Defender /D Title looks like bad sinergy with ordnance. IMO with TIE/D you want to shoot twice aaaaall the times. I think ION cannon is better, since FCS Hera Ghosts doesnt care about stress.

Vessery is the perfect candidate for /D title since he could have both shots modified. you can VI him to all your ships go to PS8, and allow correct shooting order.

The Inquisitor provides the TL Vessery needs. Taking out the homing missiles will give you points for PTL on Inquisitor, i think...

With your suggestions, I don't have the point to bump the Flechette to an Ion Cannon. So, here is what that looks like:

Ghostface Killahs, v4.0 (100)

• Tomax Bren with Crack Shot, Extra Munitions, Proton Torpedoes, Guidance Chips
• Colonel Vessery with Veteran Instincts, Flechette Cannon, TIE/D
• The Inquisitor with Push The Limit, TIE/v1, Autothrusters

It works in theory, so we'll see how it flies tonight! I'll try to post an after-action report if I get a chance.

In case anyone was wondering, a good way to deal with the Ghost is to hit it with a Major Hull Breach on its first Hull damage.

With your suggestions, I don't have the point to bump the Flechette to an Ion Cannon. So, here is what that looks like:

Ghostface Killahs, v4.0 (100)

• Tomax Bren with Crack Shot, Extra Munitions, Proton Torpedoes, Guidance Chips
• Colonel Vessery with Veteran Instincts, Flechette Cannon, TIE/D
• The Inquisitor with Push The Limit, TIE/v1, Autothrusters

It works in theory, so we'll see how it flies tonight! I'll try to post an after-action report if I get a chance.

Change Tomax' proton torps to plasma torps, and then you can get the ion cannon on Vessery. Trust me, its totally worth it!

Not to mention, the plasma torp will be nice against a ghost (its 4-5 damage if you shoot it first)

Well, after the delay, we did finally get our game in.

It was so lopsided in my favor that I almost felt bad. Obiwonka certainly flew well, but the lists were a bit lopsided in my favor, and it didn't help that he was rolling cold all night. Just to prove how bad it was, even with two TLTs firing every turn he only managed to do 5 points of damage to my list (and most of that came from a bomb instead of the turrets!). Every time he'd get a decent shot off, I'd just evade the whole thing. He did have the Inquisitor down to one hull and I had tried to cut a corner too tight and parked him on a rock, but even with a clear shot like that lined up, he whiffed. On my side, I couldn't have asked for a better results. Tomax's Torps and Vessery's double-taps chewed through the Ghost's shields very quickly. Then when I finally landed my first hull hit it was a Major Hull Breach, so all the rest of his damage was face up. By the time the Ghost gave up the ghost, he'd suffered the breach and three direct hits. It was just nasty.

I do want to brag on Obiwonka. He played the whole game out with class. No matter how stupidly lucky I was, or how badly his dice betrayed him, there was nary a grumble the entire time. I know how hard it is to do that (see our game where Han/Jake flew circles around my bombers!).

After that game, we did a three-way "furball" game with my 12-year-old son, who had come along to watch. We each quickly threw together a 1 ship list of no more than 35 points. I flew Vader with Crack Shot and Homing Missiles, Obiwonka had Fenn Rau with the Title and something else. My son flew Tycho with Push the Limit, Autothrusters and Concussion Missiles. Despite some slow-rolling and trying to fake each other out, we all ended up meeting in the asteroid field in the middle of the board. On the initial pass, I tried to fly straight through with out pausing for a shot. Fenn Rau had a choice of firing Range 1 shots at either ship, and shot at Tycho, stripping him down to one hull, with little (or no?) damage in return. Over the next couple of turns, I curled around an asteroid and then K-turned to drop in on Fenn Rau's tail. I was able to get off a missile shot and hammered Fenn Rau, but Vader's victory was short-lived. While I lined up on Fenn Rau, Tycho had made a long sweep around and nailed me with his missiles. Tycho, with one hull point left, won the match! It was a fun little game.

