Titan, Champaign SC AAR (X-Wing) and the next iteration going forward...

Titan Champaign SC AAR (X-Wing)

Well, went in with the latest iteration of my Firespray list:

BobaKath1.5 (99)

Boba Fett (Scum) — Firespray-31	39
Fearlessness	1
Seismic Charges	2
Tactician	2
Glitterstim	2
Ship Total: 46
Kath Scarlet (Scum) — Firespray-31	38
Expertise	4
Heavy Laser Cannon	7
Dengar	3
Burnout SLAM	1
Long-Range Scanners	0
Slave I	0
Ship Total: 53

So, not quite min/maxxed but about as efficient as I could get it without exposing even more weaknesses.  Kath was SOLID.  During the event she accounted for a lot of the Damage since I could really count on the sheer accuracy she brings to the table.  4 hits were the expected result EVERY shot and I think that was the case.  Note I said Hits and not Damage.  She really has no way to force through Damage other than say, hitting Fenn Rau with the HLC for 4 and him having only 3 Agility to potentially evade with.  So, not an unexpected result seeing Fenn lose half his Hull in a single Range 3 shot.  I did it several times.  In the games I won the other player failed to Arc Dodge.  When I lost, well the Arc Dodging was pretty much it.  Biggest down side of the list I am seeing at the moment is the lack of repositioning.  This was not such a problem when I started flying the Firesprays, but as the local Meta evolves and “Begun this PS War has”… 

Faced a PS 10 Quickdraw, a LOT of PS 9 stuff and saw at least one table where there was nothing but 9’s…  Tyler and his opponent had 5 PS 9 ships out there.  Seems that we’re back to the Ace Meta and the Firesprays simply cannot compete in that.  Well, I COULD give Fett a PS 10 and probably EU to get in on the game myself.  A possibility if I cannot come up with another list I like by 23^rd of July when the last Titan League event is held I guess.  The SC at Red Raccoon Games in Bloomington is the 29^th and I’ll need to have something figured out by them.  Might be some combination of Dengar, Fenn, Cobrabane,  N’Dru, Fett, Kath…  Would be awesome if the Wave 11 and/or Hired Guns expansion hit before then, but as they JUST changed Wave 11 to “on the boat” for Status it does seem…  Less likely.

Bombs are looking like they are becoming another answer to the Aces.  I know a lot of people gripe about the unfairness of the Bombs, but they are a pretty solid counter to the Ace silliness of “Look, Soonter Fel gets the equivalent of 6 Actions, has 4 Agility and cannot be touched by normal firing…  You need to learn to fly better”.  Rock/Paper/Scissors I guess.  Alpha Strike and Bombs tend to be the things that kill Aces, the 4 TLT Y-Wing list is still winning events so that is still a thing that is another natural predator for a lot of lists…  Ironically my Firesprays HATE TLTs of course…  We’ll see if I come up with another build involving say, Miranda…  Combines the 2 things AND Regeneration so she is a REALLY solid ship.  Almost at the broken level.  So, chances are if I go Rebel the chances are I’ll be flying Miranda.

Imperials have some good options, but they are SO dependent on Agility Dice…  A single bad roll and it could be the end for their Aces.  TIE/sf and TIE Defenders are a bit more resilient and so seems like there is something there.  With the PS wars it does somewhat limit what to bring.  Mind, the Defenders are pretty fun to fly…

Still, the more I think about it the more I go back to the stubborn refusal to allow the Kihraxz to be a useless ship.  I REALLY want Cobrabane to work well and might just go with something like this:

Manaroo — JumpMaster 5000	27
Attanni Mindlink	1
Intelligence Agent	1
Unhinged Astromech	1
Rigged Cargo Chute	1
Anti-Pursuit Lasers	2
Ship Total: 33
Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Attanni Mindlink	1
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 32
Talonbane Cobra — Kihraxz Fighter	28
Attanni Mindlink	1
Engine Upgrade	4
Ship Total: 33

