More practice for Store Championship builds (X-Wing) and bike stuff...

So, tested my previous builds and here is the adjustments I think will help...

N'Dru Suhlak — Z-95 Headhunter	17
Lone Wolf	2
Cluster Missiles	4
Munitions Failsafe	1
Emon Azzameen — Firespray-31	36
Seismic Charges	2
Tactician	2
Proximity Mines	3
Proximity Mines	3
Andrasta	0
Kavil — Y-Wing	24
Ion Cannon Turret	5
Unhinged Astromech	1
or: Emon Azzameen — Firespray-31 36 Seismic Charges 2 Intelligence Agent 1 Proximity Mines 3 Proximity Mines 3 Andrasta 0 IG-88B — Aggressor 36 Push the Limit 3 Fire-Control System 2 Autoblaster 5 Heavy Laser Cannon 7 Autothrusters 2 Played a few games with the other builds and other than the generic Y-Wing essentially ending up in the worst possible position (bumping the Firespray and within Range 2 of the Z-95), I think that list had potential.  The Auto Blasters were "less useful" on the Firespray and as a Turret on the Y-Wing, so those are gone...  I did REALLY like the Proximity mines and the bombs actually worked out well...  Except that the 3-hard turn template still keeps the bomb in Range 1 of you if you say, get bumped and do not actually move...  Was worth it to put the extra hit on an essentially impossible to hit ship though. Looking I think for a Tactician.  Unfortunately only came in the TIE Phantom set though.  Having the passive abilities on the Firespray and Aggressor is huge, and since "in your arc" includes the main and secondary arcs, the Tactician will be nice...  The Aggressor flew in an interesting fashion...  Was nice, but REALLY had a hard time in asteroids, and not putting on an Elite Talent was bad for me.  That Emon has NO Elite Talent slot is pretty annoying as well, but it is certainly a fun ship to fly... And then there is the bike...  Working GREAT.  Wound up replacing the battery as the arcing issue probably killed it.  Well, that and it is 3 years old...  Rode in to Campus today, and remembered WHY i stick to the back roads when riding the old bike...  But it was REALLY nice getting in a ride like that.  My amazing wife does not particularly like the whole "bike" thing, but I think she is very understanding about it...  Something to keep my balance in a lot of ways...

And the Silverwing lives again... Also testing X-Wing Squadrons for the next event...

Traced down the Electrical issue I guess...  Major cleaning of some of the corroded electrical connections and fuses and the old bike fired up...  Some of those connections were pretty badly corroded, but for a 30+ year old bike, nothing unexpected.  Checked oil and air levels and got in a few quick rides...  Made it as far as Philo, keeping to the back roads and all...  Debating taking the trunk off and seeing if the rack/back rest from the Magna will fit on the Wing.  Frankly the trunk is JUST a little too small to actually be useful as a helmet will not fit in it, and the backpack solution I have that fits over the back rest can fit in a LOT of cargo.  Though, the saddlebags are also just a bit small for a 15" laptop or tackle-box for X-Wing (or any other "Wing" game), so not really ideal in any case, but it is what it is and it is what I have to work with...

Speaking of X-Wing though I am looking at running the following at the Titan Games SC later in the Month...

Emon Azzameen — Firespray-31	36
Autoblaster	5
Seismic Charges	2
Intelligence Agent	1
Inertial Dampeners	1
Proximity Mines	3
Proximity Mines	3
Andrasta	0
IG-88B — Aggressor	36
Fire-Control System	2
Autoblaster	5
"Mangler" Cannon	4
Autothrusters	2

Or perhaps something like this:

N'Dru Suhlak — Z-95 Headhunter 17

Lone Wolf 2

Cluster Missiles 4

Munitions Failsafe 1

 

Syndicate Thug — Y-Wing 18

Autoblaster Turret 2

Unhinged Astromech 1

 

