Getting some of my Armada ships painted up to keep my "Crimson and Greys" theme going... Honestly not even sure why those colors, except I used to wear a funny hat in crimson at one point... But this way my stuff will look like it a) belongs together and b) is different than the other players stuff... More important in this game given that there are simply not that many different ships out there at this point... So, my stuff will be obviously different. NOT nearly so nice as a lot of the other players who repaint their stuff, but these are mine :-)...
Nothing too fancy, but like I said different than the standard pre-painted mini you can buy...
Looking at repainting my new X-Wing stuff as well... Probably go "Red Baron" or "B5 Narn"
For my ARC-170's... I did some minis in "Martian" camo back in the old days and the red/grey/black works surprisingly well... Might go this way with my Mandelorian fighters as well...
Job is... Interesting... With the budget issues, getting back to rebuilding things and making things just work for new research groups. Not bad, but I have to admit I got a bit spoiled over the last decade or so when I COULD go with an off the shelf thing and just buy it to make the problems go away. I DO remember the bad old days when I had to spend a lot of time salvaging and rebuilding broken machines to get SOMETHING working. NOT there yet and we should avoid it here.. I hope :-)... Well, getting practice with an actual budget to control, so I'll know first hand where we stand I guess...
Did not get the new job, but I AM learning how better to actually interview which I suspect in the longer term will be a far better skill to have. Heck, I learned break falls REALLY well being the biggest guy in Aikido class, so the getting thrown around to learn is nothing new and I do tend to learn a lot better that way I find. We'll see how things go from here I guess, but pretty good for the moment and just getting ready for the longer term I guess now...
Mostly X-Wing... Some real life/job stuff here and there... Oh, and motorcycles too!
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Monday, November 28, 2016
Back to it and some gaming/hobby stuff...
Great
holiday weekend… Was amazing getting
almost completely away from work for so long.
THAT does not happen often for me, at least not without work piling up
in my absence. Down side, with it being
Thanksgiving, I ate too much and did not exercise nearly as often as I have
been… So, time to get back on
schedule. Workout #1 for the day in
already and feeling it a LOT more than I was 2 weeks ago… Ah well, recovery times are getting much
better and I am given to understand that getting BACK into shape is easier for
people who once WERE in shape. Not
likely to ever get back to my pre “Ft Benning School for Belligerent Boys”
shape and weight of ~210 lbs. Which was
ironically “overweight” for my height of 6’2” …
Still, maxxing out the PT test being more or less a requirement at that
point was fairly easy given the VERY strict workout regimen that I was on at
the time. NOT up to working out and
running in full armor yet, heck, not even running at this point, but the elliptical
is getting easier. Not subtle, I just
set it to high resistance and go for “x” minutes at this point… Probably not the recommended method, but…
Gaming
wise? WAY too much hitting all at
once. I do NOT want to overdo it with
gaming as THAT would annoy my wife, and I’d prefer to avoid this condition… Escalation tournament for X-Wing AND STAW
this weekend, Armada next weekend… With
the Titan League starting back in January.
WRT the Escalation, I suspect that Imperial is the build that will be
the eventual winner, but honestly I kind of find them boring to play and play
against for the most part. The “Palp/Ace”
builds have evolved somewhat to include a lot of x7 Defenders… Well, x7 Defenders with or without the
Emperor are pretty powerful. And of
course the ancient TIE Swarm, especially in Escalation will be a factor. But like I said, I find them to be pretty
boring. I COULD easily bring the TIE
Defender lists and probably do quite well with them… Assuming I didn’t just get bored mid-way
through the event… I’ll probably run
S&V if I DO play in it. The Lancer
Class as the big base, likely something like N’Dru in his Z-95, Fenn Rau in his
Protectorate Starfighter and fill out the rest with Y-Wings… So, just “fun” stuff with no intention of actually
winning the event. Surprisingly I seem
to do fairly well like that, and since this is just supposed to be a relaxing “hobby”
thing for me, perhaps for the best.
