X-Wing list testing before next League day...

Testing some builds…  Finally flew the Kihraxz build and it went pretty well.  Those Harpoon missiles are REALLY powerful.  But at the end of the day, the Kihraxz is really just a T-70 X-Wing…  Slight differences in the dials, but 2 Agility is going to make for some really tough matchups.  And of course bombs are going to be brutal against them.  Mindlink is pretty good still, but we’ll see if there is a change in the FAQ.   You know, the FAQ we've all been waiting on...

CobraViktorBumpmaster2 (100)

Talonbane Cobra — Kihraxz Fighter	28
Attanni Mindlink	1
Harpoon Missiles	4
Inertial Dampeners	1
Engine Upgrade	4
Autothrusters	2
Guidance Chips	0
Vaksai	0
Ship Total: 35
Viktor Hel — Kihraxz Fighter	25
Attanni Mindlink	1
Harpoon Missiles	4
Scavenger Crane	2
Engine Upgrade	4
Autothrusters	2
Stealth Device	3
Vaksai	0
Ship Total: 35
Contracted Scout — JumpMaster 5000	25
Attanni Mindlink	1
Intelligence Agent	1
Rigged Cargo Chute	1
Ion Projector	2
Ship Total: 30

If the FAQ hits the way it was “spoiled”, then Mindlink becomes useless at 2 ships only.  I guess I go stupid high PS for Cobrabane and take the free VI…  Maybe for Viktor as well, making him a 9…  Scout can drop the point on Mindlink for the Unhinged Astromech…

Other list I am looking hard at is:

Brobots 2 (100)

IG-88B — Aggressor	36
Push the Limit	3
Advanced Sensors	3
Ion Cannon	3
Ion Bombs	2
Rigged Cargo Chute	1
Autothrusters	2
IG-2000	0
Ship Total: 50
IG-88C — Aggressor	36
Push the Limit	3
Advanced Sensors	3
Ion Cannon	3
Ion Bombs	2
Rigged Cargo Chute	1
Autothrusters	2
IG-2000	0
Ship Total: 50

Simple enough…  Now that I actually HAVE a few reps in with it, I have a much better feel for how it flies.  REALLY amazing being able to token up then do a Green to clear the Stress.  Can more or less ignore TLTs if I am able to keep out of Arc…  Even the Missiles are not as much of a thing with an Evade Token and 3 Agility…  Might take damage, but there are a fair number of times I simply dodge.  Might drop one Ion Bomb for Tractor Beams on both…  Might just be amusing enough to throw the wee ships about, Rock them or just drop Agility for the follow up shot…

Looking forward, the Reload action is I think going to be the sleeper “next big thing” in the next wave(s).  I’m not looking forward to someone figuring out that the Imperial gunboat with a Missile that does not spend the Target Lock can roll up, SLAM, acquire TL or just Focus and with the OS-1 Arsenal Loadout…  34 points, maybe 35 for VI but you can do stupid things.  3 Hard, 3 Hard, TL/Focus and still fire the Missile.  If you keep the TL, you can 3, 3, Reload the Missiles and then still fire it that turn.  So, the Missile potentially fire EVERY turn.  Guessing the things that break TL will become REALLY important to avoid just getting shot off the table by these…  Guessing I’ll look more seriously at Expert Handling at that point or the “Black One” title for the T-70’s…

Titan League Month 2 AAR…

Titan League Month 2 AAR…

Well, I can state that I played my worst game EVER in game one.  Paired up against Joseph’s Dengar/Nym list.  Moved in, got into position, dropped an Ion Bomb to Ion both of his ships, had Nym Stressed and…  I flew both of my ships off the damn board.  First one I should have just turned in and eaten the Stress from the Rigged Cargo Chute that was dropped.  Instead, I tried to get fancy and boost then 1 Bank…  JUST off the edge.  Then the 4 K-Turn landed me just off the board instead of Range 2 behind Nym to just keep Ioning him off the field…  Craptastic.  Ah well, teach me to play a list I’ve flown once… 

Game two…  Bye.  So, I got to watch a lot of the games.  Some good lists even if they were not really the “big meta” ones…  There WAS a “fair ship rebel”, but it was flown rather than the castle in the corner waiting on Final Salvo… 