Emon Azzameen — Firespray-31 36

Autoblaster 5

Seismic Charges 2

Intelligence Agent 1

Inertial Dampeners 1

Proximity Mines 3

Proximity Mines 3

Engine Upgrade 4

Andrasta 0

 

REALLY liking the Firespray with mines like that...  The ability to throw out the mines in so many directions and distances will be something that a fair number of folks will not be expecting.  Would really like to have the HLC in the first one on the Aggressor replacing the Mangler, but point levels being what they are...  Or drop the Cannon altogether and take another Pilot for a different ability and  perhaps upgrading the ships in some way...  Second one, I can see finding the 6 points to make the Y-Wing Kavil instead of a Generic Pilot...  3 Dice attacks that cannot be dodged are just THAT good when facing the things that cannot otherwise be hit...  And the Y-Wing with the Droid is surprisingly maneuverable...  N'Dru is frankly just bait for the most part.  Yes, he COULD put down the big 8 hits in a single turn, but really it is still just a Z-95, so one of the more fragile Fighters out there...

Motorcycles and X-Wing... No real connection, but...

So…  It got warm this week.  And I have not one but two broken motorcycles…  Woo hoo.  Only one has a Title/plates, and of course that one has an electrical issue.  Weird one, I can charge the battery, then hook it up with the engine kill switch on and the key removed only to have the bike try to fire up.  Sounding like a short/bad ground, so I picked up the electrical contact cleaner and will tear the ancient Silverwing apart again this weekend…  Or sooner if I decide I’ve had enough…  Have to take the luggage and seat off to get to the master ground there, so it will be something of a project.  Will of course be checking the fuses, etc. first and having the nice digital multi meter should be able to track down the short…  HOPING for a simple thing like a corroded fuse, but given how that is the quick and easy fix so probably not.  But in any case, REALLY wanting to get back out and ride again, and the ancient Silverwing is the bike I have for that…  500cc engine, so NOT something I can really take out to an Interstate or on a longer trip…  But I really do miss riding in to work, hitting the back roads and unwinding.  Simple old bike, nothing flashy or fast but being one of those silly “biker” types…  It has been a VERY long time since last I rode…

Gaming…  Well, I played in the D&D Attack Wing event this week…  Won one of the Ancient Brass Dragons, so was fun and having more Dragons, especially the Good Dragons around is nice.  Picked up another X-Wing ship, the Aggressor class ship for the “Scum And Villainy” faction…  Another one that flies kind of weird, and it seems like you get rewarded for bringing multiples of this ship, which I am less likely to.  It STARTS at 36 points with nothing on it, decked out it is almost half of your points in any case so 2 at most for the “standard build size” of 100 points.  REALLY looking forward to the Firespray “reprints” hitting…  Boba Fett’s ship, gets new cards and stats to play as a Neutral (S&V), and a bunch of new Pilots and abilities.  Does not have the 360° arc, but it does have forward and rear 90° arcs along with some neat abilities…  Doubtful I can come up with something to defeat the current top of the meta ships, but I’m having fun flying what I enjoy and have been doing quite well competitively…  And Dave says the Gopher gets some in tomorrow so I will be picking one up, excellent!  Looking at playing in the bigger event at Gen Con, and with the pace of new releases from FFG being glacial when compared to WizKids and their Star Trek Attack Wing game, I may well be looking at pretty much what will be available at that time.  Looking like the big Imperial Epic ship will hit bringing much needed fixes to the TIE Advanced, but not a lot else has been rumored as near as I can tell…  So, for the most part, dealing with the things that are at the top end of the current curve will still be the things to deal with in a few months (Late July/start of Aug)… 

Liking the following build:

Ten Numb — B-Wing	31
Veteran Instincts	1
Advanced Sensors	3
"Mangler" Cannon	4
Corran Horn — E-Wing	35
Push the Limit	3
Fire-Control System	2
R2-D2	4
Engine Upgrade	4
Tala Squadron Pilot — Z-95 Headhunter	13

