With the quick defeat from the first game Jack was eager to play again and insisted I used the same list since we both agreed this type of list will be common at upcoming tournaments. I made 0 changes to my list and just walked round and watched people playing other games while he made a list fully expecting it to contain some counters to my list which will hopefully test the limits of the list. The Spalding Pathfinders gaming day had 40k, DnD, Drowned Earth which looks awesome, X-Wing and Legion so fully recommend keeping an eye out for their next gaming day!
Jacks List
This kind of list is what I had been wanting to play against. I wanted to see how much damage the spiders could kick out against a full infantry army to see if the guns are still scary against non-armour. Jyn and Han had not changed since last game but did not have any impact in the last game so will need to make sure I don't get overconfident. Chewbacca has protector since I said it would help keep units alive for him. The Rebel Veterans with offensive push and the Emplacement trooper each with Critical 2 will help punch through my spiders so will need to try kill these troopers. Bistan and the Pathfinders will be my highest priority due to the ion otherwise he is going to make my spiders even less impactful. The full sniper teams with duck and cover and the smoke grenades with low profile is interesting. I think there is good value in these units now with the changes. If the unit is at range 3, they are firing 5 black 1 white with sharpshooter 1 and pierce 1 and with duck and cover are always in heavy cover essentially and the turn you pop the smoke are in cover 3. Overall, I think this list looks better on paper then the previous one which means in the hands of Jack this will be a good match
Turn 0
With this list both of us where 800 points so was a roll off to see who had the choice of blue. Jack rolled and got a blank, so I chose to be blue player. With the first ban and Sabotage being in that 3rd spot. I wanted to force Jack to use his ban on that rather than deployments or conditions. So, my first ban was payload and Jack was very quick to ban Roll out. I stuck to my plan to ban Intercept and Jack took some time but decided he was happy playing Sabotage but made us play Hemmed In. Which in my opinion is a great counter to Sabotage due to blue player having to put both his down and red can put his last one down on the same side to force the fight on one half the map. I placed my first vap to the left behind some barricades in line with the front of my deployment zone. While Jack put his on the far right behind a building. I was happy about that since whatever unit or units he sent to it where then out of the fight for quite some time. This is because my next one went to the left in the pocket behind a building while Jack then put his to the right but so he would advance towards me.
Turn 1
Trust goes both ways Vs Do Not Underestimate Our Means
I started the game with the same idea as always spiders all get an order and spend the uplink to give orders to the B1's. I decided that I would aim shoot with the first two spiders to try and kill and damage some units as they walk up to repair his vap. My first shot scored 6 hits with 2 aims for barricade to eat 2 up. Chewbacca to guardian 2 and take only 1 wound and for the veteran blaster to save the other 2. This was not as a good start for me. I doubled down and kept shooting the blaster with all 3 spiders and failed to kill it! I was not feeling as confident at this point. Even less so with Bistan and Chewie putting a few wounds on the spider on the roof.
Turn 2
Change Of Plans Vs Assault
I won the roll off and went with the spider droid on the roof to kill Chewie but in return the full squad of commandos decided to shoot at the middle spider droid who had taken a single wound from the veterans last turn and rolled 6 natural Crits!!! with pierce one not that it mattered since I rolled all blanks!
Meanwhile Bistan and the pathfinders decided to come round the corner to shoot the one of the roof with fire support from a veteran turret to kill a second spider droid. At this point I had lost two spiders in exchange for Chewbacca and 1 veteran turret. Things where not looking good for me and I was not feeling as confident. Objective wise I had finished tapping the sab behind the building with my snipers who had now scaled up and started shooting them sharp shooting commandos. while the B1 horde moved towards the objective in the open while taking pot shots. The commandos on the far right of the battlefield had double tapped that objective and Han and the veterans in the middle of the board had secured that one for Jack. Current score 4-2 to Jack.
Turn 3
Reckless diversion vs Mechanized Incursion
At the end of turn 2 I had moved my Magnaguard forward and shot some pathfinders but could only see 2 of them. I wanted to finish the job this turn. So I played my 1 pip giving the last spider and the Magnaguard and order then the B1's getting orders from the uplink as normal. Jyn and Han Both got orders since Han had moved behind one of the centre pillars. I charged my Magnaguard forward and killed the remaining pathfinders, but this accidently left them in the open to be shot by Jyn, 3 commandos and Han. I wanted my snipers to help pick off one or two of the commandos to lessen the impact I was about to receive. But I had forgotten about the command card and was forced to shoot Jyn. 2 red does nothing against her with a dodge and 1 crit went through but danger sense helped her even with pierce. All my B1s moved and took shots at Han but with heavy cover and low profile and uncanny luck the odd crits from my B1 heavy only did 3 wounds. VP still 4-2 to Jack
Turn 4
Sorry about the mess Vs Preservation Protocols
I managed to play this card at a good time to avoid that pierce 2 from Han Last round with Jyn and Han and the commandos I was left with just 2 Magnaguard. Han moved out and shot the Magnaguard but thanks to the dodge tokens took 0 damage and then he killed a single B1 due to heavy cover. In return I charged the Magnaguard into the commandos to finish the unit off. By the end of the round, I was left with a single Magnaguard model. At this point the other full commandos who had been doing the objective had started moving and shooting at my spider droid and got some crits along with the veteran heavy weapon helping by the end of the turn I had lost my final Spider droid. But all my B1's had managed to kill Han Solo in exchange.
Turn 5
Rebellious vs They Too Will Suffer
Jack won the roll off and went straight away with Jyn but only scored 1 hit which meant there was no point in me going with the Magna guard at all since she would just shoot them and finish the unit off. So I took the opportunity to make sure I tapped the objective and killed some rebel veterans to help secure the win via points destroyed. Jack ran one unit of veterans around some terrain to hide to stop me from scoring them. I went with the Magna guard last and as I expected they died before activating.
Turn 6
Complete the mission vs Orbital Strike
I wanted to try and use the Orbital strike to hurt the commandos who had come down the right flank If I got lucky, I would be able to shoot them off the table. While Jack played Jyn's best card of the right turn but by this point we me surrounding my objective with the horde of B1's she was not going to be able to charge in and interact with my objective. Jack spent the turn trying to keep units alive while I took any shots I could which was not many. At the end of the game VP 4-4 each and with me only losing the 3 spider droids and my magna guard for a total of 328 points destroyed to Jack only having Jyn a single Veteran and turret and 2 commandos left alive for a total of 502 points destroyed giving me the win for a lot closer game and going the full 6 turns!
Summary
This game was very much a back and forth in the early game. After I had shot with all my spider droids on turn 1 and done a total of 4 wounds, I was not expecting this was the limit of the army. I think Jack fire supporting with the veteran turrets with Bistan and commando squads is devastating dice pools even against my armour and was the right tactic to clear the units off the board quickly. I think his mistake was putting his vaporator so far from the action which meant the full commando squad didn't get a range 3 effective shot till turn 4. If they were involved in the fight sooner I think I would of been in more trouble and could of lost on points destroyed. Jack is great player to play against and recommend if you get the chance to play him take it. I didn't play against anyone else from the Spalding Pathfinders but they were very welcoming and can't wait to go and play them again.