Thanks to Damon AKA Xantos for both writing this and never actually bugging me about publishing this over the last 3 months. My bad, bro-dawg.
What up y'all, I’m back!
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| Triumphant return, with a reference to last year’s dusty ol article! |
In case you have no idea who I am, hi! I’m Damon, resident Dooku expert (the last one retired to a leisurely life of podcasting), former best Separatist player in the world (for details on how I became the best Separatist player in the world, see last year's articles, linked here and here! For details on how I became the former best Seppie player, read on!), and occasional “funny guy” (Xantos1159 on the various Discords). Sometimes, I also write things, which is why I’m here today. Huzzah, content! Buckle up, cause this is gonna be a long one.
Let's start with how I ended up with my list (spoilers: it’s still a Dooku fleet). I took several months off of competitive practice after worlds last year, playing around with some rebel and imperial fleets (more on those later) When I went back to CIS, times were tough, mostly due to this guy:
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| Bail, we need you for one more mission |
Turns out munis don’t like being shot 5+ times in a round by a single ship. For the record, nothing else does either, but at the time most CIS lists were reliant on 1-2 munis anchoring the list and eating up fire for at least a round, if not more. My muni in particular was kitted to be as annoying to kill as possible, and an Anakin Venator scoffed at all my upgrades. It also meant my close-range Recusant was a bust, as anywhere but long vs an Anakin Venator was akin to suicide. Also, there was a-hole #2:
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| Both this and old-Ani are top results on Google, don’t trust it! |
After more testing and some jank breaks, we got the glorious news that was RR2.5, swapping Anakin to something both more balanced and more interesting, neutering Matchstick (#notsorry), and nerfing onagers plus some defensive tech in various factions. I was a bit burnt out on CIS at the time, so I gave some of the Imperial lists I’d been playing a shot. I took KOG (Kuat, Onager, and Demolisher gladiator, for more on this fleet, see my LCQ article last year where I played Kog’s progenitor, Colin Looney, or check out THIS article from Kelorn who took KOG to LSO) to a tournament in Dayton, just wanting to blow stuff up. It went great for the first two rounds, but I ended up in 2nd after losing the last round to an Ackbar fleet that was held on the table by 2 collective hull points on 2 separate MC30s. Partly my fault, partly the other guy playing awesome. I then tried taking an SSD down to Kentucky, once again just aiming to blow up ships, and once again wound up in 2nd, held back by a small win r2 vs Garrett’s (Admiral Tater) GAR fleet. Finally, I took a slight variant of my old world’s fleet back to Dayton just for familiarity's sake, only to wind up in, you guessed it, 2nd place.
This was around November last year, and I was getting nervous. There were only a couple tournaments left before Worlds, and I needed a 1st to get an invite and skip the LCQ (I won last year, but didn’t want to go through that gauntlet again if I could avoid it). My current stuff (read: full ship lists aimed at destroying other ships) wasn’t cutting it, so it was finally time to work on something I’d told myself I’d practice after worlds last year: squadrons.
Separatist squadrons in particular, partially because they didn’t feel fully cracked yet (the only recent standout performance in my mind was from Nick Larson, flying a Grievous Providence, a Bomber Command Center Hardcell, and a crap load of generic Vultures and Hyenas), a lot of the meta squad builds for other factions didn’t appeal to me (looking at you, Gallant Haven and Squall), and because it meant I could keep playing my favorite admiral, Dooku. The first version had 5 Hyenas instead of 4, but I’ll talk about that more in a sec. First, the list:
(Almost) Everything painted!
The Light Non-Electromagnetic Alclad Alloy Plating Curtain
Author: Xantos1159
Faction: Separatist Alliance
Commander: Count Dooku
Points: 396/400
Assault Objective: Most Wanted
Defense Objective: Planetary Ion Cannon
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions
[ flagship ] Recusant Support Destroyer (90 points)
- Count Dooku ( 30 points)
- Patriot Fist ( 6 points)
- Tikkes ( 2 points)
- Flight Controllers ( 6 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
- Expanded Hangar Bay ( 5 points)
- Linked Turbolaser Towers ( 7 points)
= 150 total ship cost
Hardcell-class Transport (47 points)
- Foremans Labor ( 5 points)
- Bomber Command Center ( 8 points)
= 60 total ship cost
Gozanti-class Cruisers (cis) (27 points)
= 27 total ship cost
Gozanti-class Cruisers (cis) (27 points)
= 27 total ship cost
1 Wat Tambor ( 18 points)
1 DIS-T81 ( 17 points)
1 Phlac-Arphocc Prototypes ( 19 points)
1 DFS-311 ( 18 points)
2 Vulture-class Droid Fighter Squadron ( 16 points)
4 Hyena-class Droid Bomber Squadron ( 44 points)
= 132 total squadron cost
(Side note: Full list name is available posted somewhere on Discord. Shoutouts to B1-J081).
