Finally the Hoth
3-23-17 First time playing a truly competitive event. Hoth Open, very fun, but a drive and frustrating at points too
Well it was a fun first day... here's my list...
http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/670250/smart-vader
Idea is that Vader can hand off actions to the other two (adaptability down on Quickdraw)... in a pinch he can take two and still hand off a third. Inquisitor snipes last when no one has focus tokens left to stop Juke, and Quickdraw just plows over debris... can still fire, gets target locks everywhere, if takes a crit, free shot.
Round1: Faced a TIE swarm (Night Beast, Howlrunner, Backstabber, and at least one more anchored by Whisper)... My debris placement is huge in this one and probably does as much damage as I do. Inquisitor is brutal and stays alive barely 1-0
Reflection: I am loving debris over asteroids, I can plan for them and it appears some opponents can't. I've got no problem running over if I have to. Much less scary than asteroids... unless you're TIE Fighters... my opponent lost 2 TIEs to just obstacle issues.
Round2: On Table 10 against 2 lothal rebels and Ashoka, didn't help that he was running auto blaster cannons as turrets (later opponent caught it), but looking back I'm sure it was an accident and he just flat outflew me (which is bad when I'm three aces and he's 2 lumbering large ships). I might have got more kill points (think I could have finished one of the Lothals, and I'd already killed Ashoka easy), but I wouldn't have won, so no complaints... fun game, good opponent. 1-1
Reflection: Sometimes people out fly/play you. Just move on. He got me good on a double 5 Kturn with both VCX-100s and made me pay for it. As my next opponent and friend pointed out... that's how dogfights are... you screw up/guess wrong, bad stuff happens. Learn to enjoy educational loses and you'll do better and have more fun.
Round3: Played a scum double Concorde Protectorate with Serissu... unfortunately for my opponent I've played against him and this list a few times before. He's one of my friends who I drove up. 100+ people and I played one of 2 that road up with me. I get an early kill but Vader refuses to evade anything and gets one shot by Fenn Rau and gives almost nothing in return despite firing at Fenn in good position 3 times. Very close. Again the obstacles favor me and a 2 hull Quickdraw (my only ship) sets up a nice kill shot on a 1 hull Fenn Rau before he can disengage to win. 2-1
Reflection: Don't get over confident. I was up on him 1 kill and had him in good spots and decided to rush Vader in and lost him to Fenn... which everyone knows can happen. Luckily Quickdraw is a beast and I'm very well practiced in running her, so I was able to hold onto my now slight lead and win. Also, Fenn Rau is a glass cannon... he can drop any turn
Round4: Up to Table 8... and my dice go completely cold. I'm not saying the guy wouldn't have beat me, I'd never know. I set up a perfect shot on Countess Ryad: all three of my ships are at range 1, with locks, higher PS, and I should drop her before she can even fire... I take off 2 shields... she fires, nearly destroys the inquisitor with Ryad and I can't get more that a single evade on a 3 dice or more roll the rest of the game. He's got crack shot on two ships and never uses them... it doesn't come up as I don't roll evades to be cancelled... not kidding. He's rolling so hot that three times he gets 3 hits or better on 3 dice... the game ended with target locks that had been on all game on 2 of my ships as he never rolled a miss and didn't need them either. I take 1 more shield off before everything dies. So frustrating. I have him dead to rights turn 2, Ryad should have died and I could have fought it out from a superior position, instead my list just melts. He can't miss, I can't hit, and I've played against more or less his triple defenders list a dozen times... by far my worst showing against it. Really too bad. Of all my games this is the one I'd like to play again. 2-2
Reflection: It burned, but I kept my mouth shut and didn't complain about the dice much. Congratulate your opponent and move on. Its not their fault you were cold and their dice on fire (it was ridiculous, I almost asked to roll his dice instead... really thought about it... but that implies they were cheating or had loaded dice and I didn't think that at all, just was really frustrated).
