Hello All!
This will be my first battle report on the TC site so bear with me
if I get something wrong.
I had the pleasure this past weekend to attend the first of the
X-Wing Regional’s at Mr. Nice Guy's Games in Monroeville, PA. This was Region 3
if you're wondering. This was a short
drive for me and the first real tournament I had ever attended. The venue was
amazing, with well over 7,000 square feet of gaming space.
When we arrived we began to see a bunch of blue t-shirts with the name Nova Squadron on them. For those who do not know, they are a big competitive gaming club from Northern Virginia and Roy, one of their members, was the TO for this event. Each of the guys I talked to/played against were amazing, all very friendly and great people to play. One of their claims to fame, aside from being a great X-Wing club, is that the current reigning World Champion, Mr. Paul Heaver, is a member of their team. And he was in attendance for this event. I admittedly over-geeked out when I realized who he was, but he and the rest of his team were all really cool guys. But that meant that I picked the event that the World Champ would be playing in… ugh!
A note about the meta, we had 38 players in attendance at this event, and most of them were running Rebels and B-Wings! B-Wing were where it was at this weekend, along with the new Transport X-Wing pilots! The top 16 were 13 Rebel and 3 Imperials!
My List, Classic TIE Swarm:
Howlrunner w/Stealth Device
Backstabber
3X Obsidian Squadron Pilots
2X Academy Pilots
Game 1
Opponent’s List:
Tarn Mision
Garvin
Rookie
Dutch w/Ion & R5-K6
I think my opponent’s name was Joe, if it’s not I do apologize. We set up in opposite corners and drove toward the asteroids in the center of the board. I tried to focus fire Tarn down first with the hope of moving on the Garvin next. However dice rolls were not on my side early on. I lost an Academy almost as soon as the dice started rolling and he dropped 2 more Obsidians early. While I was scoring some hits, he was able to evade a lot of what I was sending his way. However, the dice gods began to shine on me as his dice went ice cold and I dropped the Rookie and Dutch and still had Howl with 3 more TIEs to back her. Over the next couple of turns I focused Garvin down and Tarn, who had survived with 1 hull point for most of the game was the final pilot remaining with three TIEs. I should have lost this game, I was not flying well and my opponent took advantage of it. But I got lucky and pulled out a win.
Win 100 – 49
Game 2
Opponent’s List:
8th Place Overall: Chris Lothers
Han Solo + Determination + Gunner
Blue Squadron Pilot + Fire Control System x2
After a close game in round one I was sort of happy to see this list. I had practice against Han Shoots First lists a lot, and while this one was a bit different with the B’s, the tactics were still the same. I focused down the B’s early which left me with Han versus 5 or 6 TIEs. Chris did kill a few TIEs but in the end without the B-Wing’s support Han dropped pretty fast.
Win 100-50
Game 3
11th Place Overall: Frank Forte
Dutch Vander + Ion Cannon Turret
Blue Squadron Pilot + Fire Control System x3
Frank new my list and new it well. The Nova guys all had a firm grip on what weakness my list had and how to exploit them. And Frank was giving a clinic on how to beat TIE Swarm. It didn’t help that I was getting frustrated with my own flying and I landed not one, but two TIEs on asteroids which Frank promptly blew away. It was a good game, Frank was a great guy and a superior player and took the win.
Loss 48 – 100
Game 4
Phil Lyons
5X TIE Interceptors (3 With PTL)
I do not remember Phil list completely but they were all unnamed Interceptors and varied in PS. I baited Phil with Backstabber and managed to pull three of his ships into my wall of TIEs at the cost of Backstabber. This is where Phil’s dice just hated him. He out flanked me with two ships but would have range one shots and only pull off 1 hit. I’d hit back and he’d roll no evades. His three baited shipped died quickly and the rest of the game was him outmaneuvering me as best he could. Phil flew like a champ but in the end I managed to drop the final two interceptors for the win.
Win 100-28
Game 5
10th Place Overall: Daniel Myers
Ibtisam + Fire Control System + Push the Limit + Engine Upgrade
Rookie Pilot x3
Daniels list was very interesting and I learned just how good Ibtisam was. I decided since he was going to out maneuver me with Ibtisam that I would just focus down the X-Wings and leave as many TIEs to face off against Ibtisam as I could. This turned out to be a great strategy as X-Wing dropped like flies to focused fire. He did kill a few TIE fighter but in the end as each ship dropped his effective firepower began to wane. It was a good game and I had a lot of fun in this one!
Win 100 – 40
So after 5 grueling rounds (and eating on the fly as there were no breaks) I had earned myself a spot in the top 8! Top 8 were rewarded with custom 3x3 play mats provided by Mr.Nice Guy Games, acrylic Evade Tokens, and clear Attack/Evade Dice.
Round 1 Finals:
1st Overall: Issac Whitehair
Howlrunner + Determination
Academy Pilot x2
Alpha Squadron Pilot + Stealth Device
Alpha Squadron Pilot x2
Well, as you can tell by his final standings Issac ended my day on this match. It was a good game, Swarm vs. Swarm. He had the firepower, I had the numbers. I can take some pride in the fact that I had him on the ropes though! At one point in the game he was down to the Interceptor with stealth, another Interceptor, and an Academy, while I still had Backstabber and 5 other TIE fighters! To be honest, I thought I had the match. I had 6 TIE fighters with and Backstabber constantly getting the extra die. How could I lose, right? Well, his dice told a very different story. He even was rolling the new dice that we had just got and every time I’d land a hit, he’d counter with an evade. It was amazing! Well, you can only joust with interceptors for so long before you lose and that is what happened.
