X-Wing, S&V Aces?

Getting ready for the next League event at Titan next weekend…  Here I have what is for me a fairly standard “Ghost” list…  Essentially, Hera with the ability to change her dial a lot, the Autoblaster Turret with the Accuracy Corrector for the automatic 2 Damage at Range 1…  Well, 4 Damage assuming they cannot get out of Range 1…  Knowing when to deploy the Attack Shuttle as well is going to be important…  The AS is every bit as good as an X-Wing really, better I think with Sabine and an Autoblaster Turret of her own…  Jake in the A-Wing?  Not 100% sold on Juke really…  Lone Wolf maybe?

HeraSabineJake (100)

Hera Syndulla — VCX-100	40
Accuracy Corrector	3
Autoblaster Turret	2
Intelligence Agent	1
Nien Nunb	1
Ghost	0
Ship Total: 47
Sabine Wren — Attack Shuttle	21
Crack Shot	1
Autoblaster Turret	2
Phantom	0
Ship Total: 24
Jake Farrell — A-Wing	24
Juke	2
Chardaan Refit	-2
Push the Limit	3
Autothrusters	2
A-Wing Test Pilot	0
Ship Total: 29

The S&V list I am looking at interests me a bit more I think…

Jumpmasters 1 (100)

Dengar — JumpMaster 5000	33
Predator	3
Zuckuss	1
R5-P8	3
Engine Upgrade	4
Punishing One	12
Ship Total: 56
Tel Trevura — JumpMaster 5000	30
Deadeye	1
Proton Torpedoes	4
Extra Munitions	2
"Gonk"	2
R4 Agromech	2
Hull Upgrade	3
Ship Total: 44

Since as I see it, S&V have Aces, but none on small bases…  IG-88, Dengar, Fett, etc…  Comparing them to their Small Base counterparts?  I’ve flown Talon Cobrabane a fair number of times, and if he had even one more action on his action bar, his Kihraxz would actually be almost in the same league as the Rebel Aces certainly, close enough to the Imperials to actually compete I think.  The Cloaking Device was great while it worked, but +4 points for one that is not nearly so good as the Imperial one.  If I had a Barrel Roll or native Boost for repositioning that I think the real Aces need to remain competitive.  Kavil is the only other named one I use regularly.  Good, solid Pilot, but certainly NOT what I would call an Ace.  The Fighters that S&V have are not quite as good as the main Military ships the other Factions have.  The M3A, the Starviper and

In any case, with this build, I was finding the PS 3 of the Contracted Scout to be too great of a disadvantage really.  Dengar kitted out like this IS a decent Ace himself and he should be able to hunt down his Imperial counterparts easily enough.  Tel is kitted out as a Torpedo Boat herself…  And with the ability to not die the first time I can just use it as a tank to take risks and put the ship in positions I would avoid normally…  Hull upgrade in place of the Guidance Chips…  Not 100% on that.  That would free up 3 points for something else…  Just no clue what that would be honestly…  These 2 ships are pretty much maxxed out as it

Looking like I’ll play test this list next week over lunches…  Access to a lot of conference rooms means I can schedule stuff like this J…

More X-Wing list building...

Looking at 3 potential builds for the 1 May League tournament at Titan…  MOSTLY looking at the first 2, both of which are essentially 2 ship builds.  In one, the Attack Shuttle CAN pop out and potentially be a pretty decent fighter…  The second has a ship that does not die the first time, so I essentially get a redo with it…  “Cheat Death” from STAW, but better here I think…

HeraSabineJake (100)

Hera Syndulla — VCX-100	40
Accuracy Corrector	3
Autoblaster Turret	2
Intelligence Agent	1
Nien Nunb	1
Ghost	0
Ship Total: 47
Sabine Wren — Attack Shuttle	21
Crack Shot	1
Autoblaster Turret	2
Phantom	0
Ship Total: 24
Jake Farrell — A-Wing	24
Juke	2
Chardaan Refit	-2
Push the Limit	3
Autothrusters	2
A-Wing Test Pilot	0
Ship Total: 29

