The match that ended a friendship

By Faerie1979, in X-Wing Battle Reports

When my friend found out I had the Huge Conversion Kit and an Imperial Raider (1st edition) on the way, we agreed to delay our next match till it arrives. That way we can do a 500 point version of Atmospheric Entry with both sides fielding capital ships. Anyway, here's a breakdown of our forces. I finally managed to convince him to use YASB 2.0 to build his list, so I have a copy of what he was flying to share. he's decided to wait till the Imperial Raider is released for 2.0 to buy one. Which is probably a good thing since last month he spent his grocery money for the 2nd half of the month on X-Wing.

Opposing Forces:
Rebel Alliance (me)
Braylen Stramm (51)
Marksmanship (1)
Collision Detector (6)
Heavy Laser Cannon (4)
Proton Torpedoes (13)

Wedge Antilles (55)
Marksmanship (1)
Proton Torpedoes (13)
Servomotor S-Foils (0)

Alderaanian Guard (146)
Targeting Battery (9)
Turbolaser Battery (15)
Leia Organa (6)
Lando Calrissian (2)
Agile Gunner (8)
Damage Control Team (3)
Boosted Scanners (8)
Liberator (5)

Norra Wexley (41)
Marksmanship (1)
Ion Cannon Turret (5)
Adv. Proton Torpedoes (6)
R5-D8 (6)
Shield Upgrade (4)
Proximity Mines (6)
Skilled Bombardier (2)

Luke Skywalker (62)
Instinctive Aim (1)
Proton Torpedoes (13)
Afterburners (6)
Servomotor S-Foils (0)
Total: 499

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0

Galactic Empire (my friend)
Darth Vader (67)
Predictive Shot (1)
Concussion Missiles (6)
Agent of the Empire (4)

Obsidian Squadron Pilot (24)

Obsidian Squadron Pilot (24)

Outer Rim Patrol (150)
Proton Torpedoes (13)
Concussion Missiles (6)
Ion Cannon Battery (6)
Targeting Battery (9)
Bombardment Specialists (6)
Gunnery Specialists (8)
Boosted Scanners (8)
Assailer (7)

Maarek Stele (46)
Marksmanship (1)
Cluster Missiles (5)
Munitions Failsafe (1)

Rear Admiral Chiraneau (76)
Adv. Proton Torpedoes (6)
Perceptive Copilot (8)
Fifth Brother (9)
Proton Bombs (5)
Dauntless (4)
Total: 500

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0

Battlefield: 3x3 (we actually played on a table large enough this time)

Anyway... On to the battle report. Sorry, no pics or video.

Round One: We moved as normal, I was on defense, and set up my CR-90 to move down the "gravety well" edge, but not so close to the edge that I'd risk flying off the map if I tried turning. While most of my fleet settled in to ambush, Norra raced forward with a speed 4 K-turn. The turret was facing the rear, and I was planning on dropping a proximity mine right between a pair of asteroids. I had the CR-90 preform a 3 bank to the right.

My friend was keeping his formation rather tight, likely to help protect whoever had the important cargo. But I got the feeling he'd regret everyone being so close to the Imperial Raider. And sure enough, I was right. He'd turned his raider with a speed 3 right bank, and catastrophically misjudged clearances. He ended up running over Vader, one of the tie fighters in Vader's wing, his other Tie Advanced X1, and his Decimator. Ouch.

To compound things, when he rolled for if his Raider was damaged, he ended up getting a total of 6 Crit results. Meaning he had not only ran over most of his fleet, but it had stripped his Raider of all her shields. And I had the 1st player token, thus would get to fire with my CR-90 before he could fire with his Raider. Double ouch. After that debicle my friend had the Raider lock (paying 2 energy to extend the range of said lock) my CR-90, linking into a Calculate, and Cordinate Vader into a barrel roll.

