X-Wing, Red Raccoon SC this weekend, build testing...

So, big SC coming up on Saturday.  I’d like to be in the top half there as they are giving out some really neat mats as prizes for the top 16.  Limit of 32 for the venue, and it is a pretty nice place…  Least as far as I could tell the few times I’ve actually been there.

Narrowed it down to 2 potential builds with the outside possibility of maybe something else…  CPT Nym is the key to the 2 most probable builds, one Rebel and one S&V.

S&V:

Dengar Nym (100)

Captain Nym (Scum) — Scurrg H-6 Bomber	30
Veteran Instincts	1
Autoblaster Turret	2
Bomblet Generator	3
Advanced Sensors	3
"Genius"	0
Havoc	0
Ship Total: 39
Dengar — JumpMaster 5000	33
Push the Limit	3
Extra Munitions	2
Cad Bane	2
Unhinged Astromech	1
Cluster Mines	4
Engine Upgrade	4
Punishing One	12
Ship Total: 61

The S&V one is more exciting I think…  More my play style, but it does face some VERY hard matchups against the Fairship Rebels and Triple Skurrg builds…  I have to go in fast, hit hard and dodge arcs.  A possible change would be to drop the Cluster Mines and Cad Bane for a K-4 Security Droid on Dengar (free Target Locks) and swap PTL for Expertise for the conversion of Focus on attacks.  Makes him annoyingly accurate, with 2 potential shots/turn.  4 points left over for EU on Nym or Proton Torpedoes perhaps for Dengar?  Makes for a decent Range 3 first hit…  Well, against everything but the Rebel silliness… Maybe upgrade the ABT to TLT for Nym?

Rebel:

Nym Miranda 1 (100)

Captain Nym (Rebel) — Scurrg H-6 Bomber	30
Veteran Instincts	1
Twin Laser Turret	6
Bomblet Generator	3
Accuracy Corrector	3
R5-P8	3
Long-Range Scanners	0
Havoc	0
Ship Total: 46
Miranda Doni — K-Wing	29
Twin Laser Turret	6
Extra Munitions	2
Assault Missiles	5
Sabine Wren	2
Cluster Mines	4
Conner Net	4
Advanced SLAM	2
Ship Total: 54

The Rebel one is solid…  Boring in a lot of ways because it really is just “Follow me while I snipe you with TLTs”.  Miranda can swoop in and bomb something and punish folks who insist on flying in formations like say, Rebel Fairship builds.  High PS Imperial builds will also be “less happy” to see this since I can do the dual bombing run with the K-Wing and Skurrg to really have a great chance to off a few of the more fragile Imperial ships quickly.  Then it is just back to the “Chase Me” with TLTs and Miranda Regenerating and Nym punishing you for daring to shoot him…

Off chance I fly something else really odd like an “Ace Type” list with Nym, Kavill and N’Dru perhaps…  Amusing, but since this is a SC with decent prizes (money on the table), doubt I’ll fly something fun/amusing when I have the option for the FAR more competitive list here…

I know a lot of people were lamenting the fact that the Rebel Wookie/Biggs(/Rex) combo makes for a list that simply will not die…  Having faced it now a few times I’d agree it is difficult if you joust it.  I’ve had good luck dancing on the edge of Range 3 or rolling into it and bumping with S&V Nym in “Fuck All Y’All” bombing mode…  Hit them in a flank, drop the bomb then you’ll likely either have your ABT or Primary weapon to shoot…  4 Dice Primary or 2 Dice unblockable, so not bad in either case…  But the chance to roll in, hit with the Bomb, usually getting 2-3 of their ships in the radius then shooting from the limited selection you have…  MIGHT be Biggs in any case, but still, every little bit counts there.  With my Rebel Nym list I brought the Assault Missiles just for that…  Well, that and a lot of the other things that are flying in tight formations these days. Damage all around is nice and even if they shift the Damage, the Missile still hits and so everyone in Range 1 still takes a Damage the way I read it…  But even then, Arc or Range control to pick off the outside of the Formation to mess up their silly combo…  NOT easy by any means of course, but possible.  Getting in the one kill then skating away is perhaps not the most “fun” way to play, but again with money on the table and facing a list like this?  Do what you have to in order to get the win I guess…  Fun lists are for “fun” events J

