The intro…
Well hello! Welcome to this week’s blog!
Now before I get started I’ve got a lot to cover and, as has been increasingly common lately, I’ve not got an awful lot of time to get this blog done so I’ll be trying to keep things as brief as I can!
I got reminded a little while ago that I’ve managed to COMPLETELY miss doing an announcement for something so I’d better get it done now eh?
Here we go…
TICKETS ARE LIVE FOR THE WELSH OPEN 2024!!!
Yes, following a very successful inaugural event this year (in my highly biased opinion!), we are going to host it again next year!
We’re still looking at prizes and whatnot but the most important thing is that we’re looking at a large scale, two day premier event with a side event and tons of goodies to give out to everyone!
More details will come of course but we would love to see you there, what makes this event is the people who come along!
Speaking of upcoming tournaments, the Newport Store Championship is finally upon us! We’ve had a couple of drops from our sold out event but if you’d like to be added to the waiting list in case there are any more you can comment on the Facebook event page or just drop me a message. It promises to be a great day!
Lastly, speaking of tournaments there have been some more Store Championships and one to make note of in particular was at Galleon Games in Bexhill-on-Sea (on the South-East coast of England). Why is it notable? Well, it was won by a certain Phil GC
I don’t know if you’ll read this Phil but congratulations and welcome back to X-Wing!
Patreon Update…
Yep, we’re just 2 weeks away from the end of quarter 3 for 2023 and so it’s time for me to show you another shiney!
This time it’s s-foil tokens!
Made by the beautiful Jon and Michaela at Cog’O’Two I’ve got a selection of colours in these lovely S-foils to go with the T-70 pilot alt arts. These will be for Commander and Legend tiers plus of course the other bits and bobs I’ve already talked about.
If you’d like any of these then you can sign up to Patreon here to support the blog. It’s MASSIVELY Appreciated!
XTC Update…
OH YES! XTC 2023 is firmly under way now with week 1 of the group stage having started on the 15th of October!
Old Jester and I ‘met up’ (y’know, virtually) and did the pairings for our round as Wales faces Hellas (Greece) this week.
I do feel I have to apologise as my TTS art skills aren’t up to much…
You get the idea though, right? We’ve got:
- HEL IMP vs FO WAL
- HEL RES vs RES WAL
- HEL FO vs IMP WAL
- HEL REB vs REP WAL
- HEL CIS vs REB WAL
I hope that all makes sense!
We’ve had a little turbulence this week and unfortunately one of our players has, for personal reasons, had to drop out. Not just from this week but from the whole tournament. He’s ok but of course real life comes before plastic spaceships (real or digital). He’s still part of the team in spirit even if unable to join in right now.
Thankfully we’ve had clearance from the powers that be to get a replacement player in and so the lovely Mr Michael Upton of Vector Squadron Creative steps in to join us!
Now, since he’s not up to speed on our lists it’s a little unfair to throw him straight in and so it has fallen to me to take on our Rebel list this week. I’ll be playing the game tonight (as of time of publishing) with no actual reps with this exact list. I’m sure it’ll be fine though, right?
I tell you what, I’ll let you know next week. If I can squeeze it in. I promise Ill try!
The batrep… (JARGON ALERT!!)
So, yes, I have actually had time to play a game this week! Huzzah!
With the Newport tournament suddenly looming VERY large on the horizon it’s time to actually pick a list to fly.
Now last week I’d flown the Welsh XTC Resistance list in order to be familiar and with a view to flying it at Newport. In classic Dylan style, I’d not had much opportunity to re-pack my bag and so it looks like it’ll be the same list again!
L’ulo L’ampar (4)
Marksmanship (1)
Predator (3)
Shield Upgrade (8)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (12/12) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 2
Jessika Pava (4)
M9-G8 (5)
Electronic Baffle (2)
Integrated S-Foils (0)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (7/7) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 3
Temmin Wexley (4)
Heroic (2)
Ferrosphere Paint (3)
R6-D8 (4)
Integrated S-Foils (0)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (9/9) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 3
Ello Asty (4)
Swarm Tactics (5)
Heroic (2)
Integrated S-Foils (0)
Jamming Beam (1)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (8/8) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 3
Zorii Bliss (4)
Dorsal Turret (2)
R4 Astromech (2)
Wartime Loadout (2)
Plasma Torpedoes (5)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (11/11) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Total: 20
It’s fairly straightforward in what it wants to do and I like that.
