Cross-posted at Bloo Milk: http://www.bloomilk.com/Forums/Defau...?g=posts&t=143

23(!) people showed up. That's right, 8 more people than participated in the "National Championship" at PAX about 20 minutes from where this tournament was being held from 12am-7am on a weeknight...

Anyway, my worst case scenario going in was Odd Ball and Gha Nachkt. I opened my first booster, and out fell Odd Ball. Luckily my second booster had Commander Gree (although I would have preferred a VR or non-Unique R for collecting purposes).

The squad I ended up with was:

20 Commander Gree
17 Odd Ball
16 IG-100 MagnaGuard
16 Neimoidian Warrior
14 Mon Calamari Knight
14 Utapaun Warrior
13 Elite Clone Trooper Grenadier
13 Heavy Clone Trooper
13 Techno Union Warrior
11 Wookiee Scoundrel
(147 pts. 10 activations)

I left out:

10 Battle Droid Sniper
10 Super Battle Droid
6 Rocket Battle Droid
4 Battled Droid

My squad relied heavily on Gree's Squad Assault CE. I picked the Ruined Base for my map, because I thought maybe I would be able to advance my squad as a pack more easily and retain the Squad Assault bonus.

My first game was against Swxpert (Stephen) who had Yoda on Kybuck and Barriss Offee. I won map and ended up setting up outside the base. We spent the first 4 or 5 rounds daring each other to open the central doors. I didn't want to open them, because then Yoda would come Galloping through and destroy my squad. He didn't want to expose Yoda to all the high Attack bonus shooters I had. Anyway, eventually, he charged Yoda in and almost killed Gree (whom I had moved up to get a kill shot on a 30 HP scrub). Luckily, he ended in base with my Mon Cal instead of Gree, so I was able to run away with Gree. My whole squad pounded on Yoda, and he couldn't heal fast enough once Barriss got up there. Eventually I killed Yoda just as time was called. Swxpert ended up going 3-1 with this game being his only loss.

1-0

Second game I played a really nice guy named Joel that I met at PAX (he played in League there, but not in the Championship). He had Captain Rex and Gha Nachkt, and almost identical support pieces to my squad. We played on Ruined Base again, but this time I got the inside. We originally stalemated for a round or two with each of us having protected gambit, but then he was able to bring Rex through the top room to pick off my Techno Union Warrior and gain the points advantage. I was forced into action. I waited as long as I could in the round (he outactivated me), then I boldly (stupidly?) charged my MagnaGuard adjacent to Rex. My gamble paid off when he missed it twice that round, then I won init, then I hit Rex, and he failed his Electrostaff save, so he was activated. The one-two punch of EMP Grenades 10 from the Elite Grenadier (which actually activated 3 different Droids in this game) and Grenades 20 from Odd Ball helped me get activation control so I could gang up on Rex (who was hiding behind a Mon Cal, so I was forced to leave him alone for a few rounds). Thanks to some superbly bad rolling on Joel's part, and the fact that I won every init but the very last round (when it didn't matter anymore anyway), I was able to pull out the victory. Joel had gotten the bye the first round, and he had to leave the tournament to go to work after this round, so unfortunately, his only game of the night didn't really go in his favor.

2-0

At this point, I was starting to feel pretty good about my squad, which looked so bad when I first opened my boosters. My third game was against a different Stephen (Steven?) who had pulled Durge, Jedi Hunter and Commander Gree. He won map roll and wanted to play on the new starter map with all the pits. I told him it wasn't tournament legal, so he pulled out the Starship hardboard. I let him pick side, hoping he'd set up poorly on the left, and let me pick off some pieces early. Unfortunately, he only had 1 piece in his squad with 30 HP (ARC Trooper Sniper), and the rest of his pieces all had 40 HP+. Also, he set everything behind Durge, so only my single shot at 20 Damage Neimoidian could hit anything besides Durge. Also, I lacked any form of Mobile Attack, so moving out to shoot Durge would mean severe retaliation from the rest of his squad. I tried to move up the rooms on the side, but that didn't really help me out much. After a couple of rounds, he moved Durge away from the big pit area, so I could attack both his ARC and his Neimoidian as legal targets. I moved Gree out to kill the ARC in one shot, but I missed. I moved my Utapaun out to shield for Gree, but he shot right past it with his ARC and put 30 Damage on Gree. I moved 3 other shooters out to take shots on his Accurate Shooters, but they all missed (and left themselves exposed). He picked away at my squad with Durge, Gree, a Human Soldier of Fortune, and an IG-86. I lost initiative, and he shot Gree again with the ARC for the kill (30 HP left), but luckily, he missed that time. Then I knew that the Neimoidian couldn't kill him. Of course, then he rolls a crit with the Neimoidian for the kill. That same round, he attacked my Mon Calamari Knight with Durge (needing 15s to hit in cover), and proceeded to crit on him also for the kill. It was a massacre. I think the only thing I ended up killing was a Nelvaanian Warrior that was in gambit. My opponent went on to be 4-0, but he took second, because he got paired down in the last round (playing a 2-1 opponent, instead of another 3-0 opponent).