X-Wing builds for the next events... MK II

So, ran the Dengay/Nym build #1 and it was successful against a triple Skurrg list.  Both of us testing things though so pretty sure that Tony figured out that particular problem and will I think not be doing that again…  My lads both had PTL.  Dengar used it a LOT, but the JM5K is a stupidly good ship with an amazing dial.  That build WAS over 50 points, but with a 3 Dice PWT and the Salvaged Astromech making all of the 3 moves Green for the Boost and Barrel Roll to dodge arcs on a Large Based ship?  Also the Pilot ability allowing me to just line up a Joust and dare them to shoot so I can shoot back…  It IS a damage race, and with both of my ships having multiple chances to cause Damage each turn I think I am positioned quite well in the race.

So, version 2:

Dengar Nym (100)

Captain Nym (Scum) — Scurrg H-6 Bomber	30
Veteran Instincts	1
Autoblaster Turret	2
Bomblet Generator	3
Advanced Sensors	3
"Genius"	0
Havoc	0
Ship Total: 39
Dengar — JumpMaster 5000	33
Push the Limit	3
Extra Munitions	2
Cad Bane	2
Unhinged Astromech	1
Cluster Mines	4
Engine Upgrade	4
Punishing One	12
Ship Total: 61

Dengar gets even more expensive…  But it seemed a shame to completely ignore CPT Nym’s secondary Pilot ability.  Throwing out Cluster Mines to give me free Evades?  Yes please.  And of course I have effectively added “Target Locks” to the Mines/Bombs to force in even more damage.  It should do quite well against a lot of the Ace types like say, Fenn Rau…  Fenn might live through a single hit, in fact it is incredibly unlikely that a single Bomb would take him out…  But 2 have a pretty decent chance to do so.  And of course after the single Bomb, he HAS to be cautious.  Nym with the Advanced Sensors is going to be tricky.  Getting to Barrel Roll before moving should make Bombing Runs a normally hitting thing.  Especially going at PS 10 and frankly going “Zero Foxtrots” on the Bombs thanks to Genius and his own Pilot Ability.  Bump?  Fine, I still hit the Ship I bump into.  Not like I have a bunch of Friendlies in the area to be worried about, so there should be Bombs hitting EVERY turn. 

No Regen here, so it really IS a Damage Race.  I have to go in, hit hard and fast.  Hopefully killing them off faster than they can kill me of course J.  A LOT different than any build with Miranda/Poe/etc… 

Not sure what else I could pair with Nym on the S&V side.  The Lancers look interesting of course…  Fenn and either a JM5K Bumpmaster or maybe a Kihraxz when that upgrade hits…  Dunno.  Dengar is working REALLY well, so likely will be going with this for the next events…

X-Wing testing for League and Bloomington SC...

So, testing for the next 2 weeks events and the initial test was…  A good learning opportunity.  Ran the Rebel Nym and Miranda.  But I set them both up…  Badly.  Miranda was set as a missile boat with a bunch of bombs.  Nym was set as a TLT platform…  With bombs.  Ran him right into the triple Skurrg and unsurprisingly he melted immediately.  Miranda blew past them and…  IF she had equipped the Advanced SLAM she would have bombed the whole line…  But no…  Nym needed to be either the TLT platform skirting the edge or a knife fighter just bull rushing in.  And Miranda needs to be either a bomber or a missile boat.  I tried to “Swiss Army Knife” it and it worked as well as the Swiss Army Knife usually does… 

So, Version 2 will be something completely different:

Dengar Nym (100)

Captain Nym (Scum) — Scurrg H-6 Bomber	30
Veteran Instincts	1
Autoblaster Turret	2
Bomblet Generator	3
Accuracy Corrector	3
"Genius"	0
Havoc	0
Ship Total: 39
Dengar — JumpMaster 5000	33
Push the Limit	3
Extra Munitions	2
Cad Bane	2
Unhinged Astromech	1
Cluster Mines	4
Engine Upgrade	4
Punishing One	12
Ship Total: 61

