Hey everyone!  Another week, another tournament, this time over at the Battlegrounds Cafe in downtown Poulsbo.  An awesome venue, they make great use of their smaller gaming space with well organized tables and a great atmosphere.  The nearby park is a plus, as is the dessert and beer bar. 

As for my list, I knew I wanted to put the Inferno Squadron on the table.  Their combined pilot abilities that readily punish the opponent for simply taking damage were very appealing.  I also knew I had to get Soontir Fel on the table for his first 2.0 tourney.  I tried them out in various configurations against the AI on Fly Casual, and every time it felt they were missing something.  Fel seemed over-done, I never used afterburners, or stealth device would break on the first shot, etc.  And this against the AI!  If I couldn’t make them work there, where the opponent just feeds ships in 1 by 1, I knew it would never work in real life. 

So, I decided what I needed were more offensive re-rolls.  There’s one obvious choice there, Howlrunner.  Sticking her in means loosing one of the 30-point Infernos, and the 7-8 point upgrade on Fel, but she definitely seems worth it.  Of the 30 point pilots, Seyn’s Marksmanship fueled crit-through seems vital, and Del’s defensive re-roll also seemed like it would help the block push on through tough rounds.  Gideon gets an extra die against damaged foes, but doesn’t really help out the team.  As the most selfish, he had to go.  With Howlrunner in, Crackshot and Marksmanship where appropriate (and Fel’s stapled on Predator in place,) I ended up at 198, and Fel’s HowlFerno was ready to roll. 

We had 10 players come up to play, 3 familiar faces and 6 others who were local to the store.  It was my first time there, and I had to say I was impressed by the friendliness of the owner and staff.  Most of the local players were fairly new (one guy was playing his first ever game as we walked in,) whereas the group of familiar faces was Kyle Meidell (of Evergreen Squadron Radio,) Jim Kelly (AKA Bob a Fett, the Tourney Organizer for a store in Silverdale,) and Jeff Raiford (usually a top finisher and the local progenitor of Atanni Aces in 1.0.) 

With 10 players, we should have done 4 rounds, but the late start and early morning for half the players meant we were all happy to play just the 3.  Considering the relative experience of the player base, we all settled in for a night of casual flying and good times.  My first match-up, in fact, happened to be against Conner, who would be playing his second game (after the trial run we walked in on) in the first round against me. 

Game 1 – Conner Elmstrom

Conner was flying a rebel trio that looked pretty intimidating.  Luckily for Fel, he was at a full 200 points, so I gave him initiative.  He set up fairly spread out, and I went for a relatively standard opening, all 4 TIEs blocked in a corner and Fel slightly toward the center, ready to go through rocks.  Most of this game was spent explaining the game’s more complex concepts to Conner, who, as an experienced Legion player, picked stuff up really quickly.  So much so, in fact, that I forgot to take a picture of the game, even after reminding myself to do so tonight. 

The game itself was pretty straight-forward.  The TIEs engaged Garven early, dropping him to a few hull remaining as Wedge and Fel danced in the center and Luke struggled to get into the fight.  Fel disengaged and leapt past Luke as the TIEs turned on Wedge, dropping him rapidly and moving on to Luke.  Meanwhile, Fel had come around and gotten a bead on Garven, with my squad taking down both X’s that round.  I ended the game with a blinded pilot on Howlrunner and a single damage on one of the junior Infernos.  I really enjoy helping new players, and after the game, gave him several tips on how to fly in formations to better focus his firepower.  200-0 win for me. 

Game 2 – Mason Woodson

This is a match-up I was both looking forward to and dreading.  If Vader got to move after Fel, I could be in some serious trouble.  Luckily, like Conner, Mason was running at a full 200, so I got the choice again and had the Sith Lord moving first.  My basic strategy here was avoid the missiles and try to take down his support fighters before taking Fel vs Vader in the end.  That may not have been the best course of action, but it was a game-plan I thought I could follow. 

The Infernos set up in a block in the center, while his squad set up together in the center.  Fel went right, to flank in and avoid the cluster missiles Vader was carrying.  I managed the opening round well, staying out of arc while also getting close enough to potentially bump one of his guys on the engage. 

The opening engagement went my way, with Vader moving in too quickly and bumping, and Fel getting a great position to flank into his squad.  However, after the dice had fallen, each player had only taken a single damage!  The following scrum had us jockeying for position as only a hornet’s nest of TIEs can; between the 7 fighters and 2 aces, diving in and out of arcs made the midgame a challenge.  After a pair of jousting K-turns from half of each list, my TIEs managed to take down the Obsidian squaddie, exchanging damage on my Iden and Seyn for it.  Meanwhile, Vader finally got to throw his missiles into my team, but they didn’t do anything beyond another point of damage on Iden. 

