John's Regionals Wrap-Up! Part 1: The Build

"I can't believe you didn't post your list before the tournament this time!"

That was a comment (or a variation on it) a few people said to me Saturday up in Michigan (for those of you who DIDN'T recognize me on sight, I was the guy wearing the sweater and tie.  I don't have much daily opportunity to look sharp so I take every chance I can) and I can understand the sympathy.  Usually I'm all about posting the "Here's what I'm bringing today!" but I hit a slight problem with that: I didn't know what I was bringing until Friday morning, the day before the Regionals.  I present this tale to explain how I ended up getting the list I had put together and why I ran what I ran; not intending to copy any specific list or anything, just what I learned from a month or so of testing and playing.  Hit the jump for the story of this list generation!

Say hello to my lumpy friend!

Marley was dead, to begin with.

Best Christmas movie? Best Christmas movie

The Assault Frigate is GOOD, to begin with.  That was the premise behind my list building and thought process.  The winners at Worlds the last 2 years (and 3 years ago as well?) all had it in their list.  I had maligned it previously (no real way of fixing its dice, mediocre damage output for what you pay for it, unassuming basic maneuver profile, etc) but if THE game winners had taken it, clearly there was something missing in it.  Or should I say, I was missing something with it.  Thanks to several comments on the forums from Vergilius (CLASSIC comments, you might say!), I was all about trying something out that others had maligned or didn't see as "good."  He had taken Madine/the Liberty from obscurity to store (Regional?) championship, and I'm sure it tasted sweet.  So I was determined to try something that was contrary to The Internet Meta, who thinks that Assault Frigates are bad.

They're good ships, Bront.  Also, to me, this is the HEIGHT of humor.

Complementary to that, I wanted to use squadrons again.  I had put them somewhat away as we had recently gotten a good influx of new players to the store, and me beating up on them with squadrons only teaches them that squadrons are OP and this game is mean.  Aren't YOU glad when you show up to a store to learn to play a new game and you get squished by Luke Skywalker and 3 Y-wings that blew up your ISD with (what seems) like minimal help from anything else? Glad I paid $50 for THAT model!

But our locals have gotten better and stronger (2 of the new guys even came with to Michigan! Jerry, sorry, you've been here since the Massing at Sullust, you're not new, bud) and it was time to break them back out.

How I feel clubbing baby seals that are just learning the game

So, squadrons, AF, easy mode.  But not so fast! I had even more crazy restrictions because of course!

I didn't want to play 2+3.  I don't LIKE 2 combat ships and 3 flotillas waiting in the back, it seems like I'm just wasting time and not DOING anything with my activations and not actually playing an armada of ships.  I'm playing 2 ships and their 3 backup singers.  I don't LIKE delaying with 3 flotillas until you come close to me and then I hit you and then run away and we don't get ANYWHERE because the game in my mind isn't supposed to just be about using flotillas around the edges to wait you out.  I UNDERSTAND everyone's complaints when the game turns into that, and the desire for nerfs to Relay or anything of the type to prevent flotillas circle strafing the battlefield, unable to be harmed.  If I was using a flotilla, I wanted it IN the battle, contributing to the fight in SOME way.

Relatedly, I didn't think that I could do a better 2+3 than what JJ did at Worlds 2 years ago (side note to this: I didn't WATCH this previous final, and most of my memory was just "Rieekan and squads and stuff."  When I reference JJ, this is not to dismiss Team Canada or our maple-syrup eating brethren, just that I didn't really watch this year and don't have much memory to go off of.).  I like creating my own thing and didn't want to just copy what he had done, and I personally wasn't sure that going super hard into fighters with just Yavaris and Gallant Haven was a smart plan (my anti-fighter plan is predicated on NOT playing Sloane Aces, I'll be fine!)

Related to THAT, I wanted to try and see if I could make a viable 4 ship fleet work for me.  I had been debating doing it, as several of my friends had gotten into an activation race with each other, trying to outdo the other and wait out the other person.  I wasn't sure if this was going to be something workable, but I can see big ships coming, and there's all sorts of speculation on the forums of possible cards and officers and upgrades and things of the sort.  Eric and I will not be commenting on speculation for the next wave, but I DO think a 4 ship fleet is viable.  Unless of course, FFG Employee currently reading this, you want to give us a free heads up on some cards coming down the pipeline?

Info pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease! Info please.

Anyways, with ALL those caveats, here's where I started at.

Points: 400/400

Commander: General Dodonna
Assault Objective: Precision Strike
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57 points)
-  Yavaris  ( 5  points)
-  Flight Commander  ( 3  points)
-  Fighter Coordination Team  ( 3  points)
= 68 total ship cost

[ flagship ] CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
-  General Dodonna  ( 20  points)
-  Jainas Light  ( 2  points)
-  Hondo Ohnaka  ( 2  points)
-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points)
= 75 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
-  Bright Hope  ( 2  points)
-  Toryn Farr  ( 7  points)
-  Bomber Command Center  ( 8  points)
= 35 total ship cost

Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)
-  Gallant Haven  ( 8  points)
-  Adar Tallon  ( 10  points)
-  Flight Controllers  ( 6  points)
-  Boosted Comms  ( 4  points)
= 100 total ship cost

1 Gold Squadron ( 12 points)
1 Z-95 Headhunter Squadron ( 7 points)
1 Luke Skywalker ( 20 points)
1 Norra Wexley ( 17 points)
1 Ten Numb ( 19 points)
1 X-Wing Squadron ( 13 points)
1 Jan Ors ( 19 points)
1 Dagger Squadron ( 15 points)

Use the Bomber Command Center, Luke!

