First 2.5 Tournament Batrep

Fear the CHONK!

This is the list I went 4-0 with at a recent small 12 person tournament. We played 4 rounds, so each scenario was represented.

My List:

4 Thane Kyrell w/ Crackshot, Hull, Config

3 Airen Cracken w/ Hopeful, Ion Torps, Hull

5 Ten Numb w/ FCS, Proton Torps, Ion Cannon, Jamming Beam, Config

4 Kullbee Sperado w/ Predator, Hull, Config

2 Lieutenant Blount

2 Derek Klivian w/ Config

This list was just a bunch of tanky rebel ships which seem undercosted after the shift from 2.0 to 2.5. Ten Numb can reliably nuke a PS1-3 ship, and combos well with Airen Cracken. Cracken supplies some utility to the list with a red coordinate at PS5, and his Ion Torpedoes provide some extra control. Thane and Kullbee are just efficient 4-cost X-wings, supplying cheap 3-dice attacks with 7HP at agility 2. Kullbee's ability to boost and still contribute 3 attack dice was surprisingly useful. Blount is an efficient pseudo-3-dice gun, who is dirt cheap in the 2-cost slot. Finally, I think Derek Klivian might be the best 2-coster in the game. He's 4HP at agility 3 with the evade action, which allows him to take a hit or two before he goes down. His system phase boost and blue 5-forward makes him very fast for blocking and/or capping objectives. He also has a butt cannon, allowing him to contribute to the fight while moving around and doing objectives. 

Game 1: Assault at the Satellite Array vs Scum.

10 Boba Fett w/ Fearless, Perceptive, VetTG, Proton Bomb, Hull, Fuses, Marauder

6 Old Teroch w/ Outmanoeuvre, Fearless, Shield

4 Kad Solus w/ Elusive, Baffle

I forgot to take picture of this match, so I'll keep it brief. Boba and Old Teroch started in a corner, with Kad deploying in the centre. The majority of my squad deployed in the diagonally opposite corner with Derek copying Kad to contest the centre objective. Kad came in fast and early to contest the middle objective, with Derek doing the same. This cost Kad 2 hull for Derek's 2 shields. Kad was positioned well as he was able to 5-forward and jump over most of my squad the turn after.

Boba slow-rolled and spent 2 turns capping an objective in front of him. Old Teroch came in fast and got an early shot on Thane and stripped him of his shields and a hull. The next turn Boba gave Thane a second wedgie and reduced him to 2HP. Thane proceeded to run away and spent the rest of the game capping an objective on the other side of the board.

Meanwhile Boba and OldT clashed with my squad near the table centre (minus Thane and Blount). OldT died in the engagement, and Kad followed him the turn after when he came back in. This cost me Airen and a bunch of HP from other ships. OldT, Kad, and the objectives got me to 21 in the end phase for a 21-6 win.

Game 2: Chance Engagement vs Imperials.

6 Soontir Fel w/ Predator, Shield, Hull

4 Pure Sabacc w/ Predator, Shield, Connor Net

4 Moff Gideon w/ PRockets, Cybernetics

4 Iden Versio w/ Elusive, Ion Cannon

2 Night Beast

Again I forgot to take pictures of this game. I deployed most my ships in a corner with Hobbie and Thane deploying central. The Ties deployed central-ish, with Pure Sabacc on the flank closest to me, and Soontir in the far corner. 

The first engagement happened Turn 2. Hobbie saw an opportunity and boosted + 5-forwarded to block Sabacc's ailerons move, reducing his ability to respond at PS4. Soontir boosted in on the flank to try and 1-shot Blount with Gideon's help (who strained Sabacc). Unfortunately he fluffed his attack only scoring 2 hits with a R1 focused + Predator shot, which stripped Blount's shields. Thane's R1 return shot knocked out Soontir's shield + a hull.  Nearby Cracken knocked a shield off Sabacc, after which Sabacc hammered Ten at R1, knocking out his 4 shields. Iden followed up with an ion shot, locking down the B-wing's engines. Gideon's PRocket finished off Blount, but he did get to shoot before he died. His R1 shot took another hull off Soontir. Kullbee's R1 shot annihilated Sabacc, and Ten suddenly didn't need to shoot Sabacc. Instead he took the R3 shot at Soontir, and pushed 2 damage through, claiming the Baron's scalp. 

With Soontir and Sabacc Dead at the cost of Blount and Ten the turn after (he was ionised into an asteroid), it became a case of slowly mopping up the remaining TIEs. The imperial remnants fought bravely, but with their 2 heavy hitters dead, it was just a matter of the rebels slowly grinding them down. A 1HP Night beast was the last Imperial alive, but was out of range of the central objective, which gave me my 20th point. Win 20-10!

Moff Gideon was very good at helping ships push damage through. Luckily my ships don't rely on green tokens, and can afford to take a hit or two. Also, Blount surviving Soontir's aggressive kill-shot allowed me to snowball to a victory.

Game 3: Salvage Mission vs Separatists.

