Kyber Cup, Season 5, round 1: Filip Djordjevic (First Order) vs Nébal (First Order) (battle report in English)

It will be a first on the Random Academy Pilot YouTube channel: a battle report in English! And I guess that this blog article presenting the lists with some comments must be in English as well. Of course, I’m French, so I’m genetically designed to speak and write an awful English. Please be kind!

So it’s Kyber Cup, season 5! Some huge X-Wing tournament to say the least: actually, with 413 registered players from all over the world, it is the biggest X-Wing tournament on Tabletop Simulator ever (which was unexpected for sure).

For the first round, I have been paired with Filip Djordjevic, a very nice X-Wing player from Serbia. He brought the following First Order list:

Upsilon-class Command Shuttle – •Lieutenant Dormitz – 68

•Lieutenant Dormitz – Hypercomms Specialist (66)

Hyperspace Tracking Data (2)

TIE/vn Silencer – •“Blackout” – 68

•“Blackout” – Ill-Fated Test Pilot (63)

Proton Rockets (5)

TIE/ba Interceptor – •Major Vonreg – 62

•Major Vonreg – Red Baron (55)

Daredevil (2)

Proton Rockets (5)

Total: 198/200

As for myself, I also brought a First Order list (I guess it was some kind of a drill), although a very different one, my take on a Malarus TIE/fo swarm:

Xi-class Light Shuttle – •Commander Malarus – 58

•Commander Malarus – Vindictive Taskmaster (45)

•Agent Terex (7)

•Hondo Ohnaka (6)

TIE/fo Fighter – “Scorch” – 33

•“Scorch” – Zeta Leader (33)

TIE/fo Fighter – “Longshot” – 31

•“Longshot” – Zeta Ace (31)

TIE/fo Fighter – Epsilon Squadron Cadet – 26

Epsilon Squadron Cadet (25)

Automated Target Priority (1)

TIE/fo Fighter – Epsilon Squadron Cadet – 26

Epsilon Squadron Cadet (25)

Automated Target Priority (1)

TIE/fo Fighter – Epsilon Squadron Cadet – 26

Epsilon Squadron Cadet (25)

Automated Target Priority (1)

Total: 200/200

BEWARE: RIGHT AFTER THIS OMINOUS DARTH VADER PICTURE, I WILL REVEAL HOW THE GAME TURNED OUT. IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS, WATCH THE VIDEO BEFORE READING FURTHER!

Victory for the First Order! Well, I mean, for my First Order list: 167-77. A very fun game with a very nice opponent!

Now, before commenting the game, I must confess I did one big mistake (well, at least one), which I wasn’t aware of before watching this recording: the TIE/fo Fighter who killed “Blackout” couldn’t in fact shoot at him, because Lieutenant Dormitz was closer; Automated Target Priority should have compelled my Epsilon Squadron Cadet to target the Upsilon-class Command Shuttle instead of the Silencer. I’m very sorry for this error and apologize, to Filip first, and also to you viewers.

But it sure was a fun game. When I discovered Filip’s list, I must say I was very afraid. It has some serious alpha strike potential, with Lieutenant Dormitz sending his two aces companions very fast and modded, both of those being equipped with Proton Rockets; and, well, I’ve played Lieutenant Tavson enough to know that the Upsilon­-class Command Shuttle can hit really hard. To be honest, I was thinking: “OK, I’ll lose two of my ships during the first engagement or so, and maybe Commander Malarus could be one of those, which would be very bad news for me...” As it turned out, my evading TIE/fo Fighters did well enough in defence to sustain those brutal attacks – that is, except for “Longshot”, obviously...

But the game was on. Koiogran turns, Segnor loops and voluntary bumps were crucial to me, and they paid. One main force of my list, I guess, is that I don’t care that much about not having actions (because of stress, gas clouds, and so on): Malarus’ rerolls paired with Agent Terex’s calculate tokens, and sometimes Automated Target Priority’s calculate tokens as well, mean that I most often have dice modifications with all of my squadron one way or the other, even if I usually don’t roll many dices. These maneuvers, rerolls and calculate tokens allowed me to kill “Blackout” pretty soon (but, yes, too soon, and I’m very, very sorry about that...), and then Lieutenant Dormitz was doomed. When the Upsilon-class Command Shuttle blew up, Major Vonreg was alone to fight most of my ships, and even killing all three of my Epsilon Squadron Cadets (Commander Malarus being too far away) would not have brought him enough victory points to take the lead.

Although it could have turned the other way many times. My worst blunder happened right after “Blackout”’s untimely death: I knew Lieutenant Dormitz would do a red stop at this point, and hoped to multiply bumps so as to expose as few of my ships as possible to his devastating five dices, range one attack. Sadly I terribly miscalculated my fist maneuver of the turn, which meant my ships went too far away, most of them bumping precisely in front of the shuttle! And that included the fragile Commander Malarus herself: I wanted her to bump on Dormitz by going as fast as possible, but it failed miserably. It could have been very painful, but I survived well better than I expected. Actually, my ships having not bumped in Dormitz, they could then concentrate their attacks on the dreaded Upsilon-class Command Shuttle, and remove it from the game!

But one great thing about this whole game, as Filip himself said, was that we both had good dices, red and green. Mine were probably a bit better, I think (we haven’t checked for statistics at the end of the game), but there were very impressive dice rolls on both sides of the game mat. Which meant suspense and really epic moments, as is fit for Star Wars.

It was therefore a very entertaining game, I think, Filip and I having great fun regardless of the conclusion. I hope you’ll feel the same, and don’t hesitate to comment!

(And blame me for my terrible English, I guess.)

I thank Filip once again for the game, and wish him good luck for the rest of the tournament. Round 2 next week... See you soon!