Next League testing (X-Wing) and random thoughts...

Looking at what to bring to the next League event…  Most likely this:

FennScoutx2 (100)

Contracted Scout — JumpMaster 5000	25
Attanni Mindlink	1
Intelligence Agent	1
R5-P8	3
Black Market Slicer Tools	1
Anti-Pursuit Lasers	2
Ship Total: 33
Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Attanni Mindlink	1
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 32
Contracted Scout — JumpMaster 5000	25
Attanni Mindlink	1
Plasma Torpedoes	3
Extra Munitions	2
Intelligence Agent	1
Rigged Cargo Chute	1
Anti-Pursuit Lasers	2
Ship Total: 35

Ne bid for Imitative because I’m going with the aggressive “Dare them to let me go first”.  Not a LOT of repositioning, but enough I think.  Focus should be there with the Mindlink.  The first Scout is just there to muck things up.  Shoot at it if you dare, the BMST is there to punish pushing and the APL has won me several games on its own.  The second Scout is there to throw in another Bumpmaster and a few Torpedoes…  Will likely drop the EM for a Seismic Torpedo.   2 solid ships to get in there and just mess things up and cause disruption and damage.  Fenn is a solid Ace on his own.  With the Mindlink he should almost always have a Focus to allow him to reposition or whatever he needs…  Fun, very Mandalorian with the extremely high aggression level there. 

New Ed Sheeran album out, had to pick it up…  Lots of really good stuff there.  “Eraser”, “Castle on the Hill”, ”Shape of You” etc…  “Galloway Girl” I think is my favorite though…

Castle is a good one, but a bit more nostalgic than I get.  High School was so long ago and frankly another lifetime altogether for me.  Nothing there to be nostalgic about anymore.  Did that once and it went horribly so “Nie Wieder” as they say.  Nothing really to be nostalgic about from the Army either.  Different reason.  I do not talk about it much really.  The funny stories and jokes are about all I ever tell anyone about from that period in my life.  Kind of a family tradition I suppose.  No one ever talks about our time in the military in the family.  Well, that and the minor fact that I am the last one from my first Squad left.  So, the whole idea of a reunion is pretty much right out.  And of course I DO remember a lot more about that time than I actually talk about.  Frankly, my first Deployment was a cakewalk by comparison I think.  4 days of actual combat with a few months of low intensity conflict on either end.  Not that it was not stupidly dangerous…  It was.  Exposure to Chemical Weapons, booby traps, mines and oh…  Then there was the whole Desert thing.  In any case, it was what I considered a cakewalk.  We looked and lived like Gypsies and overall had it good…

Supply and Support other than Ammo/Fuel was problematic at times.  MRE was the standard meal for about a 4 Month period, so I can safely say I will never (voluntarily) eat another one of those…  Same issue I have with Potatoes.  We had them for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day that we ate in a “mess” situation (in Garrison, which frankly was NOT as often as one might think), so I tend to avoid all things potato these days…  Second combat deployment was a lot more nightmarish by comparison.  Should note that I do not ever really talk about that, but does go a long way toward explaining my aversion to a lot of things and how generally “aware” of the situations I am by default.  Still, was short and a LONG time ago, so I got off quite easy overall.  Loads of interesting awards that go on my old Greens should I eve wear them.  Heck, the Army went back to the more formal dress Blues since I got out, so I have all obsolete uniforms, per usual.  Body armor fits again.  Have NOT started wearing it to work out…  Yet.  Probably will though soon.  It puts me closer to the weight I was when I started working out seriously again, and is good to be used to moving with the armor on should one ever really need to do so.  Moving without it is comparatively faster and I remember scaring a lot of folks who never understood how fast I really was when I decided to move.  Especially when I first got out, hanging out at the local game store that was by an odd coincidence less than a block from my apartment and right next to the bar I ended up hanging out and working at later. An interesting period in my life that was back at Joe's...

League 3 AAR and next for X-Wing

So, the third month event is done for the Titan League…  I did fairly well, but I got knocked out of the top four at the buzzer…  Frankly, probably for the best as 3 games in a day might be the limit for me.  Though having practiced with the Squadron I flew a fair bit meant I did not make stupid mistakes and was prepared for the lists I did run across.  First game was a close loss against a good Rey/Falcon build…  Flew well, but it is a dice game and if you just fail to evade every shot for the first half of the game…  Well, things tend to go against you J…  So, not a great start. 

Game 2 was against one of the lads from Bloomington.  He did well in the Regionals and was testing stuff for the Chicago System Open next weekend.  Glad I was able to help I guess.  He flew the Ghost (Kanan pilot) and Biggs.  The biggest weakness of that one I found was that Kanan NEEDS actions in order to get the Focus and do his thing reducing attacks.  Manaroo kitted out as a Bumpmaster was deadly.  I joked that I was going to kill his Ghost with the APL…  Only REALLY did 3-4 Damage with that, but denying him actions for those turns meant that I was able to keep my Y-Wing alive and pumping in Focus while Fenn Rau swung around to finish him off.  So, the argument that the APL DID kill him could I suppose be made.  So, a 100-0 win.  I hope he makes the adjustments by the weekend, and as he is looking for a third K-Wing it seems he is… 

Third game was Chewie in the Falcon with 2 Y-Wings with just TLTs to back him up.  Short game.  Sorry to say he was outclassed, but he did get Manaroo down to half and kill off one of my other ships to make it 100-50…  MoV not quite enough J… Still, I had a fun and pretty darn good Squadron out there to play...

