X-Wing, living and dying by the green dice...

Played out another test game…  I fielded a basic TIE Phantom, Rexlor Brath’s TIE Defender and the Inquisitor’s TIE Advanced Prototype… Tony fielded N’Dru’s Z-95, Mantoo’s Jumpmaster and Talon Cobrabane…  Loads of Ordnance.  I wound up running all three ships I fielded with pretty bare bones, and I see that there were a few things REALLY needed.  PTL on the Inquisitor’s ship, and probably Predator on the Defender…  So next time I drop the Phantom to a TIR/fo so that I can get the two main ships where they need to be.  Waiting on the Imperial Veterans to field the eventual build…  HOPING it is out pre next League day… 

Was weird playing fighters that depended SO heavily on the Green Dice…  The Defender not as much, but even that is pretty heavily in that area.  One blank roll and that could well be it for the ship…  Completely different, but seems like it is fun to play, so we’ll see how it goes.

X-Wing... I guess I'll fly Imperial as well...

So, I guess I’ll fly Imperial too…  I already HAD a few of their ships like the TIE Phantom for a few of the cards…  Turned out to be a good thing as my S&V got Cloaking Devices…  Well, kind of J…  But in any case, I’ve been using a few of the cards. 

The Phantom is a REALLY solid ship.  The 4 base Primary Weapon is huge for a Fighter.  Maneuverable as all get out, and even after the rule change to “nerf” it, still annoyingly difficult to pin down.  Minus?  Well, it is only 2 Shields and 2 Hull…  Relies on the Green Dice and Actions/Tokens to survive, and they WILL let you down eventually.  I’ve beaten them in the past forcing bumps then just attacking with everything until they go down…  PS 7 is the normal maximum, but pretty standard Veteran Instincts (VI) makes it a 9…  So a solid Ace level PS, but now something that is easily matched or even surpassed.  Still, I play “a bit” more aggressively than most people, and the idea of an extremely maneuverable 4 Attack ship fits well into my play style.

The Defender is another I snagged…  With the Imperial Vets set coming out “soon”, they get a HUGE boost on what I consider an already solid ship.  Solid, not “optimal for tournament play" J…  Now?  Give up your Missile and Cannon slots for -2 points AND the ability to just get a free Evade for a 3+ Speed maneuver?  Wow.  THAT is really quite good…  And some of the new Pilots are pretty solid…  Countess Ryad’s ability to take ANY Straight and make it a K-Turn?  So a Green 2-5 K-Turn on the dial…  Do the Green 3, gain a free Evade, PTL for 2 more actions?  Or Predator for the passive re-rolls?  36 points seems a bit low to me, but it is still PS 5, and only the 3 Hull/3 Shield ship with the dependency on Green dice to live…  A gambler’s rig, and one I am perfectly comfortable with.  Fly right at them, and dare them to stop you…

Defender’s OTHER title gives you the ability to fire a Cannon (3 or fewer points) THEN fire your Primary…  For free.  So, I guess at least it is NOT a negative point value upgrade, but I think the clear winner is the Ion Cannon at 3 points…  Does damage, Ion is a real problem for almost everything (need 2 for Large Base ships, but…)…  So, I think this really does kill off the Rebel ships easily, and presents a problem for a LOT of the S&V ships.  K-Wings being Small Based are especially vulnerable to this and I think this is just another nail in their coffin.  Y-Wings are right up there as well…  Yes, both are fairly durable ships, but I would not expect either to survive 2 turns against a Defender set up like this.  And there is a VERY real chance that the vaunted TLT simply misses against the 3 Agility of the TIE.  The Defender will be able to pile on Damage and Tokens (Ion) to pretty easily kill anything low Agility…  And frankly I’d put anything 2 Agility in the “Lowish” range…  I’ve had too many T-70’s and Jumpmasters just fold under the piled on attacks…