Need
to get some paint on some of the fighters though… And maybe some practice rounds in… But I REALLY like being able to show up with
fully painted (alternate scheme) models…
Just looks better on the table for me.
NOT a thing here like the old “3 color minimum” thing with 40K in the
old days where I’d simply slap some paint to get to the minimum standard in
order to get into the events… My ancient
Fleshtearers in 3rd Edition were my “competitive” army back then… WAY overpowered and probably nowhere nearly
so much fun, but won me a lot of events…
And why I quit playing back then.
But in any case, time to get back to the “hobby” aspect I guess as I
continue to slowly clear out the debris in the basement of doom… Need to get the Armada MC-80 painted and some
fighter stands… Got the Fighters base coated
at least I think… Need to finalize my
list of course, but I should be able to field my “Crimson and Greys” completely
painted by next weekend.
Sunday, November 20, 2016
"Keep Moving, You'll Be Fine"
So,
Friday was a VERY good day for me.
Pretty thoroughly reset my attitude.
Figured it was time to shrug and keep moving, I’ll be fine. Was the advice given to me by a Drill SGT and
my first Squad Leader when I was in.
Kept me going when I was in the Ft Benning School for Belligerent Boys,
and probably through most of my rougher patches over the years. Since this was just mental and nothing at all
physical in some ways it was easier I guess.
Just took that moment to get me off my ass and moving again. Still looking for another job, but time to
get back to doing mine. Keep moving, I’ll
be fine. Work on interviewing and get it
through my head that I need to move beyond proving I can do everything myself
if it came down to it. Hard lesion for
me, I’ve ALWAYS done “lead by example” and I do not have my people do anything
I cannot or will not do. That was just
the way things worked. Guess if I am
going higher into actual “management” it is time to let go of the “Squad
Leader/Platoon SGT” mentality and become a proper “officer”. In any case, time to stand back up and get
back to succeeding in my current position…
Was also my Anniversary, and THAT was really quite nice. Still amazed my wife chose me, and working hard to justify her faith in me.
Had
the “Hanger Bay” event today, went over quite well… A dozen or so folks shewed up and we got
almost everyone some decent prizes and hopefully several fun games in. Next I guess is an Escalation event over at
Titan on the 4th of December. I’ll try to get there, but Armada
the next weekend in Bloomington. I don’t
want to game TOO much, but :-)… We’ll see I guess.
Friday, November 18, 2016
Hanger Bay in the morning...
So,
running a Hanger Bay event tomorrow and I’ve narrowed it down to the 2 lists I’m
bringing. My ARC list and the Lancer/Jumpmaster. Since I cannot use ANYTHING across both
builds it gets interesting building the Squadrons… Should be fun though. The ARC list is pretty simple and
effective. The Lancer/Jumpmaster is… Well, weird.
Both are just fun. We’ll see how
they play I guess…
ARCx2Biggs2 (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
|
|
|
|
Thane Kyrell — ARC-170
|
26
|
Tactician
|
2
|
R3-A2
|
2
|
Vectored Thrusters
|
2
|
Alliance Overhaul
|
0
|
Ship
Total: 32
|
|
|
|
Biggs Darklighter — X-Wing
|
25
|
Plasma Torpedoes
|
3
|
R4-D6
|
1
|
Integrated Astromech
|
0
|
Ship
Total: 29
|
|
|
And:
Lancer/Dengar (100)
Asajj Ventress — Lancer-class
Pursuit Craft
|
37
|
Lone Wolf
|
2
|
K4 Security Droid
|
3
|
Rigged Cargo Chute
|
1
|
Engine Upgrade
|
4
|
Shadow Caster
|
3
|
Ship
Total: 50
|
|
|
|
Dengar — JumpMaster 5000
|
33
|
Predator
|
3
|
Zuckuss
|
1
|
Unhinged Astromech
|
1
|
Punishing One
|
12
|
Ship
Total: 50
|
|
|
Workouts
are continuing. Got the Elliptical back
up and getting that worked back into the routine to get back to running in the
long term. Weights are still the main
focus at the moment. Getting my strength
back. So far with the diet and exercise I’m
down 25 pounds… Not a bad start, just
another 40 or so to actually get back into shape…
Recovering
ancient rifles… Looking to pick up
another motorcycle, though by trading one or both of my current bikes and/or a
number of firearms…
Eye
surgery looking like next month. That
should be fun. Those injuries do have a
way of catching up to us it would seem…
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Hanger Bay (X-Wing) practice runs...