(Other side note: The list looks very similar to Truthi’s VWC list. Half of this is just CIS; there’s only so many ships and squads we can take and be competitive with. I wanted a Recusant carrier, I needed BCC, and there’s only so much else you can fit in. The other half is 100% me seeing him succeed with that list, it looking fun, and me wanting that success for myself. He even helped explain the fleet a bit, including some of the play style choices. Shoutouts to Truthiness!)
The ships are pretty straightforward: a Support Recusant kitted out as a carrier, a BCC hardcell, and then 2 Gozantis to help push the squads. The two goz were originally another Hardcell since I was worried about being tabled, but a bunch of deployments let me keep both ships pretty safe, and people constantly underestimated how much they’d need to kill the BCC Hardcell. One damage a round from Foreman’s labor doesn't sound like a lot, but it adds up over multiple rounds and gives it just enough extra to hold onto defense tokens longer. The Gozantis instead push me up to a ridiculous 9 deployments, give a bit of extra squad command power, and let me have really conservative opening deployments since I don’t care where the Gozantis end up. The Rec has PF to shoot ships better if I don’t need it to flak and help clear squads, and Tikkes means I can push 5 squads consistently while also tossing out a nav token whenever I need to change speed. PF is honestly the upgrade that gets used the least often (everything else is used almost every turn) since I’m aiming for double arcs with the Rec, but it’s really helpful against slippery smalls, and for on the approach/exit vector when you can’t really double arc because the front arc is so wide.
The squads themselves went through a few more iterations. You need at least 4 hyenas for anti-ship damage, and I initially had 5, but the 5th got cut for more anti-squad because worlds is packed with squadrons. The aces are a bit trickier. Brace yourself for a truth bomb: CIS doesn’t have great aces.
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| I know Pikachu, it is surprising! |
A shocking revelation, I know. We have a couple good ones, a couple decent ones, and a junker (looking at you, Haor Chall). A lot of people say CIS should just spam their good generics (Vultures and Hyenas mostly, although I say Tri-Fighters are pretty decent) and ignore the aces. That can work, but they die to flak (and everything else) real fast, and can stretch your command capability. I preferred the flexibility of aces at the time. DIS-T81 was mandatory for me because of Snipe. It’s my best tool against scatter aces, one of the only ways for CIS to deal with counter, and is a very versatile squad while being decently cheap. DIS is one of the good ones. DFS-311 is the other squad I consider mandatory, even if it kinda sucks. Intel is just too important when all your squads are fragile and you need to bomb things to win. Play a game where Shara Bey locks down your Hyenas and DIS is stuck dealing with Tycho and you’ll see what I mean. Good squad players will lock your stuff down and DFS is one of your only tools to deal with it.
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| Did they really have to swap the blue to a red? We pay 10 points for DFS to be worse offensively than a regular vulture |
The other 2 aces are preferential. You could absolutely swap them with 4 generic Vultures and probably do fine. Hell, Nick Larson runs 6 generic Vultures and does amazing. I wanted a bit more reliability, and I got it sometimes (Phlac got one-shot twice, the flimsy jerk). Wat Tambor has Escort and can usually eat 2-3 shots (although sometimes he takes a lot more if Screen decides to be useful). He keeps the Vultures alive slightly longer, and relay is very very useful for grabbing one squad who’s out of range and/or keeping the Gozantis and the Hardcell slightly safer. Phlac-Arphocc was the final addition. He wasn’t always very useful, but kinda like Dooku, opponents were more afraid of him than they should have been. Auto-damage and counter 2 can tear through generics, and annoys aces a ton. Any extra damage saves me vulture shots. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend him, but he did alright for me.
Last thing about the aces: except for DFS, they all have black anti-ship. CIS aces are about the only multi-role squads we have, and can be really helpful against low-squad opponents or squadless. Their damage definitely came up in a few games at worlds.
