Agreed Chad was a fun and diverse field of 21 players.
Nice to see a lot of old and some new faces!
My play report:
After analyzing the local Meta and doing some playtesting I chose this squad for regionals:
Jedi Last StandI decided on it mostly because of my extreme partiality to the General Skywalker piece, he is just so solid for his cost and with pieces like YoBuck and Dash spongeing his CE he becomes a great piece to build around.
I chose Ravaged base simply because I had the most practice on it out of the restricted map lists, and maps like Throne Room and Bespin can easily turn into slaughters with Cannon Squads and leviation. Oddly enough I only faced one Cannon squad lol so it wasn't so bad.
On to the play report!
First match:
Lorne from Canada (don't know your screen name!) and his Commander 66 squad:
Palpy, SL
Captain Rex
Original Commander Cody
Mitthrawn
Ozzel
Mas
Combination of Ugos/Brutes to fill it out.
I won map roll and we played on Ravaged Base (my map). I started out with a Gallop with YoBuck taking out an Ugo and a brute and running his back into a turbolift in my gambit side on the indoors. I made the mistake of activating Lobot before Dash and not relocking the main hallway door so I then lost YoBuck to 6 Rex shots for 30 a shot.
That was turn 1. Next init Rex went running in with Wall Climber to get the next 6 shots on R2/Dash. I had positioned Panaka right next to both of them, and while I lost R2, he missed one of the shots on Dash so he just put 60 damage on Panaka.
General Skywalker and Dash then laid waste to Rex with their combined 6 attacks and it was a decently even match at that point.
I managed to later get positioning on the outer hallway and swapped in Skywalker for a next turn rush into his gambit zone.
He ran with Palpy and put 30 on Skywalker with an attack with Oppo. I locked the door, he swapped in Cody and ran back into gambit.
Next turn he taps Mas, I open the door, kill Cody for the points lead with Skywalker's GMA/Knight Speed combo, and that was all she wrote. I swapped out Skywalker for the Brute and locked the doors and that was the end of the match. Lorne and I got started late so it wound up going to time but I don't think it would have lasted much longer had it continued.
1-0
2nd Round vs. Aaron (Shinja) with Landspeeder Cannon.
This was the one squad I didn't want to face with his Ferus/Landspeeder combo with Crix AND Han. I had a rough time early going leaving Skywalker in the middle hallway positioned for a GMA double only to leave him there 3 consecutive phases to get shot 6 times and he dropped dead. YoBuck ran in somewhere in the middle of all those shots and dropped the Bothan and put 20 on Han. Following a bunch of hits on YoBuck it was cleanup for Aaron. Overall I played really wierd and way to aggressive, something I tend not to do in matches and Aaron took advantage superbly. In retrospect Skywalker should have killed Crix, and YoBuck should have killed the Bothan and put the damage on Han setting Skywalker up for a GMA to kill Han. I of course just played really funky and that didn't happen.
Easily the worst I played in a game all day and Aaron didn't miss a beat and positioned excellently and deserved the win he got.
1-1
3rd Round vs. Simon
He played a new Vader/Frex/Tarkin build, that didn't have Ozzel. It was a good squad, he just only had 9 activations. I pulled in a BG and 3 brutes and simply outactivated, opened doors, and Dash had Rex in his sights and got off a Momentum/Oppo quad to down him. Zuckuss retaliated on Dash for 30 with Oppo.
Vader then ran up and smacked R2. I wanted to no part of Riposte/Djem so, so I created a wall of fodder in Vader's way and Force Pushed him with Anakin (2nd time that power won me a game in this tournament arguably) away from my important figures.
Two sets of Dash Oppo/Momentum quads on Vader and he was downed. He conceeded with plenty of time left. Simon is a deceptively better player than he lets on, and with a few more activations I think he could have really made it close but it is odd for YoBuck squad to outactivate so it was hard for him.
2-1
4th Round faced Simon's Dad Paul with a squad that honestly scared me a lot:
Kyle CI 46
Xizor 30
4xVigos
Lobot
Dodonna
Czerka
Filler
He won map and we played on Muunilist which is death to a squad like mine if the Vigo squad groups around Kyle's disruptive which is exactly what he did.
He broke up the inaction end of 3rd round (he took a long time to do his actions because that is just how he is, I prepared for it but I explained to him if he didn't advance all I had to do was throw something in Gambit last round and I would win, cheap, but against that kind of squad I am NOT going to be the instigator).
I managed to pull some fancy door tricks and swap to get YoBuck to KO the Czerka, take down his R7 to 20, and Skywalker ran in and eliminated a Vigo.
He missed needing a 7 on YoBuck with one Vigo. Hit with another, and then Kyle ran up and attacked and I blocked his attack.
He wins Init and goes for the Jolt on YoBuck with a Vigo, hits it but I make the save without rerolling. Dash then moves in for the Quad to eliminate the Vigo, freeing up YoBuck to gallop and take out the R7 and fodder and time was called with me losing no one and he lost around 70ish points worth off minis.
It wasn't the best way to win I admit, but Muunilist takes away all my advantages with the doors and his Disruptive made my life very hard on a piece that hard to kill.
3-1
I HAD to win my last game to make it to top 4, so I was hoping for a easy matchup as I didn't really have an easy ride so far, I didn't get my wish.
