(Virtually) Unstoppable: an X-Wing TMG story

TIE Reapers or good ole’ fashioned T-65 X-Wings? That seems to have been the predominate question from this past weekend’s Miniature Market store championship. The St. Louis meta has embraced wave 14 and as a result, of the 27 people who attended the tournament, only four of them were flying under a Scum and Villainy banner. Imperials and rebels seemed like they were represented in almost equal numbers, and most lists featured at least one reaper or T-65 X-Wing.

That trend was strong enough that it made its way into the top four cut. On one table, Richard L.’s Whisper and two Reapers faced off against Jeff W.’s Whisper, backed by a Palp reaper and a harpoon Nu Boat, and on the other table, Michael Peterson’s Fat Han and R2-D2 Luke faced down Matt Cary’s five T-65 Rookies. Despite losing his Whisper early, Jeff was able to take down the rest of Richard’s list with his remaining Reaper and Nu. 

In Rebel showdown, the five X-Wings proved to be too much for R2-D2’s regen and fat Han’s girth, losing only one X-wing.

On the final table Matt Cary's five rookie pilots quickly burned down Emperor Palpatine's reaper and took the brunt force of a fully modified harpoon missile in response. The Nu Squadron pilot paid for that shot and fell shortly thereafter when it got caught in multiple X-Wing arcs, despite his attempt to slam out of harm's way. Then it was left to the elusive Whisper to attempt to solo all five rookies. She managed to eliminate one before the others caught her in a kill box that all the traitorous green dice in the world couldn't have saved her from.

With several top four finishes at store championships this year, it was fitting that Matt should get his win at this particular championship. The most recent large tournament in the St. Louis area, hosting 37 participants, and was also at Miniature Market, was the Campaign Against Cancer event held earlier this year. And it was an event Matt also won. Also having won a recent kit tournament there, it seems that he has found the seat of his power and appears to be virtually unstoppable in Miniature Market tournaments.

Unfortunately due to issues with technology, we were unable to get a stream working. We were, however, able to record most of the top table games over the course of the day, and those videos will be uploaded to YouTube after a bit of editing.

For many competitive X-Wing players in the St. Louis area, this tournament marked the end of the first edition competitive scene, and very likely, the end of their first edition casual scene, too. We are turning our eyes to the second edition of the game and, for a few of us, specifically towards the Gold Squadron Classic on September 22, which promises to be the first major second edition event in X-Wing history.

I have to give a special shout-out to my brother, Josh, and his son. They drove two hours to make the Miniature Market store championship, their first tournament ever. My 12 year old nephew went 2-3 for the day, and Josh finished the day 3-2, falling to Mark Myers and Michael Peterson, two of the best Arch Alliance has to offer.

If you are in the St. Louis area or coming to visit, reach out to Arch Alliance X-wing on Facebook to find out where we are playing on any given night.