Gopher X-Wing SC AAR and looking forward a bit in the game and life...

 So, there were 11 players who showed up and therefore a four round, no cut to top.  Worked out well for me as I played the Kylo/Whisper list that is mentally exhausting after a few games.  Wound up 2-2 with only the loss to Tony’s “Final Form” (Miranda/Nym) list being one I felt I had no chance in…  My final game I missed a trigger to switch over the Target lock to get in a solid shot to finish off a ship and secure the victory…  Lost by 1 point of MoV (46-47), so annoyed with myself, but got the Range Rulers I was gunning for.  Overall, pretty good crowd with 5 coming in from Bloomington and 6 locals.  Seemed like everyone had fun and there was very little “ill behavior” one might expect from a competitive event.  But unlike MtG or some other games, not really money on the table.  None of the prizes are particularly valuable in and of themselves so tends to be a much more relaxed crowd. 

Game wise, I faced a 4 ship Imp build in game one.  With my PS 9 Aces just dodging everything, it was just a case of the Aces outclassing the lesser Pilots.  NOT the player, Chris did an excellent job flying but the writing was on the wall from the beginning with both of my ships being able to simply move out of the way and flank at will…

Game 2 was against the Miranda/Nym build flown by Tony…  Well, going in, I think this is something like a 90/10 split for him…  Neither of my ships can handle being bombed and they both hate the high PS Harpoon Missile…  Ironically, the TLT is simply not a threat against my ships.  Well, eventually per usual the Agility (Green) dice WILL betray you, but overall if I can get it to Miranda, I can keep to Range 3 or away from her to stay alive.  But of course the PS 10 being above mine meant I had to correctly guess every time where Nym was going.  And with repositioning it is simply impossible, so…  Had Damage on Miranda and Nym was down to a single Hull…  Was a single roll away from him dying to an Asteroid, but alas it was not to be and Tony played it well for the 100-0 win…  These 2 lists (his AND mine) are both excellent illustrations of why v2 is needed, and with half points, neither of us could points fortress and win…

Game 3 I played one of the Bloomington lads I have played a number of times.  Honestly I do not remember what he flew, but it was another one where I had to arc dodge and stay away…  Win, but exhausting to play it out.  ALMOST went to time until I finally caught his last ship and won.

Set me up for the battle of the 2-1’s with another excellent player from Bloomington…  He flew PS 10, 9 and 4 X-Wings (Wes, Wedge and one of the new ones, 2 tubes?) along with AP1 in the Shuttle.  Brutally effective list, and it was only because the T-65 chassis is simply outclassed in this edition (even after the “fix”) that I was able to stay in the game.  He hunted down and killed Kylo, but Kylo took out the PS 10 Wes on the way out.  Turns out that was the MoV…  Whisper was dancing around doing damage and finally killed AP1 and had 2 Tubes down to a single Hull…  Wedge was hurt badly as well…  But missed the trigger to swap her TL over to 2 Tubes and a 5 Dice attack that SHOULD have killed him netted me only 3 hits, leaving him at a single Hull…  Ah well, was an excellent game and well played on both sides.

So, having my Templates, I am honestly less concerned about doing well from here out…  So, I am faced with the choice of Fett/Fenn or an Imperial Ace build I threw together:

Imperial Aces (98)

Scarif Base Pilot — TIE Reaper	22
Director Krennic	5
Inspiring Recruit	1
Lightweight Frame	2
Advanced Ailerons	0
Ship Total: 30
Soontir Fel — TIE Interceptor	27
Push the Limit	3
Multi-spectral Camouflage	1
Autothrusters	2
Royal Guard TIE	0
Ship Total: 33
Darth Vader — TIE Advanced	29
Veteran Instincts	1
Advanced Targeting Computer	1
Engine Upgrade	4
TIE/x1	0
Ship Total: 35

   Seems like a fun “Ace” build, and without the crutch that Emperor Palpatine is for the Empire at the moment…  Will be a tough one to fly though, and I feel like I have to finish painting up my ships for it to keep the “Imperial Blue” theme going.  Fun, but another Ace build where I will live or die by my ability to dodge shots.  Might be one for Titan (Champaign) or even Mattoon…

Otherwise I think I go with:

