Mighty Ape - Store Championship 2016

Mighty Ape Store Champs 2016 19/03/2016

Twenty pilots showed up to battle it out at the Mighty Ape Store Championship this Saturday past. The lists are quite diverse with the only pilots coming up more than once being Poe Dameron and Syndicate Thug.

Whats also interesting to see is the winning list had no real aces and the highest pilot skill in the list was 5.

WINNER! Andrew

Palob Godalhi (28)
HWK-290 (20), Twin Laser Turret (6), Bossk (2)
Syndicate Thug (24) x 3
Y-Wing (18), Blaster Turret (4), R4 Agromech (2), BTL-A4 Y-Wing (0)

2nd. Nathan

“Wampa” (14)
Rear Admiral Chiraneau [Veteran Instincts, Emperor Palpatine, Rebel Captive, Engine Upgrade] (62)
Lieutenant Colzet [TIE/x1, Advanced Targeting Computer] (24)

3rd. Jeremy

Poe Dameron [R5-P9, Predator, Autothrusters] (39)
Jake Farrell [A-Wing Test Pilot, Chardaan Refit, Veteran Instincts, Autothrusters, Push the Limit] (28)
Kyle Katarn [Twin Laser Turret, Recon Specialist, Moldy Crow] (33)

4th. Chris

Guri [Wired, Virago, Stealth Device, Fire Control System] (37)
Talonbane Cobra [Push the Limit, Glitterstim, Engine Upgrade] (37)
Syndicate Thug [Twin Laser Turret, R4 Agromech] (26)

5th. Loucke
Kath Scarlet [Marksmanship, Gunner] (46)
Sontir Fel [Push the Limit, Royal Guard TIE, Targeting Computer, Stealth Device] (35)
"Epsilon Leader" (19)

6th. Dave

“Red Ace” [R2-D2, Comm Relay] (36)
Poe Dameron [R5-P9, Predator, Autothrusters] (39)
Green Squadron Pilot [A-Wing Test Pilot, Predator, Autothrusters, Crack Shot, Chaardan Refit, Autothrusters]

7th. Adam

Bounty Hunter [Gunner] (38)
Commander Kenkirk [Lone Wolf, Rebel Captive, Ysanne Isard, Gunner, Engine Upgrade] (62)

8th. Caleb

“Omega Leader” [Comm Relay, Juke] (26)
Carnor Jax [Push the Limit, Royal Guard TIE, Autothrusters, Targeting Computer] (33)
“Whisper” [Agent Kallus, Fire-Control System, Veteran Instincts, Advanced Cloaking Device] (41)


Within the top 8 there were 4 Imperial lists, 2 rebel lists and 2 scum lists. Within the top 4 there were 2 scum lists 1 imperial and 1 rebel list. In total of the ships within the top 8 there were:

4 Y-Wings
3 T70 X-Wings
2 HWK-290
2 A-Wings
2 Tie/Fo Fighters
2 Decimators
2 Tie Interceptors
2 Imperial Firesprays
1 Star Viper
1 Kihraxz Fighter
1 Tie Fighter
1 TIE Phantom

 Hope you enjoyed this quick summary guys, looking forward to do doing a comparison to the Cerberus Store Championship soon!

Planetary Siege at the Rose

Planetary Siege at the Rose 05/03/2016

We threw together a tournament at the Rose Park at last minute, here are the results of the tourney in ranking order.

1st. Louis

Poe Dameron [R2-D2, Veteran Instincts, Autothrusters] (38)
Gold Squadron Pilot [Twin Laser Turret] (24)
Gold Squadron Pilot [BTL-A4 Y-Wing, R3-A2, Twin Laser Turret] (26)
Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

Louis decided he wanted to give Paul Heaver's list from Worlds a go and it appears it still has quite a bite as he topped out with a win.