Finally, Dooku. Ahhh, the count. What an admiral. There are some games where he’s almost useless because of all the tokens my opponent can generate, or because they have someone like Thrawn or Ozzel that just ignores my raid. Then there are the games where you can pounce on something early because of a nav raid, and then the other raids prevent their fleet from helping out as much as they’d want. Those are the games I live for. A lot of playing Dooku is recognizing what advantage you’ll get and trying to spin that into a win. It might not seem huge at first, but a late nav raid might prevent that ship from slowing down and nailing a double arc. It might prevent it from speeding up and jumping out of range of your ships/hyenas. It might mean the flotilla has to decide between pushing squads itself or passing a token to the other carrier so it can push squads next round. Recognize those moments of tension, and recognize that your opponents are more scared of Dooku than they probably should be. Several people at worlds expressed their dread at running into the raid commander, even if they had plenty of tools to deal with him. I was outbid a lot, but people gave me first (which PF loooves) because people were scared of Dooku objectives (quick objective side note: MW over PS because I like killing things and not farming, PIC over FA because I really like my deployment advantage. Infested Fields might be better than SP against max squads, but I was bored of it and no one picked SP anyways). Dooku causes stress, he forces players to consider something they usually don’t, and he causes people to deviate from their plans. Stressed players trying something new make mistakes, and that’s where Dooku shines. With 9 deployments, that ship they dropped a bit isolated is suddenly dealing with Patriots Fist and a bunch of angry Hyenas. You’ll see this pop up several times when I get to my game recaps. Dooku isn’t always game-winning, but he’s always game-changing.
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| Dooku wondering why no one’s ever happy to see him |
The first version of this list won me my world’s invite in Indiana, beating two very different Sloane fleets and a Gar fleet with a small screen. The list then went 4-0 in a Kentucky tournament, beating out a Rieekan, Gar squads, Romo msu, and an Imp fleet I forget (JJ maybe?). I didn’t end up winning (that tournament was nuts, the winner had 3 10-1s and a 1-10), but that tournament gave me a ton of confidence in the list. I also ended up winning a worlds practice tourney in Dayton later as well. Even if you’re prepared for it, the list is very difficult to deal with, and a lot of people weren’t prepared for it.
Let’s briefly talk about how it flies. Truthi’s version of the list had bomber aces that could survive some punishment if they went out to bomb early, or if the enemy decided to try and get them off the table first. My version didn’t have that, which means I needed to be more careful with my bombers. As much as I love hyenas, 4 hull isn’t much if the enemy ships start flaking and/or if they’ve got any kind of squads on the board. Instead, my version had better anti-squad to clear out the enemy squads faster without losing as many points. I didn’t have a ton of bid, but people are afraid of Dooku objectives, which meant I got first a lot of the tournament. A Recusant pushing 5 squads and then shooting is a mean first activation, and with 4 total ships, I could often wait out something important on round 1, and set up a good attack run on it for the top of round 2. Dooku raids are almost always a nav r1 followed by a squad raid r2, further hindering my opponents ability to respond. If they deployed at a fast enough speed, I could even sometimes jump some squads in t1 and start the bombing early. My list’s goal was to cause tension and stress, and pounce early to try and take advantage of small mistakes. My initial deployments often looked something like this:
Goz 1 is dropped sideways near the distance 3 line, squads are dropped somewhere in front of the Goz (exact formation varies), and Goz 2 drops angled behind
Neither Gozanti is really committed to a fight, and I have one going each direction so my opponent can’t really guess where I’m going. Once I’ve waited them out with squads (sometimes holding Hyenas if I out deployed them enough), the Hardcell sets up slow rolling and the Recusant drops at 3 on a flank. At this point I’ve picked a target, as well as a secondary and backup target, depending on if the initial rounds go well or poorly. If the enemy has squad cover, I usually can’t guarantee killing a really tanky ship, but PF loves to bully smalls and mediums on its own. BCC is great bait as well if PF needs a distraction, and I’m not attached to the Gozantis at all. All the smalls bank nav or squad tokens, depending on what they need, and the Rec dials up squads every round and lets Tikkes give it whatever tokens it needs. From then on, I’m either jumping in as 1st player, or waiting for a ship to move beyond squad cover as 2nd before jumping with Hyenas and PF, and then clearing out their squad cover once it moves to intercept.
The bane of this list (besides tons of token generation) is a very tanky medium/large ship supported by a very tanky or very fast 134. Squall can outrange me and guarantee an alpha even if I try to hide my squads, while some rebel and Gar builds can tank an alpha on the chin and grind me down. If those lists have a flagship I can’t really threaten with PF, there’s not a lot I can do in the matchup besides pick up their support ships and try not to lose the squad war too badly.
CIS squads were unpopular for a few years due to a notion of the lists being fragile, finicky, and hard to win with. Some of that is true! The Recusant has plenty of foes it’d rather avoid, and a lot of my squad practice was about managing losses and when/where I took them. If you just took this list and tried to straightforward brawl, a lot of lists would beat you. It’s an overdone joke, but CIS squads are named Hyenas and Vultures for a reason: they gang up on weakened and exposed prey (which Dooku helps immensely with) and run away from big threats (usually ISDs). With 9 deployments, my Recusant doesn't have to tangle with those scary arcs very often because I can outflank and outmaneuver them. If you’re at all curious, I encourage you to give CIS squads a try, and give you liberty to steal my list (or you can steal Nick’s, but his is lamer cause I said so (and also because it’s a bit more reactive, while my list is a bit more proactive)).
