X-wing February Event 2018 @ Excelsior

It's February and time for another X-Wing tournament in Excelsior!

After playing Vess, Ryad and a Rho boat at Cardiff, and QD, Ryad and a Palp shuttle at January's tournament, I decide to try out the Deci again. And I'm pairing RAC with... Ryad (can you guess my favourite ship?)

I decide to put Determination on the Deci, just in case of a mirror match. Ryad is here at her best with LW and SD:

The Countess and the Admiral

Rear Admiral Chiraneau [Determination, Emperor Palpatine, Kylo Ren, Engine Upgrade] (62)

Countess Ryad [Lone Wolf, TIE/x7, Stealth Device] (37)

Game 1: Nicola

Nicola is flying an interesting list with Hera with Navigator and TLT + Accuracy Corrector and EU + docked attack shuttle (Zeb); and Ezra in his Sheathipede shuttle with VI gunner and stress bot.

Initially, this looked like a good match-up for me. But I'm playing way too cautiously with Ryad, who just ran away, not getting a shot in and I take too long to get into range 1 with the Deci. I also choose to PS0 Hera instead of blinded pilot her at the beginning, just because I'm worried that, if she moves after Ryad in the end game, her shenanigans (basically choosing any maneuver post my own move + a boost!) would be too much for the countess.

My red dice, even with RAC ability and palping a crit just don't put enough damage on a ghost with evade at range 2-3. And Nicola is flying the Ghost very well; she seems to know what she's doing :)

Right from the start, I'm not sure my positioning is the best.

Then, I mess up. My deci was nearly gone anyway, but I did manage to forget I don't have a hard one. Which means that I fly the Deci out of the board: well done Fix! (at least, I killed Ezra before...)

Yes, my next choice is really a bad one here :) You would do a hard 2, wouldn't you?

So it's down to a still very healthy Hera with her docked shuttle against an untouched Ryad.

But the countess moves last now, which completely negates Hera ability. And I still got the beautiful combo of LW, SD, always with focus and evade. Ryad manages to kill off the ghost, while only losing her shields (and maybe one hull when the attack shuttle pops out from the downed Ghost). Unfortunately, time is called before Ryad can finish Zeb...

Win: 81-62




Game 2: Rich G.

Rich is still focused on his pet project: trying to make Swarm Leader works :)
But in doing so, he brings one of the ships Kilo hates: Chewie (old school).
So he's got Chewie with swarm leader, Evade title, Maul and Ray; Ezra is tagging along in his Sheathipede shuttle with PTL and Lando on board to get evades (and enabling Maul in the list); and a wookie PS1 with Jan Ors and Courier Droid.

Rich is singing the imperial march

The engagement is exactly what I was aiming for. RAC bumps on Chewie who has no shots. Ryad and the Deci focus on Ezra, taking him out of the board (can't remember if he dies first round of combat or just beg of second round), while the Deci is only loosing a couple of shields.

Second round of shooting, the deci gets behind Rich's ships, negating Swarm Leader ability for Chewie. But I then make the mistake that will cost me the game. I know I've been playing too cautiously with Ryad last game... so, instead of getting some space with her, I run into a bump nicely done by Rich. Which means a range one from Chewie with 5 dice thanks to the wookie evade. The only evade I get comes from Palp... That leaves the Countess on 2 hull, with no Sealth Device anymore!

The Countess is not happy about my flying!

Then, I'm trying to focus on the wookie (who stayed alive way longer than he should have been allowed to) while Chewie do some repositionning. I then get a very nice place where I've got both the Deci and Ryad, shooting at the wookie at range 2 and range 1 respectively, while the only shot will be from Chewie at range 2, on a fully token-ed Ryad. But Chewie gets an extra dice from the wookie evade and gets the 4 hits... And Ryad blanks out her 3 dice. Even with Palp and an evade, she gets 2 hits and is burnt down.

RAC manages to finish the wookie (who, somehow survived!) and get half points on Chewie (maybe 3 hull left?) before dying.

Loss: (not sure about the score : ~ 75-100)

Game 3: Lian
I don't remember the full list from Lian, but from memory, he's got:

Ezra in his Sheathipede shuttle with Stress Bot, Sabine and Snap Shot

Nym with bomblet generator, TS, Genius, Harpoons and Extra munitions and autoblaster (plus probably some more stuff there).

And a beautifully (see pic below!) Crimson Specialist with (I think) thermals and ordnance silo.

Fantastic work here from Lian (proving that it takes 2 rebels bombers to make a nice looking one!)

Initial placement

There's a couple of things that worries me in Lian's list: obvisouly, the bombs (especially on Ryad - and the TS + Nym ability really restrain the space available!) and the harpoon missiles (especially on RAC). So I approach quite carefully.

The Admiral and the Countess go their own way but, already, I don't like this bomblet

I've got to eat the bomblet here (Palp for blank, still lose 2 shields with Sabine)

I've been circling around to get RAC on Nym, hopefully without eating an harpoon (still getting within a millimeter of a bomblet).

From the picture above, I move RAC bank 3. Then, I've got a choice: either boost (to make sure that I won't be in arc and range for a harpoon) or, take a big risk and Kylo a PS0 on her, betting that Nym is doing either a small bank of a forward move and won't get me in arc (at least without needing a BR, so without TL).

