It went without saying that the Store Championship at 513 Gaming was cancelled, just as much as it shall go without saying that the scheduled Store Championship season will be long finished by the time we crawl out from our caves. Most fortunately, many stores are holding onto their prize kits and waiting for a reschedule later on this year. In the meantime, Vassal and Tabletop Simulator are going to be the locales for X-Wing. I shall follow suit and adapt, and write some batreps on Vassal.
I was planning on doing some batreps for Kylo Vonreg Muse, so the first game post-quarantine-declaration that I diligently took screencaps during was going to be this Hyperspace game featuring the list. The blog will probably remain Hyperspace-focused, given that Extended is too forgiving a format. In format where mistakes matter more, I can spot them and analyze them not only in the plentiful losses, but in the wins as well. At any rate, today’s opponent is callsign “JFBMX”, a Republic player. Our lists:
Kylo Ren (76)
Instinctive Aim (1)
Advanced Optics (4)
Proton Torpedoes (13)
Ship total: 94 Half Points: 47 Threshold: 3
Major Vonreg (57)
Outmaneuver (6)
Ship total: 63 Half Points: 32 Threshold: 2
“Muse” (30)
Squad Leader (6)
Ship total: 36 Half Points: 18 Threshold: 2
Total: 193
“Wolffe” (50)
Ship total: 50 Half Points: 25 Threshold: 5
“Broadside” (36)
Ion Cannon Turret (5)
Ship total: 41 Half Points: 21 Threshold: 4
Obi-Wan Kenobi (48)
Calibrated Laser Targeting (4)
Ship total: 52 Half Points: 26 Threshold: 2
Anakin Skywalker (N-1 Starfighter) (41)
R4-P17 (5)
Plasma Torpedoes (9)
Ship total: 55 Half Points: 28 Threshold: 3
Total: 198
I really like the Republic list, as Wolffe has a consistent damage output when pulled off right, Broadside is a great control piece, and Anakin’s Plasma Torpedoes very much help with the damage output of the Hyperspace Republic staples. With these pieces helping keep the damage output up, Obi-Wan can go do I5 Jedi-interceptor stuff with his Calibrated Laser Targeting.
For me, Anakin has to die first. Since I have shields, he essentially has Proton Torpedoes equipped. Furthermore, should a scrum occur, Anakin’s ability will allow him to block such that Broadside can get easy ions, Obi-Wan can line the bullseye at range 1, and Wolffe can follow a full modded front shot with a bonus-die rear shot on the following turn. If I can threaten with Kylo enough on the flank, the area-denial clone pilots might be baited off, allowing an isolated angle for him to swoop in and torpedo Anakin.
On the first turn, we take standard openings. The Light-Side pilots cling to the bottom board edge while the clones keep an eye on the top edge. Muse starts to book it from a list that moves after her, Kylo poses a top edge flank, and Vonreg eyeballs an undercut flank.
We both know what we’re trying to pull. Anakin and Obi-Wan creep up, daring Vonreg to over-commit. Kylo rolls back, trying to setup a Cat-and-Mouse game with the top gas cloud. Regardless what happens, the engagement shall certainly take place on the imminent turn 3.
Muse runs coordinating a barrel roll to Vonreg so he can swing round the gas cloud, snag a lock, and boost in for a 4v2 shot on Obi-Wan should Obi not be careful. Spoiler Alert: despite the roll from Obi offering the move in a bid to punish a hard 1 or bank 1 to starboard in, Vonreg clipped a cloud in a complete misjudgement on my part. Thus, both Obi and Vonreg have meaningless shots (although Obi-Wan’s shot removes the strain on Vonreg and opens his options for next turn). With Kylo’s hard 2, should the clones have called it, the best he could hope for is a roll to mitigate the shots with either range or the cloud. Fortunately, the clones guarded the flank, allowing Kylo to juke in and flank on Anakin. This is yet another example of the utility of Instinctive Aim and Advanced Optics even when moving last: Kylo was out of range until he boosted, but Autothrusters mean that boosting in comes after the lock or the focus, not before. That force and optics allow him to retain full mods, which were handy in dealing a Blinded Pilot to Anakin off a bad defensive roll. Muse lives, and can further bait the Jedi for her aces’ benefits!
