Taquerias and X-Wing?

Mkay, heard one that I had not heard before today and it got me thinking.  The writer essentially said that the restaurant in question had a menu that was too high in quality to maintain profitability.  With a new Taqueria that opened across the street from my office I had been thinking something along those lines…  They have their burritos priced at $7 which is a full dollar or more less than every other local place.  AND they are not doing them as the more “Mission Style” burritos with a lot of what I would consider “filler” in the form of rice and beans (cooked and/or refried).  I should preface it with it only opened Monday and I’ve been there only once, so it might be incorrect in the longer run of course…  But that was the best Al Pastor that I’ve not had that good outside of Mexico/Texas border in the ancient times…  And I was actually fairly concerned about the longer term viability of the place given what I felt was the quality of the food I got…  Guess we’ll see over the longer run, and I am of course hopeful but I suspect the odds are not in favor of the place lasting...

Got in my first actual game with my Republic forces, I played:

Unsaved Squadron (197)

Anakin Skywalker — Delta-7 Aethersprite	60
R4 Astromech	2
Delta-7B	18
Spare Parts Canisters	4
Ship Total: 84
Half Points: 42 Threshold: 3
"Sinker" — ARC-170 Starfighter	54
Ship Total: 54
Half Points: 27 Threshold: 5
"Wolffe" — ARC-170 Starfighter	51
Veteran Tail Gunner	4
R2 Astromech	4
Ship Total: 59
Half Points: 30 Threshold: 5

And I faced a S&V force with Han (trick shot), Fenn Rau and 2 of the Mining Guild TIEs…  Solid build and the player was good…  I lost the Initiative roll so was player 1 which I suppose is something I need to be concerned about with the I6 Anakin, but honestly?  I think I was OK going first as I was able to get the “dream move” out there with the 2 Sloop, remove Stress and drop the Spare Parts on Fenn Rau who was already Stressed.  He took no damage of course, but a triple Stressed Fenn is NOT a happy Fenn.  Wolfe was a bowling ball, got the double shot off a few times before he finally died.  The ARCs take a surprising amount of Damage before they die, and with the Barrel Roll they actually make decent blockers.  Oh, Han had the Hotshot Gunner de-incentivizing the taking of Focus as an Action…  Rerolls from Sinker were nice and it is fairly easy to maintain that “Side Arc” condition.  Anakin was a monster Slooping and K-Turning around Han until I killed him after Fenn died…  Oh, Anakin killed him but lost his Shields and took a Crit in the exchange.  Range 1 Fenn Rau is ALWAYS dangerous, even if I get to shoot first…

Going forward I suspect my next build will have a pair of the Aethersprites with an Arc.  Either Mace or Saesee seem like they’d fit in well enough.  Guessing I’ll have to put in an actual bid as well to continue testing for the 4 May event… Asoka with 3 ARCs is also a possibility…  Bring her as a Support Ship and keep the big “Wall o’ Beef” in front of her?  Maybe…  Just not sure that the low maneuverability of the ARCs combined with the low Agility will keep them on the field and relevant long enough to win…  One of the locals brought out the 4 ARC list and lost to the 2 Sith Infiltrators…  While the named ones seem good, I question the base Ships en masse being viable. 

Bunch of other things got immediately added to Hyperspace as well…  I do not think anyone was really expecting this, but in the words of the Seventh Sister “A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one”.  TIE Interceptors, TIE Bombers, B-Wings, A-Wings and Star Vipers are all legal now…  So, the Rebel list I WAS flying in the League itself is almost HS legal.  Just need to swap AP5 for a U-Wing I suppose…  Just think that list is no longer closer to the top tier with everything else out there.  I could go toe to toe with some of the Torpedo Alpha Strike lists and come out on top, but B-Wings are just not maneuverable enough or high enough I to deal with actual Aces… 

Seems to be a fair number of people griping about the announcement that X-Wing Worlds will be the Extended format rather than the Hyperspace everyone assume it was going to be…  Me?  I’m fairly neutral about it as I have no real chance to make the cut and go…  I really just do not want to watch it devolve to the camping TIE Phantoms or whatever other “technically legal” but actually broken and sill lists bubble to the top by then.  Eh, we’ll see I suppose…  At the end of the day, not really anything I’m overly invested in..

Next week X-Wing League...

Came in first so ended up with a Bye for the end of League tournament.  Got in a few test games and was not really happy with what I had...  