Mandelorians 1 (97)

Boba Fett (Scum) — Firespray-31	39
Veteran Instincts	1
Ion Cannon	3
Dengar	3
Harpoon Missiles	4
Glitterstim	2
Bomblet Generator	3
Engine Upgrade	4
Andrasta	0
Ship Total: 59
Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Push the Limit	3
Proton Torpedoes	4
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 38

This list is LIKELY a “Gatekeeper” list as it has some REALLY good answers for things that my Kylo/whisper list simply did not…  For instance Nym/Miranda?  I have Initiative, so I move after his Nym and can either line up the Harpoon shot unanswered or rush in to Range 1…  I have a better ship there I think, and I will kill him.  Yes, he’ll hurt me and maybe even kill me, but Fenn Rau should be able then to kill off Miranda.  PS matters, and Fenn hits SO hard when played aggressively…  And as it happens, I DO play that ship hyper aggressively… 

I feel like my Firestorm list is a John Madden list.  “Just win, baby” being the quote I remember him for…  And winning dirty is still winning.  I do not think I would have fun playing that, but…  Gen Con?  Maybe.  Dunno, will see what happens this weekend at the Red Raccoon SC in Bloomington…  I suspect that will be a MUCH more intense experience as it was last year.  Most likely the closest I will have to a major event like Nationals at Gen Con…  Or is It Continentals?  Whatever, big event FFG is putting on and the LAST one for version 1 of the game…

Work wise?  Interviews last week, but for positions I know/suspect to already be filled.  Eh, you miss 100% of the shots you do not take, and I gave it my best shot.  Resume is tweaked and I feel like it is MUCH more focused on what I am applying for these days.  One more I applied for that I think is more of an actual search.  Am at something of a disadvantage being outside of that particular organization, but I think I would be a decent fit there and could certainly do the job.  At this point hoping to make it past the first obstacle and get an interview.  Getting in some “practice” interviews has been great and I think I am doing a LOT better there.  Previously I was “highly technical” on both my resume as well as my answers.  Answering the questions quickly, concisely and accurately…  But that is NOT what they are looking for in a Manager or Director…  Lessons learned, and frankly I do not entirely think that I was ready previously…  Finished my MS, got more experience and coaching and I do think I am completely ready at this point.

X-Wing meta thoughts, updated post Wave 14...

Mkay, so I wrote up a long post about what I THOUGHT the Meta was going forward…  And then Wave 14 hit and there ARE some big changes.  Small wave, only 2 packs, but the things it contains…  The X-Wing swarms are a thing now.  You CAN get 5 of them in, and either Crack Shot to erase an Evade AFTER dice Modification (Another thing I am looking forward to v2 for, hopefully the death is this sort of silliness, or at least changing it to Bullseye Arc only) or Flight Assist Astromechs to have extra actions to zip about the board and give every X-Wing the extra survivability of the “Integrated Astromech” card that allows you to kick the droid off of the ship to cancel a Critical or Hit (after you see what it is).  So, pretty good… I expect to see at least a few X-Wing swarms (or swarm like builds) as the Springfield event was won by one and I know some of the locals are play testing it…  It is solid, and I suspect a good choice.

The other major ship is the TIE Reaper.  With the Jam action, so ANOTHER new action added to the game in its twilight stage…  What could possibly go wrong as they clearly checked out on the game quite some time ago and playtesting has been “less” than we came to expect earlier in the game’s cycle.  No real chance of a FAQ, and it is pretty powerful.  Range 1, Range 2 if in Arc, so can actually hit things a ways out.  Not any IMMEDIATE results, but it eats TL/Focus or Evade tokens OR prevents you from getting another one until it does eat a token.  For my “Ace” type builds where I rely on Actions, this is going to be rough.  Have seen a few builds, and I know one of the Locals has simply replaced the old Palpatine Shuttle with a Reaper…  The Ship itself is FAST.  The pre maneuver move throws it a long way if you are not ready for it, and aside from the Jam, there is an Evade action…  This along with the Agility of the Ship it should be FAR more survivable than the old Shuttle.  So, expecting to see a few of these at the events, and I suspect they will do well.

The card I am likely to use was in the Reaper pack…  Director Krennic.  Broken, silly and stupid (even the Devs have admitted such).  