So, avoiding the obvious high powered builds at the moment…  Locally we see a LOT of Imperial Aces with Soonter Fel, The Inquisitor, Darth Vader and company in most of those builds…  The Emperor in a Shuttle and a pair of Aces to back it up are a VERY popular build as well…  With my “higher than average” use of Ordnance and things like the Ghost and her 4 base Attack, this is less a problem for me…  But it kills the basic U-Boats and anything Rebel pretty regularly…  The Aces made me change up my builds to the higher PS stuff to compete, and that has worked VERY well for me so far…  NOT saying that someone flying generics or hordes of low PS stuff will do poorly, just not my style, so I would not do well with it I think.  The TIE swarm is still a VERY real thing, albeit with Crack Shot on say 6 TIEs rather than the old version of 8 basic ones...

But for my Imperial Squadrons?  A Defender or two…  A Phantom likely…  J  Well, that’s about it as I get close to 100 with just 3 of the basic fighters there…  Just have to choose the Pilots and upgrades to keep at or below the 100…  Will be fun, but NOT anything overpowering I suspect…

More League Testing... X-Wing

Got in a quick game today testing some theories…  So, going with the Ghost based list.

HeraSabineJake (100)

Hera Syndulla — VCX-100	40
Accuracy Corrector	3
Autoblaster Turret	2
Intelligence Agent	1
Nien Nunb	1
Ghost	0
Ship Total: 47
Sabine Wren — Attack Shuttle	21
Adaptability	0
Autoblaster Turret	2
Phantom	0
Ship Total: 23
Jake Farrell — A-Wing	24
Outmaneuver	3
Chardaan Refit	-2
Push the Limit	3
Autothrusters	2
A-Wing Test Pilot	0
Ship Total: 30

Tony ran a nice Rebel list with Jake, Tycho and Jan Ors in a HWK…  Pretty rough, the Proton Rockets tend to be especially brutal…  But Range 1 is a HUGE limitation…  Especially with the Accuracy Corrector/Autoblaster Turret simply erasing an A-Wing without any need to roll dice…  Got in some good practice flying the giant Ghost, and the A-Wing was pretty darn good…  PS 7 however was good for the ability to choose which ship activated and fired first…  Was “less useful” with ALL of Tony’s Pilots being 8+…  But I AM getting better at using the Intel Agent to estimate places to put my ships to the best effect.  Deployed the Shuttle after the Ghost took its third Damage…  Was the right call.  Sabine is REALLY good on the Shuttle.  The Phantom was amazingly maneuverable, and the other Autoblaster Turret on her…  That allowed me to pen in the Ace remaining nicely…  Free Barrel Roll, good dial and pretty decent shooting.  Gave me a REALLY good way to use the Intel Officer to put both of my ships on target…

Guessing this will be the build I bring next Month…  Pretty good, but looking at something else for the 30 points that Jake occupies…  He’s good, but…  He died pretty quickly and I think that is the expected result given the new and improved Ordnance these days…  The Proton Torpedoes on the Jumpmasters are really likely to get in enough hits to erase most Rebel fighters these days…  The A-Wing relies on Green dice to live, and those WILL fail.  But 30 points is NOT a lot…  Y-Wings?  Maybe a StressBot?  Limited to A, X or Y more or less I think…   Biggs?  Maybe.  Not really my play style though.  Have to come up with something I guess…  B-Wing?  Not quite enough to run something loaded out, but it would be another target, albeit a slow one… 

Apparently a few Cons local(ish) coming up but not sure the date of the events...

Titan Month 2 AAR

Titan AAR…        

So, went with the Jumpmaster list with Tel and Dengar…  Went 2-1, so did fairly well.  Missed the cut for final four by just a few points…  Think in my last game, had I killed one more ship I would have made the cut. 