Obiwonka and I talked about our set up, and we're going to tweak the rules on our nemesis series again. We both like the idea of secret upgrades (because in-universe you wouldn't know who was flying a particular ship or how it was kitted out), so instead of revealing his entire list, he's just going to tell me what ships he is flying, and I will do the same. It should give me an idea of what to build, without giving the whole thing away. Regardless, it has been fun learning the game with Obiwonka's assistance and while I'm still a newb, I don't feel so self-conscious anymore.

Next week...He's flying Imps and I'm back on the Rebel side.

As for the other suggestions...

The Proton Torpedoes were plenty deadly with Guidance Chips and Crack Shot, so I didn't really need the Plasma Torps to chew the shields. I agree that in a standard match-up where you don't know what you'll face, the Ion Cannon would be better than the Flechette Cannon, but Ion wouldn't have done anything (since you need two on large ships) and the stress did actually help keep him boxed in the corner where I could focus fire on him.

1) I do want to brag on Obiwonka. He played the whole game out with class. No matter how stupidly lucky I was, or how badly his dice betrayed him, there was nary a grumble the entire time.

2) Tycho, with one hull point left, won the match! It was a fun little game.

3) Obiwonka and I talked about our set up, and we're going to tweak the rules on our nemesis series again. We both like the idea of secret upgrades (because in-universe you wouldn't know who was flying a particular ship or how it was kitted out), so instead of revealing his entire list, he's just going to tell me what ships he is flying, and I will do the same. It should give me an idea of what to build, without giving the whole thing away.

1) That's one advantage of knowing you're flying a terrible list - no point getting upset about it when you already know it's going to lose!

2) That was a fun game. I hope we can fly some escalation furballs in the future!

3) In fact, I think I'll go ahead and give you the ships right now: VT-49 Decimator and TIE Phantom. This will not be nearly as gimmicky as the Ghost list.

Also, you almost won a painting contest yesterday! I went to the Murray Open and there was a $10 prize for best painted ship (which I was hoping to use to buy you a ship!), and I entered your Iron Man A-Wing. Ultimately, the judges went with another ship, but it was close.

Sweet! Two more ships I haven't faced before. This should be fun.

That's awesome about the painting competition. Thanks for entering for me! Would have been cool to win. I guess I'll have to kick it up a notch on my next one.

I think I'll counter with a large ship and a small ship as well! YT1300 & T70 X-wing

Got you some of that Heroes of the Resistance did you? Lol.

Haha. Not yet. I'm flying old school!

So here's what I flew:

Commander Kenkirk (44)

+ Emperor Palpatine (8)

+ Ysanne Isard (4)

+ Lone Wolf (2)

+ Tactical Jammer (1)

"Echo" (30)

+ Advanced Claoking Device (4)
+ Outmaneuver (3)

+ Agent Kallus (2)

+ Fire-Control System (2)

Winning the initiative roll, I took it so Echo could re-cloak before "Red Ace" could shoot back if we ended up jousting. Kallus chose Han, to try to give Echo as much survivability as possible. I lucked out and between Kallus, an Evade token, and Palpatine, I was able to only take one damage at a time from Han. Red Ace (with R2D2 and Comm Relay) was a pain to take down and my first target. If I couldn't get him before Echo bit the dust, Kenkirk would never kill him (R2D2, Comm Relay's Evade, and a single defensive roll result i.e. from Autothrusters would completely mitigate my maximum 3 damage). Thankfully, Han headed in the wrong direction just long enough (barely: Engine Upgrade brought him around real fast!) for Echo to Outmaneuver Red Ace to death. I had gotten through Han's shields in out opening engagement, so when he made his second pass I was able to use Palpatine to land a Blinded Pilot crit that sealed his fate.

We were also playing the fun variant of having all your upgrades face-down at the start, only revealing them as they were relevant. This was indeed incredibly fun, but hurt Piscopas when he forgot about Luke's second shot. Had he used that earlier to get at least 2 damage on Echo, she would've died before I killed Red Ace.

