Undefeated at Genghis Con 2022
Interviews with the top players at Genghis Con about their lists and tournament experience
Recap
On February 26th, 2022, 5280 Legion hosted an 800pt legion tournament at Genghis Con in Denver, Colorado. The event was an amazing success (props to the TO, Joe Lanza (@ezsvns), and we were fortunate enough to have 27 players from all over Colorado make the pilgrimage for the con, leading to an exciting and competitive day. The prize support for the event was top notch, and the Hyatt Regency Aurora-Denver Conference Center, where the convention was held, was impressively nice. In addition to the legion tournament, Genghis Con featured numerous other areas and events, including a Bolt Action tournament, dozens of RPG and board game sessions, a painting hall, a sizable vendor hall, and crucially, a cash bar not too far from our location. The legion tournament was put together somewhat last minute (in less than a month!), but the convention organizers were incredibly supportive, helpful, and legion fans themselves! The convention impressed everyone in 5280, and we plan on holding a large (possibly 2 day?!) event at Genghis Con in 2023. The event was not only fun for legion players, but ended up being a great way to showcase the game to other convention attendees. We had several con-goers stop by to chat the team up, ask questions about the game, and admire at the gorgeous tables and armies. We know for a fact at least a couple of people bought into the game during the con (core sets were available in the vendor hall!), and Tony Hunter (@Huntsman)’s gorgeous Hoth table was featured in an article about the event in the Denver publication the Westword.
Top Lists
While the event was welcoming and fun for players of all experience levels, the Colorado scene is known for its depth chart of skilled players. Going undefeated at the event was no walk in the park, and after 3 rounds of play with 27 participants, we ended up with 3 undefeated players who were crowned champions. I was lucky enough to interview all 3 to pick their brains on their lists and tournament experience overall.
Jason Baird (@JasonIsConfused)
List Link
Walk us through your list big picture wise. What made you decide to go with this list for the event? Were there any unit or upgrade decisions you were torn on before the event?
My list is a classic “force-flex” gunline: a Jedi, a backline commander, and as much firepower as I can squeeze into 800pts. I’ve been playing Anakin almost exclusively since the balance changes, and a fair amount before. Beforehand, he was the best hedge the Republic had against armor (saber throw + fire support), while also being an excellent linebacker, and a decent support unit on early turns because of Exemplar. Since he was buffed with Defend 1, he’s also become one of the toughest, highest-damage force-users in the game, beaten (in my opinion) only by Darth Vader himself, while also somehow being the cheapest. He’s also the only Republic Jedi that can afford to have a full 9-act gunline backing him up, which is exactly how I like to play legion: jedi at the front, full clone army supporting, just like in the Clone Wars.
The thing that made me switch to this 6-corps variant was talking with Orkimedes, who’s also been running an Anakin list recently. I’d been focusing a little too hard on getting perfect order control on the turn he gets flawed, I think. To that end, I was running Fives, who is a painfully expensive heavy weapon and forced me both to run multiple RPS-6 units, and to drop a Phase I Z6 down to R2+3PO, who are a little more expensive than they’re worth nowadays. With Orkimedes’ help, I realized I didn’t need Fives anymore, which allowed me to push all the way to the full 6-corps 1-sniper clone gunline, which is pretty much the scariest gunline you can face in all of legion. That was a lightbulb moment for me - “oh! I can take 6 full corps along with a sniper, Anakin, and a clone commander!” Republic Jedi gun lines have been mostly stuck to 9 acts since the first round of Republic nerfs, so I wasn’t even losing an activation by going all-in on the clone corps.
How relevant was Anakin’s flaw in your games? Were your opponents able to punish you some turns or were you able to mitigate it?
Overall, not particularly relevant. In my first game, yes, he got flawed on turn 5, but it was after he’d already destroyed my opponent’s hostage and allowed me to get away with mine. The game was settled by the time the flaw was played, so even though Anakin died as a result, it didn’t matter.
In my second game, Anakin played linebacker against Grievous and Dooku, never getting near the enemy guns, so he was never hit with a ranged attack. Similarly, in my third game, he spent the first several turns sharing tokens from out of enemy range, then used the last turn to force-push Vader off the objective for the win, so again, the only suppression he got was from his own command cards.
Your list has a solid clone trooper gun line backbone. Any thoughts on how the clone gunlines feel to run at an event like this post the changes to the clone trooper keyword last fall? How did you feel about the effectiveness and strength of your gun line at this event?
