AAR for the Titan Games Store Championship (X-Wing)

So, AAR for the Store Championship at Titan Games…

I ran :

Emon Azzameen — Firespray-31	36
Seismic Charges	2
Tactician	2
Proximity Mines	3
Proximity Mines	3
Andrasta	0
Kavil — Y-Wing	24
Ion Cannon Turret	5
Unhinged Astromech	1
N'Dru Suhlak — Z-95 Headhunter	17
Lone Wolf	2
Cluster Missiles	4
Munitions Failsafe	1

Record wise?  Yeah, not so good…  But got in 5 great games, and the first big loss was one I might well have had a good chance at winning.  Played Tyler, an excellent player who won several SCs and he fielded a decked out Soonter Fel and 5 TIE fighters.  Killed off the Interceptor, but then promptly messed up and flew my Firespray INTO his TIE swarm rather than away as I thought I was doing…  Doh.  Went down fighting and got MOST of his stuff before dying, but that kind of set the tone for the day.  Don’t get me wrong, had a great time, played against a lot of friendly and excellent players, so this was NOT like my experience playing MtG or even 40K in tournaments.  I understand that there were some issues with people measuring movement with their hands, etc. at some of the top tables, but being down in the middle I did not see that of course.  All around a great tournament from my perspective but per usual, YMMV and I am sure other perspectives felt differently about it.

Now, I define things a bit differently I guess than a lot of other folks, so I should probably go over that a bit.  Swarm or “Swarmish” is what I refer to as a build that has 5+ ships in it.  Now, to get 5 or more ships in at 100 points of course you are talking TIE Fighters, Z-95’s, M-3’s and maybe Y-Wings I guess for the most part.  So, a bunch of cheap, low quality ships to fit into the philosophy of “Quantity has a Quality all its own”.  In general I do not buy into this, being brought up a product of the American military I tend to go the other way and like to have smaller, better forces.  Not perhaps the true top of the line, but that is not out of the question by any means of course. 

So in any case I saw a LOT of Swarmish builds there.  Typically either a big ship like a YT or Firespray and a bunch of Z-95’s, or an Ace and friends…  There was one lad who brought a dual TIE Phantom list with the named Pilots to get in one more run before “nerfing” with the recently released FAQ.  Good player, but honestly I am thrilled that FFG made that change to those things.  Stark contrast to GW and the Wave Serpent, but I digress J…  In any case, I saw only a single Decimator and I think only 2 YT-2400’s.  A few Aggressors, several other Firespray builds (they were quite popular) but the top tables were dominated by the YT-1300’s.  At least 2 guys up there had dual YT-1300’s fully decked out “Fat Han” style.  So, things easily almost guaranteeing 3 Evades/shot and loads of Hull/Shields with a good Turret.  Pretty sure I would not have done so well against that sort of build.  Almost need something to completely shut down their actions via Stress, blocking or the like…  But seems to be the current build to beat in the “larger than local” meta as it were.  Amusing I guess as no one local plays that sort of ship that I had seen, certainly NOT a pair of them.  To be fair, I DID consider seriously bringing the Falcon with Chewie along with Dash, so close but…  Lacking a few of the things that make “Fat Han” what it is, I think it would have been good, but not nearly so good as those builds.

Emon Azzameen — Firespray-31	36
Seismic Charges	2
Tactician	2
Seismic Charges	2
Proximity Mines	3
Andrasta	0
IG-88B — Aggressor	36
Expert Handling	2
Fire-Control System	2
Heavy Laser Cannon	7
Autoblaster	5
Inertial Dampeners	1
Autothrusters	2

This is what I am looking at as my “current” build I guess.  That or 3 B-Wings, 2 of them with HLC/Fire Control and the third with Ten Numb, Mangler Cannon and FC.  Lots of heavy accurate fire, and should be able to cover each other as they slowly move across the board to shoot up the enemy…

Final list for the Store Championship, and the bike...

So, I've gotten more test games and this is the list I've sent along to the TO...  The Die is cast as it were.

Emon Azzameen — Firespray-31	36
Seismic Charges	2
Tactician	2
Proximity Mines	3
Proximity Mines	3
Andrasta	0
Kavil — Y-Wing	24
Ion Cannon Turret	5
Unhinged Astromech	1
N'Dru Suhlak — Z-95 Headhunter	17
Lone Wolf	2
Cluster Missiles	4
Munitions Failsafe	1

Pretty simple list all things considered...  I can run the Z-95 either starting behind the other two ships, or clear on the other side of the board.  NEED to keep him range 2+ from everyone else to get the bonuses (+1 Attack Dice, Re-Rolls on Attack and Defense).  The Cluster Missiles are short ranged, but potential 8 Dice with built in re-rolls...  Should put a big dent in most things.  Kavil on the Y-Wing just flies around doing hard 3's (Green with the Droid) shooting 4 Dice Ion attacks.  His fighter is fairly tankish (and flies like it too), so not really worried about losing him o any single attack...  Emon in the Firespray causes Stress and drops Bombs/Mines...  With the ability to drop them using the Straight 1, Straight 3 or the 3 Turn template, it really opens up a big chunk of the board as potential targets for his munitions...  And he still gets a shot out of front or rear arc...  If he catches something at Range 2, they get a Stress, whether he hits or not :-)...

We'll see how they do in the big field at Titan Games...  More than 20 have already pre-registered and with a hard cap of 32, might well be how many get in.  This is the last day for it to be run, so folks coming in from quite a distance.  I already won my Focus tokens at the Gopher, so not really stressing about the tournament itself to be honest.  Figure that my list is a fairly good one, and is fun to play...  Not a lot I simply cannot beat, can really only think of a few definite hard counters.  Even those are not really hard counters, just bad match-ups that I'll have to play better and get lucky to win.  Still a dice game, so...

So, got the bike completely fixed and out for a bit...  And then the weather went back to crap.  I'm telling you, this has happened EVERY time I get my bike ready, I should get the farmers here to kick in and buy me a nice new(er) bike that I can't ride much so that their crops would get the guaranteed amount of rain :-)  Maybe Sunday will be clear enough for me to ride out to the Tournament...

More practice for Store Championship builds (X-Wing) and bike stuff...

So, tested my previous builds and here is the adjustments I think will help...

