The intro…
Well hello! Welcome to this week’s blog! It’s a bit of an odd one but we’ll run with it anyway!
What do I have in terms of news? Well, nothing specifically relating to anything that I don’t already plan to cover later.
I will mention a few events that happened in the UK this past weekend. First up is the Nottingham GT which happened in… Nottingham.
23 players were in attendance and the always awesome Kris Mitchell ran a good event (as always!) and provided an interesting little infographic

Every faction represented and surprisingly there were more CIS lists than Republic or Resistance!
Well done to Steel City X-Wing’s Tom Veale who battled his way through the top cut to get the win! π

There was also an event somewhere ‘up north’ (I think?) AND another event in, I want to say, Bromley?
I don’t really have any Longshanks or Roll Better links for these BUT I think it’s really interesting that there were so many events happening AND that they were all reasonably well attended. There was ONE more event but I’ll get on to that in a minute.
For now though it’s definitely cool to see that there is still demand for events.
Patreon Update…
Yep, it’s still the last months of the first quarter so it’s time for more spoilers!
Last week I told you that it’s the turn of the 2 hard turn template but didn’t have a picture. Well, now I do!

Pretty life changing, right?
Anyway, what new spoiler do I have for you this week? Well, it’s time for cards I guess! This time I’ve got my last two Rebel cards – Lando Calrissian and Dash Rendar!

Both designed by the VERY awesome Dan Eicher, these will be sent out to the relevant tiers (which is most of them to be honest!). If you’d like to get these and some of the other things I’m giving away OR if you’d just like to support the blog out of the kindness of your heart then you can sign up to my Patreon page here.
To those who already support me, THANK YOU! Your support means more than you know and I really REALLY Appreciate it!
XWA Update…
So, you remember that event I talked about earlier? Well, that one gets a special mention because it had (in my COMPLETELY biased opinion) a pretty special prize kit…

Yes, the very first event to use the prize kit that I’ve had a hand in putting together happened near me!
Sadly I wasn’t able to get there myself but from what I’ve heard so far the kit was well received and people are happy – which makes me happy!
In other news, I am back on top of all kit applications and we have now sent out 70 kits to over 40 TOs so there are kits out in the wild! Keep an eye out in your local scene for events that will be using these kits to try and get you hands on some of these beautiful cards.
If you’re a TO and want to get hold of one of these (or you aren’t a TO but want to get the info to your local person!) then you can get more info on these kits by checking out this Google doc and fill out the link at the bottom of the page!
The response to this wave 0 kit has been amazing and we in the OP Prize team are excited to show you what we’ve got planned for the future!
The main bit…
Ok, so, cards on the table – I didn’t play a game this week.

Yeah, I know, I’m disappointed too.
Aside from the obvious ‘not playing a game’ reason, I’m disappointed because STO has silently crept up on me and I want to do a little testing of the tweaks I wanted to make to my list.
With New year’s day falling on the usual Wednesday and nobody getting down to club night last week I’m currently at zero games in 2025.

