interesting outcomes. By the way, on that last one (MajorJuggler's solution) Garven doesn't get a shot because their bases are touching.

Out of curiousity, could you map out what would have happened if IG88 had done the 3-right bank like many of us suggested?

Also, this is a little belated, but...

@Vorpal: re: Wes's K-turn:

Unless IG88 has inertial dampers the shortest move he can do is a one straight, which would put him roughly nose to nose with the Bandit's starting position- plenty of room for a 4K to clear. With the Bandit and Garven out of the way there is nothing that IG88 can bump into that will push him back far enough to block Wes's 4K. UNLESS, similar to what is shown in MajorJuggler's solution, IG88 turns hard left and grinds to a halt against Garven.

Also, for my solution for the bandit and Garvin, where does a 2 left bank and 3 left bank put the IG88?

3 left bank is really rhetorical since you show it clearing in Khyros's solution. I had actually guessed that the 3 left bank woukd clear but was calling it conservatively.

Which means Garvin would get a shot at IG, but it would be at range 2-3 after boosting.

Even though I didn't post I found this thread very fun and interesting. Thanks for putting in the effort President Jyrgunkarrd.

interesting outcomes. By the way, on that last one (MajorJuggler's solution) Garven doesn't get a shot because their bases are touching.

Out of curiousity, could you map out what would have happened if IG88 had done the 3-right bank like many of us suggested?

Also, this is a little belated, but...

@Vorpal: re: Wes's K-turn:

Unless IG88 has inertial dampers the shortest move he can do is a one straight, which would put him roughly nose to nose with the Bandit's starting position- plenty of room for a 4K to clear. With the Bandit and Garven out of the way there is nothing that IG88 can bump into that will push him back far enough to block Wes's 4K. UNLESS, similar to what is shown in MajorJuggler's solution, IG88 turns hard left and grinds to a halt against Garven.

Possible IG 88 Bank Positions:

I feel that my opponent made one of the two reasonable moves, the other being a 2 bank to the right (which may have been slightly better). The 3 bank to the right is a little limiting because he cannot then boost, loop or K Turn out of that space; he'll have to spend another turn getting away from the board edge.

@Vorpal: re: Wes's K-turn:

Unless IG88 has inertial dampers the shortest move he can do is a one straight, which would put him roughly nose to nose with the Bandit's starting position- plenty of room for a 4K to clear. With the Bandit and Garven out of the way there is nothing that IG88 can bump into that will push him back far enough to block Wes's 4K. UNLESS, similar to what is shown in MajorJuggler's solution, IG88 turns hard left and grinds to a halt against Garven.

I have learned that in situations like this, if there is any risk that you're k-turn will be blocked and your ship left stressed and facing the wrong way, you are better off waiting a turn to k-turn and looking for an alternative move.

Nice to see that at least I got the Aggressor's move correct. There is no way the rebels can block that move, and the best exchange they can hope for is 2 stressed X-Wings against a focused IG, and that's only if they know you're going to bank right. Because of the lists I usually play, I spend a lot more time thinking about how to not get blocked rather than how to block, so I'm glad I saw that one.

Banking a large ship towards the edge like that is definitely scary, but I've spent some time studying how far away a ship has to be from the edge of the board to bank without going off, because nobody expects you to bank towards the edge, so knowing when you can do it safely gives you a big edge against players that assume you just won't do it. Large ships can safely do any speed bank towards the edge if they are at least 1 & 1/4 large ship lengths away from the edge.

Ha thanks I had a mental brainfart moment and totally got the 3RB wrong, it will clear. Needs 2.45 horizontal spacing to clear which it clearly has. Oops! Looking at it again i actually figured this out but then backtracked on myself. See this is how you lose games, forgetting simple things! I stand corrected. Although it would still require a 2LT next round and still won't have arc, which I don't like. 2RB may have room for a follow on boost left though, that would be nice.

Out of curiosity can you double check that a bandit 1LB + 3K puts him off the board, and I wasn't just pulling Vorpal's leg?