The engagement phase started, and nobody was within range to shoot except our captial ships. It was a range 5 shot when I measured it. I opened up first with the CR-90's targeting battery, and rolled 3 crits. He rolled his 2 defense dice, and got blanks. The flipped crits were Hull Rupture (turret disabled precision shot), Exploding Consoles, and Hull Rupture (turret disabled precision shot). I paid an energy to extend the range I can lock, and used Targeting Battery to acquire lock on the Raider. Note that at this point he had no hardpoint turrets still active.

My second shot was with the Turbolaser Battery, I rolled 2 hits and a crit. My friend managed to roll one Focus, so he spent his calculate token. The crit was Power Surge Thanks to the two Hull Rupture crits he took an additional 7 damage.

End of round recap
Imperial Forces:
Raider 6 energy, 2 shield, 10 hull, all turrets knocked offline, Exploding consoles crit ongoing, power surge crit ongoing
Vader: 0 shield, 2 hull, Weapon Failure crit ongoing
Maark Stele: 0 shield, 2 hull, Damaged Engine crit ongoing
Rear Admiral Chiraneau: 1 shield, 12 hull
Obsidian Squadron Pilot #1: destroyed
Obsidian Squadron Pilot #2: 3 hull

Rebel Alliance:
CR-90: 5 energy, 7 shield, 18 hull
Braylen Stramm: 4 shield, 4 hull
Wedge Antilles: 2 shield, 4 hull
Luke Skywalker: 2 shield, 4 hull
Norra Wexley: 3 shield, 6 hull

Round 2
During the system phase Norra dropped a proximity mine using the speed 2 template. Vader swung around wide with a speed 3 left turn to get back into the fight, then spent his action to repair the critical he'd suffered from being ran over. I had Norra start turning around via a speed 2 Turn, while Wedge and Luke approached from opposite sides in a pincer, while Braylen approached, then focused into a barrel roll to arc dodge the remaining tie fighter. Wedge acquired a lock on the Tie Fighter.

Speaking of which, my friend sent his tie fighter chasing after the Y-wing, narrowly avoiding hitting the proximity mine in the process. The other Tie Advanced X1 swung around in a speed 3 right turn, which stressed the pilot due to the damaged engines. And the Decimator preformed a speed 1 left turn. I moved my CR-90 with a speed 0 left bank and decided to rotate turrets to the right along with Reinforcing the fore linked into a Calculate, while the Raider raced forward at speed 5. The Raider opted to Focus and Reinforce the front. When he rolled for damage due ot the exploding consoles, he got a crit.Ouch, but at least he had shields. Right?

Round 2 Engagement Phase:
Vader was out of position to attack, leaving Wedge free to fire a torp at the tie fighter. I rolled 2 focus, a hit, and a crit. So I spent the lock to reroll the focus, getting a focus and another hit. The tie fighter got a blank and a focus, thus got destroyed.

Luke took a pot shot at the Raider using only 2 dice after having forgotten to open the S-Foils. I had to spend a force point to get a hit, which was easily avoided. Braylen had the Raider in bullseye arc, so fired his Heavy Laser Cannon. I rolled 2 hits and 2 focus, but since Braylen was stressed I rerolled the 2 focus. The reroll was a couple more hits. My friend blanked out his defense roll, taking all 4 damage.

Now that the Huge ships were up, I checked range, and it was barely range 3. So I opened up into the Raider with my Turbolaser Battery again, getting two hits and a focus. So I spent my calculate. My friend managed to roll an Evade, thus due to reinforcing he only took 4 damage from the Turbolaser Battery. Smelling blood in the water, I opened up with the CR-90's primary weapon. I rolled 2 crits, a blank, and a focus so I spent the lock. The reroll added another crit and hit. He blanked out, so took 3 crits.

At this point he realized I just destroyed the Raider. Upon which he grabbed my just today repaired CR-90, took it outside, and threw it into the ground. Breaking it into several pieces. After that he drove over it with his car, parked, and came back to continue the game. Needless to say that immediately ended the match. And our friendship. And he's ordered me a new CR-90 to replace the one he just smashed. My new CR-90 should be here Wednesday.I don't think I'll play him in X-Wing again though. Right now, I'd rather not look at him.

