The intro…
Hey there! Welcome to this week’s blog!
Now, I apologise for the semi click-baity title. I said a few weeks ago that I was taking a few weeks off, not because of getting tired of the game or anything but more because I was away, I had a busy Easter weekend, my job has changed and I have a little less ‘free blog time’ plus I was moving house.
Am moving house.
I hope.
I’m still not moved and it is driving me…
Everything is on hold. Nothing is happening. Planning anything is a nightmare. We are living surrounded by boxes and chaos and frustration.
But hey, I’m not here to talk about that sort of thing, I’m here for the X-Wing!
Rumours are rampant lately of a points change on the horizon, the new Store Championship kits (the ones with a Worlds 2024 invite!) are starting to be seen in the wild and the new faction starter sets are (probably) not too far away either.
Here in the UK X-Wing has been announced for the UK Games Expo (not that anyone was expecting it not to be I guess?) and then of course, there’s the Welsh Open coming up in 2 months time…
So, things are hotting up a little with the Welsh Open.
First of all, Firecast Focus are now CONFIRMED for stream this 2 day event.
Secondly, prizes are coming together. I don’t have any pictures to show just yet but EVERYONE will be getting alt art cards, dial covers, Mandalorian helmet markers, some sort of token.
Everyone.
Yes, those are just the participation prizes.
On top of that we’ll have spot gloss cards, templates, template tray, a trophy and maybe, juuuuuuuuust maybe…… a Worlds invite*
*look, I’ve wanted to spoil this for AGES but I’ve been waiting on news of the Store Champs kit release date. I’m now confident enough that it’ll be out in time that I’m willing to stick my neck on the line and say this publicly.
We’ll also have a prize wall for bounties, a day 2 side event with it’s own prize structure for anyone not in cut, a BUNCH of various Louis Leong prize kit items AND some of the official swag that AMG very kindly dished out at Worlds to be sent to TO’s around the globe.
What else could you possibly want?*
*seriously, if there’s something else you’d like to see then I’d love to hear about it!
Tickets are available here and the Facebook event page (where prize pics, rules and general info will be posted) is here.
Go on, get a ticket. You know you want to!
It would be remiss of me not to also mention a few other events going on:
Firestorm Games, Newport – Saturday 13th of May
Excelsior Comics, Bristol – Saturday 20th of May
Board in Brum, Walsall – Saturday 20th of May
Kirton Games, Kirton – Saturday 27th of May
Atlas Tabletop Games, Gloucester – Saturday 10th of June
Board in Brum, Walsall – Saturday 17th of June
There is SO much going on!
Will there be invites on offer? You’ll just have to check the events out and see!
Patreon Update…
What with house moving and all that stuff going on, I’ve been a little slack with the Patreon updates this month. A little production/design issue has meant that the tokens I want aren’t quite ready to show you yet and have delayed the other SUPER cool things I wanted to show you.
So I already showed you the Marksmanship and Predator cards a few weeks ago. Well, sticking with the Spaceballs theme, there’s also going to be a Dark Helmet card – a BoY Vader alt art in the tarot card size.
Not only that but there are also going to be ‘Schwartz’ tokens featuring Yogurt on one side (May the Schwartz be with you!) and Dark Helmet on the other (I see you Schwartz is as big as mine).
Lastly, the Legend tier patrons will each be getting TWO plastic alt art cards. A plastic Rebel Lando Calrissian and best of all, a transparent, spot gloss Fly Boy Poe!
Pretty cool, right?!
If you’d like to get some of these or if you’d just generally like to support me in the blog writing then you can sign up to be a Patron here. I would really appreciate it!
Right, event and Patreon shilling over, let’s get to the X-Wing “content” shall we?
The batrep… (JARGON ALERT!!)
It’s been a couple of weeks since I last posted but I have actually played a game or two (ok, exactly two) in that time.
One is a good few weeks ago now but, while my memory of it is a little rusty, I think it’s worth looking at, primarily because (spoilers!) I lost it.
Yes, I’ve lost PLENTY of games in my time playing X-Wing but this was my first loss with the list I’ve been running and so I think there’s value in looking back and identifying correctable mistakes.
In case you missed the last few posts (hey, no judgement here!), this is the list I’ve been using:
Ezra Bridger (Gauntlet Fighter) (7)
Notorious (5)
Hera Syndulla (4)
Veteran Tail Gunner (3)
False Transponder Codes (3)
Nightbrother (0)
Swivel Wing (0)
“Chopper” (Crew) (1)
Ship Cost: 7 Loadout: (16/16) Half Points: 3 Damage Threshold: 5
Magva Yarro (5)
Ursa Wren (6)
Jyn Erso (5)
Contraband Cybernetics (3)
Pivot Wing (0)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (14/14) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Saw Gerrera (5)
Hopeful (1)
Leia Organa (7)
The Child (7)
Contraband Cybernetics (3)
Pivot Wing (0)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (18/18) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Keo Venzee (3)
Crack Shot (3)
XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (4)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (7/8) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
Total: 20
It’s fairly beefy, has at least 2 agility (most of the time!) and while I’m tempted to swap Saw for Casian (for the matched initiatives) and Keo could be swapped for any 3 pointer really, I am enjoying playing it.
So, let’s get started!
Game 1 – Richard Otton – Scramble
Richard doesn’t get down to play as often as he’d like but he’s a lovely guy and a very good player. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve every beaten him?