With the first, I am looking at swapping Leebo in for the Intel Agent and Crack Shot…  Having the ability to DO a boost with the Ghost, even if it gives me an Ion Token? Might be the thing that puts her into Range 1 at a really important time, or gets me out of a jam…  Besides, need 2 Ions to hurt the ship so it is not nearly so bad…  But the Intel Agent and ability to change my own maneuver on reveal is pretty huge…  So, kind of depends on where I want to go with this.  The Attack Shuttle as I said is a decent Fighter on its own, frankly it is a bit better than the iconic X-Wing I think…  Sabine has the ability to position herself fairly well, only really outmatched by the real Aces like Fel or Vader…  With Crack Shot and the Autoblaster Turret, she should pose an actual threat…  And bear in mind, it IS a 4 Dice attack at Range 1…  Not HUGE of course, but not to be ignored I think…  I cannot imagine an instance where the Ghost with its 5 Dice Attack and the Phantom’s 4 Dice would be able to hit the same target, but facing say, a Y-Wing TLT spam list?  Or a U-Boat list perhaps I could throw out enough damage to really mess up that list quickly…  But giving up the rear arc and the additional Turret attack?  More likely to be a deploy when shields are gone and there are 6+ Damage through on the hull…  Jake goes with Juke or Lone Wolf to be a fast flanker…  Decent fighter, but with only 4 HP/Shields, he is not very survivable should his Green Dice fail…  But VERY fun to zoom about the board with…

Second is:

Jumpmasters 1 (100)

Dengar — JumpMaster 5000	33
Predator	3
Zuckuss	1
R5-P8	3
Engine Upgrade	4
Punishing One	12
Ship Total: 56
Tel Trevura — JumpMaster 5000	30
Predator	3
Proton Torpedoes	4
Extra Munitions	2
"Gonk"	2
Hull Upgrade	3
Ship Total: 44

With the second list…  Well, Scum & Villainy have Aces, but as far as I can tell the only good ones are the ones on Large Base ships…  Boba Fett is quite good, the IG-88’s are all excellent…  I think Dengar has a LOT of potential.  Especially with Predator and Zuckuss to allow me to force re-rolls…  Dengar is really daring people to joust with him…  Tel I have kitted out as a Torpedo boat/tank…  If no other actions are needed, “Gonk” stores a Shield or replaces one…  With the 6 Hull, I get to stay on the board after the first death and just end up with 4 new face down Damage cards…  So, I SHOULD be able to run away, Regenerate up Shields and potentially even deny the 50% points for the ship being below 50%...  Allows me to make some what would otherwise be foolhardy choices with this ship, knowing I can likely survive…  This one I see more as a “fun” list…  Nothing too serious, but it could throw a big wrench into the Imperial Ace lists that are dominating locally…

Third list is:

XXX (100)

Poe Dameron — T-70 X-Wing	31
Adaptability	0
R5-P9	3
Autothrusters	2
Ship Total: 36
Wes Janson — X-Wing	29
Adaptability	0
BB-8	2
Integrated Astromech	0
Ship Total: 31
Wedge Antilles — X-Wing	29
Adaptability	0
R2-D2	4
Integrated Astromech	0
Ship Total: 33

Nothing much to this one frankly…  3 decent X-Wings, some nice Pilot Abilities that mesh well together…  Wes has the ability to strip tokens from a Defender after attacking…  Focus, Evade or Target Locks…  So he should be able to really mess with anything relying on Ordnance to hit my ships…  Also, the Uber Aces camping on tokens?  Hit or miss, they become use it or lose it things then, should allow the other X-Wings to get in some decent shots…  Problem is, they’re still just X-Wings…  Sounds bad, but like 40K where the iconic thing in that universe (the Space Marine) is “meh” at best in the game…  Well, that’s where I think the X-Wing fits in here…  Is OK, but seems a few points too expensive across the board, especially as time goes on and new thing come out…  The T-70 X-Wings are better, but that does leave a lot of the older T-65’s feeling like the game simply passed them by.  And even the T-70’s are going to have a difficult time against most of the modern “top tier” lists…  But something to think about at least…

Titan League Month 1 AAR and rebuild for 1 May...

Well, that was a “less successful” league outing for me J…  Wound up going 1-2 with one complete (100-0) victory, one close loss and one total loss (0-100)…  I flew against Rob (? I think, good guy, a regular, I am just terrible with names)…  He had 2 of the Jumpmasters like me and a YV-666 loaded with Bossk crew and the usual…  He did have Plasma Torpedoes rather than Protons loaded out, which I think was not as good…  He did strip one shield, but the additional accuracy and Criticals I think are far better…  This one I lost, but it was very close. 

