Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Carnor Jax, maybe you are in, maybe you are out :)

Following some brain storming about phantom based list on the FFG forum  there was the suggestion to use Carnor Jax instead of Soontir Fel in the list I have been running those last weeks.
This time I gave it a try against basically the same Han Solo - Wedge Antilles duo I played last time.
My list:

  • Sigma Squadron Pilot (34) x 2 - TIE Phantom (25), Recon Specialist (3), Sensor Jammer (4), Stygium Particle Accelerator (2)
  • Carnor Jax (31) - TIE Interceptor (26), Royal Guard TIE (0), Push the Limit (3), Autothrusters (2)
My opponent:
  • Wedge Antilles (40) - X-Wing (29), R2-D2 (4),Predator (3), Engine Upgrade (4)
  • Han Solo (59) - YT-1300 (46), Stay on Target (2), C-3PO (3), Luke Skywalker (7), Millennium Falcon (1)
Both list are 99 points, so we roll for initiative again, but it only affected to see who was placing the first obstacle as all my ships will move before all the ships of my opponent.
I got it so I placed one of the big asteroids right in front of the centre of the deployment zone of my opponent to try to block his Falcon. After distributing all the obstacles I placed all my ships on my centre; he placed his on my right.
Set Up
I was afraid of the combination of Han Solo and Luke as it will allow my opponent to potentially roll his attack dices four times in his quest of destroying my ships, so I decided to go to the left to pass between the asteroids and maybe come back to the centre also between the asteroids. However I was not really seeing my flying paths today as I crossed my ships in funny ways all the game.
In the first round, one phantom did a 2 left bank and cloaked, no surprise here, however for no apparent reason with the other one I did a 3 left turn, almost colliding with the previous one, and of course cloak.
Carnor Jax did a 3 left bank and a boost forwards, no push the limits to keep the options open for the next round.
Han moved 3 forward and focused whereas Wedge went 4 forwards and boosted right. He got Carnor in firing range but his attack failed.
1st round, end of movement
 For the second round I decided to face Wedge and to try to take him out of the equation as last time.
One phantom decloaked right, did a 2 right turn and focused facing Wedge. The other phantom I was afraid was going to block Carnor so I decided to take him for a walk and decloaked right, turned 3 to the right and cloaked somewhere on my left side of the board.
Carnor did a 1 right turn, forward boost and evade, also facing Wedge.
Han approached by performing a 3 right bank and focused, whereas Wedge moved carefully 1 forward to avoid any potential collision and target lock the phantom.
My opponent had also considered to K-turn with Wedge but this was very dangerous as if a collision would have taken place, then there will be no K-turn, no actions and one stress as outcome of the bargain. However being in front of two of my ships was also not good either.
2nd round, end of movement
Han fired on the phantom and removed 1 shield. I have to say that this game I was forgetting all the time that my phantoms have Sensor Jammer and that was very annoying as several times we needed to back track the dice rolls. Also, its use against Han-Luke combo is questionable because if you avoid the damage of the first shoot totally, Luke will allow for a new attack with a soft focus. Along the game we realized that this second attack is very good if your Falcon is stressed (therefore no actions) or has taken other action than focus. In this case, your second attack is actually better than the first one because of the soft focus of Luke.
Wedge removed the second shield of the phantom but then Carnor was able to disable both shields of Wedge and the phantom was able to destroy it. Just like the previous game. For me it was so far, so good.
However, one of my ships was far away of the action and my positioning for hunting down the Falcon was not optimal. As I already say, my flying was erratic today.

On the 3rd round, the wounded phantom did a 3 left bank and landed on an asteroid !
My idea was to disengage the Falcon and regroup for a second pass, but I fail miserably.
The other phantom turned 3 to the right and focused, still cloaked.
Carnor turned 2 left between the asteroids and boosted right.
Han advanced 2 forwards and focused.
3rd round, end of movement
Han was having a golden shoot on the phantom on the asteroid which he could not fail. The phantom was vaporized out of existence.

So far I had not been able to fire on the Falcon so I tried to bring my remaining two ships into attack positions.
The phantom turned 1 right and focused, whereas Carnor did a 3 K-turn.
Han performed a 2 right turn to confront the phantom and managed to remove one shield.
4th round, end of movement
On the fifth round, the phantom decloaked right and turned 1 left to block the Falcon. It also focused.
Carnor Jax moved 4 forwards, did a barrel roll to his right and boosted right but was not able to get the Falcon in his firing arc.
Han moved 4 forwards and collided with the phantom.
No shooting this round :(
5th round, end of movement
On the next round, the phantom turned 1 left and focused, whereas Carnor turned 2 right, boosted right and barrel roll left trying to point in the general direction of the Falcon. However, Han "stayed on target" and turned 1 right avoiding the collision with the phantom and moving outside of the firing arc of Carnor.
6th round
Han removed the last shield of the phantom and caused him one damage.

I do not have a picture of the last round, but basically the phantom turned 1 left trying to go after Han, Carnor did the same by turning 2 right and barrel roll right, and Han just moved 1 forward and fired on the phantom destroying it.

End of the game.

Aftermath
I was not able to fly well with Carnor. Maybe it was just today or maybe it is that I have been flying exclusively Soontir when I fly interceptors, but I was not able to get results out of Carnor. Yes, I destroyed Wedge, but I did that also with Soontir and also in the second round. Yes, Carnor helped with the negation of evades and focus but the thing is that I am not used to have to fly into range one of the enemy and also I was missing the extra focus from Soontir after a push the limits.
As we were playing and discussing the game at the same time, we realized that I was not able to surprise my opponent with the movement of Carnor, or the other way around, he was able to (more or less) predict his movement and this is the pitfall of any player on this game, when your opponent is able to rightly predict where are you going to move.
Was I disappointed with Carnor ? not really, maybe more with myself. I was really unable to deal with the Han - Luke combo and for some reason I was constantly forgetting the Sensor Jammers on the phantom. I think it was not one of my best days even if Wedge died again very soon in the game.
My opponent was thinking of using Wedge with something else, not a Han Solo build, but maybe two other small ships, maybe even another two X-wings. We will see... :) :)

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