The announcements…
Alrighty then, before we get started properly there’s a little bit of housekeeping to sort out. IT’S PATREON MONTH BABAAAAYYYYY!!!
Yes, somehow it’s already time to pull together some shiny things to send out to the incredibly lovely and generous people who support my blog. What’s coming this month? Well, I’m glad you asked
Shiiiiiiineeeeyyyyyyy!
If you would like to support the blog directly and get your mitts on some lovely pretty things then you can sign up to be a Patron here but, as ever, please don’t feel obligated. I MASSIVELY appreciate the support my Patrons give and never take it for granted.
You guys are awesome.
Ok, on with the blog!
The intro…
Welcome to this week’s blog!
Since my last post… well… nothing really all that significant has happened in the world of X-Wing. The week BEFORE last though, Adepticon happened over in that there U-S of A.
A 200-ish player tournament run over 4 days with side events aplenty and a Worlds qualifier to boot definitely made it feel like X-Wing is back with a bang and having skipped talking about it last week (because it hadn’t long finished when I was writing and I didn’t have the time to look into it!) it’s certainly worth a mention this week for a few reasons.
First – A freaking huge tournament. Finally!
Having recently just hit the 2 year mark since the big C-V-D came and rained on just about every parade, everywhere, I feel like this was a significant line in the sand. A big convention and lots of players gathered in a big room together is a return to what X-Wing was before and while much has changed, much stays the same. Masks and hand gel and social distancing might be on the decline (most rules are no longer legally enforceable here is Wales) but erring on the side of caution is a price worth paying to have this sort of event.
Second – Good players are still good.
One thing I noticed about the top cut (which was 19 players thanks to the graduated cut method used) is just how many familiar names there were. I’ve heard on GSP this week that lots of new players had attended and that there were more cardboard templates in use than they’d seen in one room before (indicating newer players?!) but with a good half of the top 16 players being people whose names I was aware of from being mentioned in top cuts on podcasts before, it seems like being good at X-Wing still means being good at X-Wing. I won’t elaborate much more here (because it’s already need done to death in many places!) but in my opinion 2.5 is different enough to 2.0 to require ‘retraining’ to a degree but it seems these players have taken to it quickly.
Third – GSP IS OP
I know I mentioned in passing a few posts back that, following the incredibly successful Galaxies tournament series, Space Jam and others, I now basically consider GSP to BE organised play for X-Wing. When Asmodee announced that they weren’t allowing AMG to run an already announced event at Adepticon, GSP stepped in to take it on and from what I’ve heard and read from many places, they did the amazing job that I’m fairly certain we all knew they would. Dion’s open offer to run whatever other large scale tournaments are coming up in the future is one that AMG should take very seriously. And for goodness sake, pay the man!
Of course GSP hasn’t been the only group to organise tournaments since lockdown started and a HUGE amount of credit needs to go to so many people all around the world for keeping X-Wing alive during covid.
Fourth – 2.5, broken but not broken
I read a post from Chris Allen this week saying that among his biggest concerns for the tournament in the lead up was that someone would find some aspect of 2.5 that is just straight up broken and the on site judging team would have to sort it out while also running a huge event. While there certainly seem to be parts of 2.5 which some people find less than appealing (auto-crit Jedi are back everybody!!), the fact that nothing was significantly busted across the goodness even knows how many games is definitely a good thing.
Fifth – A meta. Finally!
And this is a big one for me. I’m no list builder, that is for sure. The lack of reliable data on list compilation from sustained tournament play has meant that there has been no clear meta since 2.5 was released. Now, the fact that there were VERY Few mirrored lists and apparently that the only ship in standard format that didn’t get into ANY list was a droid Tri-Fighter indicates that the spread of ships is pretty good. That’s cool. However, on the flip side, there are certainly pilots which are popping up EVERYWHERE. Of course the 2 point pilots are incredibly popular and while ship loadouts might vary, the make up of 20 points of pilots begins to have a pretty familiar feel.