Second one was against a Rebel list of Poe (R5-P9, AT?), Corran Horn (R2-D2, other) and an A-Wing PS1 Pilot as a blocker…  One of the Aces had Lone Wolf, but they were flying in close formation…  I essentially rushed the Aces, lined up shots on Poe and he disintegrated…  The E-Wing lasted a bit longer, but the 2 Torpedo boats and Talonbane were able to run him to ground quickly…  He HAD to keep using Greens to regenerate Shields, so I knew where he’d be…  The A-Wing ironically lasted the longest, but only because it was no threat.  Ran out of Torpedoes, so it was down to Turrets, but the little A-Wing just isn’t that sturdy…  

Last game was against Allan…  Hit Imperial Aces list is REALLY good especially against the Torpedo Boats…  Whisper in a standard Cloak setup (ACD, Recon Spec, VI), The Inquisitor loaded out and Omega Leader?  Not really familiar with the TIE Aces…  Could Stress to add an additional Attack Dice…  Wired, Comm Relay, etc... This time my Cloak failed early, so my Ace had no way to reposition after Whisper moved…  Was not good.  He essentially rushed in and used Whisper as a blocker to muck up the two Large Bases and deny actions, meaning I never got off a single Torpedo…  Well, that and the consistent ability to dodge the firing arc…  The Turrets did nearly kill Whisper and the TIE ace though, so the R1 shot it NOT useless, but not nearly so good as the Protons…

Re-played the lists with me swapping out Kavil in his Y-Wing with TLT Monday, and I did get off several Torpedoes and actually erased the Inquisitor (forgot about Guidance Chips, so it WOULD have happened)…  Just not in time to do me any real good as all of my ships were dead or dying at that point…

So, back to the drawing board…  The 3 “U-Boat” list did not appear locally, but the counter DID, and a lot…  There were a LOT of Imperial Ace lists at the League, so I think it is time for me to go another direction altogether.

First off I might go for:

HeraSabineJake (100)

Hera Syndulla — VCX-100	40
Accuracy Corrector	3
Autoblaster Turret	2
Intelligence Agent	1
Nien Nunb	1
Ghost	0
Ship Total: 47
Sabine Wren — Attack Shuttle	21
Crack Shot	1
Autoblaster Turret	2
Phantom	0
Ship Total: 24
Jake Farrell — A-Wing	24
Lone Wolf	2
Chardaan Refit	-2
Push the Limit	3
Autothrusters	2
A-Wing Test Pilot	0
Ship Total: 29

This is a better variant of what I went into the Gopher SC with I think…  Now that I actually know what the Ghost/Phantom rules ARE, makes a lot more sense to use this sort of setup…  Jake in his A-Wing can be annoyingly survivable, I have used Juke in place of the Lone Wolf for more interesting damage output, but…  Sabine and the Phantom will likely start and hopefully STAY on the Ghost, but as damage piles up or I need to run it out, it goes…  Re-positioning silliness and the Autoblaster Turret are there to hunt the Aces.  Solid build, if not too exciting…

Might try something completely different with X-Wings I’ve never flown…

X-Wing Aces (100)

Poe Dameron — T-70 X-Wing	31
Adaptability	0
R5-P9	3
Autothrusters	2
Ship Total: 36
Wes Janson — X-Wing	29
Adaptability	0
BB-8	2
Integrated Astromech	0
Ship Total: 31
Wedge Antilles — X-Wing	29
Adaptability	0
R2-D2	4
Integrated Astromech	0
Ship Total: 33

Potential PS 9,9, 10 here, with two Regen Aces and the all with interesting tricks…  Strip a Focus, Evade or Blue Target Lock with Wes attacking at PS 10..  Hit or not, this neuters a Torpedo Boat before it can fire (likely), or at least force another Ace to spend or lose their tokens…  Then 2 other more accurate Aces shoot…  It will be fun I think, not so sure how it would do in the larger meta, but it does seem to be an answer to the “U-Boats” and the Imperial Aces…  It will require me to fly really well…

X-Wing Repaints for the League...

Well, I have my list mostly done...  In either case I'll be using the 2 Contracted Scouts with Dead-eye, Proton Torpedoes, Extra Munitions, R4 Agromechs and Guidance Chips...  34 points each.  Leaves me 32 points for either Talonbane Cobra or Kavil.  With Kavil I also slap on 4-LOM to make one of the Scouts pretty damn deadly...  Leaning toward Cobra because I want to have an actual Ace of my own, and I am really looking forward to the Cloak...

