The intro…
Well hello there and welcome to the latest blog!
You’ll notice I didn’t say ‘this week’s’ because, to be frank, I’ve missed 2 weeks now and there’s been more things to do than there has been time to do them.
Anyway, less of the excuses, three is a LOT to get through today!
Patreon Update…
Ok, let’s start here! This is the LAST week that you can sign up to be a supporter and get your hands on this quarter’s stuff! Well, until the 31st, to be exact.
Since I’ve missed a couple of weeks I’ll catch you up! Here’s what you’d be getting if you sign up to be a Patreon supporter:
Well, most of it anyway. I’m still waiting on one batch for the Commander/Legend tiers and I forgot to bring the giveaway prize with me. You get the idea though, right?
So the Rookie tier will get both the alt art cards (that’s Wedge and RAC), Veteran tier will get those plus the 3 hard turn template. Commanders will get those plus two charge tokens and two of some nice tokens I’m getting made for Ancient Knowledge. Lastly the Legend tier will get all of those but an extra 3 charge tokens and 3 Ancient Knowledge tokens.
So if you’d like any of this stuff then get on over to my Patreon page and get signed up!
XTC Update…
XTC is hotting up!
Sadly Wales got eliminated a few weeks back but we are now almost at the end of the event! This week France knocked out Brazil in the losers bracket while USA faced off with the US Islands to see who would be guaranteed a spot in the final.
After going 3-1 up the US Islands lost a 2 game lead to go 3-3 but pulled a win out int he final game of the round to take the spot in the final!
USA now drop into the losers bracket where they will play France to see whether it’s the reigning champions who face the US Islands in the final or if the USA can get the opportunity to take their revenge!
If you’d like to follow the Challonge bracket (which might make all that easier to follow!) then check this out:
https://challonge.com/vyjtr9ol
It’s also worth following Levi’s blogs about the event as he’s been making regular posts about what’s been going on. Or just read the blogs anyway, he’s a lovely guy!
https://obiwinxwing.wordpress.com
XWA Update…
Oh boy. This is a big one.
Actually it’s far too big to even really talk about properly given how much other stuff I have to write about.
Since it’s VERY recent and since I’m not super analytical I’m going to just cover the broad strokes of it right now and then take a run at covering it more next week*
*I hope!
So I guess the TL;DR of what I’ve not written about (so may it’s more NT;DR – not there; didn’t read) is this:
We have new points. Not just new points but a new point scale, now going to 50 points instead of 20.
For me, this is a good move. Many MANY people hated going from 200 to 20 points and the biggest argument was granularity. Make X ship 5 points and it’s too expensive, unplayably bad. Make it 4 points and it breaks the game and is in every list. It plagued AMG when they were balancing points and, while I think that XWA definitely did a better job balancing points, it’s still been a thing in the last year or so too.
Going back to 200 was never going to be an option with Legacy very ably keeping that point scale up to date. Even if differences run deeper than just how many points make up a list, going to 200 would not have been the answer.
It is going to feel a little weird for a while I think, especially as it’s not simply doubling points vales but in light of the Discord Stage broadcast made on Sunday, bringing list power levels down a little and trying to better spread ship counts from 4-5 up to 3-7 means we should see more variety which is a good thing.
There are patch notes available here which are always a very interesting read and give good context to why changes have been made. YASB has been updated so it’s time to start building!
Anyway, I did say I wasn’t going into it so I’ll leave it there. For now just get yourself into YASB or Launchbay Next and get building some lists!
The pre-amble…
Told you it might be a long one
So, this past weekend I went to an event! My wife being away for work plus the impending points switch and me actually having a list I knew/liked meant that when Richard Greenaway got in touch about an event in Weston-Super-Mare I was excited to be able to go!
Over the summer I’d been flying a list that Steve Boulton had put me on to as he was expecting to see it at the WTC in Belgium and wanted practice.
