So after a fairly long X-Wing drought due to a change in my college night classes, and over 4 months away from the table as a result, I am finally getting back in the game here locally!

...And I couldn't be happier to be honest! I think I forgot just how much I enjoy this game!

I was finally able to make the first Thursday night at the FLGS two weeks ago, and got a quick two games under my belt with a regular at the shop. And was welcomed back in the fold just as I should have been....with a thorough trashing game one!

The first game I brought the following:

Poe with VI, AT, and R2-D2

Jake with VI, PtL, Test Pilot, Prockets and AT

Green with VI, PtL, Test Pilot, and AT..... no idea why I went with VI?

And he brought a Scum List with Boba and Kavil, cant remember all the upgrades, but I know he had clusters on both and the Autoblaster on Kavil, and both had VI. In the end I was super sloppy in my piloting, and he flew circles around me without losing a single ship! And for some reason I will never understand, I can never quite figure out how to get the A-Wings to work for me. I know they are good ships, but I always seem to fail them and get them blown to dust!

So taking a quick pause to catch up and allow me to tweak my list around, we jumped into game two, where I took the following:

Poe with VI, AT, and R2-D2

Keyan Farlander with Adv Sen, HLC, and PtL

Lt Blount with Adv Homers

...I know this isn't the most competitive list and B's are almost all but gone from the meta right now, but I have a lot of experience with this Keyan set up and figured what the heck! Might as well fly stuff I am comfortable with while trying to work the kinks out!

With this list I set up in the lower left corner of my board with Keyan at range 1 and touching the left board edge, with Blount a maneuver templates width away to the right at the range one line, and Poe taking up split between them with his rear touching the back board edge. As I plan on flying them all in formation for as long as possible to concentrate fire, with Blount running blocking duty as soon as his ordinance is blown.

My opponent is familiar with this tactic from me in the past, and so knows what to expect. But in the end he decided to put Kavil directly across from my ships, but about 8 inches from the left side of the board. And Boba took up a position angled in the center of his deployment area to shoot through the obstacles to come at me.

In the end, due to some real hot dice on my part. And all the re-rolling shenanigans Keyan can get with his pilot ability, I was able to mop up his two ships without losing a single ship of my own. All-in-all a good welcome back into the game.

... and I was already plotting what to bring to the next Thurs nights games!

Week Two:

As always seems to happen to me, I go in too deep! And spent the entire next week deep in the internets searching and reading anything I could about what happened in X-Wing since I had been gone. And wore my thumbs out on my cell phone tweaking and creating list!

I was informed that Wave 8 would be there at my LFGS for this upcoming X-Wing night, and so I make a point of trying to see what new toys I would be able to incorporate into some of the old lists I used to run frequently. Figuring that it would be better to add to them than go all hog out with a list made entirely of new ships, and then missing abilities and triggers all night as my brain is faced with sensory overload.

And as I was reading about all the crew cards in the new Ghost expansion, one really piqued my interest... Kannan! And I thought he was just begging to be the new Co-Pilot for the Outrider. And so I set out to make a modified "Super Dash" list, dropping the Kyle crew for the new Kannan card. (Super Dash is a 58 point Dash with Outrider Title, HLC, PtL, Kyle, and EU and is most commonly paired with Corran Horn with VI, EU, and FCS).

And since I was going to be opening up the Ghost Expansion in the store to fish out the new Kannan crew card, I figured what the heck, and decided to try and pair it with one of the new Attack Shuttle pilots from the box as well instead of Dash's old stand by Corran. In the end I decided on a Sabine Attack Shuttle to compliment the new Dash 2.0 load out, because I am a huge fan-boy of Advanced Sensors, and her pilot ability is basically Advanced Sensors Lite!

So the list I ended up taking was:

Dash with PtL, HLC, Title, Kannan, and EU

Sabine with Juke, Chewie, Hull

Bandit Z-95

Thursday night finally came, and I once again faced of against the man who I have probably played the most X-Wing against in my life, and the same opponent from week one. Who was once again piloting Boba and Kavil, as he was prepping for the Store Champs that Saturday (Which he also piloted a modified version of this list to a top 4 finish). He had made some minor tweaks to the list to make it more efficient, and for the life of me I cant remember exactly what they were. But he still had VI and Cluster Mines on both, and Kavil was still sporting the Auto Blaster Turret and an R4.

Needless to say, with it being my first game with the Attack Shuttle, Sabine really didn't do much good for me that game. And about mid-game I realized that she is just BEGGING for a TLT on her... especially with Juke, which would trigger with both her attacks as she always evades since she gets the Boost or Barrel Roll from her pilot ability. And I feel she would have been a much bigger threat on the board. As is, she was just a very annoying ship to try to remove with her ability to dance around the board.

In the end the Z-95 got off a single good shot at Boba (which helped but probably didn't justify him being in the list) and then was summarily shot off the board. Dash was a super star for me that game, and despite his being nearly gunned down due to some really bad decisions in the first two rounds of combat, he mopped up the rest of the game with his HLC and crazy maneuverability. And despite the loss of efficiency losing the free Focus from Kyle, I feel that Kannan opening up his dial to EVERY maneuver except the K-Turn was more than worth it. And many times with all the maneuvers open to him, I was able to PtL for TL and Focus as the maneuver alone got me safe and away from fire anyways.

So after just his first outing on the board, I was already really liking the new 58 Dash!

Another of my old regular players called next, and I kept the list as is and prepared to face off against his Scum list:

Talonbane Cobra with EU, and Gliterstim

Kavil with TLT, Unhinged Astro

Serisu with Title and HLC

...there are 6 points left here, but I cant for the life of me remember what else he brought!

He won the initiative, and decided to take it, as he wanted his Kavil to fire before my PS 7 Dash. And it was a fairly standard obstacle placement, with me bringing the three largest debris fields, and him bringing the three smallest obstacles he could. I set up my entire force basically in the middle third of my deployment zone, with Dash on the right of the formation followed by Sabine center and the Z flanking right of her. He set up his force mainly dead center as well....and we were off to the races!

First turn I have Dash do a hard 1 turn to the left and then boost barrel roll to get up around the debris in the bottom right corner of the board and start to flank the Scum forces. And the Z and Sabine do bank 2s to get them up the field a bit but not screaming ahead as I want to see what he will do! The Scum boys all 3 forward, and we are back to dials!

Remember the title of this thread?....the one that says mistakes will be made?...well strap in boys and girls, cause here it comes!

So round two has Dash jetting up the board to firmly establish his position as a flanker, while the Z and Sabine do 3 banks in an attempt to block the Scum ships. He sees this coming a mile away, and planned accordingly. His ship take short maneuvers and I don't bump a thing, as well as Talonbane Cobra does a sharp right turn to his right followed by a boost to get him faced toward Dash and ready to rumble.

Between Kavil's TLT and Serissu's HLC the Z gets one round vapped before he has a chance to fire. And I can't help but think to myself that those 12 points couldn't have been much better spent somewhere else! Talonbane fails to get any damage on Dash, as the green dice go hot. And Dash manages to strip Talonbane of shields in return. I decide that Kavil and the TLT are priority number one this game though, and so Talonbane will have to wait his turn to be spaced!

The next few rounds find me removing Kavil from the board with Dash, as Sabine just blocks like crazy and is a real pain to remove with Chewie Crew and Hull basically making her a 3 shield 3 hull craft. (Chewie's crew tells you to flip his card to cancel a damage card being dealt and adding a shield to the ship....so her 2S/2H becomes 3/3 in effect) All the while Dash is able to dodge both Serissu's and Talonbane's arcs, while whittling them down to nothing!

In the end he does a phenomenal job of blocking Dash and getting into his range one donut (The "donut" is what people call the range 1 zone around Dash where he cannot fire due to the Outrider title and the range 2-3 HLC). But all it does is delay the inevitable as he lost his turret ship and Dash can just fly around like a bat out of Hell and engage when and where he wants too.

All in all, they were two very good games for the squad. And I am absolutely LOVING the Kannan crew card on Dash, and can't wait to get him back on the table!

Although I am looking to make the following changes before the next outing this Thursday:

Super Dash 2.0 (97)

Dash with PtL, HLC, Title, Kannan, Proton Rockets, and EU (61)

Sabine with Juke, Chewie, Stealth Device, and TLT (36)

Here are my thoughts on the changes, and why I decided to make them. Sabine fired maybe 2 shots in the two games I had combined...which while largely due to my rusty piloting and bad decisions, I still cant help but feel that with a TLT she will be much more of a threat and an asset to the list. And with her always sitting on 2 greens with an Evade token, I feel that Stealth bumping that up to 3 greens and an evade token just makes more sense than the 1 extra hull. But I guess only time will tell which upgrade will be the better choice in this list, stealth device or hull upgrade....luckily they are the same point cost and so can swap out without issues!