2 point bid since I need to be able to react to the other player’s PS 9 stuff or do I say “All In” and put the cloaking device on the Kihraxz?  Might be fun and as the busy time has begun I am not getting much practice in…  The rumor has the next Wave hitting in 2 weeks so they’d be legal for my next 2 events toward the end of July.  The SC in Springfield 12 August is more likely to have the Wave, but it does break the pattern FFG had of releasing the stuff at Gen Con, but I and I suspect EVERY retailer in the country would be fine if they broke that particular pattern.  We’ll see I guess.  But in any case, the JM5K set up as a Bumpmaster and 2 Aces that hit REALLY hard is a list that fits my play style pretty well…  Would be better with the Kihraxz fixes, but alas J…

SC #2 options (X-Wing)

Feeling like I am just being stubborn sticking with the Firesprays.  Got in a few more test games and I THINK I know what I’ll be doing should I go with this option for the Champaign Titan SC…

The first one that is close to what I have been flying recently is:

BobaKath (100)

Boba Fett (Scum) — Firespray-31	39
Fearlessness	1
Seismic Charges	2
Tactician	2
Glitterstim	2
Extra Munitions	2
Long-Range Scanners	0
Slave I	0
Ship Total: 48
Kath Scarlet (Scum) — Firespray-31	38
Expertise	4
Heavy Laser Cannon	7
Dengar	3
Ship Total: 52

Kath is pretty well fixed.  Accurate as Hell, I just need to maintain discipline and go slow with her.  Fett on the other hand is much more of a brawler with that setup.  Tactician in the Crew slot.  Not sure about the second Bomb.  J  The Bomblet Generator in the upcoming H-6 Scurrg will be a perfect fit but it is coming out in the next wave.

Next up is a bit different:

BobaKath (100)

Boba Fett (Scum) — Firespray-31	39
Expert Handling	2
Seismic Charges	2
Inspiring Recruit	1
Glitterstim	2
Seismic Charges	2
Andrasta	0
Ship Total: 48
Kath Scarlet (Scum) — Firespray-31	38
Expertise	4
Heavy Laser Cannon	7
Dengar	3
Long-Range Scanners	0
Slave I	0
Ship Total: 52

Kath really just gets the Long Range Scanners to pick up the TL early in the game.  Fett with Expert Handling allows me to Barrel Roll with the Firespray and it can shed a Target Lock.  Not sure about the Inspiring Recruit and extra Bomb…  Might go K-4 for the TL with a Green…  Or even better Countermeasures…  For that one golden turn where I could roll in, have 3 Agility and Focus Conversion with Rerolls…  So, I could run right at something and trust that I could survive the encounter hoping to do a LOT of damage on the way through.  Might try that…

Otherwise I can go with something completely different like:

Dengar Fenn (100)

Dengar — JumpMaster 5000	33
Push the Limit	3
Extra Munitions	2
Proton Torpedoes	4
K4 Security Droid	3
Unhinged Astromech	1
Glitterstim	2
Engine Upgrade	4
Punishing One	12
Ship Total: 64
Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Push the Limit	3
Seismic Torpedo	2
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 36

SO many points just thrown onto Dengar…  But with the alternative being another cheap ship that seems like throwing MOV away…  So, 2 PTL aces at PS 9 to Arc dodge.  Since I expect to see a LOT of high PS Imperials locally this might not be bad… Maybe drop the Protons to get a good Initiative Bid since PS 9 seems to be the thing I see a LOT...