MAYBE swap the Advanced Sensors for a Fire-Control System and/or the Engine Upgrade for a Shield Upgrade…  Dunno, Horn with the Boost action is annoyingly difficult to catch, and regenerating Shields are REALLY annoyingly hard to take down.  Yes, have lost him, but the effort required and the fact that it usually takes a mistake on my part in there…  Ten is just there for the “I hit with a Crit” no matter what.  Another option is Ten with a pair of B-Wings of course for a slow and deadly force that just stays back, likely at range 2 and pot shots things out of existence…  Not horribly exciting, and hard to keep some of the top end arc dodgers in arc, but solid against a lot of things…

Wait, one connection...  The X-Wing game is one I can easily fit into the saddlebags on the ancient Silverwing...

Mostly X-Wing stuff... And almost time to get the motorcycle out again...

So, first big event for the X-Wing game under the belt…  I think I did fairly well coming in 3-1 with my Dash/Corran Horn list.  Tried to fly too fancy in my last game and I was simply not prepared for the TIE swarm played by someone who knows how to REALLY well.  So, a few things I need to change up for the next one later this Month I think.

Got in a few games last night…  First one was an odd “Scum” list I was going over… 

Star Viper (Xizor, Expert Handling, Virago, Auto Thrusters and Accuracy Corrector)

Z-95 ( N’Dru, Cluster Missiles, Lone Wolf, Hot Shot Blaster)

Y-Wing (Kavil, Ion Turret, Unhinged Astromech, Hull Upgrade)

Admittedly, the Hull Upgrade and Expert Handling was mostly because I could only find the one Hot Shot Blaster…  The EH worked REALLY well though on Xizor though.  I tend to do a fair number of Barrel Rolls in any case and the ability to shunt Target Locks is really nice, and especially nice if facing low skilled Missile boats.  The Star Viper is just fun to fly.  A bit on the fragile end I think though with only one Shield and four Hull.  As it happened, my Defense dice were hot and mine lived while killing off his virtual mirror.  N’Dru was a beast, but faced off against his mirror…  Like I said, my Defense Dice were hot, so I lived through the Cluster Missiles and he did not.  I am rather looking forward to see what a single Z-95 can do to some of the Large based ships like the Decimator.  The essentially 8 Dice attack for that one turn is huge and while it will not likely take down a Large ship, it should take down most Fighters…  The Y was just amusing flying with Green 3 maneuvers and the four Dice attacks from the Ion Cannon…

But that does bring me to what my second game showed.  Faced off against 3 TIEs, 2 Interceptors and one Phantom.  So:

Turr Phennir (VI, Auto Thrusters)

Soontir Fel (AT, PTL)

Whisper (VI, FCS, Stygian, Intel Agent)

And pretty sure there was one more point in there somewhere…  But I flew my Rebel Squadron that I am looking at for the next Store Championships run…  I already have the acrylic Focus markers, so not really all that interested in fielding something that is overpowering…  And I say that like I actually could J…  But with the Auto Thrusters on things like the TIE Interceptor and the A-Wing…  You can get to a point where the 2 Dice attacks essentially have no chance to actually do any damage, and even decent 3 Dice attacks are a very real long shot.  Thinking that these are hard counters to the Swarms hitting the field these days, assuming that you can keep from bumping before thinning the Swarm enough.  And since they have 4-5 Dice Attacks at Range 1, I am not thinking it will be an issue…  In any case I flew:

Ten Numb (B-Wing, Mangler Cannon, VI)

Biggs Darklighter (Shield Upgrade, R2-D2)

Horton Salm (Y-Wing, Ion Turret, R2)