Looking at running a fairly weird build today in a practice
run for the event Saturday…
FennKavilBumpmaster (100)
Fenn Rau — Protectorate
Starfighter
|
28
|
Push the Limit
|
3
|
Autothrusters
|
2
|
Concord Dawn Protector
|
1
|
Ship
Total: 34
|
|
|
|
Kavil — Y-Wing
|
24
|
Predator
|
3
|
Autoblaster Turret
|
2
|
Bomb Loadout
|
0
|
Unhinged Astromech
|
1
|
Seismic Charges
|
2
|
Engine Upgrade
|
4
|
Ship
Total: 36
|
|
|
|
Contracted Scout — JumpMaster 5000
|
25
|
Trick Shot
|
0
|
Intelligence Agent
|
1
|
Unhinged Astromech
|
1
|
Black Market Slicer Tools
|
1
|
Anti-Pursuit Lasers
|
2
|
Ship
Total: 30
|
|
|
I WAS going to use Snap Shot, but the restriction of it
being in Arc means that it will be something I think that gets very little use
here. So, I’ll get in some testing with
this build. NOT sure what to bring Saturday
though…
With the “Distinct Rule” in effect, I cannot repeat
ANYTHING. So, PTL for instance… Does bring me to one of the points about
some of the upgrades perhaps being TOO good.
Given how often you see PTL in the top builds, the extra Action every
turn is pretty darn powerful and at 3 Points not really all that
expensive. NOT unique either, so you can
easily get in 2-3 in a Squadron… Might
be time to change it, but really it is NOT nearly so powerful as the Emperor
for instance. Or the Zucuss crew
card… 1 point to force re-rolls on
Agility Dice? Pretty darn powerful… But in any case, it does seem that FFG is
taking careful notes and adjusting things as time goes on to balance the game
and keep it there. Compared to pretty
much every other gaming company has failed at this if they even bothered to
try? I think the huge and growing
tournament scene and the fact that for the most part, FFG can “print its own
money” when releasing things and the fact that Retailers cannot keep it on
their shelves answers that… Look at the
40K tournament scene these days and good luck doing so… From its height in the 5th Edition
there does seem to be a LOT fewer events and attendance at those? Of course, I have not played in several
editions myself, so I could well simply be missing it. Privateer Press with their Warmachine/Hordes
have a good scene going, but not I think nearly as large as the others. Locally it is pretty big, but hell, we had a
HUGE Confrontation scene back in the day…
Heard rumors of that coming back, so we’ll see… But in any case, we’ll see …
Back on target, FFG seems to be growing and maintaining the
balance of their game… With Disney
making movies every year now and expanding things in all directions it seems
that this product will have a VERY long life and a popular game well into the
future if they continue as they have up to now.
As I said, testing for the Hanger Bay Event Saturday… Tried my TIE Defender/Bomber list and was
able to successfully fly BOTH Defenders into a combination of mines and a tiny
rock to kill them BOTH in a single turn…
To be fair, they were damaged heavily, but still… Went from easy cleanup with me losing maybe
one ship to just lose with my dialing in 3 Hard rather than 3 Bank as I thought
I had… Lesson learned J And why we practice…
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Another week, Armada and X-Wing today...
So,
another week… It is a “No” on the TS job, but so far no one has
actually said anything at my level.