With all that out of the way, I’m finally ready to talk about the tournament. Worlds this year had 114 players after adding from LCQ, with many players in attendance. Everyone would play 4 rounds of swiss on Day 1, with the top 36 moving on and playing 4 more swiss rounds on Day 2, and then the top 8 of those would play 3 final swiss rounds on Day 3 to determine the world champion. Last year, I had several big mistakes on day 2 that kept me a few Tournament Points shy of Day 3. This year was going to be a lot tougher in my estimation, both because of the increase in players meaning tighter cuts between days, and because the average skill of players would be higher because everyone earned an invite this year, rather than the legacy invites from last year (no shade to last years worlds players, just that this years were somehow even better). Let’s get into my day 1 games!
Game 1 was against Przemysław Paluszyński, a Polish player flying two Support Recusants, a Gozanti, and a boatload of squads, mostly Tris and Vultures. I wasn’t really worried about his squads bombing my ships, but I was worried about my PF trying to fight 2 recusants while my squads were tied down. He chose first and picked my PIC, the only time I’d be 2nd player all weekend, so I deployed conservatively and tried to lure him into the Ion Cannons.
(Deployment)
He didn’t take the bait, instead opting to circle around. I decided to aim for the inside Recusant while hoping to tie the squad war and get my bombers free. Unfortunately for me, he alpha-ed my bombers a couple times, tying them down and killing several. They never really got free, but his squads all got grinded down by mine and my flak, while I kept my squads out of his flak behind the station.
(End of round 2)
(Somewhere around round 4, after his alpha and my counter-attack. About half the squads are dead.)
I jumped on his trailing Recusant, but at this point he decided to cut losses and scram. He also was just now reaching Ion Cannon range, so both Recs were very healthy. I took a couple shots, but without bomber damage or first player couldn't finish off his Recusant. However, since I won the squadron war, I ended up with a small win, 6-5 (100-77).
Game 2 was a much better matchup for me: a squadless Kraken list, very similar to the one I’d practiced earlier in the season, flown by Chris Spencer (Dr. Chaitin). While very threatening if he caught my ships, the Hardcells couldn't really deal with squads outside of combined flak zones, which I would make sure to avoid. I went first and picked his Ion Storm, knowing it would be easier than IF and less points than AMF to deal with. I forgot to grab a picture of deployment, he dropped his hardcells in a line across the middle and then PF on the side, while I stalled with Gozantis and vultures in the middle before setting up to bum rush his PF on the flank. I did remember to grab a pic of his glowing engines though.
(Caption: Check out the cool effect on my Goz!)
He sped the Hardcells up and began the process of turning to meet my ships. My Gozantis scattered to avoid any Ion Storm farming, while BCC followed PF up the flank. I started shooting and bombing his PF turn 2, and it was dead at the top of turn 3.
(Right after the Rec activated, top of round 3)
From there, I picked off what Hardcells I could while trying to keep my BCC alive. He had a couple B2s on his Battle Hardcells that he used to block a few commands and pick off some squads, giving me a taste of my own raid medicine. My Hardcell managed to escape, leaving him with only a few Ion Storm tokens and squads. I won 8-3, 267-78.
That solid win put me at table 14, playing against Adam Newton’s (Angry Ewok) Ackbar Airforce, a list he’d been playing for years. It features an Ackbar Assault Frigate, two TRC90s, two GR75 Transports, and a varying level of squadron investment. His list has a large bid for second, forcing you to either give his frigate Advanced Gunnery, or to approach his Ackbar gunline as he farms Fire Lanes or Intel Sweep. The unfortunately correct choice for most lists (including mine) is Intel Sweep, as AG can let him two-tap my Recusant, not to mention anything else. Such that it was, he deployed sideways aimed towards the right edge, and I deployed to meet him there. He got the Intel Sweep tokens without much trouble while I started picking off his squads. He tried to angle his Assault Frigate to force my PF into range, but I stayed just out for several rounds.
(Round 3-ish)
After some awkward maneuvering (partially caused by Dooku), his Jaina’s Light ended up exposed, so I killed it with PF and jumped into the front arc of the Assault Frigate. If I killed it, I got a very solid win and was probably guaranteed to advance to Day 2.
(Caption: Round 4, Hyenas behind the Rec had just finished off Jaina’s).
Unfortunately, my angle meant he was only in the front of the Recusant, and at close range so I couldn’t add PF dice. He also had just enough room to scoot forward at speed 1 to get his side arc back on target. I laid into the frigate on the top of 5, before eating a ridiculous 10 damage shot from Ackbar. His remaining TRC90 rolled perfect accuracies to deny my defense tokens and just barely finish off the Recusant. We got time called before r6, but it was unlikely my squads would’ve finished off the Assault Frigate on their own. Even with my PF going down, I was ahead on points from squads, Jaina’s, and nabbing a transport, but Intel Sweep gave Adam the win, 5-6 (178-233).