SC #1 AAR (X-Wing)

So, SC 1 is done…  Titan Games in Peoria hosted the event.  We did NOT actually play in the store though.  We took over with our 24 players a basement conference room/classroom.  I played a slightly modified version of the Firesprays list I have been testing the last few months:

BobaKath (100)

Boba Fett (Scum) — Firespray-31	39
Fearlessness	1
Seismic Charges	2
4-LOM	1
Glitterstim	2
Extra Munitions	2
Long-Range Scanners	0
Slave I	0
Ship Total: 47
Kath Scarlet (Scum) — Firespray-31	38
Expertise	4
Heavy Laser Cannon	7
Dengar	3
Black Market Slicer Tools	1
Ship Total: 53

Game one I played against an Imperial list with Col Vessery in his TIE Defender, Countess Ryad in her TIE Defender and Omega Leader in the TIE /fo.  Standard load outs.  Essentially, I set the board up with the Asteroids in a line at Range 2 from my board edge and then another line to my right, also at Range 2.  Flew straight up that flank and baited him into the Asteroid Field.  Broke up his formation and allowed me to focus fire into Omega Leader to remove him.  THAT ship is the most annoying one for me to face, so I want it dead quickly.  Once that died, I was able to deal with the Defenders.  The Firesprays are actually quite a good match for the Tie Defenders and so it was a pretty quick cleanup.

Game two was Asajj and 2 TLT Y-Wings…  Close loss.  I was able to erase one of the Y-Wings and Asajj eventually, but that combo of the Tractor Beam, Stress and the 2 TLTs is really hard for a 2 Agility ship to survive.  Still, good game and a lot of fun was had by both sides I think….  Oh, and it turns out he was actually a Student in the Department I happen to work in at the University…  Small world.

Game 3 was vs Brobots.  Certainly my least enjoyable game.  The guy I played against just had the coldest dice I’d seen…  Well, ever really.  I had the PS advantage and I specifically built my list to maximize accuracy, so getting 4 Hits each time was…  Well, expected frankly.  What was NOT expected was him blanking out on all three rolls.  So, his Evade tokens mitigated slightly, but it was still pretty brutal.    But it was not actually my fault.  The guy spent the whole game complaining about it, but fortunately it was a VERY quick game.  Turns out the Firesprays are ALSO a really good counter for the Brobots.  So, bad game even though it was a 100-0 win for me.

Game 4: 3 A-Wings and Jess.  One of the Bloomington crew, it was a LOT of fun playing him. Nick I think?  In any case, the number of times I played this exact list against Tony really helped.  It was brutal, and since I am convinced that this list is a hard counter to my list…  Well, I did not expect to do well, and I was surprised how much of his stuff I eventually killed…  Still lost of course, but a good game.

Game 5: Will’s Fenn, Teroch and Manaroo…  Playing a tough list flown by one of the best players in the world..  Sounds like fun J…  And it really was.  Will and I have had a few games, and while he is really good, he is really relaxed and makes the game fun.  Was surprisingly close.  He used his Rigged Cargo Chute at exactly the right time and I did not dial in Greens to clear the instant Stress…  Made Kath a LOT less accurate…  By then Kath erased Teroch (Well, Fett helped), but without the automagic conversions Kath is a lot less intimidating.  So Fenn would hunt her down eventually.  I forgot about the 4-LOM at one critical moment when I had Fenn at Range 1…  Without his Focus it would have been 3 Hits and not one going through…  Still, I think it was a really good game that could have actually gone my way with a few things going the other way…  But an excellent way to end the day.  Oh, and I won a Kihrixz!

Probably going to run my S&V Aces in 2 weeks at the Champaign Titan SC…

FennCobraNDru (100)

Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Attanni Mindlink	1
Proton Torpedoes	4
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 36
N'Dru Suhlak — Z-95 Headhunter	17
Attanni Mindlink	1
Cluster Missiles	4
Scavenger Crane	2
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 24
Talonbane Cobra — Kihraxz Fighter	28
Attanni Mindlink	1
Homing Missiles	5
Cloaking Device	2
Engine Upgrade	4
Ship Total: 40

When the “Hired Guns” expansion hits this list gets SO much better.  The Title for the Kihraxz is insanely good…  Well, for me J…  Being an Engineer, I like the ability to add things and since the biggest weakness was the lack of reposition and therefore the Autothrusters…  Getting AT now, cheaper?  Yes please…  But not here now and likely not going to be out in time for this season…  Still, Scottish and stubborn, so I am going to give it a go…