I take the risk and Kylo a PS0.

This is where the game was decided! Nym went 2-bank and RAC is just out of arc

Nym goes 2-bank, TL RAC, but doesn't have a shot! RAC, with Palp help puts a PS0 on Nym, and already, quite some damage!

Ryad is still running away, but RAC (again with Palp support) PS-kills Nym quickly enough.

Ryad has turned around, maybe she's actually going to do something??

Once Nym is dead, RAC manages to bump on either of the two ships to only get fired once per round and RAC's ability + Palp puts damage through, quickly killing Ezra.

By the time Ryad is back in the fight, there's only the bomber left... With no ordnance left!

Win: 100-31

Game 4: Jon

Jon is flying a Wookie Liberator, with Expertise, Vectored Thrusters, Tactician and Gunner;

"Dutch Vander" is in his Y-Wing, with Conner Net + extra munition, Ion Turrer and the title; and Flight Assist Astromech.

The last ship is (of course!!) a Sheathipede shuttle: Fenn Rau with VI, hotshot co-pilot and flight assist astromech.

RAC is charging the wookie, while Ryad is trying to lure the other two

I try to make Jon split his forces, between RAC and Ryad. Which seems to work (even if Fenn is going to have some really lucky shots from his rear arc, dealing two damages to RAC each time :)

I think here the wookie is getting some blinded...

Ryad doesn't get shot at, but is going to eat a Net next round

 RAc is putting a lot of damage on the wookie, but both ships have to reposition themselves...

Now, Jon is obvisouly focussing fire on the Deci! Again, Ryad is not helping enough!

Jon brings back all his canons onto the Deci who manages to kill the wookie and put some damage on the Y-Wing before going down. He also had time to Kylo a PS0 crit on Fenn, even if he didn't manage to put the crit through before dying.

Ryad comes back to hunt the Y-Wing and the shuttle. The positioning makes Fenn a better target and Ryad pushes the PS0 crit through. But time is short and Fenn ability means it's difficult to kill him quickly. Ryad herself isn't too afraid of any shots from Fenn or the Y-Wing: she's still got Sealth Device, LW and is always tokened up! (and is only missing a shield).
Time is called on the round. I have to BR Ryad on a conner net to get arc on Fenn. And the range 1 unmodified shot finally manages to put the last hit through!!

Last roll of dice for the victory!

Win: 65-62

Game 5: Dave

Dave is flying a very interesting (and scary) list with two Ghosts (and, guess what? A docked Sheathipede shuttle!):

Lothal Rebel with FCS, Tactician, Ray and AP-5 docked

Lothal Rebel with FCS, Leebo, Zeb and Synced Turret

Dave puts both his ghosts on his left side of the board and I set up Ryad facing them, while the Deci is on my left. I go very quickly first round with the Deci, and slow roll with Ryad.

As expected, Dave goes for the Decimator and I manage exactly the engagement I wanted: Deci bumps into the first ghost, to get shot only by the other one and Ryad is flanking. Perfect!

Until Dave reminds me that the Ghost I bumped into has got Zeb on board!!!!!!

Oh dear!

The Deci takes a real beating from both primary of the Ghosts, with already plenty of nasty crits (including taking a stress for white manoeuver and major hull breach!!), while I only removed some shields on one of the ghost).

Honestly, I nearly shook Dave's hand right after the first round of combat. I didn't see how I could come back from that! (and I was expected by the wife and daughter for a movie just after the tournament...). But, hey, we're here to play X-Wing, let's see if I can at least take one of the ghost down!

Dave has called it and block my hard 3 so I can't get away from yet another range 1 shot from the Ghost
At least, the other one hasn't got a shot!

RAC is double stress from Tactician and Crits. He barely survives the second round of shooting and goes down just after.

Ryad, in between a damaged Ghost and a nearly full health one!

Ok, it's time for Ryad to shine again. She just have to kill two ghosts!

On the plus side, the first one is badly damaged, moves after her and can't shoot from the back. That helps! And she manages to kill him quickly enough. Still, she loses a shield from an attack from the other Ghost which, more importantly, means she loses Sealth Device.

But with Lone Wolf (which helped here A LOT!), she manages to kill the ghost (maybe loosing some shields, but I can't remember). Time is called before she can finish AP-5.

This was one hell of a game, which started so badly I nearly gave it up and was won by the Countess who was unbelievable and solo-ed two Ghosts!

Win: 85-62

This tournament was a lot of fun, where every game was incredibly close (just a look at the scores tells the story here). I finished 4-1, but with probably less MOV than most of the 3-2!

I had a great time flying the Deci again.. I was just a bit rusty with it and made some stupid mistakes, but some nice flying as well!

Also, Determination didn't trigger at all during the full day, even after taking crits after crits all day long! So VI may still be the better choice (maybe except against another RAC).

I played only against rebels lists (which I like: Rebel vs Imp is so much more thematic :)).

And: all my opponents lists had a Sheathipede shuttle!!

It looks like this shuttle is becoming more and more popular!

Again, thanks Rich for organising such great events! And congrats to Andy for the win!