It’s been just over 2 weeks since my last article, and moving across the country has kept me pretty busy. I arrived safely in my hometown of Cincinnati, OH last week, and have been spending time with family before the next leg of my journey later this month. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t had time to get out for ANY X-Wing, but I have certainly been more limited than I would have liked. I managed a few games in Silverdale with Lando/Luke/Thane, and another with Vader/Fel/Turr since the last blog (2-2 and a 5th win, respectively,) and finally, made it out to Epic Loot up in Centerville on Saturday for my first tournament in Ohio in almost 4 years.

If you’ve never been, this is one of the largest game stores I’ve ever set foot in, with a huge area for gaming and an even bigger selection of games. The staff is very friendly, the stock is well sorted (they have a plexiglass wall upon which to display singles for sale in addition to the traditional counters,) and they have a rewards program for spending money in the store. Apparently, they have a location in Fairfield that is even bigger!

We ended up with 10 players, with every faction except Rebel represented. There was a pretty big disparity, however, as half the field brought Imperials. Of those, 3 of us had Fel, a different spread of 3 had Vader in his TIE (one had him on a Decimator) and both unique Deci pilots were present. Unfortunately, I can’t remember and didn’t record the Scum, Resistance, or First Order lists. Here’s my list, in case anyone doesn’t know it yet:



Prior to this event, I was 10-3 with just this list, and all 3 losses I can easily pick out piloting errors that lost me the game. It’s probably the best I’ve done with any single list in the entire 7 years I’ve been playing this game. I’m especially happy that I came up with it myself, without (and actually contrary to) advice from the community. It’s so consistent in it’s damage output that even if I lose a ship early, even if it’s Fel, it doesn’t seem to matter.

Game 1: Mike Kleiner

Mike brought an interesting variation of the Separatist Swarm that I’ve become familiar with. No Energy Shell Charges, but a second Belbullab to improve damage output and the Proximity Mines to screw with formations. I ended up setting up in my now familiar Dragnet, and came across the board to engage on my terms. Due to an early bump with the Ottraw, it was out of the fight for the first round.

With lucky rolls from my bombers, the tan Vulture evaporated. No other damage of consequence was exchanged, but I had an early lead. The lower Vulture swung down and successfully blocked both bombers, and both Bulbullabs swung up to intercept my Interceptor. The rest of both lists just sort-of got stuck in the middle of the board. Good rolls from the primary attacks of 2 TIEs and both bombers removed the Hyena from the board, nobody else on the droid side had any shots.

The droids and Wat had to start coming around, as did Fel, but my TIEs and bombers fully controlled the center of the board at this point. I turned the bombers and 2 of the TIEs, k-turned the other, deleted another Vulture, and put a bunch of damage on the Autopilot. The Ottraw managed to block the red bombers K-turn the following round, but everyone else turned in to catch it and the remaining Vulture. The Autopilot died, the Vulture lived, and Wat brought a bomber down to half points.

With half of my list looking in one direction to klll the Vulture, and the other looking toward Wat, I put a serious hurt on both ships (which was enough to kill the droid completely.) Tambor took down the red TIE, but had too high of a mountain to climb in the amount of time that was left. When the clock ran out, I took the game 171-42.

Game 2: Thomas Brewer

The last time I ran into a Decimator, it didn’t go very well for my opponent. This time around, his wing-men weren’t as scary as Vader, but the Decimator itself was tougher (partly due to having Tua, as this was an extended event, and partly due to having Vader onboard to strip tokens or deal free damage.) I deployed the Dragnet again, and RAC obliged by lining up to joust me. Unlike Conner, Thomas wanted to bring the Decimators weight and guns to bear immediately, and we exchanged shots in the first round of the game.

I took a shield off of RAC for his trouble, but the forward bomber also suffered, eating a damage or 2. The next round started the swing that set the tone of the game. My Fel and all 3 TIEs came in and ended up Range 1 from the side of the Decimator. The wounded bomber banked in, and the full health one went 1 straight, to catch Fel and Duchess as they swung in. The enemy Fel went somewhat straight into my bombers, but Duchess went for a swing up and around the Decimator, which bumped. Seizing my moment, Fel and the bombers nuked her off the board, and then the TIEs fed more damage into RAC.

RAC leaped over the impending traffic jam, but Thomas’ Fel got caught up in it. The Admiral removed my wounded red bomber from the table, but his Fel did no damage, and 2 unlucky green dice rolls later it was just the Decimator against the rest of my list. A Decimator that was already out of shields, and had my entire list behind him. Someone commented that Fel has 2 states: Invulnerable, or dead. In my own experience, that’s usually true!

