3rd Game of 2.x

And its a win!

Playing against Brenden @ Woking, who was flying a First Order list, with a couple of bombers, a couple of Ties, and another ship

I flew a revised version of the List I borrowed last week, potentially more punchy with more Torps.

(6) Wedge Antilles [T-65 X-wing]
(3) R3 Astromech
(0) Servomotor S-foils
(2) Predator
(1) Marksmanship
(12) Proton Torpedoes
Points: 6

(5) Norra Wexley [BTL-A4 Y-wing]
(3) R3 Astromech
(1) Munitions Failsafe
(2) Expert Handling
(12) Proton Torpedoes
Points: 5

(6) Luke Skywalker [T-65 X-wing]
(6) R5-D8
(0) Servomotor S-foils
(2) Instinctive Aim
(1) Munitions Failsafe
(1) Marksmanship
(12) Proton Torpedoes
Points: 6

(3) Lieutenant Blount [Z-95-AF4 Headhunter]
(1) Marksmanship
(2) Expert Handling
Points: 3

So I won. Brenden spent one of his ordinances early from both bombers and misjudged the range Lost Blount early, but the X-Wings and Y-Wing did the job with the torps and Wedge hard hitting primary attack.

Could really do with more dice modifications and Blount isn’t really very effective, so will have a tinker with the list. I do like the Luke/Wedge combo!

yet another comeback

So thanks to the Woking Tabletop Games Club & Zombie Squadron for welcoming me back to the X-wing table for some gentle intro games to 2.5.

Lessons learnt? I can roll for initiative like a Dice God.
Everything else is a bit of a curve!

But I have found that I did, a long time ago, in a games shop far, far away, buy a V2 Starter set and a Rebel Conversion kit. So I will be attempting to get a list together of my own for this weeks club!

LLaP

Post (or maybe mid) Pandemic, or Welcome back to the World

So it’s been an interesting few years since I last posted! A global pandemic, redundancy, mental health issues and other minor fun and games. Until a few weeks ago I hadn’t played any tabletop games IRL for possibly 3 years.

I certainly haven’t played a competitive game of X-Wing since v1.0. V2.0 passed me by and V2.5 looks like a bit of a cluster fudge, and I can’t see myself getting back to Armada anytime soon. For me the difficulty with those games is that I have tended, in the past, to buy every X-Wing release, which was, in some ways, necessary in order to ensure you had access to all the upgrades, and in some cases in V1 buy multiple copies just to be able to run a particular list, which needed multiple of the ‘unicorn’ cards. Armada didn’t seem so bad, but with the introduction of 2 new factions, I feel Star Wars tabletop games have lost their mojo for me. The Legion bundle offers that were offered over the last weekend looked attractive, but having more grey plastic clogging up my life is not what I need right now.

So I fully expect to be shifting some of my piles of shame. I have sold various bits in the past and made some reasonable money on it, but I need to wade through my entire x-wing collection and Armada collection and catalogue it and get rid. I need its space rather than its company! I also have a fairly sizeable pile of old gaming books that I really should shift, so that will be the plan for me soon.

But what has brought me back to the table so to speak? Well, a new gaming store has opened nearby. Part of the Geek Retreat franchise, the store has taken the place of a bathroom showroom in Reigate. I had been following their progress on Facebook and popped in on their opening day and it seemed quite a lively store. They seem to be focused mainly on the experience of gaming, running lots of sessions throughout the week covering lots of the more popular and revenue-generating systems, so there are regular Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon sessions. However, the thing that caught my eye was Dungeons and Dragons! I played 1st Edition whilst at school, participating in a regular campaign with a group of between 5-8 of us, on a Sunday evening for what seemed like years. That fizzled out when we finished A-levels and we went our separate ways after we finished Senior School. This was long before Facebook, LinkedIn, or even FriendsReunited and Mobile phones, and sadly I am only in touch with one of that group now.

