gencon-uk-report-2-5-9-99-uk-date

Title: gencon-uk-report-2-5-9-99-uk-date
Author: Alex "Greedo" Tennet
Date: Sep 26, 1999

[This report is a little late because I've just been really busy this month and haven't had much time for stuff like this. A regional report will follow.]

GENCON: And so it begins....

Gencon is something I look forward to every year. For the past two years, it has been the location of the Regional, but not this time. That was to happen the weekend after, so this gave me a chance to examine the meta and try out ideas. So, rather than just the tourneys (though they shall recieve attention), I’ll be attempting to offer insights into the events that went on all the while. If you’re only interested in the tournaments, simply skip my commentary (but you’ll miss out on all the wit, charm and elegance of my scribblings if you do :-)
Where better to start than the night before......

Had to get up fairly early for the drive down to Loughborough. Packing was split between just before nodding off and just after waking up. Having the organisational skills of a braindead jawa, set off later than I intended. On the way down, the car clocked ten whole miles of solid traffic jam - I’m just glad it was in the opposite direction. Had no trouble finding the University thanks to my previous visits to Gencon. Headed straight for the Decipher area in the Sports Hall - lo and behold I’m one of the first there. With the first tourney delayed, it’s off to the trade hall to examine what the dealers have on offer......

TOURNAMENT ONE - OTSD

I love OTSD play, and was pretty eager to get started. Lack of players had meant that for half the day we weren’t even sure there was going to BE a tourney. But we got around 10 players in the end and sat down to build decks. I drew Alan Rimell as my first round opponent (this was to prove a popular theme throughout the weekend). No mains for me, but there was a Djas Puhr and a few other great Sealed Deck cards. For those who are interested in this sort of thing, I kept the decklist and here it is:

Death Star: War Room (SL)
Tatooine: Jundland Wastes
Tatooine: Lars’ Moisture Farm
Tatooine: Tusken Canyon
Corulag
Tatooine
Chall Bekan
Commander Praji
Defel x2
Djas Puhr
DS-61-2
Imperial Pilot
Imperial Trooper Guard
Kitik Keed’kak
Lieutenant Tanbris
R4-M9
Stormtrooper x2
Stormtrooper Cadet
Bantha
Bespin Motors Void Spider THX 1138
Mobquet A-1 Deluxe Floater
Black Squadron TIE
Dreadnaught-Class Heavy Cruiser
Obsidian Squadron TIE
TIE Advanced
TIE Fighter
TIE Scout x2
Blaster Rifle
Imperial Blaster
Wrong Turn
Counter Assault
Gravel Storm
Imperial Barrier
Kintan Strider
Lone Warrior
Scanning Crew
Takeel
Tarkin’s Orders


Game 1 - Alan Rimmel
We got started and battled in space (where he seemed to get the upper hand) and on the ground (which I got control of after some fighting). He was playing Hyper Escapes, Blast the door kid, and Rebel barriers - so it took me a while to get any damage in. But with the void spider standing ready to react with a couple of Defels and a Stormie, he wasn’t going to battle me anywhere soon ground-wise. So we got duelling in space, and I kept draining. My lost pile was fairly big and so was his, but his deck seemed still fairly large. On impulse, I asked “That’s a 40 card deck, yes?”
Alan provided me with a blank look for a few seconds.
“It’s a 60 card deck I think....”
“Um, OTSD is 40 cards per deck.”
After Alan did a quick count of his reserve deck and glanced at what he had in the lost pile, he concluded that it was indeed a 60 card deck. There wasn’t time to restart, so we agreed that the best course of action was for him to half his life force to compensate. Once this was done, we continued play, but it was apparent that I was going to win now. After making my last drains, Alan counted his entire deck again.....
“You’re not going to believe this.”
“Hmm?”
“This deck is 40 cards.”
Doh! Well, I halved my differential but the game should really have gone to Alan. This was going to be an interesting weekend......