5 Grievous w/ Outmanoeuvre, Ion Missiles, Hull, Impervium, Title

4 DBS-32C w/ Shield, Kracken, Config

3 Hunter w/ Ion Cannon, Hull, Config

3 Hunter w/ Ion Cannon, Hull, Config

3 DFS-081 w/ Energy Shells, Shield, Hull, Config

2 TFDrone w/ Config

TURN 1: Both forces shuffle forward, except Grievous, who comes screaming down the flank. Blount grabs the Rebel 'safe' box, and Derek picks up the other. The droids grab their two safe boxes, with one landing on a debris cloud. (Score: 2-2)

TURN 2: It's at this stage in the tournament I remembered to take photos. Now the fun begins. Derek skirted a little too fast around the droid force. H was in a prime position to get behind them next turn. The rest of my squad lazily turned to face the centre of the droid formation. The droids mostly moved up to joust. Grievous came screaming into my main formation, so I decided to commit to him early instead of just swatting droids. Airen, Ten, Kullbee, and Blount all shot Grievous who limped away with 2HP and a single impervium charge. In return Airen was killed, and Thane lost his shields and a hull. (Score: 4-7)

Grievous the sponge limps away with 2 hull. Oh no!

TURN 3: The droids slow-rolled forward into block positions. Derek turned in behind the droid formation. Grievous surprised me by turning in to attack. Kullbee had to 3-hard through a gas cloud, and ended up focused, stressed, strained, and ionised. Ten Numb dodged the droid trying to block his turn in and ended up directly behind Grievous with a TL + stress. Blount bumped Grievous and Thane bumped a droid, with both taking a red focus. 

The shooting was much more one-sided this turn. Thane snuck a crit through on the droid holding a box forcing him to drop it. Importantly Grievous then whiffed his R1, outmanoeuvre shot on Thane. Ten Numb annihilated Grievous with a R1 shot into his butt, and Thane survived the droid counter with 2HP (but was ionised). Finally Derek knocked 3 hull off the support droid. (Score: 11-8)

Kullbee, king of the red tokens.

I made the decision to commit to Greivous early, but he managed to limp

TURN 4-6: Again I forgot to take pictures of these rounds, but with Grievous dead it was just a matter of mopping up the surviving enemies. Over those three turns I lost Thane in exchange for the support Hyena, which resulted in a win 21-17 for me.

Game 4: Scramble the Transmissions vs Imperials.

4 Turr Phennir w/ ???, Controls

4 Pure Sabacc w/ Predator, Shield, Connor Net

3 Zertik Strom w/ FCS, Hull

4 Nash Windrunner w/ Shield, Controls

2 Night Beast

3 AlphaSP w/ Disciplined, Controls

TURN 0/1: This is easily my favourite of the 4 scenarios. I setup most of my forces in a corner, with Derek and Thane more central. The first turn saw Derek rush to cap the centre objective, where he was met by 2 interceptors. He escaped with a single hull point. (Score: 3-2)

Derek barely survives a fierce attack by the Imperials.

TURN 2: Next turn Derek boosts towards the interceptors and causes a pileup, before shooting over the Imperial formation with a 5-forward. The Imperials take control of the central objective. Nash dies to heavy rebel fire and the Alpha survives with 1HP. In return Thane takes heavy damage and gets knocked down to 3 hull. (Score: 9-5)

Turr: "Nope I'm outta here."

TURN 3: Derek's system phase boost saves him from dying to a connor net, and allows him to cap the right-most objective. The alpha moves in to block my formation, and Zertik comes in slow with a 1-forward. Pure Sabacc uses his ailerons to slip in behind Zertik. Blount jumps 4-forward and caps the centre objective for the Rebel Alliance, but Turr pounces and steals the safe Rebel objective in return. Thane closes his S-foils, and 3-hards to get out of the danger zone. He focuses and attempts a boost, but can't get past Night Beast. He plinks a damage off night beast, in exchange for a disabled power regulator crit (ion at engagement). Airen fires an ion torpedo at Sabacc for a damage and an ion, then Ten Numb finishes him off with a Proton Torpedo. Zertik, and Sabaac's dying shot manage to kill Airen. (Score: 15-11)

Thane enjoying his stack of red tokens.

TURN 4: The Alpha caps the other safe Rebel objective, and Night Beast reclaims the central objective. Blount performs a daring K-turn and misses the conner net by a millimetre. Ten Numb Tallons behind the Alpha and obliterates him. Thane drifts 1-forward and manages to dodge Zertik's attack. (Score: 19-15)

Blount wasn't worried for a second.

TURN 5: The final turn sees Ten, Derek, and Blount capturing an objective each. Turr is killed by the combined firepower of Ten and Kullbee. Thane finally succumbed to Zertik's onslaught. (Score: 27-20)

List Thoughts: 

This rebel list did pretty much what I expected. All my ships were tanky for their cost, requiring heavy fire to kill, and giving up minimal points when they eventually succumbed. The two X-wings in particular absorbed absurd numbers of shots. They all hit decently hard, with Ten Numb providing some scary alpha. Derek spent most games doing the actual work of claiming objectives. It's not an optimised list, but there's plenty of simple swaps that could be made. There are plenty of really good rebel 4-costers that could be swapped for Thane and/or Kullbee:

• Gina Moonsong w/ Selfless, Trajectory, Seismic, Jamming Beam, Config 
• Ibtisam w/ K2S0, VetTG
• Sabine w/ Crackshot, Predator, Shield, Hull, Config

I also think the X-wings (particularly Kullbee) might get better use out of the R4 astromech to assist in shedding stress. Kullbee was often stressed and unable to hard turn and rejoin the fight, and predator wasn't particularly impactful.

Airen was probably the weakest link in the list. He combos well with Ten Numb, but I'm not convinced he's better than a supporting sheathipede (AP5 or Zeb). Another consideration is leaning heavier into the alpha-strike aspect of the list. Blount and Kullbee could be exchanged for Wedge, who provides a greater ability to alpha-strike enemy ships before they shoot.

Regardless, there's lots to fiddling around I can do with this list. I'm not convinced it's the best sort of list for 2.5, but it was fun to just throw my ships in and brawl.