Next up, I'm going to take a new toy out for a spin. Back to Scum for:

Lancer-Class Pursuit Ship

2x Y-Wing

I keep meaning to play with the cards face down til relevant. It seems like so much fun but yeah, you better remember what you brought or it can backfire. it would be so fun to bring one of those ships that has 5 or 6 upgrade slots and you don't know if they have a bomb, a torp, or vectored thrusters until it is too late.

And we're back! My Rey/Poe finally made it to the table, while Piscopas tweaked one of his previous lists based on our after-game discussions to squeeze an Academy blocker in. Crack Shot Tomax with Extra Proton Torpedoes led Juke Ryad, Extra Conner Deathfire, and the Academy.

With his Ryad in the middle and the others off to my right, I set Rey across from Ryad and Poe to my left. Rey turned away from the formation he formed with all four ships, then slooped into the corner while Poe went on a flanking run and blew up a large rock with Seismic Torpedoes right next to his formation. Only Tomax got hit, but it was a Stunned Pilot, which would deal him one more damage later when he barely didn't clear Rey.

Deathfire used his Long-Range Scanners to TL Poe, and I forgot about Poe's Black One Title the whole game, though it didn't end up mattering because he either avoided damage or wasn't close enough to save Rey from Tomax's Torpedoes which took off four shields. While Piscopas' ships turned on Poe and to set up Nets, I was able to double-team Ryad and push through a couple crits then finish her off.

Poe took the first Net, then Rey the second, which cut down on their shenanigans for a couple turns, but I was still able to put out a little more damage. Then came the best pilot out of the Academy. Along with the ions, he set up several turns of blocks, then managed to roll triple evades against Poe's range one TL + F shot. A couple turns later I finally killed the bugger, but it was taking out Tomax before he had time to clear his Damaged Sensor Array and get off his second Torpedo that really made a difference.

Brave Deathfire came charging back into the fight, but was no match for both my ships' guns. He did get one shot at Poe who had already taken a Direct Hit (from the Academy, naturally!), but couldn't finish him. Rey was down to 6 Hull after Chewbacca saved her from her own Stunned Pilot (imagine wookiee noises and a pat on the shoulder to clear her head).

That was a really fun game. I was very pleased with the addition of the Academy Pilot, who flew his socks off. Ryad, on the other hand...I have no excuse. PSA: If you take the X7 title, dial up some 3-4-5 maneuvers, for goodness sake! I may as well have left it at home. I really like the maneuverable Poe you flew. That thing was crazy to try and predict (except for the one turn he was 'netted! Haha). I want to give that a try sometime, especially since I don't have all the cards to build the regen Poe that everyone loves. The Rey/Finn combo was pretty nasty too.

The Seismic Torpedo blasting an asteroid and tagging three of my ships was pretty cool, even if it only pushed through one damage. I look forward to trying those out myself sometime!

For this Thursday I am planning on either a TIE Interceptor and four TIE Fighters, or a TIE Interceptor, TIE Advanced, and TIE/sf.

I like the TIE/sf, but every time i play it, it gets owned.

In the last game with Backdraft was due to my bad playing (he/she recieved 5 attacks in 2 turns ) but at least served to take the heat of my Defenders.

The advanced with the title is a very powerful ship.

For this Thursday I am planning on either a TIE Interceptor and four TIE Fighters, or a TIE Interceptor, TIE Advanced, and TIE/sf.

Did you miss us?! After holiday business put this off for a few weeks, we finally managed another couple games. I went with the Interceptor and 4 TIEs. It was Soontir Fel with Autos, PtL, and Targeting Computer (ironically not Stealth Device, even though Piscopas had my sweet, sweet Stealth Soontir repaint for me!), and Howl and 3 Blacks with Crack Shot. Unfortunately for my nemesis' jousting T70s, the mini-swarm also likes to joust and is even better at it. Jess, Snap, and Poe took their best shots, but my dice were better and he couldn't stick more than 2 damage on a TIE at a time. Meanwhile, hot reds made my Crack Shots devastating, taking out Snap on the first pass. Soontir with a 2-point bid was able to drop in on Poe's tail and hunt him down. The X-Wings tried, but were simply out-matched.

Next week we are definitely on, and are going to begin trying other formats - namely, Mario Kart X-Wing!!

