Star Wars Miniatures

Updated Nov. 16, 2015

2015 WBC Report

2016 Status: pending 2016 GM commitment

Josh Githens, SC

2015 Champion

Event History

2015 Josh Githens 31

Laurels

 Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
   1.  Josh Githens       SC    15     40
   2.  Buddy Sinigaglio   ID    15     24
   3.  Vinny Sinigaglio   NJ    15     16
   4.  Tim Howell         PA    15     12
   5.  Bill Morse         VA    15      8
   6.  Alex Gregorio      PA    15      4

2015 Laurelists

Buddy Sinigaglio, ID
2nd

Vinny Sinigaglio, NJ
3rd

Tim Howell, PA
4th

Bill Morse, VA
5th

Alex Gregorio, PA
6th


Quinn Dwyer vs Tim Howell

Jacob Dwyer vs Alex Gregorio

Robert Powers vs Sean McCulloch

Yoda vs Devin Dausin

In a Distant Galaxy ....

In its inaugural year as a WBC event, 31 entrants turned back the clock on pop culture to play the most popular Star Wars game produced since the theme first appeared “A Long Time Ago.” Almost all of the participants were already familiar with the game and most did not expect that the randomly selected squads would include the variety provided. They also did not expect to see squads with so many extremely rare characters. However, there was a repeated complaint voiced by entrants and non-entrants alike, involving the non-opportune scheduling of Star Wars Minis at the same time as Star Wars Queen’s Gambit.   

This tournament was conducted similar to a game store booster tournament, except participants were not required to purchase boosters, or anything else. The GMs provided all materials required to play the game: minis, cards, maps, dice and handouts.

Players qualified for Single Elimination play by winning games in the preliminary round. Players could enter one or more of the four heats of the preliminary round without limit and were paired randomly in the first heat. Thereafter, the GM's matched opponents with like records whenever possible.

Due to the multi-attraction nature of WBC, it was feared that not all of the eight players who fared best in the prelims would appear for the single elimination round on Saturday, so ten performance parameters were identified in advance to calculate tie breakers and to allow alternates to advance into the Medal Round, if necessary.

Heat 1. Alex Gregorio with an Imperial squad with Darth Vader Champion of the Sith and Imperial Governor Tarkin tied for high score with 180 points vs Vinny Sinigaglio with a Mandalorian squad that included Boba Fett Mercenary Commander. In the other high scoring game, Josh Githens’ Imperial squad with Darth Vader Unleashed and Dengar thrashed a Mando squad with Canderous Ordo played by Greg Zegalia.

Heat 2. Tim Howell played a Republic squad with Yoda on Kybuck and garnered 182 points against Tony Musella who played a Mandalorian squad commanded by Mandalore the Indomitable. The next highest score was attained by Githens who scored 161 points with a Republic squad including Shaak Ti Jedi Master, Clone Commander Bacura and his clone troopers versus Alex Gregorio with a Separatist squad having extremely rare characters Darth Maul and Darth Sidious.

Heat 3. Frank Sinigaglio played a Republic squad that included Jedi Master Kit Fisto and Tusken Jedi A’Sharad Hett. Frank amassed 220 points versus Musella who played a Separatist squad with the hated General Whorm Loathsome, Wat Tambor and an Octuparra Droid. Frank rolled high dice and Tony rolled low. The next highest score went to Alex Gregorio, who scored 169 points with a New Republic squad containing Han Solo Galactic Hero, Boba Fett Enforcer and Leia Skywalker Jedi Knight vs Buddy Sinigaglio who played an Imperial Remnant squad that included Mara Jade, Jagged Fel and a boatload of Sandtroopers.

 Heat 4. Vinny Sinigaglio played an Imperial Remnant squad that included the coveted Admiral Thrawn character with Nightsister Sith Witches and scored 201 points vs Robert Powers who played a New Republic squad that included Luke Skywalker Champion of the Force. The next highest score again went to Alex Gregorio, who scored 179 points with a Republic squad containing Commander Ahsoka, Captain Rex and 501st Legion Clone Troopers vs Tim Hing who played a Separatist squad that included General Grievous Scourge of the Jedi and his Magnaguards.

Elimination Rounds: The eight players advancing to the elimination rounds were seeded as follows: 1. Alex Gregorio, 2. Tim Howell,  3. Buddy Sinigaglio, 4. Josh Githens, 5. Bill Morse, 6. Robert Powers, 7. Richard Beyma and 8. Vinny Sinigaglio.

Quarterfinal 1:  A major upset occurred when Vinny Sinigaglio with a Rebel Commando squad took out top seed Alex Gregorio playing an Imperial squad with Darth Vader Jedi Hunter. The Rebel Commandoes led by Luke Skywalker charged into the center of the board and claimed key scoring objectives while Darth Vader was occupied by Chewbacca Enraged Wookie. While Vader was tied down eliminating the Wookie, Luke’s commandoes picked off most of Vader’s support troops. Eventually, Vader got free and dispatched Luke in one turn; however, the commandoes and the rebel vanguard missile unit likewise eliminated Vader assuring the upset.

Quarterfinal 2:  Tim Howell played a Republic squad with Obiwan, Quigon and Clone Troopers versus Richard Beyma with a Separatist squad commanded by General Grievous Droid Army Commander. The two Jedi quickly charged into harm’s way adjacent to Grievous, but Grievous Crab Droids and Super Battle Droids failed to score sufficient damage to prevent Grievous from losing his head. Tim triumphed handily.