In my opinion, the main nerf to clone gunlines was the loss of Critical 1 on the ARC strikes, coupled with the buff to Low Profile on rebel/imperial snipers. We were able to dominate the long-distance game before the nerf, forcing enemies to come to us, where we could shred them with our superior firepower, saves, and fire support shenanigans. That’s no longer the case; now, I have to be the aggressor against range 4 and 5 lists. Echo mitigates this somewhat; his Critical keyword lets him frequently knock out enemy snipers. Air Support is also a necessity, in my opinion.
The nerf to the clone trooper mechanic - only being able to share a single token on attack and defense - never felt that impactful to me. Yes, we’re weaker for not front-loading four aims into a single attack, but that wasn’t how I liked to play clones before anyways. I want to threat-saturate, not put all my eggs in one basket. On the surge token front, it’s very rare that you need more than two surge tokens anyways, and most of my units have access to at least two tokens, as they either have one of their own and one from another clone, or have one from another clone and one from Exemplar. So overall, it has an effect, but only in scenarios that are already edge-cases.
Clones are the best gunline in the game. I feel advantaged in every range 3 gunline battle I end up in. Clones still save 2/3 of the damage you throw at them, they still hit harder than any other corps on offense, most of them still usually ignore suppression, and they can reach out and murder squads before they activate with fires support. The toughest gun line I faced in this event was Tony Hunter (@Huntsman)’s five specialist stormtroopers plus three snipers, and I shredded it. Clone gunlines are the strongest in the game, that hasn’t changed - they’re just much weaker at long range.
How did you like running the RPS-6? Besides saving a few points, did having the extra impact come In handy at Genghis Con?
My main armor counter is Anakin saber throw with a fire support; the RPS is more for finishing off wounded armor than providing a mainline threat against them. Honestly, I really dislike the RPS-6 - cumbersome is a painful keyword - but when you have 5-6 corps units, it’s worth bringing at least one. Without them, the Republic struggles hard against armor now that we don’t have Critical snipers. And no, the Impact wasn’t relevant this tournament, but it frequently is, and occasionally the range four 3-dice fire support was convenient, so I wouldn’t change it, as bad as that Cumbersome feels.
What list style/archetype did you not look forward to facing most at the tournament and why?
The two lists I was most scared of were Vader and Magnaguard gunlines. Anakin can win almost every duel against other force users, largely due to Djem So Mastery’s guaranteed melee deflect, but Vader’s massive health pool, newly surging defense and offense, and superior command cards give him the upper hand. Couple that with stormtrooper gunlines being so cheap and imperial snipers being savage against my list, and it’s a dangerous recipe. I did end up facing exactly that list from Tony in the finals, but discovered my gunline was still superior, and I got lucky enough to win on objectives.
Triple Magnaguards scare me because they’re typically coupled with E5-s B1 rifles, and between the two, they have withering range 4 chip damage that I have no answer to. Plus, if I try to close to range 3, the magnas can dive into melee, and Anakin doesn’t win a fight against three of them. It reminds me a lot of how clones used to play: plink them at long range, forcing them to come to you, then light them up with superior firepower in close.
What matchup were you hoping for the most at the tournament and why was that?
I think my list is best-suited against armor, especially Imperial and Rebel armor. An Anakin saber throw with an RPS fire support averages almost 7 wounds against airspeeders, and a full 7 against AT-STs and buses. The other lists I do particularly well against are melee skews, except Magnaguards and Vader. I originally designed this list to counter Ben Chee’s and Joe Lanza ‘s Wookiee-Airspeeder lists, but it does excellently against other force users, too - I have superior firepower, forcing them to make an aggressive play with their force-user, and when they do, Anakin pushes them out of melee and the clones murder them.
What was the toughest match you played at the event, and what made it a challenge?
My third game against Tony Huntsman keeps coming up! I mentioned that I shredded his gunline early, and that’s true, but his snipers kept plinking away at my squads until Vader dove in and murdered most of what I had left. I was very lucky we ran out of time on the turn his Vader was immobilized by Burst of Speed; Anakin pushed him off the center point and there was nothing he could do to get back onto it. Had we gone another turn, it would have gotten very risky for me.
What did you feel your list did well at during this tournament? Any specific objectives, game situations, etc?
This list shines in a range 3 gun fight, especially when Anakin is hedging out some more aggressive units or peekaboo saber throw-fire supporting. Luckily for me, range 3 gun fights are the bread-and-butter of Legion. Most objectives, save Breakthrough, Bombing Run, Recover the Supplies, and sometimes Sabotage the Vaporators, promote this kind of play.