Game 2 - Someone

Memories of this game are vague, probably because I lost it. I do remember Momaw and someone else deploying to my war Room and my attempt to stop them failing due to a battle destiny of 0. He beat me off in space a little and then I retrieved my BS TIE with Tarkin’s Orders before deploying that, an Obsidian Squadron TIE, a Dreadnaught (rebel barriered) and a couple of TIEs against him and stopping him. Don’t think I was ever really opposed on the ground but something must have gone wrong. Go figure.

Game 3 - Mat Allen

Like Alan, Mat was to be a regular opponent throughout the weekend. He started with Tatooine and I got a reasonable opening hand. After I have down a few characters he deploys against them and battles with four ability-1 characters. I Gravel Storm his Shistavanen Woflman and he’s well and truly screwed with no battle destiny. After I get down my reacting vehicles (Bantha and Void Spider) and have drains at the Tusken Canyon and Moisture Farm, he goes for the space element and beats me off easily. Even after deploying Momaw Nadon and Undercover at my Canyon, my drains are outweighing his, so he deploys the Jundland Wastes and a few characters. I throw Chall Bekan, a Defel and a stormie against them and beat them off with few problems after two turns.
Though he lands starfighters gradually to stop drains, it’s now apparent that it’s my game after I cancel his ICBW with Tarkin’s Orders.With some careful maneuvering (and Vandem Willard deploying to my War Room) Mat was able to reduce my differential to 4 before I took him out with battle damage. All credit to him for that.

Game 4 - Ian Carter

Another Tatooine starter. Took out his early Z-95 with a Dreadnaught and then got Praji, a Defel and a couple of stormies at the farm. He wore me down a little, but then I drew a Counter Assault and had an idea. I battled his force at the farm and lost the only thing I couldn’t shuttle - the Void Spider - then moved everyone up to the dreadnaught. Next turn he drained with FIVE power 1 characters at the farm - one force was paid, one counter assault was played and 9 force was lost by him. Ouch! He had unfortunately lost his It’s A Hit to my drain at Tatooine the previous turn.
From then on Ian got in the small drains that he could before I drew Djas and a Defel, then shuttled down to oppose him at the farm and Dune Sea. Moved my Dreadnaught over to Corulag after leaving a garisson of TIEs at tatooine and managed to drain him out.


Finished third in the end, a fun start to the weekend. Decided to go and get my forms for the room at the reception desk. After an hour of insisting that I had indeed booked my accomodation, they found what they needed and handed the relevant papers over. I’d booked a room outside the campus for tonight anyway, so I headed off there and had a shower before nodding off.
Woke up two hours later - somewhere around midnight - and swapped two cards around in my dark deck. Went back to sleep.
Woke up a little later and changed one of the cards back. Went back to sleep.
Woke up about 5 minutes later and swapped the cards back again. Threw deck box across the room and covered my head with a pillow. Went back to sleep.

The next morning I got up early to take my bags to my room on the campus. Took me ages to find the place and I was disgusted at being put so far away from the Con (note: I will book earlier next year to try and avoid all these problems). Ran most of the way to the Decipher area in the sports hall and found some games already in progress. Offered a pleading look to the Director and gratefully took a bye for the first game.

