Fenn walks the Wookiees

[Red42 166]

Fenn is almost always the first target I've found. Once they realise/know how he can lock down ships they need to clear him from the board. Case in point, in game 3 I was able to trade 1 shield on Fenn for my opponent's Poe, as he would shoot off Poe's focus with Hot Shot (exposing him to the other two ships' fire with no defensive tokens), and then use his ability on Dash. I would generally start in one corner of the board, diagonally across from my opponent if possible, in order to slow roll intiailly and build up tokens on Rey. The longer you can keep Lowhhrick's attacks double-modded, the more of a threat he is. Lining up for a joust doesn't give you enough time to build up a decent reserve.

From experience, going full on tanky helps against harpoons, but you basically handicap yourself versus everything else. Having tried several versions now, I would say this latest iteration gives a better chance against the field.

Edited January 22, 2018 by Red42

[Rich P 907]

Another game night undefeated. Two proper tests and a view how fast the list can kill a decimator when the player hasn’t slept and keeps doing silly moves. 

Beat Lowhhrick/Fenn/Miranda in a tight game - I had a full health Lowhhrick alive vs his 1 hull Miranda and managed to tag him before he disengaged to run and slam and regen while whittling down with tlt. 

My other game was against a list I considered - replacing my Wulfwarro build with full tank  norra. We jousted to see what would happen and I came out on top when the dust settled. The native mods of wulf and Lowhhrick were able to push damage while Fenn could shut down most of Norras jank. 

The list is now locked in for regionals. No question. I love it and will keep flying it for some time to come. 

[Red42 166]

Awesome! Did you fly with R2 or FAA on your Fenn this time? And when/where is your regional?

My next regional is March 10th, and then I have a system open on March 24th. As things stand, it's what I'm going to be running too unless something crops up between now and then. Will use my local game nights to keep practicing until then.

Edited January 24, 2018 by Red42

[Rich P 907]

9 hours ago, Red42 said:

Awesome! Did you fly with R2 or FAA on your Fenn this time? And when/where is your regional?

My next regional is March 10th, and then I have a system open on March 24th. As things stand, it's what I'm going to be running too unless something crops up between now and then. Will use my local game nights to keep practicing until then.

I stuck with FAA - one opponent Fenn flew R2 and I’m glad I did, there’s more versatility in getting both of Fenn debuffs to trigger in clutch engage with FAA. 

Regional is this weekend - Sat/Sun at the 142 person NW England regional. 

Edited January 24, 2018 by Dreadai

[JaceDK 232]

How's your setup, rock placement and first engagement? Slow-roll to load up Rey is a no-brainer, and I assume the two Wookies in front and Fenn behind, keeping a tight formation as much as possible?

[Rich P 907]

35 minutes ago, JaceDK said:

How's your setup, rock placement and first engagement? Slow-roll to load up Rey is a no-brainer, and I assume the two Wookies in front and Fenn behind, keeping a tight formation as much as possible?

Typically set Wookiees up at the front of the deployment zone, a little over 1.5 bases apart with Fenn behind them. This gives him space to boost forward into the gap left between the wookiees if he is out of range of enemy ships in the initial engage.

I try to set up the opposite corner from people so that I can slow roll with the wookiees to get a few focus banked on Rey, but I would engage with 2-3 tokens if I can get an optimal turn in that leaves all my guns pointing at them.

Rocks ... I try to space them out as much as possible.  Exact placement depends on the enemy list. If they want to joust me ... I try to make a few lanes I can turn into, if the list has ion or tractor beams, I spread it out as much as possible.

This all goes out the window against NymRanda ... no formation flying there ... just relying on the native abilities of all ships to add value when not in formation.

[JaceDK 232]

1 hour ago, Dreadai said:

This all goes out the window against NymRanda ... no formation flying there ... just relying on the native abilities of all ships to add value when not in formation.

Does this still apply after the FAQ nerfing the TS/Genius combo?  I imagine this list is no fan of TLT, but it seems like it can burn pretty effectively through both Nym and Miranda if it doesn't have to eat a proton bomb and dual harpoons/TLT shots to do so. 

Edited January 24, 2018 by JaceDK
Typo

[Red42 166]

9 hours ago, Dreadai said:

I stuck with FAA - one opponent Fenn flew R2 and I’m glad I did, there’s more versatility in getting both of Fenn debuffs to trigger in clutch engage with FAA. 

Regional is this weekend - Sat/Sun at the 142 person NW England regional. 

I think I'm with you with FAA and it's what I've stuck with when playing the list also.

Are they streaming that event? I shall keep an eye on it if I can; the one was just a little too far for me to travel to attend in person unfortunately.

[Rich P 907]

The risk of a proton bomb from Nym is too high ... it basically kills Fenn if you add Sabine damage... I've not yet faced it post nerf, but pre-nerf it was brutal.

The event stream will be on twitch - I'm not sure if there's going to be commentary ... but the twitch stream is under element games webstore.

[JaceDK 232]

After having played the latest variation with Predator Lowhhrick, I really like this list.

