balance of the force

Balance of the Force, round 4! And a new battle report in English. Of course, I’m French, so I’m genetically designed to speak and write an awful English… Please be kind!

Balance of the Force is a tournament organised by the Tin Squadron, based in England. There will be six rounds of swiss, one per week. Lists were unlocked for a single day between round 2 and 3. After the swiss, there will be a top 16, and so on.

What makes this tournament peculiar and so interesting is that it is extended format, but with specific rules regarding the creation of lists. The main idea is that all pilots are split between three groups, based on their initiative values: the first group encompasses all pilots with initiative 2 or less, the second group is for pilots at initiative 3 or 4, and the third and final group is dedicated to all pilots with initiative 5 or more. Then the rule is that, for each pilot of the first group you play, your list must have a corresponding third group pilot, and vice versa. Group 2 pilots don’t need to have specific counterparts, so you can have as many as you like, and if the list has an odd number of pilots, then obviously the remaining odd pilot must be from the second group. Finally, there must be no more than three pilots of the same chassis.

For this fourth round, I have been paired with Stuart, a very nice player from England, who brought the following Republic list:

Delta-7 Aethersprite – •Ahsoka Tano – 57 (group 2)

•Ahsoka Tano – “Snips” (43)

•Astromech R4-P (2)

Delta-7B (12)

Naboo Royal N-1 Starfighter – •Anakin Skywalker – 50 (group 2)

•Anakin Skywalker – Hero of Naboo (41)

Passive Sensors (2)

Plasma Torpedoes (7)

Delta-7 Aethersprite – Jedi Knight – 49 (group 2)

Jedi Knight (37)

Delta-7B (12)

Eta-2 Actis – •Shaak Ti – 44 (group 2)

•Shaak Ti – Compassionate Mentor (44)

Total: 200/200

As for myself, I brought the Scum and Villainy list that you may already have seen in round 3, large ships with those pesky False Transponder Codes:

Lancer-class Pursuit Craft – •Asajj Ventress – 75 (group 2)

•Asajj Ventress – Force of Her Own (68)

•Shadow Caster (1)

•Zam Wesell (4)

False Transponder Codes (2)

YV-666 Light Freighter – •Bossk – 69 (group 2)

•Bossk – Fearsome Hunter (60)

•Greedo (1)

•Jabba the Hutt (6)

False Transponder Codes (2)

M12-L Kimogila Fighter – •Torani Kulda – 55 (group 2)

•Torani Kulda – Rodian Freelancer (48)

False Transponder Codes (2)

Proton Rockets (5)

Total: 199/200

Now to the game.

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!

Defeat for the Scum and Villainy, 162-71… Well, me being 3-0 until now was obviously some kind of error, so back to normalcy, I guess! Well played, Stuart!

I didn’t feel confident from the beginning, just seeing Stuart’s list. One thing was that all his pilots were Force users, which is always powerful; the thing is, I can have all the False Transponder Codes in the world (and I kind of do with Jabba the Hutt), I can’t jam those. Plus all those pilots have great to excellent maneuverability (of course they do), and a great action economy, partly through the use of Force, but also due to special abilities, the most key ones being probably Ahsoka Tano’s and Shaak Ti’s; the latter allows for focus and evade tokens to remain, therefore allowing other actions, especially repositioning; and in his weird way, Baby Anakin Skywalker combines all those qualities with Full Throttle and its “free barrel roll and maybe one more” ability. Delta-7B Aethersprites can obviously hit like bricks, but the Naboo could as well through Plasma Torpedoes, who would always get through my low agility ships (for the exception, maybe, of Asajj Ventress). And I feared what would happen when they would go behind my ships; not necessary such an issue for the Lancer, but Torani Kulda and especially Bossk would be in great danger… Now I had my strong points, I guess: prohibiting a lock here and there through False Transponder Codes could certainly be useful, Shadow Caster could be as destructive as ever, landing enemy ships on obstacles and/or placing them in Torani’s bullseye or precisely where Bossk would want them to be before attacking with Greedo and his full frontal arc… Maybe Zam Wesell would allow me one or two bonus attacks, also.

Initiative was a bit tricky. I chose to go first, because, well, my ships are not exactly arc-dodgers, and I hoped to have the ability to block and perform actions, but that wasn’t all that clear, for there were anyway two I3 ships in front of me. But there was also Greedo’s charge to have in mind…

I chose to deploy in the opposite corner of Stuart’s Aethersprites. They would not joust, and I thought I had more room to maneuver and react to Stuart’s moves the other way.

Anyway, first engagement was pretty harsh for me, although that was to be expected: Bossk took about everything, and I lost half of him, which is a lot, on the first attacks, whereas I did about nothing, Asajj Ventress and Torani Kulda being a bit too far.