And for the Procket's on Dash... I had 6 points to work with, and no more open upgrade slots save Dash's missile slot. And I feel that having a range 1 threat from Dash wont be the worst thing in the world to have. And in fact I could have really used this in both the games I have flown Dash in. And while it is not the scary 5 red dice it is with the A-Wings...4 red dice from Dash isn't terrible either.

But I guess only time will tell if Sabine can hold her weight as Dash's wingman... or if Corran Horn is still the best choice to accompany the YT-2400 into battle!

Thanks for the read, and I appreciate any comments or feedback from you all!

Awesome reading material, thanks for posting it up!

Week Three:

Game One:

So as stated in my previous post, I decided this Thursday X-Wing night to run the Dash-Sabine list again and see how it would perform for me with the adding of the TLT to Sabine. Here is how the final list shook out for me:

Super Dash 2.0 (97)

Dash with PtL, HLC, Title, Kannan, Proton Rockets, and EU (61)

Sabine with Juke, Chewie, Stealth Device, and TLT (36)

My first opponent of the night decided to bring a Fat Han and Poe list (99) :

Han with PtL, Assault Missiles, EU, Title, C-3PO, and Nien Numb (63)

Poe with VI, R2-D2, and Integrated Astro (36)

I got the initiative due to being only 97 points, and so I led the placement of obstacles by cornering one in my bottom left just at range 2 of each side, and then the rest of the placement resulted in all of the asteroids being a fairly even spread throughout the middle of the board. I had to fully deploy my force due to being PS 5 & 7 to his 9 & 10. So I ended up placing Sabine at a little over range 3 off of the right board edge, and Dash just to the left of her with a movement templates width between them. My opponent placed his Poe in the upper left hand side of the board, so he could clear the asteroids and presumably come down to try and flank me. And Han was just about centered in the board so he could shoot the gap in the asteroids and come at me.

Round one I hard turned both Dash and Sabine to the left, attempting to draw Han in while Poe was just out of range trying to clear the asteroids. And my opponent did 4 straights for both his ships, and Han boosted forward even more to close the gap. And then just got a range 3 target lock on Dash, and preceded to Assault missile a shield off of Dash, and Sabine who was just inside of range one of Dash..... That I did not expect on the top of turn two! In retaliation Dash took two shields off of Han.

Round two I hard turned again with both Dash and Sabine, knowing this would still keep them out of range of Poe for another turn so I could focus fire Han down some more. Han did the obligatory 1 straight and then focus evaded. Took a shield off of Dash, and in turn got dropped down to only 4 hull left by the combined fire of both Dash and Sabine and some hot dice.... All in all, I was very happy with how things were sitting.

.....And here is where I made my first mistake of the game!!

When I was looking at the board, and how close Poe and Dash were to one another, I figured that I could get Poe to bump me if I did the 2 straight, whether he tried to 1 straight or 3 Talon roll out either. But after performing the 2 straight, I wasn't 100% sure that a 1 straight would bump after all.

And instead of barrel rolling to ensure the bump, I got greedy and did the old Target Lock-Focus instead. Really wanting to try and burn down Han this round if the dice went my way. Instead, Poe just barely cleared the 1 straight, and between him and Han stripped the rest of Dash's shields and dealt 2 hull damage and a crit... which of course came up Blinded Pilot! And Dash was unable to shoot at anyone that turn! And gave my opponent a new lease on life.

Now I could blame dice, or the luck at me drawing that Crit out of all the other Crits in the deck. But the honest truth is that I got greedy, tried to "Win More", and put myself into that position to begin with. If I would have just ensured the bump...it never would have happened.

Lesson learned? Don't try to win more! And fly better!

After that Dash was able to fly off and get behind Poe, shooting him down in the following 2 rounds, while Sabine got behind the token laden Han who consistently focus and evaded for actions, and they swatted at one another pretty lamely truth be told. Neither one doing any significant damage to one another.

As Dash came in to help Sabine, Han was able to blast the last point of hull through, and it was one ship to one ship! In the end Sabine was able to land the killing blow on Han, but she was down to 1 hull left when she did and most likely wouldn't have lasted the next turn.

It was a super close and exciting game, and I look forward to the rematch between me and my opponent.

Game Two:

Next up was a match against the Glitter Crack Brobots! And I was really excited to see how both of my turreted arc-dodgers were going to do against this potent list! My opponent was running IG's B and D, and I kept the list unchanged from the previous game.

I had the 3 largest Asteroids, and he of course took the smallest 3, and after deployment they were all layed out in a kind of triangle shaped mess in the lower left section of the board.

This was the set-up, and from there it was game on!!

I knew that not allowing myself to be caught out by both IG's at range 3 would be paramount to winning this game!.... and so of course that's exactly what I did with Sabine in the third round! And wouldn't you guess, the dreaded Brobots managed to one shot her off the board....and didn't even have to pop Glitterstim or Crackshot to do it either! Just a good old fashioned throwing up hits and crts all over me!

....This is the point were the old Palomarus would rage over dice and blame his opponents luck!!

And truth be told I did let out some comment about just how much I hate the stupid IG's before I caught myself. And really looked at the situation. Sabine did not have to be where she was, and I knew that there was a chance that he would brave the thin path between the asteroids. But i took the risk, I put it on my dice to have to come through for me, and they just said no. And I paid the price for it!

But I didn't give up, and I decided to see just how much work Dash could do before going down in a blaze of glory with his new girlfriend.... and Man Oh Man did he pull through for me! It wasn't pretty, it wasn't quick in any sense of the word. But just about at the 1.5 hour mark Dash shot down the last of the two IG's, and claimed victory in spite of my epic misstep on turn 3.

Dash threw what felt like a million red dice at the IG's, and had to suffer through almost more evade symbols than I have seen in all my other games of X-Wing combined! But the entire time I put the number one objective at Dash staying out of both IG's arcs, or out past range 3 when I couldn't do that. Which meant that many times I was throwing unmodified dice to do so, and painfully at the 3 green dice and autothrusters of the IG's.

And in the end, he pulled off a win!

So it was a rather rough night for the squad to say the least. But in the end I felt that I learned a lot more about the squad than I did in the first two matches. And I definitely learned what NOT to do!

Not quite sure if next week will see me busting out the same list, or a different squad. And I got to admit that I have worked up a 2 Scout and N'Dru list that I am really itching to get on the table! So only time will tell which squad it will be.

So for the week four matches I am looking at bringing a new wingman for old Dash to try out, and see if it doesn't help take some of the heat of the YT-2400!

Lothal Rebel with Hera, Ezra, FCS, and a Tactical Jammer (42)

I have never flown the VCX before, and it'll will be interesting to see if the tank wingman ends up going better for me than the arc dodger wingman I was trying out with Sabine. The Lothal Rebel will fly completely differently in the list than Sabine did. And I am hoping that the large based tank will do one of two things:

1 - Soak up a lot more shots than Sabine did, thus allowing Dash more time to HLC before becoming target number 1.

2 - Or be able to capitalize on the opponent targeting Dash first with its 4 red dice shots.

Truth be told I am not 100% sold on the load out here, but I figure I got to start somewhere in my testing, and FCS on a 4 dice primary ship can be really nasty!.... looking at you Phantom! And the idea of K-Turning and then having Ezra mod the shot a bit sounds like a really good idea, in theory at least! But I guess only time will really tell.

Week 4:

So I managed to squeeze in 3 games with the new squad last night.

Dash with HLC, EU, PtL, Kannan, and Title (58)

Chopper with Han, Hera, and FCS (42)

And I am thinking that overall, I am really liking Chopper as Dash's new Wingman!

Game 1:

So after his absence the week before, my long term opponent was back, and was spoiling a list he designed to try and be able to go toe to toe with some Contracted Scouts. And got to face off against my squad instead.

Captain Oicunn with Dauntless, Gunner, Anti-Pursuit Lasers (51)

2 x Gamma Squad Bombers with Proton Torps, Extra Mun., and Guidance Chips (48)

And after set-up and deployment, this is how the top of the game looked like.

