Wow, that was a long break! My last article was on April 22nd, and it’s now the 21st of July. When life says NO to gaming time, I suppose I have to listen. I’ve been back in town for a couple of weeks now, but have been so busy that I still haven’t really managed to play, let alone write. All of this changed this weekend, as I took all 3 days to re-enter the gaming scene. Naturally, this started with X-Wing.

I managed to get out for a Monday practice night, but it was relatively un-eventful, and more of a warm-up or refreshing for me. I played twice against Kyle Meidel, and both games total took less than 30 minutes, because Soontir, Vader, and Maarek just refused to not take damage against Blount, Arvel, and 2 E-Wings. Both times, I lost an Advanced and nearly lost another in the first round of fire, each time for 1-2 shields off of one of his ships in return. I then played a game against Rob Cardwell, where I inadvertently cheated, flying a 202 point build (under old points, 203 now) because of stupidity.

Since I’ve been gone, another wave has released and the points all changed around. I was looking forward to flying my Flying Circus list again, but the points change made it illegal by 1 point. So, back to the drawing board. I’m still looking for Fel and support/beef, so at least 2 of the bombers need to stay. Looking at points, I can fit in 3 Academy Pilots in TIE fighters, and slap Predator on Soontir (because it belongs there) for 198, so that’s what I load into my box for my first event of the weekend. I have to dig out my Rebel TIE, since in the spirit of the WWI Flying Circus, no 2 ships are allowed to have the same color scheme!



The first event was the monthly tournament at Discordia in Bremerton. We had 9 players, but I luckily avoided the bye and got to play all 3 games. There were lists from the Imperials (my list and a 3 Aces,) Resistance (2 lists with Transports and X-Wings only,) Republic (2 Jedi + Support lists,) and Scum (Han and Fangs, a Shadowcaster with Fangs, and a Nym and 2 Kimolga list,) showing a somewhat varied meta and not at all what I expected. My first game, I was paired against someone who I hadn’t ever met before, who apparently started playing while I was gone.

Game 1: Dale Walker

After giving Dale the initiative, I set up my TIEs in the corner, with enough room for Fel to fit in next to them. The bombers went closer to the center of the table, lined up slightly offset to try to get more bullseye arcs on target for some re-rolls. After Han cornered himself as far from the TIEs as possible, Fel set up against the board edge and raced up to swing a trap closed. This round saw the immediate end of Old Teroch, as he ate a perfect shot from Fel and a follow-up barrage from one of the bombers. He then had to eat another barrage, and all 3 TIE fighter shots. He dodged and dipped and almost made it, but in the end, he went down, in exchange for a little damage on a bomber.

My list can put down A LOT of damage when it needs to, especially against things like Falcons, as Han discovered. After the above turn, he turned in, but was bumped by the front Bomber that had banked slightly to try to shoot him. The result was a Han that was landed on a rock and left with 3 hull remaining and a Fuel Leak after everyone fired.

The following turn, Han remained blocked, and ate a crit from the rock that flipped Direct Hit and finished him off. Fel and the Bomber got some lucky shots in and ended Fenn Rau’s day early as well, resulting in a 200-0 victory for the Empire.

Game 2: Justin Brown

I had just watched Justin win a near-mirror against a Transport and 3 Initiative 3 T-70s, and neither side dealt any real damage or scored any points until after time was called. I was determined not to let that happened, and set up exactly as I had before to make sure Poe couldn’t slip behind me like he did to Justin’s last opponent. I also had to be careful not to feed Fel to him, as I am somewhat prone to doing against Init 6 X-Wings. Overall, the approach was successful, with Poe and the lead Transport exchanging fire for no damage on the 2nd turn.