First game was against a fairly new guy…  He had Corran Horn, Wedge and an A-Wing…  I think Gemmer Sojan…  He made a critical error early by leaving Horn too far from Wedge.  Proton Torpedo almost killed him, but in any case put him down low enough TO be killed later.  Wedge took the second Torpedo to the face, and that finished him.  Tel wound up dying once, but Dengar was insane with his movement tricks… 

Game 2 was against Ham’s Crack TIE swarm…  Was a TOUGH game…  But I wound up winning…  Barely.  But honestly I was surprised that the Jumpmasters could take them all out.  Turned out to be a Turn Zero win I think.  I placed the Asteroids in tight on his half of the field.  He had to split up to chase me, which allowed Dengar to do his thing… 

Third game was another Wedge, Biggs, Airen Craken and a TLT Y-Wing.  The Y-Wing died easily, as did Biggs…  Unfortunately my heavily damaged Dengar wound up not quite making a tight turn and flew off the table by a few millimeters…  He would have died to the Z-95 and Wedge, but at PS 9 I would have at least shot back…  Potentially doing enough to take one of the bastards with me…  Turned out to be the new “Integrated Astromech” that kept Wedge barely alive as Tel exploded and the Dead Man’s Switch had them at Range one…

So, like I said, 2-1 and a MOV that was just a few points shy of the top 4 cut…

So back to Rebels I think for the final Month…  REALLY liking the X-Wings with some of the new toys out there…  And the Ghost build I have…  Well, it would probably work well…  One of the final 4 was a 6 Z-95 build with Concussion Missiles all around…  So, that I think beats the TIE Swarms, and melts big ships in general…  Guessing the Swarms thing will have to be a serious consideration to deal with…

Titan League Month 2 tomorrow...

Gearing up for the second League Day at Titan…  After a few test games I’m going in with the following:

Jumpmasters 2 (100)

Dengar — JumpMaster 5000	33
Push the Limit	3
K4 Security Droid	3
Unhinged Astromech	1
Engine Upgrade	4
Punishing One	12
Ship Total: 56
Tel Trevura — JumpMaster 5000	30
Deadeye	1
Proton Torpedoes	4
Extra Munitions	2
K4 Security Droid	3
R4 Agromech	2
Dead Man's Switch	2
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 44

After a few practice games this seems to be what shook out…  Dengar is pretty good, should be a decent match for a lot of the basic Ace types out there.  Tel is pretty much a Torpedo Boat with the twist of getting to come back after blowing up….  With the Dead Man’s Switch, I get to do a Damage to everyone at Range 1 each time I die, so should be interesting.  Keeping in mind that a lot of the Aces are REALLY wanting to be at Range one to keep out of Torpedo range…  It should be a surprise and might even clear out swarms if it happens right. 

Depends on what everyone else brings of course…  I think this list will do OK against Ace lists, should do well against other “big ship” lists.  Swarms will be an issue…  Pretty sure Tyler’s TIEs will kill it, but I should be able to kill off a few of the TIEs first..  Heck, it might even win J…  Not likely of course, but still…

Another X-Wing AAR... League Prep continues...

Got in another practice game against Tony…  It was S&V all around as both of us were bringing 2 Large Base ships…  He had a YV-666 and Dengar in the Punishing One.  Not 100% on the exact loadout, but I know Bossk was on Latts Razzi’s YV and Dengar had the Punishing One title along with an Unhinged Astromech, PTL and a K-4 Security Droid…  Pretty solid build.

I fielded:

Jumpmasters 2 (100)

Dengar — JumpMaster 5000	33
Predator	3
Zuckuss	1
R5-P8	3
Engine Upgrade	4
Punishing One	12
Ship Total: 56
Tel Trevura — JumpMaster 5000	30
Deadeye	1
Proton Torpedoes	4
Extra Munitions	2
K4 Security Droid	3
R4 Agromech	2
Dead Man's Switch	2
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 44