2-1

Having just been beated so badly in that round, I was pretty demoralized for the final round. My opponent was also 2-1 going in, but I watched the end of his last game, and he had only lost by 1 point. Luckily, that left him pretty demoralized as well, so we were even. He won map, and I ended up inside the building on the left of Muunilist. He had Anakin Skywalker, Champion of Nelvaan and a Chameleon Droid for his Rares. In the very first round, due to some positioning errors of his (it was 5:30 AM by this time), and some really lucky lines of sight on my part, I was able to take out a Battle Droid Sniper, Star Corps Trooper, and Heavy Clone Trooper without retaliation. Next round he Gripped my Techno Union Warrior (biggest waste of points on my squad for sure...). I finished off one of his Stealthy Wookiees with my Accurate Shooter and based his Gambit-collecting Chameleon with my 3 melee pieces (making all 3 Mines, but missing all 3 attacks). What was left of his squad really didn't have much of a chance against my high activation, high Attack bonus shooters. Anakin went down in 2 rounds, and that was game.

3-1

My strength of schedule turned out to be good enough to win me third place in the tournament (first and second both finished 4-0). The guy who beat me finished second, and TheJumpingFlea/GrandAdmiralFlea got first. But I'll let Flea give you his tournament report.

My prize for 3rd was 4 boosters. I opened...Gha Nachkt! And then....another Gree! Lots of luck for Shinja, huh? But then my last two boosters had Ahsoka Tano and Darth Sidious, Hologram, so I was happy. I was able to trade my second Gree to Omnus (finished 4th), for General Aayla Secura, which Cherry Penguin is pretty happy about.

It was definitely a fun time, and I wish I could afford to drop another $30 to play in Saturday's tournament as well...

Man that was FUN!

I just wanted to shout-out a thanks to everyone that was there. It was a blast!

Now for my report...

I got some of the best pulls you could. My first pull was a Padme and second an Anakin, Champion of Nelvaan. I also got an IG Droid, 2 Utapauns (the new best C's IMHO) and my squad looked like this:

Anakin, CoN
Padme, Sen.
IG-86
ECT Gren
Galactic Marine
Utapaun Warrior x2
Rocket Battle Droid

1st Game:
I played the father of the other person to go 4-0. He had an Aayla squad with all Order 66 folk and a Nemodian. We played on Muunilst and I slowly advanced the Utapauns in front of Ani. Their 20 def and 50 HP soaked up all the damage I needed them to so I could close in with Ani. Early in the game I got a shot with my IG on his Aayla (he didn't use cloaked) and layed 30 early. Ani ran up to her, did 40 and then missed one of his 2 attacks from Padme. She then attacked Ani and I missed 1 Djem So save, then made the other save only to miss 2 attacks. Luckily after all that misfortune the Utapau crit her for the kill and the rest of mop-up. We both had some crazy weird rolls that game.
1-0

2nd Game:
This game was against Darth Omron. He played a very solid shooter squad using Gree, ARC Snipers, Heavy Clone and he had Bariss as well. Again this was on Muunilist and this entire game took place in Administrative Office. I advanced the Utapaus followed by Ani with my shooters covering fire and he blitzed with fire support as soon as the door opened. The Utapaus did EXACTLY what they needed too and due to some low rolls on his part (he needed 10's, but missed more then he hit) and this allowed Ani to close in. My IG did some good work early and took out his Heavy Clone and after all the smoke cleared I was left with Ani at 60 health and an Utapaun at 30.
2-0

3rd Game:
At this point it was like 4:30 AM and I was feeling the tiredness. He played a Sidious Holo squad with LOADS of solid shooters and Ashoka. We played on a very shooter friendly map and to be honest I was too tired to remember what it was. I got some shots early as he approached gambit and slowly advanced the Utapauns with Ani right behind. I moved Padme out to where I thought she was safe, but his ARC Sniper moved 8 (spend the FP) and got a shot on her. He then won the initiative, shot with the ARC and then moved Ashoka 8 squares and hit to kill her. Ani layed 40 on Ashoka and then I moved an Utapaun to take some heat off of Ani. He layed 30 on the Utapaun then both my IG and Marine hit Ashoka and he made both deflects. The game keeps going, I eventually killed Ashoka and my Ani got hit by 2 Deadeye shots from Mercs and then a Bloodthirsty Swing from and Aqualish (which Djem So finished up) so he has down to 60. I slowly moved carefully to get ahead on points by killing the higher cost minis, but he made every important attack roll on the Utapauns and Ani. Eventually time was called and he had one last clone to move to take a shot on my Ani. He needed a 13 and had a FPRR stocked up, but the odds were in my favor and I won by 30 something points. *phew*

4th Game:
5:30 AM. Both of us were 3-0 and he had Ani on STAP and a Gelerub. This was on Muunilist and he got off an early strafe with Ani to take out and Utapaun, but my Ani ran at him, Padme gave him 2 swings and then I won the init. His Ani died and it was pretty much over at that point.


So I won! Yay! But, it was semi-hollow as the other 4-0 squad was a REALLY well made Durge build that would have torn Ani a new one. My strength of schedule was better so I got the 6 booster 1st place prize. I then gave one of my boosters to the guy I had just beaten because since he lost to me he dropped to 4th. That way 1st and 2nd got 5 boosters and it felt a little more fair to me. I pulled my numbah 1 want of Yoda on Kybuck, along with Ani STAP, Chameleon Droid, Gha and Oddball.

It was a TON of fun and I'd like to thank everyone that was there.

Excellent report, guys! Matt, congrats on your pulls and your victory! Go check out mine and Dean's reports!