Any ‘cinematic moments’ or crazy stories from any of your games?
In game 2, Anakin ended up standing on a crate on the center of the battlefield engaged with three damaged squads of B1s. It was so cinematic watching him standing on a crate, chewing through battle droids that my opponent took a picture.
Echo’s defensive saves were bonkers in games 1 and 3. In 1, he took multiple piercing sniper shots from scout troopers, Iden, Inferno Squad, and even a Death Trooper attack and saved out of all of it to survive to the endgame. I think he made 10/10 saves in a row after losing two health in two shots on the first turn. Similarly, in game 3, he ate three or four full stormtrooper squad attacks and lived with one health to pick off lone unit leaders in the endgame.
What surprised you the most at this event?
Two things surprised me, both on the same topic: there were only three Republic players, and two of those three Republic players went undefeated. I hoped the rumors of the clones’ demise were greatly exaggerated, but I wasn’t sure until this event. I had a whole separatist army painted up and ready to go, but I think I’ll be shelving them and sticking on the Republic train for a while longer.
Anything you would change about your list from your experience at this event?
I honestly don't think so. I have my eyes on several other Republic lists: Rex Wookiees, Anakin Padme gunline, Yoda Padme standby sharing, even an AT-RT skew, but I believe this is the best version of the Anakin gunline I can make right now.
Anything else you want to add about your list, republic strategy, or about the event in general?
The republic nerfs were warranted and effective, but losing Critical makes arc troopers (except Echo) incredibly sad. I hope they get a points drop to compensate. Right now, they’re the lowest-damage, highest-cost snipers in the game, and are mostly not worth taking.
As far as republic strategy goes, my favorite phrase is “trust your saves.” In full gunlines like mine, clones still have the saves, shared dodges, body count, and retaliatory firepower to stand up to any non-Pierce attacks enemies can throw at them. You should put your whole army on the line in most games, not hide them behind line of sight blockers like droids and rebels do. Just make sure they have heavy cover, and that you’re fighting over an objective. If they put their full army in front of you, you win the shootout. If they push units at you one at a time, you destroy them one at a time. If they hide behind rocks and rush objectives at the last second… Then you might have a problem, since they out-activate you.
Shout-out: Joe (@ezsvns) did an amazing job running the event! The prize support was top-notch, the judge calls were impeccable, and we even finished well ahead of the expected time. I can’t wait for more local tournaments like this one!
Stephen Velasquez (@Stephen Velasquez)
Walk us through your list big picture wise. What made you decide to go with this list for the event? Were there any unit or upgrade decisions you were torn on before the event?
I wanted a mass activation list, mainly because it would throw off my opponents, and because I've never heard of a clone mass activation list before and wanted to see if it was possible. It was originally 12 activations, but I eliminated one strike team so I could bring Echo instead of a DC15, and a Z6 to my comms unit instead of leaving them as a five man squad. I had to think about this list a lot, and ended up tweaking it four or so times before I got it to where I was happy with it.
The clone comms tech with comms relay stands out to me as a unique upgrade in your build. Talk to us about your strategy there and how that works in your build.
My opening move was the clone's two pip (Air Support). I combined the first beam attack with Echos sniper for some deadly fire support. Five hits with pierce followed by two more attacks with three dice is really good. The reason why I made a comms unit was for in case I played bombing run. I would need to bounce an order onto my speed three barc speeder since the clone's two pip only gives one order. Even if I didn't play bombing run I was still able to bounce an order to R2, and get him out of my order pool, or a barc to set up some fire support.
The triple barc speeders also stand out to me as a unique feature of your republic list. What drew you to running them for this event? Were there any specific plays or scenarios where you found them particularly effective?
I've been using Barcs for a long time! Since the game came out actually. They are super handy for a number of reasons. They give a surge to hit to my phase 1s, and they have the ability to shoot in front or from behind, which I used in my second game. I finished off some b1s that were in front of the barc and finished off a b2 unit with the side car that was behind the barc speeder. Because we were playing payload, being able to take out two units like that prevented my opponent from moving his cart.
What list style/archetype did you not look forward to facing most at the tournament and why?
I wasn't looking forward to going up against force users. The only heavy hitters that I had were phase 1s, so Darth Vader or Obi-wan would have made short work of them. I had some ideas on how to handle that kind of match, but fortunately none of my opponents were running them, so I didn't have to worry about it.
What matchup were you hoping for the most at the tournament and why was that?