My likely list is:

KyloWhisperKrennic (93)

"Whisper" — TIE Phantom	32
Veteran Instincts	1
Sensor Jammer	4
Director Krennic	5
Advanced Cloaking Device	4
Ship Total: 46
Kylo Ren (TIE Silencer) — TIE Silencer	35
Push the Limit	3
Advanced Sensors	3
Advanced Optics	2
Autothrusters	2
First Order Vanguard	2
Ship Total: 47

The Krennic crew card gives my Whisper the following effects:  A Shield Upgrade, a Fire Control System, and an additional automatic Damage effect to strip Shields.  Whisper really needs those first two effects to be top tier I think.  2 Hull and 2 Shields is a bit low these days, so the extra Shield is really nice.  FCS, since you lack the TL action on the card is REALLY nice.  In my two test games so far, Whisper is an absolute monster loaded out like that.  I might swap the Sensor Jammer over to Advanced Sensors to get silly with the actions…  Cloak, then 3-4K if needed.  But more likely, just not being blocked with a Barrel Roll pre move, or a Focus/Cloak if needed…  Dunno.  The stupid high Defensive stacking I get by changing 1 Hit to a Focus on every incoming shot makes it REALLY hard to take her out over the longer run.  And until v2 of the game, Whisper has a 4 Dice Primary…  Dropping a Blank/Focus result to take a Shield is huge.  As I am chasing down something, I will have the TL after the first shot, taking Shields if needed every shot to keep up with say, Regeneration and just push through Damage.  I suppose I could “remove” shields from say, Quickdraw or another hard to hit Ace since it is NOT Damage were I say, worried about the revenge shot from QD…  Might hope to both roll REALLY well or REALLY poorly and take away one of the Hits/Crits to do only the Shield.  Not technically Damage, so it does not provoke the return shot?  Not sure about that, I don’t use QD myself, but something to check I think…  Edit:  No, it is worded as "When QD loses a Shield", so the obvious loophole was covered...  But in any case with the most common build and that having Expertise and PS 9, my 7 point bid guarantees that I can make him move first and HOPEFULLY dodge the Arc…  Whisper is just REALLY maneuverable, and Kylo with this setup is just almost unblockable.  I have finally figured out how I need to fly the Silencer.  I was so used to flying Fenn Rau in his Fang Fighter where you have no choice but play hyper aggressively (like a Mandalorian by an odd chance) and you are well rewarded for doing so…  The Silencer plays more like the old SFB “Klingon Saber Dance” where I fly at range, dodging where I can (and I can usually), just wear them down with the cuts before committing to a rush into close range for the kill…  Maybe, probably just the dance.  I have to keep the goal in mind, and with the scoring for this game not penalizing a bid, those 7-9 points I am short in this list are actually banked should I lose only 1 of my 2 ships…  If I lose both, then I give up the full 100 points of course, but they’ve earned it I suspect… 

Had some issues with Stress, but nothing TOO bad…  I am concerned about the Ghost/Fenn match up, but kill Fenn to force the issue.  Frankly, either of my ships should be able to solo the Ghost and the Shuttle when I remove the support ship, so trading should it be necessary will be fine.  So, a few more test runs I guess to get in some more practice with the list…

Guessing I’ll fly my Firestorm list at Bloomington…  Maybe, the Kylo/Whisper list is pretty darn fun…  Will see I suppose…

X-Wing SC Meta theory crafting...

 Getting ready for the X-Wing Store Championships, I am scheduled for at least 4 of them and so just looking at the Meta (state of the game as I see it in this case) to get a more strategic plan to go into the events...

There are basically 4 major list types in X-Wing at the top Meta level at least:

Miranda/Nym

100 point Miranda

Palp Aces

Ghost/Fenn

I am not looking at playing any of those.  Well, to be fair I suppose the Firestorm Special (Nym/Ten Numb) is SORT OF like Nym/Miranda so might be considered a variant of that architype.  Maybe. I guess…  Firestorm plays a LOT different as it completely sells out for the Alpha Strike or just plain Jousting to victory…  Or dying in the attempt I suppose.  My record with the Firestorm is actually quite good though and if people are not prepared for the level of Damage I can throw out…  Well, it tends to be a quick game in any case.  And with the additional bonus of less mental fatigue over the course of a longer event... 