Round5: My brain hurt a bit by the end of this one. Near mirror match. He's got Backdraft instead of
Inquisitor. Again I set up all three of mine on a single target... this time it works the way it should and I drop Backdraft the first round of firing. But again my dice go cold. I might as well have no green dice for Vader... he gets a range 1 shot on the opposing Vader... does nothing... my opponent gets the same shot back and does two hits and two crits off just primaries. I cancel nothing, lose both shields, get a direct hit and Vader's dead. Our Quickdraws have a nice moment where they both fire at each other, both put the reply shots on each other. Luckily my Inquisitor set off the chain by taking a shield hit on his Quickdraw who exits the exchange with 2 hull while mine is still 3 hull. My Quickdraw loops in behind his and guns it down while his Vader kills a wounded Inquisitor... we both have cold greens and they're easy kills. But now its a shieldless Quickdraw against a fresh Vader. We both maintain locks the whole time, but I'm able to spend mine and I start out on his six. He gets two shots on me and I get three on him and my 1 hull Quickdraw is the last ship standing. 3-2
Reflection: Its not over until its over, I got a big lead, but was cautious and played smart the rest of the game. Took risks when I knew I had to and eked this one out. Too bad someone had to lose.
Round6: I'm getting frustrated with Vader. If not for his handing off of actions he would have been an almost non-contributor to my games. I'm hoping he shows up in this round as I need to win out. Very very nice opponent list. My opponent has Kanan VCX 100, Zeb shuttle docked and Biggs with M9 locked onto Kanan. Rey is crew for Kanan who's got TLTs to boot. I close as quick as possible and tear into Kanan, but Vader melts and Biggs won't take damage for anything. This guy was a very good pilot and flew his ships well. Quickdraw works Kanan down to 4 hull, but then dies too. Leaving Biggs with a shield, a 4 hull VCX, and a docked assault shuttle against a 2 hull Inquisitor. Pay back for Round4 comes around and maybe a little Karma. During Round4 my Round2 opponent got called out and rudely treated for his incorrect autoblaster. I just loaned him two of mine and the Judges were appeased and it all rolled forward. Now I actually fly it right, drag Biggs into range and keep myself out of arc, putting 2 damage on him, but taking one from either him or TLT shots (don't remember). 1 hull Inquisitor gets a kill shot on Biggs, downs him, and survives 4 shots from Kanan... whew. Then at the opening of the next turn I get all three dice to hit, naturally, on Kanan... he didn't focus due to me being at range three, his evade becomes a focus from Juke, and he doesn't get the evade at 3, since its the Inquisitor. One of my hits was a crit (might have even been 2) and one is a direct hit... so pop! Out comes the now damaged assault shuttle and we're probably at each others 10 o'clock... so I run... get some range. It takes some tricky flying, but I pull away out of range, loop around, and after that I honestly don't remember. Pretty sure I took off a shield at range 3 and dodged his shot (I had a target lock and an evade with Juke, so it should have happened), and then I finally read an opponent right. I had been making long distance moves with the Inquisitor and I figured he'd either slow move or K-turn, so I just took a 1 bank. He K-turns, I'm sitting on his 4 with him in arc... boom. Game. I felt almost shakey. He at one point had 3 ships and I had 1 hull... pulled it off by doing 9 damage and taking none, or 11 and taking only 1... not bad for the little guy. 4-2... I've got a shot.
Reflection: Great guy who clearly practiced his list a lot. I kept wondering why on earth he didn't launch the shuttle, but his 4 TLT shots a turn were too seductive to him and he had 3 ships and I had 2 hull, so I get that. There was one horrible moment when I found myself in his rear arc and I honestly thought he was shooting his primaries and would then take his TLT double tap. I don't know why, it probably wasn't the best move, but I had noted that I was in arc (was trying not to be) and made a silly assumption... so I rolled 4 dice since I was at range 3. He very politely told me that I was taking fire from secondaries and didn't get the extra die and I was floored at what to do. I had an evade token, rolled evade, focus, focus, blank (I have autothrusters)... so I know that I would have cancelled whatever he could have rolled (not sure if M9 had died with Biggs or not by then) but what do you do. We rerolled and played on, but I honestly was so consumed with keeping the Inquisitor alive and so brain tired that I don't know if that would have changed the outcome or not. No one's fault (he'd not told me what weapon he was firing... I hadn't asked) but in a close, must win scenario, I felt bad
