Thursday, May 28, 2015
Spring Kit Highlander Game 5
What: Highlander Format League (Spring Kit)
When: May 1 to 31, 2015
Where: Neutral Grounds - Glorietta 2
How: Best of Five Games
For the Spring Kit prize support, Neutral Grounds is holding a
month-long league gaming using a home brew Highlander format. No exact
same list is to be used more than once in any of the player's five
games. Similarly, no unique pilots or unique upgrades can be used more
than once. Interesting! The trick is to be extra conservative with using
useful unique cards and keeping it "sprinkled" through all the five
unique squadrons of each of my games.
I'll keep a battle report of my games as I go through the league. This one is my fifth and last game. A link to my previous two games are
HERE and
HERE is a link to my first two.
Battle Report
Game 5
vs. Tom's Empire Squadron
* Echo (TIE Phantom with Veteran Instinct, Gunner, Fire Control System, and Advanced Cloaking Device)
* Carnor Jax (TIE Interceptor with Push the Limit, Stealth Device, Royal Guard TIE title, and Autothrusters)
* 2x Academy Pilot (TIE Fighters)
My Squadron:
* Leebo (YT-2400 with Push the Limit, Kyle Katarn, Outrider, Mangler Cannon, and Engine Upgrade)
* Blue Squadron Pilot (B-wing)
* 2x Bandit Squadron Pilot (Z-95 Headhunters)
It's a Fat Leebo list with a mini-swarm. I opted to forgo the donut hole in favor of having points to squeeze in Kyle Katarn for that free Focus after shaking off the stress from PTL. Leebo and the Blue Pilot is meant to last while chasing the opposing priority ships while the zees stick in to block Actions.
I looked at the other end of the table on his squadron and thought "this should be quick". I will either win big (by just needing to destroy that very agile Jax config without losing Leebo AND the B-wing) or lose big (if both Jax and Echo can stay longer than the mini-swarm). My prediction is exactamento... on with the batrep!
He deployed his eyeballs on the upper right corner of the table. I matched it right across with my mini-swarm and placed the Corellian freighter in the middle. He put Jax right across the YT-2400 while Echo joined the TIE Fighter pair. I moved conservatively with my mini-swarm and so did he, while my YT-2400 went far ahead with the intention of blocking the possible path where the squint and Echo can flank my mini-swarm.
As expected, Carnor camped on a Focus to boost his 5 green dice with Range 3 autothruster to boot. That won't go down easily. His shooting face scratched a few shields off Leebo.
 |
| first few turns |
The eyeballs zipped forward in an attempt to block my mini-swarm but I guessed as much so my focus for that turn is to capture Carnor within my arc to focus fire and banked the zees to the left while pushing the B-wing just one forward to avoid a collision. Leebo moved behind his formation. Echo with her funky decloak movement is able to squeeze in that tight spot behind my zees. Carnor Jax on the other hand flanked right and able to hide behind an asteroid and away from most of my firing arcs.
I tried to shoot at the squint with only two guns baring down at it. All that green dice proved impenetrable. I will need more shots at it to crack its defenses. His return fire scratched more shields at the bee while destroying a headhunter. That hurts.
 |
| first pass |
The TIE Fighters scrambled forward and left to cover as much area as possible to block my ships. The Z-95 banked left to be in a position to k-turn next turn. The B-wing is caught by the rear eyeball and collided with it. The YT-2400 prepared to loop back in combat by doing a tight turn right. The Phantom k-turned back to face the right way while Carnor used his superior maneuvering to flank the B-wing in Range 1!
I only have the YT-2400 to shoot with. That my shooting is negated to that is a sure sign that I can't be bringing down Carnor or Echo soon. Those ships need focus firing every turn to even have a chance of scratching past its green dice. His return fire bore deep down the B-wing's hull.
 |
| poor B-wing |
One of the eyeball continue to seek blocking positions. The other flew past the furball. The B-wing tried to escape but ended up colliding with a TIE Fighter (nice block!). My headhunter rolled back to combat and so does his Phantom. The YT-2400 barely escaped the table edge with his own maneuvering shenanigans. A miscalculation landed the Royal Guard TIE to overlap on the B-wing. The B-wing will be spared for one more turn then.
Carnor poured a Range 1 shot on the YT-2400 stripping off more shields. I have two shots this turn (from the freighter and the headhunter) and directed it back at the red squint. Four green dice plus autothruster is just nasty regardless if there's Focus or none.
 |
| can't penetrate Carnor's defense |
At this point, the TIE Fighters are far out on the fringes of the furball to cause any problems on my maneuvering. I lined up both the bee and zee to stare down at the red squint. Leebo did a conservative bank to the left just enough to bare down on the Phantom. I have three ships lined up to finally have a focused shot on Carnor but the higher PS Imperial ships are able to destroy the B-wing and the Z-95, respectively, before they can even shoot! Leebo was only able to scratch a shield off Echo.
 |
| lined up for Jax... but not so fast |
Hobbling on mere hull, Leebo can only hope for a lucky shot to penetrate either the Phantom or the Interceptor. No luck is on my way as my final few attacks are evaded with natural rolls while they give chase and slowly chew on the damned ship. Crushing victory for the Empire!
 |
| ganged up |
(Me: 0 points - Tom: 100 points)
Realizations:
- Toe to toe, my footprint is bigger than him (4 models vs 4 models... but I got a big ship). However, I was on the receiving end of his blockers throughout the game while I only was able to block his chief attackers once. Against arcdodgers, this spells disaster.
- Not because you can PTL, you should. Moving green on the next turn (or not) can lead to awkward situations.
- Focus fire pa more.
- Maghugas ng kamay bago maglaro.
Inscribed by Interrogator-Chaplain Randel on 10:48 AM
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