Gen Con AAR
So, I got up at 3:30 (am) Friday for the drive over to Gen Con to
make it there long before the “09:00” start…
Turns out I need not have worried much as the event did not REALLY start
until 10 or 10:30. Lots of construction
en route, but the ancient Ranger got me there easily enough. Drank a few of the coffee Monster drinks and
listened to a lot of my music to get into the correct mindset for the
event. Made it there in plenty of time,
hitting the garage at about 7:30. So, I
need not have worried so much of course but better by far to be there early
than risk showing up late. Or not in
this case. Seemed like a lot of folks
rolled in at ~ start time or a bit after, so the start was delayed waiting for
them and then of course for the standby folks to fill in should anyone simply
not show up. No clue how many that was,
but suspect it was more than a few.
Mind, I was on the “mid-tier” tables so I got to see a LOT of weird
builds at my level. Will see how the
upper tier were actually built out but I suspect strongly there were only a few
really good builds up there. So, I flew:
InqRyadReaper3
P Chappel… (100)
|
Major Vermeil — TIE Reaper
|
26
|
|
Adaptability
|
0
|
|
Director Krennic
|
5
|
|
ISB Slicer
|
2
|
|
Advanced Ailerons
|
0
|
|
Ship
Total: 33
|
|
|
|
|
|
Countess Ryad — TIE Defender
|
34
|
|
Push the Limit
|
3
|
|
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II
|
1
|
|
TIE/x7
|
-2
|
|
Ship
Total: 36
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Inquisitor — TIE Advanced
Prototype
|
25
|
|
Push the Limit
|
3
|
|
Autothrusters
|
2
|
|
TIE/v1
|
1
|
|
Ship
Total: 31
|
|
|
|
|
Solid build… Turns
out it is really good against almost everything. ONE really big hard counter being Stress
control. And, round one was against a Rebel
4 ship (“Fair Ship Rebels”) build that was big a few waves back… But of course, my ships absolutely depend on
Actions to do the things like avoid firing Arcs and you know, getting
shot. So, take THAT away and I have 3
fairly fragile ships. NOT a bad experience,
one of the lads out of Milwaukie WI, and a lot of fun to play against. So, were I to draw the hard counter and just
lose 0-100, this at least was a fun opponent to lose to. Moved to round two… And was more Stress J… Going to be one of those days apparently I
said, but the opponent again was a blast to play against so had fun even while
I was losing… Got to game 3, and they
were passing out a LOT of extra participation prizes so neat cards to hang in
my office I suppose at the least… Then I
realized they were v2 cards, and a fair number of them were ships I’ll actually
be using. Awesome. Well, my round 3 opponent unfortunately (for
him) had a TIE Bomber with a Systems Officer (to give free TL actions) and a
pair of named Imperial Gunboats kitted out with loads of “stuff”. Theory being, they get the TL from the Bomber
then roll up, Focus and have a fully modified shot that hurts… Well…
I was playing Maj Vermeil who asks “Well, what if you NEVER had a Target
Lock during the whole game”. Was a short
game at least as I won 100-0. So, the
hard counter was reversed. My fourth and
turns out final game was against a build with Kath Scarlett and Morelo Eval in
the YV-666. Interesting build and
another exhausting game as that is simply SO much to shoot through with the
somewhat low powered main guns I have on my Fighters. But the Firespray in v1 is simply THAT bad
and the 666 is brutal in its 180 Front Arc, but it cannot easily turn
around. Rush it, accept that he will get
one good shot, then you are behind it and killing it quickly. Turns out that Agility 1 simply melts so
quickly against focused fire. Still it
came to the Firespray vs the TIE Defender at the end… And went to time…
So, dropped out there…
Even if I won out, I had pretty much guaranteed not to make the cut… And frankly I was exhausted after the EARLY
wake up and then all day playing on short tables set up on concrete. Seems to be a thing for younger folks and my
injuries have caught up to me it seems.
Still, had a great time overall…
Only slightly overshadowed by my afternoon’s e-mail…
Got another interview!
