Episode 46 of Wide World of Wargaming (X-Wing) is now available! Thanks to Vince's industry, turnaround time was again great on this episode. It was recorded on 12/12/2019.

https://wwwargaming.podbean.com/e/wide-world-of-wargaming-x-wing-episode-46-how-to-stand-out/

In this episode, we decided to break away just a bit from discussing lists and tournaments, and we welcomed back Dan Neal, from Sacramento's Capital Corsairs, to talk about some aspects of painting. We're purposefully not getting into technical stuff -- as that stuff is much better done on vlogs and the like -- but instead focus on how to find someone to paint for you, how to get into painting at a beginner scale yourself, and other little ways you can make your models stand out on the table. I plug "my" repaint guy -- we meet in San Francisco, on Market Street, like we're doing clandestine drug deals -- Eric Leive, as well. See below for some links to some of the stuff we're discussing.

While we continue to miss Drew's light-hearted touch on the show (let's face it, Vince and I can be pretty cynical and pessimistic), until his return as an indentured -- er, I mean, as a husband -- I'm hopeful we can continue to do this sort of thing occasionally. It was fun to hear Vince's mind being blown as he looked over some of the repaints Dan and I pointed him to.

After that segment, because it is our identity, we do talk about the Singapore Grand Champs, and, I gotta say, there's some fun stuff there. It's not a huge tourney (only 40 players), but when you look at the cut, you'll see it's a *serious* tourney!

Anyway, some of y'all may, or may not, have noticed that I've been out of the mix for a bit. That was due to two factors: (1) I was in Vegas for Thanksgiving, which is a new tradition with me and some of my oldest friends, and (2) I was insanely busy at work. That's cleared up quite a bit, so, aside from LVO which I know both Vince and I will be attending, I don't anticipate giving y'all any more desperately needed breaks from me for a while.

Y'all have a good week!

Eddie Cockrell/LightCraft Mini Paint Studio: https://www.facebook.com/LightcraftMPS/
Kenneth/The Alternative Wargamer: http://alternativewargamer.blogspot.com/
Nick Millanes/ZodiacMiniStudio: https://www.instagram.com/zodiacministudio/

Thrawn's Imperial Ascendancy Fleet (by Eddie Cockrell): https://novaopenfoundation.org/raffle/thrawns-imperial-ascendency/
Sabine Wren's Scum & Villainy Fleet (by Eddie Cockrell): https://novaopenfoundation.org/raffle/2018-army-sw-x-wing-sabine-wren-scum-villainy-fleet/

Luke Carrington's Rick-Rolling Decimator: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxmqz1vnjye/

Ships Discussed on the Podcast: https://imgur.com/gallery/Yn0IVg0

Eric Leive's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eleive1/?hl=en

Thanks for having me on Jeff and Vince!

Pretty refreshing on an alternative topic. Loosing with style

---

Actually are some nice ships hidden under the ugly Hutt (Nurgle?) paint scheme. Scyks are very repaintable, and both on the Scyks, the Kihraxz and esp. the M12 Kimogila is some amazing detail if you look closely. The factory paint does them no justice at all.

Repainting the Kimos makes them pop:

5 hours ago, Managarmr said:

Actually are some nice ships hidden under the ugly Hutt (Nurgle?) paint scheme. Scyks are very repaintable, and both on the Scyks, the Kihraxz and esp. the M12 Kimogila is some amazing detail if you look closely. The factory paint does them now justice at all.

I completely agree. I have a couple of Scyk repaints, a couple of Kihraxz, and a Kimogila, and they all look really good. It's just that out-of-the-box ... ? Not so much.

Thanks for listening and sharing!

As an aside, the latest episode (47) is actually available. I haven't advertised it yet only because I haven't finished listening, and I like to listen before i write my blurb. But it's up!

Wide World of Wargaming (X-Wing) episode 47 is now available! This episode was recorded on 12/18/2019.

https://wwwargaming.podbean.com/e/wide-world-of-wargaming-x-wing-episode-47-apocalypse-now/

Due to a scheduling snafu, I was only able to record for about 20 minutes, and we again are without the melifluous pipes of Drew Bishop. However, Vince did line up all-but-official guest host Rick Ruddell, who always has thoughtful insights to offer.

We start the 'cast talking about the Tractor mechanics. Rick and Vince allude to a subtle comment from FFG, during the recent live-stream, leading them to believe Tractor may change again, so we discuss what that change might look like. After my departure, Vince and Rick begin discussing both PAX Unplugged and the Crossroads Classic, both of which were won by Nantext lists, which is what brought the subject of Tractor mechanics to the forefront.

