Finally, I manage to get to a Hyperspace Trial this season. Until now everything has either clashed with existing plans or other commitments and such. So with a sense of relief, it was off to Kirton Games down in Crediton to take part in their always-excellent event. I played the Regional there the past two years, going 3-3 the first time, then making it all the way to the final last year only to be defeated by squadron mate Ross. Could I go one better this time around?

Again I stuck with my usual list, Anakin and Luminara with Delta-7B and R2 Astromechs, and two Gold Squadron Troopers. Time to see if sticking to the one list and putting in some reps would pay off at a large event.

I got to have more of a leisurely start to the event than usual, as I cashed in my Store Championship bye from my win at Worcester at the tail end of last year. This meant after driving for more than two hours, I could ease myself into the day at a more relaxed pace, picking up the automatic game 1 victory and saving some brain power for later in the day.

So onto my first actual game of the day, against Kayleigh who I’d coincidentally just been chatting to at the back of the hall whilst waiting for round 1 to end. A three-ship Rebel list, Wedge, Luke, and Dutch, all with Proton Torpedoes. At least one of my ships was probably going to take a wallop as a result, and Luminara was the unfortunate victim. So long as it wasn’t Anakin though I was probably going to be okay, and he danced around and took care of business, for just the loss of one of the Torrents in addition to Luminara. 200-89 in my favour, and a nice fun game to get my eye in.

Next up was Matt, bringing three Jedi to the party, along with the legendary Steve Theobold cape! This was a really amusing game, with a whole bunch of tightly packed ships without anyone seeming to actually bump into anyone else somehow. Then we had Ahsoka running around on 1 health for what seemed like forever. Plo pulling away the weapons disabled token from the other Jedi when they regenned was a nice trick on Matt’s part, catching me out with it on one occasion despite me even mentioning before the game that I assumed that was why he was in the list! Maybe I still wasn’t properly awake… But I managed to take out two of the three Aethersprites, leaving Matt with just a wounded Anakin whilst I only gave up half points on Luminara. 158-32 for this one.

After a lunch break, it was on to round four, and also the Twitch stream! Eek! The top table was being streamed all day and at this point, along with my opponent and fellow Vagabond, Nick, I was at the head of the field. Playing on stream can be a very different experience compared to a regular game, and can be a bit daunting given the level of scrutiny you can find yourself under from the internet. Seriously people, don’t be too hard on players during stream games – it’s all too easy to backseat pilot when you’re watching at home, but particularly at a big event the pressure can get to you sometimes and influence you into choices you wouldn’t usually make. That being said, I personally thoroughly enjoy these games so I can watch them back afterwards. Being a bit of a reflector and very self-analytical I find it a big help with evaluating performance, so you’re not just relying on your memory of a game, which all too often can be a distorted version of the truth (muh diiiiice!).

At this point, because I was focusing extra hard on the games (not wanting to do something dumb for all the world to see) I forgot to take any more pictures. Fortunately, you can just watch the games on Twitch here. Skip to about 5 hours and 13 minutes in for the start of game 4.

So Nick and I were playing almost identical lists, the only difference being he had Mace with R4 as opposed to Luminara with R2. And that means we’re both on 196 points. The initiative roll here is huge, and unfortunately (for me) I lost the roll-off and obviously, Nick made me move first. The only advantage in that situation is that my Torrents become better blockers than his, so I have to maximize that to give myself a chance. So I got in a couple of good blocks early on which basically took his Torrents out of the game, which gave me the chance to try and focus down Nick’s Anakin. Annoyingly he just wouldn’t die, living a charmed life on 1 hull for what seemed forever and allowing Nick back into the game once his other ships rejoined the fray. I did eventually get him, but by then everything was pretty much dead or on fire. And this is where I value the R2 massively over R4 – the game ended with my Luminara on 2 health. I used both my R2 charges, so without that she’d have died. I ended up winning 95-82 as Anakin also gained a shield back to bring him back past half health on the final turn and managing to dodge all the arcs. My brain was mush by this point, and it took a while to figure out if the boost/barrel roll was going to fit as my eyes just couldn’t figure out where the curved boost was going to land me. Thankfully it worked! Definitely my favourite game of the day, and one that could have easily gone either way with a couple of different dice rolls.