How did your regionals go?

[Mcpolle 42]

Having played against this list three times last night, I hate it, and love it, I hate playing against it, and would probably love playing with it, 

Have been playing two Tactician Auzitucks with Braylan, so Fenn is an awesome upgrade to the list.

[Rich P 907]

So regionals this weekend, I ended up going 3-3. Day started well as I went 3-0, beating Deci/QuickDraw, 2xRho Kylo and Bossk/Boba  

I lost to 2xRho Kylo after I did a bad engage with the Rho boats. 

Then to a former nationals winner flying plot armour after he killed Wulfwarro and I got half Dash. It was a very close game, and it has made me consider removing selflessness from my highest point ship. 

Last game I should have won, but having crashed out of cut contention my decisions were bad from deployment and I lost to Dengar Bossk. 

Im going to keep playing the list. It’s really strong, and i has 2 close games that I could have won with different choices.

I’m just trying to think about what I would spend the 2 points from losing selflessness on. 

Options I’ve considered are:

adaptability on Wulfwarro to give him the choice to move after Dash/Norra and vectored thrusters on either him, or Fenn to allow arc dodging

lightning reflexes on Wulfwarro to give the 1 shot k-turn that can win games

 

[JaceDK 232]

Thanks for the feedback. If you feel like making a detailed bat-rep, please do. I expect several of those matchups to be common in the next couple of months, and it will be really helpful to have some do's and don'ts.

Switching out selflessness makes sense, it's good for keeping Fenn alive, but Wulf is your main damage dealer and most valuable ship. Lightning reflexes would be an excellent choice, allowing him to flip around and with ezra he gets mods even with stress. If he hits, Maul will leave him nice and stress free the following turn. Vectored on either of the wookies would also be good, especially with the option of PS 11 coordinate. Rush in to block, then PS 11 BR away to get a range 1 shot. You can fit both if you shave a point somewhere. 

Maybe something like this:

Wullffwarro (30)
Lightning Reflexes (1)
Maul (3)
Ezra Bridger (3)
Vectored Thrusters (2)

Lowhhrick (28)
Predator (3)
Tactician (2)
Rey (2)

Fenn Rau (Sheathipede) (20)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Hotshot Co-pilot (4)
Flight-Assist Astromech (1)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

 

[Red42 166]

I concur with Lightning Reflexes - it's something I've thought about before but never tried out, but now with Ezra crew onboard it sounds like a better idea to give some modification still. I really like the idea of co-ordinating a vectored thrusters barrel roll as well to make sure you get shots with your main damage dealer.

Giving up C-3PO is hard on Lowhhrick, however I've noticed more and more that people don't want to shoot him first anymore and tend to go for Fenn so it's probably okay to test without him.

[JaceDK 232]

23 minutes ago, Red42 said:

I concur with Lightning Reflexes - it's something I've thought about before but never tried out, but now with Ezra crew onboard it sounds like a better idea to give some modification still. I really like the idea of co-ordinating a vectored thrusters barrel roll as well to make sure you get shots with your main damage dealer.

Giving up C-3PO is hard on Lowhhrick, however I've noticed more and more that people don't want to shoot him first anymore and tend to go for Fenn so it's probably okay to test without him.

In this list, Lowhhrick is probably the least important ship (although he still pulls a lot of weight). If the enemy shoots at him instead of Wulf or Fenn, I'm happy. 

[Rich P 907]

Without  c-3po Lowhhrick becomes the correct choice for first target ... he can no longer mitigate all that damage which is what makes people not shoot him. At PS5, with Pred and Rey, he was actually the main damage dealer after Wulf had stripped tokens and if lucky chipped a single shield, or damage on ships. Killing Lowhhrick first means Fenn melts and leaves Wulf to be burned down.

I thought about tactician on Lowhhrick, but I was going to remove Rey ... I noticed that I never got the best out of Rey except for in my first game where the Oppo slow rolled and my one game against another Rey.  Everyone else, I got a single (2 if lucky) focus banked before engage as all lists rushed me to stop that combo.

I'll do a battle report in the margins of work today ... will post as and when I can.

[JaceDK 232]

So would you just switch out selflessness with lightning reflexes? Or go Tactician/3P0 on Low as well. 

[Rich P 907]

Battle report

Game 1: Against RAClo/Quickdraw ... it was short and brutal we set up at a diagonal from each other, and as he slow rolled back along his board edge, I flew my formation forward slowly, feinting left so he kept going right ... when he was in the opposite corner, I 3 banked everything in and trapped his QD between a rock and my formation leaving his revenge shot only on Lowhhrick.  QD melted that turn to concentrated wookiee range 1 fire as he couldn't push a crit onto any of my ships because of the tokens and defences, so no blinded pilots at all, next turn, he landed his deci on a rock and that was pretty much game over. 100-0 win

