Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Month 3 AAR (X-Wing) and Armada

AAR for the Month 3 Tournament…  We came, we saw and we got our asses kicked J…  Wound up playing the Poe/Miranda/Stress Hog list:
KYT70 2 (100)
Poe Dameron — T-70 X-Wing
31
Veteran Instincts
1
R5-P9
3
Autothrusters
2
Ship Total: 37

Miranda Doni — K-Wing
29
Twin Laser Turret
6
Tactician
2
Ship Total: 37

Gold Squadron Pilot — Y-Wing
18
Twin Laser Turret
6
R3-A2
2
BTL-A4 Y-Wing
0
Ship Total: 26

And I ran up against the one of the top 4 first (Will) running a REALLY well balanced “Brobots” list with a pair of IG-88’s, B and C.  Found where this list struggles mightily, it is the 3+ Defense dice with tokens.  Had both of his ships with a pile of Stress (at least 4 each at one point), got into Range 1 with Poe and pot shotted with the other two…  Poe blanked out on a 4 Dice attack…  It went downhill from there J…    Miranda was disappointing as she died first and I think without causing a single damage in the maybe 2 turns she was alive…  HLC hitting for 4 and no Defense dice rolling for me meant no shields then the second cannon hit (Mangler IIRC) for 3 including at least one Critical…  So, 37 points of “Meh”.  Poe was a rock star with his T-70, and easily the best ship I’ve flown in quite some time…

Second game was against something Tyler ran last Month, 4 TIE Advanced.  Slight difference, the 3 with the free Accuracy Corrector (21 point ships) and a Skill 10 pilot (Juno with VI) who had the Advanced Targeting Computer…  Not bad, I at least killed 2 of his ships, but it highlighted the real deficiency of the TLT…  It has a REALLY hard time dealing with solid ships throwing 3 Defense Dice…  Miranda did almost nothing again…  The Stress Hog killed Juno more or less on its own due more to dice flukes (hot Red dice, cold Greens).  Poe was dogfighting with the remaining 3 then 2…  He was full health due to regeneration of course..

After this, not a lot, had a Bye round 3, so got to watch the other games…  Watched a 4 Y-Wing (TLT, Unhinged mech) get tabled by Poe…  Yes, the rest of the Squadron died, but Poe was unharmed at the end, highlighting the TLT weakness against agile high PS fighters…  Brobots were a thing, at least 3 sets of them.  My Stresshog was one thing that should have dealt with them, but of course, lacking the quality dice J…  There was not as much variety as I expected honestly.  Poe was on a BUNCH of tables one side or the other, the YT-1300 was still popular.  One or two Scum Firesprays, a few hordes of Z-95’s and the TIE swarm or two… 

Going forward, Poe is a keeper if I fly Rebels 6 December…  S&V is a bit more open, I suspect the KavillKK build might be fun…  Or maybe I bring back a bomber Firespray…  Ordinance is probably something to look at, but needing to do steady damage to things that can dodge well will be the key I think.  Something to think about…  But I suspect the K-Wing will not be in the Squadron in any case…

Got in an Armada game last night as well…  Played against Mike running a pretty good Rebel list with 2 Nebulon-B’s and a Corvette backed by 5 Fighter stands…  Named B-Wing, Named X-Wing and a few generics.  He used the title that allows you to fire twice if you give a Squadron command, was pretty decent, but not going toe to toe with my Assault Frigates…  I had “Gallant Haven”, Weapons Liason, Gunnery Team and X17 Turbolasers on the Flagship.  Enhanced Armaments, Gunnery Team, ECM, and Intel Officer were on the other ship.  5 Fighter stands including Dutch (Y-Wing), Wedge (X-Wing, was also in Mike’s list) and Tycho (A-Wing).  Mission was one I had, but will never use again for this list I think, “Superior Positions”…  I guess I could get it, but the AFs are more or less built to circle the area and shoot broadsides at the enemy with no real thought about trying to go fast and get behind them…  If I bring more A-Wings, perhaps, but the Gallant with a Fighter screen was pretty darn good.  Kept my own Squadrons alive a LOT longer than they should have been, guessing he would have wiped most of them by turn 3 otherwise…  Instead, it became something of a draw on that with each of us having 2 Squadrons survive the fight I think.  The Corvette got killed early coming too close to the AFs, getting into range of both and ramming with its last hull point to do damage on the way out… 


Asteroids in this game are BRUTAL…  Hit one, got the double damage card and with the ram, the ship was half dead…  But I had planned for damage control, and with Garm Bel Iblis as Admiral, had extra tokens to perform good damage control over a few turns to get out of danger…  So getting the hang of the game I think, and Wave 2 should be shipping next week we are told…  This will eat up the last of my store credit at the Gopher, but well worth it…  Got rid of ancient Magic Cards and got an entire new game that I am really enjoying…

Thursday, November 12, 2015

X-Wing tournament this weekend... Month 3 of the League


Have an X-Wing tournament coming up this weekend at Titan, so need to break out the lists for it…  Finished about the middle in Month one, top 4 in Month two, so I’d like to stay in at least the top quarter to give myself a chance for the real prizes at the end… 