This put me in a must-win situation for game 4. Based on how the day was going, it didn’t need to be huge, but anything below an 8 could come down to MOV. Thus, I was quite happy when I saw my 4th matchup, even if it was my third CIS mirror. I was paired against Quinn Hislop, flying two Recusants and a Hardcell with Tuuk and 4 aces. It’s a well-rounded list, but Recusants are fragile enough for my PF to prey upon, and I both out-activated and out-deployed him. Also unlike Przemysław’s list from earlier today, I had the bid, and he had far less fighter-cover. I picked first and took his Contested Outpost, set up my fighters in the middle, and waited with the Hyenas and PF to see where his Patriot Fist would drop. He set it at speed 3 inside his other ships. I deployed across from it at 3 with the Hyenas, and when he didn’t use a pass token r1, I jumped in with the Hyenas and moved to double arc it, then finished it off at the top of turn 2. Quinn’s biggest threat was gone without having fired a shot.
(Right after Rec and Hyenas finished off his PF, top of 2)
He got quite the nice alpha in return, one-shotting both DFS and Phlac while tying up my squads. He sent his flagship rec forwards to try and make up points on my Hardcell and Gozanti, seeing that my PF would never take a double arc with my first player and further activation advantage. I slowly whittled down his squads and took potshots at his flagship. The BCC Hardcell came in clutch again, living far beyond what it should have.
(Round 3 squad scrum)
In the end, Quinn’s flagship fell along with the remainder of his squads, while most of my squadball perished. I was unable to finish his Hardcell for the table due to my dead bombers, but I did get back a couple station points, landing me with a very solid victory, 9-2 (399-160).
Side note about that last game, Quinn said he usually moves the fighters up to protect his PF using his flagship recusant on t1, and just forgot due to last round jitters. That would’ve meant instead of bombing his Rec on t1, I would’ve had to deal with his squad ball instead, making a very different game. I’m confident I still would’ve won, since I would have had two PF activations in a row to deal with his squadball, and then would only take one of his PF shots in exchange before probably killing it r3, but anything could’ve happened, and it definitely would've been a different game. As it stands, the win put me solidly in the cut, ending the day in 12th overall with 28 tournament points. Onto Day 2!
To start my second day of games, I was paired against Richard Hill’s Rieekan list. He had a weird hodge podge of ships, including a hammerhead with Shriv, a CR90B, and a kitted up MC30 flagship. He also had 7 unique squadrons (plus a lancer) to do various Rieekan shenanigans with. There were a couple key points to my plan for this game. 1: Do not let his MC30 get a solid double arc on either of my ships. 2: Do not get all my squads stuck in a Rieekan tarpit with Wedge or Shara. To that end, I gave his 30 a wide berth, and set up my important ships on opposite ends so he couldn’t fork them.
(Deployment)
His hammerhead and CR90 both slowed down to avoid getting stuck in with PF. He had chosen 2nd, and I picked his Asteroid Tactics, so his squads hung out behind the rocks while the Exos screened his 90 from a bombing run.
(Start of R2)
One of the keys with Rieekan is denying them perfect squadron positioning. The less maneuverability they have, the less they can tie you down with dead squads. To that end, I sent DIS and a few Hyenas forward to kill Green Squadron in my worst alpha of the tournament. Between them, they rolled only 3 damage, keeping Green alive for another round and essentially dooming my squads. His 30 had angled wide trying to catch my Hardcell, so PF set up a solid arc on the CR90 for next round. Wedge and Dutch made quick work of my pitiful alpha, leaving the rest of my squads to try and save face. While the CR90 evaded two hits into blanks and flew away pretty safely, PF and a Goz went to work trying not to lose the squad game. It kind of worked?
(Messy Round 3)
It’s a bit hard to figure out what’s going on in the chaos, but all my squads used DFS to ignore Shara in the middle there, going up to deal with Wedge and Dutch. The rest of the squads are tangled up in front of the CR90, right before it runs away. I believe his MC30 took out the Gozanti in the middle before I could trap his GR75, while my Hardcell off-screen teamed up with PF to kill the Hammerhead and get something out of this mess.
(PF turning back in Round 5)
After the mess was resolved, there were a lot of dead squads and no clear winner. After totalling the points, I was left with a very slim loss, 5-6 (130-137). I was very sad that both the CR90 and GR75 escaped, and maybe would’ve gotten a better outcome if PF took a more aggressive angle. Alas, nothing to do but move on to the next game.