Round7: Need to win. Nice opponent, very knowledgeable, clearly played a lot too, I noted from his garb that he'd be good friends of most of the Judges (I'm not slow), but a very very nice and friendly opponent... who played very very slow. I may be an XWing rube, but I've been playing competitive war games and 40k for over 20 years. I know slow play. He was right at that border. But it was tough to not question it. He's running three ships too. We trade one each, but I took down a supped up Z-95 and he had taken one of my 30+ pointers. I've never had a game even go into the last 10 minutes and when we had that call there was a lot of game to play. If any of the above games had been called mid game who knows who would have won... All 3 prior wins went down to less than 2 hull on a last ship standing... but what do you do? He was a nice, polite, knowledgable, connected opponent... I'd let Vader fall onto the floor mid game and spent 5 minutes looking for parts... but man, I was so hoping that this would be one of those tournies where they let final round games go to conclusion... but it became clear it wasn't... so I took some risks that I would not have (he had Fenn on the board and in 3 turns I could have cleanly disengaged and came at him range 3 with Inquisitor and Quickdraw... but there was no time) and they didn't pay. Time called. 4-3. I have no idea if I could have won that or not. He was up, and man it seemed like his slow play got slower once he was (then again 40k is a more cut throat crowd and I'm a bit jaded from experiance in these things) but as we all know you have to play out the game... except he didn't. I won't go so far as to say he slow played, but I will say its a shame that game didn't get to finish as it should and its too bad that it didn't
Reflection: I hope and would bet that he was just a meticulous player. I knew I wasn't going to be back Saturday anyway as a student of mine (I teach) had passed away suddenly and his funeral was Saturday... but man... I felt robbed while not feeling like I had the right to feel robbed. A bit of a sour taste. So yeah, 1 win from the big show... and a little salt in the wound, everyone I drove up got a free $60+ mat, I got a cute token pair. Whatever.
Final thoughts. Glad I went to Hoth. Learned a ton, saw more Ghosts than I expected (not just my tables but others) and wish I'd just not experienced the last game. Vader either needs to be used better or get dropped for a x7 Ryad (which I think I'll do if I use this list again). Kept my emotions in check there (though clearly I'm venting a little here) which from my years of competitive play is not always something you see players do when stuff is on the line. Overall the event staff was great. I was very impressed with the Gold Squadron guys and the FFG people too. I'll be back if possible next year.
Next time I post I'll do a bit more reflection and thoughts from the Hoth... to tired now
Well it was a fun first day... here's my list...
http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/670250/smart-vader
Idea is that Vader can hand off actions to the other two (adaptability down on Quickdraw)... in a pinch he can take two and still hand off a third. Inquisitor snipes last when no one has focus tokens left to stop Juke, and Quickdraw just plows over debris... can still fire, gets target locks everywhere, if takes a crit, free shot.
Round1: Faced a TIE swarm (Night Beast, Howlrunner, Backstabber, and at least one more anchored by Whisper)... My debris placement is huge in this one and probably does as much damage as I do. Inquisitor is brutal and stays alive barely 1-0
Reflection: I am loving debris over asteroids, I can plan for them and it appears some opponents can't. I've got no problem running over if I have to. Much less scary than asteroids... unless you're TIE Fighters... my opponent lost 2 TIEs to just obstacle issues.
Round2: On Table 10 against 2 lothal rebels and Ashoka, didn't help that he was running auto blaster cannons as turrets (later opponent caught it), but looking back I'm sure it was an accident and he just flat outflew me (which is bad when I'm three aces and he's 2 lumbering large ships). I might have got more kill points (think I could have finished one of the Lothals, and I'd already killed Ashoka easy), but I wouldn't have won, so no complaints... fun game, good opponent. 1-1
Reflection: Sometimes people out fly/play you. Just move on. He got me good on a double 5 Kturn with both VCX-100s and made me pay for it. As my next opponent and friend pointed out... that's how dogfights are... you screw up/guess wrong, bad stuff happens. Learn to enjoy educational loses and you'll do better and have more fun.
