Wednesday - Athena Games, Norwich
My first trip to Athena was in February this year for their Regional. Athena's a nice gaming store, they have plenty of space, and for me it has the distinction of being one of the few places that it's easier for me to get to on the train than to drive...
I played all my games against Shaun, one of my semi-regular sparring partners and frequent visitor this side of the border.
Game 1 - TL4
(Phil)
Lt Karsabi
- HLC
- Advanced SLAM
- Outmaneuver
- Xg-1 Assault configuration
Academy Pilot
vs
(Shaun)
2 x Red Squadron Veteran
- R5 Astromech
- Predator
- Servomotor S-foils
Mostly, I lost this in the second turn. I sent Karsabi down the left flank but SLAMmed him too far which meant in the first turn of engagement he didn't have a shot. He took hits from both the X-Wings, losing his shields, while my Academy Pilot was able to plink a shield off one X-Wing in return. The X-Wings split to chase both my ships, while I tried to focus on one of them, however my appallingly bad dice meant the Starwing exploded soon after. My Academy Pilot chipped a couple more shields off the X-Wings, but their combined firepower and more bad dice for me meant he died quickly.
Game 2 - TL4
(Phil)
Rexler Brath
- Juke
- Cluster Missiles
- Collision Detector
vs
2 x Red Squadron Veteran as above
So after that, I decided to pull out the big gun. Rexler is TL4 on his own, and this game was to demonstrate why...
Rexler set to work immediately, chipping shields off both the X-Wings and generally dodging arcs. I got some value out of the Cluster Missiles, which isn't something I would normally think to put on Rex. Embarrassingly, the first time he got a hit through the shields I forgot to use his ability, but one X-Wing died shortly thereafter, taking it down to one on one. And like a Bruce Lee film, one on one combat is the hardest. The remaining X-Wing led me a merry dance around the board until I was able to put a Damaged Power Regulator crit onto it. Knowing where it was going to be, I dialled in a 2-speed K-turn, stressing myself in return for a Range 1 shot, where I rolled a mighty one hit. Which was dodged, my stress preventing me from having the Evade token I needed to Juke it. And then I re-learned how hard it is to unstress a Defender - there were two rounds of what the snooker commentators call 'positional play' until I could get round to where I had a shot and I wasn't stressed. A crit and two hits later and it was all over.
Game 3 - TL2
(Phil)
Pure Sabacc
- Stealth Device
vs
Red Squadron Veteran
- R5 Astromech
- Predator
- Servomotor S-foils
Running slightly short of time, we decided to play a quick TL2 game, so I picked Pure Sabacc. My rule for Stealth Device in 1.0 was not to put it on a ship with less than 3 agility, so I was unconvinced about its' value on the Striker. I set up to come down the right-hand side of the table and then turn in through the obstacles. Turn 3 saw the first shooting, and what do you know, the Stealth Device paid off after all. Next turn I slooped, stressing myself to take a shot through a rock, and chipped a shield away. The turn after that, the X-Wing dialled in a T-roll, putting him in a great spot to blast the Striker at Range 1 - except because the Striker was stressed, the ailerons didn't kick in, meaning I just did a 1-speed bank to put me in front of the X-Wing, clearing my stress and leaving me free to barrel roll and turn the tables. Now I had the Range 1 shot, which with Sabacc's ability meant I was rolling five dice - for a total of one hit... Disappointing, but all hits count, or so I told myself. And from there I was able to keep chasing the X-Wing down until it died.
Friday - Ace Comics, Colchester
Game 1 - TL8
(Phil)
Rexler Brath
- Juke
- Cluster Missiles
- Collision Detector
2 x Planetary Sentinel
- Conner Net
Academy Pilot
vs
Damien
Damien
Turr Phennir
- Daredevil
- Electronic Baffle
Whisper
- Juke
- Agent Kallus
- Advanced Sensors
- Stealth Device
Echo
- Lone Wolf
- Collision Detector
- Perceptive Copilot
- Stealth Device
Okay, so I didn't really expect to be playing TL8, so I was badly prepared for this. Also I'd planned to Lt Kestal but I forgot to pick up my turret indicators... I did remember to pack my bombs though, whilst I'm not usually a bomber player I did want to try the TIE Strikers with Conner nets.
