Bloomington AAR, X-Wing

So, went 2-1 over at Red Raccoon and got games 1 and 3 streamed…  Didn’t embarrass myself I guess.  Played my S&V Ace list:

KuldaFennThweek2 (98)

Torani Kulda — M12-L Kimogila Fighter	27
Veteran Instincts	1
Harpoon Missiles	4
Unhinged Astromech	1
Long-Range Scanners	0
Ship Total: 33
Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Push the Limit	3
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 34
Thweek — StarViper	28
Advanced Sensors	3
Autothrusters	2
StarViper Mk. II	-3
Virago	1
Ship Total: 31

I think that one of the CURRENT strengths of the list is that people are simply unprepared for how squirrely the Star Viper really is.  Hits like a wet noodle, but if I fly it right it is not getting shot…  So, ANY offence still beats no offence…  Eventually.  I have to be patient and be willing to take the short win…  Meaning get a kill or two, get ahead on points and then avoid getting shot.  Sometimes doing something unexpected…  Seems like that works about 2/3 of the time.  Sometimes it just ends…  Badly.  But if I am at the point when I HAVE to take a risk, I’ll do that without hesitation. 

Game one I flew against a Boba Fett/Asajj list… Having flown Firesprays a lot and knowing a LOT of the traps, I declined to put myself into them and erased Fett first.  Never did get the Timewalk Asajj to half, but I knew I did not have to in order to win.  He had killed my Kimogila and my other 2 ships were at 2 Hull… I was content to Arc Dodge and snipe as time was running out.

Game two was against an interesting list…  4 PS 2 T-65’s with Flight Assist Astromechs and Integrated Mech and a Z-95.  Wow, the X-Wing can REALLY move now.  The game was intense as we both had repositioning on almost every ship.  I ran Fenn right at them, Kulda on a flank and Thweek on the other flank.  He took the bait and jousted against Fenn.  Fenn did Fenn things, dodged 2, and had only one Range 3 shot and 2 Range 1s in each other’s Arcs.  With the title, I get a free Evade and am rolling 4 Agility, so the odds are pretty good.  Range 3 against him is really tough with Autothrusters and 4 Agility.  So, I think I evaded damage and hit one hard, Kulda put a Harpoon in one X-Wing in the center of his formation and Thweek was flailing away with his wet noodle.  Wound up winning on the strength of killing his Zed and one X-Wing while losing my Kimogila on the last turn.  Turns out that you CAN simply erase a Zed with a fully modded Harpoon…  And of course 1 Agility kind of sucks.  Comparing the Kimo against the Imperial Gunboat?  The Gunboat is better in almost every way, and cheaper.  So, I think this is the one thing I am “less sure of” in the list as it stands.  Should note this is I think the first time I actually Reloaded a Harpoon and got the second shot off...  Did a fair bit of Damage, so good I guess...  Just the platform leaves a bit to be desired overall...

Game three was against a fairly standard Imperial Ace list with the Palp Shuttle, Inquisitor and Quickdraw.  Went about as I expected… Fenn killed the Inquisitor before dying, Thweek did Thweek things until he got the Shuttle down below half and his luck ran out…  Kulda died early failing to even get off a Missile.  Loss, but actually a lot closer than I thought it would have been.

Got a decent haul of Alt Art cards, so that was pretty great…

Enjoying flying “Ace(ish)” lists…  Will probably fly one of my Rebel lists next week at Mattoon…  Need to get in some reps though.  Have not actually flown a T-70 in a LONG while…  Never flown the new Rebel Shuttle, and the new Flight Assist Astromech is amazing.  Some interesting tricks there, and not nearly so oppressive as most of the “Meta” lists in a place like Mattoon that is really just starting up their X-Wing scene…

X-Wing events upcoming...

Looking at going to a “slightly more competitive” event this weekend at the Red Raccoon over in Bloomington.  There is another Regional in Indianapolis the following weekend, so a bunch of the locals are gearing up for it.  I’ll probably test out my Rebel list:

FennPoeWes11 (100)

Fenn Rau (Sheathipede) — Sheathipede-class Shuttle	20
Veteran Instincts	1
"Chopper"	0
M9-G8	3
Vectored Thrusters	2
Ship Total: 26
Poe Dameron (PS9) — T-70 X-Wing	33
Veteran Instincts	1
R2-D2	4
Advanced Optics	2
Vectored Thrusters	2
Black One	1
Ship Total: 43
Wes Janson — X-Wing	29
Veteran Instincts	1
Flight-Assist Astromech	1
Integrated Astromech	0
Ship Total: 31

Pretty simple, but have a few things I am not 100% on.  Poe could swap the Vectored Thrusters for Autothrusters…  Better overall, but the meta call of I want more options to break Target Locks…  At least while I am concerned about the marauding Gunboats with Harpoon Missiles everywhere….  Wes can swap for Wedge Antiles even up to get all PS 11.  I just like this ability for the “no tokens for you” thing.  Fenn Rau to provide actions and potentially de-buff one shooter…  Poe is the end game here with Regen and just (hopefully) being hard to kill. 