Left - Teach faces off against Louis













2nd.Caleb

“Howlrunner” (18) 
“Wampa” (14)
“Chaser” (14)
Obsidian Squadron Pilot (13)
“Whisper” (41)
TIE Phantom (32), Agent Kallus (2), Fire-Control System (2), Veteran Instincts (1), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Caleb ran a Tie Swarm with  a loaded up Whisper.

Below - Caleb swarming Amit's Vader and Palpatine with ties.

3rd.Keats

Chewbacca (45)
YT-1300 (42), Predator (3)
Dash Rendar (54)
YT-2400 Freighter (36), Veteran Instincts (1), Heavy Laser Cannon (7), "Lando" (2), Outrider (5), Experimental Interface (3)

Keats ran double defensive pancakes, Chewbacca keeping it simple with only Predator and loading up dash with extra defense coming from Lando.

Below - Keats and Cole dial in prepared getting ready for a pew pew.

4th.Chris

Kath Scarlet (41)
Firespray-31 (38), K4 Security Droid (3)
Syndicate Thug (26)
Y-Wing (18), Twin Laser Turret (6), R4 Agromech (2), BTL-A4 Y-Wing (0)
Guri (33)
StarViper (30), Virago (1), Fire-Control System (2)

I ran my some of my favourite scum ships with some of my favourite upgrades. Kath with k4 and Guri with fire control. Both perfect for those bumpy situations.

5th.Teach

Poe Dameron (39)
T-70 X-Wing (31), R2-D2 (4), Lone Wolf (2), Autothrusters (2)
Han Solo (59)
YT-1300 (46), Push the Limit (3), Chewbacca (4), Nien Nunb (1), Millennium Falcon (1), Engine Upgrade (4)

Thematic list with a Han and Poe both loaded to the hilt.

6th.Cole

IG88-B (50)
Aggressor (36), Predator (3), Heavy Laser Cannon (7), Glitterstim (2), Autothrusters (2)
Syndicate Thug (25) x 2
Y-Wing (18), Twin Laser Turret (6), Unhinged Astromech (1)

Cole with a nasty long range secondary weapon scum list here. Approach with caution.

7th.Amit

Omicron Group Pilot (29)
Lambda-Class Shuttle (21), Emperor Palpatine (8)
Darth Vader (34)
TIE Advanced (29), TIE/x1 (0), Engine Upgrade (4), Advanced Targeting Computer (5)
“Echo” (37)
TIE Phantom (30), Fire-Control System (2), Veteran Instincts (1), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Palpatine commanding his Aces here.I would have expected a Sontir but he opted in Echo instead.

As we had 7 players there were some byes so I only really have 2 matches to report. As I played in the tourney I couldn't really keep an eye on the other games but I think next time I T.O something I'll sit out and have a look.


Match 1

Teach

Poe Dameron (39)
T-70 X-Wing (31), R2-D2 (4), Lone Wolf (2), Autothrusters (2)
Han Solo (59)
YT-1300 (46), Push the Limit (3), Chewbacca (4), Nien Nunb (1), Millennium Falcon (1), Engine Upgrade (4)

I managed to get Teach's Falcon down quite low but in the end I had split my dps as my Y wing was shooting at Poe who was just healing back his shields with R2D2. In the end I should have tried to focus down one of ships instead of being greedy. Teach took out my whole list leaving me with only 29 points from damaging his falcon to lower than half.

Match 2

Amit

Omicron Group Pilot (29)
Lambda-Class Shuttle (21), Emperor Palpatine (8)
Darth Vader (34)
TIE Advanced (29), TIE/x1 (0), Engine Upgrade (4), Advanced Targeting Computer (5)
“Echo” (37)
TIE Phantom (30), Fire-Control System (2), Veteran Instincts (1), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Taking advantage of bumping and still being able to assign tokens using K4 on Kath and both Guri's pilot ability and her fire control system I managed to keep my ships shots accurate. Though the Phantom got off a few good shoots and eventually took out my Y-Wing, Vader was denied actions for the whole dog fight due to bumping in the close range mess my opponent and I had caused. This meant that Vader never got to use his Advanced Targeting Computer. Ultimately I was able to take out both Aces and then eventually the shuttle which was pretty defenseless to to Kath and Guri.