Luke Skywalker – T-65 X-wing (5)
Plasma Torpedoes (7)
Servomotor S-Foils (0)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (7/7) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 3
Wullffwarro – Auzituck Gunship (4)
Trick Shot (4)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (4/4) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Saw Gerrera – UT-60D U-wing (5)
The Child (7)
Tactical Officer (3)
Contraband Cybernetics (3)
Pivot Wing (0)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (13/13) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Wedge Antilles – RZ-1 A-wing (3)
Predator (3)
Hopeful (1)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (4/4) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
Evaan Verlaine – BTL-A4 Y-wing (3)
Dorsal Turret (3)
Concussion Bombs (5)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (8/8) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 4
Total: 20
I’d clicked with it very quickly and went on a bit of a win streak with it. I don’t remember how many games exactly but probably around 7 or 8 games won out of 8 or 9.
Then I went on holiday and I was a few weeks without playing. XTC started and while I’d planned to play it, I got someone in the team who, honestly speaking, is a better player than me who wanted to fly it and so I happily stepped aside.
I then went on a rather different run. A defeat was followed by another and then another. I then went over to Steve Boulton’s for an evening to get a couple of games in and it went…. poorly.
The first game was called early as I was 2 – 10 down after 3 turns, down two ships and hadn’t yet damaged anything.
The second was called at 5 – 12 as I lost Wulfwarro and Wedge in exchange for half of Breech.
This was not the preparation I needed.
The third game went better as I forced myself to stop leaning on several predictable behaviours I’d fallen in to but at 14 – 17 it was still a loss.
It felt a rather long drive home as I considered whether this was down to me not engaging my brain properly, Steve knowing how I tend to fly it or if I was doing something fundamentally wrong or even just different than how I’d originally flown it.
Steve messaged the following day (perhaps feeling a little bit bad for me. Maybe) and suggested that if I wasn’t happy with it that I could go back to the Scum list I’d been flying before.
I did consider it but given that I knew points were changing and because it was my wife’ birthday ont he Friday and getting the time and opportunity to repack my bag would be tricky, I decided to just stick with it.
And so I rocked up to the Games Bunker in Weston-Super-Mare along with 15 other players and, with my expectations now fully recalibrated from the (over)confidence I’d felt a month or so earlier, got ready for some pew-pew!
The batreps… (JARGON ALERT!!)
I’ll just quickly run through my tournament expectations:
- My primary goal in a tournament is to have fun.
- My minimum expectation of myself is to be a good opponent.
- My hope is to break even.
- My dream is to make the cut (or, with no cut, win?!)
Game 1 – Ben Saunders – Chance Engagement
Because of course it’s Ben! In 2024 we flew all the way to Chicago for Worlds and got paired in round 1. This was a fiar bit less travelling but felt like it was always going to happen!
The funniest thing is what Ben was flying…
Jan Ors – HWK-290 Light Freighter (5)
Moldy Crow (0)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (0/0) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 2
Wullffwarro – Auzituck Gunship (4)
Trick Shot (4)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (4/4) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Saw Gerrera – UT-60D U-wing (5)
Tactical Officer (3)
The Child (7)
Contraband Cybernetics (3)
Pivot Wing (0)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (13/13) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Wedge Antilles – RZ-1 A-wing (3)
Hopeful (1)
Predator (3)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (4/4) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
Evaan Verlaine – BTL-A4 Y-wing (3)
Dorsal Turret (3)
Concussion Bombs (5)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (8/8) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 4
Total: 20
That’s my list! Almost. On account that Ben really hates Luke, he’s replaced him with Jan Ors which is an interesting change.
It started out as a literal mirror match with us both dropping bombs, both going slow initially and then crossing our Wedges over with 5 straights in turn 2.
Ben moved cautiously with Saw, perhaps a little too cautious as I banked out with Wulf to join Luke and ROAD played a bit part with Ben moving Jan first. The result? Dead Jan.
Not only that but my Wedge survived a SIX dice shot from Wolf (range 1, ability online and boosted by Jan!) with all paint. My Wedge has been on-shot in less perilous situations than that!
We continued to chip away at each other’s ships but I was just about edging most turns in terms of damage and my ships were living that little bit longer than they could have. While half points was keeping Ben in it, as the clock ran down he was running out of ships and time to catch up.
Result: 19 – 15 win
Mini conclusion…
A win! I can’t lie, it felt VERY good after so many games lost in a row. Dice and ROAD played a HUGE part in this game and it was pretty close right throughout but I think that the games lost against Steve earlier in the week had shown me that I’d settled into a routine with the list and that I needed to break out of it.