Not to sound like a backseat, 20/20 hindsight X-Wing player, but if I were in that position I would've just moved everything 1 up because I know people overestimate and underestimate the size of the big bases on IGs. It wouldn't be able to K-turn behind you, and the next turn you could just K-turn everything and continue the chase. I think a formation move of 1 up would still grant all your ships actions, deny IGs actions, and you get to toast an IG with 8 modified dice? I flew Triple X against IGs and got in a few head on engagements, the best move is to keep the chunk of arcs together and saturate it with dice.

Ha thanks I had a mental brainfart moment and totally got the 3RB wring, it will clear. Needs 2.45 horizontal spacing to clear which it clearly has. Oops! I stand corrected. Although it would still require a 2LT next round and still won't have arc, which I don't like. 2RB may have room for a follow on boost left though, that would be nice.

Out of curiosity can you double check that a bandit 1LB + 3K puts him off the board, and I wasn't just pulling Vorpal's leg?

The IG-2000 actually can't make the boost, which is interesting (it makes the 2 right bank much less attractive, as you'll have to spend a tempo hard turning rather than looping, just as with the 3 bank).

And, as you predicted, the Bandit cannot make the K after the 1 bank.

Ha thanks I had a mental brainfart moment and totally got the 3RB wrong, it will clear. Needs 2.45 horizontal spacing to clear which it clearly has. Oops! Looking at it again i actually figured this out but then backtracked on myself. See this is how you lose games, forgetting simple things! I stand corrected. Although it would still require a 2LT next round and still won't have arc, which I don't like. 2RB may have room for a follow on boost left though, that would be nice.

Out of curiosity can you double check that a bandit 1LB + 3K puts him off the board, and I wasn't just pulling Vorpal's leg?

It's still the best move to take the least damage that turn and make an escape so you can set up a much better exchange. The IG wants to fight at range 3 where your autothrusters and cannon will be the most effective and where you don't have to choose between getting blocked and the edge of the board. The most likely move from Garven and Wedge is a 1-straight, and IG's 3-bank puts it out of arc and likely at range 3 next turn when the X-Wing's k-turn. If there is a perfect move for the IG here regardless of what the rebels do, the 3-bank right is it.

For what the IG player actually did, and what I think most IG players would do in that situation, Vorpal's first answer of banking the Bandit left had the most desirable result for the rebels, and honestly I would have never that would work to block a left turn by the IG until OP played it out for us, so I'm really glad this thread exists and OP showed us all of our answers, I now have a new tool in my arsenal for blocking.

Ha thanks I had a mental brainfart moment and totally got the 3RB wrong, it will clear. Needs 2.45 horizontal spacing to clear which it clearly has. Oops! Looking at it again i actually figured this out but then backtracked on myself. See this is how you lose games, forgetting simple things! I stand corrected. Although it would still require a 2LT next round and still won't have arc, which I don't like. 2RB may have room for a follow on boost left though, that would be nice.

Out of curiosity can you double check that a bandit 1LB + 3K puts him off the board, and I wasn't just pulling Vorpal's leg?

It's still the best move to take the least damage that turn and make an escape so you can set up a much better exchange. The IG wants to fight at range 3 where your autothrusters and cannon will be the most effective and where you don't have to choose between getting blocked and the edge of the board. The most likely move from Garven and Wedge is a 1-straight, and IG's 3-bank puts it out of arc and likely at range 3 next turn when the X-Wing's k-turn. If there is a perfect move for the IG here regardless of what the rebels do, the 3-bank right is it.

For what the IG player actually did, and what I think most IG players would do in that situation, Vorpal's first answer of banking the Bandit left had the most desirable result for the rebels, and honestly I would have never that would work to block a left turn by the IG until OP played it out for us, so I'm really glad this thread exists and OP showed us all of our answers, I now have a new tool in my arsenal for blocking.

it may be worth noting too that, as SpikeSpiegel mentioned, a simple 1 forward from the rebels is also quite favorable should the IG make the right bank; in fact, it may be better, given your options on the following turn:

...K.I.S.S. is apparently as good a motto when it comes to flying as it is anywhere else.

