We are at the end of days! Well… sort of… despite some terribly enthusiastic hoping on my part, we are still about a week away from the next points update / expansion. This update feels like a reeeeally long time coming, especially since we’ve had STO and Worlds already, so we’re really in the “quiet season”, so there’s been lots of time to twiddle thumbs and plan for what comes next. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been taking the opportunity to tidy up a few loose ends, try out a few new things and place my bets on what the new hotness will be.
Before looking ahead, though, I’ve persisted with my pet list that I’ve been using as much as possible, in order to make the most out of a few set pieces… well, mostly SL Fenn Rau. I fully expect him to go up quite a lot in points very soon, so time to make hay whilst the sun shines… and the sun has been shining a LOT:
- The first few times I flew the list was at my local playgroup, which clued me into how it worked pretty well.
- Then I took it with me on holiday to play vs Chris Burnett at a Tin Squadron club night in Truro (at the Piranha Cafe – Thursdays from 6pm). Incidentally, the Piranha cafe is a great place to check out (reminiscent of the Crystal Maze, with various themed zones around the place) – well worth it if you’re in the area!
- I played in the Top Gun league – 8 games on TTS, across a similarly skilled group of players
- I took part in the Windy City Conquest – a 4 round TTS event based on Chicago time.
- and finally, I took part in the Mandos Spring Championship – my local club’s big spring blowout!
That’s a lot of games! Let’s break that down:
In principle, it’s really just getting a lot of ships on the board and picking away at anything it can shoot at. Kath is only there as a very cheap Firespray. You could easily use SL Dengar, or Bossk, or even just 3 more Ties (if you have them!), but Kath is very good value – Firesprays are probably the best ship chassis in the game, and to get one with enough loadout to make a difference for 15 points is very solid – I elected to add the Andrasta title (to allow Bomblet Generator) and Gamut Key (for the occasional focus retention – almost as good as a double action every other turn!). Plus, if you can get a block with the Ties, Kath can add a red dice when she shoots – not too shabby! Oh yeah, and there’s Fenn…
To be honest, the biggest point of the list is to keep the opponent distracted with Kath and the Ties so that Fenn can swing in and mess things up. I’ve talked in several posts about how strong Fenn is, and although he has his weaknesses, he’s probably the strongest ship in the game.
So let’s see how it did:
Up until starting the Top Gun league, it was undefeated. All the friendly games had gone really well in my favour and I had some great fun games. But the Top Gun league is a different level, with some very strong players. I unfortunately lost 2 of the 8 games… But that’s still 6/2, though, and not to be sniffed at!
In the Windy City event, it was less good – going 2-2. This was, again, TTS (which always seems to give me duff dice when I least need it!). But 19/46 isn’t tragic.
And finally, in the Mandos Spring event, it did… OK! 3-1 and 4th overall (and the highest placed Scum list… whatever Longshanks says!).
In total, since February, I played 20 games with it, winning 15 – a 75% success rate. That’s pretty good! However, it’s now going to be retired as I’m now down to play Empire for the next NCX season (Go KDB!), so Fenn Rau will go flying off into the sunset as I work out what to fly.
I’ve played 2 games so far with 2 lists:
Game 1 vs Chris Molley – Chance Engagement
I flew:
Major Vynder – Alpha-Class Star Wing (11)
Deadeye Shot (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Diamond-Boron Missiles (5)
Advanced SLAM (3)
Os-1 Arsenal Loadout (0)
Ion Torpedoes (5)
Ship Cost: 11 Loadout: (16/16) Half Points: 5 Damage Threshold: 3
Soontir Fel – TIE/in Interceptor (12)
Elusive (4)
Predator (3)
Targeting Computer (1)
Ship Cost: 12 Loadout: (8/8) Half Points: 6 Damage Threshold: 1
“Double Edge” – TIE/ag Aggressor (9)
Ion Cannon Turret (6)
Barrage Rockets (8)
Migs Mayfeld (3)
Ship Cost: 9 Loadout: (17/17) Half Points: 4 Damage Threshold: 2
Captain Jonus (SSP) – TIE/sa Bomber (10)
Feedback Ping (0)
Plasma Torpedoes (0)
Proton Bombs (0)
Ship Cost: 10 Loadout: (0) Half Points: 5 Damage Threshold: 3
Magna Tolvan – TIE/ln Fighter (8)
Squad Leader (5)
Targeting Computer (1)
Ship Cost: 8 Loadout: (6/9) Half Points: 4 Damage Threshold: 1
Total: 50
He flew
Darth Vader – TIE Advanced x1 (15)
Malice (5)
Fire-Control System (2)
Ship Cost: 15 Loadout: (7/7) Half Points: 7 Damage Threshold: 2
Soontir Fel (BoE) – TIE/in Interceptor (14)
Apex Predator (BoE) (0)
No Escape (BoE) (0)
Blank Signature (BoE) (0)
Feedback Emitter (BoE) (0)
Ship Cost: 14 Loadout: (0) Half Points: 7 Damage Threshold: 1
“Whisper” – TIE/ph Phantom (14)
Juke (7)
Afterburners (8)
Ship Cost: 14 Loadout: (15/15) Half Points: 7 Damage Threshold: 2
“Night Beast” (SSP) – TIE/ln Fighter (7)
Disciplined (0)
Predator (0)
Ship Cost: 7 Loadout: (0) Half Points: 3 Damage Threshold: 1
Total: 50
I was EXPECTING 7 Ties and a Gauntlet (it being the week after Worlds) and tried a list that offered lots of ships and even ways of getting nearly bonus attacks… Oh, and there’s also Soontir. Unfortunately, the match I got was 3 aces (and filler). Not ideal! But still, I had a Soontir too, so was hoping to maybe take one ace out…
… until on turn 2, Soontir got cornered by Whisper and his Soontir, blanked out and died. Then I fluffed a trigger and ended up shooting the wrong target with Double Edge, messing up a great double attack.