In the end we had an awesome day of flying and generous prize support from the club!

Thanks for reading guys! Store Championship reports coming soon.

Dog Fight at the Rose - Kit Tournament - 21/02/2016

Event : Dog fight at the Rose - (20/02/2016)


Our club has the privilege of having our weekly board game afternoon and our war gaming at the Rose Park Hotel in Parnell most Sundays.This week we managed to get some of the winter kit in as prizes! There is no lack of scum today as we like to experiment rather than stick to the current meta.

I've been looking forward to flying my new list, today will be its maiden voyage so I am both excited and nervous. The list is as follows:

Guri + Stealth Device + Crackshot + Virago + Fire Control Systems (37)
Talon Bane Cobra + Glitterstim + Crackshot (31)
Trandoshan Slaver + Greedo + Tactician (32)
(100)

Previously I was running a 12 point head hunter and an m4 Interceptor with title and mangler cannon instead of the Hounds Tooth. They proved useful and the mangler cannon made salty tears run but they felt like fillers in the list. Their tendency to get 1 shotted by a heavy laser cannon also made them easy targets.

The Trandoshan Slaver on the other hand would take multiple turns to kill and with tactician and Greedo it would be a brutal addition to a list that already had quite a bit of bite to it. The other thing I like about the hounds tooth as a ship is the 180* firing arc, if flown correctly it has all the convenience of a turret but none of the penalties. It also makes for an effective blocker at pilot skill 2.

Round 1 Keaton

Jake Farrell + Veteran Instincts + Push the Limit
+ Autothrusters + Chardaan Refit + A Wing Test Pilot
Keyan Farlander + Expose + Experimental Interface + Fire Control System
Blue Squadron Pilot
Bandit Squadron Pilot 
(100)

Keats is our token rebel pilot today and hes decided take advantage with Keyan and his ability to spend stress tokens as if they were focus tokens when attacking. He is using expose and experimental interface with fire control systems. This gives him the option to expose and target lock when he first targets a new ship and once his fire control is in action he can barrel roll for better shots or to get out of arc instead he will also be spending the stress token as a focus token each attack, essentially giving him the full array of his actions. This means 4-5 dice attacks with both a target lock and a focus. Only downside is he sacrifices his only green dice.

The other Ace in the list is Jake he is fast, maneuverable and cheap, no explanation needed here.

At the 22 points the Blue Squadron Pilot is cheap and lethal. The Bandit Squadron Pilot is just here to fill space and throw dice.

Somehow both of us end up jousting each other on the far right side of the board mostly avoiding the clumps of asteroids and debris fields. On first round of fire I make a bad turn with Talonbane and he doesn't have arc of anyone there is a bit of fire exchanged but nothing significant. In the next round Talonbane swoops in to a range 1 on Keyan and takes off 5 of his shields. My memory is a bit fuzzy but in the next few rounds Talonbane, Jake and the Bandit Squadron Pilot are turned into space dust.

With Talonbane dead and Guri severely damaged I feel the match is heading in Keaton's favour. But thanks to Keyan's experimental interface and the slaver's tactician Keyan isn't able to K turn around to get any shots off and Guri is able to finish him off leaving only the Blue Squadron Pilot left on the board. At least this is how I remember it, again my memory is a bit fuzzy and Keaton has my apologies if I remember it wrong!

 


Round 2 Hen

Guri + Sensor Jammer + Lone Wold + Autothrusters + "Hot Shot" Blaster
Bossk + Heavy Laser Cannon + Recon Specialist + Calculation + K4 Security Droid + Outlaw Tech + "Hot Shot" Blaster + Anti Pursuit Lasers
(98)


Defensively built Guri here with sensor jammer to force others to spend their focus or lose out on potential damage if they don't have one. Lone wolf to re-roll one agility dice and autothrusters to convert 1 blank into an evade if at range 3 or when being shot by a ship outside of that ships printed arc.