So GeekRetreat Reigate posted about having a beginners D&D session, and my partner and I signed up and went along to the session. Our DM had prerolled characters that we randomly selected. I got a Dragonborn Barbarian, and Sally had an Aasimar Varient Bard. We are on our 5th or 6th session now and really getting into it. The sessions have been a nice mix of interactions with the world, and good old fashioned dice-rolling combat.

There are some really useful tools available now. D&D Beyond is great, allowing you to manage character sheets and lookup rules. I believe you can also use it to actually collaborate and play online, but that’s for another day. Another excellent tool is Heroforge. I’ve tinkered with it in the past but now I have a reason to play in earnest!

So a couple of designed figures later, found someone to print them from Etsy and spent some birthday money on hobby supplies, I am girding my loins to paint them.

I have primed them, and wear the familiar tattoo of poorly aimed spray can usage.

So here are my first two HeroForge figures primed and getting ready for paint!

And lets not forget the bases!

I know I have said it before, but I will say it again – I’m gonna try and update this as much as possible. And I am also determined to be satisfied with how these figures turn out. I’ve never really painted very much, I was never much good at art at school and I consistently find myself disappointed with my abilities, so this could be an interesting journey!

TTFN

The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul

So it’s been a while. A long while. 

I started this post over a year ago, and blimey what a year its been.

With Covid-19, ongoing mental health struggles, and, most recently, redundancy added to the pot its been quite the year.

I think I have played maybe 15 games of xwing 2.0 since it has come out, and to be honest, I can’t see myself getting any games of x-wing anytime soon, and to be even more honest, I’m not sure how I feel about that.

I have a poor attention span and a worse memory so when playing I am often asking my opponent what cards do or how they reached that effect. I am now so far behind the curve, that to get back in the game is hard both financially and mentally. I *could* play on-line but I am finding it very difficult to be able to carve out time. I seem to flit from thing to thing, rather than be able to settle down for an extended time.

Several other games I played have gone west in real life or just for me, recently too.

I have some lovely memories of playing Star Wars Destiny regularly on Friday Nights at the now sadly defunct and missed Paradice Gaming Cafe in Bromley, and made some great friends there. It was a nice casual atmosphere, and it was good to play some games with my sons as well.

I thought Keyforge was innovative and exciting new format, and I think the potential of pay-2-win spoiled it. It could have been a great casual game that could have backed up other more competitive games, and could have spawned other games from that Intellectual Property.

Star Wars Armada I dabbled in. I found 2 miniatures games too much, and I struggled with the very long game times, and the long days that were involved. I had some success, managing a reasonable finish in one regional, but it was

So I am contemplating selling up. TBH I could do with the cash, and should probably liquidate my investments in other games. I have a quite considerable pile of GW stuff, and I am never going to assemble, paint and play with it.

I think my future, gaming wise, probably lies with board-games and their online equivalents. BoardGameArena is great, I can play pick up games that last 10-15 minutes and that helps entertain me.

Gaming helped me through some peculiar times in my life. My home life is much more settled which I am thankful for, but of course, work has been turned on a tumble with my offices closing. I’ll be looking for work early next year, and so hopefully will be able to get a more stable environment soon, and with that maybe be able to start looking for a game to play regularly and competitively.

As ever – may the dice fall ever in your favour!

Teaching an old dog new tricks

So as a challange to the young person in the house, who is sure he is going to become a globally successful Internet gamer, I have challenged them to see how many twitch/YouTube/other social media platform of their choice.

It’s not a long challenge, lasting until the end of the weekend. I’m not sure how long it will last after that, but I’m gonna do my best and see what happens.

This means I am going to diversify away from x-wing, which as you have seen has been kinda quiet for a while.

Hold on, the ride could get bumpy!

2nd list to try anti Nymranda

So was back at ibuywargames last night with my other list

“33” 98 points

Poe Dameron (PS9 Version) [Black One, BB-8, Advanced Optics, Veteran Instincts, Autothrusters] (41)

Wedge Antilles [Flight-Assist Astromech, Veteran Instincts, Integrated Astromech] (31)

Fenn Rau [Veteran Instincts, Hotshot Co-pilot, R2 Astromech] (26)

All at PS11, and with enough shenanigans to hopefully limit ordinance damage a bit!

