So, first off, I wish the best for either guy that wins tonight. They both are deserving of the title, and have been knocking on the door for many years. Personally, I am hoping and rooting for Palps and Vader. Do I think that this is going to happen? No. Let me tell you why. But before I do that, I wanted to share with you a match-up I had in my 2017 CA Regional championship run.
So, I will set the scene. Interesting enough, in round 2 of swiss, in 2017, my match-up was very similar to this years final. Obviously, the teams were not exactly the same and the players, not as skilled as these 2 gentlemen, but still, I think worthy of mentioning. My squad was the following;
http://www.bloomilk.com/Squad/175508/behind-enemy-lines-2017-ca-regional-championship-winnerMy opponent had the following;
http://www.bloomilk.com/Squad/174840/brandons-playtest-set--14-squadWith reinforcements, I brought in 4 Caamasis. Round 1 we both put TK into gambit. Round 2, I hit Ozzel reserves (6) and brought in 4 Dignitaries. So many diplomats at this point became super annoying for Brandon. Being severely out activated, and having swap, in round 3 or 4, I was able to swap Mara in and put a serious hurt on Vader. I was lucky to win initiative next round, he wasn't able to crit 2 times on his surprise twin attack, then Mara preceded to slay Vader ( Imperial hunter is nasty! ). From there, the rest of my dudes were able to methodically take out Palps and Morrigan, en route to my victory.
So my take on the championship tonight;
Intangibles, in no particular order, although swap is huge!
Les Femmes Fatales Redux
1. Thrawn Swap!
2. The Ozzel effect activation control and Possibility of Reserves
3. Adding Reinforcements, to bring advantages to match
4. Ysalamiri
5. Suppresive Fire
6. Imperial Hunter
7. Bunch of fodder
8. The Governator "I told you, I will be back!"
9. Instant gambit
10. Master Tactician
11. Evade
Palps and Vader
1. Beefy hit points
2. Initiative and Ability to Spend a Crap load of Force Pts
3. Bodyguard
4. Diplomats
5. Battle Ready
6. Force Attuned Armor
7. Speed 8 on Vader
8. Parry
9. Shien Style and evade
10. Force Lightning
11. Surprise Move and Surprise Attack
This will be an outstanding final, but there's 1 squad that I just think that has too many tricks and counters to the other one, that will just make it too difficult to overcome; Ysalamiri to negate the Force powers, Suppresive Fire to overcome Shien Style and evade, and Swap, are 3 huge advantages for TimmerB123!
The winner will be the Imperials!
Hahaha
2018 SWM 200pt Champion Prediction:
--Les Femmes Fatales Redux: O.C.D. (Opportunistic Charging Domination)- Win to TimmerB123!
What a surprise....................................Imperials win again this year
Good luck gentlemen!