Mostly X-Wing stuff... And almost time to get the motorcycle out again...

So, first big event for the X-Wing game under the belt…  I think I did fairly well coming in 3-1 with my Dash/Corran Horn list.  Tried to fly too fancy in my last game and I was simply not prepared for the TIE swarm played by someone who knows how to REALLY well.  So, a few things I need to change up for the next one later this Month I think.

Got in a few games last night…  First one was an odd “Scum” list I was going over… 

Star Viper (Xizor, Expert Handling, Virago, Auto Thrusters and Accuracy Corrector)

Z-95 ( N’Dru, Cluster Missiles, Lone Wolf, Hot Shot Blaster)

Y-Wing (Kavil, Ion Turret, Unhinged Astromech, Hull Upgrade)

Admittedly, the Hull Upgrade and Expert Handling was mostly because I could only find the one Hot Shot Blaster…  The EH worked REALLY well though on Xizor though.  I tend to do a fair number of Barrel Rolls in any case and the ability to shunt Target Locks is really nice, and especially nice if facing low skilled Missile boats.  The Star Viper is just fun to fly.  A bit on the fragile end I think though with only one Shield and four Hull.  As it happened, my Defense dice were hot and mine lived while killing off his virtual mirror.  N’Dru was a beast, but faced off against his mirror…  Like I said, my Defense Dice were hot, so I lived through the Cluster Missiles and he did not.  I am rather looking forward to see what a single Z-95 can do to some of the Large based ships like the Decimator.  The essentially 8 Dice attack for that one turn is huge and while it will not likely take down a Large ship, it should take down most Fighters…  The Y was just amusing flying with Green 3 maneuvers and the four Dice attacks from the Ion Cannon…

But that does bring me to what my second game showed.  Faced off against 3 TIEs, 2 Interceptors and one Phantom.  So:

Turr Phennir (VI, Auto Thrusters)

Soontir Fel (AT, PTL)

Whisper (VI, FCS, Stygian, Intel Agent)

And pretty sure there was one more point in there somewhere…  But I flew my Rebel Squadron that I am looking at for the next Store Championships run…  I already have the acrylic Focus markers, so not really all that interested in fielding something that is overpowering…  And I say that like I actually could J…  But with the Auto Thrusters on things like the TIE Interceptor and the A-Wing…  You can get to a point where the 2 Dice attacks essentially have no chance to actually do any damage, and even decent 3 Dice attacks are a very real long shot.  Thinking that these are hard counters to the Swarms hitting the field these days, assuming that you can keep from bumping before thinning the Swarm enough.  And since they have 4-5 Dice Attacks at Range 1, I am not thinking it will be an issue…  In any case I flew:

Ten Numb (B-Wing, Mangler Cannon, VI)

Biggs Darklighter (Shield Upgrade, R2-D2)

Horton Salm (Y-Wing, Ion Turret, R2)

Plan was to keep Biggs near Ten to draw fire, move slow and ping things with Critical Hits that cannot be avoided by any means…  On the unshielded TIES, this is a BIG deal.  But against a lot of the “hard to hit” things that one unavoidable Damage (especially as it is a Critical) is still quite good, so I wanted to give this a run.  Either a mini Swarm with 2 A-Wings and 2 Z-95s, a 3 Ship “Aces” list or paired with one of the YTs…  Was pretty happy with Biggs actually.  The X-Wing itself is fairly “Meh” lacking…  Well, something.  It cannot Boost, Barrel Roll, Evade or do much interesting on its own.  It is not particularly maneuverable nor is it particularly robust or even powerful on Offence…  So, not really sure how much I’ll fly the “poster boy” for the game itself…  I am probably just spoiled with the other ships I actually learned the game on like the B-Wing and E-Wing and seeing the Imperial things that are really just “better” in about every way for about the same point cost…  The Y-Wing was “OK”, but CLEARLY outclassed by the extremely advanced TIE fighters.  They were flying circles around him, and while he lived a while, he was completely ineffective for his 31 points.  Soontir Fel and Turr Phennir were 32 and 28 points respectively and completely outclassed the poor Y-Wing.  Felt like a Sherman up against a Panther really…  So, Ten worked like a charm, though I need to find some better things to outfit him with I think…  I DID actually completely whiff twice, both would have been Kill shots on a TIE Interceptor, so likely the Fire Control System upgrade or perhaps something to get more Green on the dial…

So, long story short:  Happy with Ten Numb, and that will be flown again…  Not sure what with though…  Fortunately, next Championship is in a few weeks, so some time…

40K is restarting at the Gopher I guess…  I wish them well.  Have to say, less interest in playing that game now, but I also know that at SOME point in the future the cycle will turn and I’ll likely go back to playing…  Maybe if the rumored Horus Heresy things actually happens.  I have a bunch of that stuff, and if I’m honest, that era interests me a LOT more than the current 40K setting where it seems that the storyline is essentially “The Empire is screwed, EVERYONE else is just better than the Marines” and the game is just throwing buckets of dice, most of which simply ignore Marine class armor, or glance Vehicles…  J  But I’m just one of those bitter old school gamers I guess, and not one throwing money at GW (Sorry Gopher!), so surprisingly GW did not ask my opinion about the system…

REALLY looking forward to the possibility next week and beyond of actually getting my ancient motorcycle out on the road…  Need to fix the electrical fault on the Silverwing, but I suspect that is just a ground issue, so hopefully simple enough…  And then I’ll get to ride again.  Been a LONG winter, and I want to ride again…