The intro…
Hello, welcome to this week’s blog!
After not keeping up with what’s been going on tournament-wise of late (sorry Canada!), I’m aware of two events that happened this past weekend.
First up, the Polish (ex) GT which, after withdrawing from being an official event, decided to run with the new XWA points.
Over 60 players turned up and after 6 games of swiss on the Saturday and a top 16 cut on Sunday, congratulations to Maciej Kordulewski who took the win with a CIS list! Full rankings and lists can be found here: https://xwing.longshanks.org/event/18983
And secondly, the first UK event to run under new points was hosted by Steel City X-Wing at Patriot Games in Sheffield. Well done to Tom Veale who won with… yes, a CIS list! You can check out the rankings and lists here: https://xwing.longshanks.org/event/18983
The XWA points are, of course, still technically in beta and something that’s really interesting to see is that in the Polish tournament the top 8 were 6 different factions and the top 16 contained all 7. Now yes, it’s definitely been a while since we’ve seen a tournament with as many players as this but to see such a varied top cut is definitely an indicator that a points shake up was WELL overdue and the great turnout shows that there’s still plenty of enthusiasm for the game.
Overall, a great weekend!
XTC Update…
Yep, another week, another update! Sadly, while things are getting slowly better, we still lost last week against Germany.
We initially went 2 – 1 up but while Mark Packer-Hughes finished strong on Sunday Germany had already got the 4 wins needed to take the round.
Unfortunately that leaves us with 3 losses from 3 rounds. This week we’re up against Hellas (Greece) so we will go again and do our very best! Come back next week for another update!
https://www.longshanks.org/event/17486
The batrep… (JARGON ALERT!!)
And to the main event. With XTC in full swing and tests/reps of various things needing to happen for the good of the team, it was FINALLY time to get a game with an XWA list!
On the day that points were released (way, way back on the 1st of September!) I started making some lists and on the Tuesday I picked one and packed it to take to casual night.
I then proceeded to use two different lists using the old AMD points for the next two weeks. Typical eh?
But last week, it finally happened.
Now, before I get to what my list is, I need you to understand a few things. Firstly, I’m no list builder. I can tweak a list to suit my play style, sure, but build one from scratch while considering synergy between ships and things like that? Not so much.
Secondly, I wanted to build a list with new things. Things I couldn’t use before (or at least mostly those things). And so, I made this:
Ezra Bridger – Gauntlet Fighter (6)
Hopeful (1)
“Chopper” (Crew) (1)
Deadman’s Switch (2)
Tactical Scrambler (2)
Nightbrother (0)
Swivel Wing (0)
Hera Syndulla (4)
Ship Cost: 6 Loadout: (10/10) Half Points: 3 Damage Threshold: 5
Gavin Darklighter – E-wing (5)
Fire-Control System (2)
Plasma Torpedoes (7)
R3 Astromech (3)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (12/12) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 3
Miranda Doni – BTL-S8 K-wing (5)
Ion Missiles (3)
Veteran Turret Gunner (4)
Perceptive Copilot (8)
Proton Bombs (5)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (20/20) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Bodhi Rook – UT-60D U-wing (4)
Fire-Control System (2)
Tactical Officer (3)
Pivot Wing (0)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (5/6) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Total: 20
Ironically on THE DAY that I was going, there was a minor points adjustment and Miranda lost 5 points of loadout. She’d originally had Cluster Missiles and something else but after some minor manual adjustments on my Infinite Arenas sheet (meaning I scribbled over it) I was all good.
Miranda being standard legal (if there is such a state to be in right now?!) was fun and same with Gavin in the E-Wing. I’ve LONG thought that if there’s 4 point Reapers then a 4 point U-Wing should also be possible so I picked one of those as well. An Ezra in the Gauntlet because, well, I like the Gauntlet.
I personally think that Ezra’s loadout is a bit low but smarter people than me can probably find some super upgrade combo to make him better than I have. I actually preferred him at 7 points with more loadout than at 6 with less but maybe that’s just me.