N'Dru Suhlak — Z-95 Headhunter	17
Lone Wolf	2
Cluster Missiles	4
Munitions Failsafe	1
Emon Azzameen — Firespray-31	36
Seismic Charges	2
Tactician	2
Proximity Mines	3
Proximity Mines	3
Andrasta	0
Kavil — Y-Wing	24
Ion Cannon Turret	5
Unhinged Astromech	1
or: Emon Azzameen — Firespray-31 36 Seismic Charges 2 Intelligence Agent 1 Proximity Mines 3 Proximity Mines 3 Andrasta 0 IG-88B — Aggressor 36 Push the Limit 3 Fire-Control System 2 Autoblaster 5 Heavy Laser Cannon 7 Autothrusters 2 Played a few games with the other builds and other than the generic Y-Wing essentially ending up in the worst possible position (bumping the Firespray and within Range 2 of the Z-95), I think that list had potential.  The Auto Blasters were "less useful" on the Firespray and as a Turret on the Y-Wing, so those are gone...  I did REALLY like the Proximity mines and the bombs actually worked out well...  Except that the 3-hard turn template still keeps the bomb in Range 1 of you if you say, get bumped and do not actually move...  Was worth it to put the extra hit on an essentially impossible to hit ship though. Looking I think for a Tactician.  Unfortunately only came in the TIE Phantom set though.  Having the passive abilities on the Firespray and Aggressor is huge, and since "in your arc" includes the main and secondary arcs, the Tactician will be nice...  The Aggressor flew in an interesting fashion...  Was nice, but REALLY had a hard time in asteroids, and not putting on an Elite Talent was bad for me.  That Emon has NO Elite Talent slot is pretty annoying as well, but it is certainly a fun ship to fly... And then there is the bike...  Working GREAT.  Wound up replacing the battery as the arcing issue probably killed it.  Well, that and it is 3 years old...  Rode in to Campus today, and remembered WHY i stick to the back roads when riding the old bike...  But it was REALLY nice getting in a ride like that.  My amazing wife does not particularly like the whole "bike" thing, but I think she is very understanding about it...  Something to keep my balance in a lot of ways...

And the Silverwing lives again... Also testing X-Wing Squadrons for the next event...

Traced down the Electrical issue I guess...  Major cleaning of some of the corroded electrical connections and fuses and the old bike fired up...  Some of those connections were pretty badly corroded, but for a 30+ year old bike, nothing unexpected.  Checked oil and air levels and got in a few quick rides...  Made it as far as Philo, keeping to the back roads and all...  Debating taking the trunk off and seeing if the rack/back rest from the Magna will fit on the Wing.  Frankly the trunk is JUST a little too small to actually be useful as a helmet will not fit in it, and the backpack solution I have that fits over the back rest can fit in a LOT of cargo.  Though, the saddlebags are also just a bit small for a 15" laptop or tackle-box for X-Wing (or any other "Wing" game), so not really ideal in any case, but it is what it is and it is what I have to work with...

Speaking of X-Wing though I am looking at running the following at the Titan Games SC later in the Month...

Emon Azzameen — Firespray-31	36
Autoblaster	5
Seismic Charges	2
Intelligence Agent	1
Inertial Dampeners	1
Proximity Mines	3
Proximity Mines	3
Andrasta	0
IG-88B — Aggressor	36
Fire-Control System	2
Autoblaster	5
"Mangler" Cannon	4
Autothrusters	2

Or perhaps something like this:

N'Dru Suhlak — Z-95 Headhunter 17

Lone Wolf 2

Cluster Missiles 4

Munitions Failsafe 1

 

Syndicate Thug — Y-Wing 18

Autoblaster Turret 2

Unhinged Astromech 1

 

Emon Azzameen — Firespray-31 36

Autoblaster 5

Seismic Charges 2

Intelligence Agent 1

Inertial Dampeners 1

Proximity Mines 3

Proximity Mines 3

Engine Upgrade 4

Andrasta 0

 

REALLY liking the Firespray with mines like that...  The ability to throw out the mines in so many directions and distances will be something that a fair number of folks will not be expecting.  Would really like to have the HLC in the first one on the Aggressor replacing the Mangler, but point levels being what they are...  Or drop the Cannon altogether and take another Pilot for a different ability and  perhaps upgrading the ships in some way...  Second one, I can see finding the 6 points to make the Y-Wing Kavil instead of a Generic Pilot...  3 Dice attacks that cannot be dodged are just THAT good when facing the things that cannot otherwise be hit...  And the Y-Wing with the Droid is surprisingly maneuverable...  N'Dru is frankly just bait for the most part.  Yes, he COULD put down the big 8 hits in a single turn, but really it is still just a Z-95, so one of the more fragile Fighters out there...

Motorcycles and X-Wing... No real connection, but...

So…  It got warm this week.  And I have not one but two broken motorcycles…  Woo hoo.  Only one has a Title/plates, and of course that one has an electrical issue.  Weird one, I can charge the battery, then hook it up with the engine kill switch on and the key removed only to have the bike try to fire up.  Sounding like a short/bad ground, so I picked up the electrical contact cleaner and will tear the ancient Silverwing apart again this weekend…  Or sooner if I decide I’ve had enough…  Have to take the luggage and seat off to get to the master ground there, so it will be something of a project.  Will of course be checking the fuses, etc. first and having the nice digital multi meter should be able to track down the short…  HOPING for a simple thing like a corroded fuse, but given how that is the quick and easy fix so probably not.  But in any case, REALLY wanting to get back out and ride again, and the ancient Silverwing is the bike I have for that…  500cc engine, so NOT something I can really take out to an Interstate or on a longer trip…  But I really do miss riding in to work, hitting the back roads and unwinding.  Simple old bike, nothing flashy or fast but being one of those silly “biker” types…  It has been a VERY long time since last I rode…

Gaming…  Well, I played in the D&D Attack Wing event this week…  Won one of the Ancient Brass Dragons, so was fun and having more Dragons, especially the Good Dragons around is nice.  Picked up another X-Wing ship, the Aggressor class ship for the “Scum And Villainy” faction…  Another one that flies kind of weird, and it seems like you get rewarded for bringing multiples of this ship, which I am less likely to.  It STARTS at 36 points with nothing on it, decked out it is almost half of your points in any case so 2 at most for the “standard build size” of 100 points.  REALLY looking forward to the Firespray “reprints” hitting…  Boba Fett’s ship, gets new cards and stats to play as a Neutral (S&V), and a bunch of new Pilots and abilities.  Does not have the 360° arc, but it does have forward and rear 90° arcs along with some neat abilities…  Doubtful I can come up with something to defeat the current top of the meta ships, but I’m having fun flying what I enjoy and have been doing quite well competitively…  And Dave says the Gopher gets some in tomorrow so I will be picking one up, excellent!  Looking at playing in the bigger event at Gen Con, and with the pace of new releases from FFG being glacial when compared to WizKids and their Star Trek Attack Wing game, I may well be looking at pretty much what will be available at that time.  Looking like the big Imperial Epic ship will hit bringing much needed fixes to the TIE Advanced, but not a lot else has been rumored as near as I can tell…  So, for the most part, dealing with the things that are at the top end of the current curve will still be the things to deal with in a few months (Late July/start of Aug)… 

