X-Wing upcoming events... What to fly...

So, odd event coming up this weekend at Titan…  2 Large Ships required.  Nothing but of course…  I tried the Firesprays I like, but those dials are just SO bad.  It clearly suffers heavily from the power creep that has occurred since the ship was released.  Kath with her Gunship setup is solid, but just gets killed by anything that can say dodge her Arcs and maybe Stress her…  SO many things that can do it these days.  So, I’ll likely run a different version of my Control Brobots list:

Brobots1 (100)

IG-88B — Aggressor	36
Push the Limit	3
Advanced Sensors	3
"Mangler" Cannon	4
Rigged Cargo Chute	1
Autothrusters	2
IG-2000	0
Ship Total: 49
IG-88C — Aggressor	36
Push the Limit	3
Advanced Sensors	3
"Mangler" Cannon	4
Seismic Charges	2
Rigged Cargo Chute	1
Autothrusters	2
IG-2000	0
Ship Total: 51

No real point for the Seismic charges, so maybe something else…  No point in a bid for this list since I’m PS 6…  The number of Actions I can throw out there is insanely good, but I can easily be outmatched with the higher PS out there.  Not pushing out a LOT of damage, but it should hit consistently and throw a lot of Criticals…  Gamble a bit.

Listening to the Crayts cast and hearing them compare the “risk tolerance” between the two guys talking at the time…  Essentially, there is a match up that is a 60/40 split.  One guy said with the 40% chance to lose, he’ll walk away from that.   The other saying with the 60% chance to win, he’d take that every time.  This is the camp I’d fall into I think.  60% odds are pretty solid.  Not GREAT mind, but knowing a bit about my history, it should not be overly surprising that I would consider a 60/40 split to be a good one to go with.  I would prefer and consider 85% to be “success” in most things and with the 85/15 split there is really no further discussion required and I’m doing it every time. 

Work related, got to explain that at a meeting this week when I was describing how I make some of the major decisions required.  Not quite the old “You’ll never get fired for buying IBM” that was a saying at the dawn of my IT career…  Essentially translates to “Following the industry standards, you are safe” since IBM is no longer the number one computer manufacturer these days.  Dealing with Security related things mostly, it is absolutely essential to follow the best practices and demonstrate that you ARE doing so with the penalties for failing to do so are quite extreme.  Research in a University environment is always interesting at least…

Back to X-Wing, throwing together a few 3 ship lists for the 3 February event in Mattoon… 

Rebels:

Unnamed Squadron (99)

Fenn Rau (Sheathipede) — Sheathipede-class Shuttle	20
Adaptability	0
Hotshot Co-pilot	4
M9-G8	3
Vectored Thrusters	2
Ship Total: 29
Poe Dameron — T-70 X-Wing	31
Veteran Instincts	1
R2-D2	4
Advanced Optics	2
Integrated Astromech	0
Black One	1
Ship Total: 39
Wes Janson — X-Wing	29
Veteran Instincts	1
Flight-Assist Astromech	1
Integrated Astromech	0
Ship Total: 31

Or Scum:

KuldaFennThweek2 (98)

Torani Kulda — M12-L Kimogila Fighter	27
Veteran Instincts	1
Harpoon Missiles	4
Unhinged Astromech	1
Long-Range Scanners	0
Ship Total: 33
Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Push the Limit	3
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 34
Thweek — StarViper	28
Advanced Sensors	3
Autothrusters	2
StarViper Mk. II	-3
Virago	1
Ship Total: 31

S&V is the same one I won out with last Month…  So, more likely to swap over to the Rebel list.  Kind of janky and looking more like fun I think…  10’s all around for PS.  Fenn doing weird things like giving re-rolls to friendlies or maybe just making the Enemy reroll stuff if it comes to that…  Locking down things and giving out Actions.  Poe is Regen and fast…  Sitting on the Focus for as long as needed since he CAN.  Wes is just an old T-65 X-Wing who has an odd ability…  Stripping Enemy Tokens at PS 10.  Hit, Miss…  Doesn’t matter…  Thinking of the old John Wayne movie “Big Jake”.  He had a line in there about “Your fault, my fault, doesn’t matter…  Either way, I’m going to shoot you with this shotgun”.  I see him kind of as the angry old man with the outdated equipment just there to kill the people who have annoyed him…  Just need to figure out the upgrades, but I think the ships themselves are pretty solid…

Mattoon X-wing AAR, Month 1 of the League

Short event at the End Zone in Mattoon…  I flew:

KuldaFennThweek2 (98)

Torani Kulda — M12-L Kimogila Fighter	27
Veteran Instincts	1
Harpoon Missiles	4
Unhinged Astromech	1
Long-Range Scanners	0
Ship Total: 33
Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Push the Limit	3
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 34
Thweek — StarViper	28
Advanced Sensors	3
Autothrusters	2
StarViper Mk. II	-3
Virago	1
Ship Total: 31