I’m certainly no expert at breaking down the meta (like, at all) but it always seems like the first big tournament after a change sets the tone for the months to follow. Whether that’s good or bad, right or wrong is a whole other discussion but for now it’s allowed the wider community to see and understand (thanks to the magic of streaming!) what’s good and what maybe isn’t so good.
Now, I left that point until last because it takes me nicely on to this week’s games.
Following a rather dismal run of games (some of which have been fun, honest!), I decided that the Scum list I’ve been running isn’t for me. Not right now at least. With a huge number of lists to ‘take inspiration’ from (yes, ok, steal), I would be able to see what people are doing, what I fancy trying and possibly be able to see it in action to get the basics of how it works.
And why not start at the very top? Ok, almost the top. If you’ve been reading the blog for any length of time you’ll know that I’m a Rebel player at heart. Yes, I’ve got Scum. And Resistance. And yes, Cai has collected Imperial. And Republic. (dear Lord I’ve got so many ships in this house…) but at my core I’m always cheering on those Rebels, even when they’re the massive underdogs.
Which, it seems, is not the case right now. Rebels and Republic were the highest represented factions (by quite a way I believe), mostly due to how efficiently lists can be built.
So, with Marcel Manzano (of the Gold Squadron Podcast, no less) making the final table with 9 wins, I guess he must be on to something. So I stole the list.
Gina Moonsong (4)
Selfless (2)
Trajectory Simulator (6)
Jamming Beam (0)
Seismic Charges (3)
Stabilized S-Foils (0)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (11/11) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Netrem Pollard (4)
Hopeful (1)
Trajectory Simulator (6)
Jamming Beam (0)
Ion Bombs (4)
Stabilized S-Foils (0)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (11/11) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Derek Klivian (2)
Vectored Cannons (RZ-1) (0)
Ship Cost: 2 Loadout: (0/0) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
Lieutenant Blount (2)
Ship Cost: 2 Loadout: (0/0) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
Magva Yarro (5)
Hopeful (1)
Leia Organa (7)
Sabine Wren (3)
Contraband Cybernetics (3)
Pivot Wing (0)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (14/14) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Shara Bey (A-Wing) (3)
Crack Shot (3)
XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (4)
Vectored Cannons (RZ-1) (0)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (7/7) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
Total: 20
Familiar ships that I’ve flown a lot of times and mostly familiar triggers. This has got to go better for me, right? RIGHT?!
The batrep(s)… (JARGON ALERT!!)
In an interesting turn of events, I’ve actually managed to get not one, not even two but THREE games in this week. Three! Can you believe it?!
I won’t be able to go in depth on all three as you’d be here all day so I’ll break them down separately.
Game 1 – Jordan Bishop
Jordan and I arranged to play on Tuesday evening since my wife was out. Now that I’d opted for this new Rebel list I tried to get on Twitch to have a quick watch of Marcel’s set ups and general strategy but alas, I was called into taxi duty (which nearly meant there was no game at all!).
I got back, logged on to TTS and blindly loaded up the list. Now, what was Jordan flying…
The Mandalorian (7)
Cutthroat (2)
Fearless (3)
Zam Wesell (11)
The Child (6)
Overtuned Modulators (3)
Contraband Cybernetics (3)
Razor Crest (0)
Ship Cost: 7 Loadout: (28/28) Half Points: 3 Damage Threshold: 4
Kad Solus (4)
Fearless (3)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (3/4) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 2
Bossk (Z-95 Headhunter) (3)
Crack Shot (3)
Marksmanship (1)
Ion Missiles (2)
Deadman’s Switch (2)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (8/8) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
Manaroo (4)
Notorious (2)
Overtuned Modulators (3)
Punishing One (0)
R5-P8 (4)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (9/9) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Ahhav (2)
Ship Cost: 2 Loadout: (0/0) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 1
Total: 20
Interesting. Not massively different from the Scum list I’d been flying of late but with an arguably much more sensible loadout on the ships. Bossk in a Z-95 comes in for Gamut Key and Ahhav replaces N’dru. Jordan’s been toying with different loadouts on Mando and has gone down the passive mods route in this build.
