I had a very fun first game. It was me (Empire) teaching a friend. All I had was the core, so not a lot of choices. My Vic went charging down the middle of the 3x3 playing surface, blasting away. I was doing great, until I realized I had not started banking soon enough. Off the board I went! Thousands died that day due to a poor navigator. In the following weeks, I got much better at piloting on a 3x3. Those were the days! When you could predict exactly how a Vic would fly (because if it didn't, it would die!).

My first game was right after wave 1 hit, so I pretty much skipped over the 3x3 days and went straight to gladiator vs AF MK II. My friend and I were both playing our first game, and it was rough. We took forever because we had to keep referencing the rules over and over and over. Yet as soon as we were done, we scraped the table, grabbed more ships, and played another game right after. He won one and I won one. I was playing rebel, and these two games were the only ones I ever played with AF's simply because my dislike for them was great from this experience. Until recently, that is, when I have forced myself to play them to learn how they work and not be colored by such a bad first impression. I have discovered they still aren't my flavor, but aren't as goddawful as I thought. Turns out I just wasn't that good yet haha.