So, looking like I will be running a different Bomber list next week:

Scurrg Swarm (200)

Sol Sixxa — Scurrg H-6 Bomber	46
Ion Cannon Turret	4
Skilled Bombardier	2
Proton Bombs	5
Proximity Mines	6
Hull Upgrade	3
Havoc	4
Collision Detector	6
“Genius”	2
Ship Total: 78
Half Points: 39 Threshold: 6
Lok Revenant — Scurrg H-6 Bomber	43
Ion Cannon Turret	4
Veteran Turret Gunner	6
Proton Bombs	5
Hull Upgrade	3
Ship Total: 61
Half Points: 31 Threshold: 6
Lok Revenant — Scurrg H-6 Bomber	43
Ion Cannon Turret	4
Veteran Turret Gunner	6
Proton Bombs	5
Hull Upgrade	3
Ship Total: 61
Half Points: 31 Threshold: 6

Almost the same, but making my Bombers…  Well, you know, Bombers.  Played a few practice games with the Drea based swarm and it was solid, but unexciting.  And of course Drea herself was ALWAYS the primary target to strip the re-rolls…  Nothing in that list has much any chance to avoid Damage, so anyone shooting at her likely hit her.  This way, I have just the Scurrgs and while they also are not dodging much, the extra Hull on all of them might buy me a bit more time, and Sol?  REALLY glad they did not put Reload on these ships…  I am already liking the Skilled Bombardier and Sol’s ability combined with Genius for some absolutely silly threats…  Much like v1’s CPT Nym honestly.  But using ANY 1 or 2 maneuver to drop Bombs or Mines means I can put it LOTS of places…  I moved to Ion turrets in place of the Dorsal.  I found that in general, they were only doing a single Damage in any case barring of course the odd times I got the Range 1 double tap…  And the Ion starting out at 3 Dice should get me the same number of Hits that the re-rolls from Drea got me along with the bonus of possibly Ionizing the enemy and leaving them easier prey for the Bombers and maybe even a few Proton Bombs as a parting gift…  So, an Extended list for another week or two I think.

Hyperspace is looking very much like my Jedi will be out by 21 March…  So 2 weeks out and I’ll be back to my Aces…

X-Wing League wrap and updates...

Ah, emergency points updates…  One of the big “you need to prepare for this degeneration” lists was the First Order’s triple Upsilon Shuttle list…  Lt. Dormitz and 2 basic Starkiller base ships to have Hyperspace Trackers and likely Collision Detectors to set up at I6, 2 of them Range 2 from the LT….  With 3 Green Tokens (Focus and/or Evade) allowing the lead ship to have 3 Tokens, Reinforced Shields AND a Target Lock rolling up to assault on Turn 1…  POSSIBLE to get away from it IFF you have fast ships or maybe just the 6+ Ship swarm?  But essentially several groups did the “how to” deal with it practices and YouTube videos…  Good stuff, but then FFG released the emergency update raising the LT’s cost from 60 to 70 AND taking the Hyperspace Trackers from 2 up to 10 each…  So, FFG was able to kill off the most degenerate list I’ve seen in this Edition quickly and efficiently. 

Still waiting on Wave 3 for my Hyperspace stuff…  HOPING to have my Jedi before 4 May and the event that Red Raccoon is holding….  With the articles hitting weekly it SHOULD be out soon, but rumors have it being delayed to Q2, so will see…  Frankly, if I do not have my Jedi I am not at all sure what I’ll fly…  Rebels likely, Torpedoes being a thing and all…  Wedge, a Y-Wing with Dutch or Norra and something else?  Either Luke in his X-Wing or a U-Wing with Leia/Coordinate…  Seems decent, but frankly not what I really WANT to fly…  Have been flying my B-Wing lists a lot in the local League and doing well with it…  Of course the B’s are Wave 4, so no chance really of them being HS legal in time.

But until then?  Think I remained at the top of the local League with a 5-1 record and REALLY solid MoV…  Need to play out the “tournament” portion of it as these first 2 Months were merely the “regular season” of the NHL, and the single elimination event will be determining the winner I suppose…  Though, looking at the documentation I think the important thing for me gets distributed by the standings of the run up portion…  The “deluxe Wave 2 Kit” being the prizes I am interested in of course…  Metal Force Tokens, some cards I suppose…  So, we’ll see how this gets distributed I guess.  The single elimination event is for Store Credit which is OK I suppose, especially with Wave 3 on the way, but frankly I am playing for the Alt Arts and tokens J….  Weird, but far less interested in credit since I can do the math and know how much per hour that translates to and it is just not really all that interesting to me I suppose in that light... 

