So, there’s a HT in my area on October 12. I’m going. I’ve officially played 1 game of X-Wing, ever.

Now, I’m not irrational. The probability of my getting wrecked is, well, probable, however, I’d like to preform a experiment to see how much knowledge can be gleaned (and applied) within a finite period of time by a totally clean slate. Stranger things have happened. I once went 5-1 at a MTG tourney with a precon deck. 😂

Anyway, here’s my proposed training regiment:

-Podcast per day

-Template game/flying practice/spatial awareness

-Reread Rules Reference (again) for fun!

-Complete knowledge of MY list (moves, actions, abilities, triggers, ect)

-Familiarize myself (as much as possible) with the current meta/popular lists.

-basic understanding of “x-wing math” ie dice probability, vectors, Pythagorean theorem ect

-other strategies: rule of 11, pillars, tactics, target prioritizing, turn 0, half points, obstacle placement, ect.

What’s missing from this list is probably the most obvious, PLAY AS MANY GAMES AS POSSIBLE, right? Problem is, I can’t (for various reasons) do anything online, so best case scenario, maybe I can get in 5 RL games total before the deadline.

That being said, what else can everyone suggest I do to best prepare for this overly ambitious/ludicrous undertaking? Anything you guys can propose , I’ll totally do it. Post links to articles, blogs, videos, whatever. If you think it’s pertinent, I want to see it.

In short, I’m the 1980 US hockey team and everyone else is Russia...Do you believe in miracles?!

Which trial on the 12th?

You can learn a lot by just practicing openings with two meta lists against each other over and over. You can see what kind of situations you want to avoid or aim to set up.

also remember losing at X-Wing all day is pretty fun

I wouldn't waste any time on podcasts. Otherwise, have fun. Remember, it's just a dice game, so sit back and resist the temptation to take anything too seriously.

1 hour ago, AllWingsStandyingBy said:

Remember, it's just a dice game, so sit back and resist the temptation to take anything too seriously.

Quoted for truth!

I mostly just play by myslef fpr practice.... i mean, it comes with a lack of people to play with on a regular basis, but just like one would play chess by themselves, it helps get some basic practice in. also the perfect time to make mistakes and backtrack to try different options since you cant really cheat against yourself.

If you cant play live games, watch as many youtube videos as you can of top cuts in large-ish tournaments to see why experienced good players do a certain thing a certain way. Watch games with your archetype/list and the some of the current meta. Seeing the patience of an ace player, or the blocking/self bumping of top swarm players can give you great awareness of what to expect and what is possible.

You seem to know most of the needed theory. Especially dice stats, "the focus rule" - always have focus, (different from focus fire), rule of 11, etc. You certainly won't pick up any sort of nuances of mitigation and detailed efficient flying. You also need to know blocking, and have some idea of how your opponents might arc dodge.

If you really wanted to succeed well, I'd get 5 RL games like you said, and literally spend all the rest of your time playing against yourself on meta lists. This practice really helped me in my mid-level learning of the game.

You don't need any of this: vectors, Pythagorean theorem ect, podcasts, You really don't need podcasts.

1 hour ago, wurms said:

If you cant play live games, watch as many youtube videos as you can of top cuts in large-ish tournaments to see why experienced good players do a certain thing a certain way. Watch games with your archetype/list and the some of the current meta. Seeing the patience of an ace player, or the blocking/self bumping of top swarm players can give you great awareness of what to expect and what is possible.

I'll refer to the quote shortly..

I too went to a large tournament before I'd played many games. It was great fun, the other 80-odd players were very friendly and helpful. Tell each opponent that you're new, ask them about anything you're unsure about but remember:

'Someone has to come last'. It might be you, it might not. But you win the day if you've enjoyed yourself.

Now, wurms here is a good player (never met him, to my knowledge, but his posts make sense) but I've only really found watching top games useful more recently. To begin with, I couldn't see what they were doing or why. Now I've played for a while, I can (try) predicting which move I think they should make and compare it with what actually happened. If I were you, I'd try watching one match and see if it's useful to you and come back to them in a few months if it's not helping.

Have your set up and first 3 turns memorized against the classics: jousters, aces, swarms, etc w/ init and w/o init.

What’s your list???