Got extremely lucky last league and won the big ($90) prize on essentially a raffle as they drew the name out of a hat for the people who did not already win a prize…  The Imperial Raider, and if I played Imperials, it would have been awesome…  I do not.  So, store credit it was.  Have to say, while my wife has been VERY understanding about my gaming over the years, the fact that I have it mostly self-sustaining at this point and have even gotten rid of some things has I think made her a lot happier about it…  Magic the Gathering cards paid for my Armada fleet, and with this I think the things I really want out of Wave 8 for X-Wing are covered.  The “Ghost” from “Rebels” (the cartoon) and…  Honestly that was about all I am looking forward to.  The S&V ships perhaps, but…  Overall “Eh” is about all I am feeling about them.  Maybe something I’ll see in the previews or when they are released will change my mind… 

So, planning on bringing one of a fairly short list to the event:

KYT70 (100)
Poe Dameron — T-70 X-Wing
31
Predator
3
R5-P9
3
Autothrusters
2
Ship Total: 39

Miranda Doni — K-Wing
29
Twin Laser Turret
6
Ship Total: 35

Gold Squadron Pilot — Y-Wing
18
Twin Laser Turret
6
R3-A2
2
BTL-A4 Y-Wing
0
Ship Total: 26


This is my primary Rebel list at the moment. Two high skill Aces with the ability to regenerate their Shields and the Y-Wing set up to Stress things into submission…  Might well swap the Predator on Poe for VI and use those 2 points to put the Tactician on Miranda’s K-Wing for even more potential Stress shenanigans… 

Or the S&V “We Hit Hard” list:

KavilKK (100)
Kavil — Y-Wing
24
Veteran Instincts
1
Twin Laser Turret
6
Unhinged Astromech
1
Engine Upgrade
4
Ship Total: 36

Black Sun Ace — Kihraxz Fighter
23
Predator
3
Cluster Missiles
4
Glitterstim
2
Ship Total: 32

Black Sun Ace — Kihraxz Fighter
23
Predator
3
Cluster Missiles
4
Glitterstim
2
Ship Total: 32

This one is based around the theory that I can move in quick, hit for a big burst of Damage and likely take down at least one 8 HP ship/turn for each of the first two turns…  Yes, HAS to be a low agility ship like say, a Y-Wing, but the likelihood of burning one down before they get to fire at PS 2 means that I could easily have the 4 TLT Y-Wings down to 2 before any of my ships are themselves in serious jeopardy…  I think it could also easily take down almost any of the Large ships quickly, so the “Palpmobile” with Emperor Palpitine in a Shuttle should be something easy enough to deal with…  The builds based around 3+ Defense and especially the Aces in those ships…  So, if I run into Tyler’s build with the 4 x TIE Advanced, I may well be in trouble with this.  5 HP and 3 Defense Dice mean that even with my 2  Attacks each and re-rolls/Focus conversion I might not get the kills quick enough…  He was set up to have each of his ships do at least 2 hits/turn and my Defense is “not good”.  I know he had a hard time killing my A-Wing last time with the 3+ Defense, so I suspect he will not bring it again with it having a hard time dealing with TIE Swarms and the like…

Those or something in an Ordinance build maybe?  Not sure, I have a few others here and there that might fly well enough…  Ord is one of those things I WANT to like and use, just is not really quite there in my opinion…  The “discard” of all of those things hurts a LOT, and they just do not do enough damage usually… Hard to take Torpedoes over a Cannon or Turret these days…  I HAVE 4 Y-Wings so I could run the 4 Y’s with TLT or 4 B-Wings…  Kind of boring though…

Armada builds are coming along nicely, think I have a pretty decent handle on the game so far…  Just in time for Wave 2 to hit J…  We’ll see how much is really changing…


Broken ankle mostly healed at this point, just getting back to working out and I actually rode my motorcycle a few times this week…  So, that was good..

Friday, November 6, 2015

X-Wings Worlds, evolving meta and boots...

Well, spent the last 2 days watching the streamed X-Wing Worlds being played out up in Minnesota...  A LOT of really interesting builds, and spoiler alert the same guy won for the third year straight...  VERY different build this year though.  Gone are the 2 big ship builds for the most part, and even the winning build last year with the "Fat Han" was not seen in the top 16 that I could tell...  The "Palp-mobile" with the Emperor riding a Shuttle was there for the Imperials, looking like the Shuttle and a pair of really good Imperial Ace pilots.  Quite strong, but clearly beatable.  Good news for me as I do NOT play Imperials of course :-)...

The new T-70 X-Wing was in both of the top 2 lists, built more or less how I fly it with Poe, a regenerate Droid and Autothrusters...  There was a build with 3 K-Wings, Miranda and 2 Warden Squadrons, all with TLT and a Tactician to pile Stress up if they catch you at Range 2 and in Arc of course, but watched it destroy Ace based lists...  Ironically, the Miranda, TLT and Tactician is one thing in my probably builds for the next Event locally...  Regenerating, potential Stress and steady damage output...  Works well, and the 2 points I had left were either Dash Rendar crew for always clear shots (and shooting from an Asteroid if/when I land on one) or Tactician...  Given how much I liked the Tactician on the Firespray class ships, that was where I was going anyway :-)...  Nice to see my theory craft validated by one of the top finishers there though.