However, the second engagement went way better than I expected (and Stuart as well). Shadow Caster!!! It was worth spending those Force tokens (yeah, I had some too!), but I was obviously very lucky there. First, the Jedi Knight took heavy damage and a tractor token; as I thought he was in Torani’s bullseye, I hesitated before moving him, but landing him on the rock was the best option: if I couldn’t destroy him, at least that would be one less attack on Stuart’s side. But Torani blew up the Aethersprite easily; that allowed Bossk to shoot at another target, who was Shaak Ti; Greedo and Bossk doing their things combined, the Actis took two damage, clinging at one hull only, and that was half of the ship! Seeing all that, I started to believe I had a chance after all…

But I was not in the best position. I kept bumping, which prohibited me to do any actions, including target locks able to jam through restored False Transponder Codes, a barrel roll for Torani Kulda, or a focus action so that the same would be able to use her Proton Rockets (although I didn’t really believe that would happen, Stuart’s ships being aware of the threat and having many options to barrel roll, especially). And I had almost no room to maneuver with Bossk, so he would die very soon. Torani could have escaped the trap and score some points, but the 4K I tried was a bad move, Ahsoka being there to make her bump and get a stress. Only Asajj could escape. I though about doing a 5K with her early in the game, but I feared she would leave the map: 5K with a large ship covers a frightening distance… and I thought it wasn’t worth the risk. Maybe I was wrong, and if that maneuver had succeeded, I would have been in a better position, the Lancer being able to shoot with its front arc and use Shadow Caster once again…

Anyway, Bossk died, and Torani soon followed. It was Asajj against three Jedi, and, well, that was game. With too many attacks relying only on the Lancer’s turret arc, I couldn’t hope to do any damage to all those Jedi, loaded with Force, focus and evade tokens. Maybe I should have tried the lucky shot on Shaak Ti, she had only one hull left after all, but… Two red dices against, most of the time, three at best, more often than not four or maybe five green dices, with all those defensive tokens and Force? I couldn’t really hope to do anything. That was close, sometime, but I didn’t score any hit after that lucky first engagement. Anakin lost a shield while moving into a rock (thanks, rock!), and that was it. Stuart however managed to take half of Asajj before the bell rang.

And so, defeat… Good game, Stuart! Still undefeated! I wish you the best of luck for the remainder of the tournament!

So, that’s 3-1 for me. That’s already way better than I expected…

We’ll see next week what happens in round 5… See you soon!

Balance of the Force, round 3! And a new battle report in English. Of course, I’m French, so I’m genetically designed to speak and write an awful English… Please be kind!

Balance of the Force is a tournament organised by the Tin Squadron, based in England. There will be six rounds of swiss, one per week. Lists were unlocked for a single day between round 2 and 3, so just before this very game. After the swiss, there will be a top 16, and so on.

What makes this tournament peculiar and so interesting is that it is extended format, but with specific rules regarding the creation of lists. The main idea is that all pilots are split between three groups, based on their initiative values: the first group encompasses all pilots with initiative 2 or less, the second group is for pilots at initiative 3 or 4, and the third and final group is dedicated to all pilots with initiative 5 or more. Then the rule is that, for each pilot of the first group you play, your list must have a corresponding third group pilot, and vice versa. Group 2 pilots don’t need to have specific counterparts, so you can have as many as you like, and if the list has an odd number of pilots, then obviously the remaining odd pilot must be from the second group. Finally, there must be no more than three pilots of the same chassis.

For this third round, I have been paired with Matija, a very nice player from Croatia, who brought the following Resistance list:

T-70 X-Wing – •Poe Dameron – 77 (group 3)

•Poe Dameron – Trigger-Happy Flyboy (62)

Integrated S-Foils (0)

•Overdrive Thruster (8)

Heroic (1)

R4 Astromech (2)

Ion Torpedoes (4)

T-70 X-Wing – •Jessika Pava – 51 (group 2)

•Jessika Pava – The Great Destroyer (51)

Integrated S-Foils (0)

T-70 X-Wing – Blue Squadron Rookie – 41 (group 1)

Blue Squadron Rookie (41)

Integrated S-Foils (0)

Resistance Transport Pod – •Rose Tico – 30 (group 2)

•Rose Tico – Earnest Engineer (25)

•C-3PO (5)

Total: 199/200

As for myself, I brought mostly the Scum and Villainy list that you may already have seen in round 1 and 2, large ships with those pesky False Transponder Codes. Two small changes only: Predator on Torani Kulda went away, so that I could board Greedo on Bossk (which makes my list 199 points now instead of 200):

Lancer-class Pursuit Craft – •Asajj Ventress – 75 (group 2)

•Asajj Ventress – Force of Her Own (68)

•Shadow Caster (1)

•Zam Wesell (4)

False Transponder Codes (2)

YV-666 Light Freighter – •Bossk – 69 (group 2)

•Bossk – Fearsome Hunter (60)

•Greedo (1)

•Jabba the Hutt (6)

False Transponder Codes (2)

M12-L Kimogila Fighter – •Torani Kulda – 55 (group 2)

•Torani Kulda – Rodian Freelancer (48)

False Transponder Codes (2)

Proton Rockets (5)

Total: 199/200

Now to the game.

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 Scum and Villainy, 200-107! It started very well for me, but later turns were quite frightening, actually… Well played, Matija, thanks for the great game, and even to that unkillable Jessika Pava!