Right, let’s do some Pre-Flight checks:
Scenario – Scramble the Transmission
Target/Objective Priority – having flown similar, I know that Manaroo and Mando can burn down quickly but at what cost? I’ll try to take out something and see how many objectives I can grab.
Obstacles – it’s all rocks! Being honest, not much thought went into obstacles on this game, aside from taking the biggest I could pick for Seismic reasons!
Deployment – Spread around to try and claim some objectives. Use the A-Wings to go fast while moving in more of a block with the others.
Now, clearly it shows here that not watching how this list is used has meant I’ve got no real plan going into the game which, let’s face it, is never good.
We get set up to start and I’m already a little nervous about my chances.
Hobbie and Shara blast forwards to claim the right hand objective while I slow roll with the rest. It doesn’t pay off as Kad and N’dru wipe Hobbie out before he can do, well, anything at all (including claiming the objective since he opted for a focus instead) and I go into turn 2 1-4 down. Not a great start.
I’m also quite horribly positioned with Kad and Mando having the option of swinging in to the middle which is exactly what they do.
I plough forwards and now Magva and Blount arrive at the middle but with ships incoming, I decide against claiming in favour of a mod.
Gina and Netrem pootle forwards too but with Manaroo approaching, Gina rolls left to dodge her arc.
This engagement also goes badly as Mando and Kad remove Blount before Ahhav and Manaroo strip Magva of her shields. Meanwhile N’dru has picked up the right hand objective and in response all I can manage is taking Manaroo’s shields.
The score is now 2 – 9 and I feel like there’s no way back here.
We continue though. I’m not about to give up a chance for game minutes or opportunities to learn.
Manaroo spent her Overtuned Modulators and spent NONE of the calculates so now has 3 stress to try and deal with. Netrem turns to try and clip Manaroo but misses arc while Jordan brings Kad and Mando more into the fight. Bossk and Shara appear to be playing a totally different game all on their own. Magva stopped and, with Contraband, was able to claim the middle objective.
Side note – objectives kept disappearing from the board. Has anyone else had that on TTS? So weird!
Gina sneaks past Manaroo and tags an objective. So that’s something I guess…
Again, things don’t go great as Netrem gets his shields removed and Magva takes a hit to hull while I do precisely zero in return.
I outscore Jordan on objectives though, bringing the score to 5 – 11.
Next turn I pull some Netrem nonsense, rolling and turning him to get an unanswered shot onto Manaroo. Gina turns in and faces off with Kad but also rolls to dodge his arc. Shara has decided to come and play the game but so has Bossk and the face off towards the top of the board. Magva stops again (thanks to Leia) but since he’s already stressed, can’t do anything as Jordan takes the middle objective out of my control (but not claiming it himself).
This turn goes much better as I remove Manaroo from the board while only taking 1 hit on Netrem in response. Decent. We’re tied on objectives but the 4 points for Manaroo catches me up, we’re at 11 – 13.
In the next turn Magva uses Mando to stay still but my moves with Gina and Netrem land me in some bother, despite picking up the middle objective again. Kad takes the left objective from me (without getting it himself) but Shara’s systems phase boost and 2 bank means she can claim the right hand one uncontested. Except she doesn’t get it, only taking Jordan’s claim from it.
Nothing dies again this turn (although Netrem picks up another hit, leaving him on 2 hull) but Jordan holds 2 objectives to my 1, taking the score to 12 – 15.
I’m out of options with Magva, she HAS to move now and takes a huge 2 bank towards Mando. Netrem decides to bug out and try to live while Shara moves to definitely claim the right hand objective. Gina moves in on the top objective but finds Bossk in her face at range 1. Ships are worth more than objectives anyway, right?
Gina wipes Bossk out but loses 2 shields herself from Mando. Magva’s range 0 shot at Mando does nothing but Ahhav’s range 1 onto the U-Wing takes 2 more hull, leaving her at 2 remaining.
