First X-Wing SC this weekend...

Mkay,  so after a fair bit of thought on the results of my various games that I have played with the Firesprays I’ve come to the conclusion that Phil over in the UK (seen here at his own blog) had the build that works the best.  So, I’ve come to the conclusion that this build:

BobaKath (100)

Boba Fett (Scum) — Firespray-31	39
Fearlessness	1
4-LOM	1
Concussion Missiles	4
Glitterstim	2
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 47
Kath Scarlet (Scum) — Firespray-31	38
Expertise	4
Heavy Laser Cannon	7
Dengar	3
Black Market Slicer Tools	1
Ship Total: 53

Will be where I start for this season.  Kath with the EU made her fast and she tended to get in close and die.  Fett was solid, but with all the upgrades there were so many times that I simply did not use a lot of them.  The Homing Missile with 4-LOM made for an interesting Ace killer.  But the main Ace I faced was Fenn Rau…  Not quite so useful, and frankly I can count on one hand the number of times that I actually used both Missiles.  Same for the Seismic Charges…  Occasionally useful, but really not something I used enough.  Losing the HLC got me a bunch of other upgrades, but…  I think playing Kath slowly and keeping her back at range and ALWAYS taking the Evade action is the smart way to play her.  Fett moves in and brawls.  Glitterstem swaps in for the Extra Munitions and makes him VERY survivable…  For one turn.  The Toby Keith song “As Good as I Once Was” where there is the line about “I might not be as good as I once was, but I’m as good once as I ever was”…  Picturing an older Fett talking about it, and being…  A bit older now myself, I understand it very well J… 

The one thing I am still on the fence about is Fearlessness vs. VI for Fett.  PS 10 puts me above the slew of PS 9 things that I am going to see…  Imperials have a LOT of things that hit in that area.  Not just Whisper and Fel these days, there are a number of builds with the TIE /sf pilots like Quickdraw and Backdraft.  OTOH, Fearlessness for the +1 result?  My general inclination is to stick with the philosophy of “The Best Defense is a Solid Offence”…  Ironic as I played Safety in (American) Football and Defenseman in Hockey…  But getting in as a brawler and just threatening the potential 5 Dice attack with re-rolls and for the one GS turn, free conversions makes for a really aggressive and dangerous ship.

I was thinking the S&V Aces list, but with the announcement of the “Hired Guns” set and the title making the Kihraxz AMAZING it kind of fell back a bit for me.  Still on the back burner for me and I bet by the end of the SC run I’ll swap to it.  I always felt Cobrabane was good, just missing ONE thing on the card to be a really good ship.  The Title fixes that and a LOT more.  Making ALL upgrades 1 point cheaper might well be too good…  Mindlink being FREE?  3 Modifications?  EU and AT for 4 points total if you are making a dogfighter…  My current Cobrabane comes in at 40 points (Mindlink, Homing Missile, Cloak, EU), and with the new Title it goes to 36 points and gains AT and Guidance Chips…  Probably swap the Cloak out for something else like the Scavenger Crane or the like… But in any case, it gets amazing… 

X-Wing League AAR, what to change for SCs?

Mkay, played in the League with the Firesprays and…  Well, true to form the local meta had almost nothing in common with the rest of the world.  SO many Imperials after almost none in the last one.  The TIE SF has certainly come into its own with 3 Shields, 3 Hull and effectively 3 Agility…  Omega Leader is insanely good against my list especially…  Turns out that a LOT of the things in my list are things that got lumped in the FAQ as things that you cannot do against Omega Leader like adding dice for Fearlessness or rerolls and Focus conversion….  That was game one for me…  Mind, the player was one of the Bloomington crew and a really good player and a lot of fun to play against, so it was a fun game…  But not a successful one for me.  I got in a good shot on Quickdraw, almost took it out, but not quite…  Then Omega Leader went to work.  Kath was pretty much helpless against that ship the way I have her kitted out.  Fett did better, but those TIE /SFs are really pretty tough little ships.  Game 2 was against Chris’ S&V jank list.  The Tug kitted out with a Proton Bomb so it could throw bombs out the front if it goes backwards was pretty interesting, but it dies pretty quick when I decided to kill it.  Ventress in the Lancer was good, but the Firesprays are actually pretty decent against that ship.  N’Dru with the Cluster missiles…  Well, he rolled the 2 evades to avoid the Homing Missile taking out out…  Hurt Kath as they are the same PS.  Ended up that way as Fett was undamaged and Kath was below half.  Game 3 was against Allan’s Imperial list.  The hardest thing was the absurdly huge Upsilon Shuttle…  I kept bumping it, not expecting it to be almost a foot off the table J…  I erased his TIE Striker then the shuttle but he had Fel who was able to get Fett on a PS kill as we lined up for the final Joust with only a few Hull each…

What to change?  Not sure…  I am considering replacing Fearlessness with VI on Fett…  PS 10 just to get above the 9’s I was seeing.  The Homing Missiles might go to Concussion Missiles and give me a point to throw on Kath for Inertial Dampers or Cargo Chute…  Just not seeing enough of the Aces relying on the Evade/Focus that the Homing Missile hits hard against… Dunno, I felt I flew fairly well and was never totally outclassed...

