My friend and I recently started playing X-wing and we met up this afternoon at our local store (BC Comix) for a game. We had played one other game before with lists that were slapped together on the spot. This time we had the opportunity to plan before the game.

My List:

- Terran Cowall w/ Push the Limits and Targetinng Computer

- Redline w/ Flecette Torpedos, Cluster Missiles, Extra Munitions, Fire Control System and Twin Ion Engine Mk II

- Bounty Hunter w/ no upgrades

His List:

- Luke Skywalker w/ R2-D2, Veteran Insincts, and Marksmenship

- Ello Asty w/ Cool Hand and ??

- Ibitsam w/ Fire Control System

He won the roll for initiative and had me place first. I put the Bounty Hunter in the far left corner and Tetran + Redline in the middle of the board. He placed Ibitsam opposite Tetran and put the Xwings on either side to flank. I began the game by running everybody full steam ahead. He moved up slowly with Ibitsam and banked the Xwings towards the middle of the board. No one was in range. The second turn went like a dream for me. I hard turned the Bounty Hunter to face the middle of the board and moved everyone else up slowly as Ello and Ibitsam aligned inside everyone's arcs. He piled the shots onto Tetran who roled evades and cleared all damage. In return Tertan stripped 4 shields off of Ibitsam and the Bounty Hunter pulled all shields from Ello. Redline whiffed on Ibitsam but set up target locks with the fire control system. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, but it all went downhill from there.

Next turn I tried to blow past Ibitsam with the 5 ahead move from Tertan only to have the Bwing K-turn, fire and land a crit on him. Ello moved to block and both Redline and the Bounty Hunter collided with him as Luke swooped in and pulled some shields off the Bounty Hunter. The turn after that Tetran K-turned to face the Bwing and tore into him at range 1 putting him down to 1 hull point, but the Bwing would rebuttal and blow Tetran to pieces. Luke and Ello would chase the Bounty Hunter out of the scrum in the middle and pile enough shots into him to force him to draw a Blind Pilot crit to leave them in safety. The remainder of the game played out by having Redline move upfield to finish off the Bwing as the Xwings continued to dog and eventually destroy the Bounty Hunter. Even with some missiles, full health and endless target locks, Redline felt hopeless in a 2 vs 1 dogfight. His maneuver dial made it impossible to line up shots on Ello. When the missiles ran out, leaving him only 2 attack die, shooting at Luke became a lost cause because R2 just healed him back each turn after. Several turns later and he would whittle Redline down to zero and claim a victory.

I thought going into this match that Redline was going to be a beast, but with the missiles I chose he had very little impact. I thought Tetran would work in place of Soontir, but with my opponents high pilot skill Tetran showed how mediocre pilot skill 7 really is. Any thoughts on how I can tweek or adjust this list for next time?

Thanks, Briton52

So first off, placement of ships should happen in pilot skill order. Initiative only matters in the case of ties. So the order should have been:

3 - your Bounty Hunter

6 - his Ibtisam

7 - your Tetran Cowall and "Redline" (because you had initiative)

7 - his Ello Asty (because you had initiative)

10 - his Luke Skywalker

Also, in your second turn, Ibtisam should have moved first at pilot skill 6 before Tetran moved. That should have allowed you to boost and barrel roll in response to Ibtisam's move and at least get to range 3, if not out of arc. Also, the Bounty Hunter should have blocked Ello instead of the other way around. Remember, movement happens from lowest pilot skill to highest and attacking happens from highest to lowest. Again, initiative is only used to break ties, with the player with initiative attacking with their ships first. The Bounty Hunter should be great at blocking things so "Redline" can get a shot.

Before you change your list, try getting the movement and attack sequences straight and see if it makes a difference.

Excellent advice. Also remember to focus your fire. Stripping shields from each ship without downing one compounded your loss.

Thanks for the advice! I thought we were doing initiative wrong. We found out after the game that we were doing overlaps wrong too - kept putting stress tokens on them.