A little bit of fair warning: while it's been corrected some since the first upload of this episode, this episode still has a fair amount of audio "drift," making it sound like we talk over each other much more than we actually do, and often making it sound like one of us is answering a question or responding to an observation before it's been made! While I -- speaking personally -- do have a tendency to talk over folks, I've worked on it significantly, and I feel really bad when I do it ... and even worse when it only SOUNDS like I'm doing it! Anyway, the drift in no way makes the episode hard to understand ... it's just a little quirky with timing.

If anybody has a solid idea why audio drift happens, and how we can keep it from happening, please let us know! We've checked the internet, and it's helped some, but it hasn't been a silver bullet.

We want to thank every single one of our listeners, and say again: don't hesitate to offer comments, criticism, and suggestions. We listen and consider every single piece of feedback we see, and we respond to most. Please help us get better!

Y'all have a good week!

Wide World of Wargaming (X-Wing) episode 49 is now available! This episode was recorded on 1/9/2020.

(As a completely unrelated aside, I bought the original Cyberpunk RPG in 1985(-ish; don't quote me) at GenCon, and it was set in 2013. During the entirety of the actual year 2013, it was weird to write the year for me. The second edition of the game, which of course I also got, was set in 2020, so I'm going through it again. (The latest edition is set in 2077, so I'll be dead long before I have the problem again ... although the first edition of Shadowrun was set in 2050, and I might make it to that. But probably not.))

https://wwwargaming.podbean.com/e/wide-world-of-wargaming-x-wing-episode-49-nobody-knows-what-theyre-doing/

Okay, I'm gonna be totally up-front: this episode is almost three hours long, and it consists almost entirely of Vince reading every single points/Hyperspace change, and then all three of us reacting to it. We do have some fun, and (Vince and me being Vince and me) we do have some disagreements. I did look for, and share, some of what I believe are the strategies and goals behind the points changes (and changes to Hyperspace), so folks might enjoy that. But, in general, this is straightforward X-Wing journalism, and ain't nobody gonna blame you if you skip around to your favorite factions.

(Oh, and BTW? We didn't even get to the Generic Upgrades, because by the end of Separatists, we were draggin' .)

I do want to shout-out here to @SirToastsalot , whose updated points spreadsheet, below, was invaluable. Thanks for that work, Sir. I also thanked you in the 'cast, but it's easy to miss.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZQGx-K9VXc9ZaTBcny9zr2C6E3MzkTJx4qrviaa19BM/edit#gid=1665392306

Y'all have a good week!

@Jeff Wilder

I had to pull over during your astro regen discussion because I had an idea.

I think a reason shield regen is priced by agility and hull regen isn't might not be due to the action. Instead, look at who can and wants to take astros to regen, and how much hull/shield they have, and whether that amount of shields gives half points back.

I guess that it's a combination of giving points back on high agility ships while also guarding those points again behind shield.

Many examples allow you to gain back full points with two shields at any hull value: X, E, N1, Aethersprite. I think those are generally more relevant ships.

Those who don't are Arc(6/3), Y(6/2), and Sheathipede(4/1), with 1agility or just bad luck for the sheathipede. They can regain points at 3, 2 and 2 hull, losing -3, -4, and -2. Note that for those 1agility ships, R5 repairing 2 hull allows them to go down to relatively safe 4 hull and still go back to full points.

So the sheathipede is an outlier, but IMO its role as support craft allows that. Another outlier is the T70, where you can't regain full points from 1 hull. And it only has 2 values to regain full points, from 2 or 3 hull. I see this as sacrificial pawn to the principle. Thoughts?

53 minutes ago, GreenDragoon said:

@Jeff Wilder

[...] Thoughts?

My initial thought is, "Where were you when Vince was being a dork?" My second thought is ... maybe, sure. So, effectively, it's priced for those 1-AGI X-Hull ships anyway, so why bother with the effort of making it complicated?

22 hours ago, Jeff Wilder said:

Where were you when Vince was being a dork?

I just randomly remembered, the musings about Rebel crew carriers (Hwk, Uwing, Auzituck). I have two points:

1. Leia! You have to invest into a falcon to get her now, and that's huge!

2. Rebel is a faction with a lot of mutual support without crew! Leia, Jake, or Garven toss a focus, Dutch a lock, Gina a stress, Lando an action, Evaan an extra green, Selfless pulls damage, and Horton gets rerolls due to his wingmen. That is a lot of support. Other factions also have support, but Rebels do so with pilots.