Game 2 - Alan Rimell

First opponent is Alan. No change there then. He starts with Local Uprising and Ralltiir/Desert. I don’t THINK I’m facing Operatives, but start with Battle Order just in case. First turn he throws down three cloud sectors and a site from his hand, then deploys Sandwhirl to his desert. Oookaaay. That wasn’t expected, but then Alan enjoys making unexpected decks. He draws. I deploy the Dagobah cave from my hand and draw a bit too. His turn he gets cloud cars to the Sandwhirled desert (with a Gas miner inside) and plays Local Defense to get another from his Reserve, which goes to a cloud sector. Deciding to take the initiative, I deploy Tempest Scout 1 with Arnet and DS-61-3 aboard to his desert and battle the cars. He apparently didn’t expect that either from his reaction.
Anyway, I manage to clear the site with no damage to myself. He gets more cloud cars and Z-95s to his sectors. I begin amassing a fleet at Ralltiir using the deploy -2 on my side, plus another -1 for Ozzel. Love LS Ralltiir...more people play this card please. Battle the RFCs in ships that he has there. In his turn he retreats from the system and revolves a Cloud Sector. I spread my forces a little to cover Kashyyyk and also deploy a POTF to boost my drain at the desert. Thanks to Battle Plan I’m draining for free whereas he’s having to pay 3 for each.
Not for long though, he drops three cloud cars and a couple of miners, plus Kebyc, to the Jungle next to the desert. Then some RFCs and Bulk Freighters to put up resistance at Ralltiir itself. Well, I think I have the game in the bag, but I don’t fancy losing extra from my reserve every turn. So I decide to use the walkers in my hand. Blizzard Walker with Igar piloting, plus Vader as backup, is dropped to the Jungle. We battle and he loses Kebyc for attrition. Next turn, Alan moves his cars away from the jungle (sadly I can’t drain there) and into the clouds. I reckon they’ll be there for the rest of the game and concentrate on the force at Ralltiir. My turn, I drop the Big E to the planet and Lateral damage his MBF. A big battle ensues and we have a game result when the smoke clears. Altogether a very interesting game, cheers Alan.

Current Score: 4 (+20)

Game 3 - Derek Hawkesworth

He starts with Ralltiir Ops/BFHI and I with MWYHL/Battle Plan. It appears that he has a good starting hand as he gets down the Death Star first turn and begins moving it towards Dagobah. (Cue: Sy Snootles “Uh-Oh!”). Well, I begin my training of Leia and get out various useful cards. He throws down Stormie cadets to three different sites aong with Evax to flip his objective. They then group together. Meanwhile BIHT with a few Sentinel-class crafts are hanging around the Death Star, which is getting ever closer to Dagobah. That BFHI and +2 deploy to Raltiir is hampering my beatdown squad, so I get RLIR1 and GLIG1 to the Bog Clearing. They move up to Dagobah. My next turn, I deploy the Tantive IV to the Death Star with Hobbie and Toryn piloting, move the Rebel Leaders over and end my turn. I keep my fingers crossed that he doesn’t have a Lateral Damage. Fortunately he doesn’t. Unfortunately, he does have a lot of nice pilots. Down they come to his ships and he battles me. JT #2 isn’t going to affect him and he gets his 2 destinies. I try and Spiral in there, but it is Barriered. I was annoyed, but not amazingly surprised. The card is a popular one. So I do a little damage, but not enough. The game swings further in Derek’s favour. However, he then spreads out a little on Raltiir. I decide to lauch my assault.
EPP Han, Luke, a few misc pilots (deploy 9 for Luke? Not good). Anyway, I had been deliberating whether to deploy Romas or Jeroen Webb, and in the end had plumped for the latter due to higher forfeit. Wrong choice, as he reacts with TS6 (damn, should really have used Romas, huh?) and my beatdown looks a little less scary. I do manage to clear the site however. After a little thinking, I decide discretion is the better part of valour where assaulting the Death Star is concerned, and move my pitiful little fleet over to Raltiir. Derek groups his troops and moves a few ships to Raltiir (the cat-and-mouse game begins). I seize the initiative and deploy Wedge and Romas against his two cadets. This is when I realise I’ve made a fatal error, forgot to leave force to move ‘em over to cover with Han and Luke. Sure enough, the hit squad including Boba comes down next turn and Wedge is looking very pale. We’re both still on a reasonable amount of force however, and the time limit is drawing near. When he deploys a few Sentinels, Igar, Stormie cadet and Blizzard Scout 1 against Han and Luke, I’m able to Clash Igar and get some damage in. Lose Han but have another in my hand. Then time is called. We count force - I have 14 and so does he. So it ends in a true tie.