An early win! Yay!
Game 2 – Steve Boulton – Ancient Knowledge
Of course it’s Steve! He’s only been my opponent in the last 5 games I’ve played before today!
He’s recently changed up his FO list and despite dropping Vonreg I think it’s stronger than what he’s flown recently.
“Quickdraw” – TIE/sf Fighter (5)
Proud Tradition (2)
Predator (3)
Pattern Analyzer (5)
Special Forces Gunner (0)
Fire-Control System (2)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (12/12) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 3
Kylo Ren – TIE/wi Whisper Modified Interceptor (5)
Brilliant Evasion (2)
Instinctive Aim (2)
Concussion Missiles (7)
Sensor Scramblers (1)
Enhanced Jamming Suite (0)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (12/12) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 2
“Scorch” (EoD) – TIE/fo Fighter (3)
Determination (EoD) (0)
Fanatical (0)
Threat Sensors (EoD) (0)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (0) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
“Breach” – TIE/se Bomber (4)
Proud Tradition (2)
Feedback Ping (1)
Plasma Torpedoes (7)
Thermal Detonators (5)
Delayed Fuses (1)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (16/16) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 3
Lieutenant Rivas – TIE/fo Fighter (3)
Squad Leader (4)
Fire-Control System (2)
Biohexacrypt Codes (1)
Electronic Baffle (2)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (9/11) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
Total: 20
I figured as we set up that this game was as much about playing the player as playing the list. Steve knows me and knows what I want to try and do with this list. I have to still execute a game plan but without being predictable enough for him to just come and trash me like he did a few days earlier.
I decide to send Luke and Wedge out to tackle Kylo (or maybe just scare him off a little) while Evaan and Wulf will approach the middle. I’m fully expecting Breach to want to ruin my day so I keep Saw back a bit to force Steve into making a choice.
An early claim from Wedge here meant that I went 2-0 up early but needed to be wary of getting caught out.
As ships piled into the middle it became a bit of a task to get my ships into decent positions (or even half decent) without self bumping. Saw hard turned right to catch out Breach but the bomber had turned into the middle instead, leaving Saw with no shot (but out of danger).
I halved Scorch first and then Breach and Rivas as I ignored Quickdraw and Kylo for now. That put me 8 – 4 up but I knew that Steve could bring some focused fire soon. I went all-in on blocks and while it did allow Kylo and Breach to wipe out Wulfwarro, I finished off Breach (who had drifted in front of Saw at range 1 with no shot onto the U-Wing and no actions) and Scorch as well as picking up and additional objective.
With time called on the round during that done I’d done it!
Result: 14 – 9 win
Mini conclusion…
Allowing myself to throw off the self imposed restrictions on how I fly the list is what got me the result here I think. In previous weeks I’ve kept Saw and Wulf close together and, once they’ve been bombed initially, there’s no real need for that (provided they’re still range 3 for Saw’s ability to be used).
On Steve’s side I’d possibly say he took a bit long to get Kylo in but I think my use of Luke and Wedge had enforced that to some extent.
Overall I’m happy with how it went and I went into the lunch break having already achieved my hope of 2 wins!
Game 3 – Chris Burnett – Salvage Mission
So now I’m up at the serious end of the room I guess! Chris already has two Squad Champ event wis under his belt and is chasing a third coin. He’s been challenged over using ‘boring 1 forward Rebels’ (his words, not mine!) and so is flying a 4 ship Imperial list today which is VERY scary for my list.
Darth Vader – TIE Advanced x1 (6)
Brilliant Evasion (2)
Fire-Control System (2)
Afterburners (8)
Ship Cost: 6 Loadout: (12/12) Half Points: 3 Damage Threshold: 2
Colonel Jendon (BoE) – TIE/d Defender (8)
No Escape (BoE) (0)
Push The Limit (BoE) (0)
Proton Cannons (0)
Computer-Assisted Handling (BoE) (0)
Ship Cost: 8 Loadout: (0) Half Points: 4 Damage Threshold: 3
Lieutenant Karsabi – Alpha-Class Star Wing (3)
Marksmanship (2)
Xg-1 Assault Configuration (0)
Autoblasters (7)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (9/9) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 3
“Double Edge” – TIE/ag Aggressor (3)
Dorsal Turret (3)
Barrage Rockets (8)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (11/11) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
Total: 20
Two i6 heavy hitters along with a Star Wing that can be where it wants and an i2 Aggressor that you can’t ignore.