Tel was solid…  Dengar died to his own Droid being overzealous with the counterattack.  I am REALLY liking the Proton Torpedoes.  Almost a guarantee 4 Hits/Criticals…  Zuckuss was not used at all.  One thing I noticed was a definite lack of any sort of Defense really.  The 2 Dice are OK but frankly there was always one or two Damage getting through…  And as most people know, the Green Dice are the most fickle out there J…  The YV died first…  The big ship just does not trade fire in a toe to toe slug fest with Dengar well.  6 Shields and 6 Hull just get melted through quickly these days…   

Tony focused on my Dengar, and it seems the right idea…  I killed his YV while he was tearing my Jumpmaster apart…  As I said, my Dengar died to R5-P9 as I was zipping away…  Not sure if I wound up shooting back, need to remember that as I fly in the League event…    But in any case, Torpedoes from Tel and finally just a long shot from just the 2 Dice Primary turret…  Had the Target Lock, so figured that I’d get one back by doing a green…  Worked, got the hit in and his 4 Dice evade came up a blank… 

So, need to figure out a few tweaks I think…

Quick S&V AAR for a test game...

A quick AAR from a very quick game against Allan…  He brought a pretty good Imperial Ace list, the same one he’s been flying for a bit…  Whisper, Fel and a Zeta Leader, all kitted out.  So PS 9,9, 7 which matches me…  I won Imitative, had him go first since I was sick of Aces arc dodging my lists all the time…  I might have taken the Player 1, but positioning is important…  Dengar with his dare them to joust just to get the potential 2 shots and one extra dice of Damage…  Tel is a Torpedo boat to get in front if needed, but she is a threat, in fact she wound up doing a LOT of damage. 

Jumpmasters 1 (100)

Dengar — JumpMaster 5000	33
Predator	3
Zuckuss	1
R5-P8	3
Engine Upgrade	4
Punishing One	12
Ship Total: 56
Tel Trevura — JumpMaster 5000	30
Deadeye	1
Proton Torpedoes	4
Extra Munitions	2
"Gonk"	2
R4 Agromech	2
Hull Upgrade	3
Ship Total: 44

It was a quick game, both of us more or less jousted and saw what our lists could do…  Dengar is awesome if someone decides to joust him…  Range 1, 4 Dice Attack when he is attacked, +1 Dice if I choose and then his normal Attack…  Whisper died in a single turn to that.  Even getting the Cloak back, my Attack Dice were hot and his Defense were not as much…   But Tel erased the TIE/FO and wound up getting in some Damage on Fel to kill the Stealth Device and put some Damage on the Hull… 

An interesting rules issue being “what happens if Dengar is destroyed?”  In ANY case other than Simultaneous (Same Pilot Skill) Attack, he’s just die…  Weird interaction if the same skill…  As written Dengar gets an opportunity to attack back…  So, BEST case for him is he has Imitative, shoots first then dies to the counter attack…  THEN I’d say he gets the opportunity to hit back before he dies, else…  Well, not good.  In any case, I got hit by the Critical reducing my PS to 0...  Did survive Fel's Attack in any case, so did not matter as I wound up getting the 2 Range 1 shots, the R5-P9 AND a Proton Torpedo to kill the TIE Interceptor...  Not a lot survives that much firepower...

 So, something to keep in mind, but with PS 9, he SHOULD be shooting first more often than not… 

One thing I am concerned about would be a Swarm setup…  Pretty sure that will be a bad matchup for me.  But the Proton Torpedoes are a decent answer for TIEs at least…  So, I should be able to kill one or two easily enough.  I get to Arc Dodge a bit as well…  Means I NEED to fly well, and honestly hope I do not end up matched against Tyler J…  Debating the Dead Man’s Switch on Tel just as insurance here…  Then bumping and blowing up only to survive (hopefully) for a bit longer at least…  Dengar to hunt the sides of the board I guess…  The dials on the Jump Master are REALLY good…  Almost as good as the YT-2400 honestly…  And with the S-Loop, I would probably argue every bit as good… 

Need to get them finished for the repaint I guess…  This weekend looks good J