So the intent here was to try and fake my opponent out into thinking that Chopper was going to jet forward to engage the Bombers. And maybe even get Oicunn to head that way too. And it worked like a charm, the bombers screamed forward with 4 forwards turn 1, and Oicunn did a Bank 3 towards them to try and cut off Chopper.

... Who of course did a 3 bank right and was set up to turn into them the next round and start his onslaught. While Dash screamed forward 4 and with a Boost and a TL was able to get 2 shields off of Oicunn turn 1 with no damage in return!

Turn two saw Chopper doing a hard 2 to the left and TL'ing a Gamma, to which they answered by swooping in and TL'ing and setting up to launch Torps. But the Gamma that Chopper TL had just made it in to range 1 and so couldn't launch them after all. Oicunn did a 2 forward and stopped just shy off the center debris and TL on to Dash. Who jetted forward 2 over the asteroid he was facing at the top of the board and TL and Focused Oicunn.

Dash shoot off his HLC, and ended up getting 4 hits with only needing to send his Focus, so kept the TL for another round on Oicunn. And Chopper managed to get a 5 hit shot off against the Gamma at range 1 himself, but suffered 5 damage in return from the two Gammas.

Round three saw Chopper doing a 2 turn right to try and block the Gamma he had just shot, and maybe try to get a shot on the other Gamma as it flew across the board toward the right. The Gamma saw this coming and backed down toward my board edge and missed Chopper, but had no shots lined up, so it was still ok with me. Gamma #2 came across Choppers arc and he was borderline in or out...only time would tell if Chopper would get his range 1 shot! Oicunn banked 2 to his left and just clipped the Debris, but took no damage with his stress. Dash did a 3 turn back down toward all the others and since he was just out of Arc of Gamma #2 he did another TL and Focus on Oicunn since he didn't need to Boost or BR.

Another 4 hit shot with Dash to Oicunn, and things are not looking too good for the Decimator. Chopper does get his range 1 on Gamma #2 but only does 2 damage on his 5 dice. Oicunn takes a shield off of Dash in retaliation, and its back to dials!

This round sees Chopper getting to do me new favorite maneuver...the 5K with the VCX! The bombers inch forward a bit, and Oicunn turns a bit toward my bottom right, and Dash turns down again but has to boost to dodge Gamma #2s arc, so takes a TL on Gamma #1 to ensure he is gone this turn. Which happens between Dash and Chopper.

The next two rounds has Dash follow on Oicunn's heal with a TL and Focus to burn him down while Chopper turns to pursue the Bomber and burn it down himself...and Victory for the new guys!

....All in all a great game 1 for the squad, and I am extremely happy with Chopper so far. His is a tank, and absorbs so much damage.

Game Two:

So next up was a list that is very near and dear to my heart...as it has my all time favorite pilot...Mr. Keyan Farlander himself! And in fact I had a hand in his load out as he has seen me blasting his own ships off the board with the very same load out.

Tycho with Rage, PtL, Title, Guidance Chips, and Proton Rockest (32)

Keyan with HLC, Adv Sen, and PtL (42)

Green Squad A with Proton Rockets, PtL, and Guidance Chips (22)

He took the initiative with his 1 point bid, and after all was said and done, this is how it looked the top of turn 1:

Priority number one for me was going to be hammering down Keyan as soon as possible... cause I know how much damage he can lay down if given the chance. So I dial in a 4 straight for Chopper, and a 3 Bank Right for Dash to come up what I hope will be just shy of the VCX so he can BR and Boost out if front. Which I manage to do by millimeters....

... totally according to plan...right? ; )

My opponents forces all bank in a bit at medium speed, and its back to dials!

So as I am looking down at the board, I figure that if I 3 Bank Right with Chopper I should stand a really good chance of blocking the Green Squad...and stopping him from launching his Prockets at me. So I do it, and grab a TL on Keyan. The A-Wing manages to just barely miss bumping Chopper by the barest of gaps and looking to unload into poor Chopper. Keyan pulls up slowly as well toward the VCX, and does the whole PtL TL, Focus, and Stress-for-Focus thing...and I am worried for Choppers longevity. Dash Turns in a bit and grabs TL and Focus on Keyan as he wont be seeing any shots this round. Tycho swings in wide as well, but thankfully out of range 1 to deploy his prockets too.

When it is all said and done from my opponent, Chopper is looking very sad in deed for the bottom of turn 2!

...rut roo raggy! 9 damage in one turn! Suddenly my 16 HP isn't looking so hot!

In return Dash and Chopper manage to get Keyan down to 1 Hull left... and its back to dials!

The A-Wing does his K turn out behind Chopper, and I dial in the 5 K for Chopper, and he manages to just clip the debris as he does, so takes 2 stress for his efforts. Keyan does a 2 K of his own, as Dash does a 1 turn toward the center and has to BR out to get Keyan out of his range 1 blind spot but then grabs a TL on Keyan. Tycho turns right facing Dash, and is starting to collect quite the Stress token collection as he clips the debris on his way... and for funnsies rolls the crit to take the damage for it! Cause why not? ; )

Tycho takes a shield off of Dash, while Keyan manages to lay some more hurt into Chopper before getting gunned down by Dash in return. And since the A-Wing is out of range 3, Chopper takes a shot at Tycho and is rewarded with peeling a single shield off and getting his TL for FCS.

All in all...I am very happy at this point with where it sits!

Next round sees the A-Wing not being able to force the bump with Chopper as they close on one another, but Chopper does take another stress for flying right back over the same debris field again, but no damage so I am ok with it. Dash turns down a bit and grabs TL and Focus to try and end Tycho. And Tycho turns and tries to Boost BR out of range, but just comes up shy.

Dash rolls fire and Tycho whiffs, and its lights out for the Ace at that point. The Green Squad takes 2 damage from Chopper, and then is easily focused down the next turn by Dash!

Another victory for the squad...and my opponent immediately asks for a rematch after he tweaks his squad a bit!

Game Three - The Rematch :

So after going back into the tank a bit, this is what my opponent decided to toss my way:

Poe with Crack Shot, Autothrusters, and R5-P9 (37)

Tycho with PtL, Rage, Title, Proton Rockets, and Guidance chips (33)

Kyle with TLT and Title (30)

And after deployment, this is how the field looked top of round 1:

Since we kept the asteroids and debris the exact same as last game, I figure if it ain't broke don't fix it... and dial in the exact same opening as last time. And after my opponents forces creep up a bit, this is how round two started out:

Turn two sees Chopper banking around the asteroid a bit and since I am out of range 3 of all enemies, and pretty sure he is going to take some concentrated fire, grabs an evade. Kyle creeps up and grabs another Focus to add to the one from last round thanks to the Moldy Crow title. Dash banks out left to try and avoid any arcs, if Tycho and Poe decide to shot for him first. He is too far out for a TL, so he has to boost in right to get some range.

....And here is where I made my first mistake of the game!!!

Dash is an Arc Dodger, and both Tycho and Poe have what?... that's right, ARCS! So it would make sense than, that if Dash is kitted out to royally piss off ships with Arcs, that I would then leave them for last, and instead try and kill the Kyle TLT and the biggest threat to Dash off first right?

Wrong!.... Instead Dash takes a TL on Poe. Who then banks forward with Tycho at his side to start to lay the smack down on poor Chopper.

Poe and Tycho manage to peel a few shields off of Chopper at range 3. And then Dash manages to strip Poe of his shields, and I am feeling really good about all this still. Until Kyle and his stupid TLT burn Dash for 2 shields without even blinking...and I finally think to myself "Crap! Forgot that TLTs make Dash a sad panda! Maybe I should have gone for him first". Chopper is out of range of Kyle at this point, but I would have shot at him if I could have, despite Poe being shield less, cause I get the sick feeling that Kyle is going to be the death of Dash! Chopper rolls hot with his dice and gets 4 hits, but Poe is at range three and gets 2 evades and a focus, which he converts to an evade for free. And then regens a shield for funnsies!

Chopper 2 banks forward hoping to block the two Aces, but has to park on the debris to do it, so no action. Kyle does a 1 straight and grabs a Focus since he used his other 2 to hit Dash last round. Dash creeps up behind Kyle and does the old TL and Focus. And both of the Aces manage to just barely bump, and take a stress at the beginning of combat from Choppers pilot ability, and I start to breathe a bit easier!

