First: A
huge thanks to Gerry for coordinating a weekend of festivities and for allowing all of us to bunk at his house. And thanks to the rest of the family for putting up with us.
It was a fun weekend. Minis, X-Wing, Avalon, Cards Against Humanity ... what's not to like? All with great people; some I'd met in person previously and others through Vassal or the forums.
King of the RingThat's an awesome ring. Glad it came back to Wisconsin. Disappointed it's not in my house.
Demagol, Mandalore the Vindicated, Mandalore the Preserver, Boba Fett Merc Comm
Demagol was my MVP in the first round. His Jedi Hunter (yes, there were plenty of Force users), Torture 2 (he, he, he), Virulent Paralyzing Poison (save 16), and Counter Push 2 (yeah, take that you multi-attackers) were pretty effective. Didn't need the rest of my squad. Lord Scourge was very amusing -- he went from squad to squad to squad to squad ... yeah 4 of the 5 players in our ring had him; I was the only one who didn't get him. And TimmerB shifted loyalties just as badly as he betrayed the trust I placed in him as an ally.
Finals
Three of us as Doug couldn't stick around to see how Shawn's backup squad would fare. Darth Bane, Sith'ari vs Vergere with Mandalore the Vindicated a couple squares away as the game started. Bane killed Vergere, Mandalore hurt Bane. Another Darth Bane, Sith'ari joined the fray and Mandalore shot both Bane's dead. The rest of my squad then tried to keep up with the carnage, but all I did was weaken several figures for others to deal the killing blow ... and get the points. Too many rolls of 3 allowed Shawn to snipe enough points to relegate me to third in a close game.
X-WingSoontir with Stealth and PTL, Turr with Stealth, Fel, Backstabber
Round 1
Matt said he hadn't played in a while, but he flew and played just fine. It was an even game as time ran out and I edged him by a few points.
Round 2
Doug flew a B, X, Y, and Hawk. Second turn, he chose the wrong order of same PS ships. Oops. No biggie, though, as we weren't heavy into things. Third turn, he was going to do it again but I let him redo it so he wasn't bumping. Definitely helped him. Although I took out the shields and most of the hull on three ships despite good evade rolling on his part, his shooting down Backstabber by time game him the win. One more turn and I had two easy kills. Doug said he had never seen Interceptors flown that well.
Round 3
Steve came in with Howlrunner, Kir Kanos, and a TIE swarm. 2nd turn, I had Kir in my range 1-2 sights of all four of my ships. Soontir got a good hit, but the Shield Upgrade kept Kir in the game. Kir then evaded Turr's shots. Kir got a crit through and took out Turr's Pilot Ability.
Great. Backstabber whiffed. Fel also whiffed. Okay, that's how the game was going to go. Steve's Howlrunner re-roll ability turn a lot of blanks into hits/crits.
Also, great. Well played by Steve as he earned the win. Even if I'd gotten Kir on the second turn, I don't know if I would have been able to get the swarm.
Round 4
Ciaran and the triple Firesprays. Yikes, that's a lot of shields and hull to get through. I flew in, focused on one, and got it almost dead. Then due to his and my maneuvering, the next one became my target. Again, almost dead due to four on one from the side. A couple mis-dials that we left as is for learning lessons for him but a couple others that I allowed him to redo helped improve his attitude ... especially when he could finally draw a bead on one of my ships (which he shot down). When another Firespray flew in as the other two flew away, I focused on it. Again, almost dead. Time ran out. Grrr. One more turn and I would have had two dead Firesprays as the third had flown away from the fight. Oh, well. Good for him. Good to see him smiling again.
200 Point MinisVader Agent of Evil, Thrawn, Ozzel, Clobot, Cad Bane, filler
Round 1
Gerry and the charging bounty hunters were going to be tough. First initiative, I get an 11 so Lobot brings in an IG86 and a Klat Assassin. I jockey around inside the Nightclub while Gerry comes across the bottom trying to get into a position where the bounty hunters can charge me. I pick off a bunch of his Mouse Droid reinforcements and a couple others along with an Uggie. Time runs out with me in the lead with little that Gerry can do. Except have Asajj Force point move faster and charge Cad. He needs a crit to get him. First roll is a hit. Okay. Second roll is a .... 20. blasted. Gerry jumps for joy. Good for him. Although disappointed in the last second turn of fate, I am happy for him.