Mkay, I’m getting more serious about my workouts and weight loss
silliness… Down almost 20 lbs. so far,
which tells me that I was WAY out of shape there. Strength level Is good, almost back to where
I was when I was in… So, muscle mass is
replacing fat. SLOW weight loss, but
since the last two times I tried this it ended “poorly” with a broken ankle and
a heart attack… This time I am going a
LOT slower. The workouts themselves are
getting progressively easier and I can actually see the results in both muscle
mass increase and simple weight loss.
Loads of water being consumed as well…
Old survival training NCOs would be thrilled at the levels I am
consuming. One big thing the Fitbit
helped with is pointing out just how many of my calories were consumed via
beverage. Large Mocha? 450-500 calories. Medium shake?
Just over 1000. Didn’t bother to
look at anything alcohol as I’m still more or less “not drinking”… A Guinness or Dragon’s Milk for special occasions
is about it. THAT has helped my weight
loss a LOT. I am finding I get more
aggressive and generally angry while I am hungry and sore/pumped up from
workouts all the time. NOT as bad as
when I was playing Army or bouncing (no ephedra now), but to me it IS noticeable. Good thing I stay quiet more often than not…
Back
on to gaming… Armada this evening to get
in a league game before next week’s League Day.
Still have to run the list I ran last time, but not real problem… Is a “fun” list more than anything. I need to keep my bomber wings near the
Carrier to stay effective, but none of my ships have the raw staying power of
the Imperial Star Destroyers… My next
iteration will address that a bit, and bring in more ships as Escorts to
threaten Enemy fighters and protect my own.
And of course the way activations work in this game it is a HUGE
advantage to simply have more ships on the field. Finding uses for the “less used” fighters the
Rebels have and I have to say they are surprisingly good at what they are
designed to do. The Scurrg H-6 Heavy
Bomber IS just that… A heavy
bomber. It kind of sucks dogfighting,
but with the right support these days, it is terrifying against a light Fighter
cover or a Ship.
Gaming
this afternoon (over lunch) with Tony to get in some practice with the new
stuff… Haven’t decided what I’ll fly,
either:
SC2Y (100)
Asajj Ventress — Lancer-class
Pursuit Craft
|
37
|
Push the Limit
|
3
|
K4 Security Droid
|
3
|
Black Market Slicer Tools
|
1
|
Rigged Cargo Chute
|
1
|
Gyroscopic Targeting
|
2
|
Shadow Caster
|
3
|
Ship
Total: 50
|
|
|
|
Syndicate Thug — Y-Wing
|
18
|
Twin Laser Turret
|
6
|
Unhinged Astromech
|
1
|
Ship
Total: 25
|
|
|
|
Syndicate Thug — Y-Wing
|
18
|
Twin Laser Turret
|
6
|
Unhinged Astromech
|
1
|
Ship
Total: 25
|
|
|
Or
ARCx2Biggs2 (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
|
|
|
|
Thane Kyrell — ARC-170
|
26
|
Tactician
|
2
|
R3-A2
|
2
|
Vectored Thrusters
|
2
|
Alliance Overhaul
|
0
|
Ship
Total: 32
|
|
|
|
Biggs Darklighter — X-Wing
|
25
|
Plasma Torpedoes
|
3
|
R4-D6
|
1
|
Integrated Astromech
|
0
|
Ship
Total: 29
|
|
|
|
Both
are solid but very different… Gearing up
for a Hanger Bay event, not sure if we enforce the new rules or not… I’ll ask the lads…
Friday, November 4, 2016
Thinking about Leadership, Oh and X-Wing event 19 November at the Gopher!