Poe and Tycho have no shots, so Dash leads the round off with 4 hits... to which Kyle rolls 2 natural evades too! No problem I tell myself, still got Chopper, and then Dash can kill him next round before he fires at me! Easy peasy! Kyle rolls good enough on his TLTs to not have to burn his focus, and Dash is shield-less. Chopper rolls thunder on his attack, and gets 4 natural hits. And I think to myself rather smugly "Game. Set. Match!"...until Kyle rolls evade and focus, so only takes 2 damage and is left at 1 hull!

Next round has Chopper doing a 5 K, which just barely does not land him on the asteroid. And Kyle makes the right call and banks to his left to come just inside the asteroid. Dash does a wide turn in behind Kyle.... and here is where I make my second and biggest blunder of the game!

I got greedy (and honestly a bit scared for Dash's life at this point) and have Dash take TL and Focus to "make sure Kyle goes down!". And as I eye balled the table, I figured that there was no way that Tycho could 2 turn right and boost to get Dash in arc, that it would be just out! I knew, somewhere deep inside of me, that I should have sacrificed the focus action to BR and ensure Tycho couldn't get me, bit I didn't! And surprise, surprise...he did it and did just have me in arc at range 1.

Poe had dialed in the K turn, forgetting about the stress he got from Choppers ability. And my opponent just laughed and said "looks like Poe is going to turn into that debris and take another stress". And I would be lying if I told you the thought didn't cross my mind for a second. But in the end, I just made Poe take a 1 bank to avoid the asteroid, and clear his stress so he could focus and start the regen train on me. My opponent told me that he would have done it if it was him, made his opponent eat the stress and the possible damage, and put Poe out of the fight for another turn. But in the end I figured I would rather really beat Poe regen, and not just cause he forgot and I got to over exploit his mistake.

So Tycho unloaded a Rage fueled Proton Rocket salvo... and it was bye bye Dash! After that it was a mad scramble for Chopper, who managed to take down Kyle two turns later after laying some damage into Poe. And then 2 turns later take down Poe, all the while Tycho was on his rear whittling him down.

But there was still hope for me...all the time Tycho was chasing Chopper he landed on 3 different debris fields, and managed to roll 3 crits! For those of you at home keeping track, that's right, Tycho went 4 for 4 taking damage from debris in the 2 games we played.

And in the end Chopper did the old 5 K to try and last through one more round so he could fingers crossed finish the Ace off...but it wasn't meant to be. Tycho with Rage up is just to consistent on pumping out 2 hits a turn. And the VCX went down in a blaze of glory.

Great writeups man. Keep me coming.

*edit* lol autocorrect. Keep 'em coming.

Second Pimpbacca, great to see the text and photos. Thanks for sharing!

So the wife decided to go on a cruise with her sister... leaving me unattended for the week!!!

So.... Commence operation X-Wing Cram Session!!!

A buddy stopped by late last night to get a quick game in... and I decided to put Dash aside for a bit since in our last game he kind of solo'd his Brobots and left a sour taste in his mouth! (Week 3 game 2 in the posts above) So I ended up taking this instead:

ZUU-topia! (99)

N'Dru with Lone Wolf, Glitterstim, Guidance Chips, and Cluster Missiles (25)

Contracted Scout with Boba Fett, Deadeye, Extra Munitions, Proton Trops, R4 Agromech, and Inertial Dampeners (36)

Contracted Scout with Dengar, Deadeye, Extra Munitions, Proton Trops, R4 Agromech, and Inertial Dampeners (38)

And I was facing off against another Scum build: (98 total points)

Dengar with Title, Engine Upgrade and Push the Limit (52)

Bossk with Mangler Cannon, Tactician, and Gunner (46)

He had the initiative call and decided to take it so Bossk could fire first before N'Dru. And after deployment this is what it looked like at the top of round one:

So right off the bat I knew his plan was to try to have Bossk slow roll it up across the table at an angle, trying to keep the majority of the table in his arc for as long as possible. And most likely would have Dengar move up straight for a turn or two, and then move in to flank.

And round one just showed me I was right. I moved the Scouts up a bit with the inner most doing a 2 straight and the outer a 3 straight. Bossk predictably did his red 0 forward. And N'Dru just did a 3 bank right to get up the field a bit but stay out of Dengar's range three shot. While the Jumpmaster Pilot did a 2 straight.

And here is where I made my first tactical error of the game in my opinion! At this point I feel that what I should have done was turn N'Dru out left toward Dengar, and try to keep him out of the fight for a bit and concentrated on the Z-95. With Lone Wolf I doubt he could have 1 shot N'Dru, and with N'Dru's load out I would have been fairly likely to strip off all of his shields in return.

But instead I creep up 2 straights with both Scouts to get them to a point where they could turn in around the debris cloud. Bossk does a 1 straight to clear stress, and is out of range to TL the Z-95. and so focuses. And then I have N'Dru do a 4 straight to cross the center and try stay out of Dengar's range. Figuring Dengar was going to slow roll forward a bit more in fear of engaging the Scouts too early. Dengar does a 2 bank in, followed by a boost and barrel roll to try and get him just into range 3 of the Z-95...which I wasn't expecting at all from him.

Dengar is just in range three, and despite it being an unmodified shot he manages to get through the Lone Wolf re-roll and strip a shield off of N'Dru. No other shots are made this round! And we are back to dials.

Round three I finally turn the Scouts in toward the center of the board and focus. Bossk creeps forward slowly again and grabs focus as he is still out of range. N'Dru i have do a 3 bank left towards Bossk and prepare to layeth the Cluster Missile Smack Down by grabbing a TL. And Dengar creeps up and grabs a focus.

Dengar shoots at N'Dru and only manages to strip a single shield off of N'Dru. Bossk then unleashes HELL, and manages to blow N'Dru off the face of the earth... err, well the face of the star-lanes at least! And in retaliation, my Dengar Crewed Scout manages to just get range three on "evil" Dengar, and removes three shields as a matter of principle without even having to burn the R4 granted TL! And we are back to dials:

....But wait Palomarus you might be saying! ...What about N'Drus simultaneous fire back at Bossk? Surely you didn't forget to do that and just remove your ship for no apparent reason, did you?

Like the title says folks... Mistakes will be made!!! But who needs a fair fight anyways right? ; )

I decide to try and slow roll my Scouts forward, front Dengar Scout 1 banks right to try and get Bossk in arc and grabs focus, other Scout does a 1 straight and grab focus. Bossk does a 1 straight as well and grabs a TL on the rear Boba Crew Scout. "Evil" Dengar rolls 1 straight as well and TL the front Dengar Crew Scout.

"Evil" Dengar strips of the rest of Dengar Crew Scout's shields. And Bossk manages to whiff as Dengar Scout rolls some sexy double evades for me. Dengar Scout has both enemies in Arc, but as "Evil" Dengar is at range 1, decides to lay 4 uncancelled hits into Bossk with his torp. And Boba Scout tosses a torp at "Evil" Dengar, also landing 4 hits, which Dengar evades on of. And the highlight of the match for me...Boba Fett ejects the Punishing One title off of "Evil" Dengar, and it is now a sad 2 dice turret once again. Dengar does his retaliatory shot, and removes a shield off of Boba Scout.

*** due to technical difficulties, I have no pic for this round... so you'll just have to use your imaginations! ; )

I take the Dengar Scout and do a 3 bank right to clear Bossk and get behind him. While Boba Scout does a 1 bank left to try and block "Evil" Dengar. Bossk does a 1 straight again and TL Boba Scout. And "Evil" Dengar does indeed bump Boba Scout and gets no actions.

"Evil" Dengar whiffs on his shot at the far away Dengar Scout. Bossk lays waste to Boba Scout with his ability and all the red dice with crits, and its bye bye Boba Scout! And the Dengar Scout manages with the re-rolls to take "Evil" Dengar down to one Hull left. And it's two ships to one for me... not looking good here folks!

I do a 1 turn left with my Scout, trying to hopefully keep Bossk in range, but not let Dengar get a shot. Bossk stalls and takes the red 0 forward. And Dengar does a 4 K-turn to try and get arc/range on my ship...but is just out. And my Scout with re-rolls manages to lay 2 more damage into Bossk.

After this is two turns of re-positioning, where my Scout does a white 2 Segnor's, then 2 straights back the way he came...while Bossk and Dengar try to get arc/range on him to no avail.

At this point my Scout just hugs the edge of the board while Dengar follows, and Bossk does his space cow impersonation and turns around to try and follow. Dengar tosses shots out at the Scout, but with my Dengar crew giving me re-rolls I manage to burn him down in two more rounds.