Liking the following build:

Ten Numb — B-Wing	31
Veteran Instincts	1
Advanced Sensors	3
"Mangler" Cannon	4
Corran Horn — E-Wing	35
Push the Limit	3
Fire-Control System	2
R2-D2	4
Engine Upgrade	4
Tala Squadron Pilot — Z-95 Headhunter	13

MAYBE swap the Advanced Sensors for a Fire-Control System and/or the Engine Upgrade for a Shield Upgrade…  Dunno, Horn with the Boost action is annoyingly difficult to catch, and regenerating Shields are REALLY annoyingly hard to take down.  Yes, have lost him, but the effort required and the fact that it usually takes a mistake on my part in there…  Ten is just there for the “I hit with a Crit” no matter what.  Another option is Ten with a pair of B-Wings of course for a slow and deadly force that just stays back, likely at range 2 and pot shots things out of existence…  Not horribly exciting, and hard to keep some of the top end arc dodgers in arc, but solid against a lot of things…

Wait, one connection...  The X-Wing game is one I can easily fit into the saddlebags on the ancient Silverwing...

Mostly X-Wing stuff... And almost time to get the motorcycle out again...

So, first big event for the X-Wing game under the belt…  I think I did fairly well coming in 3-1 with my Dash/Corran Horn list.  Tried to fly too fancy in my last game and I was simply not prepared for the TIE swarm played by someone who knows how to REALLY well.  So, a few things I need to change up for the next one later this Month I think.

Got in a few games last night…  First one was an odd “Scum” list I was going over… 

Star Viper (Xizor, Expert Handling, Virago, Auto Thrusters and Accuracy Corrector)

Z-95 ( N’Dru, Cluster Missiles, Lone Wolf, Hot Shot Blaster)

Y-Wing (Kavil, Ion Turret, Unhinged Astromech, Hull Upgrade)

Admittedly, the Hull Upgrade and Expert Handling was mostly because I could only find the one Hot Shot Blaster…  The EH worked REALLY well though on Xizor though.  I tend to do a fair number of Barrel Rolls in any case and the ability to shunt Target Locks is really nice, and especially nice if facing low skilled Missile boats.  The Star Viper is just fun to fly.  A bit on the fragile end I think though with only one Shield and four Hull.  As it happened, my Defense dice were hot and mine lived while killing off his virtual mirror.  N’Dru was a beast, but faced off against his mirror…  Like I said, my Defense Dice were hot, so I lived through the Cluster Missiles and he did not.  I am rather looking forward to see what a single Z-95 can do to some of the Large based ships like the Decimator.  The essentially 8 Dice attack for that one turn is huge and while it will not likely take down a Large ship, it should take down most Fighters…  The Y was just amusing flying with Green 3 maneuvers and the four Dice attacks from the Ion Cannon…

But that does bring me to what my second game showed.  Faced off against 3 TIEs, 2 Interceptors and one Phantom.  So:

Turr Phennir (VI, Auto Thrusters)

Soontir Fel (AT, PTL)

Whisper (VI, FCS, Stygian, Intel Agent)

And pretty sure there was one more point in there somewhere…  But I flew my Rebel Squadron that I am looking at for the next Store Championships run…  I already have the acrylic Focus markers, so not really all that interested in fielding something that is overpowering…  And I say that like I actually could J…  But with the Auto Thrusters on things like the TIE Interceptor and the A-Wing…  You can get to a point where the 2 Dice attacks essentially have no chance to actually do any damage, and even decent 3 Dice attacks are a very real long shot.  Thinking that these are hard counters to the Swarms hitting the field these days, assuming that you can keep from bumping before thinning the Swarm enough.  And since they have 4-5 Dice Attacks at Range 1, I am not thinking it will be an issue…  In any case I flew:

Ten Numb (B-Wing, Mangler Cannon, VI)

Biggs Darklighter (Shield Upgrade, R2-D2)

Horton Salm (Y-Wing, Ion Turret, R2)

Plan was to keep Biggs near Ten to draw fire, move slow and ping things with Critical Hits that cannot be avoided by any means…  On the unshielded TIES, this is a BIG deal.  But against a lot of the “hard to hit” things that one unavoidable Damage (especially as it is a Critical) is still quite good, so I wanted to give this a run.  Either a mini Swarm with 2 A-Wings and 2 Z-95s, a 3 Ship “Aces” list or paired with one of the YTs…  Was pretty happy with Biggs actually.  The X-Wing itself is fairly “Meh” lacking…  Well, something.  It cannot Boost, Barrel Roll, Evade or do much interesting on its own.  It is not particularly maneuverable nor is it particularly robust or even powerful on Offence…  So, not really sure how much I’ll fly the “poster boy” for the game itself…  I am probably just spoiled with the other ships I actually learned the game on like the B-Wing and E-Wing and seeing the Imperial things that are really just “better” in about every way for about the same point cost…  The Y-Wing was “OK”, but CLEARLY outclassed by the extremely advanced TIE fighters.  They were flying circles around him, and while he lived a while, he was completely ineffective for his 31 points.  Soontir Fel and Turr Phennir were 32 and 28 points respectively and completely outclassed the poor Y-Wing.  Felt like a Sherman up against a Panther really…  So, Ten worked like a charm, though I need to find some better things to outfit him with I think…  I DID actually completely whiff twice, both would have been Kill shots on a TIE Interceptor, so likely the Fire Control System upgrade or perhaps something to get more Green on the dial…

So, long story short:  Happy with Ten Numb, and that will be flown again…  Not sure what with though…  Fortunately, next Championship is in a few weeks, so some time…

40K is restarting at the Gopher I guess…  I wish them well.  Have to say, less interest in playing that game now, but I also know that at SOME point in the future the cycle will turn and I’ll likely go back to playing…  Maybe if the rumored Horus Heresy things actually happens.  I have a bunch of that stuff, and if I’m honest, that era interests me a LOT more than the current 40K setting where it seems that the storyline is essentially “The Empire is screwed, EVERYONE else is just better than the Marines” and the game is just throwing buckets of dice, most of which simply ignore Marine class armor, or glance Vehicles…  J  But I’m just one of those bitter old school gamers I guess, and not one throwing money at GW (Sorry Gopher!), so surprisingly GW did not ask my opinion about the system…

REALLY looking forward to the possibility next week and beyond of actually getting my ancient motorcycle out on the road…  Need to fix the electrical fault on the Silverwing, but I suspect that is just a ground issue, so hopefully simple enough…  And then I’ll get to ride again.  Been a LONG winter, and I want to ride again…

X-Wing... 48 points and?

