As we reach the one-month-to-go point of First Edition, this weekend saw what was probably my last competitive event before 2.0 drops and we all have to start over. I’m super-hyped for the new version of the game, but there’s still a little to play for before then. So it was off to Worcester Wargames this weekend for their Store Championship event, a venue where I’ve had some good runs in the past (finalist two years ago, and top 4 last season) so I’m hopeful of another good result. I’ve been on a good run of form of late, ever since I started running Whisper. Two top 4 results at previous Store Champs and a win at a season 2 event gave me very little reason to run anything else.

Some guys over on the Mynock Squadron Facebook group have picked up the list too and been having success, albeit it with a slightly tweaked version – swapping Vermeil’s Adaptability and Lightweight Frame for Veteran Instincts and Multi-Spectral Camo. Intrigued, I played some games at the local store midweek to see how it felt, but results were inconclusive. What wasn’t inconclusive was that Steve Boulton has some outrageous green dice, with all three of my ships doing 0 damage to a tokenless Boba in the opening engagement. Disgusting, Steve, utterly disgusting.

Without enough evidence either way to make a real decision, I reverted back to my standard version of the list:

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Whisper (45)

Veteran Instincts, Advanced Sensors, Advanced Cloaking Device, Director Krennic

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (19)

TIE Shuttle, Kylo Ren, Courier Droid

Major Vermeil (36)

Adaptability, Advanced Ailerons, Emperor Palpatine, Lightweight Frame

Total Points: 100

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As the saying goes: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I can’t argue with the results this has brought me, so I’m sticking to the version I know best, if only for the fact I forgot Camo on any of the opportunities it could have triggered. The list is very trigger-happy and adding one more to the mix is only going to put more strain on the brain across a full day’s play. Which is always something to consider, especially if you’re a newer player just getting into the game. What might be great for a one-off game is not necessarily ideal to play repeatedly for four games or more, as you start to forget things the more tired the brain becomes.

We had a little over twenty people in the end (I want to say 22, but not 100% sure), and the schedule for the day was four rounds followed by a top 4 cut. Not a lot of wiggle room there, but if there’s one thing this list does really well is generate really good MOV.

First up was Jason, running Thweek, Fenn Rau and Dalan (the Kimogila version). All at PS 9 thanks to VI on Dalan and Thweek stealing Whisper’s pilot skill. With a four point bid as well, Jason was in a strong position to give me some serious trouble. Fortunately he gave me the initiative, something he would later decide was a mistake. I lost the Bomber very early, thanks to taking a harpoon from Dalan and then a range 1 target-locked attack the following round. Fortunately he laid on a Damaged Cockpit for Fenn before he bit the dust, with Whisper triggering it a few rounds later. I struggled for shots early on, but as the game wore on I managed to set up decent fields of fire with Dalan popping first quickly followed by Fenn. Thweek put up a good fight, but was eventually cornered and despatched. 100-19 to me.

Game two paired me up with Dan running Chiraneau and Quickdraw, though thankfully not with Palp and Kylo. The Decimator had Gunner which is always nasty, but the opening exchange went as planned with me putting a Damaged Cockpit onto it. The following round out came the Blinded Pilot, and Chiraneau only ever got off the one shot as Whisper danced around the bigger ship, tearing it to shreds. Quickdraw put up a little more of a fight, but I was able to PS 0 her as well, and after that it was all fairly academic. Even if I managed to drag the game out by an extra round by forgetting to decloak and thus having no shot with Whisper. Oops. 100-0 though, so it’s all good.

After lunch it was on to game three, and a matchup with Shaun, who was fielding Blackout, Quickdraw and Epsilon Ace. Shaun was my original X-wing nemesis, knocking me out of cuts repeatedly back in the day. More recently I’ve had the upper hand, but it’s actually been quite a while since we’ve played a game. Quickdraw with VI and Epsilon would mean potentially Whisper eating two shots a turn without being cloaked so I tried to keep her at arm’s length and play for the range bonus to help. Except I made one critical mistake in my thinking and completely forgot Quickdraw was also carrying a Harpoon Missile. Whisper promptly got wrecked in the opening exchange, limping around with a single hull point left and was easy pickings not too long after. I’d put a Blinded Pilot onto Quickdraw with Kylo but was never able to trigger it as I had to spend Palpatine on defense. I was also suffering having lost the initiative roll, which let Blackout move after Vermeil. With Push the Limit and Advanced Sensors on the Silencer, it was going to be an uphill struggle. I just about managed to take out Epsilon Ace, but without Whisper it was too much for the other two to handle. 19-100 loss.

