Breaking The Habit: Hanover System Open
Today I'm going to break down my time at the Hanover system open. I’ve only managed to make it to one of these fantastic events this year and I would thoroughly recommend it. Fantasy Flight has billed these events as not only a massive, high level tournament. But also a brilliant introduction to the tournament side of the game for all you newbies out there.
If you’ve never been to the Open Series before, there is so many other things going on than just the main event. Hangar bay style side events, which gives you a chance to fly multiple different lists in the same tournament. Or the Hyperspace Qualifier that runs alongside the premier event on Sunday and allows you another chance to make it all the way to Coruscant (the system open finals).
The List: I’ll show YOU the dark side
For this event I decided to make my first serious foray into the imperial faction. After so long trying to get Jake Farrel to work in the present environment I moved on to what could be best referred to ‘Jake on steroids’. The big bad, (slightly moody) Kylo Ren.
The next step was finding a wingman and ‘Quckdraw’ in the Tie SF Fighter fits the bill very nicely. The SF itself operates much like a B wing, which I'm quite familiar with but the lady herself packs some serious punch. When paired with expertise and a fire control system, it is not unusual to expect 8 hits out of 8 dice from a range 1 double tap. Enough to make a dent in anything.
Kylo is an expensive (and broad) beast weighing in at 45 points in this version. That doesn’t leave much space for anything else once a 37 point Quickdraw is added into the equation. I decided to round off the list with a simple PS 1 Epsilon Tie. He fits nicely with the theme of the list and more importantly has one more health than your bog standard tie fighter. It’s really nice having a blocker in the list and he turns out to be surprisingly useful, especially for stopping Wookie Gunships getting that pesky reinforce token.
Of key importance is the amount of points Kylo takes up in the list. For those of you that pay attention to the bogeymen in the present competitive environment then you will be well aware of the ghost with Ezra and Maul. It just so happens that In the standard list, Fenn Rau in his Sheathipede shuttle and half points on the ghost come to 54 points. Quickdraw and the Epsilon pilot are 52. That means that if you have an endgame of Kylo vs a half health Ghost. You win by 2 points.
It is small margins like this that can make the difference in X-Wing and you should always bear in mind the environment that you are taking a list into. Are there any changes that you can make to give yourself an easier day?
Round 1: All Pilots Report To Your Ships
Opponent: Mariusz Zawer (Miranda Poe)
Mariusz was a very friendly chap, hailing from Poland and now living in Germany. Unfortunately for me he had something which my list did NOT want to see. PS 11 regenerating Poe.
I also made the mistake of miscounting the points of his list at the start of the game, thinking that his Miranda was only 52 and meaning a Kylo vs Poe endgame would come down to a final salvo. This put pressure on myself that didn’t need to be there and may have caused me to make some mistakes in the game that I didn’t need to.
It was a fast engagement, with Poe and Miranda screaming down the flank. Quickdraw and the Epsilon hung back to get good shots onto Miranda, stripping her of shields. The Epsilon took a boosted harpoon to the face in return (and duly exploded) as the K-Wing hunted Kylo through the asteroids. Waiting for an opportunity to drop Cluster Mines all over his hopes and dreams.
It was looking good for the imperials as Quickdraw, hungry for revenge, was bearing down on the back of Miranda. With a focus and Target lock on her and only 4 hull remaining it seemed to be goodnight for the K-Wing. Unfortunately, Poe had other ideas as he rolled into Range 1 of the Tie fighter. Taking all three shields in one go and giving her a blinded pilot crit to remove any chances of a double tap to kill Miranda. Things then went from bad to worse as the K-Wing managed to fly out of the hail of laser fire with 2 hull remaining and succeeded in ending Kylo’s game with a perfect cluster mine drop.
At this point, I had a 2 hull Quickdraw against R2-D2 Poe and half an hour left on the clock. I’m not really sure what happened here, but Quickdraw managed the impossible. Engaging beast mode the plucky Tie Ace decided that today was not the day to die and managed to finish Poe, Regen bot and all. Scratch up one win for the empire!
Round 2: Attack of the clones
Opponent: Karol Pietrowicz (RACLO Inquisitor)
As round two was announced, I checked to see who my opponent was and my heart sank. I was hoping to avoid playing anyone I knew until later in the tournament and Karol was a formidable opponent indeed, captaining the Polish ETC team last year. He also has flown the Decimator more times than most people have had hot dinners, so this was going to be a tough game.
From the get go it was clear that Karol intended to neuter Quickdraw as soon as possible, using his pilot skill advantage and speed to get away from the PS 9 Kylo in the late game. The initial engage went fairly well for me but his deci was able to sneak a blinded onto QD to reduce incoming firepower.
