Friday, November 22, 2019

Interviews and short updates...


Well, another week and 2 more interviews.  One that was local went amazingly well, but I almost felt like my answers were entirely TOO practiced.  Got me thinking that I have by now been on a LOT of interviews in the last few years.  In almost every case there are the same basic questions, so the answers by now are just completely natural and flow out well.  PROBABLY a bit too well if one is paying attention I suppose.  The one today was for Texas A&M…  Some parts were completely outside of my (recent) comfort level.  A number of highly technical questions, and as I have not physically touched a real server in several years now…  Well, talking my way around it a bit, but…  The other questions regarding leadership style and the like I hit easily.  So, guess we’ll see what if anything comes of these interviews.

My Clones are assembled for Legion now…  Primed and the painting is moving along slowly.  Trying some of the GW Contrast stuff and Nuln Oil…  The lads seem to be coming along well, and I was quite impressed with their play on the field.  The Phase 2 Clones are coming “soon” and they will bring in some more stuff that should work well.  But honestly, not sure how much more I will actually need for that game…  I now have a solid 500 point force, will expand to the 800 level easily enough, but beyond that?  Probably not…  Still, quite a fun game.

X-Wing?  Well, been play testing my next Republic squad…  Mace, Luminara, Wolfe and either Matchstick or Broadside in the Y-Wing…  Solid, mid-level ships.  Some tricks, but mostly just solid ships all around.  My Firesprays are my backup plan.  Good ships, but…

Monday, November 18, 2019

Life update and even some gaming stuff (Legion and X-Wing)


So….  Between getting more serious about running and actually taking the diet thing serious (my wife started WW and I joined her there) I am now officially lighter than I was when I entered the Army back in 1990…  I am wearing a sweatshirt that my Aunt got me when I was back in High School (so late 80’s) when she was rather hoping I would go to USC…  I went to the University of Illinois for Engineering instead.  Well, for a bit J  Before joining the Army on the “Stripes” plan of course.  Things there seem like they are going well.  Losing a few pounds every week and my run times are getting better every week as well.  NOT nearly what they were at my prime playing Army of course, but the 15-minute miles have become 12-minute miles and I run effectively 3 5K’s every week.  Not really lifting much, mostly doing body weight workouts as my “prison workouts” I can do at my Office.  So, I just keep moving I suppose and we’ll see how this work out as time goes on…

Job search is continuing.  Amusingly I have 2 interviews this week…  One local but not at the University and the other in Texas (via video chat, not flying out there)…  We will see I suppose?  Both sound interesting and would be a major change for me, but of course I have to actually get the real offers before J….

Gaming wise?  Got in a Legion event this weekend and my Clones won out…  They are surprisingly solid troops.  Obi-Wan is a GREAT support leader.  NOT as good offensively as Luke or Grievous, but better by far for the Army he is leading.  The lads are primed now, and I am going to head out to the Gopher to pick up some of the Contrast paints to give them a shot I think… 

X-Wing?  I think I’ll throw this on the table:

Mace Luminara Wolfe Matc… (200)
"Matchstick" — BTL-B Y-Wing
43
Ion Cannon Turret
5
R4 Astromech
2
Ship Total: 50
Half Points: 25 Threshold: 4

Mace Windu — Delta-7 Aethersprite
45
R4 Astromech
2
Calibrated Laser Targeting
3
Ship Total: 50
Half Points: 25 Threshold: 2

Luminara Unduli — Delta-7 Aethersprite
43
C1-10P
7
Ship Total: 50
Half Points: 25 Threshold: 2

“Wolffe” — ARC-170 Starfighter
50
Ship Total: 50
Half Points: 25 Threshold: 5


Something to keep the power creep out of it and make for a more friendly game I think…  Though if I play it well, I suspect this will be competitive.  This and my standard Dual Firespray lists will be my staples I think…


Wednesday, November 13, 2019

More X-Wing... Just stalling for time I suppose?