Vader finished the job on Iden, but by then the weight of fire had finally won through, and the Sith Lord went down.  We then had a strange turn of events where both players mistook one of Mason’s TIEs for the other, and rolled a bunch of attacks that we ended up going back on and correcting.  After the dust settled on that turn, it was his Valen alone against everyone but my Iden.  He managed to half-point Seyn, but Fel and Howlrunner ended the lesser Baron’s flight, and that was the game.  200-56 win and moving on to the final round. 

Game 3 – Jim Kelly

Jim has been playing scum since I met him, and tonight was to be no exception.  Boba was a terror, and was fielded in what I consider his most effective load-out (the very one I’m keen to try next week.)  I have never touched the Kimolga, either in 1.0 or 2.0, nor have I ever seen on on the table, so I had little idea what to expect out of them. 

I got the choice for initiative again, and kept it, primarily so Howlrunner could move with her block of TIEs and not worry about getting blocked by Fett.  He set up both K’s near a corner, and I carefully set my TIE block so that if we both went straight on, I would dodge the bullseye arc of both.  Boba set up slightly to center from the K’s, and Fel set up to match, planning to snake through the rocks and get into a flanking engage on turn 2. 

Turn 1 everyone went straight, except my Baron, who did his banking boosting thing and got into the center.  Turn 2 went as planned as well, with the exception of Boba, who soared into close range of the TIEs, leaving Fel with no target even after barrel-boosting.  The TIEs punish the un-painted Kimolga, putting it down into low hull after just one pass.  In return, my TIEs dodge everything.  If there was a turn to use the ion torps, it was probably this one, but we didn’t even check for locks after their move.  Jim later said he regretted that decision, and I don’t blame him; ion torps at that point would have really sucked! 

Following that round, I figured he would slow-roll the Kimolgas to provide trouble for me moving forward, and planned to K-turn the junior guys and 4-straight the others, figuring that they could evade if they overshot but wouldn’t be stressed if they bumped.  The pink K-12 hard 3’d to his right, and the other bank-3’d to his right, bumping the forward TIEs and freeing what could have been an awesome K-turn for everyone.  Instead, I end up with Iden and Howl facing the wrong way.  Fel, meanwhile, hard turns in, and winds up double-tokened at range 2 of Boba’s rear arc.  Shots are exchanged, Boba loses a couple shields, Fel dodges everything, and the tan Kimolga is dropped to 1 hull. 

I have to get creative to get the TIEs back together, and the plan works wonderfully, putting everyone back facing the same direction in a cohesive unit.  Fel originally had a 1-hard to the right dialed in, but I balked last minute and chased Fett with a 2-straight instead, despite being stress-free.  It ended up sticking Fel in arc again, but lucky dice and green tokens saw him through, while a potshot from Del dropped the tan K-fighter and Iden took away one of the pink K’s shields. 

My TIE block swings up to engage the K while Fel disengages from Fett, not wanting to get drawn into a 1v1.  Fett manages to stick a damage on Fel regardless, but his K pays the price, dropping to 2 hull remaining and scratching a TIE in exchange.  At this point, he’s got damage on everyone but Howlrunner, and Del and Seyn are limping along on 1 hull left.  Fel starts stinging around a scrap as Fett comes back in, my TIEs k-turn to re-engage the Firespray and the second Kimolga finally goes down.  Unfortunately, so does Fel, from a perfectly modded rear-arc shot onto a token-less squint. 

From here, my TIEs had to split, and Boba puts a damage on Howlrunner as I try to swing everyone back into some sort of formation.  We’re getting close on time, but neither of us are paying attention to points, both just wanting the total victory.  Fett and the TIEs play around in the open sky for a while, my TIEs slowly whittling Fett down as my green dice frustrate his every attack. 

Finally, with Fett on 3 hull, time is called, so we settle in for the last round.  Howl and Seyn have no shot, being too close and facing the wrong way.  Iden and Del are range 3 and unmodified, and too far to share abilities with the other two (so no Iden/Del for Howl/Seyn, and no Howl for Iden/Del.) Fett finishes off Seyn, while Iden and Del don’t get to finish off Boba.  The round over, we tally up points, and I end up taking it 150-100. 

3-0 and 994 MOV is a pretty good record, but apparently not enough to win the day.  Kyle Meidell, for the second or third time, wins an event over me where we are both undefeated and he takes it on points, winning by 16 points at 1010 MOV.  He was flying a 3-ship rebel list using an X, a Y, and Sabine in the shuttle.  If I can, I’ll post the list in the comments later. 

So far, I’m 6-0 in tournament games in Second Edition.  I also tested both lists against one squadron from each faction, though that was entirely coincidence.  I have to skip out on practice tomorrow night, as real life calls, but next weekend promises another tournament.  I’m very happy with how Fel did, and the TIE block was scary effective as an anvil to his hammer.  All of my opponents were excellent sports, and I can only hope I lived up to their example. 

Next time: Midweek ramblings, wherein I think about scum squads and how to Build a Better Boba.