What did I think of the matchup? I would say it was… balanced? Both lists had their strong points. On Matija’s side, well, one should never underestimate the versatility, endurance (seven health points including three shields with agility 2!), and aggression of T-70 X-Wings, even a single Blue Squadron Rookie with no upgrade but the free Integrated S-Foils. Poe Dameron (Trigger-Happy Flyboy, the “old” Poe) is obviously a very good pilot, with his “Poe the Limit” ability, and he was especially mobile in that configuration, with R4 Astromech and Overdrive Thruster, a card I had never faced before, I think, which allowed him to do some crazy moves. And of course Heroic is that little bonus that can turn many things in favor of the terrorists’ faction… The Resistance jouster/ace could be very destructive for my ships, and especially Bossk, because, shooting first, he had the best chances of turning Greedo against me. But I think I dreaded Jessika Pava as much and maybe even more, for as long as she has friends around her, she has all the rerolls she needs. In a way, Rose Tico on the Resistance Transport Pod played the same game, having potentially even more rerolls with her special ability not relying on a charge, and carrying C-3PO for some coordinate shenanigans that would make her gain a calculate token anyway. Not bad for such a tiny ship! On the other hand, my big guys had a lot of health points to chew through, False Transponder Codes for days with Jabba the Hutt, some other control with Asajj Ventress (especially the ability to give a tractor token with the Shadow Caster title), Torani who always likes to get targets in her bullseye, and the full frontal arc of Bossk, that I hoped would be even more threatening now that Greedo had joined the party.

I was very cautious, very slow, at the beginning. I knew Poe, although he was deployed with Matija’s other ships, could go and flank me rapidly, especially with Overdrive Thrusters, but my main target, ideally, would be the Blue Squadron Rookie, probably the easiest enemy ship to kill, and a good way to affect both Rose and Jessika’s rerolls.

When the first engagement came close, the idea was to send Bossk in the front, with Asajj in the back, and Torani waiting her turn, maybe reacting to the flanking Poe, who indeed went after Torani, without doing anything, but the retaliation shot was as ineffective. Asajj’s red dices were terrible, but she managed to hit the Rookie anyway, and tractor him on a gas cloud: he was strained and therefore had no green dices when Bossk attacked him, and everybody's favorite Space Lizard got half of his points, inflicting Weapons Failure as well. The YV-666 lost all his shields in the action, but I think the trade was worth it.

Now my maneuvers for the next turn were limited, and there would necessarily be some bump. It took me forever to make a decision, and I’m very sorry for that… The Rookie first made a Koiogran turn to get behind most of my ships. Bossk did his battering ram thing, but bumped on Jessika Pava, then Asajj bumped on him, and Torani bumped on the Rookie. Not good, right? But with a twist… for I was in position to do against Rose exactly what I did to the Rookie the previous turn: Asajj hit the Resistance Transport Pod, tractored it on the gas cloud with Shadow Caster, Rose got a strain token, and Bossk killed her: first casualty of the game! In the meantime, Poe got Torani’s shields, but the Kimogila was able to attack Jessika Pava; it did nothing to her, but, having performed an attack, Torani now inflicted one automatic damage, with her special ability, on the Rookie who was in her bullseye.

(On a sidenote, at this moment of the game, you might have heard me saying I thought I accidentally deleted an unknown token, because I heard the sound of the void dumpster after a selection, but I didn’t, actually, or, more precisely, the deleted token was not on the game mat.)

I was in a pretty good position after this turn, certainly better than I expected when all my ships bumped: I lead 51-0 at that stage. Bossk would need to turn, probably having no shot this turn even with his full frontal arc, but Asajj was well place to do her 5K thing. Plus Torani could do a 4K and hope to have the Blue Squadron Rookie in her bullseye and therefore automatically kill him as long as she had an attack on anybody. Actually, Matija was aware of that, as he said, but tried his luck and chose not to boost with the T-70 X-Wing, repairing Weapons Failure instead: that was a relief! When Poe moved, he was in bullseye as well, but now Matija knew that, and the Trigger-Happy Flyboy boosted; yet he was still in Torani’s arc, she could attack him, and therefore the Rookie would automatically die during this turn. Before that, though, Poe took half of Bossk with a Direct Hit!. Yet Asajj spending her two Force charges managed to hit Poe and tractored him, so Torani could take half of him and destroy the Blue Squadron Rookie in a single shot; second Resistance ship blown up, and the terrorists’ leader was not in the best shape! The score was now 110-35 in my favor…

Bossk then turned again, hoping to have a shot this time, but I did once again the same mistake with Asajj as in a previous round: she was stressed after her 5K, yet I did a speed 1 maneuver with her, and they are all white on her dial… Not the end of the world, her placement was good, but no action this turn. My second usual mistake with her was to use her ability on Poe, who obviously took a stress instead of losing his focus token; I had no Force left after that, and that was stupid on my part… She killed Poe even without Force, but then Jessika Pava got half of her points on another Direct Hit!.