So, playing in the Store Championship Saturday at the Armored Gopher and I have the first 48 points of my Rebel list fixed...

Corran Horn — E-Wing	35
Push the Limit	3
Fire-Control System	2
R2-D2	4
Engine Upgrade	4
Dash Rendar — YT-2400	36
Lone Wolf	2
"Mangler" Cannon	4
Nien Nunb	1
Engine Upgrade	4
Outrider	5

or:

Corran Horn — E-Wing	35
Push the Limit	3
Fire-Control System	2
R2-D2	4
Engine Upgrade	4
Chewbacca — YT-1300	42
Lone Wolf	2
Nien Nunb	1
Dash Rendar	2
Engine Upgrade	4
Millennium Falcon	1

So, either the YT-2400 with Dash at the helm or something I have not actually played...  Chewbacca in the YT-1300...  And not entirely sure what loadout for the Falcon really.  Dash, Nien Nunb and the Engine Upgrade are pretty much just the "fill it in" portion.  Like lots of Green on the dial, no Obstructed Shots...  But guessing that I could find other ways to spend 7-8 points that might be better...  Maybe.  Have to admit I like flying Dash's ship, and Lone Wolf on it is insanely powerful for 2 points...  Yes, it means you are NOT running a swarm of ships, but not really a problem I am thinking on these bigger, more expensive ships.  Horn's E-Wing is just REALLY powerful.  I would put it certainly as the rebel's most powerful or best Fighter.  Right up there with the Imperial TIE Phantom and its cloaking shenanigans...  Oh, and 4 Dice Attack...  The E-Wing is FAST, with regenerating Shields, extra Actions and Horn's ability to do a second Attack every other Turn?  I have finished off several other Fighters with his "Double Tap" to get in the extra shot...  Then run like Hell the next turn as your guns cool down :-)  So, that 48 point block is fixed...  Need to pick up the Scum set for the Mangler Cannon (well, that ans the really fun Y-Wings and Z-95's...)...  Having the Heaver Laser Cannon is nice, but Outrider is an extra 5 points, and it leaves you VERY vulnerable to anyone who can get inside of your main Cannon's range...  And flying WITH the Cannon fixed into the Front Arc is OK, but pretty darn expensive for a 2 Dice Attack if they can get outside of your main Arc...  3 Dice, flipping a Hit to a Critical is about where I'd want it, and I think it might be worth the 9 points it takes to get the 360 Arc for that...  Guess I'll see what Saturday brings...

30/40K, and Store Championships this week

So, looking like Warhammer 40K will expand to include 30K and the Horus Heresy…  On one hand I am thrilled.  Forgeworld has put out some absolutely AMAZING minis, and to be honest I think their rules are pretty well balanced and every bit as good as the ones put forth by the main company.   Not setting the bar very high I know.  And if they do things like make the Siege Shields into Storm Shields and get the Grav Guns consistent between the systems then it will be a very good thing.  Since I really like the “old” style Armor, having it in plastic should get the price down a bit or at least I would hope…  Heck, Knights, Titans and Superheavies are already in 40K so the old argument of “those things do not belong in 40K” should be dead.  I suppose that the Chaos folks who wanted to play Legion forces might get to as they essentially did not really change much from the end of the Heresy…  Well, the Thousand Sons did, but, when you go with the “Changer of Ways” and his keen sense of irony (For those not familiar, look up what happened to the Legionnaires with the Rubric of Ahriman) you take your chances I guess.

Lots of Ingress being played…  I was quite content to keep my own little “Fortress Tolono”, but a few players on the other team seem to have other plans and have gone out of their way to mess up my little setups.  So, I have gone forth and attacked, moving more to the role of a “line breaker” and destroying a lot of stuff…  Almost level 10 now, certainly would not be had I been left alone…    So, kind of the Shadow philosophy from Babylon 5 with conflict making the next generation stronger in some ways.  I have gotten quite good at tearing down Resistance fields and have actually walked almost 500 km, despite the particularly bad weather.  Almost time to get back to running, I still plan on running in the 5k race at the end of June, so need to get in much better shape by then.

Narrowed down my lists for the X-Wing Store Championships at the Gopher to:

Ten Numb — B-Wing	31
Veteran Instincts	1
Ion Cannon	3
Mercenary Copilot	2
B-Wing/E2	1
Blue Squadron Pilot — B-Wing	22
Fire-Control System	2
Heavy Laser Cannon	7
Blue Squadron Pilot — B-Wing	22
Fire-Control System	2
Heavy Laser Cannon	7

Or

Corran Horn — E-Wing	35
Push the Limit	3
Fire-Control System	2
R2-D2	4
Engine Upgrade	4
Dash Rendar — YT-2400	36
Lone Wolf	2
Heavy Laser Cannon	7
Navigator	3
Engine Upgrade	4

Not a LOT of difference I guess really…  First gives me 3 B-Wings to stay back as best I can and take long ranged shots.  Ion cannon there to try to get the unblockable hit and mess up the TIE Phantoms and their cloaking annoyance, or mess up other higher PS fighters.  The dual Heavy Laser Cannons are just there to hit things hard at range.  Nothing subtle, hopefully free Target Locks to help get more hits on the big ships.  Second one is more interesting, the E-Wing is VERY hard to kill and has the potential to get in 2 4 dice attacks with Target Locks and it is FAST…  Dash just dances through the asteroids and has a great deal of potential there.  Usually dies as his ship is probably one of the weakest Large ships…  But fast, maneuvers well and with a turret, it almost always HAS a shot.  I still do not like the “donut” with the Outrider making the cannon a turret.  No range 1 shots at all then if you have the Heavy Laser Cannon…  When the “Mangler” Cannon comes out, this will I think change for me.  And word is this week, so MAYBE before Saturday for this Store Championship…  The other store in town I am allowed in has theirs next month, so almost certainly by then…  And the Scum and Villainy faction will have hit in full…  Ordered most of what I intend to buy already from the Gopher…  When the boats unload and the Firesprays (Boba Fett’s ship) hit again, I will be getting one of those…  A lot of things that can be this faction or another…  The Scum Y-wing looks REALLY fun to fly, and I am looking forward to that…  Beyond that?  Eh, not sure I have any real interest in most of the “new” ships…  Kind of hoping FFG keeps going when the new movie(s) hit and there are some new things in the pipeline…  But one never knows when dealing with the Mouse….