I was hoping to go against Stephen Cobb (@ASpaceVIking), and he ended up being my third opponent lol. The reason is because he was one of the ones in the 5280 legion win records, and I wanted to test my steel on one of the best 5280 players. Tony Hunter would also have been a good match as well.
What was the toughest match you played at the event, and what made it a challenge?
Both of the Droid players that I fought against were difficult. Magnaguards are super tough! The match against Stephen Cobb was the closest though. Losing all 3 of my barc speeders, and two of my phase 1s being so suppressed, the only option that I had was to fire support with them every round to keep them from running off the objective.
What did you feel your list did well at during this tournament? Any specific objectives, game situations, etc?
They did really well in the two game modes that I played. intercept the transmissions, and payload. Having 11 activations really allowed me to horde up those adjectives. I prevented my opponent from moving his cart in my second game in payload. I also was able to move all available units into the middle adjective being able to out activate Stephen Cobb’s b1 horde.
What surprised you the most at this event?
I've been wanting promo dice ever since I started playing tournaments, so to get twelve of them, six in each color was super exciting!!!
Any ‘cinematic moments’ or crazy rolls from your games?
Yeah, in my third game against Stephen Cobb my Z6 took like 30 hits before going down. They had at least a dozen suppression tokens on them too lol. I never rolled so many blocks before. It was ridiculous actually! Surges from my commanders help a lot of course. In my second game against Jordan Marsh I somehow got three natural crits on his b2s with my generic commander, taking out his heavy.
Anything you would change about your list from your experience at this event?
In my next tournament I replaced the Z6 with a DC17, and R2 with a third strike team with offensive push. I also got rid of my comms unit. He did what I intended for him to do, but I want to focus more on the double pierce shot with strike teams and Echo fire support. I mainly had the coms for bombing run, but no one wanted to play bombing run with me lol
Anything else you want to add about your list, republic strategy, or about the event in general?
I used to play chess with some friends of mine. The rules that I learned were to play my pieces fast, so my opponent wouldn't have time to think, and to give my pieces jobs usually in the form of gambits. I try to follow those exact rules for legion. Giving my troops jobs, such as “what objective they are going to do”, “who they are going to attack”, and “where they are going to move”, etc. allows me to play my games fast (as a lot of my opponents noticed)! (Editors note: Stephen Velasquez is one of the fastest IRL players I’ve faced. We finished a full 6 turn game of KP in under 2 hours, including setup and deployment.) This had made my opponents make mistakes. I think this is what allowed me to go undefeated in the last four tournaments that I have attended.
As for the event, it was amazing! Everyone there was approachable and friendly. Legion really does have the best community by far. It was the biggest tournament that I have attended, and I can't wait to play another one with you guys!
Gus Woomer (@SURVIVE)
Walk us through your list big picture wise. What made you decide to go with this list for the event? Were there any unit or upgrade decisions you were torn on before the event?
This list adheres pretty closely to the “Force-user + gunline” archetype so far established in Legion, but I chose to lean into what I think the Empire does best in both of those departments. An abundance of the ‘Spotter’ keyword and the presence of ‘Compel’ makes the Corp + Death Trooper component of the list resilient to suppression and capable of meaningfully skirmishing with other targets while providing Darth Vader with the opportunity to play objectives and engage. It turns out that a Stormtrooper squad with the T-21 and Specialist costs the same as a Snowtrooper squad with the T-7 Ion disruptor, additional trooper, and Frag Grenades, so I played around a bit with my corp composition and settled on 2 Storms and 2 Snows. I was primarily afraid of droid players bringing Magnaguards and Dwarf Spider Droids so I felt like the Ion would be a good pick, while frag grenades + steady would hopefully be enough to deter Dewbacks or Wookiees in the matchups where Ion wasn’t going to matter.
(For those who aren’t from 5280 - Gus is known locally for being a long-time Vader specialist and for dialing in his builds in unexpected but really effective ways.) Talk to us about the single saboteur with electrobinos? What is your strategy with that unit, especially compared to taking the more traditional sniper?
As any Imperial Legion player will tell you, the Scout Trooper Sniper is notoriously unreliable and has long been a source of anguish within the ranks of the Empire. The Saboteur by comparison has excellent utility in many objective scenarios and can still support the rest of the army with near zero exposure to enemy fire. As such, the Scout Troopers in this list have been relegated to spotting duty. Having a unit with the Spotter keyword occupy the Special Forces rank contributes greatly to unit control in surprising ways. Supposing a scenario where Vader and X Corp tokens are face-up and both Special Forces tokens are drawn consecutively, activating the Scouts first and using Spotter can very nearly guarantee that the Death Troopers activate with an aim token. The same idea applies to Stormtrooper unit with the Electrobinoculars as well. These units combined with the officers produce a large amount of aim tokens that the rest of the list can use very efficiently.