On paper, my round 3 was a very exciting matchup between the best CIS players at the tourney, myself and Nick Larson. In practice? Neither Nick nor I wanted to roll the dice on a squadron scrum without a clear advantage. He chose 2nd to force me to fight, and I picked Rift Ambush to deny any possible points farming. He centralized all the obstacles, and most of our ships deployed to the right side of the board, with all his ships at speed 1 and against the back edge.
(Deployment)
I did a rare thing and dialed up two entire Navigate commands on the Recusant, trying to set up an attack run on his support ships without locking the Recusant in a doomed joust against the Providence. My plan was to cut up the right side of the rift, but I’d need to be careful to avoid the rocks. His ships slowly turned to my right and began making their way around. Unfortunately, I turned too sharply to the left on turn 1 and ended up either needing to go the long way around, or doom my Recusant to several turns at 0 on the rift. It was an easy choice, but also set up for a rather straightforward game.
(Caption: Nick in the process of hiding all of his squads)
I tried to pick off the Hardcell with my squads, but with BCC well out of range, couldn't get enough damage to stick before it sped off.
(Caption: Toilet bowl game, wheeeee!)
He ended up picking off a few of those bombers after their second run, and then I cleaned up those squads, and there wasn’t much else to do. Since Hyenas are worth more then Vultures, I ended up with another slim loss, 5-6 (32-41). I was pretty upset at myself for this one, having screwed myself out of the chance to actually make a game out of it almost immediately, then having to play 5 rounds of consequences. I took a good long break at lunch to get back into gear, try to get some wins, and maybe have a shot at making day 3.
My third round was against Jakub Charmo, flying a Jerjerrod MSU-type fleet, with a Gladiator-2 Demolisher set up to assist Mauler and Hondo’s double splash trick. I really wanted to deny that if I could, while also killing his biggest threat, Demolisher. He set up a couple rocks for his squads to hide on, and I deployed across from Demo hoping to catch it before it could do too much harm. We were playing his Most Wanted, so my Recusant and one of his Gozantis were worth extra points.
(Slightly into Round 2, I believe my Gozanti activated 2 Hyenas at Demo in an effort to bait Mauler in)
In retrospect, I was far too nervous during this match for what actually happened. I was worried that his Demolish would soften the Rec up before forcing it into range of both his Arqs while they ponded me safely from range. I was also terrified of the Mauler Hondo trick annihilating all my squads. Instead, the Arqs were also scared of PF, and instead chose to try and track down my BCC while the Recusant and Demolisher tangled. Mauler and Hondo were very cautious and only caught a few of my squads. Demo got a very solid run at the Recusant, including a damaged munitions crit from APT that kept Demo alive a round longer. Meanwhile, Jakub tried in vain to kill my Hardcell, with repairs, awkward arcs, and some truly abysmal rolls keeping it alive. Unfortunately, I don’t have any other pictures of this game, and can’t remember what else I killed. I’m fairly sure it was only the squads and a Gozanti, while Jakub only got a few generic squads in return. I had barely won by enough to secure an 8-3 (177-33).
This win meant I was back in the hunt for day 3 cut, sitting just outside the current top 10 players. Like Day 1, a solid win would put me in, while a small one would come down to MOV, assuming I won at all. And that was a risky assumption due to my final matchup, a Sloane list with a Corvus flagship and Demolisher Gladiator, flown by Sébastien Demey. Like several of my opponents, he agonized over his bid choice before giving me first player, with me picking Asteroid Tactics. He set up centrally in his fortress of rocks, while I had my ships split, hoping to distract Demo so I had a chance of killing the Quasar and winning the squad fight.
(Deployment)
He kept all his fighters back for two rounds, forcing my ships ever forward. With Squall and the Exogorths, there wasn’t much I could do to guarantee an alpha. I moved the Hyenas up and tried to keep the rest of my squads spread out so he’d be hard-pressed to lock everything down. Near the end of r2, I positioned PF right outside the Quasar’s range to catch it when it moved forward. It never did. Using a nav token passed by a Gozanti, Squall went to speed 0 and flung his fighters, taking out DFS and Phlac (if memory serves) and locking down most of my fighters. Things looked grim for me, as in the next round, PF was unable to shoot the Quasar, and my counter-alpha was very unproductive due to my squads being spread out and locked down. Demo had turned in and was slowly approaching. It was here that Sébastien made a crucial error.
Remember when I talked about Dooku putting stress on people? His Gozanti in r3 passed a squad token to the Quasar to clear the squad raid, before using the dial and Grint to push 6 squads and ruin the rest of my ball. This left his Quasar stuck at speed 0 in front of PF. Sébastien realized his error when he went to activate the Quasar, but it was too late by then. He finished off my squads, but the next round, PF one-shot his Quasar with help from a ram. The game had swung instantly.
