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This past weekend, I attended a X-Wing Store Championship tournament. While only have played a single game of X-Wing before - and having never played in a minature wargaming tournament - I decided to jump right in.
I took an Imperial list with a total of 5 ships:
TIE Advanced X1
-Darth Vader
-Cluster Missiles
-Marksmanship
-Engine Upgrade
TIE Fighter
-Howlrunner
-Swarm Tactics
TIE Fighter
-Black Squadron Pilot
-Draw Their Fire
TIE Fighter
-Academy Pilot
TIE Fighter
-Academy Pilot
My plan, such as it was, was to have the 4 TIE Fighters in a group that was tight enough to be effected by Howlrunner's ability (to re-roll a single attack die in combat) and Swarm Tactics. Vader was tough and fast enough - I figured, at least - to go on his own. Marksmanship and Cluster Missiles make a potent combination, especially with Vader's pilot skill of 9.
My first opponent was Matt. He told me he had played plenty of games back when Wave 2 was new, then dropped off. He was playing in the Top 4 round when I left after my games were over, so it seems like he shook the rust off pretty well!
Matt had a Lambda Shuttle and 3 TIE Bombers. He used the Shuttle to make and pass on targets locks, which the Bombers could then make use of. I did manage to knock out the Shuttle with Vader firing his Missile with Marksmanship active, but Matt's Bombers remained relatively untouched, and we timed out with a win for Matt.
My second game was against Shaun, who took a X-Wing, a Y-Wing, and a B-Wing. This was the game in which I realized just how much of a pain asteroids could be. I actually managed to kill Howlrunner all by myself by bouncing him back and forth between a pair of asteroids due to a K-Turn and some very terrible dice rolling. In fact, I think I may have caused more damage to myself through collisions with asteroids than Shaun did!
This was another loss for me, but it was a much closer game - it came down to a single TIE Fighter against the X-Wing, and we might have duked it out to the end if the round hadn't timed out.
My final opponent was Andy. He had a bit of everything as a Rebel player: a X-Wing, Y-Wing, A-Wing, and a HWK-290 (acting as the Moldy Crow). Once again, asteroids played a major part, with both Andy and I having to deal with multiple collisions in several turns. I even managed to cause a massive pile-up with my TIE Fighters after a miscalculation with their movement speeds. Well, new player and all that.
This was probably my favorite game of the day - it certainly went back and forth. It appeared at first to be in Andy's favor when he launched a concussion missile into the middle of my TIE Fighter cluster, killing an Academy pilot and putting a point of damage on the others. It swung back into my favor as each Rebel ship fell - first the A-Wing, then the Y-Wing, and finally the Red Squadron pilot in the X-Wing. In return I lost most my Fighters until I had only the Black Squadron pilot and Vader left.
A close collision with an asteroid left Vader stunned, however, and he was vaped by Kyle Katarn. The 360-degree Blaster Turret on the Moldy Crow tracked my last TIE Fighter and, no matter how much I juked and weaved, my Agility Dice couldn't hold out. Andy got a solid win against me.
So, three losses. But I can't complain - not only did I get to play, I met a great group of fellow X-Wings players!
The list itself was decent. Vader's a badass on his own - the Marksmanship/Cluster Missiles combo can do some real damage, and giving him the Engine Upgrade makes his version of the TIE-Advanced even faster. Howlrunner's pretty decent in the thick of a TIE swarm, but the Black Squadron pilot with Draw Their Fire was wasted as Howl died always died from normal damage. In the future I could drop the Black Squadron pilot down to an Academy pilot and give Howl an upgrade to increase his survivability.
While I didn't place, I did get a promo card of Ten Numb (a B-Wing pilot), so I didn't walk away empty handed. And since the buy-in was either $5 or buy something and have $5 taken off, I picked up a TIE Interceptor for my Imperials.
I had a great time, and eagerly await the next time I can get out to an X-Wing event.
You can find some pictures of the games on my blogs - not too many, since it was timed rounds and I didn't want to mess around too much - and hopefully more X-Wing content. Check the link down in the sig!
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