Played two games against Pete Wood, previously mentioned here. Pete was running a largely archetype Nymranda – or as he prefers MiraNym (which is kinda catchy).

MiraNym 98 points

Scurrg H-6 Bomber: Captain Nym (52) [Long-Range Scanners (0) Havoc (0) Veteran Instincts (1) Twin Laser Turret (6) Extra Munitions (2) Harpoon Missiles (4) Proton Bombs (5) Thermal Detonators (3) Trajectory Simulator (1) “Genius” (0)]

K-Wing: •Miranda Doni (46) Long-Range Scanners (0) Bomblet Generator (3) Sabine Wren (2) Harpoon Missiles (4) Extra Munitions (2) Twin Laser Turret (6)

We played 2 games, and they had very different results !

First game started very cagily with me piling down the right side of the board and then turning round and chasing Nym down on the left side of the board, and then swooping round for Miranda. Pete’s dice seemed to come without any paint on, but Wedge is a beast and with Poe’s Black One title removing target locks, and restricting the use of the filthy harpoon missiles, the first game was a one sided affair. Pete hasn’t played for a while and was refreshing himself, both on the new ships, and with how to ‘x-wing’ generally !

Second game was not so good for me. We jousted, and this time there were more bombs dropped and I didn’t account for them, especially given their delivery via trajectory simulator. Everyone took a face up card, and rolled 2 dice for damage and then Sabine poked another damage at Fenn.

TLT’s then finished Fenn off and Poe and Wedge were not far behind !

So what have I learnt (or re-learnt!) ?

• Its a dice game! There is luck involved. Shenanigans are not going to save you entirely if your dice do you over.
• Remember what your opponent has on the board. Not treating the bombs with respect cost me the second game.
• Remember what you have on the board! Wedge got dealt the double damage crit, and I should have used the integrated Astromech to discard it. Overall it wouldn’t have affected the result, but it might next time.

On the positive side I didn’t crash my ships into each other, I kind of got the order of activation right, allowing Fenn to force the focus to defend a 2 dice attack, leaving the target more open to the ‘big’ dice from the X-wings.

 

So which list do I take to the Regional at Warboar this weekend ? With all due respect to my opponents, last night was a harder test than last week. Pete really knows how to play. I also think last weeks list be more prone to Alpha strike lists. It has some tricks, and the Ghost is a monster if you end up in arc.

If I had more time I would probably try a version of the Ghost piloted by the Lothal Rebel but with Ezra and Maul as crew to give some reroll and stress tricks, as well as still having the Fenn coordinated cheeky PS11 boost to push out of range one if necessary or to close the primary arc down to range one.

I decided against StressRau, as it really restricts the utility of Fenn after the first contact. The Dial on the Sheathipede is not great, and carrying multi stress is not easy.

So I think X-wings it is. Its what the game is called after all. I’ve been flying Wedge since Wave 1, so its only fitting to see him out and about again. With Poe Dameron at his side, and Fenn Rau in support, I’m happy the list is solid. Its down to me to deliver!

Black One standing by. Red Two standing by. Phantom II standing by.

Good Hunting 33 Squadron !

 

TTFN

—————————————————————————————————————————————-

If you’re looking for tournaments near you head over to the 186th Tournament Calendar.

 

 

1st Run out of a new (to me) list

In my previous blog I discussed my thoughts on Nymranda, and my preparation (ha,ha) for the UK Regional season. I’ve been trying to keep up with the changes the last wave of ships brought upon us, and the general feeling was not great. So when the new FAQ (found here) dropped it was pleasing to see that FFG had reacted to one of the moaned about actions (the interaction between “Genius” and “Trajectory Simulator) by disallowing it. They also clarified the “does TLT trigger the Harpooned condition” to say that a naturally rolled “Crit” with a TLT does trigger the Condition. This still makes the Combo of TLT and Harpoons in a list quite intimidating.