4th one this Summer, and this one is one I suspect is an actual
possibility as there is not REALLY someone already there waiting on the
interview process to finish to finalize the promotion they were going to get in
any case… 2 of mine so far HAVE been
that formal “promotion” process rather than a real Search, but since I knew
that going in I treated them as excellent opportunities to have a “live fire”
practice interview. And by now I am
certainly feeling like I am MUCH better prepared for the jobs I am
interviewing. I suspect I was simply not
ready a few years ago when last I was seriously searching. Now with some objective assistance completely
reworking my Resume and Cover Letter to focus on Leadership/Management
experience I am actually making that critical first cut to get in for an interview. Previously my resume was FAR more focused on “I
do tech things”, and yes, I do/did them quite well. I have a number of industry certifications
and now an advanced degree (MS) to prove it.
Well, the advanced degree is one of the big things qualifying me for
things at the “Director” level… The
University has a somewhat odd system for this, at least when compared to “The
Industry” as a whole… There, the fact
that I had a BS was actually seen as sort of a negative, at least in the mid 90’s
when I was starting my career. From that
entry level perspective I had “wasted” 4 years learning useless stuff while I
could have been out working on the cutting edge and actually MAKING things… Well, the even get the AP job at the
University of course you DO have to have a BS/BA in something… Anything frankly, that mine is in a technical
field is not very common in the IT field here, nor is it seen as a particular
advantage… Well, in LAS where I am now… Were I in say, in Engineering perhaps the BS
in Mechanical Engineering might be a plus…
Hopefully? Any case, having the
MS qualifies me for the higher level of Management jobs I am seeking. Well, that and for the last several years I
HAVE been managing an IT group doing exactly what the job I am currently
seeking does… So, I just have to
convince the Committee and folks actually making the hiring decision of that.
Anyway, back to X-Wing… 2 more events coming up for v1
before that ends in September. Frankly
not overly excited about them, but they are my local store and one nearby
trying to start up a group so I feel like I HAVE to at least show up and give
it a shot. I suppose I can try for the
top 4 rulers and alt art cards, but as I already have a set of the top 8 ones
not really seeing this as a “I need to win this” thing like last year… Won the rulers and never used them. I have an excellent set of acrylics from
Curled Paw Creatives (link: https://www.etsy.com/shop/CurledPawCreatives?section_id=18639890)
that I use all of the time and as my new ones are my favorite color (green) and
have the Jedi symbol on them, they are the ones I prefer to use… Will likely run the Fett/Fenn build at one
since it actually works fairly well and I will be flying that pair in v2 a LOT…
The point values, at least the initial ones, have been
posted by FFG. Allowing us to do some
actual builds with the new stuff before next Month and it going live… So far at least everything is looking really
good. Will see how well things are
balanced when they hit the table later of course, but I have to admit I am
liking everything so far. Oh, and with
the Clone Wars coming back FFG announced at Gen Con that the Galactic Republic
and Separatists were coming to both X-Wing and Legion as playable factions… REALLY looking forward to the Republic. Honestly I did not really mind the prequels
so much (Episodes 1-3)… Jar Jar Binks
was just annoying to me, but I could usually filter him out. Lots of Jedi running around actually doing
Jedi things. Felt kind of bad for the
actor who landed the Anakin Skywalker role as it required a William Shatner
level of silly over acting to make the character fit Mr. Lucas’ vision it seems… Not sure I have seen him in anything else
since then. And of course I was rather
looking forward to an Obi Wan Kenobi movie with Ewan McGregor… Maybe they will actually get around to that
at some point. Just hope that the
silliness surrounding the latest movies dies down and maybe they get back to
making more Star Wars movies… But that’s
just me I guess, I am not so rabid a fan that I am willing to destroy something
that might not agree with my own personal vision of it… I played a fair bit of the old SW role
playing game back in the old days, so for me the more movies and books out
there, the better. With Clone Wars
getting the ending that it should have gotten the first time, Rebels being
concluded (and REALLY well done IMO), I was rather hoping for more live action
movies with characters from those series…
Ahsoka Tano having been one of my all-time favorite characters would be
MY preference of course, but whatever works…
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