Reap what you sow
So, its the end of X wing 1.0, just over a month to go until 2.0, and while I fully expected to be focusing on 2.0, the TIE Reaper has been keeping me interested.
I’ve attended five store championships so far, flying Rebels in the first three, finishing top 10 once with 100 point Norra. I’ve been flying variations of stress wookie lists too, but I miss movement shenanigans.
Last weekend I had booked Sunday off to attend the Dice Saloon SC. Chaos cards was on the Saturday and getting the weekend off plus a work bonus enabled me to attend both, flying a rather different list to the slow and dependable wookies.
Soontir & the Boogeymen (97)
Scarif Base Pilot — TIE Reaper 22
Tactical Officer 2
Intelligence Agent 1
Lightweight Frame 2
Advanced Ailerons 0
Ship Total: 27
Major Vermeil — TIE Reaper 26
Veteran Instincts 1
Director Krennic 5
ISB Slicer 2
Lightweight Frame 2
Advanced Ailerons 0
Ship Total: 36
Soontir Fel — TIE Interceptor 27
Push the Limit 3
Autothrusters 2
Targeting Computer 2
Royal Guard TIE 0
Ship Total: 34
100 point Norra taught me how effective coordinate can be, so I thought I’d try it alongside an optimised Soontir and the rather standard Vermeil build (standard because it’s just horrible).
Saturday was Chaos Cards down in Folkstone and it was hot and sticky. I didn’t take any pictures apart from “the blast from the past” Cadan round one.
Round one, Cadan flying Carnor, Soontir and Vermeil at 98 points.
Mistakes were made on both sides during this game and eventually, with five minutes left, it was my Soontir vs Cadan’s Carnor. Both were worth 34 points, however my 3 point bid meant I had killed 1 more point then Cadan, scoring me the victory Win (64–63).
Round two, Mark flying Nym, Unkar and Dalen (Kimogila). I managed to jump Soontir into range one of Nym, setting him up for death. Dalen soon followed, leaving Unkar to pop next. Win (100–0)
Round three, Stuart flying Jake, Tycho and Gemmer. Poor Vermeil did nothing then ate 2 Prockets and died the same turn I killed Jake. Then nothing died for the next hour. loss (33–36)
Round four, Pete flying Ezra, AP-5, Lowhhrick and Jess. First engagement sucked, dealing only one shield of damage to Ezra (via the optimised condition!). My ships then got stressed and died. I managed to kill Ezra eventually but then got blown away. Loss (22–100)
Round five, Michael flying Nym, Keyan and Porkins. I managed to trade Soontir for Keyan and Nym, but both Reapers were limping. Finally managed to deal with Porkins after much use of Jam and evade actions. Win (100–34)
I went 3–2 and finished 7th out of 22, not too bad for my first store champs with this list.
As mentioned above, Sunday was Dice Saloon down in Brighton, it was still rather hot. Saturday night had seen Duncan Howard win Gencon with Soontir and 2 PS1 reapers (palp and Krennic), which led to a few people asking me if I was flying his list…sigh.
Round one, Chris flying Vader, Inquisitor and Vermeil. I flew Soontir super aggressive and forced his Inquisitor to run away, letting me pounce on Vermeil and then Inquisitor, Vader danced with me for a while before I took him out. Win (100–0).
Round two, Richard flying Kanan and Fenn (with Zeb in the attack shuttle). Poor target priority saw me waste a turn shooting at Fenn, while Kanan killed Vermeil in 2 turns thanks to his accuracy corrector TLT. Soontir and the PS1 took down the ghost and Zeb and eventually Fenn, though Fenn just managed to down the PS1. Win (100–63)
Round three, fellow 186th Tom T flying Chewie and Poe. I managed to get the drop on Chewie with Soontir and Vermeil, taking him out for some damage on my reapers. Poe took longer for me to pin down then either one of us thought but I eventually downed him. Win (100–0) (Tom’s blog here)
Round four, Julian flying Inquisitor, Vermeil and Yorr with Palp. I made a crucial error and bumped Vermeil on the first engagement, leaving him bleeding, and a last ditch attempt by him to kill Yorr was met by blinded pilot, then all my ships eventually exploded. Loss (16–100).
Round five, Denny flying Vader, Quickdraw and a Rho. I’ve had issues with this alpha strike list before, and much like the previous loss I messed up on the first engagement and took a game changing crit (Damaged Engine on Soontir), I eventually managed to kill the Rho with Soontir, but his friends had died and he soon followed. Loss (28–100)
So I had gone 3–2 again, only this time I finished 9th. I really enjoy the tricks of this list, coordinating Soontir is hilariously good fun, but it feels way more balanced at PS1 then at PS11 (on rebel Fenn). Jam is just horrid, Krennic is broken, and Advanced Ailerons still surprises me sometimes.
I love this list and feel it can handle most things out there if flown well (and with just the right amount of luck). I have two more Store Champs coming up, then only a short while until 2.0 comes out and I will have too many lists to fly with my limited time!
