You don’t know how hard I found it, signing the order to terminate your life
I’ve been playing variations of the 186th Special/Fangaroo since last September but with the release of FAQ 4.3.2 I’m wondering if it’s maybe time to hang up the fangs.
Whilst playing Luke Townsend at the Daventry Regional, we came up with an idea of a (somewhat) combined blog post where we would each explore how we might be affected by the new FAQ. You can find Luke’s blog here.
In FFG’s article Bringing Balance to the Force where they justify the changes, they state
certain ways of using Manaroo have provided too much reward with too little risk
With that in mind, as of March 17th, Manaroo’s card will now read:
“At the start of the Combat phase, you may assign all focus, evade, and target lock tokens assigned to you to another friendly ship at Range 1.”
Why the change?
I remember meeting Alex Davy at a tournament at Warboar last Summer and I asked him specifically if Dengaroo was a problem that they (the powers that be at FFG, you know, Derek Fantasy and David Flight) were considering doing something about, he told me:
‘We always intended it to have synergy…it’s not easy to fly…we are going to have to keep an eye on it’
Well, let’s look at the last four tournaments I played at as a sample of Manaroo’s reach:
- Exeter Regional Roo was in 4 of the top 8 lists (with 5 jumpmasters in the top 8 total) — Parattanni was the winning list here
- Warboar Regional Roo was in 4 of the top 8 lists — Ketsu/Bossk was the winning list here
- Yavin System Open Roo was in 6 of the top 8 lists — Parattanni was the winning list here
- Daventry Regional Roo was in 6 of the top 8 lists — Commonwealth Defenders was the winning list here
So, out of four major tournaments in one month, Roo was in 20 out of 32 top lists. That seems quite staggering.
Will the change have any effect?
Within Mindlink based lists, Roo generates focus tokens, often moving first at PS4 and then she is able to pass on a target lock and all other tokens wherever they are needed. She’s the support ship that at one stage helped to coin the term Scump Aces. Let’s say you put K4 Security droid in the mix, then Roo gets a target lock for the green manoeuvre and a focus token. If you have Fenn in your list and he just so happens to be at range one of an enemy ship, passing the lock increases his expected hits of five red dice from 3.75 (5 attack dice with a focus) to 4.69 (5 attack dice with a focus and target lock).
So how will the changes affect me?
Here’s the list I took to the Regional Tournament at Daventry
Why Fangaroo for me?
Quite frankly, I love the synergy between Teroch and Fenn. When I picked up this list, my local meta was very Defender heavy and it had pushed my beloved A-Wings aside. Teroch offered me a chance to joust a Defender at a time, deleting their tokens and allowing a double attack from the fangs.
The evolution of a list
Tom and I had been practising alongside Alex Birt one evening towards the end of last Summer and we had been talking about how strong Attanni Mindlink was as an upgrade. I had just used it at the Defend Alderaan tournament with Manaroo, Palob, N’Dru and a Binayre Pirate and gone two and two for the day. Fenn was yet to be released, but I already had my eye on dropping the Headhunters for him. Palob’s shenanigans of stealing a token were fun, but he seemed quite fragile. Teroch’s similar ability and three AGI, along with Autothrusters seemed like a no-brainer. Why wouldn’t you trade Palob for Teroch?
Then Mindlink exploded. Ben Lee took a 96 point Old Fangaroo to the top 8 at Worlds’. Parattanni emerged winning Regionals tournaments shortly before Christmas.
Pete Wood went undefeated in the first day at Yavin with a 98 point Fangaroo list and then made it into the top 8 cut. Luke Townsend took a bumpmaster Fangaroo variant to the top 4 at Yavin.
Over the last month, my worst match-ups have been Deci/Gunner/Vader/Hotshot Co-Pilot and an Ace; Bombing K-Wings and Party Bossk (Zuckass, Dengar and 4-Lom crew).
The Decimator isn’t going anywhere. I don’t think the erratta to Zuckass (When attacking, if you are not stressed, you may receive any number of stress tokens to choose an equal number of defense dice. The defender must reroll those dice) will kill the Party Bossk, but I do think it will mean that it will disappear for a bit and the better Bossk flyers will become more disciplined, dropping 4-Lom for Inspiring Recruit or maybe Zuckass for Hotshot Co-Pilot.
What is the future of K-Wings? Should I worry about them?
Whilst K-wings are still trading hands for silly money (there are two trying to sell on Ebay for £52.00 right now), I’m not sure they will stay around for long.
Seb Brady won the Beanie Games Regional with Quad Scum TLTs, was this an indicator of things to come? Going by the Daventry Regional and a Q1 tournament based at Brighton’s Dice Saloon held the Sunday after the FAQ came into play, it seems TLTs are on the rise. Whilst the K-Wing is a good caddy for this upgrade, it doesn’t withstand to the ticking clock of the two hits per round so well, especially not if you’re taking more than one TLT carrier in a list.
The Tatooine System Open in Madrid would seem to support the increase of TLTs and, perhaps, a creep of stresshogs. The TLT card was used in six times in the eight lists, with R3-A2 appearing twice (there was also a Parattanni that came 9th in Swiss).
