Tournament is less than two weeks away and I've gotten a grand total of 3 games in against opponents who can read the pilot cards. For context, the majority of X-Wing games I've played were with my 5 year old daughter where we just played with basic rules and were mostly to get her to think and plan, basically to just help her develop intellectually and she is learning to really like Star Wars as a by-product. Not that she needed any nudging she took to the Star Wars universe like a moth to a flame and is often the reason we get new ships ("Daddy I think I need a Y-Wing for my Rebel alliance." "Ok Penny, let's pick one up, but I need a new TIE fighter to fight it." "Ok")
Anyways, on Saturday I played 2 games with a list similar to what I used the week before.
- Colonel Vessery - Heavy Laser Cannon, Stealth Device
- Darth Vader - TIE X1 title (borrowed for the day), Fire Control System
- Omega Leader - Juke, Comm Relay
First game was against a Scum list packing
- Trandoshan Slaver - Gunner, Bossk, Tactician
- Laetin - Heavy Laser Cannon, Heavy Scyk, Stealth Device
- Kavil - Autoblaster Turret, Engine Upgrade, Veteran Instincts
I played pretty badly mostly because I didn't quite know what his list did. Quickly found out that getting into range 1 of autoblaster turret is bad and range 2 of the Slaver was also equally bad. His list had good shots at all ranges so was hard for me to decide how to engage. It was also the first time I played against a stress list and that totally messed up my aces. With no one able to paint targets for Vessery or get tokens it made getting hits through a little more difficult.
In hindsight, should have stayed at range 2-3 and picked off the Autoblaster first, then closed on the Slaver and finally the Scyk. I probably should have also danced around a bit more and tried to get behind the slaver or the Scyk instead of closing in as soon as I could.
The second game was against a Rebel aces list
- Keyan - Push the Limit, Stealth Device, Advanced Sensors, Mangler Cannon?
- Jake Farrel - Push the Limit, Autothrusters
- Gemmer - A-Wing Test Pilot, Push the Limit, Autothrusters
I played this one better. Vessery ended up jousting Keyan on one end of the map (everyone else was on the other side) and won off of a bump. I planned on Keyan slow moving towards Vessery so instead of doing the same, I just rocketed Vessery forward with a 5 straight, then the following turn a 2 straight which put him right in the path of Keyan who did indeed bump him. A k-turn after that bump and Vessery was stuck to Keyan like glue and finished him off in short order (rolling 4 dice at all ranges is huge even without a target lock to help)
On the other side of the map, Omega and Darth danced around Jake and Gemmer. My opponent made a few bad mistakes which put Vader behind Gemmer which quickly resulted in a dead A-Wing. Jake couldn't fight off the entirety of my squadron and was caught in the crosshairs of all 3 at one point which ended him pretty quick.
After those 2 games, I definitely need to get more practice. The list was also not quite doing it for me so back to the drawing board. Omega Leader did well and I'm thinking of bringing Omega Ace with Push the Limit instead of Vader for more guaranteed hits. Vessery was good, but not great, but that could be because of how I flew.
For now I am thinking of the following
- Krassis Trelix - Heavy Laser Cannon, Agent Kallus
- Omega Ace - Push the Limit, Hull Upgrade
- Omega Leader - Juke, Comm Relay, Hull Upgrade
Krassis basically replaces Vessery and is pretty action independent so stress lists like the Scum list I played won't hurt as much. The Firespray has a pretty stress-friendly dial with no red turns.
The TIE F/O aces should also be pretty reliable for plinking away at any range which should hopefully let Krassis just blast away at hull points.
The other list I was thinking of using is
- Krassis Trelix - Heavy Laser Cannon, Agent Kallus, Hull Upgrade
- Mauler Mithel - Veteran Instincts
- Scourge - Veteran Instincts
- Wampa - Targeting Computer
A pair of high pilot skill TIEs to hopefully pick off a weak target or strip some shields. Wampa to get some guaranteed damage and Krassis as a big target capable of putting the hurt at different ranges. This list is also pretty action independent and has some good maneuverability (plus more bodies to fight against swarms)
I'll have to get a few games in this weekend to test both lists and if I can't, I'll try out the
Mark 13 AI program I ran into a few days ago. Practice is always good before a tournament.