So, Miranda/Nym is based on the 2 Harpoons shooting, 2 TLTs finishing the job and there being bombs on top of that.  Pretty much the collection of the most broken Offensive tools in the v1 of the game on two of the more broken chassis.  Oh, and Miranda Regenerates so she is likely to simply outlast most people, and the way the game is scored, having that big expensive ship alive at the end in the nice points fortress (only Large bases give up half VP when they are reduced to below half of their starting life) is likely the win condition for the list.  Maybe the list wipes the opponent off the field, but the real win condition is to simply outlast them with Miranda.

100 point Miranda is more or less the same winning condition.  Basically, the rest of the list is to make sure that Miranda lives to the end, hopefully wiping out more points of the opponent’s stuff on the way out.  Mind, saying “Miranda” here is really not 100% accurate.  She is the most common one, but basically ANY expensive Rebel Ace with Regeneration to simply outlast the other player…  These games tend to go to time, are a bit frustrating to play and if BOTH are bringing one of these two lists it can degenerate to a slap fight as neither Miranda/Ace tends to have the ability to actually put in the finishing Damage to the opposite number…  I would say that Corran Horn is the sole exception to this, but like the Control Brobots there are only a bare handful of players in the world who have the level of skill and patience to actually play THAT one out.  Note, I am NOT one of those players.  But the list tends to be 3-4 Rebel ships including but not limited to Lowrick, CPT Rex, Ezra, Fenn Rau, etc…  Basically the big Ace, and support ships to mitigate Damage and get the Ace to the winning end game.  And this is ANOTHER reason the game itself NEEDS a reboot.  SO many things combining to make for un-killable ships just broke the game in my opinion. 

Palp Aces…  Another long time standard.  Fell out of the top for a bit there, but it has always been good, especially in the hands of a skilled player.  The current “top” list is The Inquisitor, Quickdraw and CPT Yorr in the Shuttle.  Some really bad interactions allowing Yorr to pull in the Stress that would otherwise render “less useful” the Expertise Quickdraw or keep the Inquisitor from getting double Stressed (and then killed the next turn).  And of course the Emperor to just declare a Dice result.  Nasty tricks include running Quickdraw over a Debris Field, declaring a Critical on the Dice roll to remove a Shield and get in a free Shot, usually fully modified and against a target that has not gotten its Defensive modifiers up yet…  Nasty, and something to DEFINITELY avoid.  Of course, this list highlights several of the things I have LONG felt were silly and overpowered about the game and yet more reasons the current version must be replaced J…  Again, just my opinion per usual, I could be wrong…

Ghost/Fenn…  Ah, last and certainly not least is another collection of weird edge cases and odd card/rule interactions that were I suspect not originally intended, but…  At the heart of this is the Ghost which has the Attack Shuttle docked to allow the Rear Arc to be activated but more importantly the TLT to be fired TWICE every turn.  Fenn Rau is there to assist and provide the PS 10/11 Boost for the (usually) perfect information reposition or to say get the Ghost to Boost off of an Asteroid.  NOT normally allowed, but of course many things are possible through a properly timed Coordinate action…  The Crew and upgrade combinations vary, but there are some like Ezra/Maul that allow your firing to be unnaturally accurate (3 Hits is the expected result for each of your 4 TLT shots), others that ignore obstructions, etc…  Suffice it to say, another collection of things that illustrate the need for a reset of the game (IMO again of course).

So, if you are REALLY wanting to do well in a larger event I suspect you will need to be prepared to face these four lists.  Of course these will not be the ONLY things out there, there will be “Jank” and I suspect people flying some of the new things like the upgraded X-Wings and TIE Reapers to good effect.  Seeing a few of the upgrades at least out of the latest Wave, and hearing the Developers admit that “Yeah, that one is definitely massively OP, but we figured it would only be for a few Months” does make me a bit annoyed…  But, like they said, only for a short time as the current edition winds down.  But in any case, these are the things I am at least trying to figure out as I start my SC run for this year.