Quite unbelievably, given how the game started, it’s now 17 – 19. The timer goes right at the end of the round but Jordan suggests another turn since it was close and we had a few wasted minutes through the game.
Magva blasts forwards to claim, Gina does the same. Shara just flutters around by herself, unable to contribute, while Netrem turns back in to shoot. Kad hones in on Magva’s flank while Ahhav, the sneaky TIE fighter, sails into the middle and successfully claims the objective there.
This time Netrem does die and Jordan has 2 objectives while I kill nothing and get 3 objective points.
Result: 20 – 25 loss
Mini conclusion…
After a pretty terrible (ok, fine, very terrible) start where I felt that I was out of the running in turn 2 I was actually quite pleased (and very surprised!) to have brought it back as close as this. Yes it’s still a loss but I feel instantly at home with this list, much more so than with the Scum list I’ve been using of late.
Not that it means that the Scum list is bad (as shown by Jordan’s efforts in this game), I’m pretty sure that it’s more that I’m unfamiliar with it in comparison.
I’m certain that this Rebel list is a better fit for me right now so I packed it in my bag (along with a print out from Infinite Arenas rather than stacks of cards!) ready for casual night at Firestorm!
It’s clear that I need an overall strategy for how to use this list and on the Wednesday I manage to get time to watch Marcel’s top 4 game on GPS’s Twitch channel (at around 5:45:00). It’s just one example game but I feel it’s enough to get me started.
Game 2 – Mark Hall
My second game of the week would be against Mark. Mark is prepping for a tournament at Board in Brum (which I really REALLY wanted to go to as well, sorry Liam!) and so continued with his tweaking of Imperial TIE x1 lists with this monstrosity:
Storm Squadron Ace (3)
Fire-Control System (2)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (2/2) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
Storm Squadron Ace (3)
Fire-Control System (2)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (2/2) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
Storm Squadron Ace (3)
Fire-Control System (2)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (2/2) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
Storm Squadron Ace (3)
Fire-Control System (2)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (2/2) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
Storm Squadron Ace (3)
Fire-Control System (2)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (2/2) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
Storm Squadron Ace (3)
Fire-Control System (2)
Ship Cost: 3 Loadout: (2/2) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
“Night Beast” (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=v9ZhZ20Z177X113WWY177X113WWY177X113WWY177X113WWY177X113WWY177X113WWY226X&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron&obs=
Oh boy. Yes, it’s all low initiative but with a round of locks and the extra dice that gives the x1’s I could be in for a pounding here. I’ll need to try and leverage my higher initiative ships, be careful with range control and pray to be second player early on so that my i3’s can avoid getting locked for one more turn.
Some quick Pre-Flight checks:
Scenario – Assault at the Satellite Array
Target/Objective Priority – Capture enough to not fall behind, try and take some ships out before multiple 3 dice shots start raining down.
Obstacles – I want to create unhelpful lanes on Mark’s side to make sure that if he wants to claim an objective, he’ll have to head somewhere nasty on the way out.
Deployment – A sort of spread, reacting to Mark’s deployment too but I want Gina’s Seismic to have a potential impact. Netrem’s Ion bombs too…
I’m first player for turn 0. I start setting up and place the objective for my side close to the half way point but out to the side. I place the one for Mark’s side right down in his corner so that he either wastes a ship holding it or can only claim it for 1 turn before coming in to engage.
We then place obstacles and ships and are ready to go. I’m already feeling better about my ship placement (well, mostly) and where obstacles are.
So yeah, Hobbie is NOT going to joust those 3 TIE x1’s. That was the downside of ‘winning’ the turn 0 ROAD roll.
He turns away while everyone else goes forwards quite quick (for Rebels at least!).
I’ve only managed to bag 1 objective to Mark’s 2 but I feel like my positioning is better, especially on my right flank if I’m 2nd player.
I dial in slow moves for my right hand bank of ships and while I threatened the Traj Sim Ion bomb, I don’t actually launch it.