So, to explain the point of this all.  With one flotilla, BCC goes on there.  I wanted Yavaris, the build is pretty standard and good.  I wanted Adar Tallon and Toryn, so I put those in where they ended up because my thought process was "AF push squads, solves problems."  Make note of this, kids, we'll come back to it.  Flight Controllers because yup, pushing squads.  Luke remains the devil, Norra and B-wings/Gold because cracking ISD shields is why I'm here.

And the Jaina's Light? I needed a chariot for Dodonna (I'm using Luke and bombers, lemme choose dem crits!) and I didn't WANT it to be yet another squadron pusher.  I had squadron pushers, but what I didn't have were ships that could do reliable damage!

So I played the list a few times, and it won.  I needed some practice with it all, but it was going really good.  Then I stepped up to some 6 small ship lists.  These are better known as MSU, multiple small units because of the, well, multiple small ships you bring.

This was what was left of MY list after getting attacked by either Admo or Eric's Raiders.  Freaking nightmare boats, they is.

So, I had hit some trouble, with small ship lists.  4 ships is a thing, and I feel the concept has some worth to it, and I saw several well fielded 4 ship lists Saturday.  But what I had was not going to do well if I faced ANY MSU force.  I needed a change, and fast.  There had been discussions on the forums recently about the number of ships needed to "win" a Regional and if things were getting to a bad state or not for the game.

I was able to add in another flotilla (So, CR90, Gallant Haven, Yavaris, 2 flotillas; a 3+2) with a slight squadron alteration, and I played against Eric again the Thursday before Regionals.  Adar and the BCC were on that one, Toryn remained on the other.  It did BETTER, but the CR90 got wiped out again.  This was the 3rd or 4th game in a row that it got killed in, and it really wasn't contributing, weirdly unlike the flotillas.  It wanted to be closer to the action so the TRCs could kick in, but with 4-5 ships that means it's usually the ONLY thing in close.  That's not where my commander's ship wants to be, or more accurately, where it SHOULD be.  Even more weirdly, I had TOO many squadron commands queued up.  Gallant Haven had some ready, but Yavaris and the flotillas had most of it covered.  The one or two turns I needed an extra blue dice from Flight Controllers, sure, it was great to have squadrons then.  But the other turns? I could have stood to be Navigating instead, or Engineering even.

I needed to do SOMETHING.  But I knew squadrons.  I had been practicing squadrons for a month and a half! I couldn't change now! (Ask me for the Adepticon Sato story sometime about why you should always play something you're familiar with).  So, after some discussion with Eric and Atlanta native (forum member name) GiledPallaeon, I shoved the CR90 out the airlock.  I replaced it with ~20 more points of fighters and a 3rd flotilla.  I was playing it; the 2+3.

"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

Gave in to my hatred
Points: 400/400

Commander: General Dodonna
Assault Objective: Precision Strike
Defense Objective: Hyperspace Assault
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57 points)
-  Yavaris  ( 5  points)
-  Flight Commander  ( 3  points)
-  Fighter Coordination Team  ( 3  points)
= 68 total ship cost

[ flagship ] Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)
-  General Dodonna  ( 20  points)
-  Gallant Haven  ( 8  points)
-  Skilled First Officer  ( 1  points)
-  Flight Controllers  ( 6  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
= 114 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
-  Bright Hope  ( 2  points)
-  Toryn Farr  ( 7  points)
-  Comms Net  ( 2  points)
= 29 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
-  Bomber Command Center  ( 8  points)
= 26 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
-  Adar Tallon  ( 10  points)
-  Boosted Comms  ( 4  points)
= 32 total ship cost

1 Corran Horn ( 22 points)
1 Y-Wing Squadron ( 10 points)
1 Ten Numb ( 19 points)
1 Jan Ors ( 19 points)
1 Luke Skywalker ( 20 points)
2 B-Wing Squadrons ( 28 points)
1 X-Wing Squadron ( 13 points)

Well, kind of.  My flotillas WERE all contributing and near the fight.  Toryn needed friends to be near to benefit from her, as did the BCC.  Adar and the Boosted Comms came in because he wanted to be in the back and far away anyways.  But the flotillas, while pushing squadrons, were contributing.  There WAS no delaying/waiting flotillas here; it was usefulness all around.  I didn't want VCXs because side flotillas is anathema to me.  That's not why I got into the game, circle strafing the battlefield, and if it was the only way to win I wasn't playing it.

I had heard of Roquax's RCAF (the eventual MI winner), it was going around the forums the day or two before Michigan, and it seemed quite good.  I didn't want a 4th flotilla, nor did I want to use VCXs like his did (again, this is not me trying to start s*** with Canada, this was just how I wanted to use my list versus how he wanted to use his).  I decided that I would have rather had the X-wing and Y-wing (or is it the B-wing?) versus his choice of Dutch and a Z95 in my case.  Again, not trying to say I could beat his list or mine is better (I'm laughing too!), just how I came to what I came to.

Corran came from Giled and the fact that he played Roquax on Vassal with it, using Adar Tallon to untap him, repeatedly sniping 4 and then running back to the Gallant Haven as needed.  That sounded great, and I enjoyed the X-wing book series back in the day!  Ten, Luke, and Jan were all there before, so that hadn't changed.  I love punching big ships with Luke repeatedly, it's just enjoyable to me.  I was able to cram in another B-wing for bombing support as needed, and my Gallant Haven build was very similar (I was even able to squeeze in ECM! Hooray!)

See, it's not a REAL 2+3, it's totally different! Also, worst Beatle, right here, kids.

So, this wasn't just a straight list/copy of a previous winner or my take on it or whatever, this was my development into its current iteration.  How was it going to do? Well, that's what tomorrow's writeup will be about!

Also, look, he's painted now!