Damien came down the right-hand side, while I sent my Academy Pilot to joust and the others to come in from the middle. In Turn 3 I had a Striker in a beautiful position to drop a Conner net in the next System phase and catch Whisper - if the Striker had lived long enough to do it it would have been great... Damien however was a little too aggressive with Turr Phennir and I caught him in a kill box. That was my only kill, however, from there I struggled for the rest of the game - Damien had initiative, and his Juke on Whisper kept taking away my Evade on Rexler and preventing Rexler from both Juking and using his ability, and although I had shields off both the Phantoms I couldn't get any serious hits in. And for the record, both Strikers died without dropping their Conner nets :-(
Damien came down the right-hand side, while I sent my Academy Pilot to joust and the others to come in from the middle. In Turn 3 I had a Striker in a beautiful position to drop a Conner net in the next System phase and catch Whisper - if the Striker had lived long enough to do it it would have been great... Damien however was a little too aggressive with Turr Phennir and I caught him in a kill box. That was my only kill, however, from there I struggled for the rest of the game - Damien had initiative, and his Juke on Whisper kept taking away my Evade on Rexler and preventing Rexler from both Juking and using his ability, and although I had shields off both the Phantoms I couldn't get any serious hits in. And for the record, both Strikers died without dropping their Conner nets :-(
Game 2 - TL8
As above
vs
Nick
Nick
Norra Wexley
- Expert Handling
- Seasoned Navigator
- R3 Astromech
- Ablative Plating
- Veteran Tail Gunner
- Hull Upgrade
Jan Ors
- Trick Shot
- Perceptive Copilot
- Seismic Charges
- Cloaking Device
- Engine Upgrade
- Moldy Crow
Arvel Crynyd
- Proton Rockets
- Intimidation
- Hull Upgrade
So, knowing from last time I faced her that Norra is a PITA, I went in with a plan of hitting her first with all the firepower I could muster. Which, had my dice co-operated and rolled more than two hits at a time, might have worked - as it was, between her ability and her agaility dice, I barely landed a hit on her. I did get to drop a Conner net right in her path - yay! Which her Seasoned Navigator let her dodge - boo! And the next turn I was forced to make a hard turn so that Academy Pilot wasn't caught in it... Two turns later Academy Pilot fell to the turret of the HWK, which weirdly was the only kill of the whole game.
So, a few takeaways from this that can apply to regular games:
- HLC on the Starwing doesn't work all that well unless you're amazing at predicting your opponent's moves. The lack of repositioning makes it really hard to get the enemy in the bullseye arc.
- Stealth Device on a 2-dice agility ship might not be the points sink that I'm used to it being from 1.0.
- When you've had three and a half years of avoiding obstacles, it's hard to change your mindset to think 'Oh, I have a Collision Detector, I can dial in a move that goes across this rock and not worry about it'
- If you have Juke and your opponent also has Juke, make sure you're the one firing first...
I did really like Quickbuild as a format for X-Wing and I'd like to play more of it especially at some of the lower Threat Levels where you can have a quick punchy game!
So, knowing from last time I faced her that Norra is a PITA, I went in with a plan of hitting her first with all the firepower I could muster. Which, had my dice co-operated and rolled more than two hits at a time, might have worked - as it was, between her ability and her agaility dice, I barely landed a hit on her. I did get to drop a Conner net right in her path - yay! Which her Seasoned Navigator let her dodge - boo! And the next turn I was forced to make a hard turn so that Academy Pilot wasn't caught in it... Two turns later Academy Pilot fell to the turret of the HWK, which weirdly was the only kill of the whole game.
So, a few takeaways from this that can apply to regular games:
- HLC on the Starwing doesn't work all that well unless you're amazing at predicting your opponent's moves. The lack of repositioning makes it really hard to get the enemy in the bullseye arc.
- Stealth Device on a 2-dice agility ship might not be the points sink that I'm used to it being from 1.0.
- When you've had three and a half years of avoiding obstacles, it's hard to change your mindset to think 'Oh, I have a Collision Detector, I can dial in a move that goes across this rock and not worry about it'
- If you have Juke and your opponent also has Juke, make sure you're the one firing first...
I did really like Quickbuild as a format for X-Wing and I'd like to play more of it especially at some of the lower Threat Levels where you can have a quick punchy game!
All glory to the Emperor!