I can drop to PS 10 and get M9-G8 on Fenn to modify attacks a bit more…  Oh, and Tactician.  Just wondering how high my PS needs to go I guess…

Well, this or just re-run my S&V list…  With the FAQ change, I no longer have to worry about the silliness that the “Trajectory Simulator” with “Genius” meant that they could move then launch a bomb 5 Straight ahead…  Looking at the chart the Crayts posted, they could put a Proton Bomb just about anywhere on the field.  Then the list would usually launch 2 Harpoon Missiles at you.  THIS had the potential to just outright kill the game.  But the FAQ changed it, so we’re back to a VERY open Meta I think.

Real life?  Fired up the motorcycle, need to get the title straightened out, but I HAVE the title in hand, so it is possible…  Weather is warming off and on, so maybe I will get back to riding again.  The Goldwing has a LOT of cargo space and it just rides SO nicely.

X-Wing upcoming events... What to fly...

So, odd event coming up this weekend at Titan…  2 Large Ships required.  Nothing but of course…  I tried the Firesprays I like, but those dials are just SO bad.  It clearly suffers heavily from the power creep that has occurred since the ship was released.  Kath with her Gunship setup is solid, but just gets killed by anything that can say dodge her Arcs and maybe Stress her…  SO many things that can do it these days.  So, I’ll likely run a different version of my Control Brobots list:

Brobots1 (100)

IG-88B — Aggressor	36
Push the Limit	3
Advanced Sensors	3
"Mangler" Cannon	4
Rigged Cargo Chute	1
Autothrusters	2
IG-2000	0
Ship Total: 49
IG-88C — Aggressor	36
Push the Limit	3
Advanced Sensors	3
"Mangler" Cannon	4
Seismic Charges	2
Rigged Cargo Chute	1
Autothrusters	2
IG-2000	0
Ship Total: 51

No real point for the Seismic charges, so maybe something else…  No point in a bid for this list since I’m PS 6…  The number of Actions I can throw out there is insanely good, but I can easily be outmatched with the higher PS out there.  Not pushing out a LOT of damage, but it should hit consistently and throw a lot of Criticals…  Gamble a bit.

Listening to the Crayts cast and hearing them compare the “risk tolerance” between the two guys talking at the time…  Essentially, there is a match up that is a 60/40 split.  One guy said with the 40% chance to lose, he’ll walk away from that.   The other saying with the 60% chance to win, he’d take that every time.  This is the camp I’d fall into I think.  60% odds are pretty solid.  Not GREAT mind, but knowing a bit about my history, it should not be overly surprising that I would consider a 60/40 split to be a good one to go with.  I would prefer and consider 85% to be “success” in most things and with the 85/15 split there is really no further discussion required and I’m doing it every time. 

Work related, got to explain that at a meeting this week when I was describing how I make some of the major decisions required.  Not quite the old “You’ll never get fired for buying IBM” that was a saying at the dawn of my IT career…  Essentially translates to “Following the industry standards, you are safe” since IBM is no longer the number one computer manufacturer these days.  Dealing with Security related things mostly, it is absolutely essential to follow the best practices and demonstrate that you ARE doing so with the penalties for failing to do so are quite extreme.  Research in a University environment is always interesting at least…

Back to X-Wing, throwing together a few 3 ship lists for the 3 February event in Mattoon… 

Rebels:

Unnamed Squadron (99)

Fenn Rau (Sheathipede) — Sheathipede-class Shuttle	20
Adaptability	0
Hotshot Co-pilot	4
M9-G8	3
Vectored Thrusters	2
Ship Total: 29
Poe Dameron — T-70 X-Wing	31
Veteran Instincts	1
R2-D2	4
Advanced Optics	2
Integrated Astromech	0
Black One	1
Ship Total: 39
Wes Janson — X-Wing	29
Veteran Instincts	1
Flight-Assist Astromech	1
Integrated Astromech	0
Ship Total: 31

Or Scum:

KuldaFennThweek2 (98)

Torani Kulda — M12-L Kimogila Fighter	27
Veteran Instincts	1
Harpoon Missiles	4
Unhinged Astromech	1
Long-Range Scanners	0
Ship Total: 33
Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Push the Limit	3
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 34
Thweek — StarViper	28
Advanced Sensors	3
Autothrusters	2
StarViper Mk. II	-3
Virago	1
Ship Total: 31