Brutally effective list.  Far more than I thought it would be honestly.  Thweek was insanely good.  Arc dodging is a really powerful thing these days.  Both he and Fenn Rau were absolute rock stars doing that.  Turns out they hit like wet noodles when they have to spend their actions dodging.  This is the “common wisdom” that you’ll hear on the podcasts.  True.  But I’d add that “If you are the ONLY offence, it is the best one”.  Takes a bit longer to kill things barring extreme variance, but… Still, being the only one shooting makes you the best shooter at that time.  Results reflected this I think.  The Kimogila with the Harpoon missile was the obvious threat on the flank, Fenn Rau rushed right at them and the Viper went in and did work as a knife fighter.  Over the course of 3 games I lost one ship.  Fenn got blocked at Range 2 and blanked out on his Agility dice.  Kulda was solid, and the Barrel Roll is insanely powerful on the heavy fighter…

New Year and New X-Wing stuff...

So, only a little bit of X-Wing over the long break…  Much work on house, etc…  But DID listen a few times to an excellent cast from the Carolina Krayts (http://carolinakrayts.libsyn.com/podcast/listener-4-how-to-git-gud-and-other-aspects-of-being-good-at-games).  SO much excellent content in this episode.  They did skip all of the normal silliness and it mostly concerns game theory and how to get better at the game. 

Not entirely sure how much of this will end up with me on the table at the local events at least.  Mattoon is too small a venue to really bring out the “big guns” as it were.  Titan IS big enough, but the local Meta is…  Well, weird.  I’ve played some of the better “Meta” lists locally like the Triple Wookies.  Did OK, but it HAS been a long while since I made a local cut.  My “Try Hard” list (Nym/Dengar) made the cut at the larger SC in Bloomington.  Exhausting to play so many games, especially as the day went on and the quality of the opposition continued to improve.  NOT saying that the early rounds were pushovers, I simply had a better list than several of the guys I played against.  Oh, and I actually flew it pretty much perfectly against several of the other players.  Arc Dodging with a Heavy Bomber against TIE Fighters should not happen, but there it was…  Does not really happen anymore after the nerfing, but…

Looking at flying at LEAST one Starviper…  Slippery bastards they are, and I find that I really enjoy flying them.  JUST have to remember not to do something silly like say end up at Range 1 of a pair of TIE Defenders lest I simply melt in a single turn… 

Most likely this one:

OberosFennThweek (97)

Dalan Oberos (Kimogila) — M12-L Kimogila Fighter	25
Veteran Instincts	1
Harpoon Missiles	4
Unhinged Astromech	1
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 31
Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Push the Limit	3
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 34
Thweek — StarViper	28
Advanced Sensors	3
Inertial Dampeners	1
Autothrusters	2
StarViper Mk. II	-3
Virago	1
Ship Total: 32

Missiles on the PS 9 reloadable ship…  Fenn is always solid and Thweek is kind of a wild card.  99% of the time he’ll just copy the highest PS out there.  Given the likelihood of the PS war continuing, having the bid and likely the highest PS backed with 2 9’s puts me in a pretty good place.

Other list I am looking at is:

FennGuriThweek (97)

Guri — StarViper	30
Intensity	2
Advanced Sensors	3
Inertial Dampeners	1
Autothrusters	2
StarViper Mk. II	-3
Virago	1
Ship Total: 36
Thweek — StarViper	28
Autothrusters	2
StarViper Mk. II	-3
Ship Total: 27
Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Push the Limit	3
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 34

2 Starvipers bouncing around with Fenn as the real threat…  Thweek being on the cheap end it might not be as effective, but it WILL be fun to bounce around the board a bit I think…

Really concerned about hitting loads of Imperial Gunboats…  Thinking they are about the most efficient ship out there at this point, and that’s why I am looking at flying something odd like Vipers…  Fly odd and dodge arcs I hope…

Random thoughts on Punisher and X-Wing

So, random thoughts… 

Punisher review: 

