Star Wars Imperial Assault KC Regional Report
Christopher Freeman
Hello Everyone:
Here I provide my report on the Kansas City regional for Star Wars Imperial Assault.
We had eleven players at the regional, which I believe is the most that any regional has had so far, most having less than half of that number. A group of four to five players came down from Nebraska, and one from South Dakota! It was also a treat to have Jim Frasor there; he used to run the national Star Wars Miniatures tournaments for WOTC at Gencon (he has recently moved to Manhattan). Also, Steve Farrell did a good job running the event.
With 11 players, the tournament was four rounds long, and then there was cut to final four players. Congrats to Leighton Eash, as he was the winner of the tournament; he seemed like a nice guy. His 40 point, 8 activation squad was:
4 Imperial Officers
4 Royal Guard Deployments (that is 8 royal guard figures)
I was running a 39 point, 10 activation imperial squad as follows:
1 Royal Guard Deployment (2 figures)
2 Elite Imperial Officers
4 Imperial Officers
2 Elite Probe Droids
1 Probe Droid
Because it was a 39 point squad, and I faced 40 point squads, I got to choose who would begin with initiative, and set up map, and choose deployment. Of course, I choose my opponent to do this. I could wait till he was setup, and then setup my squad after considering strategy. So, if you are building a squad, you don’t have to feel compelled to build it at 40 points. Less than 40 can be a big benefit.
The strength of my squad is that it usually has the last activations of round 1, which due to my movement breakers provided by the officers, I can get an attack or two off on the first round. Usually this was by the elite probe droids, which with the pierce 2 surge ability, can get through the royal guards and Vader’s defensive abilities easier than others. Then, I would have initiative the second round. Usually I was able to put a character or two down before my opponent’s first activation of the second round. Also, my squad had enough mobility that it could usually get to the mission objectives quicker than my opponent. However, the weakness of my squad is that it could not handle all the hit points against balanced squads.
My results were as follows:
In the first round I played Leighton, who would win the tournament (his squad was above). We played on the Darth Vader map, and it was the objective where we needed to pick up something (holocrons?) and run them to an Imperial beacon. I was barely able to stop him a couple of spaces away from the beacon, retrieve the objective and score points. Meanwhile, my other probe droids had done their job taking out some of the guards, using the strategy I spoke about above. So right away, I had about 36 points, 4 points away from victory with a huge lead. Both of us thought I had the game. But ultimately I was not able to kill one of his last royal guards. I think he had four left, three of which were from separate deployment cards. Lesson learned: Try to take out the deployment card pair, because you don’t get the points unless both are out. I had defeated enough royal guards to win, if only it was the guards I needed (ie to put out the pair and get the victory points). Time ran out, and he took a 1 point lead on his last activation of that round. On the way home, I realized I forgot that I could have used the self-destruct ability on my last probe droid, to possibly take out one of the guards. I lost 37-36.
Second round: I played the guy from South Dakota. He was running a rebel squad that was
Luke Skywalker - 10
Gideon Argus - 5
Jyn Odan 5
Rebel Troopers – (three figures) - 6
2*Elite Rebel Saboteurs – (total of four figures) - 14
We were playing the “Get to the ship mission”. I used a strategy that I thought would work very well. Since, the whole point of the mission is to control 2x2 square area in the middle of the map, I moved my elite probe droids right on top of these squares. Since these squares were impassable blocking terrain, I believed that the only characters that could get up there would be those with flight. I also thought that the only characters that would be able to attack the probe droids would have to be adjacent to them. However, a ruling was made that my characters could be targeted from any character. That was not anticipated by me, (perhaps I was thinking too much like SWMinis rules) and it left my characters not only exposed to shots from every side, but also blast ability from the elite rebel saboteurs. I had had another huge lead, but he won the game going away, defeating all my characters. I think I lost something like 40-36. One more kill would have won the game for me, but he did a good job of keeping his last remaining elite saboteur away from me. I think he likely ended up in the top four, because he was 2-1 when I left the tournament.
My final game was round 3. It was on the Luke Skywalker Map, and the objectives was to control crates and then place your token under the crate. Each worth 10 points I believe. I faced a local guy who was running
Elite Nexu
2 Elite Trandoshans (total of four)
2 Trandoshans (total of four)
I thought I would face several squads like this, so I had practiced against it many times. I waited for his activations to run out, then I used my officers to move my probe droids into position for the objectives and to take out his nexu. I had enough victory points in the 2nd or 3rd round. 40-10.
The fourth round, I had the bye, so I said my goodbyes and took my son to see Avengers2. I found out later that Leighton had won the tournament.
Here I talk about some of the differences from WOTC SWMinis to SWIA.
The biggest problem this game has for competitive play is map setup. If you have initiative, then you must setup the map. This can take anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes. It is magnified because the map is not chosen until immediately before the round begins. I had two starter kits, but yet was not able to have enough pieces to have all three maps separately bagged. But, for the most part, setup went well on Saturday, providing this was the first competitive tournament that we all participated in.
Second, having played SWMiniatures, it is hard to get used to the freedom of movement allowed in SWIA. I have come to the conclusion that when I doubt, I should assume that the movement around any combination of corners, blocking terrain and enemy characters is legal. Also, you can’t use your figures to block opponents from objectives or access to your key pieces because the rules state you can move through enemy figures. IMO, This really takes away from the strategy of the game, and makes it much more of a dice rolling game.
Now the positives:
First, the main squads really seemed to be balanced. In SWMinis, it seemed that you ran one or two of the elite squads, or the few available counter squads. Many times the games were blowouts. But not here, it seemed that most games went down to the wire according to score, and usually only one of the five out of each round would go to time.
Second, a great game mechanic is the range function, which WOTC did not have. Melee characters don’t have to be worried about getting shot from the other side of the map (balanced maps help too). The shooters ability to attack from afar is limited by the range.
Another positive is the mission objectives. Some are better than others, for sure, but it eliminates the WOTC problem of hanging back on your side of the map, or running solely to one area to gain gambit.
So, there are my thoughts. I would still like to continue playing this game, and would be interested in a once or twice a month schedule, if we can find a time and venue that works for everyone.
-Chris Freeman
Ben Johnson
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On Thursday, May 21, 2015 at 5:12:27 PM UTC-4, Christopher Freeman wrote:
Hello Everyone:
Here I provide my report on the Kansas City regional for Star Wars Imperial Assault.
We had eleven players at the regional, which I believe is the