Game 3 against what I consider a hard counter to this and frankly ANY 2 Ship list…  Kylo Ren on the RAC Decimator.  He had Wampa in a TIE and Deathfire in a TIE Bomber.  Was actually quite an enjoyable game…  I lasted a LOT longer than I thought I should have, but the Kylo action does require him to actually HIT.  Mind, NOT actually penetrate the bloody shields, just HIT the ship/shields.  THAT is where I have the biggest problem with that card and why I find it to be just broken and stupid.  Any time you have game effects breaking the basic rules of the game, it is a problem, this is just one of the biggest offenders.  Change it to “Apply the chosen Critical whenever a Critical would be dealt to the Ship” and it is not a problem.  Not “Fuck your shields, I use magic to break the rules of the game”.  But in any case, he did get that off twice, but ONLY when he was able to catch me at Range 1-2 IN Arc.  Devastating because of course he is able to cherry pick the “Blinded Pilot” to keep me from shooting back, but it was something I could work around.  I lost one Aggressor to a VERY well placed Proximity Mine that hit for 2 and a Critical after Wamps hit the ship and the Concussion Missile stripped a shield I think…  Might have been hit once or twice more, but this was like Turn 3…  I had Ion Bombed his whole group, killed the Bomber and then danced for almost an hour with my remaining Aggressor (C, so Free Evades)…  Was a good game, if one that was ultimately futile I think.

What did I learn?  Well, 2 ship lists have an inherent hard counter in the Kylo Ren crew card.  The B-Wings that Parker flew so well are actually good…  He melted the Decimator before it could do all that much against him.  Might be where I go next if the Guns for Hire expansion is not here next Month… 

X-Wing, Titan League month 2

So, gearing up for Sunday...  Looking like I am flying the version of Brobots I am copying from the UK:

Brobots 1 (100)

IG-88B — Aggressor	36
Push the Limit	3
Advanced Sensors	3
Ion Cannon	3
Ion Bombs	2
Rigged Cargo Chute	1
Autothrusters	2
IG-2000	0
Ship Total: 50
IG-88C — Aggressor	36
Push the Limit	3
Advanced Sensors	3
Ion Cannon	3
Ion Bombs	2
Rigged Cargo Chute	1
Autothrusters	2
IG-2000	0
Ship Total: 50

And I've repainted the ships

So, at least my lads will look like one of MY Squadrons on the field.  Betting they'll be the only Aggressors out there as well, but I think this is a decent "counter meta" list.  Hits...  Well, hitting hard is not the point.  Control via Ion is.  It should be able to tag almost any ship in the game as long as I do not get completely out flown and Arc Dodged...  Even then, lower PS should allow me to rush in, drop the Cargo and Stress and potentially Damage them.  Stress is huge though.  Once Stressed, if I can then Ion them?  That ship is pretty much done if it is not rescued in some way.

But we'll see I guess...  It will be VERY fun I think to go in against some of the other Squads...

X-Wing, Testing for Oct League Day

So, tested a “new” build…  Brobots.  Not my normal build for anything.  My version of one out of the UK: https://medium.com/186th-squadron/into-the-garbage-chute-flyboy-70f8cb52b19

Jesper Hills there ran with PTL, Adv Sensors, Ion Bombs and Rigged Cargo Chute.  I do not have two Chutes, so ran with a Burnout Slam on one.  For the League I WILL borrow the RCC though, it is simply way too good.

Brobots 1 (100)

IG-88B — Aggressor	36
Push the Limit	3
Advanced Sensors	3
Ion Cannon	3
Ion Bombs	2
Rigged Cargo Chute	1
Autothrusters	2
IG-2000	0
Ship Total: 50
IG-88C — Aggressor	36
Push the Limit	3
Advanced Sensors	3
Ion Cannon	3
Ion Bombs	2
Rigged Cargo Chute	1
Autothrusters	2
IG-2000	0
Ship Total: 50

Now, when I say, it is a very different list than I normally use, I mean it does not necessarily win by simply blasting the other Squad off the field.  It CAN do some damage, but lacking the HLC and FCS it is not putting out the super accurate 4 Dice Attacks that one expects from the “standard” Brobots.  It is all about Control.  Not “Stresshog” Control where I throw out Stress and laugh while you have no actions and hope to avoid me, but rather Ion Control.  I think this is a death sentence for any Small Base low Agility ship.  I can pretty easily tank one shot from them to hit them in the exchange with an Ion Cannon then hopefully drop a RCC on them.  THAT card is really quite good.  In our test game today I was able to drop it AND the Ion Bomb on a CPT Nym.  Double Stress and Ion.  NOT what Nym wants to see ever.  And with him close to a board edge and pointing in that direction, was just a turn or two to walk him off the board.  Yes, the offending IG-2000 was killed in the exchange, but it was a good exchange for me I think as his remaining ships were all now damaged, out of position and going to be an easy cleanup.  So, bleeding MoV, but the wins are the only important statistic for this.