For the finals?  Still extended and I have my 3 Scurrgs now…  So, likely running this as the “I’m just here to kill things” list…

Drea Scurrg Swarm (200)

Drea Renthal — BTL-A4 Y-Wing	42
Dorsal Turret	2
Hull Upgrade	3
Ship Total: 47
Half Points: 24 Threshold: 5
Lok Revenant — Scurrg H-6 Bomber	43
Dorsal Turret	2
Veteran Turret Gunner	6
Ship Total: 51
Half Points: 26 Threshold: 5
Lok Revenant — Scurrg H-6 Bomber	43
Dorsal Turret	2
Veteran Turret Gunner	6
Ship Total: 51
Half Points: 26 Threshold: 5
Lok Revenant — Scurrg H-6 Bomber	43
Dorsal Turret	2
Veteran Turret Gunner	6
Ship Total: 51
Half Points: 26 Threshold: 5

NOT subtle.  Yes, my ancestry is Scottish, why do you ask?  Roll right at them, count on the likely double modifications and sheer number of shots from the really solid Scurrg chassis to just throw out SO much damage that it just kills enough of the other side before I die…  Another list on a timer like my B-Wings, and of course sticking with the theme of “do not bother to try and dodge, just kill them first” or as Aahz said “the best Defense is a solid Offense”… 

Well, that or my B-Wing list…  Unless the Jedi arrive in time of course…

X-Wing Generics... Too Good now?

So…  I have been thinking a LOT about the X-Wing events going forward.  It is looking like there might have been an overcorrection WRT the generics vs the Aces.  Mind, this is NOT for individual ships I think.  When the ships get spammed however, the efficiencies become amplified I think.  Examples that I have seen recently are the S&V Mining TIEs with Drea in her Y-Wing and 5 Y-Wings with Ion Turrets...  These are being played locally, and frankly they are REALLY efficient.  The multiplier of Drea giving out re-rolls makes ANY Drea swarm really good…  Just having to keep the Target in one of the Arcs is not too hard and I think much better than the Imperial equivalent with Howlrunner…  Suspect the S&V Y-Wings would be better than the Rebel ones I’ve seen, but practicing for the Hyperspace events Rebel Y’s are the only ones out there.

One I heard about is:

Heavy Fighters (199)

Drea Renthal — BTL-A4 Y-Wing	42
Expert Handling	2
Dorsal Turret	2
Ship Total: 46
Half Points: 23 Threshold: 4
Lok Revenant — Scurrg H-6 Bomber	43
Dorsal Turret	2
Veteran Turret Gunner	6
Ship Total: 51
Half Points: 26 Threshold: 5
Lok Revenant — Scurrg H-6 Bomber	43
Dorsal Turret	2
Veteran Turret Gunner	6
Ship Total: 51
Half Points: 26 Threshold: 5
Lok Revenant — Scurrg H-6 Bomber	43
Dorsal Turret	2
Veteran Turret Gunner	6
Ship Total: 51
Half Points: 26 Threshold: 5

The lads on the Gold Squadron Podcast listed this off, more or less… I added the Expert Handling, but thinking perhaps the Seismic Charges might work well somewhere just to clear the board…  Just another hyper efficient generic list, and it just throws out a LOT of Damage if I can just line up and joust…  With 3 Medium Bases it is a fairly difficult Joust to avoid with the Barrel Roll just covering a LOT of space.

The Hyperspace list I am frankly thinking is going to be a rough one is:

Y Not? (200)

Gray Squadron Bomber — BTL-A4 Y-Wing	31
Ion Cannon Turret	4
Shield Upgrade	4
Proton Bombs	5
Veteran Turret Gunner	6
Ship Total: 50
Half Points: 25 Threshold: 5
Gray Squadron Bomber — BTL-A4 Y-Wing	31
Ion Cannon Turret	4
Shield Upgrade	4
Proton Bombs	5
Veteran Turret Gunner	6
Ship Total: 50
Half Points: 25 Threshold: 5
Gray Squadron Bomber — BTL-A4 Y-Wing	31
Ion Cannon Turret	4
Shield Upgrade	4
Proton Bombs	5
Veteran Turret Gunner	6
Ship Total: 50
Half Points: 25 Threshold: 5
Gray Squadron Bomber — BTL-A4 Y-Wing	31
Ion Cannon Turret	4
Shield Upgrade	4
Proton Bombs	5
Veteran Turret Gunner	6
Ship Total: 50
Half Points: 25 Threshold: 5

LOTS of Hull, Lots of shots every turn, nothing subtle, just line up and run at them trusting your ability to kill them first…  And of course bombs everywhere when you get in close…  Especially with the ability to bloody well Reload when they run out…  Degeneration everywhere J…

Mostly I am REALLY hoping that Wave 3 is out before the Hyperspace event in Bloomington 4 May…

X-Wing League, final run coming up...