Now it was JESSIKA PAVA AGAINST THE WORLD… and the weird stuff began. I won’t go into detail for what happened after that, it wouldn’t make much sense, but let’s say I did everything wrong from now on, from exposing Bossk too much (and yes, he died) to sending Asajj way too far for way too long, while Torani was heavily limited in her maneuvers against THE GREAT DESTROYER. I probably had won the game at this stage, but Jess could still make a lot of points: she wouldn’t get points on my two remaining ships, I guess, but there was a very real chance that she at least killed Asajj before the end. And Jessika herself seemed unkillable, even without any reroll. I saw my margin of victory shrinking and shrinking… but in the end I finally got her, not giving up half points on Asajj, and Matija’s list was no more.

And so, victory! Good game, Matija, I suggest you give a medal to JESSIKA PAVA – THE GREAT DESTROYER, she has well earned it, and I wish you the best of luck for the remainder of the tournament!

I’m 3-0 right now. That’s weird…

It will be round 4 next week, we’ll see what happens… See you soon!

Balance of the Force, round 2! And a new battle report in English. Of course, I’m French, so I’m genetically designed to speak and write an awful English… Please be kind!

Balance of the Force is a tournament organised by the Tin Squadron, based in England. There will be six rounds of swiss, one per week, with the possibility to change lists for one day only, between rounds 2 and 3. After the swiss, there will be a top 16, and so on.

What makes this tournament peculiar and so interesting is that it is extended format, but with specific rules regarding the creation of lists. The main idea is that all pilots are split between three groups, based on their initiative values: the first group encompasses all pilots with initiative 2 or less, the second group is for pilots at initiative 3 or 4, and the third and final group is dedicated to all pilots with initiative 5 or more. Then the rule is that, for each pilot of the first group you play, your list must have a corresponding third group pilot, and vice versa. Group 2 pilots don’t need to have specific counterparts, so you can have as many as you like, and if the list has an odd number of pilots, then obviously the remaining odd pilot must be from the second group. Finally, there must be no more than three pilots of the same chassis.

For this second round, I have been paired with Loch, a very nice player from Italy, who brought the following very scummy Scum and Villainy list:

JumpMaster 5000 – •Tel Trevura – 64 (group 2)

•Tel Trevura – Escape Artist (44)

•4-LOM (2)

Ion Cannon (6)

Feedback Array (3)

Static Discharge Vanes (6)

Intimidation (3)

HWK-290 Light Freighter – •Dace Bonearm – 53 (group 2)

•Dace Bonearm – Outer Rim Mercenary (31)

•Moldy Crow (16)

•Hondo Ohnaka (6)

M3-A Interceptor – •Quinn Jast – 43 (group 2)

•Quinn Jast – Fortune Seeker (31)

Proton Rockets (5)

Afterburners (4)

Crack Shot (3)

M3-A Interceptor – •Genesis Red – 40 (group 2)

•Genesis Red – Tansarii Point Crime Lord (31)

Autoblasters (3)

Afterburners (5)

Marksmanship (1)

Total: 200/200

As for myself, I brought my Scum and Villainy list that you may already have seen in round 1, large ships with those pesky False Transponder Codes which didn’t become costlier during the last update, weirdly enough:

Lancer-class Pursuit Craft – •Asajj Ventress – 75 (group 2)

•Asajj Ventress – Force of Her Own (68)

•Shadow Caster (1)

•Zam Wesell (4)

False Transponder Codes (2)

YV-666 Light Freighter – •Bossk – 68 (group 2)

•Bossk – Fearsome Hunter (60)

•Jabba the Hutt (6)

False Transponder Codes (2)

M12-L Kimogila Fighter – •Torani Kulda – 57 (group 2)

•Torani Kulda – Rodian Freelancer (48)

False Transponder Codes (2)

Proton Rockets (5)

Predator (2)

Total: 200/200

Now to the game.

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 Scum and Villainy! Well, yeah, obviously… but I mean my Scums: 153-63! Quite a weird game, but also a fun one. Well played, Loch!

His list was indeed so scummy, and I didn’t really know what to think of the matchup. I probably didn’t understand all of the shenanigans of that list, although some were quite telling. There would be a lot of ions in this game, and the fact that I ran two large ships and one medium one didn’t really protect me against ionization, because Dace Bonearm, although only once in three turns, could add more ion tokens to those inflicted by Tel Trevura in order to automatically ionize any of my ships. And the JumpMaster had more than one option for weird control and/or damage effects, with 4-LOM, Static Discharge Vanes and Feedback Array, so many options actually that I couldn’t summarize them all right now. But Loch also played two M3-A Interceptors which could become kind of heavy hitters, with the dreaded Autoblasters and Proton Rockets, both having Afterburners for some close assault (getting any of my big fellows in bullseye would certainly not be an issue). And I didn’t get Genesis Red’s trick with Dace Bonearm flying the Moldy Crow until Loch had done it: a nice one! I must confess, by the way, that I don’t think I had ever faced, and even less played, three of the four pilots run by Loch (the only exception being Dace), even if I knew how much the Scyks can be nuisances… I had some advantages, though: a lot of health points, some control as well with Asajj Ventress and Shadow Caster, plus obviously False Transponder Codes reloaded with Jabba the Hutt, and some range with Bossk’s full frontal arc and Asajj’s turret. And, same as ever, nobody wants to land on Torani Kulda’s bullseye (Asajj being able and willing to help there).