Current Score: 5 (+20)

Game 4 - Mat Allen

I’ve faced Mat a lot during my time as a tourney player, and I’d like to think I know his style of play. Thus I wasn’t too surprised to see a Obi’s Hut/Tosche Station start. I went for the Death Star and took Oppressive Enforcement as my effect after some deliberation. He deploys Ben first turn and gets his saber as well. Doesn’t move though. I deploy the Med Chamber and IAO so he can’t Nabrun over. I have to draw heavily after a terrible opening hand. I must have about 20 cards there when he asks how many. I count and tell him, he Used Grimtaashes me. Big surprise there. I lose a lot of important stuff in that ‘taash and I’m not pleased (even less pleased that I forgot to catch the thing with Hell to pay). Still, I plunge onward and he drops a load of people to the Station and moves over Obi. I respond with the beloved U-3P0. He moves his Obi and Farmboy (with saber) back to the hut to drain. I follow with droid-boy, keeping my options open - though by now I’ve lost a lot of my walkers. Save force. He shuffles characters around and I keep U-3P0 at the highest drain site. Save more force. He deploys Rendezvous Point, then Beggar and uses my force for himself. Damn.
I return to square one and continue to activate and save. I lose my Evader to a drain, convinced I’m not going to see any revos and then he revolves my Med Chamber. Hmm. Save more force. I deploy Kashyyyk finally and some destroyers/pilots. He Tunnels and draws a few. I save force. He deploys Beggar again and uses my force along with some of his own to get GLIG1, Tantive and a corvette to Kashyyyk. A few pilots are dropped (including Han and Chewie) alongside a Bacta Tank. He battles and we both lose pilots, him losing Kal’Fal to the Tank. I activate 3 and Twi’lek for a Lateral Damage....it’s the top card (phew!). Deploy that on the Rend Pt and target the corvette that has the pilots on it. Now it’s a long war of attrition but ultimately I can’t keep up with the Tank. We’ve both got plenty of force and it times out again in his favour. This day is turning quite pear-shaped.

Current score: 5 (+4)

Game 5 - Someone, can’t remember name

Pretty basic stuff as I recall. I train, he deploys, I beat down like a mad thing. Something vague about GLIG1 and Kessel comes to mind, and Clash proving useful as ever. Could we see a rise in the use of WW I wonder? Anyway, not a lot to say. Won by a nice amount, but I will be honest and say that the most interesting and enjoyable games I played today were those that I lost.

Current score: 7 (+30ish)

Game 6 - Dave Crane

I’ve got great respect for Dave as a player (former UK No1 and worlds qualifier), but probably more for his commitment to his kids. The Crane family are a regular feature at UK tourneys, and I’ve had the pleasure of playing both Dave and Billy at various events. So, he starts with Hidden Base and S-Foils (no prizes for guessing what I’m up against here) and I plump for Security Precautions. He’s deploying things to the RPt and I wait for the systems to come reeling out of his deck. Dagobah and the hut. I respond with the cave. An inward smile to myself when Ralltiir hits the table. Next turn it’s a Death Squadron SD and Ozzel to Ralltiir; all my ships deploy -3, thank you very much for the second time today :-)
So this lets me play my Tyrant for 4 force and I throw down Lennox as well on his own ship. If I can keep a clear head here, it’ll be my first win against Dave. After he draws for a while, I play a Lost Monnok on him, scoring 2 X-Wings and 2 RFCs. Hmm, so we’re going to be seeing some Kessel Run action (obvious really, otherwise Ralltiir wouldn’t have been played). We battle in various places. He’s losing by a fair amount, and then plays Kessel Run targeting a RFC in an X-Wing. I fail my destiny draw and next turn he completes the run for 10 force retrieval. Not good, he got his All Wings back with that.... Anyway, we continue and he flips his objective. I replace Coruscant after he puts a few ships there. Lots of battles with Organized attack being played (which I forget to catch first time round). My lost pile exceeds his, but I do deploy a walker and pilot to the DTP for some drainage. Dave plays his AWRI. More force back, dammit.
I’m losing without doubt now, and I just have to concentrate on doing as much damage as possible before going down. I view his hand and the amount of force he’s leaving in my turn. A cunning plan forms. Probe two systems. No result. Move ships, leaving a few for bocking drains (I won’t take battle damage with Sec Precs anyway). Probe one more system. No result. Probe Tatooine. Got it! He’s going to take 6 damage from SP unless....yup, he plays ICBW. Uh-uh. Grinning, I play It’s Worse and increase that to twelve. Dave takes it with a laugh and we end with a victory for him. Still not sure where it all went wrong, but I think retrieving 20+ force had something to do with it.......