Good to read you again, guys.

And another victory to the glorious Empire!

And another victory to the glorious Empire!

Two, in fact, because we played this twice so he could make small tweaks to his list and maybe to try fly it differently. He got solid hits on five ships across both games, including Soontir Fel once, but alas it was only 2 damage each time, never enough to completely destroy a TIE. I won't lie, there was at least one roll each game where my green dice simply came up triple Evade at the right time, but the only TIE lost was in game 1 when a hard turn barely clipped an asteroid for the 3rd damage.

Also, we had lava rock asteroids on the map and watching Stealth Soontir fly between them was one of the coolest things I've ever seen on the battlefield.

Ugh. Terrible matches for me! I couldn't out-joust the jousters. Your list was fun to play against because you had to pick your poison: Slippery Soontir or Howling Black Cracks! Snap just went crackle-pop in the first round of shooting both games, which didn't help.

I did remember to grab at least one pic last night because it did look rather cool on the table.

I can't wait to give Mario Kart a try next week!

Today was our first go at Mario Kart X-Wing! Piscopas brought his track, which had a trio of turrets and a "shortcut"*. We did a practice lap with 3 players, Gemmer Sojan in an A-Wing, Valen Rudor in the TAP, and my Ruthless Freelancer with the Mist Hunter and Ketsu Onyo riding shotgun. Which sounded great until I didn't hit anything with the Tractor Bean, not even once. I did drop a Banana right on Gemmer, but it didn't seriously slow him down. Then while I exploded several times despite 8 health, Gemmer eventually got out in front and completed the lap long before anyone else. Red Shells are mean.. A couple other players arrived, so we reset for a 5-player game.

I switched to Jake Farrell, while the newcomers played a T-70 and a StarViper. Once we got to the shooting, the Viper and especially the poor T-70 were hit magnets, taking constant damage from shots, walls, and collisions. There was a huge traffic jam, and while everyone else got killed a couple times, Jake snuck through the shortcut and blasted ahead. When they finally got spaced out, the other pilots still had trouble clearing the first tower, and Jake just extended his lead. The Blue Shell got picked up and thrown early, which contributed to the slow start. Once I was way out in front, I was easily able to shrug off the towers, and even Blooper and Lightning didn't do enough to slow me down. I did forget that you could shoot through walls and ended up taking a shot from the Viper way in the back, but it didn't connect. In the end, Jake drifted on ions across the finish line at 2 Hull, with Gemmer in a distant second.

Jake Farrell may need to be banned, as it was a pretty dominant performance. Even at 24 points, I feel like I'd be pretty happy with him and Elusiveness. The main change will be turrets. Instead of 3 dice at any range with 1 re-roll and 1 focus, I think we'll try re-roll OR focus. They had very lucky rolls, but 3 hits almost every single time was just a little too much.

Overall, Mario Kart X-Wing is an absolute blast, and I look forward to more!

*The term shortcut only applies if you don't take 2 stress and get blown up every. single. time. Not valid with any other offers.

Our last meeting was on Saturday, after another tournament that I attended ( and won! ). Our X-Wing matchup was Scum vs Imperial, with me flying Meat Popsicles again for the first time in a long time, and Piscopas practicing a list for THIS Saturday's X-Wing tournament ( so I'll keep his list a secret ). We ended up playing two matches, because they were both relatively short. In the first game, one of his ships landed on a rock in the first round of combat, leading to an early advantage for me that quickly spiraled into a decisive win. In the second game, I made the mistake of not Boosting with an Aggressor to block (trying to get shots off instead, my biggest weakness), resulting in that 'bot exploding from all the enemy shots. The other 'bot came up short in an ill-advised sloop which left him without a shot. In short, this quickly went Piscopas' way much the way the first game did for me.

There was one moment that I wish I had taken a picture of: I DID have a successful block which not only landed not one, but TWO of his ships on the mustache rock at the same time, they also had to fly through it the next turn as well!

Moral of the story: fly smarter, kids.