So, now the FAQ goes into effect this week, so what changes do I make?  Well, I could fly essentially the same list with a Contracted Scout replacing Manaroo in there and buying a few more 1 point upgrades.  Solid list still, and the Nerf to Manaroo is not that big of a deal really to me.  I think I could count on one hand the number of times swapping the TL/Focus were important to the overall game.  Yes, there were a few instances when it was nice to roll in with the Mandalorian fighter with Focus, TL and able to boost into Range one…  But more often than not it was simply not needed.  So Option One would be to simply make the minor change to the current list.

That might be boring though, and I really want to fly something different.  Rebels are looking OK now.  Ironically, they got NO real Nerfs in the FAQ, which should say a lot about the state of the game before the FAQ…

Unnamed Squadron (100)

Norra Wexley — ARC-170	29
Expertise	4
R2-D2	4
Vectored Thrusters	2
Alliance Overhaul	0
Ship Total: 39
Braylen Stramm — ARC-170	25
Tactician	2
R3-A2	2
Alliance Overhaul	0
Ship Total: 29
Horton Salm — Y-Wing	25
Twin Laser Turret	6
R2 Astromech	1
Ship Total: 32

Not sure if Nora needs PTL and Nein Numb or Expertise.  I suspect PTL/Numb will be the direction I go.  Solid ships the ARC-170 is and with 2 of them?  Frankly I lost the top 4 spot because in 2 of my games the Large base ship got to half or less killing my MoV, so something like this I think should work fairly well.  The Stress control, accurate TLT and Nora for the potential big hit…

Another one I am kicking around is:

Unnamed Squadron (100)

Norra Wexley — ARC-170	29
Push the Limit	3
Nien Nunb	1
R2-D2	4
Vectored Thrusters	2
Alliance Overhaul	0
Ship Total: 39
Ten Numb — B-Wing	31
Adaptability	0
Collision Detector	0
"Mangler" Cannon	4
Ship Total: 35
Gold Squadron Pilot — Y-Wing	18
Twin Laser Turret	6
Vectored Thrusters	2
Ship Total: 26

This one brings back the ancient B-Wing….  Ten Numb has the Pilot Ability to just push through the Critical…  With the Mangler Cannon that changes one Hit to a Critical, so there should be at least one Critical each shot.  Should be an interesting one at least… 

March, X-Wing League and stuff...

New FAQ dropped for X-Wing…  It fixed a number of the very real issues with the game.  Something you do NOT see with most other gaming companies.  Not 100% I think, they did not touch PTL and a few of the other borderline cards, but Manaroo, the Emperor, Zuckuss, and the x7 TIE Defender title…  Those were huge.  The Emperor going to call it before the dice are rolled is likewise big. Moreover, it makes it probably correctly costed I think.  Still REALLY powerful, just not going to be able to blindly use it as the insurance policy it became.  I think you’ll need to play it aggressive and quick.  NOT going to be able to just let it sit back and use it when a roll fails you…  Zuckuss is likewise I think corrected.  Can ONLY use it if you are not currently Stressed.  Kills off the Party Bus use and Dengaroo completely.  Well, the Bus can use it once.  Push through that one time Damage that might get you the game, just no longer going to be able to pile on the Stress and have no down side really…  All in all, great for the game I think.

Mind, the FAQ does not actually take effect until the 17^th so one last event with the old rules.

So looking at this for the last event:

FennManarooKavil2 (100)

Manaroo — JumpMaster 5000	27
Attanni Mindlink	1
Plasma Torpedoes	3
Extra Munitions	2
Intelligence Agent	1
Anti-Pursuit Lasers	2
Ship Total: 36
Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Attanni Mindlink	1
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 32
Kavil — Y-Wing	24
Attanni Mindlink	1
Twin Laser Turret	6
Unhinged Astromech	1
Ship Total: 32

Not too subtle and I do not think it is overly OP…  The Mindlink is going to get Focus all around and for the moment, Manaroo still allows me to pass the Focus and Target Locks board wide.  Next week it goes to Range 1 only, so I suspect it will be relegated to some VERY odd builds instead of the uber utility ship she is now.  Eh, in any case it is a fun list to play…  Post FAQ I’ll probably get back to Rebels as they were where I started in the game.

Speaking of getting back to the beginning…  Getting the old Ranger back on the road.  Need new tires for that and the Silverwing.  So, guessing that’s where the tax return if any goes to.  But I want the girls to have the vehicle with the advanced safety features and the like…  Me, I prefer the older stuff, so the simple pickup truck gets me where I need to go.  Sticking with the heavier workout schedule and getting back into shape…  Slowly, but since going fast has many risks at my current age…

Cleaning an ancient rifle for a bit this evening pre Elliptical workout…  Weird, when I was in the Army I hated cleaning weapons…  Now, the brass, wood and steel of the ancient rifles are…  Well, comfortable for me.  1898 Krag and a No 1 MK III Lee Enfield.  So, American rifle from the Spanish American War and the British rifle from WWI.  Both have VERY smooth actions, are more accurate than I can be with them and still quite useful as basic rifles.  Not automatic and not nearly as efficient as the modern AR type rifles, but…  That and my go to rifle being the Garand I shot when I was shooting competitively in the old days.  600m targets with WWII issue weapons…  Firing AP ammo, so no body armor on the planet works at 300m or less.  Simple and solid.  Kind of what I'm trying to get back to...