Together that change reinforced faction identity and added some nice balancing.

8 hours ago, GreenDragoon said:

I just randomly remembered, the musings about Rebel crew carriers (Hwk, Uwing, Auzituck). I have two points:

1. Leia! You have to invest into a falcon to get her now, and that's huge!

2. Rebel is a faction with a lot of mutual support without crew! Leia, Jake, or Garven toss a focus, Dutch a lock, Gina a stress, Lando an action, Evaan an extra green, Selfless pulls damage, and Horton gets rerolls due to his wingmen. That is a lot of support. Other factions also have support, but Rebels do so with pilots.

Together that change reinforced faction identity and added some nice balancing.

Tend to agree. Rebel crew aren’t really bad, but easily get outshone by more rebel pilots. Obviously more options would go a long way, but some like Baze, Hera, Ezra, and Han are just difficult to imagine a useful role for.

Ezra is a VTG that can be a calculate instead. Han is a VTG that can be Heightened Perception as well. Baze is a situational PerCop that stresses you out. Threepio is basically just IG-88D. Hera makes bad choices appealing for a high price. R2 and Lando are expensive RNG damage control that only Han cares about anyway.

Bistan, Nien, Kanan, and Jyn are the only really solid pieces on their own.

Holy God, we hit 50 episodes!

Episode 50 of Wide World of Wargaming (X-Wing) is now available! This episode was recorded on 1/15/2020.

https://wwwargaming.podbean.com/e/wide-world-of-wargaming-x-wing-episode-50/

(Blurb to come after I get a chance to listen! We cover the Rules Reference changes (including FAQs) and the Hyperspace changes in more depth than last week. It's another long episode, but not as long as last week!)

NOTE: Audio drift is still plaguing us. We really are not talking over Drew that much and answering him before he asks his questions.

QUOTE OF THE CAST: Vince: "I'm fine with Dutch naked."

4 hours ago, Jeff Wilder said:

Holy God, we hit 50 episodes!

Episode 50 of Wide World of Wargaming (X-Wing) is now available! This episode was recorded on 1/15/2020.

https://wwwargaming.podbean.com/e/wide-world-of-wargaming-x-wing-episode-50/

(Blurb to come after I get a chance to listen! We cover the Rules Reference changes (including FAQs) and the Hyperspace changes in more depth than last week. It's another long episode, but not as long as last week!)

NOTE: Audio drift is still plaguing us. We really are not talking over Drew that much and answering him before he asks his questions.

QUOTE OF THE CAST: Vince: "I'm fine with Dutch naked."

@Jeff Wilder "Mouth Breathers" Excuse me *******??? Read the ******* wording on the Weapon Hardpoint ship ability and then look at the RR v110 Jonus FAQ entry again and don't bother pointing to the "official app". That still permits Sideous and Palp to be taken on the same ship (2 instances of the same card, I just double checked). For ease of reference:

Interestingly FFG has left themselves an out of sorts for later by not errating the ability to say "1 single slot". We'll see if they use it.

Man, I didn't say it didn't need a FAQ. It just doesn't need an explanation . Putting in an explanation is just going to cause them trouble down the line, mark my words.

5 minutes ago, Jeff Wilder said:

Man, I didn't say it didn't need a FAQ. It just doesn't need an explanation . Putting in an explanation is just going to cause them trouble down the line, mark my words.

You did call those calling for it to either be FAQed or allowed to function as written "mouth breathers". That's the bull part of what you said, the rest I'm fine with. Calling me, the guy who'd actually sent FFG the **** question multiple times since 2.0 started (starting before Wave 2 even hit the street) as well as the most vehement RAW supporter for the ability, a mouth breather is a ****** up ******* move.

Obi-Wan Kenobi (48)

R5 Astromech (4) Calibrated Laser Targeting (4) Ship total: 56 Half Points: 28 Threshold: 2

Plo Koon (44) R5 Astromech (4) Calibrated Laser Targeting (4) Ship total: 52 Half Points: 26 Threshold: 2

Jedi Knight (37) R5 Astromech (4) Calibrated Laser Targeting (2) Ship total: 43 Half Points: 22 Threshold: 2

Ric Olié (42) R2 Astromech (7) Ship total: 49 Half Points: 25 Threshold: 3

Total: 200 View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0: https://raithos.github.io/?f=Galactic Republic&d=v8ZhZ200Z278XW6W200WY312XW6W200WY277XW6W200WY333XWW2W&sn=Unnamed Squadron&obs=

1 hour ago, Hiemfire said:

You did call those calling for it to either be FAQed or allowed to function as written "mouth breathers".