Anyway, I had no real game plan and the idea was just to mess around and have some fun!
I was playing against Josh Hall who was flying the same list as he’d flown again Steve Boulton that I covered in a blog 2 weeks ago.
“Blackout” – TIE/vn Silencer (6)
Predator (3)
Sensor Scramblers (1)
Plasma Torpedoes (7)
Proton Rockets (6)
Ship Cost: 6 Loadout: (17/17) Half Points: 3 Damage Threshold: 3
Kylo Ren – TIE/vn Silencer (6)
Brilliant Evasion (2)
Predator (3)
Targeting Synchronizer (3)
Ship Cost: 6 Loadout: (8/8) Half Points: 3 Damage Threshold: 3
Major Vonreg – TIE/ba Interceptor (5)
Marksmanship (2)
Predator (3)
Proton Rockets (6)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (11/11) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 2
“Static” – TIE/fo Fighter (3)
Marksmanship (2)
Heavy Laser Cannon (5)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (7/8) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
Total: 20
On the positive side I was pretty sure I knew what he wanted to do. On the negative side, I wasn’t really all that sure I could do too much about it.
Speaking of which, let’s hit those Pre-Flight checks:
Scenario – Assault at the Satellite Array
Target/Objective Priority – Tricky. I’d need a good amount of objective points
Obstacles – spread out would be nice since I’ve got got 1 small base ship!
Deployment -Ezra with a lane to sail down, Bodhi nearby. Gavi and Miranda a bit further out.
We placed everything and were ready to get started
Turn 1
Now clearly there’s a problem here. Josh was 1st player so there’s no real excuse for my putting Miranda SO far out when Static was placed after Ezra. Josh’s gameplan here looks to be ‘smash the Gauntlet’ and so far, I look like I’m letting it happen.
Slow (or slow-ish) from Ezra and Bodhi will have to be balanced with fast by Gavin and Miranda.
It’s a 2 straight from Ezra, a 1 from Bodhi while Gavin 5 straight and Miranda 3 straights.
ROAD 1st Player – me
ALL my ships move before Josh. This could be a loooong game….
Ezra moves and reinforces to the front. Bodhi moves and… balls, the first flaw in my plan. Can’t co-ordinate Ezra as he’s stressed. He takes a focus and I’m already upset with my list building.
Miranda 3 straights and slams a 3 bank before Gavin goes 5 straight and boosts straight (no, I’m not sure why either).
Static goes 5 straight and focuses before Blackout (who decloaked in the systems phase) goes 5 straight, takes a focus and links to a boost. Wooosh!
Kylo follows suit and nestles in behind Static before Vonreg 5 straights, boosts and locks Gavin.
So yeah, shooting turn 1 and I’m not happy about it. Vonreg goes into Gavin and takes a shield before Blackout unleashes a Proton Rocket at Ezra. Fortunately for me, Josh’s dice aren’t great and after the reinforce does 1 damage. Kylo is out of range so Static is next with the HLC but does the same as Blackout (but costing me the Force charge) meaning that from 9 red dice Josh has done 2 damage. I love Gauntlets!
My return shot lacks the Force but despite this, Ezra and Bodhi strip Blackout’s shields and put a damage card on. Not bad!
No points are scored and so it’s back to dials.
Turn 2
My first priority is get Miranda into the mix. Gavin needs to threaten with….ah dammit. At this point I remember the E-Wing ship ability and berate myself under my breath. Idiot.
Since I’ve got bigger base ships I need to leverage that so change my mind with Miranda since it looks like I might be able to catch at least 2 (maybe 3) objectives with a 1 bank.
Ezra stops, thinking I might cause a bump or two while Bodhi will bank left to catch a shot on Blackout. What to do with Gavin? Well, I need to get my powerful gun into the mix so he will 1 hard left, maybe getting a bump on Vonreg.