So Wednesday night means X-wing night at ibuywargames in Woking. I have been planning my Nymranda counter lists, based on the premise of either Alpha-Striking at PS11 or action denial, or even better a combination of the two!

“33” 98 points

Poe Dameron (PS9 Version) [Black One, BB-8, Advanced Optics, Veteran Instincts, Autothrusters] (41)

Wedge Antilles [Flight-Assist Astromech, Veteran Instincts, Integrated Astromech] (31)

Fenn Rau [Veteran Instincts, Hotshot Co-pilot, R2 Astromech] (26)

Everyone at PS11, Poe removing Target Locks, Fenn removing Focus, locking other tokens, and Wedge hitting like a brick.

I’ve toyed with other versions, with Fenn with the stress bot, and gunner, or R2-D2 on Poe for regen, but this I think gives an all round depth.

“GHOST & 2 PHANTOMS” 100 points

Kanan Jarrus [Ghost, Sensor Jammer, Twin Laser Turret, Jyn Erso, Rey, Engine Upgrade] (56)

Fenn Rau [Veteran Instincts, Hotshot Co-pilot, Flight-Assist Astromech] (26)

“Zeb” Orrelios [“Chopper”, Phantom] (18)

Again there are options – I think the R2 droid on Fenn may get better usage, but the ability for a cheeky boost after moving to get a target is great. The ability to co-ordinate the Ghost to allow it to take a second action is great, either to take a cheeky evade or to boost into range one for a brutal attack. Also the power of the 2nd TLT allowed by the docked Phantom is not to be underestimated with the number of low agility ships out there.

So I unpacked my first list and realised I had not got a T-70 dial with me, so ended up using the 2nd list for 3 games.

I apologise now to my opponents – I am lousy with names, but remembered to take a copy of their lists. So in no particular order …..

Opponent 1

Norra Wexley (Title, Engine Upgrade, PTL, R2-D2, Rey, Seismic Torp)

Captain Nym (Title, Eng Upgrade, VI, TLT, Bomblet, Homing Missile, Extra Munitions, Accuracy Corrector)

Not the usual Nym build, but quite effective, and Norra with Rey gives the Arc quite a kick. Nym was outmanoeuvred and my opponent forgot to drop bombs a couple of times, which was unfortunate. The Ghost was able to boost into range 1 for the kill shot and then Norra was next. The Seismic torpedo was effective in taking out an obstacle and splashing damage onto Fenn, but the Ghost proved too much for the low agility Rebels.

Opponent 2

Vader (Predator, Eng Up, ATComp,TieX1, Cruise Missile)

Chirenau (Gunner, VI, EngUp, RebCap)

The Rear Admiral is the weak link in this list, to my mind. The lack of green dice means that the Ghost can poke away with the TLT and do pretty much guaranteed 4 damage a turn, and with the Evade and Kanans ability mitigate a couple of hits a turn in defence. The RebCap is an irritation but the stress is going to be on Fenn and he has about enough green to be able to shake it. Once the Decimator had been deflated, Vader, who was slippery, couldn’t keep a bead on my ships long enough to avoid the return fire.

Opponent 3

Norra (Title, Chopper(Crew), R2D2(Astromech), Vectored Thrusters, PTL)

Miranda Doni (Sabine, Bomblet, LRS, TLT)

Ezra (Sheathipede) (Snap Shot, Hera, R3-A2)

Here the PS advantage on Fenn gave a huge advantage against this list. Allowing Fenn to have a shot and remove the focus token, and then to restrict the use of any other tokens caused problems, and unfortunately for my opponent his ships arrived pretty much one at a time into combat, which allowed the TLT to wreak much damage on the low agility ships.

Overall it was a good evening for my list. However I didn’t play an Aces list, and I didn’t play against Nymranda, which was the point of the exercise!

