Where do you guys place your dials during the planing phase? The rules state (in bold, no less) "facedown near its corresponding ship inside the play area", but I see a number of players placing them next to the ships cards.

This annoys me a little. You can't be certain they're using the right dial for each ship, it can be tricky to see that they're actually doing the movement they selected, and worst case they could be slying changing them while you're moving one of your ships. I trust people not to cheat really, but it still irks me.

How do you guys feel about this?

I tend to put them on my cards, because otherwise the play area can get quite cluttered and it can be hard to tell which dial goes with which ship. However, I always let my opponent know this ahead of time and place the dials near the ships if he/she insists.

I have used to put them next to my ships..

However last night I was playing a 250pt game on a 3x3 boards, with lots of turrets, I looked at my block of ships and went *&^% that..... Arranged all my Ship Cards by PS along my board edge. Put my dials on my cards... It really sped things up.. instead of hunting around for the right dial at the end of the turn game play went like this

• Go left to right, flipping over dials and calling out when I had finished a PS group.. so "Finished my PS 4, you PS 4 to move.
• Go right to left firing.
• Go left to right setting dials, which made things easier as I was setting them in the order the ships would move.

I thoroughly recommend trying it. I will be doing it for all my larger games from now on. We finished out 250pt in just over an hour and a half I think.

If you have 2 people playing swarms. Your telling me you want 16 same colored dials in the same area? I 90% of the time place them on my cards and turn them one at a time. I let them know my plans to do so, have never had someone say no, most seem to do the same as I do.

Ah, when I can't fit them next to the ships, I arrange them in the same formation near the group of ships, so they're still visibly in the play area and you can see which one's which really easily.

it depends on the play area. at first next to the ships , but as the ships close in they are in the way a lot and I'll move them to the cards. It could be best practices to keep them by the ship even after you perform the move and then remove them after they declare an attack. this could help skipping the pilot skill 6, lost in the middle.

it depends on the play area. at first next to the ships , but as the ships close in they are in the way a lot and I'll move them to the cards. It could be best practices to keep them by the ship even after you perform the move and then remove them after they declare an attack. this could help skipping the pilot skill 6, lost in the middle.

I think that causes confusion around whether a ship's moved or not. Maybe.

I have written my initials and the ship type on the backs of all my dials so that I don't go picking up my opponent's by accident now. I used a whiteout pen so it is easy to see. At some stage I'll touch them up and apply a matt varnish so that I don't wear the writing off.

it depends on the play area. at first next to the ships , but as the ships close in they are in the way a lot and I'll move them to the cards. It could be best practices to keep them by the ship even after you perform the move and then remove them after they declare an attack. this could help skipping the pilot skill 6, lost in the middle.

The way I handle that is by putting the dials face down on the card during the planning phase, flipping them face up during the activation phase, and removing them from the card during the attack phase.

Yeah me to it Eltnot, it really helps.

At tournaments where you quite come up against the same faction spotting which dials are yours can get really annoying. I hate picking up my opponents dial, and have to apologies for seeing his maneuver. This fixes the issue. As I paint my ships they will probably get some more markings, you can see one of the Bs has the 2 blue lines that are shown on the ships tail.



I originally painted this with one of Vallejo special silvers but it reacted with the varnish I think and went copper in patches. So I repainted with just normal silver, I won't bother with the alcohol based silver in the future. I've marked ship type and numbered them so they match my ID tokens.

I tend to put them on my cards, because otherwise the play area can get quite cluttered and it can be hard to tell which dial goes with which ship. However, I always let my opponent know this ahead of time and place the dials near the ships if he/she insists.

This. Its just much easier to keep the board clear. I also put tokens on the cards whenever possible (the target of target lock is only one I put on board in most cases), for the same reason. Less to move that way

I tend to put them on my cards, because otherwise the play area can get quite cluttered and it can be hard to tell which dial goes with which ship. However, I always let my opponent know this ahead of time and place the dials near the ships if he/she insists.

This. Its just much easier to keep the board clear. I also put tokens on the cards whenever possible (the target of target lock is only one I put on board in most cases), for the same reason. Less to move that way

I disagree with tokens, because it's quite important for decision making to be able to see what tokens your opponents ship has.

Where do you guys place your dials during the planing phase? The rules state (in bold, no less) "facedown near its corresponding ship inside the play area", but I see a number of players placing them next to the ships cards.

This annoys me a little. You can't be certain they're using the right dial for each ship, it can be tricky to see that they're actually doing the movement they selected, and worst case they could be slying changing them while you're moving one of your ships. I trust people not to cheat really, but it still irks me.

How do you guys feel about this?

Playing this way for mirror matches is supported in the rules. Also, dials are large and, especially when things get clunky in the middle they can easily get in the way

This. Its just much easier to keep the board clear. I also put tokens on the cards whenever possible (the target of target lock is only one I put on board in most cases), for the same reason. Less to move that way

There was a lengthy thread on this, but the bottom line is that isn't supported in the rules. If you and your opponent want to play that way, no problem. As Rodent Mastermind points out, I find it is much easier to get a visual picture of the battlefield and evaluate choices with one glance at the play area rather than noting where ships are and having to glance at their cards for every detail.

