Another round of X-Wing testing and vehicle maintenance...

So, got in a few practice rounds today against Tony’s “Just Die Already” list…  H’s flying Ketsu on the Shadow Caster (Lancer) loaded out with K-4, Title, EU, and Fearlessness backed by Bossk on the YV-666 loaded out with Cluster Missiles, Salvage Crane, Dengar, Zucuss and Inertial Dampeners IIRC.  BRUTAL jousting list.  The Lancer has a decent chance to get in, potentially put 2 Tractor tokens on a ship to potentially throw it around (if small base) or just drop its Agility by 2 for the finishing shot by Bossk.  Learned again, no matter how good you think your own Joust is, it is NOT going to survive this.  I ran:

FennCobraNDru (100)

Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Attanni Mindlink	1
Proton Torpedoes	4
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 36
N'Dru Suhlak — Z-95 Headhunter	17
Attanni Mindlink	1
Cluster Missiles	4
Scavenger Crane	2
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 24
Talonbane Cobra — Kihraxz Fighter	28
Attanni Mindlink	1
Homing Missiles	5
Cloaking Device	2
Engine Upgrade	4
Ship Total: 40

Combining my Ace list with 3 Ordinance carriers for a pretty darn good First Strike capability.  NOT the dedicated primary mission by any means but I can put some serious hurt and potentially erase a few ships at Range 3 before we get into the fight.  Even the Ghost should be into Hull at Range 3.  Then it is a simple enough matter to rush in and finish the main ship.  Biggs is still just in a T-65 X-Wing and a lower PS than I have, so should be easy enough to deal with on his own.

Game one I jousted and learned that they CAN just take the initial pass and shrug it off to wipe me out quickly.  Second game I did a wide flank and engaged at range once he separated a bit.  I lost Fenn Rau, but he fired his Torpedo and got at least one round of Range 1 shooting to throw out a bunch of Damage.  By this point I think he was down to only a few Hull on both of his ships, so the Z-95 and Cobrabane chased them down.  N’Dru got the kill on the 666 and got back his missiles while we just danced around.  Got the TL with Cobrabane, focus from N’Dru and the 1 Hull remaining on the Lancer vs the Homing Missile with Focus was simply not going to survive. 

So, the Kihraxz might be held back slightly on the first engagement as the designated Focus generator.  The hull is simply not as good as the Protectorate.  Lacking the native Boost and therefore the ability to put the Autothrusters…  Never did use the Cloak, but I do like having the option.

Next iteration?  Not sure what if anything actually fits into the 40 point slot that the Kihraxz sits in.  An Aggressor is an obvious choice, but starting at 36 points, it is pretty stripped down version that I could fit in there.  1 point for the Mindlink and 2 for the Autothrusters that are essentially stapled to the Aggressor card leaving me…  One point.  Not horrible I guess, but lacking the standard HLC and FCS it will…  Be found lacking in the offensive capacity I suspect.   The G1A is another possibility, but since it is a B-Wing in an era that B-Wings simply are shot to pieces.  The Star Viper?  Maybe…  The dial is actually almost identical to the Kihraxz swapping the K-Turns for S-Loops.  But that really does not get me too much.  Autothrusters I guess.  I could kit Guri out with the AT and Sensor Jammers for a fairly defensive setup.  More survivable than the Kihraxz but without the major threat factor of the Homing Missile and the 5 Dice Primary at Range 1.  A thought I guess… 

Got the old pickup back to working condition, so the 98 Ranger is what I’ll be driving this summer.  I want my daughters to be in the Escape since that has a LOT more safety features than the extremely simple old pickup.  Got the motorcycle tire in today as well, so needing to pull the wheel off the ancient bike to get that swapped out ASAP.  REALLY missing the bike these days, and it works out so well on Campus…  So, hoping to get to that this week….  I’ll see how many sick days I take this week….  42 weeks of sick time built up and since I found out that I cannot use it for anything other than “buying” another year of time in for retirement…  Well, other than sick time of course J…  But since my own retirement is the “self-managed” and not based in any way on my time in, this is completely useless to me.  So, guessing I take extra sick days every week until I really DO retire.  Well, when I CAN take time off that is.