So I am back to ibuywargames tomorrow. I have packed a T70 dial, and I have some list ‘tweaks’. First is swapping an R2 unit in for the flight assist droid on Fenn, and then changing the Ghost down to a Lothal Rebel and swapping the Crew for Ezra and Maul. This gives a massive 1 point initiative bid. Not convinced of the value of that, but we shall see.

The other option is putting the stress bot on Fenn and putting gunner as crew, as I think stress loading the enemy could be fun too!

I’ll keep you posted !

TTFN

—————————————————————————————————————————————-

If you’re looking for tournaments near you head over to the 186th Tournament Calendar.

Regional Preparation Thoughts & What to do about Nymranda (and future similar problems)

So its a given that for a variety of reasons I don’t get to play as many games as I would like, and my skills in x-wing are certainly not top level. I have been playing the game for a long time and enjoy the game immensely. Not just winning, but watching opponents out manoeuvre me, the great community we have in the UK, and seeing new players joining the ranks as well.

I don’t enjoy it when my dice desert me, or if there is a ‘Negative Play Experience’ doing the rounds. TLT’s were that for a while, Attani mindlink was a frustrating experience to be up against in certain combo’s.

Right now, in the UK, there has been, at the first UK regional, a perceived problem with Nymranda, the Captain Nym and Miranda Combo, with its ability to sling bombs forward, launch Harpoon missiles, and even to some extent turtle up and regen if things don’t go so well.

I say perceived as we have only had the one UK regional so far, and others across the globe don’t appear to have ‘suffered’ as badly. This may be a factor of differing local ‘metas’, which I find unlikely as most tournaments are either streamed online, or exceptionally well reported and so lists travel the globe quickly.

So people in the UK are busy building Nymranda counter lists. Lists that block before they move, high PS alpha strike lists, stress inducing lists. All have merit, and all have weaknesses.

And this is the issue at the heart of the problem. X-wing is an evolving game of Rock-Paper-Scissors-(Lizard-Spock). As new ships drop with their new upgrades people find new and exciting combo’s that break the game in new and exciting ways.

The new ships and their  upgrades are playtested. My feeling is, however, that the emphasis on playtesting is the ships and their interaction with existing cards. The thing that seems to slip the net is the interaction between new upgrade cards and existing ships and upgrades. Now maybe thats how the playtesting is done. The testers will be excited to see how the new stuff works against existing lists and ships. The testing scenarios are likely to be one player has the new ship(s) and the other uses an existing list. I don’t know how much ‘all wave’ testing is done, or if a testing group is only given access to a single ship rather than the entire wave, but it does appear that there is not the emphasis on testing each component in existing lists. Time may well be a factor. (Working in IT I am well aware that the testing phase of a project is the one that gets cut first.)

I, however, suspect there is a lack of emphasis on that. When the TLT was spoiled my first thought was how great it would be with the BTL Title on the Y-wing giving you 3 front arc attacks EVERY ROUND (you had someone in arc)! 

It was brutal against low agility ships, the Ghost fell off the board under its death by a thousand papercuts goodness. Even ships with more green dice could struggle under the weight of the number of attacks. Arc Dodging and Auto-Thrusters were the way forward, and are very much the nemesis of the low agility Y-wings.

The TLT equipped Y-wing became a staple with the Stress Bot, double stressing caused Aces all kinds of problems.

The Harpoon missile is another example were the card is ok (possibly undercosted, or should spend the TL to fire) , but with Alpha striking ships it is extremely problematic.

So anyhow, back to regionals !

I suspect the next regional will have less Nymranda than were present in Cardiff. Its not an autowin list – nothing is, but in the hands of a capable pilot its odds are better than average.

But with the counter lists out there, I think we will see less Nymranda in the cut, and it will be the luck of the draw, quite literally, that defines who meets what, and whether Player A with their Nymranda meet a strong counter list with Player B, or if Player B will end up against another Nymranda counter list that Player C is flying.