The threat pays off as Mark splits his ships, leaving 4 vs 2. Meanwhile Gina dodges all but 1 incoming shot from Mark’s left hand ships. Hobbie loses shields to a long range shot from a single x1 but lives to fight on.
I manage to delete a TIE x1 and so, despite holding 2 fewer objectives we end the round on tied scores overall.
Some bold moves and a cheeky 180 roll with Netrem means that I’m now holding 2 objectives to Mark’s 1. Hobbie has run away to the corner but Gina is left exposed.
Some cold red dice from Mark (aided by Magva stopping him from rerolling more than one per attack!) and hot greens from me means that Gina escapes fairly unscathed from 4 (!!) attacks. Meanwhile Netrem pours fire into the back of the orange x1 but fails to kill it.
I decide that now is the time to pull the trigger on several things all at once.
Gina drops a Seismic, Netrem throws an Ion, Magva spends Contraband and I activate Leia.
It’s utterly bonkers.
Gina dives out of the way and rolls behind the rock while Magva stops and rotates. Blount dives out of the way but near the Ion…which is totally fine since he’ll just 1 straight to claim the objective next turn.
Hobbie sloops and focuses while Netrem…. bumps into Magva. Look, I never said it was perfect, ok?
The Seismic forces Mark to roll the x1’s chasing Hobbie, meaning that they’re only single modded. It does tag one x1 though.
The ion bomb catches THREE of Mark’s x1’s who have already bump chained themselves.
A bonkers engagement ensues with Magva and Netrem failing to kill the closest x1 (which I later realise I could have tractored with Sabine from the bomb, bringing it to range 1 and removing 1 agility…) but Mark failing to destroy any of my ships and Blount taking out Night Beast with a 2 dice obstructed shot means some points have been scored.
At some points during this melee the timer had gone. We got 4 rounds in. FOUR. Crazy.
Result: 10 – 6 win
Mini conclusion…
A win! Yay!
What really struck me here was the combination of low turn count and low score considering we went to time. With 13 ships on the board, systems phase nonsense and some difficult decisions both in planning and activation phases I guess it’s understandable to an extent but 4 turns and 16 points scored in total seems really low.
In terms of the game itself I’m happy with how it went (obviously!). I’d have to admit that dice results certainly helped me (Gina, queen of the greens!) but being able to position Magva where I did and then activate Leia while then hitting multiple ships with the Ion and Seismics was very VERY satisfying, especially where, with another turn, Blount would have simply drifted onto the middle objective to claim it with no incoming shots and another Seismic from Gina would have tagged at least one of the ioned x1’s.
Anyway, following the previous day’s initial trial of the list I was now feeling even more comfortable with it. I did still manage to miss the trigger for Sabine though….
Game 3 – Jordan Bishop – again
Now my job is a bit weird in that while I do technically have regular office hours, I don’t have an office. If I’ve got no jobs on I go home and that means that I can randomly spam someone (like Jordan) and see if they’re free for a game. He was. So we did. Awesome.
He’d been doing some tweaking to the Scum list from Tuesday and wanted to try it out.
The Mandalorian (7)
Fearless (3)
The Child (6)
Zam Wesell (11)
Contraband Cybernetics (3)
Mandalorian Optics (5)
Razor Crest (0)
Ship Cost: 7 Loadout: (28/28) Half Points: 3 Damage Threshold: 4
Manaroo (4)
Notorious (2)
Overtuned Modulators (3)
Punishing One (0)
R5-P8 (4)
Ship Cost: 4 Loadout: (9/9) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 4
Joy Rekkoff (5)
Outmaneuver (6)
Ion Torpedoes (4)
Ship Cost: 5 Loadout: (10/11) Half Points: 2 Damage Threshold: 2
Ahhav (2)
Ship Cost: 2 Loadout: (0/0) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 1
N’dru Suhlak (2)
Ship Cost: 2 Loadout: (0/0) Half Points: 1 Damage Threshold: 2
Total: 20
Interestingly, switching the Overtuned Modulators to Manaroo means that they can be passed over to Mando (with Manaroo’s pilot ability), negating the downside for both ships. With free locks on Mando from Optics and Zam plus 2 Force this list has passive mods for days.