In any case, repainting the Jumpmasters like this...

Titan League starting the 10th...

Well, new league starting up at Titan next weekend…  I’ll be running some S&V it looks like…  Kind of an odd one I think, not quite the “U-Boats” that won the Hoth event up at Adepticon this weekend, but something I will have fun flying..

Contracted Scout — JumpMaster 5000	25
Deadeye	1
Proton Torpedoes	4
Extra Munitions	2
R4 Agromech	2
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 34
Contracted Scout — JumpMaster 5000	25
Deadeye	1
Proton Torpedoes	4
Extra Munitions	2
R4 Agromech	2
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 34
Kavil — Y-Wing	24
Crack Shot	1
Twin Laser Turret	6
Unhinged Astromech	1
Ship Total: 32
Talonbane Cobra — Kihraxz Fighter	28
Cloaking Device	2
Stygium Particle Accelerator	2
Ship Total: 32

So, either Kavil on his Y-Wing w/TLT for the 4 Dice side shot and likely sneaking one into something like Soonter Fel with Crack Shot or Talonbane Cobra in the Cloaking Kihraxz fighter…  REALLY want the Predator there, but points are tight and the whole point of the list is putting Proton Torpedoes on target…  Might have to drop down to Plasma Torpedoes at 3 points each to get at least 2 extra points out there.  I REALLY like having at least one “Ace” class fighter out there, and with either of them I could do well I think…  The “Palpmobile” of the Imperial Shuttle with the Emperor on it is a concern of course, but with Proton Torpedoes (or Plasma), it should not last long…  The remaining arc dodging Imperial Aces are still going to be a MAJOR PITA, but at least I’ll have a shot…  Picking up a second Jumpmaster-5000, so that will be a thing…

Plan is to paint them up a lot like my Rebel fleet in Armada, I am really liking the Crimson and Grey scheme… 

League starting the 10th, should be something relaxing before my major interview the 11th...  NOT holding out much hope for it frankly, but if it happens, it will be awesome, and a validation of a LOT of hard work I've been putting in over the last several years...  If not?  Well, at least I was a finalist for an Associate Director role, it has been a LONG time since I last had an interview, I did not get called for a number of jobs I was very likely qualified for, but this one is outside of the local politics...  We'll see I guess.

X-Wing Prep for the next League...

Have more than a week before the next event, this time at Titan for the first monthly league event there…  Not 100% sure what I’ll be flying, but I am looking pretty closely at:

ScoutCobraK (100)

Black Sun Ace — Kihraxz Fighter	23
Predator	3
Cluster Missiles	4
Glitterstim	2
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 32
Talonbane Cobra — Kihraxz Fighter	28
Predator	3
Cloaking Device	2
Stygium Particle Accelerator	2
Ship Total: 35
Contracted Scout — JumpMaster 5000	25
Deadeye	1
Plasma Torpedoes	3
Extra Munitions	2
R4 Agromech	2
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 33

So, the Kihraxz class fighters both get upgrades of a sort…  Talonbane gets the Cloaking Device and the Stygium Particle Accelerator…  The Accelerator was one I considered a dead card as it previously could only be used on the TIE Phantom with that being the ONLY ship with Cloak at all…  Now most of the S&V small based ships at least can get it…  Comes to 4 points for a potentially very fragile card…  But when it works?  Talonbane’s fighter was missing that extra action and the potential movement and survivability boost is going to be potentially great…  With my luck, probably 4 points for a single turn of cloak and thus an extra move…  But for that turn?  I could be looking at a 6 Green Dice Defense roll if I am being shot at in Range 3 with a Primary Weapon…  Oh, and an Evade.  Even against Secondary Weapons, I have 4 Dice and an Evade token.  Long term, luck always loses to skill, but this fighter is not meant for the long game…  Go fast, hit hard and hopefully win by being the only one left…  The BSA just gets the free Guidance Chips to turn a Dice to a Crit on the Missile Attack…  So, one shot like the missiles, but it IS free…  And firing after Cobra, hoping that the Crits go to the Hull…  Hell, even with it being the only ship firing, I should get Crits through….  Looking at hitting low Agility ships, but even TIEs cannot shed 3 hits twice in a turn often.

