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…