I started playing X-Wing last August, and sometimes I even fly well. I still haven't settled into a consistent style of play—there are too many different fun lists to fly, and I don't compete regularly enough (yet) to stay plugged in to the meta. Basically I play a couple times a week and watch lots of YouTube videos.
Gauntlet Games, an excellent shop in Lincoln, Nebraska, hosted a Stay on Target event with 18 players today. After having taken a couple weeks off from playing to clear my head, I decided to go back to basics, with just a hint of shenanigans (as I understand them). Plus, I love any chance to fly multiple T-70 X-Wings. Considering the diversity of lists today—someone flew a Firespray!—I finished well enough to surprise myself.
Here's my list:
-
Ello Asty | T-70 X-Wing (33)
- Veteran Instincts
- Black One
- R2 Astromech
- integrated Astromech
-
Nien Nunb | T-70 X-Wing (33)
- Snap Shot
- R3-A2
- Integrated Astromech
-
"Red Ace" | T-70 X-Wing (34)
- Primed Thrusters
- R2-D2
- Integrated Astromech
My first opponent was Joel, who was flying Tycho, Ello, and 2 Rebel TIE Fighters: Sabine and Captain Rex. We both slow-rolled our opening, my ships moving up the left side of the battlefield, his ships approaching in a tight box formation down the right side. We made our turns toward the center on the same round; I sent two T-70s single-file through a gap between obstacles, swinging the third ship farther around in a more traditional flanking move. Joel had a couple bumps on his way towards the center, leaving Sabine out of position just close enough to the edge that she couldn't use her pilot ability to barrel roll into more advantageous firing lanes. From here, the whole thing devolved into a classic zooming dogfight. Both of our Ellos danced around doing Tallon rolls; Tycho kept 1-turning out of my arcs, and so on. Rex got to assign Suppressive Fire, but then the ship that had the condition would end up with a good shot on Rex anyway, and so it wouldn't have to reduce its attack strength. I lost Nien Numb first, then Joel lost Sabine, then both Ellos went, and then I took out Rex. We were all the way down in the bottom right hand corner of the board, Tycho with no shields and my Red Ace at full health, jockeying for position. Then I flew her off the board. *facepalm* (There really was no way out; even a 1-bank in either direction would have flown her off.)
I lost 68-100. Let that be a lesson to me about corners.
My second opponent was Michael, flying the Inquisitor, Countess Ryad (TIE/D + tractor beam), and a Delta Squadron Pilot (TIE/D + ion cannon). Michael placed his ships almost evenly spread out across his set-up area; I started with an offset L-shape to the right of center (Ello by herself; Red Ace and Nien Nunb in a line). This was a choppy, oddly paced game from the start. I had the impression that Michael used to play much more regularly in the past, but these days is pretty rusty. His two Defenders made a straight approach, while the Inquisitor made alternating 3-turns to flank Ello. Nien Nunb took a hit from the ion cannon, but the 1-straight in the next turn left in him in a perfect spot to Snap Shot (and stress) one of the Defenders. After we traded mild damage and the action swung towards the right side of the board, Michael flew his Delta Squadron Pilot off the board. Now, I like to be cool when things go sideways, if it's an honest mistake. But the Delta pilot was sitting at something like distance 2 from the edge, squarely facing the edge. A 3-turn left or right would go off the board, a 2-turn left or right might have stayed on, and a 1-turn in either direction would have kept the ship squarely on the board. Michael chose not to execute the red maneuver; I felt justified in sticking to the rule. On the very next turn, with Ryad facing away from me, Michael dialed a 3-turn to the right—which would have put her about one base length from the right edge of the board. I said, "You totally meant to turn her to the left, yeah?" Michael said that he did, and so I agreed to let him execute the left turn instead. (To me, that's what an honest mistake looks like; and heaven knows that I've gotten my left/right mixed up when my ships are facing towards me.) At this point, the game became a chase scene, with my three X-Wings turning in and running down both Ryad and the Inquisitor.
I won 100-0, with an odd mix of sportsmanship and ruthlessness.
In the last game of the day, I faced off against Marty, who flew Carnor Jax (with a shield upgrade), and three TIE Strikers: Duchess, and two Imperial Trainees. The Strikers lined up off-center to my left, angled in at 45°, and Carnor Jax to the right, pointed straight at me. I placed Nien Nunb and Red Ace side by side to my right of center, with Ello slightly off-center to the left, all three X-Wings facing forward. I tried to slow-roll my approach but man, the TIE Striker covers ground fast, and of course Carnor Jax was all up in my face from the word go. I actually managed to flank Duchess with Nien Nunb, and drew first blood with Snap Shot (also stressing her). Carnor used PTL to barrel roll in behind Duchess to get a shot at Nien Nunb (which hurt); when Nien fired back and dished a stress token to Carnor, Marty said, "Isn't he stressed enough for you?" "Stress him again!" I said. The main combat out like roller derby: a central pack of 4-5 ships, constantly cycling as ships exited and circled back into the melee. I managed to kill one Imperial Trainee, and then I lost Nien Nunb. Having learned a lesson about chasing enemy ships too far across the board, I made Ello and Red Ace switch off targets—sometimes attempting to focus fire, other times zeroing in on one of the named enemy pilots. The scrum lasted forever. Red Ace took damage from Carnor and persisted through shield regeneration, while Ello could not get any damage through to Duchess (Lightweight Frame saves lives!). We were in the middle of an activation phase when our T.O. called time. Ello fired at Duchess, doing no damage; Duchess returned fire, doing damage but not killing Ello. Carnor Jax had no shot (and had barrel rolled for his action, but Marty then forgot to PTL and token up), so it came down to a range 2 hail Mary attack from Red Ace. I rolled hit, hit, crit. Carnor rolled one evade but only had two hull remaining—RIP, Carnor. The last Imperial Trainee was out of position, so Red Ace was safe.
I won 53-33.
With a 2-1 record and a margin of 341, I placed 4th out of 18, which turns out to be my best finish at a tournament so far.
(Prizes won: alt-art Swarm Tactics EPT, acrylic tractor beam tokens, and that sweet alt-art Ketsu Onyo pilot card!)
Edited by Star CitizenGrammar, title change