So, with a blog to write and no games to talk about, I thought I’d take a little time to go through my list and work my way through any potential changes.
I started with this back in November:
Hera Syndulla β A/SF-01 B-wing (5)
Hopeful (1)
Trajectory Simulator (10)
Seismic Charges (3)
Stabilized S-Foils (0)
B6 Blade Wing Prototype (0)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (14/14) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Jan Ors β HWK-290 Light Freighter (5)
Moldy Crow (0)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (0/0) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 2
Luke Skywalker β T-65 X-wing (5)
Debris Gambit (3)
R4 Astromech (2)
Servomotor S-Foils (0)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (5/5) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 3
Wedge Antilles β T-65 X-wing (5)
Predator (3)
Afterburners (8)
Servomotor S-Foils (0)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (11/11) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 3
Total: 20
I then made some changes, swapping Luke out for Fenn int he Fang Fighter and dropping the Traj Sim/Seismic trick on Hera and instead taking Ezra gunner (for the Force) and Proton Cannons.
After a couple of simulated runs in Fly Casual and a real-life outing at Sin City just after Christmas then I was sold on some aspects of teh list but not all of it. Let me break it down piece by piece as I try and figure out what to do.
Jan Ors β HWK-290 Light Freighter (5)
Moldy Crow (0)
I’ve started here because this is easy. Jan stays (because more red dice is cool) and there’s no loadout to toy with. Simple!
Wedge Antilles β T-65 X-wing (5)
Predator (3)
Afterburners (8)
Servomotor S-Foils (0)
Again, Wedge isn’t a piece I’m planning to change. The build gives me the flexibility and threat of diving in as well as a soft mod with Predator. i6 is good as well.
Fenn Rau β Fang Fighter (5)
Lone Wolf (3)
Marksmanship (2)
Mandalorian Optics (3)
Here’s where things start to get interesting. I Initially built this as it is above but found out fairly quickly that Lone Wolk and Fenn do’nt work too well together. Partly because I want to get close to people for Concordia (which often means close to my own ships) but also because his pilot ability – which I’m not necessarily playing for but nice when it happens (and I remember it!) – doesn’t synergise with it. At all.
My immediate thought is to change Lone Wolf to Debris Gambit, giving Fenn a native evade, likely white too. Mando optics means I should get at least one double modded hit too and Jan’s presence might mean I make him hit like Scum Fenn. Maybe.
Hera Syndulla β A/SF-01 B-wing (5)
Proton Cannons (5)
Stabilized S-Foils (0)
B6 Blade Wing Prototype (0)
Ezra Bridger (9)
This is where I’m undecided.
Now, I enjoyed the Traj Sim version. It was definitely fun. I did end up bombing myself a liiiittle bit too much.

Ezra means that I can give away Hera’s token (whatever it is) and still get a mod. The Proton Cannons mean that I can possibly double tap but neither is going to be especially well modded.
Another thought I had was to get Swarm Tactics but with two other ships already at i6 and only Jan able to be swarmed it didn’t really seem worth it since Jan’s not there for massive damage dealing.
I did think about doing something similar to what Ben Saunders used when at Worlds last year:
Then I started thinking about changing Hera out for another option – perhaps A-Wing Hera – but then that’s a different ship point configuration and while deficit points don’t count in XWA rules, the thought of taking a 4 point ship with 4 loadout over a 5 point with 14 doesn’t appeal to me.
So what’s the point of all this? Well, I’m looking for opinions! Jan and Wedge are locked in as-is. Fenn as a ship is also locked in but I’m open to changing the loadout if anyone has any better ideas.
Hera, well, I like the i6 and decent loadout. I might be able to trigger the double tap but it’s the one ship I’m open to changing.
The conclusion…
So yeah, the next bit is sort of up to you?

Do I change Hera? Do I swap anything on Fenn?
Hit me with your thoughts and ideas and I’ll have a play around with the options that people suggest and get a proper test game in next week. I hope!
One more mention for the Patreon (in case you feel like signing up!) and that’s about it for this week. Pop back next week and see what happened with my list!)
The outro…
Thank you so much for visiting my blog, I hope you’ve enjoyed it! If you’d like to support me in continuing my X-Wing blogging adventure there are a few ways you can do that.
You can follow my social media accounts for updates

If you’re looking to buy some gaming ‘stuff’ and don’t have a local gaming store, you can use my affiliate link for Firestorm games. They’re great!
If you would like to directly support the blog then please consider becoming a Patron! I would be forever grateful!

A MASSIVE thank you to my wonderful Patrons for their ongoing support for the blog and enabling me to give away shiny things!
Exile Rookies:
Ben Kennedy, Opi-Wan Kenobi
Exile Veterans:
Mark Beor, Daniel Barringer, Michael Bird, Jason Desmarais, Darin Schwarze, Alex Peters-Bean, Mark Packer-Hughes
Exile Commanders:
Kevin Larsen, David Bryan
Exile Legends:
Rebecca Westwood, Admiral_Ackbar47, Phill Blackmore, Chris Fear, Jamie Howard, Sean Oakley , Steve Boulton, Kyle Chalpan
You are all amazing humans!