Armada coming up, and flipping switches I guess :-)

Saw and reposted this on Facebook:

Not strictly speaking true of course, I came to UIUC for 2 years, but then dropped out to enlist.  The rest?  Yeah, that part was true...  I drank a lot.  Now, being Scot/Irish and saying that puts my drinking on borderline alcoholic I'd guess, and so would my ex (she's a Psychiatrist, so professional opinion in her case).  But the lads in my unit drank a LOT.  Oddly only when we were not "in the field" or on Deployment, so that was never an issue.  We all had a fairly keen survival sense in a line combat company, and being so tightly knit we'd never voluntarily endanger each other.  I understand that was not always the case as we had some folks who were still in after serving in the 70's...  Very different Army, and why I'd never want a conscript force.  I think Heinlein said it best when he commented that "a nation that has to resort to enslaving it's populace is not worth saving" or something to that effect.  But we were all volunteers.  In any case, my driver was previously a minor league baseball player with insanely good reflexes and better than 20/20 vision.  He COULD actually hit targets with his M-16A2 out to 1000m...  Not sure how effective it would have been, we never really had to test that being part of an Armored Division with actual weapons to use at those ranges.  Me, I fire a LOT better on the move, and the old M-2 was pretty easy when you understood that you do not actually fire AT a target, but sweep the weapon across it while firing...  But in any case, in his example he'd drink a case of Bud Light every night.  Friday and Saturday that and a fifth of Tequila or Whiskey (NOT Scotch, so not Whisky :-)).  Every night.  But like flipping a switch, nothing at all when we hit the field.  Was kind of weird, but the whole field/Deployment mindset was really like flipping a switch with a lot of things changing and in general all of us becoming far more serious.  Well, perhaps "serious" is not really the right word.  Our humor was always a bit dark, but it got a LOT more so in those conditions...  It was all pre-internet for me and my generation, so in a lot of ways I think it made that transition a lot easier.  No real way to keep in constant contact with the real world when we were out and about...  Hell, for the most part we didn't even know where we were other than the grid coordinates that the new GPS system gave us...  THOSE were nice.  Having had the opportunity to call for fire (Artillery/Air support) on more than one occasion, that level of accuracy combined with my ability to correctly estimate distances from my position made things REALLY accurate there.  Being really good at math does have some practical applications :-)...    Not entirely sure where this was going, mostly remembering simpler but far less fun times I guess.

Might be "casualties"...  One of my people had a cardiac episode this week, still waiting on things like EKG and the like, but he is feeling a lot better.  Having done that particular thing myself a few years back, I'm keen to have him rest and recover fully before coming back...  Hopefully before I go in for cataract surgery next month of course, but if not, so be it.  Yes, injuries catching up to me and I get to have this done a full 20+ years before it "should" be necessary.  Looking forward to contacts/sunglasses again...  Oh, and clear vision...  But this looks like my Engineer will be back soon...  Was not really the case in the old days of course with some of my people actually dying on me...  :-)  That's part of my Army times I don't go into much, a lot of my time there was "less fun"...  Yeah, lot of it was boring, some of it made for funny stories ...  Maybe some day I'll actually write down the more interesting stuff...  Not now though.

Gearing up for an Armada event tomorrow.  Should be interesting, a group of us are driving over to Bloomington ...  Deciding on my standard Rebel Bomber list or my old standard Rebel Gun Line with Ackbar on "Home One" to lead them out...  Accuracy has become a lot more important with the Flotillas getting Scatter and the ability to just dodge an entire attack...  Leaning heavily toward the Gun Line as a more fun force...  The Bombers can be a pretty vicious one...  Not sure what the local scene there is, and I do not want to be to first to bring out so vicious a list...  Besides, I have the fleet painted...  Guess Mike and I will be posting pictures tomorrow...

Slap on some paint and go...

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...

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 3^rd 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.

"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.

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…

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…