With it all still to play for, I was matched up with Jere for the final game in Swiss. He was running another Krennic list with Vader as his prototype, along with the Inquisitor and Vermeil. I got a little fortunate in the opening engagement as my Bomber survived a hail of fire on a single hull point, though took a Damaged Sensor Array in the process, so no Kylo this time. It died the following turn, but it did mean Jere had to spend extra shots finishing it off. His Vermeil went down on the same turn and then I turned my attention to Vader. I was able to set up some good shots on Vader, and at one point put both a Damaged Sensor Array and a Console Fire onto the Dark Lord. Having to spend his actions fixing crits, Vader succumbed to the follow-up shot which left me just the Inquisitor to deal with. And with the PS advantage, Whisper is almost always going to win that fight. It took a while, Jere pulling off some good moves to make getting shots tricky, but with about five minutes to go the Inquisitor finally popped, giving me another 100-19 win (standard). Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of this one.

There was a slight delay with the final standings as it turned out one of the results was entered wrong (Steve causing trouble again), but when the dust finally settled I’d finished third overall, making the cut for the third store championship in a row. Now just to try to avoid being knocked out in the top 4 again…

Amusingly enough I was now paired against Steve, who was playing Asa Graf’s Crack Dealers list (AP-5, two Snap/Crack A-wings and two Crackshot Cavern Angels). We actually played this matchup on Wednesday night with Steve giving me an absolute thumping 100-0. He’d offered up several lists to play against and I’d chosen this one knowing it was a ‘thing’ right now and wanting to have some practice with it. I’d been too aggressive and tried to be a bit too cute with Whisper in that game and paid the price, getting killboxed and Crackshotted (is that even a word?) to death. This time I made sure to take a much more careful approach, Whisper skirting the board edge so as to only be in range of the A-wings, and far away enough not to be hit by Snap Shot. My first attacks saw me get one A-wing down to a single hull point for not a lot in return, and it was in a position where it had to take a rock the next turn, and a console fire if it survived that. It didn’t. Whisper made short work of the second A-wing as well. This was more like it. After Steve’s outrageous dice on Wednesday, I was taking no chances, using Palpatine on every Whisper shot to maximise the damage and try to clear ships as quickly as possible. Much to Steve’s amusement, I at one point rolled three hits and two crits out of hand, completely ‘wasting’ Palp. I’ll happily waste him if it means I roll like that! Vermeil was down to a single hull point and ran for his life, but Whisper finished off the X-wings, Steve conceding with just AP-5 left on the table against my entire list still. Great game against a great friend, full of laughs. This is how elimination games should be played!

With the top 4 curse finally lifted it was onto the final, and a rematch with Shaun who’d overcome Huw in a tight game in the other top 4 matchup. Mental note – remember the Harpoons this time! I won the initiative roll this time, meaning my Vermeil could move after his Blackout which was going to be very important. I also got a better rock placement this time, shielding my ships from Quickdraw much more effectively on the approach. I went in hard after Blackout initially, putting three damage into him whilst losing a shield or two on Vermeil. I then sold Shaun a dummy and switched my focus to Quickdraw – she’s the danger ship to Whisper and if I could clear the SF then I felt confident I could win. Whisper de-cloaked the opposite way to Shaun’s expectations and got me behind, meaning no harpoons and a lesser gun. Vermeil was able to turn in on her too and the Bomber fished for a Damaged Cockpit this time, which Whisper promptly triggered. Next turn was more of the same, this time Blinded Pilot preventing the revenge shot and now at PS 0 Quickdraw never got to fire. Blackout’s greens failed as Vermeil s-looped and poured in more fire and Shaun was left only with a wounded Epsilon Ace. Recognising how the game was only going to end one way, the handshake was offered and I’d finally done it. I’d finally won a Store Championship!

What a fantastic ending to competitive 1.0 I’ve had. At the very last chance I’d finally taken that elusive Store Championship after so many near misses over the past few years. What made it extra special was the fact the elimination games were against two guys who I’ve met purely through this game and become great friends with. I couldn’t have asked for a better way for it to happen really.

So Store Championships have bookended competitive 1.0 for me. My very first event was a Store Championship at BIG just before Wave 6 (the introduction of Scum) dropped, and my friend Andi and I always remember the prize ceremony there. Of course, neither of us did very well, but there was a moment when the top 8 were being announced that sticks in our minds – I don’t know who it was but one player placed somewhere in that group and excitedly declared “With a Bomber!” as his name was called. And now, here we are at the end of 1.0 and I have my own Championship…with a TIE Bomber in the list. The circle is now complete.