Harlequins, FoW and more X-Wing stuff...

So, another codex out for 40k...  Just looked it over and it looks decent...  Harlequins next, and with a lot of their stuff already out in White Dwarf form, not a lot of surprises I think...  Sadly, i have a bunch of the ancient Harlequins from the original RT era ones even still have a full box set unpainted in the original box...  Not really an accomplishment, more a statement on how little I painted over the years I think.  They look good and lacking the "slightly" OP Wave Serpent, should be an interesting army to play. And I miss the ancient times when the Solitaire was the single most feared threat in close combat on the table, even taking down Genestealers on average rolls...

Weirdly, found a few ancient 15mm Tigers in the Basement of Doom...  I remember those being unholy terrors when I started playing Flames of War...  Until my Airborne troopers with their "Everyone has a damn Bazooka" mentality hit, I had no real answer for them...

X-Wing play continues....  Really liking the game so far.  Have to say that I am kind of looking forward to the "Scum and Villainy" expansion.  More Z-95's and Y-Wings I am familiar with...  The other ships, not so much.  Some REALLY good upgrades though.  The Mangler cannon for one.  4 points for a 3 dice attack, switching one hit to a critical.  More importantly for my YT-2400 builds, it is range 1-3 so I can make it a 360 arc and lose the range one blind spot.  The other Scum ships are OK I think as well.  So far seeing a fair amount of variety as far as fleets go.  For Imperial squadrons, the Decimator is really popular.  It is hard to kill quickly, and with the large base and a 360 arc hits pretty hard.  It pairs well with TIE Phantoms and swarms of regular TIEs...  Good, but certainly not unbeatable.  Phantoms with their cloaking tricks are annoying and with a base 4 dice primary attack, I see them as the Klingon B'Rel or Bird of Prey class...  Hit hard and maneuverable, but somewhat fragile.  So, I fight against them the same way playing my Rebels the same way my Federation fleet flies in STAW...  Still having a hard time getting the part that the bulk of the missiles and torpedoes are single shot (discard) upgrades.  That makes less sense to me given the fact most still require a target lock and the discard makes it even more painful.  Have seen and used the card combo of the Advanced Proton Torpedoes, Deadeye and a Recon Specialist to get the two Focus tokens, one to fire the Torpedo and one to convert the up to three blanks that the Torpedo card converts to Focus over to Hits...  So it SHOULD hit for at least three damage, usually 4-5.  But it is a one shot and discard trick.  Good enough to usually kill off a single fighter that you catch at range one...  Oh, that is another thing with the combo, only range one...  But while you can put a hurt on a large ship, not likely to kill it.  SO many things to line up that the combo is just hard to pull off.  I use a B-Wing that allows for Torpedoes to be fired outside of normal arc, but more experienced players know about this, so avoid it pretty easily.  

But Thursday is another X-Wing free play night, have a few things to test before the Armored Gopher's Store Championship on the 28th...  I have it narrowed down to two builds I think that I want to tweak.  The Corran Horn (E-Wing) and Dash Rendar (YT-2400) makes for a pretty powerful duo...  But just two ships, I am concerned about getting overrun by a Swarm...  The other build has just three ships though, and frankly not so sure how that will work.  We'll see I guess :-)...

So, first X-Wing event today...

So, first X-Wing event today...

I was playing:
YT-2400 with Dash, Navigator, Heavy Laser and Engine Upgrade coming to 50 points even...

Have to say that the Navigator was the MVP...  Getting to change the speed up on my chosen maneuver, then ignore the Asteroids and boost or barrel roll out of firing arcs and sometimes even using the Heavy Laser...  Did not actually shoot down all that much, but the speed and agility meant I survived quite well...  And of course, dancing through the asteroids helped keep me alive longer...

So, I have the basis for my Store Championship Squadron...  Thinking this, a B-Wing and...  Either another B-Wing, a Y-Wing, or...  Will have to see, and I have a few weeks to test it.

So, Necrons... Oh, and FoW/X-Wing a bit...

So, Necrons…

               

                Neat overall I think…  My only real gripe is that they actually made Gauss better…  Still Glances on a 6, and now automatically Wounds on a 6 as well.  Not QUITE Rending, but it does seem that the Necrons are really built specifically to take down anything “big” hard and fast.  Rapid firing at say that nice expensive Land Raider from a Squad of basic troops might not erase the Raider, but it has a really good chance of doing 2+ Glances, so it might take 2 rounds of fire or 2 Squads firing at the 250+ point Raider to kill it.  They did kill the silliness of Tesla rolling 6’s to hit on Snap Fire generating the 2 additional hits and they seem like they overall balanced a LOT of the loopholes and stupid tricks that just made playing against a well-built Necron force painful and “less fun” to play against.  Having the cheap spammable flyers go up in point cost a fair chunk (130 from 100 IIRC) is really important, as is limiting the access to them…  Of course, that the Gauss of the basic Troops has gained so very much against the big MC type builds, I am not thinking that is so much of a bad thing for the Necrons…  A lot of the shenanigans with the weird 5^th edition HQ things are apparently gone, and that is a VERY good thing.  Loads of Formations and the like, so guessing there will be new things to break the system, but overall it is looking quite well balanced…  If only they did not so easily kill the nice things I would like to be able to play without feeling like an idiot J…

How well will they balance against the Eldar?  Not a clue really…  I think it would at the very least be a bloody fight from what little I have actually read on this…  The Wave Serpent of the Eldar I think still tilts things slightly in their favor, but the sheer number of Glances that the “deep striking” Troops from their Invasion Beams should make short work of anything that the Necrons can get close to…  So, I think it will come down to the better player fielding the “buckets of dice” approach.  Eldar DO have a huge advantage in mobility I think which will allow them to recover from mistakes and force the issue on the Necrons…

FOW has my 82^nd Airborne lads back to the top of the painting queue…  After this weekend, might even get back to painting again.  Have my Rhulic Dwarves as well…  They are almost base coated and will be finished I think by the next League’s end…  Big mess of bonus points as I have yet to really complete painting ANY of that army.  Close and a lot of it is base coated at least, waiting on details and dipping in the stain J…  NOT actually dipped, but I do use the Minwax to get the really nice effect and it does help provide a nice protective coating…

X-Wing, first actual event coming up Saturday at Winter War, 50 points, team event apparently, so I’ll be flying a YT-2400 with Dash, Navigator, Heavy Laser and Engine Upgrade.  Comes to 50 points exactly, can ignore Asteroids for movement and actions, Navigator allows me to change my speed, and I can then Boost if need be or Barrel Roll…  Both with the Large Ship base make it really maneuverable…  A little light on Damage with the Heavy Laser being locked in front arc, but it DOES have a 360 arc that I can shoot for 3 Dice at range 1…  Then in a few more weeks I have the Store Championships at the Gopher…  Straight 100 points, not 100% sure what I will fly there, but am REALLY liking the YT-2400 , Y-Wing and B-Wing Squadron I have been play testing…  Not a lot of Ships or frankly a huge amount of Damage all at once, but annoyingly survivable…  We will see I guess.  I suspect I will lose badly to the far better builds and players, but it is a fun game…

Game Funk...