Survivable…  As long as my Agility (Luck) holds…  Not going to Arc Dodge Aces, but they should be careful trying to joust with me.  I have little interest in a Joust, but will trade shots to get them an Ion Token…  Dengar/Nym?  Well, I have to line up a bit better on Dengar.  Nym does not worry me, and I suspect a good Nym player will hold him back.  TLT spam?  Well, lots of dice rolling and Autothrusters should keep that Damage down...  We'll see.  Odd Imp stuff?  Small bases with the "Gunner" effect should be have Ion Tokens more often than not.  Then they are in a lot of trouble....

We'll see I guess.

X-Wing League Month 1 AAR

Game 1 was against Chewbacca in a YT-1300 and Lowhhrick in an Auzituck Gunship.  Newer player, so felt bad playing my distilled SC list against it, but it was pretty quick.  Got in behind the Wookie gunship and burned it down quickly.  The YT lasted a bit longer, but I was able to just bump him with Nym and just hit him with bombs for a few turns… 

Game 2 was against a Dengar/Fenn.  I lost Initiative and so had to go first as there were 3 PS 9’s and my PS 10.  Not really a problem as I used Dengar as a blocker.  Fenn got clipped by a bomblet and took a Direct Hit.  He lasted another turn as I just rolled up behind him and used the ABT to finish him.  Took a while to hunt down his Dengar with mine as Nym took some serious damage and I had him roll out to get position for a bombing run in a few turns.  My Dengar went to half killing his, but by then it was pretty much over.

Game 3 was my loss…  Flew against Blaise with his COL Vessary (x7, Juke), Quickdraw (FCS and ?) and TIE Aggressor with TLT.  Good build overall.  I have a real problem dealing with TLT…  He bunched his ship up and ran right at Dengar.  Did some damage as Nym skirted the group to drop bombs on the way out to get the TLT off the board.  Dengar crippled Quickdraw in an almost mutual destruction…  Had my dice not been so bloody cold it would have been, but…  In any case Nym killed the TLT carrier and got COL Vessary down to 2 Hull.  Came down to a last play where I missed with an ABT shot, dropped a bomb and missed with ANOTHER ABT shot…  Needed 2 of those 6 dice to come up with Hits.  Got 1.  But great game J

X-Wing League Sunday and some Tanks...

So, Sunday is the first League day for our local League…  At least until I suppose something starts up at the Gopher Mafia store…  Would look into running it, but alas tempus fugit… I simply do not have the time at this point.  My staff of 6 is now 2 and the work load has actually increased.  The automation is holding and nothing major has broken so I guess everything is fine…  There were a few weeks there I didn’t actually take any days off, but per usual “exempt” employees time has no particular value… For those of you who are not, “exempt” does not mean anything particularly good for employees…  It means that the employer is actually exempt from a number of labor laws, etc… J  Fun times, but the other side of that is that APs like me can have a very flexible schedule.  Worth a Lot to me with the family, etc.  I can come and go a lot easier and before the current new driver got her license, it was FAR more important to be able to get out to the school to pick them up after activities, etc.  Now less important, and my wife is now an AP, so she shares the great flexible schedule.  Her new Department is a LOT better for her in so many ways, and it is good to see her happier at work.  But, just in a holding pattern for me WRT job search.  Was great getting an offer, but was in the Chicago area…  So, while the money was a fair bit better than my current salary it would be me living up in/near the Chicagoland area.  The cost of living is brutal compared to here in the Champaign area.  That and I think I have one more year before I can turn in my giant pile of excess sick days to bring my time in to 20 years and lock in my health benefits…  Will more likely be here until the girls are through their first 4 years in college as they both want to come here to UIUC…  You know, assuming that we retain that particular benefit in the current climate in the State.  Should it go away?  Well…  So would a fair number of us silly employees I think.  Hard to keep quality people when you cut out the reasons they stay here for lower pay…  But anyway…

Gaming wise, looking at putting together my “Try Hard v2” list… 

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
Engine Upgrade	4
Havoc	0
Ship Total: 43
Dengar — JumpMaster 5000	33
Expertise	4
K4 Security Droid	3
Unhinged Astromech	1
Rigged Cargo Chute	1
Countermeasures	3
Punishing One	12
Ship Total: 57