Jordan dropped Bossk down to N’dru which allows him to change Kad to Joy and load her with Outmaneuver and Ion Torps for some nast agility reducing shenanigans. Yuck.
Alright, let’s do some Pre-Flight checks:
Scenario – Scramble the Transmissions (again!)
Target/Objective Priority – Claim some objectives, blow some stuff up?!
Obstacles – I’m still working on how best to deploy obstacles BUT with Seismics and Trajectory Sim if I can get some close together then it gives me options.
Deployment – Now that I’ve got a bit of a better handle of what’s going on, I’ll place Gina and Netrem where I can try to leverage (or at least threaten) thrown bombs. I want to avoid being outnumbered and bullied like I was in game 1 so being able to speed in to claim something and back it up with more ships would be the ideal.
We places objectives, then obstacles and then ships and we’re ready to start.
While I’m not over the moon about Netrem and Blount facing off with Mando and Manaroo, I’m reasonably happy with how this all looks so far. Objectives are important, yes but as long as I can claim enough to not fall behind, I’m hoping to wipe something out for points. Perhaps not in turn 1 but I’d hope to in turn 2.
My A-Wings launch forwards after systems phase boosting and claim the right hand objective while still having a focus each (thanks to a coordinate from Magva). Gina, Netrem and Blount all cruise forwards with the B-Wings trying to take up good Traj Sim positions.
Jordan respondes by turning away with Joy and opting not to joust with N’ru while the rest come forwards at a medium pace.
For the first time in a while, no shots in turn 1. Interesting.
Now I decide to thrown some bombs with Netrem throwing Ion and Gina Seismic. With N’dru now committing to the turn in, I press forwards with Hobbie (looking to get around the back for Jordan’s closes objective) while turning in with Shara. Magva also turns in while Gina cruises 1 forwards.
Netrem and Blount both turn away, hoping to deprive Mando and Manaroo of targets to shoot at.
Mando and Manaroo come in, as does Joy while Ahhav and N’dru end up facing off with each other.
Jordan played it safe with Mando but still catches some targets to fire at.
Did he play safe enough though?
Nope!
Netrem’s Ion bomb catches BOTH large base ships. Nice! Not only that but the Seismic catches Mando too.
Some shots are traded but everything is still kjust a little too far away to do anything significant.
We end the turn with me being 3 – 2 ahead after Hobbie claims the second right hand satellite.
This next turn will be a big one though.
I slam Magva right into the middle, looking to take a big swing at Mando while he faces away from the action. I can give Shara a decent position too but Blount and Netrem will be out of the action.
Jordan responds by bringing Joy right into the mix and swings Ahhav in too while N’dru circles around to the back.
Yes, I also (rather pointlessly) dropped another Ion with Netrem because I was pretty much anticipating this being the last possible turn he’s be facing the correct way.
It was silly and wasteful and as I did it, Jordan pointed out that saving it one more turn would have denied (or at least made him think twice about) the 5-K from Mando the following turn.
Oops.
Now, Mando had been my target but here I am with a much squishier Fang Fighter right in front of my Thread Tracer carrier.
Yes, I did. I shot at Joy. I shot at her with Shara and Gina AND Magva and you know what I got? 1 freaking hit. ONE!
In response Magva took a bit of a beating from Jordan’s forces.
I’d also claimed the middle objective (with Magva I think) and so as we ended the turn I went 6 – 3 in front.
That Ion bomb looks really good right about now….
I decide that SOMEONE should bomb though and even with Magva taking a stop, Gina drops her 2nd Seismic before getting out of the way.
It all becomes a bit chaotic as Manaroo bumps Mando, Joy bumps Magva and Blount bumps Ahhav. Meanwhile Netrem has quietly K-turned and focused (yes, I activated Leia!).
The Seismic does some decent damage all round but the only ship that dies this turn is Magva and Jordan hammers the U-Wing from all corners.