Plus side, I got my ancient Silverwing back on the road and got in another test ride tonight as I tweak the minor things on it like adjusting the brakes, etc...  Great ancient bike and a lot of fun to ride...

Titan X-Wing League this weekend and Store Championships coming up...

Not sure how many of the Store Championships I will go to…  Bloomington for sure on 29 July, Titan in Champaign for sure as it is my local one.  Probably Springfield as well as Nick got me started in the game.  So, 3 or 4 of them.  At least one I will have to fly my S&V Aces list.  Signed up for the Peoria one on 10 June, so I will be going to 3 of them…  I hope.  Champaign still has not set their date and I REALLY hope they are not in conflict with the other Titan store (Peoria) or the wedding I have to go to on 3 June…  But we’ll see I guess.  Tentatively down for the 3…

Gearing up to fly in the League this weekend and trying out the latest iteration of my Firespray list. 

BobaKath2 (100)

Boba Fett (Scum) — Firespray-31	39
Fearlessness	1
Seismic Charges	2
4-LOM	1
Homing Missiles	5
Burnout SLAM	1
Extra Munitions	2
Guidance Chips	0
Slave I	0
Ship Total: 51
Kath Scarlet (Scum) — Firespray-31	38
Expertise	4
Dengar	3
Engine Upgrade	4
Ship Total: 49

SO many upgrades on Fett’s Firespray…  Kind of going for the “Swiss Army Knife” approach with Fearlessness for the Range 1 terror, Homing Missiles/Guidance Chips/4-LOM for the Ace hunting and the Burnout Slam to GTFO when things are looking bad.  The Bombs seem like they are useful, and this fits thematically with the movie version of the ship when they were hunting Obi Wan Kenobi’s fighter.  I had to get rid of the HLC on Kath’s ship, but to be honest it was 7 points for a shot, maybe 2.  Ideally I want to have them chase her so she can get the 5 Dice attacks with modification.  The Engine Upgrade is WAY more useful to me overall I think as it is kind of hard to keep things in the arcs without repositioning of some sort.

Will see how this list does in the League to see if it is what I bring to the SC events…  I suspect at least one I will.  Is a more “fun” list, and frankly a bit more durable than my S&V Ace list.  Guessing what I will face with the Ace list I am fairly confident it will surprise a few folks, but it depends on Green Dice which are notoriously fickle…  When they roll average or better it does REALLY well.  If not?  Well, it is a short game J…

X-Wing, watched Worlds, prepping for the next local stuff...

Got in a few more X-Wing games and have actually downloaded the Vassal stuff so that I can get more games in…  Well, in theory…  Assuming that I actually have that time.  In any case, the S&V Ace list is performing quite well.  Learning the ins and outs of the ships.  N’Dru on the Z-95 is surprisingly good.  I mean REALLY good, especially against certain builds I expect to face.  The good potential for an 8 hit strike in there AND the recovery of those missiles to potentially do it again.  Now, good players will see this and understand how serious a threat he really is, but with Ordinance deployed on ALL of my ships, there is really nothing that can be safely ignored at either short OR long range.  Also, 2 PS 9 Ships is massive overkill in one respect, but it gives me a number of good options.  There ARE in fact Pilots that are higher Skill, but not seeing them as often.  RAC with VI does come out to play locally at times, but honestly not as concerned with the Decimator.  Well, with this list at least.  Line up, volley the Missiles/Torpedoes and then close to Range 1 for the 5 Dice Attacks on my Aces.  Bombers are going to be an issue, but I have to be careful in much the same way as I need to against the Uber-Jouster lists.  Stand off, volley Missiles/Torpedoes and try to thin the other Squadron a bit before closing to finish.  Shoot early and often, just like voting in Chicago.  And the Bomber effectiveness drops drastically as their numbers do, so being able to kill off one K-Wing before we engage closely is going to be key.