Game Funk…    

And not the smelly gamer funk.  Mostly just hitting a wall or darker patch in my gaming.  Plus side, and it is a HUGE one being that I have my X-Wing stuff and that game locally (though ironically not at the Gopher…  We’ll have to change that) is going strong.  Pretty much what is keeping me sane game wise. 

Warmachine is in a Journeyman League now and my chosen army (Rhullic) has so few options in this setting that it simply does not interest me at all.  Yes, my fault for choosing an extremely limited Army like this.  But I wanted a nice small (pun unintended, but I’ll take it) Army to get back into the game and get in some play time.  I felt my Circle had too much potential to stay as broken and silly as I remembered them being.  And I suspect I would have played them hyper aggressively like normal and it would have gone badly for the other newer players facing me as I tend to let myself go and just kill everything in my path…  I have only faced the Circle once since coming back, and it was a much newer player so my Cygnar “shoot early and often” force did well.  I suspect strongly that had a more seasoned player been playing and choosing the army I would have been swept off the table.  Kind of the feeling I get playing that game though, there was a pretty steep learning curve coming from 1^st edition to 2^nd edition, and a lot of what I had in the ancient (for Warmachine’s timeline) times is simply not useful or effective enough against the modern stuff.  So, while I have a HUGE Cygnar force in terms of numbers of figures, not a lot of it would do much on the table I think.  Yes, I can make a LOT of it effective, depending on the matchups, but I think Cygnar is low to middle of the pack in terms of effectiveness.  Decent, but too easy to find hard counters to.  OTOH, it HAS a lot of absolutely hard counters to some of the other forces, so things like my Gun Mages are annoying and potentially amazing especially against things that cannot live without their otherwise strong immunities to things like shooting them with non-magical weapons… 

40K…  Necrons release is…  Well, now I guess.  So far seen pretty much all of the changes, and it does seem to bring them back in line with the current things leaving the Eldar alone as the “oops” Army or “Elephant in the room” as it were WRT the competitive armies.  Wonder how long until they get changed.  Could be a simple FAQ change to the Wave Serpent Shield and I suspect a lot of people will see the Army as being powerful, but not completely unbalanced.  Will that bring me back to playing?  Eh, not any time soon.  Fortunately, my wonderful wife is very good about humoring my tendency to horde so many games/armies and assorted toys, so I will likely HAVE the option to get back to it at some point.

Dug up my FoW stuff…  Lots of lads in various OD Green uniforms…  I painted up my initial US Airborne force in the 1943/44 style, so they are “Mid War”…  I have a Platoon of the old M3 Grants ready to roll out…  And a few M-3 Stuarts to go with my 82^nd force…  One of my Grandfathers was an Armored Cavalry commander during the war, and I know he commanded M-3’s in Africa then later some M-4 Shermans and M-5 Stuarts in Europe, more nostalgia than “effective tanks”.  My Battery of 75mm Pack Howitzers is still pretty nice, though I’ve had them overrun a few times by faster German forces…  My FoW is very much “Airborne” with Mech support….  May flesh it out some to have my 8^th ID/12^th Engineers force which surprisingly changed VERY little from 1944 to 1990 when I was assigned to them.  Changed in the M-3 Halftracks for M-113’s, but…  And we still were issued some of the same damn weapons.  My sidearm was an old M1911A1 manufactured by Colt in 1935, the Squad AT weapon (officially at least, we always “secured” LAWs or AT-4’s) was an ancient 90mm Recoilless Rifle.  The M-3 Grease Gun was still our submachine gun I carried loaded out with tracer rounds to mark for air support…  Oh, and to set bunkers of ammo on fire apparently as “recon by fire” was what we did in Iraq briefly…  Soviet ammo shipped in wooden cases, and tracer rounds…  Well, let’s just say there were a few fires and leave it at that J…  So, FoW is a fun game, but NOT one I think is well suited to Tournaments, and I guess I have not kept up with a lot of the recent releases where the balance issues are apparently quite bad.  works in small, limited groups well enough as a fun game though...

Waiting on D&D and STAW Attack Wings to start back up...  D&D I have a bit more hope in the long term for, and I will be snagging the Silver Dragon with the Paladin rider :-)...  Will look great on a shelf if nothing else...

X-Wing and motorcycles...

So, got in a few more games of X-Wing…  Think I have it mostly figured out and I faced the dreaded Tie Phantoms and the Decimator…  Wow, that thing is TOUGH.  Not agile, but 4 shields and 12 Hull?  Makes the YT-2400 seem like an oversized Fighter…  Which it really is of course.  I LOVE the way it flies especially with Dash at the helm ignoring the obstacles.  Does NOT ignore other ships, so bumping with the large base is a problem.  Especially if the other player is really good like Nick is…  Has the Intel Agent crew card on all of his ships so he can see enemy dials in Range 1-2, so the low Pilot Skill of the generic Pilots is less a problem as he tries to block in your ships and move out of your arcs, etc…  Not a lot I could do, the Phantoms are 4 Dice attacks each, and the Cloaking devices make them really maneuverable.  In every game I think I got them, but never did get through the Decimator itself.  Did a lot of Damage but the thing was too tough for my builds. 

Got my builds a lot more focused:

YT-2400 with Dash and the Heavy Laser…  And ?  Engine Upgrade and Anti Pursuit Lasers are pretty nice…  The Engine Upgrade on a large based ship though?  Um, yes please!  Especially with the ability to ignore the Asteroids…  Need to figure out what Crew, etc…

Liking the Y-Wing, but of course getting it killed in a single turn is possible if they say get the Decimator AND both Phantoms able to catch one at close range…

A-Wing?  FAST.  And the one I was flying was Jake Ferrell.  The Boost or Barrel Roll as a free action after a Focus along with all the Green maneuvers to clear Stress tokens….  And a Green 5 forward?  The ONLY real down side was that 2 Attack really…  Fast, fairly survivable but just did not do enough damage really…

Have not flown an X or E Wing yet…  They both look “OK”, just don’t really fit in a 100 point list with the bigger ship…  Worried about the lowish Damage output on a decent frame not really being enough to keep up.

