The last couple of weeks were dedicated to preparing for the European Championship in Star Wars Legion. I decided rather early to bring Luke and Tauntauns. But which version of Luke and how many Tauntauns were long unclear. The list I thought would be final was disrupted the last minute by a rules update on Tauntauns, but in the end I didn’t really change anything crucial. This is what I brought to the Tournament:
– Luke Skywalker – Force Push, Jedi Mind Trick, Recon Intel
– R2-D2 – Comms Relay, C-3PO
– 3x Rebel Troopers – 1x DLT-20A Trooper, 1x 2-1B Medical Droid
– 2x Rebel Commandos (Strike Team) – DH-447 Sniper
– 3x Tauntaun Riders – 3x Tenacity, 2x HQ Uplink
– Command Cards: Son of Skywalker (1), Blast Off! (1), My Ally Is the Force (2), Full of Surprises (2), Return of the Jedi (3), Smoke Screen (3), Standing Orders (4)
– Omitted Battle Cards: The Long March, Key Positions, Minefield
The idea was as simple as effective: Luke is the centerpiece winning the game with Force power shenanigans. Snipers and Tauntauns are self-explanatory. I opted for only 10 activations to bring one Medic for Luke, one DLT-20A Trooper to have one extra unit with a little punch and Range 4 critical threat as well as C3PO to help keeping R2 alive and handing over dodge tokens to Luke – or just improve the odds when going for the secret mission. For the latter strategy I even brought the Blast Off! Command Card to ensure a good chance for the mission even if the game only lasts 4 rounds.
I actually was not 100% convinced that this list would succeed in the meta, mainly because it has a very hard time against Imperial gunlines and I took a lot of beating against it during preparations. I went with it anyway.
Round 1: Dariusz Makulski – Empire
My opponent brought Veers, AT-ST, Double-Deathtrooper and 4 Units of Stormtroopers with various heavy weapons. We played Recover the Supplies on Superior Positions with Rapid Reinforcements, basically a perfect setup for me.
In round 1 my snipers grabbed one box and hid behind a building on the top right. That was their only job for the entire game. The second unit I placed there in case one got shot by the AT-ST in round one also remained there for some pick-a-boo shots.
The „naked“ unit of Rebels picked up the second box and hid after that for the rest of the game.
One unit of Tauntauns pressured the left crate, killed two Stormtroopers, hid behind the building and took some shots after that. The DLT unit of Rebels dropped also in this region to increase pressure. The other Tauntauns went to the center building, taking some beating from the AT-ST. With the last activation I moved Luke next to the center box.
In round 2 I played Smoke Screen to push Luke onto the crate. Luke took one shot from Deathtroopers and lost 2 wounds before picking the crate, hiding behind the building and getting healed by the medic. The rest of the round I spent getting shot at and losing two units of Tauntauns. At least the Rebel DLT-Troopers put some pressure onto the Imperials.
At this point I had 3 crates and the only real threat was the AT-ST that might be able to either seek out my snipers or kill Luke. I mentally prepared to charge the back of the AT-ST with Luke at the end of the round and finish it off with Son of Skywalker next round.
But the Walker decided to go backwards after killing off my medic, leaving only the leader. I moved up with the Tauntaun in order to lock the AT-ST farther back.
My opponent learned next round that he can’t walk over Tauntauns and he can’t shoot them in base contact. My Tauntaun learned that it hurts pretty bad when the AT-ST reverses and then shoots.
The empire realized that they needed to up their game in order to win, so a unit of Deathtroopers moved forward. Luke took the chance, charged them and killed 3 to be save for the rest of the round.
Next round the Deathtroopers tried to withdraw. Luke Son of Skywalkered a unit of Stormtoopers with his blaster and then moved into the cozy melee with the Deathtroopers again near the building.
The AT-ST moved, killed a single remaining Rebel Trooper and tried to block passage for R2. My DLT-Troopers killed off the Stormtroopers that were hit by Luke earlier. The rest of the Imperial troops moved up in a desperate attempt to get to Luke.
In Round 6 I took the initiative with Blast Off! and handing over the command to Luke who just stood there and dodged. The two Deathtroopers in contact with Luke missed their hits. Then R2 jumped into the enemy deployment zone fulfilling his mission.
The final action was Deathtrooper charging and attacking Luke: 5 hits, dodge, 4 blanks. Luke finishes his first game with only one wound and brings me the first victory of the tournament. Good start!
Round 2: Grzegorz Kaliński (Rebels)
Han, Chewie, Sabine, 2 Fleet Troopers with Scatter Gun and Officer, Veterans, Blaster and some Rebel Troopers. We played Sabotage the Moisture Vaporators and again Advanced Positions.
I occupied both Vaporators with Snipers and set up aggressively since there was no real long range pressure.
The first few activations were moving up a bit and my opponent set up a large standby area. Then he drew Han and decided to go straight for it. After some measuring I saw that my Tauntauns could charge the Rebel without getting hit before entering melee. So unless Han died instantly, my Tauntauns would be save. And if Han died I would definitely take the trade! He lived for now.
Chewie also moved up way too far so I could charge him with another unit. I had to take one shot from the Blaster on the way though, gaining tenacity and dealing the damage right back to the fur ball.