As it happened, I was first player, and that was good, I think: I wanted to get actions and force Loch’s ships to bump, especially on Bossk, who I tend to consider basically as some battering ram, his full frontal arc being a real blessing.

But this time I didn’t want to go too far too soon with everybody’s favorite Space Lizard. Therefore, when it was time for the first engagement of the game, I decided to make a red stop and allow Torani to go farther, while Asajj was about to flank (which she’s weirdly pretty good at). Although she had to lock Quinn Jast, in order to jam him, because no one else was in range when she moved, her target was actually Genesis Red, because I thought she could hit him and then tractor him through Shadow Caster so that he landed in Torani’s bullseye, although watching the game afterwards, maybe he wouldn’t have… Anyway, without the target lock and because there were too many green dices and green tokens the other side, that oh so cunning plan absolutely didn’t work. Yet Torani managed to take half of Genesis Red, so OK I guess? But then Tel Trevura shot at Torani, and, with the help of Dace Bonearm’s ability, my Kimogila was ionized, and not in the best spot. By the end of the turn, Loch didn’t manage to take half of her, but that was close.

And then the weird stuff began. I couldn’t do anything for my ionized Kimogila, although the Koiogran turn by Quinn Jast allowed Torani to bump on him, which was perfect, and that left some room for more important maneuvers: on my right flank, Bossk banked right, which would land him on a gas cloud, but the idea was to impact Loch’s maneuvers for at least two turns regarding Tel Trevura and Dace Bonearm (who didn’t turn his turret, and that would be very important the following turns, preventing any attacks on his part) and to a lesser extent Genesis Red as well; and on my left flank, Asajj turned right, full speed, in order to go farther than Quinn Jast and Torani: she bumped on Genesis Red (while evading the gas cloud, and that was close), but I was OK with that, she had great target opportunities, and a perfect corridor for a 5K the following turn. And all Loch’s I4 ships bumped, therefore, which was ideal. Sadly, both Tel Trevura and Genesis Red defended very well without any dice modifications: Torani only took one shield on the JumpMaster 5000 and that was it! Very disappointing. Loch’s attacks were more efficient, and he took half of Torani Kulda, although he didn’t manage to ionize Asajj, luckily for my plan, and now Zam Wesell’s charges were reloaded.

Asajj could then do her speed 5 Koiogran turn, while Bossk purposely stayed where he was with a blue maneuver bumping on Dace and gaining no strain for the gas cloud. Torani’s maneuvers were limited because of Stunned Pilot, and I didn’t want to risk overlapping the gas cloud; not an issue, she was ideally placed to blast Quinn Jast, locking and jamming him. As expected, Dace couldn’t go farther than Bossk, then Genesis bumped on the HWK, and Tel Trevura bumped on the Scyk: I certainly hoped to do more damage this time! But Bossk and Asajj’s attacks on Genesis Red were quite poor… Yet it was enough to destroy the M3-A, first casualty of the game. Torani almost one-shot the second M3-A after that, but Quinn Jast managed to survive on one hull. Anyway, I scored some points this way, taking the lead. Zombie Genesis Red then attacked Asajj, triggering Zam Wesell, but of course I wouldn’t spend her charges to make a bonus attack on a ship that was already dead…

Next turn, I chose once again to be careful with Torani, and not risk overlapping an obstacle with Stunned Pilot; I wouldn’t be able to shoot, I knew that, but I had reloaded her charge on False Transponder Codes with Jabba the Hutt, so she could target lock Dace Bonearm and jam him (which proved useful later). Bossk once again stayed where he was, also gaining one strain this time. As an idiot, however, I managed to forget that Asajj was stressed after her 5K… My white maneuver landed her where I wanted, not bumping on Dace (that was really, really close!), but no action anyway for the witch… Not that bad though: Dace bumping once again on Bossk, she could attack him while he was range 1 and not modified at all! And then Tel Trevura bumped on Dace: he could shoot my large ships, but Bossk could attack him as well… What a mess in the center of the game mat! Asajj removed Dace’s shields, and tractored the HWK, but obviously I didn’t move him, which would have allowed him to shoot at Bossk… who shot himself at Tel Trevura, gaining half points. The JumpMaster ionized Bossk after that… and Asajj as well with those weird ion shenanigans!

