ok here we go.

I knew Unkaar Plutt would be coming out in set 14, so any chance of playing a reserves based squad would be much more difficult after his release. The squad was based off the squad I took to WI 2 (or maybe 3) years ago but that squad had Marn and Lobot and tried to abuse 2 pt mice. Since none of that worked, I added Clobot instead of Lobot, and I tried to keep in Marn, but you just need the pts for a few initial fodder pieces, because you HAVE to have an MTB or you pretty much lose to anyone with Lobot as they bring one and you don't ever get reserves and just have a bunch of big fat bricks.

So this is the squad I ran
--Ode to General Grievous (2017 NW OH Regional Winner)--
61 Pong Krell
55 Kazdan Paratus
33 Captain Rex
15 Lobot, Computer Liaison Officer
9 R2-D2, Astromech Droid
8 Muun Tactics Broker
9 Mouse Droid x3
9 Ugnaught Demolitionist x3

(199pts. 12 activations)


5 numbers for reserves, anticipation, recon, Sense the Future. You should get lots of reserves and be able to grab what you need when you need it.

Rd 1 Jak and his OR AOL squad.
Got reserves in rds 2 and 3, brought in Scorch, Sev, Spaartis, 2x Snipers, etc. Just kept throwing everything I had at him and he finally ran out of bubbles and I got a couple lucky crits which ate through his guys quicker. As Jak said partway through. It feels like I am fighting the whole Grand Army of the Republic and the Whole Droid Army at the same time.
1-0 3pts

Rd 2 vs lou and his Thrawn Swap
I couldn't roll reserves for anything this game. I grabbed a clobot reserves at one point, and then a little later hit clobot again. I finally hit one of the good numbers, but after Pong was dead, so just some droids. It was a huge war of attrition with me mostly trying to get rid of the swap fodder and Lou just trying to pound away. My winning init every round, meant he couldn't just leave one of his shooters out there cuz I could then possibly kill it with Rex. Game actually went to time and with a last ditch effort I got over 200. Final score was like 200-158 or something like that.
2-0 6pts

Rd 3 vs Timmer and his Luke and Leia on speeder
Rd 1 I used anticipation to Roll 11 and dropped 2x LIN and a buzz with Clobot. I separated a little to put the pressure on and Tim set up a move I hadn't really considered (his plan was basically to trade Luke and Leia for my MTB as then his MTB would mean I never get reserves again. Well, I used anticipation again and hit 11 again for clobot for 2 more LIN and another buzz to protect the MTB with 3 LINS and 2 Buzz droids and Tim conceded at that point.
3-0 9ts

Rd 4 vs Etienne and Daala
I was again struggling to roll reserves early so he got the jump on positioning and by the time I started hitting them it was too late in the game. By the end of time, I had taken out most of his actual troopers but was way behind in points. I did manage to hit 116 or so pts to his 150s or so
3-1 10 pts.

I finished the Swiss in 2nd place with a matchup with Spry and his ghost crew coming up.

Semis vs Spry
This was one epic game. No reserves rd 1, but they did come pretty regular after that (the good kind). We basically both kinda went to the gambit area and were just standing toe to toe. I was brought in Scorch, then Sev, then Wolffe on the clone side, and I did a zann consortium Droideka, followed by Jedi Hunter Droids on the droid side. He was missing just enough and I was playing hide and go seek, that he couldn't really get anything except my reserves dead which were adding up fast. At the end of one of the rounds we stopped to add up the score and he had 184 to my 130some give or take. At that point, I knew it was going to be close as I couldn't really let him kill much of anything else. I sacced a mouse (spry to 187) and was able to kill his last 2 damage dealers (Kanan and Ezra) with pong's quadruple. He still had Dodonaa, R2, C3p0 and a mouse left so I had to try and figure out how to both keep him out of gambit and not let dodonna or the uggie get anything. I think he shot and hit with dodonna and then based Wolffe and someone else with the uggie (and missed). I had to give up an AoO to the uggie (a crit would have killed wolfe) to run around the corner and get to where I could kill 3p0, used some combined fire to take out 3p0 (so he couldn't get any more gambit), then used my last couple of guys to get to R2 and that plus my gambit was enough to put me over 200. Def a close game, and spry missed some shots with ezra on one of the Jedi Hunter Droids that had it died, spry would have been over 200 the rd before and would have won.

On to the finals. Waited a bit for etienne to finish off Bronson in their epic game. I wasn't watching, but spry kept walking over, looking and coming back to give updates.

Finals vs Etienne.
Rd 1, I anticipation into a 5. 6x spaartis, spotter, 3x mice so now I actually outactivate. Rd 2 I actually roll a 1, so we have to re-roll. Scorch, Spaarti, Zann consortium droideka, 3x mice. I am clogging up everything so he cant really get any shots on anything except mice or scrubs. I roll a 20 to hit again. Rd 3, he rolls a 5 and I trade with him. Sev, Spaarti, Zaan Consortium Droideka, 3x mice. That basically sums up the game. I kept as many people adjacent to the spotter as I could, and just kinda moved up the board in a really big clump. He shot, and shot, and shot, and killed stuff, but since I was replacing it as fast (maybe faster) than he was killing it, it was bad news. Partway through Rd 3, I towed Rex back to his command zone and he conceded before I could roll for the shots to kill both his officers. At that time, he had killed the first droideka, and a bunch of ugos, mice, spaartis, and I had killed almost all of his Raxus, and 1 of his Elite Scouts.