Final Score: 7 (+15)

Well, that was good fun. I walk up to my accomodation and have some much-needed nourishment. Can’t be bothered leaving the room, so my mate in the room next door turns up and we have a laugh (I apparently do a great impression of an exploding Pops) and before I know it I’m dead on the bed.

Am roused obscenely early by the chirping of the birds. Fumble for a shotgun but all I get is a white-bordered Blaster Rifle from somewhere beneath the sheets (the remains of yesterday’s prize no doubt). Mutter a few choice phrases and cover head with pillow again. It’s pointless as minutes later my (ex)mate bangs on the door. Alright, alright, I get the point. (Note: will bring a suitable selection of firearms next year).

We walk down to the Big D area, talk with the players a bit and then go look round the trade hall again. It’s ages ‘till the tourneys get started, so we go buy some food and look for things to do in the meantime. End up sitting on the bench, eating and watching the University student blokes football game and the ladies netball game (the latter proves far more interesting). Contemplate asking to join in but figure that’d be pushing our luck. Return to the Decipher hall and wait around until people are ready to start. It’s Endor booster draft day for SW, but I have far too much Endor anyway and frankly would prefer to play in the ST Blaze of Glory sealed deck that’s going on. So that’s what I do, I’m still getting into Trek anyway and I could use the cards. My mate manages to draft a Tempest 1 and Igar in the Endor tourney though, so he’s pleased. I get a Bev Crusher but that’s all. I’ll spare you the Trek details because they probably won’t be of interest.

I placed fourth out of about 15 participants in the tourney in the end, so that was pleasing. Went off to the trade hall and purchased a box of BoG. Ahem - FIVE duplicates? And one Triplicate? I was digusted until I spoke with one of the more experienced players who informed me that was just about average. (Cue: Jabba slobber). Undaunted however, I was invited to join the seven-player ST game that evening. Should be fun.
Hung around until 9pm when we got started. We had players for all affiliations. First turn my Treaty is devilled by the Romulan player on my left. I’m not prepared for things like this of course..... Oh well, the game was a blast regardless. Even managed to take out a Borg Cube with Borg Queen aboard thanks to the new tactic cards.
Mid-way in some guy turned up with R-3P0s to exchange for corrected ones. I referred him to Mike (Burgess) who handled it, and we had good fun tearing up five misprinted R-3P0s at some late hour. Added some light humour to what was already a mad game.
I was thoroughly drained by the end of it, and realised the time was past 2 am. Oh boy...well, I was far too tired to walk all the way back to the accomodation. Ask whether we can bunk in the hall for the night and are refused, but told that the WOTC playing area is open all night if we care to try there. Feeling like people out of the nativity story, we walk over......and walk straight back out again. Not only was there little room to even walk about in, but the smell (and I’m serious here) was not at all pleasant. I’m a tolerant man, but I really was not having a kip in there for even five minutes. My friend used less polite language in his description......
So, we made the trek back up to our rooms and I just flopped out and nodded off.

The cool breeze of Sunday morning wafted into the room. Head hurts a little, but no matter.
Today is big tourney day, and I’m out for a win. Threw on the R2 Shirt for good luck and went to wake Gaz. Stopped off at the student shop to buy some food and dashed down to the hall. Off we go....

Game 1 - Gareth Walters

The only time I’ve had to play one of my regular opponents throughout the weekend, so I’m not too annoyed. He starts with CCT and IAO (I already know he’s playing Drazin) and I with MWYHL/Battle Plan. I give him Romas as his captive. Train Leia to Test 2 and begin stacking destinies. He’s getting drains in, admittedly only small ones, and being careful about where he puts his characters. I manage to POAS two drains at DBays, but he’s getting Fear in every turn and retrieving with Drazin....all game I couldn’t find either of my WAYTTPOU until it was too late to bother. However, he leaves Drazin and Lando alone at the Security Tower for one turn - here we go. Drop Jeroen ‘The man’ Webb and the EPP hit squad alongside Chewie, Biggs and Hobbie. Draw Their Fire. Clash Lando and it’s bye bye Drazin. That finishes him off. Offer him my impression of Pops blowing up and he doesn't seem to mind so much about it :-)

