NTMtO Blog: Sabotaging the Meta – Daniel Lupo

 

This week we welcome guest writer Daniel Lupo, who won an invite to worlds by going 3-1 at High Command with a list featuring three saboteur strike teams (no snipers!).  Lupo made waves with his skillful and surprising saboteur play.

Sabotaging the Meta

Sabine Wren: “You know what I do in hopeless situations?”

Zeb Orrelios: [laughs] “Yeah, blow stuff up!”

I have been almost exclusively running lists featuring Saboteurs since roughly August 2018, in local tournaments as well as at LVO and Adepticon. These lists have all been focused on squeezing maximum efficiency out of the triple strike team Saboteurs.  I have experimented with full Saboteur squads, but I realized I was almost never shooting their guns I was paying a premium for, and you can make a strike team nearly as survivable with medics, stims, and corner peeking.

Legion is a game of taking territory and of maximizing and balancing your activations.  Well run Saboteurs do this extremely well.

My list for Adepticon:http://tabletopadmiral.com/legion/rebel/p0bu1au2cuEMp04u09u0au2bp06u10u40uEMuEMp06u10u40uEMuEMp06u10uEMuEMuEMp0cu1fu31u25uEMp06uEMuEMuEMuEMp0eu30uEMuEMu2buEMp0eu30uEMuEMu2buEMp0eu30uEMuEMu2buEMc08c02c06c0bc0dc12c13o00o01o02o03z00z02z03z04t00t01t02t04

Luke, Leia, a maxed out fleet trooper squad with officer, two medics, one objective holding rebel trooper squad and the triple Saboteurs.

Each part of the list was built around holding ground and keeping my opponent from advancing on my half of the board.

Continue reading after the jump: https://swlegionodds.com/2019/04/25/sabotaging-the-meta-daniel-lupo/

NTMTO: AdeptiCon High Command – Top 8 Lists

The much anticipated AdeptiCon came, and boy, what a loaded weekend.  We got Clones, we got droids, we got rolly bois… we got General Grievous and his cape (or not… your call!).  We also had two highly competitive Star Wars: Legion tournaments, in the Last Chance Qualifier and the High Command Invitational.

I will hit both of these in detail once the data has been parsed, and write more about my experience generally.  However, I know the masses are always clamoring for the lists, so I wanted to briefly present the top 8 from High Command.  Each of these gents won an invite to the first ever Legion Worlds at FFG Headquarters in Minnesota.

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Never Tell Me The Odds Blog – LVO: The Data Article, Part 2

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This week, we continue our dissection of the match and list data from LVO.  We are going to look at some stats by list archetypes.  Small sample caveats apply, but it would be boring if we didn’t use those small samples to jump to some outrageous conclusions, wouldn’t it?

You can find Part One of the LVO data series here: LVO Data, Part One

“There are lies, damn lies, and then there are statistics.” – Mark Twain

For each list archetype, we will hit a couple things: win/loss (overall, cross-faction, and mirror), battle cards cut, and bids.

Before we dive in to list archetypes, I will refresh your memory on the overall cross-faction win/loss number, because everyone always asks about that one: Rebels 26, Empire 24.  Empire and Rebels split roughly 50/50 when they faced each other.

We’ll go in descending order of popularity on the list archetypes.

Let’s dive right in, with the two most popular ones first, shall we?

Continue reading after the jump: LVO – The Data Article, Part 2

Never Tell Me The Odds Blog: LVO – The Data Article; Part 1

I love me some data.  Don’t you love you some data?  Strap on some assless chaps, because we’re about to go for a ride.

“There are lies, damn lies, and then there are statistics” – Mark Twain

So, the Las Vegas Open happened.  If you missed my brief recap and the top 6 lists from last week, check it out here.

Scope

The Legion tournament at LVO had 62 players, and those 62 players played 125 games.  I have in my hot little hands all 62 lists, and all 125 match report slips.

The match report slips were specifically designed for data collection.  On said slips were the player names, who won (obviously), red/blue player, factions, battle cards played, number of turns finished, and final score.  Below is an example of what the slips looked like.

Unfortunately not everyone filled out every field.  Final turn # was often left blank, which we will get to shortly.

Continue reading after the jump: https://swlegionodds.com/2019/02/20/lvo-the-data-article-part-one/

NTMTO Blog: LVO Top 6 lists and (brief) Recap

Unless you have been wallowing in a Sarlaac pit, you probably know that the Las Vegas Open Maximum Firepower Legion tournament was this weekend.  62 players showed up to take part in the Galactic Civil War.  There were many heroic moments, some tight games, some gorgeous tables, and lots of awesome people.

The experience was a blast.  I had the privilege of helping out; setting up terrain, doing some judging, and generally performing whatever else my overlords required of me.  I got to meet tons of people I’ve never met in person but have interacted with on a near daily basis over the interwebs.  I was constantly impressed by the classiness and demeanor of my fellow Legion players.

Continue reading after the jump: https://swlegionodds.com/2019/02/10/lvo-top-6-lists-and-brief-reca/

Imperial Discipline Blog: Competitive List-Building for Dummies, Pt. 2

Kevin of the Imperial Discipline blog writes,

I’m very lucky this week to be joined by Orkimedes, who is an all-around really nice guy and also a prolific content creator for the Legion community. You can find Orkimedes on his amazingly detailed blog, Never Tell Me the Odds: A Numbers-Based Look at Star Wars Legionor on the competitive-focused podcast he co-hosts, Notorious Scoundrels Podcast.

Orkimedes has written a really wonderful two-part primer on how to build competitive lists from the ground up for Imperial Discipline that is ideal for new or otherwise inexperienced commanders.

Part 1 can be found here.”