So, S&V Nym set up as a brawler to hunt and kill Aces like say, Fenn Rau…  Dengar is Dengar with Cad Bane for some bombs…  Taking advantage of the Nym ability to set up the Bombs to interdict incoming fire.  Not 100% sure on this, can take PTL/EU in place of VI and drop the EM/Clusters on Dengar…  PTL on the Skurrg is risky, not a LOT of Green on the dial, but PTL/EU/Barrel Roll makes it insanely maneuverable…  Once.  Then I have to be careful if I want actions again.  But really not having Actions is not TOO horrible…

Dengar Nym 2 (100)

Captain Nym (Scum) — Scurrg H-6 Bomber	30
Push the Limit	3
Autoblaster Turret	2
Bomblet Generator	3
Accuracy Corrector	3
"Genius"	0
Engine Upgrade	4
Havoc	0
Ship Total: 45
Dengar — JumpMaster 5000	33
Push the Limit	3
Cad Bane	2
Unhinged Astromech	1
Engine Upgrade	4
Punishing One	12
Ship Total: 55

So, something to test…

X-Wing... Wave 11 coming next week...

So, according to FFG the Wave 11 ships are due out 13 July.  This should have them in place for the 23 July and 29 July events…  The H-6 Scurrg is really the only thing I am looking forward to if I’m honest.  Kicking around a few lists that are all…  Well, “more competitive” than my Firespray lists.  The Firesprays are very fun, but they ARE completely outclassed by a number of things that are common now like Arc Dodgers.  These are builds that I suspect will be seen as over powered and potentially broken.

Miranda Doni — K-Wing	29
Twin Laser Turret	6
Extra Munitions	2
Homing Missiles	5
Sabine Wren	2
Thermal Detonators	3
Cluster Mines	4
Long-Range Scanners	0
Ship Total: 51
Captain Nym (Rebel) — Scurrg H-6 Bomber	30
Push the Limit	3
Twin Laser Turret	6
Kanan Jarrus	3
Bomblet Generator	3
Engine Upgrade	4
Ship Total: 49

This one is kind of the “Dick Move” list.  Bombs dropping EVERY TURN (with bonus Damage) , Missiles that should be hyper accurate, Regen on the expensive ship…  Oh, and 2 x TLT to just push consistent Damage.   So, the most conventional build I think for me set up to throw loads of Damage and likely survive.  Since they are both Small Base ships with loads of Shields/Hull they do not give up the 50% of the points for MoV…

New Squadron (100)

Captain Nym (Scum) — Scurrg H-6 Bomber	30
Push the Limit	3
Autoblaster Turret	2
Bomblet Generator	3
Accuracy Corrector	3
"Genius"	0
Engine Upgrade	4
Havoc	0
Ship Total: 45
Dengar — JumpMaster 5000	33
Expertise	4
K4 Security Droid	3
Unhinged Astromech	1
Glitterstim	2
Punishing One	12
Ship Total: 55

This one is S&V…  Not I think as good in many ways, but I AM seeing a LOT of high PS things (8+ PS) out there and in this case CPT Nym becomes something of a blocker.  Bombs EVERY turn again.  This time though, I can drop AFTER I move, knowing that I ignore friendly Bombs the whole “Danger Close” call is easily ignored.  Not 100% on the ship choices honestly.  The JM5K is hugely under costed, but with me piling all the upgrades on here perhaps not so much.  The PS 9 of Dengar with the potential for 2 Shots/Turn, TL for free, loads of Green on the dial…  Nym becoming the blocker and running in for the close range shot with the ABT for 2 Damage/Turn against…  Well, ANYTHING.  No defense possible, just take 2 Damage.  Kills Aces quickly.  Since Fenn Rau is still one of the most common ships and the Imperials are all Agility dependent…  Weak against Stress on some levels, shutting off Expertise is annoying, but not the end of the world.  Even Stressed I still get assigned TLs and the dial is amazing on the JM5K.  The Scurrg…  Not as much, but since I intend to play “Aikido” and roll directly into them knowing I can drop bombs on us, hope for bumps and the ABT if they DO avoid the block but stay at Range 1…  Keep Dengar for the heavier lifting and most of the Damage output…  Or maybe go the other way and keep Nym with TLT and maybe a Cluster Mine?  Title is OK, but with the Crew Slot and Cad Bane it might be more dangerous...  Changes the way I fly the ship though back to a stand off and make them pay for trying to get into the dead zone of the TLT...

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…