Wow.. I've seek KIDS do something like that, when they lost badly, mostly in battle tech. BUT a grown adult!?

I'd be informing everyone in the local community, to not game with that ******...

Especially if the bulk of the damage done was flying over his own ships.

The bulk of the damage was caused by my targeting battery, turbolaser battery, and a primary weapon shot. A triple crit on the first attack where two of the crits will cause damage equal to the number of face up damage cards, followed up by a 4 damage and 1 critical hit was pretty dang nasty. Near as we could figure, the first Hull Rupture ended up doing 4 bonus damage while the 2nd one did 3 bonus damage when my turbolaser managed to crit. But his running over his own ships and stripping the raider of all it's shields certainly didn't help any. And yeah, I will be warning the people at my local gaming store on Wednesday. Not that he's likely to go out there. He isn't aware there is an X-Wing Wednesday event. And now I'm not about to tell him.

And I guess the most important thing to do is to talk about it. Nobody like to play a game where one of the players is having a bad mood. Here is the thing; I guess he feels awful about the whole situation. He did not invest all the money and time into X-wing to have a full blown out tantrum.
If I where you, and he is a friend that you do spend time with when not playing X-wing, I would talk with him.
He is not evil, he is not his anger. But if he truly wants to be able to play X-wing, he has some work to do. And that is when a X-wing playing friend might help out. But if he is not willing to do something about the situation on his part...then you can't help him.

Set your boundaries, and have a honest conversation when he is in control of his anger. (I could write that sentence in Yoda-like manner, but I rather not ;) )

Edited by Minimono
9 minutes ago, Minimono said:

If I where you, and he is a friend that you do spend time with when not playing X-wing, I would talk with him.

I can understand your point. But while I'm no longer so furious I have to actively resist reaching for a weapon, there is no chance I will want anything more to do with him. There's some lines you just don't cross. If you're willing to destroy someone else's property just because you've had a spat of bad luck, I'd rather not know you. Similarly if you're willing to threaten me with a weapon just because I surprised you with a strategy, I again don't want to know you anymore.

Yes, that 2nd one has happened to me. I had someone I considered a friend a few years back. We would regularly play Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh. He was also part of the weekly roleplaying group. And when he pulled out a katana to threaten me (he actually held it at my throat) over a game of Yu-Gi-Oh that wasn't going in his favor, I dropped him like a bad habit. Yes, he claimed the threat was "just kidding". But I knew for a fact he made sure to keep that katana sharp. Actually, he likely was over sharpening it since he would regularly sharpen the blade despite never actually using it.

6 hours ago, Faerie1979 said:

I can understand your point. But while I'm no longer so furious I have to actively resist reaching for a weapon, there is no chance I will want anything more to do with him. There's some lines you just don't cross. If you're willing to destroy someone else's property just because you've had a spat of bad luck, I'd rather not know you. Similarly if you're willing to threaten me with a weapon just because I surprised you with a strategy, I again don't want to know you anymore.

Yes, that 2nd one has happened to me. I had someone I considered a friend a few years back. We would regularly play Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh. He was also part of the weekly roleplaying group. And when he pulled out a katana to threaten me (he actually held it at my throat) over a game of Yu-Gi-Oh that wasn't going in his favor, I dropped him like a bad habit. Yes, he claimed the threat was "just kidding". But I knew for a fact he made sure to keep that katana sharp. Actually, he likely was over sharpening it since he would regularly sharpen the blade despite never actually using it.

You run with a very interesting crowd of individuals!

I'd consider it a badge of honor to make a friend lose it so hard that he threw our toys on the ground. Well played!

27 minutes ago, fantomenos said:

You run with a very interesting crowd of individuals!

Not more then once.