Both my large ships were facing each other, and as they would move before Dace, both would bump on him, while Torani kept careful, having regained once again her False Transponder Codes’ charge. Dace finally got behind Bossk and had the opportunity to rotate his mobile arc. Tel Trevura, though, bumped on Asajj (maybe a mistake when setting the dial?), which allowed Bossk to kill him… or not, because of his zombie ability: he would have the opportunity to shoot back at Bossk, and would then go in reserve, reappearing at the beginning of the next planning phase on Loch’s side of the game mat. Dace however took half of Bossk, and then Tel Trevura chose not to attack, doing instead one automatic damage on Asajj with Feedback Array (Tel Trevura being “already dead”, it cost him nothing). Quinn Jast didn’t manage to take half of her, but that was close, and Bossk as well as Torani were severely damaged as well, still having four hull each, but with one green dice at best, they could be destroyed on a lucky shot. I had the lead (94-63), but bad maneuvering and target choice the following (and last) turn could cost me heavily. Where Loch would make Tel Trevura reappear could be crucial.

He chose to redeploy the JumpMaster 5000 close to Torani. I had that information before setting my dials, of course, and had to think twice about all that. Bossk went for Tel Trevura, which he had good chances to kill, having locked him. Torani being stressed, she could at best go after Quinn Jast, who luckily bumped on Asajj (no focus token to launch Proton Rockets, that was something, although Loch would actually make a mistake here, thinking that he was the one who had Autoblasters, and nope, that was Genesis Red; what a relief!). But Asajj was the one I was not sure of: she had the opportunity to take half of Dace, who was still stressed, or rotating the turret in the rear arc and try to kill Quinn Jast, if Torani didn’t manage to kill him, before he could engage and take half of her, although I would roll only two attack dices in that case. I decided to turn my turret just in case, but I was really not sure about that move… Luckily, almost everything went in my favor during this last turn! That didn’t seem that way at first, since Torani didn’t kill Quinn Jast clinging on one hull. Yet Bossk finally destroyed Tel Trevura, or should I say he destroyed him again; after that, I finally chose to go after Dace with Asajj, spending Force… and got half of the HWK! While Loch didn’t score any points during that last turn, and that was real bad luck…

And so, victory! Good game, Loch, and I wish you the best of luck for the remainder of the tournament!

I’m 2-0 right now. That won’t last, obviously…

Between rounds 2 and 3, lists are unlocked for one day. But I will mainly keep this Scum list, which I find very funny to play, with only two changes: one card will go, another will come…

Then round 3 next week, we’ll see what happens… See you soon!

Balance of the Force, round 1! And a new battle report in English. Of course, I’m French, so I’m genetically designed to speak and write an awful English… Please be kind!

Balance of the Force is a tournament organised by the Tin Squadron, based in England. There will be six rounds of swiss, one per week, with the possibility to change lists for one day only, between rounds 2 and 3. After the swiss, there will be a top 16, and so on.

What makes this tournament peculiar and so interesting is that it is extended format, but with specific rules regarding the creation of lists. The main idea is that all pilots are split between three groups, based on their initiative values: the first group encompasses all pilots with initiative 2 or less, the second group is for pilots at initiative 3 or 4, and the third and final group is dedicated to all pilots with initiative 5 or more. Then the rule is that, for each pilot of the first group you play, your list must have a corresponding third group pilot, and vice versa. Group 2 pilots don’t need to have specific counterparts, so you can have as many as you like, and if the list has an odd number of pilots, then obviously the remaining odd pilot must be from the second group. Finally, there must be no more than three pilots of the same chassis.

For this first round, I have been paired with Brian Collis, a very nice player from the USA, who brought the following Rebel Alliance list:

HWK-290 Light Freighter – •Jan Ors – 57 (group 3)

•Jan Ors – Espionage Expert (41)

•Moldy Crow (16)

Auzituck Gunship – •Wullffwarro – 56 (group 2)

•Wullffwarro – Wookiee Chief (53)

Hull Upgrade (3)

BTL-A4 Y-Wing – •“Dutch” Vander – 55 (group 2)

•“Dutch” Vander – Gold Leader (40)

R4 Astromech (2)

Concussion Bombs (4)

Ion Torpedoes (4)

Ion Cannon Turret (5)

Sheathipede-class Shuttle – •AP-5 – 32 (group 1)

•AP-5 – Escaped Analyst Droid (32)

Total: 200/200

As for myself, and it may come as a surprise for you two guys who follow those battle reports, but I brought neither an Imperial nor a First Order list… I went for a Scum and Villainy list! A faction I have almost never played, and the last time I tried was about two years ago… Large ships, which I usually don't run, with those pesky False Transponder Codes which will likely become costlier sooner than later:

Lancer-class Pursuit Craft – •Asajj Ventress – 75 (group 2)

•Asajj Ventress – Force of Her Own (68)

•Shadow Caster (1)

•Zam Wesell (4)

False Transponder Codes (2)

YV-666 Light Freighter – •Bossk – 68 (group 2)

•Bossk – Fearsome Hunter (60)

•Jabba the Hutt (6)

False Transponder Codes (2)

M12-L Kimogila Fighter – •Torani Kulda – 57 (group 2)

•Torani Kulda – Rodian Freelancer (48)

False Transponder Codes (2)

Proton Rockets (5)

Predator (2)

Total: 200/200

Now, before we launch the game, there is one thing that must be discussed. False Transponder Codes is a great illicit upgrade card, but the problem is that many interactions with this card are a little bit weird, and without FFG (or AMG?) giving straight answers regarding those issues, all we can do is speculate and agree on common terms. It seems that the rule is now that by locking an obstacle you don’t spend your charge, for example.

