Was playing a game on vassal against a first time ever player for both xwing and vassal, and nearly lost!

After the first round of attacks the game was highly in my favor, then it all went downhill after that. The game actually didn't finish as he had to go, but when he left he had a slight advantage (it was down to my 4 hull boba vs his 2 hull krassis and 5 hull OGP), though it could have gone either way depending how the next couple turns went as his shuttle was way out of the fight and I got to shoot first against krassis.

I'll admit he had some hot dice early in the game, I kept stressing him and/or action denying him and he kept rolling hits like a champ. I'll admit I made a few bad moves which didn't help myself either. Also him being new meant some of his moves were very surprising which meant my moves didn't go as planned then.

If I had ended up losing the game to a first time player, with one of my best squads no less, I never would have been able to live it down.

Interesting battle report. Besides what you said about hot dice, I notice that against new players I often guess wrong, as evidenced by 2 big 150 point 3 vs 3 games I played today. Most of them were new and all of them made moves that made me scratch my head and end up completely in the wrong place.

what was your full squad compared with his?

Mine was:

Kath + HLC + Predator + Rebel Captive

Boba + HLC + Predator

His was:

OGP + Ion + APL

Krassis + HLC

Jonus + APT + Marksmanship

You'd think based on me almost losing he must have gotten off his apt but he didn't, nor he did ever use marksmanship. His ion was only used once as well. I did set off his APL twice but no damage both times. I'd say my total damage from him was about 65% Krassis, 35% OGP, and 0% Jonus. In fact Jonus only did one attack all game. He mostly ran around the board doing nothing after the first round of attacks left him with 4 damage and a stress.

We both had a lot of action denial from bumps and/or stress, and it mostly came down to him rolling better on offense, even though I had predator on both ships!

oh interesting. from just the list I would have guessed that it was the HLC and Ion with Jonus re-rolls that killed you, but from the sounds of it, I guess it's just luck of the draw and key loss of actions at key moments, right?

About that maneuvering, I usually use it as a valid strategy, to go where my opponent won't expect me to go. It's always fun to reveal a maneuver and see my opponents get surprised and/or puzzled. ^^

Beginner's luck is often a result of them making unpredictable moves. Same concept in chess. The more experienced player knows how to react in many situations, because he knows the logical moves an opponent may make. In this case, the new opponent didn't know what would be the "best" thing to do and just went with something.

Ignorance, or rather, inexperience, can be bliss.

I find I do worse when I jump out to an early lead. I get just a bit too cocky and think I can pull off things I might not otherwise worry about, or I stop worrying about things I should be keeping in mind.

I find I do worse when I jump out to an early lead. I get just a bit too cocky and think I can pull off things I might not otherwise worry about, or I stop worrying about things I should be keeping in mind.

Ive got a friend who ran a Krassis, and 2 royal guard interceptors at a regional event. He got allot of wins from really good players because they get over confident and think hes a newbie for running such a list so they anticipate a fast game...

The way he flies... oh I still have nightmares....

I fly the same these days and I've managed to surprise a few players as well.

The tricks you can do with that rear arc and two squints.

I only wish it was more viable against Falcons and I haven't tried it vs Swarms yet.

Beginner's luck is often a result of them making unpredictable moves. Same concept in chess.

I'd say "beginners luck" doesn't really exist in Chess at all, unless the beginner's opponent either isn't very experienced either or is simply just arrogant.

I put "beginners luck" in quotes because it's a separate concept from luck, which obviously doesn't exist in Chess at all. You got lucky isn't something you hear much around a chess table

"Don't you know that there are some things that can beat smartness and foresight? Awkwardness and stupidity can. The best swordsman in the world doesn't need to fear the second best swordsman in the world; no, the person for him to be afraid of is some ignorant antagonist who has never had a sword in his hand before; he doesn't do the things he ought to."

-Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Aurthur's Court (1889)