And then spend the next 5-7 rounds swinging wide out around Bossk so I can finally do the last few hull points and limp away with a Scout sitting on 2 hull left! It was a super close game, and I learned a lot!

....Lesson #1....Simultaneous Fire Dummy!!! ; )

I woke up the next morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed...ready for an all day X-Wing list testing session. With another friend that I have yet to play against since my return to the game!

.... Disclaimer! Some of the details of these next few games may not be as clear as I would like, as we put in 4 games back to back. But with the amount of pictures I took I am fairly sure I can get it pretty close to what really happened.

Sunday Madness Game 1:

So I decided to bust out the same list as I flew the night before, if for no other reason than to give poor old N'Dru a chance to redeem himself on the field of battle!

ZUU-topia! (99)

N'Dru with Lone Wolf, Glitterstim, Guidance Chips, and Cluster Missiles (25)

Contracted Scout with Boba Fett, Deadeye, Extra Munitions, Proton Trops, R4 Agromech, and Inertial Dampeners (36)

Contracted Scout with Dengar, Deadeye, Extra Munitions, Proton Trops, R4 Agromech, and Inertial Dampeners (38)

And my opponent decided to pull out the new Imperial endorsed hotness....

Palp Aces 2.0 (100)

The Inquisitor with Push the Limit, Title, and Autothrusters (31)

Omega Leader with Comm Relay and Juke (26)

Wampa (14)

Omicron Group Pilot with the Emperor (29)

I took the initiative, if only to be able to place the first obstacle, and after all was said and done this is what it looked like the top of one:

So my initial thoughts are to move the Scouts up a bit, and just prepare to alpha whatever I can. Although I have no idea what he will present me with as a target. But I really want Omega Leader to go down with Torp fire, as he will be a really pain to remove with the sad 2 red dice turrets of the Scouts late game. And I only hope that N'Dru can take down the Inquisitor since AT are also a real pain for 2 dice turrets late game as well.

...but we all know what happens to our plans in the opening rounds...

The Shuttle goes 2 forward, followed by the inside Scout doing a 2 forward and his outside partner a 3 forward. Wampa does a 1 straight, and is mimicked by Omega Leader on his flank who grabs his evade token for the game. While N'Dru jumps 4 forward and is outopaced slightly by the Inquisitor doing a 5 forward right back at him. No shots this opening round, and we are back to dials:

So at this point I am confident that I am going to get the range encounters I am looking for with the Scouts to two Tie Fighters, so after he jumps his Shuttle 2 straight and grabs focus, I move them both forward 2 straight and focus in return. Wampa moves forward 2 straight and grabs an evade. And then N'Dru goes 3 forward and grabs a TL on the Inquisitor, figuring that he was going to turn in the Inquisitor in. But he surprises me by doing a 2 bank to his right and just gets out of N'dru's arc and tries to TL the closest Scout but is just out of range. Omega Leader does his 1 straight to come up right on Wampa's flank, and takes focus as he is also out of range of the two Scouts.

Inquisitor and Omega have no shots, and so N'Dru tries to fire on Wampa and some how manages to get a hit in past all the green dice when she is able to Lone Wolf to 2 hits. So Wampa tags the interior Dengar Crew Scout for a damage past his shields thanks to the Emperor changing to a Crit on one of the dice. And in return the Dengar Scout launches its first Torp at Wampa, and is rewarded with a satisfying 3 hits and a Crit, and Wampa is no more!

Boba Scout pings the Shuttle for a single shield... and we are back to dials.

I am feeling really happy with the game at this point... figuring that I have him right where I want him. N'Dru is all set to swoop in on the Inquisitors rear end and Cluster Missile him into Oblivion! I figure he is going to have the Shuttle do the 0 red move to try and jam up my Scouts. And so I very cleverly decide to have the outside Boba Scout do a 1 turn left so he can still grab focus and most likely launch a Torp at Omega Leader as I am almost sure he will turn left toward my Scouts. And then the Dengar Scout will 1 bank left to self bump Boba Scout to ensure that I still have a range 1 shot on the Shuttle or a range 2 shot at Omega to try and strip some tokens if needed.

It was going to be epic, perfect even, what could possibly go wrong right?.... and then I bungle it all up!

The Shuttle starts off the round by doing the stall just like I had thought he would, and the inner little Palomarus is chuckling with glee. And I would be lying to you if I didn't say that I mentally did a very fine Darth Vader impersonation of "I have you now!" at that moment. And for reasons I will never know, I did the complete opposite of the plan I had just so expertly devised, and flipped the stupid little dial for Dengar Scout instead of Boba Scout! And so Dengar 1 banks up and bumps the Shuttle, and this causes Boba Scout to bump on Dengar's flank...and their is not a focus token to be seen as far as the eye can see. And the Torp Tubes are forced to wait another turn at minimum to launch their payloads, sad times indeed. N'Dru turns in toward the center of the board and grabs focus. While the Inquisitor banks in toward the Dengar Scout and grabs a TL and the free evade from the title, and PtL's for the focus. Omega does the 1 turn left toward the board edge and grabs focus...and silently taunts my focus-less Scouts with their impotent Torps this round.

Omega tags Dengar Scout for a single damage, and the Inquisitor adds another two to the total. N'Dru chuckle maniacally to himself as he pops Glitterstim and launches his Cluster Missiles, intent of getting my something of value this turn. But when the two attacks are over, I traded the EPT card and a Missile Card for a single shield thanks to tokens and the Emperors ability! And I can't help but feel a little bit unimpressed with N'dru's performance in my hands once again. Dengar Scout tries for the hail Mary on Omega, trying for even a single damage, but predictably fails. And so Boba decides not to even bother trying, and instead does 2 damage to the Shuttle, which has no shots of it's own. So we are back to dials:

This round the Shuttle does its 1 bank right to clear stress and just clears the Dengar Scout, who does a 3 bank right to leap frog the Shuttle and hopefully cause Omega to bump. Boba Scout tries for the 1 bank left, and bumps the Shuttle by the tiniest of margins and I audibly groan out loud. N'Dru begins to head south toward me and hopefully make it possible for a better attack run later. Truth be told the Imps scatter a bit, and aside from the Boba Scout taking pop shots at the Shuttle for a single damage a turn for round or two, not much happens until we get to this position:

At this point the Shuttle is down to 1 hull left, as well as is the Dengar Scout. Omega, N'Dru, and the Inquisitor are all shield less but full health. Omega starts off the round by hitting N'Dru for its first hull point. The Inquisitor hits Dengar Scout for its last hull point and he gets removed. Boba Scout launches his last torp, and manages to just take the Inquisitor off the board. And it is now 2 v 2 ships all around.

The next round the Shuttle turns and tries to set up arc on the Boba Scout. Boba Scout does his white 2 Segnor to get arc back on the Shuttle and grabs focus. N'Dru does a K-turn to try and see if he can last for a round to get return fire on Omega. And Omega is able to sneak in and blast N'Dru off the table. Followed by Boba Scout getting the last point on the Shuttle, despite the Emperors attempts to thwart him. And we are 1 v 1!

We end up in this position a turn or two later, and Omega tosses his TL on the lone Scout, after the Scout grabbed focus. That Focus result you see there...the one I was unable to use cause Omega Leader had me locked...totally would have saved my Scout's life!!

But instead Omega was able to clear the Scout before he had a chance to drop him in return! All in all a really good game that was a lot closer than I thought it would be after I bungled the Scouts moves in turn 3! But I was unable to squeak it out in the end.

Also... it really was Omega Leader. He just forgot to bring the right ship token is all and used the Omega Squad token in its place.

And I am proud to say...we actually didn't mess up once all game and activate him out of order!....I call that an accomplishment in and of itself! ; )

Sunday Madness Game 2:

So we both decide to change it up, and I went with a list I shamelessly stole:

Imperial A-Holes (100)

Carnor Jax with Push the Limit and Autothrusters (31)

Omega Leader with Juke and Comm Relay (26)

Wampa (14)

Omicron Pilot with Emporer (29)

And my opponent brings the following list:

Crack Swarm (100)

Howlrunner with Hull Upgrade (21)

Scourge with Crack Shot (18)

Dark Curse (16)

3 x Black Squads with Crack Shots (45)

Tied for points, we rolled off and I got the call and took the Initiative so I could fire first. And after deployment this was the layout:

So my opponent tells me that he really likes his list, and did very well at a tourney with it fairly recently. And has only ever lost competitively with it against a different Palp Aces list, and is currently 1-1 vs Palp Aces. But he is a little scared of this match-up, which is funny cause I feel the same way about his list. And never really playing with Imperials before, always more of a Rebel Man, I have no idea as to what I am really doing here!