Still think my build is narrowed down to a S&V build:
Or
Poe Dameron — T-70 X-Wing31
Predator3
R5-P93
Autothrusters2
Ship Total: 39
 
Miranda Doni — K-Wing29
Twin Laser Turret6
Ship Total: 35
 
Jake Farrell — A-Wing24
Lone Wolf2
Chardaan Refit-2
Autothrusters2
Ship Total: 26
 
Gold Squadron Pilot — Y-Wing18
Twin Laser Turret6
R3-A22
BTL-A4 Y-Wing0
Ship Total: 26
With either the A-Wing Ace, a reduced cost A-Wing and boosts to the other ships, probably a Tactician for Miranda and maybe bombs?  Or the BTL-A4 Y-Wing stress Droid...

Need to have something to deal with Swarms, Ace Builds, Big ships and mirror Match.  The S&V has the answers to a fair number of them, but I REALLY like flying the Rebels...


A bit of painting done...  Expanding the squadron with the same markings...

Picked up some more Rhulic minis...  Ogres this time, so my Dwarves will hit the field with the equivalent of Light Warbeasts to go with the Heavy in the Bear, and of course the actual Warjacks :-)  We'll see if they are effective at all, but I bet they will be...


Thursday, October 29, 2015

So, do the 40K minis go?

So, thinking very seriously about selling off my 40K stuff…  Since I have a LOT of stuff, this might take a while, assuming I actually do it.  A lot of stuff dating back to the late 80’s including Armorcast stuff…  Might keep some of the stuff just to have it in the display cabinets…  The Praetorian IG are fairly unique, and I have a LOT of them…  I really like the Cataphract Terminator Armor from Forge World is amazing…   Shame as plaing pieces for 40K they are overpriced and useless…  In Heresy Era games they are pretty good though and there are a bunch of really nice Heresy (30K) era things coming out now in plastic and resin.  New Imperial Knight, Forge World Spartan completely unassembled…  Something over 100 Terminators, a dozen or so Dreadnaughts.  Oh, and Eldar.  A LOT of Eldar J…      Haven't played in 2 editions and it seems unlikely that I will ever go back so...

Between that going away, probably most of the WFB and Confrontation stuff going…  I want to be rid of my current motorcycles as well…  Plans for the money?  Well, different bike, but the ones I am looking at are in the $1000-2000 range, so frankly, I can get that from the current bikes.  So, clearing the Basement of Doom™ out to start finishing it I guess…   

Broken ankle sucks…  Wandering around with a giant boot and motorcycle free for a month or so…   Waiting on the next X-Wing tournament, need to run my test squadron…  But AFAIK the next one is on the 15th of November at Titan…  Not sure when the “Winter Kits” go live, but the C3-P0 cards in there are going to be sought after…  It is the “participation” prize more or less…  So there are something like a dozen of them in the kits, so everyone should get them… 


Armada Monday at the Gopher it is looking like, and having learned several important lessons last time I have some very different ideas set up.   Different things, and we’ll see if they work…

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

A bit more painting X-Wing stuff and...

So, just a bit of painting done while I recover...  Not a lot of mobility still and REALLY going a bit stir crazy while I heal.  Off to the specialist tomorrow and will see how that goes and whether or not the bone is actually broken in any meaningful fashion...




Going in a more Centuri (Babylon 5) direction on the Hawk...  The Y-Wing and K-Wing I am putting the "Soviet" style colors on, so that's the first coating...

Have my next X-Wing build set and ready, but the next Tournament I think is 15 Nov unless one hits the schedule over at the Armored Gopher before then...  Made top 4 last time in both so I think I have a fair handle on the game and my next build is pretty darn solid...

Armada play is started...  Played against Joel's Imperial build, and learned a lot...    I flew a build with 2 Assault Frigates and a Nebulon B with just a pair of Fighters...  Lost one AF due to bad flying...  Need to just skirt the field a bit...  And I had a bad combo with Paragon and Gunnery Teams that do not work together...  Think I will need to adjust the build quite a bit...  300 points is a bit tight, so will see I guess...  Think I will max out the Squadrons and see how that works...  I DID find the B-Wings to be REALLY good, if a little slow...  So, more will hit the field I guess...

Sunday, October 18, 2015

A bit more painting... Oh, and broken bones I guess...

So, a wee bit of painting...  Broke my foot it seems last week, so loads of things not being done...  Left foot, so riding the motorcycle is right out.  Movement is difficult, so work is somewhat difficult, but can do a fair bit of it remotely.  Glad I just replaced my rapidly failing laptop and so actually have a new and more importantly fully functional machine to work remotely with...  





Lugh decided he had to help me of course...

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Kihraxz Fighters for X-Wing

So, got in a little painting this evening...  Looking at my next build, and I am thinking that the (now) pair of them I have my next build set...



So, keeping the Squadron markings consistent...