Game 2: Against a friend flying Kylo/Rho boats.  I shut Kylo down in early engage with Hotshot co-pilot, and managed to catch Kylo early with a sudden turn away from his boats, leaving the silencer on 1 hull. a few turns later, I got optimal engage with his boats while Kylo was out of the fight and killed them both over the course of 2 turns for the cost of a few shields on Lowhhrick.  We ended the game with 15 minutes left to get more time for lunch as I wouldn't be able to catch and kill Kylo and he was unable to push any damage through at all. 52-0 win

Game 3: Bossk/Boba Fett. We jousted this one straight up, I screwed the pooch on the initial engage, leaving Fenn out of range of both the opponents ships. Harpoons into Wulff happened, but the return fire was good, and I managed to take Bossk into hull ... then next turn, we bumped leaving me able to shoot each of his ships with 1 wookiee and only Fenn. Next turn, I hard 2 my wookies around and finish of Bossk while boba k-turns and fires another harpoon into Wulff ..  Yet more honourable jousting occurred and the game ended with Lowhhrick alive and pretty much unhurt after Wulf died and the harpoon explosion killed Fenn ... 100-63 win

Game 4: Kylo Rho boats. He set up with Kylo diagonal from my formation, and his two boats together in the centre.  I slow rolled a few turns, before accelerating into combat with his boats, hoping to do the same as I'd done in round 2.  He was cannier with Kylo though, so i didn't get the round of fire on him, and despite getting a good engage with his boats over 2 turns, I failed to get the kill shot on the second one, leaving it on 1 hull to slam away ... I lost Fenn to a range 3 obstructed Kylo shot blanking out on 3 dice after I'd already used selflessness.  From that point, Kylo just flew behind the two gunships perfectly, keeping range 2-3 and reading my moves. I think I got one more shot on him before he took out my list.  26-100 loss

Game 5: I get paired up to a 4-0 Dash Poe, Plot armour list piloted by a former nationals winner ... I can't do a good batrep for this one as it was so close and intense.  I had his Poe into Hull, and he pulled out a really good decision to deny me a shot, allowing him to escape my 'trap' and regen ... I switched to Dash looking for half points, which I managed, but in that time, having used selflessness on a HLC 4 shots to switch Wulf on, Dash just kept firing at the wookiee, and I lost him a couple of rounds from time. 26 - 37 loss

Game 6: I am dejected and get paired against a Dengar Bossk list ... I make a bad choice in the initial engage in killing Bossk as I trade for Fenn and a lot of damage across the wookiees (again a big blank out) and Dengar goes on to solo the two wookiees over the last 30 minutes.

 

Learning ... 

• Kill Dengar first ... I fell away from basics of identifying the thing that can kill me in the end game, and targeting them first.
• Don't even try to kill Kylo ... figure out a win condition that involves not killing him, and play to that.
• Selflessness helps the opponent to make decisions, rather than leaving them to make them on their own.
• The list lacks a good closer ... any decent end game ace can solo a wookiee ... you have to enter end game with 2 healthy ships left.

 

 

[Rich P 907]

51 minutes ago, JaceDK said:

So would you just switch out selflessness with lightning reflexes? Or go Tactician/3P0 on Low as well. 

First switch will be to switch the EPTs and lose the 1 point bid. I'm going to back off the list for a couple of weeks and fly some FAA T-70 for a bit .. I'll be back to it in the run in to the system open in March.

[JaceDK 232]

Thanks for the bat-rep. I'll most likely be fielding this at the Systems Open in Copenhagen 2nd weekend of February. I'll be sure to report back how it performs.  

[Red42 166]

55 minutes ago, Dreadai said:

First switch will be to switch the EPTs and lose the 1 point bid. I'm going to back off the list for a couple of weeks and fly some FAA T-70 for a bit .. I'll be back to it in the run in to the system open in March.

Just switch Selflessness for LR, or something else as well? EPT-wise, that is.

Edited January 29, 2018 by Red42

[Red42 166]

So I'm thinking switch in Lightning Reflexes, and then dropping Rey for an Inspiring Recruit, and then adding Vectored Thrusters to Wullffwarro, making an even 100 points. Thoughts?

[Rich P 907]

It’s weak in end game against anything high PS. Both LR and VT will help with that. Inspiring recruit is an interesting thought. It weakens Lowhhrick’s attack from the loss of a focus, but really opens up Wulf to using more than 1 reroll. 

I found myself often rerolling 2 if I knew I was getting a hit, and that I wanted to do a green next turn. IR would allow you to clear 4 stress in that scenario and would make the list incredibly stress resistant. 

[Rich P 907]

4 hours ago, JaceDK said:

Thanks for the bat-rep. I'll most likely be fielding this at the Systems Open in Copenhagen 2nd weekend of February. I'll be sure to report back how it performs.  

Awesome. It’s strong. Let’s see how you do in comparison ??

[JaceDK 232]

Just had a match with a buddy flying Dash/Poe. Played out much like your game, with Poe escaping at 1 hull with 2 crits. Ran and regenerated to max, while Dash kept the wookies engaged. 

Dash managed to barely survive, after killing Fenn mid game and Wulf in the final round. 

This matchup is tough, but seems winable. Any suggestions?