My Fett/Fenn list:  Matches reasonably well against Palp Aces…  I typically have a PS advantage and can avoid Initiative to force Quickdraw to move first, assuming they brought Expertise and not VI.  Frankly, the VI version does not hit nearly so hard and so I am not overly concerned about it.  But in any case, I have a lot of experience flying both of those ships and can do a fair bit most others cannot or at least do not expect with them.  So, I am fairly comfortable with that matchup.  Ghost/Fenn?  Not a great one, but I should be able to melt his Fenn flying in a light Shuttle and do a bunch of Damage with Fett on the way out.  Fenn (mine) at that point SHOULD be able to solo the rest.  MoV sucks, but “Just Win, Baby” because MoV is just a tie breaker.  Miranda lists?  Depending on how they fly them, frankly Miranda REALLY does not like to see Fett in this configuration with the Ion Cannon and then the throw loads of Damage at whatever gets in close…  In this case it is Fenn Rau who goes Kamikaze and does as much Damage as he can before dying.  He does a LOT if I can engineer nice Jousts…  The Proton Torpedo is also surprisingly effective here.  So, I feel like this list is a VERY solid “Gate Keeper” list that has a chance to go all the way in a smaller event that I expect to see locally…

Firestorm:  Solid against almost everything.  Against the Miranda ones, I can realistically erase her through Proton Bombs and Harpoons…  Criticals against the Hull are just the big random luck factor.  The Direct Hit or Major Explosion has the chance to just outright kill the 2-3 Hull things, and I have killed Quickdraw while she still had Shields with those coming up…  Against things like RacLo, I have to count on the luck factor.  It really is just a line up and try to trample them in the Joust.  Hope to avoid the Blinded Pilot, but realistically know it is coming but hope for the best Criticals coming up as the Decimator will have a hard time avoiding them AND staying in close to get shots off…  Down side, it is NOT a friendly list.  Really just a variant of the Nym/Miranda list that is actually quite a good matchup against the base list.  So, maybe something I fly at the Red Raccoon in Bloomington, but not local or Mattoon I think.

Kylo/Whisper:  Hmmm, not a lot of GREAT matchups I think.  Nothing really terrible either though.  Kylo in that ship just goes wherever the hell he wants, and with Advanced Sensors he is essentially impossible to Block…  Well, assuming I can avoid Stress.  And with Ezra and the occasional Fenn Rau having Stress, should be something I can do.  Might swap in Director Krennic for the Rebel Captive to give Whisper the third Shield, the extra Damage output and the FCS equivalent…  I have to fly her a LOT differently I suspect because I am used to flying with the Rebel Captive for the defensive bonus and being able to shut down the Expertise I see everywhere…  So, a fun list and I DO enjoy flying it so I suspect I will fly it at least once…

A few other things I might fly, but honestly not really sure… I have time I guess and getting in some practice rounds is next up I think...

X-Wing light AAR, and June wrapping up...

Well, ended up going to Titan for the League event…  Won, so I got the nice shiny metal Focus tokens that seem to be highly valued for some reason or another…  Not really seeing it myself, but that I am given to understand is not unusual.  I ran:

Bum Rush (100)

Jakku Gunrunner — Quadjumper	15
Courier Droid	0
Pattern Analyzer	2
Spacetug Tractor Array	2
Ship Total: 19
Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Push the Limit	3
Proton Torpedoes	4
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 38
Guri — StarViper	30
Push the Limit	3
Advanced Proton Torpedoes	6
Fire-Control System	2
Scavenger Crane	2
Autothrusters	2
StarViper Mk. II	-3
Virago	1
Ship Total: 43

Took me a game to figure out what the Tug does…  Roll in with say, a 3 Bank then use the Tug Array to Tractor the target.  In some cases to move it out of formation, but usually just to give the -1 Agility.  Then Fenn Rau and Guri hit it at Range 1.  So, -1 Agility to deal with the 5 Dice usually modified Attack from Fenn followed by ANOTHER almost guaranteed 5 Dice hit from Guri.  The Advanced Proton Torpedoes (APT) on her specifically since she gets a free Focus just for being at Range 1.  The APTs are R1 only, and with the FCS or PTL I will have the Target Lock ready by the time I get there.  Usually take the R3 shot on the way in to establish the lock and then double reposition to get out of Arc and at R1…  Brutal.  And then she uses the Crane to get the APTs back.  1 time guaranteed, but usually at least twice…  She is almost always getting kills…  In my three games I know I used the APTs 7 times.  Like I said, took me a game to figure the list out, and when I did…  Well, I was a fan of Gary Fencik and Doug Plank growing up, the “have one get there first, hold the target and the other just roll in and hit the target HARD”.  Works REALLY well.  Close loss my first game, and the next two were 100-0 sweeps.  So, MoV was the good tie breaker for me.  So, this might actually be a contender for a “fun” event like a smaller SC perhaps…