The one major change I am contemplating is to swap the Countermeasures and Rigged Cargo for a TLT on CPT Nym.  Not a major change frankly, and it makes him a VERY real threat to some different things always being able to throw that consistent 2 points to lower agility ships rather than the close in “knife fighter” ABT where I can hit “whatever” Defense you think you have for the 1-2 regularly…  But ONLY Range 1.  Now, the one absolute hard counter to this list is Tyler’s RAC/Kylo/Palp list with whatever Ace he would prefer to back them…  He used to fly Whisper, but more recently Vader in his TIE Advanced to get the PS 11.  Whatever, it is really the Kylo Ren stupidity of simply assigning specific Criticals to ships through Shields combined with the easy way to just generate Criticals via RAC/Palp.  That one is an absolute hard counter for this list, nothing much I can do to it except fly in, hope I roll nothing but hits/evades and he rolls nothing but blanks…  J  So, a quick game at least.  I know that a lot of players hate the Bombers and some of the newer things, but I have to admit the Palp/Ren cards are my personal pet peeves…  Things that simply break basic rules of the game will always cause problems should players find ways to abuse that loophole, and to be fair, these loopholes are huge and pretty darn simple to find and exploit.  J  My $.02…  I’m pretty OK with Nym, not thrilled about the Jumpmaster, and should the Reddit FAQ materialize, that at least goes down in power I think…  Well, the basic Contracted Scouts.  My Dengar as I have him above I think stays exactly the same.  Same with my cheap Bumpmasters…  Still silly and a bit broken, but not the focus of the list.

Lacking the Ordinance that my previous list had, it does concern me slightly, but…  Countermeasures to keep Dengar a bit safer from the PS 10/11 Imperial Missile Carriers like Vader…  Well, once.  Should be enough to get him in and do some damage though.  And allow Nym to sweep in and drop bombs to assist.

Otherwise I play my S&V Ace list with Cobrabane, Fenn and either N’Dru or a Contracted Scout kitted out as a Bumpmaster…  Silly, but fun to play.  The Intel Agent/Contracted Scout does hilarious things to say, a Ghost…  We’ll see who all shows up I guess.  Got my Jumpmaster and Kihraxz painted up, so I should have fully repainted Squadrons whichever way I decide to run.

Other than that, painting 15mm Tanks…  British stuff, mostly what I had around, but did pick up the game “Tanks” from GF9.  Locally a small group of lads picking it up and it looks fun in a “beer and pretzels” sort of way.  The game is quick and simple, and looks like a lot of fun.

So, Grants for me...  We'll see if a swarm of the lads works at all...

X-Wing for the upcoming Season and Political Hysteria :-)

So, thinking about what to fly next…  Current list is:

Dengar Nym (100)

Captain Nym (Scum) — Scurrg H-6 Bomber	30
Veteran Instincts	1
Autoblaster Turret	2
Cruise Missiles	3
Bomblet Generator	3
Advanced Sensors	3
"Genius"	0
Guidance Chips	0
Havoc	0
Ship Total: 42
Dengar — JumpMaster 5000	33
Expertise	4
Plasma Torpedoes	3
Extra Munitions	2
K4 Security Droid	3
Unhinged Astromech	1
Guidance Chips	0
Punishing One	12
Ship Total: 58

My Dengar Nym build is absolutely solid, but not what I would think of as being “fun” to fly against I think.  It is REALLY good but it requires a bit of skill to actually fly.  Counters?  I guess…  If I fly it smart though there are not many I am concerned about honestly.  I can arc dodge fairly well with both of my ships and the unlimited bombs are a thing that just erases fragile Aces.  Might swap the Plasma Torps and Cruise Missiles for TLT or something...  Dunno, people MIGHT figure out how to deal with the ABT version of Nym at some point...  

Looking at the “Hired Guns” expansion and the additional silliness that will ensue I think there…  My Kihraxz fighters get a HUGE boost and the Harpoon Missiles just look stupidly good.  Wave 12 is kind of spoiled as well and some things look interesting.  Frankly concerned about the Epic actions coming into the game with coordinate being on the new version of the Phantom Shuttle.  14 points seems pretty light for the action boosting potential.  The Rebels already have a number of points fortresses that would benefit greatly by having another Free Action at the end of Activation, so I am waiting and seeing with this one I think.  Might take some time, but I am confident someone out there will find a silly and broken combo to make this thing way too good for the cost.  The Reload action on the other 2 we have seen so far is another one, especially with more complicated Ordinance like the Harpoon Missile hitting at about the same time.  Having an effectively unlimited supply seems like it might be a bit too good.  And with the Harpoon especially, formation flying might well be a thing of the past.

