Store Championship: Screed Interdictor & Rogues vs Rieekan Yavaris Aces

This was my second game of the store championship. My opponent’s name was also David. He brought the much feared Rieekan Aces with Yavaris, Pelta (With Adar and AFFM), Hammerhead, Toryn Chariot, and BCC Flotilla. His squadrons were Wedge, Dutch, Gold, Ten Numb, Dagger, Jan, and a pair of VCXs.

Here is my list: The Interdictor with Screed, HIEs, DCaps, Brunson, Targeting Scramblers, Grav Shift, and Engine Techs; the Gladiator II with Demolisher, Kallus, Flechettes, OEs, and ETs; a Gozanti with a Comms Net; and my squadrons were Morna, Jendon, IG88, Boba Fett, and a pair of Firesprays.

I had never flown against a Rieeken Yavaris list and was very curious what I could do against it in a stand-up fight. This ended up being a huge learning experience for me. I had bid, chose 1st player and picked his Fighter Ambush as that gave me a slight deployment advantage. I deployed my Interdictor and rogues to use the rocks in the center to my advantage and then set up Demo for a run at his squadron ball. Here is the setup:

In the first round, I tentatively advanced. I faced the Demo forward so as to not broadcast my intentions (or perhaps create some uncertainty), hoping that the squadron ball would remain tightly clustered. My primary error at this stage was to place Jendon a little too far forward to be activated (and relay) by my flotilla next round. This cost me huge as it meant the Demo had to soak way more firepower than necessary. Here is the close of round 1:

In round two, I jumped in with Demo and sprayed with flak, as planned. I was able to use Flechettes to good effect, using Screed to activate Ten Numb, who I considered the greater threat. Despite activating many of his Squadrons, the Adar+Yavaris triple tap really took a toll, despite the Targeting Scrambler support from the Interdictor. Here is the close of round 2:

In round three, I activated Demo first again to get another good volley of Flechettes off on the squadron ball before exiting with only two hull remaining. I made the mistake of Engine Teching, which prevented me from contributing any flak at all on the following round. My squadron really began to suffer badly in this round, Boba went down without being able to activate. I also lost another Firespray and failed to finish off the last hull on Wedge with Morna Kee. I also slowed the Interdictor to keep within Brunson range of the rock, which proved to be a very bad move. Here is the close of round 3:

In round four, the Pelta was able to position directly in front of me to block the Interdictor’s escape. Even with a Nav command dialed up, I couldn’t get around him. My squadrons were handily rolled up without Demo to support them. Here is the close of round 4:

In round five, I eliminated the Pelta, who became a zombie and pinned the Interdictor. It was already limping from the bombers and quickly succumbed to further bomber damage. Here is the close of round 5:

In round 6, my Gozanti escaped and that was the game. It was an 8-3 loss.

In retrospect, if I were dead set on engaging, I should have deployed my Interdictor further to the left and parallel to Demo. This would have allowed me to tentatively engage without fully committing. I could have then used my Engine Techs to disengage without risk of being blocked. My first round blunder of placing Jendon out of range of the Gozanti forced me to disengage with Demo earlier than otherwise necessary, I believe. Had these two mistakes not been made, I would have stood a better chance of coming out ahead in the squadron game. Nevertheless, even had my play been better here, the Toryn-backed squadrons triple-tapping my own would have been highly taxing and it may have at best been a wash. Going forward, I think that my best approach to the Rieekan Yavaris Aces list is to avoid engagement and entanglement. The strongest counter to that list is to quickly eliminate the ships, especially Yavaris, and my Interdictor/Rogue list simply does not have the tools to do this effectively.

Lessons Learned:

- Keep Jendon in range to be activated and utilize relay!

- Position your flagship, during deployment, in such a way as to allow for escape should it be necessary.



- If a quick, decisive victory is not practicable against a Rieekan Yavaris list, do not commit to engagement.

Added Note:

I set it up and ran the first four rounds again as best I could from the photos. The changes on my side were as follows: I deployed the Interdictor further to the left and parallel Demo, I kept Jendon within activation range, I spread my squadron out from round two on to counter Ten Numb, and when I hit with Demo, I reserved the guaranteed Screed crit for Wedge. These changes allowed me to keep IG88 alive far longer, push more squadrons into the edges of the fray with the Gozanti, and prevent Demo from taking as much bombing damage. By round four, I had established definite squadron superiority.

That said, I am not a practiced Rieekan/Yavaris user and perhaps the other David would have had something further up his sleeve, but giving myself the option to disengage would have, I believe, limited my loss to a 6-5 or at worst 7-4.