Not really sure what else I might run into frankly.  TIE swarms, TIE Defenders and maybe TIE Phantoms for the Imperials…  Aces are of course likely there, but I suspect my own are better…  Rebel Regen is a big thing, but I think I can overload it and kill them easily enough.  Scum?  Well, I bet a LOT of Mindlink will be there.  Fenn vs Fenn, but I have Cobrabane to back my Fenn.  Contracted Scouts are a bit of a pain, but should be beatable.

So, since I started writing this one I got to watch the excellent Gold Squadron Podcast’s Twitch streaming of the X-Wing Worlds tournament over the weekend (well, Friday it started, but…) and got to see a number of REALLY good games there.  Got to watch one of the local(ish, he’s from Peoria, but he plays here pretty frequently) absolutely destroy a list like I was flying previously with his Whisper/RAC list.  Simple, brutal and efficient.  Not so sure my old list would have done any better, in fact I am fairly sure I would have done worse.  My current one?  Dunno, volleying the Ordnance is the make or break moment in that one.  If I can get a few good hits in early, I might be able to take his Decimator off the field.  If I fail to do so?  Well, at least it will be a short game I suspect.  Whisper is still quite good, and the combo of Palpitine and Kylo Ren on the Decimator that has Critical conversion already?  Pretty darn powerful on its own.

DID see one list that I REALLY like and might just steal:

BobaKath (100)

Boba Fett (Scum) — Firespray-31	39
Fearlessness	1
4-LOM	1
Homing Missiles	5
Extra Munitions	2
Guidance Chips	0
Slave I	0
Ship Total: 48
Kath Scarlet (Scum) — Firespray-31	38
Expertise	4
Heavy Laser Cannon	7
Dengar	3
Ship Total: 52

Just two loaded out Firesprays…  But the combination of Boba Fett’s Homing Missiles and 4-LOM mean that I can throw out a VERY accurate Missile that I can prevent them from using their Evade or Focus tokens on, so just raw dice.  Only change one I might make there, I like the Salvage crane over the Extra Munitions, but it IS a bit more risky.  More shots possible but HAVE to destroy something to get the Missile back.  Kath is just a modified 4 Dice Attack, pretty much no matter what…  Well, 5 Dice at Range one out the Rear Arc…  With Dice modification and Rerolls, this allows me to use the Evade action a lot more.  Bad part being that the ship has such a Craptastic dial.  And of course it is seemingly over costed, but only in comparison to the Jumpmasters…  Of course, almost EVERYTHING is over costed compared to them, so it is really just an exercise in taking an option NOT obviously the most efficient.

SO Many Jumpmasters at Worlds…  Kind of shining that spotlight on the ship that a LOT of us feel is just too good for its point cost.  SO many good things packed into the efficient package there and it is so customizable.  This allows you to build it out to fill a very large number of roles in the Squadron from straight out Torpedo Boat to Bumpmaster or Ace…  I am not sure what if anything will be on the next errata, but it seems obvious that SOMETHIN needs to be adjusted WRT this ship.  I know a lot of people were also complaining about the Mindlink, but this one I think is FAR less a problem.  With the resurgence of Stress and the built in disadvantage I am not really seeing this as the major problem in the game at the moment.  Yes, it IS efficient and I DO use it in a list, albeit without the JK5K.  But is it on the order of the JM5K?  No.  My list is certainly beatable, and frankly easily so since it is just 3 Aces (well, 2 and a good “almost ACE”) dependent on Agility to survive.  A bad roll or two and that’s game.

Looking like I take a day or two off next week to get my bike back on the road.  Maybe the rain will stop someday.  Really missing the ancient bike, it is something to get my thoughts in order riding on the back roads out here.  Still have an overabundance of sick and vacation time, so might as well use some.

X-Wing theory crafting, Motorcycle maintenance and work continuing

So, for X-Wing I’m theorycrafting between 2 lists…

FennCobraNDru (100)

Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Attanni Mindlink	1
Proton Torpedoes	4
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 36
N'Dru Suhlak — Z-95 Headhunter	17
Attanni Mindlink	1
Cluster Missiles	4
Scavenger Crane	2
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 24
Talonbane Cobra — Kihraxz Fighter	28
Attanni Mindlink	1
Homing Missiles	5
Cloaking Device	2
Engine Upgrade	4
Ship Total: 40

So, the first one is S&V Aces with an Ordinance backup.  PS 9 on 2 ships and the backup of N’Dru at PS 7.  Missiles.  So, not a strictly Jousting list, in fact against another Joust list I have to play it slow at first, launch Missiles and soften up the other Squadron.  Then close to finish it.  PS 9 and 5 Red Dice for each of my Aces makes for a pretty good finish.  N’Dru is surprisingly solid for flying an old Z-95, and since he is running with the two Aces he tends to be ignored.  Still heavily dependent on the Agility Dice, but if I play it right it is hard to beat. 

