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 5^th 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…

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…

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…

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 12^th, 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 19^th 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...

Armada for League...

So, my Armada list for Month one is:

Rebel Bombers 2 
Author: pchappel

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 400/400  

Commander: Mon Mothma

Assault Objective: Most Wanted
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

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)
-  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

3 Scurrg H-6 Bombers ( 48 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… 

Wednesday on Campus, Armada and some X-Wing stuff...

So, first interview out of the way...  I thought it went well enough, but it was quick.  I do tend to answer the questions quickly and more to the point than some.  This IS a job that I think that I could do well as I know most of the technology and people involved.  Got the MS and the requisite experience so it is a good time for me to be moving.  I just hope that I get an offer.  Well, more than an offer as I would accept any offer that is in the same salary range...  Was told I am getting my title corrected and a small salary increase with it.  Is small,  it it is enough that it ALMOST makes up for the year I got the "below average" raise while my line still resided with Math.  ONLY 1%, but as any further raises are based on the existing salary it is more or less permanent unless I get another job elsewhere.  Of course that was Between that and the other HR silliness, my current organization has used up their free strikes.  Sitting me down and spelling out that I would never be promoted here, and frankly they do not intend to promote ANYBODY here...  Sucks to have put in all that work on the promotional ladder...  well all the extra work to become a Manager and then IT Director frankly.   And the exodus has begun with one of my former people accepting an offer from another group.  Shame, she was one I saw great potential with, but I did advise her to go when it became obvious what the situation on the ground here was.  And she is only the first I suspect.  Much faith has been lost in our leadership team as things unfolded over the last few years.  Discouraging hearing from one of my most talented and motivated (former) people that he was done volunteering for extra work and he was ready for a new job as he got to the point where he COULD be promoted but not really being in the organization combined with the freezing of any potential promotions by our management...  Well, he has his resume ready...

If I DO get the job and get to build the team as indicated in the interviews...  Well, I suspect that I will be recruiting more of my former team.  The current organization had the opportunity to set up as a large rival organization and have a good, solid structure that would allow us to get and retain the best talent, but instead...  Well, other directions won out and I suspect that it will be a rough few years.  Hey, I could be wrong, but so far things are playing out exactly the way I predicted...  A bit slower as there was an artificial stasis while the hiring freeze was in place, but things are moving quickly now.  Doing what I can to protect myself and my people, but the fires are already starting.  Who knows, it might all just work out, but my experience warns me to be prepared for it not working well...  And if I'm honest, my motivation to give a shit is pretty well bottomed out at this point.  So, I'll do my job and make sure MY stuff does not burn, but...

But back to gaming...  Armada this evening as I missed the League Day, but we can make up the games...  So my Rebel fleet will hit the field.  Only played once in the last several months, so rusty I am...  But it is a fun game.  So hopefully Joel won't kill my fleet TOO quickly....

X-wing just had a FAQ drop.  Pretty major changes with only a few rules changes.  The big one was that an upgrade called Deadeye got changed to "Small Ship Only" meaning the severely under-costed "Contracted Scout" in the JumpMaster 5000 cannot use it to launch Torpedoes.  I would have gotten rid of the Elite slot altogether along with raising the cost, but this woks too I guess...  We'll see.  In Europe the 3 Scout builds have been winning a lot of events which I suspect prompted the change.  We did NOT see much of that here locally, I think I only saw one player with the true U-Boat/Wolfpack/whatever list...  We saw a LOT of the Imperial Ace builds that do well against it and with the death of the Rebel lists until Wave 9...  That was the winning build.  Now?  I think the Rebels are in a MUCH better position.  The Imperial Defenders are VERY good, and the Emperor is still (IMO) overpowered, but beatable.  My own build for the last League is REALLY powerful and while not "set and forget", it has a chance against most things.  Biggs did also get a bit of a Nerf, but even so...  And now S&V get some more REALLY good things.  Heck, even the poorly costed M-3A Scyk is up there in the "competitive" range...  But more importantly, they have good Aces and the new Lancer class ship looks like it will shift the balance HEAVILY toward them.

Trying to get another event for 19 November...  We'll see if I can swing it...  Something more casual as we settle in for the new reality post FAQ...

Work and Armada...

So, I was wrong, I DO have an interview next week…  Should be interesting.  One of the folks I ended up hiring in just announced they are leaving in a few weeks.  Should be an interesting time.  I’m not going to get overconfident, but this is a job that I know I can do well.  A shame, I was actually rather hoping things would work out where I am now, but alas…  They decided against finalizing my promotion, and I was informed that there would be NO promotions here for me ever, and pretty much none for anyone in the foreseeable future.  Really sucks, I put in a lot of extra work and thought it was the right move for me.

Have some Armada coming up next week, so need to prepare for that…  Testing a few X-Wing builds as well…  Both games seem to be in a very good place now, and it just looks like it will keep getting better…  But need to build a fleet for Armada...  Been too long since last I played...