The 3rd turn, 2nd round of combat, the lead transport managed a block on Fel, and my entire team was lined up for them to not go as fast as they did. Fel and Poe exchanged Range 1 fire, where I managed to take a shield or 2 from Poe. In exchange…

Well, crap. Fel’s gone, nothing on his side is dead, and Poe is going to slip down the board on me. I am suddenly in a TON of trouble. Luckily for me, Fel isn’t really a ton of my list’s damage, but he certainly would have helped against the transports! We jockey around the next turn, and I manage to take a transport off the table, and Justin splits his remaining pair apart. I send 1 Bomber after each, and each gets an escort of TIEs to help them out.

Justin shows me the power of the Autoblaster, erasing the stolen TIE immediately, while my auxiliaries harass and slowly erode Poe’s defenses. It takes several turns, but eventually, I manage to kill Poe the same turn that Cova kills my Bomber. Team Get-Rid-of-Poe now becomes Team End-the-Bloody-Game and turns in towards the Transport. It takes ANOTHER 4 rounds and another dead TIE, but Cova finally goes down for a 200-138 win.

Game 3: Jeff Raiford

Alright, this should be pretty simple. It’s effectively 182-point Anakin, as the Handmaidens exist primarily to give him 2 evades per round, and to serve as an extra 10 HP if I target them first. I decide to go all-in on the Handmaidens, then worry about Anakin last, hoping to keep him from using the R2 Astromech or the Decoyed condition at all. This game was also recorded, since it was the top table, and the link to the YouTube video is the game title above.

I had to chase the Handmaidens ALL THE WAY into Jeff’s left-hand corner, while Anakin dipped around some rocks and got in behind my forces. I was willing to take a shot or 2 from the Jedi if it meant I could get the N1’s off the table, but those things are FAST! Not even Fel could easily catch them. For my hubris, Anakin deleted the bottom-most TIE in a single shot.

I stuck to my guns, and managed to take… a single shield… off of both N1s. In exchange, they dropped the black Bomber low and allowed Anakin to finish it off during the above turn. With 2 ships down, majorly out of position, and having done nearly no damage, I am now in what I like to call BIG TROUBLE

We chase one another around for a few turns, and I finally manage to trap a Handmaiden in something of a kill-box and take it out. Nothing else on my side takes any more damage, and the remaining Handmaiden is pretty far out of the fight, so I decide that this is now the time to go after the Delta-7b. 2 turns later, Jeff flips Anakin in instead of running for it, and he stares down most of my list.

Fel fires, and due to torrid luck on Jeff’s part, Anakin’s shields are gone. Half points! Things can’t get much bett- Fel’s dead. Anakin blew Soontir off the table, putting me right back on the back foot. I do a fat lot of nothing with my other ships, putting him on 1 hull but allowing him to limp away and leaving me out of position again. I go into full chase mode, but figure that I’m probably never putting my sights on the Jedi again.

2 rounds later, after a decent shot form the bomber and an R2 regen from Anakin to put him at 1 Hull, 1 Shield; my standard TIE takes a long range shot, looking for magic, and it happens: Anakin whiffs hard, and the Range 3 potshot ends the Delta’s life. Another round after that, the remaining N1 is caught in all 3 firing arcs, and goes down herself, giving me an unexpected 200-115 win, and the 3-0 for the night to take the tourney.

Woah. Jeff and I were both sweating at the end of that game, and not just because the store was hotter than the inside of a Tauntaunn on Dagobah. Those Handmaidens are a LOT stronger than I gave them credit for, and they are way faster than I believed they had any right being. This just proves that you should never count out a ship before you face it, especially if it’s being presented in a new way. These things are a faster, harder to kill, more effective Biggs Darklighter, and there’s 2 of them.

In 2.0 tournament games, I’m now sitting at a 43-16 record and a 72.9% winrate. As for the list itself, in 2 games I was rescued by the swarmy-nature after Fell went down. The amount of firepower this list can bring to bear is sometimes staggering, and Soontir brings just enough threat to the table that you can’t really ignore him either. Against aces, the blocking power of the TIEs sets up Barrage Rocket shots, meaning that I can safely move Fel before enemy aces and still be effective. If in dire need, Fel can just be the most effective blocker in the game when absolutely necessary.

Until next time: Part 2!