Kylo’s 2 forward allows him to kill Anakin without suffering a Range 1 shot from Obi-Wan. Vonreg plinks Wolffe from a distance to start the task of wearing him down. Wolffe’s shot, which I anticipated to eat a shield or both off Kylo, bounces off (focus mods are big, be they denied from the cloud or ever-present because Kylo’s worth a lot more than the mere 13 pt base cost over Blackout). Broadside is stuck swinging around the top cloud. Nice.
I was suddenly and legitimately caught off guard. I assumed Muse was dead this round, but I did not expect the Segnor’s Loop on Obi-Wan this turn. Although in retrospect, I should have, given that Outmaneuver on Vonreg would spell the near-death of Obi-Wan should he had suffered target fixation on Muse with his back to the Red Baron. All the same, this gambit instilled fear into Kylo, whom I banked through the cloud because I liked the positioning and did not expect a range 1 shot from Obi-Wan to be set up. I did, however, luck out this turn. Calibrated Laser Targeting is no Delta 7B, so Obi-Wan had only 3 dice coming in at Kylo (and with 2 hits, Kylo’s luckily unstrained 3 greens were able to generate the natural evade and focus result needed). Meanwhile, Muse survived with her evade!
Muse’s final act was coordinating a focus linked into a boost to Kylo, who cleared the stress with a 2 turn, then locked Wolffe at range 1, stressed himself with a barrel roll out of arc and into range 1 of Muse, and then had his stress removed at the start of the engagement phase. 4 actions, 4 dice, triple mods, a 135 degree re-orientation, and unstressed at the end of the shenanigan! On the other extreme, Obi-Wan blocks Vonreg’s attempt at shenanigans, which reduces the Baron’s action count to 0. Muse dies and Vonreg loses a shield, but Wollfe is crippled and Obi-Wan is in the Major’s bullseye on a turn that he would like to be agressive and Segnor’s Loop.
Vonreg’s 5-K turn is possible due to his negating of any attack from Obi-Wan. It also allows him to outmaneuver Broadside. Meanwhile, Kylo didn’t expect anything else besides a bank move from Wolffe, so he pulls a Talon Roll to land the killshot. Thanks to Advanced Optics functioning as the blank correction from the last shot, his lock is preserved and does the deed off a bad natural roll! Turns out being able to Jerry-rig one of Redline’s abilities with one of those locks working even when initially out of range of the target is a trick with merits. Broadside does avenge his brother with a shield plinked off Kylo.
Fortunately, it was already late enough in the game for this to be clinched by Kylo (94 + 7 pt bid = pt fortress of 101 pt !), but it was a mistake all the same. Vonreg should have turned out to starboard and recycled to get shots again later. In hindsight, that is painfully clear with the Republic forces being otherwise out of position. Instead, I executed a 2 forward with him. My opponent’s good area denial through Obi-Wan meant I would have to get fancy to get out. I failed my barrel roll to starboard with Vonreg during the Fine-Tuned-Thrusters ability window, so all that was left was boost. Even with the system-phase deplete assigned to Broadside so ill-equipped to removing it with his dial alone, that R1 ion was near-guaranteed to ion me. And so it was. Ben Swolo does have a wet-noodle fight with his namesake though, and because Obi-Wan was strained by the cloud, he lands a shield damage on the Aethersprite.
Now although that Vonreg blunder was not all too severe due to the latency of its occurence, I’m still not going to let this game slip to a catastrophic mistake. Thus, I 3 turn to starboard away with Kylo. If I turn in too hard, I could end up with a half-pointed or even ioned Kylo with a dead Vonreg: an unwinnable game state this late into the game. Thus, just locking and hoping for the best is the best course of action. Fortunately, Obi-Wan was hoping to block a greedy Kylo, so Vonreg only takes 1 hp of dmg from Broadside’s turret. His dial and actions are open!
Obi and Broadside cover the the escape route, ready to give chase to the TIE/ba should it come down to that. I’ve played enough with Vonreg to know that with the ship’s green token anemia and tight turn radius when using the ability every turn, he can’t run from even a CLT Obi-Wan forever. I thus hope to cut on the outside, hiding in a corner. I might be able to pose a final stand and have Kylo pop up from behind with a sledgehammer. Sure, the game is won here, but I’d rather boost my MOV, especially since Kylo got lucky with his snipe and landed another hit on Obi-Wan.