This was a great event and I am very proud of my performance. I ended up trading Paul Heaver some, not all, of my dice for the templates from the event, so I ended up with a ton of swag! I attached a photo of the wicked cool mat.
I am looking forward to the pre-release event in a few weeks!
Thanks,
When we arrived we began to see a bunch of blue t-shirts with the name Nova Squadron on them. For those who do not know, they are a big competitive gaming club from Northern Virginia and Roy, one of their members, was the TO for this event. Each of the guys I talked to/played against were amazing, all very friendly and great people to play. One of their claims to fame, aside from being a great X-Wing club, is that the current reigning World Champion, Mr. Paul Heaver, is a member of their team. And he was in attendance for this event. I admittedly over-geeked out when I realized who he was, but he and the rest of his team were all really cool guys. But that meant that I picked the event that the World Champ would be playing in… ugh!
A note about the meta, we had 38 players in attendance at this event, and most of them were running Rebels and B-Wings! B-Wing were where it was at this weekend, along with the new Transport X-Wing pilots! The top 16 were 13 Rebel and 3 Imperials!
My List, Classic TIE Swarm:
Howlrunner w/Stealth Device
Backstabber
3X Obsidian Squadron Pilots
2X Academy Pilots
Game 1
Opponent’s List:
Tarn Mision
Garvin
Rookie
Dutch w/Ion & R5-K6
I think my opponent’s name was Joe, if it’s not I do apologize. We set up in opposite corners and drove toward the asteroids in the center of the board. I tried to focus fire Tarn down first with the hope of moving on the Garvin next. However dice rolls were not on my side early on. I lost an Academy almost as soon as the dice started rolling and he dropped 2 more Obsidians early. While I was scoring some hits, he was able to evade a lot of what I was sending his way. However, the dice gods began to shine on me as his dice went ice cold and I dropped the Rookie and Dutch and still had Howl with 3 more TIEs to back her. Over the next couple of turns I focused Garvin down and Tarn, who had survived with 1 hull point for most of the game was the final pilot remaining with three TIEs. I should have lost this game, I was not flying well and my opponent took advantage of it. But I got lucky and pulled out a win.
Win 100 – 49
Game 2
Opponent’s List:
8th Place Overall: Chris Lothers
Han Solo + Determination + Gunner
Blue Squadron Pilot + Fire Control System x2
After a close game in round one I was sort of happy to see this list. I had practice against Han Shoots First lists a lot, and while this one was a bit different with the B’s, the tactics were still the same. I focused down the B’s early which left me with Han versus 5 or 6 TIEs. Chris did kill a few TIEs but in the end without the B-Wing’s support Han dropped pretty fast.
Win 100-50
Game 3
11th Place Overall: Frank Forte
Dutch Vander + Ion Cannon Turret
Blue Squadron Pilot + Fire Control System x3
Frank new my list and new it well. The Nova guys all had a firm grip on what weakness my list had and how to exploit them. And Frank was giving a clinic on how to beat TIE Swarm. It didn’t help that I was getting frustrated with my own flying and I landed not one, but two TIEs on asteroids which Frank promptly blew away. It was a good game, Frank was a great guy and a superior player and took the win.
Loss 48 – 100
Game 4
Phil Lyons
5X TIE Interceptors (3 With PTL)
I do not remember Phil list completely but they were all unnamed Interceptors and varied in PS. I baited Phil with Backstabber and managed to pull three of his ships into my wall of TIEs at the cost of Backstabber. This is where Phil’s dice just hated him. He out flanked me with two ships but would have range one shots and only pull off 1 hit. I’d hit back and he’d roll no evades. His three baited shipped died quickly and the rest of the game was him outmaneuvering me as best he could. Phil flew like a champ but in the end I managed to drop the final two interceptors for the win.
Win 100-28
Game 5
10th Place Overall: Daniel Myers
Ibtisam + Fire Control System + Push the Limit + Engine Upgrade
Rookie Pilot x3
Daniels list was very interesting and I learned just how good Ibtisam was. I decided since he was going to out maneuver me with Ibtisam that I would just focus down the X-Wings and leave as many TIEs to face off against Ibtisam as I could. This turned out to be a great strategy as X-Wing dropped like flies to focused fire. He did kill a few TIE fighter but in the end as each ship dropped his effective firepower began to wane. It was a good game and I had a lot of fun in this one!
Win 100 – 40
So after 5 grueling rounds (and eating on the fly as there were no breaks) I had earned myself a spot in the top 8! Top 8 were rewarded with custom 3x3 play mats provided by Mr.Nice Guy Games, acrylic Evade Tokens, and clear Attack/Evade Dice.
Round 1 Finals:
1st Overall: Issac Whitehair
Howlrunner + Determination
Academy Pilot x2
Alpha Squadron Pilot + Stealth Device
Alpha Squadron Pilot x2
Well, as you can tell by his final standings Issac ended my day on this match. It was a good game, Swarm vs. Swarm. He had the firepower, I had the numbers. I can take some pride in the fact that I had him on the ropes though! At one point in the game he was down to the Interceptor with stealth, another Interceptor, and an Academy, while I still had Backstabber and 5 other TIE fighters! To be honest, I thought I had the match. I had 6 TIE fighters with and Backstabber constantly getting the extra die. How could I lose, right? Well, his dice told a very different story. He even was rolling the new dice that we had just got and every time I’d land a hit, he’d counter with an evade. It was amazing! Well, you can only joust with interceptors for so long before you lose and that is what happened.
This was a great event and I am very proud of my performance. I ended up trading Paul Heaver some, not all, of my dice for the templates from the event, so I ended up with a ton of swag! I attached a photo of the wicked cool mat.
I am looking forward to the pre-release event in a few weeks!
Thanks,
EvilEd