Looking ahead, I have at least 2 SCs in July coming up…  Urbana and Bloomington on the 14^th and 21^st respectively…  No clue on how many people are going to be at either of these events.  Gopher in Urbana I think I will definitely be flying my “fun” stuff…  Debating for the Bloomington one, I suspect the power level will be MUCH higher there, but…  A LOT of people have just checked out and are just waiting for version 2 of the game.  And I want to be sure to NOT go in full OP mode with all the broken stuff to places like Mattoon where it is such a small group of players just getting started really…  I’d MUCH rather have more games in the longer run than a few more victories in the short term, and the game is transitioning to the second edition so I want to be especially careful not to push the locals I really enjoy playing against away from the game at this delicate time.

Work stuff…  Applying for a few other jobs here at the University and doing the standard “recon” for the positions turns up one of the things that annoys me most about this place.  2 of the 3 places already essentially HAVE people working in the jobs being advertised, seems that this is just the required fake search to legitimize the promotion in place.  I have to wonder how many other places out there have things like this where you would waste so much time, energy and money (since the time and energy are ALSO costs) to comply with State rules (or whatever rules) on the surface, but of course it is just meaningless motion allowing them to do what they were going to do anyway.  I remember working in the real (Corporate) world where promotions were just “fill out the paperwork and that is it”.  Hell, in the Army I was just told that “You are a Corporal now, Chappell” when I went from SPC E-4 to CPL E-4 to comply with some Brigade level directive that only an NCO could command an armored vehicle.  Same thing going to SGT, my Platoon SGT handed me a pair of his old SGT stripes to pin onto my Gortex and uniform until we got back to a place where I could buy more…  But in any case, still applying.  Mostly to see if I actually get interviews to practice, but there is also that saying about “You miss every shot you do not take”.  Hoping to at least make it to the first cut and get in some more practice as I’ve updated my resume quite a bit, and at least to my reading of the requirements I certainly at least meet/exceed all of the required and most (or all) of the preferred qualifications…  J  Of course, I am biased and NOT on those committees, so my opinion on that has no weight at all.  We will see I suppose.

Motorcycle is running REALLY well.  The replacement speedometer is nice, and she is running at 60-80 MPH in 4^th gear…  5^th or OD allows me to cruise comfortably at 70+ and the engine purring along at ~ 3000 RPM.  The bike is old enough to lack anything like a cruise control (Friction lock on the throttle to “sort of” have something like cruise), reverse gear or anything computer controlled…  I installed USB power to allow for the speedometer and a second port to let me charge up my phone should it be needed.  There is also a second lighter adapter plug that I can connect should it be necessary.  Frankly I do not THINK I will need it, but the options are good to have.  The phone connects via Bluetooth to my headset/mic to in theory allow me to use the phone or say, listen to music while out on the bike…  She runs nice and quiet, which works for me since I dislike loud noises for the most part…  And is really nice having that much power when I hit the road.  Thinking I’ll bike it to at least some of the X-Wing events coming up.  Waiting on replacement paperwork to submit my application to the “Combat Veteran’s Association” (NOT a MC), so at some point I’ll be riding more and wearing those nice patches again…   

Hey, June is half over...