Plan was to keep Biggs near Ten to draw fire, move slow and ping things with Critical Hits that cannot be avoided by any means…  On the unshielded TIES, this is a BIG deal.  But against a lot of the “hard to hit” things that one unavoidable Damage (especially as it is a Critical) is still quite good, so I wanted to give this a run.  Either a mini Swarm with 2 A-Wings and 2 Z-95s, a 3 Ship “Aces” list or paired with one of the YTs…  Was pretty happy with Biggs actually.  The X-Wing itself is fairly “Meh” lacking…  Well, something.  It cannot Boost, Barrel Roll, Evade or do much interesting on its own.  It is not particularly maneuverable nor is it particularly robust or even powerful on Offence…  So, not really sure how much I’ll fly the “poster boy” for the game itself…  I am probably just spoiled with the other ships I actually learned the game on like the B-Wing and E-Wing and seeing the Imperial things that are really just “better” in about every way for about the same point cost…  The Y-Wing was “OK”, but CLEARLY outclassed by the extremely advanced TIE fighters.  They were flying circles around him, and while he lived a while, he was completely ineffective for his 31 points.  Soontir Fel and Turr Phennir were 32 and 28 points respectively and completely outclassed the poor Y-Wing.  Felt like a Sherman up against a Panther really…  So, Ten worked like a charm, though I need to find some better things to outfit him with I think…  I DID actually completely whiff twice, both would have been Kill shots on a TIE Interceptor, so likely the Fire Control System upgrade or perhaps something to get more Green on the dial…

So, long story short:  Happy with Ten Numb, and that will be flown again…  Not sure what with though…  Fortunately, next Championship is in a few weeks, so some time…

40K is restarting at the Gopher I guess…  I wish them well.  Have to say, less interest in playing that game now, but I also know that at SOME point in the future the cycle will turn and I’ll likely go back to playing…  Maybe if the rumored Horus Heresy things actually happens.  I have a bunch of that stuff, and if I’m honest, that era interests me a LOT more than the current 40K setting where it seems that the storyline is essentially “The Empire is screwed, EVERYONE else is just better than the Marines” and the game is just throwing buckets of dice, most of which simply ignore Marine class armor, or glance Vehicles…  J  But I’m just one of those bitter old school gamers I guess, and not one throwing money at GW (Sorry Gopher!), so surprisingly GW did not ask my opinion about the system…

REALLY looking forward to the possibility next week and beyond of actually getting my ancient motorcycle out on the road…  Need to fix the electrical fault on the Silverwing, but I suspect that is just a ground issue, so hopefully simple enough…  And then I’ll get to ride again.  Been a LONG winter, and I want to ride again…

X-Wing... 48 points and?

So, playing in the Store Championship Saturday at the Armored Gopher and I have the first 48 points of my Rebel list fixed...

Corran Horn — E-Wing	35
Push the Limit	3
Fire-Control System	2
R2-D2	4
Engine Upgrade	4
Dash Rendar — YT-2400	36
Lone Wolf	2
"Mangler" Cannon	4
Nien Nunb	1
Engine Upgrade	4
Outrider	5

or:

Corran Horn — E-Wing	35
Push the Limit	3
Fire-Control System	2
R2-D2	4
Engine Upgrade	4
Chewbacca — YT-1300	42
Lone Wolf	2
Nien Nunb	1
Dash Rendar	2
Engine Upgrade	4
Millennium Falcon	1

So, either the YT-2400 with Dash at the helm or something I have not actually played...  Chewbacca in the YT-1300...  And not entirely sure what loadout for the Falcon really.  Dash, Nien Nunb and the Engine Upgrade are pretty much just the "fill it in" portion.  Like lots of Green on the dial, no Obstructed Shots...  But guessing that I could find other ways to spend 7-8 points that might be better...  Maybe.  Have to admit I like flying Dash's ship, and Lone Wolf on it is insanely powerful for 2 points...  Yes, it means you are NOT running a swarm of ships, but not really a problem I am thinking on these bigger, more expensive ships.  Horn's E-Wing is just REALLY powerful.  I would put it certainly as the rebel's most powerful or best Fighter.  Right up there with the Imperial TIE Phantom and its cloaking shenanigans...  Oh, and 4 Dice Attack...  The E-Wing is FAST, with regenerating Shields, extra Actions and Horn's ability to do a second Attack every other Turn?  I have finished off several other Fighters with his "Double Tap" to get in the extra shot...  Then run like Hell the next turn as your guns cool down :-)  So, that 48 point block is fixed...  Need to pick up the Scum set for the Mangler Cannon (well, that ans the really fun Y-Wings and Z-95's...)...  Having the Heaver Laser Cannon is nice, but Outrider is an extra 5 points, and it leaves you VERY vulnerable to anyone who can get inside of your main Cannon's range...  And flying WITH the Cannon fixed into the Front Arc is OK, but pretty darn expensive for a 2 Dice Attack if they can get outside of your main Arc...  3 Dice, flipping a Hit to a Critical is about where I'd want it, and I think it might be worth the 9 points it takes to get the 360 Arc for that...  Guess I'll see what Saturday brings...