But i figure what the hell...go big or go home right?

So the Shuttle moves with a 3 bank right and grabs focus, followed by my Wampa who takes a 5 forward and decides to barrel roll forward and to the right to try and get range on the closet TIE if my opponent does a 5 forward as well. The TIE swarm all do a 5 forward as well and grab focus... and I see a shot at doing some round one mayhem. Omega does a 5 straight and then just manages to TL the closet TIE. Followed by Carnor also taking a 5 straight, and then boosting and barrel rolling into what I hope is range three.

My luck holds up and I am able to take an unmodified range 3 at the closest TIE fighter, and with the dark ones own luck at my side, roll in with 2 hits and a Crit. And the poor Black Squad is only able to evade the hits, and of course draws a direct hit for the crit. Omega is also in range, and rolls a single hit. And the Black squad rolls two eyeballs and a blank, and my opponent quickly goes to use the focus token to modify. When I remind him of Omegas ability, he is a bit crestfallen and removes the Black with it's unspent Crack Shot. Wampa is able to toss a damage card to the next TIE in line thanks to a Palp modification to a crit, and takes no damage in return from the Blacks answering shot!

Next round has the TIE swarm all doing 1 turns to the right and pointing their arcs toward Carnor. While my Wampa and Shuttle all slow roll forward and focus up. And Omega decides to grab an evade after slow rolling forward himself. Carnor does a 2 bank right which parks him right in front of the TIE swarm without bumping and takes focus and evade. And manages to get within range one of all but the back two TIEs in the formation, so their focus tokens are wasted.

Between all of my shots I am able to gun down Howlrunner and another Black Squad TIE, and suffer a single damage to Carnor in retaliation... and my opponent informs me of how annoying Carnor Jax's ability is! And also Wampa gets lit up and removed from the board with a few Crack Shot'd range 2's.

Next round after taking maneuvers it is a royal bump fest, and I don't think a single shot is fired! But Carnor manages to take a crit from the debris field...and is down to 1 HP left.

At this point I have the Shuttle do a red 3 bank left to clear the two Ties he is touching. The Black Squad banks right to follow Carnor, and is followed by Dark Curse doing a K-turn to get Carnor in arc. While Scourge bugs out an K-turns as well, leaving Omega the room to S-Loop and try to get arcs also.

In the end Carnor goes down after putting some damage on Dark Curse. And Omega is able to hit Scourge for a damage as well. And just like that it is 2 v 2 ships... but all of the Crack Shots are gone and both TIEs are on 1 hull left.

It takes another round for positioning to try and get good shots by both sides.... and then this happens!

Do you see it?.... hold on, let me help... "Computer! Magnify!"

And that is one sad TIE Fighter!

Dark Curse goes down that round to fire... and Scourge circles wide to get a good approach lane to the Shuttle, while Omega does the same to the south. And we got ourselves a good old fashioned show down!

At this point the Shuttle loses its last shield... and then Omega moves in an TLs Scourge...and that's all she wrote! And the Imperial A-Holes sees its first victory in my hands!

And the truth be told, I have a very new appreciation for his list. I was able to really get the jump on him, and it still came out much closer than I would have thought for him losing half his squad in round three!

All in all... This is the first game in a while I can't easily point to something and say "that was a mistake!"... I think I played this one about as well as I could have in the matchup. And sure I took some risks, but they were based on me needing to get a leg up on the Swarm to try and stay ahead!

Sunday Madness Game 3:

Next up we both switched lists again, and I ended up taking my Dash VCX-100 list out for a spin again, with a few minor tweaks to it:

Dash with HLC, EU, PtL, Kannan, and Title (58)

Lothal Rebel with Han, Hera, Autoblaster, and FCS (42)

And my opponent brought out a VCX of his own...

Jake Farrell with VI, PtL, AT, Title, and Proton Rockets (33)

Kannan with Rec Spec, FCS (43)

Sabine with Autoblaster (23)

He got the init bid, and after deploying this is where we were at round 1:

I start off by banking the Rebel up with a 3 right and grab focus. Kannan come forward with a 2 straight and also grabs focus as he is out of range 3 of the Rebel. Dash also 3 banks right and then boost and BR up to get into position for an attack run on Kannan. Jake also come forward with a 5 straight and grabs focus and boosts straight to close with Dash.

Dash and Jake trade ineffectual shots at one another, thanks to Autothrusters on Jakes part, and its back to dials.

At this point, based on where the ships are located, I decide to focus my attention on bringing down Kannan first. And I try something out really cute to try and get a one up on my opponent....and I am not convinced yet if this was a good idea or not yet.

I start off the round by doing a 5 K with the Rebel right at Kannan's face. And I figure I will either bump him, leaving him right where I want him to be for Dash to creep up and be out of arc, or he will shoot past with a 5 K or long straight of his own and I will be pointed his way and ready to fire. This totally catches my opponent of guard, and Kannan does in fact bump and lose actions. Dash banks up right on Kannan's side and grabs focus and TL. And as expected Jake turns right away from everyone, and has no shots.

With his fully modified shot, Dash is able to strip 4 shields off of Kannan, and we are back to dials:

I was not really sure what to expect from Kannan this turn, and I really started to doubt the cuteness of my 5 K block the turn before. But figuring what the heck, I already committed to bump fest, so I continue the path. Rebel does a 1 straight and grabs TL on Kannan. Who then also does a straight and bumps once again. Dash turns right and grabs a focus and TL on Kannan, and will be in arc for a range 2 shot, but I figured the possible shield loss would be worth draining it of shields. And Jake turns back up toward his board edge and boost and BRs and is just out of arc on Dash as well....that was close!

Dash pounds into Kannan for another 4 damage after modification. Kannan take 2 of Dash's shields in return....and we are back to dials!

Figuring that Kannan was not going to allow himself to be bumped once again, and seeing as I already had my TL on him with the Rebel, I decide to 5 K the rebel. Followed by Kannan doing a 2 turn right and deploying Sabine onto the board...and totally catching me by surprise in the act. Dash does a 2 turn right of his own, but now with a 4 dice arc laying right where he had expected to boost and BR away from Jake to stay out of range, I am forced to make a tough choice. Do I BR toward the board edge to deny Jake his Prockets shot, but take a range one from Sabine instead? Or do I boost and BR in toward center giving Jake his Prockets but deny Sabines arc? In the end I decide that Jake is a one shot, so I might as well get it out of they way now, and not have to worry about it all game long. Either way Dash is taking 5 dice to the dome. But by giving Jake the shot, I at least remove it from the rest of the game. And as expected, Jake rolls in and its missile away!

After the dust clears, Dash is now shield-less and sitting on one damage. Kannan is dropped to 2 hull left after Dash (who was just outside range 1 by the way) and the Rebel pile it on him. And its back to dials:

At this point in the game I don't know how to feel about it all to be honest. On the one hand, Kannan is going down the next round with no shots as Dash will seal the deal ahead of him. But I traded all of Dash's shields and a hull to get it done. And I am not too sure the Rebel can seal the deal on his own!

I start off by having the Rebel do a bank left and clear stress and grab a focus. Sabine does a 1 turn left and grabs a focus as well. Followed by Kannan doing a 2 bank right into the middle of the obstacle cloud. Dash does a 3 turn right, followed by a boost and BR to get him out of range of Jake and Sabine hopefully, while maintaining range on Kannan to finish him off. Jake does a 1 turn right, and after his focus/free BR action and a boost he has range 2 on Dash... not cool bro!

Jake is able to lay 2 more damage into Dash and I visibly cringe at that! But Dash takes heart in knowing that Kannan is about to go up in smoke in right?....wrong!! The Force steps in an tells Dash's dice "NO", and I roll a whole slew of blanks and focus'...and the would be Jedi gets to live another round! Both Sabine and the Rebel have no shots this turn... and its back to dials:

...Well. Crap!.... So it looks like Dash has to try and bug out and try to save his own life, and I am not sure I will be able to turn wide and still get the distance on Jake. So again I decide to pull out some jank from the tank, and try something silly!

