIE, and Stealth Device, and Deathfire with Cruise Missiles, Cluster Mines, Long Range Scanners, and Extra Munitions.

<p style="margin:12pt0in;">First round I had a bye, but in my second round I came up against a stress hog with a Dorsal Turret, two Blue Squadron Pilots with Advanced Sensors (and one with a Tractor Beam), and Biggs with an Integrated R4-D6.

<p style="margin:12pt0in;">The lesson learned here is I don't have enough patience to use two aces/flankers, and Cruise Missiles mess with Deathfire's range control. I'll be happy when the Harpoons are out for me to use. I also forgot that the Y-Wing had Dorsal rather than TLT, so I barrel rolled into range 1 thinking that was the safe zone, which brought Vader down (albeit due to poor rolls and lack of tokens). I did manage to take Biggs down however.

<p style="margin:12pt0in;">The next match I played with Rebels against Soontir and Carnor Jax, both with Targeting Computer, Autothrusters, Royal Guard TIE, and Push the Limit, and Tomax Bren with Plasma Torpedoes, Extra Munitions , and Crack Shot , and Lightweight Frame.

<p style="margin:12pt0in;">In the turn 0 I managed to create a nice open space in my right corner with few asteroids, and then set up my B's diagonally in that corner diagonally. He separated his aces, but I slow played by moving my B's one forward and then barrel rolling to the left, baiting him to come at me. He wound up charging his interceptors into range 1 where two of the B's melted Carnor and one of the B's got a Loose Stabilizer to stick onto Soontir. Following up, Tomax managed to blow up one of my B's, but I stuck 4 crits onto him, including Damaged Engine. Tomax tried koigraning, which I blocked, keeping him out of the fight and precariously close to the table edge. My opponent forgot that he had a Damaged Engine however, so tried to follow up with a hard 3 (which I'm not sure would have cleared the table edge anyways) while stressed, so he had to do a 2 straight into a spot where the only maneuver that could save him would be a 1 hard that he wouldn't be able to use even if it were on the dial. Eventually the 3 B's harassed Soontir enough that Soontir landed on a rock where he rolled 4 blanks and 1 focus result (without having a token).

<p style="margin:12pt0in;">Surprisingly, despite having a rather neutral MOV (150 for the bye, 75 point victory, and 74 point loss) I managed to take 3rd, so I now have a surplus of focus tokens (as well as another Crack Shot) and some store credit, which will functionally be a Guns for Hire discount.