IT Insurrection and X-Wing SC #1

IT Insurrection

So, doing some “IT stuff” and finding my background in RPGs, Video gaming and tabletop gaming is coming in REALLY handy.  Turns out, I am good at the whole “politics” thing…  I just strongly dislike doing it.  Kind of the whole thing about figuring out what the rules are, who is in charge of what and how to get around all of that part…  Actually, I think it is the fact that this sort of thing is NECESSARY annoys me more than anything else does.  Wasting a few years of work doing what was necessary only to have it all evaporate for lack of funding/direction/whatever.  What we were TRYING to do was add in automation in order to actually do our jobs, the whole “do more with less” thing that happens when say, the State has no budget for 3 years and we still have to make things work in spite of that.  In any case, it appears that things are falling into place and it might even work out.  I guess we will see.  Hoping that this time it does not get me into trouble for “exceeding my authority”, but honestly, I am somewhat OK with that…  Something I know we need, so I will help make it happen.  Moreover, since I have actually gotten other job offers outside of the University system now I am not feeling quite so locked into the system.  ALMOST to the point where I CAN actually “retire” and keep my medical benefits…  NOT really wanting to leave the University, but since there are not opportunities to advance here it might be the next step for my career.  In a few years probably.  Ideally, after the girls make it through College of course, but that is 8 more years… 

X-Wing, I have my first Store Championship of the year this weekend.  Going to Titan Games in Peoria…  The event starts at 9:30, so it will be an EARLY morning for me and  LONG day I guess, but should be a lot of fun I hope.  I’m flying my Firesprays:

BobaKath (100)

Boba Fett (Scum) — Firespray-31	39
Fearlessness	1
4-LOM	1
Concussion Missiles	4
Glitterstim	2
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 47
Kath Scarlet (Scum) — Firespray-31	38
Expertise	4
Heavy Laser Cannon	7
Dengar	3
Black Market Slicer Tools	1
Ship Total: 53

Not 100% sure about the Missiles still, but looking like this is how I will play it out.  Kath NEEDS to be flown a lot more conservatively going slow and keeping the range for the fully modified HLC shots until she does the burst forward and goes for the Rear Arc shots…  You know, if it all goes according to plan.  Fett is just a brawler.  Roll in, hit hard and fast, hope to take down more points before he dies.  A fair number of things that are hard counters to this list like Tyler’s Worlds list, but even that…  I am hoping that he will at least know he was in a fight J…   Working out the basic opening moves then getting into the scrum…  X-Wing being a dice game after all, it does eventually come down to actual dice rolling…

First X-Wing SC this weekend...

Mkay,  so after a fair bit of thought on the results of my various games that I have played with the Firesprays I’ve come to the conclusion that Phil over in the UK (seen here at his own blog) had the build that works the best.  So, I’ve come to the conclusion that this build:

BobaKath (100)

Boba Fett (Scum) — Firespray-31	39
Fearlessness	1
4-LOM	1
Concussion Missiles	4
Glitterstim	2
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 47
Kath Scarlet (Scum) — Firespray-31	38
Expertise	4
Heavy Laser Cannon	7
Dengar	3
Black Market Slicer Tools	1
Ship Total: 53

Will be where I start for this season.  Kath with the EU made her fast and she tended to get in close and die.  Fett was solid, but with all the upgrades there were so many times that I simply did not use a lot of them.  The Homing Missile with 4-LOM made for an interesting Ace killer.  But the main Ace I faced was Fenn Rau…  Not quite so useful, and frankly I can count on one hand the number of times that I actually used both Missiles.  Same for the Seismic Charges…  Occasionally useful, but really not something I used enough.  Losing the HLC got me a bunch of other upgrades, but…  I think playing Kath slowly and keeping her back at range and ALWAYS taking the Evade action is the smart way to play her.  Fett moves in and brawls.  Glitterstem swaps in for the Extra Munitions and makes him VERY survivable…  For one turn.  The Toby Keith song “As Good as I Once Was” where there is the line about “I might not be as good as I once was, but I’m as good once as I ever was”…  Picturing an older Fett talking about it, and being…  A bit older now myself, I understand it very well J… 