Watch games not podcasts is also my suggestion. Why they’re setting dials try to think what you’d do.

If you can download Fly Casual, you can get some reps in, offline, with that

2 minutes ago, Kreen said:

If you can download Fly Casual, you can get some reps in, offline, with that

Yes. Good practice.

I think as long as you go in with a good mind-set ("I'm here to play a guaranteed 4-6 games against players that brought a serious list and are trying to win") you're going to have a good time regardless of how much prep work you do. I'd say the best thing you could do would be simply to get games in with your list so you are familiar with all of your abilities and triggers. If you're still deciding on a list, I would gravitate towards a 4 ship build with only an upgrade or two per ship max so you don't have a lot of abilities to remember. 4 Ship lists tend to be the sweet spot between having enough ships on the board so you can afford to lose one to a mistake and having too many ships so they start to get in each-other's way.

example Rebel lists:

Luke Skywalker w/ Servomotor S-Foils
Wedge Antilles w/ Servomotor S-Foils
Blue Squadron Escort w/ Servomotor S-Foils
Blue Squadron Escort w/ Servomotor S-Foils
199 points

Luke Skywalker (X-Wing) w/ Servomotor S-Foils
Norra Wexley (Y-Wing) w/ Ion Turret, Veteran Turret Gunner
Blue Squadron Scout (U-Wing) w/ Pivot Wing
Blue Squadron Pilot (B-Wing)
200 points

@TasteTheRainbow Brothers Grimm in Selden NY. They changed their date from the 28th as that’s a MTG prerelease day.

The podcasts I’ve been listening to, and let me preface this by saying I HATE podcasts in general, have been pretty informative, actually. Mynock Squadron has a series of Flight Academy casts that concern the basics, but broken down into great depth. I highly recommend them to any other players starting out.

https://mynockpodcast.libsyn.com/

I never thought to practice actual games as everyone has suggested. That makes a lot of sense. I used to play my MTG deck against other meta decks solo, never thought about doing that here. Great suggestion!

@wurms I’ve been watching some games. The only issue is, atm all I have is my phone and it’s REALLY hard to focus on what’s going on. I have found a couple of matches that were more tutorial based and used various camera angles as opposed to the star data top view only. Those were easier to watch, especially the profession quality stuff like Team Covenant puts out.

@Gilarius I’m so glad you brought this up! In addition to the above, I have found watching some matches didn’t really help me much. I totally agree that down the line, after I learn what more lists are capable of and how to counter them, they will help immensely! Mynock Squad also suggested watching matches and predicting what each players turn 0 was looking to accomplish and see how often you can spot their strategies.

I think the biggest issue is not really knowing what the other lists are trying to. I should probably just open one of the list building apps and look at EVERYTHING to see how it functions. There’s a lot of things, like Slam, blocking and why having Leia stock around too long is goin to be troublesome ect.

1 hour ago, Kreen said:

If you can download Fly Casual, you can get some reps in, offline, with that

I’d love to. Unfortunately, the only laptop I have available to me is my Mothers and it’s running Vista 😑

My list, and I’m still trying to finalize it, but it’s basically 2x Jedi Aces and an Arc. Definitely want Anakin and I’m thinking I like the versatility of Tiin. Def 7B config on both. As far as the ARC, I’d like to keep it more Aggressive and fit a 7th fleet gunner in there, but then I’ll have to sacrifice having Astromechs/R4 on both Jedi. Not really sure how to go yet.

@Transmogrifier

It’s possible that list may be more advanced for a beginner and maybe I should have went with some kind of jousting list, but I’m on a budget and the store I had credit for was out of stock on a bunch of stuff, so I had to be selective. I wanted to challenge myself starting out, too. I think arc dodging is going to be my preferred playstyle, as opposed to the other 3 pillars. As you pointed out, though, I do have to be aware of remembering Anakins bullseye arc trigger, checking if friendly ships range is triggered by 7th and Tiin, regenerating a Force each turn, remembering to USE force for dice mods I’d needed ect. Definitely a lot more that I should have burdened myself with starting out.

what I have is:

Guardians if the Rep

2x Aethersprite

1 ARC

1 Y-wing.

14 hours ago, K-2SO said:

and everyone else is Russia

Wait, how do you know about...