Round 2
I see Jack's Atris and Echani Handmaidens squad. This will be tough. Or not. Not to slight Jack, but Thrawn and Cad make the Echanis easier to deal with than expected. Vader doesn't bring in a couple troopers until late in the game to add insult to injury.
Round 3
Totally stomped by TimmerB and his Thrawn/Cad squad. Vader brings in a couple troopers who only delay the game by a couple phases.
Round 4
Luke and his stealth/cloaked death shot Mandos are harder to get as he keeps them in cover as he advances. Clobot brings in a couple Reserves. We exchange some kills. I want Vader to hit a Mandalorian Infiltrator down to 10HP before letting him stand there to use Clobot's Recon to try for more Reserves. Darn; I forgot about Opportunist. Luke pushes forward and gets a couple more kills. I try to hit him back hard against a couple higher HP figs, but can't quite do it as time expires. Close game, but Luke gets it.
Overall
Over the course of four games, Clobot brought in as many Reserves as Vader did with Ozzel bringing in none. Weird.
EpicThe Ganner, Mara Jade Jedi, Saba Sebatyne, new Zam, IG88, IG88 AD, IG88 BH, IG88A, new Evazan, filler
Shawn guaranteed me a week prior that we would be facing all Vong and OR squads. I've never played with The Ganner and thought I'd try him out. And with 500 points, now was the time to be able to play all 4 IG88s. Yes, even the Rebel Storm one. Yeah, really. I figured The Ganner would draw opponents in and the droids would pump out the double/twin/opportunist or assassin shots. Zam could Missile those pesky figs sitting in cover.
Shawn lied; there were no Vong or OR squads. Darn. I wasn't going to see just how strong The Ganner was against Vong.
Round 1
Jack brought Epic Mara, big boy Luke, beefy Kyle, Corran Horn JM, Cade Skywalker, Ganner, old man Han, and others. I was okay with most of that. His melee figures would have to come in to The Ganner and I'd mow him down with IG bullets. While his melee advanced, Han and Kyle went north to flank, and his Ganner and Cade took the southern flank route. Zam missiled Cade. Not wanting Cade to be taken out that way, Jack's Ganner levitated Cade out to get more shots at my figs and took out an Uggie and splashed on a couple figs. Oops. Cade was now more than 6 squares away from the Mouse Droid who gave Mara's stealth to followers. The IGs lit him up. My R7 kept the northern door of the center room locked so Han wasn't a factor. The melee battle ensued. The Ganner fought valiantly and gave out some damage, but couldn't keep up with Mara/Luke/Corran. But the IGs could. They took out Kyle and his Disruptive to get their Twin back. Then they shot down Mara and took out her Synergy with Luke. Now Luke was easier to hit. Took him out. Zam helped take out Han as he came in. Ganner didn't stand a chance.
Round 2
TimmerB and his Epic Mara, big boy Luke, old man Han, Kyle, Jan, etc looked a lot like what I'd just faced yet a lot different. I took an early risk to have Zam Missiles a couple figs. Old man Han's crit made me pay for that. His Mara and my Ganner faced each other in the center. And faced each other. And faced each other. His strategy was to have Mara tie up his opponent's epic figure while the rest of the squads went at it. Interesting. The Ganner wasn't going anywhere anyways, so he may as well have tea with her. The southern hallway was a death trap waiting for me to enter so I wandered up and over to join Mara and The Ganner. With Mara sitting there, the IGs couldn't do anything so they moved towards TimB's squad. Valiant effort, but to no avail. Three turns of Evazan sitting next to The Ganner to heal him if needed before I realized the Doc could Homicidal Surgery his Mara. So I did. Another few times of that and ... never mind. TimB wasn't going to let that happen. He destroyed me.
Round 3
See Jason's write-up above. Wow. I'd never seen someone sacrifice their full health Lord Krayt. Or Zannah. But it was worth it for him as he was able to take out The Ganner and earn that massive 75 points per round gambit to win the points game. But with plenty of time to go, we decided to finish the game. I was able to win the full game by finally shooting up his squad. Yes, he made me chase him down and jockey around to see him. Fun game. When people asked how it went, Jason said we'd both won. It was good to get some revenge on him for the beatdown he gave me at GameHoleCon; even if it was a no-win win.
Overall, it was a great weekend, fun times with great people, and plenty of memories.
And time to start plotting against those guys for the Regional season.