Bossk is a bit more aggressively built with Heavy Laser Cannon to get an extra dice and as its a secondary weapon it also ignores bonus dice from rolls (my Talonbane is scared lol). He also has a dirty combination of calculation, recon specialist and Bossks pilot ability.

For those unfamiliar with this combination the idea is to spend 1 focus token to use calculation to convert 1 result to a crit and the other to convert the rest to hits. Normally Heavy Laser Cannon shots don't get crits unless its from a re-rolled dice. Calculation is being used here to instead for more reliable results. The crit is then later changed to 2 hit results by Bossk's pilot ability, This means Bossk can potentially deal 5 raw damage if his attack goes un-evaded.

You can get a similar effect from mangler cannon for cheaper but it won't result in a 5 dice shot. He has also sneaked in a K4 Security droid to get a target lock whenever he does a green maneuver making it more and more likely that he will get his 5 hit result.

Both are equipped with "Hot Shot" Blaster for those times when they have targets out of arc.

As Guri has Lone Wolf so Hen positions both his ships on separate sides of the board. I put my own squadron a little closer together giving my Slaver some room to breath. In the first round of fire I believe both Bossk and and Talonbane take some hits but not much else happens. I am relieved as Talonbane survives through a heavy laser cannon attack, he easily could have been 1 shot off the board. The next turn is much more dramatic.

I move my squadron in fast with my Slaver getting into range 1 of a now stalled Bossk and both my other ships within range 2. Hen's Guri is coming in from the side at range 3 of my Slaver. My Aces manage to get take out all of Bossk's shields and a single hull leaving him with 5 hull left. My Slaver now has a 4 dice shot with a target lock and the results are really good, 3 hits and a crit. The first hit is converted to a crit by greedo and the last crit is a Direct Hit, taking Bossk out of the game and leaving only Guri who is shortly ganked and also taken out.

I'm very happy with this result as Hen normally trounces me and I was lucky he didn't bring a serious list today.

Round 3 Phil

Prince Xizor + Fire Control System + Autothrusters + Veteran Instincts
2x Syndicate Thug + Ion Turret + BTLA4-Y Wing + R4 Agromech
Binayre Pirate
(99)

Phil has brought his usual list today, a nasty cocktail of scum and villainy. The notoriously hard to kill Xizor, his thugs and an expendable headhunter to top it off. Heavy on damage, hull and two ion shots perfect for disabling aces into a range 1 death trap. Xizor himself is a tough ace to inflict damage on, he can pass a hit or a crit result over to any of his allies at range 1. This means if you get a single damage passed his 3 agility its just going to end up on one of the lower pilot skill ships who are already pretty vulnerable to attacks anyway. Each Y wing and Xizor himself are capable of inflicting 4 damage a turn at range 1 (without counting potential crits). So even though its preferred that Xizor be the first target down, he is not the ideal target to attack.

With this in mind my strategy is set, I focus on the Y wings with 5 dice attacks coming from Talonbane and 3-4 dice attacks coming from Guri and the Slaver(and the occasional stress token) they go down quickly but so eventually do the Slaver, Talonbane and Phil's Headhunter leaving only the two Starviper aces left. But Xizor is wounded and Guri is unscathed and gains the advantage of having a better pilot ability for a 1v1 and a still active stealth device Guri wins out proving yet again he is the superior jouster even at pilot skill 5.

At the end of the day I am pretty happy with the results, Tactician and Greedo proved to be really effective and the Slaver can take quite a beating and won't get 1 shotted off the board in the first round of fire which is essentially what I was looking for. However its really hard to maneuver so I'll see how it goes moving forward.

As far as the result of the tourney, I win the day with 3 wins in my pocket ending my current losing streak and I get to take home some shiny loot!