The one thing I am still on the fence about is Fearlessness vs. VI for Fett.  PS 10 puts me above the slew of PS 9 things that I am going to see…  Imperials have a LOT of things that hit in that area.  Not just Whisper and Fel these days, there are a number of builds with the TIE /sf pilots like Quickdraw and Backdraft.  OTOH, Fearlessness for the +1 result?  My general inclination is to stick with the philosophy of “The Best Defense is a Solid Offence”…  Ironic as I played Safety in (American) Football and Defenseman in Hockey…  But getting in as a brawler and just threatening the potential 5 Dice attack with re-rolls and for the one GS turn, free conversions makes for a really aggressive and dangerous ship.

I was thinking the S&V Aces list, but with the announcement of the “Hired Guns” set and the title making the Kihraxz AMAZING it kind of fell back a bit for me.  Still on the back burner for me and I bet by the end of the SC run I’ll swap to it.  I always felt Cobrabane was good, just missing ONE thing on the card to be a really good ship.  The Title fixes that and a LOT more.  Making ALL upgrades 1 point cheaper might well be too good…  Mindlink being FREE?  3 Modifications?  EU and AT for 4 points total if you are making a dogfighter…  My current Cobrabane comes in at 40 points (Mindlink, Homing Missile, Cloak, EU), and with the new Title it goes to 36 points and gains AT and Guidance Chips…  Probably swap the Cloak out for something else like the Scavenger Crane or the like… But in any case, it gets amazing… 

X-Wing League AAR, what to change for SCs?

Mkay, played in the League with the Firesprays and…  Well, true to form the local meta had almost nothing in common with the rest of the world.  SO many Imperials after almost none in the last one.  The TIE SF has certainly come into its own with 3 Shields, 3 Hull and effectively 3 Agility…  Omega Leader is insanely good against my list especially…  Turns out that a LOT of the things in my list are things that got lumped in the FAQ as things that you cannot do against Omega Leader like adding dice for Fearlessness or rerolls and Focus conversion….  That was game one for me…  Mind, the player was one of the Bloomington crew and a really good player and a lot of fun to play against, so it was a fun game…  But not a successful one for me.  I got in a good shot on Quickdraw, almost took it out, but not quite…  Then Omega Leader went to work.  Kath was pretty much helpless against that ship the way I have her kitted out.  Fett did better, but those TIE /SFs are really pretty tough little ships.  Game 2 was against Chris’ S&V jank list.  The Tug kitted out with a Proton Bomb so it could throw bombs out the front if it goes backwards was pretty interesting, but it dies pretty quick when I decided to kill it.  Ventress in the Lancer was good, but the Firesprays are actually pretty decent against that ship.  N’Dru with the Cluster missiles…  Well, he rolled the 2 evades to avoid the Homing Missile taking out out…  Hurt Kath as they are the same PS.  Ended up that way as Fett was undamaged and Kath was below half.  Game 3 was against Allan’s Imperial list.  The hardest thing was the absurdly huge Upsilon Shuttle…  I kept bumping it, not expecting it to be almost a foot off the table J…  I erased his TIE Striker then the shuttle but he had Fel who was able to get Fett on a PS kill as we lined up for the final Joust with only a few Hull each…

What to change?  Not sure…  I am considering replacing Fearlessness with VI on Fett…  PS 10 just to get above the 9’s I was seeing.  The Homing Missiles might go to Concussion Missiles and give me a point to throw on Kath for Inertial Dampers or Cargo Chute…  Just not seeing enough of the Aces relying on the Evade/Focus that the Homing Missile hits hard against… Dunno, I felt I flew fairly well and was never totally outclassed...

Plus side, I got my ancient Silverwing back on the road and got in another test ride tonight as I tweak the minor things on it like adjusting the brakes, etc...  Great ancient bike and a lot of fun to ride...