Or

BobaKetsu2 (100)

Boba Fett (Scum) — Firespray-31	39
Fearlessness	1
Seismic Charges	2
K4 Security Droid	3
Cluster Missiles	4
Scavenger Crane	2
Extra Munitions	2
Guidance Chips	0
Slave I	0
Ship Total: 53
Ketsu Onyo — Lancer-class Pursuit Craft	38
Adaptability	0
K4 Security Droid	3
Inertial Dampeners	1
Gyroscopic Targeting	2
Shadow Caster	3
Ship Total: 47

The second one is me stealing ideas from Tony’s excellent First Strike build.  Swapping the Firespray for the YV-666 gives me what I feel is a better knife fighter for getting in close and just hitting hard and fast.  Rerolls built in, Fearlessness for the Range 1 nastiness out BOTH Arcs…  Extra Ammo for 2 Bombs and 2 sets of Cluster Missiles…  Crane for a third and more potentially…  Not sure with the K-4 Droid there, the Tactician would make for an amusing choice for folks to stay at Range 2 and get Stressed or go to Range 1 and get hit harder with the additional Dice AND additional Hit Result…  Cluster Missile does pair exceptionally well with Tactician, but the K-4 gets me the Target Lock whether or not I am bumped, so good insurance in the Knife Fight…  Ketsu with Adaptability to fire before the Firespray and potentially move it or drop its Agility by up to 2 if I can get it positioned perfectly AND hit it…  Then the probable 7-8 extra hits should erase most things and cripple the remaining things not just melted.

FINALLY got the replacement tire for my motorcycle.  Will probably take another “sick day” to work on that.  It is not a simple matter to remove the rear wheel from that bike, so it will take me a bit…  A buddy has the equipment to remove and remount the tire, so I’ll have to coordinate with him to get the tire put on…  The reverse the process and hope I do not miss anything J…  For the record there are two major things to note: 

1.       A Degree in Mechanical Engineering does NOT make you a Mechanic.

2.       Contrary to the book, I do NOT find Motorcycle Maintenance to be relaxing or Zen in any way shape or form.

So, it will be a PITA, but I REALLY enjoy riding and that bike is so darn solid that even I can maintain it to acceptable levels and keep the old 81 on the road…

Back to working out now that the latest round of sickness has passed and work is…  Well, continuing.  More possible things coming down the road, but I am not at all sure how much if any I intend to involve myself in.  Since I KNOW with absolute certainty that a promotion here is impossible, and the titular head of the Organization has no interest in retaining me…  Well, I will do what I need to keep my own Department protected and keep the work that I have done over the last few years in EPM moving.  Really quite disappointing to see all the work we did go up there and to be dismantled or simply ignored…  I guess we go back to the Guerrilla  IT model and just do what we need to do and MAYBE present it to a wider audience when we are done.

More X-Wing theory crafting and some work questions...

So, looking at stealing part of Tony’s excellent S&V build…  I’ve never much liked the YV-666 myself, so despite the effectiveness of the Party Bus, just not really for me.  The Lancer on the other hand, this one I like.  I’ve not played Ketsu yet, but I have played against her a fair number of times. 

BobaKetsu2 (100)

Boba Fett (Scum) — Firespray-31	39
Fearlessness	1
Seismic Charges	2
Tactician	2
Cluster Missiles	4
Scavenger Crane	2
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 50
Ketsu Onyo — Lancer-class Pursuit Craft	38
Adaptability	0
K4 Security Droid	3
Inertial Dampeners	1
Burnout SLAM	1
Engine Upgrade	4
Shadow Caster	3
Ship Total: 50

Might be too fast with the EU, so drop that for the Gyroscopic Targeting and Extra Ammo for the Firespray perhaps?  Or Tactician swapping for the K-4 Droid?  The Firespray is really just set up for Knife Fighting and it looks like it could be brutal.  Dunno, something to test out at least I think.  I’m pretty darn happy with my Ace build and this Is something completely different…

Work wise?  Weird stuff happening with budgets being slashed and the reactions to that…  The effect is trickling down to Departments from the Colleges and the Central organizations…  So we’re scrambling at our level to be sure we’re covered and our people have what they actually need to do their jobs.  Fun times.  Kind of sad seeing projects that I worked hard on go to the Central Org and look like they will be killed there.  The very thing we were trying to avoid will be the end result of this, but that is the way it looks like it will end.  Seeing the way things are falling out now, I have to admit I am not overly unhappy to have lost out on the job at the center of this all.  I would like to think I could have made things go another way, but if I am being honest I might have made no difference at this level.  I would also like to think I could have inspired a lot more loyalty in my people, but with the lack of funding for positions for the critical people up there?  Eh, I understand completely why they have either left or are actively looking to get off that sinking ship.  In any case, I'm where I am and my own people will be protected...