30/40K, and Store Championships this week

So, looking like Warhammer 40K will expand to include 30K and the Horus Heresy…  On one hand I am thrilled.  Forgeworld has put out some absolutely AMAZING minis, and to be honest I think their rules are pretty well balanced and every bit as good as the ones put forth by the main company.   Not setting the bar very high I know.  And if they do things like make the Siege Shields into Storm Shields and get the Grav Guns consistent between the systems then it will be a very good thing.  Since I really like the “old” style Armor, having it in plastic should get the price down a bit or at least I would hope…  Heck, Knights, Titans and Superheavies are already in 40K so the old argument of “those things do not belong in 40K” should be dead.  I suppose that the Chaos folks who wanted to play Legion forces might get to as they essentially did not really change much from the end of the Heresy…  Well, the Thousand Sons did, but, when you go with the “Changer of Ways” and his keen sense of irony (For those not familiar, look up what happened to the Legionnaires with the Rubric of Ahriman) you take your chances I guess.

Lots of Ingress being played…  I was quite content to keep my own little “Fortress Tolono”, but a few players on the other team seem to have other plans and have gone out of their way to mess up my little setups.  So, I have gone forth and attacked, moving more to the role of a “line breaker” and destroying a lot of stuff…  Almost level 10 now, certainly would not be had I been left alone…    So, kind of the Shadow philosophy from Babylon 5 with conflict making the next generation stronger in some ways.  I have gotten quite good at tearing down Resistance fields and have actually walked almost 500 km, despite the particularly bad weather.  Almost time to get back to running, I still plan on running in the 5k race at the end of June, so need to get in much better shape by then.

Narrowed down my lists for the X-Wing Store Championships at the Gopher to:

Ten Numb — B-Wing	31
Veteran Instincts	1
Ion Cannon	3
Mercenary Copilot	2
B-Wing/E2	1
Blue Squadron Pilot — B-Wing	22
Fire-Control System	2
Heavy Laser Cannon	7
Blue Squadron Pilot — B-Wing	22
Fire-Control System	2
Heavy Laser Cannon	7

Or

Corran Horn — E-Wing	35
Push the Limit	3
Fire-Control System	2
R2-D2	4
Engine Upgrade	4
Dash Rendar — YT-2400	36
Lone Wolf	2
Heavy Laser Cannon	7
Navigator	3
Engine Upgrade	4

Not a LOT of difference I guess really…  First gives me 3 B-Wings to stay back as best I can and take long ranged shots.  Ion cannon there to try to get the unblockable hit and mess up the TIE Phantoms and their cloaking annoyance, or mess up other higher PS fighters.  The dual Heavy Laser Cannons are just there to hit things hard at range.  Nothing subtle, hopefully free Target Locks to help get more hits on the big ships.  Second one is more interesting, the E-Wing is VERY hard to kill and has the potential to get in 2 4 dice attacks with Target Locks and it is FAST…  Dash just dances through the asteroids and has a great deal of potential there.  Usually dies as his ship is probably one of the weakest Large ships…  But fast, maneuvers well and with a turret, it almost always HAS a shot.  I still do not like the “donut” with the Outrider making the cannon a turret.  No range 1 shots at all then if you have the Heavy Laser Cannon…  When the “Mangler” Cannon comes out, this will I think change for me.  And word is this week, so MAYBE before Saturday for this Store Championship…  The other store in town I am allowed in has theirs next month, so almost certainly by then…  And the Scum and Villainy faction will have hit in full…  Ordered most of what I intend to buy already from the Gopher…  When the boats unload and the Firesprays (Boba Fett’s ship) hit again, I will be getting one of those…  A lot of things that can be this faction or another…  The Scum Y-wing looks REALLY fun to fly, and I am looking forward to that…  Beyond that?  Eh, not sure I have any real interest in most of the “new” ships…  Kind of hoping FFG keeps going when the new movie(s) hit and there are some new things in the pipeline…  But one never knows when dealing with the Mouse….

