Last night was the start of our 150 point training for Regionals/GenCon.
I decided to try running not-GOWK due to all the comments on the WOTC forum saying that the true tests would be whether the top players could with with other squads against GOWK.
So, I played this Rebel squad, which had looked interesting to me.
Obi Unleashed
Luke HPU
Han Smuggler
Gen Rieekan
Gen Dodonna
R2 w/ Sensor
Juno
Caamasi
Ugo
Mouse Droid
(150 Pts, 10 activations)
I had a hard time deciding what map to pick, and I probably should've gone with Cristophsis, now that I think about it. But I decided to use Bespin, as I liked all the doors.
First game of the night was against Lackey. He was fielding Cade, Rieekan, Luke Jedi, Twi'lek BSV, Lobot CLO, a couple Ugos and some Mouse Droids. We played on his Ruined Base map, and I started on the outside. We both got gambit first round. Second round, not much happened, mostly re-positioning, but I did manage to pick off an Ugnaught. Third round, he came out shooting with Cade at my Luke, but I only took 10 damage from failing a splash save, and I made all my Evade saves. Lackey brought Rieekan out to take a pot shot at something and missed, but he forgot Rieekan didn't have Mobile himself, so he ended up stuck out in the open. Juno hit him, then Han finished him off. His Luke Jedi came out towards my forces, but I used my Luke and Obi to put 60 on him with Force Pushing. The following round, I set up slightly dumb, and ended taking 4 shots on Obi from Cade, and the splash saves killed my Caamasi and put some more damage on Luke and Han. But at that point, it didn't matter much. Lackey's Luke ran to attack Rieekan, and then my Han finished him off when he failed his Deflect. Next round, Obi moved out to Push Cade behind the door near the pit on the bottom of the map. At that point, time was called, and I was ahead on points, but had a chance of pushing Cade into the pit on the following round, and played to time, the game outcome probably would've been in my favor still. Lobo 1-0
Second round I got to play against Trace, who was running Rebel Commandos. He had Luke RC, Crix, Rieekan, 2 Elite RCs, a Pathfinder, the RC Strike Leader, a Vet RC, Deena Shan and filler. We played on my Bespin map, and I started on the inside. I gained easy gambit on the first round with Obi spending a FP to move extra. Rest of the round was positioning, advancing. 2nd round was more positioning. At the end of the round, Trace had Deena next to the main door in the single gambit square on the outside, then with the RCSL behind her. I ran Obi 8 squares with a FP, and attacked the RCSL. I screwed up here, and moved Luke too close to Obi, and then when I won init, I was planning to use Obi's Repulse, but I didn't want it to hit Luke as well, so I was forced to activate him first and get him out of the way. This ended up costing me R2 and some damage on Obi, and the RCSL moved away taking the AoO and living. Obi still got to use Repulse though, as Trace moved one of the ERCs adjacent to take away Evade and try for the Cunning Shots. Juno moved up and Disrupted things, and managed to stay alive for a while. I slowly started picking off more and more pieces. In the end, I'd only lost my Caamasi, R2, and the Mouse Droid. Lobo 2-0
Third game was against James. Poor guy, he's still trying to find a squad that he likes and can run well. He decided to try this last night: Vader Unleashed, Boba BH, Lobot (UH), Ozzel, then with Wicket and 4 Ugos for his reinforcements. I tried explaining to him ahead of time that Ozzel isn't always the best choice, and this game showed it. We played on my Bespin map, and I started on the outside. Both of us advanced semi-slowly the first round, neither gaining gambit. 2nd round was more positioning, with both of us getting gambit this round, and I managed to pick off one of his Ugos. Third round, he killed my Mouse Droid, but I killed an Ugo with Rieekan. At the end of the round, I moved out Obi and Juno to kill his Ugo that he had hiding in the turbolift Gambit squares. This is where it got dicey for James. He could only activate one character. He had moved Vader, Boba, and Lobot all up into the conference room near the bottom-center. Since I out-activated him, I locked that door near the end of the round. So even if he won init, he'd have to use his first activation to unlock the door (his Ugo was too far away to blow the door). The following round, I picked off his last Ugo, and now since I vastly out-activated him, there wasn't much he could do. Vader did manage to use Grip 4 to kill Juno at one point, but by then it didn't matter. I used a FP with Luke to move 8 in the last round, pick off Lobot, and move back far enough that the door would close. From there, it was impossible for him to do anything and time was just about up anyways. Lobo 3-0
Final round was against StriderRe80 (Brian), and was the matchup I was hoping for: GOWK. He was running a slight variant, but basically had GOWK, Anakin Jedi, Dash RS, R2, Human BG, 2 Mouse Droids and 4 Ugos. We played on his Rancor pit, and I took the 'good' (pit) side. First round, I made a semi-bone-headed move, and put Rieekan in a spot where a towed Dash could get to him. Of course, Brian had to expose Dash pretty heavily to pull that off as well. At first, I thought it was pretty dumb, but in the end, it ended up being a nice 14 to 37 trade off. He towed Dash out of the rooms on the top right, leaving R2 adjacent, but just outside the door, and Dash had to move 5 squares to get LOS on Rieekan. At first I he'd be able to use the Bodyguard if I shot R2, but then I realized I could simply lock the door that was between R2 and the BG. So, Han took a shot, combining fire with Juno, who was luckily in position to start with, and killed R2. Then Luke took a shot at Dash...rolled a 20! Woot. And big swing for the game, he failed his Evade save. I won init the next round, and Luke used FP4 to finish off Dash nice and easy. After that, he knew he had to come to me, though things skewed pretty far in his favor for a while. Third round, I won init, and had based GOWK and Ani with my Obi, so he used Repulse 3 to send them flying. Here's where it got frustrating though. Luke had virtually no FPs, so he was left picking off Ugs or taking pot shots for a round or two. Han kept shooting at Anakin, but even with Combining Fire and Disruptive, I missed 3 times by only 1 number on the dice. My Obi eventually went down, giving up the Ghost to Luke, who then moved 8 squares and used FP4 on GOWK. Following round I won init, pushed GOWK again, and then Luke had 2 FPs, and tried to run a bit. Brian based Luke with GOWK. It came down to a final initiative, with Luke having only 20 left, based by both GOWK and Anakin. Thankfully for R2's Recon, I won the init, and used FP4 again to finish off GOWK. And then FINALLY Han was able to hit something, and killed Anakin to seal the game. Lobo 4-0
I couldn't believe how that last game went. So many things could've gone differently. I might not have exposed Rieekan. Brian may not have taken the bait (didn't really intend it as bait, but it ended up working that way, which is something I'll have to remember
). I may not have rolled the Crit on Dash, or he might have made his Evade saves. I might not have won that last key initiative, which pretty much would've sealed my fate, leaving GOWK with 10 HP and a decent pool of FPs to probably not allow Han to finish him off. Overall, it was a good game, but I'm not convinced that Rebel squad is an 'easy' answer to GOWK, especially since this wasn't an 'optimized' GOWK build either.Overall though, great night. Lots of fun, and I got a Luke RC from prize support!