The Contracted Scout…  This replaces the Y-Wing for me…  Pretty direct replacement I think.  The Y-Wing has the better Turret with the TLT, but the JM has a far better dial…  With Deadeye/Torpedoes/R4 Agro/GC, I should have some really accurate Torpedoes…  Would love to have Proton rather than Plasma, but points are tight…  But even without that extra dice conversion, I have an added hit (ala “Breen Aide” from STAW), the R4 gives me a Target Lock when I spend the Focus to fire the Torpedo which should allow me to get some more hits via re-roll…  Might have to run it with Proton Torps and dropping the R4 Agro…  Does leave me 1 point for a Crew or Droid I guess…

League is running at Titan, trying to gauge the interest of another one running at the Gopher...  With the likely death of STAW/D&D AW, I will have a bit more gaming "free time" I guess...  We'll see..

Armored Gopher SC AAR

 Well, 20 players, so pretty darn good turnout, not to capacity as predicted from the sign ups, but still pretty crowded.  I wound up going 2-2…  My wins were huge, usually in 15 minutes or so of the 75 minutes for the round…  The losses?  Not so much so J  But still a lot quicker…  I played:

SC 4 pre Rebellion (100)

Hera Syndulla — VCX-100	40
Accuracy Corrector	3
Autoblaster Turret	2
Intelligence Agent	1
Nien Nunb	1
Anti-Pursuit Lasers	2
Ghost	0
Ship Total: 49
"Zeb" Orrelios — Attack Shuttle	18
Phantom	0
Ship Total: 18
Gray Squadron Pilot — Y-Wing	20
Twin Laser Turret	6
Extra Munitions	2
Proton Torpedoes	4
R4-D6	1
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 33

Now, knowing how the rules for the Docked Attack Shuttle work now, I would make a few changes…  But my plan was overall, bull rush in, hit them hard and fast and then hopefully coast to the win…

Played Allan first, he had a dual YV-666 build meant to fortress up in the corner by having one move the Red “0”, the second bumping but with “Wingman”, pull off the Stress.  Meant I had to come to him, and he kept the lane clear to do so…  I am not sure he was prepared for just how much firepower my list brings to bear, and with my dice rolling VERY well, I erased his blocker before it got a second shot off between Proton Torpedoes and the base 4 Attack from the Ghost…  And his second ship wound up taking the brunt of the Ghost on Turn 3 as he came out to pursue…  5 Dice Rear Arc shot to the face, followed by the now reloaded Proton Torpedo and then the Ghost’s Turret to finish it at the end of the turn…  Nothing much survives that, and certainly NOT a low Agility ship like the YV-666…

Game 2 was against Joel’s Super Dash and Ghost (the only other Ghost in the Tournament)…  NOT good for me with him winning initiative and thus seeing where I went before deciding on his stuff…  Dash with the HLC was able to do enough damage to the Y-Wing early that I didn’t have much a chance there…  Hurt his Ghost badly, but in the end, and not realizing that the Shuttle DOES drop out after the Ghost is destroyed…  Well, it was quick. 

Game 3 was against Jake…  TIE swarm with Crack Shot…  I lost, but I had him down to his last Ace, and I had it damaged…  The Ghost simply melts against so much firepower…  Mind, the Auto Blaster Turret and Accuracy Corrector was AMAZING here…  Killed a TIE a turn while I lived at least…  This was one of the Hard Counters I expected, and I actually did a lot better than I thought I would have… 

Game 4 was against someone not local…  He brought Bossk and Boba Fett in their YV-666 and Firespray-31’s…  Neat build and if I was NOT running the build specifically designed to deal loads of Damage quickly, I would have been in for a fight…  Unfortunately, he wound up pinging my Y-Wing and then the Ghost a bit before I destroyed both of his ships…  Quickly.  So 2-2 on the day, lessons learned and a few tweaks to be made…  Assuming I fly this list again of course…

The eventual winner was a S&V 4 x Y-Wing with TLT build…  Unfortunate, I know I could have taken that one, but… 

Have to say the weird Astromech I’d never tried before was actually the MVP for at least 3 of the games…  Damage Mitigation was HUGE, changing a 4 Damage hit into a 2 Damage and 2 Stress hit allowed me to get my Proton Torpedoes into play, and with the Guidance Chips, they are almost “Dominion” (from STAW) in their accuracy and power…  Every time I fired, I got at least 3 Hits/Crits, most of the time it was 4…  And going after the Ghost I was hitting Hull for the Crits…