My day was not an easy road to victory, as it was filled with Regional champions, hall-of-famers, and really tough players I'd never met before. I think there might have been a few rookies at the tournament, but I didn't face any of them.

My squad:

--Stealth 'n Blue--
54 Cad Bane
32 Thrawn (Mitth'raw'nuruodo)
31 Arica
27 Lobot
12 Gha Nachkt
11 Admiral Ozzel
8 Mas Amedda
7 R7 Astromech Droid
6 Mouse Droid x3
6 Rodian Brute x2
6 Ugnaught Demolitionist x2

(200pts. 15 activations)

We started off the day getting paired up and then switched (as Les said above). I was first paired with Jason Kiernan and his Michigan Regional championship double pawned lancer squad. I knew if I were going to win this tournament, I was going to have to go through this squad. We rolled for map and he won, choosing Rancor Pit. But - then we realized pairings were incorrect and we were all switched. I breathed a small sigh of relief - until I found out I was matched against Hall-of-Famer Jason Alvey. Great, it was just not meant to be for me to have an easy match. Before Jason K and I parted ways - I did make him the offer that if we got paired up later - we could keep the map roll (out of fairness) if he wanted - it was up to him. He said he accepted and would remember that. More on that later.

Round 1
vs
Jason Alvey

Han Smuggler
Princess Leia
Luke Snowspeeder
Gen Dodonna
Gen Rieekan
Crix Madine
ERC
Bothan Noble
Camasi Noble
Lobot
Mouse

My reinforcements: Amanin Scout, Gran Raider, Rodian Brute

Well anyone that knows Jason, knows he is a top notch player, but also a super good guy. It was a pleasure playing him, and in a way it helped me out for the rest of the day. I call this "the game I should have lost". Had Jason's horrible Han Smuggler rolls been different, I probably would have lost. No disrespect to my later opponents, but I feel like I was in control of the outcome of the other games, and won them do to squad building and gameplay. Dice played a major roll in this outcome. We played on the Throne room, and Jason was on the right and I was on the left. I struggle against Rebels with their evade and disruptive - since I rely heavily on my CE (swap and opportunist) and my main damage dealers are non-melee. Jason came out of his room with the Snowspeeder at the end of the first round, and so I had to make my move right away. Since it has 90 hit points and damage reduction, Cad can only do 80. I swapped him in and threw 80 on him, knowing I would need to use Cad again at the start of the round to finish him off. I did just that and got as far away as I could with Cad, but of course it was not far enough for Han's accurate and 12 square Leia strike. I should have played safe and just swapped him out, but I stupidly didn't, and lucked out when Jason missed 2 times with Han. Jason played really smart, keeping most of his squad in the disruptive field. I then thought I saw my chance to kill Han, and went for it. I swapped in Arica outside the bubble and then based him to put on . . . oh yeah, disruptive - only 20 hp. Shoot - I couldn't kill Han! I had to run for my life after that. I took the AoO to simply run away after init. I had to scramble for a bit and wait for another shot. The next time I had it set up right. Swapped in Arica outside the bubble, based him for 20 damage, and he had 30 left. Init away from killing Han. The dice rolling pendulum swung hard and as I am sure you guessed - I rolled a 1! So instead of Han dying and me being left to face a squad full of cheap commanders, Arica dies and Han is still alive! Painful! So now I am really scrambling. I am able to finish off Han, and I start to try and work on the commanders when time is called. Lucky 2 pt victory for me.

Round 2
vs
Brad Phillips

Yobuck
Plo, JM
Cpt. Rex
Cpt, Panaka
Lobot
R2 AM
Mass
R. Brute x3

My reinforcements: R7 and Amanin Scout

We played on the Throne Room - His squad on the right, mine on the left. Brad is also a very good player as well as a super guy, but this was a bad squad match-up for him. He brought 2 R7s to have quad override, which had me worried a bit. He set up his whole squad in the big top room, and so I knew what I had to do. He did a gallop on me, killing some scrubs and swapped out, but end of round 1 opened his door, I rolled in with the Amanin, and swapped in Arica for the blaster barrage. I killed all of his override in on turn, and I knew I was in control form there. After that it was just a matter of swap, pop and lock. Systematically isolating his figures and killing them. Brad was a good sport about it, but I know from playing him before that this was simply due to squad match-up. 3 point win for me.

Round 3
vs
Taylor Vickerman

Luke Snowspeeder
Han Smuggler
Princess Leia
Bothan Noble
Crix
Rieekan
Dodonna
ERC x2
Camasi naoble
Mouse X2
Ugy X3

My reinforcements: R7 and Amanin Scout

We both had Throne room, and I won roll (which means I lost really). He took the left, which was fine with me. Taylor is a tough player. He played very calculated. He went a little too far with the Snowspeeder, and I was able to take him out. If memory serves we finished 5 rounds. Memory is fuzzy, but I think I learned from mistakes vs Jason Alvey and only took the safe kills, and didn't over-extend myself. I simply responded to what he gave me, and I think he had a hard time knowing what to do. He often sat analyzing the situation, but it was no problem for me since I was in the lead. 2 pt victory for me.

