Back to BIG in Bristol this week for another 4 round event. Although the format is generally Extended at most events around here, I’ve still been sticking with my Hyperspace-legal Republic list. I think the game’s in a good enough spot that lists from both formats are on a reasonably level playing field, despite what some of the Internet will tell you. Plus, Bristol doesn’t tend to see people playing the perceived ‘broken’ lists for the most parts anyway.

I woke up on the day with a banging headache so I wasn’t entirely feeling in the best mood to play, but I figured I’d just power through regardless. Maybe I should have taken Rebels and just 1-forwarded all day to save hurting my brain further… 😉

So just to recap the list (as I often get asked for it if I don’t include it!) I’m still flying Anakin and Luminara with Delta-7B and R2 Astromechs, and two Gold Squadron Troopers. I think everyone is well aware of the 2 Jedi 2 Torrent list by now, but it’s solid and great fun. I really want the ARC to be good and have it in place of the Torrents, but I’ve not cracked the code on that one yet. Maybe at casual night this week I’ll give it another go.

So first up, I get to play Mark, who I’ve not had the pleasure of playing before and he’s running Anakin and Obi Wan. Massively outbidding me makes me sad, but at least there’s no Supernatural Reflexes, or I don’t think I’d ever catch his Anakin. Just getting shots is hard enough as it’s hard to focus one down at a time when they keep switching in and out. Mark gradually picks off my Torrents as I chip a few damage here and there in return. Eventually, my Anakin gets behind his and I manage to herd him into a corner, giving me the shots I need to finally take him out, with a 93-50 victory as time expires.

Next up is the game I knew was inevitably going to happen. Ash messaged me a few weeks previously about my list as he’d decided he was going to try it out. So, of course, we get paired up in round two. Naturally, he won the roll off for First Player which is massive in this situation – having to move both my Jedi before their opposite numbers is always tough. It also didn’t help that Ash also basically managed to take down my Luminara in just a single round of fire. I could blame dice somewhat here, but I won’t – I did a somewhat risky s-loop that I thought his Anakin would be just too far away from to adjust to. I was wrong. Being behind so early meant I had to play somewhat riskily, and on this occassion I couldn’t drag myself back. I got in some good blocks with the Golds but wasn’t able to get the damage through at those points in order to fully capitalize. In the end I didn’t even kill a ship. I’d ignored Ash’s Torrents because they’re just not worth it points-wise when you’re in a hole and ended up just getting half on both of his Jedi. So a 73-200 loss in this one.

At this point it’s lunch, and I need a rest to give my brain a break. Couldn’t seem to shift the headache. I blame Fix…

Following the interval, I’m playing Simon (off of the Greenaways) and he’s brought a whole lot of health to the table – four ARCS (one of which carrying Cody) and a Torrent. 41 hitpoints to chew through is no mean feat, especially when my list doesn’t deal massive damage constantly. He spreads his ships a little at the start, and I fake one direction and then turn back on myself, trying to focus them down one at a time. Anakin gets down the flank quickly and manages to put some good damage in while also managing to stay out of almost all of the firing arcs. It helps that my red dice were pretty hot in this one, quite often not needing any mods to get maximum output despite having them available for the most part. Which then lets me use my force and focus defensively to minimize the incoming damage. Both my Torrents hang around on 1 hull for longer than they had any right to, and by the time Simon finally eliminates them, he’s down to just a single ARC. I run out of time to finish it off completely, but I’m happy managing to win 176-50 given the amount of health his list has.

The last game of the day is my chance to play spoiler, as we end up going into the last round with 3 players on 3-0 and I end up being the one paired up, taking on Jordan and his Handbrake Han list. This is a pretty horrible matchup for me as Han has full board knowledge before he moves, which heavily counters all my repositioning options. After a round of completely ineffectual shots into Han, I formulate a new plan on the fly – kill his Jake and try not to give away any more points than half on a Jedi, or a Torrent and a half. I don’t see how else I can win, so I feint on Han and switch everyone onto Jake. Who just won’t die. Even when I manage to block him to deny any defensive focus he has a knack of evading enough to drag the game out. At the risk of blaming dice this time, I suffered 3 terrible green dice rolls, Luminara suffering a triple blank out to take her to half, then another after regenerating her shields back to put her at half again! I finally kill Jake to put me up 45-32 and time is running out on the clock. But just when I need a solid roll, Anakin manages to roll 3 blanks and an eyeball on the penultimate turn and knock himself past half, and with only 1 charge left on his R2 it’s not enough to recoup those points – which I could have done with just one more paint on the roll. He could have run out of range and got the shield back otherwise. So close and yet so far. So I lose this one 45-73.

A frustrating way to lose the last one, but it was a very tense, thrilling game to play either way, so I’m not actually disappointed by that aspect. And in some way, I was glad not to knock Jordan off his undefeated streak, as he ended up winning his first event as a result. And a big shoutout to Nick who also went 4-0, only to be pipped by 36 MOV at the death.

A 2-2 finish in 10th place wasn’t the greatest of days results-wise, but the games were enjoyable and it was good to get some practice in against difficult matchups – with the Kirton Games Hyperspace Trial coming up in a short while, I need to be prepared for a difficult day if I want to even come close to the result I had there at last year’s regional.

My record with the list now stands at 22-7, so something in the region of a 75% success rate. I think that’s pretty decent! However, I was thinking about it somewhat the day after the event, trying to reconcile the day’s result with the list’s overall performance and I have to keep my expectations in check a little – 9 of those games have been in team events where I’ve been able to avoid some of the matchups I don’t like. Has that inflated the win rate at all? Possibly. But on the other hand, I’ve also been playing it in an Extended environment where some of the matchups are ones impossible to come across in a purely Hyperspace setting. Food for thought, at least.

I’m not at Nationals (a combination of costs, and being on-call for work that weekend), so the next event in the calendar is probably the afore-mentioned Hyperspace Trial. I shall see you there if you’re going!