Redlining it

I came up with this list more or less on my way home from my last tournament, wanting to both a) try Redline and see if everyone is right that the Punisher is now playable, and b) try a different Defender pilot.

Scourging Defender
Redline
 - FCS
 - Cluster Missiles
 - Concussion Missiles
Colonel Vessery
 - Juke
 - FCS
 - HLC
Scourge Skutu
 - Swarm Tactics
 - Stealth Device

The theory of it was that in the Activation phase Redline could go in and take two target locks, while Vessery could get Evade and Focus tokens when he activates, then use Swarm Tactics to get Vessery to fire first, giving him a choice of targets where he could use his ability to get a lock giving him three tokens. Did it work? Kind of...

I arrived at 4TK to the pleasing sight of it being really busy! There were 19 players for X-Wing, the biggest turnout I can remember there since their last Store Champs. Onto the games!

Game 1 - Lyndon Moss-Robbins
Redline
 - Proton Torpedoes
Rexler Brath
 - Juke
Whisper
 - Juke

So, nearly a mirror match to start with, and a poor start for me as I managed to put the Punisher on a rock in turn two. So no target locks and no firings, and my plan started to fall apart with my Redline taking a beating from both his Redline and Rexler. I did however have both Vessery and Scourge on Whisper, and took both his shields and one hull point. In the next turn I was able to get Redline off the rock but rolled a crit for doing so, which was a Fuel Leak. But importantly he was able to fire his Cluster Missiles and I got hits on both his Redline and Rexler. In return he took fire from Rexler, whose ability triggered the fuel leak, and Redline died. Vessery and Scourge forced Whisper to spend his evade, preventing him recloaking, and Whisper died in the next turn, however those were the only points I scored.

Game 2 - Chris Curry
Luke Skywalker
 - Supernatural Reflexes
 - R2-D2
Biggs Darklighter
 - Shield upgrade
 - R2 astromech
Wedge Antilles
 - Predator
 - R4 astromech

I've documented my previous problems in bringing down X-Wings, so I wasn't hugely pleased to see this list across the table. However, I did remember not to joust it this time! Chris set his X-Wings line astern to move across the table right to left, and for the first couple of turns they crept forward. Meanwhile I did something deliberately that I normally hate myself for doing accidentally, and split my force! Redline went swooping to my left and boosted round a rock to come in behind the X-Wings, with Scourge and Redline coming through the asteroids in the middle of the table. And remarkably this worked pretty well.

In the first turn of shooting Vessery and Scourge reduced Biggs to one hull, and Redline's cluster missiles picked shields off Wedge and Luke. Biggs died in the next turn and I could start to focus in on Wedge, Luke being out of my arcs. Over the next two turns I traded Scourge for Wedge, but this left Redline out of position so Vessery chased Luke all round the table, until Redline got back in the fight and the combined fire of both my ships brought Luke down.

Game 3 - Michael Maggs
Wedge Antilles
 - Servomotor S-Foils
 - Elusive
 - Chopper
Lt Blount
Sabine Wren
 - Shield Upgrade
 - Elusive
Arvel Crynyd
AP-5

I found this one a really tough matchup; with five named pilots all having abilities, I struggled to know which was the biggest threat to concentrate on. I went into it aiming to take out Sabine first, because I was mixing up her pilot ability with her crew ability and I didn't want to be under stress/ion control. I had one good move in the whole game, when Crynyd came shooting forward to block Redline, and when Redline moved I'd dialled in a slower move so that Redline stopped a couple of millimetres short of the A-wing. Cue Arvel losing two shields. However, under fire from five ships Redline melted pretty quickly. In the next turn, Vessery was able to take out Lt. Blount before he died, and Scourge took two hits, and was stressed; I wanted to unstress him so I could focus or evade, but misjudged my manoeuvre and went over some debris, and to add insult to injury I then rolled a crit and Scourge exploded. 

Game 4 - Neil Photay
Captain Jonus
 - Crack Shot
 - Barrage Rockets
Rexler Brath
 - Juke
2 x Scimitar Squadron
 - Barrage Rockets

So, onto the last game of the day and time for me to see what all the fuss has been about over barrage rockets. Neil had his bombers in formation with Rexler pulling away to act as a flanker. I jousted it initially and focused on one of the Scimitars, aiming to punch it out before it could return fire, but I could only reduce it down to 2 hull. At the cost of Scourge I took out both Scimitars, but it put me in a position where to get Redline on target I had to barrel roll him - and because for Punishers barrel rolls are red I then forgot to use his ability to take a target lock. If I'd remembered it, I'd have had cluster missile shots on both Jonus and Rexler, as it was I had to settle for a primary weapon shot on Jonus - which blanked out. A turn later, Vessery took a Panicked Pilot crit, which put him in a bad position next turn. And then he blanked out on his evade and died, closely followed by Redline.

So what can I take from this week's pasting? Well...

• Redline really is strong - as long as I remember to use his ability even after a red action...
• ... but I'm not convinced by concussion missiles, I only used them once all day
• Redline and Vessery is a good combination, and they both get good value out of FCS...
• ... but I'm on the fence about HLC on Vessery
• I didn't joust X-Wings...
• ... but I probably shouldn't have jousted the bombers either...

Also I must thank Paul Spurgeon for introducing me to LaunchBay Next!

All glory to the Emperor!