8 hours ago, Faerie1979 said:

I can understand your point. But while I'm no longer so furious I have to actively resist reaching for a weapon, there is no chance I will want anything more to do with him. There's some lines you just don't cross. If you're willing to destroy someone else's property just because you've had a spat of bad luck, I'd rather not know you. Similarly if you're willing to threaten me with a weapon just because I surprised you with a strategy, I again don't want to know you anymore.

I agree. A # of origins back, one of the guys getting into our d6 SW games, had a REAL BAD spate of bad die rolls, and BAD CHOICES, to where his character died FROM ANOTHER PC's actions. EVEN WITH ME warning both repeatedly.

One of the other guys on the table, while i was outside talking with the module writer (so how would i have done differently here to not have one guy dead), came out, waited till i was done speaking to him and flat out told me, "YOU BETTER BACKTRACK TIME in game to redo that situation so he's not dead, OR I will throw you off this bloody balcony..

YES HE FLAT OUT threatened to throw me off a 4th story balcony, if i didn't 'save' that guys character.. THEN LIED to two cops who i reported him too, in a way that got ME in trouble....

Needless to say, the rest of that con, and 2 others i saw him at, i REFUSED To even game in the same ROOM with him, let alone run a table he was on.

That is just messed up ****... it sound something written for a dark comedy movie. It is tragic because you are describing death threats and a very scary situation. It is comedy as well, because it all happened over some tabletop roleplaying game.

I will not complain anymore over my friend anymore who can get a bit salty when he loose (talk about dice variance too much)

And when it comes to tabletop roleplaying games I have done ridiculous stuff as a GM; like have 5 players and 1 non player character (npc), roll 1d6 and flat out autokill the one that got his number up on the dice. This you can do with old friends that have played for years together and everybody is still laughing... Randoms at cons are something else, I will use your story as a warning 😬

Edited by Minimono
36 minutes ago, Minimono said:

That is just messed up ****... it sound something written for a dark comedy movie. It is tragic because you are describing death threats and a very scary situation. It is comedy as well, because it all happened over some tabletop roleplaying game.

It IS some messed up ****. I've heard of others, at different conventions, or FLGS's who've had similar situations, like the one guy who after kicking severe butt in a b'tech game, had the other player, who lost big time, FLAT OUT FLIP Over the table onto the guy who won.. Or the dude who came out from a FLGS (back in norfolk 1995), and found his car KEYED and a tire slashed, after beating 3 kids in a group in a magic tournament. AND THE CCTV showed the kids DOING the damage..

...yeah, I'd be dropping that friendship like a bad habit, too.

One of my best friends is a cousin of mine, and he and I used to hang out with another dude who became a pretty close part of our social group. This third dude was eventually shunned by everyone for a lot of things that piled up, but I remember well a three-way Magic game that Cousin, this dude and I played. Keep in mind that we're all grown adults here, well into our late 20s / early 30s.

We both noticed that Dude was forgetting to activate abilities on a card of his every round that would likely have won him the game, but we kept mum; we'd all been playing Magic for years at that point, so no "training wheels" for anyone at the table was the general rule. Dude lost, and Cousin and I finished up with a narrow victory on my part. Then we both gently ribbed him that he'd forgotten about his card, and that likely would have saved him. No mean stuff, just a chuckle and a pat on the shoulder kinda thing.

Dude lost his ****, went into his room (he and Cousin were room-mates at the time), slammed the door, and and had a honest-to-God, bawling hissy-fit. We were both shocked, and just left to go get something to eat. Nobody said a thing about it later, but it was a brittle evening.

****.

I thought I had a bad temper some days. But the worst I have done was thrown a dice out the door into the street at the game store after rolling a 1 for what felt like the millionth time in a row.

Sometimes you see people like that here on the forums.

Sorry you had to deal with that.

Holy ****.

Yeah screw that guy.

Did ya save that broken ship?!

Might make some great 3D debris....