The double mustache ride WAS epic. I have to admit, I was pretty intimidated to finally face the famed Bro-bots. That's probably why I just tried to blow myself up on the rocks the first game. Haha. I'm trying to psych myself up for this first tournament, but I have no idea what to expect. I hope it goes well!

Haha, double mustache ride, nice! Granted, that particular flavor of Bro-Bots is anything but common.

I honestly have no idea what to expect this weekend, either. So many things are playable right now, and so many new things have come out... should be crazy, and fun!

This week was a Rebels (me) vs. Imperials (Piscopas) match. You can find his "Omega Squad" in the lists forum, while I threw this together:

Chewie (OG) (42)

+ Kanan Jarrus (3)

+ Inspiring Recruit (1)

+ Rage (1)

Norra Wexley (29)

+ R2-D2 (4)

+ Kyle Katarn (3)

+ Push the Limit (3)

+ Vectored Thrusters (2)

+ Alliance Overhaul (0)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

The list came together when I was messing around with different Falcon options, trying to fly something new, and figured the Raging Wookiee was cheap enough to pair with a couple other ships. Sure enough, Super Norra and a Bandit make 100 exactly. We had a good variety of all asteroids spread all over the board (with my first large rock placement attempting to stuff Starkiller Base's cannon). I set the Bandit in the middle, Chewie to his right, and Norra on the far right, while the First Order formed a loose formation in the diagonal corner. Piscopas' formation flying was on point, and they all swooped around the asteroids nicely. The Bandit and an Omega generic traded shots alone before everyone else came together, with my Focus preventing and damage to me and the return shot taking the Evade off his Comm Relay, which was lucky, important for the next round, and also indicative of our green dice for the rest of the match.

Combat round 2 the Z charged headlong into the enemy formation, hoping to disrupt them then be able to k-turn behind them and be a nuisance next turn. Chewie turned down the flank to deliver broadsides from outside the asteroids, and Norra went headfirst into the fray, opting not to barrel roll since it wouldn't quite get her out of any arcs. Norra used her Focus + TL offense combo then Chewie Raged at the lead Omega to kill it. It had reset its Comm Evade: had it not lost it to the Z, it would've had a Focus token, which would've meant survival. The rest of Omega Squad murdered the Bandit, trading ship for ship.

The next round Chewie turned further away to force the enemy formation to chase him with Norra on their tails, or chase Norra with Chewie swooping around behind. The other Omega generic exploded this turn, then the /sf started blocking Norra. Omega Leader was able to broadside her, getting rid of her shields, but Chewie put a beating on the /sf in the mean time. The /sf went down, but Norra went away to regen shields, leaving Cheiwe to get TL'd and beat up by OL. Two cards were onto Chewie's Hull before Norra came back and between the two of them they started overwhelming OL's defenses, and Norra eventually blocked him allowing Chewie the kill.

I was really happy with the list's performance and liked Piscopas' blend of theme and function, but with our crappy green dice and my full offensive mods made for a quick game.

In fact, there was plenty of time to take on his son's Deathrain/Whisper combo. Deathrain was overloaded with ordnance (10 pieces after Extra Munitions!) but Expertise Whisper had her choice of initiative and went first to re-cloak against my Norra. Turns out all my offensive mods were enough to punch through any defenses she had. On top of that, even though Rebel Captive shut down Push the Limit, Kyle still let me pull off Norra's TL + Focus trick! The Bandit rushed to block Deathrain, but k-turned into an Ion Bomb next turn for his trouble. After getting punched in the nose, Whipser tried to stay cloaked and run, but I was able to take her down in a couple more turns. Deathrain managed to get off a missile each at Norra and Chewie, through Vectored Thrusters let my keep Chewie from taking Assault Missile splash damage. He also Ion Bombed Chewie (token completely on the base with the front drop-zone, even!) and plopped a Proximity Mine in Cheiwe's face (would've hit it next turn) right as Deathrain exploded. Surprisingly, Deathrain managed to get off half his ordnance! But it was far too little damage overall, as even the Bandit survived.

This week, we are putting out a call for anyone who wants to join us on Thursday for Mario Kart-Wing!