Fortunately for Vonreg, Obi-Wan’s covering of the unlikely 1 hard to starboard (perhaps a necessary guarding move should I have considered escaping that way) means that the bullseye will be off for Calibrated Laser Targeting. Further more fortunate for the First Order forces, Broadside can only fire his primaries as a result of his positioning. Thus, Vonreg survives yet another turn. But I misjudged with Kylo, so boosting after the focus leaves him no shot, but stressed. Sure, the Silencer dial can handle stress easily, but it’s good practice to keep it open whenever possible. That turn when Muse removed Kylo’s stress before the first Talon Roll is a prime example of this.
In a not so-stunning turn of events, the cornered TIE/ba dies. In a stunning turn of events, however, he alpha’s Obi-Wan Kenobi. I was contemplating the 5 forward with Kylo, but was confident in Obi-Wan getting closer to the corner, in which case the dialed 2 bank was a better angle of attack. At any rate, with time running out–as we had went by the near 1-turn overdue 75 min timer–Kylo could afford to have a cloud in front of his flight path. All the same, that was turn 12, a very common final turn number for IRL games. If this were a tournament, I’d be setting my dials lightning fast in case this sort of endgame comes up so Kylo could perhaps sneak the final damage to halve Broadside. But enough of would-have’s could-have’s, as this game went well considering my mistakes. 157 – 99 pt victory.
Vonreg’s ability was rather handy this match, given that it essentially turned off an enemy gun on a turn that it wished to execute a red maneuver. Most of the time that I fly him against ships that do not execute too many blues, I hope to trigger it multiple times (especially against Firesprays), but in this game, just once is enough. All the same, he is a lot more fair of an I6 interceptor-class craft to fight with or against than say Soontir Fel or Fenn Rau. By that, I mean that there are fewer failsafes for the craft when mistakes are made. When blocked, Soontir gets a focus to his defense roll in addition to 1 less gun firing at him, plus he has autothrusters! And Fenn can be block-agnostic if the block means that he will be at range 1 in the front arc of what might seek to punish him. The design around Vonreg, however, especially with self-debuffs and a green token anemia that strongly encourage trying to arc-dodge with what the ship’s ability has to offer is one that I enjoy. I hope that more I6’s are like him, although it means that players such as myself will have even further crutches kicked from under us! He still is a cheap I6 with either double reposition or double offensive dice mods on the same chassis though, and that is a decision-easing information-offering proliferated problem that allow players such as myself to rely on reacting. The removal of my favorite crutch, Supernatural Reflexes in Hyperspace is a start, but shouldn’t be the end of curating First Order.
I do dabble with the other factions from time to time, such that I fly Imperials in Extended almost as much as First Order. I really want to “git gud” with Republic in Hyperspace, but this match is another interesting entry into the catalog of reasons why I’m too chicken to do so: damage output, which I have seen be an issue before. As of now, the Galactic Republic only have 1 straight-up 3 die gun in Hyperspace–the fewest of any faction–and are thus reliant on conditional bonus dice to deal their damage, be it Calibrated Laser Targeting, Ric Olé’s ability, or secondary weapons (which could be control pieces that are handy for sure, but deal only 1 damage). Conditional dice are a great bargain when they trigger–as it is mimicking having a higher red die count without having to pay the full price for a stat upgrade–but having them denied really puts you behind in the damage race. When facing the likes of a 94 pt deluxe Kylo as the one I flew, this damage race becomes more concerning despite being up essentially another 2 combat ships. Kylo has 4 dice whether it is liked or not until he runs out of torpedoes, and to be honest, he’s more powerful ditching those torpedoes at longer ranges ASAP and then rushing in with primaries. That’s a powerful alpha when combined with even the threat and not necessarily the effect of Outmaneuver from another ship. Meanwhile, Broadside needs the enemy R2 at furthest and in his broadside, Obi-Wan has to land bullseye–a tall order when placed in the unfortunate predicament of moving first–and Anakin can launch munitions only at what he has locked. Passive Sensors do help with the last item, but eh, means he can’t be surprising with that R4P17 off his Talon Rolls that open up his dial in junction with the ability and Force. Republic has been showing up really well in large tournaments, but for a mortal such as myself, it’s not for me in Hyperspace.
Given the lack of events (well, I hope there is a lack of events!) to provide IRL batreps of, I shall probably screencap another game of mine in Vassal later this week. I’ll probably make that my first Hyperspace game on the 26th, with a batrep up by the wee hours of the 27th by GMT. I’ll be fielding Holo + 4 friends then, and hoping that Static is more than an aggro sink this time!
Screaming into the Void 