2 hours ago, K-2SO said:

I’d love to. Unfortunately, the only laptop I have available to me is my Mothers and it’s running Vista 😑

My list, and I’m still trying to finalize it, but it’s basically 2x Jedi Aces and an Arc. Definitely want Anakin and I’m thinking I like the versatility of Tiin. Def 7B config on both. As far as the ARC, I’d like to keep it more Aggressive and fit a 7th fleet gunner in there, but then I’ll have to sacrifice having Astromechs/R4 on both Jedi. Not really sure how to go yet.

@Transmogrifier

It’s possible that list may be more advanced for a beginner and maybe I should have went with some kind of jousting list, but I’m on a budget and the store I had credit for was out of stock on a bunch of stuff, so I had to be selective. I wanted to challenge myself starting out, too. I think arc dodging is going to be my preferred playstyle, as opposed to the other 3 pillars. As you pointed out, though, I do have to be aware of remembering Anakins bullseye arc trigger, checking if friendly ships range is triggered by 7th and Tiin, regenerating a Force each turn, remembering to USE force for dice mods I’d needed ect. Definitely a lot more that I should have burdened myself with starting out.

what I have is:

Guardians if the Rep

2x Aethersprite

1 ARC

1 Y-wing.

That's not a bad place to start either - aces like Anakin are pretty forgiving for new players too since you get the option to change your mind after seeing what your opponent did (and Jedi don't care too much about being blocked either). The ARC is an efficient ship so if you just point and shoot with it you should be fine. You could do something like:

Anakin w/ Delta 7B
Obi Wan w/ Delta 7B
104th Battalion Pilot w/ 7th Fleet Gunner
199 points

The difference between a Jedi with 3 force and 2 force is pretty noticeable, same with I5 vs I4 so I would cut upgrades in order to make it happen. You will spend much less time worrying about having enough force to do what you need to. I wouldn't get too worked up with trying to use Obi-Wan or Anakin's pilot abilities - 95% of what makes them good is their high Initiative and 3 force. If you forget about their abilities half the time it will still be fine. 7th Fleet Gunner probably isn't super efficient but it's a fun ability that will feel good to get off and might draw some fire to the ARC. If you want to drop that for some other upgrades it might make your list more efficient but that's preferential. A low-priced Force ability like Sense or Foresight or an Astromech or two would be a good alternative.

@Transmogrifier Good points. I guess the R2 and the ability to regen 2 shields seemed pertinent, but perhaps WITH the 7B, it’s being overly protective? I was also playing around with an R2 on one Jedi and maybe Cody in the ARC. Thankfully there’s not TOO many choices. The Jedi with 7B pretty much take up 75% of the list

Why do you say “Jedi don’t care about being blocked”? Blocking is kinda one area I’m having trouble wrapping my head around. I know it’s a great way to stop an impending attack, ie being at range 0, but how does this benefit Jedi? Unless you mean high initiative combined with boost, BR, ect enables Jedi to NOT get blocked?

My suggestion:

K-2S0

(62) Anakin Skywalker [Delta-7 Aethersprite]
(20) Delta-7B
Points: 82

(47) Obi-Wan Kenobi [Delta-7 Aethersprite]
(19) Delta-7B
Points: 66

(36) "Broadside" [BTL-B Y-wing]
(5) Ion Cannon Turret
Points: 41

Total points: 189

Either bid, regen, or add Sense to taste.

Jedi do well bumping because they basically always have a focus with their force.

R2 Astromech is fantastic on Jedi (with 7B or not). You had mentioned wanting to play aggressively though and regen changes your approach a little (the game becomes much more about keeping your ships above half health so they don't give up points when time runs out).

Blocking is the usual tactic for fighting against high initiative aces. You put a lower initiative ship into the spot where you think the Ace is going to move, point a bunch of your other ships at that same spot and if you do it right the ace runs into your blocker and can't take actions to maneuver out of the kill-box or modify their defense dice, so they probably take a bunch of damage. When a Jedi like Anakin gets blocked, he still is stuck there getting shot, but he at least has his force tokens to spend to modify his defense dice, so it's less catastrophic.