The Rebel does a turn left to keep Kannan hopefully in arc as a last resort and grabs focus. Kannan does a 1 straight, as expected and grabs TL on Dash. Sabine does pre move BR and then 2 turns left to face the Rebel at range 2 and grabs focus. And then Dash does a 1 turn left and a BR to try and either be behind Jake if he blasts off in an attempt to catch a bolting Dash, or to block him in case he slow rolled it. And I would have bet anything before taking the BR that I was going to be out of range 1 and able to fire on Kannan. Jake does bump and loses his action for the round.

Jake has no shot. And I go to measure the range 1 on Kannan....and he is just in! And I mean JUST in range! And the 5 dice red shot from Kannan takes Dash off the board. Followed by Sabine stripping 2 shields of the Rebel before he can blast Kannan off the board in return. And I am down to a Rebel vs Jake and Sabine.

The Rebel does a 2 straight right onto the debris cloud. Followed by Sabine crashing into his side and losing actions. As Jake shoots forward and tries to get out of range.

The Rebel takes is unmodified shot at Jake, and by some miracle manages to strip a shield off....I'll take it!

After this it is a few rounds of re-positioning...

...where Jake manages to strip off the Rebels shields and get behind him. But in return the Rebel manages to strip Sabine of shields. And then two turns later take her out, but the expense of racking up some serious stress in the process to keep arc through all the debris and such!

At this point I am mentally steeling myself for a long draw out fight where Jake arc dodges the Rebel and hull by hull whittles him down to nothingness!

...until this happens!

And Jake forgets about the Autoblaster on the Rebel...and is taken down to 1 hull left! And I start to maybe hope that I might be able to pull this off after all!

But....I make a stupid call and instead of using Hera right then to do another 5 K for my 4th stress and bring my arc back toward Jake...I turn left to clear a stress...figuring he would take more time with Jake to come back seeing as he was sitting on 1 hull. But instead he comes right back in, and while my whale of a VCX is sideways Jake swoops in and drops me to 2 hull... and then follows me one more round to seal the deal!

But I feel as if I won a morale victory here...managing to hang it out with a Rebel vs 2 arc dodgers!

Thanks for your battle reports. It's both very interesting and one can learn quite a lot, and very entertaining

Cheers!

So due to some unforeseen issues with my crappy phone, I lost a whole slew of pics for the games I have played in the last few weeks, and my memory isn't what it used to be. So I will not be able to go as in depth to the games as I would like to. But I still can go over some of the general thoughts and feelings of the lists and my issues in piloting them.

So after my Sunday games I managed to get in two more really good games at the FLS, and with new opponents since my return, so that is always a plus too.

Game 1:

I brought the following list, seeing as the Salt Lake City Regionals is coming up, and I need more practice with the top squads.

Imperial A-Holes (100)
Carnor Jax with Push the Limit and Autothrusters (31)
Omega Leader with Juke and Comm Relay (26)
Wampa (14)
Omicron Pilot with Emperor (29)

And I got to face a guy bringing a Palp Ace list of his own.

Imperial Aces (98)

Whisper with ACD, VI, Kallus, and FCS (41)

Omega Leader with Comm Relay and Juke (26)

Inquisitor with PtL, Title, and Autothrusters (31)

Now as I have stated earlier, I am not really familiar with actually piloting the Imperials myself, and so I was a little worried about this match-up. But my opponent made this a bit easier on me by choosing to take the initiative, allowing me to move after him. Which I feel is a mistake in this case.

In the end I go pretty much with the same set-up I did on Sunday with the list, but just on the other side. I park the Shuttle on the range 1 line in my left hand corner facing the opposite side of the board, and park Wampa right in front of him but decide to have him face the opponents side this time. And then have Carnor and OL about a templates base apart in the center, with Carnor being closer to the shuttle than OL. My opponent kind of spreads out his Aces, with Whisper facing down at the Shuttle and then OL in the center, and the Inquisitor off on the right. He tosses the Agent Kallus token on to OL, and I think that is probably the right move on his part.

And all I keep thinking is that Wampa is going to get his first Phantom kill in a few rounds..... Nom nom nom! ; )

I have the Shuttle do a 2 turn left to face Whisper and grab focus, followed by Wampa doing a 5 straight and then BR left and forward. He races forward a bit with all of his ships, and just manages to get Wampa in range three, which he is really excited about! But he forgets to evade with OL, and does a BR instead to position around a rock for the next round. My Carnor and OL bank in and get ready for their attack runs the following round.

Whisper takes her range 3 shot at Wampa, and gets nothing through, but gets her TL, focus, and Cloak Token... and I just grin a bit, knowing what's to come. None of the other Aces have any shots, so Wampa does what he does and rolls blank, hit. And I see the fear when he sees me Palp it to a Crit, and then cancel and deal a damage card straight through his shield and tokens! And he comments about never having faced off against Wampa before.

After that it was all down hill for him to be sure, the next round I do a K-Turn with Wampa to get behind where I feel Whisper is going to try and go, and use the shuttle to block anything really fun from Whisper in return. My Carnor denies his OL from grabbing his evade for a second round, and my own OL gets his lock on "Evil" OL and begins to trail him and take him down. Whisper does bump the shuttle, and goes down to a second Wampa "Shield-Piercing" shot. A few rounds later "Evil" OL goes down to "Good" OL, and then all of my 3 ships make short work of the Inquisitor.

Didn't really learn much in this match-up really to be honest.... as I really kind of gotcha'd my opponent with something he didn't see coming to GREAT effect (41 point Whisper). But at least I got to play around with my Imps a bit more!

Game 2:

My next opponent is also playing an Imp list with Vader and 4 Ties.... and I really don't feel like doing the mirror match again. So I bust out my Trip Scouts list to try and get some more practice with it, but also trying to see where it comes up short.

My opponent does a great job of clogging up the right hand side of the board with big rocks, denying me the "easy" set-up. So instead I end up doing a single-file line along the bottom left of my board with all my Scouts facing the right hand side of my deployment area. And he places his mini-swarm and Vader up in the top right hand side of the board.

As this game commences, I will have to preface this report with the following.....My dice were on fire!!! And while I have said before that I don't ever as a player want to blame my own dice for a loss, as I feel there is always something you can do as a player to pilot better, to where bad dice wont hurt you as much.

But on the flip side, I also do not want to accept my dice throwing up hits and crits all over my opponents as a tactical success either. And throw up they did indeed! In the first round of combat that I was able to unload my Torps in, I only had to modify 2 dice with Guidance Chips in order to get the 4 hits! And in that salvo, I rolled more Crits than I did hits. And my opponent did not roll a single evade symbol on all of his combined dice.

Now I do not want to totally discount my own piloting efforts in this match either, as I feel great pride in the fact that I was able to get my initial 3 torp salvo off despite some great maneuvers from my opponent. While managing to block the entire mini-swarm of Crack Ties into bumping and self bumping, which I call a solid win!

But truth be told I didn't really learn much else from the game as his ships just seemed to wither and die beneath the fury of my near infallible red dice. So we will definitely need to have a re-match!

It was at this point that I told myself that I needed to really focus in on one list, so I would be ready for Regionals this June. And I spent the next week agonizing over what to bring. Building list after list, and running through the match-ups in my head. And in the end I decided to focus in on the Imperial A-Holes as my list, and see if I couldn't get a bit more precision and mastery with it....and ended up getting 2.5 more games in with it the next X-Wing Night at the LGS.

Game 1:

I faced off with a regular opponent of mine, last seen flying the Dengar/Bossk squad from earlier in this post. He too is trying to focus on a Regionals list, and has decided to fall back on his old standby, the infamous Brobots!

CrackBots (100)

IG- B with FCS, AT, Title, HLC, Crackshot, and Glitterstim (50)

IG- D with FCS, AT, Title, HLC, Crackshot, and Glitterstim (50)

This is his first time running them with the Crackshot and Glitterstim version of the list, although he probably has more time with Dual Aggressors in general than any other list in the game... and by a large margin too. So I strap in and make ready for a long and bloody game.

I end up deploying my Shuttle and Wampa in my bottom right corner as usual, facing toward the right. And he decides he is going to joust them, and places both IGs directly across from them. So I place Carnor and OL just to the other side of the cornered obstacle from Wampa, and we are off to the races. I move everything forward at full speed, and he does the same. He manages to get a damage through on Wampa, and another on Jax and in return loses 2 shields from IG-B.