Another round of X-Wing testing and vehicle maintenance...

So, got in a few practice rounds today against Tony’s “Just Die Already” list…  H’s flying Ketsu on the Shadow Caster (Lancer) loaded out with K-4, Title, EU, and Fearlessness backed by Bossk on the YV-666 loaded out with Cluster Missiles, Salvage Crane, Dengar, Zucuss and Inertial Dampeners IIRC.  BRUTAL jousting list.  The Lancer has a decent chance to get in, potentially put 2 Tractor tokens on a ship to potentially throw it around (if small base) or just drop its Agility by 2 for the finishing shot by Bossk.  Learned again, no matter how good you think your own Joust is, it is NOT going to survive this.  I ran:

FennCobraNDru (100)

Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Attanni Mindlink	1
Proton Torpedoes	4
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 36
N'Dru Suhlak — Z-95 Headhunter	17
Attanni Mindlink	1
Cluster Missiles	4
Scavenger Crane	2
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 24
Talonbane Cobra — Kihraxz Fighter	28
Attanni Mindlink	1
Homing Missiles	5
Cloaking Device	2
Engine Upgrade	4
Ship Total: 40

Combining my Ace list with 3 Ordinance carriers for a pretty darn good First Strike capability.  NOT the dedicated primary mission by any means but I can put some serious hurt and potentially erase a few ships at Range 3 before we get into the fight.  Even the Ghost should be into Hull at Range 3.  Then it is a simple enough matter to rush in and finish the main ship.  Biggs is still just in a T-65 X-Wing and a lower PS than I have, so should be easy enough to deal with on his own.

Game one I jousted and learned that they CAN just take the initial pass and shrug it off to wipe me out quickly.  Second game I did a wide flank and engaged at range once he separated a bit.  I lost Fenn Rau, but he fired his Torpedo and got at least one round of Range 1 shooting to throw out a bunch of Damage.  By this point I think he was down to only a few Hull on both of his ships, so the Z-95 and Cobrabane chased them down.  N’Dru got the kill on the 666 and got back his missiles while we just danced around.  Got the TL with Cobrabane, focus from N’Dru and the 1 Hull remaining on the Lancer vs the Homing Missile with Focus was simply not going to survive. 

So, the Kihraxz might be held back slightly on the first engagement as the designated Focus generator.  The hull is simply not as good as the Protectorate.  Lacking the native Boost and therefore the ability to put the Autothrusters…  Never did use the Cloak, but I do like having the option.

Next iteration?  Not sure what if anything actually fits into the 40 point slot that the Kihraxz sits in.  An Aggressor is an obvious choice, but starting at 36 points, it is pretty stripped down version that I could fit in there.  1 point for the Mindlink and 2 for the Autothrusters that are essentially stapled to the Aggressor card leaving me…  One point.  Not horrible I guess, but lacking the standard HLC and FCS it will…  Be found lacking in the offensive capacity I suspect.   The G1A is another possibility, but since it is a B-Wing in an era that B-Wings simply are shot to pieces.  The Star Viper?  Maybe…  The dial is actually almost identical to the Kihraxz swapping the K-Turns for S-Loops.  But that really does not get me too much.  Autothrusters I guess.  I could kit Guri out with the AT and Sensor Jammers for a fairly defensive setup.  More survivable than the Kihraxz but without the major threat factor of the Homing Missile and the 5 Dice Primary at Range 1.  A thought I guess… 

Got the old pickup back to working condition, so the 98 Ranger is what I’ll be driving this summer.  I want my daughters to be in the Escape since that has a LOT more safety features than the extremely simple old pickup.  Got the motorcycle tire in today as well, so needing to pull the wheel off the ancient bike to get that swapped out ASAP.  REALLY missing the bike these days, and it works out so well on Campus…  So, hoping to get to that this week….  I’ll see how many sick days I take this week….  42 weeks of sick time built up and since I found out that I cannot use it for anything other than “buying” another year of time in for retirement…  Well, other than sick time of course J…  But since my own retirement is the “self-managed” and not based in any way on my time in, this is completely useless to me.  So, guessing I take extra sick days every week until I really DO retire.  Well, when I CAN take time off that is.