Quarterfinal 3:  Buddy Sinigaglio played a Republic squad with Grand Master Yoda, Chewbacca and four wookies against Robert Powers who commander General Grievous Scourge of the Jedi with Magnaguards and droid artillery. Grievous advanced on the left while he used his Magnaguards and artillery to hold the center and right. Yoda sent Chewbacca and the wookies against Grievous and attacked the droids himself, thus avoiding Grievous and his Jedi Hunter capability. Grievous eliminated all the wookies except Chewbacca, while Yoda held off the rest of the Separatists. Then Chewbacca scored a critical hit and eliminated Grievous. The droids soon folded without their leader.

Quarterfinal 4: Josh Githens played a Rebel squad with Han Solo Scoundrel, Juno Eclipse and a team of Hoth Troopers vs Bill Morse with an Imperial squad that included Darth Vader Legacy of the Force and his Stormtroopers. Josh grabbed control of the objectives in the center of the board and Bill contested immediately. Unfortunately for Bill, his Stormtroopers shot as well as they did in the theatre, missing repeatedly, while Josh missed rarely. Josh stripped away Vader’s support, making it possible to swarm Vader and eliminate him.

Semifinal 1: Vinny played an Imperial squad with a Blizzard Scout AT-ST and General Veers against Josh who drew a Rebel Squad with the Luke Skywalker Hoth Pilot and the very dangerous Han Solo in Stormtrooper Armor. Josh wasted no time and sent Han Solo into the middle of Vinny’s squad. Han’s Charging fire eliminated four Storm Troopers before he was dispatched by the AT-ST. On the other hand, Vinny’s General Veers, who has the ability to call in devastating artillery against a target hex and all adjacent hexes, missed every shot against four rebels—a one in 16 probabiity. This uneven trade early in the contest spelled doom for Vinny.

Semifinal 2: Buddy Sinigaglio drew a Republic Squad with Aayla Secura and two Clone Troopers manning AT-RT’s. Tim Howell drew a Separatist squad with Asajj Ventress, a Hailfire Droid and a Destroyer Droid. Both players showcased their experience. Aayla Secura charged the Hailfire Droid and Destroyer Droid, while Asajj Ventress charged the two AT-RT’s. The Jedi’s with light sabers must fight the deadly shooters point blank. The center of the board was turned into a lethal fire zone. The difference was in the die rolling. Buddy’s dice killed the droids before Aayla was eliminated, but Tim rolled lousy, including a critical miss, which allowed the AT-RT’s to kill Asajj.

Final: Both players drew exceptional squads. Josh drew an Imperial Squad with Darth Vader Sith Lord, Mara Jade, 4-Lom, five Stormtroopers a Tusken and a Chandra Fan. Buddy drew a Rebel squad with Old Obiwan, Boushh, Garindan, a Commando on Speeder Bike, the very dangerous but unpredictable Ferus Olin, a Heavy Trooper, a Bothan and a Mon Cal.

Josh moved three Stormtroopers and a Tusken up his left flank; two Stormtroopers, a Chandra Fan, Mara Jade and 4-Lom up in the center; and Vader by himself up the right flank. Buddy countered by sending his Commando to strafe the four units on Josh’s left flank and Old Obiwan charged into the center. The strafe took out two Stormtroopers, but the Commando died on the next turn. Old Obiwan took out two Stormtroopers plus the Chandra Fan and scored a critical hit on Vader before also dying. In the meantime, 4-Lom was raising havoc with deadly shooting that eliminated the Heavy Trooper and the Mon Cal. As a part of all this action, Vader moved into the objective hex, but not before accepting the critical hit for attempting to move past Obiwan.

At this point, Josh had five units: Vader was in the center objective hex; Mara Jade and 4-Lom were still at their original advanced position in the center, but not close to Vader; and the Tusken and one Stormtrooper held Josh’s left flank. On the other side, Buddy was down to Boushh, Garindan, the Bothan Noble in the center and Ferus Olin coming up on Josh’s left flank.

Buddy now had a slim chance to gain a victory with Boushh launching grenades 40 and the Bothan Noble and Garindan teeming up for 40 point spotter shot on Vader. If both hit, Vader would be eliminated—only a 25% chance; but if either hit, Vader would be hurting—a 50% chance. Moot since both shots missed—the remaining 25% chance. Nearby, Ferus Olin was killing the last Stormtrooper, which Josh used masterfully to block Olin’s access to the center. Now the Imperials responded with 4-Lom hitting his fifth straight shot to kill Boushh, while Mara Jade took out the Bothan. Vader stayed in the objective hex. Remaining for Josh was Vader, Mara Jade, 4-Lom and the Tusken. Buddy had only Garindan and Ferus Olin.

On the next turn, Buddy used Ferus Olin’s “Dark Temptation” and killed the full strength 4-Lom with an 80-point hit combination. The unpredictable “Dark Temptation” then caused Ferus Olin to change sides; however, Old Obiwan’s Force Spirit allowed Olin to make a save roll, which prevented the defection. On the Imperial response, Mara Jade killed Garindan. Vader again stayed put, earning objective victory points.

On the last turn, the Imperials won the Initiative roll and Josh wisely moved Mara Jade and the Tusken to block Olin’s access to Vader, assuring that the Imperials would win on this turn due to objective points even if Olin eliminated both Mara Jade and the Tusken.

The Championship bout was excellently played by both finalists and the GMs were pleased to award Josh Githens with the first WBC Championship Wood for Star Wars Miniatures.

GM Frank Sinigaglio [1st Year] 253 H Street, Carneys Point, NJ 08069
FrankSinigaglio@hotmail.com 856-364-3752

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