The next round I slow roll the shuttle up 1 bank right, bumping Wampa but hopefully setting me up to shoot at IG-B whom I expect is going to turn toward center with his buddy. And I throw Wampa out there with a K Turn...hoping to let IG-B by with a big bank, and maybe bumping IG-D in the process. Which is exactly what happens, IG-B makes his banks and just clears Wampa, while is twin is bumped with no shots on Wampa or the Shuttle. Carnor and OL take wide turns to the left to avoid arcs, and both manage to do so without much trouble.

And here is where things get off the rails a bit.... (And I apologize if I get a bit preachy here for a bit)

So my opponent is getting a little irritated at this point, as he has no shots, and is in arc of all of my ships. And by the end of the round IG-B is sitting on only one hull left. If this were a role-playing game...I would say that he critically failed his morale check for certain right here!! And begins to fall back to the old gamer stand-by of blaming his dice!

So I don't want to disparage against this opponent in any way. And all names are kept confidential so as not to incriminate anyone... ; ) ... but I feel this is a real problem that even I have suffered from in the past, and sadly, most likely will again in the future!

He ends up going on and on about how the game is lost, and how it isn't even worth playing out! And how he could have won if only his dice hadn't betrayed him, etc, etc. And I try my best to allow him to vent it all out so we can move on. As, like I said, I have myself been in this very same spot. And then after he has calmed down a bit, I ask him if he would like to simply reset the game, and try it again. Seeing as all the other players are still in the beginning steps of their own games still at this point.

He agrees, and then makes a half hearted apology for his rant as we do so, but goes on to say that he always loses because of his dice.... and I just can't help myself. I spend the next 10 minutes or so trying to show him where he could have played things differently than he did. Making sure not to use the word or tone of "better than he did" because I know how that feels from the other side, as well as being kind of arrogant on my part if I did. And we have a good conversation about deployment and obstacle placement, and how I would attack my own list if I was him, and we are ready to start game 1.5!

I set up the exact same way as I did before, and he tries something different. And before we set dials, I let him know that I am going to also try something different with my opening, as we both are a little more familiar with each others lists.

The first set of evade dice he rolls come up all blanks... which is not good I admit... and the games goes down from there. He loses his own focus, makes some bad moves...but again it is "ALL THE DICES FAULT" for it all, "And he couldn't have played it any better than that!". And I can't help but take a little offense at his remarks. By saying that he couldn't have played it any better, and if not for bad dice assuming the game would be his, he is basically telling me as an opponent that he is better than me, but just unlucky! And where a part of me knows that is not his intent, I still cant help but get a little irate at this point. I come here to make pew pew noises and blow some ships up first and foremost. Sure I would like to win, and every single game I ever play if I could, but not at the expense of having fun!

So I walk away at this point, and go looking for a different opponent to hopefully play..... morale of the story is boys and girls, some people just wont ever get it. And that's fine, I guess. I just need to make sure that I don't let them drag me down into the muck and the mire of it all. And just continue to have fun with this all. And while I will always be open to talking things over with an opponent after a game, I cant change anyone's mind that isn't open to the idea to begin with....so don't try Palomarus!!

Game 2:

Luckily for me a good palette cleanser is just a table away, and I walk immediately over into another game with one of the most chill and calm X-Wingers I have ever met! And he is a wily one with off-the-wall lists most of the time that he will surprise you with.

This time around he brings a 4 Scyk squad, with Sessisu and 3 Veterans all with Mind Links and Ordinance of some sort.... which I don't remember cause spoiler alert, he didn't get to fire off a single one during the game. As I am sure you can guess, Carnor spent the game streaking up the board to get on the squads flank turn 2 and then behind then turn 3....and out of 3 evades and 4 focuses each round generated from the squad, he only got to use a single focus all game.

Again this was not a very telling game for me in my prep to Regionals, as this was probably the worst case scenario counter to his own squad. But he took it all in good stride, and I look forward to a rematch with him very soon!

^{So this last Sunday the LGS held their monthly tournament with the latest kit they had, which was awesome for me as I was eyeing that set of acrylic extra munitions tokens for my Scouts! And I figured it would be a good chance to try out my Regionals list in a more competitive format than the weekly X-Wing Night. The turn out was pretty disappointing, and we only ended up getting 6 players, but it is better than nothing.}

^{Game 1:}

^{I get paired up with a guy who has also been on a bit of a break due to being the employee of the LGS, which just opened up another location, so this is the first game he has gotten in a lit over two months or so he said. And he ends up whipping the list up on the spot. He has always been the kind of guy who likes to fly "what he likes" over the more competitive builds. So I have no idea what to expect when sitting down across from him.}

^{In the end he brings Poe with BB-8 and Outmanuever, Jake Farell kitted out almost normally, and a K-Wing with TLT. Before we start I offer to explain all the synergy and combos in my list to him, but he says he wants to just get at it and learn on the fly. And so Wampa gets to add Jake to the list of ships he has nuked without removing a single shield, and Carnor and OL make short work of a regen-less Poe, and at that point he concedes.}

^{Win : 100-0}

^{Game 2:}

^{I am faced off against a guy that I know is better than me, but have never faced before, and I don't know what exactly to think of his list....}

^{Scum Super A-Holes (100)}

^{Palob with Adaptability, TLT, Cloaking Device, Stygium, and Greedo (31)}

^{Contracted Scout with Deadeye, Proton Torp, EM, R4 Agro, GC, and Boba (35)}

^{Trandoshan Slaver with Zuckuss, Dengar, and Inertial Dampeners (34)}

^{And I have never been more irritated and angry at another list as much as this one in my life.... IT IS SUPER AWESOME!!!}

^{Spoiler Alert...I go down HARD to this list. And I still feel a bit dirty and abused by it to this day! I had to steal my sons Chewie Build-a-Bear and take it with me to counseling so I could show my therapist on the doll where this bad list touched me! ; )}

^{The bottom line is that Palob steals either a focus or an evade token from within range 1-2 of himself at the beginning of combat. And somehow that seems worse to me than Carnor simply not letting you use those tokens. I know that Carnor's ability is arguably better, but there is something mentally that happens when someone steals your toys...and then uses them against you that is just wrong!}

^{On top of that he has this stupid YV that gets to roll in and re-roll 1 or 2 dice thanks to Dengar...and just when you smile in glee with your range 3 Carnor with Stealth and AT when he cleanly evades the shot... he takes the stress with Zuckuss to make you re-roll the evades, which of course come up all focuses! Which is fine right? Because I'll just use Carnor's focus to turn them all back.... Oh wait! Palob stole my stupid focus!!!!!}

^{Needless to say losing a fully tokened up Carnor in the first round of combat did not do anything good for my morale... and Palob with a cloaking Device is a super A-Hole, just floating around stealing tokens and cloaking when he can be shot at. And wearing you down with TLTs when he cant be shot cause you are too busy trying to deal with the YV and the Scout.}

^{I had a good laugh with the guy about how much I hated his list. And secretly vowed to find a way to demolish it for our next rematch!!}

^{Loss : 34-100}

^{At this point my first round opponent, who is running the event, decides to just call it since we have only 1 undefeated player, so he can go watch some hockey. And I end up getting some Extra Munitions tokens, and Alt Art Gunner, and a Falcon Bag! But I can't help but feel a little bit cheated not getting to play a 3rd round for some redemption. But despite the "official" event being done, 4 of us stay on to get another game in.}

^{Game 3:}

^{So I get matched up with my opponent from Sunday at my place, and it looks like we are going to have a rematch of his Crack Swarm vs my A-Holes. But he decides to change it up, and brings an almost identical list to my own, but drops Carnor for an Inquisitor!}

^{We roll off for initiative as we are both tied at 100 points, and I win the roll to decide!......and then for some **** reason I decide to take the initiative, and pretty much hand him a win button!}

^{In the end it is a super close game, and he manages to take it... in no small part to me having to move first and he gets to arc dodge around like a boss all game. And this more than the solid trouncing by the Scum list the game before makes me decide that maybe the Imperial Aces isn't the right call for me in Regionals after all! The bottom line is that while the list is powerful, it is also really venerable to mistakes by the pilot of it. And also the fact of the matter is that there are just too many people who are better at the list type than me, due to experience and skill, and I will just get crushed in the mirror match. And I do not like the fact that the initiative roll off has so much power in the match-up}

^{Loss : 55-100}

^{So I decided then and there that I would go "shopping" for a new list!.}

Great write up! I also use palp aces, though a slightly different list. I also fear mirror matches, as I'm still pretty new to the game, but I guess that'll change someday! Keep up those batreps!