ROAD 1st player – Josh
Ezra goes first by not going. He stops (despite being tressed because of Hera), takes the Nightbrother evade and takes a damage to take an action with Chopper which is a reinforce to front. All of which was a bit wasteful given what happened actually….
Static comes forwards 2 straight and focuses.
Bodhi banks left and focuses before Gavin hard turns and rolls left into a red lock which, with R3 Astromech, he takes on Vonreg and Kylo. Looking back at this now, I wasn’t allowed to take that lock on Vonreg. Oops!
Miranda 1 banks and locks Vonreg.
Josh catches me off guard by hard turning left with both Blackout and Kylo. Blackout turns, focuses and rolls out of both Ezra and Bodhi’s arcs. Kylo focuses and boosts in at Gavin.
Vonreg’s hard turn isn’t blocked so he happily focuses and takes a strain to get a lock on Bodhi.
Vonreg and Blackout go into Bodhi, stripping shields and leaving him on 3 hull. Kylo hits Gavin and takes his last 2 shields while Static misses his shot into Ezra.
My return fire is just terrible. I’ve no shot into Blackout so Miranda goes for the ion into Vonreg and gets it. Gavin and Bodhi go all in with 8 dice (more actually with Gavin’s lock) on Kylo but he dodges ALL OF IT. ALL. OF. IT.
Ezra goes range 1 on Static and takes his shield. Not ideal.
Not only that but while I’ve got the middle and top right objectives, josh has 3 ships on the bottom left so gets that one.
End of turn score: 2 – 1
Turn 3
Hmmm…. what to do now?
Ezra wants to get into the mix and clear some stress so will 2 bank right. Bodhi needs to get out of dodge so will 3 bank right. Miranda will 3 straight to get a claim on 2 objectives while Gavin…. What will Gavin do? I opt for the 1 bank left to clear the stress. It means a bump into Vonreg but as he’s ionised it means a follow up range 1 shot.
ROAD 1st Player – me
I start with Ezra whose 2 bank clears and sits him reasonably in the way. Nice. Bodhi goes next, clearing good distance and taking a focus (again). Can he live?!
Miranda goes 3 straight and I realise that was unnecessary since Bodhi is in range of the top left objective. Though he may die. Miranda focuses and the Gavin banks, clears his focus and takes a red focus.
Static sloops (JARGON ALERT!!) while Blackout hard turns in (keeping his stress) and Kylo escapes through the gap that Bodhi left.
Vonreg takes his 1 straight ion move and focuses.
Alrighty then.
Josh decides to leave Bodhi for later and puts 3 shots into Ezra, dealing 2 hits and a Loose Stabiliser crit. Not ideal.
My return shots? Well, with 3 shots into Vonreg (who spent his focus attacking Ezra) what might you expect that I managed? 4 dice with a focus from Gavin, 4 dice from Ezra and 3 dice (using her ability) with a focus from Miranda. To kill him? take him down to 1 hull maybe?
Also, no. I did nothing. Literally zero damage. Cool.
Again I’m outnumbered on the bottom left objective so Josh gets 1.
End of turn score: 2 – 1
Total score: 4 – 2
Turn 4
After a very underwhelming turn of fire, I need to do something here.
Ezra has to go straight and his slowest is a 2 so that’s that. It’s unfortunate (or stupid) but Bodhi will have to move after the Gauntlet. Will a bank move fit next to it? Maaaybe? I’ll try it.
Miranda will go 1 straight and hope it fits while Gavin will do the same and accept the bump into Vonreg.
ROAD 1st player – Josh
Ezra takes his 2 straight, clearing another stress and while I consider revealing a card to add an action via Chopper to the Nightbrother evade I took, I decide against it.
Static hard turns and focuses, leaving me to move the rest of my ships. Crunch time.
Literally.
Bodhi and Miranda both bump into Ezra. Thankfully neither takes a damage.