I ended up playing Mike K from Canada with Engineer's Droid Squad.
He made my life galloping hard by pulling in a T1 to block the main doorway on Bespin which his IGs advanced in safety. But I anticipated his move and had Dash in the Gambit zone round 1 ready for his move up.
He moved the T1 in position, I then blew some doors, galloped his trash in the way of the T1, and then used Anakin's FP 2 to do 20 and knock the T1 back one into his BD behind it.
I then did a Dash trademark Oppo/Momentum Quad and took down the T1 in one phase, making the doorway open and the subsequent AoO potential a non-factor.
After that Mike just outactivated and based YoBuck with an IG and Dash/R2 with an IG.
The IG took an AoO bringing it down to 50 HP setting up an crazy set of cirumstances for the next init. He won said init, and I believe he twinned R2.
Skywalker moved up and downed the IG adjacent to YoBuck and then YoBuck in turn galloped/normal attacked the IG next to Dash doing the needed 50 to kill it.
After that it was mostly cleanup. I did a somewhat nutty swap and moved Dash around a beveled corner to take out Whorm with a Quad/Oppo/Momentum to half his damage value.
4-1
On to the Top 4!
We both had Ravaged Base, so we played on that.
I played against Chad's GMY squad, which needless to say scared the living daylights out of me when he had two BGs, Rex, GMY, AND a JWM with Ferus. Just a defensive hedgehog of a squad that can also dish some serious pain.
Round two I did a wierd YoBuck move with cost me a total of 80 HP on YoBuck from Rex between AoOs and attacks but I managed to get Rex down to 30. Not much happened the rest of that round, I positioned a Skywalker GMA double for the next round and we rolled Init, I believe I won and made him go first, he killed my Brute immediately in front of his mass of figures with a JWM leaving it exposed in the hallway. I shot it and put 50 on with with Dash (one hit and crit).
YoBuck and Skywalker between the two then downed Rex and the Human BG with a Gallop/GMA Double.
Chad kept fighting and went after my now 50 HP left Skywalker with a Dark Temptation towed Double with his 50 HP Ferus. He hit both but I blocked one, and he then failed the save. I was hard to me to choose whether or not to Djem So attack back because I didn't know if Ferus would join my side, I made the right call and didn't do it. And he turned to my side!
I swapped out Skywalker for I believe a Brute and kept him alive. I then galloped next turn and took out his R2, leaving him with a full GMY, Kel Dor, and his Diplomat vs. all my main attackers alive + a shiny 50 HP Ferus. He ran up with Yoda and kept attacking, Dash ran up and crit Yoda and hit him another time I believe to put 50 on him. Skywalker ran up and put 30 more on him, and YoBuck just stood there and doubled getting him down to I believe 50.
Next turn he attacked with Double and after I missed made my Block with YoBuck and the 2nd attack killed him I just didn't want him to eliminate Ferus for his BG for Skywalker so I killed my own YoBuck (who would have died from a Kel Dor no cover shot the next attack regardless) and he was forced to shoot my no cover brute instead of Ferus.
Next Dash did the honors with his trademark 120 damage attacks and that was all she wrote. The Ferus changing sides really helped me obviously, it allowed me to stand and fight Yoda rather than just attack him helter skelter and hope he doesn't chase a main piece down. I am not completely sure the outcome would have been any different at that point but it definitely made the game go quicker. Dash was in position to GMA quad kill Ferus and his R2 and still able to walk to safety leaving me with a 50 HP YoBuck, Full Dash, and 10 HP Skywalker with a full Panaka hanging out in the back vs. just Yoda and a Kel Dor.
Overall, I am extremely happy for Chad, he did very well the whole tournament and played very well in our match.
Championship match vs Connor and his Lord Vader/Cad Bane swap squad.
I thought going into it I had a decent advantage just hearing the words 'Lord Vader' because usually a YoBuck squad can run rings around it and kill all the swappers and trash evening up the activation. We sit down for the match and I quickly realize he has 0 override pieces. My first move? Bring in two R7 droids as reinforcements.
I managed 2nd turn to Gallop and kill his Ugos and he manages to get Vader across all the doors before I lock them all on my side. Dead Vader and lockout later and while it isn't the most stylish way to win part of my squad's strength is the ability to customize to face the opposition and in this case Quad override got me the win. If he didn't have Ozzel I believe he would have been a sever challenge to my squad since Cad and Vader could both act in retaliation vs. my gallop but with only Vader or Cad able to respond it made it possible for YoBuck to live after the Ugo slaying gallop and then get swapped out for my free Brute.
I admit it was a little unceremonious as a way to end the day, but any of my pieces can be 1-shotted by Vader, and all but YoBuck can be 1-shotted by Cad.
I give massive props to Connor he is one of our best consistent performers in big tournaments and him taking 2nd and defeating a player of Shinja's calibre in the other Semi final match speaks volumes of his skill.
So the 2010 Bellevue Washington Regional Event winner is none other than me! It was a good feeling to be able to pick myself back up and keep fighting after my first two matches and get focused to pull out the win. I love the squad, if I went to GenCon I would probably play something similar, although I just can't bare the tought of playing as many Rebel squads as I know there would be.
Thanks to all who came out and made it a fun regional!