So, Diet Mode back in full force and have to admit things get weird at times…  Not eating anywhere as much and drinking a LOT of water.  The Fitbit is nice to track how much I walk, and between running 3/week and then running around a LOT at work I am keeping it to the 15,000 steps/day range.  Exercise mostly in the prison workout and running…  Up to ~2.5 miles/3 times/week.  Have the 5K coming up the 29^th, so I suspect I’ll be fine.  It is also odd wandering around Campus.  Difficult when I pass one of the many places that make the food I like, but conversely I have my “diet mode” reinforced when I walk by places that make bad food that I cannot eat anymore.  Like one of the new pizza places on Campus that makes giant slices…  Probably the worst pizza I have had when I DID try it.  To be fair I suppose, it was during the 1-5pm range when a slice and a drink was $5.  Doing the typical NY style thing where they reheat the slices on order, so the slices were likely leftover from the lunch rush.  But it REALLY illustrated that I cannot eat that sort of food anymore.  Eating a lot of “healthy” options and drinking nothing but water for the most part.  Has been several years now since I more or less quit drinking…  Not really something I talk about much, and I do get some odd looks from folks at times.  I found that I was just drinking too much, and that line between what I thought about doing and what I did started to blur and go away.  Not really 100% NOT drinking, I do occasionally have a Guinness, Belhaven Black or Dragon’s Milk…  Just that it is SO rare that I even do drink that I might as well not be drinking.  But like I said, people who knew me in the old days are still quite surprised I do not drink as it seems I might have had a bit much to drink in the old days…  

Have to admit I am REALLY looking forward to X-Wing version 2.  I have a bunch of events to get through before it hits.  Including Gen Con.  I’m REALLY looking at lists that I will have fun flying at this point.  So, my Fett/Fenn list is one I enjoy flying.  Not really likely to win me an event, but I’ll have fun.  Guessing that Kylo/Whisper will be the same way for me.  2 Aces zipping around and maybe even shooting now and then.  The Firestorm list?  That is just there to kill things.  Efficient, win big or die.  But boring really…  So, it depends on how much I decide I really want to just win I guess.  Guessing the last SC I play if I have not gotten Range rulers or the like I might bring it out and go with it…  Dunno, but getting in some games with my fun lists to try and help my locals at least get further in the events...

Legion, Rebels being painted, I have my 800 point list ready, now to get in some games before Gen Con I think…  Bolt Action I am getting my British Paras, and so will be painting them up and getting in some games I guess…

And then there were 3, testing X-Wing builds for SC season...

So, got in some testing…  The Boba Fett/Fenn Rau list with Expertise on Fett…  Did “meh”…  So, plus side, I am now back down to 3 potential lists for SC season.  Ran into the problem of tweaking a “Netlist”.  The “improvements” I made did not improve the list, they instead made it just a bit worse.  Fett DID hit hard, but jousting with Quickdraw took me down to just a few Hull.  So, back to VI for him as the PS advantage is just SO good.  Debating the Harpoon vs Homing Missile for him.  In the Meta I expect to see there will be more things that will be hurt by not getting to use their Evade Token than by the Harpoon condition…  Maybe.  The Harpoon followed by the Proton Torpedo is REALLY good. 

Mandelorians 1 (97)

Boba Fett (Scum) — Firespray-31	39
Veteran Instincts	1
Ion Cannon	3
Dengar	3
Harpoon Missiles	4
Glitterstim	2
Bomblet Generator	3
Engine Upgrade	4
Andrasta	0
Ship Total: 59
Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Push the Limit	3
Proton Torpedoes	4
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 38

So, back to Phil GC’s Mandalorian list (https://suchanxwinghipster.wordpress.com/2018/04/13/the-67-the-mandalorians-strike-back/).  It is a solid list, but I have the advantage of several years of flying Firesprays that most simply do not have.  And of course I REALLY like the Mandalorian Protectorate fighters…  Fenn Rau is easily the best fit for me there with the “slightly more aggressive” nature of the Pilot Ability and Loadout I run…    

2 other lists in contention for me, but I suspect it will be this one and the Firestorm one (Nym/Ten Numb) that I fly as I have the most experience with them and frankly the Firestorm is a combination of brutality and ease of flying that I CAN use the whole day at a longer event without melting my brain…  The burden of execution is really on the other player.  I can set up to joust, and they can accept the joust or try to run.  Running buys you an extra turn living.  Does not change the results most times.  Yes, matches poorly against some things, but there are a LOT it just erases.  Quickly.  So, maybe in Bloomington, but not likely what I’ll run in Mattoon or even Urbana.  I suspect Champaign is going to be a toss-up for me, will likely make the decision “game day” as it were…  4 so far I am going to it seems, will see where the Peoria ones fall.