Feeling the Force

"The Force is with you... but you are not a Jedi yet"

Darth Vader on seeing my results from today

Because reasons I've had no opportunities to play since my last entry, so it was with a bit of a ring-rusty feeling that I headed to the Ace Gaming Centre in Colchester today. 

Having seen some of the power of the Force last time out, I wanted to try some of that so my list for day was:

Feel The Force
Darth Vader
 - Heightened Perception
Grand Inquisitor
 - Proton Rockets
Pure Sabacc
 - Fifth Brother
 - Outmaneuver

(Aside #1. I went through a couple of iterations of this list this week. Originally Vader and the Inquisitor both had Heightened Perception, and Sabacc had Juke and a shield upgrade. I saw a comment about Prockets in the week that made me think I should try it, and since the TIE Advanced v1 has more opportunities to get the required Focus token to fire them it made sense to put them on the Inquisitor. It would, however, have been even better if the app's ship selection screen showed that the linked-action focuses are red...)
(Aside #2. I have to say I'm finding the Empire very badly served right now by the Gunner slot with so many of the available gunners abilities being turret-based and so few Imperial ships having turrets...)

Game 1 - James Gill
Luke Skywalker
Thane Kyrell
Wedge Antilles
All with Proton Torpedoes and R3 Astromech

So if I wanted to pit Force users against each other, this would be the list to try it against... James gave me Initiative, and, apparently learning nothing at all from last time, I set up to joust. When we engaged, the Inquisitor was just out of range 2 to Luke so couldn't use his prockets - I should have boosted into range 2 and taken the linked focus action. Vader and the Inquisitor took shots at Luke and couldn't hit him, both receiving torpedoes and losing their shields in return. Thane fired a torpedo at Sabacc, with two hits and two crits. Sabacc rolled ... four blanks, and exploded. (James said he'd intended to put two damage on to break his ability. Good job...).  And I must have been thrown by this as I then managed to doublethink myself into both my remaining ships doing T-rolls. The X-wings advanced 1 forwards, and suffice to say the game ended shortly afterwards.

Game 2 - Bye

Game 3 - John Cooves
Sol Sixxa
 - Marksmanship
 - "Genius"
 - Havoc
 - Proximity Mines
Genesis Red
 - Marksmanship
 - Proton Torpedoes
Emon Azzameen
 - Andrasta
 - Marksmanship
 - Seismic Charges
 - Boba Fett
 - Proton Bombs

John had a great initial setup for his Firespray, using Boba Fett's ability to place the ship by an asteroid but facing away from me, enabling him to immediately place a seismic charge in my path. Which I fortunately was able to avoid, and Emon danced away around the rock. 
I was gunning for the Scurrg, and had Vader and the Inquisitor on target (this time I was able to boost-focus the Inquisitor into a perfect position to fire the rockets), though Sabacc had to shoot at Genesis Red. The Inquisitor had the Scurrg just in the bullseye arc, and I rolled my five dice for the rockets - to get two focus results and the rest blank. Vader chipped a couple more hits off the Scurrg, but lost his shields to return fire. Next round I dialed in maneuvers to dodge Sixxa's bombs and take shots on the Firespray, but Vader still hit a proximity mine and died. However Sabacc punched out the Scurrg in return. For the remainder of the game, I managed to avoid mines and seismic charges as I tried to whittle down the Firespray, and I got half-points on it before I lost my other ships.

Game 4 - Adam Snook
2 x Jakku Gunrunner 
 - Proton Bombs
Jakku Gunrunner
Boba Fett
 - Han Solo
 - Marauder
 - Debris Gambit
 - Perceptive Copilot
(Aside #3. Having Han Solo crewing for Boba Fett feels ... wrong)
(Aside #4. I changed all my dice over for this game...)

With 20/20 hindsight, what I should have done here was ignore the Firespray and get rid of the quadjumpers first. But I didn't. I decided that I wanted to take out Fett, and that the best way to do that was to swoop in across the front of all three quadjumpers to get my shots. So, a dumb plan and one I got punished for. (In my limited defence, not having quadjumpers I didn't know they could tractor as an action...). Vader got pushed onto a rock, the Inquisitor got pushed which blocked him and stopped him getting the Focus to fire the rockets. Sabacc blanked out again and died, and a few minutes later it was all over.

All in all, a dreadful day for me that I can only partially pin on my dire dice. But there are plenty of learning points to take away.

Heightened Perception - didn't use it once, and right now I wouldn't take it again, I'd probably look at Supernatural Reflexes instead. But as the meta shakes out, we might see lists with 2 or even 3 pilots at I6 and at that point I'd expect to see HP come in as a counter to that.

The Force generally - is good as long as you can get dice results with paint on them... The Inquisitor's ability is useful, but we had a couple of queries about it that might need to go in the FAQ: i) if he makes a Range 3 attack Range 1, he gets the bonus, but does the defender also get the bonus dice? and ii) if he makes an attack a Range 1 attack, can he use a Range 1 weapon e.g. Advanced proton torpedoes?

Outmaneuver - again, I didn't use it, but unlike HP I want to look at it again as I do think it has potential. I want to try it on another Striker (possibly Duchess), but I think the ship it could really work on is the TIE Advanced Prototype with its Boost and Barrel Roll reposition shenanigans. Maybe Baron of the Empire will be a playable pilot in 2.0?

Fifth Brother - should be the go-to gunner for Imperial lists.

All glory to the Emperor!