I have to admit, quite early on I sort of resigned myself to getting battered here. I can’t easily do anything about the i6 ships and if ROAD goes against me, I could end up pointing at nothing while Karsabi, Jendon and Vader just arc dodge.
Still, I had deployed pretty close together (to avoid being picked off) and we had a very nice big open space in the middle.
I initially turned away with Saw but as soon as dice were rolled, I knew I was sunk.
Evaan was the only ship with a shot on Jendon (which missed, of course) but the extra green she passed over to Saw was a slightly bigger help as the 4 dice Proton shot came in.
The question was, what next?
I opted to stop with Saw because I couldn’t see any other move that Chris couldn’t just account for later. In case he decided to leave Saw to Vader I 3 banked with Evaan and hard turned with Wulf while Wedge and Luke both turned in to where I was expecting Jendon to be.
Luke’s turnin and lock had forced Jendon to roll away to try to avoid the shot while still allowing a shot into Saw.
Saw died (of course) and so Vader took his shot into Wulfwarro and took his shields.
Luke still had Jendon in arc despite the barrel roll and fired Plasma torps. Jendon was modless and blanked out, leaving him shieldless as well and giving me half points (4!!). Not bad!
Karsabi’s shot didn’t affect anything so I’m not quite sure who it was into but I then put shots from Wulf, Wedge and Evaan into Karsabi and halved the Star Wing, bringing it to just a hull or 2 left. The i2 Aggressor fired Barrage Rockets at Wedge and (annoyingly) stripped his shields to give up 1 point.
It’s 8 – 8. Better than I’d hoped it would be!
Now, though, it was time to start dropping bombs. With Jendon already below half health I needed to get my ships out of the way so I could drop Concussion Bombs to keep the TIE Defender at bay.
Karsabi tried to run but a sloop (JARGON ALERT!!) from Wedge caught him squarely in arc and he was gone. Sadly, that sloop had blocked a Talon Roll I’d dialled in for Luke , leaving him stressed and facing the wrong way. Typical.
Unfortunately Wulfwarro took some heavy damage and exploded but as I was up on objectives, I still managed to stay in touching distance on points.
Across the next 2 turns I tried to recover Luke’s position (but without allowing him to be threatened) and keep Wedge out of harm’s way.
As time was called we entered the last turn tied on points.
I couldn’t actually get a win here, could I?!
Brave little 1 health Wedge boldly turned to face Jendon to see if I could block him onto the rock that he’d willingly rolled behind to get a shot the turn before.
I got the block and checked the points. Wedge is holding a crate. If he lives I score 2 objective points to Chris’ 1. Jendon can’t mod the shot. It’s 3 reds on 3 greens (with a focus)….
Chris rolls 3 hits out of hand.
Balls.
Wedge rolls one eyball and 2 balnks and dies, dropping the crate.
Elsewhere Evaan took some hits to lose half points (well, 1 point).
Result: 15 – 18 loss
Mini conclusion…
So close!
Considering I lost 25% of my list before even taking a single shot and had the initiative disadvantage here I think I did ok. Evaan’s bombs kept Vader honest and even though I struggled to get damage in to the i6’s (or even reliably get them in arc) I got enough shots to keep it close at least.
Reality check applied, on tot he last game then!
Game 4 – Steve Burnett – Scramble
Another Burnett! I’d never met Steve before so it was nice to have a game against someone new!
He was flying a Scum lost with some familiar pieces but not in a combination I’d seen before.
Talonbane Cobra – Kihraxz Fighter (4)
Elusive (4)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (4/4) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 3
Fenn Rau – Fang Fighter (5)
Predator (3)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (3/3) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 2
Captain Nym – Scurrg H-6 Bomber (5)
Deadeye Shot (1)
Ion Cannon Turret (6)
The Mandalorian (2)
Veteran Turret Gunner (4)
Proton Bombs (5)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (18/18) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 5
Bounty Hunter – Firespray-class Patrol Craft (6)
Veteran Tail Gunner (6)
Proton Bombs (5)
Babu Frik (5)
Ship Cost: 6 Loadout: (16/16) Half Points: 3 Damage Threshold: 5
Total: 20
Ugh, bombs. Ironic given that I’ve got bombs too, I know but having to navigate them is annoying.