But the main issue regarding this specific game with Brian was the interaction between False Transponder Codes and “Dutch” Vander. At first I guessed the answer was that “Dutch” locking a ship with False Transponder Codes would be jammed immediately, but would nevertheless be considered to “have locked”, therefore allowing an allied ship to lock the same target, now deprived of its precious False Transponder Codes’ charge. But I asked the French community just in case, and it seems it was indeed more complicated than that. I’ve been suggested to apply the following ruling by Maui, judge for the Kyber Cup, who also posted it on the Gold Squadron Podcast Discord (I paraphrase his example, which involved Hera Syndulla and Jango Fett, so that it fits Brian’s list and mine); what is of the utmost importance is who is the first player.

If I, as the Scum player, have the first player status, this is what happens:

• “Dutch” locks, let’s say Bossk; [False Transponder Codes] enters the ability queue, followed by ["Dutch"], because the Scum player is the first player.

• [False Transponder Codes] resolves, and “Dutch” is jammed.

• A Rebel ship, let’s say Wullffwarro, acquires a lock on Bossk.

To put it simply, if I were the first player, “Dutch” wouldn’t keep is own lock, but he could allow Wullffwarro to lock anyway. And that big Wookiee is much more frightening…

But it is different if the Rebel player is the first player:

• “Dutch” locks Bossk; ["Dutch"] enters the queue, followed by [False Transponder Codes], because the Rebel player is the first player

• ["Dutch"] resolves to give Wullffwarro a lock on Bossk; this adds a second copy of [False Transponder Codes] to the front of the ability queue; the ability queue now reads: [False Transponder Codes 2] → [False Transponder Codes 1].

• [False Transponder Codes 2] resolves first, jamming Wullffwarro.

• There is not any more a charge on False Transponder Codes, so the other copy of the ability does not resolve.

This time, as you see, it is “Dutch” who keeps his own lock on Bossk, whereas Wullffwarro doesn’t lock the bounty hunter. And that is a big difference…

Is this ruling the good one? I guess for now it is… but there’s nothing official to it. Anyway, Brian and I discussed the issue before the game, and agreed to follow this ruling.

Now to the game.

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 Scum and Villainy: 173-172! Now that was a close one… but also a very brutal, very fun game! Well played, Brian!

Now Brian’s list was all about the Very Big And Very Hairy Wookiee Wullffwarro. This guy hits like a brick as soon as he is damaged, which means already from the beginning, since, as in a previous battle report on this blog, one of “Dutch” Vander’s functions in this list would be to drop a Concussion Bomb first turn so that the Auzituck’s ability would be activated immediately (Wullffwarro having a Hull Upgrade, that automatic damage was somewhat nullified, and then all “Dutch” had to do was take the reload action; if he didn’t, he would be compelled to drop Concussion Bombs during the following turns, which would truly be a waste). Then Wullffwarro could reinforce himself and focus each turn, if coordinated by AP-5, and “Dutch” could give him free target locks; Finally Jan Ors would stress herself in order to allow the Wookiee to roll again one more attack dice. Which means, at range 1, six dices, double modified! Yep, it’s all about this Big, Hairy Guy… Of course all Star Wars nerds know that the sensible thing to do would be to let the Wookiee win, but we’re not here to be sensible, right? That said, “Dutch” wasn’t to be taken lightly neither, for his Concussion Bombs would be very dangerous for my large base ships, and if his ion shenanigans wouldn’t in most cases ionize my large bases, they could very well be an eloquent demonstration of what people mean by “death from a thousand cuts”: I simply wouldn’t roll enough dices to evade the damage…

My list had its own merits, though. False Transponder Codes, reloaded by Jabba the Hutt, would mean that at least some target locks by Brian would fail, and, the other way, I could target rebel ships in order to jam them, and especially Wullffwarro, the main menace. Plus I had other options for control with Asajj Ventress: stress with her own ability, and a tractor token here and there through the Shadow Caster title. And she works really well with Torani Kulda: nobody wants to be in the Kimogila’s bullseye, especially without any green token, for she can hurt almost as badly as Wullffwarro, although not so regularly. And then, once in a while, Zam Wesell would allow Asajj to make a bonus attack… plus all my ships had a three attack dices value, while in the meantime Bossk’s full frontal arc and Asajj’s turret allowed me to cover arcs on a pretty extensive scale.

Both our lists were 200 points. We rolled for the first player, I won, and chose to be the first player. A debatable choice, mainly because of the ruling regarding “Dutch” Vander and False Transponder Codes… Had I given Brian first player status, it would have been a little bit more difficult for Wullffwarro to get target locks and therefore to be double modified… But, at the same time, I preferred to have the ability to block and choose who I would jam with False Transponder Codes. What do you think? I’m interested.

