Leaderboard after 3 rounds...
Joe 9
Mike M 8
Sam 7
Paul M 6
Ian 6
Kez 6
Rich 5
Alex 4
Nick 4
Ethan 4
Will 4
Gus 3
Nat 3
Charles 2
Fynn 2
Jenna 1

And here's my play report.

This was my squad:
http://www.bloomilk.com/Squad/228244/hutt-spaces-lower-lifeforms

My map was Ruined Base (I won all of my map rolls). Typical reinforcements were Klatooinian Assassin, Mouse Droid, Teek, R7, and Salacious Crumb.

First game was against Charles, who played WOTC Plagueis, Darth Zannah, Shae Vizsla, Exar DFS, and the Dark Force Nexus. Though Charlie did manage to surprise me at one point with Force Corruption from Plagueis and Zannah, this was a pretty simple match to win, simply shooting his attackers into oblivion.

Second game was against Ian, who played a Jabba/Nightsisters squad originally made by FlyingArrow. In the first round Boba was able to get in Ian's face and put some damage on Asajj, though some was healed by Talia's Water of Life. I was then able to get a long line of sight to snipe Talia and put some damage on a Hunter (Cloaked from Talzin was Distracted by Teek running up adjacent). Ian ran up a Hunter and cannoned her with Talzin to deal some damage to Boba, but I was able to kill both of the aforementioned and the rest was just cleanup.

Third game was against Paul Moore, who played Luke GH, Gantoris, Ganner, Anakin Solo, Lor San Tekka, and Exar DFS. In this game I was able to get some round 1 damage on Gantoris from Boba via my powerful movement breakers. Next round I think I killed Gantoris, then I was able to snipe Anakin before he could get Levitated in for Unleash the Force. After that it wasn't too difficult to clean up the rest.

Fourth game was against Mike Moore, who played Kao Cen Darach, Satele, Revan SC, Malak JG, Mirialan JK, Arca Jeth JS, and an OR Senator. Again with all my movement I was able to get to Satele with Boba in round 1, and Mike made the mistake of moving her adjacent to Boba with Rolling Evade (thereby neutering the effect of Rolling Evade) only to eat a crit. Following that start I managed to finish off Satele, and then catch his OR Senator alone with Mira and kill it. To wrap up the game I made a few mistakes, and Mike made some very good plays, but I had enough stuff left, and good enough dice to Mike's bad dice, that I was able to get to 200 before him.

The final was a rematch against Mike. This time I went for Malak with Boba in round 1, trying to take out the Rolling Evade CE. I attempted to use Teek to Distract Malak and turn off Rolling Evade, because it had slipped my mind that Malak has Rolling Evade on his card and Distraction does nothing to that. He rolled away, but I was able to kill the Mirialan who was also next to Teek. Satele ran up to and killed my Klat Assassin, but was killed in return after rolling poorly on Absorb Energy. Trades continued until we ended up with Black Krrsantan as my only attacker vs. Kao and Malak. With some very good Parry rolls from BK, and poor dice from his opponents, I managed to win in the end.


Some concerns were raised during this tournament about Jabba being too powerful overall, and specifically his ability Tight Security being a major NPE for melee squads. Winning initiative only to be forced to either let your opponent go first or not be able to move (within line of sight) is not the end of the world for shooters, but is very hard on melee. Put together with all the other powerful tools available to Jabba squads, that might be too much. As one of the people playing Jabba, I think these concerns are worthy of the balance committee's consideration. No doubt he'll also make an appearance at VassalCon, and results from there might clarify the situation (of course he shouldn't be banned *just* for winning).

It was pretty cool to win the NZ Nationals for the first time, and a lot of fun to get to play SWM again (thanks to kezza for organizing). I have to give a shout-out to an achievement worth just as much if not more than mine- my friend Sam's fourth place with his squad almost entirely made of Gungans! Thanks for playing everyone.

Mandos were played by Ethan who went 3-1 with 7pts.

Thanks Udorian and Tim. We talked about VassalCon at the end of yesterday, but it doesn't look like very many of us are going to make it.