Current Score: 2 (+30)

Game 2 - Alan Rimmel

I’ll begin with a note to anyone familiar with Arnold Rimmer. While Alan bears absolutely no resemblance to him whatsoever, the names are extraordinarily similar. Thus I had been picturing the Big-H face a lot this weekend whenever I was called against Alan. I think that if I’d heard “smeg” at any point I would probably have vomited..... (Anyone unfamiliar with Red Dwarf should immediately find a good episode to watch. Hilarious stuff).
So, on with the game. Alan started with Hidden Base and Haven (I think...). I of course go for Security Precs. Throw down the Med Chamber early on for force activation. He wastes no time deploying things and then inserts NTMTO. Aha, numbers eh? Next turn I play it safe and activate two, allowing me to play Navy Trooper Vesden to the Med Chamber. I’ll now only be losing two to his insert, as all he has out is two destiny 4 droids on a corvette at Kessel. Roll out the Imperial Blue Machine and get walkers at both the Back Door and DTP. BIHT and a couple of pilots aboard as forfeit fodder to Kessel and battle. He loses an X-Wing. Reinforce next turn with more ships and he leaves only RLIR1 there. Another droid is deployed, but now I’ve got more chars out. He’s playing ICBW on my drains, and occasionally canceling one with It’s A Hit for controlling Bespin. Sadly I’ve lost It’s Worse early on to numbers.
I’m battling him and he’s battling me, but I’ve got the ground drains as well. He flips the objective and moves ships to the Death Star and Coruscant. I Twi’lek for a CHYBC and play it, and also replace Coruscant, removing his two battleground fulfillment. Probe Kessel with BIHT and get the base first time. He plays ICBW for reduction of one, but still loses a fair few. I play Lateral Damage on one of his ships and battle. He Spirals in. I win, but not by as much as I would have liked. Ultimately it’s the ground drains that get him, and we battle a few more times before the game ends.

Current Score: 4 (+46)

Game 3 - Hamish Reid

Straight off then. He starts with ISB Ops and IAO, I use MWYHL and Battle Plan. He draws heavily for a few turns and lays sites continuously. I get testing and do so with little difficulty. He deploys Yularen and Oberk to the Yavin and Hoth DBays and then moves Oberk to Yavin after his objective has flipped. Then he SCrews me, which I Shock. No more scans for the rest of the game. He plays A Dangerous Time, which I catch. No more ADT for the rest of the game either.....
More sites come out and he gets agents/non-agents to most of them. I POAS two drain sites and then play Surprise assault against a drain by Yularen and Oberk. He loses about 7 from that, then I decide I’ve got enough cards ready and start tracking a few destinies. Grimtaash him and score 3 Ghhks. He gets one more draw phase in and leaves one force. I deploy Obi to the DTP and he plays Barrier. I nod, and deploy the rest of the EPP squad. Chewie and mates join the party too and Hamish groans as I lay Draw Their Fire (he knew he had to leave a force just in case, and had barriered instead). C’est la vie. I Clash Niado (the guy alongside the agent) and beatdown for lots. Miraculously he does survive (Hamish, not the agent :-) and I move Han and Chewie to the CC:DBay to make sure I can beatdown on Niado after Clash has worn off. This time Hamish remembers to leave a force however, and Ghhks the damage. I remain draining and eventually he’s unable to pay for his drains with BP on table, and draws up.

Current Score: 6 (+73)

Game 4 - Name escapes me

I’m afraid my memories of this game are gone. Completely. I don’t even remember what he was playing, or even who I was playing. Strange really. The work of the dark side perhaps. I do know that I lost for one reason or another. Nothing about differential - we’ll call it a 20 point loss for argument’s sake.