Round3: Played a scum double Concorde Protectorate with Serissu... unfortunately for my opponent I've played against him and this list a few times before. He's one of my friends who I drove up. 100+ people and I played one of 2 that road up with me. I get an early kill but Vader refuses to evade anything and gets one shot by Fenn Rau and gives almost nothing in return despite firing at Fenn in good position 3 times. Very close. Again the obstacles favor me and a 2 hull Quickdraw (my only ship) sets up a nice kill shot on a 1 hull Fenn Rau before he can disengage to win. 2-1
Reflection: Don't get over confident. I was up on him 1 kill and had him in good spots and decided to rush Vader in and lost him to Fenn... which everyone knows can happen. Luckily Quickdraw is a beast and I'm very well practiced in running her, so I was able to hold onto my now slight lead and win. Also, Fenn Rau is a glass cannon... he can drop any turn
Round4: Up to Table 8... and my dice go completely cold. I'm not saying the guy wouldn't have beat me, I'd never know. I set up a perfect shot on Countess Ryad: all three of my ships are at range 1, with locks, higher PS, and I should drop her before she can even fire... I take off 2 shields... she fires, nearly destroys the inquisitor with Ryad and I can't get more that a single evade on a 3 dice or more roll the rest of the game. He's got crack shot on two ships and never uses them... it doesn't come up as I don't roll evades to be cancelled... not kidding. He's rolling so hot that three times he gets 3 hits or better on 3 dice... the game ended with target locks that had been on all game on 2 of my ships as he never rolled a miss and didn't need them either. I take 1 more shield off before everything dies. So frustrating. I have him dead to rights turn 2, Ryad should have died and I could have fought it out from a superior position, instead my list just melts. He can't miss, I can't hit, and I've played against more or less his triple defenders list a dozen times... by far my worst showing against it. Really too bad. Of all my games this is the one I'd like to play again. 2-2
Reflection: It burned, but I kept my mouth shut and didn't complain about the dice much. Congratulate your opponent and move on. Its not their fault you were cold and their dice on fire (it was ridiculous, I almost asked to roll his dice instead... really thought about it... but that implies they were cheating or had loaded dice and I didn't think that at all, just was really frustrated).
Round5: My brain hurt a bit by the end of this one. Near mirror match. He's got Backdraft instead of
Inquisitor. Again I set up all three of mine on a single target... this time it works the way it should and I drop Backdraft the first round of firing. But again my dice go cold. I might as well have no green dice for Vader... he gets a range 1 shot on the opposing Vader... does nothing... my opponent gets the same shot back and does two hits and two crits off just primaries. I cancel nothing, lose both shields, get a direct hit and Vader's dead. Our Quickdraws have a nice moment where they both fire at each other, both put the reply shots on each other. Luckily my Inquisitor set off the chain by taking a shield hit on his Quickdraw who exits the exchange with 2 hull while mine is still 3 hull. My Quickdraw loops in behind his and guns it down while his Vader kills a wounded Inquisitor... we both have cold greens and they're easy kills. But now its a shieldless Quickdraw against a fresh Vader. We both maintain locks the whole time, but I'm able to spend mine and I start out on his six. He gets two shots on me and I get three on him and my 1 hull Quickdraw is the last ship standing. 3-2
Reflection: Its not over until its over, I got a big lead, but was cautious and played smart the rest of the game. Took risks when I knew I had to and eked this one out. Too bad someone had to lose.
Round6: I'm getting frustrated with Vader. If not for his handing off of actions he would have been an almost non-contributor to my games. I'm hoping he shows up in this round as I need to win out. Very very nice opponent list. My opponent has Kanan VCX 100, Zeb shuttle docked and Biggs with M9 locked onto Kanan. Rey is crew for Kanan who's got TLTs to boot. I close as quick as possible and tear into Kanan, but Vader melts and Biggs won't take damage for anything. This guy was a very good pilot and flew his ships well. Quickdraw works Kanan down to 4 hull, but then dies too. Leaving Biggs with a shield, a 4 hull VCX, and a docked assault shuttle against a 2 hull Inquisitor. Pay back for Round4 comes around and maybe a little Karma. During Round4 my Round2 opponent got called out and rudely treated for his incorrect autoblaster. I just loaned him two of mine and the Judges were appeased and it all rolled forward. Now I actually fly it right, drag Biggs into range and keep myself out of arc, putting 2 damage on him, but taking one from either him or TLT shots (don't remember). 1 hull Inquisitor gets a kill shot on Biggs, downs him, and survives 4 shots from Kanan... whew. Then at the opening of the next turn I get all three dice to hit, naturally, on Kanan... he didn't focus due to me being at range three, his evade becomes a focus from Juke, and he doesn't get the evade at 3, since its the Inquisitor. One of my hits was a crit (might have even been 2) and one is a direct hit... so pop! Out comes the now damaged assault shuttle and we're probably at each others 10 o'clock... so I run... get some range. It takes some tricky flying, but I pull away out of range, loop around, and after that I honestly don't remember. Pretty sure I took off a shield at range 3 and dodged his shot (I had a target lock and an evade with Juke, so it should have happened), and then I finally read an opponent right. I had been making long distance moves with the Inquisitor and I figured he'd either slow move or K-turn, so I just took a 1 bank. He K-turns, I'm sitting on his 4 with him in arc... boom. Game. I felt almost shakey. He at one point had 3 ships and I had 1 hull... pulled it off by doing 9 damage and taking none, or 11 and taking only 1... not bad for the little guy. 4-2... I've got a shot.