So…  Got in 4 of my 6 League games.  First was just my Dash/Roark list to practice for the Bloomington event.  Next 3 were 2 B-Wings and Norra.  The first was the ARC and Sabine.  Successful, but felt like it was seriously lacking hitting power.  Last 2 were Braylen and Ten in their B-Wings with AP5 taxiing Leia and Norra in her Y-Wing to provide the hammer.  She WAS seriously overloaded with the R-3 mech, Vet Gunner, Proton Torpedoes AND Bombs to go along with the Ion Turret…  Think I can count on one hand the number of times I actually got to fire the bloody Ion turret and NEVER used the Gunner.  The Torpedoes and Bombs on the other hand…  THOSE were awesome.  The R-3 to give 2 TLs was nice, and having the Reload action in my pocket as it were meant I was not overly concerned about “holding” my Torpedoes if I had ANY shot.  The threat of the fully modified Proton Torpedo was enough to keep things like Fenn Rau REALLY cautious.  He and Guri dodged Arcs as often as they could to avoid Norra, and usually meant they had no shot, so that worked for me.  Braylen and Ten were solid work horses in the list.  USUALLY having the fully modified shot, and the FCS on Ten proved its worth I think.  In each game I dialed in Reds thinking I would activate Leia and have Actions, etc…  And then forgot to activate her.  Ouch.  Didn’t hurt me TOO badly as the Reds I dialed in were moves that the opponent did not anticipate as “only a fool would do THAT”…  Well, I did J…  Took a turn or two to swing back around to line it up again and then it was devastating with the Y and B’s forming a kill box and having fully modified shots to take down whatever I had in the box…  Still, it was good, but I think there is another iteration due for my remaining games in the League:

BBYNorraAP5 ver2 (199)

Braylen Stramm — A/SF-01 B-Wing	47
Elusive	3
Jamming Beam	0
Ship Total: 50
Half Points: 25 Threshold: 4
Ten Numb — A/SF-01 B-Wing	46
Trick Shot	2
Fire-Control System	2
Jamming Beam	0
Ship Total: 50
Half Points: 25 Threshold: 4
AP-5 — Sheathipede-class Shuttle	32
Leia Organa	2
Ship Total: 34
Half Points: 17 Threshold: 3
Norra Wexley (Y-Wing) — BTL-A4 Y-Wing	41
Ion Cannon Turret	4
Proton Torpedoes	12
R3 Astromech	3
Proton Bombs	5
Ship Total: 65
Half Points: 33 Threshold: 4

Trick Shot on Ten Numb can become a 3 point Talent for Norra should such a thing present as a better option?  Or just move TS over there to the Y-Wing I suppose…  Double down on the “I’m here to hit things” that she does.  NOT giving up the Torpedoes or Bombs as they were golden for me.  And of course my willingness to call in “Danger Close” and bomb my own stuff to put the Criticals on their Ships seemed like it shocked my opponents…  Side note, I HAVE called in Air Strikes and Artillery and do not think I ever called it in anything other than “Danger, Close” since I had a great deal of faith in the US Army’s ability to deliver ordnance where I was directing it…  Well, that and of course I needed it where the enemy WAS, so J…  But in any case, my last Proton Bomb hit Norra AND Ten Numb, stripping a Shield on Ten and hitting Norra for a Critical to put a Critical onto Fenn Rau…  Fuel Leak showing, 2 Hull remaining  so it was a death sentence since he could not have avoided it having K-Turned onto the bomb to line up the Range 1 shot into Norra to kill her…

I think Elusive on Braylen is a decent call…  I do a fair number of Reds with the B-Wings, and so regenerating the Charge should be possible easily enough.  Seeing that Talent used a fair bit, and it is “ok”…  Rerolls are nice, and it should extend the timer I am on with this list.  All about Offence, Defense is just the sheer amount of Hull/Shields I present on my gun line…  Leaves me with 3 points as I am trading the Vet Turret Gunner in…  Trick Shot doubled all the way to 2 points, and it is still too cheap I think, so that is a contender.  Ten with Elusive is I suppose a possibility, but I would prefer to put in something Offensive to keep with the theme and obvious synergies within the list…

Match up wise?  Seems like it does well against the “large” ships and Ace type builds.  Have yet to face a real Swarm in this edition outside of some very early practice games, so not thinking I’ll see them locally at least.  One Swarm I AM concerned about is the 5 Y-Wing squad I have seen on the table…  I have 4 Ships technically, so I should match fairly well if only my ships were not mostly Agility 1 and easy prey for Ion Turrets…  THAT could completely wreck my squad.  Guessing I’ll be doing the “Go FAST, hope to avoid them” using Leia to give me the ability to move quickly with 3 Banks and 4’s to close and have modified shots.  Close in, take the flank off the table and run like Hell…  Circle around and repeat, daring him to chase my Bomber…  Still, not a list I relish facing and I suspect it will not exist in the longer run as it is just a bit TOO efficient…