In X-Wing, games can be won or lost based on a single decision. In this case, Karol decided to boost his Decimator towards the edge of the board. Not normally a problem, until next turn my Kylo decided to plonk himself directly in the way of where the Decimator needed to be, and unceremoniously forced it off the board. While this may have seemed like a stupid decision, it was touch and go whether Kylo would manage the block. By leaving the Decimator where it was, Karol would have taken two range one shots on an already damaged ship. Chancing the boost allowed him a turns grace but in the end the result was the same. At that point, the game was won and we shook hands, as no amount of good flying was going to allow the inquisitor to win against all three of my ships.
A lucky break, but I'll take it. 2 wins at this point meant that I was definitely going to be playing in the second stage of swiss!
Game 3: Here come the bombs…
Opponent: Sebastian Gepp (Nym and Sol)
My first German of the day! Arriving at the table, I saw two Scrrgs beautifully painted but no opponent. It turned out they belonged to Sebastian who was incredibly cheery. He then proceeded to blow me away with the synergy in his list. (I believe Mr Paraszczak himself is responsible for this beastie.) Debris gambit and scum Nym’s ability, combined with Sol’s penchant for chucking clusters out the side of his ship makes for a surprisingly tanky pair of 1 agility ships. Oh and did I mention the incredibly consistent TLT? Ouch!
After some jockeying for position and Sebastian laying down some cluster mines for cover, I managed to get my little Epsilon pilot into blocking position. Successfully guessing Sol’s manoeuvre and not catching a bomb to the face, he slowed down the Scrggs and stopped them from taking evade actions. Quickdraw and Kylo swiftly went to work on Sol, murdering him in two turns. Turns out the 15 point blocker is pretty useful!
After this, it was a case of Kylo chasing down Nym, while Quickdraw decided the best way to chase Nym was through every single bomb token… He somehow managed to survive the game leaving me with my second 100–0 of the day. Although the scoreline did not reflect the game, well played Seb.
Round 4: Kamehameha!
Opponent: Adam Gerwatowski (Miranda Dash)
Onto the second stage, now we get serious. With a 3–0 record I knew that I would now be hitting the most experienced players at the event. As I arrived at my table I found no opponent but one of the streamers ran over and asked if I minded going on camera. The guys from X wing SHG were running a great stream, as was Simon Green and First Earth. Both fantastic streaming channels that you should totally check out!
Going into this game I was pretty happy with the matchup. Kylo loves eating big turrets and there was no HLC on dash to really push damage onto him. The mangler cannon would mean that I couldn’t completely dodge return fire but with auto-thrusters to keep me safe It should be fine.
Instead of me describing the game, you can watch it here. A good game but it was turned by two moments that happened in the same turn. The first was Miranda turning down the board away from my ships. Adam sensed a threat to her, and to be fair to him, all three of my ships could have ganged up on her in that turn. But by disengaging and relying on the TLT, Adam gave up a fully modified harpoon into Quickdraw, which could have swung the game.
The second was Quickdraw deciding to take no damage that turn, due to some pretty filthy green dice. This meant that Adam had spent all his consumables and gained nothing. Sure I hadn’t damaged Dash at all, but he had certainly lost something.
In the end, another 100–0 win. One more and I would be in the cut!
Round 5: X-Wing in a country far far away…
Opponent: Misha Mikheev (Fenn Miranda Low)
As you can see from the link just above, Misha has his own Channel where he talks about his X-Wing adventures. He is also the first Russain that I have every played and a really friendly guy. I’ve seen him at some events before (I think at the Belgian nationals) and he takes a little 5 second clip after every important turn to put in his videos. After a general chat about how it sucks that Organised Play doesn’t exist in Russia, we got down to business.
Fenn pulled off a juicy flank manoeuvre, catching Fenn in range and threatening to put a crit on him. Lowrhick jumped to the rescue spending selflessness which was a major advantage in the joust to come. The Epsilon then continued to be annoyance number one and made a mess of things, QD coming in hot on his heels and target locking Fenn Rau. Combined firepower paid off and I traded Fenn for two shields on Quickdraw. The game then went downhill for Misha as Kylo proceeded to pick apart the two remaining ships and secure the victory. Quickdraw being dragged down by Miranda in the process.
This game is a really good example of why I have Epsilon in the list instead of a higher pilot skill ship such as Epsilon Ace. Against a list that relies on flying in formation, he can disrupt actions and prevent the PS 11 shenanigans or reinforce tokens that are so important to many rebel lists.
Thanks for the game Misha and I hope to see you at another event soon!
Round 6: Revenge of the Sith
Opponent: Kettch (Kylo Palp Countdown)
Here we go, a proper Kylo showdown. Both myself and Kettch were now on 5 wins and the pressure was off. It just so happened that he was picked to be streamed for the final round so I got another go! You can see the video here.