Anyway, he was flying a particularly nasty looking Imperial squad:
Darth Vader (BoY) (6)
Marksmanship (0)
Hate (0)
Afterburners (0)
Ship Cost: 6 Loadout: (0) Half Points: 3 Damage Threshold: 3
Soontir Fel (6)
Predator (2)
Crack Shot (3)
Shield Upgrade (8)
Ship Cost: 6 Loadout: (13/15) Half Points: 3 Damage Threshold: 2
Iden Versio (3)
Elusive (2)
Ion Cannon (6)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (8/8) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 1
Moff Gideon (3)
Cluster Missiles (4)
Overtuned Modulators (3)
Targeting Computer (1)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (8/8) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 1
Black Squadron Ace (2)
Ship Cost: 2 Loadout: (0/0) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 1
Total: 20
View in YASB 2: https://yasb.app/?f=Galactic%20Empire&d=v9ZhZ20Z564X125W204W105Y179X127W116W165WY218X119WW11WWY503XW98W411WW249Y227X&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron&obs=
Vader AND Soontir? Yuck. High initiative ships are a problem for me and while my high health and mostly not single agility can mitigate that, taking multiple big punches from high initiative ships with multiple mods is going to hurt.
We set up and are ready to start:
Now, looking back, my biggest mistake in this game is either about to happen or has already happened.
I was first player during setup so I placed forces and was relatively ok at the time with how things looked. However, my choice of moves in turn 1 hurt me badly.
Clearly I turned in with Keo (I’m not CRAZY!) while the U-Wings and Ezra sped up the board. My intention was to try and use the rocks for extra cover for Magva (who was in the central channel) and to get in between them for turn 2. Meanwhile Ezra and Saw would go up to the middle and turn in.
Now the mistake:
Saw went faster than Ezra to make it easier to turn in past him in future turns. That’s all well and good but with the TIEs approaching, Ezra didn’t go far enough to be able to turn in with the rock being where it is. I’d either gone too slow OR allowed poor rock placement in turn 0.
As a result, this is what turn 2 looked like:
Ezra misses arc on the TIEs. Sure, Saw and Magva have some shots and Magva’s ability does mitigate some reroll damage but Magva took a REAL beating from those TIEs there. She survived the turn (Richard not committing with the i6’s was a blessing!) but dies the following turn as Soontir and Vader finished her off.
Meanwhile I was trying (and failing) to kill TIEs while Keo was still too far out of the action to meaningfully contribute.
Ezra’s position for a stop and rotate meant that he had to reduce his agility to opent he wings AND take damage to stop so as not to take MORE damage by going over the rock.
I eventually got Moff Gideon and put some damage on the BSA but it was too little, too late. Ezra taking a Structural Damage meant that stopping with wings open put him at zero agility and he didn’t last long there.
Saw and Keo put up as good a fight as they could but just failed to see off Vader in the last turn to try and bring the score a bit closer.
Result: 11 – 21 loss
Mini conclusion…
Despite his claims of rustiness, Richard played this really well. His range control with the TIEs was good and while Vader and Soontir maybe spent a little too long out on the flank, they certainly made up for it when they did turn in.
As I mentioned before, from my point of view this loss was all about the turn 0/turn 1 choices. Going faster with Ezra to allow the turns and not miss arc was crucial. It left Magva exposed and meant that Ezra had to self damage to turn and get arc, only to be stranded there with nowhere to go.
I still think that sending Saw slightly ahead of Ezra was right, it was just doomed from the start with the rock placement. I don’t remember who placed it but whoever it was, I still didn’t have to put Ezra right next to it as a place to sit several turns in a row.
I’d go as far as to say it would have been better to stop with Ezra turn 1 while the U-Wings took a 1 straight so I could better judge where to go and then maybe bank in, staying behind the rocks and then stop forever, not needing to open wings and rotate.
Still, hindsight and all that….
I had thought that Keo’s being out for so long was unavoidable given that I didn’t want him facing down two i6’s but, given that Richard’s list had those ships, perhaps I shouldn’t have set him out on a flank in the first place.
Definitely some food for thought in this game.
Game 2 – ???
Ok, so, full disclosure. I did play a second game (against Alex Jensterle and his pesky Jedi!). However, I have totally run out of time to write about it. That said, given that I won’t be playing a game this week (booooooooooooooooooo!) I might get to it next week. Or I might not. It really 100% depends on the house move stuff.
I’m sorry.
The conclusion…
In terms of the list, I really do like it. I think I just need to work out a better turn 0 and overall strategy for a few different scenarios and against different list archetypes.
Against Richard I really felt that the low initiatives put me at a big disadvantage. While that sounds pretty obvious given that higher initiative pilots are (generally) more expensive because they are ‘better’, I know that low initiative pilots can be played in such a way to make them a feature.
To be honest, Richard is good enough to work around that anyway but I don’t think I properly leveraged my ships moving first well enough to give him major problems.
And there lies a bit of an issue.
Low initiative pilots can be used to block up lanes and force high initiative pilots into bumps. Sure, it’s less effective now than in 2.0 with the red focus that can be taken but stopping squirrely ships from double repositioning out of arcs/into shots is still a big deal.
My list is low initiative, yes but it also wants to (likes to!) stop. Multiple times. Clearly this is at odds with the blocking plan. I guess what I might need to do is to mix up what I’m doing. Stop with some, move fast with others. Try to be unpredictable.
Maybe I’m being a little nit-picky but without looking at how I can improve then I’m never going to.
I do enjoy this list. The shenanigans are fun, it’s pretty tanky and, when it feels like it, can hit pretty hard. I’m not done with it yet, not by a long way.
Unless a points change tanks it, of course. I doubt that it will, though. I don’t believe that there are any game breaking pilots or upgrades in this list so hopefully I’m ok.
I think that’s about it for this week. There will almost certainly not be a post next week but keep an eye out just in case! Either way, I’ll be back some time. I’ll see you then!
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.
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Exile Rookies:
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