Epic SWM...it's always been one of my favorite formats. Here was my squad today:
http://www.bloomilk.com/Squad/211786/epic-mandos--Epic Mandos--
136 Boba Fett, Mandalore
58 Mandalore the Vindicated
56 Jaina Solo, Sword of the Jedi
56 Jango Fett, Mandalore
38 Mandalore the Resurrector
34 Mandalorian Training Sergeant
28 Kelborn
27 Fenn Shysa
24 Mandalorian Tactician
14 Mandalorian Strike Force Leader
18 Mandalorian Demolitionist x3
5 Mandalorian Defenseman
6 Mouse Droid x2
(500pts. 16 activations)
So, yeah, Boba is amazing. He's hard to kill and it's not hard for him to put out 100 damage on his turn, but his CE is
in-sane. So, I built around it. Vindicated attacks 6x for 30s, Resurrector is 4x for 30s, and Jango is FA for 30s with Accurate Shot. The rest of the squad isn't half bad either: I have lots of experience using the Vindicated/Kelborn/Tactician combo, and most recently with Jango-Mandalore. So in many cases, this was just a bigger version of my current favorite squad.
Round 1 of the tournament vs Bye: I kicked Bye's butt, all over the map. Didn't miss an attack roll or take a single hit. 3 pt win.
Round 2 of the tournament vs Tim's Fringe squad with Jango's Jedi Hunter madness: Unfortunately for Tim, my squad only had 1 force user. Even more unfortunately for Tim, I won the map roll, so we played on Rebel Fortress; Tim naturally set up on the left side (the better side). However, with Battle Ready I had most of my squad within just a few squares of the Gambit room in the center of the map. Tim opened the door nearest to him (he had used Talon's CE to push the Swoop Bike up to Gambit, which had opened that door); I had planned for this, because my next move was to open my door and charge Jango up for a 60dmg FA on almost everyone in Tim's starting area. I killed Cad Bane with a crit, took out a bunch of other guys, and brought Talon down to 20hp. Tim took out Jangalore by the end of the round, but the damage was done, because I was able to finish off Talon. During the next round it was a matter of Triple-twin attacks and GMA-Double-Twins, etc, and the last of Tim's guys dropped.
Round 3 of the tournament vs Jason's Insanely Maxed-Out Maidens: Jason had 5 separate 240dmg/activation Maidens...yikes. First round was mostly positioning, until I used FA to kill Droopy McCool who was set up in Gambit. Jason had seen this coming, and used Palpatine's CE to rush a Maiden over to pour 8 attacks into Jango, needing 6s to hit. He missed far too many shots, which meant that Jango survived, against all odds. Jason was now down to 4 maidens, because Palpy's CE kills the piece that takes a free turn. Next round, Jason blew away several of my key pieces: Vindicated, Fenn, the Training Sergeant, and probably some more guys too. However, before Vindicated went down, Boba Fett changed the game in one activation: he attacked Palpatine, who was at full health...and he rolled not just one, but two crits in a row! (with Ruthless) We both agreed that this was the turning point in the game. Later that round I charged Jango out for one last FA, which targetted Vader and 3 of Jason's Maidens, killing 1 maiden and putting some damage on another. After this I was able to slowly drop the remaining Maidens 1 by 1 over the next couple of rounds; one of those was because of the Strike Force Leader charging in for a crit to kill a full-health maiden. After that, it was Vader and Atris eating a bunch of attacks from Boba and Kelborn and Resurrector and the Tactician, etc. I managed to pull off a win, but it easily could've gone the other way.
Finals vs Darth O's Imperial Green Jedi Commanders: It was good to play in the Finals vs Oliver, and for the 2nd week in a row! Good times; we always enjoy our matches against each other. Oliver won the map roll, so we played on Anchorhead. I set up on the right side. With Battle Ready I was easily in Gambit in the first round. I was also able to use Jango to FA several of Oliver's guys who he had advanced. Next round, Thrawn told me to go first, so I used Jango to FA again, pouring out another 210 dmg on Oliver's pieces. Jango went down after that, but the damage was done so it was worth it. Vindicated was able to drop Vader down to 10hp, so Vader swapped to safety. Similarly, Jaina was able to charge in and put 100dmg on Revan, but she went down after that, failing all 4 Parry saves (and the reroll) from a Green Jedi Commander. At this point, Oliver was ahead on points, but I was far ahead on damage. Over the next couple of rounds I continued to finish off his Green Jedis and whittle down his activations. In the end, Revan came out for a HUGE Sith Sorcery, which activated nearly all of my squad. Vindicated was one of the few who made his save, so he was able to finish off Revan and then eliminate Tarken. This was just a bad matchup for Oliver's squad, with beefy disruptive (and a beefy bodyguard) and a pile of ranged damage coming out every round.
I love my Mandos! They're lots of fun to play, extremely flexible and versatile...and with Epic Boba in the mix, they have plenty of nasty firepower. There are other ways to build the squad (ie, give Power Coupling to Boba, bring into the NR...), but at least this time, I decided to use Jango as a sac-piece and it worked quite well.
Thanks to everyone for playing, and to Matt for hosting!