Yeah, that seems like it would have been a good default move if you don't have enough energy or time to think it through. Make the IG player figure it out XD.

Yeah, that seems like it would have been a good default move if you don't have enough energy or time to think it through. Make the IG player figure it out XD.

Sure, you don't get to maximize your offensive potential with a 1 up, but you definitely have a way better position than you would if it slipped away. And again, next turn you can just K-Turn and chase the sucker down because it'll be booking it as far away as possible anyway.

Yeah, that seems like it would have been a good default move if you don't have enough energy or time to think it through. Make the IG player figure it out XD.

When I flew my XXX against interceptors and IGs, 1 banks and straights were my best friend.

Sure, you don't get to maximize your offensive potential with a 1 up, but you definitely have a way better position than you would if it slipped away. And again, next turn you can just K-Turn and chase the sucker down because it'll be booking it as far away as possible anyway.

Yeah, I wasn't saying it was a bad move, it's a good move, and it has the upside of being the most obvious and straightforward move available to the rebel player.

I know as well as any other that sometimes you either don't have time in the round or don't have the mental energy left to mentally crunch through all these permutations, sometimes you have to go with the safe and straightforward move for the sake of time and stamina. It's important to be able to identify when the simplest move is also a strong one so you can save your round time and mental energy for elsewhere.

...I'm not really sure of the educational value of this exercise (if any), but this is the sort of thing I like to examine.

I think if half the threads on this forum were asking questions like this it would not be too many.

What are the upgrades in each squad?

Why is your formation so tight? You can't even bank without bumping.

Not knowing any details, my first reaction would be to do the following:

1-bank left with Bandit and TL.

1 forward with both X-Wings and TL.

K-Turn all the next round.

My list:

IG-88B (36)

Predator (3)

Advanced Sensors (3)

Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

Inertial Dampeners (1)

Autothrusters (2)

IG-2000 (0)

IG-88C (36)

Predator (3)

Advanced Sensors (3)

"Mangler" Cannon (4)

Autothrusters (2)

IG-2000 (0)

Total: 100

I usually fly in a tight box just because I'm terrible at handling a more complex offset formation, resulting in untimely bumps.

You can bank with a tight box; you just need the pilots on the inside banking more sharply than the pilots on the outside and the guys on the back end moving a speed slower than the guys in front:

EDIT: Oh, and in case anyone was wondering where Hobbie or the IG-88B were: we traded them in the initial joust. My opponent took a head-on joust (probably not the ideal decision, but it was late at night and I think we were both just looking for a quick game).

Excellent thread.

I'm going to look for opportunities for this in my next Vassal game.

Not to sound like a backseat, 20/20 hindsight X-Wing player, but if I were in that position I would've just moved everything 1 up because I know people overestimate and underestimate the size of the big bases on IGs. It wouldn't be able to K-turn behind you, and the next turn you could just K-turn everything and continue the chase. I think a formation move of 1 up would still grant all your ships actions, deny IGs actions, and you get to toast an IG with 8 modified dice? I flew Triple X against IGs and got in a few head on engagements, the best move is to keep the chunk of arcs together and saturate it with dice.

If the headhunter K-turns, Wes won't fit behind him.

I don't have anything else to add, but this thread has been a lot of fun to follow.

More puzzles! Moar!

More puzzles! Moar!

...I did get in a Vassal game today, but the turn I felt was most interesting may not be all that interesting.

Nevertheless:

Rebel List:

Scum List:

This is pretty tough, and I'm tired, so I'm going to go with my gut (when in doubt, attack). I think I do a 2-right turn with all the Rebels. I say this, because I think Kath probably does a 2-left to bring the rear cannon into play. She won't get any defensive tokens, so I'll just try to earn my points with a bunch of X-wings hammering on her. Boba is tough to try to engage because he'll probably have a ton of re-rolls if he's even in arc. I think Kath can't reasonably go straight or right, so it's a left bank or turn for her. I think the banks will be blocked by the 2-right with your fighters (I think 2-right turn Garven blocks the 3-left bank). Either way, with banks or turns from Kath, you get some good shots in there.