The first big commitment of the game was, in compliance with what I just wrote, when I chose to go very fast with Bossk and Asajj in order to block as many of Brian’s ships as possible. My point was especially to forbid both “Dutch” and Wullffwarro to have actions of their own, although AP-5 could coordinate. “Dutch” didn’t bump, sadly, but it worked pretty well otherwise, I guess, the Wookiee being jammed and therefore not able to gain a lock anyway. I took half of the Wookiee but didn’t do as many damage as I hoped though (especially because I rolled only three dices for Asajj when I was range one on Jan, stupid me!), and took some, because Jan Ors managed not to bump and… I had forgotten that the Wookiee had a full frontal arc, just as Bossk did. Silly Nébal... Then Torani Kulda was a bit too far, having bumped the two previous turns, something I should fix in future games, and Wullffwarro evaded her pretty well.

“Dutch” was in a good position to drop a Concussion Bomb, which would affect all of my ships, but also Wullffwarro (we had to check ranges manually, that was maybe not that accurate, I wondered about Jan, but I think we got it through). I realised, watching the game again, I had forgotten to give Torani Kulda a stress token for having overlapped a debris cloud during this turn… I’m really sorry, Brian! But I placed her there for two reasons: hoping that Wullffwarro would bump on her (which happened) or otherwise that she could have the Wookiee in her bullseye. Yet Asajj and especially Bossk’s attacks were very disappointing (my lizard being crippled by Weapons Failure at the worst moment, because of course he was). Torani was a bit better, inflicting damage to AP-5. But then the Big Hairy Wookiee was Really Angry: although he was not double modified, he rolled six dices against Bossk, and obtained three hits, three crits! My Space Lizard rolled one evade, but that was not enough: first casualty of this game, and a big one! Which also meant that Jabba was gone (even if Asajj and Torani both had their False Transponder Codes’ charge at this time). And then AP-5 with a lucky shot got half of Asajj… Nevertheless, it was now time for Zam Wesell to attack back at the former imperial droid, and she got a Direct Hit! AP-5 exploded, second casualty of this brutal turn. But Brian had clearly taken the lead by removing Bossk and taking half of Asajj, the tiny Sheathipede was no match for this loss…

The next Concussion Bomb would affect both Asajj and Wullffwarro, the latter clinging on one hull left after that. I had to turn my turret to have a shot at him. Before that, Jan already heavily damaged my Lancer, and it was almost certain that Wullffwarro would kill her; but she attacked the Wookiee, and got him; then he got her… Once again, two ships destroyed in a single turn, one for each side! But Brian increased his lead… although Torani managed to get half of Jan Ors, and inflicted her Damaged Engines, which would be important very soon.

Because Brian forgot he had suffered this crit! The planned maneuver became red whereas Jan was already stressed because of Asajj; the HWK therefore had to do a stress maneuver, which was ideal for Torani, who finished Jan; and now I had taken back the lead… for two points only. Close game!

So it was Torani vs “Dutch”… My Kimogila could hit harder, but the Y-Wing was more maneuverable as he was equipped with an R4 Astromech; it also had the other advantage of its ion weapons: rolling three or four dices, when I had one green dice, two at best, he would almost necessarily score the first damage on Torani, and could hope to ionize her once in a while… “Death by a thousand cuts” seemed inevitable, and Brian soon gained half of Torani, with good hopes of killing her before the bell rang! He was back in the lead, 172-145…

(I realized something watching the game afterwards though: Torani actually had one shield left, which I had totally forgotten because of the damage card attributed through the Concussion Bomb… but it doesn’t really matter: at the moment, it meant that he actually didn’t get half points for my Kimogila, but he would later, without destroying the ship, so it changed nothing for the final result.)

Yet Brian made a mistake with the Y-Wing’s dial, that may have cost him the game: he planned a right turn when he meant a left turn… So he wasn’t able to shoot at Torani, who would be in a better position to shoot him during the next turns, although her attack at the moment missed even if “Dutch” was strained, and she didn’t have the Y-Wing in arc the following turn. The next turn however, when “Dutch” made a 4K, Torani had him on her bullseye! She couldn’t use her Proton Rockets because of range 3, but inflicted nonetheless one hit, one crit, plus one additional hit for her special ability, therefore winning half of “Dutch” Vander’s points. I was once again back in the lead… for one point only!

But the game was not over yet. Although clinging very soon at only one hull left, “Dutch” could still hope to kill Torani before the bell rang, whereas the contrary was not likely, because the Kimogila's dial is... well... The Rebel ship inflicted one damage at a time, but during the last turn, finally hearing Brave Sir Robin’s advice (which I hate to do but was the only option at this point), I was able to barrel roll to the left, going too far away for “Dutch” to finish my last ship.

(And remember, as I did not, that Torani actually had one shield left, so this last attack wouldn’t have killed her anyway.)

And so, victory! For one point only… That was hell of a close game, very brutal, very funny. Good game, Brian, and I wish you the best of luck for the remainder of the tournament!

As for me, round 2 next week, we’ll see what happens… See you soon!