No, I didn't. Listen again.

I said that no matter what explanation they give, mouth-breathers won't accept it, so they should just say "No" and move on.

Now, if you're saying that no matter what explanation they give, you won't accept it, then ...

12 minutes ago, Jeff Wilder said:

Now, if you're saying that no matter what explanation they give, you won't accept it, then ...

I don't like it, no. But it is the rules as FAQ'ed so, much like Resistance Leia crew now being classified as a "constant effect" thanks to the FAQ, it is what we're bound to when we play this game. At least it's something more than a glitchy app and precedent set by the 1.0 Heavy Scyk title to go by...

Just a thought on the upcoming strength of 5A: it will be very good against other good lists, but have a hard time against several efficiency lists like 5X or 6 strikers. Just generally high number 3 dice lists. I expect it to do very well, but also that matchups will be extremely important. (E: could also be just my problem with those matchups. But they are definitely not easy)

Also: optics away from Tallie, and the i2 is amazing! I just watched Bartosz vs Biophysical on Vassal, and Bartosz used Ronith's ability 3x in a turn to only take 3 damage instead of 6! That is huge.

6 hours ago, GreenDragoon said:

Also: optics away from Tallie, and the i2 is amazing! I just watched Bartosz vs Biophysical on Vassal, and Bartosz used Ronith's ability 3x in a turn to only take 3 damage instead of 6! That is huge.

Just so I'm clear, Biophysical shot Ronith three times. Each time, Bartosz had another ship, with Biophysical's attacking ship in its turret arc, with a focus to spend on Ronith's defense, and the focus was going to otherwise not be useful on attack, even though these ships, be definition of processing Ronith's ability, almost certainly could attack?

That's not "huge" ... that's winning some kind of lottery!

I'll reserve final judgment until I can see it, but for now ... the ability is pretty trashy, IMO.

1 minute ago, Jeff Wilder said:

ust so I'm clear, Biophysical shot Ronith three times. Each time, Bartosz had another ship, with Biophysical's attacking ship in its turret arc, with a focus to spend on Ronith's defense, and the focus was going to otherwise not be useful on attack, even though these ships, be definition of processing Ronith's ability, almost certainly could attack?

Yes. Two already attacked and couldn't use the focus, the third was an i1 and he'd rather have kept it, but keeping a ship alive is obviously more valuable.

In my own, so far only, game it also kept him alive. In my situation, I only had to use one. First attack rolled blank blank focus, spent one from i5 Zizi. Second attack I rolled more than one focus result and used Ronith's focus. Still took 3 damage, but he survived.

I unironically see Ronith as 3rd best Awing pilot. Zizi is ridiculously broken, and Greer is known.

Again @Jeff Wilder , I enjoyed my second dive into WWoW, you guys really did a nice job pop-corning and debating lots of points on how the game is currently laying out, in all its complexity.

We, the less than knowledgeable, thank you guys for your assistance to our ignorance.

...last tea for the day.

Cheers!

13 hours ago, GreenDragoon said:

Just a thought on the upcoming strength of 5A: it will be very good against other good lists, but have a hard time against several efficiency lists like 5X or 6 strikers.

Something I've been noticing: Intimidation is a force multiplier.

XXXXX don't necessarily need a force multiplier, but 5A lists now have one available. RZ-2s have incredible time-on-target and RZ-1s can still fit missiles and/or Snap Shot with it. Look at this beauty:

Phoenix Squadron Pilot (29)
Intimidation (3)
Concussion Missiles (6)

Ship total: 38

This means you can take two of these and still get three I3 X-Wings with a 1-pt bid. My guess is this beats 5X more often than not, and the bid might give your Xs and advantage vs I3 strikers, ARCs, Jedi Knights, etc. Hard to say, but the potential is there.

Intimidation is a force multiplier, and if they survive the first pass, congrats you have a 3-primary ship now that denies R3 bonus and exposes damage cards.

Just had a very favorable game of this list vs Boba/Emon and curbstomped it.

https://wwwargaming.podbean.com/e/wide-world-of-wargaming-x-wing-episode-52-the-e-wing-meta-arrives/

Hello again everyone! Vince here with our post LVO review with special guest Sam Cimino, also known to the Twitch community as the legendary Chewbraca.