It was a very good game but also a good example of why initiative is so important in a Kylo vs Kylo match-up. Kettch flew his Silencer with some serious skill, but I was able to shut him down as I could adapt my moves to where he ended up by using advanced sensors.
He also ended up making top 16 on the second day, only to be knocked out by my round 5 opponent Misha. It was good to have a game with the pressure off, knowing we had both made it through to day 2.
As the dust Settled on Day 1 of the German System open, I had managed to go 6–0 and claimed the number 1 spot! I was super super happy with that, and even more so when you consider that of the six that went undefeated on day 1, at least three of us (Damien, Krzysztof and myself) had done it without a turret or Large ship in sight! Not bad for a Tiny European Meta.
Day 2: Old habits die hard
Opponent: Roger Jeske (Rey Lowrhick)
So here we are, Day 2. Top 32 cut. I was allowed a lie in after being in the top percentage of players on day 1 and didn’t have to play the first knockout game.
Many of you reading this, or those of you that have listened to the 186th Squadron podcast recently are probably aware of my record in cuts. I have a bad habit of losing my first game and it has happened almost every time I’ve made one in the last year.
Seeing Roger’s list, I was feeling good about this one. Lowrhick with Tactician is annoying but my ships can get around it. Once the Wookie goes down, it’s a simple matter of chewing Rey slowly and surely, using Kylo’s greater mobility and auto-thrusters. Once she is at half health, Kylo is never seen again and I win on points.
With this set of parameters in mind I set up my ships. Quickdraw ended up in a joust with Rey and Lowrhick, the Epsilon and Kylo flanking the Falcon on either side. Kylo and Quickdraw open up with a withering hail of fire. putting the wookie on 5 hull and -1 agility. Rey then returns, taking all three shields of Quickdraw in a single shot, and giving him a blinded pilot crit, preventing the revenge shot.
The Epsilon does his duty, blocking the Wookie and making sure that he can’t escape as Kylo finishes him off. Rey pummels the little tie fighter who survives much longer that he has any right to before finally going down. Quickdraw follows him but not before taking Rey into her hull. A single point of damage more puts Rey onto half and Kylo trades this for a single shield in return.
Win condition achieved… 40 minutes left on the clock.
At this point I have to make a decision. Rey is on 6 hull Kylo is on 5. She has both c3p0 and an evade every turn to mitigate two damage but no engine upgrade to chase me. However, dice are dice. There is a chance that even with a focus and auto-thrusters I can be caught in arc and killed by the lower PS ship. So do I run the gauntlet for 40 minutes? or try to confirm the kill?
I let the falcon chase me for a few turns, allowing me to get some good positioning. Then Roger, knowing he had to come at me to win, flew Rey straight over an asteroid to get me, taking a damage. I decided to go in for a range 1 shot on his falcon. Not risking the focus token I did one damage for one in return. Both ships ending on 4 health.
Kylo was at this point stressed and needs his focus back, so he bugs out and sits happily at range 2. Unfortunately for me Roger sneaks a crit through my defences. Damaged sensor array. No more actions for Kylo.
Normally this wouldn’t be a problem. Fly away for a couple of turns, flip the crit, survive, win the game. However, seven turns later I still hadn’t rolled a hit result and Roger took full advantage of this to burn my action less Kylo to the ground. With two minutes left of the clock I had somehow managed to lose my first round in the cut.
Again…
Is Hindsight 20:20?
Without bemoaning dice, I don’t think I made a mistake in this last game. Sometimes it’s just not your day. After the game, I ignored Han Solo’s words of wisdom and worked out the probability of that particular sequence of events happening. I was curious to see if I had made the correct decision to try and shoot Rey or if I should have kept running.
Like all things in X-Wing you can never decide things on numbers alone, there is the board state and many other factors to take into account but the fact remains that if I was put in the same situation again, I would make the same call. It is much more dangerous to leave Rey alive with the chance to kill you every turn, than it is to take a couple of turns of shooting to remove her from the board.
But enough moping about. While I didn’t quite kick the habit, I did have a great time. All of my opponents over the weekend were fantastically friendly and I thoroughly enjoyed my first visit to Germany. Good beer good company and most importantly good friends. Thanks to Seb Brady, Jack Mooney, Andy Cameron and both Hemmings Bros for making the trip with me. Especially to Andy Brazier as he had to share a hotel with me all weekend (poor Sod).
Once again, anyone who is considering going to a tournament and is not sure about whether or not to have a go. Follow Nike’s example and just do it. You have nothing to lose and so much to gain. Especially lifelong friends and to steal a truism from Rasta and the Warlords. Pretty much Family.
Until next time all, Fly Casual
Oli