“OK” if you are looking for PC mindless violence.  I liked the Punisher comics back when I was a kid, but even then I knew it was really just a retelling of the Mack Bolan/Executioner series.  See, I read a LOT when I was a kid, so I probably had a FAR broader exposure to a lot of random things.  But in any case, the lead character is the highly trained Sniper/Special Operator (?) I guess…  Mack Bolan’s character was far and away the most believable…  He WAS a sniper, on a team which was the “proto” A-Team from Vietnam.  He had teammates that were things like the medic, demo specialist, heavy weapons, and close in work, etc…  Was NOT all just him.  The Punisher is pretty much the one man A-Team.  Fine I guess given his setting is the “Superhero” world, so not a huge stretch since there are Blind Ninjas, Mystic Martial Arts Experts and immortal enemies (see: Defenders/Netflix J)…  But in my limited experience the guys I know who are sniper types are probably not also the same ones I’d want beside me doing building clearance or doing demo work…  Just saying.  The group of guys I used to shoot with, I was an average shot at the longer range targets out to 600m.  I’d have slightly better than a 50% hit rate with the old off the rack Garand and standard ammo.  They would be in the 100% range.  I shoot a LOT better if I can move and am shooting at moving targets.  I have pretty decent reflexes I’m told…  But I guess that’s just my long winded way of saying that Frank Castle is a superhero type in a world that HAS superheroes…  My bigger objections actually came with the VERY carefully PC environment they set up.  Every bad guy had to be a rich white male.  The ones who were not quite that were the ex-GI terrorist.  SO much I dislike about that character, but I guess I have a lot more skin in that game.  He’s portrayed as a low IQ dupe/tool who was easy to influence and then cast aside by the evil war machine.  Fixated on the 2^nd Amendment to the point of committing terrorist acts to “make a point”.  So, the low IQ grunt somehow just “finds” exotic weaponry like sound suppressors for the expensive Military type pistols and things like Claymore AP mines…  Oh, AND the expertise to wire them up in frighteningly effective booby traps.  These are NOT things one finds at say, Walmart.  Suppressors are Class III devices, so TECHNICALLY legal.  If you jump through the hoops, register, pay the fees and taxes and have a VERY good Attorney who specializes in such matters.  NOT common.  I've SEEN a handful of them over the years, and I'd probably say I was a LOT deeper into that world than most...  Claymores are even more so.  NOT something one would simply “come home” from Afghanistan with.  I’ve used a number of them (I WAS a demolitions specialist), and know the likelihood of those making their way back to the States from overseas is effectively zero.  Bringing us to the big question of what is he, an idiot or a genius?  Portrayed as the idiot, but somehow able to on a cab driver’s income pick up a LOT of very expensive and illegal military hardware and the correct training to employ the same that an Infantry grunt simply would NOT have?  :-)  Not even rage inducing things, just really disappointing for me I guess. 

J  So, I have issues with the series, but probably specific to the ex-GI crowd.  The character in “Daredevil” was pretty darn good…  Will I watch season 2?  Probably.  But honestly I liked Iron Fist and the Defenders a lot more.

On to X-wing though…  The big Wave 12/13 drop hit and seems like meta which WAS in flux is hit with another big change.  Harpoons EVERYWHERE.  This seems a problem…  That particular Missile allows you to keep your Target Lock, has the insane extra Damage condition (that splashes to Range 1) making it a “just better” option for a Missile.  Coupled with the fact that the Reload action that allows you to just keep firing them off?  Makes the few things that can break TL pretty good.  Honestly, concerned someone local will bring the Krayt (Chris Allen I think?) Squadron of 3 Nu Squadron Gunboats with just LRS and the Harpoon with the 34 point Quickdraw.  SO many Missiles…  The Wookies are right out against that sort of build.  Just cannot handle that many Harpoons. 

Saying that, this is what I am looking at running at Mattoon:

KuldaFennThweek (97)

Torani Kulda — M12-L Kimogila Fighter	27
Veteran Instincts	1
Harpoon Missiles	4
Unhinged Astromech	1
Long-Range Scanners	0
Ship Total: 33
Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Push the Limit	3
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 34
Thweek — StarViper	28
Fire-Control System	2
Autothrusters	2
StarViper Mk. II	-3
Virago	1
Ship Total: 30

More of a Missile carrier, Ace and Thweek to Shadow another Ace to give me essentially 2 Aces.  I REALLY like the way the Starviper actually flies.  It is essentially a TIE Fighter with a bit better Health, but it flies really oddly…  Fenn does Fenn things.  The best Mandalorian flying the best ship I think the S&V Faction has I think.  He is a really good PTL Ace.  Kulda, I am looking at either the LRS or Chips, but LRS seems right for the moment.  Not looking at his ability much, just PS 10 and that damn Missile with Reload. 

Now, if I want to play a more “fun” squad I’ll fly:

FennGuriThweek (97)

Guri — StarViper	30
Intensity	2
Advanced Sensors	3
Inertial Dampeners	1
Autothrusters	2
StarViper Mk. II	-3
Virago	1
Ship Total: 36
Thweek — StarViper	28
Autothrusters	2
StarViper Mk. II	-3
Ship Total: 27
Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Push the Limit	3
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 34

2 Starvipers J…  And the PTL Ace.  So, fun I think…  And another likely one for me to fly.

The Titan event is later in the month and I’m running my dual Firespray list…  Little different, but…  J  And time to test it later I think…