Off the back of winning a store championship in the Games Bunker in Weston-Super-Mare the previous weekend, I faced off against Josh and his worlds invite winning list…
“Contrail” (3)
Elusive (4)
R7-A7 (5)
Synchronized Console (1)
Alpha-3B “Besh” (1)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (11/11) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
“Kickback” (SoC) (3)
Diamond-Boron Missiles (0)
Munitions Failsafe (0)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (0) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 3
“Slider” (2)
Dedicated (3)
Ship Cost: 2 Loadout: (3/3) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
“Boost” (2)
Dedicated (3)
Ship Cost: 2 Loadout: (3/3) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
“Odd Ball” (V-wing) (3)
Plasma Torpedoes (5)
R4-P Astromech (2)
Synchronized Console (1)
Alpha-3B “Besh” (1)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (9/9) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
“Klick” (3)
Dedicated (3)
R3 Astromech (3)
Synchronized Console (1)
Alpha-3B “Besh” (1)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (8/8) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
Padmé Amidala (4)
Elusive (4)
Proton Torpedoes (12)
R4-P Astromech (2)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (18/18) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 2
Total: 20
Look, there’s a LOT going on here. Basically don’t joust it. It might look like lots of low health ships but Padme’s ability stops you hurting it, free evades and Elusive rerolls are all over the place and with Synchronised Console and a couple of torps it will hurt you.
Let’s do some quick Pre-Flight checks:
Scenario – Chance Engagement
Target/Objective Priority – Eesh. I mean, take at least 1 ship off the board before it fires is my aim here. Preferably more. Also, a good flank with Lulo would be nice.
Obstacles – Given that Josh’s list wants to stick together I’ll try to place obstacles in a way to restrict that.
Deployment – A block of T-70’s and Zorii with Lulo off to the side.
We place the objective, obstacles and ships and we’re good to go.
I got a pretty decent obstacle placement here I think. I force Josh up the board edge and I can try to control my approach to just get 2 of his ships in range in the first turn. Maybe.
I think approach is ok until I waver and insead of dialling Ello a 2 bank, I pick a 1 bank to make sure Zorii’s ability triggers and she’s double modded.
It costs me.
Jess is in range of the front 4 of Josh’s ships. She gets nailed with a Proton Torp and gets reduced to 1 hull as my greens abandon me.
Ouch.
In return I manage to… Take Boost down to 1 hull. That is not ideal. I’ve got a great position for Lulo next turn but I’d have benefited from the shot this turn, that’s for sure.
I decide to go fast with Jess to trigger some blocks. I also mess up with Temmin, dialling in a 3 straight and bumping into Slider but it’s technically a bump into Jess and he takes a damage. Numpty.
Next Josh moves and takes some locks on Temmin and I completely forget about Ferroshpere Paint which would have made quite a difference.
Josh proceeds to wipe Temmin off the board while I manage to get enough damage onto Padme to take her off too. It’s 4 points each but Jess is almost dead and so is Odd Ball. It’s on a bit of a knife edge.
Josh’s ships scatter to turn around while I figure out how to grab a few more points.
Lulo fails to do any significant damage while Ello and Zorii focus some unmodded fire onto 1 health Boost. Do they kill him?
Do they heck.
Following the beating he took last turn, Ello akes an obstucted shot from Boost and dies.
Balls.
As we move into the end game I’ve got Lulo heading into the melee while Zorii is heading out. I finally pick off Boost but I still need more points.
Zorii banks left and rotates her arc to try and get the kill shot on Odd Ball while Lulo will try and score half points on something from his back arc.
Zorii’s still too healthy to be halved by the chasing V-Wings but the question is, can I score points from my shots?
Zorii rolls 2 hits into Odd Ball at range 1 (but with the range bonus taken away by Klick) and Josh rolls the evades he needs to live.
Lulo rolls 3 dice out of his rear arc and gets… 2 blanks and an eyeball. I spend his focue but the shot is evaded and time is up.
Result: 16 – 17 loss.
The conclusion…
This was a game of VERY fine margins.
The first was Boost not dying in the first engagement. That was largely down to my not getting Ello into range and the choice to sacrifice the shot with Lulo to get the full flank.
Then my forgetting Ferrosphere Paint on Temmin when he got locked was rather annoying. And my fault, of course.
Then Boost not dying when shot by both Ello and Zorii and being able to take Ello out was unfortunate too.
And lastly right at the end neither Zorii or Lulo doing any damage to, well, anything, was slightly underwhelming (although unlikely I suppose) when it really could have mattered.
Still, to get within a point of Josh who’d just come off 5 wins and a Worlds invite and has been running the list for 4 or 5 months is not a bad result I think, especially with this being just my second or third rep with the list.
Am I ready for Newport with this? Who knows. Still, I think I’m set with this list to give it a go!
The big question is will I have enough time to talk about the tournament AND the XTC game? We’ll have to wait and see I guess!
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
Exile Veterans:
Mark Beor, Daniel Barringer, Michael Bird, Steve Boulton, 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, James Humphery, Opi-Wan Kenobi
You are all amazing humans!