This past Thursday we did our annual Valentine's week fun build: Famous Pairs. So, everybody had to include some sort of famous male/female pair on their squad. Otherwise, the builds were normal 200 point DCI constructed builds. I decided to go with a reunion of the KOTOR-comic cast.
Mandalore the Ultimate
Zayne Carrick
Jarael
Mando Quartermaster (kinda looks like Rohlan Dyre)
Mando Captain (the promo one, which looks sort of like Demagol
)
Mando Scout
Ugo x3
I decided to try out one of the new Jedi Cartographer Map Pack #2 maps for the night: The Ugnaught Forge! (We allow the JC maps when we do DCI play, but we typically only pull them out when we're doing fun builds like this anyways.)
First game was against Brandon, who was running New Republic, with Jaina and Boba Merc as his 'Pair'. They were backed up by Kreia, Luke FS (Kreia), Lobot, a GenoHaradan Assassin, a Czerka, and an Ugo, with T3-M4 and another Ugo for Reinforcements. I started on the left (inside) side of the map, and Brandon started in the caves section. Jarael was huge for me in these games, allowing me to reach gambit easily on the first turn, without having to burn any Force Points. Brandon made some blunders in forgetting the new rules for only activating 1 if you're the first person in a round to activate, and this cost him two different times. A missed attack from Boba to kill my Mando Captain also meant that he couldn't retreat Boba to safe hiding at one point, so he stayed in the thick of things to make sure he took away my Twin. But by that point it was rough for him anyways. Jaina did absolutely nothing all game, and failed all her Shockstaff saves. She finally got to make an attack against Jarael at one point, and miraculously rolled a crit (with Cunning in play)...but I made the Parry save on Jarael. I was super worried about rolling that crucial 1 against Kreia, but it never happened. Between lousy rolling on Brandon's part, way too much stunning and damage output from my pieces, and then my incredibly lucky Parry/LS Block rolls, Brandon never really had a chance. I won the game having only lost my Captain and the Ugnaughts. Lobo 1-0
Second round I face Matt, who is running an entire horde of famous pairs, lol. He had Han Stormtrooper, Princess Leia (A&E), Luke HPU, Deena Shan, Vader's Apprentice Redeemed, Juno, Chewie RH, R2-D2, General Dodonna, and four Ugnaughts. We play on my map again, but Matt gets the left side this time (which is easier to reach gambit from there). He WAY out-activates me, obviously, but I decide to rely on Jarael's high Defense, Evade, and his relative lack of decent shooters (Luke was highest at +11). It works out for me, and Jarael takes, maybe 10 damage by the end of the round, and she gets gambit as well (she had to end movement next to the door to get gambit). He locks the door with R2 where Jarael is standing, keeping her from rushing in for the quick attacks next round, but also protects her from getting Force Pushed. This game was so ridiculously close it was just...wow. He used Juno pretty offensively, and stuck her right in the middle of the gambit area. I managed to position my Mando Captain, and then used Charging Fire with the Scout to get a clear shot on Juno....wouldn't you know it, I roll a 1! I ended up losing the Scout to a Force Push. At that point, I pretty much bum rushed the gambit zone, knowing that I was going to have to work quickly before Luke got his FPs back for another push. I took down Juno, and Jarael got hit with FP4 for VSA Redeemed, leaving her with 10 hp. She ended up surviving another another round or so (thank you Evade/high Def), and Matt had to use Leia to boost Chewie's attack to finish her off (no Evade/Parry because he was adjacent
). I couldn't quite manage to finish off VSA, but I killed Chewie, and enough other small pieces, that I pulled out the win in the end when time was called. The margin was very small though. Lobo 2-0
Final game this week was against Lackey. He was also using Zayne and Jarael as his Famous Pair, but he had them backed up by more Old Republic characters. The rest of his squad had Mira, Atton, a Juggernaut War Droid, Nomi, a Human BG, and 4 Ugos. I got the inside of the Ugnaught Forge once again, and played similar as before. My Jarael took first round gambit, and since Lackey had more activations, his Jarael ran up to get gambit as well. I used my Scout at the end of the first round to pick off an Ugnaught. It left the Scout a bit farther from the action for the rest of the game, but I had decided that trying to even up the activations a little was probably worth it. Turned out right too.
Next round, Lackey moved Jarael deeper into my territory, to try to stun my Quartermaster. However, I made my save, and that was the beginning of the end for Lackey. I attacked with the Quartermaster's Twin, and he rolled two 1's for the Parry saves, then I moved the Quartermaster away, and he rolled a 1 on the AoO as well. My Mando Captain managed to not come through with the kill, but I was mostly setting up some positioning anyways. Lackey had moved his Zayne into the gambit zone, so I needed my Quartermaster and Captain in certain squares in order for my Scout to nail Zayne. So, I unloaded with the Scout, and even with some low rolls (I think a 2 and 3 in there) finished off Zayne (needing anything but 1's). Mandalore came out near the end of the round and based Jarael to finish her with his 30 base damage. At that point, Lackey tried to make an all-out charge, but it was already too little too late. I tore apart Atton the following round, forcing him to shoot at an activated Quartermaster, so, not getting either his Cunning or Jedi Hunter bonuses. Mandalore shredded Atton, and then Lackey tried to tie up the rest of my squad with Nomi, but Jarael and my Scout finished her off. Mira managed to put the finishing shots on Jarael, and due to how I had set up, killed an Ugo or two and the Mando Captain with Splash. At that point though, it was Mira vs. Mandalore, the Quartermaster, and Zayne, so it was quickly over. Lobo 3-0
All in all, it was a really fun tournament, and it's always interesting to see what combinations people come up with. One guy was playing Queen Amidala and Captain Panaka, and then had a RC Training Sargeant and a ton of Sevs. He went 2-1 I believe. There was also an Imperial Knight squad with Emperor Fel and Marasiah. Another Republic squad had Rex, Ahsoka, and a lot of troopers, but I think he struggled with lousy dice rolling unfortunately. Overall it was a lot of fun, and I was glad I finally had a chance to have some fun abusing Mandalore's CE a little bit. Zayne moving 12-14 squares and still getting his Twin a couple different times was really awesome, especially when he was getting a +4 from the Quartermaster, and all but one time, I had the +4 from Karmic Luck as well (barely missed getting a Cortosis Guantlet roll against Kreia in game 1).