We talk about Sam's glorious 26-25 upset in the first round of the cut, my utterly incomprehensible run to the Top 16 with 2 E Wings and Luke, and then we move on to the emergence of the FOcho menace and the ever-growing droid infestation.

Also, my apologies to the lovely Kayla Liu for forgetting that we played in the 2nd round (I mention during the episode that I thought didn't play a single Empire player, only to realize my mistake a few hours later).

Wide World of Wargaming (X-Wing) episode 53 is available! We recorded this episode on February 5th ... I apologize for the delay, but there was quite a bit of audio drift (that Vince mostly fixed ... it's so much better than it was), and -- as you guys know -- I like to listen before I blurb.

https://wwwargaming.podbean.com/e/wide-world-of-wargaming-x-wing-episode-53-the-specialist/

Our guest this week is Fearsome Fang Fightin' Fella Robert Kukuchka, of San Francisco's Shaken Pilots. (For all the newbies, "Shaken Pilot" was a 1E crit.) Not only did Robert add his reasonable and informed opinions to those of Drew, Vince, and (arguably) myself, as we discussed some across-the-pond tournaments, but then he put his real world expertise into play as we talked about the Technological Terror They've Constructed ... AKA Best Coast Pairings. And how it might be done better. We thought about calling in some consultants from Iowa, too.

In addition to all that -- and, honestly, are you not entertained?! -- we go out on a Wilder Rant about the idiotic practice of meal breaks after Round Two, and why that needs to stop. Oh, and Vince throws in a really nice point aimed at LVO and @Rytackle and @Mynock Delta , whom we unabashedly love.

Y'all have a good week.

Episode 54 of Wide World of Wargaming (X-Wing) is now available! This episode was recorded on February 11th, 2020.

https://wwwargaming.podbean.com/e/wide-world-of-wargaming-x-wing-episode-54-red-vs-blue/

Before I reveal our guest for this episode, here's a little insider information about how the current incarnation of WWW(X) came to be:

Back 18 months or so ago, I appparently had a Facebook argument about X-Wing with some new punk. (FWIW, I was arguing that I5 and I6, especially re-positioners, were highly undervalued by FFG, because they didn't quite understand them. The punk was arguing "But muh Wedge!") Jump a few months ahead, and out of nowhere some guy I don't know from Adam, Vince Morgado, asks me if I was to co-host a podcast, possibly temporarily, with him and Drew Bishop. My auto-vox-phobia (fear of my own voice) aside, I do like sharing my opinions, so I agreed ... and was like, "But why me? Do I know you?"

Vince, of course, was the new punk I'd argued with. He explained that he wanted someone who would come at him when opinions differed, and because we had argued pretty viciously, he knew I would.

The reason I bring this up? In the past year, Vince -- always opinionated -- has argued with nobody more than he has Tyler Tippett, AKA starslinger72, and Tyler is the guest on this show. Just like me -- and even, hard as it is to believe, just like Drew -- Vince has his weaknesses, but I'll tell you guys this: he can admit that he's wrong, and he genuinely doesn't hold grudges. For me, this is one of the best qualities a person can have. So while Vince and I are very -- seriously, very -- different people, I'll always defend him when it comes to stuff like this.

In addition to this, Tyler and I have a long history, also with a few clashes. We've both been playing since pretty much the start of 1E, and we go back to the very first VASSAL tournaments, and to this blast-from-the-past known as Rekkon's Galactic Civil War Campaign. (This was a semi-cooperative campaign that well predated HotAC. Dunno what happened to Rekkon, but that was good stuff.)

So I was a little apprehensive about this, being as I'm -- at least in terms of moral support -- Team Vince. And turned out Drew couldn't make the show, and Drew and Tyler have a long friendly history. So I was half-wondering if the show was gonna be nothing but clashing.

But, it turns out, Tyler is a friendly and engaging guest. He'd already won Vince over, since they met at LVO, and I really enjoyed this episode, so now it's impossible for me to bad-mouth Tyler for old and dubious reasons. Thanks, Obama.

So anyway, as to content: we'd originally intended to talk about the UK and Fort Worth System Opens, but that didn't last. We got involved in conversation, so this ended up just being a conversational episode about lots of topics. (If you get lost in the short history of Eldar, don't despair ... I got through it, and so can you!)

It's a good show. Hope y'all join us, and, as always, please give us unvarnished comments, criticism, and suggestions.

Y'all have a good week!