Z-95 was OK…  Not very survivable and low damage output.  Against Swarms, it will do well, but I am not sure I want to fly it in the Store Championships…

The Winter War event is 50 points, NOT 100 so looking like either a single YT-2400 or maybe a pair of decent fighters.  More likely the YT that my wife got me for Christmas from the Gopher J  Thanks again folks!

Motorcycle, both of the current ones have people interested in them and I found a 1984 Goldwing with the alternator conversion in the price range…  So, maybe the updated bike will be hitting the road soon…  Plus side, easy to transport X-Wing on any of those bikes...

X-Wing, a bit of 40K and basement/motorcycles...

So…  More X-Wing in…  So far so good.  Still losing more than winning of course, but I think I have a much better understanding of what is actually going on.  Swarms are brutal, but vulnerable to Assault Missiles and have VERY real issues flying in and around the Asteroid fields…  So, learning the importance of placing the obstacles and using them to force contact on my own terms.  The YT-2400 with Dash at the helm and its ability to simply ignore them is HUGE…  at least for me learning the game…  I suspect someone who has played the game a long time will not be nearly so impressed with this ability.  But placing a dense field out there then flying in and around it keeps the TIEs at a distance and leaves them vulnerable to being picked apart…  Of course, if they can keep me away from the field and line up on me…  Well, it will be a much shorter game then.

Liking the Rebel Heavy Fighters…  B-Wings are probably my favorites from a “how they work” aspect.  Have to be careful flying them, but good firepower and surprising maneuverability…  Lack the crew/droid slot on their base model, but thanks to the Rebel Aces pack…  That can be fixed for a price.  Some amusing combos allowing 360 degree firing arcs on a fighter that can sideslip into range/arcs, and even with the standard 90 degree arc, it is at the least a fun one to play.  Depends on Shields a LOT, and I can see why the R2-D2 addition would make this insanely over powered.  I HAVE pretty much the rest of the Rebel ships, and while I always liked the Y-Wing myself…  Just having a harder time flying them.  It is pretty much like the Dominion BB in STAW…  Decent attack, but flies like a Battleship.  And the TIEs just run circles around it.  Staying in formation and skirting theirs make it OK, but not something that makes me feel much like I really have a chance against them.  So, they tend to be on my “second line” builds. 

For whatever reason I just don’t find the “swarm” builds all that interesting to fly.  So, while I love the Z-95’s for the fluff (Han’s old fighter in one of the ancient books I read when I was a kid IIRC) reasons and they are fun “filler” elements for my builds I just don’t see myself playing all A-Wings and Z-95’s…  The A-Wings are FAST.  Neat, but very fragile for my tastes.  A Rapier to my preferred Bastard Sword…  Since I feel that the ability to TAKE damage is important, probably more so than moving fast…  Well, I will certainly give them a shot, but they’ll never be my preferred fighter I think.  And the Z-95s are really just cheap.  While the quote attributed to Stalin going along the lines of “Quantity has a quality all its own”...  So, they are good for the points, but certainly NOT great fighters...

The X-Wings I’ve seen used are good…  Nothing OP certainly in general, more “meh” than “OMG”.  Shields and Hull giving you a “5” value for Health…  Not sure if X-Wing players use this sort of valuation like the STAW folks…  But it gives a pretty decent “how hard will it be to kill” level, and given X-Wing’s MUCH lower Attack values across the board it should give a pretty decent estimate how long something is expected to live in the game.  In STAW, I had the ability to one shot a LOT of good Capitol ships (pretty much anything short of a Borg or BB decked out, and even those knew damn good and well that I was there…) which made some aspects of the game FAR more important.  The ability to move across the field and deliver enough Attack Dice to get in that first Alpha Strike was something to be well aware of.  The general lack of terrain there was/is a big issue, especially once the Borg hit the field.  X-Wing has terrain and I have not really seen anything like the silliness of a Borg Cube moving from one DZ to another on Turn one and killing 1-2 enemy ships before they really get to do anything.  But back to the X-Wings themselves…  Good, but really niche I think.  Biggs with his “shoot me first” ability keeps others alive long enough to get off their shots, and a few others have interesting uses…  But not great firepower or maneuverability make it something I am less excited about.  Kind of the “Space Marine” of X-Wing…  The title character, and the basis of the stats for everything else, but seems like its time has passed…  We’ll see if they continue in this role or if some expansion comes out to modify them like the A and B Wings…

About to get back to cleaning the “Basement of Doom™”, and moving my minis around again.   Found a big box of my Fleshtearers and it got me thinking about 40K a bit…  Apparently Necrons are coming out in the short term (next week or two?  Who knows with GW’s continuing lack of anything like announcements…).  We’ll see what if anything they do to change up the silliness of the cheap overly effective flier transports the Crons have now.  And rumor has the stupidity of Gauss getting changed…  We’ll see I guess.  But until those things change it is very hard to see ANY forces being close to the top tier ones.  The BA book was nice enough on my quick read through, but of course the DLC effect of having half of the Formations NOT in the damn $50 book is beyond grating to me.  Yes, I know that is how they make money, but sorry to say it has cost them a fair number of players locally.  Mind, this is almost certainly short term, but my hobby dollars are NOT going to GW anymore, and I am not the only one.  Wizkids, FFG and Privateer Press look like they are getting pretty much 100% of my hobby money.  Of course with the sheer number of GW (and FW) figs I HAVE, not like I’m needing to buy much at all to get back to 40K when the cycle changes again.  But then there is still a group playing locally and I was pretty darn close to a 100% painted Fleshtearers force…  My IG and Wolves were FAR from tabletop quality painting due mostly to the sheer number of minis involved with the IG Light Rifles Company (Praetorians) and the reality that I tended to get bored quickly painting the exact same figure over and over in the late 1800’s British Infantry scheme…  With the Wolves, I stripped a bunch and started to get them base coated and then the 40K malaise hit.  Crept in really…  I was doing the Wolves as a VI Legion force in the original 30K colors and with so many ancient minis, fielding a 30K force was fun for a bit.  Then of course the extremely limit nature of “Crusade Era Marines” hit…  The basic Marine is simply not enough to field on the current battlefield and it was not nearly so much fun playing a game where I knew I had no chance in reality…  Guessing when the basement is cleaner I will get around to more painting, but that looks like it is a while off…