(Round 4)
At this point, I could tell Sébastien’s heart wasn’t in the game. His chances of Day 3 had been blown by 1 mistake (I know the feeling, it's brutal). He had Demo set up to catch my Hardcell but couldn’t get a great shot on it, and a couple of my bombers slipped free to kill it before it could contribute much more.
(End of the game)
Sébastien’s Raider had made a run at my Hardcell, but left shortly after. PF took out his Gozanti and tried to flak as many squads as it could, while Sébastien’s remaining squads scattered. He had killed all but 2 of my Hyenas, but with most of his ships dead, I won 7-4 (226-110). Was it enough?
 |
| My actual screenshot at the end of day 2. So close! |
No, it wasn’t. Just barely, but no. Once again I wouldn’t be advancing to day 3. But hey, I got closer this time! Someone also noted how the only repeat appearance in the top 8 from last year was Nick Larson (this guy again?), and with the tougher competition this year, I was quite happy to have improved my placing compared to last year. I also didn’t have to deal with the stress of playing day 3; massive props and congratulations to all those who did compete in the top 8.
Worlds was a ton of fun. I really enjoyed seeing and playing everyone, I played opponents from around the world, I got to see a lot of lists I don’t usually get the chance to play (no one in my local meta plays CIS but me, and I got to play 4 of them!), and I had an amazing time hanging out with all my Armada friends. I love Worlds, and can’t wait to go again next year (written before “the announcement”, riiiiip).
So, let's have some final thoughts on the list, yeah? Obviously, I think it’s really good. Anything with a consistent 134 is really strong, and surprise-but-not-at-all-surprising, CIS can field a very consistent 134. Recusants are great, PF in particular, and mine can flex very easily between targeting ships and squads. The BCC Hardcell takes far more work than it should to take down (usually, don’t try to joust an SSD), and the Gozantis are flotillas which basically guarantees they’re good (even if they kinda suck at being flotillas). Dooku is still my favorite admiral and is always an interesting puzzle for you and your opponent. This list really only works because it can be aggressive with Dooku; you can see in the reports that every game I lost or was close was because I wasn’t aggressive enough or couldn’t be aggressive, and the games I won hard were the games I went aggressively at a target and nabbed it. That said, the worst I ever lost was 5-6, and two of those games were single-digit MOV. I think the list can still work against some defensive fleets by grabbing supports and nibbling around the edges, but those games are very tough on both players usually. A lot of the top 8 had great tools to deal with my aggression as well, so I’m not sure if I’ll be bringing it back to worlds. At least I’ve got a whole year to plan and prep again!
This is where I thank you for reading, assuming you made it this far. Maybe next year I’ll be able to write a reasonably long article and not whatever this behemoth is. Speaking of…
Team Tournament Bonus Round! One of my locals had grabbed a ticket, and was trying Rebels for the first time in years because everyone in our area plays imperials (including me, but who’s counting?), while I was taking a slightly memey Dooku List:
2 Ship 2 Dooku
Author: Xantos1159
Faction: Separatist Alliance
Commander: Count Dooku
Points: 398/400
Assault Objective: Surprise Attack
Defense Objective: Planetary Ion Cannon
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions
Providence-class Dreadnought (105 points)
- Invincible ( 5 points)
- Rune Haako ( 4 points)
- Boarding Troopers ( 3 points)
- Thermal Shields ( 5 points)
- Linked Turbolaser Towers ( 7 points)
- Point Defense Ion Cannons ( 4 points)
- External Racks ( 4 points)
= 137 total ship cost
[ flagship ] Recusant Support Destroyer (90 points)
- Count Dooku ( 30 points)
- Patriot Fist ( 6 points)
- Tikkes ( 2 points)
- Flight Controllers ( 6 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
- Expanded Hangar Bay ( 5 points)
- Linked Turbolaser Towers ( 7 points)
= 150 total ship cost
1 Wat Tambor ( 18 points)
4 Hyena-class Droid Bomber Squadron ( 44 points)
4 Vulture-class Droid Fighter Squadron ( 32 points)
1 DIS-T81 ( 17 points)
= 111 total squadron cost
Is it a worlds-caliber list? No. Is it consistent? No. Does it let me fly a Providence with Boarding Troopers that can toss 4 Hyenas in the same activation as an 11-die double arc while PF sits behind it? Hell-to-the-yes. Let's see the game!
#1 was vs Simon (Captain Awesomer). He had an ISD, Demo, and some solid aces supported by generic ties. I chose his Hyperspace Assault and dropped centrally, while he put his ISD off to the left side.
(End of 1, although we’re still moving squads)
He chose to drop Demolisher on the left here, in the side arc of PF and pointing towards my prov. While Demo was initially out of bomber range due to PF being in the way, PF shot and moved while alphaing Simon’s squads, and then the Prov sent the Hyenas after Demo. Demolisher died in short order, although not before getting a solid attack run at PF.