As usual we will see the usual suspects doing well. These players will be the people who can put the hours of playing in, against a variety of opponents and lists. Practice does make perfect. X-wing is a dice game, there is luck involved, but there is a huge amount of mitigation that can be done by positioning your ships better than your opponent, by having an optimal build that synergises all of your options, and knowing what your opponents ships are capable of, both in terms of whats on their dial, and how their upgrades and abilities interact.

In the meantime I will attempt to get more than one game with a list I am looking at before my first regional in early Feb! (and no, I don’t know every dial, nor do I know every upgrade, so I will be asking questions should we meet across a table 🙂 )

TTFN

—————————————————————————————————————————————-

If you’re looking for tournaments near you head over to the 186th Tournament Calendar.

I played a game of X-Wing

So with a long pause, caused by the Christmas break, and a cold that took nearly a month to shift, and with Regionals looming I took a list I have been playing for a while ( Warboar’s Q4 kit tournament  ) and tweaked it ever so slightly.

Wedge Antilles (34)

X-Wing (29), Flight-Assist Astromech (1), Proton Torpedoes (4), Adaptability (0), Guidance Chips (0)

Airen Cracken (24)

Z-95 Headhunter (19), Harpoon Missiles (4), Veteran Instincts (1), Guidance Chips (0)

Captain Nym (42)

Scurrg H-6 Bomber (30), Veteran Instincts (1), Harpoon Missiles (4), Autoblaster Turret (2), Bomblet Generator (3), Rey (2), Guidance Chips (0)

Out was turfed BB-8 to be replaced with the new Flight-Assist Astromech, and the Plasma Torpedoes were upgraded to Protons to provide more Alpha Strike bang.

I went to ibuywargames Wednesday night X-wing evening, where I am an off-and-on regular and know a fair few of the players.

I only managed to get one game in, against Tom Forstner, who usually flies under the Zombie Squadron Banner, with a very current list of Kylo in his new Silencer and two Starwings with Harpoon Missiles. Two new types of ships I hadn’t flown against before, and also don’t own, so their dials and shenanigans are a surprise.

I got my approach somewhat wrong. and ended up with two harpoons sticking out of Airen, and not enough damage on any of my opponents, but when Cracken went pop he did, at least, take down one of the Starwings in cascade, but that left Wedge against Kylo and Nym vs a Starwing.

Wedge blanked in all the wrong places, and Kylo rolled enough evades to win that dual, and then Nym didn’t stand a chance. I should of left a bomblet on the field, but didn’t and that also allowed Kylo to dance better than me.

The Starwings are cute gunships, the Slam and Reload make them a great ordinance delivery ship, and the Silencer is a Big Interceptor with Kylo doing his ‘Dark Side’ stuff onboard.

I do like my list, and think it has merit, but I am not sure if it has sufficient legs to be competitive. I need to play more games with it, and maybe tweak it. Suggestions gratefully received !

Ultimately, maybe I just need to ‘Git Gud’, which only comes with practice!

TTFN

—————————————————————————————————————————————-

If you’re looking for tournaments near you head over to the 186th Tournament Calendar.

 

Darien Apocolypse – A boardgame

In 1698 the people of Scotland invested their nation’s wealth in sending an expedition to the Isthmus of Panama. Their aim: to found a great trading colony. Alas, they were beset by disease, shortage of supplies and conflict with the Spanish empire.  Hundreds died; few were left to tell the story. 

Darien Apocalypse  explores the theme using four quantum worlds – success and failure will vary from world to world. The calamitous events are represented by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. How will you fair against these infernal forces ? 

In this game for 1 – 4 players you will make the arduous journey to Darien and attempt to survive all that the Horsemen can send against you. 

Darien Apocalypse can be played cooperatively or competitively; succeed against the Horsemen with or in spite of your fellow adventurers – you choose. The fate of a nation rests in your hands!

Playing time – 2 hours.

I have not played this game yet, but I have played many others by the Ragnar Bros. They are thought provoking, clever and enjoyable games, and I see no reason not to believe that this will be the same!

Please look at the kickstarter and join in if you can. It will be an adventure!

 

Darien Apocalypse