Well, it was not really my first, because in March I had played two rounds in another tournament in the same shop... I made so many mistakes in my first games, constantly bumping into any asteroid that came into my pilots' view... On the other hand, I learned a lot about maneuvering!
The shop the tournament took place in was Tabletop Kingdom in The Hague, a great place with plenty of space to play!
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| The shop was quite busy during the tournament! |
There were 4 standard battles in the tournament, and I was really happy with my performance. My list was interesting and fun to play and it proved to be quite deadly. I lost my first game, but then I won the next 3 games with a complete victory 100-0 (I destroyed all other ships without having any of mine destroyed). I finished third out of 14 (I think) participants, tied with the second player (he ended second because he lost his last game in the final, something I could not reach because of losing my first game).
my list, Ten's Friends:
Ten Numb with Heavy Laser Cannon and Marksmanship (41)
Garven Dreis
Biggs Darklighter with R2-D2 and Shield Upgrade
Total: 100
The basic strategy of this list is protecting Biggs so that he does not die too quickly and use Ten Numb and Garven Dreis to destroy the opposition.
And here come the battle reports:
First Battle
In my first game I met Oliver (I think). He played a very nice list with two Interceptors of 9 Pilot Skill and 3 Academy TIEs. The Interceptors were extremely maneuverable and very dangerous attacking, while the Academy TIEs provided some extra firepower while offering the possibility of blocking any easy movement of the opponent.
The game started with the squadrons in opposite corners of the board. The approach was not easy for any of us (I think we both placed the asteroids quite well).
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| We started in opposite corners and then approached each other through the asteroid field |
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| All is quite in the space at the moment |
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| The Interceptors' lightning movement placed them at ranges 1 and 2 from Biggs. I rolled very poorly my defense dice and as a result lost Biggs in the first fire exchange. |
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| I managed to destroy one of the Interceptors and damage two of the TIEs, and at some point it looked like I could maybe turn back the tide of battle, but Garven Dreis was quickly dispatched and that left Ten Numb completely alone against 4 Imperial spaceships |
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| Soontir Fel prepares himself for a new hunt... |
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| During the last part of the battle I lost all my gambles and my opponent outmaneuvered me most of the rounds. As a result, I could not destroy any of the damaged TIEs and lost by a big margin. |
Second Battle
In the second game I met Laura. She played another interesting list, similar to the one I had fought before, though this one had two agile Interceptors and two good TIEs. I saw a weak point in her list: she had one of the Interceptors (I think Carnor Jax) without any modification to add an extra Hull or shield point, and it seemed quite weak.
She started the battle with an Interceptor and a TIE in front of me and the other two spaceships in the opposite corner... I decided to go full throttle and try to get to the ships in front of me before her flanking party arrived... Unexpectedly (or probably because of this being one of her first tournament games), her first movement for the group in front of me was to move 5 forward, so that I had to fight only half of her force before the flanking group arrived and had a big advantage throughout the game.
Also, because she never was able to concentrate enough firepower on Biggs, I kept shrugging damage with R2-D2 and, protected by Biggs, my other two ships scored plenty of hits on the beleaguered Imperial forces.
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| The flanking party looks helpless as battle starts in the other side of the board |
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| My squadron blasted one of Laura's TIEs in the first exchange of shots, leaving her Interceptor alone against a lot of danger |
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| After dealing with the force in front of me, I veered my ships to receive the incoming flanking party |
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| In the dogfight... I love how I managed to position my three ships so that they cover a lot of space, and Biggs is near them all and must be shot at first |
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| Hunting the last two ships proved quite difficult with lots of maneuvering |
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| Ten gets really close to the last Interceptor... And I still love the pictures taken with my LG G2! |
Third Battle
In the third game I met Vas (I think). He had a Rebel list with Biggs and R2-F2, two Dagger B-Wings and a Prototype A-Wing... We met head on and I was luckier than him with the rolls. I managed to destroy his Biggs in the first two combat rounds, and then it was a matter of time for me to mop up the rest of his squadron while he tried to destroy my Biggs without any chance.
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| Both squadrons met straight on |
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| All my pilots had a higher pilot skill than the opponent's. Maybe this played a roll in me getting through his Biggs before he could damage anything |
Fourth Battle
My last battle was against Sven. He had yet another list with two Interceptors and three TIEs. During the battle he tried to flank me several times, but his maneuvers and gambles were never successful and his ships attacked mine almost one by one, so it was relatively easy for me to shoot them down (two X-Wings and one B-Wing shooting the same target can and do make a lot of damage).
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| The usual setup in opposite corners of the board |
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| Sven placed very well the asteroids, as you can see in this image, because he could use them to protect his advance, but would not have them blocking his movement if he crossed my ships. |
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| The battle is about to start in earnest! |
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| Turr Phennir manages to shoot and get out of the way, but the second Interceptor was attacked by my three ships in the same turn and was destroyed |
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| As you can see in this photo, again Sven's ships were not fighting in unison. Here I managed to destroy one of his TIEs, but could not attack Turr Phennir for the second time in a row, and decided I would leave him for the last. |
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| Again, this photo shows that Sven was always in numerical disadvantage, because he kept on attacking my squadron with only 1 or 2 ships |
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| Finishing the last TIE with Turr Phennir behind... After destroying the TIE, it was a matter of 3-4 more turns before I was able to hunt down Turr Phennir |
Conclusions
I was very happy with my list. It's quite robust, because if the opponent cannot destroy Biggs in the first few rounds of fire, it'll be almost impossible to do it later: not only is Biggs recovering Shields, but Ten Numb and Garven Dreis hit very hard and will make the opponent lose some ships.
Garven Dreis is a character that works very well with Biggs, because he can give Biggs a second Focus token and improve his survival chances.
So, I hope I'll be able to join another tournament soon... this was real fun!
May the Force be whith you all!
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