Still, I think I have a plan – take out the Firespray and don’t get murdered by Fenn.
We start off and I think I overplay my hand with Luke a little. He’s only taking 1 incoming shot but once the Firespray drops a bomb on the next turn and Nym fuses it I can see it’s going to be an issue. Steve goes ahead early on objectives as I faill to claim any but Wedge manages to dodge Fenn and put a safe claim int eh following turn which helps.
I anticipate Steve’s flank with Fenn and Wulf makes him pay with a 5 dice shot which Fenn takes 3 hits from. Nice!
The next turn… doesn’t go so well.
Wulf just about survives shots from Talonbane and Nym to get a follow up shot into Fenn but falls just short of the hits needed and the Fang lives while the Firespray then finishes Wulf off. With more objectives then me that puts Steve 8-3 up and Luke and Wedge are WAY out of position.
Nym fusing bombs is starting to become an issue for me but Evaan’s unfuseable bombs are proving an issue for the Scurrg. Saw blocks Nym twice in a row to force some bombs in while Talonbane takes a beating from Saw while trying to get out of his arc.
Wedge is playing with fire, diving in towards Fenn and Talonbane as I try (and succeed) to get more damage onto Nym and the Firespray, collecting half points on both.
The next turn is tight as I finish off Nym but lose half points on Saw. All the while I’ve been picking up 2 objective points to Steve’s 1, keeping me 2 points ahead as we go in to the last turn.
Time is called just as we pick up dials. Typical! If he’d called it 5 seconds earlier it’s a win for me!
Never mind, at least now I can take my time thinking about what my win condition is and how to get it.
First off, Wedge must live, as must Saw. I thrown Wedge in towards Talonbane and Fenn, knowing that they would have to go past or bump into him.
Luke comes in fast to get a shot. Mayeb I can finish Fenn or halve Talonbane.
Evaan moves slowly forwards and Saw will hard turn away to try and live.
And it all goes to plan. Sort of. Well, no, not really.
I forgot about the Bounty Hunter’s bomb so Saw takes a Proton bomb to be on 1 hull.
Luke’s 4 straight puts him in range of Evaan’s bombso he gets halved, giving up 2 points. Evaan’s 1 straight isn’t quite enough to stop Talonbane from rolling left to get arc on her.
At least Wedge is safe I guess?
Fenn is range 2 of Evaan so can’t quuite get enough damage in. Talonbane has no mods so, despite rolling 5 dice, still fails to halve the Y-Wing.
This is where things take a turn for the dramatic.
Luke shoots the Khiraxz and doesn’t just halve him but wipes him out completely. Wow.
Behind the Y-Wing the Bounty Hunter takes a concussion bomb and opts to take the strain to nor reveal it, only for Evaan to finish off that last hull with an unmodded dorsal shot.
That results in a CRAZY points swing. I’d been 2 points ahead at the start of the turn but finished up 8 points in front.
Result: 24 – 16 win
The conclusion…
What a day! I’d gone from losing several games in a row (and the last few pretty badly) to finishing 3 – 1 and the loss being VERY close!
Overall I’m really happy with how I did, finishing 4th overall out of 16 and actually myself, Chris Burnett and Mark Packer-Hughes all had identical SoS and were only separated by a victory point margin of 4! Had I scored a few more points I could have finished in second place!
Still, I can’t complain about that!
There’s no point me talking about the list in any great detail because it’s now fully defunct under new points which have actually dropped while I’m writing this!
Thanks for taking the time to read this today. It’s been a tough few weeks for getting blogs out and I appreciate you sticking with me!
I’m off to go and make some new lists! Remember to check out the Patreon and I’ll see you next week!
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:
Ben Kennedy, Opi-Wan Kenobi
Exile Veterans:
Mark Beor, Daniel Barringer, Michael Bird, Jason Desmarais, Darin Schwarze, Alex Peters-Bean, Mark Packer-Hughes, Eric Gordon
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You are all amazing humans!