The C/S Regional was a great time (minus an incident near the end, but that was relatively minor in the grand scheme of things). I was definitely glad to see some new guys from Wyoming stop in to play some games with us.
As Don said, I played a final variant of Thrawn's Boomstick (as I have dubbed it):
--->Cade BH, Mitth'rawn, Mas, Czerka, RP Trooper, Uggie DD, Gran, RA-7, Caamasi, 3x Uggie Demo; MAP: Chancellor's Starship
I know it appears to be very random, but every piece is in that squad for a distinct reason.
So, here's how my games went:
Game 1: Tim (doesn't post to my knowledge)
Squad ---> Loda, Cade BH, Bespin Guard, Rieekan
I was actually a bit concerned when he put this squad down, as Loda + Cade with Rieekan meant I had no choice but to splash myself and pray I could kill him before he took out Thrawn and the rest of my support. While definitely not a "meta" player, Tim has a fair bit of strategic ability, but he almost only plays "main character" squads.
Anyways, I became very worried when, after swapping my Cade next to his at the end of the third round, I managed to roll 3 straight 1's, resulting in only 60 damage to him (and 20 to me from splash). I rectified that at the beginning of the next round, but by then he had already taken out my Czerka and was heading for Thrawn. Long story short, he took out most of my support before I finished off Loda in the 7th round (at which point he only had 2 Force Points left
).
Game 2: Patrick (Lurks but doesn't post much anymore)
Squad: Loda, Rieekan, Smug Han, 2x MD, 2x Uggie, Doddona, Bothan Noble
I was beginning to seriously question my luck when I saw that I had to face another Rieekan/Loda squad, as I thought it could pretty easily be my undoing. As it turned out, this was one of the wackiest games I have ever played. In the third round, I started with Cade basing Loda and pulled off a quad, dealing a total of 60 damage and activating him, which left him at 20 hp and 0 Force Points (after he spent 4 that round). Unfortunately, Cade soon dropped to 20 hp when the Noble gave Loda an activation. I did 10 damage to Loda with a twin from Thrawn, then missed the kill attack. Han moved to the only place where he could get a shot at Cade, but it cost him 2 AoO's... 3 attacks total with a crit to kill Han before he could attack. cade then died to a crit from Rieekan, leaving both of us with only support, but I hit 25 gambit points to seal it (Rieekan + Dodonna).
Game 3: Eric Widiger (doesn't post to my knowledge)
Squad: Mitth'rawn, Arica, Vader Unl, Ozzel, Uggie, Kel-Dor, ??
Eric pulled out a squad that totally surprised me (and caused huge problems). I killed his KDBH to start the second round, but everything went downhill from there. 2 crucial inits, one to kill Arica and one to kill Vader and possibly Thrawn while risking Cade, were lost, and I had no chance. Eric played a great game, and he also beat me for the first time in about 2 years
.
Game 4: Stefan (also doesn't post TMK)
Squad: Tsavong Lah, Nom, Lobot CLO, MD, AAO, Adv Scout x4
Another surprising squad, as I thought I was the only one who would gamble on running Vong. Unfortunately for him, Cade is a monster against Lah when I have jolt + Opportunist, and I also brought an SS counter. I ended the game with only Thrawn left, but I had also played fast and loose with Cade the whole game, so that wasn't surprising.
Game 5: Shawn (DarthLuna, or something to that effect)
Squad: VAR, Yoda of D, Luke HPU, Rieekan, R2 (RS), 5x Uggie Demo
This was my moral victory for the night, as it not only catapulted me into the top 4, but also put me as the only person to beat Shawn. It was really a very short game, as I killed both Luke and VAR without trouble. His lack of Dodonna sealed that game for him.
Game 6: Don (top-4 elimination)
I was worn out from the previous 5 games at this point, and I made a lot of dumb mistakes. I really don't know how else to describe it, except frustrating when I hit 2/8 attacks needing 11's on his JWM. While I had already messed up in both my positioning and my early moves, that just sealed the deal for me.
Overall, it was a great time. I was really glad to see Eric finish in the top 4, as he has been improving for a long time, and this was probably the first time he really built a squad that fit his playstyle. It was also a big testament to how much C/S has improved that the top 4 were all from our venue (even with some stiff competition from elsewhere).
As for my squad, I still like it, but mostly as a counter to the counters, and not an anti-GOWK squad. I realized that it's simply way too fragile.. the concept works much better at 200. Eventually I'll put up a list of alternative squads that I think could have taken the tourney (pretty short list).
As for GOWK, I'm leaning away from banhammer now. In some ways he limits the meta, but in other ways he opens it up to squad paradigms that have not seen the light of day in a long time, at least at our venue.