So, going forward I suppose I have a few options in my travel kit… 

The Firesprays are amusing, but I suspect strongly that at the very least there will be some “adjustments” made on Boba Fett’s ship as he is actually a bit too good at the moment.  Krassis?  Eh.  Amusing, but at the end of the day an I3 Firespray, so nothing that should cause TOO much concern.  Well, for most people.  The low I swarm type build actually does fear this ship quite a bit.  Aces?  Well, iff I get lucky on the Snap Shot that could be an issue for them, but in general it is nothing to be overly concerned about.  So, this is an absolutely solid build and likely the one I would fly were I to be entering a serious competition today.

The Jedi are another I enjoy…  Obi-Wan loaded out with the Droid to adjust his dial, Sense and CLT is almost certainly going up, up, up in Jan…  Simply WAY too good for the points now.  Yes, it is an I5 that relies on the 3 Agility to survive in the very fragile frame.  3 Force means I will likely have at least SOME modification for my Defense and it is probably the best dial in the game with the Fine Tuned Controls ability to double reposition without Stress.  Anakin is there because he is an I6.  His Pilot Ability is so very situational that I seldom actually use it honestly.  But at I6 with the double reposition I can line up the CLT shot or just not get shot with frightening regularity.  Goes back to my days when I was a more serious Martial Arts student (mostly Aikido), turns out that it hurts a LOT less when you do not get hit as often…  So, I got better at the blocks, evasions and break falls…  REALLY good at the falls because being a bigger guy I was asked to help demonstrate things and work with the folks going for their Blacks a lot that they might perfect their techniques against a competent and larger opponent.  That helped me a LOT turns out as time went on.  And a good philosophy in general, work with and compete against the best.  Learn from every exchange and you WILL get better a lot quicker for it.  Now with the Republic list, I have to come up with a third Ship…  I’ve tried the Y-Wing a bit, Broadsides is good, but does not fit with my more aggressive style with which I fly the Aethersprites…  Same for the ARCs frankly.  Solid ships and quite good, but just not really my play style.  Ric in the N-1 fits well enough, and if I have Anakin loaded out with the CLT I can load the N-1 out with things that include Juke and FCS to make it a solid Offensive threat.  Takes some time to set up, and he is ALWAYS my flanker.  Force the opponent to choose between chasing the N-1 or the Aethersprites.   Either can just cut and run better than most ships in the game, and in the meantime the other one just hammers their flank…  “Klingon Saber Dance” with the long ranged engagement, I have decent odds to do a little Damage while avoiding taking any (ideally, “much” is far more accurate of course) Damage in the exchange.  Down side of this one being that games often run to time and the sheer number of repositions and the like are just brain melting for a long event…  Solid though and a blast to fly…

Other than that?  I’ve been running Toreni Kulda with Snap Shot on the Kimogila and Guri, usually paired with Fett…  Solid, and decent I suppose.  Just have REALLY bad matchups against actual Ace lists.  They DO kill most Swarm builds, so the Rock/Paper/Scissors effect is there.  Just have to dodge those matchups I suppose to do well in an event?  J  Sounds like a winning strategy…  My Dash + 1 builds are all “meh” as well.  Best one I have found is ironically the Dash/Roark combo…  The Hawk giving Dash the I7 shots is of course a gimmick, but it is throwing a LOT of Dice, so…  But of course, 2 mid-range I ships that are just not all that hard to hunt down in the long run…

Frankly, seeing a lot of malaise in the scene now…  Seems like a long pause between content being added, and with the major Events now past most are just waiting on the points adjustment (presumably) coming in January…

Other than that?  I have my Clones assembled for the Legion event coming Saturday at Titan…  Will NOT be fully painted, but they will be on the table.  Neat?  Seem solid and more my speed as far as troopers go, I was really never comfortable with the “IG” like Rebel builds with the waves of unarmored “meh” troopers on the table.  The Republic is just in a bad position having only the Basic Clone Troopers and a single Vehicle to accompany Obi-Wan as their only Commander.  Good base, but more options will make it FAR more interesting I suspect.