3 hours ago, K-2SO said:

@Transmogrifier

It’s possible that list may be more advanced for a beginner and maybe I should have went with some kind of jousting list, but I’m on a budget and the store I had credit for was out of stock on a bunch of stuff, so I had to be selective. I wanted to challenge myself starting out, too. I think arc dodging is going to be my preferred playstyle, as opposed to the other 3 pillars. As you pointed out, though, I do have to be aware of remembering Anakins bullseye arc trigger, checking if friendly ships range is triggered by 7th and Tiin, regenerating a Force each turn, remembering to USE force for dice mods I’d needed ect. Definitely a lot more that I should have burdened myself with starting out.

what I have is:

Guardians if the Rep

2x Aethersprite

1 ARC

1 Y-wing.

A challenge is what you'll get.

Arc dodging is the most difficult playstyle to pull off.

Not only do you need to be really good at judging distances, you also need to know all of your opponents ship manuever dials off by heart. That includes all red blue and white maneuvers and what your opponents are likely to do based on the current round (this one comes with experience)

But you'll get a good hard crash course into the game.

I recommend if you play the arc dodging game, take at least one ace, as they are a little more forgiving and play them conservatively. Don't put yourself in harms way of multiple firing arcs just so you can get that one hit in. Dice fail all the time.

Sometimes the best decision is to not have a shot if it means you also don't get shot. Especially if you can get in a much better position the following round

@JBFancourt thanks for the suggestion! I picked up the Y-wing just in case, to have more options for that 3rd ship.

@Transmogrifier Ah, thank for the explanation! I wasn’t really thinking about blocking completely in that context. I realized it stoped my attack and ability to form an action, but I wasn’t even considering the killbox/other ships being part of this tactic. Very good to know!

let me ask, just for clarity, half health on a 7B is going to 3 Hull? The shields from the configuration count, right?

@executor appreciate the advice! I Kinda figured that playing aces meant waiting for the perfect shot. An unanswed flanking shot, for example, and basically being patient. Knowing when to fly away and double back for a better approach then to attempt a bad trade. Is that a fair assessment?

A simple rule for new players: fly together, shoot together. Don’t try dramatic entire map-away openings. At most only be half of a board apart.

I still remember the first time I played at a local store. It was exhilarating. I had only played with a couple of friends before.

I remember I was shaking, lol. 😂

You’ll fly better if you say Hi and talk to them about their job/family/how long they’ve been into X-Wing, etc. Remember their name, relax, laugh at the good dice and the bad dice.

And make jokes about using the force when making rolls with no mods. 😜

Ha! I used to get REALLY nervous when I first started playing MTG, too. Like my hands would shake and my deck wouldnt shuffle from the protectors getting sweaty 😆

ill do that, though. I wanna try to relax. I have nothing to lose, right? 0-6 is still 6 good games and more experience than I’ll receive in a month regularly.

Play against yourself! Good practise for distancing, turning anyway, if not for strategy.

Lots of good advice here, and you have a pretty comprehensive list of learning tools already.

However, many of the things you'll need, like predicting your opponents approaches and manoeuvres, particularly when it comes to blocking them, only really come together with experience. It's all definitely worth having in mind though, because experience is what you'll be getting. That awareness will help.you see where it could have made a difference and inform future decisions.

The no.1 thing that causes problems when starting out though, is judging your own manoeuvres. Hitting rocks, missing with your arcs, landing in their arcs with no shot, flying off the board....

So get yourself a space, lay out some rocks and put as much time as possible into just laying templates and moving ships. Like seriously loads of time. If you can judge space really well, then you have the foundations. The rest will build from there with that all important experience.

A neat little exercise to test how you're getting on with that, is to place 1 ship, then place another where think a certain move will land. Then add in the template to see how close you were.

Push this exercise further by estimating a move followed by a reposition, without the inbetween step ofc, it's surprisingly tricky. Then 2 repositions, then pre-manouevre repositions....

Put a rock in your path and estimate banks and turns around it, these moves will come up in games ALL THE TIME and land you in big trouble when you get it wrong.

Don't worry if you're not exact, most of us aren't that perfect

What it will do, most importantly, is give you your error margin, so you can tell when a certain template combo is too much of a risk to attempt. As well as which manoeuvres in particular you're struggling to estimate, so you can focus on learning their dimensions.

Also, take Gas Clouds

Good luck and welcome to the game!