Fel stayed engaged while the rest of my list reset, and within 2 turns he, the blue TIE, and a single rocket from the bomber was enough to put down the Decimator. Thomas had dealt half points to both the Baron and the TIE that were chasing him, giving me a 200-77 win.

Game 3: Zack Duncan

Due to the pair-down winner having lost his last match (in an intense Vader/Fel/Duchess vs Vader/GrandInq/Turr match-up,) Zack and I were the only undefeated players going into this match. The alpha potential of his list was startling if he lined up on me, but one of the benefits of my Dragnet is how rapidly it engages, often on turn 2. Which is exactly what I did.

At the end of this round, both the lead ARC and the lead TIE were on 1 hull remaining… I’m going to call that exchange in my favor. Both 7th Fleet Gunners were expended as well, leaving his alpha exhausted and my list still on the table. Both wounded ships ran for it this turn, but mine ended up in a significantly better position, since Fel and the red bomber positioned to chase the ARC (which the Baron killed.) My TIE survived the range 2 rear-shot from the other 104th, successfully blocked Sinker, and set Luminara up to take a bunch of shots, which she survived with all her hull intact. Sinker and Luminara put another TIE on 1 hull.



Luminara blocked Fels turn in, so he took Sinkers shields off while the bomber and TIEs finished off the Jedi. Meanwhile, my 1-hull TIE survived a Range 1 unmodified shot from the 104th. Unfortunately for me, Sinker proved the Invulnerable/Dead duality of Fel and blew him off the table. The following turn, my red bomber gently banked to reset himself while everyone else turned to chase Sinker. The clone ace survived that round, but perished the next, after his 2 rear arc shots failed to kill the 1-hull blue TIE, and the 104th gave up on the 1-hull orange TIE in favor of resetting and coming back in on the others.

With most of my list back in formation, Zack and I both came in strong. No damage was exchanged this round. After this, the ARC barreled ahead straight into the orange TIE, but his rear-arc shot on the blue TIE finally finished it off. Unfortunately, the 104th limped away with a couple hull points left, which were chased off by a Range 1 shot from the red bomber for the 200-90 win.

Game 4: Ken Earnest

At 200 points, this is the first game all day I actually chose to move second, for very obvious reasons. Vader scares me still, even without hate, but I feel like I can dunk Duchess easily enough, and I have a lot of experience in Fel vs Fel games. Despite its swarm-like appearance, my list is also well situated to taking down enemy aces. I set up to deploy the Dragnet, but Ken set up to joust me, since it was the last game of the day. I obliged. The only damage done one turn 1 was a hull or 2 on a bomber.

I spread my TIEs and Fel to accomplish blocks and set up for nukes from the bombers on turn 2, and Ken leapt straight into it, Vader blocked and Duchess staring down my entire list. Both Fels put damage on, Duchess exploded spectacularly, a bombers is put to half, and Vader streaks away on full health. Stupid force users… Fel and my TIEs all K-Turn to begin the chase, while both bombers lightly bank up and focus, hoping to block the enemy aces. They fail, but a lack of focus firing puts the other bomber on half without killing either.

Both Fels trade shots, and mine goes better than his, leaving my Baron on 1 hull but removing his from the board. I finally deal damage on Vader with the rest of the list, dropping him below half with 2 hull remaining, and with me in a great spot to continue the chase. The chase that I then immediately dork up, by bumping Fel on 3 back-to-back turns where he doesn’t have a shot on Vader. The rest of my list harasses the Sith Lord enough that he has to bug out, leaving no damage done for several turns.

Ken did a spectacular job keeping Vader out of my arcs, but I finally caught him the same turn that he got eyes on Fel. Both Initiative 6 aces went down this turn, giving me a hard-fought 200-111 victory.

Unless I make it out to Epic Loot again this weekend, this was my final tournament in preparation for Hyperspace Season 2. I am currently looking to hit 3 events across the East Coast (Annapolis, Selden, and Gardner, specifically,) and can’t wait to try this list out against the best on that side of the country. I’m 54-20 in second edition tournaments, which is JUST shy of a 73% winrate (72.9729…) Probably more importantly, I’m now 14-3 (82.3%) with this specific list. It’s the most plays I’ve had with a single list since my run with Dash/Poe leading up to Regionals in 2017.

As I’ve said, all my losses can be contributed to mistakes I’ve made, not bad match-ups or dice variance. Almost to prove my point, one reader took this list to the European Championship without any practice, and ended up 3-3 in Extended and 3-1 in Hyperspace with it.

For my discussion topic today, which Season 2 Hyperspace Trials are you guys heading to? Anyone looking to attend the same 3 I am? Let me know!

Next time: The Circus travels again!