Still on top table at this point, so another game on stream (skip to 6 hours 52 mins on the vod for this one) this time against Jonathan. He’s brought Vader with a mini-swarm (Mauler, Valen Rudor, 2 Black Squadrons) that clocks in at 197 points, which means I outbid him by a single point. Which means Anakin is back to moving last (such a crutch, haha!). I get the opening horribly wrong, having made a bad rock placement and then missed the block I really needed to limit the damage coming in. Fortunately, Jonathan focuses on the main bulk of my force, which left Anakin free to come in around the flank and wreck face. Vader was a little unlucky to take 4 damage from a single shot, but given the hot dice coming my way in the early exchange it felt vaguely fair. Anakin popped Valen in a single shot before finishing off his older self, leaving just a damaged Black Squadron and Mauler. Knowing I was ahead on points and that moving to 5-0 would guarantee a spot in the cut I chose to just fly evasive for the last 10-15 minutes. As long as I did nothing stupid there was no way those two TIEs were going to take all of Anakin’s shields, and they effectively would have to do it twice since I still had both R2 charges. Game went to time with me ahead 150-114.

Last game of the Swiss rounds was against Chris, and for the first (and only) time on the day I ran into Rebel Beef, which I was slightly surprised about. Figured there’d be more to be fair. (8 hours 30 mins into the vod if you want to watch this one). Got a really great block to open this one, making three out of the four Rebel ships bump, allowing me to put a lot of damage into Wedge for barely anything in return. Luminara finished him off after an ion crit made him vulnerable and Anakin wrecked Cassian in short order. Without the U-wing to pull the stress off Braylen, and no Leia, he was fairly easy pickings for Anakin, whilst Luminra did the same to Dutch. It’s tricky to table beef in 75 minutes but I managed it with a little to spare, this one finishing 200-123.

So I end up going 6-0, the only one to do so, and thus topping the Swiss. I suspect the curse of doing that is incoming when I see I’m going to be playing Dom as I was almost certain he was playing Imperial Aces, which he was. He massively outbids me, and with two 6s and a 5, it’s a really really difficult matchup and not one I’ve practised enough to feel confident in. I reckon it’s about 80-20 in his favour. Thankfully I agree with the Kirton guys that someone else can play on Stream now so I don’t have to watch my end run on the internet! I did take Duchess out pretty quick, but Soontir and Vader went hard after Anakin and I couldn’t keep him out of arcs. After losing him the game becomes almost impossible, even with Dom’s appallingly bad green dice. (Seriously Dom, change them immediately). I think I maybe pinged a shield from Vader, and Soontir took a damage from a rock but that was as good as I got as Dom just ran rings around me. And thusly my run came to a sad end with a 50-200 loss.

Still, my aim for the day had been to achieve dice (top 16) and I’d massively overachieved here for the second year in a row, so I was more than happy. Generally pleased with how I played on the day when I think that my only loss was against the list mine really doesn’t want to see. Can’t really ask much more than that. Clearly all the leaning on the table for ages paid off in the end! 😉

So all that remains is to thank all of my opponents once again for the games (and for the extra swag I got from a lot of you!), I enjoyed playing you all. Huge congrats to Chris who I played in round 6, as he went on to win the event. Hope you mange to get yourself to Worlds! And a massive big-up to the guys from Kirton Games for putting on a great event as always. I’ve come down three times now and each time it’s been a fantastic day (just have to make the tag of ‘The Franchise’ stick now lol). Not sure when I’m next playing an event, but no doubt it won’t be too long!