S&V is the same one I won out with last Month…  So, more likely to swap over to the Rebel list.  Kind of janky and looking more like fun I think…  10’s all around for PS.  Fenn doing weird things like giving re-rolls to friendlies or maybe just making the Enemy reroll stuff if it comes to that…  Locking down things and giving out Actions.  Poe is Regen and fast…  Sitting on the Focus for as long as needed since he CAN.  Wes is just an old T-65 X-Wing who has an odd ability…  Stripping Enemy Tokens at PS 10.  Hit, Miss…  Doesn’t matter…  Thinking of the old John Wayne movie “Big Jake”.  He had a line in there about “Your fault, my fault, doesn’t matter…  Either way, I’m going to shoot you with this shotgun”.  I see him kind of as the angry old man with the outdated equipment just there to kill the people who have annoyed him…  Just need to figure out the upgrades, but I think the ships themselves are pretty solid…

Mattoon X-wing AAR, Month 1 of the League

Short event at the End Zone in Mattoon…  I flew:

KuldaFennThweek2 (98)

Torani Kulda — M12-L Kimogila Fighter	27
Veteran Instincts	1
Harpoon Missiles	4
Unhinged Astromech	1
Long-Range Scanners	0
Ship Total: 33
Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Push the Limit	3
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 34
Thweek — StarViper	28
Advanced Sensors	3
Autothrusters	2
StarViper Mk. II	-3
Virago	1
Ship Total: 31

Brutally effective list.  Far more than I thought it would be honestly.  Thweek was insanely good.  Arc dodging is a really powerful thing these days.  Both he and Fenn Rau were absolute rock stars doing that.  Turns out they hit like wet noodles when they have to spend their actions dodging.  This is the “common wisdom” that you’ll hear on the podcasts.  True.  But I’d add that “If you are the ONLY offence, it is the best one”.  Takes a bit longer to kill things barring extreme variance, but… Still, being the only one shooting makes you the best shooter at that time.  Results reflected this I think.  The Kimogila with the Harpoon missile was the obvious threat on the flank, Fenn Rau rushed right at them and the Viper went in and did work as a knife fighter.  Over the course of 3 games I lost one ship.  Fenn got blocked at Range 2 and blanked out on his Agility dice.  Kulda was solid, and the Barrel Roll is insanely powerful on the heavy fighter…

New Year and New X-Wing stuff...

So, only a little bit of X-Wing over the long break…  Much work on house, etc…  But DID listen a few times to an excellent cast from the Carolina Krayts (http://carolinakrayts.libsyn.com/podcast/listener-4-how-to-git-gud-and-other-aspects-of-being-good-at-games).  SO much excellent content in this episode.  They did skip all of the normal silliness and it mostly concerns game theory and how to get better at the game. 

Not entirely sure how much of this will end up with me on the table at the local events at least.  Mattoon is too small a venue to really bring out the “big guns” as it were.  Titan IS big enough, but the local Meta is…  Well, weird.  I’ve played some of the better “Meta” lists locally like the Triple Wookies.  Did OK, but it HAS been a long while since I made a local cut.  My “Try Hard” list (Nym/Dengar) made the cut at the larger SC in Bloomington.  Exhausting to play so many games, especially as the day went on and the quality of the opposition continued to improve.  NOT saying that the early rounds were pushovers, I simply had a better list than several of the guys I played against.  Oh, and I actually flew it pretty much perfectly against several of the other players.  Arc Dodging with a Heavy Bomber against TIE Fighters should not happen, but there it was…  Does not really happen anymore after the nerfing, but…

Looking at flying at LEAST one Starviper…  Slippery bastards they are, and I find that I really enjoy flying them.  JUST have to remember not to do something silly like say end up at Range 1 of a pair of TIE Defenders lest I simply melt in a single turn… 

Most likely this one:

OberosFennThweek (97)

Dalan Oberos (Kimogila) — M12-L Kimogila Fighter	25
Veteran Instincts	1
Harpoon Missiles	4
Unhinged Astromech	1
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 31
Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Push the Limit	3
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 34
Thweek — StarViper	28
Advanced Sensors	3
Inertial Dampeners	1
Autothrusters	2
StarViper Mk. II	-3
Virago	1
Ship Total: 32

Missiles on the PS 9 reloadable ship…  Fenn is always solid and Thweek is kind of a wild card.  99% of the time he’ll just copy the highest PS out there.  Given the likelihood of the PS war continuing, having the bid and likely the highest PS backed with 2 9’s puts me in a pretty good place.

Other list I am looking at is:

FennGuriThweek (97)

Guri — StarViper	30
Intensity	2
Advanced Sensors	3
Inertial Dampeners	1
Autothrusters	2
StarViper Mk. II	-3
Virago	1
Ship Total: 36
Thweek — StarViper	28
Autothrusters	2
StarViper Mk. II	-3
Ship Total: 27
Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Push the Limit	3
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 34

2 Starvipers bouncing around with Fenn as the real threat…  Thweek being on the cheap end it might not be as effective, but it WILL be fun to bounce around the board a bit I think…

Really concerned about hitting loads of Imperial Gunboats…  Thinking they are about the most efficient ship out there at this point, and that’s why I am looking at flying something odd like Vipers…  Fly odd and dodge arcs I hope…