Well, I did something last night that I told myself that I wouldn't do when I got into X-wing a few months ago: I participated in a LGS league night. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't welcome the prospect of the competition, but I got into the game to be able to play it with my buddies and introduce my kids to gaming eventually. Schedules don't mesh, however, and when I'm looking to get into a game, what better way than to go at it with some guys who are much more seasoned than I am? All in all, it was great fun. Would I do it again? Dunno. Time will tell. I will say, however, that I never had so much fun getting smoked over the course of two games. Here's what I ran:

Roark Garnet (19 pts)

ICT (5 pts)

Engine (4 pts)

Nien Nunb (1 pt)

Ibtisam (28 pts)

Swarm Tactics (2 pts)

FCS (2 pts)

Blue Squadron Pilot (22 pts)

FCS (2 pts)

Prototype Pilot (17 pts)

Chardaan Refit (-2 pts)

The first game was against Kath, Soontir and Carnor. It was nervous rookie mistakes galore on my part, and I got smoked within 45 minutes. Between flying into myself, running into an asteroid, and not keeping my abilities straight (Ibby, especially), it wasn't pretty.

The second game was against two Golds with ICT (plus a couple of mechs) and two Blues with AS, and was much more interesting. It was bizarre watching the A and the HWK running together around the edge of the board. My opening move was to have the two of them go at full throttle to get behind the other squad. Think along the lines of the old pirate movies, as the HWK and the Ys were firing ICTs broadside into each other. Then the HWK sped away. I made fewer rookie mistakes during the second game, and the PsyOps effect of a HWK doing a 4-green+boost was priceless.

Bottom line, I'm taking "Fly casual" to the extreme, and while I'm not all that interested in winning store championships and getting to worlds, I'm hoping to have fun with it and eventually give some good players a run for their money. Even if I'm not going with the current of the prevailing meta, I'm happy I made my first solo go-round (I've played some 200-pt. teams stuff with my buddies, but never any solo) with a bunch of different ships that force me to think about how to fly in formation and the like, and how to use support ships. I'll try a HSF or Fat Han or even an Imperial squad one of these days, but I think I'll stick with my Speedy Roark and Friends build for a while, just to see if I can eventually make it work.

I should say that, a big part of the reason why I finally gave in and played in the league night, was that the owner of the FLGS, who's an awesome guy running an awesome store, did a great job of making me feel welcome and really wanted to have me around for league night. Peer pressure can work, when used the right way.

Awesome man! Good show! I dig the HWK too, it doesn't get all that much love. I too run Roark, but not a speedy version like you do, but as a PS12 passing focus machine. I run moldy crow with recon spec so it's not weird for me to have 8-10 focus on my ship haha! Maybe try out some of those new B-wing pilots from rebel aces! I am tonight