(Round 3 I believe, the Rec had just finished Demo and swung into the side of the ISD).
The Providence ended up going wide to avoid the asteroid and couldn’t block the ISD in, and the Recusant didn’t want to sit in the ISDs front to try and block it in, so Simon made a run for after flaking my vultures down.
(End of Game)
The ISD slipped between my ships and ran for the hills, living with only a few hull left while PF chased it and the Goz, earning me a small 7-4 win.
Game 2 was against one Eric Burtch (Formynder). He had a Piett SSD and two supporting Gozantis. I’ve played my list vs an SSD before, and Thermals plus Boarding Troopers is a nasty combo, provided I can keep my ships alive long enough. I picked his Contested Outpost and put the Prov across from it. He dropped at a very steep angle towards the middle and the outpost, exposing his side arc for PF to hide in.
(Partially through Round 2, PF jumps in as per usual)
I forgot a picture of deployment, but this is after PF jumped in with the Hyenas and DIS, with everything hanging out in the side arc.
(Still before the SSD moved round 2)
And here comes the Prov! The vultures are left behind because they wouldn’t do a lot bombing wise, and might just die to counter and flak for free points. I figured Navs and Repairs on the Providence would be more important than the 4 non-bomber reds I’d get from commanding squads, and I was right. On round 3, Boarding Troopers went off, both my ships had double arcs, and the Hyenas rolled ok. The SSD was hurting.
(Caption: Casual QTC Pryce shot after Thermals).
I tried to keep PF in the side arc but was moving too fast. This meant he could con-fire out the front at the Prov while still guaranteed killing PF (no Rec is gonna live those two arcs). The Rec went down, the squads got pretty low or dead, but the SSD was left at 1 hull.
(But look!)
Enter: the heroic vultures, uncommanded, with 1 barely in range of the SSDs nose. Could it be the hero of the Confederacy? Would they sing songs of its bravery, the Vulture who could, the SSD-slayer, the Vulture of Leg-
(Caption: Nope!)
Ah well. Instead, the Prov activated and killed it easily before scoring another Contested Outpost token, which took the win back to a 9-2.
My final Team Tournament match was against Patrick Doupe (PRDoupe) borrowing Jackson’s (Machi) Gar stuff, flying a Plo list with the usual complements of a Pelta, MM Consular, mix of bombers, and Ani + Axe. We ended up playing his Asteroid Tactics, and Patrick dropped most of his stuff in the right corner. I swiveled to give chase, and the game was on (eventually).
(Caption: Round 2: It’s not running away if your ships are painted?)
Again the Prov ended up going a bit wide to avoid a rock, and also to avoid overlapping my squads, who I kinda needed to help kill the Venator. I was also hoping to maybe fork the Pelta or Consular against the Ven, but that didn't really end up happening. What did happen was Patrick put Anakin near that front debris field but not entirely on, and landed on Axe with his Pelta so he was out of range. It took all 5 of my squads (DIS continued to be a twit and not roll any accuracies on Snipe attacks), but I got the man down.
(Round 4 I believe)
PF took a bad angle here trying to stay on the board, but ended up double arc-ed while only having its front on the Ven in return. Most of my vultures had died to flak at this point, but they’d distracted his bombers for a while which was nice. Patrick sent Ahsoka to tie up my bombers, and I barely managed to kill her and free my Hyenas for a solid bombing run.
(R4, right before the Ven lays into my Rec)
The Prov finally almost caught up, but it was about curtains for my Rec. Patrick used Clone Captain Silver to jump the Ven safely in the corner, and then my dice abandoned me. I think PF did 1-2 damage to the Venator, Patrick finished off my bombers, and the Prov completely whiffed on both smalls.
(Partly through R5, Venator just hanging on)
Patrick barely managed to keep the Ven on the board, and the Prov was out of range of the Ven. It took one last hail mary shot on the Consular, whiffed again, and finished its sad run rear-ending the limping Venator. With MM scoring, it was a pretty bad loss for me, 2-9.
I ended the day 2-1, not too shabby for a weird 2-ship list against some good players. I need to improve my positioning with the Providence for sure, but having more deployments would certainly help. I think this BT build on the Providence is very very strong, and more people should give it a shot. There’s more to CIS than PF! Anyways, I was pretty happy with the games, and I really enjoy flying this list. This is the real end of the article, so massive thanks if you made it this far. Hope to see you soon with some other battle reports, so until then!
Buuuut Damon, I hear you whine. What did you do on Thursday at worlds? You were there, right? Where’s my Content? Fret not, dear reader, for I have something in the works. Stay tuned…
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