Been thinking about leadership in general recently. Over the course of the last few months’ things have gone “poorly” WRT leadership at work. I keep finding that when I inadvertently apply my personal standards to others most typically leads to disappointment. Me, I learned my leadership style in the Army. SSG Mike Brown was my first Squad Leader. First thing he said to me when I met him was “Don’t unpack your shit, we’re deploying to Saudi”. My reply was “Do I have time to go grab a beer, or are we leaving now?” He said I’d fit in just fine. He was someone who didn’t talk much and he was a REALLY big proponent of leading by example. He came over from the 82nd and really missed the whole “Airborne” thing… Probably why I was fairly intent on doing that myself. But in any case he did things like carry one of the M-16/203’s. His reasoning was that he wanted the extra firepower, knew he could put the rounds where he wanted them and we used the Smoke grenades to mark for fire, etc. so he could more accurately direct the Squad’s firepower onto target… But it also had the effect of letting EVERYONE know that he was willing (and able) to carry the extra load and that he was not asking his people to do anything that he was not doing himself. I was comfortable carrying the other one because I also knew I could put the round exactly where I needed it to go, and I didn’t mind carrying the heavier rifle. My 203 wound up being a big part why I got my Catch-22 award (Bronze Star). Some advantages to being bigger and stronger… But in any case, I learned that you do things in a certain way. You don’t eat until your people have been fed. You don’t sleep until your people already have. And you do everything you can to protect your people, no matter what. That is NOT the case I am finding here. Mind, I do everything I can to protect my people, I just no longer have as many. Glad some are finding jobs elsewhere, but at this point the environment I am finding myself in is pretty toxic environment. I took a day off Wednesday and got some work done around the house. And clear my head a bit. Helped, I spent yesterday at an IT conference. Got a LOT of impromptu “meetings” in with the various other IT folks there, including almost all of my contacts in the End Point Management groups… We’re all in a holding pattern, with one of the teams actively resisting the “Power Plant” thing because there is no one they trust up there. Shame, they DO all trust me, but I’m not there so… We’ll see how this all plays out I guess. Kind of hard dealing with the pointed questions of why I was not in certain meetings recently… Not sure how best to answer those questions as I am waiting to have my current position, or better yet my next position “clarify” my role in this area. Right now, especially after receiving official reprimands about my activities in this area, I’m not doing much publicly… Still doing what I need to do in order to actually DO my own job of course, just being quiet about it. So, Chaotic Good for me, per usual…
Gaming, need to get in some more practice games. I have some solid builds I think will do well… But not entirely sure what fits best for me… The ARC-170 build I think. Not plug and play, but I think it has a chance against most things. TIE Defenders will be an issue, but… Well, they are an issue for most things, so… S&V I have some strong contenders… We’ll see what I end up flying I guess…
Oh, the casual “Hanger Bay” event is 19 November at the Armored Gopher! Come on by if you can…
Gaming, need to get in some more practice games. I have some solid builds I think will do well… But not entirely sure what fits best for me… The ARC-170 build I think. Not plug and play, but I think it has a chance against most things. TIE Defenders will be an issue, but… Well, they are an issue for most things, so… S&V I have some strong contenders… We’ll see what I end up flying I guess…
Oh, the casual “Hanger Bay” event is 19 November at the Armored Gopher! Come on by if you can…
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Work, Workouts and X-Wing coming up...
Not a whole lot happening here at the moment… Well, not ENTIRELY true, came off yet another
long and busy weekend, work is still grinding along… Waiting on word for the job I interviewed
for. But that was a while ago, so “I am
concerned”. Kind of important to get
someone there ASAP, and while I feel I would make the best choice, surprisingly
that was NOT one of the questions :-). So, kind of a holding pattern as I wait… And am deciding how much of the “additional
duties and responsibilities” I intend to simply stop doing if/when I do not get
that other job. STILL no word on the “title
correction” either, but I’m still (slightly) hopeful that is a problem they get
to deal with when they rehire for my current position. But as of now? On paper I’m NOT a manager in any way, shape
or form so not entirely sure how much of that I intend to continue doing. I nominated one of my people for a big award,
we’ll see… Guessing my organization
failed to do the same for any of its people, but I do feel like I need to at
least TRY to get something for my people.
Eh, we’ll see what happens.
Mostly just working out and watching what I eat. Shifted back to drinking mostly just
water. More exercise, thinking it is
about time to get more “gym time” in.