Gavin bumps into the back of Vonreg and takes a red focus.
Blackout goes straight and rolls away from Gavin while Kylo turns around the rock and focuses into a red boost.
Vonreg hard turns, focuses and takes a deplete to roll right and dodge Gavin’s arc.
Vonreg dispatches Bodhi with very little fuss, allowing Blackout and Kylo to go in at Ezra. The Gauntlet continues to defy the odds by taking just 2 damage but the return fire is just so poor again with only Gavin getting a single hit onto unmodded Static.
I have got the objective advantage this time though.
End of turn score: 2 – 4
Total score: 6 – 6
Turn 5
I’m in a spot of bother here. I don’t think I can win the game because Ezra is on 3 hull and staring down a rock with a Loose Stabiliser crit. Gavin’s on shaky ground too and while I’ve got a shot at claiming objectives, I NEED to kill a ship.
Ezra will have to accept the hit from Loose Stabiliser and will bank left. Gavin will bank right and look for a shot into Static while Miranda will position to try and get shots out of both turrets with a 1 bank left.
ROAD 1st Player – Josh
But first, a bomb from Miranda.
Ezra banks left, takes the Loose Stabiliser hit and with just 2 hull remaining, doesn’t flip a card to take a reinforce.
Static cruises forwards 2 and focuses.
Miranda banks and double focuses while Gavin’s 1 bank drops him RIGHT in front of Static.
Blackout goes straight, focuses and boosts right to get arc on Ezra while Kylo, on hull health, accepts the bomb to get a shot on Ezra as well.
Vonreg tries for a 1 hard turn but bumps into Miranda.
Vonreg just barely has Ezra in arc and rolls full paint. Nice. With the Force I get 2 evades so he’s alive. For now.
Blackout follows up and wipes Ezra clean off the board (he ends up with 11 damage cards!). This leaves Kylo with Miranda to shoot at and he takes her last shield which scuppers my plan to spend it for a 4 dice shot into Blackout.
She takes the 3 dice range 1shot instead and does 1 damage (of the 3 needed to kill him) while Gavin then takes his range 1 shot into Static and does…. 1 damage (of the 3 needed).
We’ve got 1 objective each and I’ve managed to not kill a single ship.
End of turn score: 1 – 7
Final result: 7 – 13 loss
The conclusion…
It was close until it wasn’t!
There were mistakes aplenty, starting with my placement of Miranda and missing Gavin taking a lock in turn 1. From there a combination of my dice being stone cold and every close cut arc from Josh being just about in meant that while I outscored on objectives, I eventually ran out of health on my ships. Josh only got 3 points of objectives to my 7 but of course, I didn’t manage to kill any ships. I got close on Static and Blackout but not close enough.
The low initiative hurt me, there’s no avoiding that. Not only that but missing triggers and my poor turn 0 all contributed. That said, this was never meant to be some tournament dominating list, I just wanted to try out some new toys (well, old toys that got dusted off).
It’s been interesting to see the wide spread of new and shiny lists in the events using XWA points so far and while I’ve not had time to take a really good look to see if there’s anything I like, there’s really no pressure to do so right now. I’m just enjoying that there’s lots of options to consider.
Will I fly this again? Eeh, probably not. The list is FAR from optimised and in all honesty there’s other things I want to try out (Auzitucks for starters and maybe a Resistance list) so for now I’ll just enjoy messing about with whatever weird combinations I can make fit. If I see something that takes my fancy then I may give it a try but with my next booked in event being the Sith Taker Open in February next year then I’ve got TONS of time to work things out.
Until then, I’ll just keep flying casual!
That’s it for this week. I’ll catch you next time!
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 Initiates:
Douglas Thomson
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, HasNolo, David Bryan
Exile Legends:
Rebecca Westwood, Admiral_Ackbar47, Phill Blackmore, Chris Fear, Jamie Howard, Sean Oakley , Steve Boulton
You are all amazing humans!