Reflection: Great guy who clearly practiced his list a lot. I kept wondering why on earth he didn't launch the shuttle, but his 4 TLT shots a turn were too seductive to him and he had 3 ships and I had 2 hull, so I get that. There was one horrible moment when I found myself in his rear arc and I honestly thought he was shooting his primaries and would then take his TLT double tap. I don't know why, it probably wasn't the best move, but I had noted that I was in arc (was trying not to be) and made a silly assumption... so I rolled 4 dice since I was at range 3. He very politely told me that I was taking fire from secondaries and didn't get the extra die and I was floored at what to do. I had an evade token, rolled evade, focus, focus, blank (I have autothrusters)... so I know that I would have cancelled whatever he could have rolled (not sure if M9 had died with Biggs or not by then) but what do you do. We rerolled and played on, but I honestly was so consumed with keeping the Inquisitor alive and so brain tired that I don't know if that would have changed the outcome or not. No one's fault (he'd not told me what weapon he was firing... I hadn't asked) but in a close, must win scenario, I felt bad
Round7: Need to win. Nice opponent, very knowledgeable, clearly played a lot too, I noted from his garb that he'd be good friends of most of the Judges (I'm not slow), but a very very nice and friendly opponent... who played very very slow. I may be an XWing rube, but I've been playing competitive war games and 40k for over 20 years. I know slow play. He was right at that border. But it was tough to not question it. He's running three ships too. We trade one each, but I took down a supped up Z-95 and he had taken one of my 30+ pointers. I've never had a game even go into the last 10 minutes and when we had that call there was a lot of game to play. If any of the above games had been called mid game who knows who would have won... All 3 prior wins went down to less than 2 hull on a last ship standing... but what do you do? He was a nice, polite, knowledgable, connected opponent... I'd let Vader fall onto the floor mid game and spent 5 minutes looking for parts... but man, I was so hoping that this would be one of those tournies where they let final round games go to conclusion... but it became clear it wasn't... so I took some risks that I would not have (he had Fenn on the board and in 3 turns I could have cleanly disengaged and came at him range 3 with Inquisitor and Quickdraw... but there was no time) and they didn't pay. Time called. 4-3. I have no idea if I could have won that or not. He was up, and man it seemed like his slow play got slower once he was (then again 40k is a more cut throat crowd and I'm a bit jaded from experiance in these things) but as we all know you have to play out the game... except he didn't. I won't go so far as to say he slow played, but I will say its a shame that game didn't get to finish as it should and its too bad that it didn't
Reflection: I hope and would bet that he was just a meticulous player. I knew I wasn't going to be back Saturday anyway as a student of mine (I teach) had passed away suddenly and his funeral was Saturday... but man... I felt robbed while not feeling like I had the right to feel robbed. A bit of a sour taste. So yeah, 1 win from the big show... and a little salt in the wound, everyone I drove up got a free $60+ mat, I got a cute token pair. Whatever.
Final thoughts. Glad I went to Hoth. Learned a ton, saw more Ghosts than I expected (not just my tables but others) and wish I'd just not experienced the last game. Vader either needs to be used better or get dropped for a x7 Ryad (which I think I'll do if I use this list again). Kept my emotions in check there (though clearly I'm venting a little here) which from my years of competitive play is not always something you see players do when stuff is on the line. Overall the event staff was great. I was very impressed with the Gold Squadron guys and the FFG people too. I'll be back if possible next year.
Next time I post I'll do a bit more reflection and thoughts from the Hoth... to tired now
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