You’ve been a fan of taking Death Troopers with DTF16 for a good bit now right? (even before the points changes perhaps?). What role did that unit play in your list and how impactful was that for you at Genghis Con.
DT-F16 is unquestionably one of the Empire’s best but most underused tools. Indeed, even before she received some love from AMG, I rarely left home without her. Compel is really what allows this list to tick the way it does. The T-21/Specialist setup and T-7 Disruptor Snowtroopers both benefit greatly from a free move action, especially when carrying aim tokens from spotters. Compel can make Imperials feel like Droid-Troopers that roll red saves when it really gets used well. All that aside, Death Troopers and Spotter are a match made in heaven and can fill multiple roles in a gunline really well with Precise 2. They anchored my line all day and dished out some serious pain. I rarely feel bad about bringing out the DT’s.
What list style/archetype did you not look forward to facing most at the tournament and why?
Droids were definitely at the top of my list. Magnaguard can tarpit Vader well enough to keep him from being relevant and I hadn’t had the pleasure of dealing with a well-managed clutter of Spider Droids until Game 3 of that day, so I was scared of them as well. Second on my list were those pesky T-47’s. I felt like Ion was a bit of a catch-all for the things I didn’t want to see and I got lucky enough to be seeded against 3 opponents that had Ionizable units, so it ended up being a decent investment.
What matchup were you hoping for the most at the tournament and why was that?
This list does really well against other gunlines with no force-user. Darth Vader really loves being the only force-user on the board. Trying to get Vader out of your line if you don’t have a Jedi/Sith of your own is a very special kind of Legion headache.
What was the toughest match you played at the event, and what made it a challenge?
Game 3 against Mike Agnew (@Mythic Games) was incredible but brutal. He brought a Kalani-led, 2x Spider + AAT list that really thinned my R3 line before I could even engage. Luckily for me, we were playing Payload which gave Vader an opening to influence the gamestate on both Bomb Carts as they crossed. Neither of us scored and it went to kill-points. We both had fewer than a dozen minis left on the board and I took it by the skin of my teeth.
What did you feel your list did well at during this tournament? Any specific objectives, game situations, etc?
The way I’ve constructed my list makes it pretty decent in most objective scenarios, save for Bombing Run (which I was fortunate enough to see in 4th slot twice that day). I played Payload twice and was really happy with the amount of utility I was getting from my Saboteur. The Sonic Charges really did a lot in forcing my opponents units to push their cart from a predictable angle.
Any ‘cinematic moments’ or crazy stories from any of your games?
In my match against Mike, Darth Vader carried the back end of the game beginning with a sequence of play that was pretty wild. Vader was the final activation of Turn 4 and I had played Implacable. He activated, used Force Push/killed a squad of B1s he was engaged with, recovered, then used Force Choke on one mini from a BX strike team at R1. When he immediately activated the second time he choked the second mini from the BX strike team, then moved and engaged a second B1 squad (leaving one alive) eliminating two units and contesting both carts. I won the priority bid on Turn 5, activated Vader first, choked the last B1 and then moved to destroy a DSD in melee for a total of four activations eliminated. It was a huge swing and stopped his cart for the rest of the game letting me take it to an objective tie.
What surprised you the most at this event?
We have some real innovators here in the 5280 community when it comes to list-building and in-game execution. There was a huge amount of list diversity and enough good players with the acumen and confidence to play some really exciting armies and units. I will say I was a bit surprised not to see Yoda or a Saber tank though.
Anything you would change about your list from your experience at this event?
I’m not sure where I’ve settled on the Ion here yet. It does a lot to shape Turn 0 and your opponent’s deployment so long as they have Droids/Vehicles. When I did end up ionizing things, it felt great. I like that they cost the same as the T-21 storms so they’re easy to swap out. I’ll try 3 Storms 1 Ion next.
Anything else you want to add about your list, empire strategy, or about the event in general?
Huge shoutout to Tournament Organizer Joe Lanza and Mythic Games for really coming out and putting together such a great event for everyone, and to all the amazing 5280 community members that contributed their skill, time, and resources so that we could have such amazing prize support.