My first 100 point game... X Wing Casual Night at FLGS

lunimus · January 8, 2016

Shout out to our FLGS, War and Pieces in Lancaster PA who just announced casual X Wing nights. Shenry and I were the only two to show up for the inaugural 'Casual' night. (my friend cancelled last minute) but Shenry brought a friend who watched and there were a handful of Magic-Drafters watching intently by the second game. I've included a short battle report (no pictures, but if people are interested I will include them for next week's) and my take-away from the evening. I'm interested to see Shenry's perspective. Please comment with any thoughts or suggestions as we learn to fly casual...

My Squad:

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Casual X Wing Night

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Practicing flying...

100 points

Pilots

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Wedge Antilles [R2 Astromech, Outmaneuver] (33)

Luke Skywalker [R2-D2, Opportunist, Shield Upgrade] (40)

Biggs Darklighter [R7 Astromech] (27)

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View: http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/376124/casual-x-wing-night

Tweak: http://xwing-builder.co.uk/build/376124

XWS: http://xwing-builder.co.uk/xws/376124

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Shenry (To the best of my ability to remember)

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Darth Vader (Swarm Tactics, Concussion Missles Stealth Device??)

Carnor Jax (Red Pilot, PTL, Stealth Device, Hull Upgrade)

Red Pilot (Stealth Device, Hull Upgrade)

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I flew the rebels slowly, straight into the center of the board while his imperials banked in from my far left corner. I had difficulty flying Biggs at the back of my formation,as his pilot skill is low and I had a hard time keeping him close enough to trigger without crashing. My opponent flew Jax too hastily, opening him up for a broadside shot right between two asteroids. On the first round of combat, both Luke and Wedge had Range 1 shots, which took care of Jax completely. The next round, Vader unloaded his concussions missiles into Biggs and the remaining Squint hard turned toward my the damaged X Wing (now coming in from my upper right) and had took advantage of my inability to fly correctly. Biggs fell as fast as Jax did and the game looked a bit more even. Darth took some slight damage from Luke, at a distance, and the volleys ended.

Knowing that his ships were out of position, I 4k turned both Wedge and Luke (Luke took the damage from an asteroid and recovered it with a green maneuver the following turn) and cleared my stress/took target locks on the following round. Wedge sent warning shots out towards Vader at Range 3. The following turn saw the interceptor fall and in the ext couple of rounds I was able to focus down Vader with little difficulty.

Both my opponent and I are new to X wing, and we both made crucial errors with pilots that require skill to maneuver (Biggs and Jax) that cost us our respective ships early on. Other than that, I learned that I shouldn't be trying to fly ships that require such good formation flying (Biggs should be in range 1 of friendly ships but at range 3 of enemy ships plus he has a low pilot skill) so Biggs will 'grounded' for awhile.

The second game, my opponent took up a list that was more familiar to him. He had graciously offered to play Imperials on the first game as I was learning to play (it was my first 100 point game) and he wanted to try out a new squad on me. He switched back to rebels for the second game with a Han flying his Falcon. Chewie was on board as a co-pilot as well. Poe Dameron flew alongside the falcon and demonstrated his ability to talon roll (that pesky maneuver) all over the place.

Hearing terrifying tales about both of these ships, I was nervous for this game. I think my nerves got a hold of me as I played very defensively the entire time. I switched targets, taking whichever presented itself rather than sticking to a plan of attack. I got through the Falcon's shields quickly. Wedge's agility shut-down came in handy. My opponent focus fired Luke because he knew that if he took one shot at him, he better finish him off. Luke fell quickly when both of his defensive rolls were completely blank. We later realized, we should have had Biggs take those hits, but we forgot he was on the board. There were a couple of these 'oops' moments where we decided the outcome by rolling a red dice to determine who won the 'do-over' decision. Casual games are casual. Friendly players are friendly.

Poe was anything but, talon-rolling all over the place. He eventually fell to my remaining pair of X wings while the falcon came back into the fight. For a moment, I thought that I t might be able to come back from losing Luke so quickly. My hopes were dashed though as I accidentally flew Wedge into an asteroid when he had a Range 1 shot on the falcon. Biggs went down, Wedge followed shortly after. The falcon had 5 hull points remaining.

I learned a lot from my first time playing, and I was especially glad to introduce the game to a handful of shop regulars and very interested spectators. I purchased a Tie Defender because I thought it had a copy of Engine Upgrade and Predator. While it did had Predator, I guess I had mistaken Engine Upgrade for Outmaneuver. No matter, the model is pretty sweet. My next purchase will probably be a falcon, but I think I need to practice a bit first. We went 1:1 on our first X-Wing Casual night and we're looking forward to next week! The best thing though, was making a new X-Wing friend who lives two blocks from my house and words the same hours I do. Once this paper is finished, I'm anticipating a lot of practice time.

By dropping Biggs, swapping out predator onto Wedge and sliding outmaneuver to Luke, I've freed up 28 points. What to use them on? The rebels have so many solutions. Dutch w/ Ion for control? FCS B wing? I'm not confident in flying the Y-Wing yet, and I'm not sure about a single B wing without many upgrades. I think I've decided on a fast little ship that can function very well independently to offer some flanking support for Wedge and Luke. All kitted out (with the cards I already own) he comes in at 28 points. I won't have to worry so much about flying in formation, because he'll be off on his own most of the time. Please offer your feedback on this battle report and my tweaked up squadron. I'll be sure to include pictures next time! Here will be my new build as I learn to fly casual:

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Casual X Wing Night

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Tweaked...

100 points

Pilots

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Wedge Antilles [R2 Astromech, Predator] (33)

Luke Skywalker [R2-D2, Outmaneuver, Shield Upgrade] (39)

Jake Farrell [A-Wing Test Pilot, Chardaan Refit, Push the Limit, Outmaneuver] (28)

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View: http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/376124/casual-x-wing-night