Harlequins, FoW and more X-Wing stuff...

So, another codex out for 40k...  Just looked it over and it looks decent...  Harlequins next, and with a lot of their stuff already out in White Dwarf form, not a lot of surprises I think...  Sadly, i have a bunch of the ancient Harlequins from the original RT era ones even still have a full box set unpainted in the original box...  Not really an accomplishment, more a statement on how little I painted over the years I think.  They look good and lacking the "slightly" OP Wave Serpent, should be an interesting army to play. And I miss the ancient times when the Solitaire was the single most feared threat in close combat on the table, even taking down Genestealers on average rolls...

Weirdly, found a few ancient 15mm Tigers in the Basement of Doom...  I remember those being unholy terrors when I started playing Flames of War...  Until my Airborne troopers with their "Everyone has a damn Bazooka" mentality hit, I had no real answer for them...

X-Wing play continues....  Really liking the game so far.  Have to say that I am kind of looking forward to the "Scum and Villainy" expansion.  More Z-95's and Y-Wings I am familiar with...  The other ships, not so much.  Some REALLY good upgrades though.  The Mangler cannon for one.  4 points for a 3 dice attack, switching one hit to a critical.  More importantly for my YT-2400 builds, it is range 1-3 so I can make it a 360 arc and lose the range one blind spot.  The other Scum ships are OK I think as well.  So far seeing a fair amount of variety as far as fleets go.  For Imperial squadrons, the Decimator is really popular.  It is hard to kill quickly, and with the large base and a 360 arc hits pretty hard.  It pairs well with TIE Phantoms and swarms of regular TIEs...  Good, but certainly not unbeatable.  Phantoms with their cloaking tricks are annoying and with a base 4 dice primary attack, I see them as the Klingon B'Rel or Bird of Prey class...  Hit hard and maneuverable, but somewhat fragile.  So, I fight against them the same way playing my Rebels the same way my Federation fleet flies in STAW...  Still having a hard time getting the part that the bulk of the missiles and torpedoes are single shot (discard) upgrades.  That makes less sense to me given the fact most still require a target lock and the discard makes it even more painful.  Have seen and used the card combo of the Advanced Proton Torpedoes, Deadeye and a Recon Specialist to get the two Focus tokens, one to fire the Torpedo and one to convert the up to three blanks that the Torpedo card converts to Focus over to Hits...  So it SHOULD hit for at least three damage, usually 4-5.  But it is a one shot and discard trick.  Good enough to usually kill off a single fighter that you catch at range one...  Oh, that is another thing with the combo, only range one...  But while you can put a hurt on a large ship, not likely to kill it.  SO many things to line up that the combo is just hard to pull off.  I use a B-Wing that allows for Torpedoes to be fired outside of normal arc, but more experienced players know about this, so avoid it pretty easily.  

But Thursday is another X-Wing free play night, have a few things to test before the Armored Gopher's Store Championship on the 28th...  I have it narrowed down to two builds I think that I want to tweak.  The Corran Horn (E-Wing) and Dash Rendar (YT-2400) makes for a pretty powerful duo...  But just two ships, I am concerned about getting overrun by a Swarm...  The other build has just three ships though, and frankly not so sure how that will work.  We'll see I guess :-)...