Netrem carveds some chunks out of Mando though while Manaroo takes a beating from the slowly exploding Magva with simultaneous fire.
Manaroo also triggered Overtuned Modulators and passed them to Mando with the pilot ability before picking up the middle objective to net Jordan a decent points haul in this turn, putting the score to 8 – 10.
In the next turn (of which I have no screenshot! Oops!), Gina streaks forwards to claim an objective only to be shot down by Manaroo. Netrem and Shara lay into Mando but he survives on 1 hull. Annoying.
Meanwhile Ahhav has quietly sauntered over to an objective and tries (but fails) to take it, succeeding only in stopping me from scoring it.
The next turn turns out to not only be the last but the most bloody.
Blount turns in at the ST-70 but is blocked by Manaroo.
Hobbie has sceamed in from behind a rock to be at range 1 of where Netrem will go, allowing him to do his 180 degree barrel roll nonsense.
Are Mando’s days numbered?
No, they aren’t.
He rolls up to Blount, missing being blocked by, well, not very much. Then evades into a red roll left which just barely fits.
He the proceeds to roll 4 paint at Blount, spends 2 Force for 4 hits and Blount blanks out, dying in a single shot.
He’s also dodged Netrem’s arc by millimeters, meaning he survives.
Netrem tries to shoot at Joy but she still isn’t having any of it and dodges any damage and thus ends the game.
Result: 11 – 21 loss
Mini conclusion…
Now, in a weird turn of events, this loss actually felt closer than the first game that we’d played despite this being a 10 point difference and our last game being 5 points.
The fact that Mando managed to one-shot Blount, basically guaranteeing his survival after the barrel roll cleared Netrem’s arc meant that I was denied 7 points which was kind of a big deal. Joy also not dying (repeatedly!) was also pretty clutch and had those situations gone differently then I’d say it would have been a coin flip as to where the points would have ended up.
I think that taking shots at the 3 agility Fang with 4 points rather than the 2 agility Razor Crest worth 7 (and who went on to kill Gina) was probably where I lost this game. I should have stuck to my guns (literally) and taken Mando out (or at least worn him down) while the opportunity was there and dealt with the Fang later.
Still, even a loss with this list (by 10 points!) felt like it had been a better and more enjoyable game than when I’d been using the Scum list.
It’s also just my 3rd game with the list and I AGAIN forgot to use Sabine. A tractor token would have been nice on Joy. Or an Ion. Or anything on any of them actually… Maybe I need a Sabine token for my bombs?
Still, I’d best get on with some more general conclusions!
The conclusion…
First off, I’m a little mad at myself for being stupid.
Let me clarify…
When everything around you is changing, why oh why would you change the ONE thing you can actually control – the list you use.
Now, I picked Scum because I had a list suggested to me and really REALLY wanted to try out the Razor Crest and I’m glad that I did. But man, playing this Rebel list felt like putting on a comfortable pair of slippers.
Even with some missed triggers from upgrades I don’t often use (*cough* Sabine…), I felt more at home with what I was doing and it felt like I had shed a layer of, well, I don’t know what (uncertainty perhaps?) and was free to be myself again.
Looking more broadly, I finally feel like I’m getting the hang of objective play a little more. I am still torn between capturing objectives and killing ships and in a way I feel like I settled for something in between. Get enough objectives to not fall behind, try and kill stuff to get ahead. Jordan managed to scupper me in both our games but in the second in particular, I was just a few decent dice rolls from killing Manaroo, Joy AND Mando. Any of them could have died in those last 2 turns. I’m still splitting fire too much it seems.
Then again it also, in a way, feels a little harder than in 2.0 to actually focus down ships when you have to try and predict whether a ship will be coming in at you, running away or going for an objective. I certainly didn’t see Manaroo’s 3 bank coming despite it being rather obvious in hindsight.
I think as I experience more games I’ll pick this up a bit better.
In the meantime though I’m just happy to have found a list with some familiarity and a somewhat proven track record as I try and navigate my way through the changes.
The outro…
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