I’m still onboard with Krennic, but I’m fast running out of appropriate quotes to use as titles. Help! This week’s gallivanting took me to BIG in Bristol for my first (and possibly only) attempt at a season 2 kit. I really wanted the Saw card, not for any particular reason other than I’ve been able to win every single season kit pilot card since I started playing tournaments back in wave 5. It’s a nice little motivator to keep me sharp at times; at least that’s my excuse anyway.

We only had eight players, which is well below the sixteen player limit BIG usually has (and fills) for these events. I’m guessing some folks are sitting out until 2.0 arrives to kick-start things again. Technically eight players only means we only need to run three rounds to get an undefeated winner, but everyone agrees that we want to play four as originally intended. I took the same list as last weekend, really enjoying it at the moment. In case you haven’t read my last entry, it is:

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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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Game one is against Nicola Taylor running Hera and Ezra. Hera is obviously packing Navigator, and Ezra has R3-A2 and Gunner. That needs to die right away, Whisper does not want to see stress and be unable to re-cloak. I make a beeline for the Sheathipede and manage to take him out before he can shoot. Mostly thanks to the Bomber tossing on a Blinded Pilot via Kylo. The Bomber (as usual) eventually succumbs but he’s a fairly expendable ship once he’s handed out the relevant crits. At 19 points, it’s not a big factor when it comes to MOV. And if people want to shoot him, it means they’re not shooting my two damage dealers. Moving second in this matchup is huge, and it allows me to constantly readjust and nullify Hera’s ability. Vermeil sustains a few points of damage from the TLT, but Whisper is free to go to town and tear lumps out of the Ghost. Hera explodes, and Zeb’s attack shuttle dies the following turn after I put both my ships into range 1. 100-19 is a decent start to the day.

At this point I’m starving, but we have to play game two before we have a lunch break. And now I’m playing Nicola’s other half, and fellow Vagabond, Andrew. Dash and two Crack Shot Cavern Angels. I was on the wrong end of some Angel guns last week and so I know how potent they can be. It especially doesn’t help when they refuse to kick the bucket. I manage to blind one of them which saves me eating a range one attack, though the Bomber doesn’t stick around too long once again. It takes a lot longer to clear the Angels than I would have liked, and Vermeil and Whisper are both fairly wounded when I get it down to just Dash. Vermeil bites the dust after just failing to make the doughnut hole, Dash lighting him up with that nasty HLC. Whisper then gets into some weird, roundabout turning fight with Dash where both of us struggle to get shots but I am able to hug range one to prevent a 4-dice attack my way. Time is called and I have Dash down past half health, so Whisper just needs to survive. It comes down to a 50/50 guess as to whether Dash will turn tight or make a longer move. Uh oh, not had much luck with this guessing lark of late! Luckily on this occasion I guess right, and instead of a hard-1 and trying to keep range one, Whisper runs for the hills, rolling out of range and surviving on two hull. Whew! 71-55 victory this time.

After lunch, I’m paired up with David Hawkins for round three. A new opponent to me (as far as I can recall anyway) and running an interesting list consisting of two Lothal Rebels and AP-5. That’s a lot of hull to chew through, especially as they both have Reinforced Deflectors. AP-5 has R3-A2 as well, so there’s another stressbot for Whisper to avoid. Thankfully no sign of Fenn Rau today! I go all in on the Sheathipede at the start, getting rid of him ASAP before going to work on those two Lothals. Thankfully there’s no TLT (they both had Autoblasters) so with my manoeuverability and handing out the Blinded Pilots again, I’m able to control them effectively enough. Again the Bomber is toast, but he’s put me far enough ahead in the damage race that I have to make a serious mistake to let David back into the game. Limited to just the front arc and a range 1 Autoblaster bubble, they’re a lot easier to play around than the full-on monster seen in Fenn/Lothal lists, especially with Whisper’s Advanced Sensors. I have to eat the Autoblaster once in the whole game, but once I clear one of the two, it’s fairly comfortable from there on out. 100-19 once more, fast becoming the most common score with this list.

As the only 3-0 player I’m hoping that playing the extra round is not going to come back and bite me in the arse. And for the final matchup, we’re going to have a Ben-off, as I’m paired with another Vagabond, Ben Moore. Ben has brought a Scariff Base Pilot with Krennic and Mara Jade, along with Inquisitor and Swarm Leader Vader. Fortunately I win the initiative roll and take it, so Whisper can shoot before Vader does. Whew. My priority here though is to slap a Damaged Cockpit onto the Dark Lord as quickly as I can so that Whisper can act with full board-state knowledge. I lay the condition down in the opening exchange by don’t get the dice I need to push it through. However, Ben wallops Vermeil with a mighty Swarm Leader attack and my Reaper is on one hull after a single round of shooting. Ouch. It’s going to be an uphill climb from here! I catch Ben out next round though, Whisper surprising him with an unexpected K-turn, putting Vader firmly in her sights. I punch in that crit and now Whisper is free of the PS-clash. I slowly trickle damage onto Vader but not quickly enough for my liking, and Vermeil falls to the Inquisitor, leaving me with no Palpatine to bolster my attacks, which are being hampered by the Scarif repeatedly Jamming away Whisper’s target lock. With about twenty minutes to go I do the maths and see that Ben’s Vader is worth a single point more than my Vermeil. If I can finish him off and keep everything else alive, I win. What follows is a chase of epic proportions as a PS 0 Vader runs for his life with Whisper desperately trying to maintain arcs. It all comes down to the last turn of the game as time expires. I turn my 3-hull Bomber straight at the board edge to make sure the Scarif can’t get in range, leaving just the Inquisitor with a chance at a shot. I still have to take out Vader though, who is now on a single point of health, or it’s irrelevant. The Phantom threads its way through the rocks and gets Vader in sight at range two. Whisper fires and scores hit/crit and I target lock the two blanks…into two more misses! Ben rolls his greens…and gets only a single paint, and Vader dies! It’s all down to the Bomber to not die now. Inquisitor obviously gets the three hits he needs, and the Bomber gets…a single evade! And lives! Good god that was one hell of a game, giving me the win 37-36! You don’t get much closer than that!

So I finish with a 4-0 record, and after having come close at the last few events but just missing out, I manage to get this one over the finish line. Saw card in the bank, and I can happily say I’ve kept my run going with winning those pilot cards. Not sure about the metal focus tokens, I think I prefer my Mynock ones. Still nice to have, though!

So all in all a good day, glory to Krennic! Big shout out to all of today’s opponents, every game was played in a great atmosphere even when things got tense. My next event will be Worcester Wargames on the 12th of August, but with the spoiling of the Second Edition upgrade slots and point costs I will probably be spending most of my time between now and then working on Zuckuss builds. I’ll let you know what I come up with!