And that is how I won the NW Ohio Regional with Pong Krell and a squad that I "built" during the tournament.

I was really hoping you'd have the class and forethought to not do a write-up. Now I am forced to respond.

This was easily the least fun game I've ever played in my many years in this game. It disgusted me to my very core and made me question the entire state of the game.

This squad is complete garbage. It sickens me even to think about it.

Side note - I got my clock cleaned by Matt Spry in round 4, and that was fine. Although I was kicking myself for how bad I played, it was still ok because that's SWM to me. He played it perfectly, and I was surprised how much broken 12 point see-threepio crushed my squad, but that is a different story. I played it out, and even let him kill all my commanders after the game had already been won. That's minis to me. I got my butt kicked, but it was still SWM.


Round three vs Jason and that atrocity of a squad was entirely different. It wasn't SWM. It was just a game of rolling inits. It sucked all the fun out of the game. I drove too far to waste time facing that crap.


I sincerely hope Jason enjoyed playing the squad. That would make a total of 1 person that enjoyed the games in which he played (including the game Jason lost - it was still a horrid game by all reports.)


It's sad and frustrating when an excellent player stoops to playing a luck squad, and then of course gets the luck.


Over the years, reserves have just getting better and better. With every set released, reserves gets better with more options. It becomes devastating with the luck of a few rolls and no skill. When a skilled player uses it, it's crushing.

I am very thankful for Unkar Plutt coming out soon. I only fear he may not be enough to prevent this garbage in the future.

I for one will not waste my time playing against it.




* also of note - no you didn't use anticipation. You just rolled an 11

It was a awesome Regional. A great venue and a big turn out with most of the top players.
Even though I went 0-4, all of my games were enjoyable and fun.
I got to play with Lillian, Trevor, Joe, and Laura; all great players and fun to game with.
Best part, I never had to face any of the slow-rollers I rode with to the tournament.
So great getting to see everyone and catch up with good friends.

Not gonna do a full write up but basically, Queen Alana Solo is good but not THAT good.
I played well but; my squad was too tech heavy, had unfavorable match ups, and my opponents were skillful and rolled lots of crits. Oh well . . . (it wasn't because I didn't play Eryl )

Congratulations to Jason for winning what was really a "Gen-Con" level event.
Thank you for the detailed write up, we absolutely need that from tournament winners.
Few players could have pulled off a win in such a competitive event with that squad.
Jason is the ultimate champion and deserves all the accolades.

My response is not directed at Tim, but at our entire community (myself included if people think I have any infractions)

I find it sadder that our great community has done so much squad shaming in the past year plus. Players should be able to play whatever they want at an event and not have to worry about other people trying to put them down or embarrass them for their choice.

It feels like almost any time a player brings something new or creative or even some older squads that have some NPE elements, they get put down and shamed that said squad is garbage or shouldn't exist, or whatever. And there is a difference between saying something like I don't want to play against squad X because it is an NPE for me and putting down or trying to shame player Y for playing some squad.

Most of the "best squads" have some sort of NPE (at least for some players) or some "broken" ability or synergy. People shouldn't be made to feel ashamed or embarrassed for playing a squad. They should feel welcome to play what they want no matter what is in the squad and no matter how well they do.

Huh, I thought for sure his full stat block had been spoiled.

Now you know my feelings toward Vong!

I think maybe this has more to do with the fact that Urbanjedi is the gold standard of minis and can win with anything. Its not like the stuff he brought in doesn't count for gambit or something. I am sorry that a "top tier" squad was forced to quit due to v-set pieces---- buzz droid/ lin demo, but that issue is because the vehicles were a horrible design in the first place, this isn't an issue about reserves it is an issue about the state of the game as whole, you can't meta game and because you can't meta game there is the factor of randomness at tournaments, and some people just don't like random lol---as evidenced by the above.

Timmerb I strongly advise you to delete your comment before everyone sees it and you are embarrassed even further than you are right now.
The thought that you are calling someone out for writing a play report in which you we embarrassed is, in all real terms, disgusting. As if he should feel shame for winning or have something to hide.
I don't know what went down, but James has clearly built a dynasty of bringing any and every squad and winning with it. It's not like some of the other players that stick to daala or ozzel thrawn swap because they can't play anything else.
The man has done it with anything and everything and all any one should say to him at this point is CONGRATULATIONS!
And I will get you next time.


ADDITION: since lots of people have seen it I suggest you delete your comment, apologize, and write a reason why you decided to delete it to explain it to everyone. So it is not just political save face type stuff.

This made me smile bigger then any post on this site ever. (Except for when i used to mess with Bill, i miss you bill)

You sir are an outstanding gentleman and for you to thank me is huge to me and I consider it the greatest accomplishment I have ever had in minis.

unleash the force, kaan bomb, zam wessel, hoping they or you don't roll a certain number