Eh, wait and see…  Next event is in a few weeks so I’ll have to get in and preorder the Hired Guns stuff, maybe it will be here by then, else Dengar/Nym hits the table for me.

Started on Tanks by GF9…  Uses the 15mm WWII models that Battlefront uses for Flames of War, and I have a few of them around.  NOT really all that many frankly, I had a Platoon of M-3 Lee/Grant tanks in the mostly assembled/base coated US OD Green…  Quick repaint and turret swap for the British Grant tank gets me a LONG way to fielding the swarm of cheap tanks…  The typical game is 100 points and the basic Grant is 14 points, so I COULD field 7 of the bastards…  I have one coming along with my order of the base game through the Gopher gets me 6 and I secured an OP kit with I think 10 cards to field them if I need to…  So, I’ll have my first force in the game ready to go pretty darn quickly.  My main FoW force was American Airborne, so useless in this game I suppose, I’ll have to see what else I actually have as it has been a LONG time since I played that game.  1^st and 2^nd edition were kind of broken if you actually knew how Artillery worked and used it correctly.  American Artillery was the worst offender by far, and I felt kind of bad fielding such a broken force…  Well, usually, there were a few times I was proving a point and taking down someone annoying with what they felt was their uber force….   My Infantry was stubborn as Hell, armed to the teeth with every Bazooka they could “find” and backed by Artillery on the field.  I never had to move in most cases, just range the shots in, call for fire…  Then just keep calling for fire/FFE on the same target until it broke and/or died.  Tanks looks to be a VERY much simpler game, almost to the “beer and pretzels” level, but I think X-Wing has gotten more complicated and in depth, this makes for a nice break. 

And it got me out to the new Gopher for the first time to see Ken demo/have their first tournament.  The place is nice, big play area.  Not a LOT of product on the shelves, but I think it is starting out nicely.  Inside the mall, so limited in some ways, but again something to start out with and test the waters I guess.  CU seems like it works well with 2 good game shops, and I’m happy to see what looks like another nice place starting up.

Had another fair bit written up about politics and the like…  Lost it apparently, but going from memory:  Nazis?  I cannot believe that there are actual Nazis marching on the streets.  I remember watching the “Blues Brothers” when I was a kid and thinking “OK, they needed something bizarre and outlandish as the ‘bad guys’ for the film, so Nazis made sense for that”.  Now here we are 30+ years later and there are actual Nazis out marching.  Well, when I say “actual” perhaps I am stretching things…  They CALL themselves Nazis, but I suspect they are not actual National Socialists, just silly racists putting on airs.  In the other corner we get “Antifada”…  So, another continuation/throwback to the 1920’s/30’s in Germany…  The originals were the militant wing of the Communist Party supported by the Stalinists in Russia.  They were fighting in the streets against the original Nazis to determine what “flavor” of Socialism would rule in Germany.  They lost.  Thing is, I am not convinced the current iteration is NOT actually Communist.  They claim to be “Anarchists”, but once you actually look at what they are saying and wanting it all looks familiar to those of us who studied history and understand what Communism actually was.  Now it is appearing to those of us in the center that both extremist groups are willing to use/promote violence to achieve their ends, just that one group shares a great deal of ideology with most in the main stream media, so they do tend to either get NO coverage or coverage slanted to make them appear not so bad. 

Scott Adams wrote an excellent piece here:  http://blog.dilbert.com/post/164297628606/how-to-know-youre-in-a-mass-hysteria-bubble

If the President were to actually put down the cell phone and get off of Twitter for a bit…  Or better yet, just get someone ELSE to actually write posts and not seem so silly, reactionary and childish, perhaps the press/Left (not a lot of difference, I know) could relax a bit and calm down.  Not likely, and working where I do…  Well, being what I would consider a “fiscal conservative” / Heinlein style Libertarian I am seen as pretty far to the Right here…  I see myself being somewhere in the middle, I am not a Republican and cannot see any reason for the Government to involve itself in many of the “big platform items” that the party seems to care about…  Certainly not a Democrat, I grew up near Chicago and here in Illinois where the running joke is the sheer corruption that party stands for.  Wish it were just a joke, I get to see it firsthand a lot…

So, I keep to the old Army rule of “No Politics On Post” and just do my job to the best of my ability.  The hysteria levels HAVE dropped over the last months locally, and with the State doing its level best to destroy the economy in Illinois, there have been far more valid local concerns to deal with.  Glad on one level, sucks overall of course.

Eh, plus side a new Semester has begun and I have a LOT more to deal with so I can safely ignore that hysteria :-)...