The rulebook says to put everything on the playing field, from maneuver dials to tokens to critical hit tokens. This results in a VERY cluttered play-area for even a 100 point game.

I keep tokens and the dial on the corresponding pilot card, but I keep those in plain sight of my opponent, and away from my seat, so no tampering is possible.

I know it irks some players more if you accidentally bump the ships while picking up the dials that you set next to the ships. Putting them on the cards means you won't have to worry about bumping them.

And if your playgroup actually tries to secretly rotate their dials when you are moving your ships, I think you need to start looking for a new playgroup. And you can always ask the person to show you the maneuver when they reveal it. One request early game should mean no problems throughout the game.

I place mine on the board near my ships. The only exception is my TIE Fighters, where I put the dials on top of them like little hats.

The rulebook says to put everything on the playing field, from maneuver dials to tokens to critical hit tokens. This results in a VERY cluttered play-area for even a 100 point game.

I keep tokens and the dial on the corresponding pilot card, but I keep those in plain sight of my opponent, and away from my seat, so no tampering is possible.

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. In either the competitive rules in the FAQ or tournament rules, it is noted that it acceptable to place dials on cards. No such exception was made for tokens. I'll note that shield tokens and damage cards are actually supposed to be placed on/near the cards in the rulebook, so not quite everything goes on the board.

For me, the tokens are far less a tampering issue than a confusion issue. I'm more likely to make a tactical mistake and or take more time if I'm having to glance multiple places, especially if there are the same ship type/pilots. I've not run into an issue where I think everything is "too" cluttered and would be less of a hassle to not have the tokens on the boards.

If there's room I tend to put dials down by my ships. It may irk people if you bump while picking them up, but frankly they're also going to get bumped on occasion checking range, picking up or putting down ships on the map, picking up or placing maneuver templates, etc, etc, etc. If they get that bent out of shape when things get bumped or nudged - which they are constantly doing in this game - they're probably playing the wrong game.

That said, if there's just flat out not space for dials I tend to put them on the mat, but between myself and the ships, in the same order from left to right that the ships are located. Out of the way but roughly across from the ships' locations. I just find there's less confusion and room for error if dials are clearly down on the mat. I know several times with people who keep their dials on their cards they think they set them all and then realize that one of them actually never got picked up and changed, or whatever.

I mean by the same logic, in Vassal you COULD keep your dials in your hand, on the ship cards, out of sight, and just tell the other guy they're set and pull them out one at a time... After all, if he secretly changes them you should find a new playgroup and all that, right? But nobody does that - everyone pulls the dials out and sets them down on the board - even if it's not immediately over next to the ships - because it's the polite thing to do.

I've got Acrylics and my Stress, TL, Damage and Ions are small enough to put on a ship base.. So anything that stays after the turn end remains on the base.. Focus, Evade, Markmanship, R5-F5 and Expose get placed next to the base.

During most matches, I put them on the pilot cards (which are in order). Once they're placed, I keep my hands away from them (except the occasional "what did I do?") so I'm not accused of changing the maneuver. Towards the end of the game, when I have 2 or less ships, I might start migrating to putting them on the mat, but by my edge instead of by the ship.

A buddy of mine likes to fly swarms, so there's typically not a lot of space in his games, so he puts them by his edge, but in a similar formation to where the ships are so its easy to identify which one goes to which ship.

I guess for me I don't care about the cluttery table, I am concerned about who is doing what.. movement dials can be near the ship or placed on the edge of the board in close proximity to the vessel it belongs to. As for the tokens, I trust the people i play with, but still prefer them on the table or ship base.. I think it's fair to keep everything in the open, those who place them on the card, I would ask to place them on the table or base of the ships.. I don't always think to look at someones cards, and I'm not expecting them to look at mine.. I'm old and have a bad memory, and I don't feel I should have to go searching for actions and such..

Common courtesy.. following the suggested rules is the best policy.. at least ask before you start placing actions on your cards.. cause that's where I leave my unused action tokens...

I'm weird, i put the dials on the table, and all tokens (but target locks and bombs) on the cards of the ship.

I'm weird, i put the dials on the table, and all tokens (but target locks and bombs) on the cards of the ship.

You are weird.

I agree with oneway (or the other, I'm gonna find ya, I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha); for me it's not really so much about distrusting anybody as it is just courtesy and transparency and avoiding some possible confusion. I don't think I've ever demanded anyone I play with put their dials out on the table or anything, but I do prefer it, and I tend to put my own either close to the ships, or if not possible, face down towards my edge of the table, lined up parallel to the ships they go with. Just personal preference to have them out in front of me, even if they're not RIGHT there next to each ship.

I'm weird, i put the dials on the table, and all tokens (but target locks and bombs) on the cards of the ship.

You are weird.

I agree with oneway (or the other, I'm gonna find ya, I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha)

And you say i'm weird

I'm weird, i put the dials on the table, and all tokens (but target locks and bombs) on the cards of the ship.

Ooh, I really don't like that - means your opponent doesn't see, when he's looking at the ships around him, what tokens they have!