That was going pretty well so far. I anticipated Sabines Explosions and played Smoke Screen to move out of the way with my droids. The Tauntauns took some beating from the bombs and then dealt some beating back. A large melee started in the center where my units went out on top after another unit of Tauntauns and Luke joining the mix.
We played another round but it was really obvious that I would crush my opponent so he conceded.
Round 3: Jack Prowting (Rebels)
Another non-meta list: Jyn Erso, Pathfinders, double AT-RT, 13 activations. We played again my favorite mission: Recover the Supplies, on Major Offensive and Hostile Environment.
I was slightly worried where the pathfinders and Jyn would drop to, so I first placed a unit blocking them to directly drop on the center crate and then hid behind LOS blockers while making sure I was able to rush the center fast. Both infiltrated defensively.
My opponent played completely defensively. I did the same with the first activactions, picking up crates and moving a bit forward while staying behind cover. With the last two Tauntauns I moved up hyper aggressively to distract from Luke who again moved up to the center crate, setting up turn 2.
I played Smoke Screen to move Luke onto the crate and also R2 closer to the enemy. Luke picked the crate and moved back as far as possible. Luke just needed to survive this round and there was literally nothing that could lose me the game. And even if he died, the third crate was close enough to my troops so I should be able to secure it.
To my surprise my opponent completely ignored Luke and focused on the Tauntauns. Slowly they died, but nothing even tried to challenge my lead in the objective game. I even managed to sneak up R2 into the enemy deployment zone, scoring the secret mission again and locking myself in melee.
In Round 5 Jyn Erso started a desperate attempt to get to Luke. She moved up and set up a Rebellious double shot in round 6. But that was clearly no problem for Luke was Full of Surprises. He even moved up to Jyn and slayed her to set the score to 4:1. A surprisingly easy win for round 3.
Round 4: Johannes J-I (Rebels)
My first opponent with a known meta list. Leia, Chewie, R2, Tripple Trooper, Tripple Sniper, Tripple Tauntauns with a large bid. We played Recover the Supplies on Major Offensive with Rapid Reinforcements.
To avoid Leia’s opening hits, I hid my snipers far behind and put the rest of my troops behind the large LOS blocker in the center.
I feared that the enemy reserves dropped on the crate to the right and hoped to draw my snipers soon, but I didn’t. Instead I drew all of my Corps and had do drop first. I used them to threaten the lone trooper unit trying to claim both crates far to the left. The threat worked and the enemy troopers dropped there instead of attacking my vulnerable crate.
Unfortunately I placed my Medic Droid so terribly that enemy snipers were able to snipe him right out of the troop. Damn it Meni, you know better than that!
All in all I saw myself at a disadvantage since my opponent could just out activate me and would get the first strike with 2 units of Tauntauns while also having the long range advantage with one more sniper unit and Leias 1-pip attack. So I decided to go with the well established tactics: Luke received one dodge token from R2 (I played Standing Orders in order to not being 3 activations behind) and moved to the center. Two units of Tauntauns went right out of charging but right into shooting range and dealt the mean – pun intended – amount of 3 wounds on Luke.
Ok, I’m all in. Either this works or I lose. I expectedly lost the initiative because I had to play Smoke Screen to get to the crate. A unit of Tauntauns charged me. 5 hits against no dodge. I roll 4 blocks. Wow, that might have just won me the game! Luke picked up the crate, force pushed the Tauntauns closer to my deployment zone, charged them (without dealing to much damage) at an angle where no other unit could charge Luke. I’m actually save for the round, carrying the winning center crate.
Shortly after I made the second really big mistake of the game. A unit of my Tauntauns charged the Tauntauns in melee with Luke and killed one, creating a gap for another unit to charge in. I somehow thought that the other model would be removed though it was completely clear which model was the leader. So the charge came in and I rolled again 4 blocks on 5 defense dice. How much longer will my luck keep me alive? At least I lost the shootout on the left flank.
I managed to keep Luke alive another round by playing Full of Surprises, surviving the first beating and killing the second Tauntaun in melee before it could attack. But my opponent was putting a lot of pressure on me. He sniped lots of my troopers through the small opening in the rock I used for cover. All his Tauntauns were in melee, Leia and Chewie attacked my flanking unit of Tauntauns and most importantly his R2 slowly but steadily moved forward.
Round 5. I Son of Skywalkered the last Tauntaun in Lukes melee and jumped behind the rock. I needed to survive Leias bombardment and a few sniper shots and I would be good. Unfortunately Leia hit the saber and killed Luke. That’s what you get when you pick the Operative Luke model over the Commander model to not being shot OVER terrain ignoring the fact the the Operative model sticks his saber to the side …
I still managed to pick up the third crate in round 6 but I could not prevent the opposing R2 to score his Secret Mission and with Luke dead I was clearly behind in kill points. What a game!
So in order to get to the top 8 cut I needed to rely on my opponents performance. I got one good score from my last opponent of course but I was a bit worried for my other opponents because they played lists I would not consider very strong. But I guess I was wrong! I had the best Strength of Schedule out of the 3:1 contestants placing me 5th after the first day.
So I already achieved everything I considered realistic hopes: Top 16 (for the Tauntaun/Dewback Promo Cards), Top 8 Rebel (for the Command Card Promos) and even Top 8 for the Darth Vader Command Tokens.
But now I wanted more! To be concluded …
SailorMeni Saves The Day 