Round 4
vs
Jason Kiernan

GGDAC
Darth Sidous
Gha nacht
Lancer x2
IG86
mouse x 8
ugy

My reinforcements: R7 and Amanin Scout

What I thought was going to be my first match ended up happening here. As per my promise - we played on his map. I of course started on the left side with all the rooms, he started off in the pen. I had thought about this specific match-up before I came, and how I would handle it. Then I had to see if my plan worked. My plan was lock the door on turn one (I learned from Jonny B and Eric L's mistakes) and keep a mouse outside the locked room in a safe, nook that could not be strafed. I then waited to out-activate unlocked the door, rolled out, swapped and Blaster barraged most of his squad. I took out most of the mice, put 20 on 1 lancer and 40 on the IG. Beginning of the round I swap out and leave a sacrificial rodian. I activate out and wait for the next round. I do the same strategy again and Jason concedes. He is a very smart player, and he knew that unless I did something dumb, the game was mine. I accepted the concession agreeing with his assessment of the game, but I came to play minis, and we had like 45 min left in the round. So I suggested that we put the win in the record books and play on without me locking the door at the end of the round. He agreed and Then he got a strafe in. I had alot of my team in rooms, but I still took a good hit. I finally took out the one lancer and unlocked all the doors at the end of the round. I had 4 shots on his other lancer with Cad, but missed all 4, but I finished off the IG with Arica. I eventually took out the Lancer at the cost of Arica, and then just to keep it interesting, I took all my override pieces off the board. The out-activate, swap and pop still was too much for Grievous and Sidious, and I was evetually able to wear them down. At least we kept it interesting the whole time and both got a bunch of kills in. 3 pt victory for me.

Round 5
vs
James Wyszynski

Vader's Apprentice Redeemed
Luke HPU
Han Smuggler
Princess Leia
Crix Madine
ERC x2
Rieeken
Dodona
mouse (x 3?)

My reinforcements: R7 and Amanin Scout

Rebel push mania. James is the best around with rebel push squads, winning 2 regionals with his 150pt version in 2009. I knew I had to win this, since I had two 2 point victories. James was coming in 4-0 with all 3 pt victories. He won map roll and we played on Bespin, and I took inside (is there a choice here?). We both played calculated, and I tried to just take what he gave me. I unleashed a safe barrage on him at the end of round 1 through the long duct at the top. He evaded 5 of 6 shots. It was a game of positioning and long shots. Eventually he made a move with VAR, but since he was then outside the disruptive bubble I was able to swap, pop and lock. I was able to take out Han with Arica as well, but at the cost of her. I think I took out Luke and one ERC too, but then time ended. The 2 points I earned were meaningless, since I was then 5-0.

Semi-finals
vs
Eric Larson (Engineer)

Nute Gunray
Lobot
Whorm
IG86 x4
Gha nacht
BD officer
R7 x3
BD x3
Mouse x3
ugy

My reinforcements: 10 mouse droids

I won map here (THANK GOD!) He brought San and 3 bds, IG-86 and 2 mice. 26 activations + San vs 25 activations + Ozzel. I really thought this was going to be a long slow painful game for me. He took the left, starting his whole squad in the large top room. I made him go first, but knew he would still have the last move of the round. We positioned and activated out all our fodder. I was able to swap Arica to where she was in striking range but still had cover, I just needed the door opened. Eric had gone with 3 of his 4 override pieces, and had 1 to go along with 3 IGs. I had lobot, R7 and Arica and Bane to go. I thought I found a line where I could open the door with no attack back from Eric. I moved Lobot out and opened his door. Eric proved me wrong by finding a spot to shoot Lobot, and I thought I had lost the game right there. I had to burn Bane's activation, and then he then activated his last R7, which blew my mind - I still had my R7! I opened the door with my R7 (this time there really was no return shot) and he had to burn an IG. I then came in for the best blaster barrage of the day. I took out 2 bds, 5 mouse droids, san hill, lobot, bd officer, 2 R7 droids and Gha Nachkt, and put 40 on 3 IGs, and 20 on another IG. Arica doesn't take a reprisal shot from the last IG, since she had cover. After init I do another Blaster Barrage taking out his last R7, and then she dies, but more than earned her worth. I easily could have just kept away from him through locked doors after that, but I was determined to finish the game, even though in the finals it doesn't matter. I had to then slowly wear him down. Eventually I finish off his IGs, and then make the advance to off everone. We finish with about 5 minutes to spare. 3 point victory for me.