Current Score: 6 (+53)

Game 5 - Mat Allen

We’re nearing the closing stages of the tourney, and there’s no undefeated players. Mat begins with Hunt Down (no duel though) and I believe IAO as well. I go for BP as normal. Mat deploys the Endor: Dark Forest and ends his turn just after I cancel Visage with TT. Get the training going and Mat deploys Vader to the Cantina and another Visage, which I also cancel with TT.
Mat is understandably annoyed. Ozzel gets to the forest in a walker and I POAS the site,
removing his drain. He deploys the Forest Clearing, moves over the walker and I POAS that one too. Slightly frustrated, he deploys Jabba to the DTP. I pounce with the EPP Crew (minus Obi) and administer heavy beats, but Mat can still recover as it wasn’t exactly a full-strength attack. He picks up Vader (DLOTS) and deploys him again to the DTP. Battles. He goes to choke Chewie and does it, removing seven power. I take a slash and just manage to get him with Luke. Nice big destinies come up and Mat gets a 1. Vader is lost and Mat takes the damage, realising he’s lost now. I believe Bane or Zuckuss showed up to the cantina late game, but it’s hardly enough. Drain him out.

Current Score: 9 (+105)

Game 6 - John....somebody

Right now Nice Rice and I are front runners but I believe I have a good lead over him in
differential. Sat down against someone I’d never met before, but this was due to the fact that he wasn’t able to get to many tourneys. At any rate, he played like a guy who attends them on a regular basis, so I was in for a tough game.
He started with Obi’s Hut and used Careful Planning to get the Audience Chamber out. I went for Oppressive Enforcement this game, after much deliberation. Got the Cave early, but no battlegrounds to drain at. He throws Orrimaarko and Tawss Khaa down to the AC and also deploys the RPoint. I get out Kiffex at last, and play U-3P0 straight away to block his drain. He responds during his turn with R-3P0. I, getting the first thoughts of a cunning plan, move my droid over to the Hut in his move phase. He does likewise with his. In my turn I get a nice amount of activation, and deploy Blizzard Walker to the Hut with Marquand and Watts piloting (thanks to my undercover spy). Break U-3P0’s cover. John tells me that he doesn’t want the droid (presumably because he can still do damage with R-3P0 if it remains mine). I point out that he has to take him. Poor thing, no-one wants him. We check the glossary and indeed the LS does have to take him. So, he has two spare droids. Ben comes down with his saber in his next deploy phase, alongside Kal’Fal. Moves over Orrimaarko. I deploy Battle Order and Twi’lek for IAO. Vader and Tempest 1 are dropped to the site and battle. We keep this up for a while but John loses some of his damage in life force rather than forfeit.
When General Solo and DOS with Anakin’s saber come down, I work out that I’ve stopped him for long enough and organize it so that I can lose everything from the site without taking any damage. I’ve deployed Tyrant and a DSSD with pilots during this time to get me drains at Kiffex, and I fall back on this until I get my POTF-ed Coruscant controlled with a Star destroyer. John deploys some sites; the Cantina and Jundland wastes, and spreads out a little. He wants more drains, so the Tantive IV with pilots is deployed to Kiffex. It moves to the Death Star. I respond in my turn with the Avenger (which is barriered) and some pilots. Move the DSSD over to act as backup. He drains on the ground and moves the Tantive back to Kiffex. I Twi’lek for a Lateral Damage to target the Tantive and deploy it on the RPoint, then battle. He loses a fair few from that. We then come down to the drain race. He alters my POTF and I catch his alter, the POTF goes back to my used pile with OE. Eventually he can’t pay for his drains and I can, so it ends with a small victory for me. Great game.

Final Score: 10 (+111)


Well, that was a hard slog, but fun. Worth it in the end as well, as I finish nicely ahead of Nick Rice to take first place. Pulled my only main for the whole weekend in prize support as well - Threepio (the Holy John Shields card :-)
Shook hands with everyone, not parted for long mind - I’d see them all at the regional next weekend. Did the usual end-of-con stuff (loaded bags into car, etc etc) and left. Great weekend, special thanks to Mike Burgess, Ian Carter, Derek Hawkesworth and Geert for organizing everything.

Cheers!
Alex Tennet