But if K-Wings are everywhere, why do I think they might disappear again?
Even after the second nerf to the Jumpmaster, they are still incredibly cost efficient (if we’re honest, perhaps undercosted).
The top eight lists from both Tatooine and Naboo show that the Jumpmaster is not going away anytime soon.
Tatooine eight Jumpmasters in the top eight, with two lists being Mindlinked triple Scouts.
Naboo four Jumpmasters here, with one list being a bumpmaster variant of Fangaroo.
Will I stick with Fangaroo?
Not for now. I need a break. The risks are high and the FAQ has given me an excuse to look for other Scum builds. No longer will I be looking to build a list and think — what goes well with Roo?
What will I miss most?
Teroch being able to delete tokens. There was a point in my fifth game at Exeter when I flew Roo off of the board in round two — the consequence was that I then used the two fangs to wipe out two defenders and Carnor — my alternatives: taking Palob or building a slot for 4-Lom crew somewhere.
House of (upgrade) Cards
I’ve been considering whether I might go for TLTs myself and how might I envision that? Riddle me this: will TLT still be a thing if Autothruster aces re-emerge? I like to imagine a sort of food-web like diagram: TLTs eat Defenders (it could happen); Autothrusters kill TLTs; Vader and Kylo Ren crew kill aces; swarms kill those big ships carrying the crew; aces rise again to shoot first; alpha strikes eat aces…
Paul Heaver’s recent victory at the Naboo Open with Miranda, Biggs and stresshog may, in fact, beg the question is the stress mechanic back?
With TLTs and stress in abundance in this brave new meta, where do I go from here? I haven’t even begun to mention how riling the double attack Ghost is. One word: Autothrusters. I’d be silly to plump for a ship (or ships) that wouldn’t be able to cope with all this double attack dice business.
The Autoblaster Turret seems a good way to avoid the Autothrusters being a problem.
I have my eye on a few possible lists for now:
Y-Not?
100 points
I took this to the side event at Daventry and went two and two with it. I built it in response to what I perceived then as a stress heavy meta with lots of TLTs. I hadn’t flown the list before and made a silly mistake in my final game.
Pros you would be surprised how long Palob stays alive; the combination of the mobile firing-arc and Burnout Slam have proved a good counter to Rey in a Falcon (outrunning her and then avoiding her arc); any excuse to use my painted Hwk; using obstacles to protect Palob and then enhance the TLT with Trick Shot is ace; even if you’re not using Palob’s ability, it’s a strong enough deterant that it influences your opponent’s play; Ketsu’s tractor beam shenanigans can be really fun.
Cons I’m unsure I like playing with two TLTs; will TLTs stay around for long? (see my exploration on the balance of upgrade cards above); the limited dials of the Hwk and Y-Wing; PTL on Ketsu can be really tough because of the speed of the Shadow Caster; Palob can be an excellent blocker but the TLT won’t always work with this play style.
Palob’s Payload
99 Points
Pros Ketsu’s PS7 goes above Asajj’s Ps6; Palob can still influence play; the stress mechanic of Tactician could synergise well with the Shadow Caster title; taking the Autoblaster Turret on Palob frees up some space for upgrades on Ketsu; Palob can be used as a blocker and still potentially get to fire at other ships in Range one; Fenn hits like a truck.
Cons the prevalent Shadow Caster build of Asajj and Latts crew makes the ship tanky and durable, this build doesn’t have that; not a very big initiative bid; repositioning the firing-arc could well cost an action; I might waste my time tying to make Ketsu’s ability work.
Rau, Rau, Rau Your Boat(s)
99Points
John Grasser took a similar list to the final of the Naboo System Open (his list was (Fenn Rau Mindlink + AT + title; Contracted Scout Mindlink + R4 Agromech + Plasma Torpedoes + EM + GC + 4-LOM; Contracted Scout Mindlink + R4 Agromech + Plasma Torpedoes + EM + GC).
Pros this is much more robust against K-Wings and bombs; Boba-Fett crew is good way to combat Kylo rem crew (or any other annoying upgrade).
Cons the list relies on setting up a near perfect initial engagment with Scout One using the plasmas to knock off shileds and Scout Two using the Protons to activate Boba Fett -if this fails and your dice fluff, you’re stuffed; once the torps are spent you essentially have two really big A-Wings; 4-Lom is good for denying the spending of a token but the risk is fairly high.
Alternatively, you could drop the Plasma carrying Scout for a well protected Bumpmaster and this would still be 99 points.
One other list that I really like the look of is Oli Pocknell’s Old Fentress
100Points
This still allows for the tankiness of Asajj with Latts crew, whilst also giving you the synergy of the two fang fighters. One major disadvantage is that you are torn between a difficult choice of dropping Autothrusters on one ship or losing the Concord Dawn title on both. I think Oli’s choice of keeping the Autothrusters on both ships is the correct one.
Travelling through Hyperspace aint like dusting crops, farm boy
I actually really like all of the FAQ changes. It’s a good attempt at a re-set that tackles some of the bogey-man lists.
Between now and Store Championships, there’s definitely time for the meta to settle and some fun lists.