Finals
vs
James Wyszynski

Vader's Apprentice Redeemed
Luke HPU
Han Smuggler
Princess Leia
Crix Madine
ERC x2
Rieeken
Dodona
mouse (x3?)

My reinforcements: R7 and Amanin Scout

The rematch. James was convinced his map was the wrong choice after our last match - so he won map and chose mine. I disagree with his assessment. It put him in the position of needing to either over-extend or deal with me shooting him and no return shots for him. He over-extended his ERC and Luke first. I swapped in to take out the ERC and then locked the rest of his squad in the room to finish off Luke. After I took out Luke I systematically swapped, popped and locked until his team was no more. James was frustrated with his early mistakes, but it's always great playing such a tough competitor.


So - very happy with the day. 7-0 and the Kokomo Champion. I honestly don't think this squad is the best one out there. A classic glass cannon, with tech to help it out. I had played the same squad with Zuckuss BH instead of Arica, but I now know Arica was the key. She makes mass kills, taking out the little stuff, while Bane finishes the big stuff. Her sniper is super important, especially on my the Throne Room map with that big empty room which I now refer to as the killing field. But the team is fragile, and it would struggle against stout NR disruptive with high activations (ie Deri's Solo Charge) or certain Skybuck variants. It was the best squad for this day, and that's good enough for me.

Thanks again for a great tournament!

Yeah, thanks for the great report! I was wondering how the tournament panned-out, but I haven't got much of a response from the guys at DMZ.

I sounded like it was your day. Congrats, and good luck @ Gencon!

Not alot of NR, but one squad took 3rd. It would have been a tougher match on Bespin, but I do have stealth - so he'd have a hard time getting shots on my big guns. It would have been a SLOW GAME! So many figs on one map!

(posted from Gamers)

Now the round by round pairings. To help with the 3-2-0 scoring, after Round One the first number is the number of points earned in the round and the second number is total amount of points.

Round One
Matt M. 0 - Taylor V. 3
Bryan H. 0 - James W. 3
Brad P. 2 - Jake S. 0
Rob M. 0 - Lou 3
Brandon 0 - Jason K. 3
Jason A. 0 - Tim 2
Scott 0 - Eric 3
Chris 3 - Laura 0
Jake K 3 - Will 0
Mike 0 - Dan 2
Wes 3 - Phillip 0
Bob 3 - Randy 0
Tony 0 - Rick 3

Round Two
Matt M 0/0 - Laura 2/2
Bryan H 0/0 - Dan 2/4
Brad 0/2 - Tim 3/5
Jake S. 2/2 - Randy 0/0
Rob 0/0 - Will 2/2
James 3/6 - Lou 0/3
Taylor 2/5 - Eric 0/3
Brandon 3/3 - Jason A 0/0
Jason K. 0/3 - Wes 3/6
Scott 0/0 - Mike 3/3
Chris 0/3 - Bob 3/6
Jake k. 3/6 - Rick 0/3
Tony 3/3 - Phillip 0/0

Round Three
Jake K. 0/6 - James 3/9
Wes 3/9 - Bob 0/6
Taylor 0/5 - Tim 2/7
Dan 0/4 - Jason K. 3/6
Chris 0/3 - Rick 3/6
Lou 0/3 - Eric 3/6
Mike 2/5 - Will 0/2
Brandon 2/5 - Brad 0/2
Jake S. 24 - Tony 0/3
Laura 0/2 - Bryan 3/3
Matt 0/0 - Jason A. 2/2
Phillip 3/3 - Randy 0/0
Rob 0/0 - Scott 2/2

Round Four
Jake K 0/6 -Eric 2/8
James 3/12 - Wes 0/9
Bob 0/6 - Rick 2/8
Taylor 2/7 - Mike 0/5
Tim 3/10 - Jason K. 0/6
Dan 0/4 - Brandon 2/7
Chris 0/3 - Lou 3/6
Will 0/2 -Tony 2/5
Brad 0/2 - Phillip 3/6
Jake S.2/6 - Bryan 0/3
Laura 0/2 - Randy 3/3
Rob 0/0 - Matt 2/2
Rick 2/8 - Bob 0/6

Round Five
James 0/12 - Tim 2/12
Wes 3/12 - Rick 0/8
Eric 3/11 - Brandon 07
Taylor 2/9 - Jake S. 0/6
Jason K. 3/9 - Jake K. 0/6
Lou 0/6 - Bob 3/9
Phillip 3/9 - Mike 0/5
Jason A. 3/8 - Tony 0/5
Dan 0/4 - Randy 3/6
Bryan 2/5 - Rob 0/0
Chris 0/3 - Will 2/5
Brad 0/2 - Matt 3/5
Laura 3/5 - Scott 0/2

Final
Round One
James - Wes Win = James
Eric - Tim Win = Tim

Round Two
Eric - Wes Eric conceedes
James - Tim Win = Tim