Ingress has taken over my current “gaming” for the most part during the day at least…  Wandering around campus hacking and taking over portals for the “Enlightened” (green team)…  Before I messed up my leg a few weeks back, was getting in a LOT of walking during my days.  Now, well…  Not quite so much.  But made level 8 a while back, and my wife is humoring my desire to wander about a wee bit to play Ingress…  And my youngest at least is getting into the game and wandering about a bit with me.  Spring with taking the dog out to various parks might be interesting to Ingress in other places…

Still gearing up to clean ancient firearms, probably to sell/trade off...  And of course the 2 Motorcycles.to get back to working order and sold...  Kind of annoying as I really like the Silverwing, just doesn't have QUITE enough leg room or top end speed to take onto Interstates.  Not a clue what if anything I will replace them with.  Definitely WANT another motorcycle of course, just honestly nothing too specific is jumping out at me.  Shaft drive, 1000cc engine or larger, forward controls or highway pegs to stretch my legs out a bit...  So, probably a Goldwing or the like...  Saddlebags are a must, the trunk less so.  Like the backpack on the passenger backrest that the Magna has, seems to fit my personality well...  We'll see I guess.  Looking like we're getting a new truck (SUV) to replace the Ford Escape, so much lower priority the motorcycle is... 

X-Wing learning curve...

So, got in several more games of X-Wing this evening at the Gopher…  Played the YT-2400 in all of the games, only one with the “Outrider” title.  Have to say, was less impressed with that.  My opponent was quite good, and was able to fairly easily get to Range one where I could not shoot him with the Heavy Laser.  Next several games I used the same basic ship, but without the Outrider…  Got in a good number of the 4 Dice Attacks in the forward arc, and the 360˚ arc with 2-3 Dice attacks including the important Range 1 bracket…  Have to say that Leebo was “meh” as well.  Saw only one Critical hit in 3 games, and it was not a “Pilot” so he was not able to ignore it.  Ignoring the Obstacles with Dash as Pilot will I think be far better in almost every case.  And higher Skill as well…  The Assault Missiles were REALLY nice as well.  The Z-95 was OK, and pretty useless once it fired its missile, so not 100% sure on that, but it was useful in every case….  Throwing out a LOT of damage and punishing formation flying.  Shame it is a “missile” and so I have very few ships I can use it with.

Torpedoes were quite useful.  Note, I did NOT use them, just caught them when fired J…  So, will be using them.  The Rebel Aces pack has a LOT of really nice stuff in it, and will be flying a few of those ships I think…  Both of the B-Wing aces are good, and flew one myself…  Think both will be used regularly….  I did find it ironic that the A-Wing had three copies of the -2 point “upgrade” for A-Wings in the official “we overpriced the ship” admission…   Getting the Crew slot for B-Wings as well makes for some great combos…  Noticed that the card combos are NOT anywhere near so silly as the potential ones in STAW.  And another major plus, I’m already almost done buying stuff for the X-Wing system.  There are simply not nearly so many releases in this one.  Doubt I will get the Frigate or Transport for the Rebels…  The Transport at least has a decent X-Wing or two in there, but $60 for a few X-Wing cards and a big Transport I will likely not use… 

But on to the learning curve portion...  So far have found the lack of action types on most ships to be a problem.  Finding very few action bars on X-Wing ships...  Example:  Almost every STAW ship has the "Evade" action which can be thought of as the "default" action when moving, just in case you need it later if you do not at that time have a shot, etc...  Not seeing many Rebel ships at least that have that action at all.  Barrel Roll/Sensor Echo is nice, and NOT linked to Cloaked like in STAW, but still makes thing darn maneuverable...

Biggest thing is that the card combos are NOT nearly the OP thing they can become in STAW.  Some powerful things, yes...  But no way to throw out 12+ Attack Dice or have infinite attack cancellation...  

So, sounds like there is a big group playing but unfortunately NOT at the game store I go to…  Might check the other one out, have to say I am really liking the “wing” games.  The Warmachine/Hordes group at the Gopher is large and growing.  So, at least there is one game there.  So, the Warmachine is continuing I guess as well…  Will have to proxy the one Heavy Jack as I never bought another after I went back to the game…  Well, not THAT mech, I have the other Heavies of that faction…  Just can’t see the point of bringing a non-shooting Jack that is just so slow and defenseless…

So, the learning curve for X-Wing is not bad at all I think, looking forward to more games,   :-)  Let's see if more folks don't get out to the Store Championships...

Ah, more X-Wing stuff...

So…  Learning the X-Wing stuff and going through the requisite early losses to learn the system…  Though having said that, it is kind of feeling VERY familiar and like the “Maverick” movie with Mr. Gibson and his proclamation to lose until a set point…  Getting the hang quickly.  Which is good as there are a number of events coming up for this system that I am planning on attending.  NOT planning on winning of course, but certainly planning on playing for the win.  Will see better this weekend what the “local meta” actually is.  Since I will only play the Rebels, my Squadron selection is pretty easy…  Or it would be if I could just make up my mind J…  With my lovely wife’s support on the Christmas present of doom, I have a lot more in the line of choices…

YT-2400

2 X-Wings

2 B-Wings

1-2 Z95s

Y-Wing

E-Wing

My initial inclination is:

YT-2400 (Leebo, Determination, Heavy Laser Cannon, Dash Rendar, Outrider) 49

B-Wing (Ten Numb) 31

Z-95 (Airen Cracken) 19

Leaves me with one point left over for something random or Initiative…  Seem like it would be a decent build for a beginner with a tough to kill ship supported by the 2 Fighters, one of which at least is a decent gunboat, the other really just there for the free action/support

Other than that I have been thinking of running a fairly standard 4 Fighter Squadron of:

B-Wing (Ten Numb) 31

E-Wing (Etahn A’baht, R2-D2) 36

Z-95 (Airen Cracken) 19

Z-95 (Bandit ) 12

Some amusing combos with Ten’s one Crit not being able to be dodged, Etahn’s ability to give ALL other attackers the ability to change a hit to a critical and free action from Airen.  Not throwing a lot of dice down range, but pretty high quality I think…  Other variant with LT Blount and the Assault Missiles for the “it just hits” and causes damage to a swarm.  Not sure, if the swarm of TIEs is a thing locally, then this will definitely be a good one, else…  Situational, and not likely to be something I bother with…

Brings me to a question…  What, if any is the difference between “Missile” and “Torpedo” in this game?  Both seem exactly the same, it really does seem to be just something that FFG is using to control access to certain “missiles” that might cause balance issues if they were more generally available…  But both in this system are things secondary weapons requiring a Target Lock and a Discard of the upgrade to fire, so functionally identical.