Reaching some plateaus with my “prison style” workouts, so thinking that
at the least time on the elliptical in the basement will do me good. Pretty sure I’m not up to running yet. Knees and ankle are sore from the sheer
number of stairs I climb in a normal day.
On the plus side, the Gunn kilt actually fit correctly for the first
time. Not a traditional one, so snaps
and the belt for the most part, but previously I was never actually able to
fasten all of the snaps correctly. Had
to break out an ancient belt for my suit as well as the one I got for it
originally is not really usable. Had to
do the emergency hole punch to get it tight enough to work for Angela’s wedding,
and that is too loose again in the month or so since. Stronger now than I have been in a very long
time… That’s good I guess, but I find
myself having to filter out a lot of my older “slightly more aggressive” responses
these days. Weapons training helps some,
but I suspect frustration at work will be the longer term change I need to
make.
Armada is “interesting”, STILL need to get in another game,
might try to get out this week or next, but next League day is the 12th,
so need it done before then.
Got in another test game with my S&V X-Wing squadron… Liking that and looks like that will be one I
bring on the 19th for the “Hanger Bay” event. This is a lot like the older PP system where
you bring 2 lists and decide at the table which one you will use for that round
when you see what your opponent has.
Makes it more interesting if you build something that is strong against
some things but REALLY weak against others.
At least in theory, both of my lists are fairly solid “take on anything”
lists… Looking like the Lancer for the
S&V list and ARC-170’s for the Rebel list…
Nothing too fancy, just good solid ships… But just about to create the event on Facebook, so...
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Armada for League...
So, my Armada list for Month one is:
Rebel Bombers 2
Author: pchappel
Author: pchappel
Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 400/400
Points: 400/400
Commander: Mon Mothma
Assault Objective: Most Wanted
Defense Objective: Fire Lanes
Navigation Objective: Dangerous Territory
Defense Objective: Fire Lanes
Navigation Objective: Dangerous Territory
CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
- Jainas Light ( 2 points)
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)
= 53 total ship cost
- Jainas Light ( 2 points)
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)
= 53 total ship cost
MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)
- Foresight ( 8 points)
- Redundant Shields ( 8 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
= 91 total ship cost
- Foresight ( 8 points)
- Redundant Shields ( 8 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
= 91 total ship cost
[ flagship ] Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)
- Mon Mothma ( 30 points)
- Gallant Haven ( 8 points)
- Toryn Farr ( 7 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
= 134 total ship cost
- Mon Mothma ( 30 points)
- Gallant Haven ( 8 points)
- Toryn Farr ( 7 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
= 134 total ship cost
3 Scurrg H-6 Bombers ( 48 points)
3 X-Wing Squadrons ( 39 points)
1 Jan Ors ( 19 points)
1 YT-2400 ( 16 points)
3 X-Wing Squadrons ( 39 points)
1 Jan Ors ( 19 points)
1 YT-2400 ( 16 points)
=122
|
Not a bad list, but not a lot “new” in the list… Mostly I just bunch up the Heavy Bombers near
the Gallant Haven to protect them and it spams the Squadron commands… The other ships are flankers and pretty
decent really… Just NOT to go toe to toe
with Imperial Capitol Ships… When I
first got the Scurrg’s I thought they were “meh” at best, but in play they are
surprisingly good. Now I can reroll the
Blue dice near the Carrier so, the Blue and Black Bomber dice as anti-Ship get
pretty darn deadly. They swarm in and
can do a LOT of Damage onto a lighter Ship, especially the Corvettes and
Gladiator class SDs… I have NOT come up
against a “Rhymerball”, so not sure I have enough to slow that down, but I
suspect I do in this build. Just run the
TIEs over and hope I off them between Damage reduction and Rerolls…
Still need to get in another game for this Month, so we’ll
see J…
Might be getting in an X-Wing game tomorrow, so have to come
up with something that fits into the saddlebags as I plan on riding the ancient
bike in…
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