You can also check Part 2 out after the jump: https://imperialdiscipline.blog/2019/01/22/competitive-list-building-for-dummies-pt-2-guest-post-by-orkimedes/

Never Tell Me The Odds Blog: Han Solo

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General Solo, is your strike team assembled?

Everyone’s favorite scruffy looking nerf-herder, Han Solo is a disruptive and versatile commander.  He tears up trooper units at range 2 and has some excellent command cards, but he is weak in melee and extremely vulnerable to pierce weapons.

Welcome to our deep dive for Han Solo.  Han is all about his command cards, so this article is going to be a little lighter on stats than the typical deep dive.  We’ll also hit some list ideas at the end.

Strengths

  • Powerful and disruptive command cards
  • Strong pistol attack with gunslinger
  • Good save (for a Rebel unit)

Weaknesses

  • Vulnerable to Pierce
  • Command cards are very timing dependent
  • Weak in melee

Chewbacca

Before we get into Han’s stats, lets talk briefly about Chewie.  Chewie helps mitigate some of Han’s primary weaknesses; he can soak pierce hits for him (especially sniper hits) and peel stuff off in melee with his 4-5 red dice.  Chewie also lets Han recycle a command card with Notorious Scoundrels and share dodges/aims.  Chewie is expensive, though, for what he does.  We’ll talk about using Han with Chewie in a separate section, below.  Don’t worry; Chewie will get his own article eventually.

Continue reading after the jump: https://swlegionodds.com/2019/01/02/han-solo/

Never Tell Me the Odds: Han Solo

General Solo, is your strike team assembled?

Everyone’s favorite scruffy looking nerf-herder, Han Solo is a disruptive and versatile commander.  He tears up trooper units at range 2 and has some excellent command cards, but he is weak in melee and extremely vulnerable to pierce weapons.

Welcome to our deep dive for Han Solo.  Han is all about his command cards, so this article is going to be a little lighter on stats than the typical deep dive.  We’ll also hit some list ideas at the end.

Strengths

  • Powerful and disruptive command cards
  • Strong pistol attack with gunslinger
  • Good save (for a Rebel unit)

Weaknesses

  • Vulnerable to Pierce
  • Command cards are very timing dependent
  • Weak in melee

Chewbacca

Before we get into Han’s stats, lets talk briefly about Chewie.  Chewie helps mitigate some of Han’s primary weaknesses; he can soak pierce hits for him (especially sniper hits) and peel stuff off in melee with his 4-5 red dice.  Chewie also lets Han recycle a command card with Notorious Scoundrels and share dodges/aims.  Chewie is expensive, though, for what he does.  We’ll talk about using Han with Chewie in a separate section, below.  Don’t worry; Chewie will get his own article eventually.

Continue reading after the jump: https://swlegionodds.com/2019/01/02/han-solo/

Invader Data Wrap And Yavin Base Team League Lists

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Below is an excerpt from Orkimedes’ (Never Tell Me the Odds) awesome write up of both Season 2 of Invader League, as well as the Yavin Base team lists:

Invader League Season 2 came.  Invader League Season 2 went.  We hardly knew ye, Invader League Season 2.

Another season, another champion.  Um, actually, the same champion.  Congrats to Kingsley on the repeat!  Kingsley did it with another highly efficient Wonder Twins list, which we will talk about briefly below.  The runner up was Garnanana, who played a great season and ran a very solid Veers/Boba list.

This is primarily a data post though, so after we talk briefly about the top 2, we’ll dive into some nitty gritty details.

We will also look at some early data from Yavin Base Team League, because this is the first sizable event with the new Key Positions for which we have list data.  Spoiler alert: the bids are really interesting.

The Champ

Kingsley did it again.  You can watch the finals match over on Yavinbase, if you have four hours to kill.  If you don’t have four hours to kill, Garanana also did a recap of the match on his blog, which you can find here.

Here is Kingsley’s list:

Still Playing Rebels, I Guess’ 783 points

Luke Skywalker 160 – Force Push, Emergency Stims
Leia Organa 90
Rebel Troopers 40 – Z-6 Trooper, Rebel Trooper, Impact Grenades
Rebel Troopers 40 – Z-6 Trooper, Rebel Trooper, Impact Grenades
Rebel Troopers 40 – Z-6 Trooper
Rebel Troopers 40
Rebel Troopers 40 – Z-6 Trooper
Rebel Troopers 40 – Z-6 Trooper
Rebel Commandos (Strike Team) 16 – DH-447 Sniper, Grappling Hooks
Rebel Commandos (Strike Team) 16 – DH-447 Sniper
Rebel Commandos (Strike Team) 16 – DH-447 Sniper

Kingsley has a very strong 17 point bid, and this thing is built for efficiency.  Wonder twins, Z-6s, and snipers.

This is a solid list.  If anyone owns Wonder Twins, it is Kingsley.  Luke and Leia together was already developing as an effective build in most places simultaneously after Leia’s release back in May, but Kingsley was the first one to popularize the idea and put it to good use in Invader League season 1.  Kingsley makes very few mistakes and knows how to run his twins.

We also talked to Kingsley about his list (and a lot of other things) on our podcast.

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE AFTER THE JUMP: https://swlegionodds.com/2018/12/14/invader-data-wrap-and-yavin-base-team-league-lists/

Never Tell Me the Odds: Recon Intel – What does it mean for the game?

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Recon Intel

With the release of the Imperial Royal Guard and impending release of Wookie Warriors the upgrade, Recon Intel, will be hitting the play space for Legion. Today I wanted to talk about my thoughts on this new upgrade. Several weeks ago we spoke on Notorious Scoundrels (A Competitive Star Wars Legion Podcast with myself, Orkimedes – Never Tell Me The Odds, and Endless – Yavin Base) about Recon Intel and it jump started my brain into how different and elaborate this card is from most of what we’ve seen.

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