From turn 3 onwards, I lost a ship a turn and barely damaged anything, only scoring half points on Whisper.
End result: 15-50 LOSS
Not a great start!
Last night I played my second game vs Rory Wilson – a fine fellow (and in the same timezone!) who I last played at STO 3 years ago. This time, expecting republic, I flew…
Darth Vader (SSP) – TIE Advanced x1 (17)
Hate (0)
Ion Missiles (0)
Afterburners (0)
Ship Cost: 17 Loadout: (0) Half Points: 8 Damage Threshold: 3
Soontir Fel – TIE/in Interceptor (12)
Predator (3)
Elusive (4)
Targeting Computer (1)
Ship Cost: 12 Loadout: (8/8) Half Points: 6 Damage Threshold: 1
Grand Inquisitor – TIE Advanced v1 (13)
Malice (5)
Shield Upgrade (10)
Ship Cost: 13 Loadout: (15/15) Half Points: 6 Damage Threshold: 2
“Night Beast” – TIE/ln Fighter (8)
Hull Upgrade (9)
Ship Cost: 8 Loadout: (9/9) Half Points: 4 Damage Threshold: 2
Total: 50
He flew
“Kickback” (SoC) – V-19 Torrent Starfighter (9)
Diamond-Boron Missiles (0)
Munitions Failsafe (0)
Ship Cost: 9 Loadout: (0) Half Points: 4 Damage Threshold: 3
“Axe” (SoC) – V-19 Torrent Starfighter (9)
Deadeye Shot (0)
Barrage Rockets (0)
Ship Cost: 9 Loadout: (0) Half Points: 4 Damage Threshold: 3
Anakin Skywalker – Delta-7b Aethersprite (16)
Extreme Maneuvers (3)
Hull Upgrade (9)
Ship Cost: 16 Loadout: (12/12) Half Points: 8 Damage Threshold: 3
Bo-Katan Kryze – Gauntlet Fighter (16)
Clan Training (1)
Ahsoka Tano (Crew) (10)
Mandalorian Optics (3)
Gauntlet (0)
Swivel Wing (0)
C-3PO (Republic) (6)
Ship Cost: 16 Loadout: (20/20) Half Points: 8 Damage Threshold: 5
Total: 50
This time it was Scramble the Transmissions, and was on stream. Oh yeah… it was also the final game of a tied week – the winner bringing the victory home!
Rory set up in a block, except Ani left out as a ranger. I set up more or less to joust Ani with Vader, Inquisitor and Night Beast. Soontir was my ranger.
We lurched ahead and I grabbed 2 objectives. Rory grabbed 1. Ani flew full speed at my ships and overshot them, dodging all their arcs and parking right behind Night Beast. Fortunately on the first pass, no-one took any damage, but that left his Gauntlet and Torrents to take position in the centre of the board and Ani to flip the objective so that all three objectives were his. Then the shooting started… Vader did no damage to anything. Night Beast down to 1 hull. and Inquisitor and Soontir were out of position, so couldn’t shoot.
Over the next few turns, Vader finally put some damage into Kickback, but ended up parked at range 1 of Kickback for the return shot… and blanked. Dead Kickback, but half points on Vader. This left Vader somewhat exposed and running, as Rory’s squad turned and started chasing Vader again. By turn 5, Ani had lined up and took a shot at Vader to deliver the killing blow. On the same turn, Soontir did that thing again, where he blanked out too. Not quite half points, but Weapons Failured and pinned in a corner. Not ideal! However, with Vader dead and the objective race somewhat lost, the game ended.
End result: 39-51 loss.
It’s easy to blame it on dice (I kinda did…) but Rory’s list is a masterpiece of defensive optimisation. Even before you consider his SoC Torrents are tankier than average with 6 hull, they are well positioned to just keep rolling with their token sharing. Plus Bo Katan can do wonders in giving them extra focuses and target locks. Plus Ani is the most annoying ship in the game! If you can actually catch him, his 7 health makes him a slog to kill. Plus he flew it very well – well done Rory!
So, yeah, 0-2 so far… AND with another points update on the way, it’s possible certain high value empire ships might become more expensive (*cough cough* Soontir *cough cough*). Going to be an interesting league for sure!
See you after the points update!
X Wing Musings 
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